Miguel And Kendrick Lamar Cover Vibe Magazine

 I guess it's safe to say that these two are killing the game in their respected genres. Kendrick Lamar and Miguel both grace the cover of Vibe magazine this month, and is it just me or do these two kind of look alike? You can check out the complete photo spread and dual Q&A on VIBE Magazines website

Beyonce & Jay-Z's Lavish Anniversary In Cuba Angers Many Republicans

 Beyonce and Jay-Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in Cuba this past week, accompanied by their mothers and a ridiculous amount of bodyguards. The two reportedly had a wonderful time, but some are angered by the power couple's decision to spend the anniversary in Cuba. Cuba has a reputation for oppression and poverty, so soaking up the sun and drinking cocktails next to political madness was bothersome to select people. Mauricio Claver-Carone spoke to TMZ about the issue and said, "There are women getting beaten on a daily basis, women who are jailed for no reason...people are fighting for their freedom. It's extremely insensitive." Since Cuban tourism is banned for Americans, Bey and Jay had to obtain a special visa to visit. How they got that? Who knows. But regardless, it looks like the two stars had a special week and even spent some time with the kids.

The-Dream Says Jay-Z Is 'More Gritty' After Blue Ivy's Birth

The-Dream talks about being sworn to secrecy while working with Jay-Z, and how the legendary rapper has changed since his daughter's birth.

After Jay-Z's much-talked about "Swap Meet" joke at the Grammys, The-Dream predicted Hov might have to give the R&B singer some work to make up for the comment. It seems like Dream's theory was right, as him and Jay are currently working on "a little something," in the studio.

Dream, who won his Grammy for The Throne's "No Church In The Wild", and co-wrote multiple tracks on Beyonce's last album, said that the couple expects secrecy from their collaborators.

"It's so hard because on one hand, I'm really always anxious and excited about new music with everybody that I'm working with. On the other hand, they're always A-List, high-profile, so nobody really wants them to know," he said. "So it's hard for me to actually explain what I'm working on, when it's coming."

As far as Hova softening up a bit after becoming a father, Dream says Blue Ivy has actually had the opposite effect on the rap legend. "Nah, I think he's gotten a little bit more gritty," he said.

The Love King also talked a bit about where Jay's head is at right now in terms of rapping. 

"I think he's becoming more of a painting. It's just moving. It's just traveling through time now," he said. "It's like when da Vinci drew something and you have to start looking at it like that."

"There's no way to be surprised again. If any one of us does anything great, it's hard to surprise you. You already have an expectation level that's so high," he reasoned. "So he's definitely more skilled and better than he was, but are you really surprised?"

How Justin Timberlake’s ‘The 20/20 Experience’ Already Changed the Music Business

Justin Timberlake’s forthcoming third solo album The 20/20 Experience marks not only the falsetto crooner’s first album since 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds, but a monumental and refreshing step forward in how an artist delivers a product in today’s world where even the smallest pieces of minutia are dissected and placed under a high-powered microscope. While the preliminary reviews are overwhelmingly positive – including receiving four out of five stars from Rolling Stone – it’s how this 10-track album was introduced that makes it quite ground breaking.

The music industry has become overrun with product. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, one go around on the Internet peppers users with daily “auditions” of sorts in which those looking to “break in” tragically “break bad” as if Walter White trying to cook a batch of meth in a kazoo cook pot. Even seasoned veterans who have had considerable success in the business insist on flooding the market with product – whether that be countless mixtape releases, remixes, or the storied and genuinely loathed “remixed” mixtape. I think we can all agree that we want new music, but we’re willing to wait if the product will in turn be of a higher caliber. Sure, Timberlake’s hiatus can be attributed to his acting bug, but one can hope that a seven year absence allows for less flash in the pan bravado and more seasoned emotion. More over, Timberlake didn’t bite on temptation to simply recreateFutureSex/LoveSounds like so many other artists do when crafting a follow-up to a universally loved project. Absence doesn’t just make the heart grow fonder, it also makes the brain wiser to cheap and dated tricks.

And then Justin Timberlake was back.

Not just with a song with Jay-Z. Not just with a second single with the driving emotion of “Cry Me a River.” Not just with an impressive performance at the Grammys. Not just with an announced stadium tour with the aforementioned Jigga Man. Not just with the opportunity to stream his entire album before its March 19 release. Not just with a residency on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Timberlake’s dormancy brought a cohesive project with lofty goals, telling British radio, “When we were making the record I said, ‘If Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin can do 10-minute songs and Queen can do 10-minute songs then why can’t we?”

