As fans await the official release date for Jay Rock’s sophomore effort 90059, he has released the tracklist and cover art to ensure that it is on its way. The cover is simple, with a black and white color scheme, a hand is pictured with the fingertips scratched out, which surely has a deeper meaning than what the eye can see.
The 11-track playlist features his Black Hippy bethren as well as Busta Rhymes, Lance Skiiwalker, Sir, fellow TDE spitter Isaiah Rashad and the label’s resident songbird SZA.
Barry Bondz comes through for a new music video titled “Alejandro.” He shows his gritty, street style as performs his anthem surrounded by his team. The Harlem Kid produced track gets extra rotation as “Alejandro” is brought back to life. Check out the new music video here.
One of Nelson Mandela’s 17 grandchildren has been charged with the rape of a 15-year-old girl, CBS reports.
Mbuso Mandela, 24, is accused of raping the girl, whose identity has not been revealed, at a restaurant in a Johannesburg suburb Aug. 7th. He was formally charged on Monday (Aug.17). Mandela is currently in police custody and will appear in court on Aug. 21 for a bail hearing.
Besides being one of Harlem’s hip-hop gems, Cam’ron can also bring the funny. The Dipset rep recently took his talent to the The Nightly Showwith Larry Whitmore (Aug.18) to strike a funny bone or two. Killa starred as a Human Resources manager and offered unfiltered advice as employees looked to him for help handling office issues.
Taraji P. Henson and Jimmy talk about her Emmy-nominated role on Empire and the embarrassing video her costar posted on Instagram. The lead actress on the hit TV show also spoke about the moments leading up to getting the nomination. Get ’em Cookie!
AllHipHop.com is premiering the brand new music video from Sir the Baptist. The Chicago “urban hymnist” tapped Twista, Jack Red, and Lili K for “(Creflo) Almighty Dollar.”
The title of STB’s tune refers to the controversial Atlanta pastor Creflo Dollar. The popular televangelist recently made headlines for saying he needed a Gulfstream G650 private jet in order to spread God’s word.
Watch the soul infused black-and-white visuals from Sir the Baptist below.
Just a few weeks after Safaree’s new girlfriend “model” Zashia Santiago was caught up in an alleged cheating scandal, someone is trying to call Safaree out for the same thing. Some text messages surfaced that show Safaree interacting with what could be his side chick. Safaree says the text messages are fake. The text message convo seemed a little bit fake and childish, but Safaree seems a little bit corny so…
Atlanta, Georgia has served as the stomping ground for iconic civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Andrew Young, Julian Bond, John Lewis, and Hosea Williams. Selma, Alabama was the site of the historic 1965 Voting Rights Movement march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Both locations played significant roles in the eventual dismantling of the racist segregation laws known as Jim Crow.
Selma and Atlanta also happen to be the respective hometowns of the parents of Hip Hop brother tandem ILLClinton. It’s from that lineage emcee/producer Brennan and producer Blake draw a sense of responsibility to use their art as a mouthpiece for a modern-day movement against injustice.
“My mom’s from Norcross, Georgia. My father’s from Selma. He grew up during the Civil Rights Movement. He was marching out there as a kid,” Brennan reveals to AllHipHop.com. “It definitely inspired my everyday life. More so than just music.”
Being the child of a man that witnessed law enforcement’s atrocities against peaceful protesters on Selma’s “Bloody Sunday” is sure to impact the worldview of a young Black man in America. Especially, in the wake of repeated high-profile incidents of unarmed African-Americans being killed by cops over the last year.
“Growing up hearing stories from my father brought awareness to what has been happening for a very long time. And it’s still continuing to happen,” says Blake. “My dad will tell stories of coming to church and seeing people bruised from the hands of the police. Not much has changed in my eyes. So we want to keep spreading the awareness of that.”
ILLClinton embedded that message of fighting for social justice into tunes such as “The People,” “Alive (Don’t Shoot),” and “Free.” Earlier this year, the North Atlanta natives kept their growing fan base fed with weekly releases as part of #ILLClintonTuesdays, but the two Hip Hop artists have since implemented a self-imposed hiatus from dropping more cuts on the internet.
“We took some time off from putting a lot of music out. We honed our craft a little more, and I feel like you’re going to be able to hear it instantly,” states Brennan. “We’re a whole lot better than we were.”
