(AllHipHop News) DMX was arrested again Monday night (11/4). It was reported that the rapper was taken into custody in South Carolina on charges of driving on a suspended license, driving while uninsured, and driving an unlicensed vehicle.
DMX (born Earl Simmons) was arrested for driving without a license in South Carolina back in February. He was also arrested for DUI in the state in July, and again in August for marijuana possession after a traffic stop.
According to the rapper’s rep Domenick Nati, X has already been released from jail and this latest incident will not prevent the It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot creator from fulfilling his upcoming professional obligations. Nati issued the following statement:
DMX was released at 9:46pm Eastern Monday night. He was arrested on minor
traffic charges and spent only three hours in jail. This short arrest will not
affect any of his upcoming concerts and he is planning on performing with Swizz Beatz on Wednesday’s Wendy Williams Show.
A Georgia man faces charges for accidentally setting his wife on fire at a gas station. He thought it was a good idea to ignite a lighter near a gas pump and the rest…well, you know where this is going. His wife has second and third degree burns, and he faces one count of reckless conduct.
People usually reserve Halloween for showing their entire arses, literally and metaphorically but it seems like 2013 took the cake. Blackface and mocking human life ran rampant as folks dressed up like George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin and also…Boston Marathon victims.
This woman is 22-year-old Alicia Lynch and she went to work dressed as a Boston Marathon Victim. Once this photo went up on social media, she got dragged for dear life. She got death threats and she has now lost her job. Mega fail.
Let this be a lesson to everyone who thinks it’s cute or creative to mock the dead and/or an entire race of people.
(AllHipHop Features) Kool Keith has staying power. He burst onto the scene in 1988 with the Ultramagnetic MCs, and they dropped their classic debut, Critical Beatdown. While many rappers from the Golden Age remain defined by their work from that era, Kool Keith proved to be an exception and successfully built on his legacy in the years that followed. In the mid-90’s, he even reintroduced himself to listeners as the perverted and demented Dr. Octagon. He has since continued to release material under a variety of aliases and grow a strong following below the contemporary mainstream radar. However, his influence in Hip-Hop, as a solo artist and a member the Ultramagnetic MCs, can clearly be seen in the work of others.
On Halloween night, at 1:30 in the morning at a restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kool Keith chopped it up with AllHipHop.com about, among other things, the legacy of Critical Beatdown, X-rated rhymes, and getting a shout-out from Eminem recently on his Rihanna-assisted hit “The Monster.”
Whether he’s Dr. Octagon, Black Elvis, or Dr. Dooom, Kool Keith is one of a kind. And in a culture like Hip-Hop where so much is sampled and reinvented, it’s great to see someone like Kool Keith continue to be embraced for being the true original that he is.
AllHipHop.com: Congrats on the 25 anniversary of Critical Beatdown. What do you think the most enduring part of that classic album’s legacy is?
Kool Keith: With that album, we went to Europe and toured. You mean recently or just in the past?
AllHipHop.com: Just in general, as a whole. Why do you think people are still talking about that album 25 years later?
Kool Keith: It was a different album. And it was unique, the way we [the Ultramagnetic MC’s] laid the tracks down. I mean we came out in the Golden Age of course.
AllHipHop.com: Hip-Hop culture moves at warp speed sometimes. You, however, have stayed relevant. What is the secret to longevity?
Kool Keith: Staying young, not looking old, and not calling yourself a “legend.” You’ve also got to stay with the musical times.
AllHipHop.com: Have you found it difficult to adapt over the years or is that something that has just come naturally?
Kool Keith: Nah, it’s never been difficult at all.
AllHipHop.com: Now jumping into your sexualized raps, how do you think that rappers who came after you did making those types of songs?
Kool Keith: I did it in a lyrical way. They did it in a fun way, but some people made it kind of gross. They took it too far. I did it in a sensuous way, and they turned it into an abusive way.
AllHipHop.com: Okay, clear up the rumor once and for all. Did you write the whole first Dr. Octagon album in one night while on acid?
Kool Keith: I wasn’t on acid. I wrote that album one night while I was staying in San Francisco. I was walking on Market Street during the day time and working on the album at night.
AllHipHop.com: How did you first react when you heard Eminem name-drop you in his new song, “The Monster”?
