Kanya West says Taylor Swifts 2009's VMA win was Disrespectful,Claims 'Today' exploited him.

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Music Blogs > Hip-Hop Media Training > Kanye West Says Taylor Swift's 2009 VMA Win Was Disrespectful, Claims 'Today' Exploited Him
Kanye West Says Taylor Swift's 2009 VMA Win Was Disrespectful, Claims 'Today' Exploited Him
Posted Wed Nov 24, 2010 1:03pm PST by Billy Johnson, Jr. in Hip-Hop Media Training

In September, Kanye West apologized to Taylor Swift via Twitter.

"She had nothing to do with my issues with award shows," the "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" artist wrote. "She deserves the apology more than anyone."

West uttered a retraction of sorts Wednesday during a 1 a.m. performance at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. He stopped the concert for 10-minutes to rant about the media's scrutiny of his career.

West said he does not regret interrupting Swift's first Video Music Award win speech to champion Beyonce instead.

"When you do things like what happened last year, it's disrespectful to everyone who's creative," West said about MTV's decision to give Swift the honor. "It's a slap in the face to everyone who tries to do something real."

West implied that Swift and the VMA producers are lucky his disruption was brief.

"If I wasn't drunk, I would have been on stage longer," he said.

West compared the aftermath of the VMA incident to that of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina telethon in which he accused President Bush of not caring about black people.

West said he felt bad when people thanked him for dissing the president. "The whole time, I'm thinking, ‘That's not exactly what I wanted to say. I was emotional,'" he said. But he never set the record straight.

West said Swift handled the VMA fallout the same way. "Just as Taylor never came to my defense in any interview and rode the wave, and rode it, rode it, that's the way I rode the wave for the Bush comment," he said.

http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/hiphopmediatraining__4/hiphopmediatraining-690313370-1253303071.jpg?ymgcX6BDWZabLRKpFor the record, Swift did come to West's defense on the song "Innocent," which she performed on the 2010 VMAs and also appears on her "Speak Now" album. In the song, Swift lets West know that he has been forgiven. She sings, "Your string of lights is still bright to me."

During West's tirade, he also said he and Bush were exploited by "Today." The NBC program's assertion that Bush referred to West's comment as his lowest moment of his presidency is not true, Kanye argued.

"That's not what he said," West commented. "He said it's one of his lowest moments."

West accuses "Today" of purposefully taking Bush's comment out of context to boost ratings. "Because of the popularity of me they exploited that to make you watch the interview," he said, "and make you feel that he was stupider than ever to think that a rapper's comments could be his lowest moment."

West said his fifth studio album, the critically acclaimed "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," released Monday, sold 100,000 digital copies on the first day of release.

Ten Best Tech Deal For Black Friday.

We've been obsessively poring over early Black Friday ads for several weeks now. While we've found many deals to share with you, our electronics team thought these particular bargains might just make it worthwhile to wake up far too early and brave the consumer crowds on the day after Thanksgiving.

More from ConsumerReports.org:

• Best Electronics Gifts for the Holidays

• Holiday Shopping Guide

• Best LCD and Plasma TVs for the Buck

[Click here to check savings products and rates in your area.]

Laptops

In a doorbuster deal, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY - News) is selling a Sony (NYSE: SNE - News) laptop with a Blu-ray drive for $500. It includes a Blu-ray video, a subscription to a security software package, and a laptop bag. To take advantage of this early-bird deal, you need to pick up a ticket at Best Buy (they'll be doled out starting at 3 a.m. Friday morning), and quantities are limited to 10 per store.

Desktops

Best Buy will also have the HP (NYSE: HPQ - News) Pavilion p6624y with a quad-core AMD processor, 8GB of memory, and a 1TB hard drive. It comes with a 23-inch monitor and a wireless printer. The Black Friday price will be $600; it's currently on the Best Buy site for $700, without the monitor and printer.

E-book Readers

The best deal will demand an early morning. Early-birds at Best Buy can save about $50 on the Nook Wi-Fi , which is selling at $99.99 rather than its usual price of $150.

