If you follow femcee Charli Baltimore on Instagram, you know that in the past, she has posted photos of her and Shady Records rapper and Slaughterhouse group member, Royce Da 5’9′, looking very much like a couple. Back when my homie illseed was around, he posted a rumor about the two that mysteriously disappeared from the site.
Anyway, our very own Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur caught up with Ms. Baltimore at AllHipHop Central and put her on the hot seat. Check out what she says, or rather what she doesn’t say, about her relationship with Royce Da 5’9′, as well as why she took Royce off of one of her songs:
Charli hit Jigsaw with the elusive “no comment”! Our full interview with Charli is coming soon!
Ms. Baltimore has a new mixtape out now with Dutchie Man called “Natural Born Khronicles”. Make sure you download the mixtape here.
(AllHipHop News) Another month in 2012 means another new mixtape from Sha Stimuli will be released, and the Brooklyn lyricist made good on his promise by releasing May’s offering from his “Rent Tape Series” titled The Trueman Show.
Sha Stimuli’s website provided the following description of his newest mixtape: “The Trueman Show is an authentic look into Sha’s life using his music to convey his continuing struggles in the rap game, stepping into the world of the 9-5er and his love/hate relationship with the life that he left behind and what is not visible in the future, and the rise and fall of his personal and professional relationships (or is it just a metaphor). While we’ve heard Sha’s message before, we’ve not truly heard it like this, a cleansing of the soul, while rising up like the Phoenix from the ashes.”
The eight-track mixtape features appearances from Kebba, Lydia Caesar, Lela Bizz, and Lee Wilson while The Trueman Show’s production comes from the likes of J. Cardim, Agorr, The Epixx, and Louis G.
AllHipHop.com spoke to Sha in Austin during South By Southwest (SXSW) and in addition to him talking about Hip-Hops overwhelming presence at this year’s festival, the Brooklyn MC shared details on his “Rent Tape Series,” his plans for retirement, and his career change from rapper to author.
Check out our exclusive interview with Sha Stimuli below:
With a new beginning after incarceration, Freeway Ricky Ross has made it his business to distance himself from the life he once knew.
The former drug baron is currently working on a slew of projects that are designed to educate youth as well as the general public via his experiences with the other side of the law. As reported by media sources, Ross is bringing his rise and fall in the drug game to the big screen with a proposed biopic. According to the West Coast resident, he is working to get financial backing for the Nick Cassavetes-helmed project, and rapper Snoop Dogg is already contributing to the biopic by working on the film’s soundtrack.
“Right now, we’re raising funds for it. The budget came back. It was higher than what we was hoping for. So we gotta go back to raising money,” Freeway Ricky Ross told AllHipHop.com. “You know we got Nick Cassavetes. He wrote it. He’s already slated to direct. We’re gonna have a meeting with Heidi Levitt. She is the one who casted [the Oscar winning film] The Artist. We’re hoping to sign her on as the casting director in the next couple of weeks if not next week.”
In addition to actor/singer Jamie Foxx, who Ross said is “highly interested” in the biopic, efforts are being made to find an actor to play Gary Webb. Webb is the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who broke the story on Freeway Ricky Ross in a series of pieces published by the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 called “Dark Alliance”. In the meantime, Ross is working on a documentary titled A Crack in the System.
The film, Ross stated, will be a follow up to a recently aired documentary called Slavery by Another Name.
“We got some interesting people in this documentary,” he teased. “We got the guy that invented the crack law and me. It’s me and him sitting down on a couch. I wanted to find out why do these crack laws get so harsh compared to powder when you can’t make crack without powder. So me and him sit down and we had a heart to heart. He gave me a lot of stuff. When America see this here, me and him talk, it’s gonna go crazy. Watch and see what I tell you. Them 600,000 brothers they got locked up in jail for crack cocaine? It’s gonna go crazy. Wait til America sees what this dude say about the crack law that he invented.”
A Crack in the System is slated to come out in September or November of this year, as 85 percent of the feature has already been filmed, Ross added. A soundtrack to the documentary will also be released.
