(AllHipHop News) On April 26, Black Thought will host a special film screening of The Last Dragon. The screening is the first in a series of events highlighting classic throwback movies with memorable soundtracks. Each event will benefit Black Thought’s charity, GrassROOTS Community Foundation, which provides health and wellness programs for impoverished women and girls.
Tuesday’s screening will be followed by The Roots front man leading a conversation with The Last Dragon star Taimak. El DeBarge, singer of the movie soundtrack’s biggest hit “Rhythm of the Night,” is set to be part of the discussion as well.
Fans unable to be in New York City that night can still take part in a digitally. The event will live stream exclusively on blackthought.com. The website will officially launch in Summer 2016 featuring original content, new music from Black Thought, and more.
Online viewers will be able to join in by watching the film at home and live tweeting along with the theater audience. All participants will also have a chance to win autographed merchandise from Black Thought, Taimak and El DeBarge.
The Last Dragon film screening event is scheduled for Tuesday, April 26 at Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn. To purchase tickets visit eventbright.com.
(AllHipHop News) Even thoughMeek Mill first called out Drake for not writing all of his lyrics, it was actually OG Maco who named Quentin Miller as the alleged “ghostwriter.” During an interview with AllHipHop.com, Maco spoke about his fellow Atlanta rapper working as Drake’s co-writer.
“Yeah, I spoke to Quen. I’m highly f-cking disappointed in Quen. He doesn’t want to say nothing,” said OG Maco at the time. “That’s a process of someone being brainwashed. I’m only saying something, because that’s the one I consider my friend. Now here’s a chance where you didn’t violate any confidentiality agreement you might have signed.”
The topic of Maco’s AHH interview came up during Miller’s recent sit down with VladTV. While refusing to say his name, the WDNG Crshrs member took issue with Maco speaking on his involvement with Drake.
“That other rapper from Atlanta that did interviews about me, talking about how we’re friends, he’s the one that really said my name,” said Miller. “I called him about that and his explanation was crazy. Needless to say we don’t have anything to do with each other anymore. I’m not even going to say his name.”
Q.M. added, “That was really what was frustrating to me because he was the one that put my name out there. He knew about the situation because I’m in Atlanta. We all know each other. People know things, but that wasn’t his place to put that out there.”
Maco then fired back on Twitter, writing, “[Quentin Miller] who you gone [sic] blame for you writing that p-ssy ass letter? I tried to stand up for my ‘friend.’”
At the height of the Drake vs Meek conflict, Miller posted a message on Tumblr claiming he did not refer to himself as Drake’s “ghostwriter.” However, Q.M. did later admit he was heavily involved in writing for Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late.
(AllHipHop News) Over the course of their career, both Common and Chance the rapper have been active in the South Chicago community finding various ways to give back
Recently the two were honored in their native South Chicago neighborhoods with murals depicting caricatures of the two rappers.
According to the Columbia Chronicle, the “new murals at the northeast corner of 79th and Evans streets in Chatham display the two iconic Chicago rappers as part of a new community art project to dress up the South Side neighborhood.”
The new public arts project called, “Chatham 2.0,” is being spearheaded by Chris Devins.
“I’m looking to counter the constant negative imagery put out by the corporate media,” Devins explained.
Devins started his mural in April last year when First InSite Realty commissioned him to create art that supports a positive outlook for the community.
Check out the images below courtesy of Eiran Feldman who is principal of First InSite Realty.
“The perception outside of the community—and even within the community—is that nothing good is going on,” Feldman said. “What we wanted to do was put these images out there of role models from the community who have gone outside the community to do good things.”
(AllHipHop News) As Donald Trump continues to gain victories across the country, a new video has emerged showing Tupac saying some discouraging words about Trump.
Specifically ‘Pac had issues with Trump’s greedy pedigree and pushy demeanor.
“If you want to be successful, if you want to be like Trump, gimme, gimme, gimme. Push, push, push. Step, step, step. Crush, crush, crush. That’s how it all is, it’s like nobody ever stops,” Shakur told MTV during a 1992 interview.
In addition to his personality the late Tupac Shakur voiced his displeasure with Trump’s lack of philanthropic donations to those that are less well off.
“I feel like there’s too much money here, nobody should be hitting $36 million on the lottery and there’s people starving on the streets. That’s not idealistic, that’s just real.”
“There’s no way Michael Jackson or whoever Jackson should have a million thousand, quadruple billion dollars when there are people starving. There’s no way these people should own planes and there are people who don’t have houses, apartments, shacks, drawers, pants.
