Troy Ave and Lloyd Banks have a hot one spinning on the radio right now with "Your Style." The song has that Brooklyn and Queens, New York flavor in abundance. Here's the official music video for it. The song is off of Troy's White Christmas 2 project. Cop it from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/mz/album/white-christmas-2/id787547305.
When you think of Precious Paris three things automatically come to mind: her beauty, G-Unit and bars. The Queens, New York representative can flat out spit with the best of them. With each release Paris' talent becomes more evident.
Young Chris just dropped a lyrical bomb on the industry in the form of his 23-track Gunna Season mixtape. Like a boxer in the prime of his career, Chris isn't losing a step with each new song he releases. If anything, the Philadelphia emcee appears to be getting better.
Troy Ave and his Brick Star Boyz crew of King Sevin, Young Lito and Avon Blocksdale will be dropping the fourth edition of their BSB mixtape series on Monday, May 5.
Jay-Z's legacy in rap is unparalleled. Hov probably best summed up his career on 2003's "What More Can I Say" when he spit, "There's never been a n*gga this good for this long/ This 'hood or this pop, this hot or this strong."
But were the God MC's past accomplishments enough to rest on in 2011? Over the past year he continued to raise the bar, teaming up with "little brother" Kanye West to drop the groundbreaking Watch the Throne album and earning himself the #6 spot on MTV News' Hottest MCs in the Game VII list.
"If you talk about the Throne, yeah, top five, no question. But Jay himself? From January to August, what was going on?" asked Rahman Dukes, MTV News' director of hip-hop news, pointing out Jigga's inactivity apart from WTT. "Kanye was moving."
Indeed, Yeezy was rolling creatively after the November 2010 release of his critically acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, while Jay hadn't dropped a solo effort since 2009, when his triumphant Blueprint III made him our #1 Hottest MC. When it came to recognizing Jay for the recent success of the Throne, however, many members of the Hip-Hop Brain Trust argued that much of the credit should go to Kanye, not Jigga.
"You can't divorce [the album] from Kanye. It really feels like Jay rode shotgun on it," said Rebecca Thomas, an editor/writer at MTV News. "That project has Kanye's footprints and handprints all over it."
The truth is, outside of WTT, Hov didn't do the kinds of things that help an MC bolster his stats. Instead, the rap mogul was focused on his many business ventures — from his Brooklyn-bound Nets to re-launching the 40/40 Club in New York. Although few could argue that when he released "Glory," days after the birth of daughter Blue Ivy Carter, he created quite the musical moment.
And it was hard to ignore the impact and cultural significance of Watch the Throne, even if Jay's contribution was collaborative, not solo. Bypassing a traditional album rollout, the Throne serviced only two records to radio prior to their LP release: "H.A.M." and "Otis." They also went with a digital-only release initially, electing to postpone sending physical copies of WTT to stores until four days later. The pair placed a premium on their music — and it paid off. They avoided an album leak, a near impossibility in the digital era. When the joint LP was finally released on August 8, it seemed as if the entire hip-hop community was listening at the same time, dissecting it on Twitter and spawning multiple trending topics. It hit #1 on iTunes in 23 different countries a day later.
"At the end of the day, that album is an 'event album.' You're never going to get an album like that ever again," said Yomi Desalu, MTV's senior director of music and talent.
When first-week sales were tallied, the Throne had sold 436,000 copies and landed at #1 on the Billboard 200. The album's third single (second, if you don't count bonus track "H.A.M.") proved to be its biggest. "N---as in Paris" not only topped Billboard's Rap chart, it became a quick fan favorite that prompted the Throne to perform the track multiple times at each stop on their tour.
So when it comes to the "Hottest MCs" criteria, Hov largely hits the major points. He has proven his impact on the game is enduring and maintained a buzz in the streets, even if he didn't make as much noise in early 2011. Jigga was a lock in the sales department and, at 42 years old, he remains among rap's top lyricists. On "Otis," he reminded fans who invented swag, so style wasn't a problem, and Jay had enough side hustles that you could write a book about them. (Seriously, you could: check Zack O'Malley's "Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Office.")
