Dattatray Phuge has gotten rich and he'll be damned if he doesn't die trying to get the world's attention. The 40-year old landowner from Pimpri-Chinchwad, India paid an incredible $22,754 for a shirt made of solid gold.
Although there have been reports that Phuge made the shirt to attract females, he is already married and did it just to gain attention.
"I own everything right from chains to rings, bracelets, watches in gold. Now, I wanted something that no one would have,” he told Ranka Jewelers of Pune, according to Daily News and Analysis “That’s when Tejpal Ranka suggested making a shirt of gold. Just like Shivaraj Maharaj used to wear a chain shirt while going to war, this garment was to be similar. I didn’t think it was possible but was excited with the idea as it would help us garner international attention,”
It took Ranka Jewelerstwo weeks, using 15 goldsmiths, working 16 hours a day to make the shirt made of 3.5 kilograms of gold. Phuge thinks the stunt will earn him a place in the Guinness Book or Limca Book of World Records.
It pieces together 14,000 gold spangles interwoven with 1 lakh rings on a specially imported white velvet cloth. It features six Swavorski crystals as buttons and comes with a gold belt. In addition to the gold shirt, Datta reportedly wears 4 kilos of gold on his body in the form of necklaces, bracelets and rings.
"I am a Maharashtrian, a Maratha hence I like to wear and display gold. I got this idea to stitch a shirt made of gold from one of my friends who said that nobody had done it before," Phuge said. "We wanted to do it below 3 kilios, however we overstepped the mark."
Phuge's wife, Seema, said he would only wear the shirt on special occasions.
“At major public events or where he needs to make a statement, otherwise it will stay in the locker,” she said.
Because he wears so much gold, Phuge employs 20 bodyguards to ensure his safety.
“I have been wearing a heap of gold since many years. I am always surrounded by my trusted boys and no one can dare to harm me," he said.
Joe Budden has been locked away in the studio preparing for the release of his No Love Lost album which drops on February 5th.
The Slaughterhouse emcee recently took some time out of his busy schedule to sit down with Fuse to discuss an investment he regrets, his favorite 80's cartoon, his most embarrassing high school moment, regretting tweeting that Eddie Murphy had died and more.
Here's some behind the scenes footage of Gucci Mane's upcoming music video for "Shooter" featuring Young Scooter and Yung Fresh. The Zaytoven-produced track is off of Gucci's Trap God mixtape.
Cassidy has the entire hip hop world buzzing after dropping his 10 minute Meek Mill diss titled "R.A.I.D." over the weekend.
The Hustla called into Philadelphia radio station Hot 107.9 yesterday and talked to DJ Caesar about the length of the record, Ar-Ab's recent comments about him not being street and what he thinks Meek's next move should be.
"That's what I do. I rhyme, I got bars. I could just go as long as I wanted to. It's not like I planned [the diss] to be exactly 10 minutes," Cass told Caesar. "I just planned to go in and get a lot of things off my chest. It just turned out to be that amount of time.But my core audience and people that love hip hop love when I go in like that."
When asked about Ar-Ab's recent video, Cass said it was a misunderstanding and came from Ar's frustration due to how certain things were handled when AR was with Larsiny Family. Cass explained that the two have since talked it out.
"Ar, that's my team. Everybody know that we been running around for years together. Even husbands and wives fight, brothers fight, sisters fight, family members fight," explained Cass. "I guess at that particular time he was feeling some type of way about a few things that happened in out life. And it was New Year's. He was so high and drugged up and things like that it probably came out wrong. But I had to handle that different with Ar because that's my peoples. So we talked about it, we got to the bottom of it, we neutralized it and that's that."
As far as Meek is concerned, Cass doesn't think it would be wise for him to respond to "R.A.I.D."
"I can't speak upon what that man gon do, but I wouldn't advise that man to try to come back," Cass said. "The first record he came out with he threw a few jabs, but it wasn't nothing crazy. I don't even understand why he did it. He should have just fell back."
What do you think? Should Meek respond or concede defeat at this point?
Meek Mill's celebrity friends 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, Drake and Rick Ross reach out to him after hearing Cassidy's diss records, but can't get him on the phone.
Peep the messages they leave for the Philly rapper.
Popular Youtube personality and aspiring rapper Freddy E took his own life last night apparently after a failed relationship with emcee Honey Cocaine. Freddy was signed to Tyga's Last Kings record label.
Freddy, real name was Freddy E. Buhl, live tweeted the final moments of his life before shooting himself in the head according to various reports.
