Author: hhns

Years after rapper Asher Roth released his Eminem-inspired, Asleep In The Bread Aisle track, “As I Em,” the Morrisville, Pennsylvania emcee has been met with a response to the record from Eminem. On Eminem’s “Asshole,” a record from his newly-released The Marshall Mathers LP 2, the Detroit rapper briefly recalls Asher’s record as he calls out the emcee by name.

On the Skylar Grey-assisted record, Eminem raps, “Quit actin’ salty, I was countin’ on you to count me out/Ask Asher Roth when he round-a-bout dissed me to shout me out/Thought I was history/But goddamn honkey, that compliment’s like backhanding a donkey.”

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Asher responded to the diss during an appearance on Hot 97’s the Juan Epstein show and revealed that instead of being offended by Eminem on “Asshole” he was more amazed by the mention.

“It’s cool, man,” said Asher. “I thought it was pretty amazing…There’s nothing really there. It’s like I’ve never really met him. I don’t know him personally. You know what I mean?”

The Pennsylvania spitter offered an explanation as to why he released “As I Em.” On the song, Asher shares his first memories hearing the rapper and also gives credit to Eminem as he raps, “But Em was in it way before I committed/And his lyrics were the shit so I really gotta come with it.”

According to Asher, the record was also released to prove he’s his own person following the numerous comparisons he received to Eminem.

“Man, it was just like when things were coming out everybody was like [all] ‘Em, Asher, Em, Asher, Em, Asher.’ And so, for me I just wanted to like talk about how I was my own person,” he said. “You know what I mean? And that’s really all it was. And talking about when I first been introduced to Em’s music when I was young in seventh grade. And just kinda like talking about that relationship with being inspired by an emcee and listening to that music and having it be influential…I think Em’s just being Em.”

Several months ago, Asher offered a critique on the music industry in the form of an open letter he penned in June. In the letter, he commented on leaving his former label and choosing to take a more lax approach with his music.

“That is why I’ve decided to stray from the path UMG has laid for me and continue on the scenic route. I prefer to relay my music directly to my fans. Show them what it is I see,” said the rapper. “Share with them what it is I think. I enjoy letting you hear free-flowing ideas recorded in basements and broom closets. Who cares that they will probably never be heard on the radio? I want to be proactive and not reactive and I would rather nothing get in the way of the relationship I have with my family, friends, fans and my music.”

Since the release of his open letter, Asher has dropped his The Greenhouse Effect Volume 2 mixtape and was recently featured on Blended Babies’ “See The World.”

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Kanye West has made headlines recently, airing out frustrations about breaking into the fashion industry.

Now, co-founder of Def Jam Russell Simmons has written an op-ed on ‘Ye for Global Grind, providing his take on the rapper, whom he feels is misunderstood. “I recently sat down with Ye in New York and got the chance to hear about his hopes and ambitions, his frustrations and contradictions, his happiness and his anger,” wrote Simmons. “But through it all, what I felt from Kanye was an artist who desperately wants to leave his imprint in the history books.

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What’s often times misunderstood about Kanye is that people believe he wants all of this for himself, in fact, quite the opposite, he wants all of this for the rest of us. He wants to destroy the glass ceiling with 808′s and crack music…so one day WE have the power to see all of the lights. Certainly he wants a piece for himself…everybody would, but at his core, at the bottom of his heart, lies an inner-truth that has led to an external battle to make this world a bit easier for those who have been dealt a hand of struggle, by showing them a glimmer of hope through his art.”

Rush continued, specifically addressing Kanye’s rants. “It is his generation that has this power. He knows it. He feels it. He tastes it. And he so badly wants it like mad. So, you may think he’s mad when he goes on his ‘Yeezy rants,’ but it is a different kind of mad. It is a mad that keeps you up at night, knowing that if you fall asleep, you are wasting time. It is a mad that makes you go into the lab and work seven days with no sleep, cause you want to perfect your craft.”