While they paused their output in recent months, Brennan and Blake have not stopped creating music. The siblings are excited about their forthcoming full project ILLClinton Era. The new collection follows the ILLANTA and ILLANTA II mixtapes as well as the Scion AV hosted The ILL Experiment EP.
“It’s dynamic. We really go a lot of different ways with it – ranging from traditional boom bap all the way to more eclectic sounding stuff. It’s kind of funky,” says Brennan about their next project.
Blake adds, “The sound of this project is very diverse. We have your traditional Hip Hop stuff with a wide variety of different sounds. It’s like a melting pot of music.”
Blake Of ILLClinton
The diverse palette of ILLClinton’s next work does not come as a surprise. Their younger days were spent performing as instrumentalists. The rapper specialized in playing percussion, and his older brother was a top cellist. The experience in concert band for Brennan and orchestra for Blake shapes how they construct their musical expression through Hip Hop today.
“Coming from a background where I played big sounding music, I can incorporate that into our duo,” explains Blake.
“I was a snare drummer in the concert band, so it really helped my rhythm and flow patterns. It really transitioned to my cadence,” says Brennan.
Besides having formal training in symphonic production, ILLClinton also schooled themselves on Atlanta area rap music. ATL legends like OutKast, Jeezy, T.I., and Ludacris were favorites of Brennan and Blake during their high school years. Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, Young Dro, and Yung L.A. were also part of the pair’s regular playlists.
Brennan Of ILLClinton
Acts from other regions inspired the two Southerners as well. Brennan and Blake name Chicago’s Kanye West, New York City’s Jay Z, and Los Angeles’ The Pharcyde as musical influences.
Concerts in NYC, Philadelphia, and Rhode Island proved East Coast fans are just as open to ILLClinton. Surprisingly, it took time for the brothers to actually get recognized by promoters around The Perimeter.
“I feel like I should be at the biggest shows in the underground part of Atlanta. It’s really just a lot of DJs are playing the same club records and Trap sh*t,” Brennan expressed. “I’m all for it, but there’s so much more to Atlanta, it’s kind of sad you would overlook some great talent in the city. It’s changing though. It’ll all come full circle.”
The two-man group that began as a teenage production team called The Elite is now on the road to becoming a major force in Atlanta’s next era of rap stars. ILLClinton assures they will not abandon their aim of reminding the world Black Lives Matter.
“I’ve been to marches, but it doesn’t seem to change anything,” conveys Brennan. “I feel like we all need to come together to figure out how to make a positive change in the community. Right now, I’m trying to put out music with that type of message, because it’s needed in the culture.”
Blake and Brennan have only been professional performers since 2012, but the product and vision presented thus far suggest the Hip Hop unit has a long career ahead. One member recommends it is the perfect time to jump on the rising ILLClinton wave.
Brennan offers, “If you’re not listening to ILLClinton, you should start listening now. We got a lot of good stuff on the way.”
It looks like Wiz Khalifa and Rita Ora may be a new item. These celebrities sure do move on fast. Wiz and Rita were spotted in the wee hours of the morning when the two showed up to The Nice Guy restaurant in West Hollywood. Apparently they weren’t worried about the cameras when they walked in and out together. They were also allegedly spotted being all snuggly backstage at the Teen Choice Awards.
(AllHipHop News) DJ Mustard seems to be tired of other artists adopting his signature sound. The Los Angeles producer posted several tweets (since deleted) calling out Iggy Azalea and Jidenna for biting.
The creator of tracks such as “Rack City,” “My N*gga,” “2 On,” and “Post To Be” apparently feels Iggy’s “Fancy” and Jidenna’s “Classic Man” too closely resemble the West Coast style he helped push to the forefront.
While there have not been any reports the producers of “Fancy” have filed a lawsuit against the makers of “Classic Man,” Jidenna did speak about rumors Iggy’s profiting off his hit single.
“Some of the people have said Iggy Azalea is getting paid off this record. I’ve seen that a lot,” Jidenna told Hot 97. “The truth is, we actually didn’t sample it. But ever since the decision of Robin Thicke and Pharrell, we believe that it was important to make sure that we are safe.”
Iggy has spoken about DJ Mustard’s influence on music. In March, she expressed her disappointment Mustard did not win a Grammy award in 2105 for his production.
“Every song sounded like a Mustard beat,” said Azalea in an interview with Power 106. “I feel that was someone that impacted culture in some way this year, and it was a shame not to see him be represented.”