“Even if you earned it you still owe. I don’t have that mega money, but I feel guilty walking by somebody. I’ve got to give them some mail. I know if I’ve got $3, 000 in my pocket, it’s wrong not to give that person a quarter.”
Yesterday Trump added New York to his list of victories, winning over one of the most populous states in the country, which is also the Republican frontrunner’s home state.
Today (April 20th) is a holiday for weed smoker’s known as 4/20, so naturally this is big day in Hip-Hop.
Of course a ton a rappers are releasing projects or songs today, but Problem and DJ Quik have teamed up for a project that is already getting critical acclaim from us here at AllHipHop.
On the surprise EP the legendary DJ Quik connects with modern hit-maker Problem for an ode to their city on the joint EP Rosecrans.
The release includes 6 original tracks and features The Game, Wiz Khalifa, Buddy, Bad Lucc and more!
“I am the abominable DJ Quik, I’m here with my boy Problem, we got Game in her, we got Wiz in here, its a problem baby Super Dave. Y’all know where Rosecrans is, its a long ass avenue from the beach to the streets and it probably ain’t got no potholes in it, cause they done fixed ’em, Compton got money now,” Quik says on the intro.
Today the two will be performing in downtown Los Angeles for Problem’s 4/20 show with DJ Carisma on the tables and host of indie acts.
Check out the project here:
Check out Problem’s posts on social media in support of the project and concert.
Young Thug has just announced his new mixtape, ‘I Came From Nothing 4’. Despite Lyor Cohen’s wishes for Thug to stop with all of the freestyling, this project will most likely follow that pattern. Should Thug try to hone his skills as a rapper more? We wonder will this mixtape see any features from Fetty Wap as the two expressed that they wouldn’t mind doing a collaborative project together. Thugger says he wants 10 No.1 singles this year. Hmmmmm. We will see what he cooks up. Seeing how Lyor wants to focus on album-quality songs, he might not like this news too much.
Kanye West’s roll out for his ‘The Life of Pablo’ has been noted for how it all was handled, but it turns out Ye had a little bit of difficulty before anything was recorded. On an episode of Kocktails With Khloe, Kim Kardashian revealed that he lost his original lyrics when their daughter North West flushed his iPhone that contained the lyrics down the toilet. Kim said,
“Kanye had every single rap in his iPhone before he really started working on [The Life of] Pablo and then North flushed it down the toilet, and they could not be retrieved. We sent it to like four places.”
Kim K praised Kanye for not getting mad at little North. ‘Ye didn’t have a back up? I would’ve had to email myself all of those lyrics or something. We guess it all worked out for Ye as he earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Don’t you wonder what impact the original lyrics would’ve had on the project?
Steve Lobel recently spoke with Mally Mall about the story of the unreleased Tupac vocals. Big U helped Mally Mall retrieve these Hip Hop gems! Mally Mall opened up and revealed that he was presented with 50 unreleased Tupac songs and some footage back in the day. He says although he “lost” in the end, it doesn’t matter because he didn’t do it for the money, but instead for the love of the music. Mally Mall says the last two Pac albums that were created were made from those unreleased vocals. Remember, Mally Mall is more than Love & Hip Hop craziness.
DJ Quik is not feeling Kanye West and his music/antics right now. He doesn’t believe ‘The Life Of Pablo’ is his best work. Quik believes that he fame is greater than his music right now. Quik says,
“His celebrity supersedes his talent right now. He’s a Kardashian right now. What he gonna do to me? Beat me Up? “This is a challenge. This aint a diss. Make your best music because fans aren’t stupid.”
DJ Quik is hilarious. We have to say we love how Quik tells you he’s not scared of anyone as he contiunes to talk sh*t! Gotta love Quik. Quik oftentimes keeps it real. What are your thoughts?
(AllHipHop News) Recently West Coast OG rapper/producer extraordinaire DJ Quik let the world know he’s not feeling the “New Kanye” in a recent interview with NoahTV.
From the onset of the video clip Quik goes in calling Kanye scared of his own music.
“Kanye so scared, he don’t know what to do with The Life of Pablo. Lets just keep this sh*t all the way 100,” Quik retorted when asked about Kanye’s T.L.O.P..
“Is this the kind of album that you would really want to go buy and go home and listen to?,” Quik asked. “So his celebrity supersedes his talent right now? He’s a Kardashian now, what the f*ck?”
While the words might seem harsh, Quik said this isn’t a diss or any sort of beef, but merely a challenge for Kanye to make better music.
“What he gonna do beat me up? It’s Kanye. See this is a challenge, this ain’t a diss. This is a challenge, make your best music, because fans aren’t stupid, they’re just not,” Quik explained to NoahTV.
