This came out of nowhere. DJ Envy premiered this track today on New York's 105.1. Not sure where it will end up, but a Juelz Santana mixtape would be nice.
Shouts to Rap Radar on the audio rip
This came out of nowhere. DJ Envy premiered this track today on New York's 105.1. Not sure where it will end up, but a Juelz Santana mixtape would be nice.
Shouts to Rap Radar on the audio rip
Imagine waking up every morning knowing that someone is not only using your government name and life story, but also profiting from them. That's the nightmare Freeway Rick Ross, the former drug kingpin is living.
In his ongoing battle to wrestle his name away from the Miami rapper born William Leonard Roberts II, Freeway Rick was in a Miami court last week, to give his deposition along with Roberts in their trademark dispute over the name Rick Ross according to AllHipHop.
Freeway Rick initially filed a $10 million lawsuit in the United States District for Southern California against Roberts, Def Jam and Universal Music Group accusing them of copyright infringement and profiting off of his name illegally. The case was dismissed.
"In support of his trademark claims, Plaintiff alleges that his name was well known in the drug trade and by law enforcement segments of the urban crime, rap and black comity because he did business as Rick Ross, until he was arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated in federal prison," said the court. "Because this illegal activity cannot be used to establish secondary meaning, such allegations do not provide support for Plaintiff having a valid trademark for his name."
Freeway Rick appealed the case in state court and it is now moving forward.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, Freeway Rick alleges Roberts was initially shook when he thought goons might be coming his way, but now that he sees Freeway Rick doesn't live his life that way anymore he's become disrespectful.
"[He] treated me as if I had done something to him," Ross said. "When he first came to me, he didn't know what position I was going to take, if I was going to send a word out to those young cats out in L.A. or not. That put a little fear in his heart. But now that he knows I'm not carrying it like that, he's a little more courageous right now. "[He] has my name tattooed on his hand."
Freeway Rick has turned his life around and doesn't like the message Roberts is sending kids.
"The first thing that I want to do is I have to help eliminate and erase the mindset that I helped to create," Ross said. "I know I have a lot of work to do, but the first step is to eliminate this guy from going around telling people how great it is to sell drugs."
The case is continuing.
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Tyga is following up on his "Rack City" video with "B*tch Betta Have My Money" off of his 2011 mixtape B*tch I'm The Sh*t. Kurupt Young Gotti and YG are featured.
Photos courtesy of S Dot B Photography.
Spotted at Rap Radar
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Big K.R.I.T.'s free street album 4evaNaDay will serve as a appetizer for the 25-year old Mississippi rapper's debut album. It was originally due to drop on February 20, but has been pushed back to March 5th according to Cinematic Music Group president Jonny Shipes.
In the meantime fans can enjoy the project's first single "Boobie Miles."
"The 1st song I wanted 2 release from #4evaNaDay is called Boobie Miles. Its about over coming all the obstacles that block your dreams, the sacrifices that come with how hard you have to go to obtain your goal, giving your all no matter what the situation, the only difference between a winner N a loser is a winner plays until he wins" - K.R.I.T.
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Man Bites Dog Records are proud to present the latest music video "G$K" from artist Copywrite from his upcoming record "God Save the King Proper English Version".The track features UK artist Dru Blu & fellow Man Bites Dog artist Jason Rose. The track is produced by Stu Bangas. The video is directed by Seanie G, John Hendrickse & RML. Video edited by RML. Song is Mixed by Isaac "Iceman" Romero. Cuts by DJ Drastic
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Diddy had the cameras rolling when DJ Felli Fel played Cassie's new single "King of Hearts" on the radio for the first time.
The song is the lead single off of Cassie's upcoming not yet titled album, and it's obvious from the clip that she is really excited about the project. Also check out the full CDQ of the track below.
Cassie hears "King of Hearts" on the radio for the first time
Cassie "King of Hearts" CDQ
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When Nate Dogg died in March 2011 he left behind a $300,000 medical bill at a treatment facility he stayed in from 2008-2010 after suffering a massive stroke.
CareMeridian rehabilitation facilities sued Nate's estate and a record label owner named David Michery to recoup the costs. A judge agreed with CareMeridian and ordered the bill be paid by Michery and Nate's estate.
