Marvin Sparks

Yep, you read the title correctly. I came across Bieber's Xmas album after my dad told me he read Bieber has done a reggae song. When I played it to him he said "Hmm... you can just about tell it's reggae" (my dad's hardcore reggae fan thankfully). You may think the same thing but it's the acoustic reggae sound people (namely Bruno Mars and I realised Ed Sheeran's "A-Team" has a hint of it which explains the Shy FX Ackee & Saltfish remix) have adopted. Off-beat guitar strums/stabs/whatever. If you know reggae, you know what I'm on about. If not, it's the pattern of the guitar. Reggae brought that to the mainstream Gave the rest of the album some burn as I had time to fill. And curiosity got the better of me. Ultimately I'm open-minded to music that likes to hear what's going on in a next genre to mix my meditation, so wondered how the rest would be. I am pleasantly surprised. There are bangers on there. I tweeted that if...

RBNA = Real Badman Never Afraid . Real Badman Never Afraid = Marvin Sparks blogging about things your average 20-something, black male, Londoner wouldn't usually admit to in public space. Unless, of course, he is a badman. Today's topic is ballads. Ballads in Lehman's (I know you don't spell Lehman like that, but Arsenal's goalkeeper is dumb too) terms are slow love songs as you'll see if you carry on reading. They're basically songs I really want to learn how to write because they are WINNERS!!! These songs are all inspired by Magic FM, therefore, this post is slyly sponsored by them. If they would like to send some donations my way, feel free. I'll flick over from 1Xtra time to time to hhave flashback moments. Mostly listen to Magic at night when I want to wind down. Wind, not whine. That's what dancehall is for. Savage Garden - I Knew I Loved You This was the first song I heard this morning on Magic FM. Dr. Fox breakfast show is second to Twin B...

I haven't done a "Real Badman Never Afraid" segment in a while. If you're unfamiliar with it, this is a time where I share songs I like that people will be surprised I like, deemed uncool by my demographic and some will feel ashamed to admit. But true I'm a rudeman, wicked boy (copyright me and my bredrin) from the day I was born 'til at least 1 minute 26 seconds ago, I don't abide by them rules. Shout out Christiana on dubbing the genre "Euro-Trash" . I got it from here. Follow her and read her blog . You'll get more wisdom than you will on these pages. If you are from foreign lands, Euro Trash was a late night program, pubescent boys stayed up past their bedtime to watch the best possible porn. I say the best possible, but you may have seen a breast here, a bum cheek there with a lot of innuendos and suggestive behaviour. Kids nowadays just load up a prano site, we had to find a friends uncle's video tape or download jpeg's from pee...

Think I'll put this down as a Real Badman Never Afraid . I'll blog about Take That cos they had couple tunes. Pray, Everything Changes and Back For Good get wheels on decks. For those unfamiliar with the Take That story, the popular boyband split up in '96 following Robbie Williams departure in '95. Robbie embarked on a successful solo career shifting over 55 million albums, plus singles Rock DJ, Millenium and all-time anthem (and his solo career saver) Angels. Take That reunited without him in '05, releasing well-received album Beautiful World in '06 with big singles Shine, Rule The World and Patience, and went on tour. Robbie Williams career began to fail with two critically-panned albums, Rudebox and Reality Killed the Video Star. Surprise, surprise Take That managed to convince Robbie to re-join last year. Today was their first performance in 15 years. If there are any inaccuracies Wiki them both ( Take That and Robbie ), I checked album names and confirmed...

Didn't plan to do this but too many good tweets to leave it out Another Real Badman Never Afraid kinda thread. Brief history: JLS were runners up on 2008 XFactor, losing to Alexandra Burke. Have since gone on to have a successful career. For other TweetView episodes click here KEY: RT aka ReTweet = Repeating someone else's tweet for everyone of your own followers to see @[insert name] = Twitter username. www.twitter.com/[name after @ sign] For example: @MarvinSparks = www.twitter.com/MarvinSparks Follow everyone who wrote tweets you like. If you'd like your tweet removed ask and I'll think about it Last but not least Disclaimer: Tweets do not reflect the opinions of us (me) here at Marvin Sparks dot Blog Spot dot com. We (I) found them funny/relevant Forget what the papers will say, here's what the tweople say @madnewsblog Janice Miss Mad News Its JLS everyone!!!! @thatgrapejuice Sam GrapeJuice Gotta love this gassing-up promo for JLS. Can't stand them, but ...

