
Entertainment

Gunna - Drip or Drown II
Review
Gunna Drip or Drown 2 - By Austin Brookhouser
When Gunna came out with his latest project “Drip or Drown 2”. I was excited when I heard that it was actually was going to happen. But I was completely disappointed this complete trash of an project . I feel like there was not really any good songs on this compared to the first one. I feel like this was a really rushed project and that every song on their sounded the same. I normally really like his music I just feel like he could have spent more time before he released a album that felt completely unfinished. I like a couple songs on this project cash war and Yao Ming. But over the rest of it I really didn’t like the rest of it. Rate 2/5
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Through the Ages
By Lizbeth Gutierrez
A pop star that has always and I think he always will fascinate me is Michael Jackson. His songs always make me feel good I don’t know if is the beat of the music, the lyrics, or his voice. His songs not only are fun and catchy, but they also talk about problems in the world, for example the Earth song which talks about global warming and how humans are destroying the world with our actions. To this day, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t blown away by his performances. He was not only a pop star but a humanitarian, he supported many causes like United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change, UNICEF, American Cancer Society, and more. In my opinion he is one of the most amazing artist that has existed I started listen to his music in a really young age I was like 6.
Later, I started listening to more and more until I would only listen to him. My parents were always weirded out of how much I would listen to him and learn every single word. I started to research him and find so many things out that I still have them memorized. He started in Jackson 5 a group that his father Joseph Jackson organized with Michael’s brothers; Jackie, Tito and Jermaine with younger brothers Marlon and himself. They accomplished many hits like ABC, I Want You Back and many more. Jackson 5 lasted almost all of Michael’s childhood and adolescence, which help him launch his solo carrier. He wrote a couple songs on his one like Blame It on The Boogie, but his father didn’t let him get away from the group and he included his brothers in the music video. Later, he got tired and did his own thing he did movies and other things to get out of his father’s grip. Then Rock with you came along a catchy and very sparkly song where he was his own dancer, backup vocals and main singer; his fame started to rise and we got the classic Halloween Thriller, which was one of the hardest songs for him due to religion, his mother a Jehovah’s witness gave him a hard time about the famous video since it showed “demons and satanic images and characters”. He almost didn’t release the video but his producer had an idea to put at the beginning of the song a disclaimer that said “Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult. Michael Jackson”. He released a whole album called Thriller which included songs like Billie Jean, Thriller, Human Nature, etc. In the celebration of Motown Records' twenty-fifth anniversary, Michael performed the first ever moonwalk which we all know thanks to him, he not only showed that dance move but many more that got us impressed. He recorded more and more song and did many albums, he in total has 306 songs, 42 singles, 8 solo albums, and 392 awards plus the many more he kept winning after his death. As we know many conflicts came along, but he always stood strong and never gave up. He had a troubled relationship with his father Joe, confessed that he regularly whipped him as a boy, he was also said to have verbally abused him saying that he had a "fat nose” Michael stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant rehearsals, though he credited his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his success. All that abuse and body shaming of his father lead him to have multiple surgeries, he also changed his skin color not for fame or because he didn’t like his color; he had a disease called vitiligo that made him have spots and he decided that was better for him. He also had this horrible accident when he was filming for a Pepsi commercial that left him with burns in his head and extreme pain which got him addicted to pain killers, and eventually used them to “relieve” mental and emotional pain. He was planning his last tour that was going to start out in London called This Is It, but unfortunately, he died on June 25, 2009 from a propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication. What I have personally seen is that his music comes through generations, like I know people that not only the listen to him but their parents, their grandparents and more. In my family I am the one who listens to him, but I have seen my baby sister getting interested in his music too which I don’t mind. Even though he had a hard life he always wanted to make his fans happy, not only music made him the King of Pop but the amazing things that he did like charity and inspire people.
However, a new documentary directed by Dan Reed came out talking about the allegations of him sexually abusing children. These allegations were made in 1993 He denied the claims, and settled the civil case out of court for an undisclosed amount. No criminal charges were filed. In 2005 more allegations were made. Now with this documentary “Leaving Neverland” two men came out and said that they were molested by the singer. Leaving Neverland describes how Jackson allegedly began relationships with two young fans, then aged 7 and 10, and their families. After this more people are starting to come ou saying that they were also molested by the singer. The documentary not only attracted mad fans, but also family members who defend the singer.
