Bark + Bite

Former Destiny's Child producer Rob Fusari is throwing shade Beyonce's way

Someone from Beyonce's past has stepped forward to stoke the flames of the Beyonce-doesn't-write-her-songs fire. Rob Fusari was the producer of Destiny's Child's first single and hit "No, No, No" and he reveals that working with Mathew Knowles and his daughter sometimes meant not always getting full credit. In an interview with Billboard.com, Fusari talks about how disappointed he was when he saw Beyonce recount a story to Barbara Walters about how she came up with the Destiny's Child song, "Bootylicious."

I remember watching Barbara Walters interview Beyoncé about "Bootylicious," and she told Barbara about how she came up with the idea for the track. And I was just like, "What?" I called Mathew-which was a big mistake; I got emotional, and I apologized after-but I called Mathew and said, "Mathew, like, why?" 

And he explained to me, in a nice way, he said, "People don't want to hear about Rob Fusari, producer from Livingston, N.J. No offense, but that's not what sells records. What sells records is people believing that the artist is everything." And I'm like, "Yeah, I know, Mathew. I understand the game. But come on, I'm trying too. I'm a squirrel trying to get a nut, too."

Forget the Sopranos, it looks like Daddy Knowles was running one of the world's toughest gangs right under pop music's nose. He muscled and strong-armed producers and songwriters into giving his daughter and her friends songwriting credits so they could sit in interviews and gush about how much "growth" and "input" they had on their albums. If it sounds shady and makes you feel disappointed, don't be. That's showbiz.

And Rob Fusari is likely no innocent party to all of this. It appears that after "Bootylicious," Rob Fusari and Beyonce parted ways. He struck gold again with his collaborations with Lady Gaga ("Beautiful, Dirty Rich" and "Paparazzi"), but now she too has cut ties with Fusari and the two haven't worked together in 3 years. There must be some reason he's burning bridges with these pop divas. Oh wait, maybe it's cause he trashes them in the media, exposing all their skeletons?

Akon's bet on Lady Gaga has him laughing all the way to the bank

Akon's done some regrettable things since making it in the music industry: Signing and unleashing the autotune-fueled artist known as T-Pain, dry humping an underage girl at a Caribbean concert and letting his fists fly at a fan in the crowd are just a few examples. But putting aside what you think about Akon as a person or an artist, the truth is if he didn't take a chance on Lady Gaga when many others had turned a blind eye to her, we might not be enjoying her new world order now.

A few years ago, Gaga was bouncing from label to label and Akon had closed the deal on his imprint under Interscope. He collaborated with Gaga in the studio and walked away incredibly impressed with her talents. He  later told Jimmy Iovine of Interscope that he wanted to sign Lady Gaga to his label Kon Live Distribution. Voila! Before you can say "Ro-ma-maaaa!" Gaga was signed to a joint deal with Interscope/Kon Live music and put to work with RedOne on what would be her multiplatinum debut album, "The Fame." Akon explains his role in Lady Gaga's success below in an interview with the AP.

Rihanna beats it for "Rude Boy," GaGa calls "Telephone" a true pop event

Photo via Rihannanow.com

Rihanna fans who have grown tired of the dark and dreary imagery of the "Rated R" era can breathe easy with the "Rude Boy" video. She seems like she's ready to inject some color back into her life and hopefully an upbeat attitude. Some choreography wouldn't hurt either, and if her live performance at the pre-Super Bowl VH1 concert is any indication of what to expect, Rihanna might twirk a little something for us in the video. View more pics of Rihanna on the set of the "Rude Boy" video over at NeonLimelight.com. The video will premiere this Thursday on VEVO, so be sure to check back here for the Bark + Bite music video review.

It's Magic! RedOne and Gaga put 'Poker Face' together in an hour

When you've got it, you've got it. And the widely-held belief that unless you spend hours, days, weeks or months on your work that it won't be quality doesn't always hold true in art. Especially in something as in the moment as pop music. Proof? Beyonce recorded "B'Day" in two weeks, which spawned the smash hits "Irreplaceable," "Get Me Bodied," "Deja Vu" and "Ring the Alarm."

Moroccan-born pop music producer RedOne is the hottest producer in the game right now, thanks to the monster success of his work on Lady Gaga's debut album "The Fame," and he and Lady Gaga similarly crank out the hits at top speed. In an interview with Reuters, RedOne talked about the chemistry between him and Gaga in the studio.

