(AllHipHop News) Legendary Houston, Texas record label, Swishahouse, has been honored by University of Houston with the 2011 Most Outstanding Educational Program Award.
In association with the CCM Foundation, Swishahouse was given the award at the 27th Annual Campus Leaders Reception at the University of Houston.
Working in partnership with the Collegiate Cancer Council, Swishahouse earned the kudos by creating the yearly “Well Woman Extravaganza.“
Since 2009, the event has provided HIV/STD testing, HPV/cervical cancer immunizations and education, breast cancer education and screening services, and other health screenings to over 600 people to date.
“We are thrilled and honored to win this prestigious award,” said Michael ‘5000’ Watts, “and we look forward to continuing to sponsor community events that impact the lives of so many women on the University of Houston campus.”
The “Well Woman Extravaganza“ is held in the Fall semester and is free for college students, as well as the general public.
For more information on this and other Swishahouse collaborative efforts, contact Co Garrett.
Rocsi Diaz sure does love her older men, doesn’t she? First, she was rumored to be homewrecking Lisa Raye’s marriage and seeing her then-husband, Michael Misick.
Then she was spotted on vacation with Tony Toni Tone lead singer, Raphael Saadiq.
And now the 106 & Park host is rumored to be dating legendary funny man, Eddie Murphy! The two were spotted grabbing coffee together in Los Angeles and from the looks of the pictures, they let go of each other’s hands as soon as they spotted the paparazzi. Check out the photo of them below.
Rocsi has already commented on the rumors and said that they are friends getting coffee together. Yeah right! It looks like Rocsi is trying to secure a sugar daddy, especially now that it’s been announced that she will be let go from her hosting gig at BET at the end of her contract.
(AllHipHop News) Jay-Z will lead the musical direction over a big budget update of the classic movie “Annie,” which will star Willow Smith.
Furthermore, Jay-Z is expected to write new songs for the movie, despite claiming to be taking a break a press conference promoting his “Made In America” festival.
Will Smith confirmed in an interview with Good Morning America that he would produce the movie, which will have an updated script as well. A director has not been named.
The original “Annie” movie hit theaters in 1982 and was set in a 1933 New York City.
The new version will be set in a present day New York.
Jay-Z sampled the soundtrack to “Annie” to yield one of his biggest records in “Hard Knock Life” in 1999. The song was produced by legendary beat maker Mark The 45 King and appeared on the mogul’s third album Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life.
“Annie” began in the 1920’s as an orphan, her dog and caregiver Daddy Warbucks. It became a highly successful play in the 1970’s.
Yesterday, Lil’ Wayne tweeted “Fu*k Pusha T and anybody who love em” over an alleged diss track aimed at Weezy and Drake. Well Pusha-T’s G.O.O.D. Music label mate, Kid Cudi, was having non of that and responded to Lil’ Wayne via his twitter. Check out what Kid Cudi tweeted below:
The Next 48 Hours With B.o.B is an original 2 part web series that goes behind the scenes during the album release week of “Strange Clouds.”Part 2 follows B.o.B during the day of his album release. B.o.B visits FUSE TV, MTV News, RapFix and ends the day at his Target sponsored Album Release Show. Cameos from Sway, Mystikal Playboy Tre, Melanie FionaB.o.B “Strange Clouds” Album Linkhttp://itunes.apple.com/us/album/strange-clouds/id518748242The Next 48 Hours is an original production by AllHipHop.com, JumpOff TV and Tantrum Productions.Directed by Steve Raze
(AllHipHop News)Public Enemy will mark the 25th anniversary of their 1987 debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, with the release of the group’s 13th and 14th studio albums, respectively titled Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp and The Evil Empire of Everything.
Chuck D spoke on the group’s two new albums to Billboard: “They’re twins, fraternal twins – not identical, but they will talk to each other. The statement with these albums isn’t so much just within the content, but in the audacity of the release, just like, ‘What the hell? Two albums that bookend the summer? What the hell?!’
