(AllHipHop News) After news that Kanye West’s T.L.O.P. project was streamed over 99 million times in the first week and that 11 tracks from TLOP debuted on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, reports are surfacing of a lawsuit against Kanye West and Tidal.
The class action lawuit filed in San Francisco’s U.S. Distric Court says that Kanye “fraudulantly promised fans that his album, ‘The Life Of Pablo,’ would be only available on Tidal.”
Despite those claims from Kanye via his Twitter page and Tidal’s 9.99 minimum charge, the album was since released on Apple Music and Spotify.
According to NBC’s KCRA, Justin Baker-Rhett contends that the promise of exclusivity gave the struggling Tidal a boost in sales and consumer information. Baker-Rhett is asking that a judge delete all information collected for uses that signed up specifically for Kanye’s album.
“Mr West’s promise on exclusivity also had a grave impact on consumer privacy,” Baker-Rhett’s lawsuit explains.
The lawsuit also assails that in addition to the personal information and credit card info, Tidal reportedly made an upwards of $84 million off the project.
At one point the lawsuit brings up Kanye’s famed Twitter posting again are the focus as his proclamation stating, “My album will never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale… You can only get it on Tidal.”
“We fully support the right of artists to express themselves freely and creatively, however creative freedom is not a license to mislead the public,” Baker-Rhett’s attorney Jay Edelson said in a statement to KCRA. “We believe that we will be able to prove to a jury that Mr. West and Tidal tricked millions of people into subscribing to their services and that they will ultimately be held accountable for what they did.”
(AllHipHop Features) Any up-and-coming producer would value the chance to have their work be the first thing listeners hear on a major label performer’s debut album. HighDefRazjah was able to experience that rare opportunity when RCA recording artist A$AP Ferg opened his Trap Lord LP with the Razjah produced “Let It Go.”
Having a breakout placement on one of the most critically acclaimed Hip Hop albums of 2013 exposed Razjah’s sound to rap fans worldwide, and since that time he has managed to parlay that accomplishment into more work with other stars of the genre. HDR is now ready to push the culture forward through his kaleidoscopic musical concepts.
“When I listen to the radio, I just hear repetition even if it’s a beat or flow. It gives me the motivation to set a bar for music or create a new genre for music that people can party and vibe to,” Razjah tells AllHipHop.com. “When you hear one of my productions, I want it to take you somewhere else. I want you to ride to it.”
While crafting tracks for the likes of Ferg, the Virginian also wanted to use his personal project to take his followers on a spaced out ride through his psyche. In March, Razjah released Psychedelic. The project was conceived after one of its creator’s magic mushroom trips, and the result was a collection of tunes that rightfully embodies the EP’s title.
“I was doing shrooms like twice every two months. It’s good for the creative process. That’s what put me in the mindset to do this project,” explains Razjah. “I did all these songs in two days. I mixed and engineered them myself. On the night before I dropped it, I actually recut three songs. I sat up for like seven hours until 8 o’clock in the morning until it was complete. Then I sent it out.”
Psychedelic also features production from Lex Luger, the fellow VA beat maker who is responsible for Rick Ross’ “B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast)” and Jay Z & Kanye West’s “H•A•M.” Razjah and Luger have known each other since elementary school. After the two Suffix natives became closer in high school, Lex went on to gain national exposure for the double platinum record “Hard In The Paint” by Waka Flocka Flame.
The pair grew apart as Lex’s profile continued to rise. However, Luger’s Caesar-esque return to the Hampton Roads metropolitan area from Atlanta reunited him with Razjah, and they have been building together ever since.
A photo posted by P###. of A$AP Ferg “Let it Go” (@highdefrazjah) on
“I didn’t talk to him for like 4 or 5 years. Then in 2014 he returned to Virginia and he hit me up,” says Razjah. “He inspired me to get in the booth and be an artist. He was the first to believe in me about being an artist. I really respect him a lot for that.”
HDR adds, “Lex has had a big impact on my music career. As a friend, as a brother, as my daughter’s godfather, he’s just a big impact on my life.”
