Hip hop heads rejoice! After surprising fans with “Negus” featuring the late Sean Price last week, MF Doom returns with some more flavor. In hopes of keeping real hip hop alive the masked rapper drops the Jay Electronica-assisted “True Lightyears” off his “Adult Swim” project, ‘Missing Book of Rhymes.’
While Kevin Durant sits on a comfortable 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jay Electronica drops his surprise track “Letter To Falon” inspired by the Golden State Warriors’ wingman.
Jay went on Twitter to share the single, while tagging KD and writing, “here’s a gift for you brother.” The Roc Nation rapper went on with a special message and mentioned who the song is dedicated for saying, “Letter to Falon is dedicated to all who are pushing forward through adversity, hard trials and hate from the naysayers. #keepgoing”
On Twitter Jay fully praised KD and told a story of the last time he saw the NBA baller and his pops they asked him to release new music. The challenge was apparently accepted and now KD has some extra motivation and inspiration to go finish off Cleveland in the finals on the way to his first NBA title.
As for Electronica, fans have been waiting for new music for eons it appears like, so they should thank KD. Jay’s album ‘Act II: Patents of Nobility’ continues to be anticipated even though it seems like a myth at this point.
Hip-hop lost a true pioneer this week with the death of Phife Dawg, who passed away at the age of 45 after a long battle with diabetes.
His family released a statement which you can read below:
“We regret to share the news that on Tuesday March 22nd, 2016, Malik has passed away due to complications resulting from diabetes,” the statement reads. “Malik was our loving husband, father, brother and friend. We love him dearly. How he impacted all our lives will never be forgotten. His love for music and sports was only surpassed by his love of God and family.”
He impacted many lives since the inception of supergroup, A Tribe Called Quest. The funky lyrics he spit to those classic instrumentals will forever live in my head.
The 5-foot Assassin released five albums as part of A Tribe Called Quest and one solo album in 2000. He was a true poet, lyricist and musician.
I hope you all will Find A Way to the Award Tour as you link up with miss Bonita Applebum to have Hot Sex On A Platter as you embark on the Scenario.
One of the longest standing beefs in hip-hop is probably 50 Cent’s and The Game’s, dating back to 2005. Since then there’s been a number of diss tracks and even a couple of unfortunate violent situations between both entourages.
This past week it appeared as if things were a bit more peaceful with both rappers making appearances at the same club in Hollywood.
Although the two did not share a handshake or even a stage it was huge for both rappers to be in the same building after the negativity that has existed between them.
Game seemed to be playing peacemaker as he ordered more than a few bottles of 50’s Effen Vodka and followed by praising the taste of the vodka on his Instagram. In addition he mentioned the two “used to be as tight as @Kehlani pussy.” The post has since been deleted.
Nice to see the two can actually be in the same place enjoying themselves without any drama. Hopefully they can put their differences in the past and go back to making the fire music they once made together.
KANYE MAKES A QUICK MIL
Kanye West tweeted a couple weeks ago that he was over $50-million in debt. The situation appeared to be so dire he tweeted millionaires and billionaires to invest in ‘Ye.
Well, according to Mr. West he made $1-million in two days from “The Life Of Pablo”-inspired pop-up shop in New York. We’ve all seen the price tags on Kanye’s jackets, hoodies, t-shirts and other clothing so it’s very possible.
“The Pablo pop up was almost a pop up of influence,” he tweeted. ““but there is no other brand that could sell 1 million dollars of clothing in 2 days from 1 location!!!”
Well, if things continue to go as they are he just needs another 52 pop-up shops to be debt-free! Yay! Or should I say ‘YE!
JAY ELECTRONICA EMBARKING ON A TOUR
Although this may sound like a myth, Jay Electronica announced he will be going on a five city tour.
The tour is scheduled to be kicked off next week in San Francisco, CA. and most shows will be on the West coast, atleast for this run.
During his April 2nd show he’ll perform a J. Dilla tribute along with Slum Village, Black Milk, Guilty Simpson, Phat Kat, Blaqroyalt.
Here’s all the tour stops and venues:
03/30 – San Francisco, CA @ 1015 Folsom
04/02 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
04/03 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
04/06 – Denver, CO @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom
04/10 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Cabooze
04/13 – San Diego, CA @ Music Box
04/17 – Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s
Listen to his newest song below:
Still no word on the album but don’t hold your breath. I’m sure if it ever drops it will include a Frank Ocean feature and may even drop the same day Detox drops. Jokes.
SXSW RECAP
The biggest independent music festival capped off this week and there was way too much to talk about, so let’s highlight the main happenings.
Drake closed out the final night of the Fader Fort as he surprised guests after Yo Gotti got off the stage.
Drizzy performed some of his newer hits like, “Jumpman,” “Energy,” “Know Yourself” to name a few.
In his final year of presidency, Barack Obama became the first president ever to take part in any festivities at SXSW.
Barack hit up the SXSW Interactive Keynote Conversation where he showed major support and appreciation to “influencers.”
During the keynote, the First Lady released a song to support her #62MillionGirls global education initiative which she discussed at the event.
Listen to a snippet of the song, “This Is For My Girls,” written by Diane Warren and features Missy Elliott, Janelle Monaé, Kelly Rowland, Kelly Clarkson, Lea Michele, Zendaya and others.
Althought there were countless David Bowie tributes at this year’s festival none was bigger than Anderson .Paak and The Free Nationals.
The combination of both genres made for one of the best Bowie tributes I’ve ever seen.
Paak is already a blend of genres in himself with the way he meshes hip-hop, R&B and even a little bit of dance. There was an abundance of energy and the band was simply graceful.
Jay Electronica is full of mystery, and like a magician, his character lends itself to new ways of seeing things that would seem impossible to many. Several years ago, Jay and I traveled to the other side of the Earth. We left a piece of ourselves there. In exchange, we brought back something entirely new, and the images that follow are a glimpse into that magic for everyone who’s curious.
Traveling across strange lands, we were invited to attend sacred ceremonies of sacrifice and parading celebrations of ancient descent. We trekked together towards the horizon and explored crowded monasteries, solitary mountain top temples, slums of filthy laughing children, and rivers running with blood and flower petals. I documented as Jay walked a river of burning human bodies. We crash landed a helicopter in the Himalayas, and he delivered rice and clean water to a school in a refugee tent city. The result was a collage of movements and emotion.
The experience in itself was a perfect circle. A question with no answers. Full of laughter and tears, but no love story or plot twists. We searched for absolute truth in life, and the only undeniable answer we found was death.
Since returning, I have been working on a film based on this journey called Into the Light. It is experimental in form and best described as a meditation in un-learning. A movement in seeing without watching, hearing without listening, and the brave exploration of spirit. I look forward to sharing this film soon.
In part 3 of our sit down interview with YN he chops it up about his Truth series, speaks on Jay Electronica’s new records he released and his thoughts on them “I think Jay Electronica is brilliant, and he has great material, the thing with Jay Electronica is he doesn’t have the confidence or belief yet to finish it and put it out.” YN also gives his thoughts on Hov’s tap at Drizzy in Jay Electronica’s “We Made It “Freestyle.
Big Sean sat down with J Cruz and myself on the#LIFTOFF, and talked new album Hall Of Fame “This one definitely deals on topics that I’ve never touched on, things that people are going to be able to relate to going through some real ass things man.” on “Control”, and why he choose Hall Of Fame as the title for his album.
I like the song and the stir it’s causing. It’s good for rap music. A month or two ago, Big Sean asked me to be on this record with him for his album. He had a demo hook on it at the time. I did my verse and sent it back. I found out a couple days before it was released that Kendrick had put a verse on it.