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Exclusive: Los: Bad Boy’s Baltimore Billionaire in Training

By: Jake Crates Updated Category: Features
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Throughout the history of Bad Boy’s Records, there has been a host of artists that were thrust into the spotlight alongside Diddy. From Biggie to Black Rob, from Shyne to Making the Band, and more recently from MGK to Red Cafe to French Montana, Diddy keeps a roster of artists primed to make it to the big time. Now after taking rapper Los under his wing just a few weeks ago, Diddy hopes to turn one of Baltimore’s finest into his next shining star under the Bad Boy imprint. While many fans may not know that Los and Diddy go back to ’05, Los explains to AllHipHop.com how the two are coming back together after parting ways for non-musical reasons.

Los also breaks down the Hip-Hop scene in Baltimore, Maryland, and answers questions about the “Baltimore Club Music” phenomenon, known for its fast-paced beats and dance style of music popular among the youth and even some of the toughest characters in the city.  But, while Los tells AllHipHop.com he has a new tape in the works with Bad Boy behind it, his current project circulating the streets, The Crown Ain’t Safe, is getting rave reviews as it’s hosted by DJ ill Will & DJ Drama. Featuring all original music with appearances from DMX, XV, Twista, Lola Monroe, Jazze Pha, Phil Ade and Sean Hayz,  Los laces the production from Jahlil Beats, Battleroy, Lifted, The Loft, J Oliver and others on this most recent effort.

Read ahead for AllHipHop.com’s introspective look at Diddy’s newest signee, and find out why Mr. Combs had to go back and re-up on Los!

AllHipHop.com: Los, what’s good, sir?

Los: Everything. It is coming along great, man, just a lot of work, just doing a lot of shows from the mixtape.

AllHipHop.com: I know everyone has questions about the recent Bad Boy signing, so let’s get right to that. Can you speak on how that came together?

Los: Of course. It’s going great, man [laughter]. It’s a great experience, man.

AllHipHop.com: [laughter] That’s great, man. Talk about your relationship with Diddy and how he signed you.

Diddy Announces “Los” As The Newest Member Of Bad Boy

Los: Well, we basically… You know I had a relationship with Puff from the past. In 2005, I was signed to Bad Boy and things didn’t work out. Non-musical factors affected us, and we went our separate ways, and I just continued to work and build my brand and put my own thing together. It just so happened I started to get the attention of the masses. And, we had a vested interest and he gave me a call, and we just started talking and communicating and we re-built the friendship and we just sat back and saw where it would go. It all ended up coming full circle, and here we are now, you know?

AllHipHop.com: That’s a beautiful thing that you guys can work out your differences and come back together. It’s been a big deal any time Diddy signs someone, but it really seem like, as of late, the artists he’s working with are really taking off. Do you have plans to work with MGK or French Montana and any of the other artists on the line-up?

Los: Oh yeah, MGK, French [Montana], Red [Cafe], everyone is extremely talented and cool. I definitely have plans of working with all of them. Cassie has a lot of stuff going on right now with her project she’s working on, King of Hearts. We are all kind of figuring out our direction as individual artists, but we come together when we can to help each other. But me, of course I’m just getting my feet wet, but we will definitely all come together.

AllHipHop.com: Do you guys ever all get to come together in person?

Los: At 106 & Park was the first time I was with everybody; I didn’t come out [on the show], though, because it wasn’t announced yet. Then there was New Year’s at Puff’s crib.

LOS – The Crown Ain’t Safe (Official Trailer)

AllHipHop.com: What can you tell me about Baltimore aside from what everyone thinks goes on because of HBO’s TV show, The Wire?

Los: I mean, to be honest with you, it’s not far fetched, you know, The Wire. It’s a tough place you know…. It’s a tough place, man, it breeds people that are survivors, and you know, it embeds the hustle and it instills strategy, and everything. Because just surviving in Baltimore is like an obstacle course, and when you go through the things that just growing up there naturally puts you through, it just prepares you for the rest of the world – if you can make it there. That’s just basically the way I can sum it up. Baltimore is like boot camp; it conditions you for life, but at the same time, you can’t let the elements go over you man and you just have to persevere. When we love we love hard, when we fight we fight harder. When we don’t like something, we are very expressive. It’s like we have our own little world, and it’s governed by our own rules.

AllHipHop.com: I know there are a couple artists that are coming up out of Baltimore. Are there any other artists from Baltimore you think the world should be checking for?

