While dealing with the breakup from his girlfriend of almost 15 years, Nicki Minaj, Safaree Samuels has decided to hop in the booth and put his energy into his music. He took to his Soundcloud yesterday and uploaded two new tracks, “Burner” and “I’m Dope.”
While “I’m Dope” boasts lyrics about living the fast life with fast women, Safaree spits catchy wordplay on “Burner” while he also addresses the media’s coverage of his former relationship.
“Why you worried ’bout my ex?/ Stop tryina read my texts/Don’t worry bout these tatted lips unless you giving neck,” he rhymed.
These two tracks are off of his self-titled EP that is said to be coming soon.
As a holiday present to his fans, Joey Bada$$ has decided to share another track from his forthcoming debut album, B4.DA.$$. Joey is proud to share the Statik Selektah-produced, “Curry Chicken,” which is now available for stream via soundcloud and download via iTunes with a pre-order of the album.
The 3hree Project started a little over a year ago at KMG Studios with a vision and creative mission. The idea was a lofty one, to bring various artists together who have very little in common except one thing; they all represent the best of Denver, Colorado’s music scene. Each artist received hands on artist development throughout the project’s creation. MC’s were paired with producers and engineers who could hone their style and skill. The result was a magical undertaking that produced some of the most innovative and ground-breaking sounds to come out of Colorado. Official release date December 23.
If you weren’t feeling Kanye West’s Yeezus as a hip-hop album, then you may enjoy it as Christmas album. Yeezus has been remixed into a holiday album entitled Kreezus.
A sketch comedy trio named Local Business Comedy found a Yeezy impressionist to spit Christmas-themed bars over Yeezus instrumentals. The whole album was re-written and boasts song titles like “Gift It Up,” “Light On The Trees,” “I Am Claus” and “Hold My Eggnog.”
From Ferguson and Beyond, a town hall meeting organized by #BlackLivesMatterNYC, in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn on 12.8.14. The panel included activists from the front lines of Ferguson and organizers fighting against police brutality in New York City. Check out the conversation with Ashley Yates, Tef Poe, Tory Russell, Monifa Bandele from Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Majesty from Justice Committee, and Brittany Bratwaite of Girls for Gender Equity. The event was hosted by Mark Winston Griffith ED, Brooklyn Movement Center and moderated by Chuck Creekmur, AllHipHop’s CEO.
(AllHipHop News) The current shifts taking place in the entertainment industry have led artists to discover innovative ways to distribute content to their supporters. BitTorrent Bundle is one of the most successful new publishing platforms being embraced by many art creators.
After a year of providing direct-to-fan releases from rap representatives like Public Enemy, Curren$y, Cam’ron, Bishop Nehru, and Azealia Banks, it is clear music lovers appreciate the opportunity to have access to more than just songs from their favorite performers. Many of the bundles also provide exclusive tour information, merchandise, and contests.
“Our long-term vision is not to be a content store, or another walled garden. Our vision is to create the technology that puts the store into the content and to let the artist decide what the exchange should be. They know best what the value of a fan is and can judge that better than we can,” BitTorrent’s Vice President of Marketing Matt Mason relayed to AllHipHop.com in 2013. “Our job is to create the best possible tools for creative people, and then get out-of-the-way of them and their fans.”
BitTorrent is a community of 170 million fans, and 89% of those users return each month for other offers. More importantly, 90% of sales revenue goes directly to the artist. According to the company, 12.5 million BitTorrent Bundle digital box sets were downloaded this year. Projects by De La Soul, G-Eazy, and Ace Hood were among the most downloaded bundles in 2014.
Last year, Curren$y’s “Jet Life Bundle” was downloaded over 4 million times in its first four months of release. The Jets also reported that after dropping the Bundle the sale of apparel on their website increased by 500% and advanced ticket sales for their tour went up by 30%.
“Music fans have changed in recent years. New material has a shorter shelf life, and fans have a shorter attention span,” stated Jet Life manager Mousa Hamdan. “You have to keep coming out with new music and new content to keep them coming back. You have to constantly be thinking about new ways to drop content, and new ways to reach listeners.”
