Gina Thompson- The Things That You Do (Throwback Thursday)

Also featuring Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, this record was the lead single off of her platinum debut album Nobody Does It Better, which was released in 1996. "The Things That You Do"  reached 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped out at 12 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop songs chart.

Album Review: Wale- The Gifted

Wale Folarin returns with his third album and second since aligning himself with MMG, The Gifted. Wale's follow up to 2011's Ambition, is a more focused and polished record than it predecessor, where it seemed that Wale was going through some sort of identity crisis as he attempted to find his place on a label filled with trap and gangster rappers (I use the term "gangster" very loosely) and he vaguely addresses as much on the album's opening track "The Curse of the Gifted", where he spits "they thought I wouldn't win in a crew full of trappers / what I do, I f***** the game and came out a gold rapper" . The Gifted finds Wale getting back to what endured fans to him the most, his lyrical and poetical talent in addition to his vulnerability as an artist. This album is also not as commercial as its predecessor as Wale's main focus is providing the masses with what he has been referring to as "new black soul", and for the most part the soulfulness of the album is it's strong point as it consistently puts Folarin in a zone he was found in more often pre-MMG, one he also seems to be more comfortable in as evident in tracks such as "Golden Salvation (Jesus Piece)" and one of my favorite Wale tracks "LoveHate Thing" featuring crooner Sam Dew. Wale even finds the time to show love to the home team with the Go-Go influenced "Clappers" featuring Juicy J and Nicki Minaj, which features a sample of "Da Butt" by EU and is sure to be a twerker favorite. The missteps on this album generally occur when Wale attempts to reach and step out of the lane he created for himself on this album with tracks such as "Vanity" and "Rotation" featuring Wiz Khalifa and the seemingly omnipresent 2 Chainz serving as examples. Wale is gifted enough as an artist to bring others into his world without compromising himself and needs to stick to doing so. Surprisingly, the strongest point of the album occurs during the albums closing tracks "Simple Man", "88", and "Black Hero's". All three highlight Wale's strengths as an artist and will definitely have you hitting the rewind button in efforts to attempt to break down some the intricate bars he drops throughout theses tracks. While The Gifted is far from perfect and its production leaves a lot to be desired at times, it's definitely a step in the right direction for Wale after he left many fans questioning his musically direction after Ambition. A solid album for a gifted emcee.



Final Grade: C+

Get More: Wale, Love Hate Thing ft. Sam Dew, Music, More Music Videos

Dwayne Davis: Started From The Bottom

A great read about NBA draft prospect, Dwayne Davis of Southern Miss. His story is another testament that hard work and dedication pays off and not to allow your situation to define you. Davis' story is one that is not rare in many urban communities but his preservation to survive to his hardships is what makes his story impressive. Davis' hard work and dedication has led to many NBA scouts believing that Davis will hear his named called sometime during the middle stage of the NBA Draft's second round on Thursday night. Please read his story courtesy of Yahoo's Jeff Eisenberg.


http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/homeless-teen-draft-prospect-dwayne-davis-may-home-091214938.html

K.D. Says "It's Go Time"

 

After being rumored for a couple of weeks now, Kevin Durant has officially joined hip hop mega star Jay-Z's newly formed sports agency, Roc Nation Sports. Durant, of the Oklahoma City Thunder, is by far the biggest name on Roc Nations roster, one that includes WNBA star Skylar Diggins, New York Jets rookie quarterback Geno Smith, and New York Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano. Also there are rumors that New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will be officially joining the team in the near future. Durant, who recently signed a contract extension in 2010 that will last throughout the 2015-16 season, informed his former agent, Rob Pelinka, that he intended to join Roc Nation Sports when he relieved him of his services a few weeks ago. Jay-Z has been cleared by the player union's of the NBA and  Major League Baseball as an agent as they both have confirmed that Mr. Carter is in fact a licensed agent himself. Jay doesn't need a license to negotiate for NFL players. Jay-Z has been very successful in his previous business endeavors and with the signing of one of the most marketable athletes in sports today, Jay is now positioning himself to be a power player in the sports agent business if all goes according to plan. Can't knock the hustle!