(AllHipHop News) As Straight Outta Compton sets box office records, real life legal issues loosely connected to the movie continue to play out. Earlier this year, Death Row Records founder Suge Knight was arrested for running over the movie’s adviser Cle “Bone” Sloan and associate Terry Carter.
The incident led to Carter’s death, and his widow has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Knight as well as Straight Outta Compton producers Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. According to the complaint, Knight arrived at the shooting of a commercial for the movie, because he was upset about the way he was portrayed in the film. Sloan then forced him to leave.
Knight later met up with Carter at a restaurant parking lot, and Sloan arrived at the same location. An argument broke out which led to Knight striking Carter with his truck, killing him.
Carter’s wife claims the filmmakers should have been aware of the longstanding tension between Dre and Knight. She believes adequate security was not in place. The lawsuit also suggests Cube and Dre are liable for the way Sloan behaved since he was hired as part of the production’s security team.
Both Ice Cube and Dr. Dre deny involvement in the death of Carter. A legal motion filed on their behalf states:
These allegations plainly demonstrate that allowing Suge to remain at the base camp posed a serious risk that Suge could have injured someone at the camp — including Dr. Dre, Bone or one of the numerous cast and crew working on the film. Certainly, the risk that Suge might leave the base camp and proceed to his fatal confrontation with Carter was no more foreseeable than the possibility that Suge would injure or kill someone else if he had been permitted to stay.
Knight is facing murder, attempted murder, and hit-and-run charges in Los Angeles.
(AllHipHop News) The music streaming wars died down a bit in recent weeks as consumers and competitors watched to see how the new Apple Music would impact the marketplace. The tech giant launched their own streaming service in June, offering a free 3-month trial period. According to a new survey by MusicWatch, nearly half of the users have already dumped Apple Music.
The music research company surveyed 5,000 US consumers about Apple Music. The data shows 48% of those questioned no longer use the service. While 77% of iOS users are aware of the streaming application, only 11% have even tried Apple Music. 61% reported they already turned off the auto-renewal option.
“In terms of benchmarking Apple Music, 40 percent of iOS users are buying digital downloads from iTunes, suggesting trial of Apple Music could be higher,” said Russ Crupnick, managing partner of MusicWatch. “That’s the disadvantage of not being the first mover in a market where very good services currently exist.”
Apple Music arrived after other streaming platforms such as Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, and Tidal were established. The battle for control of subscribers has included accusations of sabotage and lucrative exclusivity deals with artists.
Dr. Dre’s latest album Compton: A Soundtrack was released only on Apple Music and iTunes for the first two weeks. Some observers believe the LP’s omission from other services hurt the project’s sales and chart position. Compton opened at #2 on the Billboard 200 with 295,000 sales plus streaming units.
Apple released a statement to The Verge, claiming 79 percent of users that signed up for Apple Music are still using the service. But the Music Watch survey does offer insight into the public’s perception of Apple Music.
(AllHipHop News) Atlanta native Roscoe Dash is set to return with a new project. According to the 25-year-old rapper/producer, the forthcoming Dash Effect 2 will show his growth as an artist. Dash spoke with AllHipHop.com about his latest work, artists he would like to work with, ghostwriting, and more.
(AllHipHop News) One of the most powerful moments in the Straight Outta Compton movie was the scene where Eazy-E found out he had AIDS. The N.W.A member later passed from complications of the disease. One of Eazy’s chart topping Ruthless Records acts still does not believe their former boss died from acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony sat down with VladTV to talk about their history with Eazy. Krayzie Bone, Wish Bone, and Flesh-n-Bone also discussed the death of their mentor. They were asked if they agreed with Eazy’s son that AIDS was not the cause of the rap legend passing away.
“Me personally, I do as well,” said Wish. “Even to this day, none of his kids, none of his baby mammas, his mistresses – nobody has come up with HIV. Just rationally thinking, something had to go on.”
Krayzie adds, “I know people can live with HIV for years and look healthy, but when you’re about to die from full-blown AIDS, you’re gonna look like you’re gonna die from AIDS… Eazy didn’t look like that at all.”
(AllHipHop News) While Straight Outta Compton has been receiving mostly praise, the N.W.A biopic faced some criticism for omitting accusations Dr. Dre abused women. One of the alleged victims of the producer’s wrath is former TV personality Dee Barnes. She finally addressed the movie in an article for Gawker.
The Dre-Barnes incident supposedly took place at a 1991 album release party. Dre was said to be upset about a segment that ran on Barnes’ show Pump It Up! He later pleaded no contest to assault charges, and they settled a civil suit out of court.