(AllHipHop Features) The city of Toronto has birthed some of the biggest hit makers over the last several years. With a new breed of artists such as Drake, The Weeknd, and Tory Lanez leading the way, “The 6” has become a hotbed for finding acts likely to takeover playlists throughout North America.
It is from that creative culture comes the four-person collective known as sideways. One of the crew’s members, Shan Vincent de Paul, formally presented himself to listeners as a solo music artist with his debut album Saviors.
The 13-track LP presents a fresh progressive Hip Hop voice that is not afraid to explore the complexities of spirituality and romanticism. In addition, SVDP employs inventive visuals to further display his avant-garde take on the world.
AllHipHop.com connected with the Sri Lanka born, Toronto based virtuoso to get his thoughts on Saviors, his hometown’s musical rise, and more. Discover some of the tunes and views of Shan Vincent De Paul.
How does it feel to release your debut solo album?
I’m still wrapping my head around it! I’m ecstatic to share something I’ve been working on for so long, but it also feels a bit strange that it doesn’t belong to me anymore, it’s in the people’s hands now. Most of all, I just feel proud I made my debut exactly how I wanted to from top to bottom.
Why did you offer the album as a free download and as a for-purchase project?
It was just important people heard it, first and foremost. Whatever way they want to support it, that’s up to them, so I just made it available on every platform possible and let them decide. I don’t agree with this new shift that’s happening where artists are releasing exclusively with certain companies, that’s horsesh-t. If I have to subscribe to a streaming service just to listen to the album… then f-ck your album… but if it’s a good album, I’ll just torrent that sh-t. F-ck your feelings.
Can you explain your thoughts behind the religious/spiritual references made throughout the album?
That’s something that’s always been inherent in my art and music. I’m not religious, so a lot of it is just me trying to figure out my own relationship with god and spirituality. It’s an ongoing conversation. I’m trying to touch on spirituality and religion in a more honest way than just presenting it as something positive all the time. I want to present both sides – the extreme darkness and the light that follows. I was brought up in a Catholic household, so church and religion were always a big part of my life, but I didn’t agree with a lot of it. So the music is me figuring out religion and spirituality on my own terms.
‘Saviors’ Album Cover
What’s the significance of the album’s cover art?
That’s an image that’s been floating in my mind since I started writing the project. It took about four attempts to get it right, but it turned out exactly how I envisioned it. As for the significance, I’ll leave that up to the audience as to how they want to read it. It’s a pretty loaded image, but once you soak in the album from beginning to end, it’ll make a lot more sense.
What was it like filming the “Buggin” video?
Fun as hell. I mean how often can you f-ck on camera and pass it off as a music video? It was my take on doing something super-sexual but keeping it tasteful. How do I show everything and nothing at the same time? That’s what I was trying to do.
How did the sideways crew come together?
The sideways crew had already been formed when I joined them. Coleman Hell released a project called Stake Raving that La+ch, Michah, and Stretch worked on, and that was the genesis of the crew. I had met them in their hometown in Thunder Bay several years prior, so when they moved to Toronto and put out that project, I reached out and we just clicked immediately. La+ch and I worked on a few songs for the album, but that eventually led to him working on the whole project which led to me getting on board with sideways.
The Toronto music scene seems to be experiencing a strong global presence right now. What are your thoughts on the city’s musical movement at the moment?
I’m proud. It’s long overdue for Toronto. We got some of the best artists in the world and for people to finally realize that is amazing. I feel for a long time we were counted out. It was always about NY, LA, Atlanta, Chicago etc. Now, not only are we in the conversation, we’re easily in the top three. The six baby!
(AllHipHop News) Thanks to Nas’ “Ether” there has been this sentiment among rap fans that Jay Z was murdered on his own song “Renegade” by guest rapper Eminem. Some people may not know that the track was originally an Eminem and Royce Da 5’9″ record.
Royce stopped by The Breakfast Club to promote his new album Layers. The Detroit rhymer also spoke about the origins and eventual outcome of “Renegade.”
“Me and Em did the song first. We weren’t going to use it. We did two records for my album that I had where I was signed to Sony,” explained Royce. “We did the song called ‘Rock City,’ and we did ‘Renegade.’ We decided not to use ‘Renegade,’ because we could only use one. Interscope was only going to clear him for one.”
He added, “Hov had been asking Em for a few albums to get on some stuff. Em called me like, ‘What do you think about me giving this to Jay Z? Because I’m not going to keep telling him no.’ We looked up to Jay Z. It was a song that was just sitting. So we took my vocals off, he sent it to Jay, and Jay put his verses in it. Now it’s their song.”
