Watch The Throne

Watch the Throne by Jay-Z and Kanye West dropped Monday (8^th August) and already in its first day moved to no.1 on the iTunes chart. The album that is exclusively available on iTunes until Friday when the physical album drops, is predicted to sell between 400 000- 500 000 copies in its first week. Watch the Throne avoided being leaked and was only available to fans on the day of its release. Production wise the album is musical excellence with Q-Tip, RZA, Swizz Beatz contributing to the album as producers. My personal favourite songs are “Made in America” featuring Frank Ocean, “Murder to excellence” and “New Day” but don’t get it twisted the whole album is brilliant. Make sho you get yourself a copy!!!!!

Thoughts on hip hop...

G.O.O.D Music gets some Naija flavour

It is no surprise to see that American artists dominate the charts but over the past few years we have witnessed a change in the music industry especially regarding the Brits with their artists and producers like Adele, Tinie Tempah, Jessie J and Alex Da Kid, who have surely started invading the charts, hearts and ears of may people around the world. However does the signing of African superstar and producer D’Banj and Don Jazzy to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music mark the starting of a new era where African artists will dominate the international music scene too???

 

L.A Reid, D’Banj and Kanye West

The first time I heard of the signing I kept thinking of Drake and how he put Canada on the map with his success; wondering will D’Banj and Don Jazzy do the same for Africa, but more importantly open the door that will possibly flood with big international record labels wanting to sign African artists. Just imagine seeing Khuli Chana holding down the no.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The possibility of hearing a Pharrell production with a Motswako flow; that would be bananas!!!!

Don Jazzy, Jay-z and Kanye West

Nevertheless as we wait for that dream to be a reality, I cant wait to hear what Kanye got up his sleeves with the Mo’Hits boys, but knowing Kanye expect nothing less than some g.o.o.d music.

-Hip Hop (The game needs change and I'm the muthafuckn cashier).

Snitchin

Your scoop on what’s poppin in the hip hop world

Forbes 2011 Hip hop cash kings list is out!!!!

The 2011 Hip Hop Cash Kings list is out and Roc Nation’s CEO Jay-Z tops the list again for the 4^th time in 5 years. Nicki Minaj debuts on the list, becoming the first female to ever appear on the list and the list also sees a former no.1 hip hop cash king 50 Cent fail to get back in the top 10. Below is the ranking of who made the most cheddar in the past year

1. Jay-Z $37 million
2. Diddy $35 million
3. Kanye West $16 million
4. Lil Wayne (tie) $15 million
5. Birdman $15 million
6. Eminem (tie) $14 million
7. Dr.Dre (tie) $14 million
8. Snoop Dogg (tie) $14 million
9. Akon $13 million

10.Ludacris $12 million

11.Wiz Khalifa (tie)$11 million

12.Drake (tie) $11 million

13.Pharrell Williams $10 million

14.Timbaland- $7 million

15.Swizz Beatz (tie) $6.5 million

16.Nicki Minaj (tie) $6.5 million

17.Rick Ross (tie) $6 million

18.50 Cents (tie) $6 million

19.Pitbull (tie) $6 million

20.T-pain (tie) $5 million

20.B.O.B (tie) $5 million

Damon Dash owing taxes

Roc-A-Fella co-founder Damon Dash has recently addressed the reports about him owning the IRS more than $2 million in unpaid taxes. The rap mogul commented on his situation saying “I’m f*cked up. It’s the price of business, it is what it is. I owe taxes: I got to pay”. A few years back Dash and wife Rachel Roy split and he lost his house. Sad how two friends that started their journeys in hip hop together have grown to be two different people today; one a Cash King (Jay-Z) and the other a business man who can’t pay his taxes.

Lupe Fiasco becomes brands ambassador for Vans sneaker

Kick Push rapper Lupe Fiasco has just landed a deal with skateboard brand Vans, which will see the rapper working along with the brand as their new brand ambassador. Lupe will be seen promoting their new spring 2012 collection of casual kicks. Man oh man what a fresh deal.

Big Sean arrested on sexual charges!!!!

Finally Famous rapper Big Sean was arrested after a woman had claimed that he had sexually assaulted her at a show on Thursday (4 August). The young rapper’s lawyer released a press statement saying Sean denies the incident and that he believes that with further investigation the charges will be dropped. Wow this so shocking

Kanye West, Nicki Minaj and ?uestlove are part of the rap illuminati

Kanye West along with Nicki Minaj, ?uestlove, Bruno Mars and Will.I.Am will all lend their voices to the animated series The Cleveland Show, where they’ll each play themselves and contribute musically to the show. The episode sees the 5 artist as part of the rap illuminati, which is secret group that controls pop culture. No air date has been announced but the third season of The Cleveland Show kicks off on the 25 September. Can’t wait to check it out!!

Jay’s Rocawear partners with Billionaire Boys Club

Jay-Z’s fashion label Rocawear has partnered with BBC (Billionaire Boys Club) clothing. The label which was started by Neptune’s producer Pharrell will now be a collaborative label, working with street wear brand Rocawear. In 2007 Jay-Z sold the rights to Rocawear for $204 million but kept his stake in the label. He also heads the product development, marketing and licensing of the clothing brand.

Drake talks about the Big Sean beef

Young money rapper Drake has at a recent concert addressed the rumours of him beefing with G.O.O.D Music MC Big Sean saying “I’ma let you know that at my first show ever I shared the stage with this kid man, this dude that I love a lot, I got a lot of respect for.” So clearly to all those convinced otherwise there is nothing but love between the two young rappers.

Nicki Minaj part of Ice Age 4???

