Wale Performs Show To Increase HIV/AIDS Awareness In Africa
He’ll be appearing with singer/songwriter TuFace Idibia, who is already immensely popular in his home country of Nigeria, and is gaining international attention, thanks to his
recent BET Award win in the “Best International Act” category. M.I., Banky W, Wizkid, Naeto C, and many others will also perform to raise money for Artists for Charity (AFC), an organization started in East Africa that “strives to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS throughout the continent.” The evening will be hosted by the “African King of Comedy” Michael Blackston (yes, the dude from Next Friday),The show starts at 7:30 p.m., Tickets ($38-109) are still available at
www.acreconcert.com.
Soulja Boy Spends 55 Million On A Private Jet?!
Jesus. Any & every other argument is invalid at this point. From TMZ:
Soulja Boy doesn’t know the meaning of the word recession — because TMZ has learned, the 21-year-old rapper is dropping $55 MILLION on a new private jet.
A member of Soulja’s management team tells us … the kid bought himself a G5 jet as a birthday present to himself this week.
The jet cost $35 mil … but that’s just the beginning. We’re told the birthday boy is dropping an additional $20 million to pimp out his ride with all sorts of cool stuff … like 12 custom Italian leather seats, flat screen TVs, 4 liquor bars, a special travertine tiled floor, and Brazilian hardwood cabinets.
We’re told S.B. is also gutting the in-flight lavatory — and replacing it with a giant, LUXURIOUS bathroom. Oh, he’s also giving the jet a custom paint job … to include his logo.
And if that’s not enough for someone’s 21st — we’re told Soulja’s also spending $300,000 to throw himself a blowout birthday party at a Miami nightclub tonight … and Dwight Howard, Bow Wow, and Sean Kingston are all expected to attend.
OFWGKTA First Full North American Tour
Odd Future Announces First Full North American Tour
Beginning in San Diego on September 28, the tour will stop in cities across the U.S. and Canada, as well as major festivals like Voodoo Experience and Fun Fun Fun Fest. Check out the complete tour schedule below.
September 28 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
September 30 – San Francisco, CA – Warfield
October 2 – Portland, OR – Roseland Ballroom
October 3 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue
October 4 – Seattle, WA – Showbox Market
October 7 – Salt Lake City, UT – In the Venue
October 8 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre
October 9 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
October 11 – Lawrence, KS – Granada Theatre
October 12 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
October 14 – Chicago, IL – Metro
October 15 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts
October 16 – Detroit, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
October 18 – Toronto, ON – Sound Academy
October 19 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
October 21 – Boston, MA – Royale
October 22 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
October 23 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
October 24 – Baltimore, MD – Sonar
October 27 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
October 28 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage
October 30 – New Orleans, LA – Voodoo Fest
October 31 – Miami, FL – Fillmore
November 2 – Tampa, FL – Ritz Ybor
November 3 – Orlando, FL – The Beacham
November 6 – Austin, TX – Fun Fun Fun Fest
November 8 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre
EASTVILLAGERADIO.COM
Independent Retailers’ Open Letter to Jay-Z and Kanye West About ‘Watch the Throne’ Exclusive
Independent Retailers’ Open Letter to Jay-Z and Kanye West About ‘Watch the Throne’ Exclusive
In response to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s decision to offer exclusive sales programs to iTunes and Best Buy for their forthcoming “Watch the Throne†LP, a number of independent retailers have written an open letter to the duo protesting the plan, calling it a “short-sighted strategy.
Dear Jay-Z and Kanye West,
Independent record stores serve our communities. Our passion is music, and we convey this to the millions of customers who come to our stores. That’s what we do.
Four years ago independent music stores across the country banded together to create Record Store Day. Our goal was to counter the negative media coverage about the supposed demise of record stores brought on by the closing of the Tower stores and to respond to the music business practices that fans deemed to be manipulative and onerous.
Dame Dash Has Tax Issues…………….