 

Ten years before 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Trying redefined the commercial success ceiling for new rappers, Snoop Dogg’s 1993 Doggystyle album was the benchmark. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the Death Row Records kingpin Suge Knight spoke on the creation of the album, his relationship with Snoop in 2013 and reveals a story about how Def Jam tried to lure Snoop to the East.

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A month before Snoop Dogg released his first single as a solo artist, “What’s My Name” he was arrested for the murder of Ethiopian immigrant Philip Woldemariam. According to Knight, at the time of Snoop’s September 1993 arrest, only one song had been recorded for Doggystyle and Interscope Records(specifically Jimmy Iovine) were hesitant to assist the unheralded MC. Suge himself even believed Snoop was going to jail:

Everybody thought he was going to go. A few times in court they asked him to stand up, and Snoop would actually get weak in the knees and fall back down. It was a lot of pressure. But it was still good to be able to come through and pull that off for him because it opened it up a bunch of doors and showed the world a different side of rap music.

The trial for the 1993 murder case did not take place until November of 1995, in which time Snoop Dogg had sold over 4 million records and became the hottest rapper in Hip Hop. Knight reveals that Lyor Cohen and Russell Simmons tried to lure Snoop Dogg to Def Jam, before Suge says he had to “literally smash them”:

They figured if they could work it out with Snoop, they could work it out with Jimmy [Iovine], and where that leave me? So then that’s when people turned around and said, ‘Oh, Death Row mothafuckas is some f*cked up motherfuckas, and Suge Knight’s an aggressive mothaf*cka.’ Because somebody had to put their foot so far up Russell’s a*s he thought he was in the hot tub with the guys he usually be with. [Laughs.]

In a 2006 Rolling Stone interview, Snoop claimed Suge attempted to get him murdered while the Death Row boss was in jail serving a nine year bid for a 1997 probation violation. Seven years later and Suge explains that his and Snoop’s relationship has taken a turn for the better:

My relationship with him is where it’s supposed to be. It’s respectful on both ends. I could never turn around and say I hate this mothaf*cka, because he’s a part of my life and I’m a part of his life. There was times starting this business with Death Row that some people were scared to go out of town, scared to go to New York. I’d come grab him, we’d go straight to the airport, just me and him, no entourage, not one person with us. We’d get our room, we’d go hang out, we’d be everywhere. We would go there, post up, enjoy the city, respect the city, and that went so far.

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Several days ago, Kanye West revealed that he did not receive royalties for Air Yeezy, a sneaker collaboration between the rapper and Nike.

Now, Kanye spoke on the matter again during the Madison Square Garden stop of the Yeezus tour this weekend, reports Complex.

“They try to act like people ain’t line up for the Yeezys,” said Kanye, “[Nike CEO] Mark Parker tried to son me. Yes. Son me because I am the sun and I will shine bright. And when I don’t have as much money as a billionaire and when I don’t have the factories that, that dude has over there, what I do have is my voice. Ain’t no corporation that can take me away from my voice and I’m going to scream at the top of my motherfucking mountain as loud as I want. Anything I want. Whenever I want. Is that crazy? So I’m going to make the announcement on Monday with the corporation that finally let me get an opportunity to create.”

West continued, saying, “I asked Nike when the Red Octobers supposed to drop, and they said, ‘We don’t know.'”

Kanye West has been criticizing various companies recently, including Zappos. West stated that he had gotten into an argument with the head of Zappos.”Meanwhile, he sells all this shit product to everybody, his whole thing is based off of selling shit product.”

The often love-hate relationship between entertainers and the media can lead to some bitter outcomes especially when a celebrity feels they have been misrepresented by a publication. For legendary producer Dr. Dre it seems he feels one particular website crossed the line when they reported that he was leaving his wife for a video vixen.

TMZ obtained a cease and desist letter from Dre’s attorneys sent to the gossip site TheDirty.com. Dre is demanding that the site remove all posts suggesting that he slept with a women named Kili Anderson.