There’s something to be said for just “showing up” with something people have pined for, yet not totally expected. Take for example Dr. Dre’s long-awaited/delayed/rumored/unicorn of an album Detox. Fans demand it. They’ve heard the good doctor talk about it. According to Pigeons and Planes, workers could have built six Empire State Buildings in the time since Dre “broke ground on Detox.” People expect something from him that simply can’t be delivered. Timberlake’s approach isn’t one that simply lets him off the quality control hook because plainly “new music is better than no music,” rather it signifies that Timberlake was inspired to make music and didn’t feel the added pressure of expectations on a promised treasure years in the making.

More musicians and artists would be wise to follow Timberlake’s approach: build a bridge to an audience and inventively deliver the goods only when the time is right.

Steed Lord (@SteedLord) 'The Prophecy Pt.1' Album Review via HOMMEBOYLIFE.com

8.8/10

Steed Lord is back with their 3^rd album ‘The Prophecy Pt.1” consisting of 10 tracks, some of which are the band’s most vulnerable yet. The overall vibe of this album is cinematic, 80’s style. Unlike their last two offerings (Heart II Heart and The Eddie House EP) which featured more Progressive House, Dubstep and Disco this record takes on more of the Synthpop of the 80’s but with a more dark cinematic vibe. Each track for the most part has it’s own moments but are apart of an entire picture which what makes most art great. The album, which was released on the 1st, has been getting constant rotation, but what I did with this album and two others (Captain Murphy’s ‘Duality’ and Solange’s ‘True’) was listen to it in three different states sober in the morning, high in the late evening and sober in the late evening.  The effects weren’t much different for this album because frankly it went well with the mood. Although when I was high my synesthesia was heightened to an extreme, whereas not only was I seeing the color I was seeing the life of this borderline masterpiece of indie-pop perfection.

The Unexpected Influences of Musical Giants – Tupac, Nirvana, Kanye and More

Collaboration across genres is nothing new in the world of popular music although the  results often run the gamut. One of the earliest examples of blending seemingly radically different genres together is Run-D.M.C.’s collaboration with Aerosmith in 1986. Public Enemy followed suit in 1991 recording a new version of “Bring the Noise” full of pounding double bass and abrasive distortion with thrash metal outfit Anthrax. The newfound genre known as rap rock continued to flourish through the early 90s with acts like Rage Against the Machine and Faith No More becoming both commercially and critically successful.

Most artists, however, chose to remain closer to their own genre and style and keep their influences to themselves or as inspiration. It’s no surprise then the amount of influence or inspiration artists that are associated with their own genre can exude upon the next generation. Some influences though seem so juxtaposed with a newer artist’s style that it warrants a closer look.

Below are 5 artists whose influences are as unexpected as their talent is wide.

Read More >>

10 Things Writers Should Stop Asking Rappers in Interviews

Ever read an interview with rappers spitting the same old spiel? You know, stressing how their album’s a “classic” and that they’re leading a “movement.” Yeah, right. Pretty cliché and deserving of being thrown in the “Things rappers should stop saying in interviews” garbage heap. Well, the writers asking them the lame questions deserve some of the blame as well. After all, they’re the enablers that are setting them up for failure. That said, XXLMag.com presents the “Things writers should stop asking in interviews” list. Writers, get your notepads out. – Mark Lelinwalla of XXL

1. Who’s your Top 5 MCs all-time?: While the question may trigger an interesting response, just the sound of “Top 5 MCs” is jarring to the eyes at this point. Ask in a different way or stay away from this altogether. Please. Also Not Acceptable: Who are your influences?

2. How do you feel about…? (Baiting MCs into beef)
Be detailed. If there’s a specific example of an MC saying something sideways to another, use that. Don’t be too vague and don’t go fishing for beef because your interview may end up sleeping with the fishes. That’s dead.

3. How is this different from your last album?: As a writer going into an interview, you should have listened to his or her last album and ask something like ‘What’s the direction of this LP?’ Move forwards, not backwards, man.

4. When’s your album coming out?: Come on, son! Speak to the same label reps that probably set up the interview and find out the answer through them. Asking an artist this is a throwaway question and a waste of time.

5. What separates you from other artists out there?: Hey stupid, YOU should know. There’s hundreds of MCs out there, so what’s the point of asking a guy like Lil B how he’s different from the rest? You, the writer, should know.

6. Who’d you work with on this album?: Again, this goes back to the preparation and research behind an interview. For the most part, there’s a tentative tracklist at the time an artist starts doing media for a new project. It’s a reporter’s responsibility to find out who he or she is working with and rather ask, ‘How was it working with so and so?’

