(AllHipHop News) Fans of 50 Cent praise the Queens native for his rap skills and business savvy, but the G-Unit leader is not going to get many kudos for his performance on the mound at a recent Mets game.
[ALSO READ: 50 Cent On Donald Sterling: “I Just Saw A Man Being Betrayed” (VIDEO)]
Fiddy was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Citi Field. Bob Uecker of Major League fame probably would have described the throw as “juuuust a bit outside.”
50 was a good sport about the situation though. The Animal Ambition creator laughed as he walked off the mound and later talked about the wild pitch.
“That was Curtis Jackson. I don’t even like when he comes around,” joked 50. “50 Cent is the best. Curtis Jackson – I don’t even know what’s the matter with him.”
[ALSO READ: 50 Cent Expected To Have Huge Surprise Guest At Summer Jam]
Watch 50 Cent’s first pitch below.
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(AllHipHop News) “I was Scarface. Jay was Manolo. It hurt me when I had to kill him and his whole squad for dolo,” rapped Nas on “Last N***a Alive.” Those bars represented the God’s Son rapper taking on then rival Jay Z and his Roc-A-Fella crew by himself. But what if Nas had joined forces with fellow Queensbridge emcee Tragedy Khadafi for that battle?
[ALSO READ: Memphis Bleek Discusses Starting Jay Z/Nas Battle]
Tragedy tells ForbezDVD that he believes Jay Z was afraid that would happen, and he purposely tried to prevent him and Nas from teaming up.
“I think dudes fear me and [Nas] coming together. They really do, and they know who they are. I remember one time somebody told me that Nas said that Jay Z said I was talking crazy about Nas at a show. I was like, ‘What the f**k was that about?'” states Tragedy. “I believe Jay probably did say that… It’s dawning on me like this n***a got that little Roc movement going on, and then he see us doing little s**t together. So he’s probably like, ‘I can’t let these n***as come together like that. Theses n***as would crush our s**t.”
During the sit down, Tragedy also discussed his role in the so-called East Coast/West Coast beef and the New York response track “L.A L.A” with Mobb Deep and Capone-N-Noreaga. The “Intelligent Hoodlum” says he approached Fat Joe about contributing to a counterattack of Tha Dogg Pound’s “New York, New York” song and video, but Joe was not interested in taking sides.
“I called Fat Joe, and I was disappointed,” says Tragedy. “I’m not going say Joe is soft, because I don’t really believe that honestly. What I will say is I guess he felt it wasn’t politically correct for him at that time. I do believe that Suge Knight had a part to play in some of the other brothers I reached out to, because he was running around. He was shaking s**t down.”
Apparently, a Prodigy verse was removed from “L.A L.A” and Nas declined to be on the record as well. Tragedy states Esco did not want to be on the track because he was “not feeling” Mobb Deep at the time.
[ALSO READ: Prodigy Talks Performing In L.A. During 2Pac Beef & Getting Love From Kendrick Lamar]
Watch Tragedy Khadafi’s interview below.
(AllHipHop News) Dame Dash has not been shy about sharing his thoughts on fellow businessman Steve Stoute throughout the year. Back in April, Dash called Stoute “dangerous” and “wack.”
[ALSO READ: Dame Dash Calls Steve Stoute “Dangerous” & “Wack”]
Dame has now elaborated on his dislike of Stoute in an interview with Hip Hop Motivation. The discussion centered around the dysfunction of black businesses, but Dash used the opportunity to explain why he believes Stoute has actually been a roadblock for the expansion of Hip Hop entrepreneurs and damaging to artist’s brands.
Dash said:
You know how many black people I tried to put together to make movies? There always be that one group that just – or because of Steve Stoute or somebody that’s a “culture robber” or doesn’t care about his culture – would break that up. Even other black people break up other black people sticking together, because it would kill their little check. Because they got their connect with white people.
Steve Stoute. That’s what he always do. He always breaks us up, so he could bring us to get robbed. A guy like Steve Stoute would always take the people that are protecting the creative, eliminate them, so he could rob the creative. Just so he could get his money. Even if he kills that black man or that person’s brand.
Like he did with Mary J. Blige. How I was against him putting Jay’s whole name on a $40 dollar sneaker just so they could get a check. How he had Jay doing Budweiser with a confederate flag for a check. That’s not good for your brand… I don’t like that dude, because he doesn’t care about his culture and he’s a liar.
