Soul Khan is off to one heck of a year already and judging by some of the work he put in on Soulstice III his colleagues should be afraid, yes, they should be very afraid.
Soul Khan has risen through the ranks of the battle emcee’s, he has done and is doing amazing things with his Brown Bag brethren, but it’s the personal pieces in his solo projects that get people staring at this man and silently wondering, “Where in the hell did that verse come from?” and the answer is simple. The verses are from his heart.
This artists is more than just metaphorically clever. He speaks truth to power with a wit that can not be taught. He is able to transform any news story into something the listener can grasp and digest and he never shies away from the fight. He uses Hip Hop in a very nostalgic way because for Soul Khan Hip Hop is a call to arms. Only the difference between Soul Khan and a lot of these knuckleheads out here is his words are his weapon of choice and with them he can mow down a mere mortal with ease.
Check out an example of what we mean in the song below!
And here’s a classic example of his skills from one of our all time favorite SK songs to further reinforce our point!
Follow Soul Khan on Twitter to keep up with all of the new music he has dropping in the next few months! @soulkhan
The film about the life and death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant killed by BART police in the early morning hours of New Years Day 2009 is in theaters today.
Grant was returning home from celebrating New Years Eve with his girlfriend and friends when a fight broke out on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train. After being detained by BART police, unarmed Grant was shot in the back and killed while laying prostrate before officers. The officer charged with his slaying was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after stating that he shot Grant accidently, confusing his gun with his taser.
The slaying of Oscar Grant prompted several violent protests in Oakland, as well as numerous non-violent events of support, including tribute shows by local hip-hop artists.
The movie, Fruitvale Station, was named after the station where Grant was shot. The heartbreaking and amazingly portrayed film stars Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle, Parenthood) and Academy Award winner, Octavia Spencer. The film was executive produced by Forrest Whitaker. Fruitvale Station won “Prize of the Future” at the Cannes Film Festival as well as U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and is already being considered an Oscar contender.
There have been rumors about Kim and Floyd, but it seems like it may be back on. Floyd posted a pair of expensive shoes that he bought for Kim! Check them out. To me, they just look gaudy, but I asked a chick I like, but doesn’t like me back and she said they were hot.
Anyway, this has reignited the rumors that they are a couple. I didn’t write about it but Floyd broke off his nuptials with this fiancee so he’s free and clear. I know one thing, if if loses his next fight, I know who to blame!
Peace to the Queen Bee and King Floyd!
They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry! -illseed.
Adrian Daniel & The Stoners’ July 5th performance at the legendary The Bitter End included the raucous performance of their track “Electric Lady” off of the EP Native.
Impromptu dance routines, extended jam sessions and a drum solo at the end that had the entire reserved crowd on their feet in the night’s biggest reaction.
“Electric Lady” can be found on Adrian Daniel’s Native EP available for free on his SoundCloud page.
NFL Falcon’s star Asante Samuel and Michael Oher of The Superbowl-winning Baltimore Ravens recently hosted a celebrity day party in Miami. The Coors Light Refresh Day Party was sponsored by Varsity LG and brought out a number of athletes, executives and beautiful women.
Miami rap star Flo Rida stopped by the party to keep things crackin’.
The jury has acquitted George Zimmerman, who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, news outlets and public figures are advocating peace. The case has all the potential for a riot-worthy situation, but that won’t create a sustained change. An unarmed, young black male, an “authority figure” killer in the then-29 year old neighborhood watchman, and the polarizing race factor.
The death of Trayvon Martin has not been far from the minds of black America, and yet, many white American’s are not following the trial or feel no real investment in the outcome. The case has proven that there is no post-racial America.
It’s time for a revolution. Time for a real conversation about race in America. If there is to be a “revolution,” it may not be televised, but it will definitely be tweeted. Social Media is the new TV and has been a source of feedback directly from the court of public opinion. And between the Zimmerman trial, the changes to the voting rights act, and all of Paula Deen’s crazy racism, it seemed to us a rough time to be black in America. It also seemed like a time to do something about it. So, we reached out via Facebook and Twitter to friends of our site for songs to add to our soundtrack to start the revolution.
