(AllHipHop News) This week Trinidad James dropped a video dedicated to plus sized models and women who are outside of the modeling industry’s typical slender shape.
The Jon J directed music video showcases the vibrant Hip-Hop artist along with guest artists Mystikal and Lil Dicky as they celebrate full figured women.
In the video for “Just A Lil Thick (She Juicy)” Trinidad is filmed at an Atlanta house party where plus sized models flank the rapper and his featured counterparts.
“Don’t hide it. Celebrate it this summer and every day that you live… cause what I do know is life is a speeding bullet out the chamber and this bullet of life can penetrate and surface as long as you believe it can! #JALT is a Female Anthem delivered through the perspective of a Curvy Woman,” says Trinidad James.
The Atlanta rapper continues, “every song I heard for the last 3 summers that were ‘per say’ dedicated to the females were always delivered with either “Vixen,” “Bad B####,” “Model Chick,” or “Slim Thick” as the canvas.”
“Nothing wrong with that, cause I love those women too, but what about my #CurvyWarriors?! Society has a weird way of showing appreciation for one another. Just let the person on the other side know, somebody got LOVE 4 YOU. Be Big, Be Fine, Be You my Loves.”
On Wednesday this week (April 27), the artists hosted a New York Pop Up Event for their new DJ Mustard produced hit single where the guys premiered the music video and performed sets by each of the 3 artists.
Be sure to catch the #Trindicktikal trio’s outrageous appearance on Funny Or Die that premiered on the #1 comedy brand last week.
In this cautionary tale called “Watch Yo’ Self,” the 3 rappers find themselves responsible for customer safety at a liquor store. Watch the hilarious video below.
Despite new music and a tour with Ja Rule, Ashanti is recovering from a bout with a stalker after a man named Devar Hurd flooded her Twitter timeline with lewd Tweets and attacked the R&B singer with text messages.
Aside from touring and music Ashanti is currently producing an upcoming movie called Mothers and Daughters due in cinemas next month.
The film will hit cinemas two days before Mother’s Day (May 8).
“I am so excited to have the opportunity to work with this great cast and crew on my first feature film executive producing efforts,” Ashanti . “I have such a close relationship with my Mom, who is also my Manager, aka Momanger so I really related to this project.”
Tickets for the concert with Ja Rule range from $30 – $60 and can be purchased online or at San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in Highland, CA just an hour East of Los Angeles.
(AllHipHop News) Today (April 29) incarcerated rapper Gucci Mane has dropped a surprise project dubbed Meal Ticket.
For fans that have been waiting to hear more from the “Bricks” rapper, this project will fill the void with 36 new songs.
The project boasts a host of features including Makonnen,Quavo (Migos), Young Scooter, Trinidad James, DJ Drama, Reese, Fredo Santana, Verse Simmonds, Sy Ari Da Kid, Rich The Kid, Smurf, OGD, Dr. Phill, Sonny BSM.
But one of the most surprising features comes from comedian, Andy Milonokis on the track “Right Now” that also features Chief Keef.
Waka Flocka and Gucci also are reunited on this project, squashing the inter-squad beef officially on wax.
“We dissecting beef / We eat these n####’s flesh / Brick Squad for life n####, Inked in my flesh” – Waka Flocka on “Beef”
While we haven’t been blessed with a schedule of releases in some time, Gucci’s management told Pigeons and Planes that he still guides his team through releases.
“Gucci tells me when he wants it to drop, too. He’ll want it to drop at a certain time, and this, this, and this, I want to drop a new song at 10:17, and I go ahead and do what I gotta do to do that. Don’t get it twisted. It’s not like he’s just in there, and I’m coming up with s###. He’s guiding me through it. And then I come up with my own ideas,” Sean Paine explained.
Production on the project comes from Zaytoven, Drumma Boy, MikeWillMadeIt to name a few.