In addition to A Crack in the System, Ross’ movie ventures include The Lost Coast Tapes. Foreign rights to the completed film have been sold, stated Ross, who revealed that negotiations are underway for the domestic rights. A trailer for The Lost Coast Tapes will soon be available to see online on Freeway Ricky Ross’ Twitter and Facebook pages as well as www.freewayenterprise.com.
Soon after the release of A Crack in the System, Ross will unveil his autobiography. The page-turner, originally scheduled for a late 2011 release, is completed and set to come out when Ross deems as such.
Freeway Rick Ross
“The book is already done. I just got it sitting on the shelf,” Freeway Ricky Ross confessed. “It’s all about timing, letting out just at the right time. Right now, I’m just waiting but the book is ready. It’s ready to go. I could put it out whenever I get ready, but I’m just waiting,”
The autobiography isn’t the only literary work Freeway Ricky Ross is penning. A book on the ex-drug dealer’s recent court case involving the rapper Rick Ross is also in the works. Freeway Ricky Ross’ lawsuit against the Miami-based entertainer over the use of his name was dismissed last month by an L.A. County Superior Court judge.
“I just started writing another book about the trial, where I’m gonna explain to everybody what happened at the trial during those 90 days when we did depositions every day. Just lay it all out,” Ross explained, adding that the book will touch on how he felt during the proceedings as well as “the hand that I felt the judge had dealt.
“…the judge said she that she didn’t know if she was making the right decision, but she felt she was doing me a favor by throwing my case out and not letting it go to jury trial and then having the appeals court reverse it,” he continued while alluding to his desire to involve his legal team in writing the book. “I’mma lay that out in this new book that I’m working on right now and hopefully I can get my lawyers to help me…I want all three of my lawyers to help me because this was an experience we all experienced together.
“I want to know their side of the story as well. We thought we had this case won. Everybody did. Everybody thought we had this case won and I still don’t think that my story has been told. I still want to speak out because I ain’t gave up. I want revenge. No sense in me lying. We felt it was strong enough to win. We thought we had it. I still feel like I was cheated. But, you know, at the end of the day, it is what it is. I have to lick my wounds and get ready to appeal,” he conceded.
Moving beyond his courtroom loss, Freeway Ricky Ross spends much of his time speaking to youth about the pitfalls of his former life as a drug dealer. Although he made a lot of money and lived a lavish lifestyle, Ross maintains that the outcome of his actions were nothing to be proud of.
Knowing that many of the kids he talks to listen artists like the rapper Rick Ross, Freeway Ricky Ross is confident that the youth are able to decipher between what’s true and what’s false.
“These kids recognize the real. Our kids ain’t no fools…I never put myself above them or on the same level as them. I let ’em all know ‘Don’t get it twisted that I think I can compare myself to you. But what I can give you is that I experienced some things that you ain’t never experienced.’”
Communicating his past in a way that’s easy to understand, Ross admits to not sugarcoating his trials. The move was meant to provide a realistic view of how things really were for a drug dealer in Ross’ day.
“I take them from the first day that I got started…when people look at me now, they think that I was always a drug expert,” he shared. “But I have to let them know that it was tricks that was played on me when I first got started. I also explain to em that the only reason I made so much money in the drug business is because I became a drug expert. I could tell you what it went for in what city. I could tell you what color they like it, what was the best time of the month to get it there what route you should be taking when you getting’ it there. When you start to know that kind of stuff about anything, then you make money.
“I try to give it to them as close as I can to the real the best that I can remember because I do have some memory lapses where there are things that I can’t remember as accurately as it could. But on the surface, I’m giving it to them raw and uncut,” added Ross. “There might be some days that change, just little stuff, but overall I want to be as real with them as I can. When you’re doing the truth, the truth is easy, but when you lying, it’s tough.”
We all know the story of rappers that have glorified their past in the streets. They flipped birds, they moved bricks, they did time, their friends died. They are a product of the struggle, and their music is their life confessed from behind the mic. We also know about the so-called trappers turned rappers, and the never-ending debate about what they did in their past.