Kool Keith: I heard it once, and it was cool to me man. If it has to take a person like that to say something about me to kind of open doors for me, he’s great. But a lot of people have talked about me before. I mean Jay Z has mentioned me in magazines. XXL. A lot of people tend to say that I need to blow up, or that I need to be big or large. But I got gold records. I got platinum records in my house. What kind of “large” do they want me to be? I think a lot of people don’t think I should be known as much as I am, so they play on the psychology that I’m not known which is a messed up thing.
AllHipHop.com: Do you think that’s just the competitive nature of people trying to keep you down?
Kool Keith: Yeah, exactly. Like if you come on Channel 2 [a major network], they didn’t see it. But if you were on the PBS Channel [a less popular network], they saw it. But when they see another person on there [a major network], they accept it differently. I think that’s the problem.
AllHipHop.com: What are your thoughts on the current state of Hip-Hop?
Kool Keith: I like the new kids that are doing songs. I like everybody that’s making records. I don’t hate. The only thing I don’t like about the current state of Hip-Hop is the labeling like “the legend” and “the pioneer” stuff. Everybody uses those stigmas. I don’t like them. It puts an antique and a wear down on you. I didn’t work to be a “legend.” That kind of labels people like they did their last great thing. Well, I didn’t.
What do you think of Kool Keith’s comments? Do you have a favorite alias of his? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
This is getting crazy! The daughter of L.A. Reid and Peebles is going on a TEAR and she has targeted Chilli! Ashley Reid has done a number of interviews and she went in on Chili…wow! If you didn’t know, she is pissy at the way Peebles was portrayed in the TLC movie, which had record viewing numbers. She pops off about Chilli’s sexual history and…promises a beat down if they meet.
“I’m not gonna talk about Chilli sucking my father’s d**k or most of the d**ks in the industry in the 90′s…I won’t talk about that. The fact that she sucked mostly everybody’s d**k in the 90’s, that has nothing to do with the fact that she is a lying person.”
“ …and I just want to clear up what I meant when I said on Twitter, ‘Chilli I can’t wait to see you honey,’ what I meant by that was I can’t wait to see you to beat your f**cking face into the concrete.”
Somebody reign this chick in!
Gotdamn!
“They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry!” -illseed.
Joe Budden is in good company in the Lonely Hearts Club. The Love & Hip-Hop star started tweeting his feelings after spotting a picture of on-off-again boo Tahiry at Power 105′s Powerhouse concert in Brooklyn partying with A$AP Rocky, and Chad Ochocinco tried to convince him to move on but not before admitting that he’s still in love with Evelyn Lozada. Peep the exchange:
(AllHipHop Features) Since the age of six Bizzy Crook knew he wanted to be a rapper. The rising Hip Hop artist fell in love with the culture during his formative days in Miami and West Miramar, Florida, and while the 21-year-old grew up during the Golden Era of 1990’s rap, it is the previous decade that provides the setting for his latest mixtape 84.
After recording over a 100 songs and pushing back the tape’s original May drop date, Bizzy’s manager finally forced the studio addict to finalize the project just days before its October 21st release. The 16-track “free album” features appearances from Nelly, Estelle, King Los, Melody Thornton, and Daniel Daley and touches on the real life troubles, triumphs, and motivations occurring in Bizzy’s young life.
From reflections of signing with Love and Hip Hop‘s Mona Scott-Young to stories of battling depression to admissions of blowing a meeting with The Notorious B.I.G.’s former manager, BC shares it all in his music.
AllHipHop.com: Can you explain the significance behind the project’s name 84?
Bizzy Crook: ’84 was the year [Michael] Jordan was drafted among many other things. Michael Jackson put out a classic album that year. I think Godzilla came out that year. It just represents the beginning. The early beginning of something, and nobody could have expected it would be as legendary as it is today. Jordan for instance. In 1984 Jordan was drafted. At that time Michael Jordan was just a rookie in the game, and nobody expected for him to be the greatest today. That’s how I feel about myself. I feel like this project is me in 1984. Me coming in as a rookie, and I know what I’m going to do. I know I got a lot of work to put in before I get everybody else to believe.
It sounds like you went into this project with a concept of what you wanted it to represent. You don’t get that a lot from artists as far as their mixtapes. Why did you choose to make this a conceptual project?