Born Radic Davis, the currently imprisoned rapper has recently had rumors swirling about his release datethis year, but that was postponed.
More news on Gucci’s release date as details emerge.
For now aside from streaming on Spotify below, fans can pick up the project on iTunes.
On Wednesday, April 27, 2016 “Keanu” had it’s star studded movie premiere at the historic Cinerama Dome Theater in Hollywood, California. All Hip Hop was there right on the red carpet with the stars and creators of this first major motion picture film directly from the minds of Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele , writer Alex Rubens and director Paul Atencio, all formerly of Comedy Central’s huge hit series, “Key &Peele.”
All Hip Hop was able to catch up with stars Keegan-Michael Key, Tiffany Haddish, Luis Guzman, Will Forte and more, but the animal stars were also out and on the prowl for this movie night with the stars. See all the interviews and red carpet antics – both human and feline – right here in living color:
“Keanu” from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, opens nationwide in theaters this Friday, April 29, 2016.
(AllHipHop News) Streaming wars are again reaching new levels as Pandora has announced that it will have Drake’s Views project for fans.
With fans first jumping to Tidal for Prince and Beyoncé and now Apple Music to hear Drake, Pandora is jumping in on the hype and will be spinning Drake’s Views album at 3 pm PST today (April 29).
With the release of two singles on the project, Drake has racked up more than 16 million spins on Pandora.
Since April 8th, the track “One Dance” has reached more than 9.1 million spins, while the track “Pop Style” has reached more than 7 million spins since April 8th.
In addition, Drake’s had over 630,000 station adds since the release of his two singles.
Previously it was publicized that the project only initially be available exclusively on streaming giant Apple Music.
Access to Drake’s latest album Views was thought to be exclusive to the Apple Music streaming service for one week.
Drake’s highly anticipated ‘Views’ album is finally here, but is everyone feeling it? We have a few questions for you: Is ‘Views’ an epic masterpiece or does it come across as a less compelling effort? Is the album offering monumental rap moments; have the previous ones done so? Is there too much singing on the album? Some are arguing that Drake still has failed to deliver a classic album, so therefore he can’t completely be counted among the greats. Is it Drizzy season or nah? Is it fair to say that Drake hasn’t delivered a classic album? Do you consider ‘Thank Me Later’, ‘Take Care’, ‘Nothing Was The Same,’ or ‘Views’ to be classic?
300 Entertainment’s T-Wayne is co-signing Hefe Wine, a native of Houston, TX, that is well known for his drama surrounding Iggy Azalea. This time the two team up with to provide visuals for their collaborative single “Ice Skater.”Bolstered by an indelible hook courtesy of the “Nasty Freestyle” rapper, Hefe is able to captivate the listener with his billowing vocals and even-tempered delivery.The Isaac Yowman-directed video crisp, equipped with foreign whips, icy watches, and an attractive woman who is gifted a fresh pair of ice skates filled with banknotes. Hefe Wine’s forthcoming album, Solomon, is set to arrive this Fall, but “Ice Skater” is currently available via iTunes.
Cash Money co-owners Birdman and Slim recently revealed that they are currently in the early stages of developing film scripts for a Cash Money biopic. Birdman said,
“Everything we’ve ever did – and I got 20 plus years selling records – nothing we ever did is worth more than that script. I’m excited about the script. That’s something I really want to do.”
Birdman was inspired by ‘Straight Outta Compton’ and its success.
“I think that Dr. Dre and Ice Cube…I think they are geniuses for what they have done and accomplished. For them to do that and to make it trend-setting, they opened doors for us. And I just think that what we have is way more special, because we’re in modern times,” said Birdman.
Slim revealed that the biopic will feature a lot of untold stories of things that happened in the background of their company before their deal with Universal. There are no dates set in stone as of right now, but seeing the Cash Money story on the big screen would be dope. What’s your favorite Cash Money hit?
