The hip hop heads should already be familiar with the ATL’s Stat Quo, who was a rapper I first heard a few yrs ago and liked everything he was droppin. He is still with Shady/Aftermath from what I heard, but his debut album, Statlanta, has been constantly delayed and while it has apparently been completed for awhile, the label has yet 2 release it. The song above is Stat telling that story, along with other stories about his journey in the industry, Proof’s death, & more! Some pretty heartfelt lyrics attracted me right away on the 1st listen and reminded me why I liked Stat Quo in the first place. So if ur a big hip hop head, def give Stat a chance and DL 2day’s feature track above! Below, plenty more hip hop and R&B.. some thoughts on the trax below… Twista kills “The Business RMX”, Songz kills the hook on “Love For Money”, & I’m tryin’ 2 love Chris Brown’s “Captive”, but its slightly disturbing me that the song is in fact written in a girl’s perspective (a demo for the Pussycat Dolls… I can see Nicole S. on that Polow beat makin’ the radio for sure…). There’s also a couple videos featuring more from hip hop with Kidz In The Hall & Skillz! Enjoy!
FULL, Limited DJ, RMX over Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth’s “T.R.O.Y.” *Tibs Fav.™
Thx 2 our aff. 2dopeboyz (ironic, huh?) for the above track and pic as Lupe, Wale, & Kardinal Offishall rhyme over the classic Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth “T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You)”! Lupe’s verse has been out for over a year already - it was featured on the 2007 mixtape, Sneakerboxx/The Laces Below, but it is mashed into a full song w/ Wale’s and Offishall’s verses (not sure if they are recycled also..)! One of my favorite all-time beats and the rappers don’t disappoint… MUST-DL above! Down below, some more hip hop featuring Yung Berg, Naledge (Of Kidz In The Hall), Lil’ Wayne, & MORE! Enjoy!
Jazmine Sullivan is an R&B singer and a RMX f/ mega stars T.I. & Missy Elliott has surfaced for her song “Need You Bad”. I’m not big on Missy at all, but this song is a nice one that touches a chord w/ me with Jazmine’s nice voice and T.I.’s slow flow, yet solid lyrics (and slow flow can be good as u should kno..) More R&B that deals w/ boys & girls can be found below, including a nice lil’ slow jam from Ne-Yo, a solid new-age R&B track by Mario Winans and of course, some hip hop w/ Naledge showin’ his intelligence in a freestyle. Of course there’s more trax below that u may like, along w/ some video interviews w/ Lil’ Wayne, LL Cool J, a Snoop Dogg featured video, and behind the scenes w/ Donnie Klang & Diddy (u kno.. if MTB is not enough of an inside look into their lives, haha!) Enjoy!
FULL, CDQ, Rumored track off upcoming album, Ryan Leslie*Tibs Fav.™
Above are a couple nice, nice trax from the boy R. Les as he comes thru with another R&B jam as the lyrics is the component that stands out on “Wanna Be Good”. He also remixes his own song with the “I.R.I.N.A. RMX”, showcasing his rap skills over a neat lil beat that features some beat boxing! And yes, he has them - he was a Harvard prodigy and can pretty much do everything, haha. I like both trax that are a nice addition 2 ur library. Down below, check out some more trax and vids featuring Lloyd, Ciara, Nas, T.I., & plenty more, just be sure 2 scroll down and don’t miss anything in the post! (Shouts 2 Urban Music for some of the exclusives!) Enjoy!
Dem Franchise Boyz “Mr. Feel Good” f/ Mannie Fresh
VIDEO PREMIERE!
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Naledge (Of Kidz In The Hall).. Mugshot, haha.
“Double O from the hip hop group Kidz In The Hall was assaulted by several bouncers early Saturday morning, July 26, while inside a nightclub in Tempe, AZ following a Kidz In The Hall performance. Group member and friend Naledge, who did not witness the assault on Double O, was arrested outside of the club. Naledge’s attempt to get medical assistance for Double O was misconstrued as a hinderence to the investigation. Reports that no injuries were sustained are false as Double O was taken to the hospital with multiple injuries from the excessive force used by club security. On Sunday morning Double O underwent surgery for one of his injuries. He is still in the hospital, but in stable condition.” (Thx 2 Matt C. for the e-mail!)
The story above pretty much explains it and altho Naledge seems happy (in the mugshot, I’m sure not in general), we hope Double-O can make a speedy recovery and that the incident was nothing more than a misunderstanding. Finally, our affiliate - Hip Hop Honey - is releasing a free hip hop magazine - the details can be viewed below!
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***Added some Nas performance videos from the event below!***
From Left 2 Right: Sgt. Tibs, stic.man of Dead Prez, & Max G.
Jay Electronica & Max G.
S-Preme & Max G.
