Kevin Hart on ESPN's First Take

This segment is a couple weeks old, but watch Kevin Hart take on Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith on First Take, hilarious!

2 Chainz Breakfast Club Interview

Titty 2 Chainz speaks on his 100k a verse demands, Ludacris, working on B.O.A.T.S. 2: Me Time, and more. Peep the interview below.

Jay-Z #FactsOnly Interview With Elliott Wilson

Here is Jay Z's highly publicized and hyped interview with Elliott Wilson for those who missed it...

Part One




Part Two

Kool G. Rap (Throwback Thursday)

One of the slept on and most underrated emcee's ever, Corona, Queens' own Kool G. Rap.

Road to Riches



Ill Street Blues



My Life



Fast Life (feat. Nas)

Wu-Tang's U-God's Thoughts on "Yeezus" and "Magna Carta Holy Grail"

U-God, member of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan was asked for his opinion on the new albums from Jay Z and Kanye West and apparently he isn't too pleased with one of the two. Check out what Golden Arms had to say below.....

 

So do you agree with U-God's assessment of the two albums, Yeezus in particular. Check out the rest of the interview courtesy of the Huffington Post as he touches on being in the game for 20 years, his new album Keynote Speaker (which dropped today), and his relationship with his crew. The link to the article is below.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/22/u-god-keynote-speaker-wu-tang-20th-kanye_n_3632729.html

Heavy D Tribute (Throwback Thursday)

Definitely inspired by last weeks Soul For Real Throwback Thursday, now its time to pay proper respects to the legend hailing from Money Earnin' Mt. Vernon himself!

Now That We've Found Love featuring Aaron Hall




Got Me Waiting



Mr. Big Stuff



Nuttin' But Love



Black Coffee




Don't Curse featuring Kool G. Rap, Grand Puba, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, Big Daddy
Kane, and Q-Tip




And for those of you who thought he couldn't spit for real...

Who's The Man??



R.I.P. Heavy D

R.I.P. Trayvon Martin

Words can't describe the injustice and the lack of respect for the life of this young man. No matter if you felt the verdict was right or wrong, just remember God will be the final judge. George Zimmerman may not be confined to an actual prison cell but he will be confined to a personal prison everyday for the rest of his life because he will live it in constant fear. Rioters and protestors, do so peacefully as more violence will not solve anything, only further complicate it. To all the "black political leaders" here is your chance to do something positive with your power, don't abuse it and just use it as a chance to get your face on the television to further push YOUR agenda. Remember that before we can fix any other issues we have to fix those that exist in our own backyard BLACK ON BLACK CRIME. If we don't value our own life then why should they? Are you aware of what is going on in Chicago? Try 47 separate shootings, 67 people shot and 11 fatalities over the 4th of July weekend, with the youngest victim being a 5 year old boy; and this is following a Fathers Day weekend which saw 46 people shot with 8 fatalities. This is a nationwide problem, one that we have the power to control. We have to get our priorities in order and protect and value our own communities before we can demand that others do the same. We need to look at the reflection in the mirror, it's long overdue. We are our own worst enemy. Rest In Peace Trayvon Martin and may God continue to bless your family during this trying period.

Soul For Real (Throwback Thursday)

These dudes used to be the way to a girls heart back in the day!!!!! R.I.P. Heavy D

Every Little Thing I Do




Candy Rain Remix featuring Heavy D

Lupe Fiasco- Lamborghini Angels x ITAL (Roses) x Audobon Ballroom (Video)

Lupe Fiasco decides to let for this 12 minute visual to accompany three of the standout tracks from his Food and Liquor 2 album. The opening credits to the video say it all. Enjoy and try to catch those jewels.

Justin Timberlake- Tunnel Vision (Video) (NSFW)

JT releases the video to Tunnel Vision of his latest offering " The 20/20 Experience." He has been receiving some flack for this video as it contains women dancing nude throughout the video. Is the flack he is receiving worth it? Creative control gone wrong? Or is it more artful (albeit exotic) than raunchy and disempowering? Let me know how you feel.

Victor Cruz Signs Extension

Wide Receiver Victor Cruz and the New York Giants have come to terms on a contract extension that will keep Cruz in Big Blue for the next six years. Cruz and the Giants agreed to a six year $46 million dollar contract, which keeps him in New York through 2018. Cruz has become a star during the last two seasons seemingly becoming Eli Manning's favorite target,  Cruz has totaled 168 receptions, 2,628 receiving yards, and 19 touchdowns over the past two campaigns. Cruz is 26, so this deal should carry him throughout his prime years unless he finds a way to out perform this deal.


(statistics courtesy of ESPN)

Cleveland Brown Pallbearers???

This is by far the funniest thing that I have read all day, courtesy of ESPN....

Cleveland stays losing, great parting shot Mr. Entsminger, here's to hoping you get your final wish and may you rest in peace.

Happy 4th of July! Tracey Lee, Rampage, and Da Luniz (Throwback Thursday)

Tracey Lee "The Theme (It's Party Time)", don't act like ya'll wasn't feeling this back in the day! It's party time...Oh it's party time!



