Author: hhns

Drake is almost officially back, even though he never really left. The Toronto rapper will be releasing a new single called “Started From The Bottom” on Grammy night, February 10.

 

Billboard reports that Drizzy’s record label reps have confirmed the new song’s impending release. No word on who handles the production on the new song.

A couple of weeks, photos from the set of the song’s Little X (Director X ) directed video appeared on line. In the pics, the “Best I Ever Had” rapper is seen wearing all white while he is out and about somewhere in Toronto.

Drake sophomore album, Take Care, was released back on November 5, 2011. Despite going over a new LP that artist had remained on the radar of his fans thanks to numerous guest appearances with artists like A$AP Rocky (“F-ckin’  Problems”), 2 Chainz (“No Lie”), Kendrick Lamar (“Poetic Justice”) and most recently Lil Wayne (“Love Me”).

Besides returning with a new album, Drake has been getting his business in order, too. In late 2012 it was reported that the YMCMB rapper had landed distribution for his own OVO (October’s Very Own) label via Warner Bros. Records.

Check out a couple of new flicks from the set of “Started From  The Bottom” that Drake shared himself on the next pages.

Rev. Jesse Jackson will examine the in’s and out’s Hip-Hop and business in panel of executives as the Civil Rights leader kicks off his Rainbow Push Wall Street Economic Summit today in New York City.

The forum will examine the impact that Hip-Hop has had in business and also how many opportunities are overlooked by young people. It takes place at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan.

A statement says, “The Hip Hop business demographic is the one of the most coveted in the business industry and crosses all races, creeds, colors, and genders and is one of the most financially equitable markets in existence today. It has become ubiquitous and covers everything from food service, to the front end of blue chip, and high tech corporations worldwide, yet still remains a valuable tool for the small business entrepreneur.”

There will also be a supplementary event where participants can network and explore other opportunities in business.

Panelists include Londell McMillan of The Source Magazine, Harvey Butler of Butler Management Group, Martha Diaz of The Hip-Hop Education Center, Deborah A. Williams of Her Game 2, Craig Wilson, Founder National Museum of Hip Hop and others. The conversation will be hosted by Jineea Butler of the Hip Hop Union.

The rest of the Rainbow Push Wall Street Economic Summit carries on through Friday February 1 and touts appearances from President Bill Clinton, Motown founder Berry Gordy, Rev. Al Sharpton, Michael A, Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia, Jamie Foxx, Roberta Flack, Dionne Warwick and other “surprise guests.”

For more information, go to wallstreetproject2013.org.

50 Cent is stepping into the cartoon realm, by way of a new series loosely based on his life story. The show will be picked up by Fox.

The network is currently in negotiations with 50, producer Randall Emmett, and Imagine TV.

Deadline.com reports:

The untitled project, loosely based on Jackson’s childhood, is expected to receive a pilot or presentation order. Written by Carl Jones, it follows a mischievous but well-meaning boy who often tangles with his eccentric family and neighborhood. Jackson, his producing partner Andrew Jameson, Jones, Emmett  and Imagine TV’s Brian Grazer and Francie Calfo executive produce.

His latest business venture is the second TV program he’s been cooking up. As Hip-Hop Wired previously reported, the 37-year-old is executive producing Power,  an hour-long drama for the STARZ network.  The series is based around a nightclub owner trying to turn his life around.

These days 50 keeps his hands in several different money-making pots, but his music appears to be the project that continues to meet delays. His long-awaited Street Kings Immortal release has been pushed back yet again and will now come out sometime this spring.

No word yet on when viewers can expect to see the animated series.

 

Timbaland is the latest artist to join Jay-Z’s Roc Nation imprint.

Jay-Z has officially announced the signing of Timbaland to his Roc Nation label.

The Brooklyn, New York rapper broke the news on hisLife+Times website, posting a picture of the two talking in the studio. “Roc Nation welcomes TIMBALAND to the family,” reads the caption.

The pair has worked together throughout their respective careers. In 1998, Timbo produced Jay’s hit “Nigga What, Nigga Who,” while he returned the favor for the following year’s “Lobster & Scrimp.” Collaborative hits also include “Big Pimpin,” “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” and “Off That” featuring Drake. Most recently, the Virginia native produced Justin Timberlake’s new single “Suit & Tie” featuring Jay-Z, and he expressed interest in recording a full-length LP with Hov.

