The Filter

Tygapaw from the new documentary #Underplayed gives their thoughts on the representation of women in the EDM scene!

Tygapaw talks about telling the untold stories in Underplayed - speaking around the statistics that 97% of Electronic music artists are men, and while this isn't surprising - this is something that needs to be changed.

UNDERPLAYED is a documentary about gender inequality within the EDM music community. Filmmaker Stacey Lee along with several DJs from the film are available for interviews. 

Filmed during the 2019 music festival season, the film presents a portrait of the current status of the gender, ethnic, and sexuality inequality issues in electronic music. the film presents a portrait of the current status of equality issues in EDM through the lens of the female pioneers, next-generation artists, and industry leaders who are championing the change to inspire future generations. 

Watch  Underplayed on Crave in Canada!

Two and half decades have passed since The Notorious B.I.G. left us, so how is it his name is cemented in stone as one of the best rappers to ever grab a microphone? 

In an iHeartRadio #BlackExcellence exclusive, we’ll unpack what makes #TheNotoriousBIG the illest. 

DJ Starting From Scratch and DJ Grouch have created an all Notorious BIG mix exclusively available on the iHeartRadio App. If you are unfamiliar… Take a listen to who everyone regards as one of the best ever… And if you are familiar… Enjoy the nostalgia and remember why Biggie Smalls is the illest.

Check out the mix HERE: https://www.iheart.com/live/the-hit-mix-7553/ 

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Christopher Wallace AKA The Notorious B.I.G. was born May 21, 1972. Growing up as an only child, in a single parent household, Chris was exposed to Hip Hop among other things while growing up in Brooklyn New York. He was a standout student in school, excelling in English and this is where he’d catch the “BIG” moniker due to his weight. 

He found his voice as an MC in school, along with some other rappers you may have heard of: DMX, Busta Rhymes & Jay Z. 

While initially trying to balance school and the corner, it wasn’t long before the scale tipped towards hustling full. Biggie dropped out of high school at 17 and caught his first charge in that same year. He landed himself in jail for 9 months before making bail in 1990 and looking for a change. 

Following his release, Big created a demo tape to shop to labels as an attempt to get his life on track. The tape landed in the hands of Big Daddy Kane’s DJ… Who consequently got it into the editor’s hands at The Source magazine. In the March edition of the magazine, coincidentally enough, Biggie was featured in the Unsigned Hype section. At the time, The Source magazine was one of the most reputable brands within the culture. If it made The Source… It made a difference! 

Label executives & A&Rs would look to see who was in, meet and likely work on developing music. This is how The Notorious BIG ended up meeting the man that would change his life forever. Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs. Puff was an A&R for Uptown records, responsible for acts like Mary J Blige, Jodeci & now Notorious B.I.G. 

1993 was in fact a Big year for Biggie… He appeared on the remix of Mary J Blige’s “Real Love” & “What’s The 411”. He also dropped his 1st song “Party & Bullshit” in 93, which was made for the “Who’s the Man” soundtrack.

Puff Daddy was actually fired from Uptown not too long after signing Big which meant… Puff was gone but Biggie was still there. One week after being fired, Puff started Bad Boy records and Biggie had a decision to make… Stay with Uptown, which had a history of success or take a leap of faith, roll the dice and go with Puff.

The Notorious BIG was now the 2nd act signed to Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy records. As '94 rolled on, the momentum for Big kept getting stronger. Not only was he focused and ready to record his debut, he got married to Faith Evans, an R&B Singer and fellow Bad Boy recording artist.

Ready To Die was released Sept 13 1994. It featured hits like Big Poppa, One More Chance & Juicy giving him his first #1 on Billboard, his first platinum record and his first Grammy nomination in 1996. 

By the end of the year, Big was the top selling male artist on the Pop & R&B charts. 

While these milestones were being achieved, Biggie was in the studio working on his sophomore effort “Life After Death”. 

Life After Death was completed as a double disc and featured hit records Sky’s The Limit, Mo Money Mo Problems & Hypnotize. The first single Hypnotize was released on March 1 1997… 

The album was slated to be released on March 25… And The Notorious B.I.G. was taken from us on March 9. 

