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By Ikam Acosta

Miami hip-hop band Mayday will be releasing their new album, Take Me To Your Leader, under Tech N9ne's Strange Music label. The Take Me To Your Leader LP drops on Monday, March 26th and will include various dark, hard-hitting beats Mayday is well known for.

I had the pleasure to talking to MC Bernz from the six-member group, and he gave me some insight into their music and the Miami music scene . Bernz said,

"It's kinda like an island down there so a lot of the music is representative of that. It has an urgency, and it's in your face. It has a kind of vibe like a 'Listen to me' kind of vibe. We want to get your attention with it...The good thing about being in Miami is that you get to experiment a lot with different types of music without really being bothered by a lot of people."

Mayday's music goes way beyond hip-hop, especially with its harder edge. Bernz commented,

"It goes back to the whole Miami scene. There's so many different kinds of vibes, and clashing cultures that go down. I feel a lot of that is representative of our music, the fact that it's not necessarily hip hop, not necessarily rock, it's up-tempo, people can dance to it. It's a mish-mosh of confusion."

Tech N9ne will be taking Mayday on a 90 shows in 90 days tour, Hostile Takeover 2012, which will be nothing less than unreal. I asked Bernz how excited he was about the tour, and he said,

"It's super exciting, a little daunting, because it's a long tour, but super exciting. It's a great opportunity."

Take Me To Your Leader features songs such as 'Death March' and 'Badlands,' which have been described as apocalyptic and sinister. Other songs, 'TNT' and 'Due In June,' have been painted as also being tense and macabre. The songs are hypnotic, and tell a story. One can easily become entranced by the lyrics as well as the catchy beats. Some might think it's pessimistic, but the album simply reflects a particular reality the artists were eager to portray.

Bernz described the album as

"a forward-thinking album. It's a punch in the face to everything that's going on. It's a raw, multi-dimensional album, it doesn't have just one note. It's definitely one of our more darker albums, but it's one of our most cohesive."

'Death March' will be the fist single released from the Take Me To Your Leader album. The video portrays a vision of what happens when society begins to break down. It is raw and uncertain. It gives you a feeling of underground movements, people making alliances, while others disbanding in distrust. Images of nuclear waste and animal masks permeate, and contribute to the lunacy of the uncertainty of an apocalyptic vision.

Asked why 'Death March' was the first single to be released, Bernz said,

"We definitely wanted to come out of the box dark, with a certain confidence that it takes to put out a song like that. Most artists want to come out with whatever slick most mainstream song is at the time. We didn't want to take that kind of approach. We wanted to just go with our gut, go hard."

The 'Badlands' video shows a seedy side of clubs, hence the concept of it being so sinister. You're just waiting for the confrontation, when it all goes off. As they say in the song, "it's about to go down, down down." It's an indoctrination into the underworld of hip hop and dance music.

Asked what inspired this, Bernz replied,

"We had a different director we usually work with. We worked with Dan from Liquid 9, and it was his crazy concept. He took the whole being in Miami thing as inspiration, the seediness and all that, you know."

I asked Bernz to give one final message to the fans, and he certainly didn't disappoint:

"Hold on tight. Fasten your seat belts, because sh*t's about to get crazy."

Will you be catching Maday rock out with Tech N9ne on the Hostile Takeover 2012 tour?

Tags Blogger: Ikam Acosta, Hostile Takeover 2012, Maday, Música, MC Bernz, Tech N9ne

By Michael Lopez

It sure seems like Romeo Santos has a lot of famous friends. After partnering with Usher for a hit track, the former Aventura frontman wrangled up Mario Domm for his new "Rival" single and its accompanying video.

Mario has built a reputation for cranking out heartfelt ballads. And the Camila singer certainly delivers on "Rival," belting out emotional lyrics and some very powerful piano chords.

Domm and Romeo seem comfortable together in the "Rival" vid. We start with Santos strumming a guitar on an empty stage. Mario soon joins in and together they harmonize against a tender acoustic backdrop.

The video also tells a story of a relationship gone bad, with a young couple fighting, crying, and ultimately making up in the rain (sorry for the SPOILER). But will the song be a hit? It definitely shows that Romeo's got range and can master a ballad just as easily as a tropical rocker.

