"I do this for my culture..."

MTV’s Artists To Watch In ‘09

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:46:46 +0000

including B.O.B, Wale, Kid Cudi, Charles Hamilton, Asher Roth

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Kanye West X Louis Vuitton Sneakers

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:31:07 +0000

Sole BLVD found pics of Kanye rocking his collaboration shoe with Louis Vuitton, which will be released in June. At first glance, you can’t really tell the specific design, but I’m sure it’ll be a quality product.Similar Posts:

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Black Rob Still Repping Bad Boy…

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:23:19 +0000

“I’m a team player man”

Via HipHopUpdate

XXLmag.com recently caught up with incarcerated rapper Black Rob to find out if he is still signed with Bad Boy Records and when he expects to get out of jail.

Rob (born Robert Ross) was arrested in 2004 for burglary and criminal possession after he was caught on tape stealing a pocketbook from a hotel room. According to the New York Post, the bag contained over $6,000 worth of jewelry and cash and the Harlem bred MC was sentenced to two to six years in ‘06 for the charges.

While he’s been serving time, Rob says he has not been in communication with his label, but until he gets the call he’s still with Diddy. “I haven’t heard from these dudes, they might’ve took me off the Bad Boy website or whatever but I haven’t heard from anyone telling me what the deal is. So until I get a piece of paper saying that I’m no longer a Bad Boy artist, I’m still reppin’ that flag. I’m a team player man.”

And fans may be hearing from Rob soon. BR has been using his time to write constantly and believes he may be released shortly. “Right now I’m looking at like 90 Days before I touch the streets,” he said.
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Puff Steps in Dog Poop

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Let’s Talk With Akon

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:13:48 +0000

My Man Kev from ThisIsHipHop had the chance to sit down with Akon for an interview.

Chances are you will be hard pressed not to hear an Akon song on the radio at any given moment. The hip hop/R&B singer-songwriter and Grammy nominated record producer has literally been everywhere over the course of the last three years. Aside from his solo albums, Trouble and Konvicted, superstars such as Young Jeezy, Eminem, Gwen Stephani, and Snoop Dogg have reached out for his musical expertise. Now with a third solo album under his belt (the recently released Freedom), Akon is taking radio waves by storm. Being a successful artist, producer, label owner, and entrepreneur, Akon is extremely difficult to get a hold of. So when Akon’s label, SRC Records, asked me if I wanted an interview I simply could not refuse. Here’s what went down…

Kevin: First of all, thanks a lot for taking time out to chat with us and congratulations on the release of your new album! The name of the new album is Freedom. Can you tell us a little bit of the concept behind this album? I read somewhere that the original title was supposed to be Acquitted. Can you expand on that?

Akon: Absolutely. We wanted to give a more positive outlook on the record and on the title more so than anything. Just kinda refurbish the image of Konvict on a positive side, because somewhere along the lines it got misinterpreted. [People were] Thinking that we were glorifying jail life, gangsta, and street… all the negative aspects of what [the word] konvict would represent normally. We changed the name from Acquitted because Freedom means the same exact thing as acquitted. Only difference is Freedom is a lot more positive, a lot more global. You can take that anywhere and everyone has a definition of what Freedom means to them.

Kevin: You’ve been pretty busy since releasing your last album Konvicted in 2006. How long did it actually take to put Freedom together? Are you happy with how it turned out?

Akon: I’m extremely happy with Freedom and how it turned out. It didn’t really take me much to put it together. We didn’t even really time it; the whole album was done while I was on tour, you know as I was roaming through Europe, Africa, Asia, on the international run. That whole album was being developed as we moved, so there really wasn’t like a deadline. It was more like vibin’ out… records that we loved, we did them at that moment, spur of the moment. We just put them all together to create this package.

Kevin: I heard about a duet you had with Michael Jackson that was supposed to be on the album, but wasn’t included in the final release. What happened with that song?

Akon: “Hold My Hand” was the record I did with M.J. And unfortunately it got leaked over the Internet. What ended up happening was it took away from the whole presentation of the record. We wanted it to be something special being the fact that it was a comeback record. It was my biggest collaboration ever. We wanted that movement to be special, we wanted people to be able to feel the energy. And when the record got leaked, it took away the excitement; it took away the set up. We just kinda backed off to see how things would move; if the record would get overly popular, would we get behind it. There was always the situation where we was trying to decide what we were gonna do with it, but for me personally I wanted it to be a little more special. Everyone had already heard it at that point so I felt there was really no purpose to put it on the record.