Los: I mean, I feel like every artist from Baltimore has at least a story, because it’s not your typical situation. Like I said, it’s tough and musically, it’s even tougher because you are trying to make it with no outlets and people are fighting. Times is hard. It’s like you can’t just get on with good music, it’s so much more.

You got Bossman, you got Smash, you got D-Boy, you got Caddie the Don, he’s doing really good.  You got Star, you have Hundred Grand, but he just got locked up. It’s like you still can’t escape the elements. No one’s doing completely music. Some dudes might be in the streets hard core, but hit the studio to record, or some guys might be working a full time and then record when they can. So the struggle is real, so shouts out to every artist that’s doing it from Baltimore. Mully Man went down to Atlanta and started getting things going for himself. He grinds, and he’s a really cool guy.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, we are definitely familiar with Mully Man. Speaking of Baltimore music, you guys had a unique sound for a while, that has a real dance style, “Baltimore Club Music.” Have you done songs like that?

Los: It’s a sound that represents the foundation of the city. It represents a sound that kind of pioneered the Baltimore night life, and it kind of goes way back to house music and you know clubs like Odell’s and The Oak Tree and Silver Shadows and the clubs that my mom went to back in the day. House music and DJs like DJ Red and DJ Sean Marshall, DJ Boobie, Frank Ski, DJ Spen, Doo Doo Brown [a popular drum break on the Baltimore Club Scene] , it’s part of the history and part of the culture, and it transformed throughout the years. I’m taking you back.

It went into a different sound, but the grassroots of it is the house music and the Baltimore Club Sound. Rest in Peace to K-Swift. You got artists like Ra-Ra; she’s from Baltimore and kind of uses that sound. DJ Rod Lee and Miss Tony, and Miss Tony was one of the people that branded it, but it’s always popular with the youth. We just have a history so it will always be around, so when you get to a certain age you may detach from it, but it still lingers and it’s there.

AllHipHop.com: That’s crazy that you know your history like that. That’s impressive given you didn’t grow up in a time when it was more popular.

Los: It kept a lot of people out of trouble, too. What happened was people formed dance groups, and it’s something that I think died out a little bit. I think its something people need to re-visit, because it’s fun and it’s a break from everything that’s going on and you just get to dance. It kept a lot of people out of trouble, and when kids where doing that as opposed to other things, it was a much better time. When the kids were focused on forming dance groups, when that was being promoted, it was a better time.

AllHipHop.com: People might pop a move on each other instead of fighting, huh?

Los: Yeah, well, it was a ton of that going on, but really hardcore people were dancing. Like hardcore dudes you would see and respect in the streets, you would see them dancing in the club, and they were still respected. It was crews, it was real. You had the Horsemen, The Almighty Mickeys, the Park Heights crew. They had their own dance called the Park Heights Strut. It was the coolest sort of Diddy-bop type thing that you could do. It was really going down. It was a big part of growing up as a teenager.

AllHipHop.com: That’s great man. So more about your music, man. What’s up with your mixtape?

Los: I just dropped The Crown Ain’t Safe, I’m ’bout to drop the “King Los” video, and I’m working on the new Bad Boy mixtape. I’ve been working with Justice League, one of the more elite production teams, from “Aston Martin” music to work with Jeezy and Ross. They are just incredible, so I worked with them. Just look forward to greatness, man. I’m under Puff wing, and I’m just a young billionaire in training.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, that’s dope. What’s the number one piece of advice that Diddy gave you that you will hold on to throughout your career?

Los: To be honest, it’s just he’s a very straight forward person, and it’s always stuff that’s basic and stuff that we would normally overlook. It’s not really some technical or intricate thing; it’s just like, “Yo, yo just relax.” You know? He’ll tell you something like that, where you won’t even think or know that you’re hype like, “Just relax, take your time, it’s ok.” He says things like that, and it just takes you back to functioning properly and then you’re like, “Ok, ok, ok, I’m back.” He’s just a great coach. Of course, he has a tremendous amount of knowledge and wisdom in this game, as well as in life, and I think that he’s mastered the art of Black excellence, and the hustle. So it’s like, why would you not listen to anything that he has to say?

Follow Los on Twitter (@IAmKingLos).

Rap Song Surfaces About New York Knicks Breakout Star Jeremy Lin

By: Jake Crates Updated Category: News
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(AllHipHop News) In what is widely regarded as an unexpected turn of events, New York Knicks breakout star Jeremy Lin now has a rap song about his rise to the forefront of the sports world, as well as New York Knicks fan’s hearts.