"Smoked my first pack of cigarettes today... been a long time since I've gone through heart break. It's a cold unforgiving world if I do say," he wrote on the social networking site. "It's all bad y'all. If there's a God then He's calling me back home. This barrel never felt so good next to my dome. It's cold & I'd rather die than live alone. It's... all... bad... y'all. *puts finger around trigger*."
Honey Cocaine, who is also signed to Tyga's label reacted on Twitter to the sad news. She lashed out at people blaming her for the tragedy.
"To say I caused what happened is ignorance.. You know nothing about our friendship or the story, hate me if you feel.. We loved each other," she wrote "Say it's my fault, threaten me, whatever.. I knew him well enough to know he had other things happening.. I was there for him all the time."
According to Global Grind, his family posted a statement on Twitter. Below is the full text of the statement.
"Today, our son, Frederick Eugene Buhl (@freddy_e), age 22 years old, took his own life with a rifle shot to the head. Our family is saddened beyond words; our loss is great; this tragedy is enormous and unforeseen. Not only our family, but the world has lost a talented, sensitive, brilliant young man who lit up our existence with his. We love him a great deal, and he will be sorely missed. We pray that God will now watch over him, and we ask all of you to include Frederick and our entire family in your thoughts and prayers. Tomorrow, Sunday, January 5th, 2013, we will be attending Fred's Church, First AME, at 12:00 PM in Seattle, WA. You are invited to join us or send your prayers. Fred would appreciate that a great deal."
Freddy's Youtube channel "Jerk TV" has over 64,000 subscribers and nearly 7 million video views.
Below are Freddy's final tweets and Honey's reaction.
Freddy was just 22-years old. Rest in peace Freddy E.
Let's begin with a disclaimer: Nas doesn't endorse the following sentence.
But he's the greatest lyricist of all time.
Those words were carefully chosen: "lyricist" over "rapper" or "hip-hop artist;" "greatest" instead of "most successful;" "all time" rather than "today."
Those distinctions are important. Still, Nas isn't buying it.
"It's wayyyyyy, way, way too early in our lives," he said when asked where he fits among history's best MCs. "It's great to put a list together, but don't take it too seriously because your list won't matter 10 years from now or 15 years from now. It'll be a different list."
OK, no lists then; just a strong case for Nas being the best rhymesmith ever, the GOAT, numero uno, and a humble concession that this is but one man's opinion and yours are enthusiastically welcomed below.
With "Life is Good," Nas dropped his ninth No. 1 hip-hop album since 1994. Seven of those have gone platinum, which places him second among rappers only to Jay-Z with 11. (We're not counting compilations or collaborations here, only original solo efforts, and yes, Tupac Shakur had nine, but five were posthumous releases.)
It also ties Nas with Snoop Dogg or Snoop Lion or whatever his name is, and it puts the Queens native one plaque ahead of Eminem, Too Short, OutKast and LL Cool J, all of whom belong in the greatest-ever discussion, as well.
Hold on, you say? OutKast is not a solo act? And if they're included, why not the Beastie Boys, who also have six platinum records?
Agreed, but dissect OutKast into the individual components of Big Boi and André 3000, and you have two of the most technically deft rhymers to bless the mic. (Another disclaimer: This article's author is an ATLien.)
From 1994's "Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik" to 2003's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," OutKast owned most hip-hop rivals, but since then -- barring the "Idlewild" soundtrack -- they've fallen off considerably: Big Boi has put out a pair of tepidly received solo efforts, André a few razor commercials.
While commercial success is important to the equation -- and the sole reason the brilliant Talib Kweli and Pharoahe Monch aren't included in the debate -- it's only one variable.
This debate, if you will, isn't so much about who can move the most rump in a club, but rather, if we were delivered back to 1800, who could hold their own with Coleridge and Wordsworth. It's why we're arguing lyricists and not artists.
The big 4-0
In a genre not known for the longevity of its luminaries, making it 10, 15, 20 years means you're a survivor -- and you survive only if people keep buying your music.
Unlike his aforementioned brethren in the Multiplatinum Club, Nas has done that without a platinum single. Not "Street Dreams." Not "Nas is Like." Not "Made You Look." Not one.
It means his fans want the entire package, the album as a complete work of art -- an endangered concept in the days of iTunes and Spotify.
Given the occasional knocks on Nas' production, it's got to be the lyrical wizardry that keep folks coming back, right? As he turns 40 this year -- sorry if that makes "Illmatic" fans feel old -- he's adapted to every sea change in rap and weathered every label, right or wrong, affixed to him.
"I've been called everything. Gangsta rap. I've been called conscious rap. You know, everything. Whoever feels like calling it whatever they want to call it, that's on them," he said.
