(AllHipHop News) The popularity of battle rap has become so big, a legend of the culture believes it is inevitable that Hip Hop heavyweights like Eminem, Nas, and Jay Z will jump into the ring.
Speaking with VladTV, Loaded Lux discusses how the sport is at another level at this point and mainstream rappers are going to want to participate.
“[Battle rap in big venues] is becoming the new normal. Why Meek Mill couldn’t jump in there with Lil Wayne? It’s so many that could do it. Everybody in Slaughterhouse could do it,” said Lux. “Eminem, come on he’s from that. Let him get a big enough playing field. Em versus Nas, or Em versus Jay – it’s coming.”
According to Lux, the public’s interest in battle rap equals opportunities to make a lot of money, so artists and companies will want to tap into that commercial potential.
“[If] people just stop buying albums, and they start paying just to see battles. What you think the game gonna do?” asked the Harlem native.
(AllHipHop News) Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) has spent the last few days sharing his thoughts about his personal experiences of being a black man in America and the criticism he has received by some observers that he is “a white rapper.”
The former star of Community took on the label and began tweeting about what he felt are the advantages of being a white rapper, advantages Gambino expresses he does not receive as an African-American performer.
(AllHipHop News) It took nearly a week, but according to CNN the Ferguson Police Department will officially reveal the name of the officer that killed Michael Brown. The hacktivist network Anonymous claimed to have already found and published the officer’s name, but authorities say that information was inaccurate.
There was another major development in the situation in Ferguson, Missouri in the last day. Heavy-handed police tactics against protesters were not used overnight. Gov. Jay Nixon put Missouri State Highway Patrol in charge of security instead of local police, and the federal Justice Department assisted in handling protests.
Nixon placed African-American Capt. Ronald S. Johnson in charge of the SHP’s involvement. Johnson, a native of the area, was seen walking with protesters, and he set up a media staging area for journalists covering the story.
According to reports, police did not use SWAT teams, riot gear, tear gas, smoke bombs, and rubber bullets in the city like had been done in previous days. Also, no journalists were arrested for simply doing their job of reporting the news from the town.
“We are going to have a different approach and have the approach that we’re in this together,” said Johnson.
The protests in Ferguson began after a local police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The officer’s account is that the two struggled over his firearm which led to the shooting, but witnesses at the scene stated Brown raised his hands in the air before being shot multiple times in the street by the officer. The recent high school graduate was unarmed at the time.
(AllHipHop News) Dame Dash has sued famed Hollywood director Lee Daniels for $25 million, according to reports.
Dash filed the court papers in Manhattan Supreme Court today, alleging that Daniels owes him the money as well as executive producer credits movie and TV projects like “The Butler,” “Precious,” among others.
Daniels has not commented publicly on the matter.
The former Roc-A-Fella honcho was credited on movies Daniels crafted like 2004’s “The Woodsman” and 2005’s “Shadowboxer” with Cuba Gooding Jr. Dash says he was never paid for those efforts.
The unflappable King of Beef may have landed a big situation with Live Nation, according to reports on the internet. There seems to be huge deal to the tune of $300 million for the G-Unit General. Seems like this report started at thisis50.com and continued to roll downhill. Now, I am not sure if this is true, but it may be possible that is popped off because of the G-Unit reunions. I don’t know to be real, but that could be it. Anyway, 50 is getting money all over the place. I heard a few deals he’s working on overseas too. The next album is coming too. Don’t get it twisted, he made money off that last one.
The Black Opera hits us with their first single “No Water” from the upcoming album, The Great Year dropping September 30th.
Message From The Black Opera:
Imagine a world where water is the most valuable commodity, even more valued than oil or gold. What would happen if water became so scarce that it caused World Wars? “No Water” puts a spin on this idea & takes a satirical look at water through the lens of an excessive rap culture where splurging on water is the new wave.
(AllHipHop News) Every 30th birthday party should involve Method Man and Redman. Earlier today (August 14th), Def Jam announced plans to release a multi-CD box set as well as a star studded performance to commemorate its 30th year of existence .
