I’m not sure why such a non-existent entity in overall Hip-Hop is getting so much attention to this day. But, Trina is the 65, 408, 223th person to comment on V-Nasty’s use of the N-Word! Well, not her specifically, but she’s the only one that uses it that I know of.
“I don’t see what the big deal about it is,” Trina said in an interview. “It’s a matter of respect, if you’re not being disrespectful, if you’re not doing it in a racist way…I’m not really the person that cares too much about all that. … Let’s worry about voting for Barack Obama for president again. I don’t think the N-word is such a big deal, we’ve been saying it for years, decades, white, blacks, Hispanic, Jamaican, Haitian, Chinese whatever.”
Dr. Dr has basically proclaimed that his album Detox isn’t coming out. Oh well, that kind of stings. Look at how he positions his “break” music.
“These are the next two artists I’m working on, Slim Da Mobster and Kendrick Lamar. I think that’s when I’m gonna just wrap it up for a minute because I’ve been working on music for 27 years now and the longest I’ve ever been out of the studio in 27 years has been two weeks. So yea I feel like I’m gonna take a little bit of a break. I’m never gonna stop music, it’s like air to me. So I’mma take a little bit of a break. Enjoy some time with the family til I get that itch to get back in.”
Not sure of the source, but it certainly reads like its real. As you might expect, Dre also said that he’s focusing on his headsets, which are clearly the money maker now.
Hev had great love for his family and friends; he was a kind and giving spirit who extended and shared himself with everyone who crossed his path.
He had a heart of gold, was approachable, very personable and gave of himself willingly and unconditionally.
RIP Heavy D
Though Hev will most notably be remembered for his work both behind-the-scenes and in the forefront, he will always be remembered by us as a generous soul who remained humble and unselfish till his final days.
Out of all Hev’s successes and accomplishments, in his eyes, his most important triumph was that of becoming a father.
Hev’s love for his daughter Xea was profound–she was the center of his life, his heart, his soul. He often said “I cannot live without her and that she embodied every phenomenal attribute that he brought to this world.”
The name and the success of Heavy D will always be synonymous with music forever. He never compromised his values and artistry, and encouraged his peers to do the same.
To us, Hev was the one who made us laugh, cry, sing, dance and turn a frown upside down. As a family, we are devastated by Hev’s passing but through our faith in God and support from family, friends and fans-we are comforted, blessed and will remain strong.
(AllHipHop News) Outspoken, Gary, Indiana/CTE rapper Freddie Gibbs has weighed in on Fat Joe’s recent comments about closeted gay rappers in the hip-hop industry.
“I wonder who he is talking about?” Freddie Gibbs asked AllHipHop.com. “He said he worked with them, so what’s that say about him? Didn’t he say he worked with some f*gs? Well hey, I ain’t calling him gay or nothing, but what’s that say about you? If I know a ni**a on some sweet s**t before we go into the lab, I’m kinda cool on it, you know what I mean?”
Freddie Gibbs said he had no issues with gays, but he preferred to associate with heterosexual men and women.
“I wanna surround myself around straight ni**as and b**ches,” Freddie Gibbs told AllHipHop.com. “B**ches that want d**k… I don’t want to be around another ni**a that thinking about fu**ing me man. I’m not knocking your culture my ni**a, if that’s what you do.”
Freddie Gibbs went on to explain that he felt that the prominence of gays is largely due to societal issues.
“I’m not knocking no gay ni**a that wanna rap, go on and rap. I just think that as a society we go too far with all that s**t,” Freddie Gibbs told AllHipHop.com. “Ain’t no old fashioned values anymore, I don’t know. Everyone want to show how feminine they are by wearing little ass pants and s**t. Its some ni**as I seen in the game wearing eye liner – them ni**as gay…I’m not saying arrest all gays or kill all gays, you ain’t getting that out of Gibbs. Motherf***er already think I’m a racist and I don’t even know what that’s all about man, or where they get that from, that’s just how I feel man, I don’t care if people hate, that’s just how I feel man.”
His thoughts on gays aside, Freddie Gibbs plans to release several visuals for his Cold Day in Hell project in the coming weeks,
“I’m gonna do a lot of joints on the Cold Day in Hell joint man. We gonna do the video for ‘Let Ya Nuts Hang,’ me, Skrilla and Slick Pulla gonna be in the video for that. ‘Sittin Low’ video bout to drop with Young Jeezy, I’m gonna do one for my ‘My Homeboy’s Girlfriend.’ I’m just glad I’m in the position to do shows like this and make money on the road,” Freddie Gibbs said.
