Who Is...

BLU

Jonhson's stepfather was a pastor, and gospel and Christian rap were an influence while at school. Taking influence from Common, he turned from freestyle rhyming to crafting well-written songs. In his early days in the music business, Johnson worked as a hype man for underground rap and soul artists such as Slum Village, Steve Spacek, Platinum Pied Pipers, and Emanon. He signed to Los Angeles independent label Sound in Color in 2004, choosing the label ahead of Interscope Records and Death Row Records. He contributed a few tracks to Exile's 2006 Dirty Science album, and self-pressed his debut Lifted EP in 2006. His debut album Below the Heavens was released in August 2007, Village Voice called it "one of the most thoughtful indie-rap relases in some time".(Via Wiki)


Blu & Exile - "So(ul)Amazing"



JOHNSON&JONSON - "BOUT IT BOUT IT"

It's Okay... you can take notes.

Step by Step Booklet
written by JusHH

I know, I know, we are living in some challenging times. We’re still fighting two wars, the economy is in the toilet and it’s hard for a rapper to do anything. But it’s a New Year and we’re not going to look in the past. I know all you rappers are trying to figure out how you can get that paper in ’09 but look no further – JusHH is here to give you a guide on how to get your game on track and not your wig pushed back.

First and foremost, focus on making good music. If the Kanye/ 50 battle and Lil’ Wayne proved anything, it’s that good music can still sell (despite what you think, one hit wonders don’t see either). If your fans believe they will get quality product, then they will support you.

Do more shows. Even when the market was good, rappers never really made their money off of albums. Get on the road and hit every college, club, bar and lounge from NY to LA. The Roots have built their entire career on live performances and they are no where near the unemployment line. They built a solid fan base that will go see the Roots whenever they are in town so they always have a check waiting ($10,000 adds up).

Stop spending money on videos. Seriously. Videos used to serve the purpose of putting a face to the name, getting your fans to be more familiar with who you are. But with the internet, that’s no longer necessary. Why spend $150,000 of your budget to pay Hype Williams when you’ll never make that back with album sales. Instead get more creative with your videos (see any rock video) and cut your costs (see YouTube).

Go corporate. No really, step your suit and tie game up. TI said on his album how profitable it was to partner up with corporate America. Even though he probably still has a nice bank account, I’m sure is pockets are significantly thinner after losing all his endorsements. (50 made $100 million of Vitamin Water, Jay-Z had Budweiser pay for his music video and it seems Boost Mobile can’t wait to give a rapper some money for a commercial.) Think about what products are out there and use your name to help that company sell it!

Stay out of the news for stupid s**t. (see Young Berg) This includes but not limited to, committing felonies, committing misdemeanors, cheating on your wife (if you have one), not paying child support, getting caught with weed, getting caught with a firearm, or anything else that isn’t positive. The maintaining your gangster image thing is no good if you end up in prison or can’t get any legitimate company to back you (see corporate rule). Ask Shyne, Remy or Prodigy how their news articles are helping their careers.

Work with T-Pain.

Stay on top of your own money. Learn how to invest and make that money grow. (Real Estate and even Stocks) Even if you do have a successful rap career, it will only last but so long. Its your fault if you can’t let $100,000 last longer than a trip to Vegas.

Movie/ TV money is REAL. Get acting classes, buy a production company. (see Ice Cube, Snoop, Will Smith and Queen Latifah.) You get in that game and you’ll be able to start making music for fun.

Lastly, stay who you are. No one ever sells more trying to make a brand of music that doesn’t fit them. Fans see through that and will bail on you in a heartbeat. (Lupe didn’t change and he went Gold on his sophomore effort.) If your music is good, people will catch on. Just make the dopest s**t that you know how to make and let it do what it do. Everyone has the chance to win in ‘2009. And if you don’t ever blow up…

Don’t be mad, UPS is hirin’

**Best of ’08 list next week!**

2009...

New Year’s Resolutions
written by 4bars

In the spirit of the New Year and all the resolutions being made, I figured I’d suggest 5 resolutions some of my favorite MC’s should make this year and follow through with for 2009. You might notice a theme but feel free to add some of your own.

50 Cent- Go back to the hungry, creative, rapper that you started as, give up the cheap beef for money scheme and give the people, hell even the thugs, what they wanna hear.

Outkast- I know it’ll be tough, but just give us another Kast album soon, PLEASE!!

Eminem- Find that dude that had black people everywhere nervous that we’d have to name a white dude the best rapper alive and deliver another classic album.

Plies, Rick Ross, Birdman, and those who are similar- stop making music, period.

Killer Mike- Put pride aside and make amends with the Dungeon Fam and make the raw and spirited music you were born to make.

Mad Skillz 2008 rap up

You know how it goes already
Mad Skillz - 2008 Rap Up

Stack chips like ________

Ode to the 100 $ Bill
written by Just K

I can’t knock his hustle. The guy put up a million so that the legendary New Year’s Eve Ball would have the same color as the blue stone on the Ciroc bottle. Absolutely genius. He’s a visionary and trendsetter. He sports the Mohawk for the marathon and suddenly we’ve got a whole generation of Negro psuedo-punk rocker look-a-likes. Even further back, how many rappers tried to follow the Sean John blueprint into the world of fashion? Got another one for you. Who do you know that gets paid to do a season-long advertisement for a group he hasn’t put together yet (over and over again)? Damn right, it’s Puffy or Diddy or Daddy Puff Diddly or whatever. Who was rocking the vote before there was a black candidate? True that. Then there are the acting gigs – heard he did his thing with Raisin in the Sun – the cologne, and the viral videos. There’s obviously the fact that he introduced B.I.G. to the world. The guy’s a hustler. And even though his lyrical prowess is somewhere between that of Birdman and Jay-Z (wink), the dude has put together one of my favorite hip-hop joints of all time.

