Producer: Don Cannon - FULL, CDQ, CLEAN, Track off upcoming album, Theatre Of The Mind *Tibs Fav.™
Some NEW hip hop from some big names here, starting off w/ the latest from Ludacris! As you should expect with Luda, his rhymes are clever and on point, even referencing the Indiana Pacers from the infamous brawl and Alonzo Mourning, which makes this NBA fan appreciate it even more. I’m not feelin’ the Don Cannon beat like I know some are, but it’s not a bad one and compliments Luda well. Down below are a couple trax from Nelly, featuring a host of big names like T.I., R. Kelly, and ‘it’ producer, Polow Da Don. I’m not really into them, but I know they’ll attract the ears of many others. Further down is the video premiere to one of my favorite songs of 2008, “Let It Rock” by Kevin Rudolf f/ Lil’ Wayne! The video is a nice one, with some cool laser special effects, and before today, I haven’t seen what Kevin Rudolf looks like, and it was a fun surprise when I watched the video, haha. But it’s a great track and dug it up from our summer archives for those who don’t have it already! Don’t forget to peep interviews w/ Erykah Badu & Immortal Technique as well as some upcoming events in the Chi f/ Twista that you shouldn’t sleep on if ur in the area. Enjoy!
Producer: Chuck Harmony - FULL, CDQ, Track off upcoming album, Year Of The Gentleman, in stores 09.16!*Tibs Fav.™
Ne-Yo just continues 2 blow me away. “Stop This World” is another beautiful slow jam from the R&B star where I think the lyrics avoid cliché and make the song an instant hit on 1st listen! “Stop This World” seems like it is the perfect closing track for Year Of The Gentleman, which hits stores next Tuesday! I’ve heard about half the album already and it is already a MUST-BUY for you R&B and music fans, and “Stop This World” just made me as excited as possible for the 16th. Also out on the 16th is new-comer R&B singer Colby O’Donis’ debut album, Colby O, and u can peep a solid, uptempo track from him that is certainly a unique one I enjoy. It also warrants mentioning that Trey Songz absolutely kills M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” and it really showcases the talents that make him special. I always thought he had a ridiculous voice, which is on display again, but his flow is somethin’ I even underrated and that’s what makes his “Paper Planes RMX” special. He flows like M.I.A. to kick it off and follows with a couple real nice and fast rap verses, with some singing in between. I’ve been in a Songz mood recently and always happy 2 hear more from the VA crooner. There’s some more trax below and the “Hi Hater RMX” video premiere so take a look at those. (The Game spits Lamar Odom’s stat line and is clueless about why he’s not an all-star.. haha, awesome. …He’s still not an all-star tho, Game, sry 2 say..) Enjoy!
Oh yeah, if u haven’t heard by now, Kanye West’s 4th album will be entitled, 808’s & Heartbreak and comin’ out on December 16th - right in time for the holiday season. The title and “Love Lockdown” as the 1st single are pretty indicative of an album dealing with the emotion of love, which I’m excited to see Kanye tackle as he hasn’t really gone that deep on the topic in the past. But who knows? I’m just speculating…
Producer: J.R. Rotem - FULL, CDQ, Rumored track off upcoming album, Paper Trail*Tibs Fav.™
“No one on the corner have swagger like us.. swagger like us.. swagger swagger like us!” This extremely catchy sample will be ringing thru speakers the rest of the year. This is the type of song that defines 2008 for hip hop. Years down the line, when people say the phrase ‘Hip Hop in 2008′, “S.L.U. (Swagger Like Us)” is likely 2 be the first track mentioned. 4 living legends all on one track?! C’mon, unheard of. But T.I. brings in Kanye, Jay-Z, & Weezy for a sure-fire hit… and outshines them all! I’m really diggin’ T.I.’s verse as he articulately rips it, while reflecting on the changes in his life since the well-known charges against him at the same time keeping his high level of swag. Not 2 say the other 3 legends don’t bring it, b/c quite frankly, they all do. Kanye won’t put the autotuner down, but he doesn’t abuse it on this track and comes thru w/ a sick NBA reference, closing his verse with “..Tryna get that Kobe number, one over Jordan”. Weezy comes thru w/ an NBA reference of his own, cleverly name-dropping Carmelo Anthony. Overall tho, “S.L.U. (Swagger Like Us)” is one track that hit me on first listen and will be playin’ a lot for days and weeks 2 come. Check out T.I.’s reaction 2 the leaked track, which was not supposed 2 be released this soon. All these leaked trax can really hurt the album in the long run and that’s somethin’ I don’t wanna see for T.I., but right now Paper Trail is on some Food & Liquor shit w/ all the trax that are leaking… Btw, shouts 2 BOBO again for sendin’ some of the trax thru earlier 2day.. obviously light yrs behind if I’m out and workin’ all day.. :/