Lex Luger is just one of the big named production minds that Razjah has managed to log studio time with. He regularly travels down I-85 to work with Mike Will Made It’s Ear Drummers label in Atlanta. Razjah first connected with the collective through Rae Sremmurd’s deejay Jay Sremm. The relationship began when Razjah reached out to Sremm in order to share some of his tracks.
“He sent beats to my email while we were in New Zealand,” says Jay Sremm. “From there I knew he had a different wave, because they sounded like he was from New Zealand but he was somewhere in the U.S.”
One of those beats eventually found their way to Rae Sremmurd member Swae Lee. Razjah later met Swae and his brother Slim Jimmi during a concert at Old Dominion University. That initial introduction led to him recording with the “No Flex Zone” rhymers and their mentor Mike Will. The hit maker serves as sort of a tutor for HDR as well.
“Being around Mike and seeing how he works – he’s a genius. He showed me his work ethic. 2016 is going to be a great year for Mike and everybody at Ear Drummers,” Razjah states. “When I went to Atlanta, he was working on Ransom 2. He played us some records. He recut a Bun B record, and he gave me the blessing to add a breakdown in it. So I added some pieces here and there. The record was so dope.”
In all likelihood, the next 8 months are set to be great for Razjah too. He is currently in talks with a major label to sign as a producer and an artist, he is putting together an animation YouTube series, and he contributed to Rae Sremmurd’s SremmLife 2. Razjah is also finalizing his own A Drug Habit Story. The album is set to arrive with a short film and original score.
In addition, Razjah’s catalog is likely to include a joint project with another Lex Luger production disciple. He talks about teaming with Norfolk, Virginia’s Kino Beats to put together a 5-song EP with Lex as the executive producer.
“Razjah is nonstop in the studio,” says Kino. “He really works around the clock honing his sound and taking his music to a whole new level.”
While his brand of art is rooted in the 757 where he grew up and his sometimes second city of the ATL, Razjah is not only cemented in the prominent 808s sound from the southern part of America. His life journey is inspiring him to expand musically.
“Traveling let me know there’s more than Trap music. It’s different styles out here,” HDR states. “When you bring two styles together on one song, it’s a hit.”
As he continues to collaborate with super-producers Lex Luger and Mike Will Made It as well as Zaytoven and TM88, collecting hit records is likely to become a normal occurrence for HighDefRazjah. In the not too distant future, he could even be the one inspiring the next generation of board masters.
“Just being around them, I just soak up the energy and gain experience from it,” says Razjah about time spent with highly successful record producers. “It let’s me know that it’s possible. One day it might be a kid who’s been waiting to get in the room with me, so I just try to learn from it and pass down information.”
(AllHipHop News) Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was not the only guest to take part in the Run The Jewels performance at Coachella this year. Killer Mike and El-P also got their Mass Appeal Records boss Nas to grace the stage during the set. The Hip Hop legend ran through his classic cut “Made You Look.”
Run The Jewels released 2014’s Run The Jewels 2 and 2015’s Meow The Jewels on Mass Appeal. The duo is set to drop the third installment of their self-titled album series via Nas’ label later this year.
Coachella festival goers can also catch Killer Mike and El-P during the second weekend of the event. Run The Jewels is scheduled to perform on Saturday, April 23.
(AllHipHop News) Hip Hop was heavily represented at the White House this weekend. President Barack Obama invited several performers to Washington, DC to discuss his My Brother’s Keeper initiative. The program is designed to provide young men of color with high-quality early education, safe learning environments, and other needs.
The high-profile meeting was unannounced. According to various reports, stars such as Common, J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, Busta Rhymes, Wale, Ludacris, Chance The Rapper, Talib Kweli, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, and Alicia Keys were in attendance on Friday.
“Many of these artists have lent their voices and platforms to promoting these issues,” stated a White House official. “Through their own nonprofit work or artistic commitment, many of these artists have found ways to engage on the issues of criminal justice reform and empowering disadvantaged young people across the country.”