AllHipHop.com is read and enjoyed by a worldwide audience, and lest we forget our friends across the pond, we say it’s time to pay props to some of the top rappers and musicians from outside the U.S. border.
Kicking off our focus on international Hip-Hop culture is the UK, where we ponder “A UK Revolution” and specifically the influence of reggae, with four of the biggest MCs in the UK – Professor Green, Wretch 32, Sway, Durrty Goodz, and Giggs – along with Austin Daboh, music producer from BBC 1Xtra, and Chantelle Fiddy, a leading UK music journalist:
AllHipHop.com started off by asking Wretch about how much reggae and sound system culture influenced him: “It has been a big influence, as my dad was a reggae DJ. I grew up with it. I can remember waking up to my dad’s music thumping out of the speakers in the early mornings.”
The reggae sound system era of the 70s and 80s, with sound boys such as Tenor Fly, The Ragga Twins, Navigator, and Smiley Culture (R.I.P) helped to pave the way for jungle culture. This would eventually spawn the next wave of MCs in the grime scene.
There were also Hip-Hop sound systems such as Soul II Soul around the same period. This early UK rap scene is where many rappers such as Rodney P and the London Posse and Demon Boyz laid the foundation for the 90s/2000s rappers such as Roots Manuva, Sway, Skinnyman, Lowkey, and Klashnekoff.
When AllHipHop.com asked Sway about the influence and impact of the London Posse and Demon Boyz on him and the scene in general, he replied; “If it wasn’t for people like them, there wouldn’t be people like me. If it wasn’t for people like me. there wouldn’t be people like Chipmunk…”
However, it is arguably the early sound boys of the UK reggae scene that laid a foundation in London and across the UK, which would eventually transcend into dance music culture via the late 80s and 90s rave scene. This gave birth to jungle, then garage and eventually grime. The Jamaican influence, with the ragga vocal – was an integral part of jungle and the sound clash style of Jamaican dances was evident in early jungle raves and also early grime raves.
The break beat and amen break arrived with hardcore and jungle in the 90s, and when the ragga vocal seeped into jungle, this led to vocal-based jungle, with MCs such as Navigator, Stevie Hyper D (R.I.P.), and The Ragga Twins at the forefront of the scene.
Jungle and drum and bass culture and MCs such as Stevie Hyper D and later Skibadee proved to be influential to both Durrty Goodz and Sway. Goodz explained, “Yeah, man, Hyper D is legendary, along with many others that helped paved the way like Navigator, Ragga Twins, Skibadee, Shabba D, and the many others behind the scene that helped those dons be heard.“
Sway continued, “I was brought up in the drum and bass era, the jungle era – I had a lot of family in the jungle game…I was into Heartless (a UK garage crew), Skibadee all them guys. Those were the people I was like, ‘whoa – we can actually rap in our [London] accents, and it can sound good.’ My style was kind of like a mesh between the Bone Thugs N Harmony thing going on and also the UK double time thing. It’s been a massive influence to me because I started messing around with drum and bass. I started freestyling over it. It developed my ability to be able to rap fast.”
Austin from 1Xtra talked about the importance and influence of the rave scene to the new generation of artists in this country: “I definitely believe that rave culture has been ingrained back into UK youth culture due to the emergence of electronic genres like dubstep. You have 80s and 90s babies who watched their older brothers and sisters listening to jungle, drum, and bass, UK garage, and it’s now influencing the music they make. The most exciting music at the moment is those [artists] that sound like an audio representation of the melting pot that is British urban culture.”
Chantelle Fiddy gave her standpoint on the influence of reggae and rave culture. “It’s a key influence – you’ll be pushed to find an MC who argues otherwise,” she said. Wiley and Footsie’s dads were in sound systems, and most of these key players grew up on dance music, so it all ends up fitting hand-in-hand.”
It wasn’t until the birth of a UK garage crew called So Solid, however, that emceeing really took its place in the mainstream/ Their presence really made the mainstream stand up and take notice of UK MCs and what could be achieved in the pop charts. They not only were running the mainstream, but held raves and ran their own pirate radio station – Delight FM – which Durrty Goodz was known to frequent.
Giggs talked about who influenced him in U.S. Hip-Hop, such as NWA and Ice Cube, but also the importance of So Solid: “Everything, man! Everything has been a factor. Obviously, I do the rap thing, and I grew up listening to all of those rappers, but really and truly it was breddas like So Solid that did their thing before. That’s got everyone on it trying to take it seriously.” Later in the interview, he continued, “They were pace setters; they put in the work. There are a lot of people who are influenced by them, and they don’t even know it. When you saw them on TV, you thought, ‘I can do that.’”
