Writers Block: The Clutch (Part II)

Well, in the past few months it has been quite a special time for us Clutch fans with news and tracks galore appearing on the net!

Firstly we have new artist Jordyn Taylor's "Won't Play Nice" which unfortunately, is far from a Clutch banger. Looking at her myspace page you will see that her looks far outshine her vocal talents. (or lack of) I don't think its completely their fault as Jordyn's voice is awful, really, even studio effects can't save it as they can on Britney's and the like and her spoken parts make it even more unbearable. The production sounds cheap as hell, the synthesised strings and the awfully thin drum line are really the only effects used at all on this Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" rip off gone wrong. The lyrics are rather generic as well, with particularly cringeworthy ones being "she likes your car, you're such a star, y'all at my nerves" and "quit callin' me ten times a day like ch-ch-chirp" which is not the norm from The Clutch who normally come up with the most dynamic and quirky lyrics. The arrangements, which are usually a massive strong point on Clutch tracks are also virtually non-existent. My only justification is that they thought it would be wrong to give such a no-talent like Jordyn a decent Clutch track as this is categorically one of the first and only disapponting Clutch joints! Her currently untitled debut album has yet to recieve a release date from Myspace/Interscope but is also set to feature production contributions from Timbaland associate Ryan Tedder, Darkchild, Madd Scientist and Mysto & Pizzi and writing from the talented Writing Camp & Frankie Storm.

Jordyn Taylor "Won’t Play Nice"
Boomp3.com

The next leaked Clutch joint offers something a bit more optimistic, One Chance's "No Brainer" is a Warren "Oak" Felder produced slow jam which has never been a strong point for the Clutch but this is definitely a successful collaboration. The chorus in particular goes hard with its strong lead vocal and understated echoed backgrounds. The production sort of fails this otherwise nice ballad, its not the best instrumental to write over by any standards and it could have been a little more edgy as I've seen Oak do before on Jennifer Lopez' "Mile In These Shoes" for example. With Candice and Keri being the most effective Clutch members in a lot of cases (imo) and this being channeled through a female vocal I guess thats why male collaborations are mostly hit (Balewa Muhammad "100" demo, Bobby Valentino, Kevin Michael) and slightly miss. (LeMarvin, Noel Gourdin)

One Chance "No Brainer"
Boomp3.com

Both Bayje and Money have tentatively titled their Clutch-assisted projects via MySpace recently, although neither currently have a release date. Money's project Unlady Like looks to be falling into some kind of trouble as we expected with Blackground, although after a long delay she performed “Fantasy” and introduced her debut single “Future” yesterday. Let's hope this talented girl who Candice writes fire for will get a release as her track snippets were dope! Bayje's Curious is looking more positive as she recently finished filming a video for the single "Find a Way" and is currently on a college tour. Not exactly the promotion I expected for a big record company like Atlantic, but at least they've got things cracking in some way. As you should have heard by now two of Bayje's banging tracks have been leaked with The Clutch "Jealous Of Your Whip" and "Problem", if you haven't, check them out at her myspace. Currently, no Clutch/Money collabos have leaked.

Bayje "Jealous Of Your Whip"
Boomp3.com

Bayje "Problem" (alternate version produced by Brian Kidd)
Boomp3.com

The Clutch have additionally been working on the forthcoming projects from Brandy, Keri Hilson, Chris Cornell, The Pussycat Dolls, Cassie, Menudo and Ciara and a mysterious new group The Goods have popped up on MySpace whose top friends are all the Clutch members and record label is Clutch Entertainment so more info on these guys as we get it!

-this episode of Writer’s Block brought to you by Luke from The Keepers

Danja "Hurt Somebody"

Everyday I get emails with a new "Timbaland", "Danja", or "The Clutch" track and almost always they end of being some random track by some random artist that some random website labeled as a "Timbaland beat" in order for people to listen. I'll give you all a rule thumb that works almost everytime: If you've never heard of the artist before or more so if the artist is unsigned to a major more than likely it isn't a Timbaland or Danja beat. The economy might be down at the moment but that doesn't mean Timbo isn't still charging a $100,000 a track that both Kardinal Offishall and Joe Budden have confirmed in the past so how could an unsigned major artist afford that? The rule doesn't always apply (Mahtie's "Burnerz") but for the most part it does.