Some rappers have proof of their struggle. 50 and Weezy got shot. Jeezy showed you his truth in the documentary. Jay-Z popularly told fans, “Hov’ did that / So hopefully you won’t have to go through that.” Maybach Music Group ringleader Rick Ross has been questioned about his authenticity in the past as a correctional officer, but Ricky Rozay keeps pushing. Today, he remains arguably one of the most popular artists in rap today.
The real question is, do people even care anymore? This is just entertainment, right? Not with Boldy James, this is his real life, to this very day.
The story you are about to read is NOT entertainment. This is the story of real struggle and fighting for your life everyday in Detroit. Boldy James is as real as it gets, and he has really lived the life he raps on tracks. Don’t get it confused, Boldy’s music isn’t your typical street music – it’s classic Midwest music, bundled up with production from Chuck Inglish, the Alchemist, and others, that pulls from the struggle and hustle you can hear in his lazy flow.
Take a look at AllHipHop.com’s exclusive sit down with one of Detroit’s own, Boldy James:
AllHipHop.com: So, tell me your story, man. Who is Boldy James, and how did you start your come up across the Internet and in your city?
Boldy James: First of all, my real name is James Jones. I’m from Detroit city all over the board. I lived in every neighborhood. Real Detroit native, pure Michigan bred. My gang is called the Concreatures, you know what I’m saying? Concreatures, the definition of a Concreature is a real street n*gga, you know? My rap name is Boldy James because I got it from my big homie from the block I grew up with that got murdered. And right before he died – he didn’t rap – he just sold cocaine, and I liked the name because his name was James too, his names was James Osely III and my name is James Jones III, so for some reason it had some significance on it cause, Boldy James, it reminded me of the singer Boney James that my father used to listen to.
My original name was Golden Charles and like, I started rapping when I was first starting to write and count. Listening to all the Eric Bs and Rakims, the EPMDs, the Heavy Ds, the Kool Moe Dees and, you know, Rap just evolved and came to Ice Cubes and the DJ Quiks and, you know, I just grew up on that gangsta music.
BOLDY JAMES & LOGIC Feat. Aaron Williams – “Take What’s Ours”
At the same time, I’m from Detroit and a lot of sh*t goes on around here. Sh*t just growing up around this maf*cka, just off bill, you see things and you wonder about things, and before you know it, you dibblin’ and dabblin’ in a whole bunch of bullsh*t that you don’t know why you in, you know what I’m saying? And you look up and this sh*t just became your life, and you get consumed and caught up and look up and now you going with the trials and tribs that come with the bullsh*t.
I always just took time in between the door knocks and the bullsh*t and the trap when I was trying to get a couple of dollars. I would take time to write in my journal on some dear diary sh*t. I just try to capture the feel and the emotion of everything that’s going down at the moment or that went down. I always feel like sort of a narrator and real descriptive and everyone be hearing my Raps and say that they are vivid.
And words can’t never pinpoint real life exactly 100 percent, but I think that I do one of the best jobs of coming close to perfect, ’cause nobody is perfect. But I be feeling like my flow ’bout as perfect as it’s going to get sometimes, because I keep it 100 and I try to give as accurate a description of my life as possible.
AllHipHop.com: Yeah, seeing all your videos and hearing the music, you tell that what you are talking about is real and that you have been through a lot.
Boldy James: Man, real ain’t even the word, homie. Me and Mafia Double Dee, that’s my sister, it’s a project that’s bout to come out shortly. That’s the next thing I’m about to do; we bout to drop something big for the streets of Detroit, man, and just let them know how it goes. We ’bout to take this b*tch over and show them, because we really be out here doing s### and it feels like everyone is writing raps about us and telling our story and they don’t live our life. As they say, they ain’t ’bout that life, and we is. You know what I mean?
