Yachty appears in the clip playing the piano, and the Atlanta native sings a Sprite-centered version of his record “Minnesota.”
Previously, Sprite honored Hip Hop by producing cans featuring the lyrics of Rakim, Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Missy Elliott, Drake, and J. Cole.
(AllHipHop News) The iconic television series that helped launch the careers of Michael Jackson and The Jackson Five, Lauryn Hill, D’Angelo and many others is returning for a special event.
Comedian Steve Harvey will host a 2-hour episode of Showtime At The Apollo. Harvey spent seven years hosting the syndicated program.
“I’m excited to be going back home to the Apollo to celebrate the history of this great theater,” said Harvey. “I have great memories from my time there, and this is going to be a homecoming party that you won’t want to miss.”
The reimagined Showtime will be recorded at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York and air Monday, December 5 on Fox. The show’s legendary “Amateur Night” talent competition will be part of the showcase.
“The Apollo Theater played a crucial role in so many of this nation’s most talented artists, including Steve, and we couldn’t be happier to have him lead us back to this legendary venue,” said David Madden, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “We’re sure this will be a fantastic night of entertainment.”
Stars of comedy and music are expected to take part in the revamped Showtime At The Apollo. Harvey will also host an additional one-hour special set to air in early 2017.
“Since its inception in 1934, the world’s original talent competition – Amateur Night at the Apollo – was, and continues to be, a primary source for discovering new talent and spotlighting up-and-coming artists. That tradition was continued with the successful 21-year run of the Showtime at the Apollo television program,” said Jonelle Procope, President and CEO of the Apollo Theater and an executive producer of the special. “We’re proud to continue to produce our live, weekly show, and are equally excited to be partnering with Fox to produce this Showtime At The Apollo specialand to bring the Apollo experience back to television!”
Last Wednesday (10/5), when news broke that songwriter Rod Temperton passed away after a battle with cancer, the music industry mourned. Mr. Temperton is responsible for writing some of the most memorable songs of all-time. And while he was dubbed “The Invisible Man,” because he rarely did press, it is impossible for his contribution to music to go unnoticed.
In addition to a variety of other accolades, he is responsible for writing “Thriller” and “Rock With You” for Michael Jackson. But his story did not begin and end with the King of Pop. Temperton was born and raised in England and after answering an ad for a keyboard player, he became a member of the band Heatwave. His work with that funk/disco group caught the attention of Quincy Jones, who then reached out to him to help write music for Michael. After the earth-shattering success of Jackson’s solo career, Temperton’s work continued to thrive as well.
His other writing credits include, among many more, notable works for George Benson, Anita Baker, Lionel Richie, and Donna Summer.
In honor of Rod Temperton and his undeniable legacy, AllHipHop has compiled a list of 10 Hip-Hop records which Temperton played a part in. While he may be gone, he will never be forgotten.
Rest in power, sir.
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(AllHipHop News) Dr. Dre issued a cease-and-desist letter to Sony Pictures, the company producing his ex-girlfriend Michel’le’s upcoming Lifetime biopic.
Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Me reportedly depicts Dre repeatedly abusing the singer.
The famed music producer has denied hitting Michel’le, and he may sue over the movie showing him acting violently towards her.
Michel’le appeared on TMZ Live to discuss her son’s father threatening to take legal action.
“I think my truth will stand when we get to court, if we do,” said Michel’le.
She was asked if there were any plans to edit Surviving Compton to avoid a lawsuit.
“We never were going to not tell the truth in this movie,” said the “No More Lies” performer. “We did have him allow his attorney put that little, I guess, a disclaimer on there saying that Dre disputes any or all of my allegations that I was ever hit.”
Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Me premieres October 15 at 8 pm on Lifetime.
(AllHipHop News) Lil Wayne caught some backlash for his appearance on FS1’s Skip and Shannon: Undisputed,becausethe rap superstar stated he never experienced racism.
The comment was part of a conversation about Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest, the Black Lives Matter movement, and race relations in America.
Wayne further elaborated on the topic of Black Lives Matter during an interview with the New York Times.
The Young Money leader said:
I believe there’s a bunch of different types of artists and musicians. To even notice what’s going out there — I’m trying to make these words stop popping up in my head, I’m trying to make them rhyme. I’ve got all kind of color lives mattering up in here — green, all kinds of stuff mattering. I’m trying to make sense of what’s on in this world up in here [points to head].
Wayne later added:
I was on a sports show recently, and I was asked a question like that about black lives or whatever. When we got off the air, [the host] Shannon Sharpe said: “I really want to commend you for answering like that, because you didn’t make something up just to make yourself one of us. And to make yourself a victim.” I’m not that. And honestly, I don’t care. I care what’s going on with me and my kids and my world and my mom and who’s going to pay this next bill. That’s what matters to me.
