(AllHipHop News) It has been confirmed that Facebook co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has purchased popular photography app, Instagram, for $1 billion in cash and shares.
The Instagram acquisition is one of the largest in Facebook history, and according to Zuckerberg, the company does not plan on doing many more of these transactions, if any. Zuckerberg, who made the purchase announcement on his Facebook blog this morning, does not plan on making any changes to Instagram as of yet.
“We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook,” wrote Zuckerberg.
“That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people,” he added.
Zuckerberg also stated that the 30 million Instagram users on Android and iOS would still be able to post their photos on other social networks besides Facebook.
There are currently a plethora of Hip-Hop artists on Instagram, including Rick Ross (RichForever), Tyler the Creator (tylerthecreator), Cam’Ron (Mr_CamRon), Big K.R.I.T. (YoungKrizzle) Fabolous (MyFabolousLife),Snoop Dogg (SnoopDogg), and many others.
(AllHipHop News) Machine Gun Kelly recently sat with AllHipHop.com to discuss his collaboration with rap legend DMX, which will appear on MGK’s new album Lace Up.
The two recently teamed up in the recording studio to record for both of their new projects.
MGK spoke on his admiration for X, in addition to working with the Yonkers-bred rapper.
“That’s my idol, I’m on DMX’s first single, that’s like big bruh,” Machine Gun Kelly told AllHipHop.com. “I’m on his first single, he’s on my album. That’s the man, bow to him.”
Although DMX may have earned a bad reputation for his numerous run-ins with the law over the years for drug possession, animal cruelty and numerous driving infractions, MGK said he was an inspiration.
Bullying, which is a hot-button topic, was something MGK could relate to, growing up in a troubled household in Cleveland.
“He has a priceless story. I’m just saying be different,” Machine Gun Kelly told AllHipHop.com. “That was music I could run away to [when] me and my pops fell out.”
MGK addressed the topic on his song “The Return” from his. 2010 mixtape.
People wanna be my friend?/But where the f### were y’all when I was 10/eleven and twelve gettin bullied
and beat up in the gym/
I couldn’t ever get a girl
Now all a sudden I’m the man/
students try to get back cool with me again
DMX’s music, which has always been laced with spirituality, helped him through the tough times.
“When my mom left and all that other s**t, fights with kids at school, getting picked on, DMX was that man,” Machine Gun Kelly told AllHipHop.com.
“I always put on some DMX and imagined myself beating people up.”
Boola Independent Album titled Cut From A Different Cloth is finally here for download. Presented by Black Label and powered by DJ Booth.net & Bleu Magazine the 11 song album is definitely a solid introduction as Boola.
Welcome to the week that you officially take back control of your life! Today’s Daily Word is
dedicated to making things possible! Excuses are never acceptable! If you really want something bad enough, you will find a way to make it happen!
Many people find reasons why they are not living the life they have planned, and believe those reasons as truths! The truth is that you either have a lesson you haven’t learned yet, or you don’t want what you say you want bad enough! The simple solution is to make your dream possible by saying it is possible! The moment you change your thoughts, and stop giving yourself a way out, is the moment you will begin to be given the answers you need to win!
Placing blame on anything outside of yourself is the perfect way to keep you exactly where you are! Take responsibility for your life, and command the very best no matter what! What you can accomplish is far greater than anything you can imagine! Imagine your greatness, then make it
happen!!! IT IS ALL POSSIBLE!!!
-Ash’Cash
“We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.” -Thich Nhat Hanh
“Imagine what great things could happen if you would stop fighting against your own possibilities.” -Ralph Marston
“The only limits to the possibilities in your life tomorrow are the buts you use today.” -Les Brown
“Everyone has to learn to think differently, bigger, to open to possibilities.” -Oprah Winfrey
“Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities.” -Terry Josephson
“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” -Jamie Paolinetti
“When you’ve exhausted all possibilities, remember this—you haven’t.” -Robert H. Schuller
“The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.” -George Bernard Shaw
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.
According to the rumor mill, Rick Ross reportedly suffered another seizure yesterday right before a show in Houston, Texas. Because of the “medical emergency,” Ross’ people had to cancel another show scheduled to take place in Guyana today.
