During his Montreal tour stop, Theophilus London sat down with Montreality. While chopping it up about the usual rundown, like what kind of student he was and his favorite cartoon characters, the Brooklynite also dished on what it was like working with Kanye West.
Ye’ actually flew the VIBES singer/rapper out to Mexico to work on his So Help Me God album and London ended up writing a song for him.
“I looked at Kanye and was like alright you got the wife, you got the kid but you’re still that sex symbol,” he said. “So instead of rapping about your wife and saying how you guys have sex and stuff, make it universal. Talk about what you guys do but don’t say her name so every girl can think that they are her. So I wrote a song like that.”
The “Big Spender” rapper also sang back up on his new single, “All Day,” which was premiered last week at the 2015 BRIT Awards.
While discussing his love for movies, the 27-year-old weighed in on Selma‘s Oscar snub.
“Selma sucked as a movie, so they should stop arguing that they’re not getting Oscars because they’re black,” he said. “It’s not about race, man. Your movie sucked.”
While talking about Nick Young and his dolphin debacle on last night’s Sportscenter (Mar. 1), anchor Robert Flores poked fun at his girlfriend Iggy Azalea. Flores said, “while dolphins try and kill Nick Young, his girlfriend is trying to kill hip-hop.”
There has been no word from the “Black Widow” rapper, mainly because she is no longer present on Twitter. The 24-year-old quit the social media site last month because she felt that all the bashing she received on there was making her into an “angry person.”
Will Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton be signing to Roc Nation? Well just maybe. According to The Sun, the Mercedes AMG racer is in talks with several music industry figures including Jay Z’s Roc Nation about releasing some of the tracks he’s recorded with some of the top producers in the game. It looks that it’s in the early stages, but it seems that he will be releasing some of his songs pretty soon.
Suge Knight has been in and out of jail during most of his career and his recent murder charge may be the last straw. His ex-wife, singer Miche’le, knows his legal past all too well; Suge was incarcerated during six of the eight years that they were together. The R&B Divas reality star says that Suge’s latest run-in with the law is ironic because he probably didn’t intend to do it.
“A man goes through his whole life with all these speculatory things that have happened,” she told Vlad TV, “and just in that split second, that’s the decision that actually sums up your whole entire life. You’ve been served fifteen lives. You’ve been to prison, done prison time, you’ve been shot an enormous amount of times, you beat jail time a lot, and then all of a sudden, in a split second, something that you probably didn’t even intend to do happened. It’s just ironic.”
The “No More Lies” singer says that she does not talk to Suge on a regular basis and that he maintains contact with their daughter on his own. She did say that when she did speak to him she told him that he’s “an old man” and he “needs to sit down.”
Watch her give her take on Suge’s legal troubles below.
During an event to raise money for a Chicago nonprofit organization, Young Chicago Authors, hometown hero Chance the Rapper was in attendance and so was actor Alec Baldwin. The two crossed paths at the event and Chance ended up beat boxing as Baldwin spit raps written down on a piece of paper.
This is me beatboxing while Alec Baldwin raps, he is for the people,” the Acid Rapper wrote in the caption. “Him, Alfred Woodard and Ali from Tribe came thru the city to help raise money for YCA, the organization that built and developed myself and @Malcolmlondon into the leaders we have become. Give it up for them. Beautiful leaders we can all learn from #Chicago#LongLiveTheYoung#YCA
(AllHipHop News) Twitter and the Blogosphere was ready to explode last month if Australian rapper Iggy Azalea would have won the Grammy for “Best Rap Album.” Turns out Eminem picked up the trophy, and Iggy was completely shut out that night.
The “Trouble” performer spoke with Power 106’s The Cruz Show about her Grammy nomination. Iggy told the hosts she never wanted to win in the first place.
“I did not want to win that award,” said Iggy. “My speech would have been like, ‘F**k this! I don’t want it! Take it!'”
She then goes on to question Hip Hop fans’ issue with her potentially winning Best Rap Album, but did not seem to mind Eminem being awarded the honor.
“I found it to be kind of ironic. It was because I’m white, therefore I’m appropriating culture,” said Iggy about the backlash for her Grammy nod. “But then Eminem won it – who’s white and won it many times – and they didn’t seem to say anything about that.”
Iggy also expressed her disappointment with the Grammys for overlooking Hip Hop in general and specifically DJ Mustard. Ironically, Iggy also faced criticism because her hit “Fancy” had a similar sound to tracks from Mustard, even though the single was produced by British production team The Invisible Men along with The Arcade.
