Jay Chou [周杰伦(Jiélún Zhōu)] born January 18, 1979, is a Taiwanese musician, singer, producer, actor and director. In 1998 he was discovered in a school talent show, where he showcased his singing and piano-skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for popular singers in China. Trained in classical music, he combines musical styles to produce songs that fuse R & B, rock, and pop genres, covering issues such as domestic violence, war, and urbanization.
In 2000, he released his first album “Jay” under the record company Alfa Music. Since then he has released one album per year, selling several million copies each. His music has gained recognition throughout Asia, especially in countries like China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese communities, winning more than 20 awards each year. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide.
In 2007 Chou was named one of the 50 most influential people in China by the British think tank Chatham House. He starred in Initial D (2005) which won Best Actor in Golden Horse Awards and was nominated for Best Actor Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Curse of the Golden Flower in which he played the prince Jay (2006 ). His career now extends into directing and running his own record company JVR Music.
In 2011, he starred opposite Seth Rogan in the Michel Gondry directed film, The Green Hornet, as the loyal and skilled companion, Kato, played originally by Bruce Lee in the television series of the 60′s.
James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), better known as LL Cool J (abbreviation for Ladies Love CoolJames), is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and actor from Bay Shore, New York. He is known for romantic ballads such as “I Need Love”, “Around the Way Girl” and “Hey Lover” as well as pioneering hip-hop such as “I Can’t Live Without My Radio”, “I’m Bad”, “The Boomin’ System”, and “Mama Said Knock You Out”. He has released thirteen studio albums and two greatest hits compilations, including 2008′s Exit 13, the last for his record deal with Def Jam Recordings. He has also appeared in numerous films, and currently stars as NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS: Los Angeles.
“Mama Said Knock You Out” is a hit single by LL Cool J from his album of the same name. The song famously begins with the line “Don’t call it a comeback/I’ve been here for years.” Before “Mama Said Knock You Out” was released, many people felt that LL Cool J’s career was waning; his grandmother, who still believed in his talent, told him to “knock out” all his critics. The song was produced by Marley Marl with help from Shadman Kaiser along with LL. The single reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold by the RIAA. LL Cool J won Best Rap Solo Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1992.
The song uses samples from James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” the Chicago Gangsters’ “Gangster Boogie,” Sly & The Family Stone’s “Trip to Your Heart” and “Sing a Simple Song”, and Rock the Bells by LL Cool J. The music video features LL Cool J in a boxing ring, rapping into a microphone similar to the one an announcer would use in a boxing match. Frequently, there are shots of him working out and scenes of boxers being punched out. At the end of the video, his grandmother says “Todd! Todd! Get upstairs and take out that garbage”.
The song was included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Song Lyrics:
[LL]
C’mon man
[News Report]
And with the local DBT news, LL Cool J with a triumphant comeback [mumbling]
but tonite…
[LL]
Don’t call it a comeback
I been here for years
Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear
Makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon
Listen to the bass go BOOM
Explosion, overpowerin
Over the competition, I’m towerin
Wreckin shop, when I drop these lyrics that’ll make you call the cops
Don’t you dare stare, you betta move
Don’t ever compare
Me to the rest that’ll all get sliced and diced
Competition’s payin the price
[Chorus:]
I’m gonna knock you out (HUUUH!!!)
Mama said knock you out (HUUUH!!!) [REPEAT 4X]
Don’t u call this a regular jam
I’m gonna rock this land
I’m gonna take this itty bitty world by storm
And I’m just gettin warm
Just like Muhummad Ali they called him Cassius
Watch me bash this beat like a skull
Cuz u know I had beef wit
Why do u riff with me, the maniac psycho
And when I pull out my jammy get ready cuz it might go
BLAAAAW, how ya like me now?
The river will not allow
U to get with, Mr. Smith, dont riff
Listen to my gear shift
I’m blastin, outlastin
Kinda like Shaft, so u could say I’m shaftin
Old English filled my mind
And I came up with a funky rhyme
[Chorus] [LL]
Breakdown!!!
Shadow boxin when I heard you on the radio (HUUUH!!!)
I just don’t know
What made you forget that I was raw?
But now I got a new tour
I’m goin insane, startin the hurricane, releasin pain
Lettin you know that you can’t gain, I maintain
Unless ya say my name
Rippin, killin
Diggin and drillin a hole
Pass the Ol’ Gold
[Chorus]
Shotgun blasts are heard
When I rip and kill, at WILL
The man of the hour, tower of power, I’ll devour
I’m gonna tie you up and let you understand
that I’m not your average man
when I got a jammy in my hand
DAAAAAM!!!!! Oooooohh!!
Listen to the way I slaaaaay, your crew
Damage (UHH) damage (UHH) damage (UHH) damage
Destruction, terror, and mayhem
Pass me a sissy so suckas I’ll slay him
Farmers (What!!!) Farmers (What!!!)
I’m ready (we’re ready!!!)
I think I’m gonna bomb a town (get down!!)
Don’t u neva, eva, pull my lever
Cuz I explode
And my nine is easy to load
I gotta thank God
Cuz he gave me the strength to rock
HARD!! knock you out, mama said knock you out
Michael Fassbender heats up the February 2012 issue of Interview magazine. Photographed by Sebastian Kim for the cover story, The 34-year-old actor, who is currently on fire with his hit films, A Dangerous Method and Shame talks candidly with Josh Brolin (his co-star in 2010’s Jonah Hex), from how he chooses his film roles to having on-screen sex. Read the interview here.
