February 2nd, 2009
HHC’s weekly online news round-up…
Verbals: Richard Watson
Not before time, this week saw rappers tackling the big issues of the day as KRS dropped science on Obama’s presidency and Termanology ranted about rappers in tight trousers.
Speaking of the straight-leg set, Kanye proved himself admirably attuned to the average person’s financial worries by showing off his LV gear in a Paris hotel room. “I’ve been called a lot of names,” he admitted − yep, we can think of a few. Refusing to fall behind in the luxury lifestyle stakes, Jigga talked about his growing art collection, although if he really knew his stuff he’d be all over this exquisite piece from the Death Row gallery…
Former lynchpin of the Row Dr Dre got upset when a song from ‘Detox’ leaked; everyone else was just upset that hip-hop’s most fervently anticipated album might feature R Kelly boasting about smelling his own shit. Meanwhile, the ever busy Lil’ Wayne gave us a taste of his rock project, then joined Raekwon, Busta and Q-Tip on a spiffy remix of Tip’s ‘Renaissance Rap’.
Pending confirmation of Mad Money Murph’s involvement, we’re down for BDK: The Big Daddy Kane Story, but what’s Kane’s beef with Starbucks? Doesn’t he enjoy the taste of their signature hot chocolate? In related news, Monie Love recounted how, one time at McDonalds, Scrap Lover told her that Kane fancied her, and that if she passed him his grub they could get it on. Damn, When Kane said ‘Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy’, who knew that coded fast food handovers were the reason? It emerged too that, in her forthcoming tell-all tome, Pepa calls out her abusive former husband ‘Brad’, who may or may not be a certain Naughty By Nature emcee − we’ll wait to read whether Brad ever hacked through the bedroom door with a chainsaw before drawing any conclusions.
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January 29th, 2009
And so the ‘Cuban Linx 2′ saga continues, with a track titled ‘Criminology 2′ leaking, from Rae and Ghost. Grab it here.
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January 28th, 2009
New Jay-Z on the leak tip, ‘When The Money Goes’, available to cop here. Now what chance a response track by one of Def Jam’s disgruntled under-promoted rappers titled ‘Where The Money Goes’?
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January 27th, 2009
The latest Dusty Crates podcast has been, er, ‘birthed’. Featuring new tracks from the likes of 50 and Premo, Jyager, Blaq Poet, MF Doom and Mos Def plus worldly insights from host The Last Skeptik, you can check it here.
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January 26th, 2009
It’s a celebration, bitches! One epic event obviously eclipsed all else this week – the JJ Fad comeback! Elsewhere, Obama was sworn in and tribute tracks filled the air like confetti. Young Jeezy celebrated the first black prez (oh, and his own material possessions – they’re important markers of African-American progress too) before Jigga, who also performed ‘History’ at ABC’s Neighbourhood Ball, gave his take, although neither rapper impressed perennial hip-hop hater Bill O’ Reilly. Spider Loc and pals got in on the action and Diddy dug in the video vaults to relive an occasion where he shared “funny banter back and forth” with his future leader…
Meanwhile, an unearthed track found Puff aiming unconvincing barbs at The LOX, claiming to know “fools with tools… where you niggas take shits at” – in fairness, he might simply have been recommending Styles P a plumber. Then it emerged that former Bad Boy for life Mark Curry has a tell-all tome about his former boss on deck…
Keeping the beef broiling, Saigon fired back at Joe Budden and his allegedly pungent breath. Joey retaliated, curiously dissing Sai-giddy for the collapse of his fictional deal on the fictional TV show Entourage, then challenging his opponent to a scrap, before Twitter-savvy mutual mucker Just Blaze stepped in to diffuse things…
The Game and Snoop battled too, but on the high school hardwood, while the increasingly melodic Phonte boldly ventured where no broadsheet music reviewer would dare tread, kicking home truths about Kanye’s computerized crooning…
Finally, Hip-hop’s early-’90s revival continued apace, with violence at screenings of biggie biopic Notorious recalling the days of New Jack City, Boyz n’ The Hood and Juice. Most senselessly of all, 12 filmgoers at a SoHo art house cinema were gunned down by frustrated Biggie fans who’d mistakenly bought tickets to the identically titled 1946 Hitchcock flick…
(Want to get HHC’s weekly news round-up direct to your inbox? Just click here and we’ll do the rest.)
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January 23rd, 2009
Up from the personal vault, here’s Donny Goines’s unreleased Disco D produced ‘Never Let My Talent Die’. Grab it here.
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January 22nd, 2009
New video footage on the feminina emcee tip, featuring Roxanne Shante, Invincible, Bahamadia and more - check it here.
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January 18th, 2009
Who’s Hall? Run’s Hall! Run-DMC began their year in style with an induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame while fellow Queens crew CNN rocked the bells on XXL’s new game show…
Saigon lifted a middle finger at his former employers while Joe Budden lifted a middle finger at Saigon and, accompanied by Juelz and Freekey, Jim Jones fiddled about with some luxury neck-wear in the teaser for his ‘Byrdgang Swagger’ video. Jimmy, next time you’re in the UK, swing by Accessorise for a truly exceptional array of scarves, shawls and pashminas.
And you thought ‘808s And Heartbreak’ was a load of balls. Not content with baring his soul, Kanye announced his desire to bare his body in the name of art. The real surprise here? Yeezy’s willingness to be snapped without any designer cobber on… Speaking of swish togs, GQ posted its uncut Q&A with the ever-entertaining Lil Wayne. Who knew that Weezy has trouble watching Dakota Fanning? Meanwhile, DJ Drama had a hard time watching a preview of Notorious without getting roughed up by Young Jeezy’s boys. There’s always a small group of “fake thugs with low self esteem” who have to spoil it for the majority…
DMX spoke from chokey, outlining his plans to become a pastor and document his prison experience on TV. Turned out that jailbound TI’s one step ahead of him, though, with a reality show in which he forces wrong ’uns to gawp at corpses…
Finally: in the market for a urine-scented pint glass as used by Vanilla Ice? Crack open your piggy bank for the upcoming, once in a lifetime auction of Death Row memorabilia. Still, if anyone cared about those “300, 000 saleable CDs in original packaging” there likely wouldn’t be an auction in the first place…
(Want to get HHC’s weekly online rap, er, rap-up direct to your in-box? Just click here and we’ll take care of the rest.)
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January 16th, 2009
Digging around in the dregs of the unread messages at the bottom of the ol’ inbox we came across this, another ‘08 rap up, this time courtesy of horrorcore revivalist Bekay. Click here to check it.
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