I’m glad I invested in one of my own. This is sure to grow the Xbox into a media hub.  Warner Music Group is now feeding music videos to the Xbox Live Marketplace, part of a continued content partnership with Microsoft.  With this agreement, Warner can take advantage of Microsoft’s music platform and provide gamers what they want: music videos from their favorite artists that can be downloaded quickly and easily. 

The Marketplace already has a considerable collection of video content, including films and television shows.  Other content partners include Paramount Pictures, CBS, TBS, MTV Networks, UFC, NBC, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.  That collection is designed to complement the gaming experience.  Regarding the future, Microsoft promised to “reinvent home entertainment from the inside out” starting this fall, though specifics on the plan were withheld. 

As I was listening to the radio this morning, I heard people calling in about how African Americans put a lot of emphasis on clothes, cars, and other possessions, and how hip hop is an influencing factor. Initially I began to get upset.  But when I started thinking about it, its true.  We put so much emphasis on our prized possessions and into material things, and our youth can’t even read and write. 

As a cultural movement, hip-hop manages to get billed as both a positive and negative influence on young people, especially on African American youth. On one hand, there are African American activists, artists and entrepreneurs, such as Russell Simmons, who seek to build a progressive movement among young hip-hop fans. On the other hand, there’s no shortage of critics who don’t agree with the negative portrayals of Black people, especially women, in hip-hop lyrics and videos.

Most hip-hop music portrays African Americans in a negative light through its lyrics touching on tales of black on black violence, alcohol abuse, and drug related crimes. Granted, most of us have lived through or know people who are going through these situations, but do we actually want to re-live those details, or worst, be defined by them?  Shouldn’t we want to show how we have overcome? Or how we have progressed?

By no means am I condemning hip-hop. I love it, and often times succumb to the very lyrics that I am writing about.  However, it bothers me that we have the leading HIV/AIDS rate in the United States, and how most urban cities and towns have high crime rates.  So what do we do?

I am not trying to spark a NEGATIVE debate.  But here at MMIM we love music!!! Music is our life.  We write about the positive aspects of music, because we don’t like to touch on the negative.  But its out there.

We want to hear your opinions.  What is the future of our music? And what is the future of our youth who love music just as much as we do and are heavily influenced by it? Where do we go from here? 

The staff of MMIM would like to thank all of you that came out and showed support at our recent event. My Mood is Music launch party took place this past Thursday at Pure Lounge in Washington DC. If you check under the photo gallery, there are a few pics. If you missed this one, don’t worry, there will be more in the future from MMIM!

Thanks for all of your support!

L to R (Kimrene, Tanyabinspired, Kimesha, Ebonynicole)

Percy Miller, a.k.a. Master P, is launching a cable network “Better Black Television,” which will focus on the positive TV shows and other content for the African American culture.

BBTV, is set to launch in 2009, and will air a wide range of news programming, drama and comedy series, movies, animation, reality, politics, sports and entertainment news, children’s educational and teen programming, and of course “responsible hip-hop music and videos.” 

Master P released a statement saying that he has always had a vision for his new cable network.  “I believe that there is a market in our community for a new diverse network that provides a new brand of superior programming that caters to all aspects of television, from reality to original programming,” he said.

Jerry Wexler, the influential Atlantic Records producer who coined the term “rhythm and blues” before helping shape the music into one of the most powerful musical forces of the 1950s all the way to the ‘70s, died this morning at his home in Sarasota, Fla after a long battle with heart disease. He was 91.
Wexler helped a lot of black aspiring artists achieve their goals of sharing their talents with the world. He helped such artists like Aretha Franklin be crowned the “Queen of Soul,” He produced several hits for Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, and the Drifters and also later, working with rock performers to include Bob Dylan, whose album back in 1979 “Slow Train Coming” earned him his first Grammy.

In those times, if you weren’t Louis Armstrong or the Mills Brothers, the major labels didn’t want to deal with you. They didn’t want to deal with R&B because they didn’t understand it. Jerry had the street toughness to survive in that environment, but he also had such wonderful taste, and a deep appreciation for the artistry of Ray Charles and Solomon Burke.

He loved the music and lived the music. He lived the rhythm and blues. . . His greatest job was being the ears of Atlantic Records’ R&B division.

Wexler’s efforts at Atlantic helped bring black music to the masses, and in so doing, built a significant and lasting bridge between the races.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki1mrk--EGE]

Case is back on the scene…You remember Case. “Touch me Tease Me” Case, “Faded Picture” Case. Yes…he’s back. Gracing us after seven-year absence Case is set to release “The Rose Experience”, which will be his 4th album. “The Rose Experience” will be released on his own “Indigo Blue Imprint” label.

This is his new single “Lovely” which I love. Case still holds his distinctive sound; I am looking forward to his album which I know that it will be as Lovely as the last.