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''Death of a Pop Star'' is a concept album made in collaboration between Mississippi hip hop artist David Banner and North Carolina record producer 9th Wonder. It was released on December 21, 2010 under Banner's independent record label, Big Face Entertainment; and distributed through eOne Music. Originally conceived as a mixtape, it serves as the two Grammy Award-winning artists' first collaborative work together and 9th Wonder's fifteenth collaborative album. ''Death of a Pop Star'' was recorded during 2009 to 2010 at Bright Lady Studios in Raleigh, North Carolina and Premier Studios in New York City. The production was mainly handled by 9th Wonder with additional assistance from David Banner, THX, Warryn Campbell and E. Jones on various tracks. The record also features guest appearances from rappers Ludacris and Big Remo; and singers Anthony Hamilton, Lisa Ivey, Marsha Ambrosius, Heather Victoria and Erykah Badu. The album's theme is the death of contemporary black music, which has been devalued for style, over substance, and decimated by the increasing popularity of music downloads. The album was preceded by two official singles – "Slow Down" featuring Heather Victoria, and "Be With You" featuring Ludacris and Marsha Ambrosius. The latter spent thirteen weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, peaking at number 44. The song is David Banner's first single to appear on that chart after more than two years. The album sold 7,300 copies in the United States in its first week of release, debuting and peaking at number 14 at the Top Independent Albums chart. A departure from Banner's past recordings, ''Death of a Pop Star'' received generally favorable reviews from contemporary music critics who considered it as the rapper's best work to date and praised 9th Wonder's production. ==Background== In July 2008, David Banner's fourth studio album entitled ''The Greatest Story Ever Told'' was released. It reached #3 on the US ''Billboard'' Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and #8 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with first-week sales of 51,800 copies. The album spawned three singles: "Speaker", better known by its explicit title "9mm", "Get Like Me" and "Shawty Say". "Get Like Me" has proven to be Banner's second most successful single to date, peaking at #16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, after "Play" (2005), which hit #7. The album was met with mixed reviews from fans and contemporary music critics upon its release, disappointing Banner who had expected it to be his defining album. Reflecting on what went wrong; Banner felt marginalized by the music industry's expectations and wanted to enlist an elite producer to explore more creative and challenging avenues.〔 "I wanted to feel different, I felt trapped in rap music," Banner admitted. "I felt like I was dying musically."〔 Though the Mississippi native rapper has previously produced his own music, he gave up double-duty as producer and emcee and stuck to microphone duties for his next project. Since he wanted to go in a different direction from songs like "Get Like Me" and "Play", he made a list of producers he wanted to work with, which included Nottz, 9th Wonder, Just Blaze, DJ Khalil and Madlib.〔 He finally decided to work with 9th Wonder as they both have a mutual friend known as DJ Cuzzin B, who runs a DJ business with Wonder. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Death of a Pop Star」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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