Def Jam released their first songs, LL Cool J’s “I Need A Beat” and Beastie Boys’ “Rock Hard” in 1984. In those 30 years, Def Jam has signed and released an extensive list of hitmakers and Hip Hop legends including Ja Rule, Method Man, Redman, Jay Z, Nas, The Roots and DMX. On October 16th at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY, Def Jam will put on a 30th anniversary party including performances from Foxy Brown, Warren G, Onyx, Jhene Aiko and a litany of other Def Jam artists.
In addition, a 30-song box set will be released including songs from its storied past. Additionally, Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin will curate a 13-song compilation of songs which influenced the Def Jam era for Selections From The Roots Of Def Jam, included with certain box set offers. In Selections From The Roots Of Def Jam, songs such as Fearless Four’s 1982 “Rockin’ It”, Treacherous 3’s 1980 “Body Rocky”and more.
Def Jam released a similar package five years ago for their 25th anniversary. According to the Def Jam press release, there will be multiple box set offers:
DEF JAM 30 will be commercially available in two box set configurations: A 3-CD version (the basic two volumes of 30 Def Jam selections plus Roots) that includes the book and a collectable t-shirt in a limited edition turntable style numbered box; and a 6-LP version (the basic 30 Def Jam selections on 4 LPs, with Roots covering 2 LPs), also including the book and a collectable t-shirt in a limited edition turntable style numbered box.
Tickets for the Def Jam 30 concert go on sale August 20th. The box set will be released on September 16th.
(AllHipHop News) The Bully is back on Broad St. Earlier today (August 14th), Beanie Sigel was released from Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia after serving two years for tax evasion and drug possession.
Beanie Sigel was sentenced to prison for six to 23 months on March 6th, 2013, less than seven months after he was arrested by police whom discovered prescription drugs in his car. Back in March 2013, Judge Michael Coll did not specify if Sigel’s drug possession sentence would run concurrent with his two year federal tax evasion sentence. Sigel was given his two year tax evasion sentence on July 12th, 2012 a month and a half before he was arrested for prescription drugs.
Siegel failed to pay $728,000 in taxes between 1999-2005, his time on Roc-A-Fella Records.
Sigel reported to prison in September 2012.
DJ Drama posted a picture on his personal Instagram account of the newly freed Beanie Sigel. Check out the photo below:
(AllHipHop Features) The dynamic duo has long been a staple in Hip Hop culture. EPMD, OutKast, Meth & Red, UGK, Ghost & Rae, Jay & Ye, Clipse, Black Star, and several other two-man groups have set the standard for emcees joining forces to create a musical project. Mello Music Group is now presenting a new double threat in the form of Castle & Has-lo.
North Carolina’s Castle and Philadelphia’s Has-Lo linked up for CSTL’s Return of the Gasface (The Has-Lo Passages) earlier this year. That re-release featured Has reinterpreting tracks from the 2013 Gasface album, but their new collaborative LP Live Like You’re Dead includes both emcees equally contributing rhymes and production.
Over 14 tracks, Castle and Has-Lo trade bars about the grind of an artist, social media thirst traps, comedic personal observations, and other ideas forged in the creative mind’s of the two emcees. Live Like You’re Dead serves as an engaging introduction to one of Hip Hop’s brightest contemporary tandems.
In AllHipHop.com’s latest edition of “5 & Done,” Has and CSTL chat about their joint album and which rap duos make their respective lists of all-time favorites.
Has-Lo
You two have worked together in the past. Why did you decide to get together for a full joint album?
Has-Lo: It’s fun to make music with your friends. We’d been planning to do an album for like four years. It sort of just started happening one day. After a couple songs we were in album mode.
Castle: We’ve always talked about putting a full length album together. Me traveling to Philly in 2013 just made doing so easier.
What inspired the album’s title?
Has: I don’t quite remember the story of the album title. Castle, do you remember?