It looks like Pharrell plans to bring us some new heat soon. Pharrell has been in the studio cooking up new music with not only Missy Elliott, but also Kirk Franklin. Kirk recently collaborated with Kanye West on his ‘The Life Of Pablo’ album, so we would love to see Pharrell and Kirk work their magic. Does this mean Pharell may have a new album on the way or do you think he’s just producing for others?
Rihanna’s Navy fan base surely thought ‘ANTI’ was going to be their favorite album this year, but rumor has it that RiRi has already begun working on her next studio album. Rihanna also has a record with music producer Cardo. Cardo told Complex,
“There’s so many records we’ve been working on that’s about to come out. I can’t say anything beyond that, but we got a record with Rihanna. That’s all I can say, I can’t say anything more, but there’s a Rihanna and Cardo record.”
(AllHipHop News) The legal issues continue on for Young Dro as a warrant has been issued for Young Dro’s arrest.
The rapper, born D’Juan Montreal Hart, skipped court yesterday (April 28) after alleged theft charges.
The theft charges stem from Dro’s theft of stripper Robyn Fly’s Cadillac CTS.
When Dro was asked about the car theft with the Breakfast Club in September last year, he gave a broken and barely audible response as DJ Envy asked the rapper to speak up.
Ultimately Dro explained that his “brothers from hood in the trap” ended up borrowing the car and they got pulled over.
“She was following the car, she had tracking on the car, she knew it wasn’t me in the car,” Dro told The Breakfast Club.
In March of 2015 Dro was reportedly charged with theft by conversion of leased or rented personal property for an incident that occurred in February earlier that year.
Sooner or later, the world may hear something with DJ Khaled and Chance the Rapper. Recently, the DJ/motivational speaker took to Snapchat (as always) to spread the news that linked up with the Chi-Town rapper in Little Havana, before his performance at Beyonce’s “Formation” Tour in Miami. According the clips, the two were recorded dancing for a video shoot, and you can hear a sample of their new music playing in the background. However, no official leak of the single is available, yet.
Check out the clip below.
DJ Khaled and Chance The Rapper were shooting a music video for a new song in Miami today 👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/WpTB9GWa5V
With the overall hype from his single “White Iverson” and earning credit for contributing to Kanye West’s The Life Of Pablo, Post Malone is now looking to drop his upcoming album. A couple of weeks ago, the Dallas rapper/artist officially made the announcement that his album was on the way via Instagram.
With his album coming out soon, Malone released a set of visuals for his latest single titled “Go Flex.” Just like “White Iverson,” Malone’s new track has a huge bass kick to follow his crooning. However, unlike his hit single, the artist breaks the guitar out to sing over pure acoustic. The video itself screams both rap and country culture of Texas, with Malone traveling across country fields, in front of fire and sparks, as well as him performing his song in a barn and with a beautiful lady. Now word has been made on when his project would officially release.
Last week, we covered De La Soul’s performance at the National Cannabis Festival in Washington, DC. Along with the legendary rap group’s long list of hits performed, as well Plug One’s performance of “Excursions” to honor the late member of A Tribe Called Quest, Phife Dawg, De La premiered the single “TrainWreck”, a track that was supposedly from their highly anticipated album, And the Anonymous Nobody.
The project was slated for a August 26th release, featuring big names including Snoop Dogg, 2 Chainz, Little Dragon, and many other artists. However, to keep fans excited for the release, De La Soul dropped a project titled For Your Pain & Suffering. Obviously poking fun on the release date of their crowd-funded album, For Your Pain And Suffering is a free four-track EP with only one feature from producer Dave West, also featuring “TrainWreck on the project as well.
(AllHipHop Features) Washington, DC is set to host the annual Broccoli City Festival this Saturday at the St. Elizabeth East Gateway Pavilion. Among the acts sharing their talents that day will be rapper-on-the-rise Ace Cosgrove.
