Maxwell

Maxwell Imagines Would-Be Notorious B.I.G. Collaboration

08 Jul 2009 07:31:00 EDT

Plus: Maino raves about friend and colleague Swizz Beatz, in Mixtape Daily.
By Shaheem Reid

Photo: Brad Barket/ Getty Images

Celebrity Favorites Maxwell, you made us wait a little too long for your set during the Essence Music Festival last week, but it's all good. We're definitely eager to hear that BLACKsummers'night LP. Max was in his hometown of NYC on Monday night, hanging out with Fabolous and Nas and celebrating the release of his new record. Another Big Apple giant who loved Max's music was none other than the Notorious B.I.G. "He was Brooklyn, a smooth-ass dude, B.I.G. definitely f---ed with him," Lil' Cease told us about Biggie's love for Max. "His music was dope, and me and Big supported it." Man. Can you imagine a Biggie/Maxwell collaboration? We asked the singer what it would have sounded like.

"Wow. Wow. It's hard, because I'm from Brooklyn and [Biggie's] from Brooklyn," Maxwell said. "When Ready to Die was out, his first album was out. He's just the god of it all. I don't know what [our collaboration] would have sounded like. It distresses me more than I could know what it could sound like." Maxwell also said him and Big could have taken it to the club or got smoothed out. "It could be both, man," he said. "We're both Geminis, so I guess we would probably have more than one record, maybe. It's all about multiplicity for us. But he's sorely missed, though. I think people made it too real. Now people have a better understanding of what the lines are. The lines aren't too blurred in between the guy onstage and the person who's on the street. It's just sad he's not around for us to have known what those records would have sounded like." When it comes to who Maxwell listens to now, he says he's a fan of MGMT and Radiohead. The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground We're going to keep things in BK. Maino, you did it. You put that album out, homie. Surprisingly, Main is the first new artist from New York to release an album on a major label in quite some time. Let's hope this continues. We recently went out to the set of his video for "A Million Bucks" featuring Swizz Beatz. The Bed-Stuy moneymaker told us he's down with Swizz Beatz outside of music as well as on track.

"Swizz is my friend," Main said. "First and foremost. It ain't even just about music with him. He extended his hand on numerous things. This is not the first time we been in the lab together; this is just probably the best. It's a great time for me. I gave them 'Hi Hater,' the 'Hi Hater' remix, then we came back with 'All of the Above.' Now we just gonna continue to make powerful music. It's been a long time since they seen a new, New York artist get this far." The scene we caught Maino filming was a part in the video where he pulled a heist on an off-track-betting type of establishment and took some of that money they made from horse races. He and his crew took the money back to the 'hood and had some fun giving it away. "The concept, you see Maino with 'A Million Bucks featuring Swizz Beatz.' From the outside, it may look like it's just a song about getting money or having fun," he said. "[The video] is kinda like the opposite of it. When I heard the song, [Swizz] had the hook already on there. It was like, 'I might give away a million bucks.' I was like, 'Swizz, I ain't got a million bucks.' He was like, 'I do!' I thought of a way to put me in a situation without saying, 'I actually got a million dollars.' I'm basically, 'I wanna give back to the 'hood. It's hot in the 'hood. You got feds in the 'hood. I'mma come back to the 'hood and give back to the 'hood. I'mma come bring some sunshine.' " Main said other than Swizz, the only cameos he was concerned about in his video were those from the locals. "I don't do it for them," Maino said about the people from the neighborhood. "I do it for these people. They here every day. They live here. It's more important for them to be in the video than it is for the so-called celebrities to be in the video." For other artists featured in Mixtape Monday, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.

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Maxwell Explains Long Wait For BLACKsummers'night

15 Jul 2009 09:50:00 EDT

Album will be #1 on Billboard albums chart next week.
By Shaheem Reid

Maxwell
Photo: Columbia

Who says loyalty in the music industry is dead? Maxwell's fans are proving that they will stay down. Despite being gone from the scene for almost a decade, the Brooklyn native was able to see his new album, BLACKsummers'night — the first installment of a planned trilogy — go to #1 on the Billboard albums chart.

