Ludacris will bring his Release Therapy concert home tonight, as he attempts to disturb the peace at The Tabernacle. Luda's in the backstretch of his two-month tour which concludes in mid-October.
Not sure if we'll see the rest of the DTP family on stage with him but it's a good bet that we'll see a few squad members on stage at some point.
Word is, Lil Jon will be providing major production assistance to "Black-Ty" (the artist formerly known as Tyrese) on his soon to be released double CD. He will also get some help on the project from fellow Atlantan Too Short.
Black-Ty just released his second mixtape entitled "Ghetto Royalty."
On the strength, I feel like Tyrese is as talented an individual as there is right now so it would be wise to take him serious. Everything he does, he usually does it top-notch. 'Pac said it best "I write rhymes for the females because the ni66a's will follow." Now you tell me, what female doesn't like Tyrese? He's good at what he does and the ladies will buy a Tyrese double-CD, believe it. Ingenious marketing move if he has any skillz.
Also, check out the nominations for The Southern Entertainment Awards and be sure to drop a vote in for my man Big K.R.I.T. who is up for Indie Artist of The Year.
Beware though! The nomination lists are loooooooong.
K.R.I.T. has a tremendous buzz right now and a mixtape out hosted by DJ Wally Sparks, "Hood Fame The King of the Queen." Pick that up.
Jerrmaine Dupri served as executive producer of the album. The first single is "On Some Real S***" featuring Rick Ross, and the beat on that joint is fire. I still haven't figured out where this alliance is headed, I know that there is a plan, I just haven't put my finger on it.
I'm confused because I thought that the record would have more of JD's influence with respect to the records overall flavor. It still sounds like "traditional" Daz Dillinger production and flow. Therefore, I guess their arrow is aimed out to the west coast.
Is anyone up on Usher's new group One Chance? That's the foursome that Usher recently signed to his label, US Records.
I mean c'mon, how can you lose with Usher backing you? If you don't make noise then you did something wrong. Usher says that he see's reflections of himself in the group.
"As an artist, I know what it takes to be successful,†Usher says. “I know what it takes to make a mark and have longevity. As a label owner, I want my artists to possess those same qualities. One Chance does. I have no doubt that these guys have what it takes to not only live up to the great R&B legends of the past, but to have the same kind of respect and longevity that many of those greats still enjoy today."
Ludacris has finally touched down with his new album Release Therapy. The album is in stores as we speak.
I did get a chance to listen to the full disc last week and the project is put together plush. The track that jumps out at me from the get-go is "Whoozy" featuring Kells who comes in and kills his verse, so you have the two masters of what they do combining to put together a real nice party joint.
The first dropping, "Money Maker," already reached No. 1 on the BET 106 & Park Countdown for the first time on September 15, 2006 so we don't even have to talk about that.
I was recently thinking, with all this Danity Kane and Diddy music, has Diddy put my nizzle's Boyz N Tha Hood on the backburner? He wouldn't be pulling a vintage Diddy move would he? Can't be...
I know he has to respect Big Gee and the rest's grind. (Big Gee's delivery is somethin' serious, too).
They're slept on as far as skills go. Say what you will but they hold their own with anybody on any track. It's been a year or so, let's get another album out Block, we waitin' for y'all to kill em.
Just got word that Gucci Mane will officially drop his sophomore effort, tentatively titled Hard To Kill, on Big Cat Records. The album is is going to drop in early October. If you missed Gucci's first release, Trap House, you missed a thorough album from top to bottom, it had a few reaches but that was expected for an initial release but "Thas My Hood," "Pyrex Pot," "Corner Cuttin'," "Icey," "Go 'Head"...
Most of the albums released on majors the last couple of years don't put out five strong tracks anymore.
So what's a classic? Fugg it, a classic album is like a classic car, "If we can talk about your shit 25 years from now then it was a classic album, just like cars." That should be the new standard. He came close and might have achieved "hood" classic status with Trap House though. He does his thing.
And speaking of tha' "Pyrex Pot," Young Nut, Parlae, DFB -- they did they thing on that "Pyrex Lean (Shoulder Lean Remix)." As a matter of fact, that whole Young Nut mixtape was official. Real talk.
"If I Put A Hit On His Head Ya Betta Get From 'Round Him Cuzz, 10 Niggas With 'Hundred Round Clips Thas' A Thousand Of 'Em" -- Parlae
It's not all snap and dance music.