 (information courtesy of ESPN)

Do You Remember?

Anyone remember this track? Lysette "Young, Sad, and Blue", I don't think I've heard anything else from her since, but this was a dope track.

Circa 1998...

Tracklist Revealed for Jay-Z's "Magna Carta Holy Grail"

Jay-Z has decided release the tracklist for his upcoming album Magna Carta Holy Grail. Jay is still tight lipped up to this point in terms of features and production credits, with the only confirmed feature being Justin Timberlake on "Holy Grail."

Here is the full tracklist:

1. Picasso Baby
2. Heaven
3. Versus
4. Tom Ford
5. Beach Is Better
6. FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt
7. Oceans
8. F.U.T.W.
09. Part II (On The Run)
10. BBC
11. La Familia
12. Jay-Z Blue
13. Nickels & Dimes
14. Holy Grail (Bonus Track)
15. Open Letter (Bonus Track)

Reminder: The app for Samsung users (Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, and Note 2) is now available. The Magna Carta app allows the first one million users to download Jay's new album for free on July 4th. The album becomes available to everyone else on July 7.

Cole, You Ain't Let Nas Down

J. Cole's idol, Nas, let's loose on Cole's "Let Nas Down", giving much deserved respect to the "young king." This track is ill, check it out for yourself... Born Sinner is in stores now!!

Born Sinner vs. Yeezus

Kanye West continues to push to boundaries of hip hop and rap beyond it's traditional boundaries, which depending on who you ask could be a good or bad thing. Yeezus is very experimental, experimental to the point that it is tough to even label it as a hip hop or rap album. Sonically, Yeezus is uncompromising and minimalistic, a stark contrast to the rich and layered production that we have come to expect from Mr. West.  For those who thought that after hearing Ye perform "Black Skinheads" and "New Slaves" on Saturday Night Live that Yeezus would be more conscious and socially driven will be in for a big surprise as the album plays out more like a pallet of Kanye's sexual desires, with the prerequisite Ye braggadocio . On my first listen I was like "Ok, I think I can rock with this" but on subsequent listens I grew more and more disappointed in this album.  Even in my disappointment I managed to find a couple gems such as "Bound 2" which features Charlie Wilson and "Blood On The Leaves." "Bound 2" serves as throwback to soul sampling style that made us all fall I love with Mr. West as a producer, while the genius of Kanye is on full display on "Blood On The Leaves" which finds Kanye perfectly meshing samples of Nina Simone's "Strange Fruit" and Snoop Dogg's "Down For My N****'s" as a backdrop to tales of a groupies molly experience, and the events that occur after such a childbirth and being tied down for 18 years. I believe that many listeners will have a hard time attempting to resonate with this album. Coming in at only ten tracks length, there isn't much room for error but songs such as "Send It Up" featuring King Louie, "Black Skinheads", "Can't Hold My Liquor" which features Chief Keef and Justin Vernon of Bon Ivor, and "On Sight" , while not necessarily horrible, all fail to make a positive impact on the album. I think the experimentation of the album will draw the praise of some and the ire of others but I feel that experimentation is great until it hinders you as an artist and I feel that this is subpar lyrically to Kanye albums of past. Where he has always shown progression lyrically with each release, lyrics seem to take a back seat on Yeezus. On the controversial "I Am A God", Ye raps "Pink a** polo's and a f***ing backpack/ Everybody know you brought real rap back" referring to himself and his rise in the game and when he goes in the studio to record his 7th album, I hope he keeps that in mind.


