Earlier this week, legendary producer Dr. Dre officially announced his intentions to release his long-awaited 3rd and (allegedly) final album, the now-mythical Detox, in 2010. Of course, we’ve heard this shit before; every year since 2007 or so has been the year Detox would finally see a release, and each time it never materialized. Officially the Chinese Democracy of Hip Hop, the internet practically exploded when Dre and Interscope exec Jimmy Iovine announced the album’s first single: “Under Pressure,” featuring Jay-Z.

Excited yet?

 No? Well…understandable. I stopped waiting for Detox a long time ago; that’s like waiting for the Easter Bunny, or a Republican that’s not an asshole. It’s just not practical to care about Detox at this point. Chinese Democracy was actually an amazing album, once we finally got a chance to hear it (after waiting for over 15 years!). But to many Guns N’ Roses fans it sucked on principal, crushed under the weight of hype and anticipation before the release date had ever even been announced. When great artists make people wait absurd amounts of time for music, fans start thinking that long-awaited album’s gonna buy ‘em a new car and pay their bills; stock their fridge and solve all of their problems and shit. Not a good look, Dre. 

He’s obviously  the greatest Hip Hop producer of all time, so Detox will undoubtedly be good (right?),but  can anything live up to this kind of hype?

 M.I.A. basically slammed Lady Gaga in an interview with NME this past week, objecting to the heavy use of product placement in her Beyonce-assisted video for “Telephone,” as well as to comparisons between the two trailblazing artists. According to Rollingstone.com, the Sri Lankan rapper rejected the notion that the two share any similarities, stating “Lady Gaga — people say we’re similar, that we both mix all these things in the pot and spit them out differently, but she spits it out exactly the same! None of her music’s reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is.” Things actually get way worse from there; M.I.A. asserts that Gaga is basically ripping off Grace Jones and Madonna (truth?), calls her a “good mimic,” and likens the work of the famed Haus of Gaga to “Me blindfolded with naked men feeding me apples and shit.”

My girl M.I.A. does make a few good points, but she definitely comes off as a hater here. Gaga’s music is super-commercial, widely-accessible pop; of course, Lady Gaga is and wants to be a super-commercial, widely-accessible pop star, so what’s the problem? And Gaga does pull heavily from Grace Jones and Madonna, but it’d say M.I.A. pulls pretty heavily from Missy Elliot too.

What do you guys think? Is M.I.A. mistreating out beloved Gaga…or telling the truth?

After a whirlwind year (to say the least), pop superstar Rihanna is hoping to cap off her recent successes with a massive U.S. tour this summer. Titled the “Last Girl on Earth” tour, the 25-date trek will weave its way across the country, beginning July 2nd in Seattle, before wrapping up on August 25th in Chi-town. Check out the full list of dates below.

While I absolutely love Rihanna (borderline obsessed, actually), and am definitely going to this concert, I’m wary as to whether or not she can pull this off. The girl is certainly ambitious; the tour will be hitting large arenas, and filling all those seats is no easy feat. Rated R, released late last year, has been a slow-seller in comparison to Good Girl Gone Bad, even though it’s a far better album. However, RiRi seems to have turned that initial lag in sales around with the massive “Rude Boy,” which has been perched at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks straight now, making it her most successful single since “Umbrella.”  

Though it was initially announced that Ke$ha and Nicki Minaj (another obsession of mine) would be opening the gigs, the tour hit its first roadblock when Minaj disappointed the hell out of everyone and pulled out literally 48 hours after the shows were announced, citing a need to use that time to focus on the completion of her debut album. Not a great start.

Are you going to the “Last Girl on Earth Tour” this summer?

Rihanna’s “Last Girl on Earth” Tour

(Courtesy of Rollingstone.com)

July 2 – Seattle, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
July 4 – Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
July 6 – Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddeldome
July 9 – Sacramento, CA @ ARCO Arena
July 10 – Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View
July 14 – Albuquerque, NM @ Hard Rock Casino Albuquerque presents The Pavilion
July 15 – Denver, CO @ Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
July 17 – Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Events Center
July 21 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center
July 22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion
July 28 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
July 30 – Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
July 31 – Miami, FL @ American Airlines Center
August 3 – Indianapolis, IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Center Indianapolis
August 5 – Toronto, ON @ Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
August 7 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
August 8 – Boston, MA @ Comcast Center
August 11 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
August 12 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
August 15 – Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
August 18 – Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
August 20 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
August 21 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
August 22 – Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
August 25 – Chicago, IL @ United Center