What's your favorite Romeo Santos song? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Blogger: Michael Lopez, Hot Stuff, Mario Domm, Música, Rival, Romeo Santos, Videos

By: Carla Torres and Jose De Las Casas

So Winter Music Conference is over after a long (could have been longer) 10 days, and it’s a sad day in the city of Miami. A sad day for the locals who look forward to this past week all year long as well as for the tourists that will leave Miami with the idea of moving here imprinted into their mind. Anyone who attended the Surfcomber closing pool party or Thursday’s Circo Loco should very well know that this is the place to be.My favorite and the prime attraction at Thursday’s Circo Loco was Seth Troxler, who has more fun in the DJ booth than anyone we got to see. He even drank out of our cup of water! Luciano was just down the street at The National spinning his techno and preparing his fans for 14 hours of Cadenza at Space where you could find him a few hours later on the terrace. Juicy Beach also took place on Thursday where plenty of Nikki Beach members trying to use their card got denied to this non-nikki party, but rather Robbie Rivera exclusive event where brothers Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike also performed and made the crowd go beach crazy.

Friday was not only WMC, but Ultra Music Festival as well Masquerade Motel where Swedish House Mafia Performed. A day full of events, WMC and non, there was lots of talent to see. Many of the DJ’s that performed at Ultra went on to other venues afterwards for exclusive WMC events. You could find Richie Hawtin, who’s been dubbed the father of edm at Space where he was rumored to spin a 16 hour set and ripped it. Amnesia was proud to introduce trance king Kaskade to its beach-villa looking venue, a perfect place for his sound, and no other than Tiesto could be found at Arkadia (neighbor to LIV) where he blew his sound through this small but hipster looking almost subterranean club.

And let’s not forget about NO SUGAR ADDED, the two day EDM event at the iconic Nikki Beach located at the tip of South Beach. With a venue like this and the crowd to match it’s no wonder you would find some of the best music of all of Miami Music Week and Winter Music Conference in one convenient location. The problem is choosing your time wisely because with the lineup featured you wouldn’t want to leave. Good thing for me I can go and come as I please. I ran into Wally Lopez again who’s music is always appreciated, but who I really didn’t want to miss was Gabriel & Dresden and Jack Beats. I know what you’re thinking. Three totally different sounds. And you’re right, but that’s the great thing about No Sugar Added. It gives you the perfect dosage of everything you want without becoming bitter. After all how can three time world DMC champion DJ Craze be anything other than sweet. And adding the legendary Paul Oakenfold and Sharam formally of Deep Dish to that mix would make one think it’s overdoing it, but it’s just what your sweet tooth was craving. No Sugar Added fulfilled that craving.

Sunday’s closing pool party at the Surfcomber was sold out weeks ago, and yet people seemed to be scrambling for tickets. When I got to the door the line outside was something out of a movie. In its seven year run, there has never been such a full house or line for these parties. It took many ticketholders four hours to get inside, but they waited hoping they would make it just in time to catch Axwell as he climbed into the DJ booth.

Before him Calvin Harris, Arty, and Funkagenda kept the inside crowd and this party bigger than its ever been. Axwell even got a table with his good friend Dirty South, who came to watch the show. And after Axwell was done, he went back to up to have a good time as Thomas Gold closed the show and the week that nobody wanted to end. Now the countdown begins for WMC 2013. One day down, 364 to go…

Tags Blogger: Carla Torres, Blogger: Jose de las Casas, Miami, Winter Music Conference

By Michael Lopez

Let this be a lesson to all you aspiring reggaeton musicians; be careful who watches over your money! It seems RKM y Ken-y's manager has been arrested on fraud and money laundering charges.

This week, Raphy Pina and three of his associates were nabbed en route to New York. Raphy had been a well known name in the Latin music world, having worked with not only RKM y Ken-Y, but with Plan B and Zion y Lennox.

So far, it looks like Pina is facing 19 counts, which could lead to some serious jail time. It's still unclear who exactly he's accused of ripping off. We imagine it's at least a few of his clients, as well as concert promoters and studio execs.

Raphy's Pina Records label will most certainly be impacted by the damage. And we're told that the IRS has questions for him too. With taxes due in just two weeks, it seems the feds felt now was the perfect time for Pina to pay the piper.

Have you ever been ripped off by a business partner? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Blogger: Michael Lopez, Chisme, Fraud, Música, Plan B, popnews, R.K.M & Ken-Y, Raphy Pina, zion y lennox

By Michael Lopez

With his trademark shades and dark suits, Pitbull could easily pass for one of the Men In Black. And now he's getting his chance to be one, with a new song and video from MIB III!

That's right, Mr. 305 will be performing the theme song for the latest Black blockbuster. And keeping with the movie's retro theme, he'll be calling it "Back In Time" and sampling the 1950's hit, "Love Is Strange."

