Aside from her bizarre infatuation with 16-inch Clodhoppers, TC thinks Ciara is the shiznit. I don’t care that she’ll never be Beyoncé or how much ammo Freshalina unloads in her direction. If she wants to “Gimme Dat,” who are we to discourage her otherwise? With an album named Basic Instinct, she’s taking icepicks to the competition’s throats and chaps like me get to interrogate her for it. Read the rest of this entry »

He gave you a chance to get constipated and catch up on his previous sh!t. Now he’s unleashing his laxatives on the game like truckers at a West Coast pit stop. If you think those analogies are nasty, wait til you get a load of this chunky bassline that assists Balance and Mitchy Slick’s conquest of the camomile. We’re not talking about the brown round, however. More like that invisible matter that you can’t see but you know is there when you’re riding high. Read the rest of this entry »

In a previous entry, Kyle Bylin wrote about four reasons music fans participate in file-sharing and how they could be changed. In his latest entry, he picks the topic back up, discussing four more reasons why fans share files and why those dynamics can’t be changed. Interesting analysis of factors and sociological behavior, reasons not all based on economics but instead the “‘Me’ Economics.” Read the rest of this entry »

You already knew Emilio was going to come extra hard on this. The second he enlisted Catfish Billy and his demolition services to help decimate Green Lantern’s best Andre Young imitation, “Turn It Up” wasn’t only the name of the song, but the lyrical game plan as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Guilty Confession: I’ve passed on this guy Co$$ even though Gotty™, K1ng and others have been on him for a minute. Evidently I’ve been missing out, since “Free” is the type of lyrics first, soul-sampled Hip-Hop that moves me the most. Read the rest of this entry »

Bella Gonzalez

A Guide To Beyonce’s Best Back Shots [Complex]

Suggestions for Choosing the Perfect Gang Name [The Smoking Jacket]

Trey Songz Speaks On Album Sales, Jay-Z, Critics & Gives Advice On Being Successful [RTNY]

Diddy & Sean Jean Called Out for Allegedly Stealing T-Shirt Design [Black Voices] Read the rest of this entry »

So, this is what it’s come to. No longer do starving artists send their demos to labels, or set-up shop outside executive offices to pester A&Rs. Instead, in our YouTube universe, aspiring musicians like California Pop-Rock trio Imperial Stars result to brash activities such as this to draw attention to their tunes. Read the rest of this entry »

The materialistic yammerings of Big Sean are what generally rise to the surface but there is a pretty earnest individual inside that gianormous cranium of his. It’s a well known fact–or should be–that every rapper you see graced across the blogosphere wants to do this music hustle for a full-time, 9-to-5 but economic setbacks generally usher reality to the front welcome mat without wiping its feets. “F*ck yo couch” is what it probably says, yet Sean knows his destiny and fortune are products of hard work and he doesn’t take it for granted. Read the rest of this entry »

They’re such magnetizing figures in music that the only thing we don’t know about the lives Christopher Wallace and Tupac Shakur are the fingers behind the triggers which took them away far too soon. It’s that mystery, however, which will always reserve that mythical status around their names. Yet and still, gapping holes in the lives of the people who referred to them as friends remains obvious each time their names are mentioned. Read the rest of this entry »

So who won’t Rick Ross collaborate with?* You can scratch Triple 6 off that list as they continue to spiral out of their element with talks of bankvaults full of unmarked bills. The Memphis collective went from throwing gang signs to dollar signs under our unsuspecting nostrils and aside from a catchy chorus, I’m not sure what to make of this. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes indeedy, it’s currently sweater weather bur L-R-G is staring off into the future towards the days of boughs of holly and mistletoe with their campaign towards the upcoming holiday. Like Curren$y was to autumn, Outasight braves the winter wonderland in Utah alongside a few of the top boarders à la X-Games in Kelly Hart and Chris Grenier. It looked cold enough to make an Eskismo cop a Snuggie but fashion knows no frostbite. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently L.A. Reid is out at Def Jam. And the harbinger of doom himself, Shyne, is here to tell us why.

