Hip Hop Video Classic: Biz Markie - Vapors

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Jay-Z Says New Nas LP in Good Hands

Posted at 3/11/2006 07:51:00 AM

NobodySmiling.Com - As Nas and his new Def Jam team begin birthing the first product of their new union, Jay-Z provides some perspective about Nas’s changed circumstance. "I don’t want to sound disrespectful to Columbia, but I don’t think there was no one in there who had true respect to work with him on his albums," he said recently.

Nas has said he is prepared to make the best album of his career. Jay-Z, who has praised Nas’s Illmatic debut since the start of his career, will assist in the final track selection for his most talked about signee’s eighth solo album. He assumed the same role on Def Jam singer Neyo’s debut In My Own Words, which is #1 on the Billboard 200 and has the #1 single in the country, "So Sick." Jay feels that his presence will free up Nas to create a project on par with his revered debut. "I think he was just doing everything on his own, and it’s hard to hear everything on your own," said Jay of Nas’s thirteen years with Sony Music Group. Nas is expected to come out this Fall. In January Sony Music Group and Def Jam Recordings agreed to split the profits or any losses for Nas’s next two albums, with Jay-Z paying to produce and market them.

Both labels will plan and execute promotion. Nas will reportedly receive $3 million plus recording budgets for his next two LPs. There is also a clause providing for two more albums through Def Jam. Sony, which still owns masters of Nas’ lengthy catalogue, has the right to drop a greatest hits project. Nas must provide two new songs if Sony decides to make it and the label has rights to three tracks from Nas’s forthcoming Def Jam albums.

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Mos Def Stars In ‘Stringbean and Marcus’

Posted at 3/11/2006 07:49:00 AM

MyHipHopSpace.Com - Producer Sean Costello is looking to add Brooklyn rapper Mos Def to the cast of Stringbean and Marcus, as they are currently in final negotiations.

This independent film focuses on the relationship between two former Black Panther members who fall out of love. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sophie Okonedo, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Hotel Rwanda, is also in final talks to star in the drama.

The movie is set in 1978 and is told through the eyes of a young girl. “It’s not so much about the idea of race,” director Tanya Hamilton told The Hollywood Reporter. “I just wanted to show this world of ordinary people living under extraordinary circumstances.”

Although neither star is under contractual obligation as of press time, producer Sean Costello said both actors were committed to the project. “Mos is one of my favorite actors; he’s fantastic,” said Costello. “Sophie has to play this character who’s both closed off and being open to helping people yet not being an angry woman. That’s what she did in Hotel Rwanda as this maternal, yet emotionally conflicted woman.”

Mos Def is currenly enjoying the success of his most recent movie, 16 blocks which made it’s #2 debut in theatres last week with $12 million. Mos is currently filming The Brazilian Job (the sequel to The Italian Job) and also Journey to the End of the Night.

Stringbean and Marcus is scheduled to start shooting this July in Philadelphia.

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Friday, March 10, 2006   MUSIC |  VIDEOS |  INTERVIEWS  | NEW ARTIST  | HOME

Hip Hop Video Classic: Afrika Bambaataa - Planet Rock

Posted at 3/10/2006 09:30:00 AM

This is my all-time favorite: Enjoyy

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Fabolous Claps Back at Mase

Posted at 3/10/2006 07:21:00 AM

MyHipHopSpace.Com - After a number of rounds of Harlem rapper Mase taking cheap shots at Fabolous, the Brooklyn MC has recently released a short diss track clapping back.

Fab and his brother Paul Cain teamed up with DJ Clue and released “Murda (We Don’t Believe You)” spitting fire against Mase.

“Nobody likes you, but that’s OK. We gonna ride on him anyway, we gonna ride on him anyway,” Fab rapped on the hook. “Muuurda, I don’t believe you, Murda, Fu** around and leave you, Murda, we don’t believe you, Murda Murda, your life’s on the line.”

Fab also calls Mase out for being a preacher. “He’s more than Jim Baker than a Creflo/ I know Mason Betha, though/The ni99a ain’t tough, yo.”

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Nelly & Daddy Yankee Launch RBK Shoe

Posted at 3/10/2006 07:18:00 AM

MyHipHopSpace.Com - RBK has just added a couple of more Hip-Hop faces to their “I Am What I Am” shoe campaign.