Perhaps a solo LP would've given Jay that extra push. Makes us wonder what might go down on Hottest MCs VIII if Hov does drop that tentatively planned 12th solo album and a second Throne LP. Who gon' stop him then?
Jim Jones and Trav are the latest MC's to take a stab at the "No Church in the Wild" instrumental. The New York duo flip it into a song about the drug game.
Jay-Z is worth $420 million dollars according to Forbes. No doubt he's worked hard for it. The question is, when you're that wealthy do you have an obligation to give back to those less fortunate? Or at the very least break off a chunk of cash for your own charity?
Those are questions Jay-Z is probably thinking about today after The Daily published a report claiming the superstar rapper made $63 million dollars in 2010, but only gave $6,431 to his own charity. The Daily came up with those numbers by examining tax records for the Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund.
Hov's wife, Beyonce, reportedly made $87 million dollars that same year, but did not donate any money at all to the Foundation.
According to the report, the average American gives about 3.5 percent of their income to charity. Jay-Z gave about 0.01 percent of his estimated income to his own charity in 2010.
The Foundation was established in 2003 by Jay and his mother, Gloria Carter. According to it's mission statement "Shawn Carter Scholars are studying at nearly 100 institutions of higher learning throughout the nation." Scholarships awarded help students with "the costs of books and lab fees, food, travel and other self-care expenses." But where exactly is the money to fund these endeavors coming from if Jay-Z is contributing so little?
Hov's representative, Jana Fleishman, told The Daily that the rapper contributes in other ways.
“Jay, along with his family, provided office support, overhead support, [mother] Mrs. Gloria Carter’s 100% effort and time, computers, FedEx expenses, accounting, and treasury function support. This was at no cost to the charity,” Fleishman said.
The Daily noted that tax records show the charity only had to pay $1,209 for office expenses, $1,401 for telephone, and $4,696 in other expenses in 2010.
Fleishman also said that in 2011 Jay-Z helped raise $1.25 million for the charity at its Carnival at Pier 54 event. The Daily couldn't verify those numbers because tax records for 2011 are not yet available.
To be fair to Hov he is playing two Carnegie Hall concerts for free (the first was last night, the second is tonight). Proceeds are being spit between the United Way of New York City and The Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation, but it's not known exactly how much money that will translate into for the foundation.
To read the rest of the report head over to The Daily.
Common displays the skills that show why he's going to be a problem for Drake in their war of words. The veteran Chicago rhyme spitta was in Atlanta recently for a Q and A session with fans when he was asked to freestyle.
With music from his hit record "The Light" as the backdrop, Common did his thing coming off the top of the dome encorporating words that are written on cards being held up the event's host. Of course the rhyme wouldn't have been complete without him dropping a Canada Dry line.
French Montana hit up the Hot 97 show today to chop it up with Angie Martinez. He talked about the upcoming NY Giants "Shot Caller" remix, turning down a deal with G.O.O.D Music to sign with Bad Boy, meeting Rihanna and his appearance on the record "Stay Schemin" that took the Drake vs. Common beef up a notch.
Angie asked French about Drake's verse on "Stay Schemin" getting at Common and the Chicago rapper's immediate reply.
"With them you gotta look at it like it's hip hop, it's competition, it's good for the music," French said. "I think Drake wanna fight. He said he can't wait to run into him."
The WZRD cover art has been floating around for a while. Now we get the official tracklist for the debut alternative rock album from Kid Cudi and producer Dot Da Genius. The disc is scheduled for release February 28th.
WZRD Tracklisting:
1. “The Arrival” 2. “High Off Life” 3. “The Dream Time Machine” 4. “Love Hard” 5. “Live & Learn” 6. “Brake” 7. “Teleport 2 Me, Jamie” feat. Desire 8. “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” 9. “Efflictim” 10. “The Upper Room”
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