I woke up drowning in my thoughts, gasping for the air of a fresh experience.
I believe most artists go through a quarterly process of questioning every decision we’ve made, every piece of work we’ve released, all the relationships we’ve built and burned. Where has it gotten us? How if at all, has our work moved the audience we’re trying to affect?
We ponder how to charter unknown futures using our visual art, fashion design, music and voices. We incubate, we isolate, and become depressed but in actuality, we’re growing inside a creative cocoon.
My cocoon wasn’t hatching, I was trapped in my thoughts for too long. Punishing my self for a past that no longer existed.
This piece we give today doesn’t represent how I view life presently, rather these are thoughts from the cocoon.
My hope, is that we all go through moments of indecisiveness, consideration, and ultimately understanding.
(AllHipHop News) Veteran hip-hop star Rappin-4Tay is behind bars after he was arrested for first degree residential burglary.
The Playaz Club star, real name Anthony Forte, was busted on September 24 in San Francisco, California.
He has been held in custody ever since as police also reportedly discovered two outstanding warrants relating to separate incidents at the time of his arrest.
Further details have yet to be released. Forte’s bail has been set at $112,000
Alex Grimotes, better known by his stage name Wave Matthew$, is an American music recording artist. Growing up in New London, Connecticut he is a member of the music group “The Ridge“.
With a heavy influence in music from family and friends, Alex spent most of his teenage years improvising music from his Yamaha piano keyboard and went as far as learning how to use musical computer softwares by age 14.
Alex would spend hours utilizing the Internet figuring out how to mix & master recording and composition off of a popular computer software called FL Studio. After more years of practice Alex began to create a name for himself locally.
His 4 years of college at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT was a wake up call for his dream of pursuing music. Graduating with a bachelors in Business Management, he would spend countless hours writing and recording music in his dorm room despite the heavy load of school work. He released 2 mixtapes under his former stage name “AG,” that were promoted around school and social media outlets, where he gained a lot of his following from.
Matthews’ work ethic and drive continues today after numerous performances in front of 100+ crowds. After him and a group of close friends decided to form a music group “The Ridge” he has found much more success. Today, he returns with a new solo track titled “3:33” produced by Superstaar Beats.
To say Blac Youngsta is a character, would be an understatement.
Youngsta once made headlines after he was wrongfully arrested outside of a Wells Fargo bank for withdrawing $200K.
While many love to hate Blac Youngsta, many love him for his wild antics on social media. Youngsta has certainly become a stunt King we suppose.
In a recent interview with DJ Vlad, Blac Youngsta seems to reveal that he has a bit of a scamming past.
Growing up in South Memphis, the rapper says he couldn’t afford food so he began working at a store and would take home leftovers after making false delivery calls.
“I used to make false calls and s***, order food, and s*** so when it got closer for when we leave, and they don’t come get the food, I just get the leftovers,” said Youngsta
Unfortunately once his employer’s business closed its doors, Blac Youngsta was forced to turn to a life of selling drugs on the streets to even his friends and family. Youngsta even recalls selling crack at age 12 and 13.
The Memphis rapper goes on to explain that he was involved in shootouts for selling fake bricks to customers!
“I used to serve n-ggas fake bricks, I ain’t going to lie. Getting $90,000 or something out of a n-gga real fast back then because it was just a little bit cheaper…I used to have a lot of shootouts and sh-t because I was selling n-ggas bullsh-t dope. I didn’t care.” said Blac
This explains a lot in regards to how Blac Youngsta behaves. He never gave AF. Lol.
Dex Lauper – son of Sydney Lauper – released his debut single “WAVY” a few weeks back and quickly returns with the record’s visual. Shot by 20K Film and directed by YoungMik3 – the video follows Dex juggling the contrast atmospheres of two cities – hedonistic Miami and gritty New York City.
“WAVY” will appear on his forthcoming project, “Life Goes On,” slated to arrive later this year.
Since the release of his sophomore album “Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight” – which arrived early last month – Travi$ Scott has been somewhat quiet. However today, a new track of his surfaced titled “Myles.”
No word if the record is a leftover from his “BITTSM” sessions, or if it’s a pre-mature leak to his new batch of music he’s been working on. Either way, I’m sure his fans aren’t complaining.
“Empire” Season 3, Episode 4, “Cupid Kills” was definitely a night of girl power.
For a long time, Hip Hop has had it’s difficulties when it comes to giving female artists their due as headliners versus side dishes.
