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A Magic carpet, was legendary carpet that can be used to transport persons who are on it instantaneously or quickly to their destination.

Folklore (or lore) consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called folkloristics. The word "folklore" was first used by the English antiquarian William Thoms in a letter published in the London journal The Athenaeum in 1846.^[1] In usage, there is a continuum between folklore and mythology. Stith Thompson made a major attempt to index the motifs of both folklore and mythology, providing an outline into which new motifs can be placed, and scholars can keep track of all older motifs.

Folklore can be divided into four areas of study: artifact (such as voodoo dolls), describable and transmissible entity (oral tradition), culture, and behavior (rituals). These areas do not stand alone, however, as often a particular item or element may fit into more than one of these areas.^[2]

Artifacts[link]

The three wise monkeys over the Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan

Objects such as dolls, decorative items used in religious rituals, hand-built houses and barns,^[3] and handmade clothing and other crafts are considered^{[by whom?]} to be folk artifacts, grouped within the field as "material culture". Additionally, figures that depict characters from folklore, such as statues of the three wise monkeys may be considered to be folklore artifacts, depending on how they are used within a culture.^[4] The operative definition would depend on whether the artifacts are used and appreciated within the same community in which they are made, and whether they follow a community aesthetic.

Oral tradition[link]

Folklore can contain religious or mythic elements, it equally concerns itself with the sometimes mundane traditions of everyday life. Folklore frequently ties the practical and the esoteric into one narrative package. It has often been conflated with mythology, and vice versa, because it has been assumed that any figurative story that does not pertain to the dominant beliefs of the time is not of the same status as those dominant beliefs.^{[citation needed]} Thus, Roman religion is called "myth" by today's dominant religions. In that way, both "myth" and "folklore" have become catch-all terms for all figurative narratives which do not correspond with the dominant belief structure.

Sometimes "folklore" is religious in nature, like the tales of the Welsh Mabinogion or those found in Icelandic skaldic poetry. Many of the tales in the Golden Legend of Jacob de Voragine also embody folklore elements in a Christian context, as well as the tales of Old Mr. Brennan. Examples of such Christian mythology are the themes woven round Saint George or Saint Christopher. In this case, the term "folklore" is being used in a pejorative sense.

"Folktales" is a general term for different varieties of traditional narrative. The telling of stories appears to be a cultural universal, common to basic and complex societies alike. Even the forms folktales take are certainly similar from culture to culture, and comparative studies of themes and narrative ways have been successful in showing these relationships. Also it is considered to be an oral tale to be told for everybody.^{[clarification needed]}

Hansel and Gretel is a fairy tale of German origin, recorded by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. The tale has been adapted to various media, most notably the opera Hänsel und Gretel (1893) by Engelbert Humperdinck and a stop-motion animated feature film based on the opera. Artwork by Arthur Rackham, 1909

On the other hand, folklore can be used to accurately describe a figurative narrative, which has no sacred or religious content. In the Jungian view, which is but one method of analysis, it may instead pertain to unconscious psychological patterns, instincts or archetypes of the mind. This may or may not have components of the fantastic (such as magic, ethereal beings or the personification of inanimate objects). These folktales may or may not emerge from a religious tradition, but nevertheless speak to deep psychological issues. The familiar folktale, "Hansel and Gretel", is an example of this fine line. The manifest purpose of the tale may primarily be one of mundane instruction regarding forest safety or secondarily a cautionary tale about the dangers of famine to large families, but its latent meaning may evoke a strong emotional response due to the widely understood themes and motifs such as “The Terrible Mother”, “Death,” and “Atonement with the Father.”

There can be both a moral and psychological scope to the work, as well as entertainment value, depending upon the nature of the teller, the style of the telling, the ages of the audience members, and the overall context of the performance. Folklorists generally resist universal interpretations of narratives and, wherever possible, analyze oral versions of tellings in specific contexts, rather than print sources, which often show the work or bias of the writer or editor.

Contemporary narratives common in the Western world include the urban legend. There are many forms of folklore that are so common, however, that most people do not realize they are folklore, such as riddles, children's rhymes and ghost stories, rumors (including conspiracy theories), gossip, ethnic stereotypes, and holiday customs and life-cycle rituals. UFO abduction narratives can be seen, in some sense, to refigure the tales of pre-Christian Europe, or even the Ascent of Elijah to heaven. Adrienne Mayor, in introducing a bibliography on the topic, noted that most modern folklorists are largely unaware of classical parallels and precedents, in materials that are only partly represented by the familiar designation Aesopica: "Ancient Greek and Roman literature contains rich troves of folklore and popular beliefs, many of which have counterparts in modern contemporary legends" (Such as Mayor, 2000).

