Sade - Moon And The Sky (Remix) feat Jay-Z (Leak)

I believe we have truly found the secret to immortality and it is through art. The lasting impression that an artistic expression be it audible or visual can make something ultimately last forever.

The same goes for the classics masterpieces whether it be a painting, photograph or song can never be forgotten whether the piece be from a foreign land, present time, past or different culture.

Sade stands alone as the Queen of the most passionate, intricate blend of R&B, Jazz and Soul and her music speaks volumes to those hearts the songstress has touched.

Jay-Z, another King in his own right has rose to the top of a genre known to posess the power of persuasion through poetry set to music i.e. rap.

With the two of the powers combined the chemsitry is an immacualte twist of perfection.

I could pump this song up, but I would rather let the music speak for itself no cliche intened.

s/o to Jay-Z's new blog Life and Times for the link.

Sade - Moon And The Sky (Remix) Feat Jay-Z

Sade - Still In Love With You

Okay, lets be honest? Who's just as excited as I am to hear ANY new music from Sade especially new music featuring Jay-Z and production from Noah "40" Shebib?

Yes, the "40" that rap superstar Drake so often refers to who has produced such hits as Unthinkable, I'm Single, Successful and Fall For Your Type will produce a collaboration of epic proportions for Sade and Jay-Z!

All I can say is ...Whoa! In the mean time, her majesty has laced the people with one of four new songs to be featured on Sade's upcoming Ultimate Collection album entitled Still In Love With You.

Don't Thank me, Thank Them Later...

S/O to Complex Magazine and 2 Dope Boyz for the heads up!

Kelly Rowland - Motivation feat Lil Wayne (Official Video)

Regardless of what type of work needs to be done, I think we all need motivation at times, and its always even better to get motivation from a sexy, sultry songstress like Kelly Rowland. It doesn't hurt to add some help from the lyrical talents of Weezy F. Baby either.

This song Motivation can be taken a few ways, but I will leave the lyrical artistic interpretation up to the imagination. The end result is we should continuously be stimulated...I mean MOTIVATED to go get whatever it is we want to obtain in life.

I will leave the rest of the commentary for you all.

After viewing Kelly Rowland in this video, I'm suddenly motivated...to grab a TALL glass of cold water to drink, its kind of hot in here.

Mary J. Blige - Someone To Love Me (Naked) feat Diddy & Lil Wayne (Official Video)

It's always a great feeling to get love from your peers, friends and family on all levels, I mean love is great right? Of course its great to get love from people that you don't know as well. Being admired from afar or close up is an excellent feeling to partake in.

At the end of the day when all the cheers and praise from random sources are long gone and you are alone with your thoughts, its even better to have someone to love you during this particular soul searching moment.

The truth is, everyone really wants and needs someone to love them for being the idividual they are and not just because of the accomplishments, social status, or what you may mean to the world on a superficial level but just being the pure individual inside.

To be honest, it's rare to find someone that loves you and your dirty laundry and its almost impossible to find someone that will love you flaws and all. That's why its important to realize these precious gems and cherish them.

On Looking For Someone To Love Me, Mary J. Blige proclaims that she has made mistkes and knows when the person that truly loves her comes along she won't have to ask because the LOVE will be sincere.

To all the people looking for love, don't settle and don't chase, because the real love will already be there waiting for YOU, before you wake up looking for it. and if the LOVE is not waiting for you first then its not real love.

I'll tell you what, I love "me" either way so I'm I.$.H.-Diddy Bopping all over the city if the DJ's play this song.

Album Of The Hour: Rolling Papers

By paraphrasing the immortal 2pac Shakur's voice, "The Realest I$H ever wrote", I have to say would be, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

The truth is that we as humans do this very thing, often. Whether its someone with tatoos, someone with a bald head, someone with dark skin, someone with blonde hair, someone with dreads or someone wearing less than appealing clothing, we all make pre-judgements based on previous experiences.

I am not excluded from this human flaw as I made a pre-judgement on what happens to be my favorite cd of the moment now. I have to admit, I was hesitant to listen to Wiz Khalifa's new cd Rolling Papers for numerous reasons.

For one, prior to hearing the album, I was not a fan and only liked ONE song of his "Never Been", a ride and chill type of song you can put on while cruising the streets around 9pm in summer time right after a hot day. I love songs like that. Come to find out that is the vibe of the entire album which appeals to me.

Don't get me wrong, I like krunk music and I also like the smooth-it-out sounds, but when it comes to having music versatility, I need the in between as well which is right where Wiz Khalifas album Rolling Papers fits in.

This album Rolling Papers is the type of album where the beats just flow and you can reflect on a hard day and enjoy the breezy summer night. (These days are quickly approaching by the way).

For me personally, the irony of this particular album is that I don't drink or smoke at all which you would think from the title alone is all that Mr. Wiz raps about, but in reality the album is a bit more deeper.

As an photographic artist myself working my way up the ladder of success, I can relate to songs on this album such as Top Floor, Rooftop, Star of The Show, When I'm Gone and Hopes and Dreams which dont talk about so much drinking and smoking but more of having a dream, working towards the dream and then the after affects of acheiving the goal at hand. I always can relate to anyone that works hard and parties hard, or else why are we here?

Old School, New School You Need To Learn Though...

Being a photojournalist and lover of ART, I am always compelled to partake in the latest and greatest of the beloved subculture of Art which we know as "music".