At 24 years old, The Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down after leaving a party in Los Angeles.

It's been 24 years since the death of The Notorious BIG…  We’re here to celebrate the life of The Notorious BIG. We’re here to celebrate the fact that to many, he is the greatest rapper ever. 

DJ Starting From Scratch and DJ Grouch have created an all Notorious BIG mix exclusively available on the iHeartRadio App. If you are unfamiliar… Take a listen to who everyone regards as one of the best ever… And if you are familiar… Enjoy the nostalgia and remember why Biggie Smalls is the illest.

Check out the mix HERE: https://www.iheart.com/live/the-hit-mix-7553/

It's #InternationalWomensDay!

We can’t talk about strong women without talking about Beyoncé. It is a big week for  Beyoncé because she is leading the #Grammys nominations for this Sunday with nine. She is also nominated twice in the same category for Record of the Year which has only happened once before when Pharrell Williams was nominated seven years ago. This is also her 7th time being nominated in that category so she now ties Frank Sinatra for the most nominations for record of the year. Her husband isn’t doing so bad either. 

Jay-Z has three nominations, which puts him in a tie with Quincy Jones who has the most Grammy nominations in history and their daughter Blue Ivy received her first nomination for the music video for Brown Skin Girl and if she wins, she will become the youngest Grammy winner in history. 

Beyoncé on Saturday posted a special video tribute to a young superfan who lost her battle with cancer.

Lyric Chanel, who battled anapaestic ependymoma – a rare cancer of the central nervous system – died last Friday at 13.

In a video featuring photos and video clips of Chanel, Beyoncé sings an a cappella medley of “Brown Skin Girl,” “Halo” and “Love on Top.” She finishes by saying “I love you with all of my heart.”

#TaylorSwift has been announced as one of the performers for this Sunday’s show. She was announced along side other major artists like Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Megan The Stallion, Cardi B and Doja Cat. She is also up for 6 awards including Album fo the Year for Folklore. 

Alessia Cara is a woman that makes us proud to be Canadian. She made the country proud last night with her beautiful rendition of the national anthem ahead of the NBA All Star Game. Because of the pandemic she pre-recorded her performance in Toronto inside fo the Scotiabank Arena. 

Someone who always reminds us not to give in to trolls is Lizzo, who responded to someone in an IG live about what it's like to be living as obese and she responded in a great way.

Articles by John R. Kennedy: 

https://www.iheartradio.ca/news/taylor-swift-among-grammy-night-performers-1.14728763 

https://www.iheartradio.ca/news/taylor-swift-donates-40k-so-teen-can-attend-university-1.13280637 

https://www.iheartradio.ca/news/watch-alessia-cara-sings-o-canada-at-nba-all-star-game-1.14729076 

TAYLOR SWIFT HELPS UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO STUDENT WITH A $6000 DONATION

by Bonnie Heslop https://www.iheartradio.ca/610cktb/news/taylor-swift-helps-university-of-waterloo-student-with-a-6000-donation-1.9754996 

Watch New Episodes of #TheFilter Twice every week!!

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This is Pop's Amanda Burt calls in to talk to Shannon Burns about the Power of pop music!

 

CTV’s new docu-series THIS IS POP uncovers the power of pop music over the past 70 years by diving deep into the most game-changing moments for the industry.

 

The first instalment, debuting Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on CTV, explores the good, the bad, and the ugly of the pitch-correction technology that revolutionized music: Auto-Tune. The episode shares personal accounts from Auto-Tune inventor Dr. Andy Hildebrand, Ken Scott (producer and engineer for The Beatles and David Bowie), Auto-Tune’s most famous user T-Pain, and more!

Framing Britney Spears Director and Producer Samantha Stark and Senior Story Editor Liz Day call in for an Interview with iHeartRadio's Shannon Burns about the story they set out to tell in their documentary, and how it ended up being so different during the filming process. 

Liz talks about the extreme and unique situation Britney Spears is in, called a Conservatorship, and how that intrigued her the most to tell this story. 

