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Whitney Houston debuted in 1985 on The Merv Griffin Show. Her mentor, Clive Davis, introduced her by saying, “Either you’ve got it or you don’t. She’s got it!” With her rousing rendition of the Broadway hit, “Home,” Houston stole hearts and began building anticipation for her first album. Davis fashioned her more as a sweet faced pop princess than the beautiful around-the-way girl from Newark, New Jersey she actually was. Despite the revamping of her image, Whitney’s voice was undeniable. She sang with soul, conviction, and power. In a retrospective article, USA Today wrote of how Houston’s entrance into the music industry is considered one of the 25 musical milestones of the last 25 years. It stated that she paved the way for Mariah Carey’s chart-topping vocal gymnastics.

Much of what USA Today said is true. Mariah’s rapid rise to stardom might have taken more time had it not been for Whitney’s church bred pipes not opened music listeners minds. However, Mariah Carey would’ve been a star regardless. With a five octave range and an abundant use of her whistle register, she was bound to dominate pop music. Mariah’s fame came because of 80s singer, Brenda K. Starr. Carey and Starr happened to be at a party where Columbia Records executive, Tommy Mottola, was. Starr passed him Carey’s demo and the rest is history. Mottola spun Carey’s public image in the same way Houston’s image was created by Clive Davis. Carey also tasted the same type of success Whitney did with the release of her eponymous debut disc. Mariah Carey yielded four number one hits.

Carey and Houston became hit making machines. The difference was Mariah Carey co-wrote all of her material and Whitney Houston always allowed Clive Davis to shepherd song choices. Around this time, Carey and Mottola’s relationship spilled into a personal love affair. The couple married in 1993. While Mariah was entering wedded bliss, Houston was reveling in being a newlywed. She married Bobby Brown in 1992. Also, Houston began acting. Her first part was in The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner. The film was a huge success. However, the soundtrack eclipsed the film with the power ballad, “I Will Always Love You.” The song netted Houston a record eight American Music Awards and three Grammys. The Bodyguard soundtrack made Houston the first woman to have three singles in Billboard’s Top 20 at the same time.

As 1997 rolled around, Mariah’s marriage was screeching to a halt. The blending of her personal and professional lives began to overtake her marriage. She wanted to add more hip-hop elements into her work and Mottola wasn’t having it. Despite them going through a divorce, Mottola was still Mariah’s boss. Once their divorce was finalized, Carey released Butterfly. She had rappers Puff Daddy, Ma$e, and Bone Thugs N Harmony make guest appearances. Butterfly was a huge success, as was all of her other efforts. Many said Mariah Carey was better than Whitney Houston because Whitney’s My Love Is Your Love album was more of a hit in the R&B community than in her regular pop demographic. The battle between the two was heightened when they recorded a duet, “When You Believe,” for The Prince Of Egypt soundtrack. However, Mariah began to see she wasn’t the best at everything when she threw her hat into the acting ring. Glitter was a disaster of epic proportions. The film was a huge flop and the soundtrack came out on September 11, 2001. Shortly after, Mariah Carey suffered a nervous breakdown.

The media covering Carey’s breakdown was a welcomed relief to Houston. Media outlets speculated on her marriage to Brown constantly. Many believed he introduced her to cocaine and was physically abusive. Whitney Houston returned to headlines when she performed at Michael Jackson’s 30th Anniversary concert and looked like a shell of her former self. The bad looks kept coming as she signed on to star in Being Bobby Brown. The effects of drugs and alcohol were evident. E!’s The Soup named her screaming, “Kiss my ass!” as the top clip of that year.

By 2005, both were trying to make a comeback. Mariah’s worked better than Whitney’s. The Emancipation Of Mimi nabbed Mariah Carey her first Grammys since her debut album. Whitney Houston’s I Look To You debuted on the Hot 100 chart at number one. It sold over 300,000 copies in its first week, but soon slid down the charts. Though neither woman has the voice they once had, they are still the voices of generations. But which one’s voice and career is the definition of iconic?