"One hour. 'Poker Face' one hour. It just, it just happened you know? Like magic," RedOne said.

Watch the video of RedOne talking about his chemistry with Lady Gaga and the unreleased tracks he has in the vault from sessions with the late King of Pop.

Bad Romance: The YouTube Covers

Lady Gaga's sick love song "Bad Romance" is still cruising at the top of the charts, and like her previous hits, she's inspiring creativity on YouTube. It's interesting to watch YouTubers do covers of other songs, even though most of the time the people recording themselves singing aren't worth the megabytes your computer has to process to view them, because there are always a few diamonds in the rough. After all, Jermaine Dupri signed his latest singer Dondria based off of her covers on YouTube. So there are a few swans amongst the many ugly ducklings.

Here are three YouTube covers of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance" that are worth your time:

Lady Gaga loved being Beyonce's back-up dancer in "Video Phone"

Watching the behind the scenes footage from Beyonce's "Video Phone" you learn one very important thing: Lady Gaga is one of Beyonce's biggest fans. Lady Gaga, who according to Beyonce was a last-minute add on the song and video, is star struck on the set of music video.

Gaga is dead set on "paying homage" to Beyonce, throwing on a bouncy, flowy hair piece and donning a monochromatic onesie. Gaga does her best to play up her inner Sasha Fierce, but after filming a scene together Gaga and Beyonce sit and laugh at the footage while Gaga admits that she didn't quite know what to do with the hurricane-force winds blowing in her face. It's okay, Gaga. Beyonce didn't master it overnight either.

Check out Beyonce and Lady Gaga behind the scenes of the "Video Phone" shoot. Hubba, hubba.

Grammy Girls: Beyonce leads with 10 noms, Gaga and Taylor also score

Photos by PR Photos

It looks like the biggest winner at the 2010 Grammys is likely to be a queen. Beyonce is head of the class with 10 Grammy nominations and Taylor Swift is right behind Lady Bey with 8 nominations. Lady Gaga, who has controversially been locked out of the Best New Artist category, scooped up 5 nominations yesterday. When did women in music take over? The Black Eyed Peas scored 6 nominations, but we all know where they were without Fergie. Kanye also had 6 nominations, but all except for one were for songs where he was a guest on someone else's song. Fellas, you gotta turn up the heat if you wanna compete next year.

Here are a few big categories of interest and the nominees:

Record Of The Year

• Halo - Beyoncé
• I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
• Use Somebody - Kings Of Leon
• Poker Face - Lady Gaga
• You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

Huh? How on earth did "Halo" beat out "Single Ladies" for Record of the Year?? And can someone do us all a favor and make sure that any votes for Taylor Swift are conveniently misplaced like those votes for Al Gore in 2000? Thanks.

Album Of The Year

• I Am... Sasha Fierce - Beyoncé
• The E.N.D. - The Black Eyed Peas
• The Fame - Lady Gaga
• Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King - Dave Matthews Band
• Fearless - Taylor Swift

Dave Matthews released an album this year? I must've missed out on it because I stopped trolling college bars. Watch the Grammys screw over the big dogs in this race and award album of the year to Dave Matthews Band. It wouldn't be the first time, right, Steely Dan?

Song Of The Year

• Poker Face - Lady Gaga & RedOne, songwriters (Lady Gaga)
• Pretty Wings - Hod David & Musze, songwriters (Maxwell)
• Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) - Thaddis Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart, songwriters (Beyoncé)
• Use Somebody - Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)
• You Belong With Me - Liz Rose & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)

Kings of Leon NEEDS to win this category. "Single Ladies" is misnominated in this category. This is a SONGWRITER'S award, and while SL is a pop gem, it's not because of its lyrics. "Poker Face" is a great song as well, but lyrically "Paparazzi" is a stronger track from Gaga.

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

• Hometown Glory - Adele
• Halo - Beyoncé
• Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
• Sober - Pink
• You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift

"Halo" deserves this one. Beyonce sings the hell out of this heavenly tune. Katy Perry's vocals are just unpleasant whines, bleats and yodels. Pink's "Sober" is good but isn't it the same bitter pill stuff she's been on for the last few albums? Adele could upset here though, since she's a Grammy favorite.