Barnes watched Straight Outta Compton, and then wrote in part:
That event isn’t depicted in Straight Outta Compton, but I don’t think it should have been, either. The truth is too ugly for a general audience. I didn’t want to see a depiction of me getting beat up, just like I didn’t want to see a depiction of Dre beating up Michel’le, his one-time girlfriend who recently summed up their relationship this way: “I was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat on and told to sit down and shut up.”
But what should have been addressed is that it occurred. When I was sitting there in the theater, and the movie’s timeline skipped by my attack without a glance, I was like, “Uhhh, what happened?” Like many of the women that knew and worked with N.W.A., I found myself a casualty of Straight Outta Compton’s revisionist history.
Death Row singer Michel’le recently spoke about her turbulent relationship with Dre on VladTV. She stated she was happy she wasn’t in the movie, but added, “I mean ’cause if they start from where they start from I was just a quiet girlfriend who got beat up and told to sit down and shut up.”
Dre spoke about his past domestic violence issues with Rolling Stone. The Aftermath boss did acknowledge some things did happen, but he claimed other accusations were false.
“I made some f*cking horrible mistakes in my life,” said Dre. “I was young, f*cking stupid. I would say all the allegations aren’t true – some of them are. Those are some of the things that I would like to take back. It was really f*cked up. But I paid for those mistakes, and there’s no way in hell that I will ever make another mistake like that again.”
Barnes also wrote:
Dre, who executive produced the movie along with his former groupmate Ice Cube, should have owned up to the time he punched his labelmate Tairrie B twice at a Grammys party in 1990. He should have owned up to the black eyes and scars he gave to his collaborator Michel’le. And he should have owned up to what he did to me. That’s reality. That’s reality rap.
(AllHipHop News) With all the hype around the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton, a lot of people began wondering what other Hip Hop themed biographical movies should be made. N.W.A’s Ice Cube recently relayed to AllHipHop.com he was open to making a film about Public Enemy. But what does the group’s front man think about that idea?
Chuck D of P.E. took to Twitter to address the possibility of his legendary crew being depicted on the big screen. It appears the rapper/activist is more concerned about the public supporting Public Enemy’s latest album Man Plans God Laughs than Hollywood covering their story.
F . Gary Gray, the director of Straight Outta Compton, was asked which Hip Hop act would he like to see get their own biopic. He told AllHipHop.com, “I’m so into Straight Outta Compton it’s hard to answer, but I could tell you I don’t know the story of Wu-Tang. I know they did something really different.”
No Limit Forever is launching a nationwide casting call for the Master P Biopic, “The Ice Cream Man King Of The South.” No Limit Forever is in search of new talented actors and actresses to fill key roles in this movie. This is your chance to be the next big movie star!
The nationwide casting calls are beginning right now! Anyone interested in reading for these roles are encouraged to come out and show their talent at “The Ice Cream Man King Of The South” Master P Bio Film Nationwide Casting Call in their city or a city near them. No Limit Forever is bringing everyone who has had the dream of becoming the next big film star the ultimate opportunity this summer as they launch this casting call.
Master P, talent scouts, and NoLimit film executives will travel to cities across the country, giving aspiring actors the opportunity to earn a role in this historic movie. Ain’t No Limit to the opportunities No Limit Forever has for you!
No purchase necessary to enter or win. Open only to legal residents of the 50 United States/ D.C. who are at least 18 years of age or younger than 18 with Parent(s) or legal guardian’s permission.
For casting dates and cities log onto KingOfTheSouth.com. You can also email your photos and contact info to the casting director at [email protected].
Glasses Malone continues to promote his upcoming project The GlassHouse 2: Life Ain’t Nothin’ But. Today, he leaks a new single off it titled Too Hard featuring Kirko Bangz and The Game.
With help from Lil Wayne and beautiful women, O.T. Genasis invites us inside a luxurious mansion for his new video Do It. His new mixtape R&B (Rhythm & Bricks) is on the way.
Inglewood rapper and Del Records recording artist King Lil G drops his brand new music video for his new single “Ignorance,” directed by Reuben Colazo. The video shows the honest, raw struggles that King Lil G faced in his youth. “I made this song for the kids that felt like school was not the answer,” explains King Lil G. Produced by Infameezy, “Ignorance” is the new single from King Lil G’s album 90s Kid released March 2015.
