Pharrell struck platinum when he recorded the Oscar-nominated mega-hit “Happy” for the Despicable Me soundtrack. Now, he is teaming up with his former N.E.R.D brethrens Chad Hugo and Shay Haley to see if he can create more magic for another children’s movie.
The three-man band is working on music for the Spongebob Squarepants: Sponge Out Of Water soundtrack and last night (Dec. 25) their track “Squeeze Me” was leaked.
With Pharrell lacing the upbeat production with his effortlessly cool vocals, “Squeeze Me” has island vibes and a cheery feel that’s fit for the children.
“We’re trying not to think too much in a cartoon sense but more just like a psychedelic, otherworldy type of thing,” Hugo told Variety. “If you want to draw a parallel, maybe think of what the Beatles did with Yellow Submarine.”
“Squeeze Me” will be released officially on Jan. 5th but for now lend your ear to the track below.
There’s no doubt that Kanye West is one of the most fashionable men in hip-hop. When it comes to throwing threads together, you never know what Yeezy has up his Margiela sleeve. Thanks to his keen sense for trends he has snagged quite a few GQ covers and now he has been crowned the most stylish man of 2014 by the men’s mag.
They tipped their hat to Yeezus and praised him for shifting “the landscape of men’s fashion with his forward-thinking style.”
“From bomber jackets to Chelsea boots to over-sized coats, Kanye helped define what this year meant to men in terms of the things they wear, and we think his place as champion in this tournament was earned,” said the Gentlemen’s Quarterly.
West and his wife, Kim Kardashian, were recognized for their style and tapped as the face of Balmain’s 2015 Spring / Summer campaign. He’s also reportedly going to start designing children’s clothes for the Kardashian Kids Collection.
After terrorist threats and a disastrous email leak, Sony Pictures decided to release the comedy The Interview on Christmas day in select theaters and on online streaming services. The flick, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, had a surprise cameo from hip-hop’s own Eminem. In a scene where he’s being interviewed by James Franco’s character, the Shady emcee is discussing the nature of his lyrics and drops a bomb when he reveals that he’s gay.
“I’m more shocked that people haven’t figured it out yet,” he says. “I’ve been playing gay peek-a-boo for years. I’ve pretty much been leaving a gay bread crumb trail.”
Kevin Hart always finds a way to laugh at his pain.
TMZ caught up with the funnyman and asked if he would ever work with Sony Pictures again after finding out through leaked emails that they called him a “w####” for asking for extra money to tweet about his movies.
The 18-year-old phenom Raury is gearing up to hit the road on his Indigo Child Tour. The ATLien triple threat (he raps, sings and writes songs) is keeping his first tour short an sweet and will only be passing through Alabama and Florida. The road trip kicks off Jan. 6th in Birmingham, AL and then he will pass through Tallahassee, Ft. Lauderdale and a few more cities. Peep the tour dates below to see if the “God’s Whispers” singer is coming to a city near you.
(AllHipHop News) When it comes to rap, the 1990’s is often held up as the high point of the genre. That time period was also the age of Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. Brooklyn rapper Fabolous is one of the individuals that views the 90’s as a time of great achievements in music and sports.
“The 90’s, to me, overall is the ‘golden era’ of everything,” Fab told Hot 97. “I don’t want the young guys to look it at like, ‘You’re hating on this generation.’ Which I’m not. There’s great things about this generation too.”
He went on to add, “They’ll look at their era as the ‘golden era’ even though it’s really not. Because they’re living in it too, and they think that maybe we feel [the 90’s is the ‘golden era’] because we grew up in that era.”
The “Lituation” rhymer then points out that fashion brands like 90’s Jordan sneakers are still successful today. Fab also states that he believes the quality of Hip Hop music was better during that decade and rappers were not making music just about being rich.