Nipsey Hussle
by Austin Brookhouser
On March 31st the world lost a great Rapper, Father and businessman. He among 3 others were shot on the outside of this store “marathon”. Nipsey was an inspiration in Crenshaw and the Whole state of California and people all around the world. Myself I was influenced by Nipsey he encouraged people to go out there and get your money. To be your own boss and to cut out the middle man. I was really shocked and sad when I heard the news that this murder had happened. Last month I was mad to see that he had got ripped off for album of the year and the Grammy’s. The thing I find the saddest is the next day he was supposed to go talk to LAPD about gang violence. The day after the murder there was a vigil at the store where he was murdered it turned violent people were there just to remember the loss of the man and 19 of them were hurt from either stabbings or gunshot wounds. There was some conspiracy around his death. He was directing a documentary about a doctor that may have found the cure of aids in New York and later he was murdered himself. So that made him a target by the government. But eyewitness at the store say Nipsey was arguing with a man named Eric Holder an old friend of nipsey’s. who was also an inspiring rapper. These men were good friends that were in the gang together that even shot a music video with Eric in the background. The world is still in shock about his Death everyone from 50 cent to Russell Westbrook who was the first player since Wilt Chamberlin who went 20, 20, 20 and dedicated it to Nipsey. He was only 33 he is survived by his 2 children and his longtime girlfriend Lauren London. Now Nipsey will be honored by a Californian congresswomen.
Services for Nipsey will be April 11th at the Staples Center in Los Angles. His caravan will go all over the Los Angeles county area including his store marathon where he was shot and killed.
cucO
BY cLARITZA rANGEL
Have you ever become fan of someone that hasn’t quite made it in the music industry?
We all have a playlist with our favorite music, but sometimes we like to explore new music and end up ‘finding’ a song which sometimes becomes our new find or our new favorite song at the moment. Most of the time when we browse for new music it is from someone usually recognized in the music industry but in certain occasions we find music from someone completely unknown to us. Some of us become fascinated with the certain artist and just wish that their music can be known to others so they can enjoy it as much as us.
Recently I have become interested in Cuco (Omar Banos), a 20-year-old; Latin artist from Hawthorne, California. His style of music is usually appealing to young Latino audiences in the U.S. Cuco creates Spanglish music, which is a song containing both, English and Spanish lyrics. His style of writing is appealing to teenagers because it contains messages pertaining young love and the ups and downs are generation often faces with the topic.
Cuco’s song “Lo que Siento” became my summer anthem in 2017. As I was searching for music in Spotify I spotted this song deep into a recommended playlist by the app and I absolutely feel in love with the song and the style of the rest. He just has a unique way of writing and portraying the message to his audience. The lyrics in “Lo que Siento”; ‘Oye carino, solo pienso en ti when I wake up in the morning until I go back to sleep’ are pretty relatable to kids in our generation and those who feel affection towards a certain someone. The lyrics portray infatuation and illustrate those who easily ‘catch feelings’. Which is something I observe in most of the people I know and myself, this song is just too relatable and makes Cuco a great artist who releases music which is relatable, groovy and emotional, which makes me ask myself ‘why hasn’t he ‘made it’ yet?’
Aside from his music, Cuco, uses his platform to reach out to sons and daughters of immigrants. Being, Chicano, Cuco grew up in a diverse environment where he saw the injustices and the trails children of immigrants have to face in a day-to-day basis which influences his writing style and technique. Surrounded by various types of music Cuco has used his music to reach out to teenagers and the way they listen to music. As a Latina, my vocabulary is typically mixed with English and Spanish which just feels natural to me. It is a great representation because we usually don’t hear that in the music industry. His music is something precious to the Latino community, and as his audience keeps growing it is only expected for him to become someone ‘huge’ in the industry.
