“It’s that rapid fire delivery style of mine,” spits Cleveland, Ohio’s hometown hustler Machine Gun Kelly when queried about the correlation of monikers between himself and the machine gun toting prohibition gangster of lore. “Like him, I got machine guns too (large ones tattooed on both calves) and I say f*ck a lot.” Fair enough, but does he have the ammunition to back it up?
Opting to not read the press release for the documentary 50 Cent: The Origin of Me before watching, it was a mystery whether the film was going to be yet another look into 50’s storied past in Jamaica, Queens or something entirely different. Thankfully this film, which is part of VH1’s “Rock Docs” series, leans heavily towards the latter category.
Lil Wayne may be a lot of things to a lot of people; a rapper, producer, felon, & father. But on Sunday night he was nothing short of spectacular as he closed the three day Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey. He took the stage for a little over an hour as the sun kissed weary crowd stayed transfixed. From an artist who’s playbook includes so many featured acts and guest vocals, one might think the whole Young Money crew travels attached at the hip, but not so. Lil Wayne proved that not only can he carry a show relatively alone, he is in fact a true performer.
Honestly, I didn’t know anything about dance-hop duo Chiddy Bang, other than the fact that front man Chidera Anamege aka “Chiddy” just broke M-Eighty’s world record for the longest freestyle ever (at over nine hours straight), until Bamboozle… And I gotta say, the boy’s got skills.
It had been 15 years since the infamous Def Jam Records had approached a West Coast rapper with a recording contract. That was the case until they stumbled upon YG. At just 19 years of age, YG signed with the prestigious label and began feverishly writing and recording. With the help of hit single “Toot it and Boot it,” YG found himself on a surreal track to stardom. He is currently working on a new album and is set to drop a mixtape in a few weeks.
The recent 21-year old is having the time of his life: a growing fan base, countless birthday celebrations, radio airplay, and a blossoming career. While in the studio to put the finishing touches on his mixtape, YG sat down with ChinaShop to explain how he landed his deal with Def Jam and how he’s celebrating his newly found success.
Hip-hoppers at Winter Music Conference this year got a special treat when the Red Bull Music Academy announced a special two-day event featuring indelible MC Talib Kweli and producer 9th Wonder that hoped to provide an intimate look into two of the game’s most talented and influential artists. After an interview and Q&A session on Thursday, the two artists would then regroup at the Delano Hotel’s Florida Room for an “On The Floor” performance. We had the chance to interview Talib before he took the stage for the interview portion of the event, held at the Raleigh Hotel. Then, due to flight delays with 9th and the session moderator, we jumped on the mic to kick off the discussion while we waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. Below is a portion of our conversation.
The kid is fast, I can not lie. Although this video has been viewed over 5.4 Million (yes…MILLION) times, maybe you haven’t seen it yet. Call me crazy but the kid deserves it. He has just the right amount of flow and irreverence to make him kind of a big deal. You go Watsky! Hit 6M by the end of day!
Redman has jumped off of stages and into crowds – and off of airplanes into clouds. It’s that kind of recklessness and willingness to take extreme risks that has enabled the New Jersey rhymer to sustain a wild rap career that has lasted nearly 20 years.
“It’s like my personality in the music,” says Redman during an interview from Def Jam Records’ New York office. Redman’s seventh album, Redman Presents…Reggie, was released on Tuesday. “It allows me to branch off into any area that I want because I’m open,” he continues. “I could be your hardest asshole and I can be the easiest guy to get along with. That’s what my music is. I have people music. I don’t just have, ‘OK, I’m a thug. I can’t smile.’ Or, ‘Fuck that. I don’t do that X Games bullshit.’ I don’t have that kind of look. I have the kind of look like, ‘Hey. I like that guy. He smokes. He pays his bills. He steps in his pants one leg at a time just like we do,’ and that’s the feel and the vibe that I give off to people, so when I do things like the X Games or a Gillette commercial people see me and be like, ‘Wow. Look at this dude,’ not, ‘What the fuck is he in there for?’ It was like, ‘Yeah, well, why not?’ It’s just his personality.”
Before he was throwing temper tantrums at the MTV VMAs and being labeled the biggest jerk in the history of hip hop, and before he released his critically acclaimed My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West was producing some of the dopest beats the game has ever heard.
Kanye’s career as a rap artist didn’t exactly take off like a Gulfstream en route to the south of France. Prior to reaching superstar status as a rap artist, many labels were reluctant to sign Kanye West “the producer” to a record deal.
It took a 2003 car accident to inspire Kanye to write and produce “Through the Wire”, a track he recorded with his jaw wired shut. With critical acclaim, his career as a respected rap artist and eventual superstar was launched. For Mr. West, there was no looking back.
Luckily for you, we enjoyed history class in high school. So much so that we decided to take a look back and list our favorite pre-superstar Kanye-produced tracks:
Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Pusha T, RZA and CyHi Da Prynce all repeatedly chant, “It’s like that sometimes, I mean ridiculous / It’s like that sometimes, the shit is ridiculous” over the track, So Appalled, debuted on Ye’s fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. And that’s exactly what the whole entire album is, ridiculous. Ridiculously good.
