Riding off of ateks’ previous post, here’s the Kanye West American Music Awards speech that everybody has been telling me to check out. The “I want to be Elivs” speech, which actually didn’t turn out corny but was very well put. My only question on the whole video is, what the fuck is Nickleback doing presenting the award???

Kanye West “Heartless”

So we’ve done a few posts on this new James Bond theme song “Another Way to Die” featuring Alicia Keys and Jack White here on Killahbeez. Well here’s the official video for the song. The song, which will appear on the soundtrack to the film Quantum of Solace is expected to be released on October 28th.

This week’s Throwback Thursday, Force M.D.’s “Tender Love”. I haven’t heard this song in a minute, like literally YEARS, so when Alicia Keys played it the other night after “Diary”, I didn’t immediately recognize it. Initially I thought it was a Janet Jackson song and I wasn’t the only one, as a few people I talked to thought it was as well. But alas the mystery was solved and it was revealed that it was Force M.D.’s “Tender Love”.

So here’s some knowledge for you. The group, from Staten Island New York, originally formed in 1983 and were signed to Tommy Boy records a year later. The M.D.’s (stands for Musical Diversity) were a vital crew in the early history of street hip-hop and one of the first groups to fuse doo-wop influenced harmonies with hip-hop. They had a few hits here and there, but “Tender Love” was the first that hit top ten. It was in the movie Krush Groove (ahhh classic) and was penned by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, which may have been the reason why I thought it was a Janet Jackson song as they produced some of her work as well. Songs that came to mind from Janet were “Again”, Let’s Wait Awhile” and “Everytime”, it’s the piano.

Anyways sit back and enjoy an oldie but goodie for the very first time again.

Photo by Michelle da Silva

On Monday night, Alicia Keys did her second show in Vancouver as part of the As I Am tour and I was lucky enough to be there. To say I have a kindergarten crush on this girl is a mad understatement. The crowd was packing into the Orpheum Theatre and while that was going on we were treated to a performance by Jermaine Paul, who we would later come to find out is also one of Alicia’s backup singers. He actually sang quite beautifully, but it was difficult to hear it all with the crowd coming in and shuffling to their seats.

The lights go down. A few moments later the band is playing the instrumental for “Go Ahead”, a few seconds later and Miss Keys appears on stage and the crowd erupted. One word that can only really describe this woman, BEAUTIFUL! Black sequin dress with sparkles, black leggings and heels. I nearly lost my mind; in fact I forgot to take notes for a moment on the show as I was so mesmerized by her voice and beauty. Definitely got chills as she was singing. From there she transitioned into “You Don’t Know My Name”, she was being backed up by a 7 piece band with 3 backup singers. She definitely was electrifying the crowd as she moved along the stage and danced. As my home girl Michelle noted it was very Beyonce-esque. As “You Don’t Know My Name” ended, her two female back-up singers joined her front and centre forming a triangle and going into “Teenage Love Affair” and mimicking the dances in the video.

Photo by Michelle da Silva

Moments later she asked the crowd if she could play the piano, uh how about a hell yes to that. So she jumped on and went into “Karma”, but it wasn’t the version off of the album. It was less thumpy and more bouncy, a salsa version of the song. It was different but I quite liked the sound of it.

My favorite song of the night was definitely “Diary”, I love this song, as it feels like a private moment / conversation between a man and a woman. Jermaine Paul stood by her piano as they both sang this together and man, I have to say it was beautiful and soulful. As this was ending she transitioned into what I initially thought was a Janet Jackson song, actually both Michelle and I thought it was, but as my home girl Niña so kindly pointed out, it was Force M.D.’s song “Tender Love”.

The concert was pretty fantastic and she ran through a gamut of her songs, full play list below. The only song she didn’t do that I wanted to hear was “Girlfriend” as it samples one of my favorite rappers, Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Can’t say too much about the venue that it was held in as it’s known to sound acoustically beautiful and it was no different for this concert. The crowd was chill through parts and wilded on occasion, as to be expected. Even though this was her second show in as many days in Vancouver, I still felt like she brought a ton of energy in her performance and kept the audience engaged the whole time. Two words: beautifully soulful.

If you liked this review, head on over to this page and vote for me.

Below is the play list for those that were there and those that weren’t, compile as you wish so that you can relive the moment.

• Go Ahead
• You Don’t Know My Name
• Teenage Love Affair
• Heartburn
• Karma (Remixed)
• How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?
• Super Woman
• I Need You
• Wreckless Love
• Diary
• Force M.D.’s Tender Love
• My Boo
• Unbreakable
• A Woman’s Worth
• Like You’ll Never See Me Again
• Fallin’
• Encore – No One

So we’ve done a few posts on the whole Alicia Keys and Jack White collaboration for the new James Bond theme song for the upcoming film, Quantum of Solace. I have to say, this is pretty damn good, the collaboration is strong and really works. The sound is melded and doesn’t sound like two separate artists doing their thing.

Also tonight a few of us Killahbeez will be checking out the Alicia Keys concert, definitely looking forward to this as she’s one of my favorite artists and tonight will be the night I purpose to baby girl. No need to stomp on a man’s dream.

Alicia Keys & Jack White “Another Way To Die”

Back in August we briefly mentioned that Jack White of The White Stripes was working with Alicia Keys on the new theme song for the upcoming James Bond film Quantum of Solace. Well, reports have it that he’s not happy with the new development that Sony Pictures have allowed Coca Cola to use a snippet of the theme song for their upcoming commercial for the product Coke Zero which happens to be in a joint promotion with the film. “Jack White was commissioned by Sony Pictures to write a theme song for the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, not for Coca Cola,” Jack’s spokesperson recently says.

In related news both Jack White and Alicia Keys have reportedly shot the music video for the theme song back on September 8th in Toronto, as both were there to promote their individual films at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Erin Magee is the founder and designer behind women’s streetwear line MadeMe. Since the release of its first line in fall 2007, MadeMe has gone from a New York incarnation to a global force, landing in the pages of the New York Post, Nylon and Trace, not to mention, collabos with artists like Alicia Keys. We caught up with the unstoppable missile that is Erin Magee to hit her up with a few questions on her inspirations, the collection and what’s next.

In your biography, you talk about filling a void in women’s streetwear. What do you see as being the void and how does your line fill that void?

Erin Magee: I have always worn “streetwear” and a lot of the time, wore men’s stuff. When I started MadeMe, there were only a few women’s streetwear brands out there. The ones that did exist didn’t make complete collections. They mainly made Ts and hoodies, which was cool, but I wanted to take it to the next level. My whole premise was to provide girls with top to bottom selection. I wanted to make a brand that embodied an entire lifestyle, so out came MadeMe.

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Second single for Ne-Yo called “Miss Independent” which is off of the upcoming Year of the Gentleman. His second album is scheduled to drop on September 16 with the first single “Closer” being released back in April. The video is directed by Chris Robinson, who has done videos for Usher, Alicia Keys, Busta Rhymes, T.I., Nas and many other artists. The video also co-stars some beautiful women, Keri Hilson, Gabrielle Union and Lauren London.