After a short absence, Stat Quo is reappearing with a couple tracks on Eminem's highly-anticipated mixtape Eminem Presents: The Re-Up (Shady/Interscope), to be released December 5th. The mixtape will feature exclusive tracks from Stat as well as new Shady Records artists Ca$his and Bobby Creekwater.
The initial Stat jump off will be the LT Moe-produced, "Billion Bucks." Stat Quo is signed to a joint deal between Shady and Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment.
I've got the remix to the Jibbs' "Chain Hang Low" joint. But first I gotta defend mine for a minute, when I said Jibbs had some skills yesterday, I meant it. He possesses what it took/and takes to HOOK the generation that he's aiming for.
Mic skills, don't put food on the table or else there would be alot of starving cats eatin' right now. We all know some. Like it or not, Jibbs' skills are AIMED in the right direction and the fish are bitin' like crazy. It is what it is.
But yo, here's that remix ft. Young Joc, Lil’ Wayne, Rich Boy & Lil’ Mont.
Damn them' Falcons are looking good!!! I wish this was a sports blog today, I would really act a fool. But, since it's not I'm taking it to St. Louis today to holla at my man Jibbs (You know Atlanta and The Lou go way back like Just-Ice and BDP). I know, I left alot of y'all with that.
Right now Jibbs is killing it with his hit single "Chain Hang Low," which is actually one of the top single in the country right now and still on a bullet. Recently siigned to Geffen Records, he's nearing the release of his debut album Jibbs feat. Jibbs, set for release in September 2006.
The whole Atlanta buzz is Bobby and Whitney this week, and man I'm glad I write about this hip hop and not that buls*&t paparrazi ishh'. But anyway... I'll be all over the place today so follow me real close.
To this day, I've never understood why people forget about ColliPark Music when talking about Atlanta hip hop...BIG mistake. How can you forget about artists like Ying Yang Twins who usually push a mill or better err' rip. I mean do we really wanna talk southern classics? But the bigger picture is this, Mr. Collipark has an arsenal on deck and it's not allclub music like you would think.
You gotta' be on the look out for the new artists on Collipark Music, namely Kadalack Boyz, Homebwoi, and a serious young lyricist by the name of P-Stones. If you haven't heard any of these artists, you've been slippin, and if you're in the south you should already know about P-Stones' "Get Like Me." I've heard it spinnin' everywhere from Club 112 to The End Zone in Meridian, MS. It's the real business.
This is just a taste though, Atlanta hip hop is going NO-where (Don't hate us, hate the game). It's only right that I put the rest of the world up on game right, so definitely look out for some exclusives real soon. I'm tired of hearing about how southern artists, especially in ATLANTA, are not lyrical--it's time we shut that s&%t down.
I actually really fell out laughing when I read a few of the comments that said Killer Killand Weezy had no flow... I'm just saying, you can't be serious.
George Bush don’t like blacks? no shit, sherlock/And his daddy’s CIA flooded the hood with rocks/And his momma said the woman oughta feel at home\ getting raped in the bathroom in the Superdome/The comment Kanye made was damn near right/But Bush hate poor people be it black or white. -- Killer Mike from "That's Life">
DAMN!!!!!
Yeah, Killer Mike is still on his grind, and the whole Grind Time formation is really taking flight, not only in the city but throughout the South. The Grind Time leap into prominence is happening as we speak.
DJ Drama has put out word that the members of A Tribe Called Quest and OutKast want to do a super-collaboration mixtape as well. We've heard about it for a minute but the buzz is still circulating so it might be going down.
"Coulda had a Bentley But I'd Rather Ride a Chevy"-- Cadillac Don and J-Money
Check out the new video for Cadillac Don and J-Money's "Inside Peanut Butter-Outside Jelly"
Then this weekend...The Atlanta Hip-Hop Summit on Financial Empowerment convenes at the Atlanta University Center on the campus of Morris Brown College on September 16.
This past weekend was full of events poppin off throughout the city. I'll just run down a few of the things that went down.
First, Akon jumped off the weekend with a private meet and greet Friday afternoon (September 8). I wasn't able to attend but I hear that he gave alot of insight into his new album scheduled for release later this year. The album, Konvicted, actually drops on November 21st, although I first heard that December 5th was the initial date. The first single off of the album is "Smack That" featuring Eminem.
