(AllHipHop News) Bobby Shmurda has been praised by some in Hip Hop for his meteoric rise to stardom. Others have questioned why the young NYC rhymer’s style has such a similar sound to Chicago’s Drill Music.
One of the leaders of the Drill movement, Chief Keef, released the new song “Beetle Juice” featuring fellow Chitown native Fredo Santana. There’s one line on the track that has some people wondering if it was a slight warning shot to Shmurda.
“You know you ain’t catch no body bout a week ago,” spits Chief.
The lyric seems to be a clear a reference to Shmurda’s “Hot N***a” where the Brooklyn rhymer rapped, “Mitch caught a body bout a week ago.” That particular line has become one of the most recognizable parts of the song.
Keef would not be the first Windy City representative to take aim at Shmurda. Ayoo Kd released a Shmurda diss in August.
(AllHipHop News) NBA player Carmelo Anthony joined forces with Hip Hop mogul 50 Cent as an investor in the rapper’s SMS Audio brand. The New York Knicks All-Star also serves as an adviser and worldwide brand ambassador for the headphones line. Anthony jumped into that role for the new #SMSAudioLife commercial.
SMS is also running a social media contest. Fans that share the YouTube link to the ad (http://youtu.be/mPivopI1Yu8) with the hashtag #SMSAudioLife to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram enter a chance to win a prize package that includes Carmelo Anthony’s pick of SMS Audio headphones. A winner will be chosen on November 3.
“50 Cent approaches SMS Audio the same way I do each of my games – with focus and passion,” said Anthony last December. “SMS Audio produces and markets high caliber products, delivering a sound unlike anything I have heard. I look forward to representing such an innovative global brand.”
50 added, “Carmelo Anthony is one of today’s premier athletes and is known globally for both his sportsmanship and his philanthropic endeavors. He perfectly embodies the values behind SMS Audio and we’re excited to have him representing our brand – Providing Superior Sound Quality through Innovative Audio Products.”
(AllHipHop News) TDE CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith tweeted last December that the label planned to release six albums in 2014. The camp has dropped four albums so far this year, but Kendrick Lamar has yet to join Isaiah Rashad, Schoolboy Q, SZA, and Ab-Soul in ’14 releases. After first suggesting K. Dot’s next LP would arrive this month, Kendrick tells Carson Daly he would like to get the good kid, m.A.A.d city follow-up out before the end of the year.
“I’m hoping to push it out before 2015,” said Kendrick. “I’m gonna say that. I’m working hard in the studio.”
The Los Angeles native released his new single “i” on Tuesday. K. Dot revealed during the interview that he had actually traveled to St. Louis to get the blessing from soul legend Ronald Isley for the Isley Brothers’ sample used on the track. The “Swimming Pools (Drank)” rapper says Isley even added ad-libs to the song.
(AllHipHop News) The 5th Annual American Beatbox Championships will feature film screenings, workshops, panels, showcases, a visual art exhibit, and battle competitions. Some of the world’s best beatboxers including UK Champion Reeps One, Netherlands Champion B-Art, and legendary vocalist Michael Winslow will be on hand for the weekend long event.
The grand final of the American competition will be held in Webster Hall’s Marlin Room on Sunday, October 12. It will be hosted by Hasan Salaam and Patrick Cucuta. In addition to this year’s musical showcases the event will feature the visual arts exhibit “Graphic Vocals” at TBA Brooklyn. The artwork of Reeps One will be part of the exhibition. The festival will also screen the award-winning film American Beatboxer which is also being presented at Harvard University’s “Visiting Artists” series.
The World Beatbox Association teamed up with other American beatbox organizations to produce four regional battles across the country. Eight of the final sixteen were selected through that process. The American Beatbox Championships will select the remaining top 8 with qualifying battles at Lot45 in Brooklyn on the event’s opening night Friday, October 10th. It will also hold its first annual 2 vs 2 team battles and loopstation battles at Brooklyn Bazaar on Saturday, October 11. That showcase will be hosted by Canadian beatboxers Balu Ballistic and Bbk.
The 2014 American Beatbox Championships are scheduled for October 10th – 12th. For more information visit americanbeatbox.com.