On October 28th, The Dirty published a post titled “Dr. Dre’s Mistress Kili Anderson” which allegedly featured photos of Dre and Anderson together. The post also suggests that the “booty model/gold digger” believed that The Chronic producer was going to drop his wife for her. A later post called “Dr. Dre Is Allowed To Have Numerous Relationships” has a picture of a ring that the site claims was given to Anderson by Dre.

The lawyer’s letter says the posts contain “scandalous, false accusations” about Dr. Dre and calls The Dirty’s articles “demonstrably false and libelous.”

I started with the superficial, psychological form of slavery of just being a slave of fashion. Also, me being one of the number one slaves that picks the most cotton and stuff and coming like, ‘massa, can I get like a little bit of land and maybe I can get a house for my family?’ They like ‘no, you can’t. All you can do is promote our clothes for us. All you can do, you and all your celebrity friends, all you can do is promote for us. And, what we want to do is keep serving y’all ni**as with these Louis Vutton prints ’till none of y’all bills is paid and making y’all feel like that’s the most important thing. I’m sitting in Paris like, ‘I’m about to turn up on them.

For the second time since the spring Lil Scrappy has made headlines for something other than music.

TMZ is reporting that the former Warner Bros. Records sensation has been accused of leaving a McAllen, Texas hotel room in complete disarray after a wild party that followed a show he performed at.

The show’s promoter paid for the Atlanta native’s stay in McAllen and told TMZ that police were called to the hotel because of loud noise and subsequently discovered the room completely trashed. Drink splatter was allegedly found all over the walls, the hotel phone was damaged and buffalo wing sauce was strewn all over the carpet. A bill of $2,000 was slapped on the promoter and now, he wants Scrappy to reimburse him the money.

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Lil Scrappy replied by saying he was only at the party for a few minutes and believes he is not obligated to pay for anything because he claims he didn’t vandalize the room.

This isn’t the first time Scrappy has allegedly caused controversy this year. In August, Lil Scrappy was arrested after a fight at a Georgia gas station. The fight allegedly started because a man was disrespecting his girlfriend. In April, Scrappy turned himself in to police after refusing to take a drug test. The mandatory drug test stemmed from a 2008 marijuana possession conviction. In October of 2012, he was arrested and imprisoned for violating his probation.

Lil Scrappy’s last studio album release was 2012’s sophomore effort Tha Gru$tle, which peaked at #72 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums list.

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Between performing records from his catalog of studio albums at the Yeezus tour stop in Brooklyn this week, Chicago rapper Kanye West also took it upon himself to share what he referred to as a “stream of consciousness” with fans.

During Kanye’s latest rant, which was recorded by Real Talk NY, the G.O.O.D. Music emcee referenced singer Bruno Mars, Oprah Winfrey, and major corporations.

While speaking on Bruno, Ye recalled a phone call he received from Rick Rubin encouraging him to leave this year’s MTV Video Music Awards after he performed. He then commented on Bruno winning a majority of the awards and stated that recognition in the streets trumps any award an artist can receive from a network.

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“When I went to the MTV Awards, Rick Rubin hit me, he said ‘Are you performing at the MTV Awards,’” said Kanye. “I said ‘Yeah.’ He said ‘Look man, just do your mothafuckin song and leave. Just do your song and leave. Just do your song and leave.’ Cause sure enough I’m sitting down trying, I’m trying to enjoy mothafuckas performing and shit…And then they start giving out awards and shit. And Bruno Mars win all the mothafuckin awards and shit. You know, I was just thinking about what Rick Rubin told me cause I don’t give a fuck about no TV show. But what I care about is if you an artist and you work hard as fuck and the streets say that you deserve that shit then can’t no mothafuckin networks try to gas everybody up. So, they can sell some [product] with the prettiest mothafucka out.”

Kanye later touched on a sit-down he had with talk show host turned business mogul, Oprah Winfrey, who informed him that others are “scared of” him, to which he says he responded “they should be.”