Now despite getting love for his music, that doesn't mean that plenty of fans were not disappointed by the soul man's extra-long hiatus. He says he was enjoying life away from music and going through experiences that helped inspire the lyrics for the new opus. "I don't know why and when and how," Maxwell told MTV News recently in New York about making his music. "I just know when I know." Max also said he didn't want to be away for this long, but had to put himself first. "It does break my heart," he said about making his fans wait. "I want the people who love what I do, or listen to what I do to have that comfort and security of having a record every [certain] amount of years. But when I look at someone I really admire like Sade, she's been out of the game for nine years. And I know that this new record is amazing that she's about to put out, because you have a life that you can connect with that music. A lot of times when you see people putting out these records, they're not writing these records. You have somebody saying, 'This is what your life feels like to me.' So I think that the people who listen to the music and who are disappointed [by my absence], they need to take in consideration that life has to be lived in order to create those things they really want to be so good. I know when it doesn't sound good, those same people will tell you that you messed up. For those who have been disappointed, I just want them to understand that's the gist [of what has taken so long] basically." Was it worth the wait? Fans voted with their wallets over the past few days.

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Maxwell Returns To Top Billboard

15 Jul 2009 12:41:00 EDT

All Time Low debut strong at #4 in week still dominated by Michael Jackson sales.
By Gil Kaufman

Photo: Columbia

It's a rough month to release a new album, because no matter how many units you move, the figure will likely pale in comparison to the massive posthumous numbers being put up by Michael Jackson. That's the case again next week, when the top four Jackson albums on the Top Pop Catalog chart will easily best the figures posted by the leaders on the Top 200 current album chart. While Jackson and Jackson 5 albums hold the top 12 spots on the Catalog chart, the current albums chart is topped by soul smoothie Maxwell, who has broken an eight-year hiatus with the first of a planned trilogy of albums, BLACKsummers'night, which debuts at #1 on sales of 316,000, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan.

The #2 slot is filled by the chart debut of the Hannah Montana 3 soundtrack, which moved 137,000 copies, followed by last week's #1, the Now 31 pop compilation (101,000), and the #4 debut from pop punkers All Time Low, whose Nothing Personal rang up 63,000 in sales. The rest of the top 10 features the usual suspects: Black Eyed Peas' E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) (#5, 63,000), Brad Paisley's American Saturday Night (#6, 44,000), Rob Thomas' Cradlesong (#7, 41,000), Taylor Swift's Fearless (#8, 36,000), Eminem's Relapse (#9, 34,000) and the Jonas Brothers' Lines Vines & Trying Times (#10, 34,000). After a solid #4 debut last week, indie darlings Wilco's Wilco (The Album) shed 66 percent of business to drop to #11 (34,000). R&B singer Jeremih suffered a similar swoon (51 percent), as his self-titled debut moves down nine spots to #15 in its second week on the charts. Los Angeles good-time rap duo LMFAO hit #33 in the chart debut for their Party Rock (11,000) album of, well, party anthems, while longtime Americana act Son Volt shuffle into the #44 spot with their glum latest, American Central Dust (10,000). And that's about all the chart action worth talking about until next week, when Daughtry return with their second album and Jack White's latest side project, the Dead Weather, hit the charts with their debut.

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Daughtry Own This Town With #1 Billboard Debut

22 Jul 2009 13:01:00 EDT

Band's sophomore album starts out strong, bumping Maxwell's BLACKsummers'night to #2.
By James Montgomery

Daughtry
Photo: Michael Caulfield/ Getty Images

Being #1 is nothing new to Chris Daughtry. Debuting there is. Back in 2006, his band's self-titled debut went to the top of the Billboard charts in its ninth week of release. The follow-up, Leave This Town, didn't bother waiting that long: It will bow at #1 right out of the gate. Town sold more than 269,000 copies to land atop the Billboard 200 albums chart, according to numbers provided by Nielsen SoundScan, giving the former "American Idol" contestant another line on his already impressive résumé.

Daughtry's first album was the fastest-selling rock debut in SoundScan history, placing five consecutive singles in the top five of the Adult Top 40 radio charts and selling more than 7 million copies worldwide. Sales of that debut also shot up more than 46 percent this week, as it moved from #100 all the way up to #65. But back inside the top 10, Daughtry more than doubled the sales of his closest competitor, Maxwell, whose BLACKsummers'night slipped to #2 with sales of more than 103,000 copies. The latest "Hannah Montana" soundtrack is next at #3, selling about 73,000 copies, followed by the Now That's What I Call Music! 31 compilation (69,000) and the Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. (54,000). Following those albums is a trio of new releases. Debuting at #6 is Horehound, the debut from Jack White's skuzzy new supergroup the Dead Weather. Horehound sold nearly 51,000 copies, giving White his sixth top 10 album. Joe's Signature debuts at #7, with sales of nearly 49,000 copies, and motormouthed rapper Twista debuts at #8, selling more than 45,000 copies of his Category F5 album. The rest of the top 10 is rounded out by Taylor Swift's Fearless (#9, 37,000) and the Kings of Leon's Only by the Night (33,000). Other debuts on next week's chart include Christian pop trio PureNRG's The Real Thing at #20, rockers August Burns Red (#24) and Owl City (#27) and the soundtrack to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" at #29. And at #50 is another former "Idol" contestant, Brooke White, whose High Hopes & Heartbreak sold nearly 10,000 copies.

