“Betty Crocka”
“Betty Crocka”
“Hit It”
“Control”
“I Got Juice”
“Put It On You”
“Kiss Her”
(AllHipHop News) Rapper Nicki Minaj has expressed disappointment for having to drop off of Rihanna’s highly anticipated Last Girl on Earth Tour. Shortly after an announcement was made about her involvement with Rihannas tour, she broke the news to her fans via Twitter that she would sit the tour out to focus on her upcoming debut solo album. According to Nicki Minaj, the album will hit stores in Fall of 2010 on Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown. When I first heard about the possibility of touring with Rihanna, I was thrilled to be included on the ticket,” Nicki Minaj stated. I admire Rihanna as an artist and I know it wouldve been a killer line up. Im disappointed that the timing wont work, but I hope well be able to revisit the opportunity in the future.”Nicki is currently in the recording studio working on new material for the album. The first single is titled Massive Attack and features Sean Garrett. I dont want to do anything that sounds like what any other female rapper has done, said Nicki Minaj. I want to start a new lane that one day, 10 years from now, girls will say, Im more of a Nicki Minaj type.
“Sexy Girl Anthem”
“Heard It All”
“Beamer, Benz or Bentley (Women Lie Remix)”
If time keeps on slipping into the future, why arent we tripping over the past? News, rumors and everyday life are moving too fast. How could it be April and 2010 has already been a blast? Lets take you from the beginning to what happened last.It is impossible to talk about the first quarter of 2010 without looking back on the natural disaster that devastated Port-au-Prince. An earthquake, 7.0 in strength, churning 6 miles below ground, violently shook the resilient country of Haiti, taking tens of thousands of lives while leaving hundreds of thousands, homeless. People from all over the world came together to help Haiti. Social networks played a huge part in getting the word out and raising money. Hip-Hop producer and philanthropist, Wyclef Jean played the largest part in rallying the movement. Wyclef and his wife were in the trenches less than 24 hours after the tragedy, picking dead bodies up from the streets. While back at home, certain news outlets were trying to stain his name and his Yele Haiti Foundation. Wyclef stood tall under fire, addressed the accusations and continued on with helping his country; his lifes mission. If he is not a finalist for TIME Person of the Year, it is an injustice. Waka Flocka Flame was shot on January 19. Hes alright now.Rapper Apache died on January 22nd. Apache led the new wave of Jersey artists in the early 90s including Naughty by Nature and Queen Latifah. Gangsta B*tch is the record that he is most known for; a song about the strong black woman of his desires, with an edge that was machete sharp. You will be remembered, Apache. Hip-Hop January 31, Drake cracked a Nicki Minaj backside sized smile during his heavily featured Grammy performance. And once again, if your name was Jay-Z or Eminem, you walked away with a Grammy. As long as the song was cleared, it got nominated. Really? Crack-a-Bottle? Its time that I pay that fee to be on the voting committee next year. Hip-Hop Reform!February 15, Jay-Z explained why he turned down We Are the World 2010. I know everybody is gonna take this wrong, he said. We are the World, I love it, and I understand the point and think its great. But I think We are the World is like [Michael Jacksons] Thriller to me. I dont ever want to see it touched. Well, weve listened to the finished product. We are the World 2010 wasnt bad at all. All the reason why it shouldnt had been remade. Now if the song was titled differently, it wouldve made a more monumental impact.February 20, Eve was the latest artist to come up on the Family Feud board of tax troubles. Over the past two years, the IRS placed four liens on the rapper/actress that total close to $370,000. This past January, Eve placed her four bedroom, five bathroom Los Angeles mansion up for sale for $2,295,000. All the best to you Eve. Get back to what you do best.February 23, remember when those two men tried to use a fake credit card to pay for $25,000 in champagne during Juelz Santanas 27th birthday party? Sometimes society reaches a moment when enough is enough. And obviously, these ballers got blocked for not having enough. We need to do better. Like Snoop Dogg better. After all these years, Snoop (which appeared at the party) can still afford to take a 20 man entourage wherever he goes. Wait, once it was a 40 man entourage. Maybe the recession touched him just a little bit.On March 1, DJ Premier of Gangstarr confirmed reports that Guru suffered a massive heart attack in NYC. If you can recall, the weekend previous to this confirmation was flooded with #RIPGuru trends on Twitter. In the coming days, Gurus producer and friend, Solar came above ground as a centerpiece in the story. Gurus nephew Justin Nicholas-Elam Ruff released a video on YouTube.com in regards to Solar. Supposedly, Solar wouldnt return calls or text messages to Gurus family about his health. Solar would retaliate by releasing statements against Gurus nephew and son for allegedly lying. *side note: something just didnt and still doesnt feel right about the drama that ensued here. Ill reserve my judgment.March 8, Lil Wayne was sentenced in Manhattan to a year in Rikers for having a loaded gun on his tour bus back in 2007. His sentencing was delayed three times prior due to dental surgeries and courthouse renovations. If Lil Wayne can stay out of everybodys way while incarcerated, he could be released as early as eight months. (add slang phrases of encouragement here)March 26, TIs probation ended. He was released from house arrest and will begin three years of federal probation, as revealed by his attorney. TI has began releasing new music and it is safe to say that he hasnt missed a beat. And please people, just because he came out of jail doesnt mean that you must raise your standards of his new music to levels that you cant even explain in a conversation. If youre a fan of TIs, enjoy the music. If youre not a fan of TI, then your favorite rapper, on good behavior, could possibly be out of jail by the fourth quarter of this year. Contrary to popular philosophy, all news isnt good news. That doesnt mean it should be forgotten either. Let me know if I hit the mark with this wrap-up of the first three months in 2010. And feel free to add to it.