Title inspired by this Natasha Beddingfield 'These Words' which doubles up as this today Real Badman Never Afraid UK's leading r&b Caramel Long Ride Hold tight comedy double act KG and Marston going in yet again. Willow Smith > your gran's sunday roast Jacked from PinBoard . Yeah I went there. And mi nah tek back no talk no time. I saw this chick on BBC's The One Show back on the promo trail for Karate Kid. The whole family were on there but she commanded the show. Heard the song and thought "Damn, she went in with this ridiculous banger. Wonder what she sounds like live..." Well here is the live performance. Gobsmacked! Tinchy + gang proclaim "Game Over" So all the talk has been who has the best verse. I don't think anyone did a bad job really. Wouldn't say anyone did an extremely good verse either hence why I think there are so many different opinions on who has the best verse. Make of that what you will. For me, I'm gonna sa...

This was meant to be yesterday's post but for obvious reasons (death of legend Gregory Isaacs) I didn't post it. RIP Gregry (no typo / Jamaicans will understand we don't pronounce the o in GregOry... fi wha'?) Tune of the Day : Gregory Isaacs 'What a Feeling' Another Sly & Robbie produced hit. Greatest duo in music history? Quite possibly. Yes, this plus Tune In and Soon Forward from yesterday are all Gregry and Sly & Robbie songs. 12 year-old Lil McKell sprats Shanni Cuppcake This is jokes! Yout' is mackin'. The end could have been better though. Please say he has one with Sadie Ama. Regular readers will know why. p.s. I'm bringing "sprattin'" back. Sprattin = to court a lady. You know we "speak in slang like this" NBA Jam is back! Epic game as a yout'! If you never experienced it on the SNES or arcade, your life is incomplete. Doubt this will live up to it to be honest. The commentary w...

That's correct folks. I've managed to update my blog everyday for a whoooooooole week. Haven't done this since this time last year. Moving on How NOT to interview I go on Grime Daily (erm, daily) and every day I go on there... actually I'll change what I was about to say. The internet is a great thing; it has given a lot of people an opportunity to be heard where they wouldn't have been. The same for bloggers (I'm not a blogger, I just blog a lot), traditional journalists and presenters both in front and behind the cam, myself included. However I see loads and loads of interviews yet the amount that are actually of any quality is still rare. How does that work? I can sense from a mile off those who have Google searched the night before. While that isn't totally bad thing, when you're conducting an interview with someone that most of the viewers will already have reasonable knowledge of, you have to be on your A-game. Grime Angels are a perfect example of...

Today isn't a terrible day at all. Inspiration for the topic title came from reading PurpleRamblings blog. She posted about her 4 year old child having OCD . Don't ask me where I got terrible twos then terrible Tues from. It seemed cool at the time. Such is life (For yesterday) Happy Colombus day... NOT Yesterday was Colombus Day in the Americas. Don't know how they celebrate it or how big it is. Estelle tweeted this interesting article on the most famous pirate in history I'll let Burning Spear deal with him (live in a festival in Paris. Look pon (the amount of) people) Want brains AND beauty? "Don't look any further. Way-oh umbawayo joombi joom-bi-yo." Christiana returns with yet another vlog I fully live by. Nuff man hype, go back to them a bit later and they've got a next hype. Me: "What happened to the last hype?" Them: "Madness bruv. Long story. You down for this one though?" As a great man once said: "Actions speak lou...

Once I get up out of bed anyway. At least I'm awake another day! Today's post will have more varied inspirations than yesterdays X-Factor thoughts of the day . Gotta go from Adulthood to Anuvahood Doesn't quite have the same ring. One syllable out. Will work on that for next time. Noel Clarke isn't happy about Adam Deacon writing this spin off from Clarke's successful movies. I wanna know why Adam Deacon's slogan is "My Size" when no one's his size? Maybe that's the point of it, but still. He's about 5' and some loose change. (disclaimer: those who have seen me SHAT YA MOUT!) Simpsons: Banksy takeover "Street artist Banksy has turned director for a controversial new opening sequence of The Simpsons episode, MoneyBart, featuring an Asian sweatshop." Continue reading 'ere A very good look. Had to read up to see what his involvement was though. When I heard about it I thought there will be The Simpsons graffiti'd on a w...