“Everybody now raps ‘all about the money.’ There’s ‘don’t call me if it ain’t about the money.’ Everything is so pushed toward the hustle,” said the 37-year-old entertainer. “There were artists [in the 1990’s] talking about money, but there was so much diversity in Hip Hop too. There was gangsta rap. There was backpack rap. There was flashy, flossy rap. There was De La Soul, psychedelic rap. There was all different kinds.”
Fab recently dropped his 6th studio album The Young OG Project. The project is now available on iTunes.
Well this might explain why Ms. Rose decided it was a good idea to back that a** up on Breezy. May be she was trying to cheer him up.
HollywoodLife is reporting that the model doesn’t think Karrueche is a good match for Brown:
“Amber is, “not trying to come between Chris and Karrueche. That’s not her business,” but she still wants to make it clear to Chris that he should “snap out of the misery that Karrueche has put him through.” Ouch!
Plus, Amber is skeptical of the fellow model.
“Amber thinks Karrueche is conniving. She feels Karrueche puts added pressures on Chris and demands too much of his time,” reveals the insider.
As HollywoodLife.com previously reported, Breezy and Amber got quite cozy at an L.A. nightclub on Dec. 19.
The model and the singer were seen grinding on each other, while Karrueche was disgusted after seeing a video, which showed Amber twerking on Chris.
Perhaps this is Amber’s way of cheering Chris up?
After all, Amber “thinks Karrueche could do more to help Chris in his time of need,” adds our source.
“She wants to lend her ear to him. She knows deep down he’s going through stuff and is in pain and seeing as how she cares abut him, she doesn’t want to see him hurt,” explains the insider.
“Their vibe and connection is great and Amber does want to develop that friendship further. But as far as being with him, only time will tell,” an EXCLUSIVE source tells us. “
Don’t you think you should get your own household in order first before trying to wreck someone else’s….?
(AllHipHop News) It’s well-known that music superstars get amazing perks as part of their jobs. One of those advantages is being able to demand specific items and environments for their backstage dressing rooms at concerts.
Radar Online rounded up some of the reported tour rider requests for 30 of the biggest names in the industry. The famous folk on this list include Kanye West, Jay Z, Beyoncé, DMX, and Diddy. Check out their rider demands below.
But now that he’s a dad, West is including riders for daughter North. The little girl reportedly needs a special $8,000 bed in the green room, plus a TV full of her favorite programs, and a personal chef on hand to prepare her favorite meals using only the finest organic ingredients, a source claimed.
Jay Z
Sources said while on the Legends Of Summer Tour with Justin Timberlake, Jay Z wanted a “gentleman’s club” atmosphere backstage. The hip hop titan had a full-time, on call cigar roller as part of his entourage.
DMX
The rapper apparently is a man with straightforward needs, according to his tour rider wish list, which included three boxes of condoms and one gallon of Hennessey!
Beyoncé
Queen B stayed true to the products she represented, mandating Pepsi products only backstage, as well as Honey Nut Cheerios, ginger root, a two-man love seat, and her toilet scrubbed with disinfectant. The singer banned sweets and chocolate or crisps from her dressing room. But another report noted she’d once asked for juicy baked chicken, heavily seasoned with fresh garlic, season salt, black pepper, and Cayenne pepper.
Diddy
The dapper hip hop mogul known for his luxury lifestyle had a lot riding on his tour, said The Little Red Riders Book, including 204 towels, 20 bars of soap, two bottles of Hennessy cognac, two bottles of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, two bottles of Veuve Clicquot, a bottle of Dom Perignon, Grey Goose vodka, a boom box, a bouquet of white flowers, cheddar cheese, sour-cream chips, Sweet Tarts and a $300,000 bullet-proof Maybach.
To read Radar Online’s full “30 Most Outrageous Tour Rider Demands” visit here.
(AllHipHop News) With listeners having outlets like streaming services and satellite radio to hear the type of music they enjoy the most, the influence of traditional radio stations has declined in recent years. According to a report in the New York Times’ ArtBeat blog, one FM format may be on the rise – classic Hip Hop.