Shoot up the club, Urban Daily:

You’re talking about Lucian Grainge who replaced Doug Morris?
Yeah, and I know LA Reid ain’t gonna be there no more. I don’t know what’s happening over there. It all depends on who takes over and his commitment to hip-hop music. I think that’s why…. It’s really tricky. I don’t like to judge nobody or throw anyone under the bus, but I don’t think there was a strong commitment to hip-hop from LA Reid. I was on my way out the door a few times and he begged me to stay. Now that he’s leaving, that’s definitely the door opening for me to spin off myself, you dig. I don’t know the direction they’re going in. I don’t know if they’re gonna put another guy in there that don’t care about hip-hop music. You understand? We need people like Russell [Simmons] and Lyor [Cohen] and Jimmy Iovine, people that bled and got their hands dirty and were in the trenches. We need the Eisenhowers that are gonna be there on the warfield with us to keep this going, and L.A. Reid wasn’t that. I’m interested to see who they’re gonna put in there. If anything, I might do everything through Cash Money or somebody else, but it’s a real question mark with Def Jam right now.

Last week, a letter Nas had written to Def Jam made its way on to the internet where he was talking about how they only gave him $200,000 budget for the album and he wasn’t having that. Was it a similar situation with you?
Yeah yeah yeah! You know, I wrote a letter too! I got a blog on MTV, I’m surprised they haven’t posted that up yet. It was called “Def Jam Is Dying.” I feel the same way. I’m all with what Nas is saying. Absolutely! He’s 1000% right! In the letter I wrote, it says “Def Jam is dying thanks a billion L.A. Reid. Middle finger to you too.” You know, because he don’t care about us, man.

It’s crazy that you’re telling me this, I said that he don’t understand that Nas and Ghostface are modern day prophets. When he was perming his hair and getting pedicures and manicures, Jimmy Iovine and Russell were putting in work. R&B dudes used to run it, and then this hip-hop thing came along and hi-jacked pop culture, and I don’t think L.A.’s one of those dudes that likes that.

At the end of the day, it’s about great music and great people making music. Nas is really a hero. What he did for hip-hop is indisputable, and L.A. Reid don’t get that! This is not about Def Jam the brand, it’s about the Nas brand! It’s about the music he makes. You need a machine behind you that believes in that. These dudes aren’t doing that. You got executives out there that get an act that sells a few million, and now they think they’re geniuses. Then you get a person like Nas, who is a legend and has a legacy, and you got a machine that doesn’t know how to preserve this legacy.

In my letter, I talk about how unless you give LA Reid a song with Ne-Yo on it, or one of his R&B singers, you’re outta luck! That’s not hip-hop!

Hate to say, “I told you so,” but the writing was on the wall. It’s just a fantastic dose of crazy that Shyne is questioning the decision-making over at Def Jam when his contract is on the top of the list of bad moves the label has made. That’s like Isiah Thomas having disclaimers against the Knicks’ front office back when he was a coach.

Make sure you go cop those new Rihanna and Ne-Yo albums dropping later this year.

“I GUESS HOW IT SET IT off will determine how to finish
Finishin’ this is fine, the finish line is the scrimmage
Scrimmagin’ the design, designin’ is by the witness
Witnessin’ from the side, as I’m driftin’ by to the ending
Ending another stanza by beginning to explain it
Explaining an explanation and waiting while you arrange it Read the rest of this entry »

Only Kanye could get away with this. Unlike all the other rappers who added their own twist to the London-based duo’s year-old crossover clubber, the man with a Dark Twisted Fantasy got an official revamp when he decided to add his A-list swag to the liner notes of the original version. The additional sixteen doesn’t offer much more than radio credibility, but should help sell even more records overseas when his new album drops November 22nd. Read the rest of this entry »

Class, take your seats and open your textbooks to the book of game, authorized by MacShawn100. In the first chapter, you’ll see literary phrases for expressing one’s self during multiple situations. Take out your blue highlighter markers and strike through the “And U Do Know That” because that’s what we’ll be covering this term. With a teacher like Yvette Heranadez and recess smoke breaks with Snoop and the rest of Tha Dogg Pound, every student shouldn’t have a problem getting a big fat “A” on their finals. Read the rest of this entry »