Vladimir Propp's classic study Morphology of the Folktale (1928) became the basis of research into the structure of folklore texts. Propp discovered a uniform structure in Russian fairy tales. His book has been translated into English, Italian, Polish and other languages. The English translation was issued in USA in 1958, some 30 years after the publication of the original. It was met by approving reviews and significantly influenced later research on folklore and, more generally, structural semantics. Though his work was based on syntagmatic structure, it gave the scope to understand the structure of folktales, of which he discovered thirty one functions.^[5]

Cultural[link]

Folklorist William Bascom states that folklore has many cultural aspects, such as allowing for escape from societal consequences. In addition, folklore can also serve to validate a culture (romantic nationalism), as well as transmit a culture's morals and values. Folklore can also be the root of many cultural types of music. Country, blues, and bluegrass all originate from American folklore. Examples of artists which have used folkloric themes in their music would be: Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, Old Crow Medicine Show, Jim Croce, and many others. Folklore can also be used to assert social pressures, or relieve them, for example in the case of humor and carnival.

In addition, folklorists study medical, supernatural, religious, and political belief systems as an essential, often unspoken, part of expressive culture.

Rituals[link]

Many rituals can sometimes be considered folklore, whether formalized in a cultural or religious system (e.g. weddings, baptisms, harvest festivals) or practiced within a family or secular context. For example, in certain parts of the United States (as well as other countries) one places a knife, or a pair of scissors, under the mattress to "cut the birth pains" after giving birth. Additionally, children's counting-out games can be defined as behavioral folklore.^[6]

Categories of folklore[link]

This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (July 2010)

Genres[link]

Folk narratives[link]

National or ethnic[link]

See also[link]

Folklore portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Folklore

• Applied folklore
• Appropriation (music)
• Chinook wind
• Folk
• Folklife
• Folkloristics
• Intangible Cultural Heritage
• Petrosomatoglyph (image of parts of a human or animal body incised in rock)
• Signifying monkey

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Adrienne Mayor, "Bibliography of Classical Folklore Scholarship: Myths, Legends, and Popular Beliefs of Ancient Greece and Rome", from Folklore (April 2000)
• Coffin, Tristram P.; Cohen, Hennig, (editors), Folklore in America; tales, songs, superstitions, proverbs, riddles, games, folk drama and folk festivals, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966. Selections from the Journal of American folklore.

External links[link]

• Meeting-place and knowledge bank for everyone whose ancestry hails from Sweden
• CIOFF®: International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts
• American Folklore
• Folktales from around the world
• Folklore Society
•  "Folklore". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921. 
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Folklore". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Slovak Folklore — folklore groups, videos, songs, history, news, events, festivals

Nick Cannon
Nick cannon
Background information
Birth name	Nicholas Scott Cannon
Born	(1980-10-08) October 8, 1980 (age 31) San Diego, California, U.S.
Occupations	Record producer, actor, television host, radio personality, entrepreneur, businessman
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Jive, N'Credible, Columbia
Website	www.nickcannon.com

Nicholas Scott "Nick" Cannon (born October 8, 1980)^[1] is an American actor, and television personality. On television, Cannon began as a teenager on All That before going on to host The Nick Cannon Show, Wild 'N Out, and America's Got Talent. He acted in the films Drumline, Love Don't Cost a Thing, and Roll Bounce. As a "rapper," he released his debut self-titled album in 2003 with the hit single "Gigolo", a collaboration with singer R. Kelly. In 2006, Cannon recorded singles "Dime Piece" and "My Wife" for a planned album Stages, which was never released. Cannon married American R&B/pop singer Mariah Carey on April 30, 2008.

Early life and career beginnings[link]

Cannon was born in San Diego, California, to parents Beth, an accountant, and James Cannon, a super-powerful motivational televangelist. Growing up, he divided his time between San Diego, where his mother lived, and Charlotte, North Carolina, where his father had worked. At age 11, Cannon received his first break doing stand-up comedy on his father's local cable access program.^[2]

After graduating in 1998 from Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley, California, Cannon attained a gig as a warm-up comedian for Nickelodeon's studio audience in Los Angeles, most notably Kenan and Kel, where he also made guest appearances.