Boldy James – “JIMBO”
AllHipHop.com: Uh huh…
Boldy James: So sh*t, at the end of the day, why we gonna sit there and let them get fat while we starve and keep eating off our plate? F*ck that, we tired of feeding maf*ckas; they don’t show the respect back, and they don’t understand the long grind and all the work and the long grind and the long time coming and everything before it manifests and materializes in to what you was trying to make of it. And, we made something out of nothing. So we just ’bout to show the world how real family orientated we is, and how we ain’t f*ckin’ around anymore, period.
AllHipHop.com: Speaking of family, can you talk to me about your connection with Chuck Inglish of the Cool Kids?
Boldy James: Yeah, shout out to the Cool Kids, man, shout out to Chuck Inglish and Mickey Rocks. That’s my family, that my lil’ blood cousin and my lil’ bro bro. Mickey like the closest thing I got to a lil’ brother in real life, so it’s ride or die for them Cool Kids.
But I’m on this Concreature gang time sh*t my n*gga. Yo, put this in your interview: Mafia Double D-e-e and Boldy James, I’m trying to think of the title, but I don’t want to leak it, too, soon cause whenever I leak titles too soon. I got mothaf*ckas trying to steal my sh*t and take my sh*t and run with it, like they been doing they whole life. My whole life people been stealing my sh*t, man, and I’m tired of lending my sh*t out so other mothaf*ckas can present it to the world like they the founders or inventors of that sh*t. I started that gangsta gangsta sh*t, man.
Boldy James – “Consignment”
AllHipHop.com: A lot of times, people try to glorify the street sh*t…
Boldy James: Man, look here, man, we don’t glorify the street sh*t, we really out of this s### man. That’s the only reason we put anything at risk writing these raps, man. Because if I really told y’all the truth, man, I probably wouldn’t be able to make it out of the booth before that would be the end of that. I know everything, man, you know what I’m saying? We be in everything that we have no business being in, man, so it ain’t really nothing to talk about no more. We just really trying to entertain ourselves right now. This sh*t not even for y’all; this sh*t for us.
AllHipHop.com: What about some Detroit artists that you might have listened to coming up?
Boldy James: Blade Icewood, Street Lord’z Worm,, Big Herk, Rod Day, Steet Lord’z, Rock Bottom, Little Mike Mike, my man Costra Nostra, Lethal Grain from Costra Nostra, my man Hash, my man Reage, my man Zo, the Jerk Nation.
I don’t know, I just be doin me my dog, I don’t be on no bullsh*t. I keep to myself, just try and stay out of the way so don’t know n*gga try and murder me, and so don’t know ni**a catch me on no cell charge, I’m out here on some real street sh*t, n*gga. I don’t even play by the same rules everybody play with man. I roll with the hammer, I don’t let nobody box me in and jam me up, I don’t trust too many people, I’m anti-social, I’m not really a people’s person, you feel me? This is a real interview.
I don’t even really got time to do this interview right now, bro. I got so much sh*t goin on right now, dog. I’m in the middle of something right now that I don’t have no business doing right now, right now at the moment. But at the same time, I understand how important this interview is, and how important it is for me to tell everyone who Boldy James really is, man, so they can get a clear understanding of why I’m making the music that I’m making, dog. But I’m making the music that I’m making, because I’m really in the streets going f*ckin’ crazy, dog. You hear me?
Boldy James – “Long Run / Optional”
AllHipHop.com: Man… So what about this first tape, man, Trapper’s Alley?
Boldy James: Man, Trappers Alley, everyone started dying prior to it, man. My whole high school class, middle school class, I didn’t go to college, I dropped out of high school in 9th grade at 14 years old, man. And everyone in my f*cking yearbook is dead, man. Eighty percent are dead, the last 15 percent is locked up, bro, and that last five percent is out here living life, man, you feel me?
AllHipHop.com: That’s what I can hear in the music, this is no bullsh*t. People can tell it’s official. You recently linked up with Alchemist right?