Rap star Nelly and raggaeton sensation Daddy Yankee are the two newcomers to join forces with Reebok to create a signature sneaker. Lupe Fiasco, Lil’ Wayne and Mike Jones are also aboard the RBK express for new shoes on the “OG Collection.”

According to the NY Daily News, Reebok lifestyle and entertainment marketing chief– Que Gaskins said, “We’re bringing together the power of all of our assets.”

Nelly’s new signature line is the Derrty One line, which includes sneakers, T-shirts and hats is scheduled to launch on April 4. The Derrty One sneaker will price at $75.

While, Daddy Yankee’s shoe is expected to drop on May 23. Alongside his kick, you can also get Daddy Yankee apparel and accessories. His sneaker will run approximately $80.

“Nelly’s shoe will have a clean, inner-city, urban style,” Gaskins explained. “Daddy Yankee’s will have more of a soccer flavor.”

To date, Reebok has launched sneaker lines with entertainment stars such as Jay-Z, Allen Iverson, 50 Cent and Pharrell Williams. RBK hopes to market the newly added sneakers with a $50 million campaign.

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KRS-One Threatens Journalist at Stanford Hip Hop Panel

Posted at 3/10/2006 07:13:00 AM

NobodySmiling.Com-Lawrence "KRS-One" Parker this past weekend, during the Know-The-Ledge Hip Hop conference at Stanford University, used a discussion about the difference between hip hop and rap to berate hip hop journalist Adisa Banjoko. "What I wanna do is jump across the table and beat your fuckin ass," said Parker after Banjoko challenged him to a debate. Tension mounted when, during his opening remarks, Parker said that, as opposed to a rapper, a hip hop artist points out truth on the spot.

He proceeded to accuse Banjoko of slandering his name, calling him "a fraud," "a enemy to our culture," and even accusing him of being "a FBI agent in disguise." Banjoko responded by yelling "stop the violence," a statement made often by Parker in the past. Parker continued, saying "you ain’t thug," to which Banjoko asked does he have to be? Parker responded, "with me you do. Today you do." Banjoko then accused Parker of sending him a death threat, a claim Parker denied. He continued calling Banjoko a fraud and undercover agent, and warned, "…and don’t let us be somewhere." KRS-One maintained that Banjoko had previously slandered his name in public.

Banjoko, who disputes Parker’s claim that his self and others "are hip hop," because it is simply too large, said, "I’m not hip hop. I’m a black man and I got enough sense to know it. I got enough sense to know I’m a black man in America." Banjoko claims he has challenged Parker to debate about whether an individual can in fact be hip hop, and said Parker responded with insulting e-mails and personal attacks. In an interview with this site Banjoko said, "I got lots of emails from MCs, DJs, B-boys, from all over the world – many of whom are famous. You know what they said to me? They said, "You are 1000% correct. KRS is on some bullshit, and I’ve been tired of it, but nobody would say anything." But these cats won’t say it publicly." Adisa Banjoko’s writing has appeared in XXL, The Source, Vibe, DaveyD.com and other media outlets. He has been invited to lecture on Hip Hop’s connection to eastern philosophy, martial arts, Islamic culture, and African American social issues, at universities such as Harvard, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Santa Cruz and San Francisco State.

With their debut, Criminal Minded (1987), Lawrence "KRS-One" Parker and the late DJ Scott La Rock cemented Boogie Down Productions as one of the most influential hip hop labels in history. Parker was one of the first emcees to combine hard core street lyrics with socially conscious messages. After La Rock was killed in 1987, Parker changed from "The Blastmaster" to "The Teacha." He helped lead the "Stop the Violence" movement in hip hop with a song called "Self Destruction." Lawrence "KRS-One" Parker also works as a hip hop lecturer. He is the author of eleven solo albums and a book entitled Ruminations.

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Mos Def, Okonedo eyeing Indie drama

Posted at 3/10/2006 07:11:00 AM

SIFY.com - Rapper Mos Def (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) and Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) are in final talks to co-star in the indie drama "Stringbean and Marcus," playing two former Black Panther members who have fallen out of love.

