Philthy Rich
Philthy Rich is an emerging artist from the Bay-Area. Check out his new Hip-Hop video called, “Funk or Die.”
Dem Franchize Boyz New Album
September 11, 2008 50,451 Comments
Dem Franchize Boyz
Dem Franchize Boyz is a hip-hop group from Atlanta signed to So So Def Recordings. The group comprises four members: Maurice “Parlae” Gleaton (born March 4, 1983), Jamal “Pimpin” Willingham (born January 1, 1984), Bernard “Jizzal Man” Leverette (born February 17, 1983) and Gerald “Buddie” Tiller (born March 6, 1983).
Notable songs include “White Tee”, “Oh, I Think They Like Me”, “Ridin’ Rims” and “Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It”. The group collaborated with Korn to produce a mash-up of “Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It” and “Coming Undone” called “Coming Undone (Wit It).” They are also featured in Monica’s single “Everytime tha Beat Drop”. Recently they have been released by Capitol Records and they are dropping their new album, Our World, Our Way, on Koch Records on September 30, 2008.
Ball Street Journal
September 6, 2008 21,386 Comments
New E-40 Hip-Hop Album
Bay Area icon E-40 will release his tenth solo album, The Ball Street Journal. While building up a rather extensive catalog over the past sixteen years, 40 has become well-known for his lyrically-delectable party jams, which cater towards his hyphy-loving West Coast fanbase. E-40’s new hip-hop album releases on October 28, 2008.
Lil Mama
August 30, 2008 32,809 Comments
Lil Mama
While rappers who sport the prefix Lil’ might be a dozen, there is nothing common about 17-year-old Lil’ Mama. The teenag rap phenomenon’s first commercial hit “Lip Gloss” is fastly becoming a celebratory anthem for girls of all ages. But unlike kiddie rappers who rely heavily on short-sited gimmicks, Lil’ Mama is a multi-faceted artist who boasts the ability to sing, rap and write her own material. Her Jive Records debut, Voice of The Young People explores the mindset of a young woman who is truly wise beyond her years.
Growing up between Brooklyn’s rough East New York section and Harlem, Lil’ Mama was forced to overcome both personal and financial struggles at an early age. As one of eight brothers and sisters, the rapper born Niatia Kirkland started to express herself artistically as a little girl through poetry and dance. When she was just 10-years-old, Lil’ Mama decided to try and put a rhythm behind her poems.
“Between the ages of 10 and 12 I started finding myself with rap,” remembers Mama. “That’s when I was writing and my father got me into the studio and I recorded some of my first songs. They were more like freestyles. I would take someone else’s beat and write a rhyme to it using my own hook.”
By the time Lil’ Mama started attending Brooklyn’s Edward R.Murrow high school she was creating all original material. “I started recording my own songs over original beats, coming up with ideas and letting my imagination really come through my music,” she says. “My father really helped me develop as an artist. He basically built me around knowing how to express myself. There’s different lanes I take you through with my music. People might think, ‘Am I normal for thinking that way?’ I’m just letting you know I think that way too.”
While Lil’ Mama’s musical career was starting to fall into place, her personal life took a turn for the worse. In 2003 she learned her mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. As she had always done in the past, Mama came to terms with her emotions through her music. In 2006, Mama teamed up with Ali Samii (former DMX’s manager) of Xtra Mile Production and headed out to Atlanta where she got the chance to record with Nappy Roots’ producer James “Groove” Chambers.Together they recorded seven songs, including “Lip Gloss,” which would quickly find its way onto New York’s home for hip-hop and R&B, Hot 97.
“I was going to a Hot 97 free concert and I went to meet up with DJ Enuff to get tickets and I told him I wanted him to play some of my joints on the radio,” says Lil’ Mama. “He gave me this long speech about how he can’t really play music from unknown artist’s so I was like, ‘You have to hear my record!’ So we got in the car and I put it on and he’s like, ‘Oh this beat is crazy!’ He played it on the air the next day.”
DJ Enuff wasn’t the only industry heavyweight to take notice of Lil’ Mama’s wide ranging appeal. Dave Lighty, the Senior A&R at Jive Records was also floored by the 17-year-old’s instant smash and immediately set out to track her down. “One story I heard was my manager’s friend is friends with somebody who is friends with Dave Lighty,” explains Mama. “I guess that’s how he found me.”
On January 10, 2007 Barry Weiss (Presidentof Jive) officially signed the 5′2″ rapper to Jive Records. Now with her major label deal to her credit, Lil’ Mama has been in and out of various recording studios in New York, Atlanta and Miami and has worked with famed producers like Swizz Beatz and Scott Storch. Her debut album, Voice of The Young People features a wide range of musical and topical issues.Somber songs like “Life” explore a foster child’s journey and the hardships of a pregnant teenager.