7. How would you describe your style?: Instead of asking the MC, why not describe the rapper’s rhyme style for the reader? It could be done in a sentence in the Q&A’s intro rather than wasting space in the actual Q&A.

8. What can fans expect from you?: The writer is supposed to let readers aka “fans” know what they can expect from a new album. Set a rapper up with this question and you’re prone to get some MC diarrhea of the mouth. Ugh.

9. Why should fans pick up the album?: Simply put: The question is unnecessary. That’s because the average MC is going to litter the interview with multiple reasons why fans should cop.

10. If you ever had the chance to work with anyone who would you work with?: Yes it can lead to good answers at times, but it’s just asked way too much. Stop playing matchmaker. Stick to the lecture at hand.

Pictures: Wiz Khalifa & Amber Rose

As we all know by now Wiz and Amber have made their relationship more public then most. There are even talks about them being engaged and getting ready to marry. I think they look great together and complement each other very well. Here are some pictures of them together.

Let's talk talent for a minute. . .

In a recent declaration singer Jazmine Sullivan announced via Twitter that she will be taking time off of music. The announcement took the world by storm leading everyone to believe the songstress is quitting music. However she later said she's just switching things up until she get it right. This made me pay more attention to her and why she would be doing such a thing and my theory is....

Read More >>

Article: Is Free Will A Myth?

We have vain brains; we see ourselves as better than we really are. We like to think that we exercise free will, that put into a situation where we were challenged to do something we thought unacceptable then we’d refuse. But, if you believe that, then you are probably deluded.

I make this claim, based partly on the work of psychologist Stanley Milgram. Milgram devised and carried out ingenious experiments that exposed the frailty and self-delusion that are central to our lives. He showed how easy it is to make ordinary people do terrible things, that “evil” often happens for the most mundane of reasons.

Read More >>

AllHipHop.com Editorial: Rich Kids In Hip-Hop

I found this to be a very great read, but I would like to add this day and age quality rappers are irrelevant like disco. The masses are basically brainwashed into liking simple overtly processed music and senseless music videos.

Editor's note: The views expressed inside this editorial aren't necessarily the views of AllHipHop.com or its employees.

We survived winters, snotty nosed with no coats/

We kept it real, but the older brother still had jokes/

... Check it, fifteen of us in a three bedroom apartment/

Roaches everywhere, cousins and aunts was there/

—Ghostface Killah, “All That I Got Is You,” Ironman (1996).

The working-class kid in me wants to know why Hip-Hop fans would submit their precious time to the abuse of spoon-fed, pampered, nannied, chauffeur-carried brats who know next to nothing of growing up with no assurance “where your meal’s coming from.”

Yes, the long-awaited editorial has arrived on schedule. Put down your shoes, pal! There’ll be no invective-hurling today. But some frank truths have been piercing my ear for a while now; and I know better than to disobey those voices once they get cranky.

If you’ve made it this far, there’s good chance we share core values. If not, hear me out and prepare your profanity-laced, dimwitted e-mails thereafter.

In the last few months, I’ve had to suppress some impulse to stave off this editorial. I figured over time the better angels within my nature would allay my increasing worries that many Hip-Hop fans are losing the battle to reality, but I find the need even greater now to let out these unflattering observations—and the consequences I think lurk around the corner if we don’t take heed.

When the young son of Rap legend Rev. Run, Diggy Simmons, released his first mixtape last December, howls filled the air. He was celebrated as fresh and unique and lyrical, by some AllHipHop commenters I’ve depended on in the past for what Ernest Hemingway calls the “built-in bullsh** detector”—a device he suggested no serious writer lacked. You see it, feel it, and delete it. Each one dressed up their rave reviews in contrast to his older brother, Jo Jo Simmons, and in contradiction to the tacit presuppositions held of anyone with “Run” for a surname.

The mixtape was “an attempt by Diggy to prove himself as more than just the son of Rev. Run,” wrote AllHipHop co-founder and co-CEO Greg Watkins, who filed the story. Diggy’s dad was “pleasantly surprised” to see his son run swift with the flaming torch he lit some three decades back. Around the time last year, I heard Diggy’s lead single, “Point to Prove,” and liked what was coming through the speakers. I wasn’t blown apart or taken aback: I had no expectations. And whoever said rich kids couldn’t flow? Listen to enough Canibus or Talib Kweli, and your pattern should structure quite well.

