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2 Chainz pays homage to suspended New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez on his new joint entitled "A-Rod." French Montana lends vocal assistance. The track was produced by Young Chop.

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CTE World artists Doughboyz Cashout release an official music video for "Rich N*gga Nation." Directed by Joseph McFashion. This is off of the group's We Run the City 4 mixtape. Grab it for free from Datpiff http://www.datpiff.com/Doughboyz-Cashout-We-Run-The-City-Vol-4-mixtape.583598.html.

Fat Trel releases a new freestyle over the instrumental to Drake's song "Too Much." Take a listen and download here http://www.audiomack.com/song/paperchaserdotcom/too-much-gleesh-mix.

Follow Fat Trel on Twitter

https://twitter.com/FATTREL

Remember when @JimBrownNFL32 took heat for blasting @kobebryant? Jim knew what he was talking about. Kobe is clueless about #TrayvonMartin.

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) March 27, 2014

Kobe Bryant was interviewed by the New Yorker for their April 4 issue. He was critical of a 2012 photo showing Lebron James and the Miami Heat wearing hoodies in support of Trayvon Martin.

#WeAreTrayvonMartin #Hoodies #Stereotyped #WeWantJustice http://t.co/tH6baAVo

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 23, 2012

"I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American,” he said. “That argument doesn’t make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African-American we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we’ve progressed as a society? Well, we’ve progressed as a society, then don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right? So I won’t assert myself."

Kobe's comments were immediately criticized by news correspondent Roland Martin.

Roland Martin

"The @MiamiHEAT didn't defend #trayvonmartin because he was Black. It was the ASSUMPTION of guilty due to wearing a hoodie," Martin wrote. "So when has @kobebryant EVER asserted himself on any social justice issue? Please shoot me the evidence. It's seriously lacking. Let's just call it what it is: @kobebryant went to the Michael Jordan School of Don't Say Jack, Don't Do Jack. Just Cash Checks. Man, please. So @kobebryant says, "Let the facts come out." How many folks jumped to his defense when he was accused of rape? Yea, I went there. Do I need to remind @kobebryant about his defenders when he was facing a long prison sentence for rape? Did the @NewYorker ask that? And @kobebryant, the ONLY reason we even got all the facts in a court case was because of the protests. Does this dude have a brain?"

JUST NOW on @tvonetv: Ben @attorneycrump says Trayvon Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin & @SybrinaFulton were hurt by @kobebryant’s comments.

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) March 28, 2014

The L.A. Lakers star reached out to Martin by phone and the reporter softened his stance.

"My nearly 20-minute chat with @kobebryant was not an interview. It was a chat between two folks who saw this issue differently," Martin explained to his Twitter followers. "@kobebryant said it would be good for folks to know that we talked & that we found common ground even in disagreement. @kobebryant said we need lightning rods in our society & he's more than willing to do that, & isn't ruled by corporate interests."

Kobe also responded today via Twitter.

Travon Martin was wronged THATS my opinion and thats what I believe the FACTS showed. The system did not work #myopinion #tweetURthoughts

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 27, 2014

What's your take on this controversy?

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I am disgusted and hurt about the pictures that have been posted for the world. Those were private pictures to a loved one. I dnt kno how

— Rachel/Snider/Owens (@rachel24Q) March 27, 2014

The bizarre story of Terrell Owens and his 33-year old estranged wife Rachel Snider just took another strange twist. A Twitter account, which has since been taken down, posted several nude photos of Snider. She says the pics were only sent to Owens, but she's not blaming him for the leak.

Let me be clear! Just because I sent pics to someone does not mean he leaked them. He has had phones stolen, movers recently. Etc..

— Rachel/Snider/Owens (@rachel24Q) March 28, 2014

The couple's relationship has been rocky to say the least. As we reported back in February, Snider filed for divorce from the 40-year old former NFL star after only two weeks of marriage. She claims he used her to secure a loan on a $2 million home in Sherman Oaks, California.

"I felt in love and now I feel betrayed and heartbroken," Snider said at the time. "I really valued his love and friendship for 5 years. Out of the love in my heart, I tried to help him. We had a secret relationship for 5 years and I married him for love."

Since then it's been reported that she tried to commit suicide and had to be hospitalized.