“And I sit down with Oprah and she say, ‘They scared of you, Ye. They scared of you, Ye,’” said the rapper. “She didn’t say I wasn’t the most talented. She just said ‘You gotta learn how to fail.’ I said ‘Oprah, it’s a new day.’

“These major corporations they wanna control you,” he added. “And they take us as musicians…to hold that mothafuckin product up and that’s what they show you. But fuck that. Fuck that that’s old school. Fuck that. Fuck that that’s old school. And Oprah said ‘They scared of you Ye.’ Well, of course they should be…That’s why I’m turning up. That’s why I’m turned up. Cause I want my turn. These guys got fed off it and I want my turn.”

Following the launch of Kanye’s Yeezus tour last month, the multi-city tour has garnered the spotlight on a number of occasions. Ye received criticism for the appearance of a man dressed as Jesus during his tour performances, and also the tour’s merchandise, which included a t-shirt with the image of a Confederate flag on it.

In addition to criticism over those two tour elements, Kanye was also forced to reschedule a handful of tour dates due to damaged equipment.

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Jay Z purchased a $4.5 million Jean-Michel Basquiat piece titled “Mecca,” according to The New York Post.

The piece features the Empire State Building, as per The Post.

In July, Jay Z purchased a painting of Jean-Michel Basquiat from Swizz Beatz. Beatz painted a portrait of Basquiat on the hood of a luxury vehicle and sold it to Jay Z for an undisclosed amount. The money from the sale reportedly went to charity, as per complex.com.

Basquiat passed away of a heroin overdose in 1988. He was 27.

Jay Z has rapped about Jean-Michel Basquiat on various selections.

On 2010’s “Most Kingz,” Jay Z rapped about being inspired by Basquiat’s paintings.

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“Inspired by Basquiat,” Jay Z rhymes on the track. “My chariot’s on fire.”

On 2013’s “Picasso Baby,” Jay Z also references the painter.

“It ain’t hard to tell,” Jay Z raps. “I’m the new Jean-Michel.”

During the same selection, Jay Z also raps about having a Basquiat piece in his kitchen.

In August, Jay Z spoke about his appreciation and connection to the arts.

“When art started becoming part of the galleries, it became a separation between culture and even in Hip Hop, people were almost like, ‘Art is too bourgeois,'” Jay Z said in HBO’s Picasso Baby: A Performance Art Film. “We are artists. We’re alike. We’re cousins. That’s where it’s really exciting for me, bringing the worlds back together.”

During the same television special, Jay Z also spoke about how he views his performances as an art.

“Concerts are pretty much performance art,” Jay said. “The venues change. Just by nature of the venues, the performance changes. If you’re in a smaller venue, it’s a bit more intimate so you get to feel the energy of the people…In a concert, especially in a large concert, all that energy comes to you. What do you do with that energy?”

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Kanye West is slated to premiere the music video for his “Bound 2” selection off this year’s Yeezus album on “Ellen” Tuesday (November 19).

Confirmation of the single’s title and premiere came fromellentv.com.

In a promotional teaser for the video premiere, the television program also announced that the video is set to air exclusively on its website for the day of its release.

Elizabeth Banks and Mario Lopez are also slated to appear on the program the day of the premiere.

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West has been critical of music video presentations in the past. In June, West criticized YouTube during a listening session.

“[I hate YouTube because] the player is so ugly, and it’s presented in such a terrible manner,” Kanye West said. “I want everything I do to be presented in an art context, as this is a form of sonic art.”

During that listening session, West also said he’s always been interested in the arts.

“I was an artist originally,” West said. “I have been in art school since I was 5 years old. I got scholarships to three art schools, Art Institute of Chicago, Saint Xavier, and the American Academy of Art, where I ended up going and I dropped out because I had an assignment where I was supposed to do an ink painting or something, and I would take two weeks to do it, and when I looked at my work, I just felt that I would never be one of the great visual artists of the world.”

Kanye West’s uncensored “Bound 2” music video, featuring Kim Kardashian, can be found below.

