Bay Area rapper Blanco has been heating up the airwaves with last week’s release of “Block Party” , a collaboration with YG that’s produced by Cookin’ Soul.
Prior to that yet-to-be-titled, forthcoming collaborative project, Blanco teams up with legendary G-Funk crooner Kokane, Atlanta producer DJ Burn One, and fellow Bay Area rapper Husalah for the Tortoise and The Hare EP.
(AllHipHop News) When Astro was born, the Notorious B.I.G. was less than seven months away from being fatally shot and WorldstarHipHop was nine years from being created. Astro spoke EXCLUSIVELY with AllHipHop about how the famous video hosting platform has changed rap battles in the wake of the East vs West rap beef and more.
Drake famously quipped “diss me, you’ll never hear a reply for it” on his 2009 song “Successful”. While Astro admits that Hip Hop is a competitive sport and “the closest thing to boxing”, the Earth to Echo star states that WorldStarHipHop has influenced an entire era in blurring the lines between reality and entertainment:
I probably wouldn’t engage in no beef. Especially now that we live in a Worldstar era where people, they’ll do something stupid. They’ll throw something at you when you come to their city. Or put their hands on you ’cause they don’t understand that’s a part of Hip Hop. They take everything serious.
Astro has only been in the national spotlight for three years and has already amassed acting credits with Taraji P. Henson and an upcoming film with Liam Neeson. Speaking on his film with Nesson, Astro explains how the writer of Minority Report informed him to never take a cting classes in order to get ahead:
The movie I worked on with Liam Neeson is called A Walk Among The Tombstones The director of that, his name is Scott Frank. He had told me after the audition to never take acting classes. So, I’m just taking his advice. I don’t know, I guess the naturalness or whatever. I took drama class when I was in fifth grade. But that was only so I didn’t have to be in class. In drama class they make you leave the class for whatever period to go practice for the show.
Earth to Echo hits theaters on July 2nd with A Walk Among the Tombstones is set for a September 14th release.
Check out the second part of AllHipHop’s EXCLUSIVE interview with Astro below:
(AllHipHop News) The World Cup may be the only event where one can claim the world is watching with a high degree of certainty, so it’s advertising heaven. Today (June 17th), reports surface that FIFA’s existing licensing agreement with Sony has forced them to ban World Cup players from wearing Beats by Dre headphones.
On June 5th, days before the World Cup began, Beats Electronics released a five minute mini movie entitled “The Game Before The Game” featuring World Cup players as well as Lil Wayne and other celebrities. Even though the video has amassed over 11 million views on YouTube, FIFA has banned players from wearing the headphones in the World Cup stadiums and during media events. Sony, official partner with FIFA has provided the players with headphones to wear during those times they are not permitted to wear any other headphone brand.
This is Beats Electronics second attempt at circumventing FIFA’s licensing rule. During the 2012 Olympics in London, the headphone maker provided headphones to the U.S. Basketball team, which included Lebron James who had a stake in the company at the time.
Check out the 5-minute “The Game Before The Game” below:
(AllHipHop News) G-Unit has been in existence for over a decade, however legal and personal problems have often complicated Young Buck, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo from sharing the same song let alone music video. Today (June 17th), G-Unit released the first video featuring all four members for their remix to HS87’s “Grinding My Whole Life” for “Nah, I’m Talking Bout”.
G-Unit released their debut album Beg For Mercy on November 14th, 2003, less than a year after Tony Yayo was arrested for felony gun possession in December 2002. Yayo was arrested again after being granted parole in Jaunary 2004 for possession of a forged passport and sent back to prison until May 25th, 2004.
As a result, Tony Yayo did not appear in any of G-Unit’s music videos for Beg For Mercy and Young Buck was later kicked out of G-Unit less than three months before G-Unit released their second album Terminate on Sight. Buck’s verses and appearances on the subsequent videos were removed from the album singles and Buck and Yayo never appeared in a music video together until today.
Check out G-Unit’s first music video with all four members below:
The dynamic duo that is Jay and Kanye is certainly an enigma that on the surface may boggle the minds of even the brightest individuals. As you all may know basic chemistry states that some things just don’t mix. For example, no matter how hard you shake that bottle that oil and water is just not going to mix. It’s not of its design. It’s not of its nature. The common man looking on the surface of Jay and Kanye’s relationship may the same thing. One’s low key and reserved, the other is bold and boisterous. One’s street, the other may not be so much. And yet it works. Despite these differences, these creative powerhouses have come together to create an abundance of quality, classic music over the years. Showing that even the most disparate, polarized ideals can coalesce to form greatness, bringing exultation to a flourishing culture adored by so many.