But if hypocrisy were gold, many Hip-Hop fans could own Vegas tonight. When Jo Jo Simmons first explored the unmapped terrain of Hip-Hop music-making a few years back (on Run’s House), no one with a shred of dignity let him rest at night. Blogs and forums lit up, and Armageddon marked a minute away—all because a rich kid thought he could walk through the executive doors of major record labels and sign on the dotted line because his father and uncle could move mountains with a finger-snap.

I don’t know the extent of Jo Jo’s experiences. Life, in fact, might be more complicated for him than most lacking such access and ability available since birth. But if Jo Jo had no chance, Diggy shouldn’t. No one believed Jo Jo had much to inform about life and hardship, about struggle and pain, about uncertainty and destiny—and they ought not to be hypocrites. But Diggy can spit; Jo Jo can’t!, I can hear some yelping. Well, yes and no. Yes: Diggy handles breath-control better, and can imitate Rakim quite well. But, no: it wasn't the flow that got the Hip-Hop aficionados seething: it was the silver fork hanging from Jo Jo’s lips. It was a firm commitment to ensure Vanilla Ice would have no reincarnation. (All due respect to that much-maligned man aside.)

Speaking with AllHipHop right after his mixtape dropped, the “abnormally well-spoken” 14-year-old Diggy Simmons, now an Atlanta Records recording artist, recounted the extent of his Rap career/passion: “I’ve been rapping since I was 5 then I stopped. I don’t even know why I stopped. Then two years ago I got back into just recording normal tracks. I recorded a song and posted it on my blog and it got crazy feed back, it wasn’t even that lyrical it was more for fun. I love music, I love making it. I’m almost in the studio everyday.” 

Once, Hip-Hop offered loud voice of political courage to command the attention of society toward moral correction. (Ever heard “The Message,” “By the Time I Get to Arizona,” “Evil That Men Do,” “Burn Hollywood Burn,” “Black Korea,” “Mystery Of Iniquity,” “Strange Ways,” or “American Terrorist”?) Today, Hip-Hop fills vacuums: it’s a hobby; it’s an emotional alleviator; it’s a social legitimator—it means you’re cool. Once, Hip-Hop offered the only legal means of true financial liberation for kids trapped into unlivable conditions. Today, Hip-Hop adds an extra “0”—to the many other 0s lined up from fashion and modeling and TV deals.

Aubrey Graham, better known as “Drake,” fares no better in my book. And though three years ago (please listen to Room for Improvement), I could vouch for him, today I hang my head in shame at the caricature Young Money has turned him into. But the once-Degrassi (some suburban White middle-class drama) star doesn’t mind: He rolled out the womb into a golden crib.

For his much-anticipated (sure-to-flop) debut album, So Far Gone, he’s been studyingNas (“to understand how he painted those pictures and his bar structure and all of that”) and Andre 3000. Take a few seconds to award Mr. Graham his ovation. But a few of us—fans and artists alike—studied Nas for quite different reasons: for the sense of agency and empowerment he provided our struggle; for the eloquent and extensive definition he gave to inner-city reality; for the wisdom sprawled liberally from his lips to our ears. No doubt artists can learn a good deal of poetic structure from Nas; but when Rap music fails to inspire anymore, when technical mastery is all left to glean from, something is wrong—either with the teacher or the student, the speaker or the listener.

I tend to judge the likes of Drake like Cormega would: “I don't like when these spoiled rich kids … just get into rap because it's something they can do. … They pops got money and they put 'em in the game and then they start rapping about something, a life they could never live. Go do something else. … Ni**as like us rap about sh** because we lived it. These ni**as use Rap as a hobby.”

If you’ve ever let your eardrums—and heart—fall victim to a Cormega track, the knee-jerk he’s hatin’ reaction shouldn’t find value following those comments: he embodies every word. And Hip-Hop fans and artists have always stood close to that timeless axiom—“no pain: no gain.” Not in a fascistic sense—as I picked up from Nas and Damian Marley’s “Strong Will Continue”—but meaning, if hardship to you is running late to a video shoot, or the late arrival of a chauffeur, or a missed opportunity to clock your closet with a limited-stock-collection-edition sneaker line, you might as well stay clear of the mic and pick up a more appealing, less transient hobby—like curling.

And, sure enough, Hip-Hop fans have come down terribly harsh on rich kids who, with good muscle movement, eventually made it onto the roster at some major label outfit trying to suck up to their parents. It’s only right that a keeping it real-obsessed community should take sharp swords to the ankles of anyone whose definition of poverty has more in solidarity with Carlton from The French Prince than J.J. from Good Times. (May I take this opportunity to plunge into Will Smith? Nah, let’s move on.)

