Pharrell Williams Interviews Alex Gorlin & Daniel Arsham For ARTST TLK

February 2, 2013 JUKEBOXDC Staff Interviews No Comments  

Pharrell Williams interviews Alex Gorlin, a renowned architect known for bringing warmth to modern design, and Daniel Arsham, an artist who blurs the line between art & architecture, challenging convention by placing shapes in unexpected places. Gorlin and Arsham share their influences inlcuding Marcel Duchamp and Frank Lloyd Wright. Gorlin shares his experience working with two of the greatest architects of the century, Im Pei & Richard Meier. Arsham discusses the multi-dimensional nature of the different mediums in which he works.

ARTST TLK w/ Pharrell Williams
A new take on the talk show format hosted by award winning producer, artist, designer, and businessman Pharrell Williams. Each episode will feature two special guests at different career stages to discuss their work, motivations, inspirations, and philosophies.

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Chief Keef’s Manager Speaks On Keef’s Two Month Sentence, Lupe Fiasco & More

February 2, 2013 JUKEBOXDC Staff Interviews No Comments  

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Some good quotes here….Best Of Both Offices spoke with Rovan “Dro” Manuel — Chief Keef’s manager — on his recent situation, and he has a lot to positive to speak on concerning the young Chicago emcee:

A PLUS: What is the biggest misconception people have about Chief Keef?
DRO: That he’s a bad person, I guess, in the eyes of the Chicago [Police Department]. He’s not the first to put reality-based lyrics [in his music], as far as like talking about what’s going on in the inner-city for real. I think that it’s kinda messed up that they wanna blame him for all the murders, all the crime and all this other stuff that’s going on in Chicago. Keef is a minor. You can look back 18 years in the same neighborhoods where he was growing up and see that they were doing the same damn thing, know what I mean?

He’s got a lot of stuff he needs to learn. It’s not like he came from a neighborhood where it’s 90-percent Jewish and schools are teaching him this-and-that. He didn’t come from that.

When I think of Chicago Hip-Hop, I think Common, Kanye and Lupe and on a street level, Bump J. To me, it seems like they were trying to hide those problems from us.
Yeah. You tell me one person on the West Side of Chicago in the hood that’s riding around on a skateboard. That’s not happening. No disrespect to Lupe, but you know, let’s keep it real and that’s what Keef’s all about, keeping it real. That’s not what the streets are like in Chicago.

So what exactly happened on the day Chief Keef was scheduled to fly to Las Vegas to shoot the “Hate Being Sober” video?
Aww man. I don’t know exactly what happened with that. The label hooked it up and they set it up with Keef and they didn’t set it up with Keef’s team. So, when it came time to fly out, he missed the first flight. Then he missed the second one. And then it was just like, you know, “Well we gonna come do it at another date, if that’s fine with you.” [Laughs.] It was nothing other than that, you know, all the rumors…

Do you think Pitchfork is the reason Keef is locked up right now?
Pitchfork and whoever set that interview up, not saying any names, but yeah. I think so.

I don’t know what they had when they booked that or whatever, but I’m pretty sure they did. You can’t cry over spilled milk, you gotta roll with the punches.

I got a message from him that he’s had a wake-up call. This is a wake-up call for him. It wasn’t even his fault that it happened, but it happened.

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Lil’ Wayne Explains I Am Not A Human Being II Artwork & Features

February 2, 2013 JUKEBOXDC Staff Interviews No Comments  

Lil’ Wayne explains the pretty dark and very dope artwork that Kanye designed with his company DONDA and more (you can read the full interview at NOLA):

[Kanye] said, you know, man, let me do your cover. I saw the cover and I approved it. He had an explanation behind it – he said, he chose the moth butterfly thing because it has so many different stages of life, and it goes through so many forms and changes, and no one can figure it out, and it’s always beautiful. At a time it’s ugly and at a time it’s beautiful too. And that’s me.

I have a lot of guests on the album. That’s what’s unusual about the album. I’m usually a two or three feature-type guy. But this album, I have a lot of features because I have a lot of friends, a lot of people that wanted to help out. I just appreciate them all. And I have a lot of different production on it too. I got Juicy J, David Banner, Soulja Boy – and that’s the production.

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Pusha T Speaks On Rick Ross Shooting

January 29, 2013 JUKEBOXDC Staff Interviews No Comments  

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Music News

From MTV:

Monday was supposed to be a day of celebration, not only was it Rozay’s 37th birthday, Push also dropped his Wrath of Caine mixtape the same day. For the tape the two collaborated on “Millions” a boastful affair where the two MCs rhyme of the spoils of their hard work. The day however was marred by the unsettling news and Push immediately reached out to not only Ross but their mutual friend — a mixing engineer which they both work with.

“He was just like, ‘Yeah he’s just layin’ back.’ That was enough for me,” Pusha said of the word he got back concerning Ross’ psyche after the shooting.

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Vanilla Ice – Sway In The Morning Interview; Breaks Down Infamous Suge Knight Moment

January 29, 2013 JUKEBOXDC Staff Interviews No Comments  

In their conversation, Ice speaks openly on all things Ice — including selling 160 million records, the key to success according to his experiences, and what really happened with Suge Knight. Did he really get hung over a balcony?

“The truth is he was nice.” Admits Ice. “The story seems a little bit better, a little bit more interesting, and got better ratings when you have Vanilla Ice hanging upside down and you see his change coming from his pockets. The truth is, he took that money, but I look at it in a positive way because I’ve made great investments.”

Before talking about dating Madonna, he went on to discuss his indirect involvement with Death Row Records.

“That money went on to start Deathrow Records.” Claims Ice. “That money funded some of the greatest hip hop records of all time. ‘The Chronic’ record, funded by Vanilla Ice.”

Watch him elaborate with mentions of Snoop and Tupac.

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Ciara – US Rap News Interview (Paris, France)

January 29, 2013 JUKEBOXDC Staff Interviews No Comments  

Presenting….a very loose translation courtesy of Google Translate:

On the occasion of his promo tour in Europe, we met Ciara who had proudly present his new album One Woman Army will soon be available.

Before we meet for a casual interview, Cee-Cee was discovering the album exclusively to a few players in the French press. A more personal album than the previous ones, on which she co-produced some tracks and collaborated with Jermain Dupri, Tricky Stewart, Hit-Boy and the production team The Underdogs, among others. Some songs she wrote herself, but she wanted to clarify that it had received assistance from Ali Tamposi Livvi Frank and who participated in the album Unapologetic Rihanna.

Ciara talks about her new baby so she called One Woman Army to symbolize strength and character elements that inspired this project and collaborations on his album.

We thank Sony Music France without whom this interview would not have been possible and invite you to discover the album One Woman Army on its release in April.

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