“Every song sounded like a Mustard beat,” added Azalea. “I feel that was someone that impacted culture in some way this year, and it was a shame not to see him be represented.”
In August, Mustard stated publicly he did have a problem with Iggy using a sound he felt was popularized by his production style.
The Los Angeles based producer said, “She knows how hard we was working to make that sound and for you to go to somebody else or for you to do whatever you did, whatever they did and just be like, ‘Oh this is new and I don’t know why Mustard dissed.’ No. You know why.”
Davion da Great is ready to solidify himself in the hip hop world with the music video for “Perfect,” his debut single. The Vegas resident gives a glimpse of his home in these Paris Paige visuals.
I can’t really make heads or tails of the video. It just looks like a bunch of girls wriggling around on the ground. Anyway, she said the following in response:
Pretty silly. Everybody needs to be focusing on Floyd’s May fight with Pac Man.
(AllHipHop News) The Oxford Guild Society is set to host what the organization is describing as “The Biggest Speaker Of The Year.” American rap superstar Kanye West will appear at England’s Oxford University this afternoon.
West has been in Europe for the Brits Awards and interviews with various outlets. His time with the Oxford Guild will include a Q&A session with questions submitted by the student body.
This will not be the first time Kanye has addressed college students. In 2013, the “All Day” emcee gavea speech at Harvard University. Last year West also spoke with students at the L.A. Trade Technical College as part of his court ordered community service.
BagsTheBoss looks to Maybach Music Group’s own Gunplay to remix this high energy banger. With its infectious chorus, BagsTheBoss and Rick Ross’ goon commence the art of chasing and spending large bankrolls. Stream “Hella Bands (Remix)” below.
Steel City’s, B. White of the The 58’s, joins forces with Long Island beatsmith, Sickness (Joell Ortiz, Jon Connor, Nature, Emilio Rojas) on “Zombies”. No struggle bars here, as the artist ranked among the ten rappers you should already be listening to by the Pittsburgh Suntimes, takes aim at his so called lifeless competition, with an uninterrupted 40 bar onslaught aimed right for the jugular. “Zombies” is just one of the many tracks set to appear on B. White’s forthcoming LP, I Hate Rappers, which is set to drop this summer via Deep Concepts Media.
(AllHipHop News) Baton Rouge rapper Boosie Badazz may have overworked himself last week. According to TMZ, Boosie was taken to a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday after feeling weak. Doctors determined he was dehydrated and kept him overnight.
Badazz was forced to cancel his show in Charlotte. He was released the next day and continued on his tour. The “Show Da World” performer is scheduled to appear at upcoming concert dates in Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and South Carolina.
(AllHipHop News) The name50 Cent has almost become synonymous with throwing shots at other entertainers. In recent months, the G-Unit boss has had critical words for A$AP Rocky, Kanye West, Jay Z, and the people behind the show Empire.
It seems Fiddy is proud to announce he is a fan of at least one fellow rap star’s music. XXL caught up with 50 and asked the Queens mogul about his opinion of Drake and his new release If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late.
“That n***a was on point, wasn’t he? He came through there with his s**t sharp. It was tight,” said 50 about Drake’s IYRTITL.
While 50 praised Drake’s digital album, he also made it clear he favors the music, and not necessarily the rapper.
“Look, I don’t have favorite artists, I have favorite moments from artists,” added 50. “Like, ‘Ooh, you ain’t gonna beat him at that, not that, that’s what he do,’ you know what I’m saying? All of us have those moments, I think, but not everybody can appreciate it.”
(AllHipHop News) Rapper-turned-actor Will Smith has another number one movie. His latest motion picture to top the box office is the Glenn Ficarra and John Requa directed Focus.
The opening weekend North American gross for Focus came in around $19.1 million. That total was enough to beat out Kingsman: The Secret Service ($11.8 million), The SpongeBob Movie ($11.2 million), and Fifty Shades of Grey ($10.9 million), but it was less than what the film was projected to make.
Forecasters expected Smith’s con-man tale to reach $22 million. Warner Bros executive vice president Jeff Goldstein believes bad weather on the East Coast halted the film from crossing the $20 million mark, but with a budget of $50 million Goldstein sees $19 million as a triumph.
“Given the mid-range budget, the film’s result is right on target,” Goldstein told the L.A. Times.
