Justin’s a busy guy. From recording a Christmas album to allegedly impregnating a 20-year-old girl, he still manages to find the time to rap.
At the risk of inflating his ego even bigger bigger, I have to say this ‘lil dude has mad skill. On Power 106 FM he performed an original rap to the tune of Ottis by Jay-Z and Kanye West.
As radio DJs and fans hooted and hollered, Justin claimed “I’m not done! I’m not done!” and continued to kock our socks off. There have been rumours swirling of him collaborating with Lil Wayne and now more than ever I wish it were true.
Check out his sick flow in the video posted below.
Shia LaBeouf lets Optimus Prime and Bumblebee sit this one out while he directs Kid Cudi in a short film called “Maniac”. This isn’ the first time the 25-year-old Transformers star collaborated with the rapper. Last year he directed Cudi’s music video for “Marijuana” which featured the avid rhymer partying and smoking weed in Amsterdam – a typical Kid Cudi scenerio.
This time around, “Maniac” is like a disturbed episode of Criminal Minds that didn’t make it past the cutting room floor. Inspired by one of his songs off Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, Cudi is seen with fellow rapper Cage as they go on a murderous rampage throughout town. It’s mega-creepy and graphic for just a 10 minute shortie. Expect to be soiling your pants by the half-way mark.
Betty White is now spreading her old wings and getting into rap. Betty raps with Luciana in their new video, “I’m Still Hot.”
The video shows break dancing, muscle boys and a boa constrictor. A portion of the proceeds go to the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association and is available for download at http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/im-still-hot-feat.-betty-white/id467266185.
A convicted felon is claiming he shot and robbed rapper Tupac Shakur, reports CTV.
New York City police have begun investigating the online posting, which was posted on the website AllHipHop.com.
The posted claims he was paid $2,500 by another hip hop mogul to rob Shakur outside a studio in Manhattan in 1994, where Tupac suffered gunshot wounds but eventually recovered. He was later killed in 1996 by an unknown killer.
Police are trying to determine if the post is truthful and plan on interviewing the prisoner.
“Now I would like to clear up a few things, because the statute of limitations is over, and no one can be charged, and I’m just plain tired of listening to your lies,” the man says in the posting. ”I still have as proof the chain we took in the robbery.”
This may be a publicity stunt, or simply a confession that’s been eating him up on the inside. Either way, we won’t know if it’s true or not until the police investigate. Just a couple of weeks ago, a fake story was posted claiming Tupac is still alive, so you never know with these stories.
YouTube favourite Karmin, along with Questlove and Owen Biddle from ‘The Roots,’ have released an acoustic version of Nicki Minaj’s ‘Super Bass.’
This cover is amazing. Not only is it a full-on jam session because of all the special guests, but the lead singer’s voice really gives the song a unique spin.
She kind of draws attention to the lyrics, and strips the song down to a bare minimum to give it a new meaning. I also love how effortlessly she raps. For a white girl, she has some serious rhythm. Minaj better watch her back.
Check it out below and let us know what you think! Great cover, or will nobody ever do justice to the original?
T-Pain is vowing that he will never use Auto-Tune again, reports AllHipHop.com.
The rapper and producer told the hip hop site exclusively that he will never use Auto-Tune in his music again. Auto-tune is the singing effect that T-Pain made famous, which digitally makes voices sing on key.
It often makes them sound like a robot, too.
“I vow right here, right now, to never use Auto-Tune again,” said T-Pain in a statement. “I’m onto something that I think is bigger and better called ‘The T-Pain Effect.’”
No, he isn’t being funny or ironic. The rapper actually plans to develop a sound called “The T-Pain Effect.” He has reportedly partnered with Izotope, an audio technology company, to produce this so-called new effect.
T-Pain without Auto-Tune is like Lindsay Lohan without drugs or Arnold Schwarzenegger without secret love child’s. It’s just so bizarre. The man has an iTunes app that Auto-Tune’s peoples voice, for goodness sake. We’ll see if this lasts, because it’s kind of the only thing going for him at the moment.
Sean “Diddy” Combs will receive ASCAP’s Founders Award during the performing rights organization’s 24th annual Rhythm & Soul Music Awards.
The invitation-only ceremony will take place Friday, June 24, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. Combs joins previous Founders Award recipients Dr. Dre, Stevie Wonder, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney.
“To be recognized for my contributions to music by ASCAP is a true honor,” said Combs in a statement. “All I wanted to do was make people dance and hopefully inspire others to never settle for anything but their best.”