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In 1992, Pharrell wrote Teddy Riley‘s rap in the hit Wreckx-N-Effect single “Rump Shaker.”  The song sold over 2 million copies and hit number 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart.

In 1992, Pharrell rapped on a rare remix of SWV’s “Right Here.”  Part of his verse was later chopped up and used on the hit “Right Here/Human Nature” remix.

Pharrell also co-wrote and co-produced Blackstreet’s 1994 single “Tonight’s The Night” featuring SWV and Craig Mack.

Pharrell’s work with SWV continued on their 1996 single “Use Your Heart”, which Pharrell and his Neptunes cohort, Chad Hugo, wrote and produced.

Pharrell and Chad Hugo co-wrote and produced Total’s single “When Boy Meets Girl” in 1996, which became a minor R&B hit.

However, the distinctive Neptunes sound began to really take shape with Ma$e’s 1997 single “Lookin’ At Me.”  The song was a top 10 hit and helped make Ma$e a household name.

The Neptunes hit-making streak really kicked into high gear with Nore’s “Superthug,” released in 1998.

From that point on Pharrell became unstoppable, helping produce, write, or remix songs for artists ranging from Jay-Z to Britney Spears to Ol’ Dirty Bastard to Prince, as well as his own solo album and the N*E*R*D projects.  Pharrell also began nurturing talent, beginning with Kelis in 1999, whose first two albums were produced entirely by The Neptunes.

Around the same time that Kelis’ debut album, Kaleidoscope, came out, Pharrell was working with Clipse on their first album, Exclusive Audio Footage, which remains unreleased to this day, though one single, “The Funeral,” was released from the project.

The story of Pharrell and the Neptunes continues to this day as Pharrell has diversified his interests into clothing lines (Billionaire Boys Club), websites (Kidult.com), and furniture design.  We look forward to all of Pharrell’s future projects!

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Check out new music from the group Harlem World, “Get The Picture,” the official first single off the upcoming album “The SixTape.”

Now this right here is certified Harlem official so don’t sleep on The DJ J Buttah produced track! “Get The Picture” samples the hit “The Boy Is Mine” collabo from Brandy and Monica.  RIP HUD 6.

DOWNLOAD HERE!

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Star & Buc Wild: Mase Is Hip-Hop’s Most Confused & Contradictary Cornball

Mase & Jim Jones End Beef

The hip-hop ballad has been a problem since LL Cool J popularized it in 1987 with “I Need Love.”  Over the years, a handful of artists have been able to make respectable hip-hop ballads. However, for the most part, most hip-hop artists have failed.

Here are 9 of the worst hip-hop ballads ever released!

9. dead prez “Mind Sex”

My hatred of this song has always been a bit controversial.  dead prez burst on the scene in the early 2000s with their pro-black revolutionary but gangsta steeze.  Sure, the songs weren’t bad, but I always felt something was off about these guys.  Of course, years later I would move to NYC and hear all sorts of stories about their penchant for white girls, which sorta explains why this song exists.  No self-respecting black woman, no matter how much nag champa she burned in her dorm room in 2000, would fall for some of the lines these guys spit in this song.  Salads and croutons as aphrodisiac?

8. Redhead Kingpin & The FBI “Nice & Slow”

I struggled with putting this song on the list.  I actually used to like this song.  A lot.  But being 30 years old as opposed to 11 when it dropped makes for a bit of a difference.  I still like Redhead’s “Do The Right Thing” and “Pump It Hottie” though.   Word to David Guppy.

7. Doc Box & B. Fresh “Slow Love”

Doc Box & B. Fresh failed to make much of an impact during their very brief run in the early 90s.  Their biggest success came from their guest spot on Joyce “Fenderella” Irby’s “She’s Not My Lover,” but they were replaced by Damon Wayans in the song’s video.  “Slow Love” is a bit of a classic for those who were around to catch it when it dropped, but it hasn’t aged well at all.