But according to our source, there is more here that meets the eye. Sources are telling us that money issues are actually the real reason why Ross canceled his show today in Guyana. We hear the promoters never paid Ross, so they started the rumor that he had a seizure to save face and explain Ross’ absence from the show.
Ross and his people have yet to confirm or deny the reports, but if the seizure rumors are true, this would be his third seizure in less than six months.
Just because he’s from Philadelphia doesn’t mean that Ryshon Jones want to be called a “Philly MC.” The 21-year-old lyricist has been bombing the blogs for the past couple of years with consistent releases every couple of months to help build his brand and the awareness that he hopes to create with his music.
With his most recent mixtape,Basqui, just hitting the ‘net, Ryshon has gathered the likes of Young Gliss, Thelonious Martin, Lee Bannon, Sean Falyon, and a host of others to help contribute and craft his third full-length release in the past four months.
AllHipHop.com spoke to Ryshon hours before Basqui hit the ‘net and got the emerging MC to talk about his come-up, influences, and the project itself, as well as what’s to come in the future. Most importantly, we wanted to know what sets him apart. Check out our Breeding Ground feature on Ryshon Jones below:
AllHipHop.com: Outside of being from Philadelphia, how did you come up within the music game?
Ryshon Jones: I started rapping when I was around eight. My cousin had actually broken into some car and had stolen a beat tape, and he had gave it to us so everyone would rap on the tape-recorder. I didn’t really get serious with it until I was like 15, though, when I started discovering new stuff and then began putting my music online. This past June, I had gotten posted on YouHeardThatNew.com and BombOnEm.com, and from that it just turned into a lot of other people started posting me and the rest is really history.
AllHipHop.com: Do you remember what the first Hip-Hop album or cassette you purchased was?
Ryshon Jones: I do, and I feel embarrassed to tell you but I was born in ’91, so I came up when there was Napster and all that sh*t, so the first album that I actually bought was either [Kanye West’s] College Dropout or [Jay-Z’s] The Black Album. I feel bad about that, though [laughter].
AllHipHop.com: [Laughs] That’s nothing to feel bad about, man. I’m 24 and the first rap album I purchased was The Slim Shady LP, so I’m right there with you. As long as you went back and discovered all the classic stuff, it’s all good. Who were same of the people you just couldn’t stop listening to and always had on repeat?
Ryshon Jones: When I was a kid it went from like Lil Wayne from the good old Cash Money days to 50 Cent. It all changed as I got older and started to understand music, though. Like right now, my biggest influence is Coldplay. I listen to a lot of Rock music, moreso than Rap music, but my favorites in general right now are Coldplay, Jay-Z, and Kanye [West].
AllHipHop.com: Would you say that listening to the other genres moreso than Hip-Hop inspires you more to push the boundaries of the music that you create?
Ryshon Jones: Yeah, absolutely because it’s just more of an open feel than just hearing someone rap. I could listen to a Rap song and have it inspire me on a competitive note, but to actually want to do music I have to listen to Rock or anything that is just non-Rap. I really just like getting inspired in a different way to do something.
AllHipHop.com: That’s certainly interesting. Being that you are from Philly, of course your city has produced The Roots, Freeway, Cassidy, Beanie Sigel, Eve, and now Meek Mill is everywhere. In your own words, how would you describe the Philly Hip-Hop scene?
Ryshon Jones: I mean it really just depends on who you ask. Like everybody is on Meek Mill right now. Even before how he got big like he is now, the city was always going crazy for him and stuff like that. But you’ve really got a little bit of everything, like you have the Meek Mill’s and the more lyrical cats like Black Thought; it’s really just a little bit of everything. I’m personally used to people telling me that I can’t be from Philly, ‘cause I don’t sound like anyone else who is out from there right now. I think it’s a good thing, though, because I never want to be labeled as just another Philly rapper. There’s certainly more to us than what you see; you just have to go and find it.
AllHipHop.com: Being that there are millions of people trying to breakthrough as rappers on a daily basis, what in your mind sets you apart from everyone else trying to make a name for themselves right now?
Ryshon Jones: I think it’s my creativity. When I do projects, I could just get a bunch of random songs and throw them together, but I want to make sure that everything connects. It sounds cliché, but it’s got to be like a movie. If you listen to it all straight through, my music is like something that you watch and get caught up into it. And by the time the movie goes off, it takes you a minute to get back to reality. That’s the experience I want to give people.
