'We smoke each other under the table.' - Hip-Hop Producer Mike Dean on fellow weed enthusiast Snoop Dogg
HuffPost TV's Ricky Camilleri interviews Hip-Hop producer Mike Dean. Dean has not only worked with his smoking buddy Snoop, but with artists down south from Rap-A-Lot (like Geto Boys and Scarface), out west (like 2Pac, Nate Dogg), and up north (like Jay-Z). In the footage above, Dean touches on colorful points in his career and working with Kanye West on his upcoming album, "Yeezus" (due out June 2013).
If you're like me, a 70s baby, and enjoyed the birth and growth of hip hop from the beginning, you are aware of the part MC Shan played in the history of hip hop. If you weren't born in the 70s, but did your homework, then you know about MC Shan as well. If neither, then allow me to bring you up to speed.
MC Shan, the cousin of Marly Marl, another hip hop pioneer, and artist behind 80s favorites like "The Bridge", "Down by Law", "Project Ho" and "Kill That Noise".
Fast forward to today...MC Shan has lended his lyricism to project, "Words Gone Wild: Eargasm 5" now available for download on Datpiff.
WhizzKid Media features "Bring Hip Hop Back" by MC Shan on "Words Gone Wild: Eargasm 5" that also includes tracks from Method Man and Redman, Slaughterhouse, Ras Kass and more.
Rap Rivals™ raises the bar for music gaming by combining music creation with head-to-head rap battles
Toronto, Ontario (PRWEB) May 04, 2011
Stagename, a pioneer in mobile social gaming, has launched Rap Rivals™, the first role-playing music game for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch dedicated to the world of Hip Hop. Rap Rivals enables players to team up with artists and producers to create original music, and then battle other players in a quest for fame and fortune.
“Rap Rivals is a groundbreaking platform to connect like-minded music consumers with the artists and brands that want to engage them.” said Josh Barkin, CEO and founder of Stagename. “No rapping or music experience is required. We’ve created easy-to-use music making tools that lets anyone pick up the game and sound like a pro.”
In Rap Rivals, players take on the role of an up-and-coming Rap Star battling against others trying to make a name for themselves in the music business. Players create a stage name and start off in a virtual studio, mixing beats and recording vocals. For those who can’t sing or rap, they can instantly tune their voice using a range of professional studio effects, or can use pre-recorded professional vocal tracks. Players then hit the stage with their original sound to win battles against other players. Since Hip Hop culture is all about style, players can customize their look in the Gear Shop with thousands of combinations using virtual currency they earn winning battles. Players can also unlock achievements that their character can wear on stage for bragging rights. To win a battle, players need to earn votes from the Rap Rivals community. Rap Rivals makes it easy for players to connect and discover each other in-game, or by connecting the game to Facebook, or Twitter.
Rap Rivals allows players to: Mix 1000's of beats and vocal tracks, or record vocals using 10 professional studio effects Share music creations on Twitter, Facebook, and by Email Win battles to collect cash and gain experience and level up to earn respect Take down real opponents in 3 different challenge modes Hang out in the Lounge to interact and buzz around music creations Customize a character with 1000's of combinations in the Gear Shop Climb the charts and unlock achievements to wear on stage during battles
Stagename Inc. is a mobile social gaming company. The company develops lifestyle games for music-oriented consumers. It also extends a social gaming platform to leading mobile entertainment brands including Virgin Mobile USA who uses Stagename to reward subscribers with free airtime for creating and sharing content. Learn more about Stagename and follow us to stay connected at http://www.stagename.com
Rap Rivals™ and Stagename™ are trademarks of Stagename Inc. Apple Inc. AppStore is a service mark of Apple Inc.
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Laurie CuttsApp-Promo617-413-7377Email Information
PARK CITY, Utah (Hollywood Reporter) – Celebrating one of hip-hop's seminal groups, A Tribe Called Quest, "Beats, Rhymes & Life" offers bio and bass, recalling a period when the art form was just coming into its own.
Though it may not have much of an audience beyond Tribe's fan base, it offers enough context to serve as a primer on the hugely influential clique and should have life on home-video.