The DMV representative will hit the stage in front of his home crowd with his band BobMoeKill. The musicians made up of mostly George Washington University students are set to assist Ace as he runs through songs from his well received projects Us Vs Robots, Egos, Potential & Halos, and Baby Need Food.
Before he was putting rhymes together for his own work, Ace took on the task of trying to put his friends on. However, a tragedy five years ago led to the Gaithersburg, Maryland native to step behind the microphone.
“My homie ‘Gino’ Cosgrove passed in 2011. He was doing the whole rap thing, and I would try to manage him – you know, set him up with producers and studio time, sh-t like that,” Ace explains to AllHipHop.com. “When he passed, I started to live at my homie Shane’s house where he had a studio set up. I would just see a bunch of rappers come by, and I kind of just started rapping myself.”
While Washington’s Hip Hop scene has been building its reputation over the last several years, at the time Ace began rapping, the city was mostly getting national press for political battles and the controversy over the football team’s mascot. A young Cosgrove initially had to travel outside of The District to locations like New York and Philadelphia in order to gather fans for his growing brand.
DC is now demanding the attention of the Hip Hop industry. Ace is a member of a collective of local artists known as Hostile Youth, a unit helping to raise awareness about the talent surging in the nation’s capital.
“My homie Hassani Kwess had the whole Hostile Youth thing already going. I met him, Vaunfe, and Black Diamond through Uno Hype. We just started connecting and making music together,” Cosgrove states.
Besides DC, the DMV region is also composed of another major city in Baltimore, Maryland. Forty miles to the north of Washington is the site where Freddie Gray fell into a coma while in police custody and later died as a result of the questionable treatment by BPD officers. The 25-year-old’s death led to a youth driven uprising and the State’s Attorney charging six officers with various crimes.
Beatles legend John Lennon is quoted saying, “I think the music reflects the state that the society is in.” The current state of American society involves necessary public conversations about police brutality and social justice.
Cosgrove personifies Lennon’s declaration by using his music to confront the relevant issues his generation has had to face. In particular, the song “Freddies Dead” addresses the anger many young people felt after learning of the circumstances of Gray’s killing.
“I think what happened in the Freddie Gray case is sad as f-ck. I think music is the most powerful thing in the world,” says Ace. “So as a Hip Hop artist, I think it’s my job to express with my music what other people are feeling but are scared to say.”
The 24-year-old performer is not afraid to speak on the subject of spirituality either. His catalog features cuts like “Lost Of Faith” and “Lord Have Mercy.” The latter song has a hook where Ace announces “the devil couldn’t stop me.” Those are not just inconsequential lyrics. The words represent a personal mentality that drives the man who recites them.
“Religion plays a big role. I’m not a super-religious person, meaning I don’t go to church every Sunday, but to me I feel like I made it this far because of my guardian angels and hard work,” responds Cosgrove when asked about the role of religion in his creative process. “I think sometimes when we as humans reach a low point we tend to lose our faith, so I talk a lot about that in my music.”
Like any person walking this Earth, Ace Cosgrove experiences moments of dejection and disappointment. On his song “Burning Slums,” he opens up about having to deal with individuals around him being jealous of the productive moves happening in his life. However, the ascending rhymer is attempting to avoid those resentful cynics in his outer circle.
“I’m a pretty distant person to begin with, so I deal with envious people by just saying, ‘F-ck it, f-ck them. I’m going to make the music even better and see if they are more envious when I drop this new sh-t.’ I’ve always been the type to not need people in my life anyways. If they stick around, cool. If not, f-ck em. They can eat a d-ck,” Cosgrove declares.
The number of haters surely rose when Ace’s 2014 song “Making Moves” was featured during a recent episode of House Of Lies. The popular Showtime series starring Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell selected the track for the season five premiere which aired earlier this month.
“Making Moves” has currently totaled over 24,000 plays on SoundCloud. Going by the user comments on SC or the top search suggestions on Google, House Of Lies sent a large number of listeners in Cosgrove’s direction.