As a solo artist, Combs has recorded a string of hits including ‘I’ll Be Missing You,’ ‘I Need a Girl’ and ‘Coming Home.’ He released six studio albums, and his most recent is the Diddy-Dirty Money album ‘Last Train to Paris.’
In addition to being a producer to Mariah Carey, TLC and Boyz II Men, Combs is also a fashion designer, businessman and actor.
“His success,” noted ASCAP president/chairman Paul Williams in a statement, “is a testament to his entrepreneurial spirit, hard work and ingenious ability to add his personal touch to contemporary culture.”
He’s a man of many talents and deserves the award.
Rapper 50 Cent is set play a blind DJ in ‘Odd Thomas,’ a film directed by Stephen Sommers and based on the original Dean Koontz novel.
The rap-superstar will join Anton Yelchin, Willem Dafoe and Patton Oswalt among the cast. That’s quite the cast, will he be able to perform?
Koontz’s bestselling 2003 novel follows the exploits of a clairvoyant cook who uses his powers to track the killer of a young girl. The film starts shooting this summer in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Kind of a random role for 50 Cent – I’m sure he could pull of the DJ thing no problem, but the blind part, I don’t know. Despite roles in action/music flicks, 50 hasn’t really done some serious acting, so we’ll see how this turns out.
Do you think 50 has what it takes to pull off a role like this? What’s your opinion on music stars turned actors? (Personally, I don’t like it. Not one bit. Unless you’re Jennifer Hudson and win an Oscar.)
Chris Brown is the top contender at the BET awards this year with six nominations, reports Billboard.
Brown is up for best male R&B artist, viewer’s choice and video of the year for ‘Look at Me Now.’ He’s also nominated twice in the best collaboration category for his No. 1 hits ‘Deuces,’ featuring Tyga and Kevin McCall, and ‘Look at Me Now,’ with Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne.
Brown is also getting recognition for his acting, as he is nominated for best actor for his role in the heist thriller ‘Takers.’
Lil Wayne is nominated five times, three of them coming from his guest appearance on Brown’s ‘Look at Me Now.’
Kanye West, Drake and Rihanna are up for four awards each as well. Alicia Keys will perform and comedian Kevin Hart will host the award show. It airs live on June 26 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Wow, can we call this a Chris Brown comeback? I personally still think he’s a douchebag, but Rihanna-related-events aside, I guess his music is pretty good. We’ll have to tune in to see how many awards he actually wins. I know he deserves to deal with the consequences of his actions, but its good to see him on some sort of path to recovery, both career-wise and personal-wise.
Montae Talbert, known as M-Bone, of the West Coast hip-hop group Cali Swag District was shot and killed late Sunday night in a drive-by shooting in Inglewood, Calif., reports Billboard.
According to reports, an Inglewood police spokesperson said that M-Bone “sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head” while in his car on La Brea Avenue. He was reportedly taken to a nearby hosiptal and pronounced dead.
Cali Swag District is best known for setting of a dance craze with its hit “Teach Me How to Dougie,” which sold 1.6 million downloads and peaked at No. 9 on Hot Hip-Hop/R&B Songs and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2010.
Very sad news – my condolences to his family.
Outkast rapper Big Boi is launching a kids record label with his daughter, Billboard reports.
The rapper says he and his 16-year-old daughter, Jordan, have formed Purple Kidz, a new record label that will launch in the coming weeks. The label will feature younger artists but will target fans of all ages.
“My daughter just turned 16 years old, and you can see it on MTV’s ['My Super Sweet Sixteen'], where they get cars, and things that depreciate and just don’t mean nothing,” says Big Boi. “I wanted to give my child something that she can grow and build and nurture. So I gave her her own label.”
Big Boi, 36, says that Purple Kidz’ first signee is Gabbie Rae, a 12-year-old singing prodigy who has appeared on ‘The Tyra Banks Show.’
The rapper, who already heads the Purple Ribbon All-Stars hip-hop label, says that he and Jordan are the sole partners on the new imprint.
As for Big Boi’s solo career, he says that all is running smoothly as he continues working on the follow-up to last year’s ‘Sir Lucius Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty.’
“I had a conversation with Barry Weiss, and he was like, ‘Hey Big, great album,’ and he’s ready for the next album,” says Big Boi. “And he wants it ASAP. So, you know, everything’s good.”
I actually think gifting his daughter with a record label is a really sweet gesture. Sure, she is probably spoiled to death, but he seems to be implying hard work on her. She will have to maintain the label and nurture it, as opposed to her just being a singer or model or whatever. I’m guessing she has a huge passion for music, so this path will be a good one for her.
