BET released a documentary today titled Murder To Excellence: Life & Hip-Hop In Chicago that shed light on the connection between Hip-Hop and the violence that is taking place in Chicago. The documentary features Chicago rappers King Louie, L.E.P. Bogus Boys, Sasha Go Hard, Katie Got Bandz, and more. It also feature community activsit Che "Rhymefest" Smith, Father Michael Pfleger, and others. Overall the idea behind the documentary was great. The fact that BET felt that what was going on here in Chicago needs to be brought to a brighter light I greatly appreciate because it is very true. Unfortunately the people in the video that have the most influence didn't offer any words of encourage or improvement for the streets of Chicago. I respect Rhymefest for giving the truth about what's going on in the streets then offering ways to combat it. To me it seemed that most of the artist gave an impression that this is normal and simply labled it as being "real". This to me only continues the violent cycle that we are in now. Don't get me wrong I don't expect these artist to clean the streets themselves, but they do carry enough clout in the streets to make a difference, which I think they dropped the ball on in this documentary. I commend Rhymefest, Father Pfleger, Cathy Cohen, TJ Crawford, & Monica Haslip for their work in the community in trying to break this vicious cycle of violence in Chicago. To the artist I just wished on top of telling the truth about what's going on in Chicago they then spoke to the youth about being better than this.
Overall I was happy with the documentary because it starts the conversation about making the necessary changes in Chicago to make this a better and safer place for us all. I just hope that the people with the loudest voice join in on the conversation, but if they don't we as the smaller voices still need to have this conversation and talk about this until its loud enough to be unavoidable.
Last night, the Soul Train Awards aired on BET and performances came from the likes of John Legend, 2 Chainz, Miguel, Ne-Yo, Keyshia Cole, TGT, and Elle Varner. You can watch and/or re-live the performances above and below as G.O.O.D. Music kicks it off with Legend's "Tonight (Best I Ever Had)" and then 2 Chainz right under with "Birthday Song", "I'm Different", and "Ghetto Dreams". Then there's Miguel with "Adorn", Ne-Yo "Let Me Love You", Keyshia Cole "Trust & Believe" and "Enough Of No Love", TGT (Tank, Ginuwine, & Tyrese) with "Stay", "If You're Lonely", and "Zoom", and finally, Elle Varner with "Refill". Enjoy!
Tonight, BET aired the 2012 Black Girls Rock event from NYC and it featured a flurry of performances from some of urban music's most iconic names right now - Alicia Keys (performing "New Day" & "Girl On Fire" above), Brandy ("Wildest Dreams"), Ciara & Missy Elliott ("One Woman Army", "Sorry", "1, 2 Step", "9th Inning"), and Keyshia Cole ("Trust & Believe"). Also performing was India.Arie & Eric Benet, Anthony Hamilton, and Luke James - and you can catch those performances via Yardie here.
BET was busy tonight, as in addition to the Hip Hop Awards seen below, it premiered its new reality series surrounding Keyshia Cole and her NBA baller husband Daniel Gibson. Lots of positive chatter on Twitter drew my attention to this one and there's already a rip of the premiere episode floating on the interwebs. Thus, if you wanna catch the series for yourself, you can do so above!
The 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards cypher lineup is announced today, which can be viewed in the long list below. Lots of emcees to look forward to (plus a few that made up just for fun... you will know the ones that are jokes. In fact, if you can pick out the 5 that don't belong, who do you think would win that imaginary cypher? My vote is for JGL. Wait, who am I kidding? The White Mamba.) Peep a quick 15 second teaser below all that as well. Sidebar: I do not know any of the "Lil" rappers.
Ab-Soul
Angel Haze
A$AP Rocky
B.o.B
Boy Jones
Brianna Perry
Brian Scalabrine
Cassidy
Childish Gambino
Chip
DJ Premier
DJ Quik
DMX
Driicky Graham
E-40
Eve
Fame
Hopsin
Iggy Azalea
Jay Bird
Jean Grae
Joesph Gordon-Levitt
Joey Bada$$
Kendrick Lamar
K-La
Kosha Dillz
Kurupt
Lil Chuckee
Lil Niqo
Lil Waah
Mac Miller
Mitt Romney
Murda Mook
Mystikal
Relly
RZA
Sarkodie
ScHoolboy Q
Simon Cowell
Snoop Dogg
Steve Carell
T.I.
Talib Kweli
The Kid Daytona
Tito Lopez
Trae Tha Truth
Xzibit
YG
For the release of Cruel Summer today, G.O.O.D. Music hit the 106 & Park stage earlier this evening to talk about the very much anticipated album. Everyone except Kanye was there in attendance to touch on topics such as their upcoming projects, the recording process that took place, and what they've all learned from Kanye during his throne era. All this and much, much more can be seen below. Check it!
After numerous random leaked tracks, over drawn out hyped, and random images’ being leaked Ciara’s ‘Sorry’ is now close to being ready. Today BET has released a special preview to Ciara’s first single Sorry. The full video will debut on September 13th during Ciara’s appearance on 106 & Park.