Michery tells TMZ he originally agreed to pay the bill in 2010 only because "none of Nate's so-called rapper friends" would help. Michery claims that CareMeridian told him Nate's life depended on him getting the rehabilitation they could provide.
"I was the only person who would come forward because I didn’t want him to die," Michery told TMZ. "Me and Nate have 20 years history together and I did what everyone should have done and tried to save his life ... not let him get kicked out in the streets and die. I would do it again in a minute. I just wish that the people he looked out for all these years and the people who claim to love him so much would help out."
Michery says he owns several unreleased Nate Dogg songs, and will sell those to pay off his medical bills.
One of Nate's good industry friends was rapper/producer Warren G. He denies turning his back on the singer.
"I rode with Nate 'til the end," Warren said. "I did what I could do for him with other things financially. If I was able to pay for his hospital bill, I would have. I made several calls to numerous people for help. I love Nate ... he's my brother."
TMZ said they called several other rapper who were supposed to be close to Nate and didn't get a reply back.
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Flo Rida teams up with Australian singer Sia for "Wild Ones." The video is basically Flo Rida having as much fun as humanly possible. Skydyving, club hopping, river boating, all with a bevy of beautiful women at his side.
The song is off of his upcoming album Only 1 Rida (Part 2).
Video directed by Erik White
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The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has been hosting rap music star Curtis 50 Cent Jackson, on a field visit to Somalia and Kenya to see at first hand the fight against hunger in the Horn of Africa.
NAIROBI Jackson flew yesterday to Dolow in Somalia’s southern border region, where thousands of women and children have taken refuge at Kabasa camp for displaced people fleeing from drought and conflict. He saw women and children being screened for malnutrition, and visited a nearby school.
"What I am seeing is devastating -- these women and children have risked everything to come to this Somalia camp, just to get food,” he said. “They need our help.”
Jackson today visited a school in a Nairobi slum where he met children, many of them orphans.
“To meet those kids was so inspiring, they have nothing, yet they are so positive and optimistic. I want to do my part so they get food and an education. I hope more people will join me to help end this devastating situation," he said.
In September, Jackson made a public commitment to provide one billion meals for the hungry. As part of his fundraising drive, he is donating to WFP money from the sales of a new energy drink, called Street King. For every unit sold, he has pledged to donate 10 U.S. cents, which covers the typical cost of food in a WFP meal.
WFP provides nourishing meals and snacks to improve concentration in the classroom and to encourage families to enrol and keep their children in school.
Via WFP
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There's no questioning the fact that Maino is one of the "realest" rappers in the game today. His track record speaks for itself. Coming from the mean streets of Brooklyn and having served a decade in prison, it's been an adjustment for the "Hand of God" when it comes to his recording career.
Having matured, toured and recorded with various artists, Maino says that he realizes now that younger fans of hip hop don't place as much emphasis on "being real" as they did a decade ago.
"Nobody cares about how real you are. Nobody cares about authenticity. Nobody cares about that it seems like," Maino told This Is The Dream in a recent interview. "At the end of the day the music just has to be good. The fact that I may be authentic, the most realistic, the person who really did it/done it/from it doesn't resonate as much as it would have maybe 10 years ago when the game was more based on that. I get it, these kids growing up they're not really relating to that. You got kids that listen to music now they don't relate to what it is that I'm expressing if I'm talking to the street. They may relate to like a Mac Miller. That's something totally different. I understand it. I may not relate to all of it because they're having fun, they're in college, they're having parties. That's not something that I actually relate to. But I get it...I respect it."
Check out the rest of the interview below and make sure you pick up Maino's new album, The Day After Tomorrow, when it drops February 28th.
Shouts to HipHopWired
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Fred The Godson hops on Common's instrumental for "Blue Sky" and goes in with some help from New York's Power105 radio station DJ Self.
Video directed by Taya Simmons
Prodigy's H.N.I.C. 3 mixtape is about to drop on February 20th. Check out the latest Havoc produced, Cory Gunz assisted leak from the project.
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Comedian Will Ferrell got a shot to announce the starting lineups Wednesday night at the Chicago Bulls/ New Orleans Hornets basketball game. I don't know how he kept a straight face, but he did as he introduced each player adding jokes like "he's a scorpio and a horrible dancer" to each of their bio's.
