By the way, to elaborate a bit on the Notorious B.I.G. session, it was kinda like this. Michael used to call people to ask them to participate on albums. It was interesting knowing that nearly anyone on the planet would come to the phone if it were Michael calling. Anyway, I heard rumors that B.I.G. was going to come, and I was excited about that! I knew that I would be the one to record that, as I had recorded nearly all of that tune, "This Time Around".
So, Dallas and I were expecting him any minute, and pretty much on time, Notorious strolls in. He was quite an imposing figure when he walked in, as he was quite popular at the time. I had no idea what to expect from him in terms of attitude, but he seemed nice when he walked in. No problem. But almost immediately, he blurted out, "Yo, Dallas, can I meet Mike?" To which, Dallas replied that he thought so. Biggie went on to talk about how much this opportunity meant to him, as Michael was his hero. Anyway, Dallas tells him that we're going to lay down the rap first, so Biggie heads in the booth, we get some headphone levels and get ready to start recording.
So, we hit the big red button (on a Sony 3348 machine), and away we go. During his first take, Dallas and I looked at each other, because it was spot on. wow. I was impressed, and so was Dallas. We listened back, and Dallas was like, "Wow, I think we got it". As I recall, we took another take for good measure, but I'm fairly certain that we ended up using the first take. So, Notorious comes in, and asks if he can meet Michael now. We sent word to the back room where Michael was working that Biggie was finished and wanted to meet him.
Simply for security, Michael's security would enter and make sure that no one was in the room that shouldn't be, and once that was confirmed (it was just me, Biggie and Dallas), Michael came in. Biggie nearly broke out in tears...I could tell how much this meant to him. Well, Michael could have this effect on anyone, even the most hardcore rappers! Biggie was tripping up on his words, bowing down and telling Michael how much his music had meant to him in his life. Michael was, as always, very humble and kept smiling while Biggie just went on and on how much he loved Michael. I watched Biggie just become this big butterball of a man, and it was really very sweet to witness. After all, we are all just people.
Michael finally asked to hear what we had done, and we popped it up on the big speakers and let her go. Michael LOVED it and was excited to tell Biggie that! "Oh, let's hear it again", I recall Michael saying, and we listened again. Michael just loved it...and thanked Biggie for coming all the way from Philadelphia. Biggie asked rather sheepishly whether he could get a photo, and Michael agreed. A shot was taken, we listened again, and Michael thanked Biggie. Michael said goodbye and stepped out, leaving Biggie standing there looking completely stunned.
By the way, to elaborate a bit on the Notorious B.I.G. session, it was kinda like this. Michael used to call people to ask them to participate on albums. It was interesting knowing that nearly anyone on the planet would come to the phone if it were Michael calling. Anyway, I heard rumors that B.I.G. was going to come, and I was excited about that! I knew that I would be the one to record that, as I had recorded nearly all of that tune, "This Time Around".
So, Dallas and I were expecting him any minute, and pretty much on time, Notorious strolls in. He was quite an imposing figure when he walked in, as he was quite popular at the time. I had no idea what to expect from him in terms of attitude, but he seemed nice when he walked in. No problem. But almost immediately, he blurted out, "Yo, Dallas, can I meet Mike?" To which, Dallas replied that he thought so. Biggie went on to talk about how much this opportunity meant to him, as Michael was his hero. Anyway, Dallas tells him that we're going to lay down the rap first, so Biggie heads in the booth, we get some headphone levels and get ready to start recording.
So, we hit the big red button (on a Sony 3348 machine), and away we go. During his first take, Dallas and I looked at each other, because it was spot on. wow. I was impressed, and so was Dallas. We listened back, and Dallas was like, "Wow, I think we got it". As I recall, we took another take for good measure, but I'm fairly certain that we ended up using the first take. So, Notorious comes in, and asks if he can meet Michael now. We sent word to the back room where Michael was working that Biggie was finished and wanted to meet him.