“Everybody’s talking about the same things on the radio-murder, sex and drugs,” says Mama. “They have people behind them telling them it’s cool and I disagree. There are so many more people struggling and going through so much and to hear somebody brag about the jewelry and stuff like that, it’s overrated.”
With 17 hard years behind her, Lil’ Mama is determined to fill her future with greatness. “People should know that I’m coming from the bottom and I’m going go to the top,” she states with utter confidence. “I see myself as an artist who was built on influences. I feel like I have a little bit of everything in me ’cause I take heed to my environment. So I’m offering you everything that I’ve learned in my life and what I’ve become.”
And just like that, a new star is born.
Barack Obama Vs Kate Moss
August 29, 2008 32,888 Comments
Yahoo featured two stories on its homepage this evening. One featured Yahoo story reported that a Golden Statue of Kate Moss was made that cost $2.8 million dollars.
The second featured story showed a picture of Barak Obama at the Democratic National Convention giving a speech. The title of the Barack Obama story said, “Did Obama Deliver?”
Take a look at the pic below or read it again. Now I know we probably have never met, but I think we feel the same shit in life.
- Why would anyone ever make a $2.8 million dollar golden statue of an anorexic white girl in the first place?
- I actually didn’t read the story but I’m sure people will.
I did not read the story titled, “Did Obama Deliver” either. I don’t know about you, but I know he delivered. It’s kind of like knowing Kobe Bryant or Lebron James played well despite you not watching the game.
I’d much rather believe in that, in Obama, than to believe that in the year 2008, someone actually made a $3 million dollar Golden Statue of Kate Moss.
Kate Moss vs Barack Obama
BBTV Hip-Hop Network Set to Launch in 2009
August 16, 2008 36,792 Comments
Percy Miller aka Master P announced plans to launch Better Black Television (BBTV) a family friendly network that will provide positive content for a black and brown culture that will appeal to all races with a goal to bring people of color a choice when turning on their television. The content on the channel will contain a wide arrangement from health and fitness, animation, financial planning, reality TV, sitcoms, dramas, movies, responsible hip-hop music and videos, politics, sports and entertainment news, educational children’s shows as well as teen and family programming.
Production has begun and will be based out of California, New York, Louisiana and Florida. In addition, BBTV is in the process of purchasing local cable channel affiliates across the country.
Born in Hollywood, Better Black Television is the brainchild and passion of some of the most diverse, powerful, celebrated entertainers and trendsetters from the Television, Film, Professional Sports, Corporate America and Music industries. These visionaries all share the common goal of enhancing the current television landscape for this highly coveted demographic currently monopolized by only a few significant providers, with fresh, innovative, uplifting and above all family-friendly entertainment. Envisioned and headed by its Founder, P. Miller, a legendary music, film, and television entertainer as well as world-renowned African-American entrepreneur and social activist, Better Black Television is guided, staffed and supported by a highly skilled, talented, and above all dedicated team of professionals that have been working for more than 5 years to make this dream a reality.
“Better Black Television has been a vision of mine for some years,” said Miller, BBTV’s Chairman & CEO. “I’ve done a lot to promote and change the way messages are relayed to our children and our families over the last few years. Promoting positive content and positive messages is so important to educate and preserve the next generation. Being exposed to positive content is what changed my life. I believe that there is a market in our community for a new diverse network that provides a new brand of superior programming that caters to all aspects of television from reality to original programming. In addition, I’m excited to be able to expose the urban community to a vast array of jobs in the entertainment community that they might not otherwise be privy to. I have a great relationship with BET and MTV and my son and I will continue to do work with them and support their networks. With BBTV, we’re spearheading the initiative to meet consumer demand for family friendly hip-hop content.”
The BBTV Advisory Board members consist of some of the most significant entertainers in Hollywood, professional athletes as well as movers and shakers in the community such as Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Denzel Washington; businessman and Academy Award nominee Will Smith; Vault Load Films President, entrepreneur and senior level business executive, Jim Finkl; NAACP Executive Director Vicangelo Bullock; Professional basketball player and businessman Derek Anderson (Charlotte Bobcats); an award winning, 20-year veteran of the cable television and film industry, Professor Sal Martino; businessman, community activist and founding father of hip-hop, DJ Kool Herc; entrepreneur, businessman and animation specialist, Olatokunbo Betiku; and community activist, Board President of Nailah House Foster Family Agency, speaker and teacher at Trump University, real estate mogul Curtis Oakes
DJ Drama
July 31, 2008 51,766 Comments
Born and raised between West Philadelphia and the city’s Germantown sections, DJ Drama became a fan of DJ culture since copping his very first mixtape. It was DJ S&S’s Old School Part 2- after a trip to New York City with his older sister. But it wasn’t until being captivated by Omar Epps’ character DJ Gee Q in classic hip hop film Juice would he step behind the ones and twos himself.
