Cali Swag District, the same group that taught us all how to ‘Dougie,’ has just come out with a brand new song, titled ‘Where You Are.’ And, this time around, they’ve decided to sample a classic hit from none other than Michael Jackson.

The centerpiece of the new song is Jackson’s 1972 hit ‘I Wanna Be Where You Are,’ which has been previously covered by Marvin Gaye and The Fugees, among others. In the hands of Cali Swag District, though, the song truly takes on an entirely new form.

Although Jackson's timeless voice and early Motown influence pervade the new song, Cali Swag District's lyrical dexterity and flow add a distinctly hip-hop hue to their musical mosaic. With each rapper taking his turn to drop a tight rhyme, the men from Inglewood, Ca. firmly put their own stamp on an undeniably classic R&B anthem….(read more)


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Keri Hilson has reached her ‘Breaking Point’ in the new single of the same name, off her upcoming sophomore album ‘No Boys Allowed.’

Over a strutting, mid-tempo Timbaland-produced back beat, Keri soars vocally, incorporating an improvisational gospel style, while she lays down the law of love, stating “some women can be lied to / And cheated on, and beated on,” but admits, “See I done did that / But this time, there’s a limit to my love.”

Keri Hilson has a history of successfully pairing up with hip-hop producer Timbaland, on such singles as 2008′s ‘Scream’ and ‘Return the Favor,’ as well as the 2007 smash hit ‘The Way I Are.’…(read more)


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But for nearly a decade before that, homeowners eagerly watched as their home values rose – sometimes by double-digit numbers from one year to the next.

While one scenario was clearly preferable to homeowners, neither was what we’d call “normal.” So, what was happening in those years? And what can we expect? Will a “normal” housing market ever return? Below, I’ll explore the causes for the run-up in home values, and the subsequent downturn, as well as explain the conditions we’re likely to see in the next several years.

• Home value appreciation between the late 1990s and the mid-2000s was an anomaly.  In the eight years between 1998 and 2005, home values increased 117%, or 10.2% annually.  By comparison, over the eight years prior to 1998, home values increased 12%, or 1.2% annually.  Typical home value appreciation over the long-term is in the range of 2-4% per year.  Generally, real estate will track or just modestly beat inflation or growth in household income.

• Why did home values increase so much from 1998-2005? There are a lot of factors that should be listed here but two key ones are the homeownership rate and the percentage of income devoted to housing costs.  The percentage of households owning a home increased from 65.4% in 1997 to 69.1% in 2005. This represented more than 4 million additional households in the housing market in 2005 above the level that would have been observed had the homeownership rate stayed at 1997 levels. Not only did the percentage of households owning a home increase, but the number of households itself increased by almost 9 million over the time period. Moreover, from 1999 to 2005, the percentage of households spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs (e.g., mortgage payments, taxes, insurance and utilities) increased from 26.7% to 34.5%.  The demand created by more people looking for housing and those people being willing to pay more of their income to own a home is a good start to getting higher-than-normal appreciation in real estate prices.

• Over the next 3-5 years, real estate will return lower than average rates of appreciation.  This is because demand will be relatively soft given higher-than-normal unemployment (and likely higher mortgage rates) and supply will be quite high given a) already historically high levels of inventory on the market (12.5 months of supply in July);  b) that the foreclosure rate will remain at elevated levels because of negative equity and unemployment; and c) lots of sidelined sellers who will be entering the marketplace in the next couple of years (some of whom will also buy, thus increasing demand, but we believe this segment of homeowners represents more supply than demand given an aging demographic).  One thing that will help the demand picture is that household formation should ramp back up once the economic recovery takes firmer hold (but, again, unemployment will be key here too).

• With lower-than-average rates of appreciation in the next 3-5 years, real estate values will be fighting to keep pace with inflation, which will gradually return to the range of 2-3% per year.  This means that in real terms (subtracting inflation rates), there may not be very much appreciation in home values over this time frame.

• Now that the real estate boom is over, people should return to thinking about their home more as a savings account versus a stock market investment.  Or, a home simply as a place to live.  Does this mean that housing is not a good investment?  Not at all.  Among other things, a home mortgage is a forced savings plan that can lead to substantial cumulative savings over the long-term.  Moreover, in a typical housing market in which appreciation roughly tracks inflation, a homeowner is not only getting increased equity by paying down their mortgage, but they are also getting the utility of a place in which to live over which they have ultimate control – no 30-day notice to vacate, no restrictions on which color to paint the bedrooms or whether you can have a pet.  In addition, in many markets around the country, home values have been reset so much during the housing recession that buying looks quite attractive relative to renting right now.  While conventional wisdom holds that buying will usually make more sense than renting if the homeowner plans to stay in the home for at least five years, this time horizon is currently much lower in many markets, meaning that buying beats out renting much sooner.

