Arts & Entertainment

50 Cent, Joplin, Blu CDs released today

Udochi Igbokwe
The Daily Cougar

Get out your wallets and get ready to spend. This weekis new CD releases are worth your money.

After being pushed back numerous times, finally, Weire A Happy Family: A Ramones Tribute Album is released today. Produced by Rob Zombie, the album features artists such as Green Day, Rancid, Metallic, Red Hot Chili Peppers and U2 covering a variety of Ramones songs, including timeless classics "Beat on the Brat," "Outsider," "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," "The KKK Took My Baby Away" and "Sheena is a Punk Rocker."

"All the better-known punk groups that followed ­ The Sex Pistols, The Clash, whoever ­ they would be the first ones to say that without The Ramones, the whole punk movement never would have happened," Alan Light, editor in chief of Spin Magazine, said on the bandis official Web site. Buy this album in memory of the band that started it all.

The biggest confusion and perhaps the most anticipated pre-release of the week is 50 Centis Get Rich or Die Trying. Because of bootleggers, the album was actually released last Thursday but is scheduled for release today.

Now known as rapis new loudmouth, 50 Cent is doing a wonderful job establishing himself as an artist. His songs "Wanksta" and "In Da Club" are No. 16 and No. 4 on the Billboard charts, respectively. 50 Centis album, Guess Whois Back, is sitting at No. 28. Produced and mentored by Eminem and Dr. Dre, 50 Cent has been living up to his persona and has been in high demand.

Next in line for release is what some might consider the greatest funk band ever since the 1970s: Earth Wind & Fire. The band is releasing their Live in Rio album. 

When one listens to Earth Wind & Fire, one hears purity and spiritual elements that always seem to elevate the mood and expand the consciousness. 

Founded by Maurice Gibbs in 1971, the band was the first black act to top Billboardis pop single and album charts simultaneously in 1975. Live in Rio includes a number of their much-loved favorites from their memorable concert in Brazil.

Performances of tunes such as the hit remake of the Beatlesi "Got to Get you Into my Life," key album cuts like "In the Stone" and "Can't Let Go" (from I Am) and the natural crowd-pleaser "Brazilian Rhyme" from the multi-platinum best selling album All iN All were recorded live for the first time at this exciting, energy-filled event.

Legendary 60s rocker Janis Joplinis Essential Janis Joplin is being released this week. Described as one of the most influential female singers of the late 1960s, she first came to the attention of rock fans as the vocalist for Big Brother & the Holding Company. 

Most critics agree that Joplin was the main reason for the groupis success with songs like "Piece of My Heart" and "Summertime." Renowned for her performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and later for her solo appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969, Joplin nevertheless failed to achieve a chart-topping single until her rendition of country composer Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" was released posthumously in 1971. Essential Janis Joplin is a two-disc album with 15 tracks on each CD.

Trying to establish her career in solid ground since last year debut, Arista Recordsi Blu Cantrell releases her sophomore album Bittersweet.

If it is any indication, soul singer/songwriter Cantrell has clearly mastered the art of forging pain into pleasure, turning something that hurts so bad into something that feels (and sounds) so good.

When she released her debut album, So Blu, its first single, "Hit iEm Up Style," was a hit with audiences. Cantrell hopes to gain a larger fan base with this album.

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