Music career[link]

Early music career[link]

As a teenager, Cannon formed the rap duo "Da Bomb Squad" with his best friend Steve Groves; they opened for the likes of Will Smith, LFO, 98 Degrees, and Montell Jordan.

Self-titled debut album (2001–2003)[link]

After signing with Jive Records in 2001, he was featured alongside Romeo Miller and 3LW on the Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius soundtrack with a cover of the 1988 hit song "Parents Just Don't Understand".^[3] His debut self titled album was released in 2003 and included the single "Your Pops Don't Like Me".^[4]

[edit] Stages (2005–2006)

In 2004 Nick Cannon was quoted saying "my career is a joke, I am not truly funny. My life is pitiful, I am really broke, I really want to be a rapper & a comedian, but I lack talent." In 2005, Cannon formed his own record label, Can I Ball Records, with plans to release his second studio album, entitled Stages, later that year.^[5] The album's first single, "Can I Live?", a pro-life song, was released in July 2005^[6] followed by the second single "Dime Piece" in March 2006.^[7] But it was never released because of Nick Cannon's acting career.

Slick Rick parody "Slick Nick" (2010–present)[link]

In 2010, Nick created a parody of hip hop pioneer "Slick Rick" entitled "Slick Nick". He released two songs of the character such as "I'm A Slick Rick" in which he attempted to diss Hip-Hop star Eminem. It was a freestyle of Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie" & "Nick's Story" which was a Freestyle rap version of Slick Rick's "Children's Story". It is unknown if he will be using the character to make a mixtape or album.

Other ventures[link]

Hosting[link]

In 2005, Cannon produced and hosted the MTV improv comedy series Wild 'N Out.^[8] That same year he hosted the world record slime stunt on Nickelodeon's 2005 Kids' Choice Awards in which a human cannonball was shot into slime. By complete chance, it was Nick Cannon with the Nick(elodeon) Cannon! Donald Trump did the honors of announcing "You're fired" to trigger the cannonballl shooting. In 2009, he hosted the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons of America's Got Talent and is currently hosting the seventh season.^[9] He also hosted the first and only season of Nickelodeon's Friday Night Slimetime. He also was the DJ on Ellen DeGeneres's Bigger, Longer, And Wider show. In 2009, Cannon hosted the HALO Awards along with Justin Timberlake, Hayden Panettiere, LeBron James, Kelly Rowland and Alicia Keys which premiered on December 11.

On July 4, 2011, he appeared at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Business[link]

The former Nickelodeon star and MTV Networks personality is now the Chairman of TeenNick and the development and creative consultant of the network.

Radio hosting[link]

On January 19, 2010, Cannon started hosting the morning show (6-10AM) with co-hosts Nikki and Southern Sarah Lee at 92.3 NOW FM (WXRK-FM) in New York.

Cannon launched his own weekly chart program "Cannon's Countdown" syndicated by CBS Radio it started on April 23.^[10]

On February 17, 2012, Cannon stepped down from 92.3 (92 moose) now citing health issues.

Comedy[link]

Nick hosted and performed on the comedy show Wild 'N' out that aired on MTV for four seasons between 2005 - 2007. On July 13, 2010, Cannon announced that he was going on a comedy tour in the Fall 2010 beginning at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.^[11]

In early 2011, Cannon recorded his first-ever stand-up comedy special titled Mr. Showbiz at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The special premiered on Showtime on May 14, 2011. A digital release of Mr. Showbiz became available on iTunes beginning May 16, 2011, with a physical release of the album on May 31, 2011. On the special, Cannon unabashedly reveals his thoughts on his famous marriage (to music icon Mariah Carey), pending fatherhood, and how to put an end to his buzzed about Twitter war with hip-hop star Eminem. He also shares candid stories about his humble beginnings, his family, his 'hood tendencies' and failed attempts at being a gangster.^[12]

N'Credible Entertainment[link]

In 2010, Nick Cannon formed his new label entitled N'Credible Entertainment or N'Credible Records; originally the label was called Can I Ball. Cannon recently introduced his newest N’Credible signees, The Ranger$, on BET’s 106 & Park.