The movie, set in 1978, was written and will be directed by first-time feature filmmaker Tanya Hamilton. It is told through the eyes of an adolescent girl. "It's not so much about the idea of race," Hamilton said. "I just wanted to show this world of ordinary people living under extraordinary circumstances, trying to outrun this past they all have." Shooting is scheduled to begin in July in Philadelphia. Mos Def and Okonedo, producer Sean Costello said, have not yet signed, but "they've committed to the project." Contracts are not likely to be finalized until June, he added.

Hamilton was honored at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1996 for her short film "The Killers," for which she also received a DGA Women's Award.

"Mos is one of my favorite actors; he's fantastic," Costello said. "Sophie has to play this character who's both closed off and being open to helping people yet not being an angry woman. That's what she did in 'Hotel Rwanda' as this maternal, yet emotionally conflicted woman."

Okonedo received a supporting actress Oscar nomination for "Rwanda" last year. Mos Def received an Emmy nomination for his lead role in the cable TV movie "Something the Lord Made."

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'Countdown to Lockdown': Lil' Kim's Guilty Pleasure

Posted at 3/10/2006 07:08:00 AM

WashingtonPost.Com - Lil' Kim is going to prison. Well, at this writing, Lil' Kim is actually in prison, thanks to a run-in with the feds over a little matter called the truth. ( Perjury , people, tsk, tsk.) But in the unreal world of reality TV, where life is condensed, expanded and stage-managed into a neat narrative arc, time moves forward, backward and sideways at will. So, for the purposes of her BET docudrama premiering tonight at 9:30, Queen Bee's on the "Countdown to Lockdown."

Which makes for compelling television. If, that is, you don't mind the whole minstrelesque vibe of it all.

Going to maximum-security prison for a year is, of course, a very, very bad thing, and everyone in Kim's six-episode series takes pains to emphasize this -- while proclaiming her innocence. Lil' Kim's mom announces that she's "been carrying around a lot of pain." Her cousin La La, a platinum-weaved, blue-contacted Lil' Kim Mini-Me, moves in to lend support, leaving behind husband and kids. (This proves to be a bad move in Episode 2, when we learn Hubby's none too happy with La La's exodus.) Then there's Lil' Kim herself, who declares, while cruising in her limo, "I have to get my life together."

Because while going to prison is, as the 30-year-old rapper says, "[expletive], knawha'mean ?," it also makes for an excellent marketing opportunity: "Hopefully, my music'll be even more appreciated. . . . I want my sales to be huge in the first week."

In her 14 days of counting down to lockdown, she's got a new CD ("The Naked Truth," which came out in September, eight days after she went to jail for lying to a grand jury about a shootout involving her posse) to promote. There are music videos to shoot. Fans to woo. Radio interviews to conduct. Fashion shows to attend. Tempers to tantrum.

And therein lies the dramatic tension of "Countdown": Can Lil' Kim maintain control while wrestling her numerous minions, managers and addled assistants into submission in her time-crunched quest to maximize her buzz? Will she be able to reshoot "Lighters Up," because the current version of the video makes her want to "throw up"? Will she find a video director who knows how to shoot her so that she looks beautiful? ("I have to be shot in a certain light. I'm a chameleon. My looks change.") Will she still be, as she raps, the "biggest sex symbol since Janet" once she strips away the waist-length weave and the blue contacts?

That is something we'll have to wait to see in later episodes (we were only provided Episodes 1 and 2). Press materials, however, promise that Lil' Kim will begin "the physical transformation to becoming Kimberly Jones -- peeling off the layers of hair extensions, acrylic nails and stage makeup."

Lil' Kim peeling off layers of paint makes for must-see TV.

After all, she's a pop culture Rorschach blot, with that surgically engineered kewpie-doll face, the store-bought 36-Ds, the boasts about her sexual exploits with a Sprite can. Is she an ironic statement of female pulchritude? Or just a black Barbie doll, exploiting crude stereotypes of African American sexuality?

Her first episode opens with a declaration:

"My name is Kimberly 'Lil' Kim' Jones," she announces, apparently at a news conference, an actress reciting her lines, flashbulbs popping. "And I am innocent. . . . Throughout my life and my whole entire career, I've been a survivor. Anybody who knows Lil' Kim knows that I have handled some obstacles."