[See 7 Black Friday Deals Worth Buying Now]

32-Inch LCD TVs

There are a number of deals on 32-inch LCDs. So far, the cheapest we've seen is the Emerson 720p set at Walmart (NYSE: WMT - News) (model LC320EM1) priced at $198.

50-Inch or Larger TVs

Walmart will be also breaking the $500 barrier for a 50-inch plasma with a $498 price on a Sanyo 720p set (DP50740); its regular retail price is $650.

SLR Cameras

Best Buy is offering a package that bundles our highly Rated Canon EOS Rebel T2i with two lenses (18-55mm and 55-250mm zooms) and accessories (an 8GB SDHC memory card and camera bag), for just under $1000. The bundled lenses are a plus: With an SLR generally, the more lenses you have, the better.

Point-and-Shoot Cameras

If you're shopping for a child or teen, Staples (NasdaqGS: SPLS - News) is selling the rugged Olympus Stylus Tough-3000 for $150 (originally $210). Since it's waterproof and shockproof, it should be able to withstand some common mishaps.

[See For the Kids: Hot Holiday Toys 2010]

Camcorders

Among pocket models, Best Buy has a Flip Video UltraHD "package", which includes a few accessories along with the cam, such as an extra battery pack and bag, for $120 (originally around $200, without any accessories). And Best Buy has an HD model on sale: Sony Handycam HDR-C150 for $400 (originally $500).

Printers

For an all-in-one printer that can scan, copy and fax, the HP OfficeJet 6500 Wireless is reasonably fast, quite economical and one of just a handful of inkjets that printed excellent-quality text when we tested it. Staples has it on sale for $79.98 (regular price: $199.98).

Digital Photo Frames

Sears (NasdaqGS: SHLD - News) has our Recommended Pandigital PAN7000DW 6.9-inch frame on sale for $39.99, regularly $59.99. The frame has a gigabyte of memory, and an optional Wi-Fi adapter lets you get photos from your computer and specific photo-sharing sites.

___

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brennanyama
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brennanyama 1 minute ago Report Abuse

am i the only one thinking that none of these are good deals...? cept for that t2i perhaps, but seriously, buying an dSLR is a stupid waste of money unless you are REALLY serious about photography (which about 1% of SLR users are, the other 99% of them just bought them cuz they thought it would make them look cool).

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princefee
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princefee 2 minutes ago Report Abuse

720P is HD and if the set isnt 46 inches and up 720P and 1080P is unrecognizable! I have a 720P Panasonic Plasma and the picture is Amazing and hundreds cheaper than 1080P. Dont waste your money under 46inches

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Paul P
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Paul P 3 minutes ago Report Abuse

Jason...you don't know what you're talking about...720p IS HiDef...there is NO broadcaster that airs any programming at 1080p...takes up too much bandwidth...1080p is for bluray and computer inputs...know what you're talking about b4 you flap your gums

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karen
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karen 3 minutes ago Report Abuse

Sorry, wouldn't be rude, pushy and obnoxious at any price. Used to do black friday with my mom, then my daughter. Now people are too obnoxious. Will stay home and pay a few dollars more later.

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Elizabeth
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Elizabeth 4 minutes ago Report Abuse

I don't know if people are aware of the lousy return policy Best Buy has. There is a 15% restocking fee and if the item is over $200.00 they won't give you cash back on the spot - they have to mail you a check. Just thought I'd throw that one out there. Better options would be Costco, Wal-Mart, and Target.

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SharonM
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SharonM 4 minutes ago Report Abuse

To each their own, happy thanksgiving and have a merry Christmas to all, Jesus is the reason for the season.

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GenEric
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GenEric 4 minutes ago Report Abuse

this is not cheap. when you lose your job and give this stuff away, then we are talking cheap.
40" 720p television for $500... give me a break, it should be $100.
Wait until they find out no one bought it.

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Jason Pierce
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Jason Pierce 8 minutes ago Report Abuse

the tv's that are soooo cheap are cheap for a reason - 720p is NOT hd

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Karen
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Karen 9 minutes ago Report Abuse

I brought my 8 inch Android Tablet 2.2 from vairtech. It works great. The prices are great all year around.