Check out the flyer for the 5th Annual American Beatbox Championships and the trailer for American Beatboxer below.
Promoter of the Year “Sincere Show” will bring his bigger than life personality to the fashion world as the new face of up and coming menswear line “Roper.” The current star of VH1’s new Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood reality show has teamed up with fashion designer Roper to design an exclusive shirt dubbed “The Roper Show.” The clean cut, seamless piece outfitted with a Chinese collar, zippers, pockets and buttons,seen being worn by the celebrity promoter in attached photoswill cater to the industry’s grown & sexy clientele with a touch of urban class. Sincere’s influence and connections in the entertainment industry will only help catapult the hot new designs into the national spotlight and a broader demographic.
Roper’s custom “Drip” plaid shirts, leather jerseys, solid button ups with pleated sleeves, and zip denim pants, have been spotted most recently on August Alsina in his “No Love” remix video with Nicki Minaj and on BET’s 106th & Park show where he introduced the hot new video. Other celebrities and professional athletes including YG, Future, Meek Mill, Eric Bellinger, Sean Kingston, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, Matt Barnes, and John Wall, have also added Roper’s fly pieces to their wardrobes.
“We’re two kids from Chicago who met in Los Angeles and now have the opportunity to collaborate and make money. The vision [Roper] has…I love it. I just added to it, but he already had the design 75% done. Now we’re making this ‘The Roper Show’ business,” says Sincere.
The fact that I’m receiving respect as a designer and credit and acknowledgement for my art…I can’t be more thankful,” notes Roper, who creates his looks from head to toe. “I’m glad to be working with someone from Chicago who came up in the struggle like I did. I believe Sincere Show is more of a person who sets trends as opposed to following them, and I respect that.”
Roper and Sincere plan to unveil a women’s edition of “The Roper Show” shirt soon. Visit www.shoproperrope.com for all of Roper’s designs online.
Toxsikk gives you a 1st person view of the “thief” in action with his new song “Ski Mask”. Over jazzy production by Jay EightyNine you get an idea on what a burglar goes through before, during & after the robbery, all the while he’s looking for his missing Ski Mask.
Award-winning singer/songwriter Eric Bellinger is set to release his mixtape, Choose Up Season, featuring all new music on October 1st. Today, he releases a freestyle ‘Wednesday’ that pulls from the bubbling anthem “Club Goin Up On a Tuesday” by iLoveMakonnen.
Boaz connects with The Lox’s Jadakiss and Styles P for this Heatmakerz produced banger. Boaz has been steadily putting out some heat with some big names and we see the trend continue on”Rootin 4 Tha Villain.” The song will be included on Boaz’s forthcoming Rostrum debut “Intuition” dropping October 21st.
(AllHipHop News) Legendary Hip Hop producer DJ Premier and Slaughterhouse member Royce da 5’9” are teaming up for a brand new joint LP. Premo and Royce will be releasing the album under the group name PRhyme.
“I want people to appreciate the fact that we didn’t compromise in lieu of the environment. In order to try to change the way that people digest music, we had to take a leap of faith,” says Royce.
The project will feature appearances by Killer Mike, Jay Electronica, Common, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, Slaughterhouse, Mac Miller and Dwele. All of PRhyme’s production will be based on the music of Adrian Younge. Premier sampled the composer’s work for the group’s soundscape.
“The bar has to be high. For this album to be another body of work and another chapter for both of our lives,” says Premier. “I’ve never sampled just one artist, I’m known for my reputation and my creativity. I wanted it to be my traditional thing where I sample everything I find, but I am really proud how the project came out and Royce is one hell of a pusher.”
“I started going through Adrian’s catalog and it was just making me a fan of his,” explains Royce. “It was really inspiring me to want to make music. As Premier started sending me music and I started writing, it was falling into place. It was making me excited about going into the studio.”
“Want To (I.D.W.T.F.I.W.T.)” is a menacing track that finds Off-Rip standing on his own two, rightfully proclaiming that he will do exactly what he wants to not only with his life, but with his music. The knocking Asar-produced track serves as the lead single from Don’t Show Up When I Blow Up.
Nivea recently sat down for an interview with Malcolm Music, and of course the Lil Wayne/Christina Milian relationship came up.