Charlie Sheen and Snoop Dogg are releasing their single ‘Winning’ on Wednesday, reports CTV.
The duo’s track is set to be aired on radio on Tuesday ahead of its release at midnight, and all proceeds from downloads of the song will go to Sheen’s ‘Torpedos Against Tornados’ foundation, set up to help victims of the recent tornadoes which devastated Tuscaloosa last month.
Rob Patterson, a former ‘Korn’ guitarist, co-wrote the track and said: “Look, it’s a good song. But I honestly don’t want people to take it seriously. It’s meant to be fun and entertaining.”
Explaining the lyrical content of the track, Charlie told E! News: “Well, the genesis of the song is about, you know, winning. It’s just everything in life.”
“I think Snoop did a really good job at kind of encapsulating the whole vibe of, you know, the movement.”
Rob was the person who asked Snoop to come into the studio and record a rap for the track, and was surprised by how enthusiastic and quickly Snoop got his part ready after coming over to Charlie’s home studio.
Rob added: “He arrived at 9 p.m. and was out by 11 pm. We were all shocked by how quickly and how professionally he was able to just bang it out.”
The track itself stars off with former ‘Batwatch’ actress Carmen Electra saying “Oh, good evening, Mr. Sheen. Are you winning?” Snoop then interjects, proclaiming “No, he’s smokin’ right now!”
The track will be available in both a family friendly version and a more hardcore rap version, complete with expletives, from iTunes.
This is too much! I can’t even comprehend – wow. Well, it seems like every idiotic idea these days is backed up with the ‘for charity’ excuse, so once again, I can’t say anything bad. Please… support?
When you are a baby Daddy, you have a ton of responsibilities, and that means you need to make some cash. So “Teen Mom 2′s” Jo Rivera is going to get a job, kind of.
You may remember Jo with ex Katilyn Lowry and son Isaac. Jo has been trying to launch a rap career, and he thinks the minor exposure he received from MTV is the gateway to singing success.
Using the stage name N.I.C.K B, Rivera performs over a version of Alicia Keys’ “Unthinkable.” This video and song make Rebecca Black look like Beethoven. Enjoy!
Rapper Lil B has been receiving death threats after naming his upcoming album ‘I’m Gay,’ reports Perez Hilton.
“People been hitting me up like, ‘I’m gonna bash your head in,’ ‘you f—-t,’ ‘I’m gonna kill you,’” said Lil B. “I got major love for the gay and lesbian community, and I just want to push less separation and that’s why I’m doing it. I hope GLAAD sees that I’m taking initial steps to break barriers.”
According to Lil B, in the album title he’s referring to himself as “gay” meaning “happy,” and he insists that the title choice is not a gimmick or publicity stunt.
The album will released on iTunes within a month or so, and Lil B won’t be changing the album’s title.
It’s sad that people are still so closed-minded in this day and age. He’s obviously doing something to make a point, yes, but for people to react this way is just so, so sad. Is an album name really going to affect you that much? Will your life really be eternally changed for the worse because some people are gay?
I don’t get the logic, but props to B for taking a stance on it. It’s not often you see members of the hip-hop community be so open and accepting of the LGBT community, so I think it’s a good step forward.
Kanye West’s new music video for “All of The Lights” has received an Epilepsy warning from a British organization called Epilepsy Action, according to MTV News.
The charity group provides support for people with epilepsy, and says that the video “should not be broadcast on U.K. television.”
“However, the Kanye West video is still available online, most notably on YouTube where it has had several million hits, and no such regulations exist for online broadcasting,” said the organization in a statement.
As a result of this outburst, the video, which features a barely-dressed Rihanna, has been pulled from many stations including MuchMusic. “We are pleased to see that YouTube and Kanye West’s representatives have listened to our concerns and are warning people that the video is a risk to some people,” Epilepsy Action campaigns manager Aimee Gee said to MTV.
It’s true that the online world of broadcasting has drastically different rules than the television world – meaning there really are no rules for online broadcasting. It’ll be much harder for the music video to be pulled from YouTube than it was to get pulled from television, simply due to the fact that the online world is a free, post-whatever-you-want world. Warning ads have been placed before the video, though.
Now, I don’t know if I just feel bad for Kanye, but the dude just can’t catch a break. Ever since the Taylor Swift fiasco at the Grammys, his career has never been able to fully recover. Although the song is currently at number 14 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop chart, his video now risks the chance of getting pulled from all media outlets. Poor guy!