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GreenMan
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GreenMan 10 minutes ago Report Abuse

Folks I know do you that have been around a while don't really expect hundreds of door busters available ?
The thing is that with so many teenagers not working by choice they live w/ Mom or Dad they can camp out in tents so Door-busters are limited to a handfull not 50 or 100 per store that gave people of varied ages a chance.
Figure the lazy spoiled adult children in their mid to high twenties can afford the toys they probably don't pay rent. And have been doing so from way before the recession caused any job shortage heck they are pros at i

AMERICA'S MOST AFFORDABLE CITIES.


Oklahoma may be best known for wind sweepin' down the plain and corn that's as high as an elephant's eye. But there's a lot more going on in the Sooner State than Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals would lead you to believe.


Oklahoma City

Just consider the state capital, Oklahoma City: It's got good schools and universities, friendly residents and an unemployment rate well below the national average--6.3% compared with the nationwide 9.5%. Thanks to good jobs and low cost of living, the Oklahoma City metro area ranks as America's Most Affordable City.

In compiling our list, we searched for cities that had a balance of cheap living and economic prosperity--places with solid job markets, but where costs aren't prohibitive.

In Pictures: America's Most Affordable Cities

Buffalo

Just because you can get by on the cheap doesn't mean these places are backwaters. Fifth-ranked Nashville, Tenn., is a cultural and entertainment capital at the center of its state economy; Austin, Texas, (No. 10) is one of the nation's hottest cities for high-tech jobs. All 10 of the cities on the list boast relatively low unemployment rates, inexpensive groceries, health care, transportation and housing. In short, they're desirable destinations all around.



"State capitals and university towns have vibrancy because of their job base, the stability of jobs and cultural diversification," says James P. Gaines, a research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

Behind the Numbers

Rochester

To find the most affordable cities in the country, we looked at all Metropolitan Statistical Areas with populations of at least 100,000. We ranked each metro on the cost of a basket of goods and services, including groceries, health care and transportation, as of the second quarter of 2010, as measured by the Counsel for Community and Economic Research. We also measured the monthly cost of housing as a percentage of household income, using 2009 data from the U.S. Census Bureau's most recent American Community Survey--a mini-Census done annually with a representative sample of the population.



To exclude cities that were affordable only because of a depressed economy, we also factored in the unemployment rate (the lower, the better). We averaged the rankings on all measures to arrive at a final score for each city. Two large cities that were unlikely to be in the top 10--Indianapolis, Ind., and Milwaukee, Wis., were excluded from the ranking because complete data were not available.

Post-Industrial Successes

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pa., Buffalo, N.Y., and Rochester, N.Y., take second, third and fourth places, respectively. These Northeastern cities have a lot in common, emerging from long slumps after being deserted by their manufacturing economies. They still have a long way to go, but the combination of a newly diversified economy and a history of sustained low costs makes them affordable.



"They didn't see much of a boom, so prices never got out of whack," says Kermit Baker, senior research fellow at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, of these cities. "The economy is good, but not great. It didn't go through all the turbulence the rest of the country did."

Southern Belles

Nashville

Several standouts on the list are Southern cities, including Nashville, Louisville, Ky., (No. 8), and Birmingham, Ala. (No. 9).

Texas cities take three spots, with San Antonio coming in at No. 6, Houston at No. 7 and Austin claiming the final spot. The Lone Star State has long enjoyed the benefits of a business-friendly tax climate, rich natural resources and a stable housing economy. As a result, jobs are available, but costs low enough that Texans can stretch the fruits of their labor further. That combination is enticing to Americans seeking to relocate.

"The state [as a whole], and Houston and San Antonio [in particular] are deriving significant income from domestic in-migration. People are moving to Texas because of job availability and because of the cost of housing being so low," says Gaines. But, he adds, the number of people seeking to cash in on the cities' bounty hasn't driven up prices. "Texas has always been a wide-open, laissez-faire, low-control, low-regulation place, but it doesn't add to costs."

Affordability means more than just the ability to buy a cheap box of cereal. No matter how low prices are, it doesn't matter much if your wallet is empty and your next paycheck is only hypothetical. In these cities, costs have stayed down but residents have held onto steady incomes and decent jobs, making them a true bargain.