As director (and a longtime fan), actor Michael Rapaport starts with footage of a 2008 reunion tour before transporting us to the Queens of over two decades ago, where childhood friends soon to be known as Phife Dawg and Q-Tip started rhyming in the shadow of local pioneers Run-D.M.C. Rapaport visits the business-careers high school that proved to be a hotbed of rap talent, kicking off a fairly straight chronology of Tribe's emergence as a group.
Live performance footage from the early years is spotty, but MTV videos capture the vibe better, showing artists who distinguished themselves with an easygoing humor which contrasted dramatically with gangsta rap and -- along with Tribe's inventive sampling of vintage jazz records -- made them stars.
Ample interviews with peers and followers make the case for the group's legacy. While some might feel the film elevates them above such similarly important acts as De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers, Rapaport does his best to spread the love around.
The film slowly tightens on interpersonal conflict that eventually destroyed the group, using ample present-day interviews (including semi-neutral testimony from Tribe members Ali Shaheed Mohammed and Jarobi White) and a brief clip of backstage bickering to illustrate the usual ego issues.
Wrapping up with an apparently peaceful 2010 reunion in Japan, the film ends by noting, teasingly, that the long-dormant group still owes one more album to Jive Records.
Hip-Hop Pioneer Spyder D relaunches his first label with Thompkins Media Group as Motown Alumni Association President Billy Wilson introduces rap impressario to marketing guru TC Thompkins.
(PRWEB) August 20, 2010 -- In 1980, a vinyl 12" single with a simple green label and plain white sleeve released a rap song called "Big Apple Rappin'". The label was named "Newtroit" Records, after the cities New York and Detroit, and it was the first label owned and operated by a rap artist. The label's first pressing was funded by Doris Hughes, the artist/producers Mother.
The artist on Big Apple Rappin' was none other than Hollis, Queens, New York's own Richmond Hill High School basketball star Spyder (Duane Hughes), who earned the nickname "Spyder" on the basketball playgrounds while emulating the spin move of his basketball idol, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.
After Newtroit's initial pressing and subsequent release, which sold through it's first couple of thousand units fairly quickly, Spyder and then co-executive producer Tito Lewis was offered a distribution deal by Larchwood Music Co., which owned the pressing plant he originally ordered the first 1,000 copies from. The single went on to become one of the top 12" singles of that year, and is listed in Ego Trip's Book of Lists as one of the top rap singles of the eighties.
Thirty years later, the label celebrates a renaissance with a new distribution deal through Thompkins Media Group, who utilizes the MRI, Sony Red distribution network. Thompkins Media Group, which is headed up by industry veteran and marketing guru TC Thompkins, has a long track record of marketing hit records, including the "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" albums by Michael Jackson.
The new Newtroit's first signees include an independent label from Detroit, (Northend Records), headed up by Morris "MoBizzy" Snyder, and boasts artists that represent the ongoing talent pool that was established years ago during the Berry Gordy Motown years. In fact, one such artist, simply known as "Ruff", is the grandson of Motown Legend David Ruffin, and has a single called "Girls, Girls, Girls" with backing vocals by David Ruffin, Jr.
"The Ruffin family has adopted me, and treats me like one of their own. When my mother recently passed, Sandra Ruffin reached out to console me immediately. That's family", says Spyder. "That's what we are building here, a musical family. My Mom would be extremely proud of this moment".
"I have high hopes for Ruff, Ms. Shelly K, (an outstanding R&B stylist), and Doughnut, aka Bobby Seales, who, in my estimation, is a new millennium Biggie!"
Says Northend CEO Morris Snider, "We are excited to finally have the opportunity to showcase the talent that we have in the North End of Detroit! All we ever needed was that chance to let the masses here and see who we are".
New York Hip-Hop female pioneer Sparky D heads up a strong Holy Hip-Hop contingent with her touching autobiographical "Secrets". A Holy Hip-Hop coalition is being formed at the label, with talented artists K Day (aka The Gift) from Charlotte and Blac Lite and Jus B & OP Diggy from Atlanta to headline with Sparky D, among others.
"We are also currently negotiating with funk legends Grady Thomas and Fuzzy Haskins of the original Parliament on doing all new music with guests appearances by some of today's new crop of stars, as well as trying to reunite the original band with George Clinton. They are legends and huge influences on so many of today's artists, it'
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