“Life Style”
“Bring It Back”
“Rollin”
“Stuntin”
Rhymefest is promising to put his peers on notice publicly with the release of his revolution-inspired El Che next month.The project is Rhymefests second full-length album, and comes 4 years after his major-label debut Blue Collar on J Records.Because of the delay and label politics, the Chicago emcee was forced to rework the album and keep his name afloat with guest spots and mixtapes, most notably the Dangerous: 5-18 tape released last week.We changed the whole album. The album El Che drops May 18. Ni**as been saying, Aw, ni**a thats the Detox El Che, Rhymefest told AllHipHop.com. No, its my album and its coming out. Its not a legend. Its not a fairy tale. I had to get away from that label.Rhymefest utilizes interludes throughout the album to tell the narrative of his revolutionary activity while being tailed relentlessly by unidentified agents.On the album track Talk My S**t, he takes credit over former foe Charles Hamiltons decreased output and visibility in recent months (Wet behind the ears I make Chucky disappear ), and criticizes Wale for not heeding his advice for his debut Attention Deficit (Even before Wale bricked/I tried to pull him to the side and say those white boys wont sell your s**t!)Regarding these callouts, Rhymefest advised fans and critics to expect to hear him focused and sharp on El Che.I got names I wanna name. I got ni**as I want to air out. Im about to kill it, Rhymefest explained to AllHipHop.com.El Che will be available May 18, and features guest spots from Little Brother, Glenn Lewis, and Saigon.
Editor’s note: The
views expressed inside this editorial aren’t necessarily the views of
AllHipHop.com or its employees.We survived
winters, snotty nosed with no coats/
We kept it real,
but the older brother still had jokes/
… Check it,
fifteen of us in a three bedroom apartment/
Roaches
everywhere, cousins and aunts was there/
Ghostface
Killah, All That I Got Is You, Ironman
(1996).
The working-class kid in me wants to
know why Hip-Hop fans would submit their precious time to the abuse of
spoon-fed, pampered, nannied, chauffeur-carried brats who know next to nothing
of growing up with no assurance where your meals coming from.
Yes, the long-awaited editorial has
arrived on schedule. Put down your shoes, pal! Therell be no invective-hurling
today. But some frank truths have been piercing my ear for a while now; and I
know better than to disobey those voices once they get cranky.
If youve made it this far, theres good chance we share core values. If not, hear
me out and prepare your profanity-laced, dimwitted e-mails thereafter.
In the last few months, Ive had to
suppress some impulse to stave off this editorial. I figured over time the
better angels within my nature would allay my increasing worries that many Hip-Hop
fans are losing the battle to reality, but I find the need even greater now to
let out these unflattering observationsand the consequences I think lurk
around the corner if we dont take heed.
When the young son of Rap legend Rev.
Run, Diggy Simmons, released his first mixtape last December, howls filled the
air. He was celebrated as fresh and unique and lyrical, by some AllHipHop
commenters Ive depended on in the past for what Ernest Hemingway calls the
built-in bullsh** detectora device he suggested no serious writer lacked.
You see it, feel it, and delete it. Each one dressed up their rave reviews in
contrast to his older brother, Jo Jo Simmons, and in contradiction to the tacit
presuppositions held of anyone with Run for a surname.
The mixtape was an attempt by Diggy to
prove himself as more than just the son of Rev. Run, wrote
AllHipHop co-founder and co-CEO Greg
Watkins, who filed the story. Diggys dad was pleasantly surprised to see his
son run swift with the flaming torch he lit some three decades back. Around the
time last year, I heard Diggys lead single, Point to Prove, and liked what
was coming through the speakers. I wasnt blown apart or taken aback: I had no expectations. And whoever said
rich kids couldnt flow? Listen to
enough Canibus or Talib Kweli, and your pattern should structure quite well.