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Maxwell Drives Female Fans Wild At New Jersey Show

23 Jul 2009 13:52:00 EDT

But he also looked out for the fellas: 'I been setting you up from the beginning,' singer laughed.
By Shaheem Reid

Photo: Mike Coppola/ FilmMagic

NEWARK, New Jersey — Maxwell is back like he never left. His album sales for BLACKsummers'night proved that no matter how long you're gone, loyal fans will always be waiting. Max stopped off at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Prudential Hall on Wednesday night, and he brought his two main weapons: that soulfully rich voice and sex appeal. Yeah, sex appeal. Even the most heterosexual man has to admit that Max has it. The women eat up every second of Max's elegant wooing, and he drives the ladies wild with his natural charisma. After Chrisette Michele opened, Maxwell came out in sunglasses, accompanied by his booming band. He started things off with a classic: "Get to Know Ya." He stood at the mic singing, standing in an open stance. He took his glasses off, and ladies started to scream as if he had stripped down. The lights faded to black and came back on, as Max dropped down to a squat and started clapping his hands. The music turned into "Sumthin' Sumthin'." As he sang, he went into a one-legged split, Jackie Wilson-style. "Lifetime" came next. The singer did a series of splits as the record came to an end. The Brooklyn native then thanked all his supporters for staying down and coming back to him upon his return. "Y'all let me go away and live a life," he said. "All I ever wanted was to make music people enjoy." After "This Woman's Work" and "Pretty Wings," women started coming down from the back rows and lining up in front of the stage to give him bouquets of roses and hopefully get a hug. One lady even threw a pair of panties onstage. He later addressed the fellas, calling his concert the "greatest setup ever." "If you can't get yourself some a-- after this show right here," Maxwell laughed. "I was looking out from the beginning. Some people wanna hate, but I been setting you up from the beginning." "Fortunate" and " ... 'Til the Cops Come Knockin' " followed. He stuck mostly to his catalog of hits. Guess the material from the new album will wait for the next tour. "Ascension" closed the concert. He started the record a cappella, and the fans helped on the chorus. For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports. And send your own concert pics, videos and reviews to Your.MTV.com.

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Fabolous Leads The Way On Billboard Chart

05 Aug 2009 12:48:00 EDT

Loso's Way debuts at #1, while Ashley Tisdale's Guilty Pleasure slips in at #12.
By Gil Kaufman

Fabolous will have his way with the Billboard 200 charts next week, when his latest, Loso's Way, snags the top spot in a quiet week of album sales. According to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan, the Brooklyn MC will easily nab the top spot as the only debut in the top 10, with sales of almost 99,000. The rest of the heap will remain largely unchanged, with Daughtry's sophomore effort, Leave This Town, resting comfortably again at #2 (62,000), a resurgent Maxwell hanging onto the #3 spot with BLACKsummers'night (55,000), followed by the Now That's What I Call Music! 31 compilation (#4, 53,000) and the Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) (#5, 49,000). While most of the usual suspects in the top 10 suffered either double-digit declines from the previous week or marginal losses/gains, band of brothers (and cousin) Kings of Leon continue their upward march with Only by the Night, which saw a 21 percent increase in sales to 47,000 and will move up two spots to #6. The Hannah Montana 3 soundtrack settles in at #7 (41,000), trailed by Demi Lovato's Here We Go Again (39,000), which shed 64 percent of its business in week two. Taylor Swift's Fearless comes in at #9 with 38,000, and Lady Gaga's Fame, which holds tight at #10 (27,000). Just outside the top, Ashley Tisdale's Guilty Pleasure debuts at #12 (25,000), while Kristinia DeBarge musters an initial bow down at #23 with her debut, Exposed (17,000). After a disappointing #7 entry last week, former "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks' second album, Battlefield, took a serious hit in week two (18,000), dropping down to #21 and shedding 63 percent of its first-week sales. While Fab can celebrate his #1 debut in the top 200, over on the Comprehensive Albums chart, he'll have to settle for being #2, as Michael Jackson's Number Ones once again leads the overall sales parade with sales of 114,000 in a top five still dominated by three of the late pop star's albums, including Essential Michael Jackson (#3, 69,000) and the iconic Thriller (#5, 59,000). The top 10 should remain relatively settled next week, as no major releases are slated to hit the charts.