Haven't blogged in a while, and for that I apologise. Thought I'd share this tune with you whilst I'm here. Been bubbling for a good month now, hasn't quite buss in England yet, but it's only a matter of time - even if that time is about 3 months from now, you know how these top 40 commercial urban DJ's take forever. Got that slow whine/scrubs against the nearest wall/ pilar/ mampi (2010 is the year of using mampi's as leaning posts. Obese girls need love too even if it's only 2nd hand). It annoys me that he says Votswana instead of Botswana, unless there is a new country in Africa I'm unaware of. Send answers on a stamped & addressed postcare to marvin.sparks220@gmail.com At this point I would like point out they used a Kylie chorus Now you may or may not remember this blog post from my " Real Badman Never Afraid " series where I showed examples of the urban world under the influence of Kylie, and you probably LOLd. But as the young wi...

Quick post to say I'm overly feeling this tune at the moment. Was convinced it was Sean Kingston, but it's some geezer called Iyaz out of tax-haven British Virgin Island. Sean Kingston alledgedly discovered him on MySpace. MySpace? I didn't know people still used that site since the emergence of Facebook (dead out!), and my new favourite site Twitter!!! I can't see why Sean Kingston didn't sing this and cut out the middle-man. JR Rotem is fast becoming that go-to producer in my opinion to join Tricky Stewart and The-Dream. Red One and David Guetta are doing their thing in pure pop, but since Timbaland with the assistance of Danja blurred the lines/opened the door for that sound there hasn't been one (to my memory anyway). He never really followed up on Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girl, but J-J-J-J-J R's success with Jason Derulo's 'Whatcha Say' and even our boys JLS 'Everybody In Love' will probably lead to him being the man of 2010. My...

Howdy! Now you're most probably looking at the title crazy like "How the hell you work that one out?" Some are probably thinking "Com'on son?! This is some bs" but hear me out. Today I was listening to my iPod when Kylie (the Aussie from Ramsay Street with the illusion pert bum) came on the dance/pop playlist. Yes, you read correctly. First song that came on was the 2000 chart-topping classic Can't Get You Out Of My Head. As a listened, I ran the choreography through my head - yes I know some of the dance steps in the chorus (blame my diet of music television) - when I realised there was a popular UK Funky dance in there. Look @ 1:49 Does this not look like this popular dance?* Excuse the lite version. Someone needs to re-dub the original tunes over the video. Credit my blog somewhere on the video in the pop-up tags! Ok, but on a more serious note, the next tune was Kylie (yes again) Come Into My World. Tune is mad under-rated! Skankers. & Love At F...

FlashBack Friday is a series where I reminisce. For previous episodes click here . R. B. N. A. (Real Badman Never Afraid) is me admitting to liking things people wouldn't usually admit to, but I'm never scared. For previous episodes click here As you will all know by now, Stephen Gately died on Sunday Via BBC News Boyzone singer Stephen Gately has died suddenly at the age of 33 while on holiday in Majorca. Spanish police said he died on Saturday and that there were no signs of suspicious circumstances. But the cause of death is not yet known. Gately was on holiday with his long-term partner Andy Cowles. His bandmates said they were “completely devastated” and are now travelling to Majorca. The Irish band had six UK number one hits in the 1990s and reformed in 2007. RIP that man. Thought I'd be better off turning this into a Friday Flashback x Real Badman Never Afraid (R. B. N. A) post. Would have posted this on the day but had a change of heart. It would have been inappropr...

Had a little thing called Ain't Afraid To Say I Like , but as stated previously I didn't really like the title. From this day forth this section is called Real Badman Never Afraid . For the record, I am not a badman like some hoodlum or anything. In this instance, a badman is someone who stands up for himself, kicking down the barriers of stereotype, prejudice and eradicates all division (read that with triumphant music playing in your head and you will get some sick visuals). Too many people in this world front; blare some hardcore gangsta hip-hop or the latest grunky (grime x funky) riddims, but when the windows are up don't be fooled, they are listening to Magic, Heart or Smooth. Today I will be talking some pop tunes that I've finally caught up on. N-Dubz - I Need You Anyone who has asked will know I'm a fan of the N-Dubz and their movement. They are most probably the only act I get excited about but I don't play their songs often or even many of their song...