Top 5 Most Affordable Cities
1. Oklahoma City, Okla.
Metropolitan Statistical Area: Oklahoma City, Okla.
Cost-of-living rank: 12
Unemployment rank: 4
Housing-costs rank: 2

2. Pittsburgh, Pa.

Metropolitan Statistical Area: Pittsburgh, Pa.
Cost-of-living rank: 6
Unemployment rank: 15
Housing-costs rank: 1

3. Buffalo, N.Y.

Metropolitan Statistical Area: Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Cost-of-living rank: 16
Unemployment rank: 9
Housing-costs rank: 3

4. Rochester, N.Y.

Metropolitan Statistical Area: Rochester, N.Y.
Cost-of-living rank: 25
Unemployment rank: 1
Housing-costs rank: 8

5. Nashville, Tenn

Metropolitan Statistical Area: Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn.
Cost-of-living rank: 3
Unemployment rank: 23
Housing-costs rank: 11

Click here to see the full list of America's Most Affordable Cities Shareretweet
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WHITE iPHONE 4 DELAYED,YET AGAIN,UNTILL 2011



Earlier this week, white iPhone 4 holdouts were given a glimmer of hope when the elusive phone appeared in Apple’s store app. Although it wasn’t available for purchase, it was a good sign that it just might be soon. Just hours later, Apple made a familiar announcement: “We’re sorry to disappoint customers waiting for the white iPhone again.” We are now told not to expect the pale-colored iPhone 4 until sometime during the spring of 2011.

If you’re keeping score at home, this is the third time the white iPhone 4’s launch has been pushed back by Apple. The phone had originally been announced as being available in late July of this year. It wasn’t long until Apple amended that release date to simply “later in the year.”

No reason was given for the latest postponement, but that’s in keeping with Apple’s pattern of behavior — the company has never directly addressed reasons for the delays. Speculation has run from problems with mismatching colors on the phone’s exterior to issues involving the phone’s back-lighting to a reluctance to release a new product until the “antennae gate” glitch is resolved. Whatever the problem may be, it’s safe to say that it’s ongoing.

Apple is probably not suffering too much from the white phone’s absence on the market. It seems the company is doing just fine hawking regular black iPhones. The company moved 14.1 million iPhone’s in the last quarter, a cool 91 percent increase over the prior year’s total. IPhone sales accounted for a whopping $8.6 billion of Apple’s revenue during the quarter.

It may be possible that the latest delay may signal the white iPhone’s death knell. It’s hard to imagine Apple following through with a release so close to its yearly iPhone upgrade announcement, which traditionally comes in early summer. And more importantly, it’s even more difficult to imagine anyone actually buying one so close to a new iPhone release.


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SONY PLAYSTATION PHONE TO JOIN CROWED FIELD




A Sony PlayStation phone -- long talked about, but late to the mobile party -- may be coming after all.

Engadget shared photos of a prototype PlayStation phone it said may be out this year, although 2011 is "looking much more realistic."

Sony Ericsson, contacted by msnbc.com, says it "does not comment on rumours, speculation or unannounced products," which leaves the issue fairly muddled.

With the iPhone (and iPod Touch) a heavy player in the mobile games market, and Android growing quickly as well, the notion of a PlayStation phone seems almost ... quaint, something that might have made sense several years ago, but is outdated now.

Not necessarily so, says Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis.

While the PlayStation phone is "only a rumor at this point ... mobile gaming on phones is a large and growing trend."

Sony Ericsson's phones are not as high-profile or alluring as iPhones, Android devices or BlackBerrys. And Microsoft, with its new Windows Phone 7 integrating Xbox Live, looks to finally have real life. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

But it's all those threats that make a PlayStation phone's chances good, says Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group research firm.

"Games have been among the most popular apps for smart phones, and Apple has been able to leverage developer interest in the iPhone to make the iPod Touch a more direct competitor to handheld consoles," he said.

Sony Ericsson could use a win here. The company's overall cell phone shipment ranking fell to sixth place in the second quarter, down from fourth in the first quarter, according to a recent report from iSuppli research.

That "marked the first time in at least three years that Sony Ericsson didn’t rank among the Top 5 global cell phone brands."