Check out the full interview here
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2009 Music Preview

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:56:59 +0000

Via Jam Showbiz! Music

Let’s step away from the best of ‘08 lists and let’s look foward!
The guys over at Jam Showbiz! made a nice list with a preview of the cds comin’ out in 2009.
Here’s an excerpt:

JANUARY

Lisa (Left-Eye) Lopes - Eye-Legacy
Five years after her untimely car-crash death, the TLC vocalist gets her due in a posthumous outing, with the help of guests such as Missy, Lil Mama and Tupac. (Jan. 27)

FEBRUARY

50 Cent - Before I Self-Destruct
Fiddy’s fourth disc was pushed back from fall — maybe to give him time to set up another fake feud with someone. We suggest Chris Cornell — at least he’ll win that one. (Feb. 3)

Missy Elliott - Block Party
The guests at Missy’s Party include Pharrell, Danja and, of course, old pal Timbaland. We can only hope Tim didn’t bring Chris Cornell along. (Feb. 10)

India.Arie - Testimony, Vol. 2: Love & Politics
The neo-soul songbird’s Testimony Vol. 1: Life & Relationship came out more than two years ago. Hey, relationships take time. (Feb. 10)

Erykah Badu - New AmErykah Part 2: Return of the Ankh
Arie isn’t the only soul mama putting out the second chapter in her multi-part musical story — and to Badu’s credit, hers only took one year. (Feb. 17)

Lionel Richie - Just Go
Akon and Ne-Yo are reportedly among the young bloods who will be dancing on the ceiling with Richie this time. (Feb. 24)

MARCH

Black Eyed Peas - The END
According to will.i.am, it stands for The Energy Never Dies — and it will be more of a “music diary” than an album. Whatever — that still doesn’t make up for My Humps. (March)

DEFINITELY MAYBES

Big Boi - Sir Luscious Leftfoot … Son of Chico Dusty
Love the title. Hope we feel the same about the rest of the OutKast rapper’s long-awaited solo effort. (TBA)

Busta Rhymes - B.O.M.B.
Busta’s eighth release has been in the pipeline for some time. Perhaps he’s worried it will … you know. (Spring)

Dr. Dre - Detox
NWA’s G-funk hitmaker says this long-delayed solo effort — first due in 2004 — will come out after Eminem and 50 Cent’s CDs. OK — but how long after? (TBA)

Eminem - Relapse
The real Slim Shady finally stands up and serves up his first disc in five years — the encore to 2004’s Encore. (Spring)

Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3
Hova’s final Def Jam disc was booked for fall, but bumped to this year, along with Fiddy and Eminem. 2009 is shaping up to be a fine year for hip-hop. (Spring)

R. Kelly - 12 Play: Fourth Quarter
This fourth instalment in Kells’ 12 Play series leaked last July. We hope the delay means Kelly is working on some replacement tracks. (TBA)

Full Article

Expect all CDs to be pushed back at least a month, lol.
Also, check out the most anticipated rap albums over at KevinNottingham.comSimilar Posts:

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Leak: Skyzoo - Bells & Whistles

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:10:19 +0000

Via NahRight

First single off Skyzoo’s new mixtape The Power Of Words.

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Joe Budden: Original Samples

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:09:58 +0000

Via ThisIsHipHop

Here are the samples of Joe Budden’s debut LP.
Also, Kevin from ThisIsHipHop is droppin’ a new sample set everyday in January so check it out!

“Lock and Key” by Rush
From the album Hold Your Fire (1987)
Sampled in “Intro”
Produced by White Boy

“I’m Still #1? by Boogie Down Productions
From the album By All Means Necessary (1988)
Sampled in “#1?
Produced by White Boy

“The Bridge Is Over” by Boogie Down Productions
From the album Criminal Minded (1987)
Sampled in “#1?
Produced by White Boy

“Sound Of Da Police” by KRS-One
From the album Return of the Boom Bap (1993)
Sampled in “#1?
Produced by White Boy

”Baby Let Me Take You In My Arms (In My Arms)” by Detroit Emeralds
From the album You Want It, You Got It (1972)
Interpolated in “#1?
Produced by White Boy

“Soul Vibrations” by Kool and The Gang
From the album Music is the Message (1971)
Sampled in “Pump It Up”
Produced by Just Blaze

“I Love You So Much, Never Wanna Let You Go” by Love Unlimited
From the album In Heat (1974)
Sampled in “She Wanna Know”
Produced by White Boy

“Super Rappin” by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
From the album ?
Interpolated in “Fire”
Produced by Just Blaze

“Whores In This House” by Frank Ski *
From the single “Whores In This House” (1993)
Interpolated in “Fire”
Produced by Just Blaze

“Hail Mary” by 2pac
From the album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)
Interpolated in “Ma Ma Ma”
Produced by White Boy

“Right on Brother” by The Four Tops
From the album Meeting of the Minds (1974)
Sampled in “Real Life Rap”
Produced by White Boy

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Leak: Ne-Yo - What You Do (Prod. by Chuck Harmony)

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:59:49 +0000

Via You Heard That New

Don’t know if this is new or old or unreleased but whatever..
Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD
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Leak: Ciara - Never Ever (feat. Young Jeezy) (prod. by Polow Da Don)

Carsten — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:45:39 +0000

Via 2Dopeboyz

Why not some new R&B?? Here’s a new leak from miss ATL, Ciara.
Featuring the snowman.

"I do this for my culture..."

MTV’s Artists To Watch In ‘09

Kanye West X Louis Vuitton Sneakers

Black Rob Still Repping Bad Boy…

Let’s Talk With Akon

2009 Music Preview

Leak: Skyzoo - Bells & Whistles

Joe Budden: Original Samples

Leak: Ne-Yo - What You Do (Prod. by Chuck Harmony)

Leak: Ciara - Never Ever (feat. Young Jeezy) (prod. by Polow Da Don)

Mike Epps x DJ AM x Kobe Bryant (Full Video)