Keeping w/ the NEW T.I., I have always wanted a collabo of ATL’s T.I. & Usher; it seemed so realistic 2 me but Ush always sided w/ Luda in the studio. Well my wish has come true and while I feel that it is a sweet track, I also feel it didn’t live up 2 the hype that I put on it myself. T.I. again comes thru with nice verses on life as a celeb in the public’s eye but what disappoints me is that Usher doesn’t play 2 his strengths in the chorus. It’s a sweet chorus and one I’ll be singing along 2 for awhile, but I feel that he coulda sang it his usual way and been a lot better, like his lil’ verse. Finally, “Let My Beat Pound” is the hard banger that T.I. really needs on his album with collaborations already lined up w/ Usher, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, and The Dream, who all scream ‘POP’! I like the hard beat and the sweet chorus and it’s yet another fire track from T.I.! Paper Trail is shaping up 2 be a classic in my eyes already and I hope the rest of the album delivers like the leaked trax have so far. There are some trax NOT by T.I. below, featuring hitmakers Chris Brown, T-Pain, & Akon as well as R&B singer Joe and don’t sleep on the Fabolous feature. I’m feelin’ Lo So and One Block Radius on that one. Videos can be seen below, including the sexy Cassie w/ her video premiere for her first single off Connecticut Fever, “Official Girl” f/ Lil’ Wayne. Also, my boy Rod Benson comes thru w/ yet another HILARIOUS video - the 3rd Boom Tho music video (click for the lyrics!). The soon-2-be NBA baller is just straight up hilarious! I was in tears after watchin’ this one.. oh my.. Scroll down for one more goodie..
Estelle had a meet & greet 2day in the Gold Coast of downtown Chi and I rolled thru there right after work, reppin’ GWHH as u can see! She was very nice 2 her fans of all ages, posing for pictures, signing autographs, and interacting with everyone who came out 2 see her. It was a pleasure 2 meet one of the artists I’ve pushed heavily throughout the history of GWHH and I continue 2 hope that more of u open ur ears 2 a fresh and multi-talented artist outta the U.K.!
FULL, CLEAN, Track off upcoming album, L.A.X.*Tibs Fav.™
So the CLEAN version of The Game’s upcoming album, L.A.X., leaked out 2day and above, u can DL 3 more trax (scroll for the Ludacris collabo below) all featuring some big names like Common, Nas, & Ne-Yo! None of the trax are all that special on 1st few listens, but they are also all real solid. Not feelin’ the “Angel” beat and Game’s constant name-dropping, which is more annoying than clever most of the time, but it is some trax the hip hop fan would likely enjoy! Another one they would enjoy is the latest from The Cool Kids as “Pennies” maintains that deep bass sound of the duo and contains many more NBA references than usual, which I really liked of course. And before I forget, the NBA’s DeShawn Stevenson recently made a video of him and his buddy lip synching 2 Usher’s “Love In This Club”! As a fan of DeShawn’s hilarious antics, this video is another illustration of the goofiness of DeShawn Stevenson as he doesn’t disappoint throughout, especially in his lil’ grand finale, hahaha (btw, that beard is still growin, haha!) Big ups 2 my boy Yoox for the sending.. more big ups goes 2 our affs, 2dopeboyz & lupEND for the audio, the latter being responsible for the 2 NEW Shayla G trax (from FNF) as “Crazy” is an interesting one I like - kinda weird, but that’s what makes the song unique and I like that about the track. There are also some behind the scenes and live performance videos that u can peep below f/ Ludacris, Chris Brown, T.I., & Swizz Beatz as well! Enjoy!