Focus features Will Smith’s first major movie role since the unsuccessful reunion with his son Jaden in 2013’s After Earth. Smith is next set to star in the sports drama Concussion. He is also working on new music with Kanye West.
(AllHipHop News) Charmayne “Maxee” Maxwell, a member of the 1990’s R&B group Brownstone, passed away on Friday night, according to TMZ.
The site reports Maxwell’s husband Carsten Soulshock came home and discovered the singer unconscious and bleeding. Paramedics were called to the home, and Maxwell was rushed to Cedars Sinai Hospital. Unfortunately, she died from loss of blood on the way to the facility.
Authorities believe the fatal gash on Maxwell’s neck was the result of a broken wine glass. It is believed she fell and cut herself on the shattered glass. Police do not suspect foul play.
There are conflicting reports regarding Maxwell’s death. BET is reporting she died in Denmark. There were also sites posting rumors Maxwell was suicidal before the incident. According to The Grio, her brother Brandon refuted the suicide claims on Twitter.
Brownstone is perhaps best well known for their 1995 Grammy nominated single “If You Love Me.” Other R&B chart hits include “Grapevyne” and “I Can’t Tell You Why.” The group’s debut album From the Bottom Up was certified platinum.
Watch the video for Brownstone’s “If You Love Me Below.”
(AllHipHop News) For some reason Drake rubbed a member of South African “Zef” act Die Antwoord the wrong way. Vocalist Yo-Landi Visser posted a picture of the Young Money rapper on Instagram with the caption, “F##. Drake was kak [s**t].”
Die Antwoord also includes rapper Ninja and DJ Hi-Tek (Justin de Nobrega). The rave-rap group released their first LP, $O$, in 2009. Their latest work was 2014’s Donker Mag. Visser and Ninja appear in the new Neill Blomkamp movie Chappie as well.
Both Die Antwoord and Drake are currently playing the Future Music Festival in Australia. The traveling event began in Sydney on Saturday. The trek continues in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Adelaide this weekend. Drizzy was tapped to co-headline the festival along with Avicii and The Prodigy.
The word on the street is that Diddy is suing Empire because he thinks the show is based on his life. Ok Puffy well we have several questions. Would this mean that one of his sons is gay and that he killed BIG? Was Bad Boy founded by drug money? Who went to jail for almost two decades for him? Did he ban Quincy from appearing for more reasons than him not being the music producer? But wait wasn’t Empire loosely based on Jay-Z’s life? Diddy does throw some nice white parties though. We must say this is all comical.
Welcome to another edition of The Odd Side, a column that explores the effects of Hip Hop’s transformation through new sounds.
Ever since the beginning of this year, the popular radio show Soulection has been in rotation constantly. The show has prospered off of finding musical artists, producers, and DJ’s that make music that is both unique and innovative to the sound of soul. What makes the show better is the fact that they have always been open about who’s music is actually playing in order to get listeners hip to the new wave of sound. It’s a beautiful phenomena going on at Red Bull Studios in Los Angeles, the creation of a radio show all about the music more than anything. To salute its fourth year being active, we will give you 3 dope artists we have heard on Soulection. With the radio show having a 4-year span, and a ton of artists playing a role to what the show is today, it was hard to initially come up with only 3 artists. We recommend you give their show a listen to name your own 3. But for now, check out the artists we think are dope.
Sango
Sango’s already been mentioned as one of our Punishing New Age Producers, but Soulection is the show where he really gets nasty. Not only has the Seattle producer performed live on the show, his music is regularly played on a plethora of episodes. Now that several artists have been making tracks inspired by Sango’s signature production, we’ve been hearing the influence of this young producer on Soulection‘s latest episodes.
Sam Gellaitry
This young 18 year old from Scotland was one of the reason’s why Soulection has been in our constant rotation. Signed to the show’s record label of the same name, Sam Gellaitry’s sound is as complex as it is cool. He uses the influence of technology to craft groovy beats. Gellaitry is definitely what Soulection means by its phrase “The Sound Of Tomorrow”. Check out his latest EP Short Stories.
Chris McClenney
If you were looking for something outside of dope producers on Soulection, then you have Chris McClenny. This DMV native has multiple talents on both the singing and instrumental fields, and really gives off a sound similar to D’Angelo without being too familiar with the legendary soul singer. The most interesting thing about this kid is that I didn’t find out about McClenny through the radio show. His project White Label recently released on Soundcloud, and I loved his music ever since. McClenney is also sick in the production realm as well
Though this list seems very brief, this is only a pinch of what Soulection has to offer. If you have anytime to check out their show, give it a listen! There’s so much to this show that one listen can’t fully give you. Check back soon for more dope music by The Odd Side.