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Debra Antney, Waka Flocka Flame’s mother, has denied allegations that she and her son stole money from Gucci Mane while she was his manager and the Chief Financial Officer of Gucci Mane’s 1017 Brick Squad imprint, according to rumorfix.com.

“I’m so speechless,” Antney says, as per rumorfix.com. “It’s so crazy. Waka wasn’t even rapping in 2006… Drugs, greed, and women ruined him. That’s it. Don’t blame that shit on me.”

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Gucci Mane is suing for fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy, according to tmz.com. The rapper also requested that Waka and his mother’s assets be frozen, and that Antney return a ring and chain that he says Waka’s mother stole from him.

In his lawsuit, Gucci Mane says that Antney took more than the typical 20% percent management fee to which she was entitled, according to allhiphop.com. Gucci Mane also alleges that Antney’s actions led to his having money and tax problems, as per rumorfix.com.

“Bless his heart,” Antney said to rumorfix.com. “Somebody call Dr. Phil.”

In September, Gucci Mane apologized to family, friends, members of the music industry and his fans for a Twitter rant earlier that month in which he made disparaging remarks about Nicki Minaj, Tyga and others. In his apology, Gucci Mane also said that he had been abusing lean and that he was incarcerated.

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As Jay Z’s exclusive collection at Barneys New York debuted yesterday and the media attention to the alleged incidents of racially profiling at the retailer started to die down, one of Jay’s business associates working on the project offers his opinion about the allegations and the response.

Joanie Lemercier, the art director of the Barneys window display featuring the Jay Z line, spoke with the New York Daily News. The French citizen apparently feels that the two cases of Barneys customers claiming they were detained for stealing only because of their race would not be an issue where he’s from.

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“I cannot understand why the press makes such a big deal out of two incidents. In Europe this wouldn’t happen,” said Lemercier.

Lemercier goes on to explain that theme of the window display is “black and white” with it being an artistic representation of Jay’s rise from “darkness” to “light.”

“It’s about Jay Z coming from the Marcy projects, from the darkness of Brooklyn, and into the bright city of light of Manhattan,” explains Lemercier. He also says that he was hired by Barneys, and he collaborated with Jay on the theme for the display.

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Among the numerous feature-heavy records on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV was “Interlude,” a Willy Will-produced record that included guest verses from bothTech N9ne and Andre 3000. And according to Tech N9ne, his addition to “Interlude” served as a wakeup call for those whose radar he may have fallen off of.

“I’ve been around for a long time, but it took Wayne to say ‘Come here, dog. Do this.’ I said ‘Okay, I’mma do it.’ And he believed in me,” Tech N9ne said during an interview with DBL CIN. “You know what I mean? And he called my name out and I showed up and showed out. And he put me on there with Dre, with Three Stacks. He put me on there with Three Stacks and didn’t tell me. I’m so glad I went in…That woke a lot of people up.”

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While speaking on Lil Wayne, Tech also commented on the rapper’s recording process. He initially expressed uncertainty at Lil Wayne and Jay Z’s ability to craft a record without writing down any of their lyrics, but quickly doubled back as he recalled a recording session he walked into while working with Lil Wayne in Miami, Florida.

According to the Kansas City rapper, around 3 to 4 AM he walked into the studio and witnessed Lil Wayne, Mack Maine, and others staring at the ceiling before Lil Wayne broke his gaze to ask a question about a lyric and proceeded to stare at the ceiling again.

“I don’t believe Jay or Wayne,” said the rapper. “My niggas is tight. But I believe they write it down somewhere and memorize that shit. Well, let me say about Wayne, though. I did witness some shit with Wayne. I ain’t never witnessed it with Jay Z. I witnessed Wayne when I was down there. Nigga, it was the creepiest shit I ever seen in my life. It was like some alien shit, my nigga. Okay, keep in mind I been writing for a long time…We pretty much do things the same in the studio…I walked in and them niggas was all looking up like this…I just wanted to see what they was doing and they was all looking up.”