Two months ago, Houston’s “Boom 92” KROI-FM became the first major market station to switch over to only playing songs by Hip Hop stars from the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s. Boom’s audience size instantly went from 245,000 to 802,000, and its Nielsen ratings share jumped from 1.0 to 3.2. The channel’s audience did drop 2.6 percent the second month, but it still pulled in 781,000 listeners.
Other stations in Philadelphia and Dallas also saw audience numbers increase after converting to “Classic Hip Hop.” According to the Times report, radio executives are looking to change more stations across the country to the format in 2015.
Boom 92’s playlist includes The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Mo Money Mo Problems,” Warren G & Nate Dogg’s “Regulate,” Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid In Full,” LL Cool J’s “Rock The Bells,” Salt-N-Peppa’s “Push It,” UGK’s “Take It Off,” and 2Pac’s “California Love.”
(AllHipHop News) The discussion on the fall of lyricism on the mainstream rap level has been ongoing for years. People on both sides of the debate offer examples on why either the mainstream is at its lowest level in history or why some newcomers are carrying the baton of great lyricists.
One Baltimore rhymer appears to believe the days of great lyrical emcees crossing over may have reached its peak. In an interview with HipHopDX, King Los shared his opinion that one of Brooklyn’s Finest and an ATLien are the last of a dying breed.
“We think it’s Jay Z and we think it’s Andre 3000, if you want to really be real,” said Los about the two rap legends’ ability to reach many different demographics. “The people who know actual music, the musicians love Andre 3000. The singers love Andre 3000. The poets love Andre 3000. All those same muthaf**kas love Jay Z. These n***as figured it out.”
Earlier this year, Crooked I (aka Kxng Crooked) shouted out Lil Wayne for what he saw as Weezy’s contribution to bringing a focus on lyrical ability back to the mainstream.
“In the super-famous realm, I don’t think that those fans were getting any lyricism,” stated Crooked. “I credit and salute [Wayne] because when he was hopping on all those joints, he had some memorable one liners.”
(AllHipHop News) Funk Volume rapper Hopsin had the world thinking he was ready to leave the music industry for good. The California native wrote a letter to his fans where he stated “this rap stuff just isn’t for me,” and he was retiring to Australia.
It turns out Hopsin was just trolling the Internet. He released a Dumb And Dumber To inspired video announcing it was all a gag and his Pound Syndrome project is on the way in 2015.
(AllHipHop News) Lil Wayne wants his 11th studio album released now. That’s according to TMZ. The site is claiming to have spoken to sources close to Wayne, and the Young Money leader is supposedly ready to file a lawsuit against Cash Money Records and Bryan “Birdman” Williams to get released from the label if the project is not released soon.
Wayne went on Twitter at the beginning of this month to express his desire to be off Cash Money. The tweets also included the “Believe Me” rapper accusing Birdman of holding C5 back, and he also stated he wanted “nothing to do with these people.”
Apparently, the two longtime associates are currently not speaking to each other. Earlier reports circulated that Birdman was not willing to let Wayne leave Cash Money and his album would be released on a schedule determined by the label.
Meanwhile, Birdman posted a picture on Instagram that included a photo of Wayne’s Tha Carter III in the background. Birdman previously continued to add the hashtag #YMCMB to his IG pics even after the feud with Wayne became public.
Fans of HBO’s The Wire will get a special gift tomorrow (December 26) when the cable network re-releases the masterful television program in high-definition. The HD version of all 60 episodes will run as a marathon on the HBO Signature channel and via the HBO Go website/app. One of the show’s stars is celebrating the milestone by releasing his fourth musical project.
Tray Chaney played the role of Malik “Poot” Carr for five seasons on The Wire. Since his turn as the drug dealer-gone-straight citizen concluded, Chaney has jumped into making music full-time. Chaney previously released the well received tracks “Dedicated Father” and “Time,” but with his new Open & Honest EP the DMV representative is pushing the boundaries of his artistic vision to new heights.