                                                                            VERSUS:
                                 
                                                                  

Many thought that J. Cole moving the release date of  Born Sinner up to compete with Kanye West was a dangerous and potentially costly move but it proved to be exactly the opposite. Cole was obviously proud of and confident in the body of work that he put together and deservedly so. Born Sinner shows the tremendous growth of J. Cole behind the boards as well as on the mic. The sonic landscape of this album is leaps and bounds beyond that of his debut album Cole World: Sideline Story and provides the perfect back drop for the admittedly dark nature of the album. This album finds Jermaine making the music that gained him legions of fans during his mixtape run. Gone are the obvious attempts at radio airplay like "Can't Get Enough" , "Work Out", and "Mr. Nice Watch" maybe with the exception of the Miguel assisted lead single "Power Trip" which may have lost some of its commercial appeal courtesy of it's murder inciting video and "Forbidden Fruit" which features Kendrick Lamar as well as an A Tribe Called Quest sample, "Electric Relaxation" (by way of Ronnie Foster's "Mystic Brew"). Cole covers a lot of ground on Born Sinner such as comparing slavery to copping a chain ("Chaining Day"), struggles with commitment ("Runaway"), growing up poor ("Rich Niggaz") and letting his idol down ("Let Nas Down") just to name a few. Even the albums interludes serve a purpose such as "Mo Money" and "Ain't That Some S***", with the aforementioned "Mo Money" finding Cole sounding like he was inspired by a young A.Z. while spitting about the problems money bring and how those of the fairer skin view blacks and money, with lines like "How momma gonna teach you how to save your money / when she barely on the boat, got stay afloat money...no wallets, nah n****, we rather fold money / money control n*****, white man control money / laughing like yeah yeah my n**** get your money." While this album may not be perfect, it is hard to find a point in the album where you can honestly say that Cole stumbled. The sophomore jinx definitely doesn't come in to play here as Jermaine has empathically staked his claim for album of the year honors. Born Sinner see's Cole coming into his own as a producer and improving lyrically even though he was already regarded as  one of the more talented lyricist coming up. According to the late great Biggie Smalls, born sinners are the opposite of winners, but Cole's Born Sinner is definitely a winner, pure hip hop from start to finish.

                                                                      The Verdict:

So who won? Kanye will most definitely win the Soundscan battle (I hope I eat my words) BUT J. Cole's Born Sinner is the superior album compared to Yeezus, production wise and lyrically.

Final Grades:

Kanye West- Yeezus (D)
J. Cole- Born Sinner (B+)

The Rules Have Changed, Jay-Z Invades Independence Day

Remember that HUGE announcement Jay-Z promised in conjunction with Samsung? Well just in cased you missed it last night during game 5 of the NBA Finals, here it is. Check the video below...



"We don't have any rules. Everyone's trying to figure it out," Jay says as a ringing, piano-driven instrumental plays in the background. "We need to write the new rules. (Billboard)"

That's right a 3 minute ad allowing Jay to announce his new album Magna Carta Holy Grail, which is due out July 4th. Where does Samsung fit into all of this? Samsung is launching an app on June 24, which will allow users of the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S 4 and the Galaxy Note II to download the album for free on Independence Day at 12:01am. It has been stated and pretty much confirmed in tweets from Hova himself that Samsung has already purchased one million copies of the album. As seen in the commercial super producers Rick Rubin, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and Pharrell Williams are all involved in the project. Could this also may serve as an answer to the questions raised by pics of Jay in the studio with the likes of Nas, Raekwon, Justin Timberlake, and Drake? Time will tell when the "Holy Grail" is discovered...

 

 

 UPDATE: 

 

Magna Carta Holy Grail will be available on July 7th for those of us who aren't apart of the Samsung Galaxy community.

