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Timbaland Launches New Sparkling Liqueur LeSUTRA

(AllHipHop News) Grammy Award winning producer Timbaland is jumping into the spirits business with the launch of a new sparkling liqueur called LeSutra.

Timbaland is co-owner in the new company, along with partners who are veterans in the business.

The multi-platinum producer is working with Tom Bruno, co-founder of Grey Goose Vodka, wine & spirit distribution expert Ryan Rosenberg and marketing “masterminds” Adam Berkowitz and Jonathan Webb.

LeSUTRA
LeSUTRA

The ultra-premium brand liqueur will come in four different flavors and according to the founders, LeSUTRA will “revolutionize the liqueur industry” by tapping into a variety of tastes and demographics.

“Everything that I create is groundbreaking and LeSUTRA is no different,” said co-owner and LeSUTRA partner Timbaland. “With its innovative ingredients and design, I’m confident that we’ll gain a loyal and eclectic consumer base. My infectious style has helped produce career-defining hits for artists worldwide, and now I’m guaranteeing another hit with LeSUTRA. “

LeSUTRA, which was inspired by the Kama Sutra, will launch in three different flavors – blueberry, strawberry, grape and peach.

Grey Goose co-founder Tom Bruno was also excited about his latest brand and business venture.
“With all my years in the wine and spirits industry, I have come across many fledging brands,” Tom Bruno said. “It is really rare to find a brand with so much potential and unique craftsmanship. From the recipe formula and luxury packaging to the marketing presence and overall impact of a partner like Timbaland, we have a champion in LeSUTRA.”

Timbaland is planning a massive launch party for LeSUTRA this Labor Day in Miami.

LeSUTRA is 30 Proof and will be priced at $29.99 for 750 mL and $19.99 for 375 mL. LeSUTRA Sparkling Liqueur launch on the East coast in this summer, with plans to expand nationwide in 2013.

Lecrae Announces Release Date For “Gravity,” Launches 30-City Tour In Support Of Album

(AllHipHop News) Grammy nominated rapper Lecrae has announced the release date for his highly anticipated album, Gravity.

The new release from rapper Lecrae features a number of guest appearances from popular rappers like BIG K.R.I.T., Mathai (The Voice), as well as Reach Records label mates Trip Lee and Tedashii.

Production on Gravity is rounded out by beatmakers like DJ Khalil, Street Symphony’s Heat Academy, The Watchmen, and others.

“With the release of Gravity, I really wanted to expand on my previous work while still making sure to keep it all very authentic to who I am as an artist as well as a person,” Lecrae told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “When I released Church Clothes earlier this year, it was the precursor of what’s come with this album. It introduced my music to new audiences, allowing me to impact others.”

Lecrae, who has sold hundreds of thousands of records independently through his label Reach Records, will embark upon a 30-day tour in support of Gravity.

The “Unashamed Tour 2012: Come Alive” will kick off on October 4.

The “Unashamed Tour 2012” will stop in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta and other major markets and will feature label mates like Andy Mineo, Trip Lee, KB, Pro and others.

Lecrae’s album Gravity hits stores September 4.

Check out the tour dates below:

10/4: Pittsburgh, PA

10/5: Chicago, IL

10/6: Detroit, MI

10/7: Columbus, OH

10/9: Buffalo, NY

10/10: Toronto, Canada

10/12: New York, NY

10/13: Virginia Beach, VA

10/14: Raleigh/Charlotte, NC

10/18: Birmingham, AL

10/19: Atlanta, GA

10/20: Orlando, FL

10/21: Miami, FL

10/23: Pensacola, FL/Mobile, AL

10/24: Little Rock, AR

10/25: Oklahoma City, OK

10/27: Dallas, TX

10/31: Lubbock, TX

11/1: Albuquerque, NM

11/2: Phoenix, AZ

11/3: Los Angeles, CA

11/4: San Francisco, CA

11/7: Portland, OR

11/8: Seattle, WA

11/10: Las Vegas, NA

11/15: Omaha, NE

11/16: Minneapolis, MN

11/17: Kansas City, KS

11/18: Memphis, TN

Hip-Hop Rumors: [Video] Nicki Minaj Harassed By Lady GaGa Fans

Nicki Minaj will probably never escape the Lady GaGa comparisons, but it does seems as thought they are starting to get under her skin. The reigning Queen of Hip-Hop was recently heckled by a Lady GaGa fan as she exited an airport. The fan called her a GaGa “rip off” and told her that she “needs to stop copying Lady GaGa.” Check out the video below:

In the video description it says that Nicki called the overzealous GaGa fan a “b*tch,” but I didn’t hear it. Did you? Glad to see Nicki kept her cool in this situation. Do you agree with the fan, is Nicki a GaGa clone?

Non Hip-Hop Rumors: Which Singer Turned Down The Chance To Play Martin Luther King?

Singer Ne-Yo revealed to Britain’s Sunday Mirror that he recently had to turn down the role of Martin Luther King because it would have required him to gain 30 pounds.

“They wanted to start shooting at the time my album R.E.D. comes out and wanted me to gain 30 pounds, so I couldn’t do it,” Ne-Yo admitted. “I’m kicking myself but acting can’t take the place of my music. Plus, I’ve been killing myself in the gym for months preparing for this album because I wanted a complete makeover.”

Ne-Yo’s upcoming album R.E.D. is set to drop in September. Do you think Ne-Yo would have done the role of MLK justice?

Daily Word: Never Stay Defeated!!

Happy Tuesday, my soldiers and survivors!

Welcome to the day that makes yesterday a thing of the past!! Today’s Daily Word is dedicated
to never staying defeated! I have no idea who Murphy is, but apparently he has a law that says if anything can go wrong it will… While this was the case for me yesterday – the fact that I am up writing about how bad my day was signifies that it wasn’t!

In life, you will be dealt with many obstacles or situations that may seem like the end of the
world, but if you live to tell the story, it means that you have another opportunity to make it better! No matter how beat down or defeated you may feel at times, never ever give up! Whatever you may be going through will pass!

Believe in the power of now and your power to change your circumstance!! The only thing that can stop you is death!! As long as you have breath in your body, you will have opportunity! Take advantage of this opportunity and create your light! Remember: The darkest hour is just before the dawn!
-Ash’Cash

“Even when defeat appears certain, victory is well within reach. Even when the night is at its darkest, dawn is already on the way.” -Ralph Marston

“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.” -Roger Crawford

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” -Thomas Edison

“Never stop just because you feel defeated. The journey to the other side is attainable only after great suffering.” -Santosh Kalwar

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” -Robert Schuller

“A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.” -Richard M. Nixon

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” -Aristotle Onassis

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” -Henry Ford

TO HEAR THE AUDIO VERSION OF THE DAILY WORD – CLICK HERE.

Ash’Cash is a Business Consultant, Motivational Speaker, Financial Expert and the author of Mind Right, Money Right: 10 Laws of Financial Freedom. For more information, please visit his website, www.IamAshCash.com.

Frank Ocean: The Rosa Parks Of The Gay Hip-Hop Movement

From here on, Caushun will forever be known as the Claudette Colvin of Hip-Hop. Caushun was unabashedly out when he was thrust upon the Hip-Hop community as one of the first rappers to be presented as openly gay and embraced by the powers that be. He was also covered heavily in the media as one that would have waved the rainbow flag inside the otherwise open doors on the House of Hip-Hop.

As the story was told in the mid-2000s, he was signed to Baby Phat Records and touted through of the music elite’s insider parties. Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons took the fabulously flamboyant Caushun under their mighty marital wing and introduced him to the world.

Jason Herndon, Caushun by his real name, has to be somewhere in the deep recesses of obscurity, stewing. P#####. Crushed even.

Frank Ocean stole his moment.

Frank Ocean, when history is told and re-told, will be regarded as the Rosa Parks of the Gay Hip-Hop movement. Mark these words. If you have a chisel handy, etch them in stone.