Never one to shy away from the situationship, Nivea dished on exactly what her thoughts are now:
“Her other decisions led to my involvement because she’s dealing with or appears to be doing the other father of my youngest child. So I was like, ‘What the hell!?’ It felt crazy as hell! I’m like, ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’ But I haven’t addressed her about it. I don’t really care to. I just thought it was very, very crazy,” Nivea said.
Peep the video below to see what else Nivea had to say:
The Lost Voices, a group of youth from the Ferguson/St. Louis area, came together after the rebellion following the heartless killing of Mike Brown. Big20z and Lo Key are two leaders from this emerging youth organization. After going to the studio with leaders from handsupunited, Big20z and Lo Key dropped their verses via a one take free style. The video was directed by Biko Baker and features “riot” footage from Shea Butter Jones. SkdaProducer is on the beat.
Committed to fighting for #justice4mikebrown, the Lost Voices have stated that they will keep up their non-violent protests until Darren Wilson is arrested. #arrestdarrenwilson.
The Lost Voices participated in the #NoGunsAllowed: Fallout from Ferguson Breakfast, featuring Allhiphop.com, HipHopSince1987.com, Cashmere Agency, and Snoop Dogg. Make sure you support their struggle; #CometoFerguson Oct 10-13 Find out more by going to HandsUpUnited.org.
In a rather unexpected move, after just a year of marriage Amber Rose has reportedly split from husband Wiz Khalifa. There were no signs of problems when the soon to be former-Mrs Khaifa was twerking in celebration of her husbands #1 album debut.
TMZ reports:
Amber Rose has filed for divorce from husband-of-1-year Wiz Khalifa…and she’s gunning for full custody of their kid … TMZ has learned. In the divorce docs —obtained by TMZ—Amber says they split on Monday and cites irreconcilable differences.
So far, neither parties have released a statement or confirmed whether these reports are true.
(AllHipHop News) Childish Gambino made waves when the rapper/actor called out Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Schoolboy Q during a concert in July. Earlier this month, CG explained why he targeted those particular emcees, telling The Breakfast Club, “I said those rappers in particular because I feel like they’re the best. I’m sure they’re fine with it.”
Montreality asked Schoolboy for his thoughts on Gambino’s challenge. The Oxymoron album creator does not seem to be too bothered by the verbal attack.
“Gambino throwing shots? I ain’t tripping. I f**k with Gambino,” said Q. “It was a freestyle. He probably didn’t even mean to say that. I ain’t tripping.”
(AllHipHop News) Kanye West recently spoke with students at L.A. Trade Technical College as part of his mandatory community service hours. The question many wanted to know: So what exactly did the Yeezus creator share with the class?
Complex caught up with Los Angeles resident Andre Pitts who was present during Ye’s lecture. The 19-year-old visual communications major says Kanye’s appearance was a complete surprise.
“None of the students knew that he was going to show up,” said Pitts. “We were asked if some students wanted to help other students with their work after class, so I agreed to try to help other students with their work.”
Pitts clarifies that the “New Slaves” rapper did not actually teach a course. Kanye shared his experiences in music and fashion. He apparently talked for two hours and took questions as well.
“He talked about Tupac. He was watching the movie Juice, and he was inspired by Tupac being in the movie. He talked about how Ice Cube is one of his biggest inspirations and one of his biggest let-downs,” revealed Pitts. “He talked a little bit about Steve Jobs. He mentioned a little bit about how the media portrays him negatively, but he’s saying that he’s not anything negative, it’s just him being real and calling out bulls**t all the time.”
Pitts also states Kanye talked about the true meaning of success, his grandfather, liking his own music, the Grammys, and the Illuminati.
(AllHipHop News) NBA champion LeBron James has always shown his love for Hip Hop. The four-time league MVP has even been known to spit some rhymes like when he jumped on the “F**kWithMeYouKnowIGotIt” beat.
Well, one platinum rapper says he would be open to collaborating with LBJ on a track. As Drake was leaving the premiere of the LeBron produced TV show Survivor’s Remorse, Drizzy was asked about potentially doing music with the Cleveland Cavaliers player.
“Always man, tell him to get at me,” says Drake.
Survivor’s Remorse will air on Starz. The six episode, 30-minute comedy is centered around a young basketball player’s journey to becoming a superstar. The program debuts on October 4.