Tech N9ne also provided his thoughts on his inclusion on Forbes’ Cash Kings list and spoke on losing just short of $200,000 while touring early in his career.

“Using your own money is a hard thing,” he said. “You know what I’m saying? And if you have the balls to keep putting it in as you lose it you might be on to something if you got something beautiful…We didn’t know that back in the day when me and Travis [O’Guin, Tech N9ne’s partner in Strange Music] first started this venture. You know what I mean? That first tour we lost over $180,000. And we kept going though.”

In addition to being featured on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV, Tech N9ne featured Weezy, Krizz Kaliko, and T-Pain on the All 6’s And 7’s record “Fuck Food.”

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Kendrick Lamar and GQ are clashing over a cover story in the magazine’s coveted “Men of the Year” issue.

Kendrick and the TDE crew took exception to language in the article that seemed to suggest that African Americans rappers were generally lazy womanizing drug abusers. Additionally, the piece talked at length about the violence in Compton, where Kendrick was reared.

Jim Nelson, GQ editor-in-chief, spoke his peace over the disagreement.

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“Kendrick Lamar is one of the most talented new musicians to arrive on the scene in years. That’s the reason we chose to celebrate him, wrote an incredibly positive article declaring him the next King of Rap, and gave him our highest honor: putting him on the cover of our Men of the Year issue. I’m not sure how you can spin that into a bad thing, and I encourage anyone interested to read the story and see for themselves. We were mystified and sorely disappointed by Top Dawg’s decision to pull him at the last minute from the performance he had promised to give. The real shame is that people were deprived of the joy of seeing Kendrick perform live. I’m still a huge fan.”

Earlier in the week, Kendrick skipped a performance at GQ’s Men of the Year party in apparent protest.

Top Dawg Entertainment’s Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith told TMZ, the images portrayed in the story were not accurate and felt biased.

“The interview portrayed him and his company in a negative light and he won’t stand for it. To say he was ‘surprised at our discipline’ is completely disrespectful … Kendrick deserved to be accurately documented. The racial overtones immediately reminded everyone of a time in hip-hop that was destroyed by violence, resulting in the loss of two of our biggest stars [Tupac and B.I.G.] … As a result of this misrepresentation, I pulled Kendrick from his performance at GQ’s annual Man Of The Year party. While we think it’s a tremendous honor to be named as one of the Men Of The Year, these lazy comparisons and offensive suggestions are something we won’t tolerate.”

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Kanye West spoke to a group of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design students yesterday (November 17). During his speech to the students, West spoke about his admiration for their work and his beliefs regarding design.

“I really do believe that the world can be saved through design and everything needs to actually be architected,” West said. “And this is the reason why even some of the first DONDA employees were architects that started designing T-shirts instead of buildings.”

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West also spoke to the students about aspiring despite detractors and having creativity actualized.

“If I sit down and talk to Oprah for two hours, the conversation is about realization, self-realization and actually seeing your creativity happen in front of you,” West said. “So the reason why I turn up so much in interviews is because I’ve tasted what it means to create and be able to impact, and affect in a positive way and I know that there’s more creativity to happen. And I know that there’s traditionalists that hold back the good thoughts and there’s people in offices that stop the creative people, and are intimidated by actual good ideas.”

During his speech to the students, West also criticized people in leadership and denied being a politician.

“I believe that utopia is actually possible, but we’re led by the least noble, the least dignified, the least tasteful, the dumbest, and the most political,” West said. “So in no way am I a politician. I’m usually at my best politically incorrect and very direct. I really appreciate you guys’ willingness to learn and hone your craft, and not be lazy about creation and I’m very inspired to be in this space.”

DONDA Creative Director Virgil Abloh hinted that this was part of a DONDA “design lecture series” in his caption for an Instagram post about the speaking engagement.

Kanye West’s fiancee Kim Kardashian also posted an Instagram update regarding the event. The post can be viewed below.

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