It is hard to put in words what Harry Belafonte aka Mr. B means to us all. He’s an international treasure that turned 88 years young today. Still very active on the front lines, his roots and influence runs deep. We love him over here, but we aren’t the only ones. Here are a few facts about Mr. B. However, to really gain some understanding, google him or talk to somebody of age.
He was the first artist – of any race, gender or genre – to ever sell 1 million copies of an album.
A few years ago, gold album sales were just selling 500,000 units and platinum sales meant 1,000,000 units peddled. These days, album streams are factored into those numbers…its weird. Back in 1956 though, Mr. B moved 1 million copies of his album Calypso which included the smash “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).” In 2011, Lil Wayne and producer Bangladesh sampled “The Banana Song” and turned it into the hit record 2010 “6 Foot 7 Foot.”
He marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and still helps activists and Social Justice movements.
“Mr B has proven himself to be a man of the people and a champion for social justice. He has never gotten stuck in doing it his way or his generation’s way. He is truly invested in inter-generational work and providing space and platforms for young people. He has showed it time and time again – from seeing the power in Hip-Hop to seeing the need to stomp out the Prison Industrial Complex. Many people meet him ready to praise him but he is humble, ready to work and learn as well. It is beautifully humbling to see the legacy he is still creating even as an elder to connect us as young people, elders, activists, artists and those most impacted.”
– Autumn Marie, community activist and organizer
Martin Luther King, Jr. Was A Close Friend
It is pretty well known that Mr. B didn’t just talk the talk, he walked the walk. He was already an entertainment phenomenon when he put his good looks and talents to good use, backing the Civil Rights Movement. He often put his money where his mouth was, and many other cliches. He was great friends with the luminous likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Harry Belafonte was one of the producers of the seminal Hip-Hop movie “Beat Street”
Crazy Legs of the world famous Rock Steady Crew was one of the young dancers that powered the most authentic scenes movie. He tells a story about Mr. B that stayed with him since the 80’s. “When we were filming Beat Street, he had a ring with the initials “L.M.,” Crazy Legs tells AllHipHop. “Being the ignorant person that I was, I said [to Harry that means] ‘Love Money.’ And he told me ‘No, Love Many.’ It always stuck with me.”
Here is Mr. B with a bunch of Hip-Hop legends celebrating “Beat Street” – 30 years in 2014.
And here is Crazy Legs and The Rock Steady Crew duke it out with the New York City Breakers in an epic battle.
Mr. B is still helping rappers like Tef Poe (activist rap artist from St. Louis) and Jasiri X (activist rapper from Pittsburgh).
“Mr. Belafonte is a shining example of what every entertainer of his caliber should aspire to be . He is committed to his people and has showed up many of times when no one else was bold enough to defend us. Through legacy we are able to view the power of his power moves and mistakes and utilize them both to take the movement to the next level. He will indubitably go down in history as a challenger of the status quo.“
-Tef Poe
Here is Jasiri X’s “Don’t Let Them Get Away With Murder,” which was produced by Mr. B’s Sankofa Organization. Yours truly is also featured in the Susanne Rostock-directed video with Tef, Hakim of Channel Live, Tory Russell, and a bunch of others committed to change.
He was a heart throb back in the day. Man. He could have been called LL Cool B.
My Mom Likes Mr. B!
I have talked to my mother about Harry, mostly after I first met him in 2012. She went on and on at that time. Here is what she said this year.
“He certainly has been a positive role model for Black people and I’ve always enjoyed his music. I used to love the calypso type music. I like all music. In his later years, I’ve always been encouraged by his fight in Civil Rights. He’s one of the pioneers for Black people in theater – he and Sidney Poitier (. They are two renown Black stars that have a huge legacy…the two of them and Diahann Carroll. He’s very gifted.”
Happy Birthday, Mr. B! What a remarkable man. I teach my daughter about Harry Belafonte, listen to my mom talk about him and study his life. He’s steadily been a rock from Hollywood to Hip-Hop, from MLK to rapper Jasiri X and beyond. To this day, he’s still fighting for Equal Rights and Justice to this very day – at the ripe age of 88! One of the last of a living breed. I cannot remember what he said as this pic was being snapped but it was a hilarious quip about Hip-Hop. #salute#live#love#honor#March1