Ohio rapper Dub-O of Machine Gun Kelly’s EST 19XX label released his own “Old Lights, New Lights Bundle” in July. Speaking with AllHipHop.com at the time, Dub explained why he jumped on the chance to work with BitTorrent.
“When you do stuff like the bundle package [the fans] feel special. There’s a big, big difference when you’re interactive with your fans, so I try to be as much as I can,” said Dub-O. “I don’t think too many artists are doing things like that. They’re just dropping a mixtape like, ‘Here you go fans.’ But when you put sprinkles on that cupcake, they appreciate that more and keeps them more involved with you.”
Beside individual artists using BitTorrent Bundles to offer fans special incentives, labels such as Mad Decent and Fool’s Gold distributed compilations on the platform as well. Even filmmakers used the site to distribute their art. Over 10 million social justice and advocacy documentaries were accessed via BitTorrent Bundle.
Off-Rip brings us his new project titled “Don’t Show Up When I Blow Up.” Hosted by DJ Mo Beatz, Detroit is well represented on this project. Give it a listen.
Pusha T is at work on his sophomore release, King Push, which he plans to release in the spring of 2015.
The G.O.O.D Music emcee said that he’s working feverishly on this project and is excited to show fans how he has “raised the level of musicality.”
“It’s amazing,” Push told Rolling Stone. “I feel like the sound will be second to none. And of course you already know the raps will be smacking people all left and right. I’ve been working on it constantly.”
The former Clipse member said that his latest single “Lunch Money” is a signal to the fans that they should expect the unexpected.
“I dropped ‘Lunch Money’ to show how far out me and ‘Ye are going to go, just sonically,” he says. “Now, I feel like people don’t know where the hell I’m going to go on the next record. And that’s where I want them to be.”
TDE is in the holiday spirit and have decided to not only host a toy giveaway but a holiday concert as well today (Dec. 23) in Watts, CA. The label is partnering up with Nickerson Garden projects to give away toys, shoes and put on a free concert for the residents.
Members of the TDE team feel it is of utmost importance to give something back to the local communities, especially during the Christmas holiday season,” said a press release. “It’s always so greatly rewarding to see such a festive spirit in the faces of young children when they receive a gift from Santa, especially as many of them may not have received a toy at all if not for the TDE team and those who support them bringing their resources together.”
The entire TDE roster is expected to perform, which is Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, ScHoolboy Q, Isaiah Rashad and SZA.
TDE’s CEO Top Dawg said it was only right to have this event in the community that raised him.
“Being one of those young boys raised in the Nickerson Gardens projects I felt it’s my duty to bring the show back home,” he said. “Rather than just giving gifts for the holidays, I also wanted to bring something different and unique to my community.”
If you’re in the LA area, make sure to visit the Nickerson Garden Projects basketball courts today from 12:00 p.m to 4:00 p.m.
Over the weekend, Jeezy was seen with a beautiful woman. Check them out:
Jeez, she’s remarkably beautiful woman – no pun intended. This was at ATL Mayor Kasim Reed’s fifth annual United Negro College Fund Mayor’s Masked Ball.
Well, rumor has it Jeezy and the young lady have a baby together. I don’t know if this is true, but it would be cool, especially since he’s been settling down a bit. So…is Jeezy growing his family or not?
VH1’s Sorority Sisters received much backlash after its premiere last week (Dec. 15) and sparked protests from fellow sorority and fraternity members in efforts to get the show pulled from the air. Despite having 76,000 people sign a petition to end the show, it will continue to go on, according to reports.
Even advertisers like Crayola, Honda, Hallmark, State Farm and Carmex have severed ties with the show but the network is refusing to cancel it, and the reason is the ratings.
The criticism and petitions did not change that Sorority Sisters pulled in 1.3 million viewers and “was the number one non-sports cable program in that time period among women ages 18 to 49.”
The ratings are expected to get lower and lower as the show goes on.
2014 is coming to a close, and with the close of another year comes a time where people argue and debate all December about what were the best albums of the year. Many have said that 2014 wasn’t a good year for Hip Hop, due to the lack of huge releases and the overuse of DJ Mustard’s beats. But don’t be fooled, 2014 was a year where many young artists flourished under the spotlight, production-rap collaborations set their social media timelines on fire (We’re talking to you Run The Jewels), and seasoned veterans made their outstanding return to Hip Hop. If it wasn’t any good, we wouldn’t have a top 10 to post.
