Skateboard P's Workout Plan

The man who reduced Madonna to tears while helping her reinvent her sound stays fit while many other produces seem to gain pound after pound. A recent interview was done with rapper/producer Pharrell Williams at Guardian UK. In the interview, Pharrell discusses his new found love of F1 Racing, how music and sports relate, which sport has influenced him most (hint hint nickname), and how he stays in shape. Here's a brief excerpt from Pharrell's interview: There's a ridiculous amount of energy on stage and, since we're touring right now, that's my work-out. Otherwise, I just try to stay off the Pop Tarts, the Mentos and the Gummy Bears. Shay [N.E.R.D's drummer] tries to get me on the bike for 40 minutes a day, but it never works. Anyway, I see him sneaking off to McDonald's, so I can't take it seriously. P goes on to discuss meeting an F1 racing star and becoming good friends, making F1 his most watched sport these days. The frontman for N.E.R.D. always stays active and despite all the Ice Cream, has maintained his slim rapper figure. Read Guardian UK's full interview piece here.

N.E.R.D. vs. Lil' Wayne Reviews

Two huge albums dropped last week with Lil' Wayne's Tha Carter III and N.E.R.D.'s Seeing Sounds. While one is more of an alternative hip hop/rock album, the other is straight hip hop but many are calling these albums the best from both artists. Some have even gone as far as to call Lil Wayne's a classic and one of the best rap albums in years (Don't forget Jay-Z's American Gangster in that convo) . Wayne sold over 400,000 copies of his work on Day 1 and is expected to come close to the million mark. Both albums included catchy and clever tracks. The song "Spaz" has recently become a huge hit for N.E.R.D., while "Lollipop" became a smash for Wayne. Here's 3 recent reviews written of both artists' albums to help you decide to buy either, or both! Lil Wayne Tha Carter III reviews Tha Carter III review at Rolling Stone Tha Carter III review at Pitchforkmedia Tha Carter III review at Entertainment Weekly N.E.R.D. Seeing Sounds Reviews Seeing Sounds review at Rolling Stone Seeing Sounds review at Pitchforkmedia Seeing Sounds review at Entertainment Weekly Pick up Tha Carter III at Amazon.com! Pickup Seeing Sounds at Amazon.com!

Kanye's Tour & Sample Lawsuit

One of the must-see concerts of the summer is easily Kanye West's "Glow in the Dark Tour" which not only features West, but also R&B singer Rihanna, fellow rapper Lupe Fiasco, and the alt-rock band, N.E.R.D. New York Times recently gave a write up about the stage show by Kanye, praising it as Mr. West’s set was the most daring arena spectacle hip-hop has yet produced, and in some ways the best, even as it jettisoned standard hip-hop expectations. The rhymes, the beats and the narcissism were there; the block-party spirit and sense of community were not. Until the encore Mr. West had no human company on the arena stage. The Chicago Tribune also jumped on the spaceship, with a recent Leisure blog discussing the concert. In the blog's review, they discuss how this seems almost like a one-man play with Kanye singing, dancing and rapping on the Space Odyssey style stage. West rapped, sang and danced himself into a sweat-soaked frenzy, the veins popping from his neck, his arms flailing. He even did a few push-ups. The songwriter-producer portrayed himself as hip-hop’s answer to Jean-Paul Sartre: an existentialist whose narrative was abetted by cosmic video and smoke machines, and salted with references to Samuel Beckett, Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” The Tribne blog mentions that it would have been better if Kanye left the song "Homecoming" out of his encore tracks, and suggests that with Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell and Kanye all present, they would have done well to perform their collab "Us Placers". Sources: Ego-Fueled Hip-Hop Sci-Fi Space Odyssey @ New York Times Kanye West takes a one-man trip to dark side of the moon @ Chicago Tribune's Leisure blogs In other news, Kanye West is among several rappers being sued for illegal use of samples. "Upon the Rock" by Joe Farrell is the song sample in question, and the lawsuit was brought by the late musician's daughter. The Farrell song was sampled for the following rap songs: Kanye West "Gone" Common "Chi-City" Method Man & Redman "Run 4 Cover". Read more at hiphop-elements.com

