Lady GaGa aka Stefania Gabriella Germanotta has dazzled the dance music scene with her new album ‘The Fame’ with its booty shaking hits like “Let’s Dance” and “Poker Face.”  Hustling the streets of NYC her whole life, it’s no surprise this blonde bombshell has brought major grit and glamour to her dance floor friendly songs.  If you haven’t heard of her yet, check her out now as I predict she is here to stay alongside the best.  And apparently I’m not alone:  The New York Post called her the “Future of Pop” and Us Weekly called her “Pop’s New Dance Diva” while comparing her to Madonna.  Throughout all this hype, Lady GaGa remained refreshingly grateful and honest during our candid interview.  I hope you enjoy her answers as much as I did conducting the interview.

Killahbeez: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Lady GaGa: I’ve been working on this album for over two years now and am grateful that it has finally gotten to this point.

KB: What got you into singing and song writing at such an early age?
LG: Well I started piano at the age of 4 and started writing at the age of 13.  At 16 my mom would help me so I could get into certain clubs to play and I just hustled you know.  I dropped out of college early and started sending out my demos that I made out of my room.  From there I started go-go dancing and really working the club scene to get out there.

KB: You have a keen fashion sense.  Do you feel that fashion is an integral aspect of your music or music in general?
LG: For sure.  The fashion, the technology and just being innovative with what people are hearing and seeing are a big aspect of my music.  I want people to go to my show going “What the fuck was that!?”  In other words it’s like a pop show fit for a museum.  Everything we do is completely spur of the moment.  I don’t usually know what I’m wearing until it gets delivered an hour before the show and it’s usually stuff you can’t just get anywhere.

KB: What are your top 3 clothing and shoe designers?
LG: For clothing I would say Chanel,  Maison Martin Margiela and Thierry Mugler. For shoes I would pick Christian Louboutin, Marni and I have to say again, Chanel.

KB: Where do you get your inspiration for your music?
LG: For music pretty much New York, parties, pop culture. I’m really inspired by all the energy they give.

KB: How did the NYC scene influence your music growing up?
LG: Oh it totally did.  Everything about my music is attitude and lifestyle.  I would be a completely different artist if I didn’t have New York.

KB: It’s been rumored that you have collaborated on Britney Spears’s track “Quicksand” from her upcoming album Circus, can you confirm that?
LG: Wow, how did you find that out already (laughter)?  I can confirm that I worked on a track but not which one.

KB: What was it like working with Britney Spears for you?
LG: I never got to work with her directly in the studio because I was in Europe.  I would have loved to produced the vocals for her but I wasn’t in the studio.  I’m excited to work with her more closely in the future though.

KB: Your upcoming tour is with New Kids on The Block.  Were you a big fan like most of us in the Nineties? How does it feel to be touring with them at this point in your life going almost full circle in a way?
LG: Oh my god, I was HUGE fan!  I mean I had the “I love Johnny” t-shirt and everything.  It feels amazing.  It really, really was hard not to be star struck even though I know them as friends now, to see them on stage still gets me super excited.

KB: Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
LG: I would love to work with Marilyn Manson.  He is such a visionary and his work is really artistic in the same vain as what I do.  I would love to work with someone who has the same philosophy as I do.

KB: What would you advise to your fans who are interested in singing and song writing?  Any words of wisdom?
LG: Two pieces of advice: 1)  Go buy the book “Letter to a Young Poet”.  Read it 100 times and in the deepest hour of the night, ask yourself if you would die if you were forbidden to write.  2)  Live your life within quote that book unquote, since it has strong philosophies I agree with about art.  Everything in there is true, you will find your dreams.

KB: Do you find it any different getting into the music scene as a female?
LG: Well when you are female and you are blonde and pretty, people assume you don’t know shit.  It takes a minute to earn your intellectual space as an artist, especially when you’re a woman like me who likes to do it in her underwear.

KB: What’s the worst trend in music these days?  Favorite trend?
LG: Least favorite is the “I don’t care trend.”  Like “I don’t care how I dress at award shows and I don’t do interviews” type attitude.  I’m enjoying seeing artists that work really hard and are doing something really serious in their arena.

KB: Can you name a few of those artists that you enjoy right now?
LG: I really like M.I.A. and Britney.  In some ways, she (Britney) has to fight harder right now to get people to take her seriously but I have a feeling she will be making a comeback in the next year with some serious pop music.

KB: Any last words to your fans?
LG: Thank you to my fans and I love you!  You are so loyal to me and I will stay loyal to you.  Keep your eyes and ears open because I will be making a lot of things happen soon!!!

For this week’s Mixtape Monday, I found the above gem from Paul Tao’s site, Hate Something Beautiful.  The Devil Made Me Do It is a duo from United Kingdom that classify their work as “melodramatic pop music”.  The tracklist features fan favorites such as reworks of M.I.A., Madonna , Lykke Li and of course Hercules and Love Affair.  But what really caught my ears is Q Lazzarus’s hit, Goodbye Horses.  Some may instantly recall the song from The Silence of the Lambs.  Although I’m sure no one wants to recall the imagery when this track played in the movie Aside from that, the only other time I’ve heard Ms. Lazzarus’s track was from Mishka x Math Head’s “I Like Your Poetry, But I Hate Your Poems Volume 1.”

Listen to the stream above, be sold by the intro and download the mix here.

