Flo Rida

Selling Music is Easy: Just Partner With WWE and Wrestlemania

Sunday night, the biggest sports-entertainment spectacle of the year, Wrestlemania 29, returns home to the New York/New Jersey area that birthed the event almost 30 years ago. While fans are flying in from all over the world to see such colossal match-ups as John Cena vs. The Rock and Brock Lesnar v ... More >>

Five Rappers Fans Love That Critics Can't Stand

By Marcus Arman Not all rappers need critical adoration to achieve commercial success. Some use negative reviews as motivation, others dismiss them as hate, and a few of them probably don't know what constitutes a review. But it's commendable anytime an artist reaches some level of success. In fact ... More >>

Buzz Off, Rihanna, Flo Rida, and Ke$ha! Here's Why I Hate Music!

If I sang this column onstage, you would make a shitty phone video of it

Lil Wayne Tops Elvis Presley's Billboard Record

Previously, Elvis Presley held the record for the male with the most entries on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, with no fewer than 108 hits. But Lil Wayne now has 109. Game's "Celebration," featuring Wayne as a guest, was the record breaker. Unfortunately for Wayne (or should I call him Lil?), a coupl ... More >>

Live: Skrillex, David Guetta, And The Rest Of Electric Zoo Strike A Pose At Randall's Island

Check out our photo galleries: Electric Zoo Gets Sweaty | The People Of Electric Zoo Electric Zoo Randalls Island Friday, September 1 through Monday, September 3 Better than: This. "You know I know how/ to make them stop and stare as I zone out/ the club can't even handle me right now/ watching y ... More >>

100 & Single: The R&B/Hip-Hop Factor In The Music Business's Endless Slump

Here are a few recent data points from chart bible Billboard and data provider Nielsen Soundscan as we move into the second half of 2012: • In its midyear music-industry report card, Soundscan reports a return to the dismal album sales climate; year-to-date disc sales are off 3.2% from the sam ... More >>

EDC 2012: Calvin Harris Plays CDs of Himself Singing

Dance music is fighting for its soul. The charts are filled with tracks (Rihanna, Flo Rida) that borrow from the ecstatic trance and pulsing grooves of electronic dance music. The last time pop was so infatuated with the dance floor was 1979, the year disco died. This time around fans are more sa ... More >>

Live: Labrinth Brings The New And Old Schools Together At Santos

Labrinth Santos Party House Tuesday, June 5 Better than: Watching American Idol. Labrinth has a bit of a foul mouth. It's jarring—his boyish looks and feel-good pop tunes don't betray any sort of edge, but the rising U.K. singer/producer dropped a healthy amount of F-bombs last night at Sant ... More >>

A Brief Overview Of The Seven (!) Music Festivals Happening In The New York Area This Weekend

Summer might not semi-officially start until next weekend, but our fair city is getting a head start on jamming the schedule with as much music as possible. This weekend there are at least seven multi-musician extravaganzas happening in New York and New Jersey. Which one is most right for you? Our h ... More >>

Q&A: Adam Lambert On Trespassing, Stankface, Tracking Nile Rodgers On Twitter, And Being An Out Pop Star In 2012

When Adam Lambert was on American Idol in 2009, he grabbed viewers' attention with his octave-leaping voice and startling reworkings of talent-show standbys—while he came in second that season, he was certainly that year's most rock-star-like contestant, and he made even more headlines when he ... More >>

Jones Beach Theater And PNC Bank Arts Center Schedules Announced: Drake, Wiz Khalifa, Kelly Clarkson, And More

Ah, the summer, the time of year when one can enjoy a concert in the glorious out of doors. This morning Live Nation announced the full lineups for its two local amphitheaters—the PNC Bank Arts Center in bucolic Holmdel, N.J. and the Jones Beach Theater, out on the South Shore of Nassau County ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, And Young Money Bring Crew Love Back To Rap Radio

If you've listened to much urban radio lately, or even a little, you may have noticed that Lil Wayne and his Young Money Entertainment labelmates, particularly Drake and Nicki MInaj, are quite popular. You may have also noticed the same thing in 2011. And in 2010. And 2009. But perhaps nothing under ... More >>