Jason Kidd Hired as New Coach of the Brooklyn Nets

In a shocking turn of events recently retired, future hall of fame point guard Jason Kidd has been hired as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. According to various sources, Kidd interviewed with Brooklyn's brass on Monday and wowed them during the process. It is believed that a prerequisite of Kidd becoming the head coach was that he hire at least to assistants with head coaching experience to off set his obvious lack of coaching experience. Once such hire is believed to be former Nets and Detroit Pistons coach, Lawrence Frank. Kidd's hiring was confirmed by ESPN's Marc Stein after hours of speculation and rumors that Kidd would be offered the position even though Brooklyn still proceeded to interview Indiana Pacers assistant coach Brian Shaw. It is of common belief that Jason Kidd gained an edge over Brian Shaw due to his already established relationship with Nets point guard Deron Williams. Williams and Kidd are very close, Kidd is someone that Williams looks up to and respects and their families have also vacationed together on numerous occasions . Some question whether this hire is a publicity stunt in order to maintain interest in a team expected to compete for championships by its owner but in reality is only a middle of the pack team that will compete for one of the top five spots in the Eastern Conference but nothing more. I personally think that this a swing for the fences hire by the Nets and I like it. No Kidd didn't take the conventional route to become a head coach, but sometimes being ahead of the curve and thinking outside of the box pays off and I believe this to be one of those instances. No one can question Kidd's basketball acumen and if he can reach the temperamental Deron Williams, with a couple minor roster tweaks and scheme adjustments, the Nets could possibly compete for a championship. This team will only go as far as the play of their star point guard and that's the biggest reason why Jason Kidd will be announced as the new head coach of the Brooklyn Nets later today.

2 Chainz: Robbed or Not???

After denying that he was involved in a robbery last weekend in California, 2 Chainz may have no choice but to admit to what really went down as video footage has surfaced of what appears to be the rapper and his crew attempting to flee the scene when approached by two gunmen.

Judge for yourself:

 (courtesy of TMZ)

Ghostface Killah "Winter Warz" (Throwback Thursday)

Cappadonna murdered this track, one of my favorite verses ever...

"Winter Warz" off of Ghostface's debut, Ironman




And here is a bonus...




Check out this article I found on how Ironman saved Hip Hop in 1996.... what do you think?

http://www.getondown.com/blog/2013/02/how-ghostface-killahs-ironman-helped-saved-hip-hop-in-1996/

Jay-Z adding Kevin Durant to Roc Nation????

Kevin Durant fired his agent, is he headed to Roc Nation? Jay-Z is doing BIG things. For those that don't know Jay has started Roc Nation Sports, a sports management company. He already represents Skylar Diggins, New York Yankees' Robinson Cano, New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz (there are conflicting stories about if he is signed yet or not) and New York Jets rookie quarterback Geno Smith. Rumor has it Desean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles is also interested in joining Jay-Z's imprint. Without a doubt signing KD will be his biggest power move yet.

J. Cole Breaking Down the Story of "Let Nas Down"

During the listening session for Born Sinner, Cole speaks on the most anticipated track (and my favorite) on his album "Let Nas Down"

J. Cole "Born Sinner" Tracklist

Here is the official tracklist to J. Cole's second album Born Summer, set for release on June 18. The deluxe version contains five additional tracks, which Cole has confirmed is actually Truly Yours 3.
















1. Villuminati
2. Kerney Sermon (Skit)
3. LAnd Of The Snakes
4. Power Trip (featuring Miguel)
5. Mo Money (Interlude)
6. Trouble
7. Runaway
8. She Knows (featuring Amber Coffman)
9. Rich Niggaz
10. Where's Jermaine? (Skit)
11. Forbidden Fruit (featuring Kendrick Lamar)
12. Chaining Day
13. Ain't That Some Shit (Interlude)
14. Crooked Smile (featuring TLC)
15. Let Nas Down
16. Born Sinner (featuring James Fauntleroy)


***Deluxe Version (Truly Yours 3)***


17. Miss America
18. New York Times (featuring 50 Cent & Bas)
19. Is She Gon Pop
20. Niggaz Know
21. Sparks Will Fly (featuring Jhene Aiko)

Juvenile "Slow Motion" (Throwback Thursday )

R.I.P. Soulja Slim!!