It all started at The Roc with Jay Z on the mic and Yeezy on the boards. Through this budding relationship many hits were produced such as, “Izzo (HOVA)”, “03 Bonnie &Clyde”, “Encore”, (one of my personal favorites), as well as the historic and controversial “Takeover”. And who could forget summer of 2009 with the bold, brash anthem “Run This Town” roaring through the streets, guitar cutting straight to the heart like an adrenaline shot. Also, last but not least the grandest creation of the duo, ‘Watch the Throne’. Released August of 2011 this project featured smash hits “N##### and Paris” and “Otis”, as well as the Frank Ocean featuring, “No Church in the Wild”, and much needed social commentary of a favorite, “Murder to Excellence”.
The history speaks for itself, not only are Jay Z and Kanye legends in their own right, but in collaboration they also form one of the most influential duos that Hip Hop has ever seen. So whatever distinctions that appear or conflicts that arise make sure to keep in mind the universal language of music. Often times the greatest creations are the product of the most odd, contrasting combinations.
International Rap/R&B Duo BOBC (Joe Young & K Young) heat of the streets with their hot new single “Sin City” off of their critically and commercially acclaimed album “Black Models & Models” with features by Rick Ross, The Game, Kid Ink, Crooked I and more.
Damn it, Kanye. Yeezy refuses to lay low and now, he has been unceremoniously boo’d after proclaiming he was the biggest rock star on Earth at Bonnaroo. I feel for this dude, man. I don’t know what else to say about him. I just hope he can continue to be married and a good dad. As for me, he hopes I continue to be a relative unknown to him.
See the video below.
“They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry!” -illseed.
Illseed, Out.
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(AllHipHop News) In less than two weeks, Kanye West went from intentionally omitting Jay Z’s name while performing to claiming that Jay Z influenced Apple’s biggest acquisition deal in its history. Earlier today at Cannes Lions Creativity Conference in France, Mr. West spoke on how Jay Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail collaboration with Samsung helped Dr. Dre’s Beats by Dre/Apple deal happen.
Last July, Jay Z partnered with Samsung for a Magna Carta Holy Grail app that would give 1 million Samsung Galaxy owners a free download of Jay Z’s album. Less than four months after Jay Z and Kanye performed at the first night of Samsung’s SXSW concerts, AdWeek reports that West explains how Jay Z’s Samsung deal may have been culturally influential, but is ultimately behind Apple:
There would have been no Beats deal without the Samsung deal. It showed the No. 1 company the importance of connecting with culture. The reason I said I didn’t like Samsung particularly is because throughout my entire life, because of how my parents raised me, I have to work with the No. 1. I can’t work with anyone but Jay Z, because he’s No. 1. I can’t be with any girl but Kim, because that’s the girl whose pictures I look at the most and get turned on by. I’m not going to represent any company but Louis Vuitton, because that’s No. 1. … Samsung is not quite Apple, but it showed that Jimmy [Iovine] and Dre would be able to connect with the No. 1 influencers.
For the deal, Jay Z was reportedly paid $5 million. While Kanye has not announced any hands-on collaboration with any tech companies as of yet, he did reveal that him and Instagram CEO/co-founder Kevin Systrom spoke about West fixing Instagram:
I said to Kevin [Systrom], why don’t you let us redo Instagram? Now, you know, Instagram is nice. It’s nice looking. I’m not knocking it. But just in general, everyone spends all of their time looking at their screens or their phones. And just as a simple task, we could clean that up.
Days after their wedding, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West posted a picture of the two of them kissing in front of a flower wall which amassed an record 1.9 Instagram likes. According to West, achieving that record almost ruined his honeymoon:
Annie Leibovitz pulled out right before the wedding—maybe she was scared about the idea of celebrity. … But I still wanted my wedding photos to look like Annie Leibovitz. Now, can you imagine telling someone who just wants to Instagram a photo, the No. 1 person on Instagram, that we need to work on the color of the flowered wall? But the fact that the No. 1 most liked photo has this certain aesthetic on it was a win for what the mission is—of raising the palette.
Earlier this year, AllHipHop.com had an epic night with performance from some great upcoming artists and headlined by, Snootie Wilds (CMG), Rich Homie Quan, A$AP Mob (With A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg) and surprise guest from Grafh, Trinidad James and others.
DJ A-Tron held down the music and AlBe Back hosted the night to a crowd of nearly 1000 people. Special thanks to Bedloo.com, Monster Headphones and Twenty Grand Vodka for helping this concert come together the right way.