FULL, CDQ, Track off upcoming album, Theatre Of The Mind*Tibs Fav.™
Shouts 2 Best Of Both Offices for sending a track that I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the heading in the e-mail… Luda AND T.I.! If u didn’t know, T.I. & Luda had a pretty big beef for a long time over who is king of the south and king of Atlanta (both rappers’ hometowns). They have since squashed the beef and have now jumped on the same track and it was bound 2 happen sooner or later! (as Luda says, haha!) It’s a real hard beat that is contagious on 1st listen and both artists go equally as hard in the verses, somethin’ both needed IMO after their latest radio-friendly singles 2 remind everyone they haven’t strictly gone mainstream. Luda shines on the 2nd verse with many clever lines and references that don’t seem forced and T.I. shows once again why he is one of the all-time greatest in the flow category on his last verse. Def a MUST-DL! Down below, a couple more quick updates w/ a NEW Game/Just Blaze track, where Game definitely had 2 reference the NBA’s Superman in Dwight Howard, and also may have taken a lil dig @ Soulja Boy. Also, a Dwele video premiere! More updates 2 come later 2nite! Enjoy!
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!
Whoo, a ton of heat for your summer night 2nite and I’ll start off by explaining an unorthodox feature track for the day - Just Blaze’s instrumental for Team USA’s Olympic run later this summer! Think “The Second Coming” but better (yes, it’s that good) as the beat is perfect for pumpin’ u up and switches throughout from uptempo to ominous and it’s just brilliant. Now here’s the cool part: Nike Basketball will be having a contest where the you, the MC, can drop a verse that will be featured over that beat! So if I were an upcoming MC, I would DL that beat (in addition 2 our contest — ONLY 3 MORE DAYS!) and take some time 2 showcase ur skills for another great opportunity 2 get some exposure! And man, this beat and the picture above [featuring Illinois fav. Deron Williams! (far right)] is already enough 2 get me hyped for the competition in Beijing in just another month or so!
Down below, definitely some trax u have 2 DL. Another Go Getters track has hit the web (big ups FSD) and while I’m not really feelin’ the annoying hook, the verses are on point, including another neat glimpse at Kanye pre-accident. Let’s see.. Chamillionaire always brings the heat and drops some nice lines on his version of “Hero”. Also be sure 2 DL the Lil’ Wayne featured track by Kevin Rudolf “Let It Rock”, which may come as a surprise 2 u b/c I am praising a track with Lil’ Wayne, but this is a perfect example of when I like him. New-comer Kevin Rudolf absolutely kills it and Weezy enhances the track with solid verses that flows nicely over the rockish-popish beat. I can see this one blowin’ up the radio by the end of summer! Finally, I’m also diggin’ the 2 NEW Chris Brown trax, especially the one produced by Bryan-Michael Cox - one of his better beats, which is def sayin’ somethin’ since all of them are pretty damn good. That’s all I got for now, and I will be online very sparingly this weekend as I’ll be outta town this weekend, but I should try 2 find some time 2 update still. Enjoy!
My brief hiatus is finally over, (haha, been mad busy the last couple days, sry!) and as I’m sure many ppl know by now, our hometown Chicago Bulls made it official last nite, making hometown prince Derrick Rose the number 1 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft! As u can imagine, I’m beyond excited for Rose (nice suit btw, Derrick) in Chicago and the entire city is buzzing about the homecoming of the best Chicago high school player in years! Yes, it’s off-topic but as big basketball and Chicago fans, it is quite an exciting day for us and an exciting weekend as well with the Crosstown Rivalry starting up again as well as the Taste Of Chicago (see below.) And Chicago remains the theme for this post as I gotcha all caught up on the latest music from some of Chicago’s finest MCs (props 2 FSD & Boogz!) NEW, unreleased (quite possibly records from years ago, however) music featuring Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West (pre-accident), Rhymefest, Mikkey Halsted, Bump J as well as Chicago’s finest R&B group, One Chance! A bunch of Tibs Favs 2 be had below, as the listener can really see the talent of Lupe & Kanye at such a young stage in their careers with the below trax. Also make sure 2 get the A-Trak / LUPE version of “Me & My Sneakers” in the post below.. straight up ridiculous! I threw up a lil’ Kidz In The Hall video as well as they just completed a tour out in Europe! Below that, MORE NEW music featuring some of the mainstream artists with Usher covering One Chance, Nas, Joe Budden, and maybe my favorite track outta that bunch, Gym Class Heroes collaborating w/ The Dream! Plenty 2 DL and plenty 2 like, so check it all out below! Enjoy!
