Two of Def Jam’s premier artists previewed their upcoming albums this week. One impressed. The other’s disappointed. Find out which was which.
New World Stages – 1/28/09
The-Dream was all smiles at his lux Love vs. Money (Def Jam) listening session held at New York City’s New World Stages. Media and industry elites were greeted with an assortment of hors d’oeuvres and aptly named drinks like “Love” and “Dream”, as a Def Jam promotional mixtape ran off the latest hits from their artists (Kanye West and DJ Khaled, to name a few).
Soon after, the waiters ushered all guests into the theater, where Chairman of The Island Def Jam Music Group, L.A. Reid stood on stage to introduce and unveil several tracks from his artist’s second album.
The smooth, horn-like synths and rolling bass line of “Rockin’ That Thing”, his lead single, opened the set. “Walking on the Moon” was the first new track to jump out of New World’s booming speakers. Its techno bounce is a new spin on The-Dream’s cool, lover boy ways and the Kanye West feature (sans the auto-tune) is a bonus that made this a standout out track.
Advancing his case as a modern R&B Prince was “Put It Down”, a snare heavy ode to his bedroom exploits. But the night’s highlight cut is one that will have R. Kelly shaking in fear. “Sweat It Out” recalls Mr. 12 Play’s many ‘90s slow jams, suggesting that his partner need not get her hair done, because he’ll just sweat out her ‘do in the sack.
After reaching the halfway point, The-Dream and Hot 97 radio personality Angie Martinez had a brief Q&A on him losing 20 pounds, the Stephen Sprouse sneakers he had on, working on Mariah Carey’s next album, and his quest for at least one Grammy nomination (as a solo artist).
Completing the session, Reid interrupted the session to present Dream with a plaque for one million sales (500,000 records sold and 500,000 ring tones). After taking a few pictures, he hopped is his black Tahoe along with his new close friend Christina Milian.
The-Dream is presented with a plaque commemorating a million sales
Chung King Studios – 1/29/09
Wings, macaroni and cheese, candied yams, and greens. Those are the spoils awarded to those who arrived on time (7 PM) to The LOX front man’s third solo LP, The Last Kiss (Def Jam) at New York’s infamous Chung King Studios.
Jada arrived to his session two hours late, looking like a bad kid who was just put on punishment. "I'm sorry I was late,” Jada said, apologizing to a crowded, disgruntled room of journalists. “I was handling some administrative shit."
Hoping to put his tardiness issue on the backburner, he ordered his soundman to finally start his album. This is where the trouble picked up.
Between his voice fading in and out, bass that overpowered the rest of the music, and overall screw-ups by the man behind the board, no one in the studio got a good listen of the five or six tracks Jada intended for them to hear. Apparently there is a track produced by Sean C. and LV, who produced the majority of Jay-Z’s last album, American Gangster (Def Jam/Roc-A-Fella) and another by and featuring Pharrell Williams. But the audio was too bad (and the marijuana smoke was too thick) for anyone to properly enjoy or critique. A lyricist the caliber of ‘Kiss deserves a quality environment to appreciate his words. This was not it. Unfortunately, the best thing about Thursday’s session was the soul fixings.
Jadakiss talks about his album at Chung King Studios
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