Take a look at some of the censored leaked photos below.

Click here to see uncensored photos

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DARRINGTON, Wash. (Associated Press) — There is only one way searchers are narrowing the list of 90 people still missing seven days after a landslide obliterated the mountain community of Oso: by digging.

There are no more phone calls being made out of the Snohomish County Emergency Operations Center to determine whether some on the list were away and just haven't checked in since Saturday morning's slide. No house checks in nearby neighborhoods to see if someone may have been missed.

That left authorities to prepare the public for an announcement Friday morning that the official death toll was set to rise from 17. They previously acknowledged at least another nine bodies had been located but not yet recovered.

Family members have reported additional fatalities but authorities were carefully coordinating with the National Guard and the county medical examiner's office to process the bodies that have been recovered.

"We understand there has been confusion over the reported number of fatalities," Snohomish County District 21 Fire Chief Travis Hots said Thursday night in a statement. "This has been a challenging process for all of us."

"That number is going to likely change very, very much tomorrow morning," Hots said at a Thursday evening news briefing.

In nearly the same breath, he continued to insist the searchers may still find survivors, though that belief appeared to be waning.

"I want to brace everybody that the chance is very slim," Hots said. "But we haven't given up."

The possibility that dozens more people may be buried in the debris pile besides the 26 bodies already found has the potential to place Oso, with a total population of about 180, among the worst tragedies in Washington state history.

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens killed 57 people and a 1910 avalanche near Stevens Pass swept away two trains and killed 96.

"We do know this could end up being the largest mass loss of Washingtonians," Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday. "We're looking for miracles to occur."

Besides the 90 missing, authorities are checking into 35 other people who may or may not have been in the area at the time of the slide. A group of people with the county emergency operations center is now making calls to eliminate that more-speculative list, said Marybeth O'Leary, a spokeswoman for the emergency operations center.

"They are names that are not complete names," she said. "They're things like 'I work with a guy named Bill, he didn't show up to work today.'"

The governor has asked for more federal assistance, saying $4.5 million was expected to be spent on the response to the mudslide. Inslee's request was to expand Monday's federal emergency declaration that provided response teams and equipment.

Rain fell on the searchers Thursday, but the water levels on the eastern side of the slide area receded and uncovered flattened homes and crushed cars that previously had been inaccessible. An inch more was in the forecast for Friday.

Boats searched the area with dogs and crews inserted underwater cameras into vehicles to see if anybody was inside. Excavators pulled one car out of the muck, but it was unclear if they had discovered anybody inside.

The searchers walked on plywood pathways to keep from sinking into the sucking slurry. The moisture made the already treacherous surface even more unstable for workers exhausted after days of searching.

"If you could imagine houses, trees and a bunch of mud put in a blender, run for a bit and dumped back on the ground, that's what it looks like," said Washington National Guard Master Sgt. Chris Martin.

It's not only the people who are showing signs of strain.

The dogs leading searchers to possible human remains can sense stress, incident spokesman Bob Calkins said. They also can become bored by the repetition, and their handlers must take them away from the work area for a time, he said

"The real key is for the handlers to stay positive, because stress on the part of the handlers goes right down the leash to the dogs," Calkins said.

The county medical examiner's office has so far formally identified five victims: Christina Jefferds, 45, of Arlington; Stephen A. Neal, 55, of Darrington; Linda L. McPherson, 69, of Arlington; Kaylee B. Spillers, 5, of Arlington and William E. Welsh, 66, of Arlington.

The body of Jefferds' granddaughter, 4-month-old Sanoah Huestis, was found Thursday, said Dale Petersen, the girl's great-uncle.

Petersen said he arrived on the scene to help look for survivors to find that work had stopped. A firefighter informed him and others that the infant had been found, Petersen said.

He said the news provides closure for the family.

"We spent a lot of time together," he said of the baby girl.

Five people injured by the mudslide remain in a Seattle hospital, including a 5-month-old boy in critical condition.

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Radio legend Troi Torain (STAR) always delivers hard-hitting objective truth. As a culture critic he is vicious, as a businessman he is relentless, as a luminary he is un-matched.

Considered a radio pioneer by many, STAR has set precedents on the urban landscape and was recently inducted into News One's "Top 20 Black Radio Jockeys Of All Time."