Above are a couple Chicago tidbits with the hilarious rap battle between the famous managers of the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox - Lou Piniella and Ozzie Guillen. Both are funny for their own reasons and a quick view of that 30 second commercial spot that’s been airing here will simply show u how. (Cubs lose 2day but still up 3-1 in the season series!). Also, it warrants mentioning that the world’s largest food festival starts 2day - the 28th annual Taste Of Chicago! The festival features food from the various, unique restaurants around Chicago, dipping into all forms of ethnicity, and also includes many outdoor activities. The one most relevant 2 u Chicagoland readers is the musical performers each day of the Taste (June 27th-July 6th) and the notable ones include Estelle on July 2nd, Joss Stone on July 1st, and Stevie Wonder 2morrow on June 28th! So if u are planning on going 2 the Taste, but don’t know which day yet, maybe one of those would be a good time for ya! It’s a good time for everyone and a good time 2 vacation 2 Chicago! And maybe you’ll see us there!
FULL, CDQ, Rumored track from upcoming album, No Man *Tibs Fav.™
The feature track above is from an underappreciated R&B star - Joe, who is definitely well known but should shine brighter because of his talented voice. The song above displays that over a new-age R&B beat that we’re all used 2 by now. The lyrics have some nice metaphors that make the song a unique one that R&B fans will think is fresh. Definitely a track 2 add 2 ur R&B collection, as well as the Sterling Simms (and StarGate produced) track below called “Eyes”. And Robin Thicke kills the chorus of the Eve track below, which is set to an ominous beat that isn’t typical of R&B. Also below, check out the latest from The Game, which is an interesting song that might grow on me featuring Travis Barker and the latest from G-Unit as “You So Tough” is the track that 50 Cent disses T.I. on in the 3rd verse.
2 follow up on the Shaq dissing Kobe freestyle, the hilarious news story of the day is that a sheriff wants Shaq 2 return his badges with the reason being Shaq’s foul language in this remarkable huge (and overblown) freestyle, dissing Kobe Bryant, as well as NBA legends Patrick Ewing and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar. Finally, there are a few videos below including the premiere of Jennifer Hudson’s first single “Spotlight” and live performances from Diddy’s crews of Day26 & Danity Kane! Enjoy!
First off, be sure 2 check out Max G.’s post, where we celebrate the 1st anniversary of Gowhere Hip Hop! It’s a must-read so please take the time 2 check it out and don’t just skim it looking for music. As for the music, FSD drops another old, unreleased song featuring a Chicago rapper, this one a freestyle with Lupe Fiasco. Likewise w/ Kanye West, it is very interesting 2 hear the growth and differences of old Lupe vs. NEW Lupe. As u can see in this freestyle, Lupe flows like his usual, top-notch self, but surely with a harder edge than the Lupe you’re prolly used 2. Of course he comes thru w/ some nice lines that is delivered on point as well. Below, u can check out some more NEW trax featuring T.I., Akon, Jennifer Hudson, Christina Milian, & MORE! The vid section contains the already much-talked about (and hilarious) Shaq freestyle where he disses former teammate Kobe Bryant. In case u haven’t seen it, u can see it below, but the statement Shaq released about the freestyle also warrants mentioning (u can see that below the video). U can also view a behind the scenes look at the making of the video for “Paris, Tokyo” by Lupe Fiasco. Enjoy!
Ludacris “Undisputed” f/ Floyd Mayweather - MORE
but still up 3-1 in the season series!). Also, it warrants mentioning that the world’s largest food festival starts 2day - the 28th annual Taste Of Chicago! The festival features food from the various, unique restaurants around Chicago, dipping into all forms of ethnicity, and also includes many outdoor activities. The one most relevant 2 u Chicagoland readers is the musical performers each day of the Taste (June 27th-July 6th) and the notable ones include Estelle on July 2nd, Joss Stone on July 1st, and Stevie Wonder 2morrow on June 28th! So if u are planning on going 2 the Taste, but don’t know which day yet, maybe one of those would be a good time for ya! It’s a good time for everyone and a good time 2 vacation 2 Chicago! And maybe you’ll see us there! 