Like every year, AllHipHop will be giving you the best albums of 2014. Unlike other sites just giving you their best albums, the albums below were recommended by the AllHipHop community. That’s right, You made this list, And you’ll get to decide which album tops the rest. So check out what the AllHipHop community recommended as AllHipHop’s 10 Best Albums of 2014.
YG – My Krazy Life
Let’s be real, a lot of people were very skeptical about YG’s debut album before it released. Sure, the Cali rapper’s singles “Who Do You Love” and “My N*gga” were two big hits, but no one knew what he had in store for his major label debut. On March 18, 2014 My Krazy Life dropped, and surprised both critics and listeners alike. With an interesting “day in the life” concept, diverse instrumentals from the like of producers like DJ Mustard and Ty Dolla Sign, and a rap style reminiscent to classic West Coast Rap, My Krazy Life was another album that proved that the West Coast was back in 2014. If YG hasn’t taught you anything else with his album, he did teach you to never judge a project by just their singles.
Best Tracks – Really Be (Smokin’ and Drinkin), Meet The Flockers, Just Wanna Party, My N*gga, Who Do Ya Love
J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive
Nobody was expecting J. Cole to drop an album in 2014. We were still singing “Crooked Smile” on the radio and grooving to “Forbidden Fruit” from Cole’s 2013 album Born Sinner. The dude was even touring during the summer. But when that announcement trailer dropped last month, we were excited to see what the Carolina rapper had in store for us. On December 9th, 2014 Hills Drive released, and it is still getting played while also earning the largest first-week sales 2014, beating Rick Ross’ Mastermind album. What made 2014 Forest Hills Drive so special is that the album was built solely off of Cole’s raw talent. There weren’t any big features, no superstar producers, no radio singles or even album promotion. This made the spotlight bigger on J. Cole throughout his project, and he didn’t disappoint by far. 2014 Forest Hills Drive showed a more humble side to Cole by compiling a string of stories through mesmerizing hooks, complex lyrics, and dope beats in order to illustrate experiences and life in Fayettville, NC. 2014 Forest Hills Drive was the album that put smiles on new listeners’ faces along with those who were there since The Come Up.
Best Tracks – Fire Squad, A Tale of 2 Citiez, Wet Dreamz, G.O.M.D,
Freddie Gibbs x Madlib – Pinata
Long before Pinata was thought about, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib were dropping singles like “Thuggin” and “Shame” all the way back in 2012. It wasn’t until early 2014 that we saw the entire collab album in it’s beauty. Pinata is a fine example of how two opposites can attract. Madlib supplied the smooth and soulful beats, while Gibbs told listeners stories of drugs, women, guns, and more women. The album only got better with an explosive posse cut to end the album. With interesting features from artists like Raekwon, Scarface, Ab Soul, Earl Sweatshirt, and Danny Brown, Pinata became an album that made Freddie Gibbs a force to be reckoned with, without the help of someone else on this list. With Pinata being both critically acclaimed and loved by fans, Gibbs and Madlib have a high set of standards that they can only build off of.
Best Songs – High, Harold’s, Bomb, Shame, Lakers
Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2
It looks like Hip-Hop collab Run The Jewels wins 2014, huh? On October 24th, he duo released Run the Jewels 2 for free via Twitter before the scheduled release date, and social media was set on fire. Killer Mike and El-P creates a unique sound that combines aggressive electronic beats with rhymes of chaos. The album Run The Jewels 2 starts out with “Jeopardy”, an explosive yet highly lyrical track that illustrates the hard-hitting vibe of the album. With “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry” and “Blockbuster Night Pt 1” after that, it’s like a three punch combo. Run the Jewels 2 includes features from Gangsta Boo, Travis Barker, and Diane Coffee to name a few. They all fit in well with Run the Jewels’ strong personality throughout the album.Run The Jewels wins the year again, but how about a 3-peat?
