Dominican Dream

Portishead to Start Work On New Album In January [Rolling Stone]

Clinton Sparks 30 Favorite Mixtapes [Complex]

Conan O’Brien Loves Nicole Scherzinger’s Boobs Too [Uproxx] Read the rest of this entry »

While we we’re hoping something for Life Is Good or maybe the scrapped Lost Tapes 2, this set of bars from Nas’ vault will do just fine. Read the rest of this entry »

Pay homage to the queen. Mary’s undisputed and she’s got timeless tunes to back it up. When she stepped on the scene in ’92 and had unparalleled success with What’s The 411?, she paved the way for every young b-girl who wanted to grab a mic and sing. Read the rest of this entry »

Natasha Georgette

How Harold Camping Calculated The May 21 End Date [Washington Post]

71 Ridiculous And Insane Craigslist Ads [Uproxx]

Soulja Boy Facing $1 Million Lawsuit Over Canceled Show [The Boombox]

Twitter Beef: Keyshia Cole & Lil Kim Rumble Up Timelines [Vibe] Read the rest of this entry »

I still contend Remy Martin could rhyme with damn near anybody put alongside of her, regardless of reproductive organ. Unfortunately, label politics, legal hurdles and a present day prison sentence derailed what had the potential to be a fruitful solo career. The 2006 There’s Something About Remy: Based On A True Story was an impressive showing and Read the rest of this entry »

It must be the cold air in DC that’s causing some of the city’s marquee names to be excommunicated from the public eye. Earlier this week Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely for allegedly pulling his gun out on teammate Javaris Crittendon. Now Club LOVE, DC’s largest and arguably most popular nightclub, can be added to the list. The indefinite closure of the establishment, depending who you ask, follows a string of violent acts including a stabbing on New Year’s Day. I’m assuming the ABRA saw the initial 96-hour suspension as too light of a punishment.

Truthfully, I was never the person to be found there every week ad nauseum (only been there a total of three times actually). There are a few other spots I’d chose to frequent over LOVE, but that’s pointless. The club, formerly known as “Dream,” has been one of the go the go-to venues on the East Coast for rappers and R&B crooners alike for years. Before myth sets in and creates urban legend, here are a few YouTube clips that showcase the club’s storied history.

Jeezy And Jay-Z Usher In The Black President

Think back to January 2009, D.C. was the place to be. Around the time Barack was sworn in as the 44th executive leader of this country, two of Hip-Hop’s most notorious dope boys had crafted his own personal G-mix to ensure his term started off on the good foot. You guessed it. LOVE was the spot Jay debuted his inauguration speech on Jeezy’s political declaration.

Weezy, The Fan & The Water Bottle

Weezy was feelin’ Whitney, but someone in attendance obviously wasn’t feeling Weezy. No worries. Wayne kept the show moving with no disruptions and had the entire crowd beckoning at his every word. More importantly, the culprit who threw the water bottle on stage obviously had money to blow (no pun). You ever tried to buy a water bottle in the club? Good luck.

The Ladies Love Trey

Seeing as how Trey hails from central Virginia, it’s no surprise he’s no stranger to LOVE. That said, it still doesn’t diminish the type of attendance he draws whenever he’s in the area. This was shot late last year at his most recent birthday bash. If you ever wanted to pull a female meet your future wife at the club, go whenever Trey was there. She’d likely be there in attendance.

Keyshia Keeps The Ladies Movement Moving

Long before Boobie became the only man in her life, Keyshia had the anthem for every single, recently scorned and independent woman nationwide. Congrats to her and D-Gib for the engagement and future child, by the way. Score one for black love.

T.I.’s “State Of The Trap” Address

Around this time, it was still unknown as to what Tip’s future would be. However, Clifford saw fit to address the D.C. crowd that regardless of what happened, he forever appreciated the support of those who stood beside him.

Drake Has Choir Rehearsal

I actually recorded this footage when I was at LOVE in May 2009. The energy was beyond crazy in the building that night and when I say everyone was rapping/singing every word along with this guy, I bullshit you not. He wasn’t lying when he said he had a country wide tour with no album.