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Maxwell Dazzles The Ladies At Madison Square Garden

29 Sep 2009 12:44:00 EDT

Singer's hometown gig features Common, Chrisette Michele as opening acts.
By Shaheem Reid

Photo: Roger Kisby/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — One of the great comeback artists of 2008 hit his hometown's biggest stage on Monday night when Brooklyn native Maxwell wowed the crowd at Madison Square Garden. Chrisette Michele and Chicago-native-turned-Brooklynite Common were the opening acts. Taking the stage after a brief set from Chrisette Michele, Common laced his performance with hip-hop cap-tipping as he started doing a piece of Q-Tip's "Breathe and Stop" before transitioning into his own "Go." Later in the show he performed his and Erykah Badu's "Love of My Life" solo, during which he briefly covered some hip-hop standards such as Boogie Down Productions' "The Bridge Is Over," the Fugees' "Ready or Not," Kanye West's "Jesus Walks," Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" and Dr. Dre's "Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang."




	Maxwell Makes Madison Square Garden Swoon

"The People" and the "The Light" came next. Keeping with his hip-hop motif, Com freestyled off the dome: "I'm not Drake, but I'm successful/ I'm not Lil Wayne but I'll f--- a lady cop," he rapped. "We ain't with no drama/ I said 'F--- Bush,' so we voted for Obama." Common's finale was "Universal Rhyme Control," during which he popped and locked. The homecoming for headliner Maxwell was sweet: The Garden went completely dark for a few seconds as the chorus from Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" warmed up the arena. Max walked out in a dark three-piece suit. The singer started his set on the main stage, but later took to a runway that split into a Y-shaped fork. He had a giant video screen behind him that broke into four smaller screens and later into two ones. "Even though she pays me no attention/ All I wanna show is my affection/ Lose myself inside her ebony," he sang during "Sumthin' Sumthin'." "She ain't even checking me," he continued, dropping to his knees to add drama. On cue, women in the audience started screaming. Dance splits followed, and then Max dragged the mic stand onto the runway. He faked walking back to the main stage, then ran down the left side of the runway, slapping hands, then did the same down the right side. The tempo slowed down for the soulful "Lifetime." "Sometimes you just wanna smack your boss in the face," he improvised. "But you gotta put food on your table ... Brooklyn, stand up!" The lyrical seductions continued on "Bad Habits" (from his recent chart-topping BLACKsummers'night LP) and one of the biggest crowd-pleasers of the night, "Fortunate." It looked like Maxwell might actually drop a few real tears at one point in the night. He started assessing the moment. "I'm from Brooklyn, New York," he told the crowd. "My family is from the West Indies: My mother is from Haiti and my father is Puerto Rican. Things like this are not are supposed to happen to us," he said about headlining the Garden. "I'm gonna sing this song with all my heart and if you could help me, I would be so happy." He then went into "This Woman's Work," which was written by Kate Bush but has become one of Maxwell's signature songs. After his recent hit "Pretty Wings," Max played with the audience a little. "Y'all didn't hear what happened?" he asked. "Are y'all playing with me?" He then told then what happened. "It happened the moment when you were revealed," he sang with no beat, going into "Ascension." " 'Cause you were a dream that you should not have been/ A fantasy real ..." "You gave me this beating, baby," he continued as the audience sang along, at times letting them take the lead. "This rhythm inside/ And you made me feel good and feel nice and feel loved/ Give me paradise." The band then started the song over, with the beat this time. After the song concluded, someone threw a pair of panties onstage. "I have [bodily fluids] all over my forehead!" Max joked. Getting more serious, he said, "I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be a New Yorker in New York tonight."

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Taylor Swift, Beyonce Set To Perform At Grammy Awards

22 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST

Black Eyed Peas, Lady Antebellum, Maxwell also announced as performers at 52nd annual awards.
By Jocelyn Vena

Photo: Jason Kempin/ Getty Images

Not only are Taylor Swift and Beyoncé nominated for a slew of Grammy Awards next month, but the pop superstars were just announced to play the big show on January 31.




	2010 Grammy Award Performers

Along with Swift and Beyoncé, the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Antebellum and Maxwell are among the first acts announced as performers at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, which airs live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles on CBS. Additional performers and presenters are set to be announced in the coming weeks. Last year, Swift and her pal Miley Cyrus sang Swift's track "Fifteen" together on the show. Swift is up for eight Grammys including Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "You Belong With Me." "I honestly never would have predicted this, eight nominations. I'm ecstatic and blown away and so, so thankful," she said earlier this month about the nominations. "To be recognized by the Grammys is the ultimate honor." Beyoncé received 10 nominations, competing against Swift in categories like Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Country act Lady Antebellum have two nominations. Meanwhile, the Black Eyed Peas and Maxwell are up for six awards each. "This is a blessing. We're very blessed," Fergie told MTV News about the band's nominations earlier this month. "The thing is, we're still hungry, we're still working hard ... and all of the work we've put into it just makes us appreciate it more."

