A songwriter from New Jersey has filed a copyright lawsuit against John Legend for a song in his 2006 album Once Again.
Anthony Stokes claims that Legend’s song “Maxine’s Interlude” is a rip-off—both lyrically and musically—of his song “Where Are You Now”, which was included on a demo tape he allegedly gave to John in 2004.
“We are confident that we can prove the two required elements of copyright infringement: first, that Mr. Legend had access to Mr. Stokes’ copyrighted work, and, second, that substantial musical and lyrical similarities exist between the two compositions required to prove a claim for infringement under the Copyright Act” said a representative of Mr Stokes.
With just three more weeks until it’s June 28th release, the tracklist to Big Sean’s debut album, Finally Famous: The Album, has been revealed via Complex.
With No I.D. doing most of the production, this 12 track album (and 4 bonus tracks) will have that G.O.O.D Music vibe. As expected the final list of guest features is impressive with names like Kanye West, Pharrell, Lupe Fiasco, The Dream, Chris Brown, John Legend, Wiz Khalifa, Rick Ross, Pusha-T, Dwele, Chiddy Bang and Roscoe Dash.
After three and a half years in the making, Big Sean is just about ready to finally become famous.
1. “Intro” Produced by: Kevin Randolph, Key Wane
2. “I Do It” Produced by: No I.D., The Legendary Traxster
3. “My Last” f/ Chris Brown Produced by: No I.D.
4. “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me” Produced by: No I.D.
5. “Wait For Me” f/ Lupe Fiasco Produced by: No I.D., Exile
6. “Marvin & Chardonnay” f/ Kanye West & Roscoe Dash Produced by: Pop Wansel, Mike Dean
7. “Dance (A$$)” Produced by: Da Internz
8. “Get It (DT) f/ Pharrell” Produced by: The Neptunes
9. “Memories (Part II)” f/ John Legend Produced by: No I.D.
10. “High” f/ Wiz Khalifa & Chiddy Bang Produced by: Xaphoon Jones
11. “Live This Life” f/ The Dream Produced by: No I.D.
12. “So Much More” Produced by: No I.D.
13. “What Goes Around” (Bonus Track) Produced by: No I.D.
14. “Celebrity” f/ Dwele (Bonus Track) Produced by: Filthy Rockwell, No I.D.
15. “My House” (Bonus Track) Produced by: Boi-1da
16. “100 Keys” f/ Rick Ross & Pusha T (Bonus Track) Produced by: Hilton and Brian Wright (WrighTrax Productions)
In between shooting of the second season of How to Make it in America and the “Cud Life Tour”, Kid Cudi has just dropped three new hits: Perfect is the Word, the Marijuana music video and a teaser/trailer for the upcoming “Maniac” short film.
Late May 30th, Cudi tweeted “tomorrow, be ready”. Speculation flew. The sun had sank, rose and was slowly sinking again when Cudi finally announced that 10 PM would be the debut.
After a short delay, the big surprise came. Those who guessed the first single from “2 Be Continuum”—the newly formed rock band between the Lonely Stoner and Dot Da Genius—were correct. The track is titled Perfect is the Word(download) and is unlike anything most have heard before: a mix of rock, electronica and pop with some subtleties like violins that are recognized only after multiple replays. Dedicated fans had a preview of the song on ustream months ago, but Perfect is the Word is the first indication of what the “Wizard rock album” will sound like.
Mixed responses followed. Response ranged from “sooooo Fuckn Dope!!! A Fuckin Legend!!!!!” to “a little different, but its cudi what’d you expect? he keep pushin the line of music” and then there were the just plain harsh ones like “this song is a piece of shit.”
Cudi took the comments in stride though, tweeting “Peaceeeee, see yall tomoro. Jam out, more to come! Love to those who love me unconditionally, forever.”
More certainly did come. On June 1, the Marijuana music video arrived. The video is documentary-styled and follows Cudi around Amsterdam during the “2010 Cannabis Cup”. In the film, expect to see Kid Cudi smoke more than his fair share of weed while he wanders through Amsterdam street’s, the Red Light District and more. Director Shia LaBeouf (yes, the one from Transformers) adds hazier elements to video with his jittery camera work.
