Lydia Alba

B.B. King: Live In Africa ’74 DVD Review [Pop Matters]

What’s Inside Alex Rodriguez’s Locker? [Banned In Hollywood]

True Hip-Hop Stories: Cinderfella Dana Dane [D-Nice]

4 Silver Linings For A Lil Wayne Conviction [YFWB]

Emo Trippin’ [XXL]

Slavery Theme Park Stirs Controversy [BET]

Live Nation & Ticketmaster Face Congress [Hypebot]

30 Websites To Visit After They Fire You [9 To Fried]

Nate Robinson And Will Ferrell Bromance [YB]

Working 7 Days Becomes Norm For Some [CNN]

LL Cool J To Star In “NCIS” TV Spin-Off [WooHa]

Twitter.com/TSS_Crew

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 »

Twenty-four years in a profession is an accomplishment in its itself, especially if you’re able to remain with the same employer.  At a point in his career where most would be picking out gold watches and frequenting the early bird specials, LL Cool J is still in the studio making music.  Even though he’s become as well known for his extracurricular ventures, music remains his first love.  In the wake of finishing up his contract with Def Jam, he’s also faced with the daunting task of winning over yet another generation of Hip-Hop fans on his latest album, Exit 13. Read the rest of this entry »

LL once said “It’s hard to stay hungry when your pockets are so fat.” True, the need to give your craft 110% can be an exercise in futility when you have revenue coming in from multiple ends. However, all things considered, LL Cool J has never steered too far off course. While he hasn’t always made the best decisions musically (a factoid that he’ll readily admit to), how many rappers can measure up to Cool James in terms of consistency and longevity? 23 years and still counting. If you were born after 1985, what could you possibly tell him about Hip-Hop? Probably why he still calls himself the G.O.A.T.

But even the greats have uphill battles to climb and while LL insists he’s up for the challenge, he knows he has to show and prove on his thirteenth (yes 1-3) album Exit 13. Read along as the living legend who has entire Hip-Hop tour named after one of his songs, shares his formula for creative inspiration and why you can never compare him to Will Smith.

TSS is now rockin’ with the G.O.A.T…

TSS: LL!!!

LL Cool J: What’s happening baby?

TSS: How you doing?

LL Cool J: Every thing’s good, what’s going on?

TSS: Nothing much. Alright, off jump, you have to clarify something for me. How does a rapper, whose FIRST album came out in 1985, escape the “old-school” stigma?

LL Cool J: (Laughs) Yo…(Laughs) Like, I’ve been telling everybody and I think it explains it the best is, I’m not trying to be old-school or new school. I just focus on trying to be classic and making music that I love…and I’m true to. That’s it. I’m not pretending to be 15, not pretending to be a teenager or younger than I am. But I’m not gonna let people force me to be older than what I am either. I’m just being who I am.

TSS: Yeah, because most of the rapper’s who technically would be considered you’re peers, ain’t even your peers know what I’m saying?

LL Cool J: (Laughs) I know man. Look: I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m truly blessed. I think one of the Rolling Stones, one of Mick Jagger’s boys said it best: “My luck ain’t run out yet.” Ya know? (Laughs) It’s like one of them things. Somebody had to do it! I’m just glad it was me!

TSS: No doubt! O.K. This Exit 13 title. What does the name entail? Is an exit from Def Jam or the game all together???

LL Cool J: I’d say it’s an exit from Def Jam but not so much Def Jam in its entirety. It’s an exit from this contract; my current contractual obligation to Def Jam. And it also represents a transition, where I’m going to be helping more artists get on and really focus on that aspect of my career. I did launch a lot of careers, from Foxy Brown and DMX, although the Rap community in general doesn’t really acknowledge it as such because they don’t know the politics behind it. But I definitely launched these artists — and I wanna help more people in that way. So it’s a transition of my “exiting” the solo artist mode and really helping this younger generation go forward with their music. And it’s my deal with Def Jam so we’ll see what happens in the future with that.

TSS: So is this the original contract from when you made Radio? You signed a 13 album deal from start? Read the rest of this entry »

What better way for The Source to ring in ’98 with their 100^th issue? With LL on the cover holding five golden Mics, the house that Mays & Benzino built was living the life as the industry standard when it came to magazines. Looking back on their 9-plus years covering the music we all enjoy, they provided top 100 lists for the best singles, albums, covers, athletes, etc as they not only celebrated their existence but the culture as well. This was evident in all of the congratulations from labels and artists in the advertising. Not satisfied to just recollect on the past, The Source also looked to the future technology would play in regards to the music and how its influences were making the music a global phenomenon. Read the rest of this entry »

…but lost the war.

