(AllHipHop News) Former Death Row head Suge Knight now reportedly has a bench warrant issued for his arrest. According to TMZ, a judge has ordered deputies to arrest Suge for not showing up to court. He was due in court after being arresting last September for driving without a license plate.
Suge already had an outstanding warrant for not appearing for two other cases from 2011 and 2012. Those charges were for driving with a suspended license.
(AllHipHop News) Kanye West and Mac Miller have been tapped to take part in the ESPN X Games’ X Music Fest 2014. Ye and Mac will hit the stage at the annual event being held this year in Austin, Texas. Other acts confirmed to perform include Gary Clark Jr., The Flaming Lips, and Mayer Hawthorne.
The festival will take place at the 14,000 capacity Austin360 Amphitheater at Circuit of The Americas. The X Games are scheduled for June 5-8. Tickets for the X Music Fest go on sale Friday, January 24th. An exclusive pre-sale sign-up is available at xgamesaustin.com.
(AllHipHop News) After her widely respected turn as Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez in VH1’s CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, Niatia “Lil Mama” Kirkland is next set to preside as the celebrity host for the Pan African Film Festival’s Spoken Word Fest. The event will feature some of the best poets and spoken word artists from across the nation. The theme of this year’s event is “Music in the Rhymes.”
The Pan African Film Festival was founded by Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon,The Color Purple), Ja’net DuBois (Good Times), and Ayuko Babu in 1992. PAFF has become one of the world’s leading film festivals to showcase creative works by artists of African descent.
The 2014 edition is scheduled to take place February 6-17 at the new Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills 15 at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. For more information about the festival and the Spoken Word Fest visit www.PAFF.org.
(AllHipHop News) Hip-Hop star Young Jeezy earned himself a trip to county jail earlier today after a run in with Atlanta police.
Police were responding to an alarm at his girlfriend’s house in Alpharetta, Georgia, when the incident took place.
According to TMZ.com, Young Jeezy refused to identify himself to the arriving officers and allegedly cussed them out.
Police claim the rapper also briefly resisted arrest during the incident, which resulted in Young Jeezy being charged with obstructing police officers.
Young Jeezy, born Jay Jenkins, was booked into the Fulton County jail.
It’s the second arrest for Young Jeezy this month.
Mister Cee made headlines when it was revealed that he was sexually into people that were not women. Well, it looks like the next issue of GQ as Cee talking the talk to the mag. I am not sure exactly what they have to say, but it seems like he will be talking living a “double life” in Hip-Hop. I find this interesting for a number of reasons, but mostly that Cee is talking about it publicly. God Bless and I will be reading.
This sort of stuff is almost normal now, so I guess I am not so shocked.
“They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry!” -illseed.
There always seems to be some kind of shenanigans going on with Peter Gunz. We left off with word that Amina was actually pregnant (allegedly) and that Peter was still cheating on (What else is new?) her but now folks on twitter are claiming to have spotted the couple at the Medicaid office.
Do you think this was really the Medicaid office? Shouldn’t Love & Hip-Hop money be enough for them to get some better insurance?
Just so we’re clear, reality TV money can vary for people but a show like Love & Hip-Hop should put them, as newbie characters, in at least the position to be good for a few months. Then again, he does have other kids a so, who knows.
The West Coast is the home to so many talented rappers on the come-up and one of them is the Iranian/American story-telling lyricist Azad Right. As the son of well-known blind poet Majid Naficy and trained in classical music, Azad has been putting his creativity to use since early childhood and has brought that creative mind over to his career as a Hip-Hop artist. After a period of paying dues, learning, making mistakes and witnessing the advancement of his peers, Azad seems like he’s ready to take that next step in his career. With poetry flowing through his veins and a unique story to tell, AllHipHop.com sat down with the young gifted writer so that you can learn more about him. Ladies and Gentlemen, here’s Azad Right.
How did the art of Hip-Hop become a part of your life?
I lived in Venice, CA and grew up listening to Eminem, Dr. Dre and Nas. Those were my three introductions to Hip-Hop. I was surrounded by people that weren’t in to the inner-city lifestyle. I never took part in gangbanging but I could relate to the street poetry of Nas. With Eminem, I would print out these lyric sheets and highlight the patterns – the schemes were so intricate. At first, it didn’t make sense how he would rhyme something on bar one and come back around on bar four, so I highlighted it and wondered how I could get my stuff to sound like this. I spent the better half of my teenage years trying to master the multi-syllable compound rhymes. My mom’s boyfriend, R.I.P, would play 2Pac in the car and that also gave me an introduction to the culture. Around my high school years, I took it seriously and would go to open mic events and the Fairfax Poetry Lounge. I saw the come-up of a lot of the artists out here that are now on a high level.