"It's an incredible honor to be a part of such an amazing franchise as Men in Black," Pit said in a statement. "And I have so much respect for Will Smith, especially with our similar musical backgrounds."

There's no word yet on whether Smith will be recording any guest vocals, but we wouldn't be surprised if he did. Will famously rapped on the theme songs for the first two Men movies (and even got to dance with aliens in their music videos). Let's hope we can see Pitbull do the same.

Are you a fan of the Men In Black franchise? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Back In Time, Blogger: Michael Lopez, Música, Men in Black III, Movies & CineMás, Pitbull, Will Smith

By Ikam Acosta

Jack White, from the former duo The White Stripes, is adamantly stating there will be no White Stripes reunion whatsoever, in any way, shape or form, unless, of course, he was ever going bankrupt.

Jack recently went on the record to say there was "absolutely no chance" him and Meg would reunite, despite all the rumors that have been going around. Jack stated,

"I couldn't see any reason to ever do that. I'm not the kind of person that would retire from baseball and come out of retirement the next year. I mean, if we went to all the trouble of telling people we're done, we meant it you know?"

The White Stripes officially disbanded in February after a long break from the music scene. The last time Jack and Meg toured was during the Icky Thump tour in 2007, marking their last record together. As for the reasons for calling it quits, the White Stripes say,

"for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way."

Jack went public with the break-up statement because he wanted to officially announce the band's end before the release of his new solo album. Jack stated,

"I said eventually I'm going to record by myself under my name, and I don't really feel like going through the dumb perception battle of people who couldn't be broad minded enough to understand the difference between Jack White and The White Stripes."

White has also previously done other side projects that didn't include Meg, so this decision to announce his official split from the band should not come as a shock to hardcore White Stripes fans everywhere. Jack was a member of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather as well. With all these bands beginning with "The," maybe he should call his solo project "The Jack White." No? Ok.

Jack White has an upcoming solo album, Blunderbuss, and has released two singles so far, 'Love Interruption' and 'Sixteen Saltines.'

Were you hoping for a White Stripes reunion, ore are you happy to see Jack go solo?

Tags Blogger: Ikam Acosta, Celebrities, Jack White, Música, Meg White, The White Stripes

By Ikam Acosta

Madai is one of the featured artists on Tr3s' Free Latin Music page. I had the pleasure of speaking to her about her music and her life as a singer/songwriter. Madai has performed in various places in the Miami area, such as 90 Degrees, and was even a guest on NBC Live Miami, where she performed her latest single, 'Mayday.'

The Cuban songstress admitted she liked the title because of its similarity to her name. 'Mayday,' whom she worked on with her friend, Michelle Trumpler, is a play on words on Madai, and how sometimes people mispronounce her name. The fact that the song mentions she is "on a rescue mission for your love" just became really fun to sing because of all the different meanings you can place on it, considering at the time, Madai was going thorough some romantic turmoil herself.

Madai has wanted to be a singer ever since she could remember, but at 8 years old is when she began to think about the songwriting aspect of it. She enjoys working under the Pitbull label, Mr. 305 Inc, because of all the support and camaraderie she feels from having similar experiences, both as a Cuban immigrant and as an artist. Madai explained,

"It's good to be working with someone who has gone through so much trouble and has many people admiring him as a mentor. He is so good at what he does, you feel like if you're ever going to make a mistake, you won't make that mistake because you'll have him beside you."

Madai enjoys live performances, particularly when she sees people come out and enjoy themselves and have a great time. When asked what her best performance has been, she quickly answered,

"I believe every performance should be your best performance. You should always give 150%. It should always be a great show."

Early inspirations in Madai's music include Celia Cruz and Gloria Estefan, the Cuban greats. Other influences in her music include Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey, among others. Madai admitted she had always wanted to do a duet with Adele, being she is an amazing singer and songwriter herself. She loves people with big voices that leave a lasting impact.

Growing up in Cuba influenced her musical style, since she grew up seeing her family enjoy music. Her dad taught her how to dance salsa and merengue and she was exposed to feeling the beat at an early age.

"I took a weird interest in music at an early age, when they were dancing, I would sing to the songs. I was in the church choir when I was young. I was the youngest person in the choir, I was 5 years old."

When asked about the Miami Music scene, Madai said,

"I think the Miami music scene is very odd because there are many cultures, many people together. It's not like one sound, you get a mix of a bunch of different sounds, and that's what people like about it."