Watch video of Drake discussing making music with LeBron James below.
One of the surprising situations that emerged from the 2014 BET Hip Hop Awards weekend in Atlanta was the story that Chicago-based rapper Shawnna was blocked from the festivities by her former label head Chaka Zulu of Disturbing Tha Peace. AllHipHop.com broke the story that Zulu supposedly made the decision to prevent Shawnna from walking the event’s red carpet at the last minute.
Shawnna split with Zulu, Ludacris and DTP years ago, and by all public accounts it seemed to be a civil separation. Or at least, that’s how the parties involved presented it in the media. According to Shawnna, that was just a facade done out of the belief in loyalty.
Behind the scenes issues over lost million dollar deals, allegations of owed money, and contract disputes actually forced a not-so-friendly divide between DTP and the “Gettin’ Some” performer, but both sides still kept the drama in-house.
The closeted problems weighed on Shawnna. The dark side of the industry became so hard to deal with that she says it killed her passion to make music. Shawnna decided to step away from Hip Hop and returned to Chicago to work at a club owned by her father – Blues legend Buddy Guy.
After a few years separated from the business, Shawnna could not reconcile just walking away from something she committed nearly a decade worth of time and effort. A need to be an inspiration for her children and seeing female rap re-emerging in a major way sparked the emcee to rediscover her enthusiasm for recording. She hoped the BET Hip Hop Awards would be the site of her national return to the spotlight. But that ambitious move would not happen.
AllHipHop.com spoke exclusively with Shawnna about what went down in Atlanta and her current feelings about the Disturbing Tha Peace camp.
What happened at the BET Hip Hop Awards?
It’s crazy. We put a lot of money and effort into getting down to Atlanta for BET Hip Hop Awards weekend, so we could promote my new single “Gettin’ To It.” It’s getting a lot of buzz here at home in Chicago, but it takes more than that to break a record. So we were all set up, ready to go down there, mingle with DJs, and get a good look on the red carpet.
I actually didn’t even know they were considering me for the cypher. We were right outside of Atlanta, and they contacted my manager and said, “We might have another slot in the cypher, and we’re considering Shawnna.” So we hit the metal a little harder [laughs].
When we get there, my manager says, “Shawnna I need to talk to you. Our PR person just got word from BET that you have been denied access to the red carpet and the BET Hip Hop Awards.” At that moment, my whole world stopped. It had been a minute since I had been this excited about getting back on the scene and letting everybody know I’m ready. I was embarrassed, hurt, angry, all in one. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
A lot of people have been asking me the past four years, “What’s up with you and DTP? What happened?” It just brought back old emotions of the same type of stuff I was dealing with when I was with this label. I said, “I’m fed up. I’m not taking this anymore.” It’s been four years. I’ve been nothing but cordial about the situation. I never bad mouthed this company. I never said a bad thing about Ludacris.
I just wished them all the best. Knowing that I knew other things could be said to ruffle the feathers, to play the dirty side. This is in no way a ploy to promote a mixtape, cause I don’t even have a mixtape right now. All I was trying to do was get down there and make a little noise with my single, network, communicate with people. They just tried to put a stop on everything. But God is good. We kept grinding. We kept doing our thing.
All-in-all it didn’t turn out to be a bad situation. But the things we had planned to do never happened, because of some situation with Disturbing Tha Peace not wanting me to be involved in it.
“Gettin’ To It” Cover Art
There was never really any public discussion about exactly what happened with the split between you and DTP. From the outside looking in, it seemed like it ended with everybody being cool with each other.
I made the decision to keep it cordial. I’m not the type of person that likes negativity. The way my faith is set up, I feel like they’re going to get it back from a Higher Power. So, I never wanted to go out and blast the company or Luda, because overall it was one of my best experiences in my career.
Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of things I didn’t agree with. I just chucked it up to being part of the business. But something would say, “Nah, this ain’t good business.”
It’s no secret I was with them for ten years, and all I had was two albums. I had a feature here and there, but it wasn’t enough. People would come up to me and say, “Shawnna didn’t get the push that she needed.” I don’t have to say all these negative things about them. The proof is there.
