Why be cotton, when you can be leather?

Its been a long time coming, Pacific Division has found a home at Universal Records. Its well deserved! Can’t wait to hear the album! Stay tuned for more…

Stolen from The Exactly

I don’t know…something about 50 Cent seems very manufactured to me. Honestly, I think he’s a creation of corporate America to sell a caricature of the urban lifestyle. Its like he was developed in some secret laboratory in Harlem specifically for the purposes of promoting and integrating this “ghetto” lifestyle into the mainstream. His background is too typical for me to believe. He was raised with no father, his mother was a drug dealer, he’s a former drug dealer himself, he’s been to jail for selling drugs, he’s been shot 9 times, and has a baby’s mother named Shaniqua. I’m sorry but my spidey senses are tingling. Whats even more insane is how America has embraced him as some sort of media darling. They’ll have that ninja selling Pampers in no time (with little guns on the flaps and decorative bullet holes). You guys might be fooled, but I refuse to have the wool pulled over my eyes. I’m watching you 50. 

Read more here. 

Source

On Monday, June 2 2008 at the book release party in Brooklyn for ‘Be A Father’, Rhymefest who is one of the authors was scheduled to Freestyle.

He was initially viewed as the person who could help lighten up the mood a bit and give us some breathing space since the night was filled with heartfelt testamonies and heavy readings on a topic we rarely address openly. Being a father, Father son relationships, manhood and healing from the abandonment of our dads were a few of the topics many of our distinguished people had dwelled upon.

The mood was serious when Rhymefest took the floor. He told the capacity crowd that rappers always freestyle and that they need to do more. He said it was important to strive to be great and not successful. So instead of freestyling he said he wanted to take his time and show the type of conversation a father should have with his son.

He said before coming to the floor he had asked his 10 year old son named Solomon to write down 5 questions that he would like answered that he had never asked before. Rhymefest would do the same and together they proceeded to open up and have a heartfelt, deeply personal conversation in front of us all. By the time the two were done there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. To say the least it was groundbreaking and the audio doesn’t do this justice. The spirit in the room was moving as evidence by grown men being touched so much that they broke down and I’m sure many made a decision to strengthen the bond between them and their own children.

Peep the audio, reflect and step foward

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From NahRight

Scrumps, Scrumps!

Click the image to read The Roots interview on Urb.com

DC rapper, Wale announced earlier today on a local DC radio station that he recently inked a deal with Interscope Records through Mark Ronson’s imprint Allido Records. Wale has accomplished more in a year as an unsigned artist than most seasoned artists. He has already graced the cover of URB magazine, released two mixtapes, and done remixes with Justice and MIA. Allido Records is also home to lyrical beast Rhymefest. Wale’s debut, due out this Fall, will be executive produced by Ronson, who has already produced stars such as Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse. Read more about the Wale’s major label debut here.

 Its no real suprise once I think about it. I’m sure most of that at least a sizeable portion of that comes from “conscious” hip-hop. You and I both know that most bohos love to blaze and I know Dilla, Madlib, Pete Rock have  added their lions share to that number. Its interesting that this was a study done by another country. America is the violent laughing stock of the international community. I digres…

Study Finds US Music Awash in Booze and Drugs

By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - They have lyrics such as “Tequila makes her clothes fall off” and “Breakin down the good weed, rollin’ the blunt/Ghetto pimp tight girls say I’m the man.” U.S. popular music is awash with lyrics about drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Medical researchers have reviewed the words of the 279 top songs of 2005 to estimate just how common they are.

 

Their report on Monday showed a third of the songs had explicit references to substance abuse. And two-thirds of these references placed drugs, alcohol and tobacco in a positive light by associating them with sex, partying and humor, according to the team led by Dr. Brian Primack of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. They calculated that with Americans aged 15 to 18 listening to 2.4 hours of music daily, they hear 84 musical references to substance use a day and more than 30,000 a year.