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Roberta Flack Duets With Maxwell On The Grammy Stage

01 Feb 2010 01:55:00 EST

The R&B legend performed 'Where Is the Love' during the 52nd annual Grammy Awards.
By James Montgomery

Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

Roberta Flack is blessed with one of the most iconic voices in R&B, but the world almost didn't get the chance to hear it. Born in tiny Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1937, the young Flack was a prodigious piano player, earning a full musical scholarship to Howard University when she was just 15. During her time at Howard, she switched her major from piano to voice and became an assistant conductor of the university choir. After graduating, she took jobs teaching at schools in Washington, D.C., and made extra money giving piano lessons at her house. She accompanied opera singers on the piano at D.C.'s Tivoli nightclub and, during admission, would sing blues, folk and pop standards in the back room. After an appearance at a D.C. benefit concert, piano player Les McCann took notice of her voice and arranged an audition for Atlantic Records. Flack signed with the label and, in 1969, released her first album — a collection of songs she recorded in a mere 10 hours called First Take. The album was a commercial disappointment until, in 1972, director Clint Eastwood chose one of the songs featured on it ("The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face") for the soundtrack to his film "Play Misty for Me." The song would subsequently rocket all the way to the top of the Billboard charts, and Flack's career was finally off and running. She teamed with musician and producer Donny Hathaway on a string of hits, including "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You," and then — on her own — she released the massive "Killing Me Softly With His Song." Both "The First Time" and "Killing" won Flack the Grammy for Record of the Year. She continued scoring hits well into the 1980s, most notably "Making Love" and "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love." In later years, Flack's biggest songs would be discovered by a whole new generation of artists, most notably the Fugees, who scored a huge smash with their version of "Killing Me Softly." On Sunday (January 31) at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, Flack joined Maxwell onstage for a version of "Where Is the Love." The 2010 Grammy Awards may be over, but MTV News will have much, much more from the show, including reports on your favorite nominees, party photos, behind-the-scenes video and much more from the big show!

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Maxwell Calls Grammy Wins A 'Blessing'

01 Feb 2010 17:26:00 EST

Calls Grammy duet with Roberta Flack 'amazing'; talks about next LP, BlackSUMMER'Snight.
By Akshay Bhansali, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Photo: Kevork Djansezian/ Getty Images

For Maxwell, the 2010 Grammy Awards were a triumphant return for a number of reasons. After eight long years between albums, the veteran soul singer reclaimed his crown, winning two awards (Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Pretty Wings," and Best R&B Album for BLACKsummers'night) at Sunday's Grammy Awards. Indeed, it was a clear indication that, much as his still-rabid fans have shown, people — including the Academy — love a comeback. Since its release in July, the album has sold nearly a million copies in the U.S., a rarity these days, particularly for an artist out of the spotlight for such a spell.

MTV News caught up with Maxwell after the show, where he'd shared the stage with one of his idols, soul icon Roberta Flack, for a rendition of her classic 1971 duet with Donny Hathaway, "Where Is the Love." "To get Grammys, and to even be included in a community of musicians [like this], it's just such a blessing," he said. "And then to have this wonderful legend, Roberta Flack, come walking out with this song, she's just amazing. I felt like I was suspended in animation. It was really surreal to me to be on that stage." Sunday's show was particularly impactful for Maxwell, not least because of the long years he spent away from that kind of acclaim and adulation. "It was nice to actually meet girls that didn't know me, and liked me for me," Maxwell said of that time. "It was awesome to walk down the streets, taking it in, absorbing life again, and that's why the record sounds the way it does. People may have thought I was just doing whatever, but I was working away, and just trying to make something that made me happy musically." Since BLACKsummers'night was the first in a planned trilogy of albums, the singer revealed he plans to drop the first single from his "Summer" album in November, with the forthcoming album (BlackSUMMERS'night) tentatively set for a Valentine's Day 2011 release. " 'Summer' is kind of like my dance vibe," he revealed. "It's not my slow-love vibe. It's much more up. It's got a Fela [Kuti] feeling to it, because I love Fela. He, to me, is the African James Brown. And the third album is total bedroom — that's why it's called 'Night.' " The 2010 Grammy Awards may be over, but MTV News will have much, much more from the show, including reports on your favorite nominees, party photos, behind-the-scenes video and much more from the big show!

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