STAR & BUC WILD made the national stage on MTV (1999) but it was their radio show on New York's Hot 97 and Power 105 (2000 - 2006) that secured their place in Hip-Hop history.

Torain's resume includes The Source magazine, MTV Networks, Hot 97, Power 104.1, Power 105.1, Pulse 87, Hip-Hop Weekly magazine, Vladtv, Thisis50, 100.3 The Beat, shot97.com and VH1 (The Gossip Game).

This clip is from STAR's LIVE show (12noon -- 2pm) on http://shot97.com.

Media relations — thehater1964@yahoo.com

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An altercation led to a shootout between Atlanta rap group Migos and an unknown party Friday morning, March 28, in Miami.

The group, consisting and rappers Quavo, Takeoff and Offset, were scheduled to perform at Club Iguana in Broward County. A disagreement led to them leaving without performing.

While en route back to their hotel at 3:30 a.m. a car pulled alongside their van and opened fire. One of the group members returned fire. During the shootout one of the group's bodyguard was hit in the leg. He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital.

"They were supposed to be performing at Cafe Iguanas in Broward and apparently for whatever reason there was an altercation or disagreement with management and they didn't perform, so as they were driving southbound on I-95, according to the witnesses in the van, a dark vehicle pulled along side them and opened fire," Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Joe Sanchez told WVSN 7 News. "A member of the group was in possession of his personal handgun and he returned fire."

Migos is best known for their hit record "Versace." This story is still developing.

Photo Sources: CBS Miami, WPLG, WVSN



**UPDATE**

Migos' manager spoke with TMZ and denied an earlier report that a bodyguard was shot this morning. He says the bodyguard drove to the hospital because he thought someone in the van might have been hit, but luckily nobody was. He did acknowledge that the group returned fire.

"There was at least 40 rounds being blasted on those n*ggas," he said.

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Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V album won't arrive in stores on May 5, as previously expected. Weezy's manager Cortez Bryant recently spoke with Never Not Dope TV and revealed the news.

“You know I push dates back and shit, so I’m not gonna release that date until I really, really, really know what it really, really, really is,” Cortez said.

The highly anticipated project is still due out this year. We'll update you when the new release date is announced

Spotted at Rap-Up

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Thank you to #rio & #brazil for being an inspiration for my song for #rio2!! "What is love"

— Janelle Monae (@JanelleMonae) March 28, 2014

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Janelle Monae was a musical guest on American Idol Thursday, March 27, and she didn't disappoint. The Kansas singer delivered a high energy performance of her song "What Is Love," off of the Rio 2 motion picture soundtrack.

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Alley Boy revisits his Alley Shakur: The Soul of a Runaway Slave mixtape and releases an official music video for "No Problems" featuring K. Smith. Download the project now from Datpiff http://www.datpiff.com/Alley-Boy-Alley-Shakur-The-Soul-Of-A-Runaway-Slave-mixtape.584216.html

As told to Jennifer Vineyard

 

I was listening to pretty much everything that came out. In those days, hip-hop was just New York City–based music. There were things coming out of secondary markets, but it wasn’t a lot. N.O.R.E. was hot, Noreaga, and Nas, and Mobb Deep. They had material out at that point that was really influential to the culture. I saw KRS-One perform, and he was my favorite artist. I forget what venue it was in but I remember, we couldn’t get in! When we finally did, it was worth it. I think the two best crews in music at the time were the Juice Crew from Queens and Boogie Down Productions out of the Bronx. When I went to see KRS-One, “The Bridge Is Over” was more aggressive. It was kind of like, Whoa! Hold up. The album was called Criminal Minded, and it had the grit, the hard edge, the energy that lives in the Bronx, that lives in all inner cities. That was the first time I had listened to a whole piece that was written that way and was New York City–based. I had already listened to N.W.A.’s music that gave us an imaginary tour of Compton—imaginary to me at that point, because I hadn’t been outside of New York City. There was a competition between KRS and MC Shan at that point, and that was a big deal. Whoever was into hip-hop culture was into that. KRS-One was my hero, hands down! There was a point in the song where he said, “Manhattan keeps on making it/ Brooklyn keeps on taking it/ Bronx keeps creating it/Queens keeps on faking it,” and I’m from Queens! Every time that part came on, I felt like I wasn’t supposed to like this. But I liked it so much! Every time he said that, I was like, Oh, no!”