There are, however, those rare occasions that it truly IS a Timbo or Danja beat. Case in point: A few days ago a track came out labeled as a Danja beat, written by the Clutch, and sung by Motown Record recording artist LeMarvin who The Clutch have worked with before ("Not My Day", "New Body Style") yet there was no way to confirm it. Sure it sounds like Danja, that could be The Clutch's melodies, and maybe it is LeMarvin but there was no real info on just who it was.

Well after a little checking on our part The Chronicles found out that the track is indeed a Danja beat and a Clutch penned track. Here take a listen:




So is that LeMarvin on the vocals? Nope. Rather it's Clutch member...drum roll....Bale'wa Mohammad. The track must be a demo but who for we have yet to find out. Now if you remember from the interview with fellow Clutch member J. Que, he said Bale'wa has done more music than the entire Clutch combined and Que is right. As is the case with most songwriters, you might not know Bale'wa by name but you know his music guaranteed. If you want to get a little history on Bale'wa and his start into music check out my homie's Zo's blog which takes us back to the early days of being in Mohammad's group The Transitions and his hit work with Jaheim. Good research Zo.

Add another to the Danja list!

Writer's Block: The Clutch Part III

In the final installment of the Writer's Block on The Clutch, I am going to introduce you to a new member of production for the clique and a great story on how he got hooked up with the crew. Before we go there though, let's take a look at newly leaked track from young Star Trak signee Teyana Taylor. The track is called "Young Girl" featuring Eve and is one of 5 Clutch tracks that were supposed to be on her long delayed debut album From The Planet Called Harlem. Produced by Hit Boy, the track showcases the softer, sensitive side of Taylor. Check it:

Teyana Taylor "Young Girl" F/ Eve
Boomp3.com

As you know The Clutch along with multiple writers worked with Danity Kane on their latest album Welcome To The Dollhouse. One track that the didn't make the cut is the mellow "Respretative." It doesn't quite fit the uptempo, club vibe of the album so I see why they cut it. Regardless, take a listen to the demo of the track with Candice Nelson singing:

Candice Nelson demo "Representative"

Now on to the newest producer of The Clutch, Mr. B. Jabr (that's him on "Representative"). He definitely has a great story that's better to listen to than for me to tell so check out these videos:

Part 1


Part 2


Check that first video again, "...reached out to Zeke on myspace..." Something as simple as a message on myspace and look at what can happen. I love stories like this because it really shows that with talent, confidence, and a little luck you never know what could happen. Stay on your grind ya'll! In addition to his talents (check Bobby Valentino's "Another Life"), Jabr has made himself very accessible to the public with multiple videos on youtube and his own website which brings artists up close and personal to their fans.

That concludes our 3 part series on The Clutch but to keep up on the happenings of the crew be sure to check out their wikipedia page. I'm usually very skeptical of anything on wikipedia but this particular page is 100% on point and is constantly updated so be sure to bookmark it. Projects to look out for are Ciara's new album ("Echo") Britney Spears, Chris Cornell ("Long Gone" "Part Of Me" & "Never Far Away"), Keri Hilson, possibly Brandy, and the long overdue Menudo album.

For a little bonus check out this little interview with Candice Nelson to go inside the mind of a music writer:



Check back next week as we start our next Writer's Block on the supremely talented Mr. Jim Beanz.

- this episode of Writer's Block brought to you by J Boogie of The Keepers

Partial Credits for Chris Cornell's Scream

Even though we have another 5 weeks or so before Chris Cornell and Timbaland's long awaited project Scream comes out, The Chronicles can give you almost all, just one short, of the credits for the album. Here they are:

1. Part Of Me (produced by Timbaland, written by Chris Cornell and The Clutch)
2. Time (produced by Timbaland, written by The Clutch and Jim Beanz)
3. Sweet Revenge (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by Jim Beanz)
4. Get Up
5. Ground Zero (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by Chris Cornell and Jim Beanz)
6 Never Far Away (produced by Timbaland, written by Chris Cornell, The Clutch, and Jim Beanz)
7. Take Me Alive (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by Chris Cornell, Jim Beanz, and Justin Timberlake)
8. Long Gone (produced by Timbaland, written by Chris Cornell and The Clutch)
9. Scream (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by Chris Cornell and Jim Beanz)
10. Enemy (produced by Timbaland, J Roc & King, written by Chris Cornell, The Clutch, and Ryan Tedder)
11. Other Side Of Town (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by Chris Cornell and Jim Beanz)
12. Climbing Up the Walls (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by Chris Cornell and Jim Beanz)
13. Watch Out (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by Chris Cornell and Jim Beanz)
14. 2 Drink Minimum (produced by Timbaland, written by Chris Cornell but we know from what Chris Cornell said that J Roc was also a part of this track though uncredited.

Also it looks like we have 2 unreleased, possibly bonus tracks(?) off the album as well:

- "Love Come Down" produced by Timbaland, written by Chris Cornell and The Clutch

and

- "Stop Me" produced by Timbaland and J Roc written by James Fauntleroy

That is unless "Get Up" has been retitled "Love Come Down." Whatever the case what an amazing all star cast on Cornell's album. I hope it's as an amazing project in it's entirety as both Cornell and Timbaland have said it is.

Watch out Feburary 9th!!

Writer's Block: The Clutch Part 1

Something The Chronicles prides itself on is giving you music news and updates from all angles of a track. From the producer to the writer to the janitor, we want to make sure you know who does what for any track. For this new series titled Writer's Block we are going to focus on the writers of some of your favorite Timbaland, Danja, and other producers tracks. In the next few weeks we are going to update you on the writer's extraordinaire club, The Clutch, calling on some guest writers (The Keepers) to The Chronicles so sit back, enjoy the music, and get ready to learn a little something.

If you've been watching Making The Band you'll know Donnie Jas the guy that didn't make it to Day26 but did get a deal for some reason - expectations were low and his album generally lived up to those, save for one exception. The latest in the growing string of Danja/Clutch songs, the seemingly Zeke-heavy "Catch My Breath" is somewhat of a triumph. They without a doubt have amazing chemistry but where many of Danja's beats tend to push the vocal part of a song more or less into the background, the music here is simple and broken down. A guitar and [real] drum-driven track accompanied by piano is about as crazy as Nate went this time, it's almost un-plugged when compared to his usual heavy electronic touch - the track thrives on how flawless it works as a whole but Danja doesn't fail to impress with his ever-morphing sound - the same however can be said about The Clutch, the mature lyrics and vocal production heard in their more recent efforts such as "Catch My Breath" and Chris Cornell's "Long Gone" show more and more versatility and growth in their swiftly growing resumé, they again prove to belong to a small group of people that still really seem to add something to today's market. All in all, "Catch My Breath" is a savage beast unleashed in the cage full of fluffy cotton-candy bunnies that is Donnie J's debut album, which also includes collaborations with the likes of Mario Winans, Terius 'The-Dream' Nash & Chris 'Tricky' Stewart, Mary Brown, The Soul Diggaz, Shanell Woodgett and The Artist Formerly Known As 7 Aurelius. Just A Rolling Stone is in stores this week but the fact that it already leaked in full weeks ago probably won't help sales.

Donnie Klang "Catch My Breath" (produced by DanjaHandz)
Boomp3.com

If you have been watching MTB, you'll know Donnie has been working with Jim Beanz as well - only one track title, "Beautiful Escape", was revealed, a song that was recorded very early on in the process but didn't make the cut. We did however get a glimpse of the session, check out the video here:

Donnie J "Beautiful Escape"

An unreleased session from Donnie that [b]did[/b] see the light of day is "Defensive" - but it seems The Clutch weren't quite able to re-create the magic they made with Danja on "Catch My Breath" on this poor Mario Winans produced effort. Winans obviously tried [and failed miserably] to make it sound like a genuine Timb beat but it came out sounding generic, the vocal arrangements are almost pleasant and catchy but it's not quite up to the standard they've set.

