Tag: "50 cent"

After about a year of heightened anticipation, Rakim Mayers – better known as A$AP Rocky – has unveiled his debut album, Long.Live.A$AP. Released on January 15 by A$AP Worldwide, Polo Grounds Music, and RCA Records, the album has made a rather big splash in the urban world and has earned the artist a multi-million dollar record deal, the likes of which have not been seen since 50 Cent began his successful career about a decade ago.

Quickly rising through the cracks of the underground rap world, A$AP Rocky’s debut album has earned him a seat the top at the top of the charts. Long.Live.A$AP features two promoted singles – “Goldie,“ which is the lead single off the album, and “Fuckin’ Problems,” which features guest appearances from rappers Drake, 2 Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar. The two tracks are quite different from each other in terms of style, energy, flow, and lyrical content, but are both very well produced. In fact, the entire album is well structured with heavy emphasis on production value. A$AP’s beats are unique to that of many other rappers, which is perhaps why many have flocked to his music; it’s a new sound.

Unfortunately, guest artists and featured producers aside, A$AP Rocky’s material is perhaps the weakest aspect of the album. A$AP offers next to no lyrical inventiveness, nor is there any actual substance to his lines. He spends most of his verses re-hashing well-worn hip-hop tropes – bragging about his high-fashion tastes, his glamorous life, and supposed street cred, the latter a frequent source of controversy.

Continue reading ‘Review: A$AP Rocky’s ‘Long.Live.A$AP’’

Taking a moment to reflect, it’s a little hard to imagine that a decade has come and gone since 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ exploded onto the hip hop scene. That releases would go on to sell more than seven million copies worldwide and launch 50 Cent into superstardom, but with every great triumph comes and even greater need to do better next time around. 50 kept rapping throughout the 2000s, but he never found the same level of success that he did with his debut. This of course lead some to say he fell off, but after the clip you’re about to see I think it’s evident nothing could be further from the truth.

Marking the first single and video to surface from his forthcoming 2013 full length release, “Major Distribution” was unleashed earlier today to instant praise from fans and critics alike. The track features assistance from heavyhitters Young Jeezy and Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion, if you’re weird), but the true star of the show remains 50 with each listen. His charisma feels new again, and it’s unlikely any other single would have had a similar impact. You can experience the song below: Continue reading ’50 Cent Releases “Major Distribution” Video Featuring Snoop Dogg and Young Jeezy’

Nobody can talk about grassroots success like Canadian hip-hop artist Classified, who has been blazing his own independent trail since 1995. The emcee and producer has toured with the likes of Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, and Busta Rhymes, and has sold over 100,000 albums in Canada alone. Oh, and that awesome song in Madden ’12, “That Ain’t Classy?” Yeah, that was him. We sat down with one of the biggest names in Canadian hip-hop to chat about the Nova Scotian scene, his production styles, and his love/hate relationship with Kanye.

OS: What’s the Nova Scotian hip-hop scene like?

Classified: The scene is very Nova Scotian [laughs]. If you’re down here and you’re involved in the scene, you know what’s going on. You can go to the shows and check it out. But besides me and maybe two other guys, there aren’t many guys getting past just Nova Scotia to even the rest of Canada. We’re very secluded. We don’t get as many shows as they draw in Montreal or Vancouver. But it’s a dope scene. There’s been great artists coming out of here since ’95, when I started. People putting out albums, putting out their viral videos and stuff. It just still seems like a lot of people in the rest of the world haven’t been exposed to it because a lot of the artists aren’t pushing their stuff that hard. But really dope scene, great DJs, breakers, graff writers, emcees. Continue reading ‘Exclusive Q and A: Classified Talks Beats, Rhymes, And Life’

50 Cent sold over a million copies of his debut album the week it hit stores. Sure, that was a decade ago and nearly every release that followed has sold less and less, but there is no denying that at one point or another there was no one that could touch this still-young musician. Now that he’s spent more than a decade in the limelight, earning ridiculous sum of money from his various business investments, 50 is back in the rap scene to prove he is still second-to-none. His new single, “My Life,” packs appearances from Eminem and Adam Levine, as well as an official video that might as well be a short film. You can view the clip below:

If you enjoy 50 Cent, check out OS artist Fat Trel.