Official Tracklist for Wale's "The Gifted" Revealed

Here is the official tracklist for Wale's third album The Gifted set for release June 25.

1. The Curse of the Gifted
2. LoveHate Thing (Feat. Sam Dew)
3. Sunshine
4. Heaven’s Afternoon (Feat. Meek Mill)
5. Golden Salvation (Jesus Piece)
6. Vanity
7. Gullible (Feat. Cee-Lo Green)
8. Bricks (Feat. Yo Gotti & Lyfe Jennings)
9. Clappers (Feat. Nicki Minaj &; Juicy J)
10. Bad (Remix) (Feat. Rihanna)
11. Tired of Dreaming (Feat. Ne-Yo &; Rick Ross)
12. Rotation (Feat. Wiz Khalifa &; 2 Chainz)
13. Simple Man
14. 88
15. Black Heroes / Outro About Nothing (Feat. Jerry Seinfeld)
16. Bad (Feat. Tiara Thomas)

 

Ya'll checking for this album?

Jason Kidd and Grant Hill are Retiring

Grant Hill announced his retirement June 1 and two days later Jason Kidd decided that it was time for him to do the same. Ironically, these two came in together in 1994, Jason Kidd went second and Grant Hill third to the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons respectively. The two also shared Rookie of the Year honors that year.




Kidd, played 19 seasons with the Nets, Suns, Knicks, and two stints with the Dallas Mavericks. During his second tour of duty he won his only championship as the Mavs defeated Miami's Big Three. Kidd retires with  as the NBA's number two assist man in the regular season behind John Stockton, number three in the postseason behind Stockton and Magic Johnson, he places third (regular season) in made three pointers and eight during the playoffs. Kidd made the All NBA team 6 times, All NBA defensive team 9 times, earned 10 NBA All Star appearances, and won two gold medals in Olympic competition.



Hill, whose first six years in the NBA rival almost that of any current and future hall of famers, save for a handful, literally. Injuries derailed what may have been one of the most prolific careers ever but Hill fought through them all and managed to finish his career as a pretty solid role player. In his 19 years he played for the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, and most recently, the Los Angeles Clippers. Hill finished with career averages of 16.7 points, 6 rebounds, 4.1 assist, and 1.2 steals per game. He also made seven all star game appearances.

J. Cole "Crooked Smile" featuring TLC

J. Cole decides to let go his TLC collab "Crooked Smile". Definitely lives up to the hype, good ish Jermaine.



Born Sinner...June 18th...Support

French Montana performing "Pop That" at Summer Jam

French brought Ross with him and even got Tunechi to tag along for the ride, the crowd erupted when Wayne appeared...

A$AP Rocky Suprises at Summer Jam XX

Rocky brings out those Thugs from Cleveland....





"Work" with A$AP Ferg, Trinidad Jame$, and Schoolboy Q

Wu-Tang Clan at Summer Jam XX

20 years in it's still Wu-Tang Clan, you younings need to learn a lesson in HIP HOP!!

"Triumph"




"Method Man"



ODB's son performing "Shimmy Shimmy Ya"..Ol' Dirty Rest In Peace

Kendrick Lamar at Summer Jam XX

Rosenberg speaks on what he felt was the biggest moment at this years Summer Jam

Kendrick Lamar's Summer Jam XX performance, Black Hippy/TDE was definitely in the building....

2 Chainz performs new single "Feds Watching" at Summer Jam

New album September 10...

Papoose Graces the Stage at Summer Jam XX....Really?

Papoose managed to sneak a performance in at Summer Jam XX, here is performing his new single "Get At Me" featuring Ether Boy himself, Ron Browz, off his Nacierma Dream album.
Seems like the crowd had no love for Pap tho.....

And here is how Papoose snuck in the back door, courtesy of Hot 97