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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > February > 09
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Atlantans’ hit songs explained in L.A.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LOS ANGELES - Funny things happen on the way to hit records.
Gwen Stefani passed on an earlier incarnation of Fergie’s pop smash “Glamorous” - over and over again. But Atlanta producer Polow Da Don remained confident about its potential, and eventually won big as a part of Fergie’s multiplatinum solo debut.
Da Don got a similar response early on about “Runaway Love”. People liked the track, but no one would guarantee it would be a single. That is until Ludacris’s manager and business partner Chaka Zulu heard it- and before Ludacris recorded one line on it, declared “This is going to get us our Grammy”.
(The CD “Runaway Love” - with R&B’s Mary J. Blige - was featured on went on to win Grammy’s rap album of the year statue. And it was “Runaway” that they performed, with soul greats Earth, Wind and Fire, at that same ceremony).
Producer Rodney Jerkins didn’t have trouble selling people on the strength of Brandy and Monica’s single “The Girl Is Mine”. It was actually recording the song that was the exercise.
According to Jerkins, Brandy and Atlantan Monica - both teen R&B dynamos at the time - had to be separated on occasion. Also, it was originally supposed to be Brandy featuring Monica; and it ended up being billed Brandy AND Monica. “I even had to cut down ad-libs so that each one had the same number,” he said. (In the end though, that No. 1 tune won the singers their first and only Grammys thus far.
Those were some of the many stories shared at BMI’s second annual “How I Wrote That Song” panel, moderated by BMI’s Atlanta-based vice president of writer/publisher relations, Catherine Brewton, and the Los Angeles Times chief pop music critic, Ann Powers.
Grammy nominee Chris Daughtry, Grammy winner Ben Moody of Evanescence, R&B singer-songwriter Anthony Hamilton, rapper Fat Joe and three members of the rock band Hinder rounded out the packed panel discussion at Sunset Avenue’s Key Club.
Before the event started, Daughtry shared that he’s just completed recordings with two Atlanta acts - rockers Sevendust and contemporary Christian act Third Day. “I’ve got a lot of ties to Atlanta,” he said. “Not to mention it seems like I’ve played their eight times this year alone. [Laughs] I get their a lot. And I appreciate Atlanta’s support.”
Alright Atlantans, since you’ve been so helpful to Mr. Daughtry and the like, weigh in in this: Which of his songs would you guess has an interesting story behind them? For that matter, which of any of the panelists’ songs would you like to know the origin of? Did you know that his breakthrough single “Home” was actually written at his home, years before he would know the pangs he sings about of being on the road?
Poolside at the Vanity Fair/Louis Vuitton luncheon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LOS ANGELES - You know you’re in L.A. when…
1) The stars actually deign to come out at a daylight hour- depending on how high-profile the occasion is. Apparently Vanity Fair’s annual Grammy weekend party - this year, with Louis Vuitton - qualified, as actress Taraji Henson, actor Larenz Tate, pop singer Nelly Furtado, BET and radio personality Big Tigger and Grammy-nominated R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo were all spotted around the pool at West Hollywood’s notorious hotel, Chateau Marmont.
And sitting underneath the prime, corner cabana was entertainment legend Quincy Jones. Next to him, Atlanta rapper-actor Ludacris (honored at Vanity Fair’s fete this time last year) and his new Disturbing Tha Peace artist, Steph Jones.
“I love to see Atlanta(ns) travel,” remarked Ludacris. “You can find us anywhere - poolside in L.A., on the pop charts, over in Africa, always with the southern hospitality baby!”
2) At the first entrance into the party - after your name has been checked off on the clipboard- you are given a handsome gold card with Vanity Fair and Louis Vuitton on it, only to hand it to a gentleman only steps away.
3) Stationed along the winding walkway towards the actual site of the party, there are several well-dressed and bulking men with those curling Secret Service cords in one ear.
4) Once you’ve finally arrived at the party itself, you notice there are as many high-heeled, half-naked women as there are men with wool jackets and ties and scarves wrapped around their neck. (Cough, cough - Ne-Yo). And it was a near scorcher around noon pacific coast time.
And 5) The loneliest person working is the woman behind the long table of breads and pastries. “Carbs just aren’t that popular here,” she remarked.
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Atlanta’s Jermaine Dupri Partying in L.A.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
LOS ANGELES - Let’s just start off talking about what everyone at Atlanta music mogul Jermaine Dupri’s pre-Grammy party Friday is probably STILL talking about.
It was a certain paparazzi-swarmed twosome at Hollywood’s Central Hollywood Lounge. And it was NOT Dupri and longtime girlfriend Janet Jackson. (Again, they’ve been together a long time now).
No, the surprise of the evening was Michael Strahan of this year’s Super Bowl-winning New York Giants showing up at the So So Def/Island Records event with Eddie Murphy’s ex-wife Nicole.
The former wife of the Oscar nominee hung back on the red carpet, silently, as a beaming Strahan addressed the compact throng of media. “I’m still celebrating, having a great time,” he said.
Meanwhile, inside Central Hollywood, Dupri and Jackson were still making their way into their roped-off section of the intimate club. Before their arrival, a Courvoisier brand was projected on one wall overhead, and a burning fireplace on another.
But when Dupri - a recent endorser of the cognac - entered hand-in-hand with his superstar girlfriend, the fireplace projection was replaced with a looping commercial for Boost Mobile, which he also endorses.
(WATCH IT HERE)
Ands just in case you weren’t aware of those business deals, there were pillows on the sofas with Boost Mobile printed on them to inform you. Waitresses were walking around handing out free shots of Courvoisier Exclusif - available to the general public this spring. And CV Exclusif Cosmos, Brown Sugars and Strawberry Lemonades were also complimentary at the bar.
DJ Felli Fel was just as savvy: When rapper Fat Joe walked in he jumped into “We’re Takin’ Over” by DJ Khaled, one of Joe’s artists. When ’90s R&B superstar Bobby Brown’s brother Tommy entered, Fel played Brown’s “My Prerogative”. And when Strahan and the ex-Mrs. Eddie Murphy joined actor Wendell Pierce (“The Wire,” “Life Support”) and Atlanta’s singer-songwriter Johnta Austin, movie and video director Bryan Barber and Chocolate Soul founder Will G what should the DJ have dropped on the turntables?
Perhaps Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights”.
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