Most recently, Roc Nation signed M.I.A., Meek Mill, Elijah Blake and Jahlil Beats to subsets of the company including the label and management.

 

(AllHipHop News) Superstar producer/rapper Kanye West and Lil Wayne are teaming up for little Wayne’s upcoming album I Am Not A Human Being II.

Kanye West’s company DONDA, produce the artwork for I Am Not A Human Being II, which will be released via Cash Money/Republic records.

DONDA also took care of the artwork for the previous released single, “Love Me” featuring Drake and Future.

Kanye’s design company is named after his late mother, Dr. Donda West, who died of a heart attack after receiving liposuction and mammoplasty in November of 2007.

Lil Wayne’s album I Am Not A Human Being II will be released on March 26, 2013.

Unless you make avoiding Hip-Hop media a habit, you know that Rick Ross was the victim of an attempted drive-by shooting. Police have no real viable suspects at the moment. However, we have five names that should be high on any list of potential “persons of interest.”

Being the Bawse naturally brings you a lot of enemies. Taking a good look at lyrics, lawsuits and even labelmates, and you’ll find that the list of people with something to gain by offing the “I’m Not A Star” rapper has some major names on there. All these people were capable of calling the right people to see an assassination through. Okay, maybe that’s a reach but bear with us.

Check out are these five suspects in the video below.

 

Rick Ross was the focus of a drive-by shooting  attempt on his birthday, and now his namesake has something to say. Freeway Ricky Ross, spoke exclusively to HipHopDX.com, telling the site that the hit out on the MMG frontman’s life wasn’t a shock.

“I’m not surprised that it happened given the recent ongoing,” he said, referencing friction between the “Diced Pineapples” rhymer and the Gangster Disciples.  Last month the Miami rapper nixed a North Carolina show after footage of the gang warning him not to set foot in Charlotte hit the ‘Net. Ross denies that he pulled out of the show due to safety concerns.

“When someone doesn’t understand the street rules they get confused and incidents like this can take place,” Ross added. “I’m still dealing with ongoing litigation about something as basic as using my name and identity, that should have been dealt with properly a long time ago. No ill will wished upon anyone, but when you tell these stories about the streets you have to be careful.”

Rick Ross has been dealing with people questioning his credibility for a few years now. In 2008 he was exposed as being a former corrections officer, leaving critics to believe that his rap tales of drugs deals and illegal activity were all a farce. He’s been accused of creating a rap moniker, and sticking to said “character” from the start. However, in an interview with Rolling Stone, he noted that a close friend being sentenced to prison time is what drove him to stay on the straight and narrow. The friend told him to “go be a fireman. Or go be a f-cking corrections officer.”

Which is exactly what he did.

 

Tony Yayo says money is the root of G-Unit’s problems.

Though 50 Cent has cited Tony Yayo and Lloyd Banks’ work ethics (or lack thereof) as the primary issue behind G-Unit’s demise, Yayo has a theory of his own.

“You know what’s crazy? It’s like when we didn’t have any money, things were better,” explained the man who 50 Cent once said was taken care of in his will in an interview with MTV News. “When everybody got money, it’s like things just went downhill, so it’s like, I dunno, egos,” he surmised.

Though Fif recently shot down the idea of a reunion, Yayo viewed it more positively. “I would love to see a G-Unit reunion. I would love to see me, Banks and 50 definitely onstage.”

Yayo remained adamant that not having wealth was extremely pertinent to G-Unit’s early unity. “When we were broke, and we didn’t have a pot to piss in, we were all callin’ each other’s phones and that’s the thing that just upsets me the most, and it makes me just want to say, ‘Fuck Rap.'” he said.

“Loyalty is my biggest thing. 50 helped all of us eat. We all had mansions; we all had Bentleys; so if Fif is in a bad mood or feels a certain way that day, you just eat that. You learn to judge your friends for who they are.”

G-Unit’s last album was 2008’s T.O.S.: Terminate on Sight. Over the years, 50 Cent has explained in many interviews that the lines of communication between him and his G-Unit compatriots have been severed.

Watch the interview below:

“Winning Ain’t Easy” is a collaboration between the Living Legend, Junior Reid and the Eastern European rapper  Drei Ros. From the heavy and back-beated rhythm from Jamaica, the old school American hip-hop and the electronic dance music from Europe the song has the power to lead you on a musical Journey. Produced in “The Lions Beat” studios by Mister Z , “Winning Ain’t Easy” is more than just a song, it is a statement, a bold move of combining 3 very different music genres that go so perfectly together.

