New York, NY (November 18, 2008) - R&B’s next sensation Shontelle brings her radio smash “T-Shirt” and the bubbling dedication to Obama “Battle Cry” to the masses with her new album, “Shontelligence,” in stores today. Get over to iTunes and cop it today! Below are some pictures of a recent showcase with candid shots from Steve Rifkind, Shontelle, DJ Cassidy and a few other heavy hitters.
New York, NY (November 17, 2008) - VP of SRC Records Dante Ross was out and about at the Woodies and he snuck a camera into the spot to capture this set with Asher Roth performing a snippet of “I Love College” and The Cool Kids spitting bars from “Delivery Man.” Peep the stage dive.
New York, NY (November 13, 2008) - With auditions closed and the field selected, the next Faces In The Crowd is set for December 9th at Rebel in NYC. We’ll have a feature with Reality and his partner Chalant coming soon, and will of course have footage of the show. Guest artists are Cory Gunz, Teyana Taylor and Squareoff. Music by DJ Llama, doors go off at 8pm.
New York, NY (November 12, 2008) – Many thanks to all who participated in the Get Your Own Lumdi Contest with The New Music Cartel and Camp Lo! The meaning of Lumdi that everyone was searching to find out: Cash Feels Like A Fem’s Touch. Congratulations to Tekken45 for coming through with the right answer first!
Below, we have a special segment Camp Lo recorded at SRC where Cheeba and Suede both spit never-before heard verses and talk a little bit about each of them. Be on the look for some remixes coming soon, courtesy of The Apple Juice Kid and a few special guest artists. Lo-I !!!
New York, NY (November 7, 2008) – Ash Roth gets a little shine with the homie Carson Daly. Cameos from Akon, Steve Rifkind (he’s pushing the shopping cart), Scooter and a grip of other people all on-board for the long haul. If this is your first introduction, it’s not a bad one. Opinions? Shouts to Mr. X for the heads up.
New York, NY (November 6, 2008) – With all the Election Day hoopla now over with and the real work just beginning, you’re probably feeling a little spent (although I’m sure the celebrating will be in full effect this weekend). Camp Lo and The New Music Cartel had the remedy yesterday, and to follow-up, I wanted to be sure ya’ll got a piece of the action, too.
Camp Lo, in association with the NMC and Loud.com, launched their brand new EP yesterday. You can check out the songs below, each one made specifically for the six sites that are part of the NMC. Contestants were given clues and had to unscramble the meaning of the word “Lumdi,” the single Camp Lo recently released. To give some clarity, the meaning is this: “Cash Feels Like a Fem’s Touch.”
We have a winner, which we’ll announce next week, and we’ll have some more news regarding Camp Lo and some special remixes they have coming up. The will receive autographed copies of “Uptown Saturday Night” and “Let’s Do It Again,” as well as the jackets Suede and Cheeba wore during the “Lumdi” video. Congratulations!
Download the entire Camp Lo + NMC EP with all the official artwork, mp3’s and credits here.
The production credits on this project:
All Songs recorded at The FunHouse by Apple Juice Kid.
All Songs mixed and mastered by Skaz at Flavor Fruit Studios.
Graphics: MARK “SPITZ” DI VITA // SINCEEIGHTY6
Concept for contest: John Public
Camp Lo management: kristi@astientertainment.com
www.myspace.com/therealcamplo
1.) 2 Dope Boyz (prod. by Apple Juice Kid)
2.) OnSmash (prod. by Smoking Apples)
3.) Xclusive Zone feat. Jungle Boogie Brown (prod. by Smoking Apples w/ Matt Brandau on bass)
4.) Nah Right (prod. by Apple Juice Kid)
5.) Da Jaz feat. Naja (prod. by Smoking Apples)
6.) Your Heard That New (prod. by Grindhouse – Ski & Apple Juice Kid)
New York, NY (November 4th, 2008) - Asher Roth made a telephoned appearance on the G’s Up Morning Show this past Saturday and talks Sarah Palin, Halloween, the XXL cover, sounding like Eminem, the music business and more. Download part one here and part two here.
New York, NY (November 3, 2008) – From the famous Sam Cooke sample, comes this banger from ¾ of the XXL coverboys. Shout out to the homie TJ the DJ. Download “Change Gone Come” here.
For some more on Wale, check out his interview with Jibari behind-the-scenes of “Nike Boots” below and a link to his track featuring Duffy, “Warwick Ave.” You can find more B.o.B. here, as well, with “Left Field Lovely,” and a casting call video he made for you.