Sway was also adamant about their influence, stating, “They have a great deal to do with the success of today’s market. They showed that there was a demand out there for British rap.”
Wretch said, “So Solid played a big part in the whole scene. They were the first to do it big. They had the music videos and albums that fans across the UK actually went out and pay money for. I can remember watching them on TV performing at an award show. It was inspirational.”
A variety of artists quickly came through off the back of So Solid, but one MC really stood up and made his voice be heard. That was none other than Dizzee Rascal. Austin from 1xtra aptly summarizes the start of this era: “So Solid, Dizzee, and Wiley were the first set of MCs in the early 2000s that brought a darker garage sound to the masses. I think they played a very important role in the evolution of the scene.”
Check back for more in-depth articles like this one, as AllHipHop.com celebrates the rap artists and urban music of the UK all this week!
You know, I don’t know what to think of these guys these days. After making an album called “I’m Gay,” Lil B follows up with “I Got AIDS.” If I was gay, this would make me wonder. But, before you get your thoughts all racy, this is apparently an AIDS Awareness song. I’m about to listen to it myself, but I guess it is some form of positivity needed since AIDS continues to ravage the uneducated and careless.
Here’s the song…let me know what you think.
Why did he try to evoke Pac? Seriously, I’m not mad at the message. I am more mad at the song being on the lamer side of life. No shots, I just didn’t like it.
Rumors swirled last week that French would be signing to Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music label after the two were photographed together backstage at one of Jay-Z and Kanye’s recent tour stops at Madison Square Garden. This is not the first time French rumors have made their away across the Internet. A couple of months ago, talk of him signing to Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group were also everywhere…
Now, it appears two equally as bigm if not bigger, names within Hip-Hop and the music industry in general have a great interest in the “Choppa Choppa Down” rapper… their names you ask? Jay-Z and Diddy. French, who recently spoke to DJ Absolut on Hot 97 said the following: “Shout out ot everybody who’s been showing me love — It’s everybody. I didn’t really make a decision yet. But shout out to everybody that’s been showing me love. Shout out to Jay-Z, shout out to Kanye, definitely shout out to Puff, shout out to my brother Rick Ross, shout out to Sony, shout out to Def Jam, shout out to Interscope, shout out to everybody. I love everybody, man. I just want to make the right decision and keep the music coming. I’m just focused on the music.”
Sound off about your overall thoughts on French and which “conglomerate” you think he should be a part of in the comment section!
Drake Wants A Million Sold But Will Settle For Positive Reviews, A Bag of Sour Gummy Bears, and Some Chicken Wings…
When speaking to Billboard about album sales for his sophomore release Take Care, Drake said, “that’s the golden number for anyone. I doubt that’ll happen. That’s some Lil Wayne, Eminem, iconic sh*t. I don’t know if I’m there yet. Whoever goes out and buys it, I’m happy. I’d rather have great reviews than numbers. I’d rather walk out of my house and hear seven cars playing it than hear that I did 900,000.”
With artists like Mac Miller and Wale individually netting over 150,000 albums sold in their first week, we don’t see how Drake won’t do at least 500,000, but we think a million is way out of reach for a first week sales number. Like he said, he’s not Eminem or Lil Wayne.
Check out what AllHipHop.com had to say about Drake’s album by reading our review of Take Carehere … and yes that is Drake’s tour rider above.
Not Only is Jay-Z GQ’s Man of the Year, ?uestlove Says He’s “Cooler Than Lawyers”:
Congrats to Jigga! Is there really more to be said? If you want to read GQ’s entire piece on Mr. Carter, click here. N0w onto The Roots’ drummer’s thoughts on his former boss Jay-Z while they were working on their Def Jam-released album, Game Theory, several years ago:
“This is when we were releasing Game Theory, back in 2006. Lawyers were holding up the record because of the “You and Whose Army” sample. Jay-Z was still president of the label then. I was like, “Can you get me on the phone with those guys in five minutes?” He was like, “Yeah.” I said, “Do you know those guys?” He said, “No.” I was confused. So I asked, “Well, how are you going to get through to those guys?” He said, “Watch.” Sure enough, in five minutes I was jogging on the treadmill talking to the Radiohead guys. Lawyers can’t make it work, but Jay-Z can.” –?uestlove
Quickies:
-Bun B said he would love to be a part of Slaughterhouse…In related “news,” Joe Budden revealed that Slaughterhouse’s Shady Records debut is about 95 percent done, with a single expected to drop in December or January!