Even if it’s skits or any little things, I try to give it that kind of vibe; it all has to come together to make own big puzzle. I feel like I put more effort into making a real themed project then just giving people random songs and stuff like that.
AllHipHop.com: It’s actually perfect that you say that because this new project Basquiwas originally intended to just be a collection of the music that you had been releasing over the past couple of months. At what point did it go from a collection of what people had heard to a coherent and though out mixtape?
Ryshon Jones: It was just going to be a bunch of leaks that I had put out, so I felt like putting them all together was just going through the motions. My friend had put me on to Basquiat and from watching a movie and stuff on him, I just saw a lot of similarities to him and me so what I did was almost create a Basquiat painting with the music. It is a bunch of random sh*t, but the way that we put the skits together and the songs, it will all connect to one another in the end.
AllHipHop.com: Now tell me why you decided to go from Basquiat to Basqui with the project’s title?
Ryshon Jones: I literally just changed it to Basquibecause I don’t want to get attached to his name or anything like that. So I felt like when I renamed it, it gave me more freedom to just do more of what I want, instead of having people hear it and be like, “What does this have to do with Basquiat?”
A lot of people might think, “Oh, here’s another kid who thinks the only Black artist alive is Basquiat,” ‘cause I hear a lot of people say that. And there are more artists that did things other than him, but I just really feel like I connect with him, and if I could ever meet him, that would be the best thing ever. I just feel like we relate to a lot of the same things.
AllHipHop.com: And Basquiis going to be your third project that you’ve released since December, so tell me about your work ethic and your thought-process behind putting out music so frequently?
Ryshon Jones: [laughter] I mean it really is just all about timing. I worked so I couldn’t really record music like I wanted to. I recently quit my job just so I could get down and perform at South By Southwest (SXSW). So now I have all this time on my hands, so I can do a lot more and it’s really all about the feeling.
I don’t get there and say ,“I want to make this kind of song,” I just go in and whatever and however something comes out, that’s how it comes out. A lot of my songs don’t have hooks, ‘cause I don’t really like to follow regular song structure or doing things how a song is supposed to be done. It’s all about the feeling and living in the moment to make it happen.
AllHipHop.com: That makes sense.
Ryshon Jones: A lot of people are under the impression that I’m some Emo rapper [laughter] and mad depressed, so on Basqui you’re going to see a more funny side to me, but that goes back to creating music and just going with what you’re feeling in that moment. Whatever happens happens. I’m starting to let go of that subconscious side of me, where I have to think about what I say and more so just letting everything go.
AllHipHop.com: So is a lot of the music that you put out come from a place where you think about what your subject matter is going to be, or are you literally just in the studio like “play a beat and I’ll get it done,” and if you want to drop an EP one random day you will?
Ryshon Jones: [laughter] yeah basically. I’m really unorganized in a way so I’m trying to work on that, but I always felt like once I got on the blogs and saw the reaction of people, you see how much more you can get out of those relationships. It’s a feeling of power where I can just post one song, and it’ll be everywhere, so why not use it to my advantage to get my name out there?
A lot of people say that I’m doing too much, but I always feel like I’m not doing enough yet. A lot of people don’t know me yet so to me it doesn’t hurt to randomly put out a song everyday for a week just to see what happens. I’m always trying to use that to my advantage.
AllHipHop.com: I hear that. Now you mentioned earlier that you had quit your job to get to SXSW and have your music heard, and I know that you had a project in the works titled F*ck My Job as well. Did that project become Basqui, or is that still coming on its own?
Ryshon Jones: Yeah, that’s still coming sometime near the end of the summer or early fall. That’s something that’s going to go on iTunes, so right now I’m just trying to raise the awareness about myself with the release of Basqui, and then an upcoming EP I’m going to drop in the summer. I’ll let that sit and build the awareness for F*ck My Job.
It’s all about my life from the day I quit my job to now so it’s going to be the first official release from me and I want to put it out when I have a large enough fan base to get more stuff heard. A lot of stuff can happen in the next few months so we’ll just wait and see.
