PREVIEW: 2013 XXL Freshmen Tour

The 2013 XXL Freshman Class: Logic, Dizzy Wright, Action Bronson, Schoolboy Q, Travis Scott, Trinidad James, Joey Bada$$ and Kirko Bangz all hit the stage at the Best Buy Theatre in New York City’s Times Square on May 21st for a sold-out performance. Special guests from the evening included B.o.B., Riff Raff, DJ Drama and others. The Monster Energy Outbreak Tour Presents: XXL Freshmen Live 2013 is coming to a city near you.

Action Bronson Announces 2013 Tour Dates

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Dude has a busy summer, and everybody (US & UK) have an opportunity to rock with Action Bronson when he hits the stage. You can check out the dates below.

Action Bronson 2013 Tour Dates:
06/01 – Houston, TX @ Free Press Summer Festival
06/02 – East Rutherford, NJ @ Summer Jam
06/07 – London, UK @ Koko
06/09 – Manchester, UK @ Parklife
06/16 – Manchester, TN @ Bonaroo Music and Arts Festival
06/18 – Wilmington, NC @ The Soapbox
06/19 – Richmond, VA @ Kingdom
06/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero
06/21 – Dover, DE @ Firefly Festival
06/26 – Pawtucket, RI @ The Met
06/27 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East
06/29 – Kansas City, KS @ Kanrocksas
07/05 – Belfort, FR @ Eurockeennes Festival
07/06 – Roskilde, DK @ Roskilde Festival
07/11 – Vienna, AT @ Grelle Forelle
07/13 – Grafenhainichen, DE @ Splash Festival
07/14 – Frauenfeld, CH @ Openair Frauenfeld
07/17 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
07/18 – Dour, BE @ Dour Festival
07/19 – Helsinki, FI @ Hustle Festival
07/20 – Stuttgart, DE @ Hip Hop Open
07/21 – Schloss-Holte-Stukenbrock, DE @ Serengeti Festival
07/30 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
07/31 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
08/02 – Reno, NV @ Knitting Factory
08/04 – San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre
08/06 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
08/07 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
08/08 – Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues
08/09 – Phoenix, AZ @ Celebrity Theatre
08/10 – San Diego, CA @ Soma
08/24 – Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
08/25 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
08/31 – Dallas, TX @ Mad Decent Block Party
09/06 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival

Lauryn Hill Explains ‘Neurotic Society’

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The soon-to-be-jailbird Lauryn Hill dropped ‘Neurotic Society (Compulsory Mix)‘ last month, with was met with a lot of praise as well as a lot of confusion. Below, taken from her Tumblr, she explains the meaning behind her latest single.

Neurotic Society is a song about people not being, or not being able to be, who and what they truly are, due to the current social construct. I am not targeting any particular group of people, but rather targeting everyone in our society who hides behind neurotic behavior, rather than deal with it.

The world we live in now is, in many ways, an abhorrent distortion, an accumulation of generations and generations of response to negative stimuli. Many don’t even have a concept of what normal is, by virtue of having lived afraid, ashamed, as victims of abuse, or inadequately handled for so long. I believe in coming up from under that fear and allowing the psyche/soul to truly heal. I understand that healing is a process, but I also believe that it is our responsibility to seriously care for ourselves, so that we can extend that level of concern for others and positively affect our environment.

I want what is best for Humanity. Humanity, aligned with the Spiritual principles, that help each individual conquer fear, and transcend limited circumstance. I believe in healing and dealing with the traumatizing events of our lives, both in this lifetime, as well as those passed down to us, or inherited, so we can live as fully as possible.

The whole world suffers from a lack of honest dialogue. Character and integrity have suffered at the hands of political correctness and corporate agenda, while our society moves further and further towards unhealthiness and breakdown. I oppose these trends.

Everyone has a right to their own beliefs. Although I do not necessarily agree with what everyone says or does, I do believe in everyone’s right to protest.

The overarching message of my music is to get up and stop compromising! And hopefully it will stimulate and motivate the changes that our society needs.

Artists are constantly under media and public scrutiny. This is not a one-way street. Those of us with the charge of putting out faithful vibrations, have a responsibility to report what we see, and to write about what we know. I have seen some of the best and also some of the worst representations of human behavior. The same way that I exalt that which is high, is the same way I expose that which is abusive, in order to motivate and remind if not all of us, than as many as possible, of the Higher Calling.

Waka Flocka Flame Is Engaged

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This is pretty cool: Waka Flocka and popped the question to his main damie Tammy Rivera, who gushed about it on Twitter. You can check out a few more pics of the couple below (there are more out there on the internet, too). Congrats.

Happy birthday to my fiancé,” Rivera captioned the above photo. “Lord knows we been through it all! … An [sic] yet our souls still manage to find each other #GodOnlyKnows ”

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UPDATE: Big Boi’s ‘Shoes For Running’ Tour Postponed Due To Injury (Video/Pics)

UPDATE: Video of the actual incident above (you’re gettin’ too old for all that, Big Boi!) with some additional post-injury pics below.

Killer Mike recently sent out a Tweet that Big Boi injured his knee, causing future tour dates to be pushed back to the Fall….given the recent news on the passing of Andre Benjamin’s mother, his rationale makes sense:

 

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Iceman (@icemanisreal) – Cloud Music (Mixtape)

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Iceman is a 16 year old rapper and producer from the 904. A member of the ‘yung floridians’ upcoming music collective, his style ranges everywhere from jazzy instrumentals to bangers. Alternative Hip Hop to be vague. On a distinct and unique flow over chill instrumentals, Iceman lays his hat.

On May 24th, Iceman finally released his project ‘Cloud Music’. This 13 track project includes verses from AMbiANCE, 8-FIF-T, Icy-HOT, and singing and guitar from Isaac Barzso, metrvkos, and Benny. Listen to this to put your head in the clouds.

Download: Iceman – Cloud Music (Mixtape)

Jermaine Dupri In Danger Of Losing So So Def Music (Details)

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From TMZ:

Jermaine Dupri is in jeopardy of losing his rights to the music from his So So Def label … because he can’t seem to pay off an enormous loan.

Dupri borrowed $4.8 mil from SunTrust Bank back in 2010 …. he paid more than half of it back, but then the bank stopped getting payments. So SunTrust is now suing Dupri for nearly $2 mil — the balance due, plus interest.

Here’s the BIG problem … In order to get the loan, Dupri had put up collateral, in the form of copyrights and royalties to the many songs his label owns from artists like Xscape, Bow Wow and Da Brat.

As far as we can see, Dupri still hasn’t anted up the cash. And it’s not his only trouble with $$$. He paid off a $3 MILLION tax lien in February and dodged the foreclosure of his Atlanta mansion TWICE in the past year.