50 Cent takes to Twitter to claim that Rick Ross wasn’t actually the target of a drive-by shooting attempt.

Earlier this morning, Rick Ross crashed his Rolls Royce in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after someone fired shots at his vehicle, prompting him to drive his car into a building.

His longtime foe 50 Cent took to Twitter shortly after news broke, posting a picture of the vehicle being towed and noting that it did not have bullet holes.

“Hahaha fat boy hit the building?lol it looks staged to me. No hole’s in da car,” wrote Fif.

Though the longtime beef between Ross and 50 has simmered over the past year, tensions mounted at the BET Hip-Hop Awards last September after members of the G-Unit clique got into a brawl with Maybach Music Group’s Gunplay. Ironically, the ceremony was the same location where 50 publiclymended fences with Fat Joe.

 

Exclusive: Rare Tupac footage from 1992 has been found and it will air on iFame TV today, January 28, 2013.

Rare Tupac footage from 1992 will air on iFame TV today. The footage comes from a television program, “Dance Party USA.” This footage is rare because the episode only aired once, on January 12, 1992 and it has been archived since. HipHopDX was given the premiere of the trailer from iFame TV today (January 28).

The full 30-minute program features an interview with Tupac about his work in Juice, a film that was released days after the episode first aired. Tupac also performed on the episode and was a part of the rest of the show.

Today, iFame TV will air the program and it will be seen through iFame TV, iFameTV.com, ROKU and the cellphone app Yamgo. iFame promises that it is, “Tupac like you’ve never seen him before.”

Other episodes of “Dance Party USA” will also be re-aired soon. iFame TV has episodes that featureBig Daddy Kane, Gang Starr and Heavy D, among others. iFame will also be airing episodes of another television program, “Dancin’ On Air.” Outside of this, iFame features Independent music videos, films and concerts.

Last year, Tupac made news headlines when a hologram of his likeness appeared at Coachella to perform along with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.

 

Lights Over Paris is an LA band, known for their song “Turn Off The Lights.” Two brothers who worked with the band’s frontman, Robert Mawhinney, have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit loan fraud with the vocalist.

LOS ANGELES — Robert Mawhinney gave the appearance that his fledgling band, Lights Over Paris, was successful. He enlisted rapper The Game for one of his videos, traveled around the world and had a customized tour bus emblazoned with the group’s name on its side.

But federal prosecutors said Mawhinney’s fortunes were built on fraud because he bilked more than $6 million dollars in loans from banks by providing them fake documents that claimed he was a millionaire.

Authorities said Friday the 30-year-old singer was charged with making a false statement in a loan application and faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted. He’s scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 11.

Over a nearly two-year period, beginning in August 2009, Mawhinney sought and obtained four loans from Comerica Bank totaling about $6.2 million, according to court documents. He provided statements that claimed he had nearly $8 million in assets, but it turned out his account had only about $10,000, authorities said.

Loan officers even visited a recording studio in Burbank to determine if Mawhinney was credit-worthy. There, the singer said he was a successful ghostwriter for various artists and sought the loans to finish a recording room in the studio, among other expenses, court documents show.

During that time, the band released an EP “Turn Off the Lights,” which appeared on Billboard’s Heatseeker Albums chart. The band also produced a video entitled “I’m Not A Gangsta,” in which Mawhinney is riding shotgun in a Rolls Royce driven by The Game.

Prosecutors said Mawhinney attempted to pay off of some of his loans with proceeds he received from earlier payouts, but eventually defaulted.

Mawhinney, who used the stage name Robb University, apparently lived the rock star lifestyle. He lived in a 35-story luxury high-rise located in downtown Los Angeles, took trips to the Caribbean, Europe and South America, and purchased a luxury tour bus that cost more than $750,000.

The front of the bus, once featured in Limo Digest, resembles the nose of an airplane and the vehicle is equipped with exterior awnings that, when expanded, look like wings.

Mawhinney was arrested at Miami International Airport earlier this month after returning from a trip to Buenos Aires.

He is being held without bond after a U.S. magistrate judge determined he posed a flight risk. Prosecutors said Mawhinney had sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to Cyprus, but didn’t elaborate.

Mawhinney’s attorney, Jerry Kaplan, declined comment.