With his biggest song as an artist, Diddy Daddy Puff P let us know what he was about straight out the gate. This is my ode to the ode to the 100-dollar bill.

When that sick beat came on with Diddy’s “Ugh. Uh-huh, yeah,” I knew I was in for something special. Then homegirl’s voice came in “it’s all about the Benjamins baby,” a C-note never sounded so sexy.

“Now, what you wanna do? Wanna be ballers, shot callers, brawlers…”

The slow, smooth flow that’s catchy enough to memorize after just a few listens.

“On ya Hot 97 everyday that’s my word.”

Living in MD, I was hyped just ‘cause I knew what Hot 97 was. Shoutout to my uncle still living on Flatbush. Visiting him in the summers allowed me to decipher this lyric for my homeboys. I didn’t want them to think Puffy had gotten too lyrically complex.

Puff’s restraint over such a hype beat, then slow build to hypeness had me hyped. Then before Puff could even finish, Jada came in like he was too hyped to wait for Puff to wrap it up. I was sold.

“You should do like we do, stack chips like…”

Stack chips like what?!

Pringles? Hindus? Singles? Shingles??? These Jews? HEBREWS! Stack chips like Hebrews. It meant a lot to finally fill in that gap. Ah, the power internet lyric searches.

I was convinced Sheek was the man after this verse.

“I’m strictly trying to cop those, colossal-sized Picassos”

Son, dude is cultured. His energy was off the chain. Dude was so amped. I was jumping up and down by this point when I first heard this song.

“Pinky-ringin, gondolas wit the man singin, Italian music down the river wit your chick clingin”

I told you, dude is cultured! And then the Rupaul line was one of those classic verse-enders. Between this and his verse on the Get At Me Dog (remix), I knew Sheek was legit.

Then the Queen Bee came in sounding like an angry Jamaican dude.

“What the blood clot”

Yeah, Kim ripped this verse up something nasty.

“only female in my crew, and I kick sh*t like a ni**a do, pull a trigga too, f**k you!”

She sounded like a chick that had to battle every dude in the crew just to get on the song. Like she earned her spot and her verse was the proof.

Then the beat changed.

Then everything changed.

“I been had skills, Cristal spills, hide bills in Brazil”

Naw, man. You don’t just hop on a track like that. That’s just crazy. That’s just tough right there. That voice, that flow. It was B.I.G. That’s all there is to it.

“Lent my east coast girl, the Bentley to twirl. My west coast shorty push the chrome 740.”

Ok. At this point, I was 100% sure that this was the greatest hip-hop song ever made and I wanted girls on both coasts. Now I understand how jet lag would me a major obstacle in the quest for bicoastal jumpoffs, but at the time I had big dreams – no pun intended. By the state pen – Penn State line, it was over. B.I.G. had officially smashed the track.

“All about the Benjis, what?”

And the beat switches back like nothing ever happened.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

WE DA BEST (KHALED VOICE)....

Nyquil Mixtape of the Week – (noun) A group of five (5) songs that you are currently sleeping on. Either you've never heard them or forgot how much you really love them. Regardless, you need to brush the dust off your CD rack and play them or add them to your collection.



1. "Streets on Fire" – Lupe Fiasco
Flow is on fire.


2. "Gangstas Make the World Go Round" – Westside Connection
Was in Cali last week and this came on the radio. Shouts to KMEL


3. "Back Seat" – LL Cool J
Only L can make boning in your back seat a romantic gesture


4. "Spell Check" – Lil' Kim
One of the best songs off her 5 Mic album (still can't say that with a straight face. Shouts to Benzino!)


5. "T.O.N.Y." – CNN
Just Because


Come back every week for a new mixtape!

Who Is...

Wale

In an era when critics and rappers themselves jump to declare the death of hip hop, 23 year-old Wale Folarin has been breathing new life into the genre through dazzling wordplay, a fresh sound steeped in DC's legendary go-go scene, and boundless on-stage energy. 2006 saw Wale conquer DC, Maryland and Virginia with a slew of original radio hits and electrifying shows that solidified his buzz in the Mid-Atlantic. 2007 has been even brighter, with Wale garnering press in The Fader, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Source, Vibe, Complex, HipHopGame.com, AllHipHop.com, a news piece on MTV and even the cover of URB, all without a major label deal. With heavy radio rotation in DC, Maryland and Virginia, along with mixshow spins on both costs, Wale has sold out shows in LA, New York, San Francisco, Philly and Atlanta. Wale took the European music festival circuit by storm, touring with world-famous DJ and superproducer Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen) in 2007.

The response was so great, Wale ended up signing a production deal with Ronson's Allido Records. With well over 2 million plays on MySpace, Wale is an organic hip hop and lifestyle phenomenon, and the release of his third and most widely-distributed mixtape, 100 MILES AND RUNNING (30,000+ downloads since July), has taken his global buzz to new heights. Top streetwear label 10Deep has come on as a sponsor of 100 MILES mixtape as well as future apparel collaborations. Starr African Rum, The Hundreds, LRG, Stussy, Jordan Brand and Nike have all co-signed Wale, and he was recently tapped to participate in a free Nike Boot concert along with Lil Wayne in DC sponsored by Nike and Footaction. Wale was also contributed to the album commemorating the 40th anniversary of BBC's Radio 1. Every once in a while an artist comes along and completely changes the game: Jay-Z, Nelly, Pharrell, Kanye West. Wale's got next. P.S. we dont wear GR's we give'm to baby mammas!!! (Via Wale MySpace)

Wale - Nike Boots