“But we know we’ve got a fan base that’s kind of acclimated and used to albums,” he continued, “because we were the first to come along and kind of bring a concept album to the hip-hop marketplace. So we oblige this year by doing not one, but two.
“Maybe in the past one would’ve been an A side and the other a B side, or it would’ve been a long CD, but halfway into making it we decided to have two different aspects, one that dealt with the whole movement of people and the other that deals with the situation of everything coming at you at once, like a blizzard.”
To date, features on the album are set to include Brother Ali, DMC, Bumpy Knuckles and Large Professor with more announcements to surely come closer to the first album’s time of release.
Fresh off of his starring role in Kanye West’s new short film, “Cruel Summer” and a starring role on HBO’s original series, “How To Make It In America”, we hear Kid Cudi is going to be taking a break from music to focus on acting. Logan Hill, senior editor at GQ is currently out in Cannes, France for the Cannes Film Festival, and chatted with Cudi about his acting aspirations. Check out what Hill tweeted about the meeting below:
“Kid Cudi stars in @kanyewest Cruel Summer and tells me his whole focus now is acting, picked up 2 scripts today at #Cannes “
Cudi is also rumored to be participating in the upcoming Michael Bay remake of the classic, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . I know one thing, Cudi should definitely be cast in a remake of the Jean Michel Basquiat movie. Cudster looks exactly like the art genius! Check out the side by side photo of them below:
(AllHipHop News) DJ AM’s mother will launch an addiction fund dedicated to helping users on their road to recovery.
Andrea Gross has teamed with Musicares’ Memorial Fund to launch the DJ AM Fund, aimed at helping substance abusers within the music industry.
The charity will launch during the Eighth Annual Musicares Map Fund Benefit Concert on May 31.
This special dinner and concert will feature performances by Alice In Chains, Billy Idol And His Band, Heart, Mark Lanegan, Duff McKagan’s Loaded and will honor Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell.
Tickets for the fundraiser range from $1,250 per person to $12,500 for a seating area for 10.
Comedian Steve-O will host the benefit concert for DJ AM, who died of a drug overdose on August 28 of 2009.
The benefit concert, which will be DJ’d by Moby, will take place at Club Nokia in Los Angeles.
You always hear of celebrities not paying their bills, but now with Twitter around, disgruntled former employees have a platform to air out the celebrity cheapskates.
Yesterday, Diddy was feeling generous upon returning from his trip to Cannes, France and tweeted that he was going to give away $2 million at his upcoming club appearance at a strip club. One of Diddy’s former employees, photographer Rob Hoffman, saw the tweet, and tweeted Diddy back, blowing up his spot for lack of payment. Check out the hilarious tweets below:
Rob then asked his 50,000 followers to retweet #Payyourbillsdiddy to ensure that Diddy could see them. Crazy! No word on whether Diddy finally paid the guy or not.
(AllHipHop News) Last night (May 22) at the Cannes Film Festival in France, Kanye West and the G.O.O.D. Music family premiered the rapper, director, producer, and all-around creative mind’s new one-of-a-kind short-film, Cruel Summer.
On hand at the premiere was Kanye’s fellow Throne member Jay-Z, current flame Kim Kardashian, and G.O.O.D. Music members Pusha T, Big Sean, and Kid Cudi. Comedian Aziz Ansari was and Brooklyn MC Theophilus London were also present.
While details on the film itself have been heavily guarded, GQ Senior Editor Logan Hill was on hand at the premiere and tweeted a number of details and plot points about the film. In addition to stating that Kanye plans to bring Cruel Summer to New York, Qatar (where the film was mostly shot), and worldwide, Hill was told by Amanda Palmer of the DOHA Film Institute, co-producer of Cruel Summer, that Kanye plans to show the film on November 19 as part of a festival in DOHA.
Regarding the film’s plot Hill tweeted, “Cruel Summer is the story of a Lamborghini car thief who falls for a beautiful blind Arabic girl who’s father will let them……marry if he can help her see. So he (Kid Cudi) does using strings that lead her around palace to play music. @kanyewest talke synesthesia.”
