In early April, Kansas City’s DJ B-Stee went up against some of the country’s best DJs at the Red Bull Thre3style US Finals. The “Cutting Room” turntablist faced fierce competition from seasoned DJs such as Dynamix, Trayze, and J. Espinosa, the latter of which took the crown.
Although B-Stee didn’t win, his routine was creative and well-executed. Those who didn’t attend the battle can now watch him perform it exclusively for DJcityTV in this video.
#4: Rodney P – Interviews, Performances, Birthday Celebration with Michelle Gayle
In accordance with the celebrations that occurred across the globe, HIP HOP HONOURS UK in conjunction with Westway Presents hosted a ‘40yrs of HIP HOP CULTURE CELEBRATION’ on THURSDAY 11th DECEMBER 2014 at THE FLYOVER, Portobello, London W10.
This event was made up of solely live music & art performances, spanning 2 generations and all of the elements of Hip Hop Culture. Old-skool, mid-skool and new-wave artists has participated: DJs displaying the skillset of a turntablist, B-boys, poppers & lockers, rap performances, a live paint by graffiti artist. This display of the whole culture stood side by side with interviews from legends/elders, and the screening of the History of Hip Hop Culture.
This event was hosted by T J Chill (Zulu Nation), records were spun on the night by legendary hip hop DJ MK, DJ Kuku and DJ Harry Love with special appearances by previous awards honouree Rodney P. Other artists included, RU1 FAM, Young Ty, PowerLords, DJ Jam Fu, Traffik and B-Boy/ B-Girl open cypher. Plus, interviews from MCM (Caveman), Danny John Jules and from the performers.
In a Voltron esque fashion…M-Dot and the EMS team assemble for this new visual off of ‘Jake LaDOTTA’ (out now). The crew cut “Today”, shot on green screen, depicts a bunch of friends/family simply having fun evoking a 90’s/good energy feel all the while narrating how each of their days played out respectively. Produced By Esp Elizarov. Cuts By Dj Family Tyz. Video By Rose Glenn Entertainment.
Lara Lee, star of BBC’s The Voice UK, joins rapper and activist Potent Whisper to release new single in opposition to the rapid gentrification of Brixton and London.
“The song Brixton First explicitly addresses the huge numbers of ongoing evictions, tripled rent prices and Lambeth Council’s failure to act in the interest of the people it claims to represent. However, perhaps more importantly, the song highlights that these are issues we face not only in Brixton but in London as a whole. The song is a call for direct action across the capital, starting with Brixton” – Potent Whisper
The single, recorded at Jamm Studios in Brixton, is one in a line of arts pieces due to be released by the newly launched multi-arts community campaign ‘Our Brixton’ who in early April led a direct action at Foxtons estate agents on Brixton Road. Artists and local residents headed to Foxtons with sleeping bags and pillows where they staged a lie-in to highlight the displacement and homelessness that comes as a result of the ongoing evictions in the area.
The music video for the new single was filmed at the Reclaim Brixton demonstration on 25th April and produced by revolutionary video production company Global Faction, who boast 22+ million views on YouTube.
According to Erick Sermon, “nobody’s grittier than Sheek Louch,” and “the nicest underrated rapper is Joell Ortiz.” These are just couple of the reasons why he made sure to enlist his fellow New York lyricists on his single “Make Room,” from his anticipated new solo album ‘E.S.P.’ which drops in August.
While at the video shoot which went down in the Bronx, the Green-Eyed Bandit conveyed the story of how DJ Desue encouraged him to use the beat for the track. Erick immediately knew it was “hard as hell,” and held an organic New York sentiment.
The EPMD frontman then spoke on his thoughts on New York City MCs, saying, “At the end of the day, when it comes down to New York City, there’s nobody to represent New York City [other] than these MCs, and this is our city. They got to stop fronting on us. They got to stop fronting on us making records how we want to make them.”
He continues to challenge his contemporary and emerging rappers, saying, “So what, we want to rhyme. What’s bad about us wanting to emcee, and have some drums on our sh*t; what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with the Hip-Hop? That’s why I came, and that’s why I called them for that, because I wanted to show them n****s like, ‘Yo, New York is here and we ain’t playing.”
After showing respect to A$AP Rocky, Joey Bada$$, Troy Ave, Action Bronson, and Flatbush Zombies, the “Music” MC contends that New York’s proven wordsmiths like Fabolous, Jadakiss, and Jay Z are still at the genre’s forefront. “It’s just all the OGs still, no new people. They ain’t letting nobody else in,” he says.
