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Whilst the Maybach Music Group ran roughshot over the three months of inconsistent summer weather, the enigmatic powerhouse collective known as G.O.O.D Music was quietly creating a buzz akin to a tropical hurricane. News of the imprint’s joint album
Cruel Summer began to surface as the group’s leader,
Kanye West, spent this past summer adding lyrical muscle to affiliates
Pusha T, Big Sean and
2 Chainz’ cuts [in addition to fleeing from the paparazzi with ‘new’ beau
Kim Kardashian]. As we enter the Autumn months, can his collective create an ‘Indian Summer’ of substantial heat?
We saw the slow demise of Auto-Tune after it’s over use on almost every club song played in 2008 - 2010 but that hasn’t stopped Grammy Award winning Florida born rapper T-Pain working on music with his precious pitch-correcting machine. Having released a string of promotional tracks to lukewarm reception [including “Rap Song” featuring Rick Ross, “Take Your Shirt Off” and “Reverse Cowgirl” featuring Young Jeezy] following the disbanding of Jive Records, the Auto-Tune connoisseur is back as a new signee to Young Money with his fourth studio album rEVOLVEr.
Tyrese takes time out from acting, creating comics and penning books to return to his musical roots and provide his first studio in album in five years -Open Invitation. Released through his own music label Voltron Recordz (distributed by EMI), the comeback project serves as a welcome reminder of the solid R&B the California hailing star first made his name with.
"Got any Sean Paul, mate?" is a request most DJs have become familiar with ever since Sean Paul smashed through the mainstream doors with an aunthentic dancehall brand of floor-fillers such as 
Before there was Hype Williams, Little X and Benny Boom, there was Lionel C. Martin.
From 1987 to present, Martin’s videography reads like a scroll of all of the great talents of the past 25 years in urban and popular music. Martin is responsible for giving urban music videos life and authenticity at a time where Hip Hop and R&B desperately needed a pioneer to deliver a quality product for the world to see. Martin has produced videos for TLC, Stevie Wonder, R. Kelly, Public Enemy, Bell Biv Devoe, Big Daddy Kane, Jay-Z, Keith Sweat, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, SWV, En Vogue, MC Shan, Jodeci, Mariah Carey, Jill Scott, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G., Father MC, Hi-Five, Tupac, N’Sync, Backstreet Boys and many more.
Martin, a native of Queens, NY, was a trailblazing force in the 1980s when he helped launch the Video Music Box channel with his childhood friend, Ralph McDaniels in 1984. The Video Music Box channel was only seen in the Tri-State area at the time. The Tri-State area consists of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Martin was one of the first hosts on the show and his moniker was (The VidKid). The channel would play every Hip Hop video from the popular artists of the time period.
After its inaugural year, Martin devised an idea to expand the channel’s brand and this move helped to make the channel achieve legendary status. Martin alongside McDaniels made the decision to travel extensively through the emerging hip-hop scene to cover parties and shows to illustrate the influence that Hip Hop culture was having on New York City and the surrounding areas. It would prove to be pivotal in shaping the career path of Martin.
During this time, the Video Music Box channel was the only Hip Hop program in syndication on public television in the United States. It gave a voice and face to a culture that would begin to dominate the mainstream in the forthcoming years. Whilst working on the Video Music Box channel, Martin would see the types of videos that would come in from the artists and thought that the Hip Hop culture needed to have better representation for the art form. This is where his voyage of directing music videos begins.
Recently, SoulCulture sat down to talk with Martin about his contributions to urban music videos, behind the scene stories and the importance of maintaining pride in urban culture.
“How do I look, how do I look?” jokes Joe, strolling into the room at Kedar Entertainment's New York offices, suited in an eye-catching bright red dinner jacket and swirling a glass of ‘adult apple juice’. We’re here to talk about his most recent release, Signature; the R&B singer’s second independent album following his prior six studio albums released on Jive Records.