“[Kanye] says it work in progress but it’s wildly stylish, huge booming soundtrack,” Hill continued. “Vanessa Beecroft production design. immersive fun. @kanyewest needed 20 camels, 100 extras and I’m guessing 20 Lambos. @kanyewest film features fashion he designed and pieces by local Arabic designers, shot in 4 days, 3 months start to almost-finish.”
Warner Bros. recording artist, Theophilus London, who is currently prepping his sophomore album, Rose Island, tweeted, “That was wild” and “Shout to YE ON HiS RARE CANNES PREMIERE 7 screens under a pyramid.”
A number of pictures from the premiere were tweeted by both the Brooklyn MC and WAD Magazine creative director Alex Sossah, which you can view below:
David Banner, speaking at Year Up Atlanta, a non-profit workforce development agency, talked to the students about issues important to them. Prior to the event, where he was interviewed by AllHipHop.com staffer, Biba Adams, Banner was insistent that the students be able to ask their own questions.
In this part 2 of our coverage of Banner’s 2M1 Movement and release of Sex, Drugs, and Video Games, the young adults of Year Up Atlanta asked interesting questions of the rap star activist:
Terry Harris, student: My teacher taught us about that certain people or entrepreneurs have had certain habits that have helped them be successful. The one that most appealed to me is taking a risk. What was one of the biggest risks that you have taken, how did you feel when you took it, and what was the outcome of taking that risk?
David Banner: Honestly, to be real with you, just about everything I’ve done in my life has been a risk. I had a 3.9987 in an accelerated Master’s program, and I actually worked in my department. But something in my spirit told me that it wasn’t for me. That that wasn’t my path. That wasn’t my goal. So, I packed my clothes and I left. First, I went to New York, and I lived in New York homeless. I was homeless in New York for a spell. And then I met Wendy Day. She let me sleep on the couch. Well, let me sleep on the floor. I took all of that knowledge that I learned street tips and everything from New York, and I moved back to Mississippi and opened up an independent record label.
I mean I would go to Kinko’s, and I would print “David Banner” 10 times on a sheet of paper, and I would cut ‘em out. I would put ‘em on all the cars every night by myself. Finally, some dope boys came up to me and say, “Dude I will buy yo CD if you don’t put no more paper on my car.” And that’s why I was saying knowing your vision, knowing your place, being open enough to hear the spirit whenever it calls you. Whatever you believe in, I’m not judging whatever you believe in but hearing that spirit inside of you and being able to listen. So, that was one of the biggest risks that I took. It’s funny now because I make more than the president of the college. [laughter]
Sabrina Prioleau, student: I’m developing this nonprofit program called “Campaign to Love a Black Man,” and you were talking about reinstating families and getting us to be a cohesive unit. It’s so hard with Hip-hop dictating to this generation of women that we are all bit*hes and hoes. As women, we want to give love effortlessly. How can we do that to you and not feel like you’re rejecting us?
David Banner: Wow! That’s a age old question. One thing that I do want you to know, and I want you to take into consideration as we move forward, I had the opportunity to speak to Congress on behalf of Hip-Hop, and one of the things that I told people is that what you have to understand is that systematically this has been going on for 500 years. Not to take responsibility away from us, but it goes back also into the visions and other things that we see outside of Hip-Hop. It’s easy for us to blame Hip-Hop because nobody’s gon’ protect Hip-Hop.
It’s like the problems in America are so much deeper than just rap,but since you asked the question about rap, I’ll address that. If we really want better, we have to support better. We have to start acting better. One of the problems in Hip-Hop is there are a lot of rappers that I know – and I’m not gon’ call they name, ’cause it’s not for me to put ‘em on front street – that really wanna do better. Me and 9th Wonder put out an album called Death of A Pop Star. And the whole album was positive. It had all these positive messages and guess what it did. Right, nothing.