Boldy James: Of course it’s real, man. I’m just making the best music I can. I must be of the elite MCs at this point, because Alchemist ain’t just f*ckin’ with everybody. I was with Alchemist for like a month, man, f*ckin around in the studio and just trying to make something work and doing what’s natural. And Al got my particular style of beats anyway, and anything that he played, the sh*t that he made me was limited, and everything that you will hear, that’s all we did. We didn’t do no extra sh*t and have to pick from it or none of that. We just gonna give it to you the same way we cooked it up. Other than that, Mafia Double Dee, ain’t nothing else. Y’all gotta hold on for the rest.
(AllHipHop News) Nicki Minaj is set to embark on her first headlining North American tour this summer in support of her recently-released sophomore studio album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
Nicki Minaj’s upcoming North American “Pink Friday Tour” will hit 14 cities between the months of July and August. The tour will kick off on July 16 in Chicago, Illinois at the Chicago Theatre, and continue through cities like Detroit, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Las Vegas and Seattle before wrapping up inVancouver, British Columbia on August 12.
In addition to her upcoming European and North American dates, Nicki Minaj will be making appearances at a number of festivals and events throughout the summer including Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam concert on June 3, which will take place at MetLife Stadium along with a slew of others events across the country.
Tickets for the “Pink Friday Tour” will be available this Friday, May 4, at noon only on LiveNation.com. V.I.P. packages can be purchased at MyPinkFriday.com.
Check out a full list of tour dates below:
7.16.12 – Chicago, IL (Chicago Theatre)
7.17.12 – Detroit, MI (Fox Theatre Detroit)
7.19.12 – Cleveland, OH (State Theatre at Playhouse Square)
7.22.12 – Atlanta, GA (Fox Theatre Atlanta)
7.24.12 – Miami, FL (James L. Knight Center)
7.26.12 – Birmingham, AL (Boutwell Auditorium)
7.28.12 – Houston, TX (Bayou Music Center)
7.29.12 – Dallas, TX (Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie)
7.31.12 – St. Louis, MO (Peabody Opera House)
8.02.12 – Denver, CO (Wells Fargo Theatre)
8.04.12 – Las Vegas, NV (Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino)
Or maybe just the chant: “Broooooooookkkkkklllllllyyyyyynnnnnn!!”
Whatever it may be, the Nets are no longer New Jersey’s own. Whether it’s the billboards in New Jersey wishing the team goodbye, or a famous Mayor lamenting the loss, everyday, something makes the team’s move to Brooklyn seem more real, and it’s also a sign of the demise of another New Jersey team.
Last week, Jay-Z unveiled the new Brooklyn Nets logo, which he designed himself. We gotta give it to the man, it’s a pretty great looking logo. But where does that leave New Jersey? Will Jersey EVER get a sports team for themselves? The New York Giants and New York Jets both play in New Jersey but hold New York names.
Despite the move, Jay-Z brings a fun twist with multiple Hip-Hop references on the new team gear including classic Jay-Z rap titles such as “Hello Brooklyn” (Jay-Z ft. Lil Wayne) and “Brooklyn’s Finest” (Jay-Z ft. B.I.G.).
AllHipHop.com spoke to someone who is taking the loss quite personally – Newark, New Jersey’s Mayor Cory Booker. During our “Politics & Pizza” chat with him last week, we asked the superhero politician how he felt about the transition. Watch the exclusive video below:
While it’s a downer for New Jersey fans (and Mayor Cory Booker), we are pretty stoked for the Nets to go Brooklyn. The logo is dope, and it’s a new beginning. Hopefully, this will inspire the Nets to continue to be great.
The Barclay Center will officially open in September 2012.
When we last spoke to Maryland spitter Logic in February and welcomed him to our coveted Breeding Ground, he was putting the finishing touches on his new mixtape, Young Sinatra: Undeniable, which is his third free fan offering.
The project, which is being presented by Visionary Music Group, coincidentally contains 22 brand new tracks from the 22-year-old MC. Logic told AllHipHop.com that Young Sinatra: Undeniable is “the epitome of versatility. The difference between Young Sinatra and [Young Sinatra: Undeniable] is complete professionalism.”