Dame also talks about how Stoute apparently told him about LL Cool J and Nas not “doing well,” how The Notorious B.I.G’s crew put lipstick and a wig on him, and how he had to “run up in his office” to stop Stoute from stealing DJ Clue from Roc-A-Fella.
[ALSO READ: 50 Cent To Steve Stoute: “See How Your Mouth Makes Things Happen” (VIDEO)]
Watch Dame Dash’s interview below.
(AllHipHop News) The issue of gun violence in Chicago has been plaguing the city for years. Chi-town performer Chance The Rapper stepped up and helped halt the bloodshed in his hometown for 42 hours.
[ALSO READ: Kanye West Is Being Drafted To Run For Mayor Of Chicago]
Chance started the stop the violence campaign #SaveChicago with his father. The goal was to prevent shooting deaths in Chicago during Memorial Day weekend by spreading awareness through social media, radio, and community organization. According to the 2014 XXL Freshman, they succeeded in keeping the streets peaceful in the Windy City for almost two days.
[ALSO CHECK OUT: Chance The Rapper: XXL Freshmen 2014 (Freestyle)]
Check out Chance The Rapper’s series of tweets about #SaveChicago below.
when i was in LA My pops asked me to help with a project. He was tryin to get Community Org’s in CHI to prevent every murder on Memorial Day
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 27, 2014
He had talked to Churches, Schools, Outreach Prog’s and Business’s, trying to get them to commit to saving every life possible yesterday
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 27, 2014
The plan was to get these mass numbers of people out on street corners Friday night with posters and banners with the plea “#SAVECHICAGO”
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 27, 2014
His plan was to get radio stations like @WGCI and @Power92Chicago to say “PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN CHICAGO” every hour on the hour the wk before
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 27, 2014
all he asked of me was to say something on social media. and so i did ambiguously through tweets that hinted at an album, or a song #MAY23rd
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 27, 2014
And even though i was outta town i checked in constantly. come to FIND OUT WE WENT 42 HOURS FROM THURSDAY TO SATURDAY NIGHT W/O ONE SHOOTING
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 27, 2014
not one reported shooting from the day before we stepped on those corners til the day after. http://t.co/pYuDCiJcwa
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 27, 2014
and when monday came this is what happened http://t.co/XUJnCgvzgN Read that from top to bottom and then come help us #SaveChicago
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) May 27, 2014
(AllHipHop News) New York rap group Onyx is currently in the midst of a musical comeback. Sticky Fingaz and Fredro Starr are promoting their new album Wakedafucup overseas, and while in the United Kingdom they spoke with ill Will about the state of Hip Hop and working as a duo.
[ALSO CHECK OUT: Onyx Ft. Dope D.O.D. “#WakeDaFucUp”]
Starr also speaks on seeing 2Pac the night before he was shot in New York, respecting Drake, and why he feels his partner Sticky had the best verse on Eminem’s “Remember Me?” off 2000’s The Marshall Mathers LP.
“When I look at a n***a like Em, I just think that n***a’s a mad scientist. He goes to work. He’s ill with his s**t,” said Fredro. “The record that Stick did with Em was a great record. I think Sticky bodied the n***a, personally, but it was a good record. It was a competitive record. And that’s what Hip Hop is about.”
[ALSO CHECK OUT: ONYX feat. A$AP Ferg & Sean Price “We Don’t Fu**in’ Care” (p###. by Snowgoons)]
Watch the Onyx interview below.
(AllHipHop News) On September 18th, 2004, Dave Chappelle held a glorified block party in Brooklyn, NY that featured The Roots, BlackStar, The Fugees, Erykah Badu, Kanye West and a bountiful amount of other legends. A decade later, Dave Chapelle has three concerts planned to bring the block party to Radio City Music Hall.
Two months ago, Dave Chappelle announced he would be headlining his first ever stand-up at Radio City Music Hall this June and subsequently sold out the next five shows. The last of Dave’s five stand-up performances is scheduled to take place on June 22nd. Today (May 27th), Dave announces that two days after that final show, he will begin the first of his three full orchestra concerts featuring numerous musical guests:
June 24: Dave Chappelle and The Roots.
June 25: Dave Chappelle, Busta Rhymes, DJ Premier and Janelle Monae
June 26: Dave Chappelle and Erykah Badu
Tickets for the concert dates go on sale on this upcoming Monday (June 2nd) at ticketmaster.com. American Express® Card Members have access to pre-sale tickets from May 29th 10 A.M. – June 1st 10 A.M.
