The Game gets the glory but G. Malone has the grustle to catapult himself into the West Coast’s next credible gangsta rapper. His latest project Nightmare On Seven Street, set to terrorize your car system with appearances from Snoop Dogg, Nipsey Hussle, Jay Rock & Xzibit. Read the rest of this entry »

A Tale of Two Mice

Ron Browz. Bow Wow.

Neither of these men really need that much introduction. It would be safe to say that as far as Hip-Hop heads are concerned, they both need more people. Read the rest of this entry »

Shortly before it hit the net, Karen Civil informed me of Shad’s decision to head over to Cash Money. What ensued next was barrage of commentary on Twitter, 95% of which was negative. On paper, having a label with Lil’ Wayne, Drake, Mack Maine, Nicki Minaj, Omarion and now Bow Wow seems like an excellent investment. But when looking beyond the surface, we’ve seen over and over how this situation has played itself out.

Roc-A-Fella Records — Arguably no dynasty’s (no pun intended) downfall has been documented more than this. There was once a time when a roster which touted Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Memphis Bleek and the rest of State Property appeared invincible. However, it was the addition of Read the rest of this entry »

Only Lil’ Bow Wow could make a PG-13 visual for a strip club anthem. And now it’s Columbia’s fault.   Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t remember any manufactured/collaborative R&B group to “work” besides maybe LSG. In order for an R&B crew to work, their must be blood Read the rest of this entry »

What do you do when your album fails to gain traction upon its release? You release outlandish statements of course! (Eh, Rick?) In a recent sitdown with GIANT Magazine, Lamborghini-Big-Bank-Bow had the audacity to rip into artists that relied on Auto-Tune for a song or two.

“It makes everyone feel that if they do it then they got a hit record. It’s like a slut that’s being passed around, and everyone’s jumping on it.”

I mean, where do we start? Nevermind the fact that Ron Browz and Read the rest of this entry »

Growing up in the industry ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Naturally, there’s invaluable knowledge to be gained — which will have your career a couple steps ahead of the pack, but as fans age and mature, so do their musical preferences; forcing the artist to shift their position — even it means contradicting their original standpoint all together. No one in Hip-Hop is more familiar with this than Shad “Lamborghini” Moss. Since the “Lil” was dropped, Bow Wow’s been faced with adhering to an entirely new market who mostly associate him with the teenybopper magnet Scream Tour and rapping about instant messaging cheerleaders while their parents are at the grocery store.

So even with the creation of New Jack City II, an album with no association with the 1991 film and his first to feature a Parental Advisory label Read the rest of this entry »

Directed By Hype Williams

Coming soon to a theater record store near you:

Nino Brown’s assassination at the hands of a disgruntled member of the community was actually a figment of his imagination. After his case was overturned due to prosecutors withholding evidence, Nino trades the coke life for the cake life in this epic tale of a hustler looking for true love on the sandy beaches of Miami. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a year and I still miss The Wire and all its characters. We said our final goodbyes in 2008 but recent endless viewings of the DVD box set had me feeling sentimental and inspired. It’s the “Who would play me in a movie?” game further realized and repurposed, i.e. which rappers would play characters on The Wire? So, without further adieu…

Charles Hamilton as Duquan “Dukie” Weems — These two have more of an uncanny physical resemblance than Blu and Bubbles. Besides their connection as look-alikes and being coincidentally homeless at different points in life, both are bright, yet can’t seem to get the formula quite right to move on to a higher level of success. Coincidentally, and both lived in the streets.

Nas as Avon Barksdale — Okay, so maybe Nas isn’t really a hustler or a gangster. But he is an older figure who has seen more dominant days, finding his way in an environment that may/may not be suited to his tastes any longer. Oh, and he evolved as the opposite of…

Jay-Z as Stringer Bell — The intelligent hustler. Does/did anyone so knee deep in their respective field have a more savvy business sense than these two?

Andre 3000 as Lester Freamon — These wise vets are intensely cerebral while having a creative outlet that helps them make money while expressing themselves. Both have also expressed discontent or disinterest with the state of their environments. Read the rest of this entry »

Obviously anything first seen in the New York Post’s Page Six has to be taken with a grain of salt. But this account on Jermaine Dupri’s ouster from Universal almost sounds plausible. Read the rest of this entry »

© XXL. That’s about all that needs to be said about that. Read the rest of this entry »

As with any lifestyle, Hip-Hop gets old from time to time — slipping into a state where I don’t want to hear another boom bap, basic 4, hi-hat tap, two-step-able beat. Events and shows become an obligation as I stand in the back choking down a bitter by-the-glass wine or Heineken. Even wack music becomes more attractive than average music because there’s way too much of the latter and a few brilliant, multi-faceted gems of the former.

But when I start having discussions about how “It’s So Cold In The D” makes “Cupcakin’” seem fresh, it’s my chief indication that:

A) The rap game is barely making par right now (bogies heavily outweighing birdies)
B) The Game is barely making par right now (…smh…)
C) It’s time to dust off the joints that remind me this is a lifestyle, not a hobby — I can neither turn my back on it, nor do I want to.

Here are the cuts that supersede any of my 40 Degree Days. The cuts that make me do the ugly face when they come on at the club or crib. The cuts that make all of the common garbage pass by with an eye roll and a track skip, knowing the great music is still out there and can still be produced for the masses… Read the rest of this entry »

Words By David D.

Pic By The Warfare Collective

Like all popular music, Hip-Hop is all about trends and fads. All trends, though, come to an end and it takes a certain benchmark moment to kill these fads.

Back in the day the ultimate trend killer was, well, white people. When Black culture assimilated into the White American psyche, Black folks moved on to something else. I remember getting rid of my Wu Wear shirts when I saw a group of white people rocking the same brand. With the increased cross over appeal of Hip-Hop, White people have been able to keep their fingers on the pulse of what’s going on in the culture. I can’t just look to my White friends anymore to tell me when something has run its course. I have to rely on other signs that a fad has run its course. Ladies and gents, let’s look at some fad killers.

Oprah

When Oprah introduces something on her show, it’s a wrap. I remember coming home from school and my mom showing me some new dance she learned on Oprah. Oprah has single-handedly given many moms across the country the liberty to induce their children’s gag reflexes by shaking their tailfeathers or Chicken Noodle Souping. Remember when her show would open with the studio audience raising the roof in, like, 2002? Exactly. Read the rest of this entry »