Samantha talks about how as they were filming, more and more information about the Conservatorship came to light and they felt more licensed to explore this story. 

Samantha talks about what it was like telling this story with a majority female crew, and how important it was to them to do so. 

Liz and Samantha about how she feels the all women crews changed the atmosphere and helped people talk more openly about misogyny - both men and women.

Liz and Samantha talk about how ethically difficult it was to tell this story with so many perspectives except Britney's herself. 

Samantha talks about how they decided that from the beginning they were never going to assume what is in Britney's head. 

Shannon shares her favourite part of the documentary and Samantha talks about what it is like talking to people who don't realize how complicit they were. 

Liz talks about how being complicit is what really inspired her to tell this story, and how the most gratifying part of the documentary is seeing people reckon with those feelings. 

Finally Liz talks about  how much was cut from this documentary and the potential for more.

 

Framing Britney Spears is available on Crave in Canada!

Maroon 5 just released Beautiful Mistakes with Megan Thee Stallion and when discussing the new song with Zane Lowe, Adam Levine talked about the fact that he feels like there aren’t as many bands in music as there used to be. He said: 

“It’s funny, when the first Maroon 5 album came out there were still other bands. I feel like there aren’t any bands anymore, you know? There’s no bands anymore, and I feel like they’re a dying breed. And so I kind of, in a weird way, as far as … I mean, there still are plenty of bands, and maybe they’re not in the limelight quite as much, or in the pop limelight, but I wish there could be more of those around.” 

With the release of the documentary Framing Britney Spears, we have been reminded just how horrible artists were treated by interviewers, the media and the public not even that long ago. 

Paris Hilton is speaking out about she was very much a victim of this as well. 

She recently talked in her podcast about an interview with David Letterman where he asked her about her time in jail even though she asked not to discuss that prior to the interview taking place. 

There is another clip from an interview with radio hosts Opie and Anthony that Paris Hilton posted on her Instagram which shocked a lot of people as well. 

The hosts ridiculed her for being a business woman and a model, cutting her off and telling her to stop talking when she explained that she worked for everything she has achieved. She commented on the interview in her caption saying, 

“I will never forget the feeling I felt in that room. It’s something I had to go through on too many occasions. It makes me so angry and sad to watch. Sad that I had to continue to put on a brave face and be polite while hurting so much inside. And then at the end of the video to insult me and call me that after what they did to me?! Unbelievable! I am strong and brave now and I will never put up with this again. And I hope by having these conversations it could be an inspiration to other girls & women to not stand for this. And for the people behaving this way to be put in check and to help stop this from happening to anyone else.”

Kings of Leon are doing something with their new album that is very new for bands to do. They are releasing their new album tomorrow as an NFT which stands for non-fungible tokens. 

NFTs can be anything digital, such as drawings, photos, and in this case an album. The group is going to be releasing their new album “When You See Yourself” with a vinyl and digital download for a token for $50. After two weeks no more of these tokens will be made. 

Megan Thee Stallion had a big day yesterday because on top of her new collaboration with Maroon 5, it was also announced that she is part of a new Calvin Klein ad campaign. Megan said being part of the campaign is like a full circle moment for her since she has been a fan of Calvin Klein since she was a kid

Drake announced Thursday morning that he is dropping Scary Hours 2 at midnight!

David Letterman

The Late Show With David Letterman

CBS 2007

Paris Hilton Shares Opie and Anthony 2011 Interview: https://www.instagram.com/p/CL8X5rlnkXY/  

Drake Announces New Music is Coming by John R. Kennedy: https://www.iheartradio.ca/news/drake-announces-new-music-is-coming-1.14700219 

Megan Thee Stallion Appears In Calvin Klein CampaignBy John R. Kennedy: https://www.iheartradio.ca/news/megan-thee-stallion-appears-in-calvin-klein-campaign-1.14699798 

Kings of Leon Will Be the First Band to Release an Album as an NFT by Megan Hissong March 3, 2021 https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/kings-of-leon-when-you-see-yourself-album-nft-crypto-1135192/  

Adam Levine Quotes from Apple Music Interview with Zane Lowe

Watch New Episodes of #TheFilter Every Monday and Thursday!