Questlove recently stated that the September 2004 block party was the “day of the Soulquarians funeral”. Check out Dave Chapelle’s “Block Party” below:
(AllHipHop News) On May 17th, less than a week after Solange and Jay Z’s elevator fight footage surfaced, Jay Z’s Life+Times released a faux-movie trailer for his “On The Run (Part II)” song. In a recent interview, the director of the trailer explains how it came to fruition, how Jay Z delayed the process and more.
Grammy award winning music video director Melina Matsouka directed Beyonce and Jay Z together before for their 2007 collaboration “Upgrade U”. In an interview with Elle.com, Matsouka explains that the fake movie trailer is actually the music video for “On The Run (Part II)”. According to the acclaimed director, the project came together in the past month after previous attempts were stalled:
We were supposed to shoot in January, but he was on tour. We canceled [that] shoot the day before because it was just too much. It came back up last month because the tour [together] was starting and they really wanted a visual for the song. I was excited because I loved the idea and wanted the chance to visualize it. We started shooting and all those cameos came last minute. Once we got one then we got everybody.
Matsouka reveals that while both of the power couple were excited to make the video, Jay Z was apprehensive. Matsouka says Jay Z was “hesitant about ‘Oh, now I have to be an actor”, however was able to pull in an Oscar winning star in a day’s notice:
Jay put in a call for Sean Penn. It was the end of us shooting the first day. One of Jay’s creatives came up me and she’s like ‘OK, we need to call Sean Penn now. He’s coming tomorrow.’ And I’m ‘What? OK.’ So I’m driving back through the desert and my phone’s not working and it didn’t work that night and I wake up the next morning to a text from Sean Penn. So I talked to him about the project and what were thinking of doing with him. And he’s like ‘I can be there at 3.’ I’m like ‘I kind of need you there in an hour.’ And he went home and got dressed and came camera-ready. It was all improv so it was kind of perfect. [Jay and him] discussed where their characters were at that point in our faux-film. He came up with his own dialogue. That’s actually one of my favorite scenes.
Check out the full interview at Elle.com
(AllHipHop News) This past Sunday, Wiz Khalifa performed at the Soundset Festival in Shakopee, Minnesota, after spending eight hours in jail for marijuana possession. In a recent interview with Sway’s Universe, Wiz Khalifa explains how he was able to take a cell phone photo in jail, his meal and more
While in jail, Wiz sent a selfie from the holding cell to his personal Twitter account. According to Wiz, he had to use his wife Amber Rose in order to take the photo:
He was swoll, ’cause I was like ‘yo, can I get that phone? I really need to call my wife. I need to tell her what happened. Then, he gave me that phone and I said ‘selfie. [Laughs]
After stating that “over 10” El Paso Police officers asked for his autograph following his arrest, Wiz explains why he was so generous:
Honestly, because I take it like this: Those people in there weren’t the people who arrested me. So, that does not make them not supporters or fans. So, I’m not going to sh*t on them. Nah
While Wiz admits that “every time I get locked up, I only eat the fruit”, the Pittsburg MC revealed how the arrest was a sign from the universe:
When I say ‘Trap Wiz’, I kind of created a character in my head that I was able to live through and put a whole bunch of energy into that I wouldn’t be able to get away with if I was Wiz Khalifa. Just the way the universe works, everything became understandable and like, laid itself out. Especially with me going to jail it’s like ‘Oh, this is like a real vibe. Trap Wiz is real.
Check out the full interview below:
(AllHipHop News) This past Saturday (May 24th), Kanye West and Kim Kardashian finally wed and held a star-studded wedding at the Forte di Belvedere in Florence, Italy. According to reports, Kanye West gave a 20-minute speech at the wedding reception and a few of his quotes have been highlighted along with photos of the wedding.
I am defined by being a celebrity…the world is our altar, We are not stupid!
They feel like it’s okay to put you on the tabloid covers to sell your image, to use you in an SNL spoof. We don’t negotiate. We’re not like that. We’re not stupid.” A little while later, he added, “The Kardashians are an industry!
Kim Kardashian’s dress was a radiant Givenchy gown designed by Ricardo Tisci. While no official word on the length of the dress’ train, her husband gave a guess a year ago on his song “White Dress”:
Thirty foot train, diamond from Lorraine
Just to make up for all the years and the pain
Mr. and Mrs. West also sported custom “Just Married” leather motorcycle jackets from designer Schott NYC. An updated version of “Bound 2” has not been confirmed as of yet:
Check out the rest of the photos below:
(AllHipHop Features) AllHipHop.com recently spoke with singer-songwriter Estelle about her upcoming album True Romance. Besides covering her fourth studio LP, the “Make Her Say (Beat It Up)” performer also chatted about various other topics.