Pink Friday rapper Nicki Minaj who is known for her many voice impressions/alter-egos is adding a new character to the list. The female rapper will be starring in the animated 3D movie Ice Age 4: Continental Drift where she will lend her voice. She is part of an all star cast including fellow young money rapper Drake, Queen Latifah and Jennifer Lopez. Man oh man what a cast

Rick Ross invest in chicken wing franchise

The head of the Maybach Music Group Rick Ross has recently invested in chicken wing franchise Wingston, after tasting Wingston’s signature Lemon Pepper-flavoured chicken wings in Miami. The mogul then knew that he wanted to add the franchise to his line of investments by bringing it to Memphis. Mmmm what an interesting venture by Ross lol

The download

Your scoop on the latest downloads when they drop

Lift off- Kanye West & Jay-Z ft. Beyonce

DOWNLOAD

Matte Black- Da L.E.S

DOWNLOAD

Otis freestyle- Tinie Tempah

DOWNLOAD

Single- Yo Gotti

DOWNLOAD

Headlines- Drake

DOWNLOAD

Snitchin

Your scoop on what’s poppin in the hip hop world

Tyga goes dyes!!!!

Recently Young Money rapper Tyga joined the trend of changing your natural hair colour by dying his hair from black to light brown.  Now with Chris Brown and Tyga now changing their hair colours I wonder who else is going to join this dye your hair tren...

Mother’s day rap up: Celebs and they mothers

   

Kanye’s new scarf steez

Monster rapper Kanye West has recently debut a line of silk scarves inspired by his Dark Twisted Fantasy album’s artwork. The scarves come in 5 limited designs and there are only 100 scarves of each design. The scarves are said to go for about R2 600 each and are exclusively sold by the French boutique Collette in Chicago.

Chris celebrates his 22 birthday

This month’s artist Chris Brown recently celebrated his 22^nd birthday by throwing parties in Miami and Las Vegas. His party in Miami saw Young Money’s leader Lil Wayne in attendance and the one Las Vegas saw Breezy’s friend and fellow rnb crooner Ray J in attendance. One of the iconic elements of his birthday weekend was his graffitied cake, man if I could have a birthday cake like that! 

Amber Rose discusses the downgrade insults

Relationship shocker of the year was the relationship between Black and Yellow rapper Wiz Khalifa and Kanye West’s ex Amber Rose. Recently Amber opened up to King magazine about the comparison between the two rappers saying

“There’s no comparison in personalities. You know when people say how do you go from Kanye to Wiz Khalifa, that’s a downgrade. But the only question I ask them is: have you ever dated Kanye? Because I have, and believe me, I did not downgrade at all.”

With all that said I'm interest to hear what Kanye has to say about all this.

Jigga speaks out on illuminate affiliation

Blueprint rapper Jay-z has spoken out about the illuminate rumours saying “I think people can;t handle when somebody else is successful” further saying “Something has got to be wrong, you gotta be down with some higher power. And I guess when someone else is successful, it makes you feel like maybe you’re a failure. So it can’t be you, it has to be some other force”.

Last year Jigga addressed the rumours directly in the track “Free Mason”. Now I think its time to let go and let Jigga be, if you think his illuminate and you don’t like it, then stop listening to his music. Fullstop. 

Letter from the editor

A key element about hip hop that sets it apart from any other culture/ industry of its kind is its _progression_.

[Biggie] was right when he said “you never thought that hip hop would take it this far”. Back in the 80s, hell even in the 90s we never thought hip hop would grow to the point where it could sit with investment titans like Warren Buffet and along with him reflect on success.

It used to break my heart when people would look at me as being childish or unrealistic when I’d share my aspiration of making it in hip hop well… that changed when I heard Jay-z say in track “My type a dreams seem dumb, they said wise up, how many guys aaaa you see making it from here, the world don’t like us, is that not clear... alright. But I’m different, I can’t base what I’m gonna I’m gonna be, off what everybody isn’t.” Those few lines have made a great impact in my life, I mean how dare you judge us (hip hop) when we have icons like Jay-z sitting as equals with highly respected men like Warren Buffet.  So be like me and dream big and never let anyone try tell you otherwise!!!!

So without further a due welcome to HI MY NAME IS HIP HOP the _April_ issue.

#Leboo CosMo (follow me on twitter @LebooCosmo)

Jay-z

Decoding the day Jay-z met hip hop

His name was Slate and he was a kid I used to see around in the neighbourhood, an older kid who barely made an impression. In the circle, though, he was transformed like the church ladies touched by the spirit, and everyone mesmerized. He was rhyming, throwing out couplet after couplet like he was in a trance, for a crazy long time- thirty minutes straight off the top of his head, never losing the beat, riding the handclaps. 

Snitchin'

The scoop on what’s poppin in hip hop

50 launches Sleek headphones

Bringing competition to Beats headphones by Dr.Dre is 50’s new line of headphones called Sleek. The headphone are said to be the first headphones to offer Wireless Hybrid Technology using military grade metal. The whole headphones thing seems to becoming a trend in hip hop now, with Ludacris also dropping his own headphones line called Soul Headphones, which are expected to drop around March this year.

Timbo Thursday

Another growing trend in hip hop especially amongst producers is the trend to have a day on which they release free music to their fans. The first was Kanye and his G.O.O.D Fridays then Swizz Beatz and his Monster Mondays now it’s big time producer Timbaland and his Timbo Thursday which begins on Thursday 13 January 2011. Make sho you hit up HI MY NAME IS HIP HOP to get his weekly track

Lil Kim’s Nicki Minaj look-a-like

The beef between hip hop’s veteran queen b Lil Kim and hip hop’s current leading lady Nicki Minaj continues, with Lil Kim taking it a step further. In her new music video for the tracks “Clap, clap/ Black Friday”, Lil Kim cast a Nicki Minaj look a like. I can’t wait to see the video drop to see what role they got Nicki Minaj’s clone playing.