Obviously, this list could have continued on with names such as Rick Ross, 50 Cent, Nas and former Howard University student, Sean “P.Diddy” Combs. Regardless if this establishment has seen its last party/concert, they can at least concede they’ve had one hell of a run. Hopefully this means those messages that seem to appear every Wednesday in my Facebook inbox will disappear as well though.

With a rap sheet that rivals the length of his discography, there’s no denying Gucci Mane has street cred in spades. Having kept his nose somewhat clean and built a considerable buzz for himself, the major labels were all but forced to pick him up and place him on the fast track to being the next big Rap star. Yet, he failed to follow the parameters of his probation and languishs in jail life when he should be enjoying the fruits of his labor. So before heading off the big house once again, his music was scheduled for trial in the court of public opinion with his latest offering The State Vs. Radric Davis. Read the rest of this entry »

Woooh Buddy… there’s no way anyone saw this coming.

BET managed to get Frankie on Judge Mathis’ show to promote her and Neffie’s reality show.  They’re obviously not saying it, it’s not that hard to figure out when you got Frankie walking down the courtroom aisle grinning like the Cheshire Cat.  Not to mention countless plugs for Deb Lee’s network, their show & Hennessy® (undoubtedly a show sponsor). Read the rest of this entry »

The PRGz smoker’s song gets the viral video treatment. Read the rest of this entry »

O.K. so we got the “Halle Berry,” the “Kim Kardashian” and now the “Keyshia Cole?” But while the previous two cuts were obviously odes to the baddest chick in the club, this one is alluding to something else.

“The inside of my ride smell like Keyshia Cole and the color purple…”

Um, what!?!? Read the rest of this entry »

My, my, my. As if there need be a reason to post this instead of the actual mixtape cover, except that I wanted to pontificate on one point. Dearest Keyshia has come Read the rest of this entry »

Vibe is still under observation, but the prognosis got a little better. The rumor of it folding proved to be false, but not unwarranted.

Vibe magazine is cutting its paid circulation 25%, reducing its frequency to ten issues a year from twelve and merging its print and digital editorial operations, all in the magazine industry’s latest response to the twin attacks by recession and new media.

But Vibe is also departing from the standard playbook by introducing a twice-a-year newsstand-only celebrity tabloid. It plans to increase the subscription price for its flagship. And it is avoiding layoffs by adopting a four-day workweek accompanied by 10% to 15% pay cuts for its employees. The new day off, at least to start, will be Friday, though some staffing will be organized to keep the office open five days a week.

In the grand scheme of things this is a pretty good deal, since it’s better to be proactive than reactive in situations like this. Read the rest of this entry »

Alternate Cover of Vibe’s March 2009 issue. Thanks To EH.

Vibe is officially under observation as rumors have surfaced that they may not have enough money to print the upcoming issue.

Executives from the Wicks Group (Private Equity Owners) came to the office on Friday and met with CEO Steve Aaron and Publisher Edgar Hernandez. Things around the office are very tense.

The tipster says that more meetings are scheduled for this afternoon. And they say that the only ads Vibe has booked for the March issue are “Army, Carson Soft Sheen & Jamster”—not even a fifth of the usual number of ads.

While this may be a rumor, there is often a sliver of truth in each fruit off the grapevine and since this one deals with ad space it probably does ring a more true. Ad sales are an essential part of the lifeblood that keeps a magazine’s ink pumping. To not have 4/5 of your ads filled would be detrimental and would have any magazine scrambling. They may be able to fill enough ad space for this issue or call in some favors. But if Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Keylolo,

Since MJB vacated the “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul” position for higher, less tormented ground, the role has been left unfulfilled. Not that others didn’t Read the rest of this entry »

Pic Property of Rap-Up

More than anything else on Christmas Eve, I wanted to walk out of the home of the Golden State Warriors able to affirm everything Wayne has boasted from being the best rapper alive to the embodiment of music itself. I’ve seen Jay-Z in his prime, Big Daddy Kane years past his but still raw as ever, and James Taylor rock an arena with a guitar and microphone. I know what great is. Don’t get me wrong, Weezy did his thing but as a whole the show failed from trying to do too much. With such a broad audience it would be hard to please everyone, but put it this way the Bald Bull looking motherfucker in front of me was up and buck through “The Block Is Hot” but in the heat of all the teenage screams he was fast alseep. True story. Read the rest of this entry »