NEWS | REVIEWS | FEATURES | ABOUT US | EVENTS

Jay-Z, Eminem announce super concerts at baseball stadiums



Jay-Z and Eminem will co-headline a home-and-home series, performing September 2 in Detroit's Comerica Park and September 13 in a developing little field known to a few as Yankee Stadium. Getcha popcorn ready.

No ticket info yet, but stay tuned.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Jay-Z Shuts Down SNL



In a standout SNL performance that can only be described as "epic," Jay-Z, his full touring band and gorgeous, thick-piped backup singer claimed Studio 8H's stage and ran through an 8.5 minute medley that included "PSA," "On to the Next One," a moment of "'03 Bonnie and Clyde" and "Empire State of Mind." Jay and Mr. Hudson came back to polish things off with "Forever Young," which you can watch after the jump. 


| 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

B. Hardy - #GroceryBag Freestyle

Cool_Hardy.jpg

I've been keeping tabs on Dallas's B. Hardy fairly regularly for a minute. He's a blue collar, go-for-the-throat punchline guy but his Texas roots afford him an ease and sensibility for navigating southern, bouncing beats. Case in point, this one-liner barrage over Gudda Gudda's "I Don't Like The Look."

Labeling an mp3/song with a hashtag in the title is a savvy bit of viral, Twitter age marketing, but Hardy's networked shout outs to rap zines (disclosure, ATG gets one at :48 secs and it's pretty awesome) and generally effortless and loose tone means it's not wise to overanalyze intentions. Shit is just nice and worth adding to mixes.

The song is from Throwaway Rhymes 7: I Am Rap-Bot 5000, which we'll be checking for May 24.


| 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

New Freddie Gibbs video - 'The Ghetto'



We told you how good this song was and, thankfully, MTV agrees. The first clip/single from his Str8 Killa No Filla mixtape/album. I spent 20 minutes with Gibbs in March and left taken by this man's humanity, honesty, hunger, humility.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

How to make Drake's album cover in Photoshop

drake-thank-me-later-cover.jpg

Darkie's disappointing design took maybe five minutes. Here's seven easy steps to make your own version of Thank Me Later's shitty cover:

1. Insert pic to Photoshop
2. Select whatever was in the background (if anything) and clear it out and fill with white. place his face on a separate layer
3. Select images--> adjustments--> thresholds
4. Lazily fool around with thresholds for about 2 minutes
5. Add a colored (red) drop shadow through the blending options on the face layer
6. Go to filter --> Gaussian blur because God knows he needed to do that to make the image that much more awful
7. Finally add text, specifically Futura, maybe stretch it vertically a little bit


And you're done. You've just created Drake's retarded inverse Warhol album cover.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

The Dream featuring T.I. - Make Up Bag

the-dream-2.png

Love King is going to be a sexist, women-as-an-empty-vase epic. I think he's being purposefully cheeky with these messages; guy is too intelligent to believe unconditional loyalty and happiness will stem from leather handbags.


The Dream featuring T.I. - Make Up Bag
| 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

The week in hip-hop journalism

newspapers.jpg
Real recognize real.

| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Drake - Thank Me Later

drizzy art.jpg

Darkie on the art for Drake's Thank Me Later. Better than the art for the Kanye song.
| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Stimulus: Young Jeezy - Trap or Die 2

trap-or-die-2-final-v2.jpg

The sequel to the classic. Get listening and peep the visuals for the title track after the jump.

| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Is this the world's first trailer for a blog?


We think so. Coming soon, we guess? From who else?


| No Comments | No TrackBacks
__________________________________________

Pages.

Personnel.

Co-founder/Executive Editor: Ramon Ramirez
Co-founder/Executive Editor: Reggie Ugwu

Senior Writers
Cass Luskin
Jerod Couch
Evan Daniels
Natalia Ciolko

Web Design
Jeremy Hurd