The four and a half minute adventure to Cudi’s “higher state” is set to rock inspired Marijuana from his sophomore album. The video has brought into question Kid Cudi’s statement made earlier this year that he no longer smokes weed. However, the video was shot in late 2010, long before the start of his drug free lifestyle. So with this video, the Lonely Stoner offers a tribute to the mystifying green leaf.
Cudi confronted mixed reviews head on with a lengthy tumblr post:
I love the mixed reviews on the new jam, when they aint talkin about you then its a problem ha Im pleased with this new project and no negative write up or comment will make me feel any different. Not everyone will like what you do, known fact. All that matters is I LIKE what I DO, i have fun doing it and I got enough riders and believers that love me and support my artistic vision and thats more than I could’ve ever asked for. “If you dont like the new direction, cool. It cost you nothing, pay me no mind! Ima proceed as scheduled, cause I can.
@WizardCud, Cudi’s (unverified) twitter account, has been going crazy over the past two days, trending three times. And as Cudi says “Not fucking around as you can see, Cudder Season”. Cudi then dropped a trailer (more of a teaser) for his upcoming “Maniac” short film. The trailer shows what appears to be the Cleveland streets on a cloudy, snowy winter day. The camera—once again controlled by Shia LaBeouf—passes over several houses and then a single house that is on fire. As the camera continues to pan, Cudi and Dot Da Genius come on to screen. It ends with a shot of half of Cudi’s face, half of Dot Da Genius’ face and the date “10.31.11”. Suggesting that the short film will arrive Halloween 2011.
Cudi explains the video further in a recent tumblr post:
MANIAC is a short film inspired by the song. It is not a music video and it has no reference to the song content. It will be scored by Dot and I as a film with all new music. Directed By Shia LaBeouf for Grassy Slope and Ragin4Dayz Productions.
Next summer John Legend and The Roots will be collaborating once again. This time it will be onstage, performing at The Kennedy Center in honor of the 40th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s classic What’s Going On.
Legend and The Roots will be joined by National Symphony Orchestra as they honor both the album and Gaye’s historic performance at that very same venue 40 years earlier.
The performances are May 3rd and 4th, 2012 at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Tickets are not on sale for the 2011-2012 season yet but should be available later this year through The Kennedy Center’s website.
Give him the “Green Light”, because John Legend is ready to go forth with an educational movement that will uplift and inspire a new generation of mathematicians, engineers, computer scientists, and students abroad. With education becoming an inevitable priority in today’s society, Legend exercises the idea of bringing forth an exciting opportunity to earn great technological advances for students and their school.
The award-winning artist has teamed up with Samsung on a $1 Million dollar approach to provide students with the tools to excel with their education. The contest, “Solve For Tomorrow”, gives students the chance to create and submit videos that address local issues, and how science and math could improve or impact them. Students are encouraged to be creative and reach high to win this highly beneficial opportunity. Legend believes “a great education is a tool for a successful future”, and that the most successful people are successful because of a great education.
With the warm and welcoming smile that Legend possesses, it’s no surprise that this isn’t his first approach to better the global community. He started the “Show Me” campaign to fight education reform in the U.S., as well as touring with Professor Jeff Sachs of Columbia University’s Earth institute to promote sustainable development as an achievable goal. Legend is also a part of the National board of Teach for America. It is no secret that teachers and parents are not alone in the on-going initiative for an educational movement; one that promises for a better tomorrow for children worldwide.
Kanye West is set to headline Milwaukee’s annual Summerfest on June 30th.
The date is one of only two upcoming U.S. tour dates for Kanye (he is also set to headline the Coachella Festival in April), and will feature Kanye alongside GOOD Music’s Kid Cudi.
Summerfest, which calls itself “the world’s largest music festival,” features over 800 acts spread out over 11 days. Kanye and Cudi are currently the only headlining hip-hop acts. Other acts include Katy Perry and Florence + the Machine.