“Open & Honest represents an open and honest invitation from me to the fans. It’s a true look inside some of my most personal, upfront, and close situations I deal with on a day-to-day basis,” says Tray. “It’s more edgy from what the fans are used to hearing from me – more relatable issues.”
The same way David Simon’s serial drama portrayed an authentic look at the inner workings of a modern American city, Chaney puts his internal conversations on public display with Open & Honest. From facing financial hardships after The Wire ending (“Welcome To My Life”) to overcoming the dirty side of the entertainment industry (“CoSign”), the actor/rapper does not hold back the truth on the lyrical biography.
The Mark Wahlberg led movie The Gambler hits theaters today (December 25). Among the actors appearing in the film is newcomer Anthony Kelley. The 22-year-old former college basketball player was a great fit for the film’s role of Lamar Allen.
Kelley describes Lamar as a star athlete that has a bright future ahead of him, but at the same time he faces serious issues such as overcoming internal emotional battles and close family members struggling with health problems. Kelley’s character eventually builds a relationship with Jim Bennett (Wahlberg), a professor dealing with his own troubles as a high stakes gambler.
AllHipHop.com recently spoke with Kelley. The 22-year-old travel and fine dining connoisseur talked about a particular fun time on The Gambler set when the cameras weren’t rolling, and he shares his picks for two of the big sports events on the horizon.
What is the most memorable off-screen moment during your time filming The Gambler?
When I was playing basketball with Mark’s kids. The basketball gym scene was pretty much done, and we were just shooting around, dunking with some of the other cast members. It was great.
It felt like I was playing college basketball and just hanging out with some of my best friends. It felt like the cast members and I had known each other for years. I still stay in contact with them until this day.
If you could have played any two movie roles in history, which ones would you have picked?
I’ve always wanted to play a martial artist. So something like Wesley Snipes’ Blade. That would definitely be out of my comfort zone, so I would love to play something like that. Or Will Smith in Hitch. I think that would have been great too.
If you had to put $1 million down on which teams would win the College Football National Championship and the Super Bowl, who do you pick?
For the Super Bowl, I’m going with the [New England] Patriots. Shout out to Rob Gronkowski. For college football, I’ll go with Oregon. I have a buddy over there named Blake Stanton. Gotta go with Oregon.
Spitter Doeman has enlisted the smooth rapping Le$ for a new track titled “Going Major.” The Houston emcee has been releasing consistent heat, as he prepares for his debut album The Gold Blooded LP.
Although Taylor Swift has claimed the top spot on the latest Billboard 200, artist Nicki Minaj has come in right behind at number two with her third studio album The Pinkprintwhich also made it to number three on the Top Album Sales chart.
Rolling out with 244,000 units, the project beat original estimates that it would debut at 190, 000. Also in the top five was D’Angelo’s recently released Black Messiah.
She’s also been crowned by Complex as the “Best Rapper of 2014,” in a recent interview she explains, “There is no ‘mixtape Nicki,’ I’ve never stopped rapping; I’ve never stopped doing freestyles; I’ve never stopped doing remixes and features; I’ve never stopped raising the bar lyrically.”
With an investigation already underway regarding the shooting of Missouri teen Antonio Brown, the case has quickly come under scrutiny due to conflicting reports, grainy videos and a (currently unnamed) officer that did not have on the body cam recently issued to him.
While officials say that Martin was shot after pulling a gun on the officer in question, his family is simply calling for a full disclosure of information as they try to cope with his death.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Martin’s grandmother Margaret Chandler said, “If he was in the wrong, I want to know he was in the wrong. I want to see the gun in his hand…I’m just thinking about my grandson. I want the facts.” She added, “I don’t want them to tell me he had a gun. I want to see it. These police do some dirty things. They just wait until nightfall to see some young black men and gun them down.”