After four years of me being cordial, me not saying anything, they want to take the position to still try to keep their foot on my neck. What could I have done – me independently with my own cash – walking the red carpet? I know what I could have done if I got in that cypher. Don’t get it twisted. But me just trying to network and letting the people know I’m back working, how could that have hurt them in any way? I don’t understand it, and I’m sick of it. Nobody’s over there. I left. Everybody else left. It ain’t rocket science.
I haven’t signed any deals. I haven’t done anything in the industry since then. If they think that I’m still going to allow them to have publishing on me after I broke away from that company, they got s**t f**ked up. They’ve awaken a sleeping giant.
I wanted it to be a situation where we kept it cordial and walked away amicably. But when they made this move and took this shot at me, they knocked the top of the pot off.
What was BET’s reason that they gave on why you weren’t allowed to participate?
BET was just saying that they had gone into a partnership with Disturbing Tha Peace. They came together to present the festivities. This, in my opinion, is what gave [DTP] the authority to do so. No shade to BET. BET has always shown me mad, mad love, so I know this had nothing to do with them. That’s the other reason I’m so upset. I know exactly where it came from.
In any interview you’ve seen or heard me in, I’ve never said anything bad about [DTP]. After four years of being silent and turning the other cheek – to still try to take this slap from them. I’m not taking it laying down in no way. To me it’s saying they still want to go to war with me. They got a problem. If you got a problem with me, okay we can address it. We can get it out there. What you wanna do? You can’t keep going in my pocket.
Are you still contractually tied to them?
No, I’m not. I have not been signed to Disturbing Tha Peace for four years. I have no connection to them. I haven’t even spoken to Luda since before we even got to the split. I haven’t spoken to Luda since we were in the studio working on [the intended Shawnna-Ludacris collaborative album] Battle Of The Sexes.
I don’t understand why after four years, y’all still wanna take this shot at me. I have no idea what their next move could be, because I had no idea they’d make this move. I honestly thought they were on the same page as me – we’re going to let what happened between us, be between us. Let’s move forward on our own paths amicably. Obviously, I was wrong.
Do I just take this and walk away with it? Or I do let it be known I’m not going to take this. I rep my city. So if I take an “L”, my city takes an “L”. I can’t do that. I love them too much, and they love me too much.
Females in the industry cannot afford to take “Ls” like that. If I win, females win. If I lose, females lose. That’s how I look at it. So even if I wanted to say, “Ah man, whatever. I’m gonna just walk away.” It’s not just doing that for me. We already got so much against us.
It doesn’t seem like there’s issues from your side. From what you’re saying, the problem is coming from them. Is there anything they could do at this point to smooth the situation over?
You ever heard of “too little, too late.” Ludacris knows. DTP knows. They see me. They’ve seen my interviews. They’ve heard my records. They know I never said anything negative about him nor his company. They know that. So why would you take it upon yourself to try and stop me from doing what I wanna do?
It was a complete slap in the face. It would be different if something was building or if we bumped into each other and had words or my camp was shooting shots at their camp. It was nothing. The waters were calm.
So over the last four years, they haven’t given any indication they had an issue with anything that you were doing?
Nothing at all. It was: I don’t speak of him and he doesn’t speak of me. When people would ask me, “What happened with the DTP situation? Why did you leave Luda?” I would just say, “I wish Disturbing Tha Peace and Ludacris nothing but success. All good things come to an end.”
That’s what I said each and every time. I am a very loyal person. Regardless of what people said at the time of our split – I mean they threw me way under the bus. I let them go with it, because the media, they don’t care about the real story. They want that story. So I let them go with it, but I’ve always been loyal.
I know you’re in the studio right now putting in work.
Yeah, I need to be heard. I need for this to be known. People think I’m dead, gone, buried alive. People think I just walked away, I’m done. No, I’m out here working. It’s just so many situations with people trying to have their foot on my neck.
For so long I was always playing the nice guy. Saying, “Things happen for a reason. It’s gonna get greater later.” F**k that s**t! I’m done with that. I’m done playing the nice guy. If that’s what I gotta do, then that’s what I gotta do. You wanna go to war with me, I’m war ready. Point, blank, period. You wanna leave me alone, then leave me alone. You wanna go at it with me, let’s go.