New York, NY (October 31, 2008) – The venerable Monch puts some visuals to one of the most powerful tracks on “Desire.” Those in the know are keenly aware of the god’s lyrical dexterity, but for those who aren’t… pfft, fall back. It’s time you got familiar.
New York, NY (October 31, 2008) – Smokin Apples (Sonny Cheeba & The Apple Juice Kid) sat down with an anonymous cameraman (uh, sure sounds like Suede to me) and got into the production styles for the very fresh, very hip, NMC EP dropping November 5th. Juice talks samples and inspiration, and the duo also drop some science about who is helping produce their debut album, “A Piece of The Action.” Think Jay-Z and think “Reasonable Doubt.”
New York, NY (October 30, 2008) – This footage is a little over a month old, but this is where the idea was conceived for the NMC + Camp Lo contest, so it’s appropriate it sees the light of day in the midst of this contest.
Here, Sonny Cheeba and The Apple Juice Kid, who, along with Ski Beats is helming most of Camp Lo’s new album, “A Piece of The Action,” chopped it up with us backstage at the AHH.com 10th Anniversary event/panel/gala. Juice talks here about his eight Scratch Beat Battle victories, working with 9th Wonder, how he linked up with Camp Lo, the benefits of organizations like Dynamic Producer and iStandard, hustling music and in general talking that producer slanguage. Suede also talks about being given demos at a wedding.
If you didn’t know, he and Cheeba have a production team they call Smoke N Apples (ha!) that actually co-produced two of the joints for this New Music Cartel EP, “Xclusive Zone” and “OnSmash.”
New York, NY (October 30, 2008) – The flash is crazy! Check out the brand new video from the Konvict and his boys, filmed down in Miami. Peep the cameo from Tami Chynn and shout out to the hot broad throwing Akon’s money around.
New York, NY (October 28, 2008) – Akon was up in SRC/Universal for a press day (more footage to come), and we sat down with the Konvict and talked some of his favorite verses. Mentioned within are “Locked Up,” “Ghetto” and an explanation for “Sorry, Blame It On Me.”
Here’s the tracklisting for “Freedom,” dropping December 2nd.
1 Right Now (Na Na Na) 4:01
2 Beautiful feat. Colby O’Donis and Kardinal Offishall 5:13
3 Keep You Much Longer 4:21
4 Troublemaker feat. Sweet Rush 3:59
5 We Don’t Care 4:18
6 I’m So Paid feat. Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy 4:23
7 Holla Holla feat. T-Pain 3:00
8 Against The Grain feat. Ray Lavender 4:04
9 Be With You 3:52
10 Sunny Day feat. Wyclef Jean 5:12
11 Birthmark 4:24
12 Over The Edge 4:29
13 Freedom 4:13
New York, NY (October 28, 2008) – Shontelle, the singer behind the hit single, “T-Shirt,” is back with an election dedication to Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
New York, NY (October 27, 2008) - Exclusive shit! Shout out to Camp Lo doin their thing! Get familiar:
On Wednesday, November 5th, Camp Lo will debut six new tracks, one for each blog in the New Music Cartel. On that day, each site will reveal it’s own individual clue that will direct the listener to a specific point in that site’s particular song. The resulting six words answer the question: “What does Lumdi mean? “
The first person to email the correct sentence answering that question to camplonmc@gmail.com wins Cheeba and Suede’s jackets from the official “Lumdi” video, as well as autographed copies of “Uptown Saturday Night” and “Let’s Do It Again.” The clothes come from Camp Lo’s upcoming fashion line, and the aforementioned CD’s are extremely rare!
Reacquaint your ears with Camp Lo as they prepare their latest album, “A Piece of The Action,” at their MySpace page or their Loud.com page and drop them a line. In the meantime, expect more original music, remixes and videos for your viewing and listening pleasure. More Feddi!!
New York, NY (October 24, 2008) – B.o.B, David Banner, Talib Kweli and Playboy Tre doing a 10 minute freestyle session in Washington DC with the Rhythm Roots All-Stars Band on the Hip Hop Live Tour. Spotted first at Shaker’s spot. Dope!
New York, NY (October 24, 2008) – The first-ever $100,000 winner of Loud.com’s song battle spoke with Ryan Ford, former Executive Editor of The Source and current Director of Creative Strategy at The Cashmere Agency (one of the largest, most prestigious publicity agencies in North America). Ford and Tha Crow chopped it up at the Cashmere studio in Los Angeles on what it was like winning the competition and what he’s been up to since, while also addressing direct concerns of prospective entrants about the contest’s legitimacy.