AllHipHop.com: Well, I’ll definitely be on the look out for the “album.” I have to ask, though, what do you want people to say about you five years from now?
Ryshon Jones: I don’t do it for the typical things that people do this for. I do it because I care about my craft, and it’s more of an artistic thing for me. Of course, I want to live off of my music, but that isn’t what motivated me to do music. I want my music to be an escape route for people. It’s more so about just knowing that you can change someone’s life through what you say in the music.
AllHipHop.com: That’s a respectable way to want to be remembered, and I don’t doubt that the music already has that effect on some of your fans, so you’re doing something right. Is there anything else you want the readers to be aware of or on the lookout for?
Ryshon Jones: Make sure you all check out that Basqui mixtape that I just put out, and be on the lookout for this new EP in the summer and F*ck My Job right after that on iTunes.
AllHipHop.com: Great, Ryshon. It was a pleasure to talk to you.
Ryshon Jones: Thank you. I used to read AllHipHop.com since I was little, so it’s great to know I’ll be on there.
A photographer in Miami has filed a claim with the Miami Beach Police accusing Lil’ Wayne of ordering his crew to allegedly hand him a beat down, as well as damage his bicycle and camera.
According to the report, a photographer spotted Lil’ Wayne and his entourage skateboarding outside a church right beside a “no skateboarding sign” and decided to take a few photos and record video. Wayne spotted the photog and was not pleased with him taking the photos and ordered him to stop. When the photographer continued, Wayne allegedly ordered his boys to hand him a smackdown.
The photographer says that he was surrounded by eight men who threw him to the ground, spat on his face, destroyed his bicycle, and forced him to delete a few of the photos out of his camera.
The photographer did manage to escape with some photos and his footage in tact. Check out a clip of his footage, as well as the photos here
Take that, take that, Diddy! Former Danity Kane and ex-Diddy Dirty Money member, Dawn Richard (pronounced Ruh-shard), recently released her first EP, Armor On, and it’s gaining quite the buzz! With its booming visual recently premiered on BET’s 106th & Park, Dawn seems primed for the next step!
It’s safe to say there’s something about Dawn. We won’t go too far, because She has yet to release her debut solo album Golden Heart, but we’ll say she’s on the right path. She’s garnered a fanbase – as noted with her Billboard Heatseekers charting. She can actually sing – if you’ve listened to the Armor On mixtape. Lastly, she can actually dance, as she’s been dancing since three years old – and even had a stint cheerleading in her hometown for the New Orleans Hornets.
AllHipHop.com caught up with Dawn while she was touring in New Orleans, and she speaks on being fearless, leaving Bad Boy Records, and the single and video for “Bombs” that has the nation paying attention!
AllHipHop.com:: You’ve got the #1 joint on iTunes, you’ve got a video on TV, social networks are going crazy. How are you feeling right now?
Dawn Richard: I feel good, I’m excited. They said we couldn’t do it, and I think as a small, independent team, with literally like four of us, to be able to reach number one! People fail to realize this is just an EP. We found out yesterday (April 5), we charted on Billboard at Number 4 for New Heatseekers Album. We’re at #25 overall for R&B. It’s just numbers that we didn’t even expect because we only sold it on iTunes. We haven’t even used any other media outlets like Rhapsody or Amazon.com, so it’s just a big thing right now, we’re excited.
AllHipHop.com: Right, are you guys looking to expand it to Amazon?
Dawn Richard: Yeah, we’re going to do it in the next three weeks, but because of how the numbers have done with not a lot, we’re trying to just milk it now. Now the ball is in our court, because we can actually leave it on iTunes. Right now it’s been like a week and we moved to number 3, now we’re back at number 2 on iTunes again. We haven’t even put that outlet out yet, so I think we will wait a couple of weeks and then do that and see how that does. That means that now we have leverage, you know?
AllHipHop.com: Yep! What makes you call it R&B, and not Pop?