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Maybach Music Group member Gunplay has been having a rough couple of weeks. First the ascendant rap star was involved in a dust up with some of 50 Cent’s entourage at the taping of the BET Hip-Hop Awards.

Unpleasant as that may have been, the legal imbroglio that Gunplay finds himself currently involved in probably tops that. Gunplay, born Richard Morales Jr., turned himself in to Miami authorities on October 11th for robbery, aggravated assault, and assault with a deadly weapons charges.

The warrant for Gunplay’s arrest stems from an incident last April involving an accountant, a pistol, and a man that looks a lot like Gunplay. TMZ got their hands on damning footage of the whole episode over the weekend which you can watch after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Gunplay (The Rapper) Might Be Going To Jail For Gunplay (The Physical Act)’

• You’re not ambitious until you want to play in outer space.
• The rumors are true!
• A yellow Toblerone can now play music.
• Acoustic rules.
• House party!
• “Step 4: Do not look at lust filled magazines.”

One week after his groundbreaking admission that he is gay, Frank Ocean is making headlines for a different reason. HDD predicts he’ll move more than 125,000 copies of his Def Jam debut in its first week out based on digital album sales alone.  Thealbum, Channel Orange hits stores (sans Target) today.

Jermaine Dupri posted an open letter on his website last week,  “When I saw the # that Frank Ocean is suppose to hit next week, I got extremely Happy, I said I need to get in my car and and listen to this album, by the time I got to “Sweet Life” I was even more happy, finally!! a RnB album that’s hip, without having the same 5 rappers on every song… I actually hope he hits 200k, for the sake of RnB, it’s in the worst position it’s ever been since I started making music, The Record company’s don’t believe in it, Radio won’t play it if it don’t have a rapper, and a majority of the artist that are labeled RnB, are confused and lost, so I repeat, I hope Ocean sells more than the 125k that he’s on pace for, maybe these executives u’ll wake the fuck up, or at least try to copy what he’s doing, like they always do, by the way, the end of “Pyramids” jammin like a mufucka.”

Continue reading ‘Frank Ocean Drops Def Jam Debut’

• Who in their right mind would ever pull the plug on this show?!
• Showing Idol some R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
• Maybe Mandy’s music will now actually be listenable.
• Bet it’s all that falsetto.
• Aw, 50 is growing up. Kind of.
• Someone else stole that money from you: Ticketmaster.

In Drake’s verse on the new 2 Chainz single  ”No Lie,” which quite apparently references his on-and-off relationship with Rihanna, he raps “She came through, she brought food, she got fucked, she knew wassup.” Essentially the same could be said about Chris Brown after he and Drake were allegedly involved in a fist fight about the Barbadian singer at an after-hours club in New York City late last night.

According to TMZ and Media Takeout, both artists found themselves in the same club, igniting past tensions over their shared romantic interest in Rhianna. This is where the story gets hazy. When Drake allegedly rejected a bottle of champagne that Brown sent to his table as a peaceful gesture, Brown supposedly confronted him and his entourage furiously. What followed was a chaotic scuffle of broken bottles, punches, and one serious gash to the face for Brown.

While club confrontations are nothing new in the world of pop stars behaving badly, Drake and Brown’s bout of fisticuffs has provided some novel fodder for the Twittersphere. The beef between Drake and Brown has simmered for a while, and this is the first time it’s exploded into a physical altercation. It’s hard to predict how the rivalry will continue from here, but fans of both artists can at least hope for some great diss tracks to result from the incident. Sure, losing a chunk of his chin doesn’t exactly make Brown 50 Cent, but that doesn’t mean he can’t milk it for all it’s musically worth.