Donnie Klang "Denfensive" (produced by Mario Winans)
Boomp3.com

Sterling Simms' Oak-produced "By The Hand" unfortunately didn't quite reach that level of genius we've sort of gotten used to from The Clutch either - the hook is definetly the catchiest part but nevertheless fails to really leave an impression, the production is awkward, there is too much going on with the hats and it's hurting the song. The music and lyrics make it very dated, and it doesn't help change the thought that Sterling is a capable singer that I'm not sure has what it takes to really stand out from the all the other R&B singers in their mid-twenties. Especially being on the Def Jam and having worked on his album with the likes of Sean Garrett, StarGate, Bangladesh, The-Dream, Bryan-Michael Cox, Tha CornaBoyz & DarkChild since they were kneading the first breads, it's expected to be released September 2043.

Sterling Simms "By The Hand" (produced by Oak)
Boomp3.com

-this episode of Writer's Block brought to you by Tom of The Keepers

Tidbits: Nicole shelved? Re-vamped Eve, and new Clutch

After 4 singles, 2 videos, and a few guest appearences, sadly there doesn't seem to be a release date in sight for Nicole Scherzinger's solo album Her Name Is Nicole. That means we may never hear the full track "Physical" produced by Danja and Timbo. Despite the multi-platinum success of the Pussycat Dolls first album and Nicole's obvious talents, her singles have not seemed to generate enough buzz to justify releasing a solo album. Don't count her out yet though as the Pussycat Dolls have announced that they are currently working on their 2nd album with Nicole. No word on possible collaborators but maybe "Physical" will show up after all. In the meantime you can check out Nicole and the rest of the Dolls on their TV show Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious.

The long awaited Timbaland track "Step Back" off Eve's Here I Am, described as "Promiscuous" Part II, may also never see the light of day. Eve's first single "Tamborine" generated a good buzz but unfortunately her follow single "Give It To You" featuring Sean Paul failed to deliver and the album has been sitting in limbo ever since. We are talking about the one and only E-V-E so rather than scrape a whole album, Swizz Beats is going back into lab to redo it: "I'mma get back to doing the [whole] album thing," he added. "It eliminates the problem of what we go through. I let the artist use who they wanna use, this and that, it's crazy. The following up [to the songs I produce], sh-- becomes hard. It's a formula and sound the people are looking for and want. You gotta stay in a zone. If I make 'Drink and 2 Step,' the next three beats I make will be not the same, but [I will make] the same vibe, where it's not too far off, where you can groove. When you get all these different producers, it messes up the formula." In addition to Swizz, The Neptunes have also been sharing duties for the album renewal. Does that mean no Timbo? We'll have to wait and see.

The writing crew, The Clutch, have been continuing their writing and vocal production succes with a slew of new projects. Most notable is the recent work with Danity Kane on "Pretty Boy" as well as tracks yet to be revealed. The Clutch worked with Day26 and Donnie for their projects as well. Justin Timberlake's first artist, youtube phenome, Esmée Denters on JT's Tennman Records also called on The Clutch's services for her debut album. Jess McCartney has also called in the crew for his new album Departure on the tracks "It's Over" and "Runnin". Last but not least Raven Symone's new Clutch penned and produced track "Double Dutch Bus" (guess the sample?) was released on iTunes a couple days ago. With a music video currently out to help promote the track, look for Raven's album at the end of April.

Props to Bigmac for the info!

J. Que (Of The Clutch) Interview

J Que is currently 1/5 of the amazing production/songwriting team The Clutch but he's been writing hits for years. His work includes hits such as Avant's "4 Minutes", Fantasia's "Truth Is", Omarion's "Icebox", and he even won a grammy for his work on Usher's Confessions having written Usher's smash hit "Yeah". Though this interview is from last year, it is without a doubt one of the best about the behind the scenes of music making and songwriting. Que definitely keeps it real on every subject. He talks about The Clutch:

J. Que: Yes. There were a couple of companies that pulled us all together. We wrote...we got along great. We wrote and recorded six songs on a Friday. By Tuesday, four of those were gone. So we kind of sat back and said, "Well maybe we should think about doing this a little more often." So myself and Zeke decided that "Well fuck that, we're going to form a clique." Because Atlanta has pretty much stayed hot forever off of having a hot ass clique. So we were going to do the clique thing. We got on board and told everybody else. They were with it. We sat down and worked for a little while on trying to work some shit out. We got together as "The Clutch" around the beginning of this year. Since then, we've been able to lock down multiple song deals, about 60 records placed, a couple of singles. We got about seven singles about to come out. And...we're loving it. I mean one of my big things that I've always fussed about, not in a bad fussy way, but just trying to make sure that people get is using the word "producer" correctly. Because in the urban game it means something completely different that it means in any other type of music.