100 & Single: fun., Gotye, M83, EDM, And The Beginning Of The Hot 100's Spotify Years

How do you know when you're at the dawn of a new pop era? It's not like someone sends a memo. Sure, occasionally there's a well-timed cultural event that offers a hint—the disastrous Altamont festival in December 1969, which signaled that the flower-power dream was over, or Comiskey Park's Di ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Flo Rida's Accidental Posthumous Tribute To Etta James

The late Etta James remained an active recording artist right up to the end, releasing her final album, The Dreamer, just two months before her death on January 20. But she hadn't been on a Billboard singles chart since the '70s, when a cover of Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart" from her 1978 come ... More >>

100 & Single: Can Katy Perry Turn The States' Post-Christmas No. 1 Race Into Something UKrazy?

​Thanks to her husband, Katy Perry considers herself as an honorary Brit. But as the most frequent current inhabitant of the Billboard charts, she must wish we were all anglophiles. If only America had a Christmas No. 1 competition as rabid and media-fueled as Old Blighty's! Katy would have t ... More >>

100 & Single: A Dozen Contenders For Billboard's Year-End Top 10, And Their Fight Against The "Last Christmas Effect"

​Later this week, Billboard is expected to announce its tallies for the biggest hits of 2011. And what a year for music it's been. Remember all those big hits: "Like a G6," "We R Who We R," "Raise Your Glass," "Fuck You!" and "What's My Name?" What's that—you say the songs I just rattle ... More >>

Radio Hits One: Cee Lo Green's First Urban Radio Hit, 16 Years In The Making

​One of pop music's biggest Cinderella stories in recent memory has been that of the man born Thomas DeCarlo Callaway, better known to the public as Cee Lo Green, or simply Cee Lo. After debuting as a member of the pioneering Atlanta rap group Goodie Mob in the mid-'90s, the MC/singer spent a ... More >>

Radio Hits One: VH1 Takes On The '00s Pop Canon

VH1 spent last week counting down what the channel, and its panel of celebrities and "experts," consider The 100 Greatest Songs of The '00s. They certainly haven't been the first to assemble such a list—Rolling Stone and Pitchfork and every blog under the sun had their say about two years ago, ... More >>

Radio Hits One: The Disappearing Urban Crossover Hit Says "Look At Me Now"

​Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now" has topped Billboard's R&B/Hip-hop Songs chart for seven weeks in a row, and it recently peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100. In terms of Brown's career, it's notable for being the singer's first top 10 hit in the two years since that whole violent incident with then ... More >>

Top 10 Prodigy Prison Rants, Starring Obama, Jay-Z, Napoleon, Corny Backpack Rappers, And Demonic Owls

Pic by Chad Griffith​Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy was released from prison yesterday after serving three and a half years on a gun-possession charge. During that time, the voluble emcee used his Internet access and old-school pen-and-paper interview privileges to hip the world to his theories on s ... More >>

American Idol Season 10, Los Angeles: How Do You Get To Work?

Stop grinning, bro. Photo by Michael Becker / FOX. ​The other night, a crippling snowstorm hit Chicago, way more crippling than the sad little Snowpocalypses you East Coast whiners are heroically enduring. It knocked out my cable, and no cable means no American Idol, since I'm not smart enough ... More >>

The 20 Worst Songs of 2010, #1: Train, "Hey, Soul Sister"

F2K10 has been a countdown of the 20 worst songs of 2010. Relieve the journey here. The future of rock music, right here.​Here are some important things to know about Train's "Hey, Soul Sister."