(AllHipHop News) Chris Brown has faced a lot of scrutiny throughout his career. The R&B singer is now being slammed by a member of the band Best Coast. Vocalist Bethany Cosentino took to Twitter to call out CB for his Top 20 hit “Back To Sleep.”
Cosentino went on an extended tweet rant claiming the Royalty single was about rape. She took issue with the song’s chorus: “Just let me rock, f-ck you back to sleep girl. Don’t say a word no, don’t you talk. Just hold on tight to me girl. F-ck you back to sleep girl rock you back.”
Cosentino posted, “You already know how I feel about Chris Brown – but WHY/HOW are those lyrics ok? Cool, a song that perpetuates rape culture being a hit.”
She later added, “How about this for a review: singing about f-cking a girl back to sleep/telling her dont say a word is singing about rape + it’s disgusting.”
While the indie rock singer’s interpretation of the song suggested the lyrics are about rape, others took the track’s theme to be about Brown returning home in the middle of the night to his girlfriend after a long trip. He finds her asleep. She then wakes up to greet him before they engage in sex.
The idea of rape being promoted in music has become a very sensitive issue in recent years. Both Rick Ross and Rich Homie Quan faced backlash over lyrics that were perceived to be about sexual abuse of women.
(AllHipHop News) Another piece of Tupac Shakur memorabilia is up for sale. In March, Moments In Time offered some of 2Pac’s music and handwritten notes to the highest bidder, and now the website is selling a love letter written by the iconic rapper.
According to TMZ, the letter was composed in 1988 and was intended for a girl Pac nicknamed “Beethoven.” She earned the name because she enjoyed playing the piano. The young lady was in the same drama class as Shakur at the time.
The letter included Pac writing he “felt really good vibes” from Beethoven. The Marin City, California resident even asked his crush to let him know if he was moving too fast. The note revealed a young Tupac was a big fan of Prince, and he even left his phone number at the bottom of the page. The item is said to be going for $35,000.
(AllHipHop News) Pop singer Ariana Grande is loading her third studio album Dangerous Woman with rappers. The former Nickelodeon star recruited Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Future for the upcoming project.
Grande is not a stranger to working with Hip Hop artists. 2013’s Yours Truly featured Big Sean and Mac Miller. 2014’s My Everything featuredSean,Iggy Azalea, Childish Gambino, and A$AP Ferg.
While Grande’s previous LPs also included appearances by other Pop and EDM acts, Dangerous Woman‘s only other guest besides Wayne, Nicki, and Future is R&B songstress Macy Gray. The album is scheduled for release on May 20.
Check out the tracklist for Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman below.
1) Moonlight
2) Dangerous Woman
3) Be Alright”
4) Into You
5) Side to Side feat. Nicki Minaj
6) Let Me Love You feat. Lil Wayne
7) Greedy
8) Leave Me Lonely feat. Macy Gray
9) Everyday feat. Future
10) Sometimes
11) I Don’t Care
12) Bad Decisions
13) Touch It
14) Knew Better/Forever Boy
15) Thinkin Bout You
Yesterday, the Young Musicians Foundation had their first “Yeethoven” concert at the Arabian Theatre in Los Angeles. According to HYPETRAK, the Foundation’s Orchestra combined six pieces from classic music legend, Beethoven, with Kanye West. The free show, lead by conductor Yuga Cohler and arranger Stephen Feigenbaum, breaks boundaries with an interesting blend of orchestral pieces with Yeezus.
Someone managed to record the Orchestra performing “Blood On The Leaves” and “New Slaves.” Give the two clips a listen.
Today, Post Malone had an odd performance at Coachella. The “White Iverson” rapper wasn’t on the official bill, however, he did perform his hit single during Jack U’s set as a special guest last night. However, the more memorable performance was his surprise cover of the Nirvana song “Lithium.” Someone managed to record him performing the classic rock song
This isn’t the first time Post Malone has done a cover outside of rap. The rapper has shown that his interest in rock and country music for a while. He was recorded covering a Bob Dylan
Swizz Beats son, Egypt, is pretty good at making beats. The young producer even has a credit working with Kendrick Lamar on his latest project Untitled Unmastered. The surprising thing about Egypt is that he’s only 5 years old, earning a credit for work producers four times his age only dream about. Today Swizz, Beatz recorded his son once again working on making some beats. However, Egypt was accompanied by legendary producer, Q-Tip.