Was there any clash between your Iranian culture and Hip-Hop?
Just to give you a little background information on my family, my parents have both been politically active with beliefs that did not exactly line up with the Iranian government. My father never imposed anything on me but my environment caused me to think the way that I think. My Culture itself probably clashes with Hip-Hop but my parents are very open-minded. I grew up in Venice. My producer, who I grew up with, is Guatemalan and Puerto Rican. My other friends were white and black. The Iranian Culture came when I started putting music out they felt like they could relate to me because I’m doing what they have always wanted to do but they got f*cked over doing what they’re parents wanted for them. A lot have told me that they have a voice now because of me.
Do you get any backlash at all?
It’s been overwhelmingly supportive. I’m sure there are people that say things behind closed doors, but I don’t care. I love what I’m doing. I’m not where I want to be yet but I’m having a great time doing it. If you like it, then you like it. If you don’t, I don’t know about it.
Your father is a blind poet?
Yes and he is the single most influential person in my life. He inspires the passion for what I do. When I was younger I would go to shows all around the world with him. I would watch the reaction that people had to his writing. All walks of life are touched by his stories. He’s followed his dreams his entire life without sacrificing an ounce of integrity. He told me that whatever I do in life, as long as I do it one hundred percent, nothing else will matter. Actions speak louder than words. A lot of people say that sh*t but he’s really walking that path.
Do you have a favorite poem of his that stands out to you?
Yes I do, it’s actually a collection of poems that was dedicated to me called, “Father and Son.” There’s so many more too. The trials and tribulations that this man endured is – I don’t think even he’s at peace with it all. I still think that there’s a lot more that he wants to get done in his life. It’s inspiring to see someone who’s been at it for so long, still have a hunger and a desire to do more.
Seeing him work on his poetry must have gotten you started at a young age.
My mom just showed me a video of when I was 4 years old, sitting on a piano stool, writing journals. The journals were taken to Kinko’s to be copied and I would sell them out to family members on holidays. I was low-key getting my entrepreneur and writing skills going.
When did you start to feel that your writing skills were really developing?
I got expelled in High School because of a record that I participated in putting out which dissed a local gang that kept jumping my homies. Fortunately they let me come back after I completed an independent study to graduate with my class and go to Prom. There were 4 of us and one of them, whose name I won’t reveal, is in the NFL right now. Another is an MC from Los Angeles who is starting to do well right now. Looking back on that, we’ve all come a long way. I quit rapping for a while after that because I blamed rap and the Hip-Hop culture for getting me in to that situation, as opposed to blaming myself for being a f*cking idiot for doing that. I didn’t even know the people I was dissing. I was going off of what other people had told me. I felt like an a**hole after that and I had months and months to reflect on it. My parents wanted to move because I was getting threats from all over.
This was a “real” gang that you dissed?
Yes, a real gang. It was some dumb a** sh*t and I learned my lesson – I got my a** beat!
They got you?
Of course and I will never go down that path again. It’s all love now. I’ve got homies that are in it and they want me to win. This is the life that they can’t live and they want me to win doing it the right way.
How did your school find out about the song?
By my senior year we had put out 3,500 copies of the Mixtape with the song and there are 4,000 kids at Santa Monica High School. It was getting around. Back then I went by the name Pudge After High School, I went to Santa Monica College and I failed my a** off but I learned that you can use that school to get any internship that you want. I applied to MTV, Universal, and Interscope. My homegirl was already at Interscope and she saw my Facebook status. She brought me in and I got the gig and it changed my life forever. I worked at Interscope 25 hours a week, just doing stuff for free, but learning the music game. I was running reports, looking at Soundscan, looking at blogs – they schooled me the right way on how to do this. A & R’s started to hear my tracks because my boy would put me in the mix with Drake and J. Cole back in 2008 when nobody had really heard of them yet. They were surprised by the tracks and I thought they were going to sign me but instead they brought me in for my good ear and asked me who was bubbling on the Los Angeles scene. I put them on to U.N.I. who I thought was one of the dopest groups and everything comes full circle because the person who was their road manager is now one of my managers.
That’s amazing for an artist to get that kind of business education first hand. If only all artists could intern at a record label to see how the business is run.
The most successful people In this industry are the ones that know how the business works. A lot of artists just throw out music with no plan. Where is your press build? What do you stand for? What is your identity as an artist? These are questions that are asked by people like the ones at Interscope. You have to learn how to balance creativity and commerce. So shout out to everybody who got to intern at place they wanted to, doing what they love, and with ulterior motives without letting anybody know them (laughs).
Tell me about an incredible experience of yours in the music business so far.