I don’t know if pulling the video from everywhere is the solution, though. The obvious answer to this problem seem simple to me; if you have epilepsy, don’t watch a music video called “All of The Lights“. I mean, lights is your first clue that you probably won’t enjoy it. Secondly, I realize that maybe someone could stumble upon the video and have an epileptic seisure, but how about changing the channel if you see bright lights? How are these flashing lights different from Ke$ha or Britney Spears’ videos?
I’ve personally seen the video and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was different, unique, and a fresh change from the usual videos played today. It seems like all the good videos are getting censored nowadays. Just a couple weeks ago, Rihanna’s “S&M” video got pulled in some countries as it was too ‘risky’. I mean, we live in a modern century, a little risky or bright lights won’t hurt anyone. Well, maybe, but you know what I mean.
Does that mean all strobe light parties are at risk of extinction too? Will the world become an abyss of black and white? Will all creativity be banished from our lives, and we’ll be forced to watch Glee episodes on repeat for the rest of eternity?
I know I’m being rash, but I mean, I feel bad for the guy. The video is good. Let Kanye have his moment.
See the video below and be careful!
Shad is a perfect example of the amazing musical talent emerging from Canada. After financing his first album in 2005 from winning a radio contest, fast forward to 2010 and Shad has been nominated for numerous awards, and has just released his third album, TSOL. The new album has been getting amazing praise, placing Shad undoubtedly in Canadian rap royalty. Of course there is no secret Shad is a fan of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, so we couldn’t help but rap the opening theme song with him.
Gang Starr’s Guru died yesterday after losing a battle with cancer, rollingstone.com reports.
Guru, who died at the age of 43, suffered cardiac arrest in late February after having surgery to treat the cancer, eventually going into a brief coma.
Born in 1966 as Keith Elam, the Boston native Guru and producer DJ Premier created the rap duo Gang Starr. Together they recorded six records between 1989 and 2003, including critically acclaimed albums such as 1991′s Step In the Arena and 1992′s Daily Operation.
In life (and in the hip-hop industry especially), there’s an unwritten code: as you approach the veteran years of your career, you’re expected to lose a step in your game.
Twista did not get that memo.
In fact, with 18 years of experience in the business so far, the Chicago hip-hop legend doesn’t see a career decline anytime soon. Nope, on the contrary. He says that some of his best work is yet to come.
Think about that for a moment.
This is coming from the guy who’s had two of his past six studio albums go platinum and crack the top ten list on the U.S. Billboard top 200, collaborations with some of the music industry’s finest talent including Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Mariah Carey, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, T.I, and Akon, and not to mention, this is also the former Guinness World Record holder for the fastest rapper in the world.
What do GLC, Ludacris and Macy Gray have in common? They’re all featured artists on “True to the Game,” an album that celebrates everyone who played in the Negro Baseball Leagues and helped set an example for African Americans of today.
Rapper GLC (short for Gangsta L. Crisis) has the track “Big Screen” on the CD and he describes “jumping at the opportunity” once he received a phone call to be a part of the album. But he isn’t alone on the track. Non other than Kanye West is featured on his song, which would be a pretty big deal for any artist but not for GLC. The man clearly has some connections having met West growing up as a teen in Chicago.
The two were introduced to each other through a mutual friend in the early ’90s and became pals. “Back then we was trying to rap. We were young, super young but still had these dreams and these ambitions,” GLC tells andPOP.
These ambitions led the two to grow as rappers and West landed on the worldwide stage. The rapper remained supportive of his friend and eventually was asked to collaborate on the track “Spaceship” off West’s “The College Dropout” album, giving him an official introduction to Hip-Hoppers around the globe.
It is with great pleasure that I have been asked to write a feature on one of my favourite new bands, Sounds Like BS. Hitting the Toronto scene in 2008, the pop-rap duo has garnered an impressively large and loyal fan base. BS has just released “3″, their third full-length album, online as a pay-what-you-can digital download.
Incidentally, I am one half of Sounds Like BS, but do not let that discredit my praise for this (my) band.
Over the past seven months, ‘B’ and ‘S’ (our alter-egos), have written, recorded, mixed and produced the album completely on our own. “3″ is a ten-track dance party, filled with pop, rap, rock, and a lot of auto-tune. Themes that are explored include partying, ladies, drinking, partying, how awesome we are, and so forth (WARNING: [im]mature language). We emulated and exaggerated pop music as intensely as we could, and the result is… well, you tell me. Our goal was to create an album of hits, and I’d like to think we succeeded. Have a listen, take a look, and it won’t take very long to get what BS is all about.