-George Tillman Jr., director of the Biggie biopic Notorious, has signed on to direct a film about one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis. The film will simply be titled Miles.
-T.I. has set a tentative release date of February 2012 for the release of his new, currently untitled album.
-Curren$y has announced via Twitter that his next album, The Stoned Immaculate, will be dropping in March.
-A recent picture popped up online showing the 12-song tracklist and guests for Common’s upcoming album, which was entirely produced by No I.D., The Dreamer, The Believer. The only three guests will be Maya Angelou on the album’s intro “The Dreamer,” Nas on “Ghetto Dreams,” and John Legend on “The Believer.”
Epic Win… Babies Love Biggie! You have to watch this:
(AllHipHop News) Rappers Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa have announced they will hit the road together this December during “The High School Tour.”
The nationwide, six date outing will kick off December 5 at smaller venues, starting in New York, at Terminal 5.
“The High School Tour” will support the pair’s upcoming album and film titled “Mac and Devin Go To High School.”
The movie centers around a Los Angeles high school Valedictorian
hopeful named Devin Overstreet (Wiz Khalifa), who realizes he cannot write a decent graduation speech, because he has no real life experiences, after focusing on his education for four years.
That’s when he meets Mac, a 15-year senior, who is played by Snoop Dogg.
Mac is the consummate ladies man who is in love with a substitute chemistry teacher at Devin’s high school.
In order to win her love, he must finish his education and graduate high school within three weeks.
Devon helps Mac earn his education, while Mac helps Devin obtain enough “real life experience” to write a good valedictorian speech.
The soundtrack for “Mac and Devin Go To High School” will be available nationwide on December 13.
The first single from the album is titled “Young, Wild & Free” which features Bruno Mars and was produced by The
Smeezingtons.
December 5 Terminal 5 New York, NY
December 6 Philadelphia, PA
Electric Factory
December 7 Washington, D.C.
9:30 Club
December 10 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
December 12 San Francisco, CA
The Warfield Theatre
A little birdie revealed to celebrity blogger Carlton Jordan that Lady Gaga’s camp is falling apart at the seams!!
Lady Gaga has replaced her choreographer and host of BET’s Born To Dance, Laurieann Gibson. Sunday morning, Gaga announced on Twitter that she was working with a new choreographer, Richard Jackson, who was Gibson’s assistant. There’s about to be blood on the dance floor!
But Gibson isn’t taking this lying down – – she’s planning to sue!
According to a Carlton Jordan inside source, Laurieann, who attributes herself to being the architect of Lady Gaga’s image, was bitter that she lost control of her influence over the pop diva. Gaga began working with other choreographers and gave Gibson the b####### title ‘Creative Director’ to keep her from being directly involved with her choreography. That was until a recent explosive argument between the two made Gaga fire her on the spot!
Insiders say Gaga grew tired of the ‘headache’ of Laurieann trying to be her own star – and feels that she was getting the big head – with two reality shows and all. Sounds like a clash of the divas!
Fan disapproval with Gibson began in May when she told the LA Times that she purposefully made Gaga be similar to Madonna.
“Listen, [Madonna] should be bitter because I did it on purpose,” Gibson said, “and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you can’t, I wanted to let them feel that you can.”
The Examiner wrote: In June, Gibson forgot her own 140-character, inspirational messages and lashed out at Gaga fans who were “tweeting” her about “The Edge of Glory” music video drama. Among other things, she called fans ignorant and “disrespectful f####.” She referred to one fan as “sick” and asked them to seek mental help. Nothing has been said to confirm that these events had anything to do with Gaga hiring a new choreographer Richard Jackson, but fans can probably expect some new moves and better attitude from Jackson.
Not sure how this effects Gibson and Jackson’s relationship, even though my source says they’re still ‘cool’, I doubt that will be for long! I am not sure what Gibson’s lawsuit against Gaga entails but I am sure it has something to do with the compensation she is due with her time left on ‘Creative Director’ contract.
Do you feel Jackson should’ve packed his things up and walked out with Gibson?? Where’s the loyalty?? Richard will debut his choreography in Gaga’s ‘Marry The Night’ video…
It’s a good thing you’re not supposed to judge a book, or an album, by its cover. The artwork is interesting, showcasing the fact that Take Care is nothing to laugh at. Over the course of two years, Drake has become the voice of a generation, propelling him to incredible heights of success, pressure, and countless angry blog tirades. This, coupled with the idea of a sophomore slump, leads many to ask the Canadian rapper one question: “Do you ever get nervous?”