“I got connected to House Of Lies through ‘the plug’ [laughs],” says Ace.
He continues, “My reaction [to the song’s placement on the show] was just like, ‘Yes, I’m doing something right here.’ I think the song started picking up a lot because of House Of Lies. The song is almost two years old. Before the House Of Lies placement, the views were much lower than that, so shout out to the plug.”
More tunes from A.C. are on the way. Just this week he dropped his Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz inspired single “Bia-Bia” produced by Super Miles. A follow-up effort to Baby Need Food is inevitable, and other festival appearances such as the one at Broccoli City is likely in the future as well.
As his fan base expands, Ace Cosgrove is ready to take on the position as one of the musical leaders of the DMV. But don’t look for the creator to become part of the paparazzi culture that dominates entertainment news at the moment. His focus is the artistry not the fame.
He conveys, “I never want to get super-duper famous to where I’m in TMZ every other day. I just want to make really epic music that inspires people, move to London, and get paid well because of it.”
(AllHipHop News) Chicago rapper Chief Keef and Atlanta producer Zaytoven have connected on songs together such as “Let Me Know” and “Flattered.” But Sosa fans should probably not expect to hear the rhymer on any other Zay tracks in the near future.
Footage of Keef talking on FaceTime about Zaytoven made its way to the internet. The clip features the 20-year-old explaining why he has not released any other Zay-produced records.
“I got no Zaytoven beats. I’m going to tell you why though. I ain’t gonna tell you right now though. But yeah, it’s some fu sh-t going on. It’s a lot of little goofy sh-t,” stated Keef. “Plus, he gives everybody the same beat.”
Chief Keef went on to accuse Zaytoven of giving other artists such as Icewear Vezzo, Cash Out, Migos, and 21 Savage beats that he already rapped over. At one point Keef said, “That n-gga Zaytoven had to be drunk.” He even called out fellow Atlanta based producer Metro Boomin – “Zay and Metro do that sh-t. Sonny Digital don’t do that sh-t.”
After admitting he recently gave the same beat to different people as well, Keef added, “I ain’t gonna lie. I just got on my Zaytoven sh-t. If Zaytoven do that sh-t, f-ck it. I’m finna do that sh-t too… That sh-t is not right. That ain’t cool.”
UPDATE:
Zaytoven has issued a statement to AlllHipHop.com about Chief Keef’s comments. Read his statement below.
I send out beats to a lot of these young guys that I really think are talented and got something special. And I do it without receiving any money and a lot of them use the beats on their mixtapes and albums without me even knowing.
(AllHipHop News) Desiigner currently has the most popular song in America. As “Panda” rules the charts in the U.S., the G.O.O.D. Music representative spoke with Tim Westwood in the United Kingdom. The Trap production for Desiigner’s #1 hit was actually created by someone from Great Britain.
“It’s a blessing that somebody from the U.K., from London, got the time to meet somebody from America and we put it all together,” said Desiigner. “The beat was on YouTube. Shout out to Menace again. We did our thing.”
The Pusha T protégé reportedly only paid $200 for the “Panda” beat. British producer Adnan “Menace” Khan sold the track to Desiigner in 2014. Parts of “Panda” were also used on Kanye West’s “Pt. 2” off The Life Of Pablo album.
(AllHipHop News) It has been three years since Jay Z released his last studio album. While there have been hints that the Brooklyn icon is possibly working on a follow-up to Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay has not given any official word about his next LP. But longtime production partner Just Blaze says he has a ton of Hov’s music stashed away.
Blaze spoke with Spin about his contribution to Beyoncé’s new smash album Lemonade. The discussion also included the New Jersey native revealing he has more than two LPs worth of musical work from Jay.