Take a look at the recap and be on the look out for more concerts by AllHipHop.com for our fans, thank you!
(AllHipHop News) Despite constant public disputes with his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris, T.I. is still willing to stand up and defend her. The Grand Hustle leader shot back at Azealia Banks on Instagram after the femcee insulted Tiny on Twitter yesterday.
[ALSO READ: Azealia Banks Throws Shots At T.I. & Tiny; Tiny Responds]
T.I. posted a picture of Banks on IG with a caption that included calling her a “thot,” a “b***h,” and a “gremlin.” He also warns Banks, “I will end you.”
This comes after Banks tweeted “U want no mediocre but… Have you seen your wife?” The tweet referred to Tip’s new single “No Mediocre.”
–
Banks did not take T.I.’s shots without offering her own response. She jumped back on Twitter with words for Tip.
Wha happens when ur wife has meth mouth? What do u do?
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
The n#### shouting bad b###### this bad b###### that, is almost always at home with some busted bumpkin. — AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
But your wife has meth face.
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
I saw you backstage at Kanye and you had nothing to say. — AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
I stood next to you ON PURPOSE. To see if you would say something.
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
Come see me n####. — AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
And come by yourself.
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
n##### really do be hella p####. u went to jail a million times for guns and drugs and are gonna turn around and threaten some girl.
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
This is not a good look for you black man, it really isn’t.
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
you’ve already been to jail for drugs and guns, your wife can’t read… can you be more of a statistic?
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
I BET HE WON’T DO S###. But sit and simmer, and watch the rest of the atlantis video.
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) June 17, 2014
Powerful, heavy, yet delicate—words weld unlimited possibility. Within Hip-Hop, competitive MCs are challenged to use their words to reflect the human condition. To learn the of art of balancing humility and hubris, an MC must believe in his inherent talent while constantly maintaining a student mentality.
Representing the city that birthed the genre, New York MCs must work diligently to distinguish themselves. In this AllHipHop exclusive, Torae dishes on New York’s lyricism and its place in Hip-Hop.
Here’s the question that evoked his response:
Torae, on “Make You A Believer,” you say, “…who wanna collide with us / it’s obviously obvious the North won the Civil War / it’s better to side with us…” This made me rewind the track. As far as Hip-Hop and its culture, please expound on that. That slick mouth has a lot to say!
Torae’s Response:
When most rap fans think of Ice Cube, one of the first things that comes to mind is the “Straight Out of Compton” video with N.W.A.. In the video Cube starts off rapping “Straight outta Compton, crazy mu’ f*cker named Ice Cube/ From the gang called N*ggas With an Attitude.” Or maybe fans remember the final scenes of Boyz N the Hood where Ice Cube says, “Either they don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care about what’s going on in the hood.” Whatever your memory, most Cube fans mostly recall an anti-authority attitude and a severe dislike for crooked cops throughout an illustrious career in rap and on the big screen.
Most recently in 22 Jump Street, Ice Cube plays Captain Dickson who oversees Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum on their hilarious college adventure. But how could Cube play a cop after making the song “F*ck the Police” and all those neo-civil rights songs with N.W.A.? To add to it, in Hollywood Cube has played not one, but multiple cop roles in movies despite his strong feelings about corrupt cops in real life and in rap. Think about movies like The Glass Shield where Ice Cube played the role of a victim to police discrimination.
As you will see in the interview below, people grow and time changes, but some things still remain the same. Take a look at Part 2 of AllHipHop’s sit down with Ice Cube as he breaks down his feelings about police and playing a cop in movies throughout his career on the big screen.
AllHipHop: Early on in your career you had clear a disdain for police both as a rapper with NWA and in some of your early roles (The Glass Shield, Boyz n the Hood, Higher Learning). But, also in your acting career you’ve played a few cop/military roles (All About the Benjamins, XXX, Three Kings, 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street). How do you feel about this dichotomy throughout your career, and playing both sides of the fence?
Ice Cube: You know as an actor, if you really trying to be a movie star, the last thing you want to do is typecast yourself, so I know people trip of that, but its only acting, they can’t really take that too seriously. Over my career hopefully I’ll do over a hundred movies and I’ll play all kinds of sh*t.
I just feel like as an actor you really gotta do what you can and really you gotta be a part of good movies. If you just sit around and you’re waiting for certain types of movies, you probably really won’t work a lot. So it’s just a thing where I don’t sweat it because it’s make believe, it pays me a whole lot of money. I get to play a cop, and get paid like a movie star.