But, notes iSuppli, Sony Ericsson also "achieved a 15.4 percent increase in smart phone shipments during the second quarter. This made Sony Ericsson the fourth fastest growing smart phone brand during the second quarter."

With its "shift" from "volume to value-add" -- and a PlayStation phone would be that -- the company is "positioning itself to cash in on the fastest growing and most profitable segment of the global wireless market,” said Tina Teng, senior analyst for wireless communications at iSuppli.

The PlayStation phone, according to Engadget, would use Google's increasingly popular Android operating system, and Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg recently said that the company's goal is to "become the global No. 1 handset provider on the Android platform."

Engadget says the PlayStation phone will use Android and Sony's "Marketplace, which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform ... The device ... is sporting a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 ... 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and the screen is in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches."

Gaming website NowGamer, based in Britain, thinks the phone is fake. A "closer look at the top screen in particular reveals a number of telltale signs, such as a large amount of dirt collecting around the screen, as well as mention of 'A' and 'B' buttons on the interface."

Whether the prototype is real or not, a PlayStation phone stands a good chance, says Rubin, who makes a good point.

"A handset that has close ties to a home console has an opportunity to be a more casual companion since gamers need to carry phones anyway."
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FAST TRAIN,BIG DAM SHOW CHINA'S ENGINEERING MIGHT.


HANGZHOU, China –

China rolled out its fastest train yet on Tuesday and announced that the Three Gorges Dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric project, is now generating electricity at maximum capacity — engineering triumphs that signal the nation's growing ambitions as its economy booms.

The successes demonstrate how, after decades of acquiring technology from the west, Beijing has begun to push the limits of its new capabilities, setting the bar higher on mega-projects as it seeks to promote the image of a powerful, modern China. But many of these initiatives have come at great human and environmental cost, and some have questioned whether the country fosters a sufficiently innovative spirit to compete on the next level.

Click image to see photos of the new high-speed railway

AP/Eugene Hoshiko

Still in the works: more nuclear power plants, a gargantuan project to pump river water from the fertile south to the arid north, and a $32.5 billion, 820-mile (1,300-kilometer) Beijing-to-Shanghai high-speed railway that is scheduled to open in 2012.

"We are now much faster," Railway Ministry spokesman Wang Yongping said at Tuesday's inauguration of the super-fast line from Shanghai's western suburb of Hongqiao to the resort city of Hangzhou. "Now other countries are hoping to cooperate with us."

The train will cruise at a top speed of 220 mph (350 kph), making the 125-mile (200-kilometer) trip in 45 minutes.

China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network and aims to more than double its length to 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.

Click image to see photos of the Three Gorges dam

AP/Cheng Min


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Chinese companies are also vying for projects overseas, including in the U.S., which leads the world in freight railway technology but has almost no high-speed rail expertise. That's a mark of how well and quickly the technology has been adopted by Chinese companies, who have traditionally only been able to compete on price in bidding for railway and other basic infrastructure projects in the developing world.

The Three Gorges Dam has been more controversial, though the government has relentlessly touted the $23 billion project as the best way to end centuries of floods along the mighty Yangtze and provide energy to fuel the country's economic boom.

The water level in the vast reservoir behind it hit its peak height of 574 feet (175 meters) at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, according to project operator, the China Three Gorges Project Corp. The previous record was 567 feet (172.8 meters), set in 2008, the year the generators began operating.

In the future, the water level will be adjusted depending on flood-control needs but kept within 100 feet (30 meters) of the maximum.

While raising the water level increases the electricity production of the dam, some geologists have warned that damming up too much water in the reservoir carries a heightened risk of landslides, earthquakes and prolonged damage to the river's ecology. As officials attempted to raise water levels in the reservoir last fall, at least one town had to evacuate dozens of residents after a hairline crack appeared on the slopes above homes.

In addition, millions have been displaced and great swaths of productive farmland sacrificed for dam and projects like it.

[Photos: Swiss celebrate digging world’s longest tunnel through Alps ]

Company chairman Cao Guangjing called Tuesday's feat a "historical milestone." He said annual power generation will reach 84.7 billion kilowatt hours, enabling "the project to fulfill its functions of flood control, power generation, navigation and water diversion to the full."