They just shot the video for "Smack That" - directed by Benny Boom.
Then, The Billboard R&B Hip Hop Awards were on spotlight Friday night. They held the show at Alanta Live, and believe it or not it turned out pretty good. Several artists were in attendace including Young Jeezy, Lyfe Jennings, Young Dro, Ludacris, Shareefa and others. Akon hosted the show too, he stays grindin'.
Quick note: It looks like Jeezy has pushed his album release date back to December (Damn!).
This week people will hopefully come together in remembrance of perhaps the best to ever put it down. Yeah, I said it, THE BEST. I won't get into an argument about who's the best, but TO ME when you factor in everything there will never be another to put it down on the level that 2Pacalypse did. Just my opinion...
(And I don't want to hear s&*t about your favorite rapper son)
Anyway, the 10th anniversary of Tupac Shakur's slaying will be held at The Tupac Shakur Foundation at 1:00PM on Saturday, September 9th.
Please pay big respect if you can. We all vibed with Pac at some point.
There are a couple of big events taking place in Atlanta this weekend and I'm trying to find my way to both of them at some point.
The first event that every aspiring artist, industry professional or anything along those lines needs to attend is The Billboard R&B Hip Hop Conference and Award Show. It's all going down from now until Friday (Sept. 6-8) at The Renaissance Waverly Hotel, so if you're trying to grind this music thing out and really kick in some doors then this is the place to be.
Lil Scrappy has a computer game surfacing now? If that's what you want to call it. I didn't take the time out to play it but maybe somebody can fill me in on what it was like. I'm sure it's not "Madden '07" but hey...
Hit it up at: http://www.lilscrappy.com/game
And lost under all of the Outkast hoopla last week was the fact that Too Short dropped his long-awaited album, Blow The Whistle. This makes what... 16? What ever happened to album No. 10 being the finale?
The film "I Am Choke No Joke" finally makes it's way to Atlanta TONIGHT!!!. (Sept. 6th)
Choke -- the former "Rap City" producer/personal videographer of Damon Dash/Roc-A-Fella and current music video director for VH1’s upcoming reality series "White Rapper" -- has joined with the Atlanta HipHop Film Festival to bring his film here.
Throughout the documentary, Choke takes you directly into the minds of Dash, Jay-Z, State Property, Memphis Bleek, Kanye West, the Diplomats, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Destiny Child, John Singleton, Justin Timberlake, Foxy Brown, Nas, Mobb Deep, Lil Kim, LL Cool J, Irv Gotti, Ja Rule, Puff Daddy, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, DJ Kay Slay Jagged Edge, Scarface, Kevin Liles, Dr. Benjamin Chavis and many more.
"I Am Choke No Joke" will screen on Wednesday, September 6, 2006 at the Auburn Avenue Research Library. There will be special invited guests and the screening is FREE and open to the public. The screening will start at 7:30 p.m.
Also, a couple weeks ago the Global Mixx Retreat went down in Chicago.
Surprise, one of the hottest video's going right now is coming from Big Oomp's Camp. The video for DJ Unk's "Walk It Out" is being viewed everywhere now. And no, this is not Spaghetti-O's or Chicken Noodle whatever... This is more on some hood hoppin' ishh.
You might have seen Outkast walking it out on BET a minute ago, it's official.
I've always liked Unk's flow, along with fellow Camp members Baby D, Sammy and LoKo but they've all been regional up to this point. However, the Oomp Camp momentum is something serious right now and they'll be shaking that regional tag real soon.
I see you Black Diamondz and Flo-Mastas.
Yawn, yawn....Oh is it over yet? Damn, the VMA's was a boring awards show. I don't know which is worse, the VMA's or The Vibe Awards. Will The Dirty Awards get here quick fast and in a hurry.
But anyway, there were a few bright spots in the place, most notably T.I. and Young Dro ripping the stage on "What You Know." That was a given though. I was surprised that 'Dro hit the stage with Tip, but it was a good promotional move for Dro's album nevertheless. An ingenious move, one of the reasons why Grand Hustle is rapidly growing into a powerhouse.
Did you check out Diddy's right hand man? What it do Joc? I ain't mad at cha'-I couldn't think of a better situation to be in, just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Alot of low points...my high point of the night>>>
Oh My!!!