Dawn Richard: I think people want to say Pop, because it’s moving, it’s progressive, like you never stop feeling like you want to dance. I think that’s something that makes people feel that it’s pop. R&B can be that, too. I think it’s just progressive. I call it R&B because the melodies are soulful. The background. In POP music, you don’t have three to four different background harmonies. Usually in Pop songs, there’s a two part harmony, most of it’s one track, it’s never the use of four to five different kind of melodies. When you start talking about musically doing that – that’s R&B. That’s soul music. I think it’s just done on a different vibe. People want to call it Pop because that 808 and that snare is driving you. Every time you listening to it, you want to move. So it makes you feel like it’s a dance record, or it’s techno or electronic music. But really – it isn’t. It’s all soul based. It’s just pushing the limit on what you consider soul to be. At the end of the day, my voice is still a R&B sound, regardless of what kind of track it’s on.
AllHipHop.com: You sound like you’re very technical, you’re talking about the snares. Are you a technical kind of musician?
Dawn Richard: I grew up on it, and my producer, Dru-Ski, is extremely talented. He plays the keys and that was one of the things I wanted to be. I wanted to be an artist that musicians love, as well as the people. That’s what separates you from just being a gimmick or being a true artist. I don’t have a design of what anyone else is, but for me, those things matter. The snare matters. I come from New Orleans and the drum and the snare drives everything. The second line of music we have, I want it to mimic the same feel that I get when I hear a live band. In the streets in New Orleans, I wanted people to feel the same way. They don’t call that Pop music, they call that soul. I think it’s just a different vibe.
From where I come from, we push things. The genres are kind of mashed together, that Afro-centric tribal type of sound is something that’s innate, it’s not something that’s Pop. I think Pop has copied that rhythm from Soul, if you think about it, that movement is African. That movement is tribal. That comes from the drum. Either genre of music is taking something from that soul. For me it’s important not to be technical but just being around musicians and wanting to have the same respect. The people love you, and you want the musicians and your peers to love you, too.
AllHipHop.com: Is that what inspired the “Bombs” video?
Dawn Richard When I first came out, I wanted to introduce people to me as an artist that had everything. At first, I wanted to introduce the ballads and the soul music, so that they know as a vocalist, if they needed for me to stand still and sing, they could see that I could do it. That, to me, is the hardest. An artist can dance around and jump and do all those things, but if you just want to get the record to be delivered, they want that too. I wanted to show the versatility, so I gave that kind of record first.
With “Bombs”, that was the “we have arrived” record, that was the record where I wanted people to see me as a dancer for the first time. Because I think people don’t even really know I dance, and that’s something that a lot of R&B artists – there’s few women doing that right now. There are few R&B artists that are singing soul music, then can give you four to five 8-counts on a record. That’s something that I was excited about because I felt like that’s where my base was. I started dancing, so, for “Bombs”, we wanted that to be the “we have arrived”, “we are coming”, and this is the introduction. It’s really another step for me as an artist.
AllHipHop.com: I heard through the grapevine that your mom owned a dance school?
Dawn Richard Right, that’s where I started! I started dancing before I was singing. I was two when my mom put the tights on me and said “Go!” and from that on I’ve been dancing. Even before “Making The Band”, I was dancing in the NBA for the Hornets. Dancing was always something that came naturally for me, so, that’s the part that I’ve been wanting to do for the longest. It’s the most exciting part and that’s where my roots are.
AllHipHop.com: You’ve got to have a crazy workout regime.
Dawn Richard: I don’t. The workout regime is the art of dance. I like to push myself, so I’ll take different classes from modern, to ballet, to tap. I’ll just keep myself motivated in that. In L.A, I’m always at Debbie Reynolds. My best friend dances. I taught her when I was growing up and now she dances for me and she’s in the “Bombs” video, too. When she goes to class, I go too, just like a student. I think that’s what you have to be. You have to know that you have to be a student to this game. Learn, and take vocal classes, and make sure I’m good on that. I go to take dance classes to make sure that I’m as great of an artist that I can be.
AllHipHop.com: We know you’re not with Danity Kane. No more Diddy-Dirty Money. Now you’re totally solo. Some folks might look at that as, “She’s out there? What is she up to?,” but I think it’s great to come from that background and to have people rooting for you.
Dawn Richard: I think it’s fantastic!
AllHipHop.com: Because now they’re rooting for the underdog.