Early on, DJ Drama created a local buzz selling Hip-Hop mixtapes in his high school and deejaying at house parties. After graduation, he moved down south to attend college at Clark Atlanta University and brought his hustle game along with him. He began peddling mixtapes on campus with a catalog that included a reggae series, instrumental series and neo-soul series. But his bread and butter came when he dropped his first southern-based tape Jim Crow Laws, his fastest-selling tape to date.
DJ Drama Mixtapes
Quickly recognizing the demand for southern mixes, he renamed the series to Gangsta Grillz and asked then-upcoming crunk king Lil Jon to host. It was an instant hit. Before long, Drama got a call from Grand Hustle co-CEO Jason Jeter, who wanted DJ Drama to do something that had never been done before- compile an album-like mix tape with only artists from the label’s group Pimp $quad Click. And classic mix tapes from many of the rap game’s top players came back to back.
“The brand has been the success of many careers- myself included. It’s helped Young Jeezy’s career; it’s helped DJ Don Cannon’s career. It’s helped the Aphiliates’ career; it’s helped T.I.’s career. It’s helped the streets,” Drama insists.
Ballgreezy
July 25, 2008 33,289 Comments
Throughout the ups and downs of the turbulent world of Hip-Hop, Iconz recording artist Kinta Cox professionally known as Ballgreezy or “Greezy” has managed to make his mark in the game. His melodic and captivating single entitled “Shone”, produced by Gorilla Tek, is hypnotizing the streets and setting off major label alarms everywhere!
Ballgreezy comes from one of Miami’s fierce neighborhoods referred to as Little Haiti with his seven siblings. As a teenager, Greezy attended Miami Edison Senior High School, where he honed a natural talent for football and discovered his potential to succeed as an athlete. However, Greezy knew that his maximum potential was greater than sports. “The coaches wanted me to play on the team as the quarterback but I was into bringing quarters back”, Greezy says sarcastically. Subsequently, his life took a different stage. He turned to the life of the streets and was solely driven by the love for money; determined to do whatever it took to get it. Quickly discovering that the street life was not the answer, Ballgreezy then capitalized on the guidance of his older brother and discovered his genuine ability to rap. “If I wasn’t rappin’ I’d be trappin’”, he says in a swaggering manner. “When the block got hot I would jump in the studio with my brother. Then I got addicted to goin’ there and I promised him I would blow in this rap game”.
In 2001 Ballgreezy began transiting into a true master of the microphone and made several guest appearances on local rap artists’ music compilations. In 2003, Ballgreezy put out his debut mix CD entitled “Straight Drop” causing mass hysteria throughout his hood in Little Haiti. By 2005, Ballgreezy’s local popularity led to a recording contract with Iconz Music. He has since shared the stage with numerous A-list, platinum recording artists such as Lil’ Wayne, Trick Daddy, Scarface, Trina and G-Unit.
Presently, Ballgreezy’s hit single “Shone,” is hypnotizing the airways and has mapped him in the industry as a force to be reckoned with. The song has a very mainstream appeal as intended by Ballgreezy. “I’m on a grown and sexy vibe right now; making music for the ladies,” said Greezy. The word “Shone” is a widely used slang term for “action” when making reference to singles chasing a little ‘ak-shone’ after the club.
Ballgreezy’s innate lyrical abilities and melodic inclinations serve as platforms for greatness in the music industry. He is currently in the studio working with various producers and recording artists putting together what he calls “a classic Greezy album” for release in the Spring of 2009.
Tech N9ne Everready
July 6, 2008 347 Comments
Sometimes it takes a while for trendsetters, for artists ahead of their time and for genius to be appreciated by the masses. Tech N9ne is on the verge of bucking these bromides.
The Kansas City rap king has sold more than 500,000 albums independently, performed in front of more than half a million people in the last three years and established himself as one of underground rap’s most respected artists. With the impending release of his third national album, the monumental Everready (The Religion), Tech N9ne is poised to graduate from one of rap’s best-kept secrets to a major international superstar.