With less than 72 hours until the rest of the world gets to feast their eyes on The Avengers, which we’ll be having a great review piece on in the coming days, the good folks over at Warner Bros. decided to unveil the new trailer for their summer tentpole and fitting conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises.
Although the trailer was meant to be seen in front of theater prints of The Avengers, a very brilliant viral marketing campaign has allowed fans to unlock the trailer early so we could all see it just a few days earlier than expected.
The official plot in short, which takes place eight years after the events of The Dark Knight is as follows: “When Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) stumbles upon a plot to destroy the city from within, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) gets back into action as the Batman. Waiting for him is the mysterious Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and Bane (Tom Hardy), a lethal adversary on a crusade to tear apart Batman’s legacy piece by piece.”
(Rumors) So, on Wednesday Rick Ross is hosting some kind of big time press release to make a major announcement. WELL, the strong word on the street is that he’s about to sign Shawnna. Now, that’s interesting, but cool. Why? It’s about time the boss got a woman in the crew. I think that Shawnna is the one for the gig. Why? Lyrically, she’s bonkers. She’s just as or more lyrical than the guys in MMG. She’s shined in other places, i.e. her former affiliation with Ludacris. I’m not sure what happened with her and T-Pain, but T isn’t bringing the pain on the charts any more. So, that’s that.
(AllHipHop News) A representative for the House of Blues has issued a statement denying that the Chicago police forced the venue to cancel a performance featuring rap group LEP Bogus Boys.
The Chicago Hip-Hop group made headlines earlier this week, after they were removed from the lineup of the “Been Trill” concert at the House of Blues on May 3, featuring A$AP Rocky.
Group members Moonie and Count stated that representatives for the House of Blues told them they were pulled from the lineup, because of their gang affiliations.
In a statement released to the Chicago Tribune, the House of Blues denied that the Chicago police forced them to cancel LEP Bogus Boys’ performance.
“The House Of Blues made an autonomous decision, one not influenced by the Chicago Police Department, to remove LEP Bogus Boys from the May 3 A$AP Rocky concert,” a House of Blues spokesman told the Tribune. “Unfortunately the decision was initially communicated to the artists’ representation via an e-mail that inaccurately cited the reasons and source of the cancellation. We apologize for any misunderstanding surrounding this decision.”
While the local police department does keep track of rappers who are affiliated with street gangs, a rep said they were not responsible for removing the group from the “Been Trill” lineup.
LEP Bogus Boys’ manager Eric “E” Alvarez, told The Chicago Tribune that the House of Blues still owed the group an explanation either way.
“House of Blues has got to tell me why they would cancel us,” Alvarez said. “You lied on the Chicago police Department, or you’re trying to cover up for the Chicago Police Department.”
Welcome to the first day of May, and the first day of the rest of your life!! Today’s Daily Word is
dedicated to making excuses! Getting straight to the point: If you want something bad enough you will make it happen… If not, you will make excuses!
Those who are successful in life are those who don’t allow anything to stand in their way! They are oblivious to failure and don’t understand what it is to lose! They keep going, no matter what the circumstance and adjust their methods along the way! Stop making excuses!! Making excuses is the habit of a losers and will NEVER get you the success you deserve!
Absolutely nothing can stop you! Believe in that fact, and you will realize that excuses are just a convenient way to justify failure! If you don’t accept defeat than excuses are useless! You have the power to live the life you want! Make the decision to do so TODAY!! Life is a choice, so choose wisely!!
-Ash’Cash
“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.” -Don Wilder and Bill Rechin
“No one ever excused his way to success.” -Dave Del Dotto
“How strange to use ‘you only live once’ as an excuse to throw it away.” -Bill Copeland
“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anyone else expects of you. Never excuse yourself.” -Henry Ward Beecher
“We are all creators of our world – some make good, some make trouble, and others make excuses.” -Unknown
“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” -Benjamin Franklin
“We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.” -Rudyard Kipling
“The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse.” -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.