Dawn Richard: Right! And I think that’s great. But what I think what we’re doing, it’s just different. Even coming from two different groups, people know I’m really coming from two different genres. Danity Kane was Pop. Dirty Money was more Hip-Hop soul, and here we are R&B with the EP. I thought my tone wouldn’t be accepted, so I tried my best to try to figure it out because I didn’t know if they understood my tone and where I needed to be.
We’ve transcended different genres. I’ve literally been in every different genre and we’ve been successful in each way. Whether it was with the Pop, with the two platinum albums and #1 albums with Danity Kane. Whether it was with Dirty Money making a revolutionary album, where people like Grace Jones and all of those people on that album. And then EP doing the numbers that it’s doing, I think people are saying they want something new and refreshing. I just want to make sure that when it does come, I deliver.
AllHipHop.com: Were you scared at first?
Dawn Richard: I’m not scared. Never scared. I’m fearless in the fight. I’m the Devil’s advocate. It’s more like I always play both sides of the fence. I never look at it like “I’m going to be the greatest, you’re going to receive me, that’s it!” I always look at it like “I’ll be great, but then what if they don’t receive me, what’s our next plan?” I’m always looking at both sides of it. There was always the “What if they don’t? We have figure this out!” That’s learning from Puff. Puff, as a businessman, always looks at both sides of it. How will we lose here, how will we win. As a marketing person, you have to see it that way. I never look at it like it’s all just one-sided. I wasn’t scared, I just was business savvy about the way I had to go about it. It had to be strategic.
AllHipHop.com: And you spoke about Puff, so are you working with the same producers?
Dawn Richard: No. The EP was just one. For my album, it’s similar. It’s nobody that anyone knows. That’s the thing. That’s what makes it so brilliant. The EP had no features and no producers that anyone knew. I think that makes it even better, so people know now, there was no favors. No one helped me. It was all done by myself. There was no, “Oh, because this person is great they’re going to help me out.” Puff and Bad Boy were great for letting me go, but they let me go, and that was that. I’m appreciative of them because I asked for that release. I asked for him to see if I could fly, and he believed in me enough to let me go, and I’ll forever love him for that. But once they let you go, you have to figure it out on your own. We’ve proved that we can, by doing this.
AllHipHop.com: Are you looking at other major labels?
Dawn Richard: Yeah, we’re definitely are. Like I said the ball is in our court now. We can make the decision whether or not, it’s a good choice for us or not. Right now, we’re proving that as an independent team of four people, we can push forward. You’ve just got to work a little bit harder but if you love the craft and you put hard work into it, I think anything’s possible. Yeah, we’re definitely looking at labels but we’re also looking at the idea of us standing alone. The numbers (for the EP) were delivering with no one. It’s amazing for something that isn’t even an album.
AllHipHop.com: What about Dawn Richard on Roc Nation?
Dawn Richard: I love them. I think what they do is amazing. They’re a powerhouse. If the offer is right, that’s fantastic. I love what they’re doing with the females in the game. For us, the aesthetic is different because they have a plan of action that they’re doing. It’d be great to see if they did want to rock with us, what they would do with that.
AllHipHop.com: SWV just got back together after 15 years, with a new album coming out. Do you think we might be waiting that long for a Danity Kane joint?
Dawn Richard: I don’t think that would be too long to wait for that! I think that’d be kind of cool. I just think timing has to be right, and I always believe in delivering a product that is better than what you’ve already done. If you’re not exceeding what you’ve already given out, you shouldn’t do it because you shouldn’t damage something that was so great. For me, I want us to be great, but it has to be at the respect and level that the fans deserve.
AllHipHop.com: And you went to college in New Orleans, right? Did you join a sorority?
Dawn Richards: No, I didn’t, but everyone in my family is, but me. I was really into school. I was taking 21 and 18 hours each semester because I was in Marine Biology, so I didn’t have time for anything else.
AllHipHop.com: That was the passion before music?
Dawn Richard: Yeah, I was concentrating in Manatees and Dolphins. When I left, I had to make a choice – to stay in the city, or go far away. I moved into UNO to go to school, and I had to change my major because they didn’t have marine science, so I went into music marketing with a minor in marine science. That was a cool experience, that was just a choice that I made. I choose to go into music marketing at the end because I knew that I had choose music.
AllHipHop.com: And for someone who’s in that battle between Marine Biology versus what they really want to do, what do you say to somebody who really wants to pursue their dream?