What a producer is:

J. Que: OK, a producer in the urban game for some reason people think that if you did a track...you're a producer. That doesn't make you a producer. That makes you a songwriter . There's a songwriter for people who write the music and there's people who write the lyric and melody. That's the composer of the song. A producer actually makes the sequence. If there was a team, the producer would be the coach. Which is why Puffy [Diddy], while he was doing his thing, was a very good producer. He had a great ear; he knew what was going to work. He'd go in...you may do the music, you may write the record. But he'll come and say "I don't like that, take that out, put the bell here, fix that, you need to do this here, you need to do that there. Alright let me listen. Alright cool. Mix that down, let's go." He produced the record. Like there are guys out there, I understand, that do tracks that are producers. Like Bryan Cox does tracks. He produces. But Bryan produces because he will also sit his ass at the board and make sure that the record's right. Bryan Cox is a producer because the record's not coming out without his "OK. Let's go."

Omarion's "Icebox":

J. Que: Umm, "Icebox" was actually real cool because Omarion's project was a project that we wanted to get on, but just dealing with some scheduling conflicts we were never really able to put it together. But, my little brother in crime, Eric Hudson, ended up getting the "Entourage" record, so we were really happy and excited for him about that. But we got a call from Sony, asking if we would be able to go in with Tim to do a record. And, you know the days they were trying to schedule it for just happened to be like two or three days when we weren't in session. So we were like "Yeah, you get us all there and we'll mash out." Of course Keri is already signed to Tim, so were like, "Whatever needs to happen...we're in." So we get out to L.A. and I remember because the day of the first session was my last day in session out in L.A. so I was double booked. I ended up getting out of my session pretty late, but [I] got over to the studio and O [Omarion] was already there and he had two tracks that had come from Tim's camp. He played one for me and I was like "I'm not really crazy about that one." And then he played me another track, which immediately caught my attention because it was definitely darker and I'm kind of into darker music. And that ended up being the "Icebox" track. So we sat around for a second and Omarion's absolutely full of ideas. So he's throwing ideas out, and he ended up saying he wants to write a song called "Cold." I wasn't necessarily crazy about calling anything cold because I told him, at the end of the day, I don't think people are going to flip [his] CD over, see a title called "Cold" and be like "That's my shit, I got to find out what that's about." I'm like that name's just not interesting enough. So we messed around and chopped that up and I listened to the track a little bit more and O screams at me "What about 'Icebox'? What about 'Icebox'?" I was like "What about icebox?" He was like, "I mean for the title of the song." I was like "Hell naw, nigga that aint hot!"

and much more so read the Full Interview

Look out for a lot of new music from The Clutch coming very soon including new work with Timbo. Thanks to Nep for the link.

Usher "Traffic" written by The Clutch

Update: This track was produced by Just Blaze

Here's a new track from Usher called "Traffic" written by The Clutch and apparently produced by Danja. It's been labeled as a Clutch AND Danja production but as we know The Clutch are not often on the boards and Danja never rarely shares production duties unless it's with Timbo. Check it out:

Boomp3.com

Thoughts?

Danja and The Clutch deliver Chapter 4's "2 Piece Juicy"

Danja and The Clutch strike again on a track called "2 Piece Juicy" that has been labeled as a Young Steff track. Who is Young Steff you ask? According to his myspace he is a new artist off of Rich Harrison's label Richcraft Records. Reading through his bio though it seems a little odd that there's no mention of Danja or The Clutch.

Well that's because it's not Young Steff on the track, rather it's a group called Chapter 4 (formerly 3rd Storee) who recorded the song for their J Records album before unfortunately being released by the label.

