Ty-DMusic.com: Musicscene 39

MOBO Awards: the winners are...

The 6th annual MOBO Awards were held at the London Arena last Thursday, October 4th and the big winners were Usher and So Solid Crew both walked away with 2 awards each. Usher won for Best R&B act and Best Album in "8701" while the 'Crew' won Best U.K. garage act and Best Newcomer. Luther Vandross was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award and although he didn't wasn't there to receive it, had friend Dionne Warwick picked up the award for him and also performed her renindition of "What the World Needs Now is Love."

Other notables included R. Kelly, who went to the UK by boat and sang 'I Believe I Can Fly' which he dedicated to New York City. Craig David got the Best UK Act award but was also MIA from the ceremony. Again Britain's prodigal prince Omar, who was asked to perform at the after-party did not take any trophies home which is a shock to me I just don't understand why

Here is the full list of winners for the 2001 MOBO Awards:

Best R&B act in association with Choice FM: Usher
Best hip-hop act in association with 4music: Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott
Best video in association with MTV Base: "Up Middle Finger," Oxide & Neutrino
Best jazz act: Incognito
Best reggae act: Shaggy
Best producer in association with Galaxy Network: Dr. Dre
Best gospel act: Mary Mary
Best world music act in association with The Daily Telegraph: Nitin Sawhney
Best U.K. garage act: So Solid Crew
Best U.K. act in association with The Sun: Craig David
MasterCard best album: "8701," Usher
Best single in association with 95.8 Capital FM: "Independent Women Part 1," Destiny's Child
Best newcomer in association with London Today: So Solid Crew
Best U.K. radio DJ: Jigs (Choice FM)
Best U.K. club DJ: Spoony
MOBO Unsigned Award: N'Jay
MOBO Outstanding Achievement: R. Kelly
MOBO Lifetime Achievement: Luther Vandross

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Raphael Saadiq's new LP set for Feb 2002 release

Former Tony! Toni! Tone!/Lucy Pearl leader Raphael Saadiq is in the latter stages of putting the finishing touches on his debut solo album, "Instant Vintage," scheduled to be released in late January/early February 2002 on Universal/Pookie Records.

Saadiq has visited various studios in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New York, and has called upon guest contributions from the likes of D'Angelo, T-Boz of TLC, producers Organized Noize (Outkast, Goodie Mob), and singer Angie Stone, whose forthcoming J Records album, "Mahogany Soul," features production work by Saadiq.

Said Saadiq "The music will always stay soulful until the day I die, but with this record you can expect a more gritty, dark and light sound, meaning it will have more of an underground vibe," Saadiq says in a statement about the new album, for which he wrote all the songs. "This record is shaping out to be riskier and funkier than anything I've ever done."

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Jamiroquai frontman to charged with assault'

Jay Kay the lead singer of one of my favourite groups out right now Jamiroquai has been charged with common assault and criminal damage stemming from an incident with a photographer in April of this year, police said. Mr. Kay, 31, is due to appear in court today (Oct. 8) at Bow Street Magistrates Court in London. The incident apparently occurred April 14 outside the Attica nightclub in London.

Jamiroquai's next release from their fantastic album 2001: A Funk Odyssey will the moody mid-tempo groove "Black Capricorn Day" which features a remix from The Slum Village look out for it.

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Seek's Venus and Mars: out of this world .

If you're into the likes of Fly By Nature, Cooly's Hot Box, Fertile Ground or The Sirius B Project well Seek is right up your league. Hailing from Atlanta, this 7 piece band has a well polished, tight sound and the album "Venus and Mars" is a shining example of their hard work.

A set that's filled with terrific tracks from start to finish, Venus and Mars is well written and produced unfortunately not much more is known about them (they don't have an official website). Most promising tracks (in my eyes) are 'Mountains', 'Ask yourself', 'Before you' and 'The story of us' (Cottonbelly rmx). They don't have an official label deal but you can download their music at MP3.com.