Best Songs – Oh My Darling Don’t Cry, Close Your Eyes (And Count to F###), All My Life, All Due Respect
Big K.R.I.T. – Cadillactica
Ever since Big K.R.I.T.’s major label Live From The Underground, the Mississippi rapper has risen to the higher ranks of the Hip Hop game. Many people were surprised when K.R.I.T. first released the track “Mt. Olympus”, and he left with a trail of bangers that would all lead up to Cadillactica. This album shows the lyrical talent of KRIT, with a complex theme that is very reminiscent of the mixtape 4 Eva N A Day. There are features from OG’s like E-40 and Raphael Saadiq, with Wiz Khalifa and Lupe Fiasco as the younger generation of Hip Hop to fit the album.But don’t be fooled, songs like “King of the South”, “My Sub Pt 3”, and the ASAP Ferg featured deluxe track “Lac Lac” are a few bangers that will keep your speakers knockin’ doors down. In the future, when we talk about K.R.I.T.’s catalogue, this will be considered his masterpiece.
Best Songs – My Sub Pt. 3 (Big Bang), Soul Food, King of the South,
Common – Nobody’s Smiling
Although the summer of 2014 with filled with nothing but DJ Mustard beats, Common released a gem that took a roll in uplifting the city he’s from Chicago. Obviously, Chi-Town hasn’t been the nicest place to go on a vacation, with the city being named as the modern murder capital in the States, and Nobody’s Smiling plays a role of illustrating the violence that goes on in the streets of the inner-city. The album is dark compared to Common’s previous albums in his catalogue, but songs like “Diamonds” try to keep the a Nobody’s Smiling from being an album taken too seriously. What also made Nobody’s Smiling a unique album was the reunion between Common and No ID. The beats fits in well with Common’s rhymes, to establish a reinvention of their collaborative sound. Nobody’s Smiling was an album that brought out the many skeletons that are in Chicago’s inner-city, but you’ll enjoy every bit of it.
Best Songs – Speak My Piece, The Neighborhood, Kingdom, Real
ScHoolboy Q – Oxymoron
If you’ve thought the AHH community would not make Oxymoron one of the best albums of 2014, you’re trippin’. ScHoolboy Q’s debut album was a highly anticipated album that was a both a critical and popular success. The entire album had Q doing several mischievous crimes throughout the album to raise his daughter the right way – oxymoronic indeed. There were several issues that are addressed in Oxymoron, including drug addiction, murder, gang banging, and even pimping. However, these different topics weren’t romanticized like other rappers, Q used his story to show what really goes down in LA’s underworld. The debut album featured appearances from 2 Chainz, Jay Rock, BJ The Chicago Kid, Raekwon, Kurupt, and even Tyler, The Creator. Q also had an incredible production staff, including Tyler, Pharrell, MikeWillMadeIt, THC, and Digi+Phonics. Oxymoron was a successful step for ScHoolboy Q’s mainstream start. Let’s hope that he can build off of this album in the future
Best Songs – Gangsta, What They Want, Presciption/Oxymoron, Man of The Year, Studio.
Young Jeezy – Seen It All: The Autobiography
On September 2nd, Jeezy made his return to the Hip Hop industry by releasing his seventh studio album. Seen It All: The Autobiography was a project that reinforced the down-south sound that Jeezy has had since his Thug Motivation series, and flourishes off of it. With “1/4 Block” to start the album out with a bang, Seen It All continues with a whole half of banging bass beats until a brief intermission with the song “Holy Ghost” before getting right back to blasting singles like “Me Ok” and “Seen It All”. Jeezy also adds in the smooth track “Beautiful” to even out the bangers and the riding music, using a sample from the French jazz band, Cortex. Seen It All didn’t try hard to catch attention in the Hip Hop industry, but it did make Jeezy’s sound popular again.
Best Songs – Seen It All, Me OK, Beautiful, 1/4 Block.
DJ Premiere x Royce Da 5’9 – PRhyme
PRhyme was the album that represented old school hip hop in 2014. With one of the most legendary producers to step in the studio teaming up with one of the most underrated rappers ever, the final product was a reinvigorating return the classic lyrical hip hop. Royce’s verses was amazing in PRhyme to the point where features like Ab Soul, Common, Schoolboy Q, and Mac Miller had to step their game up to meet Royce’s standards. There were several lyrical punchlines that made Royce’s verses not only memorable, but also refreshing to those who has been a fan to 90’s rap. Premo’s instrumentals were classic in every sense from the boom-bap structure, to the old school DJ scratches that carried on through each chorus. If you though lyrics in Hip Hop weren’t important anymore, than you haven’t listened to PRhyme yet.