Simply for security, Michael's security would enter and make sure that no one was in the room that shouldn't be, and once that was confirmed (it was just me, Biggie and Dallas), Michael came in. Biggie nearly broke out in tears...I could tell how much this meant to him. Well, Michael could have this effect on anyone, even the most hardcore rappers! Biggie was tripping up on his words, bowing down and telling Michael how much his music had meant to him in his life. Michael was, as always, very humble and kept smiling while Biggie just went on and on how much he loved Michael. I watched Biggie just become this big butterball of a man, and it was really very sweet to witness. After all, we are all just people.
Michael finally asked to hear what we had done, and we popped it up on the big speakers and let her go. Michael LOVED it and was excited to tell Biggie that! "Oh, let's hear it again", I recall Michael saying, and we listened again. Michael just loved it...and thanked Biggie for coming all the way from Philadelphia. Biggie asked rather sheepishly whether he could get a photo, and Michael agreed. A shot was taken, we listened again, and Michael thanked Biggie. Michael said goodbye and stepped out, leaving Biggie standing there looking completely stunned.
Guys at MJJC are saying there's a re-release coming this year. It actually might be HIStory because it's 20 years old (Dangerous is 26 which is a weird number, and OTW is 31 which is odd too)... Let me begin to explode with excitement.... imagine the demos, imagine lyrical quality of the HIStory album we've never heard before about Michael's struggle with fame and betrayal in the 90s
Guys at MJJC are saying there's a re-release coming this year. It actually might be HIStory because it's 20 years old (Dangerous is 26 which is a weird number, and OTW is 31 which is odd too)... Let me begin to explode with excitement.... imagine the demos, imagine lyrical quality of the HIStory album we've never heard before about Michael's struggle with fame and betrayal in the 90s
It would be an odd year to do it and Spike Lee never even acknowledged it sadly. The only Sony release that's at a real anniversary is HIStory at 20 years tbh. Dangerous will be 25 next year so that could be a release then and maybe they'll go with something new this year or maybe (god forbid) nothing at all
They only have this year, and then the next two years to release MJ stuff through the current deal. At least one of those is a new posthumous album. They'll possibly re-new a deal through 2020 or something though. I really want a 10-year anniversary edition of This Is It in 2019 with new footage...
It would be an odd year to do it and Spike Lee never even acknowledged it sadly. The only Sony release that's at a real anniversary is HIStory at 20 years tbh. Dangerous will be 25 next year so that could be a release then and maybe they'll go with something new this year or maybe (god forbid) nothing at all
They only have this year, and then the next two years to release MJ stuff through the current deal. At least one of those is a new posthumous album. They'll possibly re-new a deal through 2020 or something though. I really want a 10-year anniversary edition of This Is It in 2019 with new footage...
Oh. I thought Spike Lee had made an announcement about it. Yes a HIStory thing would be cool this year. And I agree with releasing more This Is It footage, I've heard they have hours of unseen footage from that Already so long ago still feels like yesterday.
but Spike Lee was talking about doing the Off the wall documentary at some university last year ?
I hope he does it this year or next year.
That was reported by a Spanish website but guys at MJJC asked the MJ Estate and they said they had no knowledge of the project. Maybe it'll take a long time to compile or something, but no other sources directly reported it they just quoted the Spanish site which makes it look bad...
Question to the MJ fans: What's your favorite duet or collaboration MJ did?
Lisa It's Your Birthday
But honestly... probably Scream. I love the newly release duet with Freddie Mercury/Queen too though, its such an MJ song lyrically. And dunno if it counts but this has always slayed:
But honestly... probably Scream. I love the newly release duet with Freddie Mercury/Queen too though, its such an MJ song lyrically. And dunno if it counts but this has always slayed:
Yea I agree about Scream and the Freddie duet. Also love Say Say Say. What was the video you posted, it isn't showing for me?
BBC are making a documentary on massive musicians and their fans, and naturally MJ is a shoe-in for the program. They're requesting older fans (who were stanning back in the 80s long before my time ) who saw him live and have massive memorabilia collections. Sounds cool!