He was featured on Kanye West’s “Heard ‘Em Say” off the Late Registration album in 2005, and actually quite fittingly so, if you consider the latter artist’s later embrace of falsetto and feelings. Levine’s crossover success stems from early on in his career. We can pinpoint the start of these collaborations on Levine, the only member of Maroon 5 you likely know the name of, because he is the band’s front man, has a tendency to date (and marry) Victoria’s Secret Angels, and is on The Voice, where he enjoys a prominent and highly irritating bromance with Blake Shelton. To be frank, shouldn’t rappers be cooler than to work with Maroon 5, and the band itself more self-aware, instead of producing tracks that will end up being labeled as simply “bad” by reviewers trying their hardest not to entirely decimate them? Or does it always come down to what the cynics think: that this is a blatant cash grab that will get all parties involved some radio play? But there is something odd about their frequent work with rap acts. Their embrace of rap artists on tracks when such a sound or lyrical choice barely seems to make sense is hardly without context the band has collaborated with everyone from Lady Antebellum to Christina Aguilera (for the inescapable “Moves Like Jagger”) to Gwen Stefani. Doing everything-becoming almost flavorless by way of having too much flavor-is in many ways the key to musical success these days, and it’s a tactic Maroon 5 has mastered, seen nowhere as well as through the puzzling fruits of their musical collaborations. More telling is that “Whiskey,” off Maroon 5’s recent album Red Pill Blues (the band would like to make it very clear the name is not a reference to the men’s rights movement) is one of almost a dozen collaborations Levine or the band, known more for being soft than edgy, has done with some of the top rap artists of our time, a fact their lead singer is quite proud of.ĭespite being firmly embedded in the pop charts, Maroon 5 has always shied away from devoting themselves to a genre Levine has, from almost the beginning, proudly proclaimed that their sound has never belonged “to a specific club,” and pushed back at early characterizations of Maroon 5 as a “boy band.” In this way, the band emulates everything sacred about making a hit song today-they are unabashedly uncommitted to choosing sides, because the only side you should find yourself on is the one getting that hit. The connection of this verse to the track it lies within is tenuous at best. “Every time you kiss me, like some whiskey,” Rocky says, to pull things back together. There’s a reference to Dom Perignon and a “fine wine” and playing a game of Spin the Bottle. “It’s time for them to be movie stars and continue their trajectory of success.Then A$AP Rocky comes in and starts slowly name-dropping alcohols: Cognac, rum, tequila, vodka. “The Ying Yang Twins enjoy enormous sales and popularity with a fiercely loyal fan base,” Turner said. Turner also executive produced and financed the original feature film “Friday,” which became a franchise spawning two successful sequels for rapper/actor Ice Cube. Melee’s Turner is no stranger to rap: He founded the pioneering independent label Priority Records, home to the seminal West Coast rap group N.W.A., which included Dr. Last year, the company produced Screen Gems’ music-themed hit “You Got Served,” starring the R&B group B2K. The deal marks Melee’s continued emphasis on producing films featuring major recording artists. Their plans change when a box full of Viagra falls into their laps. The comedy revolves around two best friends in Atlanta who struggle to make enough money from their minimum-wage jobs to pay for a trip to spring break in Daytona Beach, Fla. Bryan Turner’s Melee Entertainment has signed the hip-hop duo to star in their first feature, “Viagra Falls.” Production is slated to begin early next year. The Ying Yang Twins are taking their act to the big screen.
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