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

• Ego - Beyoncé & Kanye West
• Knock You Down - Keri Hilson, Kanye West & Ne-Yo
• Run This Town - Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West
• I'm On A Boat - The Lonely Island & T-Pain
• Dead And Gone - T.I. & Justin Timberlake

Beyonce and Kanye aren't likely to win this one. "Ego," ironically, isn't big enough to take home the prize in this category. The most deserving track is "Run This Town" featuring the ROC all-stars Jay, Rih and Kanye. That song had schoolchildren covering it in choir class and grandmas throwing up the ROC. I see the Grammys got jokes, nominating The Lonely Island and T-Pain song.

No performers were announced yet, let's hope that after Adam Lambert sent shockwaves through the FCC and broadcast television that the performances aren't so castrated that they're not worth watching.

For the FULL list of nominees, click HERE.

Susan Boyle is ruining Thanksgiving for Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert

Photo from fOTOGLIF

The little engine that could from "Britain's Got Talent" has really reached top locomotive speeds. The YouTube sensation, Susan Boyle, is poised to sell over 600,000 copies of her debut album "I Dreamed a Dream," according to estimates by HITS Daiily Double. The album, whose title sounds like one Mariah Carey would come up with, is nothing but a collection cover songs. Meaning there are three winners: YouTube, Simon Cowell and songwriting royalties.

This doughty, unpleasant-looking, middle-aged Scottish woman is steamrolling her competition, which includes superstars such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Shakira and the now-controversial Adam Lambert.

Lady Gaga is releasing her "The Fame Monster" EP and re-releasing her debut album "The Fame" with the new EP tacked onto the old LP. Combining sales from all three versions, Gaga is estimated to sell 350,000.

Adam Lambert, whose crotch thrusting and oral sex-simulating got him into hot water this week, is poised to move between 210-230,000 copies. This should please the Idol gods, especially in comparison with Idol winner Kris Allen moving only 80,000 of his debut last week. Exactly who won Idol again?

Rihanna is looking to sell 180-200,000 copies of her fourth studio album, "Rated R." The numbers are disappointing for the singer, especially given the monster success of her last album, "Good Girl Gone Bad." But she had a poor setup this go 'round with the lead single "Russian Roulette," only being released to the public three weeks prior to the album release. The tense, dark ballad is a marked change from the light, dance floor-friendly sound Rihanna found with success the last time, so perhaps with more time to build up momentum, the song could've grown with fans.

Shakira is coming in under 100,000 for her new album "She Wolf," with estimates pegging her sales between 80-90,000 copies. This is no surprise, considering how much Shakira has struggled to land a hit single with this album.

Lessons learned? Never judge a book by its cover and don't count out those old dogs just yet. Susan Boyle doesn't speak to the same audience that Rihanna, Gaga and Lambert do, but she's got her own lane and apparently those people are actually willing to BUY albums, unlike the younger crowd. In Susan Boyle, a new kind of star is born. Don't be surprised if you see your local middle-aged housewife or spinster practicing in front of the mirror with a hairbrush this week.

Beyonce and Gaga play with wind machines, toy guns in "Video Phone" video

Hubba, hubba. Beyonce and Lady Gaga are serving it up somethin' serious in the video for their earth-shattering collabo "Video Phone." The stans of both Camp Gaga and Camp Beyonce have already declared this video a defining moment in pop history. It certainly blows Britney Spears and Madonna's awful "Me Against the Music" video out of the water.

But make no mistake, while Lady Gaga is quite possibly the biggest thing in pop music right now, in "Video Phone" she dresses down and pays all respects to Queen Bey. Instead of donning multiple, alien-like outfits like she usually does, Gaga keeps her look clean and simple with a blonde weave and a white Tina Knowles-approved unitard. Beyonce on the other hand glams it up in about 5 different elaborately decorated outfits, even paying homage to Betty Paige in one scene, and straddling a motorcycle with a gigantic flowing red cape behind her. Where your boss at?

Watch the video for Beyonce's "Video Phone (Extended Mix)" featuring Lady Gaga below.

Attack of the Phones, Beyonce and Lady Gaga team up

Photos by PR Photos

The two leading ladies of pop music have combined forces to take over the world, and after listening to both "Video Phone (Extended Mix)" and "Telephone," it's clear that Lady Gaga and Beyonce are taking no prisoners.