6. MC Hammer “Have You Seen Her”

MC Hammer ruined several classics on his Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em album.  His unfortunate reinterpretation of The Chi-Lites’ classic “Have You Seen Her” is easily one of the worst hip-hop ballads ever recorded.

5. MC Brains “Brainstorming” (feat. Boyz II Men)

Part of Michael Bivins’ East Coast Family along with Boyz II Men and Another Bad Creation, MC Brains tried his hand at singing on this song from his debut album, Lovers Lane.  Bad move.

4. Mase  “Jealous Guys” (feat. 112)

Speaking of Michael Bivins, Mase’s version of New Edition’s classic “Jealous Girl” was nothing but embarassing, albeit funny to listen to.

3. LL Cool J “One Shot At Love

After the success of “I Need Love” LL Cool J decided that more slow jams were what his albums needed.  Found on his third album, Walking With A Panther, “One Shot At Love” attempts to recapture the magic of “I Need Love.”

It didn’t work.

2. Big Daddy Kane & Barry White “All Of Me”

You would think that Big Daddy Kane, being the ladies man he is/was in the early 90s, teaming up with the Walrus of Love, Barry White would result in a song that would automatically make panties fall to the ground.  Not the case.  This song is almost single-handedly credited with derailing Big Daddy Kane’s career.  Most hip-hop fans haven’t been able to take Kane seriously since this song and video came out.

1. LL Cool J “You’re My Heart”

This is not only the worst hip-hop ballad ever, but the worst song in LL Cool J’s catalog…. maybe even the worst song in all of hip-hop.

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10. Become A Pastor:

We’ve seen Harlem Word reppin’, “Horse N’ Carriage” bragging rappers turn from slinging crack and shuffling females to the bible.

I understand that the “almighty” is a forgiving god and he will rid you of your sins if you repent, but are we really buying this?

9. Say “Chea”

I really ABSOLUTELY do not know who started this, but saying “Chea,” at the end of every hot sentence is not only getting old but very annoying.

Here’s an example:

I think it gives them momentum!

8.Lie About Being A Drug King Pin

“I think I’m Big Meech” –(Didn’t your mom ever tell you to just be yourself?) Did he forget that 50 exposed his previous job as a Correctional Facility Officer? Wait maybe he was selling drugs to the inmates?!

7. Get Ridiculous Tattoos

Example: The Game’s Butterfly Tattoo.

He must be such the gentle Compton native. Why do rappers find the need to validate their  street cred. with foolish tattoos?

6. Act

There are a few rappers including Ice Cube and Queen Latifah that we actually like to see on the big screen and then there are the others…

Example:

This is probably the worse acting I have ever seen.

5. Endorse products for free.

I hope before Lloyd Banks made this song and video that he at least got a Beamer, Benz or Bentley for free; in the video for free at least!

Example:

FLY, did they throw you guys some Polo’s?

4. Dance

I’m not talking about the occasional two step or “Lean Back” but a full on- dance routine.

Example:

This is this most not-gangsta thing you can do.

3. Sing

Even though they can’t carry a tune to save their life, rappers still manage to auto-tune their way through drawn hooks, choruses and songs.

Example:(No not Kanye)
Yung Berg- Break You Off
I like the song, but Yung Berg should stick to getting his Koofey slapped off.

2. Make a terrible “come-back” diss record.

If you can’t think of anything good have someone write your comeback record for you.
Example:

“You dress so bad that we laughin at your a**” and “you’s a monkey you a orangatang, locked up yea i heard they called you chingeleng” is not going to cut it!

1. Commit crimes for no appearant reason and go to jail.

They say “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems” but these are some of the “problems” that shouldn’t occur. I thought when they said that, they meant issues with relationships, phony friends, groupies and or people. Why are rappers murdering people or buying guns big enough to arm a small military. Why jeopardize your career for the same thing you were trying to get away from?

Example:

Lil’ Wayne- In jail for criminal possession of a weapon

TI-Served a year and a day in jail for federal weapon charges.