(AllHipHop News) On September 20, 2015, Hip Hop performer Edward “Prohaize” Minta began running and cycling the 750 mile journey from Atlanta to New York City in order to call for transparency and accountability between police officers and civilians. In particular, Prohaize wanted to bring awareness for the need to implement body cameras on all law enforcement officers.
The 20-day trek was documented by a videographer. A shoulder-mounted camera and Snapchat were also used to record Prohaize’s moments between ATL’s Ebenezer Baptist Church and NYC’s Liberty Island. The footage was compiled to create a 30-minute film about the mission.
Wondaland recording artists Jidenna and Roman GianArthur were interviewed for the Justice Trail documentary. Other social activists Aurielle Marie, Londrelle Hall, and Bridget Anderson made appearances as well.
Justice Trail is an organization of like-minded individuals founded in July 2015 to address social justice issues by promoting actions-based and results-oriented solutions. To find out more information about Justice Trail or to donate to its GoFundMe campaign visit justicetrail.org.
(AllHipHop News) Hip Hop fans will soon have the chance to once again experience respected 1990’s rap group Digable Planets. The trio composed of Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler, Mary Ann “Ladybug Mecca” Vieira, and Craig “Doodlebug” Irving are reuniting for a nationwide summer tour.
According to Brooklyn Vegan, Digable Planets has announced show dates starting in May. The tour will include stops at the Sasqutch! Music Festival, the Essence Festival, and the Pitchfork Music Festival.
The creators of the critically acclaimed 1993 album Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) began their return to the spotlight at a New Year’s Eve show in Seattle. Camp Lo will join DP as an opening act for the reunion tour.
Digable Planets’ last studio LP was Blowout Comb released in 1994. The group dropped the compilation album Beyond the Spectrum: The Creamy Spy Chronicles in 2005.
Check out the current dates/locations for the Digable Planets reunion tour and the video for the Top 20 hit “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” below.
5/28 – George, WA – Sasqutch! Music Festival
7/02 – New Orleans, LA – Essence Festival
7/16 – Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
7/18 – Cincinnati, OH – Woodward Theater
7/19 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
7/20 – Birmingham, AL – The Saturn
7/21 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In
7/22 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
7/23 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm
7/24 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
7/26 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
7/28 – Ardmore, PA – Ardmore Music Hall
8/18 – Salt Lake City, UT – Pioneer Park
(AllHipHop News) Brownsville rapper Young Lito is one of the artists signed to Troy Ave’s BSB Records. The “From The Bottom’” spitter spoke with Mikey T the Movie Star about meeting fellow Brooklyn representatives Troy and his manager Hovain.
“One day this n-gga Ave called me like, ‘This sh-t crazy,’” recalled Lito. “He put both of [my songs] on BSB Vol. 2. From there it’s been history. I’ve been on volume 3, 4, and 5. 6 was my own volume. Then I dropped The Future Is Here which is my solo tape.”
At the moment, Lito’s next project is expected to be titled The Rise Of The Real, and he recently dropped the “Uber Everywhere” freestyle. Troy Ave’s LPs, New York City: The Album and Major Without A Deal, also featured appearances from Young Lito.
(AllHipHop News) Justin Timberlake, Tyler The Creator, and Chad Hugo were guests on a recent episode of Pharrell Williams and Scott Vener’s Beats 1 Radio show OTHERtone. Video of the conversation has now been uploaded to YouTube. The clip included the entertainers discussing being inspired by A Tribe Called Quest.
“I don’t know who Chad would say was his influence in slamming those elements together, but for me it was Q-Tip and Tribe. That Low End Theory man,” said Pharrell about his production with The Neptunes.
Vener then asked about their relationship with ATCQ member Phife Dawg. Pharrell spoke about how when he was working with Timbaland, he believed Magoo sounded like Tip and he sounded like Phife.
“I sounded terrible, but in my mind at that time, you couldn’t tell me anything. Just because of what Tribe represented to me. That was the birth of my personal interest,” stated Pharrell.
Chad added, “The thing that did it for me for A Tribe Called Quest with their music was their love for Jazz.”
In addition, Tyler and Timberlake reflected on their experiences working with and watching The Neptunes create tracks. JT also commented on collaborating with the production duo for his debut solo album Justified.
(AllHipHop News) Willie D is a member of one of the greatest Hip Hop groups of all time. The man born Willie James Dennis rose to prominence as part of the platinum selling Geto Boys by releasing authentic and honest street music.
That straightforward approach was extended in Willie D’s new single “Coon.” On the song, the Houston native calls out famous individuals such as Stacey Dash, Charles Barkley, Raven-Symoné, Stephen A. Smith, and Don Lemon. During an interview with Sway In The Morning, Willie D addressed calling those African-American celebrities coons.