• While making good economic sense for lots of buyers, homeownership doesn’t make sense for everybody.  People who have a short-time horizon for living in a particular home, value mobility, have uncertain future income, or for whom housing costs associated with a purchase would make up too much of their monthly income, might prefer to rent.  It is clear that the decision between renting and owning is becoming more of an economic decision to many Americans, informed by their particular circumstances, as opposed to either an emotional one or a decision made out of mere social convention.  And, in the end, that’s probably a good thing, whatever decision they ultimately make.

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Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy releases another Top 40 contender, his new single ‘Need You.’

Featured on his debut solo album, ‘Lazarus,’ the pop track is carried by a melodic, looping electric guitar run with tapping percussion, as Travie confesses to his girl that he needs more time to let down his guard: “But there’s a safe around my heart / I don’t know how to let you in / And that’s what keeps us apart / And that’s why I need time.”

‘Need You’ follows the Top 5 Billboard hit, ‘Billionaire,’ also on his July-released debut album. To hear ‘Need You,’ tune in to AOL Radio’s New Pop First station.

Listen to New Pop First Radio

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Linkin Park‘s new track, ‘Wretches and Kings’ proves the alternative rock band is moving back to their rap-rock roots.

Opening with political activist Mario Savio’s famous ‘Bodies Upon the Gears’ 1964 address (“And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop”), the song breaks into a full-disgruntled effort, with low-register, looping electro-beats helmed by Joe Hahn.

Mike Shinoda even comfortably slides back into his heavy rapping-role, despicably delivering lines of communist hysteria: “Don’t fight the power, nobody gets hurt / If you haven’t heard yet, then I’m letting you know, there ain’t shit / We don’t run when the guns are low / And no one make a move unless my people say so / Got everything out of control.”…(read more)


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In his new song, ‘What if I Kissed You,’ Drake proves once again that he’s not afraid to bend and blend musical genres.

Although the Stargate-produced song's beat is definitely categorized within the hip-hop realm, both the artist's silky smooth voice and alluringly romantic lyrics seem to be a direct descendant of yesterday's R&B titans. At the same time, however, the track's refrain has a unique quality usually reserved for pure pop songs.

By the time the song winds down, most listeners are left wondering about which musical category Drake belongs to, while plenty of others will surely be fantasizing about what would really happen if Drake actually kissed them….(read more)


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Nicki Minaj teams up with Black Eyed Peas mainman will.i.am to celebrate the late-night lifestyle on their new collaborative single ‘Check It Out.’ The track will be included on Minaj’s debut solo album, ‘Pink Friday,’ out this fall.

‘Check It Out’ features the nearly constant repetition of the piano and vocal hook from The Buggles‘ 1979 classic ‘Video Killed the Radio Star,’ which is famous for being the first video ever played on MTV.

As the incessant “Oh-a oh’s” pretty much bore a hole in your head, the duo verbally flip the bird to their haters while on their way into the hottest dance club in town….(read more)


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(Photo above, left to right, General Counsel Kathleen Philips, Chief Economist Stan Humphries and VP of New Ventures Chloe Harford)

It’s been a tremendous summer for Zillow on many fronts with new partnerships announced and records shattered. And so, it has become our tradition to celebrate accomplishments like these by serving a company breakfast – or, rather, to have the Zillow execs serve breakfast – to Zillowites.

What exactly did we accomplish this summer? First and foremost, we surpassed July’s record traffic with a new record of 12.5 million unique visitors coming to Zillow in August. This beats our previous record by more than 800k visitors (source: Omniture). Zillow Mobile is also setting records, as we recently announced over 2 million downloads of our apps.  And, for bringing home the bacon (pun absolutely intended), the company earned free breakfast yesterday morning.

And on top of our banner traffic year, the team has been hard at work…

… forging new partnerships with Yahoo! and Apartments.com …

… improving our home shopping experience …

… rolling out the (relatively) new Zillow Premier Agent Program …

… launching new mobile apps for Android and iPad …

…and talking turkey about the future of the housing market with the likes of Fox Business, ABC News, Good Morning America, and Bloomberg.

And we are hiring!  Come help fuel the next wave of growth at Zillow. In addition to getting to work with a great team on challenging problems to transform an industry, who doesn’t like free food served by our own Chief Economist?

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Activision has unearthed the ‘DJ Hero 2′ song list. The game is expected in stores Oct. 19 for the XBOX 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii. 105 dance-focused, hip-pop, pop, rock and indie-fused songs will be paired off into 80 unique mixes.

Just think, pretty soon you’ll be able to create new work — incorporating record scratching, streaming effects, crossfading and even singing and/or raping — with mash-ups like: Iyaz ‘Replay’/ Rihanna ‘Rude Boy, Yeah Yeah Yeahs ‘Heads Will Roll/ Basement Jaxx ‘Where’s Your Head At?’ and even Lil Wayne ‘Lollipop’/ Eminem ‘Not Afraid.’

Check out the entire list of 105 ‘DJ Hero 2′ songs below. To make it easy to find the track you’re looking for, we’ve sorted this list alphabetically by artist name.

‘DJ Hero 2′ Song List:

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