OkayPlayer are reporting that Samuel has recruited “The Wire” duo Idris Elba and Michael K. Williams along with Rosario Dawson, “Breaking Bad” star Giancarlo Esposito and songstress Erykah Badu for a forty-five minute film likely to be a companion piece to his upcoming album, “They Die By Dawn And Other Short Stories.” Elba and Dawson have worked with Samuel before, and their work can be found on The Bullit’s Youtube page. It doesn’t stop there either, with “some more big names” to be added in the near future.

“I’m shooting a Western ‘They Die By Dawn’ at the Melody Ranch Studios in L.A. where they shot ‘Deadwood,’” Samuel previously told ClashMusic. “It’s set in 1890 with every single black actor in Hollywood swagged out cowboy style – Langston, Oklahoma. I am super, super excited.”

Asked about who he admires creatively, Samuel revealed a bit more about inspirations behind his current ambitions, naming “Sergio Leone, who directed ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ and his college roommate buddy music scorer, Ennio Morricone, who gave us those awesome sounds and Western soundtracks. Iconic. I love them. They couldn’t afford massive orchestras so they used speech and sonics as instruments. That, in the end, was far more powerful and effective and distinguished those films and stories.”

A reunion between Elba and Williams, two of the best from “The Wire,” will always have our attention, and coupled with Samuel’s promises of a spaghetti western featuring all black cowboys, we’re highly intrigued. His aforementioned album doesn’t come out until the summer, but here are a few videos of Samuel’s work, including a live in-studio performance at the BBC with Lucy Liu of all people.

Article originally posted on Indie Wire 

Check out this quote on Rosario Dawson from an interview with Jeymes Samuel:

For ‘Supercool’, I’m feeling the tune at the same time as I see a tramp and a trolley. A tramp and a trolley. I see the tramp. I can easily jump into that character as he’s real, in my head. It came about after I was in the studio next to Rosario Dawson. What people don’t know is that Rosario Dawson is ‘swagged out’. I mean she’s just really, really musical. We would have dance-offs in the studio or a youtube battle from 8pm-11am. That particular night, we had a youtube battle from 8.30pm. Rosario wrote down every single clip we did. From that day, we were playing ‘Supercool’. The person the tramp meets is Rosario Dawson. I explained it to her and she straight agreed. Rosario is such a down-to-earth person. She gets an Oyster card and travels by train all the time. The film was totally unrehearsed and we did it all in one take. CBS News and worldstarhiphop.com were all over it: ‘Scavenger arrests Rosario Dawson.’ They really believed it. For me, film and music can be a portal into a train of thought.

Article originally posted on Clash Music.

Voto Latino wants to get the word about how crucial it is for the Latin community to vote and they’ve got LOTS of artists to help them out!

The organization will offer a FREE 35 song compilation on iTunes to help encourage and inspire Latin voters. Pitbull has donated his song Something for the DJ‘s and other artists featured in the compilation include Miguel, Kat Deluna, Los Lobos, Los Tigres and Rodrigo y Gabriela.

It is muy importante for Latin Americans to vote and what’s better to get inspired by than free music?!?!

Rosario Dawson, co-founder of Voto Latino, says the following on Voto Latino:

Our interest is to keep bringing people into the political mix. Everyone should have an understanding of the system whether or not they’re eligible to vote and we believe that offering free music through social media platforms will help continue to motivate and engage those that may not already be a part of the conversation.

Vote, Vote, VOTE! The government needs to hear the Latino community’s voice!

Click HERE to get information about registering to vote and on how to obtain the free songs.

Originally Posted at PerezHilton.com

Hollywood royalty Rosario Dawson (Seven Pounds, Men in Black 2, Sin City) caught a stir as she was serenaded by an all singing, all dancing tramp in London’s west-end. Passers-by looked on in amazement as the bemused star joined in and danced around with the excited gentleman.

Luckily, as it turns out she was making a cameo appearance in supergroup The Bullitts’ music video for new single Supercool, out 4th March.

Famous for her roles in Sin City and as leading lady to Will Smith in Seven Pounds, Rosario has been in London filming.  She is set to star in upcoming The Blind Bastards with Lenny Kravitz and Fire With Fire alongside Fergie (Black Eyed Peas), Josh Duhamel and legend Bruce Willis.

Rosario Dawson’s collaboration with the group follows in the footsteps of another leading lady of the silver screen, the gorgeous Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels, Kill Bill) who narrates The Bullitts’ debut album.

“Evocative, provocative, highly imaginative and utterly individual” are just some of the words used to describe the band, who burst on the scene with first official single Supercool, [released on 4th March].

Upcoming album They Die Before Dawn and Other Short Stories, due later in 2012, already has industry ears pricking up and includes collaborations with an incredible line up, such as Tori Amos, Roisin Murphy, Jay Electronica, Idris Elba (Golden Globe 2012 winner) and Mos Def as well as it’s superstar narrator.

The British musician was ecstatic after persuading the Hollywood beauty to sing with the group, but faced a dilemma when he realised he had no idea about her vocal ability.
But Pizzorno was left speechless when Dawson recorded track West Rider Silver Bullet for their forthcoming LP perfectly in just two takes.