Asked how he could be called socially responsible in one breath and a glorifier of violence in the next, Nas said he's not responsible for such tags.
"Don't blame me; blame our wonderful country, America. And you can't even blame America. It's life. Blame life. I talk about life, and I make universal music with an American style -- and that's what I do," he said. "I know one thing: People put too many labels on music."
Strange thing is, Nas didn't know he wanted to be a rapper when he was young, he said.
"There wasn't a lot of things that I wanted to do where African-Americans were achieving what we achieve today because it just wasn't allowed, funny enough to say," said the son of jazz cornet player Olu Dara. "I was trying to figure out, should I become a screenplay writer? Should I be a movie director? Should I make music for theater? I was thinking in the arts, anything that had to do with the arts. Of course, I never had a job in my life, and so I was just this dude that was hanging out -- a vagabond, if you will, in New York."
That's when Large Professor noticed his lyrical skills. A member of Main Source, Xtra P put him on the track "Live at the Barbeque."The song, funky in its own right, is considered a classic today because it introduced the nation to a phenom from Queensbridge Houses named Nasir Jones.
'A street dude with morals'
QB's Finest remembers well when he first heard himself spit, "Street's disciple, my raps are trifle/I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle."
He was in his old neighborhood late at night, and he heard the radio playing from a car on the corner. Some older guys were standing around, "doing their thing, talking and kicking it," Nas recalled.
"As I'm walking by, 'Live at the Barbeque' comes on, and I'm like 'Ohhh!' And I stopped, and I was like, 'Wow, this can't be real. This can't be real. This is me,'" he said. "I'm trying to let them know that's me. And they're kind of like, 'Cool,' and go back to their conversation. But it didn't matter. I was so caught up to hear myself on the radio for the first time; I was in heaven."
That was the summer of 1991. Nas was 17. By contrast, Kendrick Lamar, one of hip-hop's hottest new artists, had just turned 4.
There may be 21 years between his first 26 bars on wax and his latest LP, but that doesn't mean "Life is Good" is geriatric rap, even if Spin magazine prescribed it "for the 40-and-over crowd." Nas said he was "humbled" by the review, though his shows seem to be packed with 20-somethings.
"It's important for me to give an honest opinion on the way the world has changed. I feel like it's just who I am today," he said. "To answer your earlier question, why I'm still around, it's because honesty is the best policy. 'The truth shall set you free,' in the words of the great Aunt Esther from 'Sanford and Son.' ... And I think that's where Spin is wrong. It's not for 40-year-olds. It's just for people who know what's up" (One more disclaimer: The author didn't ask, "Why are you still around?" in a snarky way.)
Which brings us back to the debate. Nas' 40th birthday in September will put him in the company of elite survivors, though only a few of hip-hop's quadragenarians can legitimately challenge him for title of best lyricist.
You've got DJ Quik, Sean Price, Tech N9ne and Doom -- all talented rhymers, but no Nases. There's also Common, E-40, Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes, Scarface, Slick Rick and Q-Tip -- again, a poetic bunch who've been in the game for more than a minute -- but none is Nas.
Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Kool G Rap, all 44, were game changers, trailblazers even, but their catalogs get thinner the deeper you move into the '90s.
Ghostface Killah and Raekwon made their marks on hip-hop and still do today, but they enjoyed more successes as members of the Wu-Tang Clan.
In fact, despite the well-warranted accolades heaped upon these five, there's only one platinum plaque among them: Ghost's "Ironman." (The forever-dope "Paid in Full" doesn't count. Sorry, solo efforts only.)
Dr. Dre, 47, and Snoop Dogg, 41, have long enjoyed broad appeal, from college campuses to Compton corners, but neither is known for the complexity of his content or rhyme schemes. Their production is always extraordinary, and they know how to make heads nod, but lyrically? It's more fun than prophetic.
'Exercise till the microphone dies'
Which brings us to the top five, the professors emeritus. Out of respect for Nas' aversion to lists, let's handle them in no particular order.
Eminem is a beast. As Nas points out, the list will be different in 10 years, and Slim Shady may be atop it, but in 2013 you can't challenge Nas if you dropped your first LP in 1999.
Then there's Pac and Biggie -- and the point where the debate might venture into hurting someone's feelings.
Makaveli dropped six albums, four of them platinum, between 1991 and 1996 before he was gunned down in Las Vegas. The Notorious B.I.G. put out his first record in 1994 and was slain in Los Angeles weeks before his second release, "Life After Death," in 1997.
Both have successful releases after their killings, but their life spans, tragically, were too brief, and for that reason -- and that reason only -- it's unfair to put them up against a man with two decades in the game.
