Every time Gucci Mane is released from the 'belly of the beast' you can expect a plethora of music and visual treatments to accompany each and every song.
Lauryn Hill Sentenced To 3 Months In Prison For Ducking Tax Debt
Kriss Kross member dead at 34, autopsy results completed
File this under 'things we thought would never happen.' Despite paying $970,000 of an over 1 million dollar tax debt and releasing a single on her newly founded Sony Entertainment backed label, rapper/singer Lauryn Hill was still sentenced to 3 months in prison for failure to pay her outstanding tax debt from 2005, 2006 and 2007. And the hits keep coming...she was also sentenced in Newark with an additional 3 months of home confinement according to the Associated Press. The silver lining...it could have been worse as she was facing a maximum one year imprisonment for each charge. Hit our Facebook page to check out the aptly named new single 'Neurotic Society.'
Photo: Associated Press
The hip-hop industry was filled with shock and sadness on May 1st when it became publicly known that Chris Kelly, better know as 'Mac Daddy' from the child, hip-hop group Kriss Kross passed away. Chris was pronounced dead at 5pm on May 1st in an Atlanta hospital and though the autopsy has been completed, the toxicology report is 'not ready.' Why is this important? Word is getting out that Chris died from a reaction to a lethal drug cocktail combination of heroin and cocaine. This is a rumor and details on the true cause of his death are forthcoming. Lauryn Hill made a statement about the passing of former label mate in association with the release of her new single 'Neurotic Society.' Rest in power Chris Kelly.
Check out Kriss Kross' final performance at the February, So So Def 20th Anniversary reunion concert in Atlanta: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCLXChS2eBQ -- Photo: Thaddaeus McAdams/Exclusive Access
May 4th marked the one year anniversary of the passing of Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch, better know to the world as MCA. What most don't know is that the hard rock emcee was a devot Brooklynite and loved his home state of New York. So what better way to mark the anniversary of his passing then by dedicating a park in his honor. The former Palmetto Playground will now be known as Adam Yauch Park. The dedication ceremony was attended by band mate Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and his friends and family. MCA grew up in the neighborhood and even learned to ride his bike at the playground that now bears his name. Be on the look out for the Beastie Boys memoirs to be released in 2015.
Chris Kelly, half of 1990s Kris Kross rap duo, dead at 34
One-half of the 1990s rap duo Kris Kross, 34 year old Chris Kelly, was found unresponsive at his home on Wednesday and later died at an Atlanta area hospital.
The cause of death is yet unknown, and an autopsy is planned for Thursday according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office.
Known by the stage name 'Daddy Mac,' Kelly, with his partner Chris Smith, known as 'Mac Daddy,' took the 90's by storm with their 1992 hit 'Jump' from their Jermaine Dupri produced, debut album 'Totally Krossed Out'. The song spent eight weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album was a success earning multi-platinum status.
The two were discovered at the tender age of 13 at a mall by super-producer Jermaine Dupri in 1991, following the release of his first project from Atlanta group Silk Times Leather.
The duo went on to release two additional albums, 1993's 'Da Bomb,' and 1996's 'Young, Rich and Dangerous.' Rest in power Chris Kelly.
Check a video of Kriss Kross' performance at the So So Def 20th Anniversary concert here: http://youtu.be/xyle7Kqe2w
They say no idea is new under the sun, but, I think this may be an exception.
On a weekend in February, SMKA invited pretty much everybody in Atlanta's indie Hip Hop community to stop by and partake in nights and days of free beer, free food and free beats. The result was...free music for you. The Hangout is being presented in the form of two free albums available for download feating some up and coming artist that you may have hear of here or at shows around town. The way it worked was that you pretty much walked in, picked a beat and either picked or got picked by another artist in the room that wanted to make a song on the beat too.