Hot beat from Danja and once again it shows his versalitily. The could be Indian sample caught my ears first and foremost, maybe Czar can take a stab at it. As expected the vocal arrangement is crazy from The Clutch.

Thoughts?

Menudo, Danja and The Clutch

You remember the J Que article we posted? Well if you read the very end he talks about one of The Clutch's up and coming collabos with none other than the original boy bad: Menudo. Now I'm an old cat and I can remember growing up how HUGE these guys were and I'm talking on a global scale. Whether you liked them or not they were everywhere. They had albums produced in different languages, every piece of merchandise you could think of, TV shows, etc.

After a very long abscense Sony Records wanted to bring the group back so with MTV's involvement, tryouts were held, people were eliminated, and a new Menudo was formed. To go along with the new band members, the group went with a new sound hookng up with Danja for a few tracks off their debut album as well as top notched writing from The Clutch. Here is a demo version of one of their songs:

Menudo "More Than Words" (A E I O U)

You can find out more about Menudo and their MTV special on their myspace. Also look for 2 more Danja/Clutch tracks off the album "Save The Day" & "Surrounded".

Big thanks to Devoured!

Timbaland gets 3 with Pussycat Dolls

Timbaland, J Roc, and The Clutch will have 3 tracks on the Pussycat Dolls forthcoming album Doll Domination in stores September 23. Here is a tentative final tracklist:

1. When I Grow Up (produced by Rodney Jerkins)
2. Bottle Pop F/ Snoop Dogg
3. Whatcha Think About That F/ Missy Elliott (produced by Polow Da Don)
4. I Hate This Part
5. Taking Over The World (produced by Chase'N'Cashe)
6. Out Of This Club F/ R. Kelly (produced by Polow)
7. Who's Gonna Love You (produced by Polow)
8. Love Gun (produced by Cee Lo)
9. Magic
10. Halo (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by The Clutch)
11. In Person (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by The Clutch)
12. Elevator
13. Hush Hush
14. Love The Way You Love Me (produced by Chase'N'Cashe)
15. Whatchamacallit (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by The Clutch)
16. I'm Done

There will also be a Deluxe Version of the album and what looks to be multiple international versions with additional tracks. Be on the lookout for track from Ryan Tedder of One Republic on these addition releases. Big thanks to Tom of The Keepers for the news.

Preview Pussycat Dolls Doll Domination

We've been talking alot about their album and now we have a preivew of the entire 18 track project. Here is:

Pussycat Dolls Doll Domination

So based on our tracklist we posted before with some added additions we have:

1. When I Grow Up (produced by Rodney Jerkins)
2. Bottle Pop F/ Snoop Dogg
3. Whatcha Think About That F/ Missy Elliott (produced by Polow Da Don)
4. I Hate This Part
5. Taking Over The World (produced by Chase'N'Cashe)
6. Out Of This Club F/ R. Kelly (produced by Polow)
7. Who's Gonna Love You (produced by Polow)
8. Love Gun (produced by Cee Lo)
9. Magic (produced by Timbaland and J Roc)
10. Halo (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by The Clutch)
11. In Person (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by The Clutch)
12. Elevator
13. Hush Hush
14. Love The Way You Love Me (produced by Chase'N'Cashe)
15. Whatchamacallit (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by The Clutch)
16. I'm Done
17. Baby Love
18. ?

"Halo" sounds the most promising of all the Timbo tracks in my opinion. It's very similar to Jamie Foxx "Can I Take U Home" and they weren't kidding about the vibe for "In Person" though Nicole seems to be yelling more than anything. I'm not overly impressed with the Timbo tracks but then again these are just snippets so I'll wait for the full album to decide. Props to Luke on the link.