Immortal Technique
Rakim
Method Man & Redman
Redman
Mos Def
Nas
A Tribe Called Quest
The 2008 Rock The Bells tour kicked off in Chicago this past Saturday on July 19th with a bevy of artists taking stage at the First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre. Artists and legends like Kidz In The Hall, Jay Electronica, Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Rakim, De La Soul, Method Man & Redman, and Mos Def, The Pharcyde, Nas, and A Tribe Called Quest provided a concert of live, raw hip hop lasting nearly half a day! All the artists brought their own style and entertainment to the stage so there was never really a time to drift off and take a break. Some notable highlights and characteristics from the performances were the passion and clarity of the messages from Immortal Technique, the high-octane energy Method Man & Redman came with to ignite the crowd to another level (even stage-diving), Mos Def’s incredibly slick acapellas, Nas’ entire set, especially his “One Mic” finale, & finally the best moment for me - The Pharcyde performing one of my all-time favorite jams “Runnin’”, enhanced by the live energy by all four MCs and the live drums and instruments. One critique of ours was that Nas should have closed the concert because his buzz is at the highest with his recent release of Untitled and the hip hop legend had the crowd in the biggest frenzy of the night. No disrespect to A Tribe Called Quest, who were great in their own right as well, but we noticed the crowd was not as into them as they were with Nas. Again, “One Mic” was an excellent closing song to Nas’ set and would have been a perfect cap off for the entire day of real hip hop performances. We would have also liked to see artists like Dead Prez and Kidz In The Hall later on in the bill as the crowd was still filing in well into the early evening. We had a great time chillin’ with our friends, GWHH ‘Return Of The MC’ Contest winner S-Preme, and even some of the artists who were in and out of the SanDisk VIP lounge! Much love to Ronda & SanDisk for the hookups!
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Nas LIVE @ Rock The Bells Chicago (Pt. 1)
(Check for Tibs in the gray Cubs hat snappin’ some pics around 3:45!)
Nas LIVE @ Rock The Bells Chicago (Pt. 2)
(Check for Max G. & Jay Electronica with his cane around 4:30!)
8 Min. Track with 30 second samples of every track off the upcoming album, Back To The Lyrics*Tibs Fav.™
First off, congrats 2 S-Preme for winning our first contest up above! Definitely worth checkin’ out cuz the young Chicago rapper kills the Mr. Music beat! As for 2day’s update, Bullet came thru with an album sampler, which is a sweet concept of 30 second snippets of every track from the album, which will be released July 29th!!! It all sounds good, with the snippet at around 4:50 sounding real promising! Down below, a bunch of hip hop for ya ears featuring Naledge from Kidz In The Hall with a sick freestyle, even dropping Utah Jazz coach, Jerry Sloan, haha. Also below are a couple unreleased trax from Talib Kweli, the Sean Bell Tribute featuring various rappers, the latest single featuring T-Pain as he collaborates with Yung Berg, & a sweet Usher snippet as well! Finally, get psyched b/c Lupe himself announced CRS will start filming a music video starting Wednesday! We bout 2 see some fireworks from Lu, ‘Ye, & Skateboard P! Enjoy!
Producer: Drumma Boy - FULL, CDQ, Rumored track off upcoming album, Paper Trail*Tibs Fav.™
Happy Independence Day with a TON of NEW trax, including the latest from T.I.P. up above.. He goes a lil’ slow flow on the chorus, trying 2 recapture some “What You Know” magic, and I think it is effective on first-listen, but we’ll see how long that lasts. It is a quality track that the T.I. fans should enjoy and it could very well be the first single off Paper Trail. Down below, u gotta DL a couple trax from Chicago artists - Naledge & Malik Yusef. The Malik Yusef is pretty much a spoken word and it’s pretty cool. Both are MUST-DLs. And finally, check out the boatload of NEW R&B trax (in large part, thanks 2 Urban Music) featuring Ne-Yo, Trey Songz, Lloyd, Mario, Bobby Valentino, & MORE! I still need more listens, but on first listen.. Mario “Do For Love” & Trey Songz “High Definition” I’m really feelin’. We’ll see how that develops over time, but u should judge for yourself and DL above & below, in addition 2 a couple videos f/ Mariah Carey, T.I., & The Cool Kids at the bottom! Enjoy!
Kidz In The Hall: Double-O (The Producer) & Naledge (The MC)
Gowhere Hip Hop is proud to present another EXCLUSIVE interview as I was privileged enough to talk to both members of Kidz In The Hall - Double-O & Chicago’s own, Naledge! Both members had some very interesting things to say about the creative process behind their work, influences in hip hop and elsewhere, the success of “Drivin’ Down The Block”, & their endorsement of likely Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama! It is definitely a MUST-READ for all you hip hop fans so check out the transcript of our conversation below! And be sure 2 scroll down for an all-NEW track by Kidz In The Hall, along with a couple more goodies!Enjoy!
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GWHH: Well, the first question I have for you guys is: What is the story behind the formation of Kidz In The Hall? And how did you guys meet and eventually collaborate to form the duo?
Double-O:Well, we met at school at the University of Pennsylvania and we started working together and basically there was nobody else in our crew. We were trying to make it in the industry and basically we were the only ones so, you know, we decided that we would rely on each other to make that happen.
GWHH: Nice, so I guess moving on, how does the creative process work between you two when developing a track? For instance, does Naledge come up with some lyrics and come to you for a beat, or vice versa, or is it something in between?