To fans and critics alike, there has seemed to be two different artists over the course of his career- ‘Rapping Drake’ and ‘Singing Drake.’ When he decides to kick strictly bars here, ‘Rapping Drake’ does very well. The single “Headlines” has already been met with much love, with “Lord Knows” and “Underground Kings” soon to follow in line. The first boasts a larger-than-life instrumental by Just Blaze and both are full of confidence-laced rhymes. It’s true, though, everyone enjoys a self-indulgent song – and Drake has always been at his best is when he’s being an overly-honest, maybe even overly-dramatic, confessional.
Things are no different on Take Care, especially displayed in “Look What You’ve Done” and “The Ride.” The former sees Drake dedicating two verses to his mother and uncle, respectively, over an introspective piano groove, claiming, “You deserved it.” The latter, which features stellar chorus work by The Weeknd, is all about the climb to success and problems that come with; which sounds like a tired subject from the Young Money artist, but it never really does get old. ‘Rapping Drake’ is well-received here; you can play him speakers on blast cruising down the street, as well as alone in your room, staring at a computer screen.
Where listeners sometimes take issue is with ‘Singing Drake,’ the Drake that is in the forefront on Take Care.
There is no doubt that the LP has a majority, groove-based, harmony sound. A big part of this is the production, provided by in large-part, Noah ‘40’ Shebib. Songs like “Shot For Me” and “Marvin’s Room” are produced to a sound optimal for Drake to carry a tune; and by optimal, I mean good. However, each of these tracks carries a rap verse from him; so does that make these ‘Rapping Drake’ or ‘Singing Drake’ songs? “Cameras/ Good Ones Go” is sung in a drunken, lazy flow, with a mesmerizing beat provided by Lex Luger, that is hard to label and easy to fall in love with. “The Real Her” showcases a half-sung, half-rapped part from Drake, and thankfully, a fully-rapped, fully-dope feature from the Harry Houdini of Hip-Hop, Andre 3000 (“Sitting here sad as hell/ Listenin’ to Adele, I hear you baby”). And “Crew Love” begins with a harmonized verse from The Weeknd, but ends with Drake spitting, “That OVO and that XO/ Is everything you believe in, I know.”
As the album goes on, the lines begin to blur between which songs are ‘Rapping Drake’s, and which are ‘Singing Drake’s. This is a review, not a defense. It used to be that Drake fans had to defend his singing ambitions after a fully rapped song of his captured his naysayers’ attention. But the two styles have become one in the same. Flowing in and out of choruses and verses, Drake creates a solid groove on Take Care that deviates when necessary, but reigns back just when you think he’s about to spit something like, “Last name ever, first name…”
Sure, the track with Rihanna is pretty bubble-gum, the Juvenile interpolation on “Practice” is sort of corny, and the Stevie Wonder feature is really more for decoration. But Take Care is intriguing, filled with top-tier production and emotional lyrics. It will give Drake fans more material to love and Drake haters more ammunition to gripe about his crappy singing and girl songs, per the usual.
But he does have Kendrick Lamar as a feature, so they won’t be too upset.
(AllHipHop News)
Rap veterans Mobb Deep have announced the release date for the inaugural album from their new record label, Infamous Records.
The group’s new EP Black Cocaine will be released in two different versions.
One version will be released as a five song limited edition EP, while a deluxe seven song version will be available exclusively for off-line retailers.
“We wanted to give something to the fans that have been waiting for new Mobb Deep music,” Prodigy told AllHipHop.com in a statement released today (November 14).
Fans of Mobb Deep should purchase the album as soon as possible: both editions will be a one-time print run until stock runs out at all retail outlets.
“This limited edition EP is a collectors’ item for die hard Mobb Deep fans,” Havoc said.
The Black Cocaine limited edition EP is available everywhere on November 21, while the deluxe seven song limited edition EP is available only at indie retailers on November 25.
Mobb Deep’s new untitled full length album is due in the first quarter of 2012.
The album will be released as part of the group’s new deal for Infamous Records, which is being distributed by Sony/Red.
Fans of Mobb Deep can check out the group on November 22, during an upcoming hour-long live interview and performance on SiriusFM’s Shade 45 show “Sway In The Morning,” with MTV’s Sway Calloway.
That’s when he meets Mac, a 15-year senior, who is played by Snoop Dogg.