 

Certain genres contained more references than others — for example, rap and country music far more so than pop. The study did not quantify references to sex, violence or expletives. Primack noted that music and popular culture in general long have been infused with substance use references. “It’s not going to be feasible or even desirable to censor these messages,” Primack said in a telephone interview. “Probably a more empowering approach is to teach kids to analyze and evaluate the messages for themselves.”

 

The study, published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, did not draw conclusions about the music’s effect on young listeners. But the researchers said there is evidence that exposure to certain media messages can increase substance use among adolescents. Primack’s team used charts in Billboard magazine, a trade publication covering the music business, to identify the most popular songs of 2005 based on sales and airplay.

 

They selected the 279 most popular songs from genres like country, pop, R&B, rap and rock, then sifted through their lyrics, counting references to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Of those songs, 33 percent contained explicit references and 42 percent had some kind of substance abuse reference.

 

RAP FIRST, COUNTRY SECOND

 

Seventy-seven percent of rap songs tracked in the study contained such references, along with 36 percent of country songs, 20 percent of songs classified as “R&B/hip-hop,” 14 percent of rock songs and 9 percent of pop songs. Alcohol and marijuana were the most common references found, with tobacco more rarely mentioned.
In “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off”, country singer Joe Nichols sings: “She can handle any champagne brunch/A bridal shower with Bacardi punch/Jello shooters full of Smirnoff/But tequila makes her clothes fall off.”

 

In “Stay Fly,” rappers Three 6 Mafia say: “Breakin down the good weed, rollin’ the blunt/Ghetto pimp tight girls say I’m the man … Let’s get high … smoke us one.” “While we have not had the opportunity to thoroughly assess the study, it’s important to note that music is generally a reflection of society,” said Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the U.S. recording business.

 

Lamy said recording companies place parental advisory logos on albums stating an album contains explicit content. “Parents play an essential role as well — the music that children listen to is an importance choice, and parents are the first and most important teacher,” Lamy said by e-mail.

 

 

After more than 15 years with Rap-A-Lot Records, Devin the Dude has opted NOT to renew his contract with the label. Read more about it here. 

DAMN, this dude’s balls MUST be the size of watermelons. I couldn’t seen them in the video, but I’m almost 100% sure they’re HUGE. In the age of trackable IP addresses, why oh why would you post a video saying you CONTRACT killed someone? He pretty much gives them his social security number and mailing address. You say your name/alias AND you say that you still have the murder weapon! You’ve got to be kidding me. He can’t be forreal. Then to add insult to injury, he threatened to kill ANOTHER celebrity and linked the shit to a website. Are you insane? Do you think that they are NOT going to come looking for you via that website (of which he’s probably the webmaster)? And then, this ninja only covered the top of his face. Now, I’m pretty sure that this video is going to circulate pretty quickly and its not going to be long when someone realizes that this is their cousin Jonte’ or something. Oh lord, don’t let there be a reward,  he’s going to turn his entire graduating class into bounty hunters. If your going to admit to MURDER, COVER YOUR FACE or DISTORT YOUR VOICE. Truth be told, I don’t even think this ninja actually did it, but he’s going to be implicated for it; and for what? YouTube fame? It ain’t even worth is famcakes.  I’m not a fan of stupid criminals. I think its gruesome and disgusting when people kill or pretend to kill in order to gain some notoriety. It’s a sign of mental instability.

The video is one huge MESS. There’s a girl dressed like she’s going to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza’s 3rd Annual Star Wars convention claiming that a “rat faced” girl is hating on her. Then there’s footage of some dude in court who is being charged with possesion of everything thats unholy. Possibly being sentenced to LIFE in prison isn’t funny or interesting enough to be taped. Its SAD. Another young life could possibly be thrown away. I don’t understand why black folks embrace this type of dysfunction. Murder isn’t cute, being sexually exploited isn’t funny, broken families don’t make me chuckle but yet it seems to be a joke to the people involved in these lifestyles. You can only blame the white man for so much. Personal accountability and common sense should kick in eventually. You gotta grow up one day. This is too much for me. See for yourself.

*Update* If you look closely, you can see right through dudes mask. You can see his effing teeth. SMH