T.I.’s Club Crucial May Lose Liquor License After Violent Incidents

Was The Source Magazine Right About These “Five Mic” Albums?

Bad Boy had a roster of artists most labels would die for including Mase, Total, Biggie, Faith Evans, Craig Mack,112, G-Dep, Black Rob and The Lox. Bad Boy sold over 65 million records with these artists alone!

And then there was The Roc! Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek, Amil, Beanie Siegel, Freeway, DJ Clue, and Cam’ron all threw up the signature “diamond.”

Bad Boy had Biggie while the Roc had Jay, both labels had one of the best rappers ever. Bad Boy has Diddy and Roc-a-fella had Dame Dash. Diddy coined the “shiny-suit” era and Dame changed fashion with Rocawear.

Both labels were trendsetters but who did it bigger and better?

Batting for Bad Boy:
Biggie – Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems

112 – Cupid

Mase – Tell Me What You Want

Faith Evans – You Used To love Me

Craig Mack – Flava In Ya Ear Remix

Total – Kissing You

The Lox – Money, Power, Respect

Batting For Roc-A-Fella:
Memphis Bleek – Do My

Jay-Z & Amil- Do It Again

Jay-Z & Amil- Can I Get A

Jay-z & Memphis Bleek- Hey Papi

Freeway – What We Do

Memphis Bleek – Is That Yo Chick?

Jay-Z & Amil – Jigga What, Jigga Who

We all love Jay-Z but in this case Diddy takes the cake with his Bad Boy hits.

THROWBACK :90′s Spring Time Hits

Mase is back with in a new video by French Montana. French Montana is a a rapper who raps about drugs and violence and is always involved in beefs with other rappers. He is known as being the sidekick for former Dipset affiliate, Max B. who is currently serving 30 years in prison.

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Rapper Says Mase Took From His Congregation To Fund Rap Career

Star & Buc Wild: Mase Is Hip-Hop’s Most Confused & Contradictary Cornball

From YoRaps.com

A former member of Pastor Mase’s congregation is striking out against his former church leader with claims of gross dishonesty and betrayal in a new song.

Articulated through his song Eviction, an artist named Legacy The Jesus has come forward with shocking allegations about Mase.
“That’s the biggest problem man,” Legacy said of Mase’s decision to return to the game under his old moniker “Murda Mase.”  “Because I believed in his vision because I was an artist myself and I always thought it’d be great if we had somebody to get co-signed by these major artists out there and come out, and even though you amongst them, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to represent what they represent. And you can do it respectfully. He didn’t have to bash. I saw and believed in what he was doing. Oh, he got 50 co-signing. That’s what’s up … and he telling the church we gonna do this. We’re gonna do that but then you go back to Murda Mase.”

“For me, I’m an investor dog,” he continued, airing out Mase’s alleged shady ways when it came to getting money from church members. ”Because I’m sewn into your ministry, you pulling us in the back room asking us to help fund your music projects because he didn’t have his label situation yet. So he literally asking people from the church to support that so I’m an investor at this point … you understand. And if you taking my money to do something contrary to what you told me then we got a problem. We got to sit back at the roundtable and talk about what your motives are.”

“What I mean by that is instead of doing what he told the church he was going to do, he went back to being loyal to what his fan base originally supported Mase for. As an artist, when you come out a certain way, your fan base expects you to make them kind of records because they bought into the old Mase. When he tried to transform into the new Mase, he didn’t have enough faith or whatever it was to carry out the assignment, so he thought he had to go back to the old Mase to regain his fan base,” he explained. ”So really, he chose his fan base over the church and you telling us you’re going to do something and that’s why most people leave churches bro because they start making their pastor to be God. No pastor is God, no man is perfect but you’re held to a standard. So if you say you’re going to do something as a pastor, as a lawyer, as a doctor … whatever your profession, you got to do it and he didn’t do that so that’s what I meant by that.”