Music is my journal. Music is my outlet. As a 21-year-old kid I go through regular 21-year-old kid stuff. There are things when you are 40 years old or 12 years old that you’re going through. That’s why I feel like my music really connects with the people, because it’s so relatable. I‘m not afraid to speak or address certain situations that I go through in my life, and that’s why this project is doing so well. So many young kids are just inspired by it which is initially the reason I fell in love with music in the first place.
You’re pretty open about your battles with depression and you talk about suicide on the project. Was it difficult to be so vulnerable about such personal matters on records?
Even on my last project I had a record called “Pain Feels Good” about suicide, but I didn’t know how it would be interpreted. I kept it limited. Then this project I felt like, you know what, this is 84. This is something that happened in my life, and it took for me to go through a situation where a lot other kids had the same issues. I realized that they don’t have any role models. They don’t have anybody to influence them or inspire them to keep going.
I said to myself this needs to be me. So on 84 I mentioned a lot of references about me going through suicidal depression, building to the “If It Isn’t You” record where I completely open up about a situation I went through. Everything is 100% true. We got rappers who rap about popping bottles. If you’re fortunate to do that then cool, but there are kids out there who go to sleep at night and they feel alone. They feel lost in the world, and they don’t have no music to turn on and listen to help them to feel better about themselves. If I can do that, why not?
On 84’s intro “The One,” you talk about a meeting you had with music executive Mark Pitts and it sounds like the meeting didn’t go to well. Can you elaborate more on that situation and what you learned from the experience?
At the time I got signed to Mona Scott-Young I was still in high school, so literally the day after my high school graduation I’m flying to New York [to meet with] all these labels. It came really fast. I wasn’t prepared. I had to be 17 maybe, barely 18. I’m in front of Mark Pitts at a label meeting that could possible change my life. Two weeks ago I was struggling to keep my G.P.A. up. He asked me to perform a record in front of him, and I completely froze up and forgot the lyrics.
At the time I just felt I wasn’t ready, but now that I looked back at it had I not forgot those lyrics and had that meeting took more of a positive route, that could be the difference from you and me having this conversation right now or 84 not coming out or the topic of the music coming out the way it did. At the time I was always able to rap, but it wasn’t always me. I wasn’t always rapping from the standpoint of inspiring people.
You’re from the Miami area and your mixtape is inspired by Michael Jordan. Who would you take in their prime, MJ or LeBron?
Jordan absolutely. I feel like it might be kind of unfair for LeBron. It’s like a 2Pac and Biggie thing. You’ll never know if LeBron is going to be able to surpass Jordan because Jordan is not playing anymore, so Jordan is always going to be on that shelf. I’ll always have to go with Jordan, but it’s kind of unfair for LeBron.
(AllHipHop Features) Even with a dozen mixtapes released over the last 7 years, Atlanta’s Young Dro has kept a noticeably low profile since his debut studio album Best Thang Smokin’ hit the streets back in 2006. The Grand Hustle rapper has seen a career resurgence in 2013 by participating in Hustle Gang’s compilation mixtape G.D.O.D. (Get Dough Or Die), dropping his DJ Drama hosted free project Day Two, and delivering his official sophomore LP High Times.
In a recent interview with Mr. Mecc for AllHipHop.com, Dro was candid about why it took so long for him to jump back into the game full-time.
“I was just keeping myself afloat,” admits Dro. “Plus I got lazy though, like every n***a do.”
Dro eventually shook off the apathy to return with the hit “FDB” off High Times. The video for the trifling baby momma f**k off anthem is pushing on two and half million views on YouTube. Up next is the single “Strong” produced by DJ Mustard and featuring fellow A-Town native 2 Chainz.
Along with the man formerly known as Tity Boi, Young Dro also connected with another top-selling Atlanta rapper for his latest work. Hustle Gang leader T.I. appears on two tracks on High Times, and despite not trading verses with his boss and Grand Hustle comrades during last year’s BET cypher, Dro makes it clear that he is down with the label that Tip built for the long haul. For him, the wordplay display is just not a part of southern rap tradition.
“I respect up north that’s where it comes from. Them boys put you in a circle, and everybody, they test their ability. Down south we just swaggin’, bustin’,” explains Dro. “I’m cool on that. That don’t determine my ability to be a rapper.”
