Whether you like hip-hop music or not, you should watch and appreciate this French rap video. For those who don't understand French, this song is about discrimination and racism issues in France. Kery James, the french "lyricist" (for me, he's more than a rapper) who sings this tune is known for his social and political commitment. He used to write positive songs full of meaning, and this new one is no exception. To summarize, Kerry James addresses his lyrics to the "second France", to those who used to be discriminated. He's asking them to be proud, taking their life in their own hands, and rather than excepting everything from the State or the government they have to be motivated and brave to achieve their goals. As you may suppose, I like this kind of message, this is the genuine and deep soul of hip-hop...it is what hip hop should be. Beyond the impact of the lyrics, the video of this song uses strong and symbolic images which really fit the message. This video that puts the spotlight on people from this "second France" who manage to become someone, despite all the barriers and the hardships they face, is a very positive way (maybe one of the best) to encourage the youngsters from french subburbs - "les banlieusards" - to follow their examples...
Tag - music
Monday 4 February 2008
No one is doomed to failure...
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Monday 4 February 2008, 21:14 - Philosophy
Thursday 3 January 2008
Record industry is changing its mind... at last!
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Thursday 3 January 2008, 01:57 - Music
In 2007, Steve jobs, the Apple CEO, wrote an open letter
about the record industry issues (Thoughts on music, February 6, 2007). His
conclusion was pragmatic and rather audacious at this time. To struggle
efficiently piracy and sustain the growth of online music sales it's necessary
to "abolish DRM entirely".
This prophetic statement has been followed (some months after) with the lauching of iTunes Plus consists in selling songs from EMI's catalog (one of the big 4 labels) without any DRM. This first step was a real success and had to make the other big labels think more again about a necessary new strategy.
This year the dream of a "world where every online store sells DRM-free" is about to come true. Indeed, all the big four (WARNER, UNIVERSAL, EMI and very recently SONY-BMG) have decided to abolish gradually the technical restrictions which bother the digital & legal music market.
However this (r)evolution is going to achieve without the visionary Steve Jobs and his famous iTunes store. Probably bored by the arrogant leadership of Apple on the digital music market, three of the big four labels (Warner, Universal & EMI - to a lesser extent) have decided to go without iTunes store to experiment the sale of DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats (MP3).
So, they choose an iTunes challenger to launch their new strategy, the first real competitor which would able to threaten its share market. Its name is : Amazon Mp3. So, after so many attempts, 2008 could be the year when the Apple iTunes store could lose its monopoly. The famous entertainment online store (high tech and media store) has got almost everything to manage to shatter the music business of Apple.
3 millions songs without DRM in its catalog (when iTunes offers 6 millions songs but "only" 2 millions DRM-free), encoded in MP3, the most popular digital audio format compatible with all music players (whereas Apple has chosen AAC ; better audio quality but "almost" only compatible with the iPod), at a very competitive prices : from 89 cents a song and from $5.99 to $9.99 for most albums. Isn't interesting?
Update : Amazon Mp3 starts to sell songs from Sony-BMG this month. Bad time for iTunes, but this is an excellent thing for customers.
If you want discover other online shops which sell DRM-free music at good prices or even totally free, take a look to the following challengers :
Thursday 20 December 2007
Go back in the 80's... with Snoop Dogg
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Thursday 20 December 2007, 16:59 - Music
Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction
So cool and so fresh... I'm a old school music fan that is probably the
reason why I LOVE so much this song. Good job Snoop, you're already a legend.
Now watch and appreciate this amazing "funky" video which sounds like a
tribute to Roger troutman. Before I forget, have you noticed
the strange instrument that Snoop has sometimes in his mouth? It's a
talkbox which change human voice into a robot voice.
Saturday 15 December 2007
Widen your culture with Liveplasma
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Saturday 15 December 2007, 01:45 - Music
Created by a French developper :-), Liveplasma is really a great concept which deserves to be known. Introduced as a discover engine, this website allows you to discover new songs, artists, movies, drectors, etc... basing on your own tastes in a quick and smart way. Just type the title of your favourite artist in the search bar, and the search engine will display a visual universe of artists who are considered more or less closed to your favourite. As said the developper of Liveplasma, Frederic Vavrille, "the closer a artist or a band is closed to your favourite the greater the chances are that you will like it." In addition, "The halo around a band represents its popularity ; the wider it is, the more popular or representative of a certain style of music it is".
Moreover, Liveplasma is also linked to the entertainment on-line shop, Amazon, since for each result research you will find a list of products corresponding to what you probably like. So, by the way you will able to buy directly albums and DVDs from the "map" generated by Liveplasma according to your penchants. Liveplasma has also many other features. The best you have to do : try it.
Simple, free and ingenious, Liveplasma is definitively
a very good idea and can help you to find a Christmas present
for your friends and your family which will trully be able to please
them.
Liveplasma : music, movies, search engine and discovery engine
Saturday 1 December 2007
The Record Industry Collapse
By Cédric Pierre-Louis on Saturday 1 December 2007, 01:32 - Music
Each year since 2002, when music sales began to drop, the RIAA (Recording
Industry Association of America) have released pessimistic and unsurprising
reports about the state of the « recording union » industry. This
group, which formed in 1952 to represent the interests of the recording
industry in the United States, consists of a large number of record labels and
distributors who produce and distribute about 90 % of recorded music sold in
the US (source
Wikipedia).
Unfortunately it has become unpopular, due to its current « witch hunt » against piracy which caused more than twenty thousand lawsuits in these last years, the RIAA has argued that P-2-P is the principal reason why music sales decline and considers most web surfers as potential pirates. This institution is also one of the most active pro-DRM lobbies. However this digital rights management dramatically limits the use and enjoyment of digital songs, and therefore is clearly the main cause to why the legal downloading services don't manage to reach the growth they deserve.
To my mind and not only mine, The RIAA like most other entities which defend their national record industry, go the wrong way in their struggle with the music industry crisis. They seem to misunderstand the new trends which shatter the world music industry and certainly go after the wrong person.