 

 

I was lucky enough to meet Jam Master Jay in front of a nightclub in New York City, called Bentley’s. It was a club they actually used to broadcast from live inside, and I was just driving. I had just made it to the point where I had a nice vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz 400SE. I had a Nets jersey on, so he thought I was Kenny Anderson! He spoke to me, and then we went into the place with him, and he started to tell me what he wanted to do with his label, and I told him, “Me? I rap.” At that point, I hadn’t actually ever ­recorded a song professionally. I had rapped on the local mix, from a DJ in my neighborhood who lived two blocks away from me.

 

 

Two days later, I met him in Rosedale, and he gave me a cassette tape that had a beat that he had made on it, and I wrote to it and recorded a piece in his studio. So he was like, “Yo, it sounds good. But where’s the hook?” And I was like, “That part right there,” because there was a repetitive point in the song. I didn’t have any song structure. I didn’t know how to count bars. I knew a chorus was supposed to be on a song, so I put that area where it was repetitive, but there wasn’t a four-bar chorus, or an eight-bar chorus that would have things that you would remember. So he actually started to teach me how to write music. He gave me writing habits, because he would have me write the chorus three times before he picked one. It gave me the habit as a writer to up with more than one melody for the record. So on “P.I.M.P.,” you’ll hear the chorus area, and then you’ll hear an area that feels like a bridge on the record, but that’s out of the habit that I write two or three melodies on every song. It’s like what Jay would say to me, “That’s good, but if it is what we think it is, you need another one.”

 

Then I ended up going to work with Cory Rooney, who produced Jennifer Lopez’s albums. It was him and Markie from the Fat Boys. They were at the barbershop and I gave them my tape. He started playing it, and the phone rang and he got kind of distracted while the music was playing. And after he was done, Markie was like, “I think it’s cool.” I got all mad, all old school. I felt like they didn’t really hear it, they didn’t know what it was. “Give me my tape, man.” He heard it, though. I didn’t realize he could multitask. “You ain’t old school. Give me my tape. Let me get out of here.” And I left. And then he called in the middle of the night and was like, “Yo, want to go to Bearsville, to upstate New York?” There was a recording facility where the Trackmasters had created an area where they were producing all kinds of records. It was Tone, Poke from the Trackmasters, and all these producers, so it was heaven to me when I got there. I recorded 36 records in 18 days. It was like a camp that they created. There were no distractions, really. It was just music, just music, just music.

 

 

When I found myself approaching the actual release date of my record, How to Rob was something out of desperation. There was no plan B. The music absolutely had to work. So when Columbia Records didn’t quite understand what I was trying to do as an artist, I saw myself still moving steadily toward an album release date. The major record companies, sometimes they’ll have developed an outline of what is appropriate for an artist for a launch, and if you don’t have specifics, they just spend the money. So time goes by and you look at the budget, and you go, “Good Lord, we spent how much money?” You won’t believe how much money you spent when it’s been dragging along. “I spent how much money on car services? I could have took the train! What the fuck!” They were spending it in pieces, and you look back and you say, “Damn, they spent a whole lot of money, and there’s no momentum.” They ended up taking the song and putting it on a soundtrack, the In Too Deep movie soundtrack, because they wanted to put the hottest things they had at the time on it. And I still had to figure out what was next, for the actual album. Actually, me and Beyoncé had a song called “Thug Love” which I recorded in ’98, and that was the next single on schedule for me to actually shoot the video. It was on schedule right before I got shot, so we never actually created the visual.

 

 

Following Tupac and Biggie, it was almost taboo for you to mention an artist’s name on a record. So all the artists were still competing, but they was doing it subliminally, without actually saying the artist’s name. So when I came with the How to Rob record, it impacted. What How to Rob did was it put me in the culture. It wasn’t the kind of hit record that would change your financial position, but it was the kind of hit record that made everyone take note of me. They were like, “Whoa! Who is this new guy, and he’s saying everybody’s name! He don’t care about nothing!”

