Music Blogs

Mariah: Mama Said Knock You Out

Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008 1:00pm PST by Billy Johnson, Jr. in Hip-Hop Media Training

Mariah sure knows what she's doing.

Have you seen her "Touch My Body" video? It prompted me to write her a letter.

Dear Mariah,

Great video. Good job MC. Considering the popularity of the geek slap stick films Superbad, 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up it was genius to incorporate the idea into your "Touch My Body" video. What a treat it must have been for 30 Rock page Jack McBrayer to roll up to the mansion in the Compu Nerd Wolkswagon Bug only to have you open the door for him in your underwear? How did you pick him? This is funny. I'm going to watch it again, again, and again.

How are you able to make this whole music thing look so easy. You stepped in the ring in 1989 with "Vision Of Love," and nearly 20 years later, you are still knocking out the competition.

[Whispering] I know we don't like to talk about this, but you're almost 40, but you're hanging with the baby girls. Dang. Go Mariah!

If Janet's Discipline album debuted today at No. 1, selling a buck eighty during its first week on sale, I wonder what E=MC2 is going to do on Wednesday, April 23 when its first week numbers are revealed. Might then E=Discipline2? (I'm just joking Janet.)

Mariah, I know you're going to uphold your status as the best selling female artist of all time. Hopefully, that's a title that won't get Aretha Franklin upset.

Best,
Billy J

 

Here's why Mariah is different from the other Queens. The answer is in Glitter and the decisions it prompted her to make.

Mariah really believed that her pre-Glitter 'Tommy Motolla and J. Lo are out to get me' meltdown was going to sell her some movie tickets and soundtracks, thus jumpstarting her new $81.6 million, four album deal with Virgin Records. But when that approach backfired, MC fired back.

Mariah left Virgin Records after only releasing one of those four albums. But that one album that sold just 1 million copies, compared to the 5 to 10 million albums she generally sells, had to earn her the biggest payout. She signed to Virgin for a $81 million deal, but she walked away with $49 million after only releasing ONE album. She essentially received 60 percent of the profits for doing 25 percent of the work. Sorry Frank Lucas and Jay-Z, I think this makes her the true American Gangster.

Turned out that the so-called Glitter flop was better than any medicine Dr. Phil could have prescribed. It was the reality check Mariah needed to prompt her to get her career back on track. You would have thought Mariah was a single mother with five hungry kids. She singed with Island Def Jam, threw the Charmbracelet together really quickly, and started gearing up for The Emancipation Of Mimi.

The Emancipation came back so hard that it reminded me of that scene from the Color Purple when Sophia told Celie that she had to beat up her husband Harpo. "All my life I had to fight," Sophia said. "I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men, but I ain't never thought I'd have to fight in my own house!" Mariah's comeback gave me those kind of chills.

Mariah went from Glitter to "We Belong Together" which set a BDS record for having the largest one-day and one-week total audience.

That's a comeback.

That's why people don't talk about Glitter anymore because Mariah has new news, and today it's the "Touch My Body" video.

All artists struggling to make a comeback please take note. If Mariah won't start doing workshops, please pick up her catalog and do your own research. In memory of the late famous attorney Johnnie Cochran I must rhyme, "Make a hit, they will forget." It is not that complicated.

Now that Mimi has been emancipated, she's back to doing what she does best: taking off her clothes, singing seductively and forcing on us that unnecessary, yet impressive, high pitch octave range.

If she couldn't sing so well and write and produce, she would be just another struggling, bargin bin wannabe diva.

But it is amazing that she has maintained relevancy for 20 years like no other pop artist has done.

Mariah, sometimes you get on my nerves, as do some of my relatives, but I still love you. You are a great talent.

How you manage to do this at nearly 40 is remarkable. As our old friend MC Hammer used to say, Please don't hurt 'em. And I mean that.