“Their job is to regurgitate the sentiments of white supremacy. That’s why they get hired,” expressed Willie. “Why is it that they don’t have white, Hispanic, or Asian people hired to basically disparage their communities also? They don’t have anybody else that does that.”
He continued, “Every time there’s an issue in the black community they have these house Negroes and Sambos go out [and say,] ‘I think this…’ They always go with the side of the oppressor. They always side with the cops. They always side with the person who is accused of doing wrong to the black community or a black person. You know why? They can’t say anything else or they would be fired.”
Willie D also suggested African-Americans should make it “unsafe” for “coons” to travel within the black community. The “Clean Up Man” rapper defined a coon as someone whose criticism of the black community outweighs their contribution to the black community.
(AllHipHop News) More details are emerging in the shooting of Philadelphia rapper Quilly Millz.
The rapper was shot at least once in the upper torso area, a source that wished to remain anonymous told AllHipHop.com.
The source said that Quilly, who had been staying in Atlanta for a time, was in stable condition, and is expected to recover.
It’s not exactly clear where in Philadelphia he was injured, or if Quilly was one of the four people shot during a triple homicide over the weekend, but he was struck by gunfire during the violence.
While the motive for Quilly’s shooting is not yet known, a source confirmed that he was the rapper on camera being beaten in a recording studio last week in a video posted on DJ Akademik’s Instagram page.
Quilly seemed to address some issues with his label On Dek on a remix to Desiigner’s song “Panda” last week. On the track, he announced that he was going solo.
On Dek rapper and Philadelphia veteran S####-O released a remix titled “Who Shot Ya,” which dropped about two days ago via his Instagram.
There is no confirmation if S####-O’s reply was directed at Quilly as of press time.
Also it’s extremely important to note this is no implication of On Dek, even though the timing may be odd, as noted by the replies on S####-O’s Instagram post announcing the song.
S####-O had been releasing songs like these since February, when he started dropping tracks from a mixtape titled “50 Shades of S####-O.”
(AllHipHop News) Throughout the history of modern day music, artists have been known to make strange requests and demands as part of performance contracts.
From 50 Cent to Mariah Carey, celebrities often have extravagant riders for gigs, and the bigger the artist the longer the list of demands.
Yesterday it was revealed by CBSSports.com that Ludacris had a dizzying list of requests for the University of Georgia Spring football game.
While Ludacris took home $65,000 for the 15-minute performances for 93,000 people, the Sanford Stadium show also included an assortment of amenities and requests.
Using an open records request, Macon.com uncovered the contract that included a dinner for 10 people among many other demands.
The meal specifically requested that there be grilled chicken, chicken wings, pasta, brown rice, mixed vegetables, fruit salad, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.
There was also a list that included supplies for PB & J, fruit roll-ups, condoms, two bottles of his own Conjur Cognac and one stick of women’s Secret deodorant.
Check out a brief list here and check out the full G-Day agreement below:
1 loaf of whole grain bread, organic creamy peanut butter and organic grape or strawberry jelly
1 Crest Spin rechargeable toothbrush and Crest toothpaste
1 box of Fruit Roll-Ups
6 Hanes Large White T-Shirts
1 box of Trojan Magnum Condoms, Ecstasy
1 Can of Almonds
2 Bar of Dove soap
Nag Champa Incense
1 Bottle Of Eucerin lotion (original dry skin therapy)
2 Jo Malone candles, Gardenia scent
2 bottles of Belvedere Vodka
2 bottles of Conjure Cognac (His own liquor)
2 bottles of Patron Silver
2 packs of AA and AAA batteries
2 cases of Snapple
1 small Secret Deodorant
1 hair brush (with bristles, African American)
5 Drying and Wash Towels by Wamsutta
1 Iron And Ironing Board
(AllHipHop News) Despite chart topping hits and a growing career, Nicki Minaj is said to be trying to help her brother in a battle for his freedom.
According to Bossip.com, Jelani Maraj is being accused of raping a 12 year old girl for months.
He is subsequently being charged with with first-degree rape and a faces two felony counts of sexual conduct against a child.
After his case was sent to a grand jury in the Nassau County Supreme Court’s sex crimes division, a jury deliberated for a month to determine if there was enough evidence to charge Jelani.
The jury decided that he would be facing charges for felony predatory sexual assault against a child, and two felony counts of sexual conduct against a child.
Jelani is also facing charges for endangering the welfare of a child, which is a misdemeanor.
The Pinkprint rapper has yet to comment on the situation but her brother was released on $100,000 bond after pleading not guilty to all charges in December.