Average economic growth rates of more than 9 percent per year over the past two decades have laid the foundation for rapid progress in a growing number of fields, including launching three manned space flights since 2003 and building a railway across the Tibetan plateau from Beijing to Lhasa. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and this year's mammoth Shanghai World Expo have demonstrated a growing managerial sophistication as well as ability to build infrastructure on an enormous scale.

But while the tremendous growth has enabled China to build big, some wonder if it can build smart — and become a source of true innovation.

Science and technology research in the country tends to be heavily topdown, laden with a stifling government bureaucracy. Many of China's best scholars and scientists depart for greener pastures abroad, while other top minds are pushed into administrative roles, leaving them little time for research.

Although China holds the patents on the technology, design and equipment used by the CRH380 train, some in the industry question the degree to which China is justified in claiming the latest technology as its own.

"Everybody knows that a lot of the core technology is European," Michael Clausecker, director general of Unife, the Association of the European Rail Industry, said in a recent interview.

And despite the obvious benefits high-speed railways bring, the replacement of slower lines with more expensive high-speed trains has prompted complaints from passengers reluctant to pay higher fares, especially on shorter routes.

___

Associated Press writer Tini Tran contributed to this report from Beijing.

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Photo: The Three Gorges Dam is seen on the Yangtze River in Yichang
Photo: Paramilitary policemen patrol the reservoir … the Three Gorges Dam

JAY-Z'Can't Believe'Some of the Lyrics He's Written


In Jay-Z's upcoming book, "Decoded," the superstar MC examines his career via a close analysis of his most famous lyrics. That, of course, required that his lyrics be written out -- something Jay hasn't actually done since 1996, when he scratched out the words to "Can I Live" for his debut "Reasonable Doubt." Jay-Z, who has described his creative process as "no paper, no pen, just listen to the music," appeared in Miami earlier this week. He was there to celebrate the launch of his partnership with search engine Bing -- which involved an internet-driven, international scavenger hunt to locate pages from the memoir -- where the lyrics to his 2000 hit "Big Pimpin' " were revealed in dramatic fashion, printed in giant type on the floor of the Delano hotel's pool.
Ironically, that's the one song Jay admits he had a hard time revisiting.
[Photos: See more of rap legend Jay-Z]
"Some [lyrics] become really profound when you see them in writing. Not 'Big Pimpin.' That's the exception," he told the Wall Street Journal in a candid new interview. "It was like, I can't believe I said that. And kept saying it. What kind of animal would say this sort of thing? Reading it is really harsh."
The lyrics to "Big Pimpin' " describe Jay-Z's troubled relationship with women (in short: He wants them to look good, stay away from his money, and be available when he needs them), a subject he has abandoned since marrying Beyonce in 2008. In fact, Jay says all hip-hop needs now is love.
"We have to find our way back to true emotion. This is going to sound so sappy, but love is the only thing that stands the test of time," he told the WSJ, name-checking two of the most iconic hip-hop records of the past 15 years. "'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill' was all about love. Andre 3000, 'The Love Below.' Even N.W.A, at its core -- that was about love for a neighborhood."
[Photos: Jay-Z steps out with gorgeous wife Beyonce]
Jay-Z said he'd like to hear more about the real challenges facing people today -- like the housing crisis and unemployment -- in other rappers' lyrics. This idea hearkens back to Public Enemy MC Chuck D's oft-paraphrased observation that rap is CNN for black people. Jay-Z cites hip-hop's efforts to help Barack Obama get elected as proof the community can help foster social change.
"Whether he does a great job or not is almost secondary to what it did for the dreams and the hopes of an entire race," he said. "Just based on that alone, it's a success -- the biggest we've had. ... It's Martin Luther King's dream realized. Tangible. In the flesh. You can shake his hand."
Hip-hop "saved a generation," argues Jay-Z, which is why it's important to preserve its legacy and continue pushing it ahead. Every time he steps into the booth, he has to believe he's going to make "the best album of all time."
"You always fail," he added, "But every time I go up to bat, I'm thinking how can I make an album better than "Thriller."
Decoded, which was co-authored by writer-filmmaker Dream Hampton, will be released on November 16.