Tech N9ne Everready Album
After experiencing a number of professional setbacks while promoting his critically acclaimed Anghellic and Absolute Power albums, Tech N9ne felt that Everready (The Religion) was an affirmation of his staying power. “I wanted to name it Everready because if you look at the old Eveready batteries, their logo included nine lives,” Tech explains. “That album title symbolizes nine lives, another life after death. I’ve had a lot of deaths in the music industry and there’s still life after all that. The Religion, the reason I subtitled it that is because I want this album to be something that’s being studied or praised. It’s like calling it a doctrine.”
Such a mandate is a natural conclusion after listening to Everready (The Religion). The album teams with blockbuster songs and stellar production. “Jellysickle,” for instance, features Bay Area rap legend E-40 and a thumping, addictive club-ready beat from superproducer Rick Rock (Jay-Z, Fabolous). Despite the track’s freshness, it made Tech N9ne think back to his early material.
“It reminded me of an old Tech N9ne, like ‘Mitch Bade,’” he reveals. “It’s like a 2006 ‘Mitch Bade,’ so I had to talk about the same thing: jealous people, stupid people. Kansas City is a place where hatred is at an all-time high. I thought it would capture that persona of the ghetto.”
As Tech N9ne has emerged as one of rap’s most innovative, creatively fearless artists, there has been a segment of his fans who feel that he’s abandoned his hardcore background. Tech addresses the situation on the aggressive yet elegantly produced “Come Gangsta.” “After all these years of people telling me that my music was for white people, that I needed to come with gangster stuff,” Tech says. “Music is supposed to inspire and evolve. Andre 3000 isn’t still doing ‘Player’s Ball.’ He evolved. That was always on my mind, that people were always telling me to come gangster. When it comes to it, my one gangster song can demolish their whole CD. I was inspired to write about the type of people that were telling me to come gangster.”
Tech N9ne delivers more high-energy heat on “Welcome To The Midwest” with Big Krizz Kaliko. He continues his harder edge on the macabre “My World,” with Brotha Lynch Hung, and the warped “In My Head.” On these two tunes he raps about mad and sad topics, things that pain him. He expresses a similar sentiment on “The Rain,” a touching ode to his wife and children. Much like Tech N9ne’s classic “This Ring,” “The Rain” features Tech N9ne giving his fans an intimate look into his life and his career, a look made all the more personal because the song features his two daughters rapping about how much they miss their father.
“Any man with a kid that’s on the road a lot can relate to that, whether you’re a musician, a doctor, a director,” Tech explains. “A lot of people are not to be there for their family in the flesh, and they’re hurting because they miss their loved ones.”
People of all backgrounds can also relate to friction in their relationships. Tech N9ne conceptualized the riveting “My Wife, My Bitch, My Girl” during a low point in his marriage. “At the time I wrote that song, me and my wife were doing really bad,” he reveals. “I wrote that song in my bitter stage, when I was saying whatever I wanted to say. ‘(My wife) don’t like me/(My bitch) gets hyphy/(My girl) might knife me twice just to spite me.’ That’s how I had the balls to write it. I didn’t care anymore. I just wanted to release it.”
Tech N9ne then talks about his breast fetish on the sinister “Flash” and about his crew’s road adventures on the heavy “Groupie.” But touring hasn’t been all fun and games for Tech N9ne. On the rock-influenced “Riot Maker,” he details some of the problems he’s had while trying to perform for his fans. “At the time, we were going through a lot of things,” Tech says. “I wasn’t able to go to Hawaii because the promoters said my music incites riots. At the same time, this girl was trying to sue me for $100,000 for cracking her own skull at my show and I wasn’t even in the building yet.”
An explosive recording artist, Tech N9ne has long earned praise from his fans because of his ability to deliver mind-blowing raps about his struggle to navigate through life’s pitfalls. His willingness to shed his ego and allow his followers to look at the high and low points of his experience has earned Tech N9ne a rabid, dedicated following.
“A lot of people when they come up to me, they say, ‘The reason why I like you Tech is that you say what you feel and you’re not afraid to say anything,’” Tech says. “That’s so tight because so many use discretion. I think I’ve inspired people to say what they feel because I’ve opened my life up for people to see.”
With such powerful music, it should come as no surprise that Tech N9ne’s reach continues expanding. Several of his songs are featured in the forthcoming Alpha Dog film, which stars Justin Timberlake and Sharon Stone. His music also appears on the latest edition of the fan favorite Madden NFL video game series, as well as the action video game 25 to Life. He also appears as a playable character on the latter.
But for now, it is all about indoctrinating his fans to Everready (The Religion). “This is Anghellic, Absolute Power combined,” Tech says. “If I could have titled this album One Big Clusterfuck, I would have because I think it has everything. It has the personal stuff Anghellic had or the party stuff that Absolute Power had. I think this is my best work.” Believe it.