As one of the few Asian basketball players in the NBA, Jeremy Lin regularly makes Sportscenter’s highlight reels.

Now, accompanying his athletic performances, is a rap song dedicated to the Harvard graduate that has been averaging over 25 points and 8 assists per game.

The rap song, performed by a Harvard student named Mega Ran, is a dedication to Lin, who is the league’s first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

After starting the season on the bench, Lin has made his way to the starting line up with three straight 20 point games. Last week, he scored 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Take a look at Mega Ran’s dedication to Lin below:

Daily Word: Say It Now!! (Show Your Appreciation Before It’s Too Late)

By: seandrasims Updated Category: Lifestyle
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Wonderful Monday, my People of Power!

First and foremost, rest in peace to the queen, Whitney Houston, who passed away this weekend! We lost a legend who will forever be missed! Today’s Daily Word is dedicated to showing appreciation NOW!

The only guarantee that we have in life is that we are all going to die! Whether we want to accept it or not, this reality is one that we cannot escape. While it is important to live our best lives, it is equally important that we live in harmony with those we care for and love! The world has always been a cruel place, and because of social media, that cruelty has found a faster outlet to rear it’s head.

It was sickening to see that after one’s death people would really use that time to crack jokes, criticize, and judge, not having any regard for those who were truly hurt by the loss. In the same breath, it was equally disturbing to see how many people had great things to say but only did so after death! SAY IT NOW!!!

If you love someone, say it! If you miss them, show it! If you care, then
do something! Whether people show it or not, everyone is dealing with
some type of battle, and a word of encouragement can go a long way! Instead of staying quiet or criticizing, give people a fine reputation
to live up to. Instead of holding your admiration inside, let people
know how much they mean to you! It means more than you even realize!

Starting immediately, make sure you pay at least one compliment per day! Whether it’s someone you know, or someone you don’t! Make it a habit to make people feel good! SAY IT NOW!! It goes a long way!!
-Ash’Cash

“Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.” -Mary Kay Ash

“When it comes to life; the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” -G. K. Chesterton

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” -William Arthur Ward

“Silent gratitude isn’t very much to anyone.” -Gertrude Stein

“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” -Sam Keen

“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.” -William Arthur Ward

“Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it.” -Swedish Proverb

“A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.” -William Arthur Ward

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.

will.I.am Aims To “TRANS4M” Los Angeles Neighborhood

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: News
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(AllHipHop News) Black Eyed Peas founder will.i.am hosted his TRANS4M conference last week at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

The first annual TRANS4M conference was an invitation only event, that featured 250 attendees from various industries.

will.i.am served as the curator, while a variety of speakers were featured on panels throughout the day.

Speakers like Katy Haber, M.B.E., (co-founder of the Compton Cricket Club), Robert Appleby (particle physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research) Angela Ahrendts (Burberry CEO), Andrew Hessel (co-chairman of Singularity University’s Biotechnology Department) and others discussed a number of topics, mostly revolving around the future of science and technology.

“TRANS4M is about finding intersections between what you do and what we can do together,” will.i.am said. “Here in the room are brands, businesses, innovators, community organizations, educators and scientists. Sitting next to you are donors, philanthropists, scientists, technology leaders and people who understand how to talk to youth.”

The conference was put together through a partnership with will.i.am and Intel and is part of will.i.am’s overarching goal to transform the Boyle Heights neighborhood in lost Angeles, where he grew up.

The rapper recently launched i.am boyle heights, a new effort for transformation of the East Los Angeles community.

EXCLUSIVE: AllHipHop.com’s Living Monuments: Rapper/Producer Erick Sermon

By: seandrasims Updated Category: Features
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February is Black History Month! And, in honor of those who have paved the way and pioneered in Hip-Hop culture and beyond, AllHipHop.com pays tribute all month with its “Living Monuments” series. Next in the lineup is the EPMD legend, Erick Sermon, who has a LOT to say about the state of Hip-Hop in 2012:

ERICK SERMON ON WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A “LIVING MONUMENT”

For Hip-Hop fans of the late 1980s, EPMD was a two-man lyrical army, and Erick Sermon was its lispy, outspoken general. Funky, feel good samples (“I-I-I shot the sheriff…don’t get to bold because you might get shot”) over clever, monotone spitting were their claim to fame, earning them a permanent place among rap legends. After the group’s breakup, Sermon went on to create monster hits for others – his production credits read like a who-who’s of the best from rap and R&B.