Here is the AllHipHop.com Revolution Mixtape*
From Davey D. (Hip-Hop Journalist, Historian, DJ. via Facebook):
Track 1: “Hip Hop” by dead prez
Track 2: “Revolution” by Rebel Diaz
Track 3: “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy
Track 4: “Buckwyling” by Sista Souljah and Terminator X, Chuck D
Track 5: “F– Tha Police” by NWA
From dream hampton (Author, Filmmaker. via Twitter):
Track 6: “I Like Giants” by Kimya Dawson
Track 7: “Sorrow, Tears & Blood” by Fela
Track 8: “Apple Orchard” by Invincible
Track 9: “Crucify Yr Mind” by Sixto Rodriguez
Track 10: “Wake Up” by Bob Marley
From MK Asante (Author, Filmmaker, Professor. via Facebook):
Track 11: “Point of No Return” by Immortal TechniqueTrack 12: “Deceased” by Tupac ShakurTrack 13: “Bang on Them” by Uncle MurdaTrack 14: “African Student Movement” by Saul WilliamsTrack 15: “Godz N The Hood” by Ras Kass featuring Bishop Lamont, MK Asante, and Talib KweliFrom the AllHipHop.com Staff (Cultural Commentators, Hip-Hop Media Legends. via Email):Track 16: “Sly Fox” by NasTrack 17: “Not Ready to Make Nice” by The Dixie ChicksTrack 18: “My Life” by DJ PaulTrack 19:”Let’s Get This Paper” by Rich BoyTrack 20: “When the Revolution Comes” by The Last Poets
From “Friends of the Family” (Supporters via Facebook)
Track 21: “Liberation” by OutKastTrack 22: “Give Peace a Chance” by John LennonTrack 23: “The Hate that Hate Made” by ParisTrack 24: “Testify” by Styles P. and Talib KweliTrack 25: “Calm Like a Bomb” by Rage Against the Machine*AllHipHop.com is in no way advocating violence against person or property.Share what songs would be your on your soundtrack to a revolution in the comments section.
(AllHipHop News) Justin Timberlake never left but he has returned with his new single “Take Back The Night” from his forthcoming album The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 due September 20th.
I missed this, but is cool. Just Blaze is going to be the executive producer on the new Slaughter House album. They just dropped this new song via Tony Touch’s 50 MCs:
Beyonce responds to her critics regarding that very profitable Pepsi deal after she was down with Michelle Obama’s health initiative.
“Pepsi is a brand I’ve grown up seeing my heroes collaborate with. The company respects musicians and artistry. I wouldn’t encourage any person, especially a child, to live life without balance. When you work out, take care of your body, rehearse as hard as I rehearsed in the commercial, I think it’s great to have a Pepsi or Diet Pepsi when you want one. It’s all about choices.”
Eddie Griffin has been accused of assaulting a lesbian couple. Whoa, buddy. Here is a video of the alleged assault via TMZ.
(AllHipHop News) With all these new rules flying around Beyonce seems to have implemented one of the oldest rules: do not rush “genius”. According to Major Lazer producer Diplo’s interview with The Sun, Beyonce’s untitled fifth album has been “scrapped”.
”I just did two songs for her new album, well, I tried. I think she scrapped the record.”
While Beyonce has released singles such as “Bow Down/I Been On”, “Grown Woman” and “Standing On The Sun”, none have been marketed as new singles for the album.
There has been no official word from Beyonce’s camp on if she has in fact shelved her new album but Beyonce took to her personal Instagram account to vaguely reassure fans that the album is coming:
Beyonce is currently on her Mrs. Carter World Tour which ends on December 20th at the TD Garden in Boston, MA.
(AllHipHop Feature) In many ways 16-year-old Bishop Nehru is a typical rising high school senior. He enjoys playing NBA 2K, he names Brad Pitt’s World War Z as his movie of the moment, and he hopes to one day appear on one of his favorite television shows The Boondocks (“Aaron McGruder needs to put me on his show ASAP!”), but unlike a lot of his peers, Bishop is already effectively on the path to living out his dreams.