Check it out below
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French Montana and the Coke Boys invade Power 99's Cosmic Kev show and spit a freestyle
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It's not often we see a rapper leave a label only to return a couple of years later, but that is exactly what happened in the case of Baltimore's Los.
Los was signed to Bad Boy Records from 2005-2008, but lost his deal after the imprint he was signed through, Bloc Incorporated, disbanded.
Fast forward four year's later and Los rejoins a Bad Boy roster that includes French Montana, Cassie, Red Cafe and Machine Gun Kelly.
"It's time for a whole new movement. So we got [Machine Gun Kelly], French Montana, Red Café; we got Cassie," Diddy told MTV recently. "We also have a new artist named Los that we signed. It's official. We're trying to put that young, youthful energy out in the air and do it the only way that Bad Boy can do it."
Check out Diddy officially welcoming Los back to the Bad Boy team in the video below.
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Suge Knight is in trouble with the law once again.
TMZ is reporting that the former Death Row Records boss was arrested in Las Vegas yesterday (February 8).
According to the report, Knight was stopped for making an unsafe lane change in his black Bentley. When cops ran his plates they found several warrants out for his arrest for traffic violations. A subsequent search turned up a small amount of weed.
Suge was arrested, booked, then released, but he could face further trouble because he is on 3 years unsupervised probation for driving with a suspended license.
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Shade 45's Sway in the Morning show is turning into a really good spot to catch interviews and musical performances. The show is filmed, then uploaded to Sway's youtube channel where fans can watch Devi Dev and Sway chop it with everyone from new school rappers like Astro to legends like Erick Sermon.
E. Sermon was the latest guest on the show, and he had some very interesting takes on hip hop. With so many different types of rap acts, Sermon feels like it should be broken down into more than one category.
"The whole thing is...look at rock and roll. Rock and roll respects their craft like hip hop respects our craft. You got some artists who don't know how to express like I can because I recognize what's in and what was before. This is not my era. I don't write songs to compete in this era," Sermon said. "Sade came out and sold 546,000 pieces. Her fans bought that. The young people don't know who she is and she still managed to sell all them records because of what...she was Sade and the fans are still there. But when you have these other genres like Britney Spears or [Christina] Aguilera. A rock and roll person don't wanna see them in that category. They wanna see them in their own lane, which is pop. Or Blink 182 will be alternative rock or punk rock. Or when wanna put soft rock in there with Maroon 5, but they won't put them in rock and roll. But they put everything hip hop in that one umbrella. They'll throw TLC in there, they'll throw Mary J. Blige in there. They'll throw whatever in hip hop because that's the one genre without having categories. Why is that?"
Sermon then broke down how he would categorize hip hop.
"I feel like the underground should have underground, the opposite of hip hop which is kick, snare, samples, beat and the conversation of a hip hop artist is either lyricism or either message," he explained. "Then you have the party [rappers] which Lil Jon would have called crunk at the time. But then you got the south. They running [things] for 14 years. That's them...you gotta give them their own music lane. So it won't conflict with Kendrick Lamar who's a spitter. They call him because he's new, but he really don't belong on records with certain people, he's a rhymer. You have to put Machine Gun Kelly--him and Waka they're stage divers. They're kinda like heavy hip hop so put them in a heavy rap category like heavy metal. Again rock's got all types of stuff going on. Just the fact that we can have a balance."
Erick Sermon says rap needs more categories + performs "Gold Diggers"
Erick Sermon speaks on the making of "Music" & performs it
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After reaching double platinum status for the runaway smash hit single "N*ggas In Paris," The Throne finally release official visuals for it.
The clip features footage from their December 2011 Vancouver concert where they played the song an incredible eleven times in a row,
Peep the video below.
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Mama Jones gets in on the family music business by releasing a video for "Pyschotic." The song is the perfect tie-in to her "Psychotic " t-shirts and condoms with the tag line “Mama says never leave home without it.”
According to VH1 her face will not be featured on the condom packaging.
“No, I don’t know who wants to get off with my face on the condom," she said in December.
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DJ Holiday recruits Shawty Lo, Gucci Mane and Alley Boy for "Right Now." Tnhe track is featured on Holiday's mixtape, Holiday Season 4.
Produced by Southside
Directed By Blind Folks Vision Films