Tokyo

Tokyo (東京, Tōkyō, "Eastern Capital") (Japanese: [toːkjoː], English /ˈtoʊki.oʊ/), officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to), is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan, and is both the capital and largest city of Japan. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868; at that time Edo was renamed Tokyo. Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture (東京府, Tōkyō-fu) and the city of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi).

Thug Life

Thug Life was an American hip-hop group that consisted of Tupac Shakur, Big Syke, Stretch, Mopreme Shakur, The Rated R, Macadoshis, and Kato. They released one album, 1994's Thug Life: Volume 1, before disbanding after Tupac died on September 13, 1996.

History

Makaveli and Randy "Stretch" Walker formed Thug Life. In 1992, Tupac met Tyruss “Little Psycho” Himes. They recorded a song also titled "Thug Life" and soon Little Psycho joined the group, under the name Syke. Later Macadoshis and The Rated R joined the group. They signed with Interscope Records and recorded an LP titled Thug Life Volume 1. Tupac’s stepbrother, Mopreme Shakur, later joined the group.

Thug Life: Volume 1

On September 26, 1994, Thug Life Volume 1 was released.

The first single and video was "Pour Out A Little Liquor" which was a Tupac solo song. Additional singles, "Cradle To The Grave", "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" and "It Don’t Stop" followed.

Tupac performed "Out on Bail" at the 1994 Source Awards. The album was originally released on Shakur's label Out Da Gutta. Tupac's mother's label, Amaru Entertainment, has since gained the rights to the album.

Phil Collins

Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO (born 30 January 1951), is an English singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actor and author. He is best known as the drummer and lead singer in the rock band Genesis and as a solo artist. Between 1983 and 1990, Collins scored three UK and seven US number-one singles in his solo career. When his work with Genesis, his work with other artists, as well as his solo career is totalled, Collins had more US top 40 singles than any other artist during the 1980s.

Born and raised in London, Collins played drums from the age of five and completed drama school training, which secured him various roles as a child actor. He then pursued a music career, joining Genesis in 1970 as their drummer and becoming lead singer in 1975 following the departure of Peter Gabriel. Collins began a solo career in the 1980s, initially inspired by his marital breakdown and love of soul music, releasing a series of successful albums, including Face Value (1981), No Jacket Required (1985) and ...But Seriously (1989). His most successful singles include "In the Air Tonight", "Against All Odds", "Sussudio" and "Another Day in Paradise", becoming "one of the most successful pop and adult contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond". He also became known for a distinctive gated reverb drum sound on many of his recordings. After leaving Genesis in 1996, Collins pursued various solo projects before a return in 2006 for the Turn It On Again Tour. In 2011, he retired to focus on his family life, but continued to write songs. He announced his return to the music industry in 2015.

Girls Aloud

Girls Aloud was an English-Irishpop girl group, which was created through the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. The group comprised singers Nadine Coyle, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a string of twenty consecutive top ten singles in the United Kingdom, including four number ones. They also achieved seven certified albums, of which two reached number one. They have been nominated for five Brit Awards, winning the 2009 Best Single for "The Promise".

The group's musical style was pop, but throughout their career they had experimented with electropop and dance-pop. Girls Aloud's collaborations with Brian Higgins and his songwriting and production team Xenomania earned the group critical acclaim, due to an innovative approach to mainstream pop music. The group became one of the few UK reality television acts to achieve continued success, amassing a fortune of £30 million by May 2010. Guinness World Records lists them as "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2007 edition. They also hold the record for "Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a Female Group" in the 2008 edition, and are credited again for "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2011 edition. The group was also named the United Kingdom's biggest selling girl group of the 21st century, with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold in the UK alone. In March 2013, after the Ten: The Hits Tour, the group announced their split.

And I

"And I" is a song written by American R&B singer Ciara, and produced by Adonis Shropshire for Ciara's first album, Goodies (2004). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on August 30, 2005 (see 2005 in music) in North America.

The song was originally the third choice for the fourth single. Ciara has mentioned in an interview that "Thug Style", "Hotline" or "Pick up the Phone" would be the fourth single, but when Ciara suggested "And I" to executives at her previous record label LaFace, they were unhappy because they wanted "Next to You" to be the fourth single.

Chart performance

At the time of the U.S. release of "And I", Ciara's collaboration with Bow Wow, "Like You", and her collaboration with Missy Elliott, "Lose Control", were at the height of their popularity. "And I" peaked at 96 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and 27 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, which were poor positions compared to those attained by the first three singles from the album Goodies. It was not released outside North America because of this, and it is Ciara's least successful single.