Prosecutors said that two brothers who ran a recording facility and worked with Mawhinney have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit loan fraud.

Matt Salazar, 29, and his brother, Jason Salazar, 28, acknowledged they provided false documents to three banks to obtain about $1.7 million in loans for their music business, according to court documents.

Mawhinney used the Salazars’ studio to bolster his own fraudulent loan applications, prosecutors said.

The Salazars face a maximum of five years in prison.

 

Timbaland is still crying over that $1.8 MILLION watch that went missing two years ago (wouldn’t you be?) — and now he’s filed a lawsuit against his insurance company … claiming it REFUSES to cough up the cash to cover his claim.

According to a lawsuit filed against American Home Assurance Company last month, the music mogul claims he paid over $50,000 to take out a policy with AHA back in May 2010. Timbaland says the  policy covered a slew of expensive items, including his Jacob & Co. 18K white gold watch, loaded with over 30 CARATS of diamonds!!!

In the suit, Timbaland claims he lost the watch in August 2010 and filed a claim with AHA — and even testified under oath that it was missing — but the company DENIED his request and hasn’t paid a dime.

But there’s a twist … this is the SAME watch Timbaland reported stolen two years ago — which is when his family called the cops … claiming he was so distraught by the loss they feared he might commit suicide. Timbaland was adamant he never planned to kill himself.

At the time, he told the L.A. County Sheriff’s department he felt “someone he knows” stole the bling and they opened an investigation.

In the suit, the rapper says he believes (and testified under oath) it was his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter who “picked [the watch] up and played with it until she became bored and discarded it somewhere.”

He adds, “It has never been found.”

Timbaland is suing for $1.8 million — the value of the watch — plus interest and attorneys’ fees.

Nicki Minaj remembers some overseas trouble.

Nicki Minaj is certainly well-traveled, but even the Harajuku Barbie occasionally gets into hot water overseas.

“I went to Dubai. I almost got in so much trouble because the guys in Dubai are so cute. It’s not even funny,” said Nicki of one of her recent trips in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live. One of the rules [is] you can’t hug a man if you’re not married to the man. And so when we were leaving, there was this one guy that was so freaking cute, I was like, ‘Bye!’ because I just wanted to have this one last moment to…savor the moment with him…”

Nicki revealed that the man she was describing was actually a police officer. “Literally, I didn’t know he was a cop. They don’t have a police [uniform]. It was like a private airport. They were just dressed in their regular garments. I went to give him a hug, and it was literally, I almost felt like time stopped in Dubai. I felt like everything froze. Every single person turned around in slow motion like, ‘Nooo!'”

The moment, as Nicki described it, had her entourage nervous. “Everyone in my team thought I was going to be put in jail. It was the scariest thing. He kinda put his arms up a little bit and cracked a nervous smile, and I was just like, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’ and I just left.”

 

After an MMG chain appeared in 50 Cent’s “Major Distribution” video it was believed the chain belonged to Gunplay, but 50 says it is not a real one.

During last year’s BET Awards a slew of fights broke out, and one of them was between MMG rapper Gunplay and members of 50 Cent’s entourage.  It was reported that during the altercation that Gunplay’s MMG chain was snatched.  Now in a 50’s latest video, “Major Distribution”, an MMG chain makes an appearance and many believe that it is the Florida rapper’s.  In a recent interview with MTV, Fif addresses whose chain it is.

In the video, which features Young Jeezy and Snoop, the chain is draped around a young kid, and this appeared to be a jab at Ricky Rozay’s squad, especially since his long-time rival, the Snowman, makes an appearance.  But the G-Unit General maintains that the chain is just a replica that he had made specifically for the video.

Talking to MTV, Fifty says, “It came from a jeweler. Jewelers, they made it. Yeah, we got it and ended up putting it in the video. That’s what rappers do: Rappers put jewelry in videos.  He then comparedit to A$AP Rockypaying homage to Death Row, “I thought it would be unexpected, like when you see A$AP [Rocky] with a Death Row hat on. It’s cool, it’s interesting. You look and say, ‘Wait, something is out of place’…[but the] rumors today, you can’t believe everything you hear on the Internet. It’s crazy.”

Usually 50 Cent is one who embraces beef, so it would seem he is telling the truth, but this does seem odd, especially considering the video that surfaced earlier with 50 sporting what was believed to be Gunplay’s chain, bowling in a video.