As the saying goes, “You don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.” Here is a look at notable events that took place in Hip-Hop culture this week from years past.
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Last night, Ice Cube was on stage performing in front of a crowded audience at Coachella, and manage to reunite NWA in the process. Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella was present to perform a couple of classic tracks including “F*ck the Police” and “Straight Outta Compton” without the former producer of the legendary rap group, Dr. Dre. Along with NWA’s performance, Ice Cube brought Snoop Dogg out to perform a couple of tracks too.
Coachella as officially kicked off in Indio, California, and with new music and presidential introductions already making news, there’s so much stuff to talk about at this year’s popular music festival. Today is Day 2 of Coachella, and features a lineup of several rap artists including Ice Cube, ASAP Rocky, and Vince Staples. If you’re anticipate about these acts or the many others performing today, a live stream is now available to watch all of the acts set to hit the stage.
(AllHipHop News) During an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago rap legend Twista discussed his upbringing in the city and his plans for the future.
Twista explained how violence has impacted his family growing up in the Chicago. Over the course of his career, Twista has lost three bodyguards.
A car accident claimed the life of one and the other two were killed in street violence in the United States’ third largest city.
In order to cope and relax with his stressful lifestyle as a rapper, in addition to the senseless violence, Twista has taken to painting.
“I am a portrait artist. I may get back into it. Every once in a while, I still draw in my spare time,” Twista told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I’m getting ready to dive back into it like I should have. I also do figure drawing and anatomy. I think I would like to have a gallery.”
During the interview,Twista, 43, explained how he hopes to be a guiding light for the youth of Chicago, and Hip-Hop in general.
“I want to let people see, I want the kids to see, how rappers do business, how artists can turn what they do musically into money by doing other things,” Twista said.
Twista is currently on the East Coast run of his Living Legends tour.
Tonight (April 17) Twista will play Webster Hall in Manhattan, before moving on dates in New Jersey, Virginia, Missouri, Colorado, Illinois and Nebraska.
Yesterday, Lil B released a very weird video for his track “Finesse Em.” While the Based God’s video features his “based” rhymes, it’s pretty weird. The video features Lil B rapping in what seems to be a traphouse. While the rapper sits in cluttered rooms with a gun on the floor and empty kitchens, he casually does it rocking an Oakland A’s cap and and some slippers. Very weird video.
In late 2015, Lupe Fiasco announced that he will be releasing three new albums this year. With his first project Drogas coming soon, the Chi-Town rapper has dropped an interview series to get his fans excited. Lupe’s first edition, titled “Conversations #1” features the rapper talking to members of Lifting Ourselves Through US (Also known as LOTUS). The discussion includes the importance of creating a unique message and images for younger listeners through Hip Hop.
Lido is a producer who has received a lot of attention in recent years. Along with his popular 2014 single “Money.”During his set at this year’s Coachella Music Festival, the Norwegian artist brought out Jaden Smith to perform a new song off of the upcoming album, Everything. According to Complex, Smith performed on a piano, rapping the words to the untitled song.
Yep thats right, legendary rappers 8 Ball & MJG are now managing an up and coming rapper out of Memphis named P-Nyce. For his breakout song, 8 Ball & MJG’s new Push Management signee P-Nyce keeps it all the way Memphis with his new single “Roll On” as controversial rapper Young Dolph joins him on this one. The Exotic Muzik-produced “Roll On” definitely has that big anthem sound that’s in perfect time for the Summer!
With 4/20 right around the corner, Dizzy Wright & Demrick release their latest single “Roll My Weed” off their forthcoming project “Blaze With Us“. “Roll My Weed” is produced by DJ Hoppa and is a sure addition to your 4/20 playlist for next week.
