Norah Jones To Release Album Featuring Outkast, Q-Tip And More

Wow, it looks like songstress Norah Jones' upcoming album entitled Featured will definitely be one for the Hip Hop lover's out there. The album, which features various collaborations between Jones and other musicians from the last decade, will be released on November 16. Collaborations between Jones and Outkast, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli, Willie Nelson, and the late Ray Charles will all be featured on Featured. (How about that for a play on words?)

"A lot of the people on this record are people I've worshiped since I was a kid, and some of them are younger and more my contemporaries," said Jones in a statement. "Even though the musicians are so varied, the vibe of the songs makes sense when we put them all together."

The tracklisting for Featured is as follows:

1. The Little Willies - "Love Me"
2. The Foo Fighters feat. Norah Jones - "Virginia Moon"
3. Sean Bones feat. Norah Jones - "Turn Them"
4. Willie Nelson feat. Norah Jones - "Baby It's Cold Outside"
5. Norah Jones and Sasha Dobson - "Bull Rider"
6. Dirty Dozen Brass Band feat. Norah Jones - "Ruler of My Heart"
7. El Madmo - "The Best Part"
8. Outkast feat. Norah Jones - "Take Off Your Cool"
9. Q-Tip feat. Norah Jones - "Life Is Better"
10. Talib Kweli feat. Norah Jones - "Soon the New Day"
11. Belle & Sebastian feat. Norah Jones - "Little Lou, Prophet Jack, Ugly John"
12. Ray Charles feat. Norah Jones - "Here We Go Again"
13. Norah Jones feat. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
14. Ryan Adams feat. Norah Jones - "Dear John"
15. Norah Jones feat. Dolly Parton - "Creepin' In"
16. Herbie Hancock feat. Norah Jones - "Court & Spark"
17. Charlie Hunter feat. Norah Jones - "More Than This"
18. Norah Jones feat. M. Ward - "Blue Bayou"

Zoya Halloween Promotion

For all the nail polish fiends out there you're in luck. Nail polish brand Zoya is holding a Halloween promotion now until Sunday, October 17. If you purchase over $10 worth of nail goody's over at Zoya.com you'll receive a half oz. bottle of three free polishes: Zoya Trixie, Zoya Raven, and Zoya Delilah. Be sure to use VKISS as the promotion code during check out!

Killer Mike And Immortal Technique Perform At A3C

Although Killer Mike's set at A3C was cut short, very short, he still put on a hell of a show (as expected). He even brought out Immortal Technique who went IN! Luckily, Killer Mike was able to get in a few more songs later that night at the Perfect Attendance stage. But of course I missed it. Go figure. Anywho check out my footage of both Killer Mike and Immortal Technique.

Oh and P.S. for some really weird reason it kinda looks like Killer Mike is lip-syncing his performance but clearly he's not. It's Killer Mike we're talking about, not Ashley Simpson. I think zooming in with my digital camera kind of messed up the audio.

Picture Diaries: A3C Hip Hop Festival

As expected the A3C Hip Hop Festival was pretty darn amazing. I saw some favorites perform, gained some new favorites, and met sooooo many cool people. I didn't really take too many pictures since I only had my lil' rinky dink digital camera, but here's the best of what I did capture. Enjoy!

Oddly enough, this was the only picture I have from my first day at A3C. We hit up Vortex in Midtown for some grub following Friday's festivities.

I absolutely love the lighting in this picture. Some b-boys and b-girls were doing their thing Saturday afternoon in front of the big Red Bull stage.

Senor Kaos!

Hollyweerd on the 2DopeBoyz stage.

Next stop...SXSW suckaaaas!

#LushLife

Homeboy Sandman & Pack FM!

Cunninlynguists!

Stalley!

H-Town's own Killa Kyleon.

Mistah Fab!

The Atlanta Brave himself, Donnis.

Double-O!

Kidz N The Hall!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Killer Mike + Immortal Technique = Pure INSANITY! (I'll be uploading video from their performance some time tonight)

Emilio Rojas!
The End.

Luxe Life: iWave Crystalized Headphones

Are your in-ear headphones not cutting it? Are high-end headphones like Beats by Dre just not chic enough? Then look no further than iWave's new crystalized headphones. The headphones come in a variety of vibrant colors like red, pink, and gold and also feature Swarovski crystals on the exterior. Interested? Well, you may want to start saving your pennies now because the iWave crystalized headphones retail for a jaw-dropping $2,000.

If $2,000 isn't really in your budget then iWave offers a number of other headphones with a more reasonable price tag. To check them out visit iWaveAudio.com.

Late Pass: "Shawt Bus Shawty"

On Tuesday of this week I spent the day with a certain rapper for a "Day In The Life" piece that I'm working on. Prior to meeting up with this rapper, myself and some other folks were waiting around for him at a record store. While we were waiting somehow the "Shawt Bus Shawty" video on YouTube was brought up. I mentioned that I had never seen the video before and someone let me watch it on their phone.

It is HIGH-LARIOUS! It's basically a cartoon music video that features Gucci Mane, OJ Da Juiceman, Soulja Boy, and Waka Flocka. The end of the video when Waka Flocka is rapping is easily the funniest part. He raps the ABC's and some other random nonsense while jumping and flying around a movie theater. If you haven't seen it yet I HIGHLY suggest you check it out. It will definitely serve as your good laugh for the day. Oh, and it also features special appearances from Nicki Minaj and Hip Hop groupie Sat Ktacks. (No I'm not effing up with my spelling, I always purposely misspell her name.)

My First Fried Oreo

I got to experience a little taste of heaven this week when I tried my first ever fried Oreo. What's a fried Oreo you ask? It's basically what the name implies, it's an Oreo fried in batter and easily 1,000 calories. Okay, maybe not 1,000 but I'm sure it's probably pretty darn close.

My first fried Oreo experience was courtesy of Munchies ATL located in Riverdale, Georgia (about 30 or so minutes from Atlanta). They were nice enough to let myself and a few other people sample them. They add their own little twist to the fried Oreo, offering both the classic Oreo and a strawberry Oreo as well. And all of their fried Oreo's are drizzled in chocolate. Sounds delish, right? If Oreos aren't your thing then they've still got you covered. On top of their signature fried Oreos Munchies also sells fried brownies, fried cheesecake, and funnel cake sticks.

Aside from Munchies' variety of sweet treats they also sell burgers (which they say rivals that of Five Guys), wings, seafood, and ummm...salads. Be sure to check out Munchies on both Facebook and Twitter.

A3C Starts Today!

Woooooo! A3C officially kicks off today and I'm definitely looking forward to it. If you've never been to A3C before then you may want to check out my coverage from last year's festival, clickety click here and clickety click here. I'll definitely try and get some fun coverage for the blog this year as well.

Oh and if you are attending A3C be EXTRA EXTRA sure that you check me out on the "I Rock A Mic But Don't Rap" panel on Hip Hop journalism :-)



P.S. The picture above is a pic I took from the Kidz N The Hall performance at A3C last year.