R. Kelly
By Austin Brookhouser
For the years the R&B singer has been on and off investigations for sexual assaults. So many women have come out and told their stories about what has been happening to them. Kelly’s first offense with the law started way back in 1994 when he married the singer Aaliyah. She was only 15 at the time Kelly was 27 years old. The marriage was thrown out by a judge. In 1996 he was sued by Tiffany Hawkins for emotional distress in the court documents she said that Kelly had began to sleep with her when she was only 15 and Kelly was 24 at the time she sued him $250,000 the case was settled in 1998. In 2001 he was sued yet again by his intern. Saying they had relationship when she was 17. The women was an intern at epic records when he was signed there. In 2002 he caught a handful of lawsuits for child porn. From the years of 2002 to 2004 he was charged with 12 cases of child porn but the charges were dropped because the police didn’t have enough evidence according to his lawyer.
Then years later Kelly was in the headlines again R Kelly was accused of having a sex “cult” trapping six women inside. It is believed that he seduced the young women when they approached him for their music career then after he took control of their lives he took away their cell phones so they didn’t have a way of communication to the outside world. R Kelly still in the headlines after the cult headline faded away. Recently the documentary “surviving R. Kelly”. Showing many women that finally came out against Kelly. The #muteRKelly lead into the dropping from his record label RCA. People targeted Spotify and Apple Music to take Kelly’s off. He was also sued by his former wife saying Kelly infected with a STD on purpose till this day he still denies the claim. Its crazy how much time it took to have this in the spotlight.
Rap or go to the league 2chainz
- Austin Brookhouser
March first was the drop of 2chainz next studio album “rap or go the league”. I overall really liked this album I feel like he took his time with this album I can tell this album was not rushed because of the caliber of everything. With some great features coming with Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne and bay area great E-40 and many more. My personal favorite songs on this are Momma I hit a lick and 2-dollar bill. Kendrick. I felt like this was the best of the albums that have came out so far, this year.
Rating 5/5
Boogie Everything’s for Sale Review
By Austin Brookhouser
Late last month Boogie dropped his album “Everything’s for sale”. This is a fairly emotional album with songs about his struggles growing up and living in Compton he puts all the pain he has been through on wax. He expresses the problem with his baby’s mother. I really like this album I felt like this is the best album to kick off this new year
Rating 5/5
Austin's Review corner
Into the Spider-Verse Review (Spoilers) - By Austin Brookhouser
Last month one of the best superhero movies I have ever seen it has some of the best visuals I have ever seen in any movie. This movie shows the origin of the other Spider-Man Miles Morales instead of the same old origin story of the original Spider-Man Peter Parker. The Movie starts in Brooklynn following Miles Morales a kid in middle school. A middle school student he goes to a private school. He starts off at a rough time with the school. He goes to the one person he can even vent to his Uncle. They go into some old abandoned subway where they begin to spray paint a mural they spend some time painting it just as a spider comes through the ceiling and begins to crawl towards Miles and his Uncle they begin to start packing up and leaving because his Uncle had been called into work as they left the spider crawled up Miles Arm and bit him starting his story. Not to much later he finds out about his powers confused he goes back to the subway were he find the spider that bit him. The subway caved in due to a fight between Peter Parker of the that universe and the Green Goblin in the fight Spider-Man is injured when the Kingpin and the Villain Tombstone find Spider-Man’s injured body and unmask him right before killing Spider-Man and leaving Miles watching. Miles had promised Spider-Man that he would become a hero. He had a rough time dealing with the process. He meets another bunch of Spider-People and he started his life as the new Spider-Man and he ended fighting the Kingpins goons at that universe’s Aunt Mays house destroying it. So they go into to finish the fight and go back to their own universes leaving miles webbed to a chair. His powers which have been their but failing finally kicked in and he broke out to visit Aunt May who gave him a Costume that he sprayed painted it black. He helped the other Spider- People go back to their universe’s then finishing the kingpin
Rating 4/5
Logic ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’
By: Austin Brookhouser
Late Thursday Logic released ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’ his fourth album in the last two years. With a series of pretty good singles leading up into the album including a track with Eminem. overall this Album probably has been the worst project I’ve seen from him in a long time. I feel like the features really made this album YBN Cordae, G-Eazy and Will Smith just to name a few. As a long time fan of Logic I was really disappointed in this project. I feel like he should stop and just take his time with his music. Only release an album every couple years compared to numerous in a year. My favorite track on this album was either Mama/Show me love and Still Ballin
Rating 2/5
ScHool Boy Q CrasH Talk By: Austin Brookhouser
Late Thursday ScHool Boy Q released his latest Album “CrasH Talk”. I think this album is all around really good. It had great singles in the tracks “Numb Numb juice” and “CHopstix). With really good features from YG, Ty Dolla Sign, 6lack, Lil Baby and 21 Savage. ScHool Boy was understandably shaken up when he lost two of his really good friends Nipsey Hussle and Mac Miller within six months of each other. Q even delayed his album back a week out of respect of Nipsey. I feel like this album has something for all rap fans from his crazy amount of bars on “Numb Numb juice” and his crazy storytelling. I really liked this album. It overall one of my favorite projects from this year.