The thing is that I have had to try to find a way to work in the constraints of the system to make sure that we make some money, so I’m actually able to be able to get in the front of you. It’s sad, but if it wasn’t for “Play” or “Like A Pimp”, I wouldn’t be sitting in front of you talking. Do you know how it feels as a man to understand what I understand now about our culture and the things that we do, but my tool is just the thing that I fight against? Do you know how that feels? As much as I try to do for our community, at the end of the day, I’m looked at as the problem.
That’s why I said it’s gon’ have to get to the point when we break the system. If I got two million people who down with David Banner regardless, I can put out whatever music I want to. Because my two million people will realize it’s not about record sales. If I tell my two million people, “Ok we gon start making better music,” and then I’ll have two million numbers behind it, then I can go to the labels, and whoever, and say this kinda music does sell, ‘cause we got two million people behind it. But what has to happen is the people have to get behind it. Because what’ll end up happening is just like what happens to the rest of our leaders. They end up broke, lonely, and dead. So I need help. I’m one of the ones that’s willing to do it. But I need help.
Kenya Manchester, student: Besides making music and putting out positive music, what would you do with the $2 million that you gain from 2M1?
David Banner: 2M1. First of all, I’m gon answer your question like this – we giving 16 songs with some of the top artists in the whole wide world. We are giving 16 videos. I like to tell people, whatever I do with the money shouldn’t matter, because you get the service. But, because I’m the type of man that I am, I’m gonna tell you. But the same thing that you ask me we should ask all of these products. We should ask Doritos. We should ask Jordan. We should ask Nike, but we only ask ourselves that. “I wanna know what you gon do with the money. What you gon do with $2 million, David Banner? ‘Cause I don’t want you to make nothing.” Not saying that you was doing that. But what I am gonna do with it is that we’re gonna give part of the proceeds to charity. We gon’ pay my staff. We gon’ pay me back cause I spent a lot of my money on this project. And then the other $1 million, we gon’ shoot a movie with. Remember when I told you the 2M1 was about changing our images?
AllHipHop.com: Let’s talk about Trayvon. You’ve been very outspoken about Trayvon Martin. What should the situation, and the case…..what should he mean to this generation?
David Banner: The Trayvon Martin case means even more to me now because the day before I spoke at Harvard, I spoke in front of Trayvon Martin and Oscar Grant’s family. What Trayvon Martin should mean to you is that, it goes back to the movement. What it should mean to you guys is it should show you how America values our life. At the end of the day I want y’all to remember this was a child. When they speak about him regardless, we forget that this was a Black child. If Trayvon Martin was White and Zimmerman was Black, would this case be different? If Trayvon Martin was White, he probably wouldn’t be dead right now. The implications of this trial should show us where we are in America, and what we need to work towards. There’s something that I want to say that I’m working on personally ,‘cause I honestly think that if we start treating ourselves better, and we start respecting ourselves a lot better, it’ll leave less space for other people to treat us the way that they do.
David Banner: Can I tell them one more thing?
AllHipHop.com: Of course.
David Banner: Y’all find out what your goals are now, what your goals are. A lot of times in our community, we follow what our parents or what somebody else had. Their vision. Get somewhere and get quiet and find in your spirit what your purpose is and what your goals are. Research. Find out what your goals are and don’t go into anything but that. Stay directly on your path.
Sometimes distractions come in your life that look like they’re good. Like different jobs and different situations that come your way. Stay on your path. If you stay on your path, as I look you in your eye, I promise something will come out of it. I thought I was supposed to be a rapper all my life. God revealed to me that rap was just like an apple in front of the donkey’s face, something to tempt me and keep me focused. Now I do Gatorade commercials, I score movies. Y’all heard that Gatorade commercial, [sings] “If you want a revolution…?” That’s me! I wrote and produced that. More money than I ever got on tour. [laughter] But that’s because I stayed on my path.