Hov Keep Winning
According to the Atlanta post, the IRS filed a tax lien against Dame Dash in the amount of $2,984,364. Dame’s financial woes started in 2008 when two of his NYC condo’s were foreclosed and he had his luxury SUV repossessed due to unpaid fees. By the end of 2010 one of his condos was sold in foreclosure for $5.5 million. Dame purchased the two condos for a combined estimate of $7.3 million.
Amy Winehouse Covers VIBE
The issue hits newsstands August 16…check out an excerpt from Salaam Remi speaking on his final days with Amy.
I’m in London now. I’m out here because [Amy and I] were supposed to go to a wedding today. And before I could get to her yesterday she passed. We were going to the wedding of Nick Symansky, who is the person who really found her. He found her when he was a scout at 19. And he was the manager before they got the Universal deal.
They went ahead with the wedding. All I could do was sit there and imagine how many jokes she would have been cracking with me. We were in the middle of working on the album. She finished writing the record. We just hadn’t recorded.
For the last couple of weeks we were video chatting regularly. I was just talking to Nas. Both her and Nas were born on September 14, so we were going to Barbados with all of them for her birthday. She really doesn’t look forward to her birthday, you know what I’m saying?
Additional Shows For ‘Watch The Throne’ Tour
Due to Overwhelming Demand JAY-Z and Kanye West Add Additional Shows to ‘WATCH THE THRONE’ TOUR
LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Due to overwhelming demand for JAY-Z and KANYE WEST‘S WATCH THE THRONE TOUR (Powered By VoyR) , additional shows are being added. As a result, the tour schedule has been modified. The new presale date moves to Tuesday, August 2nd. The new tour schedule will be announced on Monday, August 1st.
Rap-A-Lot artist Tim Smooth passed away after a battle with Cancer.
New Orleans rap legend, Mystikal mentor and one time Rap-A-Lot artist Tim Smooth passed away this morning after a battle with Cancer.
This is sort of devastating. I spoke to Tim Smooth on the phone once and very briefly a couple years ago, in an attempt to orchestrate a New Orleans Local Product conversation between him and Jay Electronica. I don’t think Tim had heard of Jay at the time, but he seemed pretty enthusiastic when I sent him his music. Jay (or whoever was pretending to be his management at that time) inevitably Jay Electronica’d and the interview never happened. But I do think it’s worth noting that, of all the more prominent New Orleans rappers, he chose Tim as his favorite local rapper.
On Youtube there’s a very low budget commercial for Tim’s Invisible Man LP that features testimonies from other New Orleans rappers and hip hop personalities. In it fellow under-heralded New Orleans pioneer Bust Down freaks out over Tim’s â€complicated sentence structures.†I think that played a part in Tim’s appeal, but maybe more than that it was a matter of presence. His biggest hit, 1991’s â€I Don’t Give A Damn About Your Boyfriend†is one of those underground rap records thats influence resonates well beyond its popularity by way of samples and interpolations (think a smaller scale “Shook Ones†or “TROY†in up north parlance). In particular its opening – â€ya’ ole man really don’t mean shit to me†– and fragments thereof became a staple of the Memphis/NO cultural exchange that was going on at the time. That happened because he starts that verse off right. I mean if he never spit another bar after that he’d still be a legend. This is an underrated skill amongst rappers – knowing how to start a rhyme with just enough bombast and the exact word choice to make it stick directly to the brain of listeners. Chuck D knew how to do this, Biggie knew how to do this and so did Tim Smooth. I just wish more people knew Tim Smooth. (via spaceagehustle)
RZA’s Got Some Headphones
Spotted on High Snobiety…you can check out more headphone pics after the jump:
Under the ‘Chambers by RZA’ name, WeSC and Wu-Tang’s RZA are releasing a headphone collection, featuring a premium style and a street style. The headphone feature active noise cancellation technology, music sharing, and LED light accents. Both styles will release in a variety of colors in the near future. We will of course keep you posted.