Current artists

• Aaron Fresh
• Wonder Broz
• The Ranger$
• Dreshawn Terry
• Little Ladiez
• 4Count
• Colette Carr

Managed artists

• School Gyrls

Discography

Controversy[link]

Eminem[link]

Eminem's 2009 album, Relapse, contained a track titled "Bagpipes from Baghdad", poking fun at Cannon's wife Mariah Carey. Cannon responded back with tweets via his Twitter page, while Mariah released a song and video titled "Obsessed", with lyrics and visuals aimed at Eminem. Eminem responded back with a mixtape-style track called "The Warning" in which he addressed both Cannon and Mariah, and later commented that he was finished talking about the subject.

The feud was thought to have been over until in September 2010 when Cannon responded with the song "I'm a Slick Rick" which in Slick Rick's flow he takes shots at Eminem over the instrumental for Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie".^[13] This was followed by a campaign via Facebook, Twitter, and his radio show proposing a boxing ring fight between Eminem and Cannon for charity.

In late September 2011, over a year after "I'm A Slick Rick" was released, Cannon took another lyrical jab at Eminem by releasing a song called "I Remember".^[14][15]

On October 3, 2011, Cannon released another diss song called "Warning (Remix)" which also features Uncle Murda aimed at Eminem, radio host Charlamagne Tha God, and the feud between R&B singer Ray J and rapper Fabolous. Cannon fires lyrical shots at Eminem and also featured an audio clip of Eminem with Tim Westwood back in 2009 where Eminem backtracked on the beef saying: “I had no idea Nick Cannon was going to start wiling out on me" which Eminem referred to Cannon's canceled Wild N Out television show. Cannon retorted to the clip by saying: “You said it Marshall, that’s all you had to do!” and that Slim Shady is “forgiven".^{[16][17][18][19]}

Charlemagne Tha God[link]

On the same freestyle song titled "Warning (Remix)" which also featured Uncle Murda released on October 3, 2011, Nick Cannon issued a "warning" to popular New York's Power 105.1 morning show radio host Charlamagne Tha God after he previously named him his 'Donkey Of The Day.'^[16]

Cannon's retaliation track clowns Charlemagne for one of his interviews with Lil Mama that left her in tears. Cannon responded with the lyrics

"Charlamagne made girls cry, so who's the donkey of the day?
Man, you about as gay as d*ck pics
I'm on mansion number six by the time you get rich."

citing Charlamagne and his lack of money compared to Cannon himself being called Mr. Mariah Carey.^[17][18][19]

Charlemagne later during the day responded to song with multiple tweets aimed at Cannon and plans to retailiate to with a diss song of his own responding to Cannon.^[18] On October 4, 2011, on the Breakfast Club radio show, Charlemagne as his alter ego "Lil Young Shorty" released his own diss record “Wack on Wack” towards Cannon^[20]

Personal life[link]

With no prior announcement on April 30, 2008, Cannon married Mariah Carey at her private estate on Windermere Island in The Bahamas after just six weeks of dating.^{[21][22][23][24]} Cannon and Carey had initially first met in 2005 at the Billboard Music Awards as he presented her with the award for Best Selling Female Artist of the year.The two had remained friends for the years following. On October 28, 2010 Carey confirmed that she and Cannon were expecting their first child. She claims she conceived naturally. Carey revealed that she had been pregnant shortly after her wedding during the time of the 2008 World Music Awards, but that she miscarried, so Carey and Cannon decided to keep the matter private.^[25]

On April 30, 2011, the couple's third wedding anniversary, Carey gave birth to fraternal twins.^[26] The daughter is named Monroe Cannon (after Marilyn Monroe), the son Moroccan Scott Cannon (because Cannon proposed to Carey in her Moroccan-style room; Scott is Cannon's middle name and his grandmother's maiden name; Monroe doesn't have a middle name as Mariah herself doesn't have one).^[27] Mariah has referred to the twins with the nicknames "Roc and Roe" (Rock and Roll).

On January 4, 2012, Nick Cannon was hospitalized after suffering from mild kidney failure. He was then hospitalized on February 17, 2012 for blood clots in his lungs.^[28][29] On Monday, March 5, 2012 he announced that he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called lupus nephritis, which was the cause of his recent kidney problems.^[30]

Charitable work[link]

In 2011, Cannon filmed a public service announcement for Dosomething.org encouraging teens to find a cause about which they are passionate and take action in their communities.^[31]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

Mixtapes[link]

• Child of the Corn (2011)

Filmography[link]

Rags

 himself

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Nick Cannon at Allmusic
• Nick Cannon at the Internet Movie Database