The Pussycat Dolls spring 4 leaks

Ok technically they've only sprung 1 leak but there's 4 tracks that are part of that leak that we've been waiting for. Off their sophomore album Doll Domination in stores September 23 here are:

"Magic" (produced by Timbaland & J Roc)



"Halo" (produced by Timbaland and J Roc written by The Clutch)



"In Person" (produced by Timbaland and J Roc, written by The Clutch)



"Whatchamacallit" (produced by Timbaland and J Roc written by The Clutch)



"Magic" is reminiscent of Lil' Kim's "The Jump Off" (minus the chorus). Check that indian sample 1/2 way through too, don't worry Czar will have it identified next week. "Halo" I'm on the fence about. It's cool but doesn't really catch and more so hold my attention though all the layering of sounds in the chorus is crazy. Sounds like a track that should have (or might have) gone to Keri Hilson. "In Person" is hot as hell and I wouldn't be surprised if it's a single. Make sure to listen to it with your headphones to really catch all the sounds and especially that brass! As far as "Whatchamacallit" it's crazy and my personal favorite. I'm especially diggin' the chord progressions and all those little synth sounds throughout the chorus.

Tim and J Roc definitely delivered on all the 4 tracks and it's good to hear Tim add a little more old school double and triples to his current synth heavy poppier sound. I'll be coppin' that disc come the 23rd! Thanks to Tom on the find.

New Danja: KC & Bayje Step Up 2 Soundtrack

Along with Timbo and Missy, Danja joined in on the Step Up 2: The Streets Soundtrack contributing 2 tracks.

The first track is his newly signed artist KC called "Say Cheese"


Solid track and a nice way to debut his new signee.

The 2nd track is from Bayje called "Impossible"


It's great to see Bayje get her shine. If you haven't checked them out yet go to her myspace page and listen to The Clutch written "Jealous Of Your Whip" and The Clutch written, Brian Kidd produced "Problem" (my personal favorite Clutch to date). I hope her album sees the light of day.

Danja is definitely showing his skills with these 2 tracks and continuing to shine on his own. So what do you think, is Danja better as an R&B producer then rap? What about his rock productions?

New Interview with Keri Hilson

Dubbcnn.com recently sat down with Keri Hilson to talk about her new album, who's on production duties, and creating her "defining" sound. Check it out:

****Dubcnn: It has to be hard to be a writer, because most people never find out who actually wrote the songs unless they're credit readers like myself. I know Ne-Yo was in the same situation too. Do you feel that writer's don't get the recognition they deserve?

Keri: Definitely. Right now the industry is so producer driven, so I feel like that. Writers do feel like that at certain points in their career, where they've written a song and the artist will stand on stage and thank the producer. And it's like "Well, I did 50% of the work, they did 50% of the work, we should get equal recognition, we're getting equal publishing!" At time, you feel like that. But I guess it's just the way the game goes. When you get a publicist, you have options to spread the word, you can still choose. That's part of why I joined the writing team The Clutch, actually I was part of the forming, founding member of the Clutch. That was our aim, to earn the respect that producers have, for songwriters.

Dubcnn: I'd like to ask you about the song "The Way I Are", how did that song get put together?

Keri: This was one of the many songs that we wrote for Timbaland's album. We did it in Virginia at the Thomas Crown Studio, that's Tim's studio. As soon as I heard it and Tim started the idea "I ain't got no money..." Soon as I heard his verse idea and mumbles, I just came up with my part. Part of the Clutch was there, myself, Balewa, Candice. Candice wrote Tim's verses, Balewa wrote Tim's part of the hook, I wrote all of my parts. We banged it out, we did it! It was a very quick write, which makes me realize you don't have to overthink records, just go with what you feel.

Dubcnn: Did you expect that song to become as big as it became?

Keri: Oh not at all! Not when we were doing it! You know when a song feels to you, but you don't know how the world will react. That's a scary thing about putting together an album, and I think a lot of people before their first album especially, are so shell shocked, or before any album, it's kind of like a period of time where you're like "I don't know if the world is on what I'm on right now, but it feels good to me." It was one of those records. It had the Salt-N-Peppa sample so I was like "Aight this should help it catch on, it's a catchy song!"****

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Also be sure to check out Keri as Usher's love interest in his upcoming video for the #1 hit "Love In The Club." Good look to Big A on the info.

Usher "What Happens Here Stays Here"

This track appeared out of thin air over a month ago and based on past news and past production familiarity it was assumed this track was produced by Royal Court, written by The Clutch, with possibly Timbaland helping out too. There are plenty of songs out there mislabeled and who have the Timbo and Clutch sound so I needed some confirmation. Thankfully I received just that. This track is indeed produced by Royal Court and written by The Clutch:

Boomp3.com

Who do you think is using the voicebox in the song a la Omarion's "Icebox"?