As the music has been released SMKA have also put on concerts and cookouts featuring the artists on the Hangout, letting fans hear the songs live. The list of artist reads like a who's who of the underground including:
Scotty, Jarren Benton, Playboy Tre, Tuki Carter, Spree Wilson, EarthGang, Jackie Chain, RaRa, K. Camp, Aleon Craft, Rome Fortune, Goldyard, Mach Five, Grip Plyaz, Miloh Smith, GoDreamer, Money Makin Nique, Sy Ari Da Kid, Will, Cooly Wright, Ducko McFli, Tom P, Sean Falyon, SL Jones, Willy Joe, iNEDEED, Marian Mereba, REi, Young Lyxx, Stanza, Jus Nice, Red Coat Da Poet, Cool is Mac, Gilles, Mic Barz, Jack Preston, Small Eyez, Mums FP, Supakali, Grants, Justin Paul, Spacesuit Junkies, Tom P, Sydney Renee, Ben Frank Jr., Grands, Kusdem, Bags, P. Dukes, Grady The Great, San Williams, TK and Bamn Ford.
I caught up with 808 Blake, Kato and Mike Walburg to talk about it...
How did you come up with the idea? It almost like you were crowd-sourcing for hip-hop.
808 Blake: I think it was a progression and combination of the compilations we've done in the past. Like the 808 Experiment, where we gathered artists in Atlanta for an album, and the Stankonia Sessions, where we locked ourselves in at the legendary Stankonia Studios. After the A3C Hip Hop Festival in Atlanta this year, we wanted to get back to doing something with cats in Atlanta. We wanted to do something original. We had a brainstorming meeting and figured out how to make it work. We were actually producing for three weeks after we came up with the idea.
You chose to use a home studio instead of a bigger one. Why did you go that route?
Kato: We wanted to create a good atmosphere for people to chill and vibe in and be in an actual house. We've been working with 662 Studios for a while and we wanted everybody to come by and not feel any pressure because they were in a big studio. At a house you can chill and do whatever you want to do.
Blake: We wanted it to feel like a house party. We don't try to stunt or do anything out of the ordinary.
What was the method behind the madness? There are a lot of artists in Atlanta, were you selective about who was invited?
Mike: Jah and Monifah, who are our newest members, helped us out with that. We didn't want to make it exclusive, but we had to keep it in consideration to schedule people and not have everybody come at once. We wanted to make the best use of time, but we pretty much reached out to people that we heard of or said that they wanted to work with us. If somebody told us that somebody was dope, we invited them. There were a lot of cats that we didn't know what they were going to sound like until they got there. It just goes to show how talented Atlanta is.
How did the actual recording process go down?
808 Blake: People may be sitting together that might have always wanted to work together, so they find a beat that they can agree on and do that. Or somebody may walk in on somebody
You missed a good ass time last night if you didn't come to Scotty's listening party for F.A.I.T.H. at Stankonia. No worries, you can still buy tickets to the Step Brothers Two Tour coming through Masquerade on Thursday. Killa Kyleon just got added to the bill as well.
Today he's released a trailer for the tape and the tracklisting. And yes, it sounds as good as it looks.
01 Food for Thought (prod. Stephon & DJ Burn One) 02 Clarity f. Ebony Love (prod. Cardo & DJ Burn One) 03 After Rap (prod. Soundz) 04 Mama Aint Raise No Fool F. Miloh Smith (prod. Stroud) 05 Ol Skool 84 f. Le$ (prod. DJ Burn One) 06 Erday Feel Like Payday (prod. Soundz) 07 SSDD (prod. DJ Burn One & Beanz N Kornbread) 08 SheOntGiveAF f. The CoolisMac (prod. Stroud) 09 Conversations On That Brown f. Trinidad James (prod. DJ Burn One & Beanz N Kornbread) 10 My Shoes f. Starlito & Killa Kyleon (prod. DJ Burn One) 11 All The H03$ f. Curti$ William$ (prod. DJ Burn One) 12 3 Dayz f Ebony Love & Jihad (prod. DJ Burn One) 13 Handle Biz by Scotty (prod. Bnice) 14 GAME f Trinidad James & Big K.R.I.T. (prod. DJ Burn One) 15 GA Dialect f. Couleen Lagon (prod. DJ Burn One & Cy Fyre) 16 FAITH (prod. DJ Burn One) 17 Fuss and Fight f. Lecrae (prod. Beat Academy
RAW is an indie arts organization for artists, by artists. They focus on spotlighting indie talent to the public.