Seeing Sounds with NERD

Pharrell Williams, rapper and producer from the Neptunes, has produced for just about any radio or hip hop act you can imagine from Britney Spears to Bustah Rhymes to Lupe Fiasco and Jay-Z. Skateboard's P the certified hitmaker behind the smash "Drop it Like its Hot", Ludacris' "Moneymaker" and many many more recognizable tracks. On top of all that he's front man for the always imaginative and experimental alt-rock/hip-hop group known as N.E.R.D. Included with Pharrell in the group is Chad Hugo, also of Neptunes fame. The group's name is an acronym for "No One Ever Really Dies". N.E.R.D. currently is on tour with Kanye West for the "Glow in the Dark" tour, and is preparing for their next album, Seeing Sounds, set to release later this year, possibly October. According to the group's official website: N.E.R.D lies – in the time-warp, where boundaries and borders and linearity succumb to the openness of truth. Because in life, there are two paths to choose from but only one direction to go in – and you can either Fly or Die. Previous hits from the group have been Lapdance, Rock Star and She Wants to Move. As for their latest project, the first single is already out called "Everyone Nose (All the girls standing in line for the Bathroom)". The site TheClones has stated the album will drop in October and provides the following tracklist. Seeing Sounds Tracklist: 1. Intro 2. Everyone Nose 3. Spaz 4. Time For Some Action 5. Kill Joy 6. Anti Matter 7. Happy 8. Sooner or Later 9. Windows 10. Yeah You 11. You Know What 12. I Can't Get It Out My Head 13. Someday I'll Laugh About It 14. Laser Gun Carrying 15. Love Bomb As for subject, the title "Seeing Sounds" refers to the "reference to a neurological phenomenon called Synesthesia, where senses cross so a tone correlates to, say, a color". There's even a discussion of what that means exactly at Wikipedia. To sum it up, it's all about "seeing the music". According to Hollywood Insider at EW.com, Pharrell wrapped up work on an album with Madonna then got down to work on the NERD project, as he was "just waiting for the right sounds". Hopefully the sounds will be just right and fans will be seeing them soon. Seeing Sounds is available for pre-order at Amazon.com

Rihanna OK After Grammy Accident

The pop singer famous for "Umbrella", "SOS" and "Shut up and Drive" was in a minor car crash following Sunday night's Grammy Awards Show. According to People.com: "Pop star Rihanna found herself involved a minor accident while out to celebrate her first Grammy win. "A car bumped into the car [she] was in," a source tells PEOPLE. Rihanna's rep confims her car was hit, but said, "no one was injured ... all is fine." The accident happened outside of Entertainment Weekly's party in honor of Island Def Jam Chairman Antonio "LA" Reid in West Hollywood. LAPD and West Hollywood police were not made aware of the incident. Rihanna, who was a passenger in the vehicle, "got out of the car, and got into another after it happened," the source says." In other Rihanna news, the hip hop honey will be opening for Kanye West at an April 16th show in San Jose. It's the second date for Kanye's Glow in the Dark Tour, also featuring NERD. Kanye West Glow in the Dark Tour Dates

Kanye Glows in the Dark

(image from Kanye University City) Get your Flashing Lights ready, Kanye West has been touring with what is called the "Glow in the Dark Tour". It was announced back in May of 2007 and is currently finishing up in Europe. As seen on the concert poster above, R&B singer Rihanna and Superstar rapper, Lupe Fiasco, will be a part of the Canadian and US legs of the tour. It was also recently reported on Kanye's personal blog that the group N.E.R.D. will be joining the tour as well. NERD has been finishing up a third studio album after a hiatus of several years. According to FreshnessMag.com, "There are no official dates or what cities the tour will hit, but we can assume that the tour will start in the Spring and conclude in the Fall and will go through most major US cities". Head over to Kanye's University City blog to keep updated on the latest about this Kanye tour. You can join a Kanye fan club there as well to receive presale ticket offers. According to MTV.com when West isn't filming music videos, making music or doing tours, he enjoys playing Connect Four against stars like Beyonce. Find Kanye West songs at iTunes Store Music. Kanye West in the Studio: Beats Down! Money Up! The Studio Years (2000 - 2006)