Fassbender has two new film releasing in 2012: Haywire (January 20) and Prometheus (June 8).
Modern Marilyn: The ravishing Lara Stone(IMG) channels iconic blonde bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, for the January issue of Vogue China. Captured by Peter Lindbergh, Lara takes a cinematic trip with actor Fred Ward in form-fitting dresses and lingerie, provided by fashion editor Nicoletta Santoro. Dressed in designs by Prada, Dior, Celine, Marni, Miu Miu and Nina Ricci, the Dutch beauty smolders in lush curls by Shon and smokey eyes by Stéphane Marais.
Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978),also known simply as Tyrese, is an American R&B singer, rapper, actor, author, former fashion model and MTV VJ. After releasing several albums, he transitioned into television and films, with lead roles in several Hollywood releases.
In 1996, Gibson appeared on an episode of Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper. He also guest starred on the sitcom Moesha. Then he guest-starred on an episode of The Parent ‘Hood sitcom in 1998. He was given the role originally intended for Tupac Shakur in the 2001 film Baby Boy, and he subsequently appeared in the 2003 film 2 Fast 2 Furious (opposite Paul Walker with whom he formed a close friendship), as well as Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Four Brothers (2005), Waist Deep (2006) and Annapolis (2006). He appeared in the 2007 action film Transformers. The film’s director, Michael Bay, had Gibson in mind for the role before he was cast. He also appeared in action thriller Death Race.
In 2009, he reprised his role as Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Robert Epps in the movie Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, as well as, Transformers: Dark of The Moon. Gibson appeared in Fast Five (2011), reprising his role as Roman Pierce in this film series. Gibson also portrayed Kyle Williams in the Sony Screen Gems production Legion.
John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Music video by John Legend & The Roots performing “Wake Up Everybody“, featuring Common and Melanie Fiona. The song is a cover, written by John Whitehead, Gene McFadden, and Victor Carstarphen, originally recorded by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, with Teddy Pendergrass singing lead vocals, taken from their 1975 album of the same name. The original song spent two weeks at number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart in early 1976.
Song Lyrics:
Wake up everybody
No more sleepin’ in bed
No more backward thinkin’
Time for thinkin’ ahead
The world has changed
So very much
From what it used to be
There is so much hatred
War and poverty, whoa, oh
Wake up, all the teachers
Time to teach a new way
Maybe then they’ll listen
To what’cha have to say
‘Cause they’re the ones who’s coming up
And the world is in their hands
When you teach the children
Teach ‘em the very best you can
The world won’t get no better
If we just let it be, na, na, na
The world won’t get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me
Wake up, all the doctors
Make the old people well
They’re the ones who suffer
And who catch all the hell
But they don’t have so very long
Before the Judgment Day
So wont’cha make them happy
Before they pass away
Wake up, all the builders
Time to build a new land
I know we can do it
If we all lend a hand
The only thing we have to do
Is put it in our mind
Surely things will work out
They do it every time
The world won’t get no better
If we just let it be, na, na, na
The world won’t get no better
We gotta change it, yeah
Just you and me
It’s the God hour, the morning I wake up
Just for the breath of life I thank my maker
My mom say I come from hustlers and shakers
My mind builded on skyscrapers and acres
He said take us back to where we belong
I try to write a song as sweet as the Psalms
Though I am the type to bear arms and wear my heart on my sleeve
Even when I fell in God I believe
We the days at
Weave through the maze and the season so amazing
Feed them and raise them
Seasons are asian
Earthquakes, wars and rumors
I want us to get by but we more then consumers
We more than shooters
More than looters,
Created in his image,
So God live through us,
And even in his generation living through computers
On love, love, love can reboot us
Wake up, everybody
Wake up, everybody
Need a little help, y’all
Yes I do, need a little help
Need a little help, y’all ay
Wake up everybody
Wake up everybody
Wake up everybody
Enrique ”Ricky“ Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanishpop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.
During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide. He is the founder of Ricky Martin Foundation (Fundación Ricky Martin), a non-profit charity organization. Ricky Martin’s exuberant 1999 single “Livin’ la Vida Loca” made him a prominent figure of Latin dance-pop. Martin got his start with the all-boy pop group Menudo; after five years with the group, he released his Spanish-language solo album, Ricky Martin, in 1991. He also acted on stage and on TV in Mexico, becoming a modest star there. In 1994 he starred on the American TV soap opera General Hospital, playing a Puerto Rican singer. In 1999, after several albums in Spanish, he released his first English-language album (also titled Ricky Martin), which included the salsa-style “Livin’ la Vida Loca”. The album sold 22 million copies and brought Martin international fame. His other studio albums include:Me Amarás (1993), A Medio Vivir (1995), Vuelve (1998), Sound Loaded (2000), Almas del Silencio (2003), Life (2005), andMúsica + Alma + Sexo (2011). In 2010 Martin announced that he was a “fortunate homosexual man“, ending years of fan speculation on the topic.
Martin’s twin sons, Matteo and Valentino, were born via a surrogate mother in 2008. Martin also co-owns a Miami restaurant, Casa Salsa, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.
Michael Pitt‘s character on Boardwalk Empire may have come to an end but his foray into fashion continues. Captured by David Sims, the actor and musician is the face of Prada‘s latest campaign for men. Keeping with the Italian labels’ 195o’s Americana theme from the Spring/Summer 2012 collection, the new ads are saturated with pastel colors featuring soft silhouettes and retro prints. See Prada’s campaign for women here.