The LOX member Sheek Louch wasted no time promoting his “Silverback Gorilla Pt. 2 [album] coming September 18th” when he spoke to VladTV this past weekend during his shoot for Erick Sermon’s “Make Room” featuring him and Joell Ortiz. “It’s crazy, man,” he tells us about his upcoming collective.
Sheek – who Erick Sermon says “did one of the best verses of his career” on their new track together – talked to us about Meek Mill’s comments on going back to the hood after you reach a certain point in your career and how he feels about the 2015 XXL Freshman Class. After asking that Vlad not “twist his words” about the up and comers, Sheek says that he’s “a fan of some of them.” Others, not so much, but only because he wasn’t even aware they existed. “Some I don’t know who the f*** you are – but I’m pretty sure somebody does.” In the end, however, he says it really doesn’t matter who’s on the cover as “long as you keepin’ it hip-hop.”
When asked about Meek Mill’s statement following the death of Chinx, Sheek Louch’s opinion differed from Joell Ortiz’s, who we’d also asked while on set of their music video. “Some n***** still wanna stay and make a zillion dollars right then and there. Sometimes, you gotta count that s*** up and say ‘Yo, let’s pack up.” Joell on the other hand felt he never left the hood, whereas Sheek feels as if “motherf***ers don’t know when to get out.”
Listen to hear more on his stance on the topic in this exclusive clip.
Over the weekend VladTV caught up Slaughterhouse emcee Joell Ortiz as he linked with hip-hop heavyweights Erick Sermon and Sheek Louch to shoot the music video for their new single “Make Room.” While there we spoke to him about the the new XXL Freshmen cover, the death of Queens rapper Chinx, and Chet Haze’s N-word usage. “People probably gon’ be mad at me, but if we can say it everybody can say it, to me,” Ortiz admits.
“As long as he didn’t mean n****r, it ain’t offensive to me,” he continues on saying, adding that he uses the word on a daily basis in conversation but never means anything by it. “I ain’t gon’ be the guy to start waving a flag when White people say it.”
Joell – who is currently working on his upcoming album “Human” – also gave his two cents on Meek Mill’s comments regarding rappers not going back to the hood after they make it big — this Brooklyn native wholeheartedly disagrees. “As far as going back to the hood, I stay in the hood [so] I gotta disagree with that a little bit because I don’t even feel like I go back to my hood — I feel like I never left my hood,” he stated. “I moved though, but I’m still hood, if that makes any sense.”
Watch on as he speaks on the latest XXL Freshmen cover (which he’s heard “is interesting” due to its “absence of lyricism,” and find out how the legendary Erick Sermon made his day after placing Ortiz on his own personal hip-hop pedestal above.
Harry Shotta pushes boundaries on ‘Animal’ as he hammers out a World Record of 1,771 words on the track, beating Eminem’s previous record of 1,560 with ‘Rap God’.
‘Animal’ is a track from his forthcoming live show album, ‘The Harry Shotta Show’.
The official “Music For My Friends” album sampler, complete with snippets of all 15 tracks off of the retail version of the upcoming album. Features from and production by Jadakiss, Black Thought, Bilal, !llmind, Apollo Brown, Jahlil Beats and more. In stores and online June 23rd via First Generation Rich Inc./Empire and can be pre-ordered here: smarturl.it/MFMF
Lost Alliance is a name most UK Hip-Hop fans should be familiar with, gracing the mic well with their last outing ‘Life Cycle’. Now a year on, Pact Prolific drops his solo debut album where once again he has repped his hometown of Wolverhampton well. They are not an act or stable that barrages the scene with hundreds of releases; instead they have crafted releases on their own original production and kept it fresh.
The album kicks off with the title track and brand new video track ‘A Closer Look’ which really hits hard and definitely impresses. A solid opening track from Pact continues to rap with confidence with a flow that is best described as clear and the album also doesn’t get lost in deep lyrical metaphors, instead its straight-up ‘tell it as it is’ in style. An array of rhymes that’ll paint vivid imagery with each line, and quality track after quality track, are factors that make this one of June’s top UK releases.
Pact Prolific – A Closer Look (Prod. by Lost Alliance) Track-list:
01 – A Closer Look
02 – Be Forever
03 – Shackled & Bound
04 – Above Or Below feat. Hot Rox & Alex-is
05 – Dangerous
06 – Sorry
07 – Stampede feat. Hot Rox
08 – All By Myself feat. Sipher
09 – Go Back
10 – Voices feat. Tom Watson
11 – Slow Down
12 – Excuse Me
hiphoplifeandtimes 