But if hypocrisy were gold, many Hip-Hop
fans could own Vegas tonight. When Jo Jo Simmons first explored the unmapped
terrain of Hip-Hop music-making a few years back (on Runs House), no one with a shred
of dignity let him rest at night. Blogs and forums lit up, and Armageddon marked
a minute awayall because a rich kid thought he could walk through the
executive doors of major record labels and sign on the dotted line because his
father and uncle could move mountains with a finger-snap.
I dont know the extent of Jo Jos
experiences. Life, in fact, might be more complicated for him than most lacking
such access and ability available since birth. But if Jo Jo had no chance,
Diggy shouldnt. No one believed Jo Jo had much to inform about life and
hardship, about struggle and pain, about uncertainty and destinyand they ought
not to be hypocrites. But Diggy can spit;
Jo Jo cant!, I can hear some yelping. Well, yes and no. Yes: Diggy handles
breath-control better, and can imitate Rakim quite well. But, no: it wasn’t the
flow that got the Hip-Hop aficionados
seething: it was the silver fork hanging from Jo Jos lips. It was a firm
commitment to ensure Vanilla Ice would have no reincarnation. (All due respect
to that much-maligned man aside.)
Speaking with AllHipHop right after his mixtape dropped, the abnormally
well-spoken 14-year-old Diggy Simmons, now an Atlanta Records recording
artist, recounted
the extent of his Rap career/passion: Ive been rapping since I was 5 then
I stopped. I dont even know why I stopped. Then two years ago I got back into
just recording normal tracks. I recorded a song and posted it on my blog and it
got crazy feed back, it wasnt even that lyrical it was more for fun. I love
music, I love making it. Im almost in the studio everyday.
Once, Hip-Hop offered loud voice of
political courage to command the attention of society toward moral correction. (Ever
heard The Message, By the Time I Get to Arizona, Evil That Men Do, Burn
Hollywood Burn, Black Korea, Mystery Of Iniquity, Strange Ways, or American
Terrorist?) Today, Hip-Hop fills vacuums: its a hobby; its an emotional
alleviator; its a social legitimatorit means youre cool. Once, Hip-Hop offered the only legal means of true financial
liberation for kids trapped into unlivable conditions. Today, Hip-Hop adds an
extra 0to the many other 0s lined up from fashion and modeling and TV deals.
Aubrey Graham, better known as Drake,
fares no better in my book. And though three years ago (please listen to Room for Improvement), I could vouch for
him, today I hang my head in shame at the caricature Young Money has turned him
into. But the once-Degrassi (some
suburban White middle-class drama) star doesnt mind: He rolled out the womb
into a golden crib.
For his much-anticipated (sure-to-flop)
debut album, So Far Gone, hes been studying
Nas (to understand how he painted those pictures and his bar structure and all
of that) and Andre 3000. Take a few seconds to award Mr. Graham his ovation.
But a few of usfans and artists alikestudied Nas for quite different reasons:
for the sense of agency and empowerment he provided our struggle; for the eloquent and extensive definition he gave to
inner-city reality; for the wisdom sprawled liberally from his lips to our
ears. No doubt artists can learn a good deal of poetic structure from Nas; but
when Rap music fails to inspire anymore, when technical mastery is all left to
glean from, something is wrongeither
with the teacher or the student, the speaker or the listener.
I tend to judge the likes of Drake like
Cormega would: I don’t like when these spoiled rich kids just get into
rap because it’s something they can
do. They pops got money and they put ’em in the game and then they start
rapping about something, a life they could never live. Go do something else. Ni**as
like us rap about sh** because we
lived it. These ni**as use Rap as a hobby.
If youve ever let your eardrumsand
heartfall victim to a Cormega track, the knee-jerk hes hatin reaction shouldnt find value following those comments:
he embodies every word. And Hip-Hop fans and artists have always stood close to
that timeless axiomno pain: no gain. Not in a fascistic senseas I picked up
from Nas and Damian Marleys Strong Will Continuebut meaning, if hardship to you is running late to a
video shoot, or the late arrival of a chauffeur, or a missed opportunity to
clock your closet with a limited-stock-collection-edition sneaker line, you
might as well stay clear of the mic and pick up a more appealing, less
transient hobbylike curling.
And, sure enough, Hip-Hop fans have come
down terribly harsh on rich kids who, with good muscle movement, eventually made
it onto the roster at some major label outfit trying to suck up to their
parents. Its only right that a keeping
it real-obsessed community should take sharp swords to the ankles of anyone
whose definition of poverty has more in solidarity with Carlton from The French Prince than J.J. from Good Times. (May I take this opportunity
to plunge into Will Smith? Nah, lets move on.)