Image Source: Hate Something Beautiful

1)Lykke Li- Dance Dance Dance
2)Annie- Me Plus One (Rory Phillips)
3)Kraftwerk- Home Computer
4)Joanna Newsom- The Book Of Right-On (Pocketknife)
5)Hercules And love Afair- Blind (Devil Mix)
6)Alan Braxe- Palladium
7)Old Skool Junk-Flamed Up
8)Stevie V- Money Talks
9)Talking Heads- Pyscho Killer
10)Marco Dos- Not On The Guest List
11)Lykke Li- Breaking Up (Familjen Mix)
12)Madonna- Like A Prayer (Devil Mix)
13)M.I.A- Buckley Done (Edit)
14)Dev 79- That Philly Raw
15)Grovesnor- Drive My Car (Hot Chip Dub)
16)Wire- Three Girl Rhumba (Mock N Toof Mix)
17)Dizzie Rascal- Fix Up Look Sharp (Edit)
18)Mehdi- Charlie Brown
19)Simian Mobile Disco- Its The Beat (Shit Robot Mix)
20)Q Lazzarus And Garvey- Goodbye Horses
21)Uffie- Hot Chick (Acapella)
22)The Black Ghosts- AnyWay You Choose To Give It (Playgroup)
23)The Glimmers- Lets Get physical
24)Free Blood- Never Hear Surf Music Again (Barfly)
25)The Rolling Stones- Play With Fire
26)Mujava- Township Funk
27)The Outfield- Your Love (Edit)
28)Whitney Houston- I Wanna Dance With Somebody (OCD Automatic)
29)Kavinsky Interlude
30)30)The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s- Maps (Live)
31)The Who- Baba Oh Riley(Sebastian/Original)

New video from M.I.A. for the song “S.U.S (Save Ur Soul)” which is off of the EP that was just released on October 28th. In the Youtube video description it says:

“way down in the hole,
cheapest video ever made , i spent $9.95 on it.
BMORE STAND UP!”

The video features Baltimore’s own Blaqstarr, whom I saw back in the summer in Williamsburg in Brooklyn with my cousin.

Retirement? Bah that’s for suckers. Well, that’s what it seems like as M.I.A. has dropped a new song called “Shells”. This song will be on her upcoming EP, How Many Votes Fix Mix, which is released in the US on iTunes as of October 28th. The rest of the world will have to wait, but as per usual we have a couple of the tracks for all of you to peep.

No words on whether she will release a full-length studio album after her EP is dropped or will keep her promise to retire.

M.I.A. “Shells”

M.I.A. ft. Jay-Z “Boyz” Remix

So I was cruising through my email the other day and going through all the mixtapes that were being submitted when I came across this. Okay I have to admit, what really drew me in was the cover of the mixtape, I’m a sucker for nice packaging. The track listings actually was quite solid as well, see below. The American Dream Team or TADT, are from Brooklyn and have put together a solid second mix, the first can be found on their MySpace page. Here’s a quick excerpt from their bio:

Here at White House Headquarters we have been scouring what’s left of this country to build a production team of skilled musicians to represent the new “American Dream”. Covering every angle from party rocking to top notch club banging production, this group of undeniable American youths are hear to wave our great American flag with a fuck you lets dance mind set. For the land of the free and the home of the brave this blinged out team is here to ignite the females and dance floors across this great nation.

So definitely do yourself a favor and download this mix and be ready to get freaked, hard.

Download Mix Here.

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M.I.A. launches her own line this summer/fall showing off graphic prints, big bold colors and the funky steeze she rocks so well. From bomber jackets, leggings, hoodies and T-shirts - both the ladies and the gents will be happy with her unisex line.

My personal fave is the “Watermelon Hoodie” and the “Islamic Hoodie”.  Yet another brilliant move by the one and only Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam aka M.I.A.

Cop it online at Miauk or in store at: Opening Ceremony NY

35 Howard Street New York, New York 10013 (212) 219-2688

Quite a few new songs this week and some remixes. This’ll be my last post til I hit Virgin Fest out in Toronto, more on that story itself later. So this week Stones Throw released the Arabian Prince Anthology, with tons of classic jams and ones that I ain’t never heard before. This dude was a real ass innovator back in the day so definitely check out the song below and go cop this album. Next up is Kardi, his release date is this upcoming Tuesday the 9th, I believe, anyways song is a collab with UK’s RnB songstress Estelle. From there we have a mix of songs. The first one being from a Canadian band, from Montreal to be exact, called Duchess Says with their song called “Black Flag”, can Montreal do any wrong on the music scene, like for serious. Following that is another “Paper Planes” remix featuring 50 cent and crew, Montreal’s own Grandtheft (meant to post this awhile ago) remixing Chromeo (also from Montreal) and then there’s Niam from the BK, with a nice track of his own.

Arabian Prince “Innovative Life”

Kardinal Offishall ft. Estelle “Due Me A Favour”

Duchess Says “Black Flag”

M.I.A. ft. 50 Cent “Paper Planes”

Chromeo “Fancy Footwork” (Remixed by Grandtheft)

Niam “Brooklyn Bitch”

How fuckin’ gangsta is this? The Pinkie Nail Ring by Bijules NYC is made of high polish brass and rolls in at $156… Not too big of a price to pay to increase your bad-assness by 10-fold.

The Pinkie Nail Ring is part of the Serpensive collection, which features serpentine-inspired bling including cobra handcuffs, body armor, eye chains, and full-on three-fingered nail rings, if covering just your pinkie ain’t enough.

Jules Kim is the brains behind Bijules NYC, and her designs have already won the hearts of M.I.A., Santogold, Rihanna, Peaches, and Janet Jackson, to name a few.

Cop ‘em up HERE.