Nicki Minaj’s#### “Moment For Life” was recently used in her Pepsi commercial as part of her ‘Live For Now’ campaign. During a behind-the-scenes interview with TheInsider.com on the set for the ad spot, Nicki revealed that producer and former Murder Inc. label head, Irv Gotti, gave her the inspiration for the track. Check out what she said below:
“When I was writing my first album, ‘Pink Friday,’ I had a conversation with one of my really good friends, his name is Irv Gotti, and we had this really interesting conversation where he told me ‘enjoy this moment, you’ll never get this moment ever again,’ you’ll never be the ‘new girl on the scene’ ever again, and so I went into the studio. I heard this amazing track, and right there in the moment I kind of wished I could freeze everything that was happening because it just felt so exciting, people were all of a sudden interested in me. As an underground artist, I wasn’t really used to that.
“I just started singing, “I wish that I could have this moment for life.” I went in the booth and started singing it. I never wrote it down. I just felt that’s what the track was saying.”
Irv inspired a lot of hits in his day – glad to see he’s still got it!
In related news, Nicki also credits Beyonce for having the Pepsi commercial that influenced her the most. Check out what she said below about King B:
“Out of the people that have done something with Pepsi, I think I was probably the most influenced by the Beyonce commercial, because I felt like this is a young black girl, early on in her career and she’s doing something so iconic and I never thought in a billion years that Pepsi would reach out to someone like me.”
Check out the video interview and behind-the-scenes footage below:
(AllHipHop News) Compton, California rapper Game has been a frequent subject during the trial of James “Jimmy Henchman” Rosemond, who is on trial for running a multi-million dollar cocaine empire.
Rosemond’s company Czar Entertainment managed Game’s career, by helping to book tours, releasing DVDs and marketing the rapper.
At one point, Game was signed to Dr. Dre’s Aftermath imprint, along with 50 Cent’s G-Unit imprint, all of which were being distributed by Interscope Records.
Federal authorities arrested Rosemond in June of 2011 after a month-long manhunt, and charged him with conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
During testimony this week, federal prosecutors introduced into evidence nine different Proffer Agreements, that contained admissions Rosemond allegedly made, in hopes of ultimately, obtaining a Cooperation Agreement with the government.
During a meeting on October 17, 2011, Rosemond allegedly detailed the method in which the cocaine gang shipped kilograms of the drug to the West Coast.
The drug gang used a New York-based courier service named Rock-It Cargo, to ship millions in money and drugs, in custom-made music crates.
Nas, Jimmy Henchman and Game
The crates were shipped to various rehearsal spaces in Los Angeles and intercepted by members of the drug operation.
According to Rosemond, they first did a test shipment, by sending a few pounds of marijuana to the West Coast.
And then, Rosemond allegedly told authorities that they took their test runs a step further.
IRS case agent Marc Van Driessche testified that Rosemond said the custom music crates were used in a test run, to send a shipment of firearms to Game.
Once the guns successfully arrived, the drug gang began shipping 5 to 10 kilograms of cocaine inside each individual music case.
Rosemond also admitted to investing money into various mailbox shops.
Rosemond and an associate named Lamont Bennett owned interests in a variety of stores in California during 2007-2009.
Testimony resumes on Tuesday.
Editors note: Game has not been charged with any crime relating to this case, these are allegations.
T-Boz from the legendary R&B girl group TLC is back in financial trouble. The group famously made headlines back in 1995 when they filed for bankruptcy protection at the height of their success. Now, TMZ is reporting that Honda is looking to repossessing T-Boz’s 2005 Honda Odyssey. Wow, the car is seven years old – you would think it would be paid off by now.
The singer tried to file for bankruptcy back in 2011, but she didn’t fulfill the paperwork required to garner protection from her creditors.
T-Boz also owns a 2006 Mercedes Benz CLS 500 and a 2001 Cadillac Escalade, so hopefully she won’t be “riding in the passenger side of her best friend’s ride” anytime soon. Good luck to T-Boz.
(AllHipHop News) Yesterday (May 23), Marshall Mathers aka Eminem took the time to call in to New York’s Hot 97 to announce that Slaughterhouse would be performing at this year’s Summer Jam 2012.
Hot 97 Host/DJ Peter Rosenberg, who is also host of the new television show, MTV2’s “Hip-Hop Squares”, took the call hyping the announcement with special effects bombs.