[ALSO READ: Estelle Is Writing A Twisted Love Story For Her “True Romance” Album]
Fans of Estelle know she is just as comfortable dropping bars as she is singing a melody, so the London native shares some of the British emcees that are making waves and her own personal top 5 singer/rappers of all time.
And music is just one interest that Estelle incorporates into her career. She is also the voice of the animated character Garnet on Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe, and she teamed with SheKnows.com for the “#makehersay #nomakeup #nofilter” campaign. And what about reality television? Could an Estelle show be in the future?
Find out what Estelle had to say about those subjects and more.
You’ve been living here in America for a while. What would you say is the biggest difference between the music scene in the U.S. as compared to the U.K.?
I love it here. It’s still pretty closed as far as how big certain scenes are. Like the EDM scene came pretty big on a commercial level, but at home the more underground EDM scene – I hate calling it EDM. It’s house music to me – but that scene is still huge. What you guys would classify as “underground” that’s pop and mainstream out there.
I think the appreciation is getting bigger and wider. You’re hearing people who know more about artists like Sampha, and people like that, over here who know and listen to them regularly. It has completely changed since I moved here which makes me happy. I get to see my friends flourishing.
Who would you say are some of the top British emcees out now?
There’s always a bunch. There’s always a consistent crop every other year. There’s Krept & Konan who had a record called “Don’t Waste My Time” that was out late last year. That was kind of big. They were doing it big on the underground.
There’s a guy called Ghetto or Getts. He’s consistently awesome. He just released an album. Wretch 32 is another artist who has consistently been dope. Then you have Tinie [Tempah] and Dizzee [Rascal] who are consistent as well.
Then there’s this young girl named Lady Leshurr coming up who’s going to be amazing. She’s working her album right now and moving more than I used to move. [laughs] She’s out there putting in the work. There’s a good few.
You sing and rap. Who are your top five singer/rappers of all time?
Of course, Lauryn Hill. I’m going to throw Wyclef in there too. He sings, and he does it well. Missy is great. She’s awesome. Myself. [laughs] Yeezy [Kanye West]. I don’t care what anyone says. The guy can hold a melody, and he does it well.
You know who was good – I don’t know if it was considered “singing” – but could definitely hold a melody and rap at the same time? Nelly. He was good. He can hold a melody and rap in the same way the Yeezy does it now. When he had those records out, they were good. I definitely used to listen to “drop down and get your eagle on” [“Flap Your Wings”]. I didn’t drop down or get my eagle on, but I listened to the record.
How much of your personality is in the character of Garnet?
The actual character’s look was based on the character I played in the video for “Freak.” I play like a dominatrix type of character. Everyone was like, “What were you doing? You look crazy. What’s going on?” The show’s creator, Rebecca Sugar, loved that video and the song. She based the character off that. So that was pretty awesome.
It is me. I have a pretty dry wit. I don’t laugh at absolutely everything, but I’m quite clever or slick, I want to say. I love taking a p### out of somebody. I’m pretty sarcastic, so I think [Garnet’s personality is close to mine]. Her whole character is pretty deadpan. She takes care of everything and everyone. She makes sure everyone is okay.
You’ve made appearances on reality shows in the past. Would you ever consider doing your own reality show?
I don’t think I would do an outright reality show. I love not having to put make-up on in the morning to go anywhere, so I would hate to have to do it in my bed. You know you can’t get to be on TV without having make-up on, because that might make you look human.
So I don’t know if I would personally do that, but I would do a show based on my life. I actually would. I think it would be pretty interesting for people to see what it really is like.
Does that mean we would see Estelle dragging women across stages and throwing wine in people’s face?
Absolutely not. The one time I’ve gotten remotely close to that kind of behavior I had people behind me. And it wasn’t wine. It was a real alcohol bottle. I had people around walk me in another direction versus letting me get into that kind of moment. That was just the one time. I don’t generally engage in that behavior. I don’t think that’s healthy or has anything to do with real life. So absolutely never, not on TV. I wouldn’t want anyone to actually seeing that.
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You mentioned before about waking up and having to put on make-up. You were involved in the “#NoMakeUp #NoFilter” campaign. Why did you decide to take part in that campaign?