I opened up for Kendrick Lamar at The Music Box and it was the show where Dr. Dre first came out on stage in support of him. I got to meet Dre and DJ Green Lantern backstage. I saw Kendrick before he blew up and that night let me know that this can really happen to me because I saw it happening to him. I need those moments in my life because I’m a realist. After the show, 200 people got my CD, I was taking pictures with girls – it was great.
Do you ever have moments where you want to quit?
Quit? No. Do I get frustrated? Yes. The moment you lose passion for whatever you’re doing, that’s when you need to move on. I have that passion and fire still burning in me.
What frustrations you about this business?
What you just said, “business.” Nothing about the artistry frustrates me. Being in the studio and not being able to come up with something, inspires me even more. On the business side of things where you can’t get this placement or put this song out because people have boundaries and want to box you in – that’s frustrating but you can’t let that effect your craft. The craft is the most beautiful part of this. Cherish those moments of being in the studio and having writers block. At least you’re trying to do something and the art is telling you to go live some more.
(AllHipHop Features) Hip Hop collective After The Smoke’s journey from local performers questioning their future to musical act on the cusp of breaking out on the national level originated in Tallahassee, Florida. It’s in the Sunshine State’s capital city where lyricist Rob Coin (aka Whuzi), producer Soft Glas, and producer Day G connected and eventually formulated the self-described “chill wave vibe” of songs like the 2012 YouTube hit “OIAM”.
After The Smoke would go on to Las Vegas as the Southeast finalist for Billboard.com’s Battle of the Bands 2012 and grab the attention of Warner Brothers Records A&R Dante Ross and Violator co-founder the late Chris Lighty. Coin eventually settled in New York City, and in 2013 he and his crew dropped their mixtape Microwaves. The 14-song opus garnered the group mentions on numerous Hip Hop blog sites and even comparisons to OutKast.
AllHipHop.com spoke with Coin about being matched with the legendary ATLiens, the formation of After The Smoke, what inspired the eclectic soundscape of Microwaves, and where they plan to take listeners on their next project.
Rob Coin: We all met back in Tallahassee. Some of the guys there were going to school. I was going to school at one point. I ended up hustling as far as starting my business, doing videos, and whatever I could do to get by artistically. I had my own studio and my name started buzzing around town, so I started linking up with other artists. I came across Soft Glas, and Day actually ended up being my roommate at one point. It all came together organically. We just found each other and started hanging out and jamming.
You do a lot of the directing and editing for After The Smoke’s videos. Do you have any formal training in filmmaking?
To be honest it just came from necessity. At the end of the day when you’re an independent artist it’s hard to put together a full package – recording your music from start to finish, getting it out visually. I literally scrapped together some show money or whatever money I had, bought a camera, and through trial-and-error put it together for whatever vision I had in my head. The only formal training I ever had was me being a graphic designer, me being a painter. That’s all just from me growing up drawing. I just try and translate that artistic eye into a more technical aspect.
So visual art was your first skill set and that transferred into music?
I started off as a visual artist. I actually got into the rapping thing after I was hanging out with my n****as who really considered themselves rappers. I use to do album covers. Whatever n***as needed, people came to me. I always considered myself a visual artist. I just took that same skill set and eventually just started out doing spoken word poems when I wanted to express myself in a different way. It just evolved from point-to-point. Eventually I just started getting more into the music end of things. I went about it kind of backwards.
I think that makes a little bit more sense to me just thinking about it. Like you said, now you’re in a position where you can do a lot of the stuff outside the music where you don’t have to depend on somebody else to do it.
I had a lot of crazy visual ideas that were like far out into left field I guess. As an artist I’d be like “Yo, this s**t would be f**king dope if you did this or you added this.” So for all of the experimental stuff that my homies are like “eh, that might not work too much,” I was eventually just like f**k it. Let me try this. Let me try to be my own guinea pig and experiment on this thing. That’s how After The Smoke was born, just me wanting to be a full fledge artist all around – visually and musically. Combine both those halves. Sometimes I don’t want to wait on someone’s opinion of saying I don’t know if I want to try that. I can say, “I got my own project. Let me try this.” What’s the harm in it?
The video for “OIAM” now has over a million and a half views. What inspired the treatment for that video?
The treatment actually was a little different. I had a storyline and everything with that. I feel like we went in one direction where I wanted it to be about time and space and still make it sexy, still make it appealing. I had this whole idea about a girl having this special aura about her and that she could control time, space, and your reality. I partnered with a homeboy of mine Andrew Fairbank, the co-director, but he had a different background. He wasn’t into music videos. He’s more documentary and traditional film style. I have a more guerilla style with my shooting, and he has a trained Florida State film school background. So, I tried to get some ideas from him and merge those two.
