Sunday, December 21

Alumnus preserves immigrant parents’ legacy through rap, mixtapes

Raymond Mai’s foray into rap was motivated by a pretty girl sitting next to him in class. Determined to catch her attention, Mai scribbled in his notebook a love poem, which he rapped to her during break. Read more...

Photo: UCLA alumnus Raymond Mai, known as MACKmai on stage, released his first mixtape “Second to None (220)” Saturday on SoundCloud. Mai, who grew up in a black- and Latino-dominated community area in southeast San Diego, became aware of other Asian-American students at UCLA. He realized the hardships his immigrant parents went through and decided to preserve their legacy through his mixtape. (Shelby Scoggins/Daily Bruin)


Alumna Princess Fortier releases ‘Dirty Ballerina’ music video

Princess Fortier sat in her home studio soaking up the fast-paced rhythms and percussion instrumentals of a track sent to her by a producer via Facebook. Read more...

Photo: Princess Fortier (center) and her sister Destiny created a music video for Princess’ song “Dirty Ballerina.” The duo were joined by backup dancer and fourth-year mathematics and economics student Patrick Malkoun (right). (Zinnia Moreno/Daily Bruin)


Second Take: Sony Music should release Kesha from recording contract

Pop singer Kesha Rose Sebert, known professionally as Kesha, lost a bid Friday to be freed from her recording contract. Kesha alleged that her music producer Lukasz Sebastian “Dr. Read more...

Photo: Kesha has not released an album since “Warrior” in 2012, yet Sony did not contractually release her after she alleged that producer Dr. Luke sexually assaulted her. (Courtesy of RCA)


Love | Hate: Is Kanye creating fashion or a fiasco?

This just in: Kanye West announces the beginning of Yeezy Season 4. Though it’s been just over a year since the premiere of Kanye West’s Yeezy Season 1, the hype is as strong as ever. Read more...

Photo: Rapper Kanye West showcased his fashion line Yeezy Season 3 and his album “The Life of Pablo” at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 11. He announced the creation of Yeezy Season 4 on Thursday. (Creative Commons photo by Rodrigo Ferrari/Flickr)


Sounds of Schoenberg: The American washtub bass

Each week, Daily Bruin A&E will explore the instruments of the World Musical Instrument Collection and their performers that all contribute to the musical landscape of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Read more...

Photo: Ethnomusicology graduate student Marc Bolin plays the American washtub bass, an instrument made of weed-whacker line, a washtub and a wooden pole. The instrument was built by former UCLA graduate student Scott Linford. (Kathy Chen/Daily Bruin)


EDM group creates hybrid form of electronic music from classical roots

Stephen Spies was working on a student film, “Young Americans,” when the director asked him to score an electronic beat for it. Spies only had experience with classical pieces, however, so he tried creating electronic sounds by recording himself clapping or sliding his fingers down a bass guitar to make it sound like a drop. Read more...

Photo: Andrea Vancura (left), Stephen Spies (right) and Kyle Dombroski are the three members of EDM group FYS, which infuses electronic music with a classical band sound created from trombones, trumpets and drum sets. (Michael Zshornack/Daily Bruin)


Second Take: Best and worst performances of the 58th annual Grammy Awards

When Grammy performances turn out to be unprecedented spectacles, they are more likely to be remembered. Among top moments of Grammy’s past are P!nk flying over the audience, twirling in giant ribbons hanging from the ceiling as she sang “Glitter in the Air” in 2010 and Kanye West marching on stage dressed as a bandleader to perform “Gold Digger” in 2006. Read more...

Photo: Kendrick Lamar performed his songs “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alight” at the Grammy Awards show Monday night. (Kevin Winter/WireImage.com)



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