Naledge: All of the above. Yeah, all of those ways. I think more now than ever, he [Double-O] just comes up with stuff that I would probably like because he already knows what I probably would want to get on. And I might come up with somethin’ that day or if the track speaks to me right away.
GWHH: Alright, cool. Any input from you, Double-O?
Double-O: Yeah, yeah! I mean, it’s one of those things that we’ve been working together since 2000 so we know kinda where we wanna go so we can speak without speaking most of the times when it comes to the music.
GWHH: Ok, cool. Yeah, that’s interesting. I’m always curious as to how that process works behind the scenes, in the studio, especially with another person.
Double-O: Yeah, I mean it depends. I mean, if we’re together, then, you know, there’s always be a lot of back and forth in terms of tweaking things here and there and otherwise, it might take a little longer, but we can go back and forth, you know, trying something, going back, trying it again, kinda thing that would take a little longer when we’re not together.
GWHH: So yeah, going along with that, can you guys talk about how each of your styles play off each other to make each other better? For instance, Naledge, how does Double-O’s production style affected your growth as a rapper, and vice versa?
Naledge: Well, I mean, obviously.. [..breaks up..] he has to inspire me to do what I do. It’s not like.. he can make a song, and to write a rap, but to create a song, there has to be inspiration. The beauty of it is that, you know, while he knows my comfort zone, he sometimes pushes me outside of it. If I go on a beat that I normally wouldn’t get on, then I see a reaction, it’s like, ‘Wow! He was right!’. When a lot of times, I’m stubborn and I hear people saying go over this beat over and over versus the type of record I want to make. You know, going foreign, and going a lot of places has opened my eyes to a lot of things. Like I was straight hip hop, R&B, jazz, just the coolest black music. And then travelin’ and goin’ around the world, like I’m gettin’ into different things… like a Daft Punk record, or a Justin record, or, you know what I mean? Like even tho they’re big, like a Duran Duran, or a Pink Floyd. Like that shit I haven’t really thought about. And going to Europe and seeing how it is now, its stuff that Double-O can incorporate into the music and probably knowing that that’s what’s up outside of the backpack realm. And now I listen to it and understand it and am more comfortable with it.
GWHH: So Double-O, have you felt that Naledge has contributed to your growth as a producer as well?
Double-O: Yeah, oh definitely! Because the reality is, like.. as a producer sometimes, the hardest thing is to be able to make a record that still allows the MC to shine, you know? Like, you still have to make a record that the people can get into and listen to. So that the whole song is not just one dope beat and a few dope lines; it’s everything put together. So I think that, you know, a lot of just workin’ with him is learning his nuances, and knowing when to go in and out and really just build off his style and then building the records around him. So when they start as a [..breaks up..] and then it builds out into the whole song, once it’s recorded, then I can go back in and say, ‘Ok, this line is crazy’ or ‘This whole part is crazy’ and then I can make sure that it’s really shown.
GWHH: Yeah, so the beat can enhance it, you know? So, cool, yeah. I can definitely see that. So, obviously with the big record, “Drivin’ The Block”, that was a huge hit for you guys. Did you guys imagine just how big the success of that record would be in hip hop and in the mainstream?
Double-O: We knew it was going to be good, cuz it was one of those things where you know you have that type of record that could definitely work. You know, until.. what I think we didn’t plan on, was people really taking to it like in terms of radio DJs and people like that.. Like DJ Enuff, and those types of people, and rocking it without even really having that little push that major labels give it sometimes. They just played it cuz they loved the record. So I think that caught us by surprise, but we knew it was going to get a positive reaction.
GWHH: So along with that, how do you feel its success is in the progression of underground hip hop?
Double-O: Well, I mean.. I don’t know. I’m not underground.
GWHH: Well what I mean by that - kinda like the more conscious hip hop style that is becoming more prevalent now, transitioning now from that gangster type rap and ringtone type rap, like do you guys just feel like this can pave the way for artists like yourselves?
Double-O: Well, I think that there’s an entire shift that’s happening right now that incorporates us at the forefront of it, which is like, the shit is not necessarily from gangster rap to an alternative form of rap, as much as it is old to new. There’s a lot of older heads that are graduating to that next level, where not to say that they’re not going to put albums out, but they’re going to cater to a much older audience, whereas we can now cater to the mainstream, current audience. And I think you can see a lot of the other groups, The Cool Kids, and people like that, coming out and breaking new ground, and becoming the leaders of the New School. Like, that is the biggest shift to me.
GWHH: Oh, I see, I see. I like that approach, yeah. Naledge, do you have anything to add?
Naledge: Oh, I mean, honestly.. inspiration is what you do in life. I feel like, how do you become conscious? Like is everybody dead? Like whatever your reality is, you want to be at the forefront, you want to be as the main guy as possible. Like, who as an artist wants to be confined to a small realm? I think what happens is that artists get comfortable in the realm they can be in and it’s easier to get comfortable then come with an edge. Oh, because these are the people that have always done some
Stat Quo “Dear Summer Pt. 1″ - MORE