From Akon to Beyonce to Redman to Jay-Z to D’Angelo to George Clinton to Too Short and even Shaquille O’Neal, Sermon is the behind-the-scenes hitmaker that all the cool kids flock to for help:

ERICK SERMON ON WHAT THE INDUSTRY NEEDS TO SUSTAIN HIP-HOP

The “Green Eyed Bandit” may have part cat in his DNA (perhaps a talkative, boastful lion). Think back over the years on how he has faced disaster and yet, like a cat, seems to have nine lives. In 2001, he mysteriously fell out of a third story window and survived. In 2008, he and Parrish Smith reunited to perform again as EPMD after surviving a near-forever breakup. And in November 2011, after a long break from recording and prepping for a comeback, he had a heart attack. And survived.

Sermon knows what it takes to stay alive. Here’s his advice for providing “options” so young Hip-Hop can build legacies and lifetime careers:

ERICK SERMON RAPS, EXPLAINS WHY “I’M ALREADY ME” IS THE NEW MOTTO

For countless reasons in the past 25 years, Sermon deserves to be heard and respected. And these days, he wants to use his influence and years of experience (including his own six studio albums, one compilation, and a forthcoming mixtape and album called E.S.P.) to help sustain Hip-Hop the way artists do in other music genres and subcultures. And, although he says he’s NO LONGER GOING TO RAP, Sermon has a whole lot of words left in him.

Check out the last clip of the boisterous E-Double below where HE RAPS, and truth be told, is so good at hitting all the right points, he could have interviewed himself:

Want more Erick Sermon? Of course you do. Catch him at his special “Hit Squad Reunion” show, featuring EPMD, Redman, Keith Murray, and others, on February 24 at Best Buy Theatre in NYC. Purchase tickets HERE.

Sex and Hip Hop: The Unreal Reality Show

By: seandrasims Updated Category: Uncategorized
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“It’s too many Black women/ who can say they are mothers/ but can’t say that they’re wives…” – “Retrospect for Life”, Common and Lauryn Hill

The hottest new show on cable is “Sex and Hip Hop.” If you haven’t peeped it yet, it’s about the daily drama of Brooklyn rapper, “Charlie Manson,” his two baby mamas, Latoya and Patrona, and his label mate, the first openly gay rapper, “Flamboyance.” Originally, the cast included the stable, loving, hardworking Black family next door, the Moores, but they were dropped after the first episode because of low ratings…

Without a doubt, the most watched programs on television are the reality shows. With the popularity of shows such as “Love and Hip Hop” and “Housewives of… Wherever,” it is apparent that Americans can’t get enough of seeing dysfunctional Black folks and dysfunctional Black families doing funky, dysfunctional things. But the question that should be asked is, are these shows really, reality or just the Hip-Hop version of “The Big Lie Theory” – tell a lie long enough and people will eventually accept it as truth?

It’s a little bit of both. However, we cannot confuse the effect with the cause.

The depiction of African people as sex starved savages goes back hundreds of years. According to James Jones in Bad Blood, it was once believed by physicians that Black people were more sexually promiscuous than whites because, “Blacks had originated in a warm, tropical climate and were, therefore, closer on the evolutionary scale to man’s b###### ancestors.”

These myths have constantly been dis-proven by scholars.

Michael Bradley, in his book, The Ice Man Inheritance, wrote that “love” was such a natural process for ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians that they did not even need a word for it. However, it was the Western Man’s (European) “sexual reproduction aggression and frustration” that made their use of the word necessary, as it served as a temporary “truce” between men and women just long enough to make a babies.

Even with evidence to the contrary, the stereotype of Black sexual deviancy has remained.

During the early 20th century, according to Dr. Harriett Washington in her book, Medical Apartheid, the early eugenics theorists believed that Black women were “sexually indiscriminate and, as bad mothers, were constrained by biology to give birth to defective children.” She also wrote that scientists once believed that Black men were more likely than White men to spread vd because of “the Negro’s well-known sexual impetuosity.”

This stereotype of Black hyper-sexuality was reflected in the music industry, as white teens both embraced Black sexuality and rejected it, simultaneously. Even as far back as the jazz era, Brain Ward wrote in Just My Soul Responding that the white audience “romanticized its alleged primitivism… sensual rather than mental properties …and it’s supposed lack of sexual inhibition,” parroting the wide spread belief that Black people think with their sex organs instead of their brains.