Whether it be alternative, rock, pop, hip-hop, R&B or even spoken word, it always moves me to see new found talent find its way in a pool amongst a host of giants, superstars and Mega-Talented artists.

Since there is nothing new under the sun, it's interesting and spectacular how truly creative, gifted artists can still find a way to make their material new and fresh for the times.

When I think back to my pops, and my grandfather, I think about how each of our respective generations view the other generations music and to a certain extent we are at ends but we still appreciate certain aspects of it.

After seeing my generation become the "older heads" now, its interesting to see how my perspective has gone from the young, hipster to becoming "the Old man" telling the new young kids to turn that racket off.

As I become the old head I do however have to wonder what's wrong with this new generation? When did it stop being COOL to be a veteran? It seems like that is all you hear now a days from youngsters wet behind the ears disregarding those that paved the way.

I would never discredit any person that came before me, but now it seems the "new school" gets a kick out of dissing anyone older than them. How can you diss"respect" someone that paved the way for you? Its okay to be competitive and think you are the best, but where does any new school person have the right to disrespect someone older.

For example, I am a photographer, a pretty damn good one at that, but why in the world would I disrespect world reknown, sensational photographers such as Annie Leibovitz or Gordon Parks to make a name for myself?

In the past, I recall Lil Wayne saying some remarks about Jay-Z and I wondered, "um, the audacity?" Now you have Lil B The Based God & Tyler the Creator, (who??? yeah I know) apparently taking shots a Kanye West?

Seriously, this new school mentality is insanity to me. Nasir Jones would never diss Rakim, Jay-Z would not take shots at Big Daddy Kane, and 2Pac nor BIG sure would come at Ice-T or Run DMC sideways just to make a name for themselves.

The respect has been earned by these legends and pioneers of the game and should definitely be given that due respect. This respect should be given especially since these artists successfully performed in an era completely different from today's Internet based industry driven by greed more say than passion and the love of the art.

To be clear, I'm not knocking any new school artist grinding and doing their thing, but let's be honest, these new cats have a long way to go before they can box with the throne. To these new guys trying to make a name for them selves, the solution is simple. Stop talking down on pioneers that did it better and longer than you, just make great music for the next 20 years and then after that, make your comments accordingly.

Art Vs Commerce: A Never Ending Battle

Pardon my absence, but to be honest, I have been sitting back taking notes all while realizing that fighting for the actual "art" side in art vs. commerce is a losing battle.

Both my opinion and experience have led me to believe if one really wants to make a successful living as an artist, one has to do all sorts of opposing things that constitutes what it means to be an artist. If you personally did anything at first because you absolutely loved doing it, once money came into play, it was no longer love but now considered work because the dynamic changed.

A quick example would be if you loved to photograph Eagles soaring in the sky and then someone came to you and said, "Hey, you can make a lot of money taking photographs, but you have to stop "photographing" eagles and start doing videography with turtles and puppies playing in mud instead." You'd be like, "What the hell, that's not what I like doing at all."

Although some people might jump at the opportunity, others would view it as selling out and going against their principles. In hindsight, the individual is still technically "shooting" yes, but not really because in reality he/she is no longer "photographing" and the subjects aren't "Eagles in the sky" so in the end, he/she still is really compromising his/her passion.

To elaborate in depth, I'll start with this site. Apparently, in order for http://www.stopsellingdreams.com/ to be able to compete in the world of "websites", I have to post early and often certain content or material that I was taught in journalism school to steer clear from: Fluff and flash and trash. (i.e. Not "real news" or stories of substance.)

By "real news" I don't mean JUST hardcore journalistic, Brian Williams "news" either. I mean any type of stimulating story that initiates and provokes analytical thought whether it be about mostly entertainment (my forte)or sports, politics and world events as well.

I will say quite frankly, I don't care about Kim Kardashian going to the movies! For whatever reason that continously makes front page news. I really don't care about Paris Hilton's dog wearing a matching pearl necklace to take a walk in Central Park. Coincidentally, that would make the back page.

And seriously, this sort of "story" seems to be ALL that you will see on these sites garnering millions of views (The Fluff). Now if Kim Kardashian started an anti-war, energy company that could make the world better or help terminally ill children foresee their dreams before its too late, then that would be a different story, and I would love to post stories with that particular type of content.

For the record, I have nothing against Kim K or Paris, but stopsellingdreams.com (S$D) is website dedicated to those people seeking motivation to succeed and follow through with their dreams ALL while also calling out the bluff and Bologna factor striving artists commonly encounter while searching for the path to greatness.

So how and why should stopsellingdreams.com have to compete with sites that focus solely on posting fluffy, sensationalized content that doesn't provoke thought in order to be considered a truly "successful" website.

How does Kim K going to the movies, dating a new Basketball player or Paris Hilton being seen with pink shoes on help any of us become better artists/photographers/models/singers/entrepreneurs or the next great thing?

I personally have not been motivated to post ANY content because of that competitive edge that has literally been stripped from under me if I don't compromise and conform to what the other websites post. Not to mention the fact that most of the headline titles these sites use are misleading and just used to gain views which is more propaganda for commercial gain as opposed to true and meaningful, artistic value.

Since this site is stopsellingdreams, I do have to be completely honest, until a million dollar check comes in to dictate the new direction of this website, (which like I stated earlier, commerce always dictates art) I will continue to post MY thoughts as I see them when I feel like posting them.

To sum it up, always remember to just keep it honest with yo'self and everything else will follow and fall into place. These are just my thoughts... And thanks for your support!