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Matt Followill calls in to talk to iHeartRadio's Jason about their new album "When You See Yourself". 

He talks about the interesting way they integrated fans into the process of announcing a new album. Matt talks about the connection their fans have with the band. 

Matt talks about their single "The Bandit" and what fans can expect to hear from the album. 

He talks about creating music in the pandemic, and what it was like waiting to release new music during a pandemic. 

Matt talks about how this album has been done for over a year. He talks about what it will be like to get back to touring. 

He talks about the next single, "100,000 People" and the fan integration around it.

Finally Matt talks about what they are doing to help the out of work road crew, during this time. 

Listen to Kings of Leon on the iHeartRadio App: https://www.iheart.com/artist/kings-of-leon-116684/

Taylor Swift and her fans are coming for the Netflix show Ginny and Georgia after there was a line in the show that said “What do you care? You go through men faster than Taylor Swift.” 

People were quick to jump to the defence of Taylor, calling out the show and Netflix for using an outdated and sexist joke that is slut shaming at the expense of Taylor Swift. 

A similar joke was used on the Netflix show Degrassi: Next Class where a line said “Taylor Swift made an entire career off of exes.” 

Taylor Swift has responded. She said said in a tweet “Hey Ginny & Georgia, 2010 called and it wants its lazy, deeply sexist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse s*** as FuNnY. Also, Netflix, after Miss Americana this outfit doesn’t look cute on you. Happy Women’s History Month I guess.” 

Artists are calling out a German radio show host made jokes and racist comments about BTS. The radio station Bayern 3 played BTS’ cover of Fix You by Coldplay and then referred to the song as “blasphemy” and called the group “some crappy virus that hopefully there will be a vaccine for as well” 

They then said for this cover they will be “vacationing in North Korea for the next 20 years.” Fans were quick to defend the members of BTS and call out the radio station for their behaviour. 

Bayern 3 then released two statements addressing the comments. In the first statement he said that the host was giving his “personal opinion” and “overshot his choice of words.” 

Artists made comments about the situation as well. Halsey went to her Instagram stories to say "Racism and xenophobia cannot be thinly veiled as 'on air humor.' Irresponsible and disgusting statements in a time where hate speech and violent behavior towards Asian communities are skyrocketing. This is unacceptable. I hope a better apology to BTS, and the Asian communities across the world, is on its way."

Steve Aoki tweeted saying "I stand with @bts_BigHit to condemn hate of any kind and stop this kind of prejudice wherever we can. We must stand together. Spread love not hate."

Dan Reynolds from the group Imagine Dragons has donated his childhood home to a new campaign called $8 million, 8 Houses which is from Encircle which is a non profit that’s behind creating resource centres for LGBTQ+ youth in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.  

Dan made the announcement on Good Morning America with Apple CEO Tim Cook and Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith. Dan has donated his childhood home in Las Vegas that is worth $1 million. The house is going to be a supportive home for LGBTQ+ young that need it. 

Articles by John R. Kennedy: https://www.iheartradio.ca/news/dan-reynolds-donates-home-to-lgbtq-youth-1.14680032 

https://www.iheartradio.ca/news/taylor-swift-slams-netflix-series-over-deeply-sexist-joke-1.14681574 

German radio station apologizes for comment on K-pop’s BTS

By DAVID RISING February 26, 2021: https://apnews.com/article/germany-radio-apologizes-kpop-bts-058022ac915733eb7f86a4070cef3066  

Tim Cook, Dan Reynolds and Ryan Smith team up to support LGBTQ youth l GMA https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=328&v=P6dLSNE4_OA&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=GoodMorningAmerica  

Taylor Swift's Tweet to Netflix: https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1366401657685245955 

Watch New Episodes of #TheFilter Every Monday and Thursday!

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For this episode of #BlackExcellence iHeartRadio’s Jamar McNiel highlights just some of the reasons why Alicia Keys is #BlackExcellence. 