Best Songs – Dat Sound Good, Underground Kings, To Me To You, PRhyme
TI – Paperwork
Paperwork has to be one of the best albums that TI dropped after his release from Prison. Although the ATL rapper has distanced himself a bit from his previous hood rhymes, that doesn’t mean that it’s completely gone. TI continues to offer a project that both shows growth in his sound and the reinforcing of what made his claim to fame in the early 2000’s. Paperwork already supplied radio’s with what may be one of the most popular rap songs of 2014, the Young Thug- featured track “About The Money”, but songs like “On Doe, On Phil” are still songs that keep your trunk rattling throughout the album. Paperwork has a ton of guest appearances, from Trae Tha Truth to Iggy Azalea, with production credits from a diverse set of producers including Pharrell, DJ Mustard, and London on Tha Track.
Best Songs – About The Money, On Doe On Phil, Jet Phil, G’ S###
What is the best album of 2014? You can decide below
After being jailed this summer for not paying $1.1 million in child support and was released on $25,000 bail, Stevie J was mandated to take random drug tests as a condition of his release. The Grammy-winning producer has reportedly failed all of his random drug tests and is being shipped off to a 30-day inpatient rehab.
The 43-year-old has tested positive for cocaine and marijuana 10 times between June and December of this year.
Stevie’s lawyer Michael Bellinger is arguing that Stevie going to jail is going to prevent him from being able to work and therefore hinder his ability to pay off his debts, saying “If he’s in inpatient he can’t support his family.”
The Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta star first tested positive for marijuana and cocaine in June when he was picked up in Atlanta to be taken to New York for the back child support charges.
(AllHipHop News) Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons has been one of the most outspoken activist from the Hip Hop community concerning equal justice and police brutality. The mogul joined the “Millions March NYC” in support of Eric Garner, and he met with Governor Andrew Cuomo about reforming the criminal justice system.
Simmons has now turned his attention to police union president Pat Lynch. The leader of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association received widespread backlash for his comments following the killing of New York City police officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos. Lynch stated at a press conference that NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio had “blood on his hands,” effectively blaming the mayor for the deaths of Liu and Ramos.
In a Huffington Post op-ed titled “Pat Lynch, You Will Not Wage ‘War’ on Our Communities!”, Simmons addressed Lynch’s statements. He wrote in part:
Pat, there is no “war” that will be waged upon our communities by your, I mean OUR officers, there is no blood on anyone’s hands except those of the killer, and there is no demonizing hundreds of thousands of people who have peacefully exercised their first amendment right marching in the streets for an end to violence. It is disappointing to witness how disrespectful Pat Lynch has been to Mayor de Blasio for trying to reform a department in much need of transformation, yet he was SILENT when the leader of his police department was far more direct in his criticism.
Simmons also used the article to offer prayers and condolences to the Liu and Ramos families as well as the loved ones of the gunman’s first victim Shaneka Thompson. The 57-year-old entrepreneur ended his piece by adding he and the community will no longer tolerate people like Lynch that he feels creates division between the citizens and the cops.
By now you’ve seen the video of Amber Rose and Chris Brown grinding off in the club. Word is Breezy’s girl wasn’t feeling it at all.
HollywoodLife reports:
“Karrueche sees Chris out and about, partying around town, and getting close to Amber Rose. She sees it, but this time, she’s not letting his childish games manipulate her. She’s not saying she doesn’t love him or that she doesn’t want to be with him, but she just isn’t falling for his games,” a source tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY.
And she’s not too concerned with Amber. In fact, Karrueche thinks Wiz Khalifa‘s ex is just “thirsty.”
“As far as Amber is concerned, Karrueche isn’t mad at her. If Amber’s that thirsty and wants to sleep with Chris, she can go ahead, he’s all hers. But if Chris falls for Amber, Karrueche will be done with him. She’ll be completely done and will never speak to him again!”