People who would post their pictures and opinions like, “Oh my God. She has people having sex [in her ‘Make Her Say’ video]” would come from people who were so made up. It was such a convoluted statement to make when half your pictures were butt naked or booty pictures or t#### pictures.
I wanted for real women to come forward and say, “Here’s my clean, clear face. Here’s what I look like with no make-up, and I’m still sexy. I still look great, because I’m a human being.” We’re not here to pretend or give the energy of fakeness. This is real life.
For all the women that did it, I went through and I looked. I went on their pages, and I saw with make-up versus without. Ninety percent of them looked great without make-up. That’s reality.
There’s nothing wrong with the skin you have. There’s nothing wrong with your face, your eyes, your nose. That’s what God gave you. It’s fine, and it’s okay to put it out there. This is what the rest of the world looks like. This is what everybody else looks like. Ten percent of the people on TV don’t look like that. Don’t be shamed into thinking you don’t look good because you don’t have on a ton of make-up every morning. It’s alright. It’s fine, be human.
Follow Estelle on Twitter @EstelleDarlings and Instagram @estelledarlings.
Check out footage of Estelle at the Diane von Furstenberg Awards below.
Featuring lead single “Blue Yankee Fitted” and follow-up “All In Together,” the album contains production and guest features from DJ Premier, !llmind, Jahlil Beats, Black Milk, Sean Price, Blu, Guilty Simpson, Oh-No and more.
(AllHipHop News) Calvin Klein Bactoe’s history with illegal activity has caused him to spend a large portion of his life in prison, but also emboldens his authority on crime. During the third part of AllHipHop’s EXCLUSIVE interview, Bacote reveals why he never liked the nickname the “Original 50 Cent” gave him.
Since his release, Bacote has teamed up with community based anti-violence groups such as Guns Down, Life Up. In our interview, Bacote explains why these groups need more than increased visibility to maximize their influence:
I see change need to be made on both sides. On the side of the person who wants to commit the crime things there should be things there for…What I’m attempting to do now is get the organizations more involved with presenting programs and making the programs available. They know that the programs there, but they just don’t know where to look. Where to find them. A lot of times, that’s their fault too. We could put the programs out in their face, but at the end of the day it’s really up to you to take the initiative to follow up with it.
According to Bacote, Kelvin Martin, better known as the Original 50 Cent, gave him his nickname “Calvin Klein” when Bacote was 15 years old. After stating that he “never liked the name”, Bacote explains the origins of the name and why he eventually accepted it:
I’ve reinvented it from what you for it to be. So, Calvin Klein, clothing designer, that’s what I used to wear a lot. So, it was probably more fitting for him to call me that. First name Calvin, ‘that’s all you wear is Calvin Klein.’ So, it worked hand in hand at the time. I had rather people call me Calvin Klein than call me by my real name after I had made an attempted robbery.
Check out the third part of our EXCLUSIVE interview with Calvin Klein Bacote below:
(AllHipHop News) Next Tuesday (June 3rd), Pharrell will make his first solo Apollo Theatre performance as he performs apart of Vevo and YouTube’s “American Express Unstaged” concert series.
The concert will stream live at amexunstaged.com at 9:00 p.m. EST for free and Spike Lee will direct the concert’s live stream. Lee directed the live stream of The Roots & John Legend’s 2010 “Unstaged” performance.
Tickets for the show went on sale this past Friday (May 23rd). Pharrell announced the t our dates for his Dear G I R L Tour last week, with the first show scheduled for September 9th at Phones4U Arena in Manchester, U.K.
Check out footage of the Spike Lee-directed web cast of The Roots & John Legend’s 2010 “American Express Unstaged” below:
(AllHipHop News) Hours after engaging in a physical altercation with T.I. this past Sunday (May 25th), Floyd Mayweather went directly to Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club. Besides showering strippers with money, Mayweather used the Club’s song selection to explain his altercation with T.I.
In a cell phone video from the strip club, Chris Brown’s “Loyal” song was blaring through the speakers. In the video, Mayweather repeatedly says “that’s what I told T.I.” when the song reaches its chorus of “these h*es ain’t loyal.”
The following day, Mayweather apologized to Tameka “Tiny” Harris in an interview for referring to her as a “b*tch” when he yelled at T.I. “control your b*tch”. Tiny went on her personal Instagram account following the altercation and sided with Mayweather and alleging T.I. of infidelity.
Check out the candid cell phone video of Mayweather in the strip club hours after his altercation with T.I.