Nas still believes Pac and Biggie are "two of the greatest who've ever done it," and it's not because they died. Big L died. Guru died. Big Pun, Eazy-E and Ol' Dirty Bastard died, but they didn't leave the same legacy.
"I just think Biggie was something else. He was the Hitchcock of this thing, man. He told you a story. There was a seriousness that came with it that can't compare with nothing," Nas said.
He wishes the pair hadn't been taken in their mid-20s, he said, because they "would be at the top of the game" today, and they would've pushed him.
"I'd probably be better if they were still around," he said. "I think I'd be a lot better."
"To leave us with that kind of music at that young age is exceptional. There's no other word to say," he said. "They were bigger than all of us, even today -- their music, their sound, their topics. The way the world listened to them was a lot bigger than I would even say myself and the rest of us ... I don't think today we've made an official impact that those guys were just starting to make."
Watch the throne
... And then there was one: Jay-Z, a man who spent the late 1990s and early 2000s also pushing Nas, and his buttons, during their quest to rock Biggie Smalls' "King of New York" crown.
Let's not bother with the details of their long-snuffed beef or who said what about whom on what album (though, let's face it, Nas' Ginsu verses on "Ether" made Jay's "Takeover" and "Super Ugly" sound a little nanny-nanny-boo-boo. Jigga himself called "Ether" an inescapable "figure-four leg lock").
But it's interesting to note what happened once their ugly rivalry was quashed.
Jay-Z had been named president of Def Jam Records, one of the most powerful posts in hip-hop. Jay-Z could have gone Mortal Kombat and finished Nas. He could've at least used his clout to make life unpleasant for the man who once called him gay, arguably the worst accusation you can levy in the macho world of hip-hop.
What did he do instead? He signed Nas and made a guest appearance on his first Def Jam album.
Or as Hova put it in a 2006 interview with MTV, "I didn't sign Nas; I partnered with Nas. You can't sign an artist of Nas' stature. You can only partner with him. ... Like I said, it's always been a level of respect there. I, for not one second, ever said I don't believe that he's one of the best lyricists ever."
Here is where that "lyricist" v. "hip-hop artist" distinction becomes important.
Jay-Z said it best himself: He's not a businessman; he's a business, man. When you consider 11 of his albums have sold at least a million copies -- seven of those 2 million or more -- as have his four collaborations, two with R. Kelly and one each with Linkin Park and Kanye West, it's as if Hova is King Midas, but with platinum.
He's a hit maker extraordinaire, maybe the world's best, but that doesn't translate to best lyricist. Jay-Z acknowledged as much on"Moment of Clarity" when he rhymed, "If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli."
Even in dissing Nas on "Takeover," he explained why he had sampled Nas' lyrics on "Dead Presidents": "So yeah, I sampled your voice; you was using it wrong/you made it a hot line; I made it a hot song."
And that, friends, is the crux of the debate: hot lines vs. hot songs. No one would deny Hova his dap, but it seems he has said, in both word and action, that it's tough to top Nas.
'Nasty, Nas the Esco to Escobar'
So, who's up next? A&Rs have sought the next great MC since Afrika Bambaataa dropped "Planet Rock."
Nas was once dubbed the next Rakim. Rick Ross has been called the next Biggie (Last disclaimer: not by this author). Kendrick Lamar has been called the next Pac. Everyone from 50 Cent to Lupe Fiasco to J. Cole has been labeled the next Nas.
Who does Nastradamus foresee filling his shoes? He doesn't like that question any more than he likes lists.
"There was never a next Rakim. There's only one Rakim, and you can compare people to me, which is a great honor to me, but those guys are really on their path to becoming great Kendricks and greater Lupes," he said. "I think it took years after 'Illmatic,' after my first record, before people started to get used to me and started to get into what I was all about and what the Nas story was."
Nas' brilliance may lie in his ability to keep adapting that story through the years, whether it's from the days when he "dropped out of Cooley High/gassed up by a cokehead cutie pie" or lessons learned as father to his teen daughter, Destiny: "She heard stories of her daddy thuggin'/so if her husband is a gangster, can't be mad, I love him."
He's been the hustling street kid known as Nasty Nas and the jeweled-up don named Escobar after the world's most famous drug lord.
He's been the thug, the black righteous militant, the philosopher, so it's not really weird that he has such broad appeal when he's just as likely to allude to Tony Montana as he is Huey P. Newton or Ivan Van Sertima in his rhymes.
Nas declined to say whether he'd still be rapping in 20 years, though he did offer an assessment on what hip-hop might look like two decades from now.