CSTL: I was randomly looking at videos of Malcolm X on YouTube, and his words “living like a man who is already dead” struck me as particularly live.
A lot of the tracks on “Live Like You’re Dead” have a grimier production style then what was presented on “Return of The Gasface.” Why did you decide to switch the musical style for this project?
Has: Really? I think it’s grimier on Return. Maybe I’m biased [laughs]. But yeah, we didn’t overthink the musical style of Live Like You’re Dead too much. We focused on enjoying making it first, and second, making music that everyone would hear and think “this is different from what they usually do” but was still a natural fit.
CSTL: I wouldn’t call it “grimy” so much as I would “live”, a la [Jaylib’s] Champion Sound or [De La Soul’s] Stakes Is High. The beats are raw and drums are dirtier though. Like Has said, the goal was to cut loose and go crazy.
Castle
Who are some of your all time favorite Hip Hop duos?
Has:Turner & H####, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, Tango & Cash. Tom Hanks is a slept on emcee. He freestyled all his dialogue in Cloud Atlas. A lot of people don’t know that.
CSTL: EPMD, Plug One and Two, Action Bronson and the fifty year old Puerto Rican that doesn’t know his name, and Rae and Ghostface.
Could the tandem of Castle and Has-lo become a permanent team?
CSTL: Being friends, I think we’ll never stop being a team, whether it’s working on our solo stuff or duo stuff.
Has: What he said.
To purchase a physical copy of Live Like You’re Dead visit mellomusicgroup.com and for a digital copy visit iTunes.
(AllHipHop News) For over 35 years, Richard Colon has been Steady as a Rock and Crazy with the Legs. In our EXCLUSIVE interview with one of the pioneers of the B-Boy culture, Crazy Legs details the history of Red Bull BC One dance competition, the changes in b-boy battling and more.
In 2004, Crazy Legs signed an endorsement deal with Red Bull and has hosted the company’s annual dance competition, BC One, numerous times since 2005. MTV/Sirius XM personality Sway Calloway will host the upcoming 2014 Red Bull BC One National Finals, but Crazy Legs explains that as structured as BC One is, the inherent improvisation of B-Boy usually leads to unexpected occurrences with international ramifications:
Because you have so many fans of what is going on, it’s almost like the cheering is staged, but it’s not. The people get REALLY hyped. Yeah, come on, you got people throwing themselves around. Young brothers contorting their body and doing acrobatic things. Sometimes they do things they don’t plan out and it’s surprising to them as well as the audience. They’re like ‘Oh sh*t, this kid just did some crazy new things that people probably will be biting all around the world.
Crazy Legs has been B-Boying for over 37 years and in a 2007 interview with One Cypher, explained that his “one criticism” of modern day B-Boy scene is that “some of them do not know how to dance.” In our interview, Legs broke down how organic, spontaneous and impartial the B-Boy culture was back in the 70’s and 80’s:
Back in the day, the way I sought most of my battle out were, say I heard you live 20 blocks away and you’re hanging out in front of your building all of the time with your boys or whoever. I know you the hot new b-boy or something like that, that’s battling out there and I’m trying to come up, I would find out who you are, where you live, really know what you look like. I’d roll up to your crib in front of your building, like ‘yo, you b-boy grey shirt.’ You’d be like ‘yeah, why?’ I’d be like ‘you want to battle?’ We’d go at it right there on the concrete.
The Red Bull BC One National Finals will be live streamed from The Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas, NV on AllHipHop on Friday (August 15th) at 9 P.M. PST. One B-Boy will be chosen to represent North America in the Red Bull BC One World Finals on November 29th.
Check out the first two parts of AllHipHop’s interview with Krazy Legs.
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Parents are going to have to come to terms with the state of affairs with Black youth and the police. In the words of Charles Dutton in 1993’s Menace II Society: “The hunt is on and you’re the prey.” In just a couple of months, we’ve seen several high-profile cases involving overaggressive police who are abusing their tax-payer given jobs. Unarmed men like Eric Garner, Mike Brown and – earlier this week – Ezell Ford were killed at the hands or guns–of police. The police are out here and it feels like its open season on us. What’s scarier is that we are (seemingly) powerless to do anything. The truth couldn’t be further from reality.