How does this type of shit happen? After ten years, the question still causes widespread puzzlement across the Hip-Hop community. 

Dude had it. 

The flow, the gruff, battle-tested vocals.  The skills to “eat a nigga’s ass…” (his words, not mine).  As far as rookies go in ’98, he was 2nd only to Pun in the art of lyrical massacre, only to take that “two” and use it to become the next Sam Bowie.

Even LL had to acknowledge the predicament ‘Bus had put him in: You came up with that bullshit/some heads sucked it up/then dropped that garbage album/and totally fucked up… he spit on the 2000′s “Back Where I Belong.”  For the uniformed it basically happened liked this: LL asked Canibus to be on “4,3,2,1″ but took an line about borrowing his tattoo as disrespect and changed his verse to a subliminal diss. Canibus change the line but LL kept his jab on the record and from then it was on… Read the rest of this entry »

This definitely goes without saying but in terms of posse cuts:

1998>2008

You can front all you want but all these “hood anthems” we’re being bombarded with nowadays are straight up garbage, and forgettable. Does anyone remember Webbie was on the remix to “Speedin???” Who had your favorite verse on “Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On ‘Em)???” And why is that we refer ever new Khaled collabo as “I’m So Hood Part ____???” The usual suspects of the era still managed to be everywhere there was a studio, but in terms of actually making an impact, the difference is vast. In this day and age, all these dudes are concerned with is cashing a check. And you can tell because that’s all their regurgitated rhymes entail.

While the days of MC’s battling on tracks for bragging rights may be an afterthought at the moment, the legacy is not. Backtrack for a few minutes with these collaborative efforts that’ll guarantee to cause chronic neck spasms when you relive them. Read the rest of this entry »

Doesn’t exactly look like the face of a 40 year old man does it? If he’s not careful, he could find himself and one of his daughter’s classmates in an American Beauty moment.

But let’s get straight to the nitty gritty and what really matters. This isn’t about Todd Smith’s pectorals, his movie guap or even his BOTOX® secrets. As a pioneer in this thing we call Hip-Hop, LL’s catalog is rivaled only by his ability to blend in with the transcending generations while his direct peers struggle to keep up with the latest slang. But with every decade LL survives, the next one offers even more formidable obstacles.

It’s not a matter of “if” LL can still spit. He’s proven himself worthy so many times, he’s exempt from the compulsory tests veteran rappers have to endure to gain a long-lost fan that abandoned ship. The question at hand is “how.” How strong will he return? How good will the songs be? How will he appear relevant without looking…well…corny? It’s no secret that he’s still contractually bound to Def Jam so Exit 13 is coming whether we like it or not. But will it be an admirable effort or is he just going through the motions?

One malefactor that works against the former statement is that LL’s formula for record-making has become all too predictable. Although he remains one of the few MCs that Read the rest of this entry »

Def Jam (formally known as the #1 label for Hip-Hop) has announced its summer release schedule and R&B is slowly but surely taking over as the label’s business focus. The label is betting the farm on two veterans, three established acts and two newcomers. With album sales steadily slipping, the lead single is becoming more crucial than ever in determining continued label support of an album. For the seven albums, I estimated the odds for commercial success, one through seven, for each of the lead singles.*

Rihanna hooked back up with Ne-Yo for her newest single for Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, a re-release of her album from last year with a few new songs and a DVD. Rihanna has proven in the past that she can find success with a ballad despite her limited vocal ability and her singing is a little better now. Between touring with Kanye and staying in the gossip blogs daily, this song will take off.

Rihanna – Good Girl, Gone Bad Reloaded (CD/DVD)

In stores, June 17th, 2008
Odds for commercial success — 1:6

Lead single — “Take A Bow”

Nas has all but shunned radio (and commercial success) with his first leaked track and album. The title changes and song title has made this record kryptonite to radio stations across the country. But it’s what he wants and surprisingly Def Jam is going along with it…of sorts.

Nas – Nas

July 1st, 2008
Odds for commercial success — 6:1

“Be A Nigger Too”
Read the rest of this entry »