The code shouldn’t take much to crack: we don’t greatly appreciate rich kids because they can tell us next to nothing of what nihilism means, of what fatalism means: in short, of what Hip-Hop means. If I ask readers to name one born-wealthy Hip-Hop artist whose message has poked in their hearts the perseverance to keep keepin’ on until someday, as Lil Boosie might put it (fall out your chairs, purists!), “selling out the store/ my money don’t fold now/,” we might be waiting till the trumpets sound, for an acceptable answer. But I let loose the name “Tupac Amaru Shakur,” and libations shower the earth.

Listen, folks: I hate to be that guy—you know, the party-crasher, the stink at the board meeting, the grump at the bar mitzvah, the atheist at church; but wipe off your lips: you’re drooling. These folks share nothing in common with the artists by whom our lives have been made meaningful and purposeful. So, feel free to wash over their albums at your local store: they don't need the money. But some do—and if you’ll rather shell out precious coin to enlarge the coffers of some glitterati scion, please don’t show your face around here any longer. I don’t mind one less reader.

Tolu Olorunda is a cultural critic whose work regularly appears on AllHipHop.com,TheDailyVoice.com, and other online journals. He can be reached at:Tolu.Olorunda@gmail.com.

Who is Sliimy?: Reasons why you should dig this French sensation

Sliimy caught buzz late last year after Fame Monster, Lady Gaga made a tweet asking "Who is Sliimy?". He was since caught my attention with his animation, funky clothes and 2nd Soprano vocals.

Yesterday I was channel surfing and stumbled across the video of his debut single "Wake Up" and found myself bouncing on my bed like my Godson does when he watches "Yo Gabba Gabba". His child like demenor and the colorfully playful video was nice to see, so me being the musical nerd I am I look into him and find out he's been around for a while. The French born Algerian-Morrocan singer has a decent following including being cosigned by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton.



"Wake Up" official video with colorful back drop and unique animation.
Despite his language barrier he makes very decent pop music, and his album should be worth a listen even featuring a cover of Britney Spears' 2008 hit "Womanizer". He recently performed at sxsw to rave reviews and we should really look more into him in the coming years.

Understanding: J. Cole

Understanding is a series of articles I'll post trying to understand either the hype or lack their of on many artist today. I will try to post these every week



Back in 2009 when what I like to call "the dawn of Drake" happened there were a cloud of rappers who I've heard of prior to have started to garner more mainstream buzz, but the same buzz wasn't garnered for J.Cole. Yes people knew his name but it didn't mean shit because he didn't drop a mixtape that sounded like an album, he wasn't cosigned by one of the biggest rapper of the generation nor was he considered the first rap heart throb since LL Cool J. In fact none of those seem to sum up the humble college boy from Fayetteville, he wasn't cosigned by one of the biggest rappers until later that year, his mixtapes weren't comercially acclaimed, and yes he isn't the fly-est guy around these parts, but he still can make girls look twice.
To become a fan of J. Cole, you must posses two qualities about yourself, a college student looking for the soundtrack to your life and/or an Artist who can spot real music beyond top 40 brainwashing. But within the next year you would probably hate him, because you either grown out of your college phase or he's become a top 40 sensation. But his lyrical presence and chill vocals will make you revisit him on a road trip, plane ride or hell just a ride around town, he's quite the relaxing rapper never cocky in his stance nor is he to dry to where you question why you're listening to him. Everything opposite of the major rappers out now Drake, Lil Wayne, T.I. And of course Cole's boss Jay-Z all emphasize on how they are better than the next which makes their music lack variety and interest, however it gives hopes to the naive youth in our world today that you too can become an arrogant asshole. Truth is kids YOU WON'T.
Further in my understanding of why J. Cole isn't topping charts is the fact in all honesty I don't think he wants that life, earlier I noted that he's a humble rapper from the Carolina's just doing what he does best rap. For him he just happened to be Roc Nation's first official signee and embark on his first headlining college tour. He has a loyal fanbase and his music doesn't dull the brains of our children in fact he talks about the importance of responsiblity, like in his song "Lights Please"," I'm finding, the more I grow the more ya'll seem to stay the same, don't even know the rules but yet ya'll tryna play the game and ain't a shame, for how niggas blame ho's for giving birth to a baby that took two to make coward nigga you a fake how u goin look in your sons face and turn back then go start another family dog wat type a shit is that".
I rest my case.