The beautiful thing about music is that, unlike sports (football season can’t start quick enough, by the way), it lasts all year. Sure, some days tend to be a tad faster than others and certain quarters of the year may house more anticipated releases, but “off days” are few and far between. However, for those moments when the music industry seems to move at a snail pace, diggin’ through the e-crates never gets old, especially when you recall what you were doing around the time a specific project was released.

The summer of 2006 happened to be one of those moments. Aside from marking the first time I began living on my own and the official halfway point of my collegiate career, three particular releases pretty much defined that point of my life, at least musically. Depending how you look at the glass, that could either be good or bad. Hit the break for breakdown. Read the rest of this entry »

Words by Khalid Strickland

Many writers get into the journalism game to win Pulitzer Prizes or change the literary world for the better. Me? I’m in it for the free shit. Open bars, T-shirts, calendars of Ice-T’s wife, CoCo. If it ain’t on my dime, I’ll take it. If there’s time between bong hits and negotiating some trim, maybe I’ll throw an actual story together. And this is one of those special moments.

Pics By Dirty Angel

Last Friday night, at the AMC Loews Orpheum on the Upper East Side, Juelz Santana and Jim Jones treated a bunch of friends and media members to a late-night screening of Notorious. Amongst the large crowd were Hot-97 FM’s DJ Enuff (Biggie’s real-life tour DJ, who also appears in the flick), Maino, Freekey Zeekey, Skull Gang and Byrd Gang. How did a bum like me infiltrate this jump-off? Riq Rose, my favorite Skull Gang rapper, brought me along as a guest which was a good look. Notorious is a pretty decent flick and Gravy did his thing as Christopher Wallace. In the role of Lil’ Kim, former 3LW-member Naturi Naughton shed her pristine image along with her bra and panties. But that’s enough about the flick; I won’t spoil the ending of the film for anyone. Read the rest of this entry »

Words By Jesse H.

2006 was a big year for Jim Jones. Dipset was just peaking in popularity, and Jones’ signature “We Fly High” had as many spins as that year’s box office had sequels.

But, for those of you who went into hibernation between then and now, here’s a list of Jones’ notable contributions to Hip Hop since then:

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*crickets*
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What’s an artist to do to ratchet his buzz back up to a fever pitch? A slew of mixtapes? Been there, done that. A new dumb-out single? Sorry, the lacrosse team that lives down the hall can play it as many times as they want, I’m not buying “Pop Champagne” as a “We Fly High Part II” for multiple reasons, chiefly because it sounds exactly like “Arab Money” to me. Yawn. So, being the creative genius that he is, Jim Jones decided on…. what else? An off-Broadway play.

Yes, you read that correctly. From the minds of Jim Jones and…(gasp) Damon Dash, the world was bequeathed with “Hip-Hop Monologues: Inside the Life & Mind of Jim Jones,” a precursor to his upcoming Pray IV Reign, which drops January 2009 on Columbia. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with this project? Read the rest of this entry »

You already know what it is. Rapper “x” enters game and earns “y” amount of dollars allowing him to start his own label. Thus enabling him to put his closest kin and childhood buddies on, subsequently releasing “1″ album. With the tried and true equation essentially the blueprint for a rap star’s career, who is Jim Jones to switch tradition up? Still flying high off the success of his breakthrough effort Hustler’s P.O.M.E., the Capo distances himself from Dipset long enough to assemble a group of second caliber rhyme spitters ready to launch his Byrd Gang movement to the next millennium. Boasting over an hour of uneven production with unproven artists, the Men of Byrd Gang deliver an uneventful LP on their first full-length project M.O.B: The Album. Read the rest of this entry »

While Jim Jones may not be the King of New York (or even Harlem), he can still hold his head up high as he holds the crown for King of the Ad Lib. It may not be the most coveted title, but it’s like that sometimes. Most people use ad libs to reward listeners who pay attention to lyrics by throwing in comments or jabs to add a little something extra to the song. Not Jones, he shouts and squeezes his in between every pause of silence so that they fight with the actual verse for the listener’s attention. Read the rest of this entry »