“Yeah, well, I actually talked to the guys [Slaughterhouse], and they wanna do it so, I mean, I guess we’ll just make it official? Slaughterhouse performing Summer Jam, June 3,” Eminem said.
With the announcement came instant praise for Slaughterhouse, a super-group that Eminem has been developing for several years, and he mixed their second album entitled, Welcome To: Our House.
When asked what advice he would give to Slaughterhouse before their performance, Eminem said he hopes for the group to just be themselves.
“I really feel like this group, Hip-Hop needs this, man, and I think people are going to see that when this album comes out man,” Eminem told Rosenberg.
While Eminem has been busy mixing the upcoming project as executive producer, he also confirmed that he has been busy on an album of his own.
“Well, right now, I’m actually finishing up everything up on the Slaughterhouse album and kind of getting into my next record a little bit, so that’ basically the couple of things that I’ve been working on,” Eminem reported.
Slaughterhouse’s album, Welcome To: Our House, releases on June 12 under Shady Records and Interscope Records.
With two hugely influential and platinum-selling albums, Richmond, Virginia’s D’Angelo was once on top of the world. Appearing to many as a sex symbol when he appeared in his video for “Untitled (How Does It Feel), D’Angelo reveals in GQ that the visual “overshadowed his talents.”
His second album, Voodoo, released in 2000, marked the end of the burgeoning “neo-Soul” era in the ’90s that included Lauryn Hill, Maxwell, and Erykah Badu.
In January 2012, when a viral video began swirling around the Internet of D’Angelo performing in Sweden, interest picked up with questions reveling in “Is D’Angelo back?!”
In the June issue of GQ, D’Angelo tells all about his troubles, and he reveals why he had to fall back from the industry, details about his battle with drug addiction, and how growing up in church affected him.
Check the full GQ interview here, and ladies, while you wait for the new D’Angelo music, go ahead and reminisce on some of the old:
Welcome to the day that you finally stop playing around and do what you were put on this earth to do!! First and foremost, a moment of silence for New York Radio pioneer, Hal Jackson, who passed away yesterday at the age of 96…………………………… My prayers go out to Debbie
Jackson and the family! Debbie, continued to stay strong and continue to do God’s Work!
In commemoration of Mr. Hal Jackson, Today’s Daily Word is dedicated to doing your life’s work!
For those who are unfamiliar with Hal Jackson’s accomplishments, in 1939 he began his
broadcasting career as the first African-American radio sports announcer in D.C. In 1954, he became the first radio personality to broadcast three daily shows on three different New York stations. Four million listeners tuned in nightly to hear his mix of music and conversations with jazz and show business celebrities. In 1971, Hal Jackson and the late Percy Sutton, a former Manhattan borough president, co-founded the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC), which acquired WLIB — becoming the first African-American owned-and-operated station in New York.
The following year, ICBC acquired WLIB-FM, changing its call letters to WBLS (“the total BLack
experience in Sound”). As of the late 2000s, ICBC, of which Jackson was group chairman, owns and operates stations in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Fort Lauderdale, Columbia, South Carolina, and Jackson, Mississippi. Hal has been on the radio since 1939, which
if you don’t feel like doing the math, equates to over 70 years.
Hal had definitely found his life’s work and devoted his life to doing it the best way he knows how. As you continue your journey towards success, ask yourself if what you are going after is really your life’s work! Can you imagine a career doing the same thing for over 70 years!? If the answer is yes, then keep going and don’t stop until the wheels fall off!! Mr. Jackson has created a great blueprint for all to follow….. As the saying goes… “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work another day in your life” (Confucius). Rest in Paradise, Mr. Jackson!!!
-Ash’Cash
“Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.” -James Allen
“The secret of joy in work is contained in one word – excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.” -Pearl S. Buck
“Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you.” -Henri Frederic Amiel
“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” -Buddha
“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” -Saint Augustine
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” -Alexander Graham Bell
“When work, commitment, and pleasure all become one, and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible.” -Unknown
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.