"It's always going to be youthful expression. It's always going to be a good time. It's always going to be poetry, in the vein of Langston Hughes. At the same time, it's entertaining and party and fun likeLuther Campbell," he said, "but it's always going to just be the youth expressing themselves over the sounds that move people in the best way."
Kind of fitting he referenced a Harlem Renaissance poet and 2 Live Crew in that answer.
Who is the greatest lyricist ever in your opinion?
Philly's top goon Ar-Ab is gearing up for the release of his Mud Musik mixtape. The OBH Records rapper gives fans a taste of what's to come by dropping the official music video for "Mud Musik Intro."
Prod by Nuk Beatz "Da Prime Example" @NukBeatz88tpe Dir By Gil Videos @GilVideosNY
Last Thursday New Orleans emcee Curren$y made a trip to New York to perform in front of a packed house at SOB's. Spitta Andretti brought a few special guests with him on the night as Styles P, Action Bronson, Lupe Fiasco, Mickey Factz, Smoke DZA joined him onstage throughout his set.
Other special guests in the building on the night included Young Jack Thriller and Flatbush Zombies.
Battle tested emcee DNA has closed the book on 2012 and is ready to take on new contenders in 2013. In his latest video blog, DNA announces who he will be battling this year.
DNA's list includes K Shine, Chilla Jones, Arsenal in the UK, Anecdote in Australia, plus battles against opponents to be named later in Colorado and Atlanta.
How do you think DNA will fare against these opponents?
Jersey Shore's JWoww made an appearance alongside side Snooki on New Year's Eve during MTV's "Club NYE." The sexy reality star wore a skin-tight, blue jewel-bedazzled dress.
During one segment JWoww, real name Jennifer Farley, bent over and accidentally exposed her buttocks. Within a day or so a very unflattering picture hit the net reportedly showing the wardrobe malfunction.
The pic went viral and as you can see it makes Jennifer's butt look rather flabby and sick. To prove the pic was photoshopped, Jennifer uploaded two videos showing off her real butt while wearing a pair of lacy black panties.
"To the weirdos who think that's my a$$! I just took a video of my buttocks. Can't photoshop videos," she wrote on Twitter. "My real booty lol make fun of mine not a fake one lol."
Meek Mill and Cassidy are locked in a very entertaining lyrical war. Last night Cass dropped his ten minute "R.A.I.D." diss aimed at his Philadelphia counterpart. Meek didn't wait long to respond on Twitter.
"10mins of fiction ..... And a old ass flow that nobody will never play in a car! #yadone atleast ya got back on da radio #saythanks," Meek wrote. "In about 50days everyone will forget about ya again .... And we still gone b balling! #rememberthistweet lol."
When Meek released his "Repo" diss last month, he said it would be the only time he addressed the conflict on wax. Given the fact that Cass has everyone's attention again, should Meek come back at him with another diss track?
Check out Meek and Cass going in on each other below.
Cassidy bounces back with a new 10 minute diss titled "R.A.I.D. (Robert Ass Is Dead)" aimed at Meek Mill. The Hustla spits over a variety of classic beats while going in.
Meek said "Repo" was the one and only diss song he would make in this war of words, but this might require a reply.
Urban model turned rapper Kimmi Kennedy speaks about celebs like Kim Kardashian and Coco, who say that their booties are real, but Kimmi believes they're lying. She also talks about accompanying a friend to get booty shots in Houston at a hotel, which gave her an up-close look at the procedure.
Yesterday on The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne Tha God awarded his co-host DJ Envy with the "Donkey of the Day" award because he had not been acting like himself lately. Turns out Envy has been having problems at home with his wife.
Envy made a call on air to his wife, Gia, who he's been with for 18 years and apologized to her for not treating her right and neglecting her during her pregnancy
We lost a lot of great people in 2012. Papoose pays tribute to Chris Lighty, Whitney Houston, Don Cornelius, Emanuel Steward, Hector Camacho, Dick Clark, Rodney King, Michael Clarke Duncan, Sherman Hemsley and more in this heartfelt track "Obituary 2012."
Angel Haze releases her second and final diss aimed at Azealia Banks. The two have been feuding Twitter over the last couple of days, but Angel says she's done with the back and forth.
Chris Brown has signed a young lady he hopes will be the next big R&B star in Sevyn Streeter. Yesterday Sevyn stopped by 106 & Park to premiere her new music video for "I Like It."
Host Bow Wow surprised the singer when he brought out Breezy to join her for a chat. Bow asked Chris what advice he would offer Sevyn as her career starts to take off.
"The advice I would give is just to work hard," Chris said. "Every time we're in the studio I tell her just be fearless, and just don't be scared. Her work ethic is beyond amazing, so I kinda learned from her in a way."
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