Keys started playing piano at age six and studied classical music and jazz. Her exposure to the music of Billie Holiday Ella Fitzgeral and Thelonius Monk as well as Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin explain her signature style of fusing the classical sound with Black Swag.  She wrote her first song at the age of 12 on the piano and shortly after She signed a record deal at 15. 

She had a rough start in her professional career. Creative disputes about her songs her look, her hair and her overall presentation made things difficult for her during her relationship with record label. She was able to get attention from the one and only Clive Davis who brought her over to his new label J Records where he allowed her to have creative control of her music and her likeness. Without that support, we might not have gotten the Alicia Keys with her urban wear and her signature Corn rows that let us know that this classic piano virtuoso was keeping it ALL THE WAY REAL

At 20, she released her debut album Songs in A Minor. It's one of my fav albums. A combo of Soul, Classical Piano, Neo Soul and BoomBap east coast hip hop. She’d been working on it since she was only 14. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and earned Keys five Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year for “Fallin’

Keys co-founded Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit organization that supports families with HIV and AIDS in Africa and India. In 2017, she was named  by Amnesty International, an award that also went to Canadian Indigenous rights activists.

Alicia Keys over came her rough environment of Hell’s Kitchen Manhattan and the tough pressures of the corporate recording industry to be given titles like, Artist of the decade, one of the 100 Greatest Women in Music, 100 most influential people in the world to name a few. 

Check back for more #BlackExcellence​​ videos throughout #BlackHistoryMonth​​

CREDITS:

Research By Jamar McNeil, John R. Kennedy

As we continue to celebrate Black History month during February, we’ve been showcasing and highlighting artists that have shaped popular culture and made an impact far beyond their respected craft. For this episode of #BlackExcellence​ iHeartRadio’s Jamar McNeil highlights just some of the reasons why John Legend is and example of #BlackExcellence​. 

Legend started playing piano at age four and sang in his church choir at seven. His mother sang and directed the church choir, his Grandmother played the organ, his father was a drummer. John Legend WAS DESTINED to be a musical man. He was homeschooled but was so smart academically that he skipped 2 grades!  As a young kid in Ohio he earned some awesome opportunities. He got into Georgetown, Harvard and eventually went to U Penn where he was a member of the popular a cappella group The Counterparts. Where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in English and African American Lit. Once he started getting recognized as an artist to look out for, he was introduced to Lauryn Hill by a friend, and that's exactly who you hear playing the piano on her classic song Everything is Everything.

Another key Intro would send John Legend to the next level. Kanye West, who hired him to sing some hooks on some of Kanye’s early songs. It was at that time that the crew gave John his stage name LEGEND because of his voice. For such a new artist he had a distinct old school swag and sound. Like he was already a legend….John Legend. I clearly remember Kanye and John Legend coming to do small shows on the college circuit when I was in School in DC. I thought that the combination of Kanyes old school samples and Legends Old Soul Sound was INCREDIBLE and so authentic. It was amazing. That relationship became solidified when Kanye signed him as one of the founding members of his new Label GOOD Music.

The world now knew of the power of the voice of John Legend.  In 2008 you may remember when he  Sang for former President Obama’s campaign song produced by Wil I Am - Yes We Can. He did a pop produced by Andre 3000 of OutKast, Green Light which joined Ordinary People as his one of his highest charting singles but then he really expanded.

He is one of 16 people, and the first Black man, to achieve EGOT status – winning Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards.

In addition to numerous acts of service through philanthropic work, Legend has been outspoken on a number of social justice issues. HIV AIDS/AntiRacism/Women's Education Heath and Justice

He has spent five seasons as a coach on The Voice, where he had the Season 16 winning singer, in 2019.

And his No. 1 hit was 2013’s “All of Me,” a ballad about his wife Chrissy Teigen is a radio and WEDDING CLASSIC HIT or LEGENDARY track. Black History has truly been enrich by the legendary career of John Legend, Black Excellence.

Check back for more #BlackExcellence​​​ videos throughout #BlackHistoryMonth​​​

CREDITS:

Research By Jamar McNeil, John R. Kennedy