In a little over a year the Nanuet, New York native has gone from making no-budget, self-produced videos to sharing a tour bill with Ghostface Killah and MF Doom in London. The lyrical prodigy dropped his first mixtape Nehruvia last November, and now he is on the cusp of releasing his second official project Strictly FLOWz.
Bishop is hesitant to label his latest work a mixtape, referring to the collection of all original tracks as an EP. According to him, no matter how the project is defined, Strictly FLOWz will further shine a spotlight on his immense talents.
“This project is going to be completely different [from Nehruvia]. It’s a whole different side of me,” says Bishop. “I’m just giving people how versatile I am. How many different things I can do in music.”
Bishop (born Markel Scott) first began recording music as Kile Kanvas. He calls his KK days as a “test phase” where he experimented with his artistic voice. He eventually became comfortable with a Golden Era Hip Hop influenced soundscape and began uploading videos under a new name inspired by Tupac Shakur’s character in Juice (Roland Bishop) and Mahatma Gandhi’s Indian Independence Movement partner (Jawaharlal Nehru).
“I changed my name from Kile Kanvas to get a fresh start so people will feel like they’re getting a whole new artist,” explains Bishop.
The newly reinvented rapper shot a home-made video for his freestyle over Mos Def’s “Mathematics.” The Bishop version, “Languages,” somehow went viral on the net and the recognition almost instantly transformed the unknown teenager into an emcee the industry started to keep an eye on.
“It was weird when I checked my Twitter and I saw my mentions with a bunch of Worldstar s###,” says Bishop. “So I went to Worldstar and seen my video there. That s### was crazy to me. To see myself on Worldstar for a video I made in 10 minutes. That s### was incredible.”
Bishop directs and edits his own videos, he produces and mixes the tracks on his projects, and he writes and shoots short films. That level of on-hand commitment would be remarkable for a seasoned entertainment veteran, but the fact that Bishop has managed to accomplish those skills at just 16 is almost unbelievable. By the way, he is completely self-taught.
“I taught myself everything I know,” reveals the multi-talented artisan. “When I was trying to get into short videos I would just go on Google and type in ‘how to videos.’ It was mostly trial and error.”
Besides gaining knowledge from online lessons Bishop has also studied classic albums of the genre. He cites Nas’ Illmatic, AZ’s Do or Die, and Mobb Deep’s The Infamous as a few of the inspirations for his 21st Century take on 1990’s rap. His appreciation for Clinton era New York Hip Hop has drawn comparisons to another young emcee. Bishop understands the Joey Bada$$ association, but he wants to stand as his own artist.
“It’s a cool comparison, but it’s getting a little old,” states Bishop. “It’s not a bad comparison so I’m not really complaining. That’s my homie.”
There is one iconic Hip Hop figure he hopes to be mentioned in the same vein as one day. For Bishop it’s the musical and acting career of the man who motivated his moniker that he aspires to reach.
“Tupac still has an effect on people now from 20 years ago. That s###’s crazy to me,” says Bishop. “That’s the kind of effect I want to have on people’s lives. I don’t want to be forgotten.”
Legendary status as an actor and Grammy-winning performer is the eventual goal, but for now Bishop Nehru is focused on growing his independent brand along with his Suburban Shoguns comrades Que Hampton, Iggy Dash, and Marc Mason. If the major labels do come calling Bishop says it’s only one thing that would get his name on the dotted line. “Complete creative control. That’s it.”
With videos topping 50,000 views on YouTube, singles getting premiered on Tony Touch’s Toca Tuesdays Shade 45 radio program, and opening shows for his all-time favorite group Wu-Tang Clan, it may be only a matter of time before Bishop Nehru’s star rises to exceptional heights. Surprisingly, the young man has not fallen victim to the hubris that often consumes naturally talented individuals.
“Nothing really hit me yet, because in my eyes I’m still just the same kid.”
Bishop Nehru’s strictlyFLOWz will be available for download at thesuburbandojo.com on July 16th.