 

 

Hip-hop, everybody who’s doing it has been influenced by New York. Kids all over the world are inspired to be writers by hip-hop music culture grown here in New York. My whole first record is New York. If you ask an artist like Nas or Jay Z, why do people always say the first album is the best album, and they’ll give you an answer like, “Your whole life is your first record.” Your second record is after things start to become a little successful, finances and confidence level increasing so you become more attractive. The female energy shifts. It changes your attraction level. A woman can be born that attractive. A man has to become successful and be publicly noted, because stability is attractive. Then he can become her equal. A lot of stuff in music is not new. Before I showed up, there was DMX, and the energy surrounding his material was aggressive and darker. And following DMX’s success, they started singing records. They were selling a lot of records with music that had really soft content. Content-wise, it was very similar to what happens now when you get artists like Drake, because it’s still relationship-based content, but he does it in a real witty way. So when it cycles back, it will be time to go back to something that’s hard. Hip-hop has turned into a traditional genre of music. When I fell in love with it, it was a little more competitive, and more like a sport. You’d have a response to someone else’s hit record. It was a battle of how good an artist or a MC are you. They put a hit out, and you let that inspire you to find something special to put out in response. That’s what kept it alive at that point. I think nowadays, hip-hop is pop culture. It’s so broad that everything is a part of our culture.  

 

*This article appeared in the March 24, 2014 issue of New York Magazine.

 

Source: Vulture

 

 

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Skyy High.Ent.LLC Presents @Skyyhigh_Duly New Music Video Directed by @CokeboyHeffty Off of American Greed Mixtape Witch You Can Download at DatPiff.com Now http://www.datpiff.com/L-Duly-America...

@SkyyHigh_Duly
@SkyyhighBirdy
@SkyyHighNation
@SkyyHighSnatcheez

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Sean Kingston fell victim to the repo man Wednesday night, March 26, in Hollywood, California. The singer's white Bentley was valet parked in front of the Mandarin Hotel when it was spotted by a tow truck driver on a mission.

Within minutes the car was being hauled off. Sean and his crew tried to argue that payments on the vehicle were current, but the repo crew wasn't having it.

Sean left the hotel without his ride. He was spotted later at a club in another ride.

Sean Kingston -- Loses His Bentley to the Repo Man

Sean Kingston - after Repo

Source: TMZ

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Virginia Artist, Zeek P has been putting on with his Virginia to Philly movement for some time and now he is back to steal the spotlight repping VA to PA. Shortly after his release from Prince William Detention Center the young prodigy is prepping his upcoming and third mixtape with DJ Drama "Surrender The Game" 

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The video for “Bown Down” was shot guerrilla style while Deniro Farrar enjoyed a strong showing at SXSW in Austin, TX just two weeks ago. The video cuts through clips of Deniro and Denzel in the back streets and alleyways of Austin to their energetic performances. Deniro performed eight shows over the course of three days at the Brisk Bodega stage, Pitchfork Party, House of Aura and more. Deniro commands full attention when he’s on stage, delivering powerful live performances by pouring all his energy in engaging the crowd.

After multiple impressive live performances, VIBE Magazine claimed Deniro is one of the three artists to watch after SXSW with additional positive feedback coming from the likes of Global Grind to Rolling Stone. “Deniro is the rare rapper who's pretty much guaranteed to win people over with his live show,” said Noisey.

"We came through SXSW and killed every stage! Excited to be gearing up for my Rebirth EP coming in May,” said Deniro Farrar. “I have a lot of dope visuals like this I plan on dropping between now and then so stay tuned!"

Deniro’s debut EP Rebirth on VICE Records / Warner Bros Records, scheduled for May 20^th, comes after years of imposing, hard-hitting lyrics on a series of mixtapes and organic growth in creating his “Cult Rap” following. With his consistent lineup of mixtapes, The Patriarch, The Patriarch II, Kill Or Be Killed, Destiny Altered, Feel This and other projects, Deniro made his stamp on the hip hop world, having earned recognition from XXL Magazine as a “Freshmen Cover” nominee to Stereogum and Pitchfork.

Additionally, Deniro will be joining “The Old Danny Brown Tour” on the following dates:

Friday, April 11: Charlottesville, VA at The Jefferson Theater – click here for ticket info
Saturday, April 12:  Carboro, NC at Cat’s Cradle – click here for ticket info
Sunday, April 13: Columbus, Ohio at A&R Bar – click here for ticket info

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