Let me find out ya'll have forgotten about the Last Boy Scout, this joint used to get me hype as a shorty...Rampage "Wild For Da Night" featuring Busta Rhymes, another banger from '97.




and last but not least for your holiday enjoyment courtesy of the year 1995...Da Luniz "I Got 5 On It", this one the smokers definitely can relate to!

Official Magna Carta Holy Grail Album Cover

Just a few hours before the "Samsung exclusive" release of Jay-Z's new album Magna Carta Holy Grail, he decides to showcase the official album cover. A pretty nice piece of art if I must say so myself. Be your own judge though.....

This is on display in a museum by the way! The Salisbury Cathedral in the UK to be exact, which happens to be the home of one of the four remaining Magna Carta documents. Nice move Shawn Corey.

Just A Reminder....

Magna Carta Holy Grail is available to the first million Samsung Galaxy and Note users through the Magna Carta app on July 4th 12:01 am and will be available to the general public on July 9th.

Game- Ali Bomaye (Video)

Game drops off the latest video to accompany his album Jesus Piece, "Ali Bomaye" featuring Rick Ross and 2 Chainz, as well as various other cameos. This track is hard!

Jay-Z Continues To Be A Game Changer, RIAA Updates Rules

Jay-Z continues to enforce his #NewRules, with his new album Magna Carta Holy Grail, as the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has decided to update it's rules regarding gold and platinum certification. The rule implied that an album could only be certified gold or platinum 30 days after its release date. This rule will still apply to physical copies in order to keep track of returns but has been changed to take digital album sales into consideration.  As of yet, Soundscan still has not budged on it's stance that it will not include the presales of Magna Carta Holy Grail to Samsung as they only track over the counter retail sales.

Check out the update from the RIAA below:

 

Counting Digital Singles and Digital Albums for G&P: A Common Sense Update

July 01, 2013

By now, many of us in the music business, as well as Jay-Z fans, know that Samsung has purchased one million “Magna Carta Holy Grail” digital albums to be given away to the phone maker’s customers.  It is a novel and creative marketing move and it has rightly stimulated a healthy conversation about the sale’s meaning and implications for the modern music business.   

For us, the move prompted a re-examination of our historic Gold & Platinum (G&P) Program award rules.  As we dug through the records of audits, re-reviewed rules and consulted with our auditing firm of more than thirty years, Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, we discovered one rule disparity that no longer makes sense. 

One of our program’s requirements is that an album can become eligible for certification 30 days after release date. (There are other rules, of course – such as requiring that the price of the album meet certain requirements.)  The 30-day rule exists to take into account potential returns of physical product – CDs, cassettes, vinyl, etc. that could be shipped to brick and mortar retailers and returned, in which case our auditors do not count the sales. 
 
When we first created the Digital Single Award in 2004, we elected not to impose any 30-day rule because there are very few digital returns.  According to our auditing firm, digital returns on average account for less than two percent of sales included in reports provided by the labels for certification – most digital retailer Terms of Use/Service allow users to return products only under limited circumstances. 

Also at the time in 2004, sales of digital albums were virtually non-existent and accounted for a small fraction of overall digital sales.  Fast forward a decade and that’s obviously no longer the case. 

We think it’s time for the RIAA – and Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman – to align our digital song and album certification requirements.  That’s why today we are officially updating this rule in our G&P Program requirements.  Going forward, sales of albums in digital format will become eligible on the release date, while sales of albums in physical format will still become eligible for certification 30 days after the release date.

Not only do we believe it’s sensible and logical to align digital album rules with those we have maintained for digital singles since the program’s inception, we also consider today’s move in line with our larger efforts to modernize the G&P Program to reflect the new music marketplace.   In May we announced the integration of on-demand streams to the program to more broadly recognize online demand for songs.

The reality is that how fans consume music is changing, the music business is changing as labels and artists partner with a breathtaking array of new technology services, and the industry’s premier award recognizing artists’ commercial achievement should similarly keep pace.  In short, we’re continuing to move the 55-year-old program forward and it’s a good day when music sales diversification and innovative strategies meet the RIAA’s time-tested, gold standard requisites for certification.

Liz Kennedy
Director, Communications and Gold & Platinum Program, RIAA

(Courtesy of the RIAA)

J. Cole 2013 BET Awards Performance

J. Cole performing "Crooked Smile" and "Power Trip" off his new album, Born Sinner, at the 2013 BET Awards.

Born Sinner in stores now

A$AP Rocky Slaps Female Fan???

So here is the video of budding superstar A$AP Rocky allegedly slapping a female fan during a show in Sydney, Australia. It's hard to determine exactly who slaps the fan in the face with an open hand but someone definitely did and Rocky was in the middle of it all. It appears that the fan taps the self proclaimed "Pretty Muthf****" on the head and the slap is in retaliation. Maybe it was just that, a reaction, but this is no way to gain and hold the love and respect of your fans. I understand that you are (and in extension, your crew) targets now (there are rumors a fan stole his 15k Rolex), but you have to be aware of your situation and surroundings before reacting.

Talib Kweli "Hamster Wheel" (Video)

Talib Kweli lets go the visuals to one of my favorite tracks on his latest album, "Hamster Wheel". Prisoners of Conscious in stores now, support real hip hop.

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