Here what you CAN do.
1. Educate your kids, friends, family – and yourself.
Black men/boys and Black women/girls need education on how to conduct themselves with police. It is not a matter of right and wrong. It is a matter of life and death. Remember: both males and females are being victimized by the crooked cops. Click here to read a MommyNoire story from a Black cop (by way of his daughter) on how to deal with cops. We don’t have to agree, but its important to know the state of mind of a regular police officer.
Know your rights. When I was a young man, the police used to pull me over constantly. I wasn’t doing anything, so I ignorantly would let them search my car. There were times when they would seemingly be looking to make some kind of case. The same thing happened with my brother. They apprehended him and tried to force somebody at a hospital to say he robbed them. Its not all brutality, but it sure is terrorism.
What to Do I f You’re Stopped By Police, Immigration Agents or FBI – via the ACLU
YOUR RIGHTS
You have the right to remain silent. If you wish to exercise that right, say so out loud.
You have the right to refuse to consent to a search of yourself, your car or your home.
If you are not under arrest, you have the right to calmly leave. - You have the right to a lawyer if you are arrested. Ask for one immediately.
Regardless of your immigration or citizenship status, you have constitutional rights.
YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES
Do stay calm and be polite.
Do not interfere with or obstruct the police.
Do not lie or give false documents.
Do prepare yourself and your family in case you are arrested.
Do remember the details of the encounter.
Do file a written complaint or call your local ACLU if you feel
2. Protests Protest! PROTEST!
Protesting and marching has been criticized as ineffective, but the protest remains one of the best ways to get the attention and respect of police, media and the general population. (It shows we still care)
3. Create demands
There are a number of agenda’s floating around and many of them include the families of police brutality’s victims. Still, there is a need for a universal, overarching document that is bent on solutions and results.
4. Record and watch the police
Cop Watch has had the right idea since 1990. They have been documenting and monitoring the illicit activities of rogue cops like no other organization. See also: http://copwatchnyc.org and http://www.copblock.org. You don’t need to be in an organization to catch misconduct as it happens. With the rise of the smart phone and other devices, everybody is set to document potential madness.
5. Let the cops know…we are recording
I don’t know that this will help, because some of them seem to be hell-bent on draconian, racist and oppressive behavior. However, I have never been one to just watch somebody die. Unfortunately, jumping in could yield more disastrous results. Scream at them, yell and let them know, they are being tape and monitored.
6. Take legal action against crooked cops
Far too many cops know the law is on their side. And too many people feel they don’t stand a chance in the legal system. Sue, sue SUE! It may not be easy, but it can get results. Hit them in the wallet. If you are illegally stopped don’t just think that is how it is. Report it so that it can be documented. Report it to the ACLU, Center for Constitutional Rights or a similar organization. The only way people were able to sue New York City for Stop & Frisk was because someone reported it.
7. Read and watch the news
The television still serves a purpose here and there. It helps you see laws that are forming and other crimes that may relate to Eric Garner, John Crawford, Michael Brown, and Ezell Ford. All of these presently alleged crimes have happened within a months time. Reading alternative media will help us see there are other cases that don’t make mainstream headlines. There’s a movement to get police equipped with cameras to further monitor their conduct. We need to know these things so we can support acts that support us.
8. Raise hell in the media
The mainstream news may not care about the death of an unarmed Black man or woman, but most people do. They need to see it. If you or a loved one is the victim of police brutality, you better raise hell until they pay attention. Until “they” do, harness nontraditional media, social media and even flyers and stickers – whatever it takes.
9. Create a dialogue with the police
This may or may not work, to be real. It seems like these brutal police officers have no desire to be social with those that want to reform their way of work. Still, there are groups like 100 Blacks In Law Enforcement that can facilitate a meaningful, productive dialogue. As the body count grows, every means must be utilized.