890 Comments

161. Franklin -
Just think I will never let go her as one of my favorites

162. Little_Man_with_a_dustpan -
I love it. Thats one lucky guy ! he he

163. MAKING MONEY -
I loveeeeeeeee this vid it's hot!!!! the nerd rocks :)

164. Yahoo! Music User -
Most of the negative comments here are primarily from insecure, jealous females. Just get over yourselves! Shes hot and UNSTOPPABLE! And she sounds extraordinary! Age aint nothin but a number people...

Love you always Mimi!
Jeremy

165. ~.~.Black Diamond~.~. -
This is my fav. she just keeps coming out with the best music.. keep doing you thang mariah ..

166. Yahoo! Music User -
her songs are always good but i dont see why she has to show off her body so much

167. Yahoo! Music User -
yuck...

168. Tjoker -
GREAT, LOVE YOUR MUSIC. THIS VIDEO IS SO COOL. WOULD LUV TO BE THE COMPUTER GEEK...

169. lynwit -
I LIKE HIM ! WHAT FUN !

170. Yahoo! Music User -
Mariah is absolutely wonderful, great video and song. Keep doing your thang girl!

171. bitch_from_hell -
HATE IT !!!!!!!

172. Yahoo! Music User -
Yes! I lov the song*******juz perfect/performance...

173. Layla's mom -
This was such a cute video. Mariah really slimmed down in the video. She's always been pretty, but she was getting thick there for a while. This is like old school "HERO" MC. I'm glad she's still doing her thing!

174. kayleigh c -
Its awesome. Shes poking fun at herself and doing something she normally doest to. I find it extremely funny.

and its not racier than the other videos out there. lmao.

175. Yahoo! Music User -
Mariah i the best!!!!!!!!!

176. sha -
mariah is a so sexc and nasty she makea me sick.XXXXXXXXXXX

177. Yahoo! Music User -
That rocked I love most of her videos but that one made me laugh and I think thats cool. Its nice to see something differnt and cute. The video was good but her voice is better by far.

178. Yahoo! Music User -
Mariah needs to go back and listen to her songs from the late 80's and early 90's.. before she had breast implants. I think her voice is terrible now. Her first album was her best. anyone can whine... what's with the baseball tube socks and high heels. grow up Mariah.

179. fabulous -
the song is okay but her video was if i was watching a video of britney spears. we all love mariah matter of fact my grandaughter is named after her: but comon now." lets get the apparel she is wearing corrected"! to much skin for families to sit and watch. we do our best to raise the family to be descent. with skin being shown as it is today this is one of the down falls of the children and teens today.

180. Yahoo! Music User -
HEY Billy Johnson LEARN HOW TO USE SPELL CHECKER its Volkswagon
Page:  5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 
Leave Your Comment
You must sign in to leave a comment
Select a Blog Posts
And The Winner Is...
by Chris Willman
26
As Heard On...
by Rebecca Harper, Hulu
46
Chart Watch
by Paul Grein
141
Framed
by John Kordosh
119
GetBack
by Shawn Amos
332
Hip-Hop Media Training
by Billy Johnson, Jr.
221
List Of The Day
by Rob O'Connor
332
Maximum Performance
by Lyndsey Parker
167
Musictoob
by Justin Mathews
183
New This Week
by Dave DiMartino
123
Reality Rocks
by Lyndsey Parker
581
Rock's Backpages
by Philip Norman (1970)
191
Stop The Presses!
by Us Magazine
85
That's Really Week
by Lyndsey Parker
125
The Blender Burner
by Blender Magazine
27
The MOJO Blog
by Bill DeMain
88
The NME Blog
by Luke Lewis
49
The Spin Blog
by David Marchese
78
The Y! Music Playlist Blog
by Robert of the Radish
515
Video Ga Ga
by Lyndsey Parker
71
Viva NashVegas
by Wendy Geller
59

Allison Iraheta aims to excite with debut album

AP
Mon Nov 30, 2009 7:27am PST

AP - Allison Iraheta has come a long way since her awkward first interview with Ryan Seacrest. The spunky 17-year-old singer, who stuttered and stammered when the "American Idol" host prodded her about school… More »

More Music News