The code shouldnt take much to crack:
we dont greatly appreciate rich kids
because they can tell us next to nothing of what nihilism means, of what
fatalism means: in short, of what Hip-Hop means. If I ask readers to name one born-wealthy
Hip-Hop artist whose message has poked in their hearts the perseverance to keep
keepin on until someday, as Lil Boosie might put it (fall out your chairs,
purists!), selling out the store/ my money dont fold now/, we might be
waiting till the trumpets sound, for an acceptable answer. But I let loose the
name Tupac Amaru Shakur, and libations shower the earth.
Listen, folks: I hate to be that guyyou
know, the party-crasher, the stink at the board meeting, the grump at the bar
mitzvah, the atheist at church; but wipe off your lips: youre drooling. These
folks share nothing in common with the artists by whom our lives have been made
meaningful and purposeful. So, feel free to wash over their albums at your
local store: they don’t need the money. But some doand if youll rather shell out precious coin to enlarge the
coffers of some glitterati scion, please dont show your face around here any
longer. I dont mind one less reader.
Tolu
Olorunda is a cultural critic whose work regularly appears on AllHipHop.com,
TheDailyVoice.com, and other online
journals. He can be reached at: [email protected].
Peep the new video for Drake’s new single “Over.” Does it hold up? See it below.
(AllHipHop News) A production company based in Taiwan is suing a United States booking agency accused of illegally booking rapper Nelly and keeping tens-of-thousands of dollars in performance fees. Taiwanese company Now The Loop is suing Capital Connections Agency (CCA) for over $250,000, after the company took $40,000 to book Nelly. Now The Loop accuses CCA of being a criminal enterprise that claims to represent a variety of top celebrities ranging from Tiger Woods and Bill Gates, to Ja Rule and the Obamas. According to the lawsuit, Now The Loop wired $40,000 to book Nelly for a December 31, 2009 party, but CCA head Durby Brandon claimed the money never arrived on time. When he did receive the money, he claimed that it was received late and that Nelly would not be showing up for the engagement. Durban allegedly then offered the services of Ja Rule, whom In The Loop had already booked through his real representatives. CCAs name is confusingly similar to Creative Artists Agency (CAA), which represents artists like Mariah Carey, Bow Wow, Eve, Fabolous, Usher, Jeezy and a number of other top name talent across all genres of music.
Sabit is a brand known to create the perfect blend of Japanese and American streetwear, with superior attention to quality and detail. With fans like Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and T.I., the brand has been making waves since its launch just four years ago. Sabit’s designs have a way of being loud in a tasteful way, with creative uses of fabrics, colors, prints, washes and more. I got a chance to catch up with the brains behind the brand, founder/creative director, Shoichi Amemiya. Previous to creating Sabit, Shoichi worked with Mark Ecko as creative director of Ecko outerwear. The talented designer gave us a sneak peek at what Sabit has in store for summer, fall (including a new women’s line!), dishing on upcoming collaborations and more: DrJays.com: How did you get your start in the fashion industry? Shoichi: “I started off by attending a fashion school in Japan named Osaka Mode, where I majored in fashion design.” DrJays.com: Describe a typical day in the life of Sabit’s head designer. Shoichi: “A typical day for me in the Sabit NYC office consists of checking emails and constant communication with our Japan office and factories overseas.” DrJays.com: On your website, Swizz Beatz is described as “the face of Sabit”. How is he involved with the brand? Shoichi: “Swizz Beatz is a very good friend of ours at Sabit NYC. He simply appreciates that brand, and we appreciate him! His involvement as an ambassador keeps us in the forefront of the music industry.” Swizz Beatz and ShoichiDrJays.com: What sets Sabit apart from other popular streetwear brands? Shoichi: “Our design concepts come directly from the influences of my hometown Japan, which makes them authentic. I allow my knowledge of the culture to be infused throughout the brand. Shoichi: “We are part of the Japanese fashion movement called ‘Amercaji’ which is a blend of American and Japanese cultures. This movement allows anyone to wear our brand and feel a part of two amazing places, with a common appreciation of great fashion.” DrJays.com: What can we expect from your summer 2010 collection? Shoichi: “You can expect great fashion with inspirations coming from both the city and country. I have chosen to take elements from both places to create a look that translates into streetwear cultures all across the world.” Spring/summer 2010 DrJays.com: Any exciting news/collaborations in the works? Shoichi: “We have a collaboration coming up with Goomi Arcade, another dope brand, with heavy Japanese design influences on a few items… Which I’ll keep secret until the time is right! We have also collaboration with celebrity fashion stylist Mike B. on a very unique blazer/jacket with matching salvage denim jeans to go.” Fall 2010See more brand new gear from Sabit right HERE on DrJays.com!