“Yeah, that’s why most people leave churches behind,” he replied. “You can’t tell me dog, ‘Hey man, be faithful to your wife’ and I’m your pastor but I see you in the strip club with 5 hoes on your lap and your high. That’s a false prophet. You’re not living by what you’re saying and people can take that out of context and that is what it is. I don’t expect Mase to be perfect but I definitely expect him to live by what he’s saying. You can’t go out there doing that bro because people get deceived.”

“It became a hustle for Mase after a while dog. I can’t and I won’t say too much in the interview because I want to make sure people understand they got to follow the music. I don’t want to take away any interest from my projects and stuff but a lot of stuff will be said.  But what I will say is that it became almost like a hustle after a while where he was gauging who he would talk to based around how much they were giving, that’s a problem for me,” he added. “Because all throughout the Bible, there were people who had the least but gave the most. It’s easy for a dude with a million dollars to give a thousand. It’s hard for a dude with a hundred dollars to give 30. It don’t matter how much you give. The point is that person was giving out of what he had and for you to gauge your conversations based around the amount of people giving, that’s a problem so that’s what I meant.”

Read The Whole Story

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Diddy Releases Mase From Contract? Not Quite…

Star & Buc Wild: Mase Is Hip-Hop’s Most Confused & Contradictary Cornball

Our girl Missinfo has been keeping us up on these alleged release papers that Diddy signed at a radio station interview recently.

“Atlanta blogger K.I.M. of Shuddup.com (spotted on GyantUnplugged) got the scoop on Mase going up to the Ryan Cameron show in Atlanta while Diddy and Dirty Money were there….Mase brought some sort of paperwork with him, and actually got Puff to sign them right there…purportedly releasing Mase from his Bad Boy contract. The same contract that Puff wanted 2 million dollars for during Mase’ brief stint with G-unit?..”

Turns out that that it was actually an appearance release form that allows Mase to appear on other artist’s records. Hey, it’s a start. Go to Missinfo.tv for the full scoop.

Mase Makes Puff Release Him In The Middle of V103′s Ryan Cameron Show from shudduptv on Vimeo.

Pastor Mason Betha is back (?) Let us know what you think of this new one “Thinkin About You” spotted on Nahright.com.

BTW, what exactly does he mean when he says he’ll “Prince Diane” you?  Treat you like royalty or…drive your car into a brick wall?  I mean, he was called Murder Mase once upon a time.

Umjusaskin…

Mase and Jim Jones End Beef

Star & Bucwild Call Ma$e A Fraud

VIA DX:

After the tragic passing of singer Michael Jackson, Harlem rapper Mase has found himself once again inspired to return to the world of Hip Hop.

“Mike passed away and it just lit the fire in me — it made me go in the studio and do something. I’m excited,” Mase told Power 105.1′s DJ Self. “I asked my nephew who is the hottest thing out there and he said, “Drake!’ When I listened to his music I said, ‘I’m going to jump on this joint.’”

During his appearance on DJ Self’s radio show, which took place on June 26, Mase also aired his remix to Drake’s “Best I Ever Had.” The remix is Mase’s first release in five years.

When asked if his “Best I Ever Had” remix marks his return to music, Mase responded “I’ve got things up my sleeves, I just need someone to play them.” During Mase’s interview, Harlem rapper Jim Jones who has had disagreements with Mase in the past phoned in with his support.

“I tip my hat to you,” said Jim Jones. “This is monumental and it’s nothing but love.”

In 2005, Mase hinted at joining G-Unit and possibly releasing an album on G-Unit Records in a radio interview with Shade 45′s G-Unit Radio.

Needless to say the album was never released.

Mason Betha called in to New York’s Power 105.1 to discuss working with Drake and expresses his love forboth Cam’ron and Jim Jones. Mase, a Harlem native, was once in a group with Cam’ron and the late Big L called Children Of The Corn.

Mase and Dipset had a falling out in 2004 over $50,000 that Mase allegedly requested for appearing in one of Cam’ron’s videos (more details on that here.)

While conducting the interview with DJ Self Jim Jones phoned in.