AllHipHop: That’s funny I know a lot of Hip-Hop heads talk about that a lot, but its true, money talks…
Ice Cube: I mean the thing is this too, if you really dissect it. We talking about bad cops, we talking about corrupt cops, we talking about crooked cops. We not talking about cops who come when your car gets broken in and they come and take a report and they cool with you. We not talking about that kind of cop, those are the ones you like. Those are the ones that do their job and that don’t abuse the people, you know what I’m saying?
When we was talking about “F### the Police” we wasn’t talking about all police, we was talking about the one’s thats f*cked up. So you know putting everything in perspective that’s what its all about. To this day, I still hate bad cops and I respect the cops that do their job.
AllHipHop: In many Black movies in 70’s, the cops and “the man” were villains, then in the 80’s there was the white cop/black cop movies with the Beverly Hills Cop, The 48 Hours and The Lethal Weapon movies. Today we see many black actors in roles as cops. Why do you think there have been these changes on the big screen?
Ice Cube: We realized we are great actors and we can play anything and we should. We realize that we shouldn’t type cast ourselves, as pimps and gangsters. And everyone wanna play the villain, but you gotta stay in your own lane and do what’s cool and fun. Most people that would talk s### would do it too (laughs) If they were offered millions of dollars to be in a movie.
AllHipHop: We kind of touched on the sequels a little bit, but would you ever consider doing a remake or sequel to Boyz n the Hood or Higher Learning for the new generation?
Ice Cube: Um yea I would definitely consider it. If someone had a great script of a great idea to put it together, I would definitely be open to it. I think there is always room for those types of things, when they are done right. You know… I think it’s an interesting concept, yea I’d be open to it.
AllHipHop: It’d be interesting with all the issues going on surrounding race in the United States, with Trayvon and violence etc.
Ice Cube: Its damn near a lot the same, just kind of different players and different locations, but ain’t much changed.
(AllHipHop News) Nicki Minaj and Iggy Azaela are the last two female MC’s to have a Billboard Top 100 #1 single and for all intents and purposes, the only superstar female MC’s currently making music. During a recent interview, Azaela’s Grandh Hustle Records boss, T.I., spoke on Forbes claiming Iggy Azaela runs Hip Hop, a collaboration with Nicki Minaj and more.
Less than a month ago, Nicki Minaj addressed Forbes’ article which claimed Iggy Azaela was running Hip Hop on The Breakfast Club by stating “se rely on Hip Hop journalism and blogs for THAT kind of information.” During his interview on Hot 97’s The Morning Show, T.I. did not explicitly agree with the article title but did ask “At the moment it was printed, was anything going on that was large in conversation?”
When asked about a potential collaboration between Minaj and Azaela, T.I. remarked “it is going to take some time” before bursting out into laughter.
Check out T.I. speak on potentially appearing in next year’s Hot 97 Summer Jam concert, Floyd Mayweather and more below:
Wale is a tad bit sensitive when it comes to his music. When of his fellow followers decided to let him know that his last album ‘The Gifted’ was a “waist” of time, Wale wasted no time getting aggressive.
And it didn’t stop there. Wale continued the Twitter beef with a whole slew of others giving out opinions.
(AllHipHop News) The fans indirectly dictate how an artist operates within the music industry and new social media app Bedloo has taken that ideal and manifested it into a democratic app for the Facebook generation. Daron Destiny, Todd Jones, Vincent Plummer, the founders of Bedloo, speak EXCLUSIVELY with AllHipHop about being featured in the upcoming DJ Khaled music video “They Don’t Love You No More”.
The Bedloo app consists of users posing questions and other users choosing between two choices and leaving comments on their choices. Back in April, Migos releaed a music video for their song “Bedloo” which featured the app being used by fans to pick everything from the group’s wardrobe to “which girl I want today”. According to Daron Destiny, the app will be featured in the upcoming DJ Khaled video due to Migos’ video’s popularity.
Bedloo is available only at the Apple App Store.
Check out the founders of Bedloo speak about their involvement in the upcoming DJ Khaled video with Jay Z, Rick Ross, Meek Mill and French Montana for “They Don’t Love You No More” below:
Its obvious that Trina is hurt behind French dropping her for Khloe Kardashian, but one fan took things too far with Da Baddest B**** and decided to give their take on things, calling Trina a “rat” and saying she’s been with every rapper in the industry.
Ms. Trina didn’t take the comments well and held nothing back when lighting ol’ girl’s a** up…
Mmph. Pretty sure Trina lost a follower that day.