“A lot of people, when they work with Beyoncé or artists of that stature in general, there’s usually a number of [Non-Disclosure Agreements] involved and you go through a process. With me, there wasn’t much of any of that because I’ve known her for years and I’ve worked with Jay for almost 14, 15 years,” said Just Blaze. “Obviously, it’s never going to be an issue of security with me. I mean, I have at least two albums worth of Jay Z material sitting in my vault. So it’s not that they ever have to worry about me leaking records or releasing information. I give people sneak peeks when it’s appropriate or when the artists want to do it.”
Beyoncé’s Lemonade includes the Just Blaze produced cut “Freedom” featuring Kendrick Lamar. According to Just, both he and Bey’s team had the idea of adding Kendrick to the record, but before he could suggest getting a verse from the TDE rapper, someone in Beyoncé’s camp had already made the connection.
(AllHipHop News) There is a long history of Cash Money Records not properly paying artists, producers, and other individuals that have worked for the company. The label’s biggest star, Lil Wayne, is still fighting to get unpaid profits from CMR.
That reputation did not stop Atlanta based singer Jacquees from signing with Cash Money. In fact, the “Like Baby” performer told DJ Smallz he is happy with putting his name on a contract with Birdman and Slim’s imprint.
“That’s the risk I took signing a record deal. I’m not saying it was a risk because it was Cash Money. Nah, it was a risk because it was a deal,” stated Jacquees.
The former independent artist added, “It’s the biggest risk I ever took, and it’s the best decision I ever made of my life.”
(AllHipHop News) Last night Drake finally released his fourth studio album VIEWS. To help promote the new LP, the Toronto rapper did a rare interview with Beats 1’s Zane Lowe for the OVOSOUND radio show. The discussion included Drizzy talking about the current status of his relationships with one of his musical idols Jay Z, former close collaborator The Weeknd, and fellow Young Money representative Nicki Minaj.
Really, I was trying to get [Kanye West] on [“Pop Style”] at first, and Ye just sent it to me like that. Like, “Jay just kind of did my first few lines for me. He was here and that’s how we flexed it.” It was cool. He was all excited like, “Just put The Throne. It would be a crazy moment.” Of course, people want to hear Jay Z rap, so hearing him do two lines might be frustrating to a certain audience…
I was just having conversation with Kanye. That just landed in my lap. I just dealt with it accordingly, and it didn’t exactly play how I would have wanted it to as far as business goes. So I just figured it would be easier to go with my version [on the album].
I’ve expressed my admiration and respect for Jay countless times. That will never change. Sometimes we just fall on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the rap world. It’s always just mutual respect, but sometimes it has to be from afar do to other situations that don’t have anything to do with me and him.
On The Weeknd:
At the end of the day, that’s my guy. We’re from the same city. We grew up with the same goal, trying to do this. A lot of the time we spent trying to do it together. There’s memories I’ll never forget. We spent real time. Not like other artists time. We put in real work together.
I’m proud of his success. We’ve both had our moments where we’ve maybe felt a way and taken it maybe a little left, but I can sit here and say I have nothing but love for everybody over there. I loved watching last year. It made me super happy. Well deserved.
[He] made a great body of work. As a lesson to any kid, that’s work effort. You make great music and you figure out how to roll it out the right way and do your thing, and that’s where it gets you. More power to him. I’ve never got the chance to tell him, but I send him all my blessings. I could never really want any ill for him based off the work we put in and where he’s from.
On Nicki Minaj:
I don’t really talk to Nicki. Again, another person that I have a lot of love and respect for. Not only for our past and how much work and time we put in, but even with the way she dealt with the [Meek Mill rivalry]. I understand what love is, and I understand a personal situation. She dealt with me how I would expect her to which was with class. I could only ever do the same.
There were points in time where I was sitting there waiting to see like, “Okay, is this going to go… I don’t know. Like, how deep is your love?” You got to ask yourself, but I’ll always have respect and love for Nicki. Unfortunately, we haven’t spoken, but it is what it is. Even if we don’t speak, she knows what it is. It’s always love.