10. Vote against those that support police brutality
Either you are are for police brutality or you aren’t. There’s no middle ground. Vote against those politicians that are silent on the matter or overly supportive of police when brutality occurs.
11. Take pictures and keep a diary!
All victims of police brutality don’t die. Many are beaten, harassed or endure other forms of excessive force. Document everything. Take pictures. Write details down. Get support from those that witnessed the act.
12. Stay cool
Again, when you are dealing with a potentially brutal or murderous cop, the best way to deal with them is to see a rabid, wild, unpredictable dog before you. If you regard them in this way, the approach is a bit different and you can remove any “reasons” to attack. You may not convert him, but you may save your life.
13. Report them anyway
I personally haven’t done this, so I don’t know how it works at the day’s end. If there is an officer that reeks of brutality or that gives off a threatening vibe, get their badge number (if you can) and report them after you have stayed cool. According to a recent study in New Jersey, a whopping 99 percent of all reported cases of brutality against police go uninvestigated. We have to improve that statistic. Stay resolute.
14. Sign a petition!
Tweet! Share stories! Engage in dialogue! Do something! There are a number of ways to act without marching or protesting and yet these seemingly menial acts do help. One person can educate hundreds just by posting a comment or article on Facebook. That post could ignite the next mind, which eventually sparks the next revolution!
Get down or lay down. People of all races, colors, creeds, countries are ready to WILD THE F**K OUT AND RIOT IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE! Pardon me. People of all races, colors, creeds, countries need to stand unified against the devilish scourge of police brutality that has plagued this country in some form since its inception. The time has come for it to die, even as government moves to militarize those that are supposedly meant to “serve and protect.” Malcolm X said, “America is the first country… that can actually have a bloodless revolution.” I hope he was right.
“Quiet Storm” was the first single from Mobb Deep‘s fourth album Murda Muzik. It was originally released on the soundtrack for the film In Too Deep. The song features a sample of the bass line from the classic hip-hop song “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. It also features a sample from Smokey Robinson‘s “A Quiet Storm”. The song is widely thought to be one of Mobb Deep’s greatest songs. “Quiet Storm (Remix)” featuring Lil’ Kim was released as the album’s second single. The remix also became very popular and is noted to be one of Lil’ Kim’s most memorable guest appearances. Enjoy the video above!
The infamous online hacking community Anonymous has released the name of the Ferguson county policer officer who allegedly shot and killed the unarmed teenager Mike Brown.
Bryan P. Williams, the cop identified, took to his personal Facebook account and changed his first name to “Scooby” in hope it would keep the public off his tail. The police department is denying this is in fact the killer and is still refusing to release the name of the officer until their investigation is complete.
@TheAnonMessage has already released personal information on the Ferguson city police chief, including his social security number, home address and a photo that seems to show a confederate flag hanging in the chief’s home.
All of these are part of their plan to force the city to address the injustices in Ferguson and to improve the policing system across the country.
In a delayed response, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, finally visited Ferguson where violent clashes have gone on since Saturday. He released a statement today saying he has removed the Ferguson police from manning the protest any further.
President Obama will also be making a statement regarding the Ferguson unrest today at 12:15pm EST.
Anonymous is also calling for “A Day of Rage” today. We would rather call it a Peaceful Protest to bring attention to police brutality.
(AllHipHop News)Tha Carter V season has a start date. Lil Wayne revealed both the album cover and the release date for the fifth installment of Tha Carter V series on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V will be released on October 28th with the album cover featuring a picture of a younger Lil Wayne and his mother. According to Lil Wayne’s interview with ESPN as he states “It’s perfect, because I always go with a baby picture and I wanted to go with one with my momma.”
Wayne also commented on the Toronto Raptors being fined $25,000 over Drake’s “public recruiting” of Kevin Durant at his OVO Fest. Wayne says “he has to know that he’s the team’s ambassador. He has to be more careful.”