This idea has dominated Hip-Hop since its origins. Twenty years before Big Sean was telling women to “bounce it and make it boomerang,” Luke “Skywalker ” Campbell and the 2 Live Crew were yellin’ “Me So Horny.” And decades before Nicki Minaj dropped that “Super Bass,” Salt and Pepa were demanding that dudes “push it real good.”

Perhaps the most destructive idea pushed in Hip-Hop is that Black men really don’t even need women, as many are still following the Snoop Dog mantra “we don’t love them hoes.” This can be attributed to an entertainment industry that consciously or unconsciously supports the prison industrial complex by propagating the “jail house mentality.”

Because many young Black men spend 5-10 years in prison without the pleasure of women, the “thug luv,” “money over hoes” and other ideologies serve as coping mechanisms. Unfortunately, as Dr. Frances Cress Welsing wrote in The Isis Papers, “young males only become more alienated from their manhood and feminized in such settings.”

One of the most spirited discussions in Hip Hop over the last few years is over the issue of homosexuality/homophobia. The word “homophobia” can be deceiving, in itself, as “phobia” means “fear”, which you rarely hear expressed in rap music. Outside of a handful of songs such as Brand Nubian’s “Punks Jump up to Get Beat Down”, you can hardly find any evidence of “gay bashing.”

However, you can find plenty of examples of “Black-on-Black blastin.'” So, what you have is not fear or hate but a culture clash between an art form based on an African cultural heritage where homosexuality was never the norm and a “Western” culture where it was practiced freely. (Noted historian J.A. Rogers wrote in Sex and Race Vol. III that the practice was “rampant in ancient Greece and Rome.” )

The overemphasis on homophobia is problematic, because it overshadows real pathologies facing the Black community.

Although Black celebrities such as Magic Johnson should be commended for trying to rally rappers against “homophobia” and AIDS, this should not take the place of the more specific problems facing Black folks, such as the physical abuse of Black women and the disproportionate rate of heterosexual HIV infection among them.

Also, while rappers such as Waka Flocka Flame have co-signed the “anti-bullying” call for tolerance of those who are “different,” this must not overshadow Hip Hop’s responsibility to address the much more prevalent violence between Black males who are basically the same. Also, we cannot ask young Black men to accept men wearing dresses, before we even teach them about Black men wearing shirts and ties.

Our main challenge today must be to address the dysfunction of the Black family and the conflict between Black men and women. whether real or imagined and repair the damage that has been done. And just buying a box of over-priced, chocolate-covered cherries, or rushing out to grab some last minute Valentine bling, won’t solve the problem.

As Dr. Cress Welsing wrote, “If we are successful in finding the true cause of the alienation and neutralizing that cause, then Black male /Black female alienation will yield to true harmony.”

And we must begin begin by teaching Black children to accept and respect themselves.

If not, we will forever be trying to correct the behavior of people who, as Lil Wayne would say, never learned “how to love.”

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is “This Ain’t Hip Hop,” a column for intelligent Hip Hop headz. His website is www.NoWarningShotsFired.com, and he can reached at in**@*****************ed.com or on Twitter (@truthminista).

Video: Red Bull Music Academy “Ducks Down” With a Tupac-Inspired NYC Stop

By: seandrasims Updated Category: Features
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Great artistry doesn’t just happen – it’s cultivated by countless hours of practice, studying the masters, and honing one’s craft. The annual selectees in the lauded Red Bull Music Academy know just that; they are among a chosen few to receive a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in an international “musician’s boot camp” of sorts.

This year’s Red Bull Music Academy recruitment phase is in full swing, as the master class series brought its stage to New York City last week to recruit new applicants and spotlight an industry success story. For this stop along its nationwide tour, the Duck Down Records label family was on hand to recall the story of how they were formed mainly out of their frustrations with the industry in the 1990s.

Duck Down Records label head Dru Ha and business partner/rapper Buckshot recollected the early days of the imprint that spawned legendary, grungy New York rap groups such as Black Moon, Smif N Wessun, Boot Camp Clik, Heltah Skeltah, Random Axe, and more.

Hip-Hop, as a rebellious and relatively young musical genre, is full of tales from its early days, and as it turns out, the late Tupac Shakur played a little known role in Duck Down’s early development and music recordings. Check the clips below as Dru Ha and Buckshot share personal accounts of their memorable time spent at Shakur’s California home shortly before his murder, during the height of the “East Coast vs. West Coast” tension in 1996:

Applications are being accepted now for the next Red Bull Music Academy. Download an application HERE.

Image courtesy of Photo Rob