I don’t think it necessarily hit the nail on the head to what I had in my mind, but I think that’s the beauty of that video. It was two different perspectives coming together and figuring out a new aesthetic. We shot in two days. He directed it one day, and then I looked at the footage and was like, “You know what? I want to try this. Let’s add some of this guerilla style feel to it.” It was a good exercise in being able to work with another mind, come together, and figuring out how to create something fresh.
Your recent mixtape Microwaves mixes elements of Hip Hop, Soul, Electronica, and R&B. What attracted you to want to blend those different sounds together in that way?
I think when we were putting together the tape there was actually some personal s**t that was going on. It was dealing with me and another guy I use to work with. Unfortunately, he had some mental and family issues happen, along with me dealing with a lot pressure from some family issues.
The reason I titled it Microwaves was because I felt under pressure. I felt like there were a lot of crazy vibes going on at that time, and I felt that’s the “controlled chaos” sound I wanted to reflect on the album. I wanted the concept of the album to be more about being in this warped world, and I feel like that’s why I wanted it to be different sounds. Everything was disjointed during that time. Even sonically we were trying to figure out which direction we wanted to go. Not just musically, but even with the record deal and moving forward.
We’re all getting older and s**t, so it’s just like what direction in life are we trying to go? Will we go our separate ways? Do we stick together as a team? I felt like let me just experiment with different sounds and different textures, because this is what my life is feeling like right now. I tried to create a project that reflected that mentality, and that’s what Microwaves ended up being.
Ultimately, what lead you all to say “let’s stick with this and move forward together as a group?”
Dante Ross, who’s a legend in the game, hit me up out the blue and was like, “I want to f**k with you.” And then Chris Lighty, who did a lot of s**t in the game, [contacted me]. These guys are reaching out to me, showing how much they like the music. I was just like damn, maybe I have something positive going on finally. So that spark was like let’s try this again. Let’s try to make this s**t happen.
Unfortunately, after I inked a deal with Chris Lighty he passed away about two months later. I was like “s**t.” Things are about to spark up and go in a positive direction, and here comes life again with some more negative stuff. I was already determined to make something happen. F**k the drama. F**k the bulls**t. It’s now or never. At least I had that kudos. That “here’s my pat on the back let’s make s**t happen” before he passed. I was one of his last – maybe his last – signings, I said this can’t be for nothing. I might as well make something happen. At the end of the day we all came together and pushed forward. In the last year through music and through us hustling, we ended up doing a lot of the s**t that I’ve always wanted to do. Just in life; not just in music.
How do you feel about the comparisons people make between After The Smoke and OutKast?
There are a lot of artists you can get compared to and get upset about. I feel like that’s one of the greatest groups on the face of the earth, so I rather be compared to something like that than just anything. It’s good to be compared to something rather than just walking the middle ground and no one even take the effort to analyze your music enough to compare you to something positive. I feel like from there I can grow. Hopefully, people will listen to my music enough to hear something fresh from it. I feel like that’s where we’re going. The next project is going to take it to a whole other level. Hopefully, we get a fresh vibe to it, and we get our own comparisons in the future. But right now, I’m good with it.
You mentioned on Twitter that you’ve already started working on your next project. Do you have an idea when you’ll start releasing music from it or when the whole project will be done?
I keep trying not to leak stuff everyday [laughs]. As a full project, I’m going to release something by South By Southwest [Festival]. That’s in March. That’s my goal to have something out before or around that time.
Do you have a title for it yet?
Liquid Light Show.
What else can the world expect from After The Smoke in 2014?
I feel that we laid down a great foundation at the end of 2013, and I feel that we’re going to connect with a lot of different emotions and a lot of different pieces of the human experience just through art and music. Microwaves was just the first introduction on a real chill, laid back feel. This next project is going to be another side of the story. It’s going to be a lot more drum heavy. It’s going to be a lot more lively. People are going to see a growth over this next year. They just got to stay tuned and see.
I know this boy is crazy rich, but how long can this madness continue! The NY Daily News is stating that Bieber has spent $75K on the strippers down there at King of Diamonds! YOOOOOOOO….that’s like two years salary, b! But, I guess dude needs to get his weight up in the ratchet community. So what does he do? he goes to Lil Scrappy’s 30th birthday party and wastes all that money! I hope he got some happy endings or something. Sheeeeeet, $75 RACKS? GOT DAYUM! Imagine how much he spends on drugs? Speaking of drugs, how did a Black Man get arrested at Biebers house on some drug ish? SMH! Lil Zero or Za or Zoe or whatever their name is needs to be Lil Charge Taker. SMH. Yeah, I know that was corny,but who cares.
F**k it. Give Lil Zane a job since it seems like Za is going down.
“HEY…I’ll take the job, Beebz!”
BYE.
“They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry!” -illseed.