Every month they hand-select and showcase 30-40 artists in film, fashion, music, visual art, photography, accessories, performing art, hair & makeup as well as Djs etc. RAW operates in 50+ cities across the U.S and counting.
The most recent RAW Artists Atlanta showcase was held on 4/20 at Terminal West @ King Plow.
The Hip Hop Legends Photo Exhibition by Carolyn Grady showcased live performance images of Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, Silck Rick, Rakim, MC Lyte & more!
Like their music or not, one thing Mach Five is going to do is make sure they stay in your face. These dudes have released four album-length projects over the last two years and now they are coming out with a movie and soundtrack called "We Ballin'." If it's anything like the "J Is For Junkie" documentary, it should be interesting.Somebody studied the hell out of those Master P/No Limit ads in The Source back in the day.
The first single is "Pimp Scholar" featuring Trinidad Jame$. For the life of me I cannot remember where this sample came from, I know I've heard it before...both the original and another rap song that took it. Somebody help me out in the comments.
Rap veteran Big Daddy Kane bring his group Las Supper and their vintage sound to Good Day NY. After a brief interview with Rosanna Scotto, they performed their song "I Believe In Love Again". via:...
First off homie we don't call it gold We call it maize so you better slow ya roll Slower than an OSU alumn is No gloves on, we don't hold no punches Final fo' bound it's about to go down We X Men off, wolverines gone clown Detroit to Flint-town Grand Rap to Yacktown Oh you ain't heard Ace Deuce is back on Ypsi gone cut up, Ann Arbor gone wild' out Been hot wit' it since Webber called time out But we ain't sentential and we don't get soft Till that champagne splash and we cut nets off Maize shirt maize hoody for the cold Going to see the wiz on the Maize brick road All Maize everything, all blue everything, Coming for them jewels and we ain't talking wedding rings Pause, Turn up! Bet against my team you will get burnt up You can still rep if you ain't graduate wit us Hail to the victors, we leaning off the liquor But no Bacardi Gold, only Bacardi Maze Umich, do this, better on any day, Shout out to them freshman, them bad girls in Markley Its too cold for class, with they lazy ass but they still make it out to that party Pop the bottles we winning, (winning) pop the bottles we winning (winning) Them Spartans sure ain't smiling, and them Buckeyes sure ain't grinning
Hook: Maize all on my brain, Maize all through my veins, Maize down to the socks, Don't believe me just watch Don't believe me just watch Don't believe me just watch
Maize all on my brain, Maize all through my veins, Maize down to the socks, Don't believe me just watch Don't believe me just watch Don't believe me just watch
Be on the look out for the forthcoming "KeymoTherapy" Mixtape.
As the Michigan Wolverines advance to the 2013 NCAA Final Four, J. Keys puts on for his alma mater. Keys drops the ever clever "All Maize Everything" a play off Trinidad James' "All Gold Everything." Maize (a shade of yellow) and Blue are the official colors of the Michigan Wolverines.
Be on the look out for the forthcoming "KeymoTherapy" Mixtape.
Besides being one of the hottest artist to emerge out of Atlanta this year, Trinidad Jame$ shows he is not a regional one hit wonder. The eclectic rapper took the stage at the Paid Dues Festival to...
This was actually my favorite song on Trinidad James' Don't Be S.A.F.E. Really, it was pretty much everybody that actually listened to the album before the "All Gold Everything" video blew up's...favorite song. Glad to see that it got the video treatment from his buddy Jonathan Mannion. This is the first video I remember since Ray Cash's "Bumping My Music" that remember Mannion doing. They shot it in St. James district in Port of Spain, Trinidad during Carnival. Looked fun.
Trinidad Jame$ return to the root of his origin for his Jonathan Mannion directed video, "Female$ Welcomed". Shout out to all the side chicks and main chicks on this one. This is your...
Share on Facebook · 
Bookmark on Delicious
![J. Keys - "All Maize Everything" (Freestyle) [Free Download] @JKeysMusic](images/blogs/4-2013/19281-j-keys-hiphoprap-all-.jpg "J. Keys - \"All Maize Everything\" (Freestyle) [Free Download] @JKeysMusic")
