Chen Lo is 'a modern day griot' with a very interesting story to tell. Watch.
'Hip-Hop artist Chen Lo talks about his recently recorded remix of Jay Z's "Open Letter" and the reason behind it. Chen Lo explains his understanding of the 'Open Letter' song and how it relates to his international experience with Hillary Clinton, the State Department, CBS, Aljazeera English and the U.S. Government's use of Hip-Hop as a chess piece in its game of foreign affairs. Chen Lo also gives a viewpoint that only a select few Hip-Hop artists can address.'
- Footprints Web Series
Chen Lo's album "Footprints" is due out September 10, 2013. But check out the audio for his "Open Letter" remix now.
Longtime political activist, former Black Panther member and BLA Co-founder Dhoruba Bin Wahad gets in-depth about the Obama administration and Jay-Z's relationship as well as the recent call by the...
Jay-Z & Raekwon Hit The StudioThe Chef Raekwon get Jay-Z in the kitchen to cook up that N.Y. rap we know and love. I can't wait to hear what a track with these two will sound like. Until then,...
Treach disses group member Vinnie on track 'Tall Midget' but continues to tour
Dame Dash drowning in personal debt
First the Fat Boys break up, now this. Unbeknownst to us all, hip-hop anthem kings Naughty By Nature group members Treach and Vinnie have been embroiled in a beef for the past 2 years. So much so that disses flew across Twitter and super emcee Treach dropped a dis record called "Tall Midget" aimed at Vinnie. Treach and Kay G sat down with DJ Envy and the crew at Power 105 to talk about it and you can Check the entire interview below and hear about how Vinnie sucker punched Treach in a business meeting and just barely escaped the fade: http://www.power1051fm.com/pages/onair/breakfast-club/?mid=23200601
Photo: Power 105.1
Former Roc-a-Fella Records co-founder Dame Dash is facing mounting personal debt that has him filling court proceedings to stop garnishment of his wages according to the New York Daily News. In a statement from the 5 page filling he says 'I am currently several months behind in paying my personal bills. For instance, I am currently over $100,000 behind in rent for the only home in which I live and at risk of being evicted.' Financial troubles aren't new to the former Roc-a-wear executive. In 2010 he lost two New York lofts to foreclosure and was left holding the bag for 7.3 million dollars in mortgage debt. In a recent interview with the Combat Jack show, Dame denounced his baller ways he became known for during his days with Roc-a-fella, but alluded to his financial stability with an art gallery and motor oil deal that keeps him stable.
Photo: Sara Jayeabaca
Jay-Z seems to be involved with everything these days most notably heading up the soundtrack for the movie The Great Gatsby. Now it looks like Sean Carter is dabbling in time travel. A picture surfaced late last week from 1930's Harlem that depicts an group of well dressed young men, one of which whom bears a striking resemblance of Hov. Is it his rumored Illuminati connections that gives Jay immortality, is he a vampire or is it Jay-Z at all? Judge for yourself. You can see a larger picture below.
Jay-Z Co-Executive Producer Of Indie Film An Oversimplification Of Her Beauty [VIDEO]
Lauryn Hill Issues Statement, Reveals Label Deal With Sony
Jay-Z has his hands in multiple deals and ventures at any given moment. Besides divesting from the Brooklyn Nets, executive producing The Great Gatsby soundtrack and signing WNBA draft pick Skylar Diggins to Roc Nation Sports, the rapper/mogul, and soon to be official sports agent, is a co-executive producer of an independent film called An Oversimplification of Her Beauty.
Besides Jay-Z, the film's other executive producers include author/director dream hampton and Wyatt Cenac. Directed by Terence Nance, who also has a starring role, the film is touted as blurring 'the line between narrative, documentary, and experimental film as it explores the fantasies, emotions, and memories that race through Terence's mind as he examines and re-examines a singular moment in time.'
Also worth noting is that the film will feature new music from renowned producer Flying Lotus. An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, an Official Selection at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, was released in limited theaters on April 26 and has received a 79% approval rating by film critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
It was hampton who co-authored Hova's 2010 book, Decoded.
Lauryn Hill has been in the news plenty lately thanks to a pending sentence for tax evasion, which inadvertently revealed that she has a new record deal with Sony Music. Ms. Hill has issued a statement clarifying her new venture (it's a label deal) that also partly comments on her legal and financial troubles, as well as her future plans.
The 'Everything Is Everything' rapper/singer revealed that she has entered a deal with Sony Worldwide Entertainment to launch her own label. She has plans to release, and has been working on, a new album on said label. Part of Hill's self-imposed exile from the music industry was her disdain from its practices, which she has also pointed to as an explanation for not paying her taxes. But the irony getting back down with the machine, as well as earning a label millions upon millions of dollars with her only getting a relatively small bit of that loot, is not lost on her.
'Only a completely complicated set of traps, manipulations, and inequitable business arrangements could put someone who has accomplished the things that I have, financially in need of anything,' she wrote.
Hill is due back in front of the judge to find out her sentence on May 6. She is hoping for probation.
Read her full statement, which she dropped via Tumblr, below: It has been reported that I signed a new record deal, and that I did this to pay taxes. Yes, I have recently entered into an agreement with Sony Worldwide Entertainment, to launch a new label, on which my new music will be released. And yes, I am working on new music.
I've remained silent, after an extensive healing process. This has been a 10+ year battle, for a long time played out behind closed doors, but now in front of the public eye. This is an old conflict between art and commerce... free minds, and minds that are perhaps overly tethered to structure. This is about inequity, and the resulting disenfranchisement caused by it. I've been fighting for existential and economic freedom, which means the freedom to create and live without someone threatening, controlling, and/or manipulating the art and the artist, by tying the purse strings.
It took years for me to get out of the 'parasitic' dynamic of my youth, and into a deal that better reflects my true contribution as an artist
President Obama showed out during the 2013 White House Correspondence Dinner. The President of The United States, poked fun at everyone from Jay-Z to Taylor Swift and don't think he did not let the...
Chances are Pharrell Williams would never say anything bad about a Jay-Z project - and why would he, considering Hov has consistently remained rap's king of the hill. Still, Skateboard P seems particularly excited about Jigga's upcoming LP and the record that he has contributed to it.
"Rain Man is back, Rain Man is back," Pharrell said on Monday when he spoke with Hot 97 radio personality Angie Martinez.
Throughout his career Hov has often referred to himself as Rain Man due to his ability to pull lyrics out of the air without ever having to write them down. He likens his gift to Raymond Babbitt, the autistic savant played by Academy Award-winning actor Dustin Hoffman in the 1988 film "Rain Man." P was short on details, but that wasn't the only cinematic reference he made when speaking on Hov's upcoming music.
"I gave him a straight up Stanley Kubrick movie," Williams bragged, referencing the celebrated movie director who gave us films like "A Clockwork Orange," "Full Metal Jacket" and "The Shining."
This isn't the first time Pharrell has spoken of a Jay-Z song in cinematic terms. In Hov's 2004 documentary film "Fade to Black," the multiplatinum producer famously sold Hov on the idea of his "Allure" beat by comparing it to Al Pacino's 1993 crime drama "Carlito's Way."
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