The largest obstacle, of course -- after the murder of her lover-mentor, the Notorious B.I.G. -- is her impending incarceration. But in Kim's life, there are lots of little obstacles to overcome, from navigating nosy journalists to navigating nosy male fans at public appearances who want to know how she's going to, you know, protect herself from the "stocky" prisoners once she's inside.

Helping her -- and serving as a hip-hop Greek chorus -- are manager Hillary, a tough-as-nails industry veteran not above letting loose with four- and 12-letter words; Gene, the A&R guy, a screamer who admiringly describes Kim as "a dirty Reebok"; Kirk, the novice music video director who's got no patience for her marathon primping sessions; Nate, the personal assistant who turns all goofy grins when he has to ask Kim's "chest size," the better to order a cat suit for a video.

These are rude and garrulous people, quick with the cuss-out and adept with the dual-phone technique, cell glued to one ear, landline on the other, working-class folks who've caught a glimpse of the good life and intend to hang on. Somehow, cast against this colorful crew, Kim comes across as the sane one, the puppeteer yanking the strings as she manages the surreal landscape of her life.

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Extended Play Partners with Biz Markie to officially Launch the Biz Markie Beat-Boxing Doll

Posted at 3/10/2006 07:06:00 AM

HipHopDirectory.Com - Biz Markie, along with manufacturing company Extended Play has officially launched the release of the Official Biz Markie Beat-Boxing Doll.

The Biz Markie Doll, which is a replication of the legendary rapper Biz Markie stands at 2 feet tall which also displays Biz's notable 3-finger ring which can be seen on is past projects including his classic 12" hit "Just A Friend".

The doll also comes with a detachable hat and a detachable microphone which can be mounted in any hand and the doll also comes with it's own super deluxe custom made cereal box.

Extended Play has manufacted only 1,000 of these classic Biz Markie Dolls which can be purchase for only $69.95

To purchase one of these limited collection dolls, visit: bizmarkiedoll.com
Or more information contact Christine Z-Pabon at: toolsofwar@aol.com

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Thursday, March 09, 2006   MUSIC |  VIDEOS |  INTERVIEWS  | NEW ARTIST  | HOME

Video Honey for Now: Nikki Cash

Posted at 3/09/2006 10:40:00 AM

Nikki Cash was born in Manila, Philippines. She became an import model in 1999 and has appeared in many shows and calendars

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Juvenile Tears Into Cash Money, Lil Wayne And FEMA

Posted at 3/09/2006 10:10:00 AM

MTVnews - Juvenile and Lil Wayne used to be friends as part of the New Orleans rap group the Hot Boys. But that alliance has since gone cold, and now Juve says he doesn't have any time for his former recording partner and pal.

"I got a 15-year-old daughter. I got a 13-year-old son. You think I got time to be playing with this little boy?" Juve said.

In fact, Wayne and Juve's fallout has put a capital "F" in "former." Words have flown back and forth between the two since shortly after Wayne released the ode to the Hot Boys via "I Miss My Dawgs" on 2004's The Carter.

"That was fake," Juve said of the record. "One day he'll make a record and it'll sound so sincere. Then the next day he gets on TV and he ain't got nothing good to say about us. ... Did you [say you miss us] to sell a record? I been in situations with the dude where I felt he only shook my hand because he was scared."

To make a long story short, when Wayne went on BET to promote his Tha Carter II LP, he addressed some of the people who have left Cash Money, like Juve and B.G. The two have since dissed him on mixtapes and proper albums.

Juvenile — who just released his eighth LP, Reality Check, on Atlantic — says he feels reborn with his new record deal. After all, Juve says he dislikes Cash Money CEO Baby even more than Wayne.

"It was fun," Juve said about recording the album. "Just knowing that you're working for yourself. Every song, every beat, I'm thinking, 'This is my statement.' I'm looking at this as my first album. For the first time I'm in charge. I'm controlling my own destiny with the help of Atlantic. When I started with this album, I knew that I wanted to do songs that related to the other albums I did before. Not replicate them, but do them better. This album is based upon good music."

The song garnering Juve the most attention right now is "Get Ya Hustle On." The video, which was filmed in New Orleans, overtly mocks government officials and President Bush. Although Juve doesn't rap in an angry tone on the record, it's clear that he's lashing out.

"Everybody needs a check