The 10 Biggest Music Stories of 2010

Ah M.I.A., it just wasn't your year, was it? Photo by Rebecca Smeyne.​In 2010, Vampire Weekend and Arcade Fire both had #1 records. LCD Soundsystem, Spoon, MGMT, the National, M.I.A, and Sufjan Stevens all had albums debut in the top ten. Kanye West joined Twitter. Drake started a riot in New ... More >>

Bruno Mars Is Not Soft

2010's hottest guest star seeks marquee status, less wimpiness

"Why Don't We Ask The Girls What They Think?": New York Magazine Spends Some Quality Time With Dr. Luke

Please enjoy the excellent Adam Sternbergh's in-depth analysis of Dr. Luke -- NYC native (though "'The New York I grew up in is gone,' he says bluntly"), Saturday Night Live alum, and, yes, alchemist behind any current radio-dominating pop smash you'd care to name. In addition to quoting two fine ... More >>

The Karate Kid's Kung Fu Hustle

Jaden Smith will never catch a fly with chopsticks

Surveying the Dr. Luke Moment: A Critical Look At Lazers, Glitter, and the Un-Sexing of America's Pop Stars

On May 7, Katy Perry debuted "California Gurls," the first single from her forthcoming album, Teenage Dream. It was a cleverly-engineered, synchronized piece of pop craft--a classic no-chances move--and it had to be: there were things riding on this song. Things like the viability of Perry as a bo ... More >>

The Long, Slow Death of Lil Wayne's Rebirth

Dwayne Carter proves rappers can make lousy rock albums, too

Bulls on Parade: Live From MSG's Arena Rock Rodeo

Where the soundtrack is more Jock Jams than Red State

The 50 Worst Songs of the '00s, F2K No. 1: Counting Crows ft. Vanessa Carlton, "Big Yellow Taxi"

F2K has been a countdown of the 50 worst songs of the decade. Relive the whole long journey here. Thank you, and we're sorry. As a concession to a vile, contemptible decade marked by commerce over reason, we pleaded to our editors at the Village Voice to let us publish the No. 1 entry as one of t ... More >>

The Decade in Music Genre Hype

A solemn tribute to once-hot-shit trends that (mostly) won't be joining us in the '10s

The 50 Worst Songs of the '00s, F2K No. 5: Alvin & The Chipmunks, "Get Munk'd"

F2K is a countdown of the 50 worst songs of the decade. Track our progress here. Watch out, 'cause here they come... and it would seem that they're kinda horny.

The 50 Worst Songs of the '00s, F2K No. 12: Disturbed, "Land of Confusion"

F2K is a countdown of the 50 worst songs of the decade. Track our progress here. OK, we all agree that Phil Collins is for wussies--but there's got to be some middle ground, right?

'Z100's Jingle Ball 2009'

Streaking Past Viacom Offices in Times Square Now Legitimate Path to MTV Video Music Award Nominations

Hey, so the downy elf with the dilated pupils who dwells inside the padded confines of MTV's viral marketing campaign closet did good today! The MTV Video Music Award Nominations are out, and boy, look at that Breakthrough Video category: the ninja-filled, Underworld-vibing video to Bat For Lash's ... More >>

Summer Guide: Amadou & Mariam's A Global Affair

Damon Albarn lends this "blind couple from Mali" a dash of Britpop

American Idol Top 8 Results: No Future in Sight for Scott MacIntyre

Frank Micelotta / FOXBye, Scott! When "Year You Were Born" is an Idol episode theme, anything should happen, but last night's predictable mess yielded just one surprise: Simon Cowell's standing ovation for the swishiest contestant in history and new Bill O'Reilly foe, Adam Lambert. So, which boring ... More >>

Notes on the Biz (What's Left of It)

On metal, genre-based critical bias, layoffs, industry hysteria, and the Loudness Wars

Bold Grammy 2008 Predictions!

The BET Awards: A Running Diary

Hot 97's Summer Jam: A Preview

Track 18 Wins Again!

Major-Label Hip-Hop Records in Burying-Best-Tracks Shocker!

Flo Rida: Miami Sound Machine

Ringtone-rap titan unleashes a blaring but robotic debut

Fat Joe vs. the Volcano

He's joined forces with the South, whether you like it or not

In Defense of Lil Wayne's "Lollipop"

Flo Rida, Lil Boosie, and the New Mechanics of Rap Stardom

Rick Ross Buries the All-Star Remix

Mr. Roboto

T-Pain triggers the long-prophesized Rise of the Machines

Who the Hell is Flo Rida?

Totally Use Your Illusion, Dude

Rap stars see how the other half lives