He’s not a rapper, some are going to argue. Was Nate Dogg a rapper? What about TJ Swann of the Juice Crew? We all love Mary J. Blige. They and others like them are unquestionably Hip-Hop. Caushun was a rapper, but there was nothing truly Hip-Hop about him. Frank, albeit a singer, is undoubtedly a part of the Hip-Hop community, because of the manner in which his music resonates and his affiliations.

Rosa Parks, who was down with the NAACP, was heralded as a heroine of the Civil Rights Movement for her unwillingness to give up her bus seat to a White man as she rested on her weary feet on that fate-filled day in a 1955 Alabama. But her move was a well-timed act as well, as it was a supremely strategic move. Enter Claudette Colvin.

Before Rosa Parks, there was Claudette Colvin. Colvin was a 15-year-old G from what I’ve gathered. She was a young, scrappy, and militant kid when she refused to give up her seat to a White person, a full nine months before her elder counterpart, Parks. Colvin was studying the injustices that were going on in 1955, analyzing the life of Black leaders and was ready for whatever was to come.

[READ: 2011: The Gayest Year In Hip-Hop History]

In her 2009 book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, she explained why Parks was selected. To NPR, she said, “Her skin texture was the kind that people associate with the middle class. She fit that profile.” Parks was also the secretary for the NAACP and had the backing of the local chapter to start the boycott that would cripple the racist busing system.

So, Frank Ocean is the Gay Hip-Hop Movement’s Rosa Parks, whether dissonant voices admit it or not. Rosa Parks wasn’t the first to get arrested for not giving up her seat. But, she was the first, some say, to fit an ideal that matched the delicate needs of the Dr. Martin Luther King-led push for equal rights. And, like Parks, Ocean is relatively safe, whereas Colvin was a militant that eventually relocated to Harlem in the midst of a cultural revolution living among the likes of Malcolm X.

Caushun was presented as an effeminate gay stereotype, a sort of person that’s overtly flamboyant and ultra outrageous to the commoner. Caushun and several other Gay Hip-Hop heads pre-dated the Odd Future affiliate’s announcement that his first love was with another teen boy. But those H### Hip-Hop heads were not the ONE. Frankie Baby is. Frank Ocean rose quickly through the ranks digging his roots deep, but revealing his sexuality at the right time in the right climate.

The door is opening and Frank Ocean – whether he’s Gay, Bisexual, or Something Else – helped open it. It doesn’t really matter. He’s already worked with Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Brandy, Beyonce, and Jay-Z. And now, 50 Cent wants to work with Ocean post-Gay announcement, and Fif hasn’t historically been all that progressive. In fact, just a couple of mixtapes ago, he waged war against soft rap and “smedium” clothing, and now, he still wants to work with the leader of this new school. Like Obama, that’s a shift in position. There has been little to no backlash from the Hip-Hop community, whose homophobia is the stuff legends are made of.

But times have changed quite considerably. Attitudes have changed, but a lot of folks just aren’t choosing to fight that fight.

On top of it all, Frank (and his team) mastered this moment.

[READ: Can Hip-Hop’s New Generation Master The Moment?]

Frank Ocean played it perfectly, and there will always be some level of speculation on the timing of the revelation that his first love was a boy. Frank made his gi-normous reveal about his sexuality a week before his album dropped – a sharp contrast from CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, who could have easily capitalized by announcing he was gay during sweeps. He middle-fingered everything and even made the “announcement” through an email to a friend. Whatever.

This is the business of Hip-Hop and impact is about timing and relevance.

Frank Ocean is inexplicably a part of an untold underbelly of African American history – gay people were in Hip-Hop from the very beginning. (Gasp!) If you don’t know, you don’t know. If you know, you’re probably not saying a lot.

Frank Ocean threw caution to the wind and said what he had to say, in song, letter, and deed.

And his timing couldn’t have been better. Just like Rosa Parks.

[Editor’s note: When it was all said and done Caushun turned out to be a joke. He even had a ghost writer. Oddly enough, by today’s Hip-Hop standards, he would have still had a shot at stardom. Claudette Colvin was no joke. Read up on her.]

Many thanks to my muse for this piece. I appreciate your inspiration.