Whitney Houston calls on Timbaland, The Clutch, & Jim Beanz

The long awaited 'comeback' album by the legendary Whitney Houston will be released this year according to BMG Label Group chairman/CEO Clive Davis. Davis, speaking at the Billboard Music and Money Symposium yesterday, confirmed that 4 songs have been completed and 4 more will be recorded later this month for the yet untitled album. "We're on track for a holiday release," he said. "We're not going to compromise who she is to fit into today's hip-hop radio market. The public wants Whitney material."

The Chronicles can tell you exclusively that one of the completed tracks is called "Undeafeated" co-produced by Timbaland and Jim Beanz and co-written by Jim and The Clutch. The track is slated to be a single but has not yet been confirmed as such. Other collaborators for the album so far include Akon, will.i.am, and Sean Garrett.

No matter who you are, taking a 6 year leave from music makes it increasingly difficult to still be embraced by your fans and still make great, quality music that's relevent in today's day and age. Yet when faced with such a 'comeback' you only call on the best and it doesn't get any better for production, writing, and vocals then Timbo, The Clutch, and Jim Beanz!

Keri Hilson talks "Energy", graces the cover of Rap-Up magazine, announces tour

Keri Hilson on her video "Energy":

Women, we're such hopeless romantics, and we want every man to be Mr. Right. This song goes from good love to bad love. You know, you kind of get drained of your energy after a while. You've become spent when it doesn't work out with the person you're in love with or you're in a relationship with someone who doesn't do the things you do for them.

Basically, I play a female boxer who's in a relationship. I spar with my boyfriend at times. It starts really, really good, and as the video plays out, you see how much energy I put into this relationship or how little is reciprocated back to me.

Here's more:

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Check out Keri on the cover, along with Teyana Taylor and Solange Knowles, of the summer issue of Rap-Up magazine. Here's a behind the scenes look of the photoshoot:



Speaking of Teyana Taylor, her Clutch filled debut album has been pushed back due to the lack of buzz from her debut single "Google Me". Rumor has it she's back in the studio with The Neptunes. Let's hope The Clutch tracks don't get cut.

Keri is also going on the Russ Parr Bus Tour this summer in the U.S. Check out the dates:

7/28 - Washington D.C. (Ibiza Night Club)
7/29 - Wilmington, DE (The Chase at the Riverfront)
7/30 - Dayton, OH (Sinclair Community College)
7/31 - Detroit, MI (Max M Fisher Music Center)
8/01 - Cleveland, OH (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
8/04 - Cincinnati, OH (Music Hall of Fame)
8/05 - Louisville, KY (Louisville Waterfront Park)
8/06 - Indianapolis, IN (Indiana State Fairgrounds)
8/07 - Columbia, SC (South Carolina State Museum)
8/8 - Fayetteville, NC (TBA)
8/11 - Raleigh, NC (Time Warner Pavilion at Walnut Creek)
8/12 - Virginia (Richmond International Raceway)

And finally as we told you yesterday, Keri was on Jimmy Kimmel Live along with Nas performing "Hero" check it out:

Hero Jim Kim Live

Unreleased Britney Spears

Seems as though Britney Spears recorded a grip of tracks for her Circus album with bonus and exclusive tracks popping up all over the various different versions in each country. We can also tell you about 2 unreleased Spears tracks to be on the lookout for that were produced by Danja and written by The Clutch. They are:

"Abroad" and "Take The Bait" both with credits to Danja, 4 members of the Clutch, and Marcella. Hit us up if you found them!

Prop to Tom of The Keepers on the info.

Candice Nelson "Far Away -Timbaland Thursdays

Even as big of a Candice Nelson fan as I am, I didn't know this track as entirely her rather I thought she just had backgrounds and adlibs. However, after listening to it a few times, indeed it's the one and only Candice. Now people may think this is during the Clutch era, which are no more in case you didn't know, but actually this track is pre-Clutch and written by both Candice and yep you guessed it Walter Milsap. Who was it meant for? No word on that yet but regardless Candice shows her vocals SKILLS with the demo for "Far Away":