Dawn Richard: You do what you love. I don’t have any advice, because at the end of the day, I had to fall to be here. Do what you love. Don’t do something for someone else, do it for you. When you get to the point when you realize your life is your life, because you don’t realize your life is all you have until you get a certain place, and you’re like “Okay, this is my life!” You want to make sure that it’s what you love because you’ll have that realization and then you’ll be trying to fight to go back to the place where you wanted to start. If you love something, go for that.
AllHipHop.com: And the Golden Heart Trilogy. It’s coming?
Dawn Richard: It’s coming! It’s actually done. It was done before the EP, but like I said, everything is strategic. It has to make sense. The sound was so innovative, we had to bring people to that space. You can’t just say, “Okay. Like me. I’m here.” You have to sell a product, you have to sell a brand. Just like you have commercials. You have to give people enough, so that they love you and then you go forward. I think that’s what we did with the EP, so it’s definitely ready to come!
AllHipHop.com: It seems like you’ve really been learning!
Dawn Richard: If I didn’t, shame on me!
AllHipHop.com: Right. And that might be the difference between some people who may have been in a group, and didn’t become as successful, or been with Bad Boy who may not have been as successful?
Dawn Richard: Yeah, well, I don’t blame Bad Boy. That’s the thing. They gave you an opportunity. A person can only give you a crack of a window. It’s up to you to open it all the way up, just break it. I’d just rather break it than try to pry it open and I think for me that’s why I never used an excuse. They gave me the tools, it’s up to me to figure it out.
AllHipHop.com: That’s it for me! Do you have anything that the folks need to know?
Dawn Richard: Yes, go get the EP. It’s on iTunes! It’s been really great because the hearts are making it so. Make sure you go on 106th & Park and vote for “Bombs”. That video is really dope. I’m really grateful for the choreography. Come see me on tour! I am on tour right now. Check out dawnrichard.tumblr.com to see the dates.
Follow Dawn Richard on Twitter (@DawnRichard) and visit her personal fan blog, www.dawnrichardblog.com.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are coming back to the big screen! Transformers director Michael Bay will be at the helm this time around, and has said in a statement that the turtles will actually come from space in the upcoming film, and not from the sewer like in the previous movies and cartoons.
Well, it looks like Kid Cudi will be taking his acting chops to the big screen and has been tapped to participate in the new reboot. Actually, we don’t know if Kid Cudi will be acting in the film or helping out musically. Check out what he said on his Tumblr recently:
“An original one of a kind sketch of a unknown Ninja Turtle by one half of the creators, Kevin Eastman. A gift given to me by my homies Andrew Form and Brad Fuller over at Platinum Dunes. Hint hint mane.”
He also tweeted:
“To everyone with doubts & concerns about the new TMNT reboot, trust me, there is NOTHING to worry about. Trust. Everyone will be pleased! I was skeptical as well, but by no means is this movie gonna suck. Huge fans will be happy.”
Being a part of the new TMNT reboot has got to be exciting. Congratulations to Kid Cudi on the new gig, whatever it is.
A few days after announcing a new 4/20 sneaker collaboration between Curren$y and Diamond Supply Co., the Doggfather himself, Snoop Dogg, has announced an “eco-friendly” product for purchase later this year when his new book, Rolling Words: A Smokable Songbook, hits store-shelves.
The miniature-sized book that will be available for purchase this summer contains a number of pages filled with lyrics to some of Snoop’s most memorable songs like “Gin and Juice,” “Beautiful,” “From Tha Chuuuch To Tha Palace,” “Snoop Dogg”, and many more.
The pages themselves are smokeable and made from the same paper that is used in Snoop’s very own king-sized slim rolling papers (which are available now), while the book and its cover are made from hemp and twine.
That’s not all, though, folks. The spine of Rolling Words: A Smoklable Songbook contains a surface that can be used to strike a match for those unfortunate nights when you don’t have a lighter by your side.
“I made this book so people can always remember: you can roll with an expert, you can roll with Snoop.”
Check out Snoop Dogg talking about Rolling Words below:
Snoop Dogg’s Rolling Words: A Smokable Songbook will be available for purchase this summer in a bookstore or tobacco shop near you!