Pizzorno says, “I flew out to Los Angeles for her vocal session. I was nervous, thinking that if she couldn’t sing, we’d be screwed. I had my fingers crossed. “She came in and looked really beautiful, sat there. Then, she hit the first note and I knew we were going to be all right. She did it in two takes and I was there half an hour. Then she had to go because she was filming with Will Smith. I thought, ‘My whole life has gone pretty weird’. “Getting a Hollywood actress to do it was quite wild and it is a beautiful song. I was blown away.”

Source

The actress, whose movie credits include Sin City, has recorded vocals on one of the song ‘West Riding Silver Bullet’. In an interview with BBC 6Music, frontman Tom Meighan said fans could expect a “raw” sound from their third studio effort. “It’s gonna freak people out but it’s so good, the record, compared to the other two and I love the other two,” he said. “They’re like my two babies but this record is something else.”

The album has been produced by guitarist Serge Pizzorno and Gorillaz collaborator Dan The Automator. Meighan said the producer helped the band to “put a new spin” on the album. Bassist Chris Edwards added: “He is hip hop, he’s got all the beats down and he is just a great producer and he brought a different flavour to what we were doing.

“We are predominantly a rock ‘n’ roll band but we do dance tracks and different bits and bobs like that, so he just seemed like the perfect guy to get in.” Kasabian previewed songs from their forthcoming album at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Friday (March 27th). Fans can download their new single, ‘Vlad The Impaler’, for free from the group’s official website starting tomorrow.

‘The West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum’ is released on June 8th.

 Source: Gigwise

The guitarist admits the actress – who he refers to as “the prostitute from ‘Sin City’ ” – was not his first choice for a collaboration on the band’s upcoming track ‘West Rider/Silver Bullet’ but was pleasantly surprised by her singing talents when they met in New York.

He said: “I didn’t even know if she could sing. The obvious thing would be to get an English girl and have that English rose kind of vibe. Like Keira Knightley, that kind of thing. I thought Rosario would be interesting, but she’s the prostitute from ‘Sin City’. I was s***ting myself in the studio, but she sounded incredible.”

Sergio also said working with the ‘Seven Pounds’ star left him star struck with her stories of glitzy Hollywood parties. He added: “She later told me that she went to Quentin Tarantino’s birthday and played it for him and he loved it. “That’s when you sit at home in Leicester tucking into you beans on toast going, ‘F***ing hell man, what’s going on?’ “

“Music is the soundtrack to my life. The Voto Latino compilation is the soundtrack of a movement,” says Voto Latino co-founder Rosario Dawson, who recently starred in a widely circulated telenovela parody PSA with Wilmer Valderrama. “It encapsulates everything about the Latino drive to the polls so blast it on your way to change” Adds Valderrama: “Music has proven to be an influential platform for our generation. This is the time to use it.”

To purchase the CD click here. To read more about the CD as well as check out the tracklisting, click to read more

The album also includes a previously-unreleased track by Miami-based hip-hop hero Pitbull entitled “Across The Waters”. The emotionally charged song documents the plight of Cuban immigrants and has been the subject of a National Public Radio segment. “To me it’s great to have a record like ‘Across the Waters’ involved with Voto Latino/iTunes because it represents everything we stand for, which is the struggle for freedom and opportunity,” says Pitbull.

“Voto Latino is thrilled about the generous contribution of iTunes Latino, Nacional Records and these participating artists,” said Maria Teresa Petersen, Executive Director. “Having such talented individuals working across professions and sharing their expertise, be it musicians or behind the scenes executives is a testament that the power to enfranchise our community comes from within it.”

Founded in 2004, Voto Latino is a non-partisan organization that works to promote an enfranchised America by leveraging celebrity voices, the latest technology and youth themselves to promote positive change and voter empowerment throughout the Latino community. With digital (Web 2.0 and user-generated) and traditional media campaigns, throughout the year, Voto Latino will target the 7 million American Latino voters aged 18-29, or 18% of the youth vote, leading up to the 2008 general elections.

The album will be released one week prior to the highly-contested Pennsylvania primary election, considered to be a potential turning point in this competitive election season. Nacional Records and iTunes are both donating their proceeds from the benefit album. All proceeds will benefit Voto Latino’s voter registration, education and empowerment initiatives.

Voto Latino Benefit Album Track-listing:

1. Notch – Aquí Me Quedo
2. Pitbull & Kurse – Across The Waters (Click to listen on MySpace)
3. Ozomatli – (Who Discovered) America?
4. Don Omar – Angelito
5. Los Amigos Invisibles – All Day Today
6. Salvador Santana Band – My One True Love
7. Ceu – Roda (Bombay Dub Orchestra’s Grateful Dub Mix)
8. Aterciopelados – Cancion Protesta
9. Aventura – Mi Corazoncito
10. Chingo Bling – They Can’t Deport Us All
11. Ceci Bastida – Empieza A Amanecer
12. David Garza – There Go The Weirdos
13. Volumen Cero – El Mar
14. B-Side Players – Nuestras Demandas
15. Hip Hop Hoodíos – Viva La Guantanamera

Source: Voto Latino