Too often the musical story is limited to an artist’s sex appeal and who they can appeal to as the “it” hot girl of the week or some “it” rapper’s hot arm candy and/or hot protege. However, such was not the case tonight when it came to Nessa and Tiana – both in regards to the plot line, as well as their music. And yes, in case you were wondering they both laid it down hard.
As has been well set up from the start of the season, Nessa has been little more than the physical property of her manager Shine. Truly, he treats her as little more than a favored slave when it comes to free will. If Nessa doesn’t do exactly what Shine says, he’ll beat her.
If anyone around her shows any interest in her they are also subject to a beat down. She is literally a ghetto songbird trapped in a gilded cage.
To great effect, Nessa starts out the show with a song that is essentially a lament about how difficult it is to be a pawn of the system.
That the episode starts with Nessa’s track about the “Crooked System” as the background music while Andre and Lucious drive through the urban decay of their old neighborhood – it’s something akin to musical and visual black magic of that highest order.
The cherry on top is when Andre and Lucious arrive at their destination, and Nessa is singing the song in the studio while rival reps from other music companies are already there itching to get Nessa signed away from Empire.
The song and it’s delivery are as powerful as the shockingly ice cold double entendre of exactly how crooked the system is when it comes to Shine’s mendacity when it comes to exploiting Nessa to his own best reward.
That Andre seems to be even more taken with Nessa at first sight than his brother Hakeem – well, that’s another juicy turnabout that we didn’t expect.
Another nice payoff?
That Andre and Nessa connect over math and their shared talent for numbers versus musical ability and raw sexual attraction.
However, the sparks are definitely flying when Andre murmurs to Nessa, “If I had your musical talent, I’d already own Empire.” Damn, Andre. Spell it out – Nessa, you are much too good and too smart to let Shine use you as chattel, girl!
Speaking of Hakeem and his propensity to come in second to other dudes, that brings us to the second female heavy hitter of the night, Tiana.
From the previous episode, “What Remains Is B######,” Tiana has been ordered to do a clap back at Hakeem to help settle the score between him as her ex boyfriend and Gram as her current man.
Supposedly, according to Lucious supporting one man or the other is something that Tiana “needs” to do in order to stay relevant and supply Empire XStream with it’s constant need for content…. or does she?
Empire Season 3 Episode 4 Serayah, “Nobody loves me like me.”
In a unexpectedly unique bit of writing, Tiana – with the help of Cookie and a sampling of Musetta’s Waltz from the opera La Boheme – comes up with a smoother than silk anthem where she rejects supporting either man in favor of just sticking up for herself.
With the simple but infectious hook, “Nobody loves me like me,” it’s a nice little single. However if one had to choose, Nessa’s song is the clear winner.
As the full package, Nessa’s “Crooked System” has more resonance and vocal range, and soul compared to Tiana’s amicable “I love me some me.”
But with an episode with the title “Cupid Kills,” of course their must be blood.
When Andre and Lucious force Shine to sign Nessa’s contract with a literal gun to his head, as a master stroke of genius, it is Jamal’s alternately tender and then wicked ferocious song about being “caught in the middle” of PTSD and a nasty prescription drug addiction that serves as the background for Shine declaring war on the Lyon family for stealing Nessa from him Romeo and Juliet style.
And he’s not wrong, as the episode ends with a literally bang a trois as Andre had sex for the first time with Nessa with his hallucination of his dead wife Rhonda egging him on as a willing and very involved third participant.
“Empire” airs Wednesdays on Fox television at 9pm/8pm central.
(AllHipHop News) The recently launched media lab known as 1-800-N0TH1NG introduced its new livestreaming platform BoutThat. The app allows players to pick any topic and challenge other players to a face-to-face debate.
Viewers of the “bouts” can vote for either player in real time. The winner is declared by collecting the most votes by the end of the debate.
“Millions of flame wars happen every day on the Internet – on social networks, comments sections, and forums, and all of us have watched,” says Matt Mason, head of 1-800-N0TH1NG. “But the way we argue online has been broken since day one. It’s like bare-knuckle fighting. It’s unregulated, it happens in spaces where it doesn’t belong, and is not pretty. However, it’s hard to look away.”
He continued, “We asked ourselves here at 1-800 if there was a better way for good people to disagree on the Internet. The answer is BoutThat.”
Initially, only three debates will be live on BoutThat at any one time in order to concentrate viewership around a small number of debates. Players will be able to unlock new rooms and create more debates as the audience grows.
Dubbed “the ultimate game of conversation,” BoutThat could provide an effective outlet for rappers looking to lyrically compete with each other and get immediate feedback from the public.