Kelly Rowland Covers VIBE
8/16. Also, you can checkout some album artwork pics Illseed posted. Check out an excerpt from the VIBE interview below.
VIBE: The last album didn’t do well in the States. It did better overseas, particularly in Europe. Do you feel more appreciated in Europe?
Kelly Rowland: No, not really. People still compare me to B over there. I said in an interview recently, ‘You know, if you guys would be a little bit more intelligent and ask me about myself we’ll have a much better interview.’ You can’t want a story from me and keep asking me about the past.
Quote Of The Day
“I talk to Baby everyday. We been playing with the idea of going over to Cash Money or trying to marry that and Black Wall Street. So, we’ll figure it out before the end of the day. I definitely think that’s where I’ll probably end up. Cause they winning, they want to win and I been winning and want to continue to win.â€
Amy Winehouse Funeral Set
Amy Winehouse’s funeral will take place in England tomorrow. The spokesperson tells TMZ, “The funeral will take place on Tuesday and will be a family and close friends affair.â€
Game Releasing Another Mixtape
The Game is releasing a new mixtape entitled, Condoms & Coronas. No date yet, but this would probably serve as anpreview to The R.E.D. Album August 23rd.
Game: I like to do my mixtapes like albums, put them in album format and make sure everything is sounding good from beginning to end, sorta put out a single with it. “Uncle Otis’ is the single off the Hoodmorning (no typo) Mixtape called, Condoms & Corona, I stole a page out of the Hangover and I woke up in East LA in a house full of Latinas and a house full of bad Mexican bitches. Wit condom rappers and Coronas everywhere.
AllHipHop.com: (laughs) That’s crazy man
Game: Yea, I’m crazy man, or at least I want people to think I
The Throne Announce Release Date & Tour
An official press release has just gone out announcing that Jay-Z and Kanye should now be known as The Throne. Album drops on iTunes and stores August 8th and 12th respectively. And there’s a tour! Dates after the jump. Tickets available on the 8th.
WATCH THE THRONE TOUR (Powered By VoyR)
9/22/11 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills
9/24/11 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
9/25/11 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
9/27/11 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
9/28/11 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
9/29/11 Washington DC Verizon Center
10/4/11 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
10/6/11 Chicago, IL United Center
10/7/11 Chicago, IL United Center
10/8/11 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
10/10/11 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
10/13/11 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
10/14/11 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
10/16/11 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
10/17/11 Sacramento, CA Power Balance Pavilion
10/19/11 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
10/20/11 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
10/21/11 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
10/25/11 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
10/26/11 Houston, TX Toyota Center
10/29/11 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
10/30/11 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
11/1/11 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
11/3/11 Boston, MA TD Garden
Otis Redding’s Daughter On “Otisâ€
Now that Kanye & Jay-z’s Otis has leaked, Billboard reached out to Otis Redding’s daughter, Karla Redding-Andrews to discuss how the sample was cleared and her views of the song.
When did you first hear about “Otis�
We first heard about the song in early July, end of June. Concord Music Group has the masters and Bill Belmont and Michele Smith from Concord brought it to us. There was a back and forth about whether the name of the song would be “Otis†or “Otis Redding.†And we just wanted to make sure lyrics and references in the song worked with the legacy of my father. To have two current, legendary artists use the legendary music of Otis Redding-we were quite honored.
Late June to now — that’s a pretty quick turnaround, isn’t it?
It was pretty fast and all came together really quick. With these talented musicians they have so many songs. It’s not until it comes time to pull together a project and they know what songs are going to be on the album that they look to get all the clearances before the song leaks. They brought it to us first and we really appreciate that respect.
Did you ever meet with Jay-Z or West during the process?
No, we never met with them. It all went through the record companies. That’s the nature of the business and it’s probably better that way. [If we met with them], we would probably bring more personal considerations into it. But this is a wonderful opportunity. We really like the song and the swagger elements that are in the song. It speaks to the star that Otis was in his day.