Regardless, Karrueche has lost a lot of respect for Amber.
“Karrueche thinks less of Amber and thinks she’s way out of line for grinding on her man like that. You’d never catch Karrueche flirting with Wiz [Khalifa] or anyone Amber’s been with. Karrueche is a real classy woman, but unfortunately, she can’t say the same for Amber,” our source adds.”
Karrueche has every right to be upset. Amber would feel some type of way if it would have been the other way around and Karrueche was all on Wiz and made a point to address how she felt about Kim Kardashian…#butthatsnoneofmybusiness.
(AllHipHop News) There is a legal war brewing between video site YouTube and licensing management company Global Music Rights headed by Irving Azoff. The dispute is over the performance rights for 20,000 songs by GMR represented acts like Pharrell Williams, John Lennon,and more.
Azoff has informed YouTube that it lacks performance rights for these 20,000 songs — including ones by Smokey Robinson, Chris Cornell, and George and Ira Gershwin. Since November, when YouTube announced the coming launch of a subscription service to compete with Spotify and Pandora, Azoff has kept up the pressure to license, but Google isn’t backing down.
That’s quite upsetting to Azoff, who is prepared to launch an all-out legal war if negotiations don’t prove fruitful and if YouTube refuses to remove the works. Why YouTube and not, say, Spotify? “Because they are the ones that have been least cooperative and the company our clients feel are the worst offenders,” Azoff tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s also their attitude.”
GMR attorney Howard King and Google (YouTube’s parent company) lawyer David Kramer haveexchanged emails over the issue. King accused YouTube of ignoring take down notices from Global and alleged the site does not have legal agreements to use licensed songs, specifically for the new streaming service Music Key.
Kramer responded by accusing GMR of three attempts to go around the notice-and-take down process established by the U.S. Congress’ Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). According to Kramer, the DMCA requires GMR to send individual take down notices with a url for each song violation. That would total likely hundreds of thousands of videos on the site.
“This will result in someone blinking, and if it is not them, there will be a billion-dollar copyright infringement lawsuit filed,” said King.
Well one thing for sure, Iggy aint worried bout nothin’.
Hell from the looks of it the threat of being blackmailed by hackers and being hated by most of the hip-hop community is the further thing from her mind.
Iggy Azalea made sure her boo, L.A. Laker Nick Young had a splendid Christmas and set him up in something right: a tricked out 1962 Chevy Impala.
Times must be really hard for Yung Joc. Although appearing on the last season of Love and Rachetry Hip-Hop Atlanta, the rapper was spotted allegedly selling fake Fendi bags inside of a barber shop in Atlanta and you know somebody snapped a pic.
It really seems that the two shared a genuine love for one another, but there’s not hurt like a woman scorned and according to these text messages allegedly sent from Nicki Minaj to Safaree she decided to hit him where it would hurt.
The Shade Room posted screenshots of messages allegedly from Nicki’s ex’s phone, where she admits to smashing Meek Mill.
Photo: TheShadeRoom
The site also has claims to back up that the dates and timeline in these messages add up:
“On this particular day, Nicki, Safaree, and Chiraq rapper Lil Herb were all in the studio. Nicki Minaj was angry because she felt Safaree was showing out and basically ignoring her. She would ask him for assistance and he completely ignored her and treated her like ish. Throughout the time that they were in the studio they were arguing via text back and forth over the issue. At one point, Nicki Minaj asked Safaree to help her with her bags down the stairs and to the car and he ignored her and said no. Instead, he brought guns to the studio to show off for Lil herb (he was very excited about working with him). Nicki Minaj didn’t appreciate the fact that he was of little to no help and spent his time bragging in the studio for an 18 year old. In the text messages, she threatened to get Safaree beat up and she hit him where it hurts by admitting that she had intimate relations with Meek Mill that same day in the live room. Now, Nicki could have been trying to make him jealous but this is what she told him.
We can confirm that 9 months ago (36 weeks ago) Nicki Minaj, Lil Herb, and Safaree were all in the studio together. Nicki Minaj and Safaree both posted pics posing with Lil Herb in the studio exactly 36 weeks ago.”