Madai is a very talented young lady who wants to thank her fans for all the love and support they have shown throughout the years. Check our her latest single, 'Mayday,' and tell us what you think.

What's your favorite Madai song?

Tags Blogger: Ikam Acosta, Free Latin Music, Madai, Música, Pitbull

By Ikam Acosta

Legendary rock band KISS is teaming up with long-time rockers Motley Crue for a 2012 summer tour. The two awesome foursomes will be embarking on "The Tour," a 40 day tour in North America beginning in July.

The bit of news that seems to be stirring some fans, however, is the comment made by KISS frontman Gene Simmons about certain pop goddesses like Rihanna. Simmons said,

"We're sick and tired of girls getting up there with their dances and karaoke tapes in back of them. No fake bull***t. Leave that to Rihanna, Schmianna, and anyone who ends their name with an 'A.'"

Members from both bands seemed to be dismissive of all the new generic pop groups out there. They want to bring back the good old days when metal and rock and roll were king. Not that they have anything against these pop stars, mind you. Where would you get that idea?

Tommy Lee, drummer of Motley Crue, added,

"No disrespect to Rihanna, she's a great singer, but we're in a slump for some sh** that has some personality and appeal beyond a bunch of pop stuff that's floating around out there. I'm glad he said that actually because I don't think I can bear watching another f***ing award show that is just a little bit better than American Idol. It's f***ing pathetic to watch people go out and f***ing karaoke with a bunch of lights and video. It's all completely watered down."

Tell us how you really feel, guys. Don't hold back. The boys from KISS and Motley Crue were never ones to hold their tongues, but is their strong opinion about different types of acts taking things too far?

I'm willing to bet all my 80's hair metal tapes that the KISS and Motley Crue audiences rarely overlap with Rihanna fans, but I could be wrong. Just a hunch.

Do you think what Gene and Tommy said was disrespectful, or were they just trying to appeal to their fans?

Tags Blogger: Ikam Acosta, Celebrities, Gene Simmons, Kiss, Música, Motley Crue, Rihanna, Tommy Lee

By Rafael Abreu

A lawsuit filed by Lindsay Lohan last year citing lyrics singer Pitbull used in a song caused "irreparable harm" to her not-so-stellar reputation took an even stranger turn.

According to TMZ, Pitbull is citing another famous name mentioned in the song 'Give Me Everything,' with fellow rappers Ne-Yo and Afrojack, saying that if Ryan Seacrest didn't sue for using his name, Lohan shouldn't either.

Pitbull defended himself on the Univision show 'Primer Impacto' in August, saying,

"I don't understand how this could happen when the song is positive."

The Cuban-American singer said he empathized with Lohan with the media hyping her up and tearing her down as she faced legal woes from drunken driving and theft charges. Pitbull himself has faced scrutiny from the media.

Back in October, Lohan was so infuriated with her name being dropped in the song that she had her handlers order that clubs she partied at not play songs by the rapper, after he sings "I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan."

Part of her suit alleges that Pitbull used "defamatory statements...destined to do irreparable harm."

Citing the First Amendment in the New York court filings seeking dismissal of the suit, Pitbull said that Seacrest didn't sue after his name was mentioned in the song and that he even performed it as part of a New Year's Eve show hosted by the radio and television host.

Tags AOL Latino, aol latino in Blogamole, Lawsuit, linday lohan, Ne-Yo, Pitbull, ryan seacreast

By Michael Lopez

If you haven't heard of songwriter Elena Casals, you’ve most certainly heard her influence. She happened to be the mother of musician Desmond Child, who's scored countless hits (and countless Grammy Awards). Sadly, this week she passed on, leaving a lasting legacy of music and poetry.

Casals packed quite a lot into her 85 years. She lived all throughout Latin America and wrote music for luminaries like Olga Guillot (pictured with her and Child, above) and Lucho Gatica.

Interestingly, Elena's Spanish translations helped Desmond's music cross over to the Latin market. Known for his work with Cher and Bon Jovi, Child also gained a huge following in the Español world for his Ricky Martin collaborations.

And though she may be gone, we have certainly not heard the last of Casals. Her Spanish poetry will be re-released later this year in a compilation called My Cardboard Boxes.

Rest in Peace Elena.

Who is your favorite Latin American poet? Sound off in the comments or @MTV3.

Tags Blogger: Michael Lopez, Desmond Child, Elena Casals, Música, My Cardboard Boxes, Poetry, RIP