New York, NY (October 23, 2008) - “Hip Hop Is Dead?”
Those were the ominous words repeated by Q Tip when he spoke at the “Hip-Hop Renaissance” Panel at NYU on Tuesday. Q Tip joined other panelists SRC Artist Asher Roth, The Cool Kids, and some industry insiders in a heated discussion about the current state of the industry. Q-Tip’s seven-year-old proclamation (before Nas and even before Andre 3000) was almost a theme that ran through the entire discussion. Instead of the controversy that usually comes from statements like this, Q-Tip got a chance to elaborate on exactly why he said that in the first place.
Q-Tip was making a reference to people not doing hip hop for fun, and instead only focusing on money or their scattered business ventures: “More people were doing it for fun,” he said. “There was a naiveté that people attached to it.” He attributes the changing rap climate to the corporate entities that only see dollar signs in the hip-hop genre. He said that hip-hop was co-opted “when the corporations came in and people started seeing it was making money.”
This statement corresponds directly to why Nas decided to name his 2006 album “Hip Hop Is Dead;” almost everyone took it as Nas insulting the current crop of MCs and their supposed lack of innovation, but in numerous interviews he clarified the point, and told people that he meant that control of the hip hop industry was slowly being removed from the very artists that helped mold and form the culture. Basically, the idea that rap culture is not being shaped by the artists or musicians, but instead, faceless music executives who only care about profit margins, who are only complicit in diluting and homogenizing the culture.
It’s interesting how prophetic Q Tip’s statement was, and how much more evidence exists now for his argument then when he made the statement in 2002. If its even possible, rap has become even more watered down and corporate based then never before. Hip-hop culture has started ebbing into these tiny cracks that were before inconceivable. Evidence:
Who would think crunken mastermind Lil Jon would have his own vineyard, and that it’s actually profitable? Or that Memphis Bleek would be in a Garnier Fructis music video/infomercial/viral wtf? At the same time, these cats are all businessmen, and if huge companies want to fork over the capital, why not just grab it and move on to the next project? But still, certain products and certain Mcs really don’t belong together, and someone’s brand could almost be ruined from the wrong product association if it was really embarrassing enough.
SRC recording artist Asher Roth also had an interesting take on the current state of the industry. Something he says he always keeps in the back of his mind is, “You’re only as good as you’re last track”, which is definitely one of the first tenets of any hard working MC. Even at this early stage in his career, he understands that a handful of joints popping off are not enough to substantiate a long, worthwhile presence. Those early songs are enough to maintain buzz or an introduction, but especially with the current pace of the Internet, everyone’s always asking, “What’s Next?”
This same thought was definitely echoed by Mikey Rocks of The Cool Kids. He said people are always on a stance of “prove it.” Nowadays, cat’s are known around the country in a matter of months due to hip-hop blogs and other websites, but they actually want to go to shows and see you can rap, and that’s the true test for any esteemed hip-hop fan. He went on to say that supports of the music can download someone’s mp3s for a while, and actually enjoy them, but when you go and see them live, if it doesn’t match the intensity of the song, their image could almost be permanently tarnished.
That’s why this new generation of Internet MCs really puts a strange spin on exactly how cats become popular and whether their popularity is actually merited. With sites like YouTube and MySpace, hip-hop fans can find out someone’s favorite Chinese restaurant even before their mixtape drops. A lot of focus is on extraneous info and behind the scenes videos that barely give you an idea of a specific MC’s prowess. You can find out just as much about why Lupe Fiasco loves Goyard luggage as you can about his diverse influences (not Tribe! haha). The Internet has created a lot of new opportunities for undiscovered emcees, but at the same time this massive influx of information, at least partially, has helped trivialize the culture.
From the tone of this conference, it’s pretty easy to see that even the people in the industry don’t completely understand the current state. Whether its financial intentions, or cats just rapping because they can, a lot of new hip-hop culture could easily be questioned by longtime fans. No matter what though, there’s still a large contingent of cats that really care about the culture, and don’t want to dilute it no matter how much money is involved.
New York, NY (October 20, 2008) - This is the issue most hip-hop fans with any Internet connection have been waiting for. Featuring fresh faces Wale, B.o.B., Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, Ace Hood, Curren$y, Kid Cudi, Cory Gunz, Blu and Mickey Factz. Strong line-up, all with a diverse mic presence, some signed, some still up for grabs. You’ve heard a lot of their music, you make the call - Who’s really next? Propers to OnSmash for the heads-up!!