Rating 5/5
Devils Work Joyner Lucas By Austin Brookhouser
Yesterday Joyner Lucas released his second single of his next album “ADHD” “Devils Work” he addresses people from history that were taken to early including a lot of Rappers such as Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Big Pun, XXXtenctaion, Eazy-E and The late great Nipsey Hussle. He calls that we switch them put for people that he deems evil. He calls out two different News people from Fox Tomi Lahren and Laura Ingraham. Ingraham was seen mocking Nipsey Hussle after his too early death. She was mocking for the diss track going to the president entitled “FDT”. Which Nipsey does feature in but they had only showed the chorus where YG was preforming. Tomi Lahren was in the hot water after she was publicly trashing rappers on Instagram mostly The Game. But got defensive as soon as he came back with a response. In my opinion this track was really good and was needed to clear the air. After this single was released I am know really excited for Joyner’s upcoming album “ADHD”
Music to Inspire
By: Shannah Rudiger
Troye Sivan Mellet is an artist that has many talents. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa on June 5, 1995 he and his family moved to Perth, Australia when he was two. Troye Sivan started his career into stardom in 2006 by starring on various Australian musical productions. He also began acting in 2007 and starring in productions such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Troye really rose to stardom through his YouTube channel TroyeSivan18, where he gained a large following. On his channel he would post comedy videos and musical covers and even his coming out video. His covers landed him a record deal with EMI Australia and Capital records.
On August 15, 2014 Troye released a five-song EP titled “TRYXE,” it had his first single “Happy Little Pill”. The album made it to number 5 on the Billboard 200 charts and was number 1 in over 55 countries. After releasing TRYXE, Troye released another EP titled “Wild” on September 4, 2015. This EP was supported a trilogy of music videos based from three songs on the EP: “Wild,” “Fools,” “Talk Me Down.” The EP served as an introduction to his first major album titled “Blue Neighborhood” which was released on December 4, 2015. The album received lots of praise with the album gaining the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Artist. With Blue Neighborhood and Wild, in 2016 he had his tour the Blue Neighborhood tour and Suburbia Tour. On May 26, 2017 Troye collaborated with Martin Garrix and released the song There for You,
Troye took time off of making music until January 10, 2018, he released the single “My, My, My!” and a music video to support it. The single confirmed that his second album would be coming soon and that it was inspired by his boyfriend, Jacob Bixenman. Sivan described his next album as different from Blue Neighborhood, he described it as “an infectious celebration of
sexual desire.” Troye felt more like himself when making his second album. With news of his next album he confirmed the album would feature a collaboration with Ariana Grande titled “Dance to This.” On August 31, 2018 Troye’s second album “Bloom” was released. Troye Sivan received a Golden Globe nomination for the song “Revelation” which written for the film “Boy Erased.”
Troye Sivan’s music is very inspirational to myself and to many others. His music can conjure up so many emotions and tells such amazing stories in not just the music but with his music videos also. Troye is such an inspiration to many including those in the LGBTQ+ community and you can see that in his music, YouTube videos, and his acting. So give his music a listen I’m sure there will be something for everyone to love.