“It might be rap battles, it might be staring contests, it might be improv comedy,” adds Mason. “We’re looking forward to seeing what people do with this engine. There has never been anything quite like this in the market before, which incorporates two live streams with real-time feedback from viewers. It’s pushing the boundaries of this technology to create something that we hope changes culture for the better – which is exactly what 1-800-N0TH1NG is about.”
BoutThat is a free app currently only available on Apple’s App Store.
(AllHipHop News) R&B songbird Erykah Badu is set to return as host of the upcoming 2016 Soul Train Awards in Las Vegas.
Drake leads the pack with 12 nominations, followed by fellow industry heavyweights Rihanna, Beyonce, and Bryson Tiller.
Additionally, new stars Chance The Rapper and Anderson .Paak habe earned multiple nominations across categories as well.
Honorees at the event will be Grammy award-winning New Jack Swing legend Teddy Riley, who will receive the Legend Award and 90s’ soul star Brandy, who will be honored with the 2nd annual Lady of Soul Award.
Attendees of the event, to be filmed November 6, will be able to purchase VIP packages and more allowing access to events throughout the weekend of the award show set to feature performances from Jill Scott, Monica, and more.
This year’s Soul Train Awards, set for the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas,NV will air on BET and Centric November 27th, 2016 at 8PM ET.
Frequent collaborators – Migos and Rich The Kid – are teaming up once again for the fifth installment to their “Streets On Lock” mixtape series. Today, the ATL rappers serve up the project’s first single titled “Dat Way,” produced by C-Note, voicing their dislike of rapper’s jacking their style and swag.
“Streets On Lock 5” arrives November 5th. Stream “Dat Way” below.
(AllHipHop News) Actor Tommy Ford has died at the age of 52.
The “Martin” star was hospitalized with a ruptured aneurysm in his abdomen on Sunday (October 9) and on Wednesday morning (October 12), he was reported to be on life support in an Atlanta, Georgia medical centre.
His health continued to rapidly decline and he passed away hours later, after his family decided to take him off life support.
Ford had also undergone knee replacement surgery last month and had been recovering with physical therapy. It is unclear if complications linked to the surgery led to his hospitalization and subsequent death.
Born Thomas Mikal Ford, he rose to fame as funnyman Martin Lawrence’s best friend on his sitcom “Martin,” which ran for five seasons from 1992 to 1997.
He went on to appear in another popular sitcom, “The Parkers,” in which he portrayed the ex-husband of Mo’Nique’s character, while his other TV credits include “A Different World,” “New York Undercover,” and “The Jamie Foxx Show.”
Ford also appeared in the films “Class Act,” “Harlem Nights,” and “Against the Law.”
Comedian Lawrence has yet to comment on his old pal’s passing, but earlier on Wednesday, he took to Twitter to send his best wishes to the ailing actor as he fought for his life.
“Prayers up for my brother @BigTommyFord and his family,” he posted.
A costume company is receiving much backlash and criticism for making a Halloween costume that mocks Kim Kardashian’s recent robbery in Paris, France!
Apparently customers were able to purchase the Kim-inspired ‘Parisian Heist Robbery Victim Kit’ this month on Costumeish.com. The costume has since been removed due to backlash.
It looks like no one believes this happened to Kim or some find humor in it.
Get this, the costume came with a $4 million ring, gag, black wig, sunglasses, and rope as accessories…..all for $69.99.
While many are saying it was too soon for the tasteless costume, we aren’t sure if there ever would’ve been a good time. Kim K is suing MediaTakeOut.com for allegeding that she lied about the robbery, so we will see if she comes after this costume company.
(AllHipHop News) Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded album includes a cut titled “HOV Lane.”
The single is used as a proclamation that Nicki is on the path to be a business-minded entertainer like Roc Nation founder Jay Z.
In a new cover story for Marie Claire, Minaj expounded on the idea she is inspired by Jay’s moves.
Nicki said:
I don’t need to read a book about [business]. I can look at someone’s career and just pinpoint the dos and the don’ts, and the one person I’ve done that with for my entire career was Jay Z. He did such a great job being an authentic street guy and a businessman, and I was like, Why aren’t there women doing that, taking the success from rap and channeling it into their empire? I felt like anything he could do, I could do.
Another excerpt from the article focused on Nicki addressing African-American women having to deal with men of color being killed.
She stated:
We tend to not remember the black women who are mourning these men and who are thinking, Oh, my God, what am I going to tell my child now about where his father is, and the struggle it is for black women to then move on after they lose their husband or their boyfriend … The strong women in these inner cities often go unnoticed … no one really ever puts a hand out to them.
The November issue of Marie Claire with Nicki Minaj on the cover will be available on October 18.