Even though Dro does not feel the need to enter in the much talked about cyphers to show his skills as a rhymer, he does address the new streak of competitive fire in Hip Hop sparked by Kendrick Lamar’s name-dropping verse on Big Sean’s “Control.”
“The verse was phenomenal, but if you were to break it down to what really got people all ‘rah, rah,’ he was just saying names,” adds Dro. “[He’s] making it more competitive to them. I’m in my own lane.”
Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 6 premiered last night and they got all up in Porsha and Kordell Stewart’s divorce drama. Ish got real when Porsha did a confessional where it seemed like she was insinuating that Kordell might actually be gay like the rumors have been suggesting. It’s a good theory considering that Kordell abruptly filed for divorce from Porsha leaving her to find out about it on Twitter. Also according to Porsha, he hasn’t really given a reason for why he wants the split.
The situation is odd because when RHOA viewers first met Kordell he boasted that he was a traditional guy (but more caveman than traditional) and preferred his woman to be home with no job and barefoot and pregnant. Porsha, who is a beautiful woman complied with Kordell’s desire for a Barbie doll so why all of a sudden?
We’ll probably never get a straight answer as the drama unfolds but in last night’s episode Porsha said that there were a few times when Kordell didn’t seem sexually attracted to her. Check it:
“There were definitely times in the marriage that Kordell didn’t necessarily want me, physically, and that made me wonder, what does he want? When we first got together, I asked him about rumors of him being gay, because family members were bringing it up to me and friends were asking me about it, and he explained it away … I didn’t question whether he was gay or not because someone else said it. Any reasons that I questioned it were things I had experienced or seen.”
Hopefully we won’t have another Mister Cee situation on our hands but there is a lot of potential for it to head in that direction.
(AllHipHop News) Chris Brown is in legal hot water in an assault case in Washington D.C., but the singer has received some good news.
Investigators have not been able to find any video footage of the alleged fracas.
A fan alleges that Chris Brown punched him in the face after the fan tried to photo-bomb a picture with another fan. Chris charged that the man was trying to get on his tour bus without permission.
Secret Service agents back up Chris Brown’s account of the events, and also say they heard the alleged victim stating Brown didn’t hit him.
Brown voluntarily entered rehab for anger since the incident.
Master P stated, “It’s a lonely road to success, but I’m all too familiar with that road. The music industry has evolved, independent artists have more opportunities to win in this industry if they’re willing to work hard. I’ve dedicated my time, re-introduced myself and increased my fan base with this new generation of music buyers. The key is creating hit records like the Lonely Road, my first single off the Limited Edition The Gift Album which hits stores December 6th. I get better with time… there’s No Limit to what you can do if you’re not afraid to sacrifice, put in the work and never give up. This new album isn’t about me, I’m just using my gift of music to inspire my people.”
Nicki Minaj out promoting the YouTube awards, but in the midst of that, she’s being asked some interesting questions as well. Namely, why didn’t Drake have anybody from Young Money on his latest album? She said she is working on her latest album so that’s that. About the 4:25 mark, she says “Drake can do what Drake do, but Nicki Minaj is a whole different person.” We know she is a different person, but it definitely sounds like shots are being fired.
Oh and for you that thought she was Photoshopped in the Halloween pics, you can see she ain’t. Straight off the Instagram.
“They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry!” -illseed.
(AllHipHop News) In celebration of their 40th anniversary the Universal Zulu Nation is hosting a 5-day event this week in New York City. The birthplace of Hip Hop serves as the site for performances, discussions, and film screenings featuring some of the legendary figures from the culture.
Afrika Bambaataa, Large Professor, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, Ice T, DJ Red Alert, Mark Luv & Luvbug Starski, Funkmaster Flex, DITC, Grand Master Melle Mel, Treacherous 3, Busy Bee, Naughty Nation (formerly Naughty By Nature), and many more will appear at various venues throughout the festivities.
Universal Zulu Nation 40th Anniversary NYC takes place November 6-10.
Nicki Minaj out promoting the YouTube awards, but in the midst of that, she’s being asked some interesting questions as well. Namely, why didn’t Drake have anybody from Young Money on his latest album? She said she is working on her latest album so that’s that. About the 4:25 mark, she says “Drake can do what Drake do, but Nicki Minaj is a whole different person.” We know she is a different person, but it definitely sounds like shots are being fired.