The nation is still in shock after the senseless acts and murders at Sandy Hook elementary school, which in all, took 28 lives—20 of them children (12 girls and 8 boys)—all ranging from 6 to 7 years of age (and reportedly shot numerous of times at that.) While we all can’t seem to wrap our heads around why the victim would do such a cruel thing to innocent children such as these, we as a whole must come together in this trying time to console the parents and families who lost their kids in this slaying and, more importantly, help them sort of move on and come to terms with their lost. Band OneRepublic is putting their foots down and are making efforts to assist the Newtown community, and those close to the aftermath, by raising money with a special fund set up to take care of funeral expenses, or whatever the family financially needs to get by throughout all this. To contribute to their cause (which is a goal of $50k), you can visit here. We’re gonna need a rapper to this asap, though.
It appears everyone these days are snagging a deal to release their very own headphones. In attempts to capitalize on the what’s hot now trend, MMG rapper Wale has teamed up with the brand Skullcandy for his latest venture, who will also be spearheading the promotion for his forthcoming Christmas Eve release, Folarin, named after his official last name. To celebrate his welcoming to the Skullcandy family, the headphone line also released a new track entitled “Back 2 Ballin’,” which includes a guest spot from his good ole compadre, French Montana. Stream the cut down below and view the statement via Skullcandy as well:
Grammy-nominated rhyme maker Wale is the newest member of the Skullcandy family. Wale’s bringing a new style to the rap genre’s constant evolution of sound. His style blends hip-hop, house, funk and go-go which makes for a refreshing sound that’s sure to embed itself into the music world. Skullcandy is excited to welcome such a diverse talent to our crew and to ensure that fans receive the Skullcandy VIP treatment, Wale is pre-releasing the first track from his mixtape “Folarin”—slated to drop in its entirety this afternoon—for exclusive pre-download on our site on the morning of December 24th as part of the “12 Days of Wale.”
In a free world where no sexual preference is barred, there are millions of Americans who face the daily pressures of coming out to their loved ones or friends –particularly in the event of revealing they’re in fact gay. Coming out of the closet isn’t simply an easy task, as teens and adults alike have all endured harsh discrimination due to their “big” announcement(s). And in hindsight, decisions of this magnitude—to some extent are often attached with some form of negative uproar – and, of course, this plays a monumental role on whether he or she is comfortable enough to drop this bomb to family. But that’s neither here or there.
A day following CNN anchor/TV talk show host Anderson Cooper’s coming out party, in which he openly revealed he was gay to NY Daily News’ Daily Beast section (after much speculation), another well known celeb has stepped to the forefront to clarify his sexuality, and it’s singer Frank Ocean. For the past couple of days, rumors had circulated around the web claiming the lone Odd Future crooner was a bisexual, and would let it be known through some lyrics on his upcoming debut album Channel Orange. But with no further proof to back that claim/rumors, Mr. Ocean took to his tumblr to touch on the situation in a candidly written open letter (dated back to December 27, 2011 via New Orleans) – which indirectly clarifies his [bi] sexuality (without stating the obvious), as there is talk of women in his life — and also mentions an anonymous fellow he fell for at the age of 19. Via Mr. Frank.
First off, this isn’t entirely the sorta news headline that would, umm, save a world/life or anything like that on a Sunday afternoon. Why would it anyways? Deleting a Twitter account, well anyone can do that, but oh — since it’s ol’ girl Nicki doing a “George Bush The Button” maneuver on the tweet decks — all hell breaks loose. And rightfully so, considering all the wide eyed Barbies who pass out in the awe of Onika’s presence, and the same ones who cried and begged for the YMCMB femcee not to pull an m.i.a. stunt from the Social Media network. You maybe thinking what prompted this to happen? Well, it’s quite simple. Album snippets. According to Dajaz1, Nicki’s fan-site NickiDaily obtained an album sampler from iTunes a week prior to the release of her recycle bin LP Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (April 3rd), in which every site to man posted afterwards. In this case, Nicki pointed fingers so to speak, and banned the fan-site altogether, and in due time sweared up and down that she’ll be deleting her Twitter account because of it. Following the many tweets from fans all over the world asking her to keep Tweeting-tweeting, she kept her word and exited stage left from Twitter earlier today. Lackluster album sales maybe the real reason she went ahead with this foolery, and with no answer to why it didn’t surpass the success of her debut project, someone had to take the fall for this. And sadly it was a damn fan-site, who’ll probably seek revenge by constructing a new-and-improved voodoo doll with the Marge Simpson hair to boot and happily pick at her plastic arms and everything else that’s Mattel made with a Kool-Aid smile saying, “she’s a stupid hoe, she’s a stupid hoe.” Just great!
“Iggy…do it Biggy.” Yeah, she is doing it “BIG” momentarily, and with every success story that comes any artists’ way, new or old, there’s a ton of back-lashers on the other side to bring ‘em back down to earth. Iggy Azalea, the Aussie rapping sensation, who recently inked a deal with Interscope (in conjunction with T.I.’s Grand Hustle imprint) has already had a few femcees come at her neck in her short career. But considering she did sorta explode on the scene out of nowhere, then took a spot on XXL Freshmen’s list, this comes as no surprise that [competitors] are damn well ready for war. In a recent interview with Women for Hip Hop, veteran femcee Eve, who is attempting a comeback onto the rap scene, spoke highly about another newcomer, Harlem rep Azealia Banks, but admitted she wasn’t much of a fan of Iggy and her spit-hard-braggadicious gimmick, but only complimented the Australian native on her looks (view below). Of course, when a chick such as Iggy comes on the scene, Caucasian and all, some avid Hip Hop fans refuse to give in to the whole white gal is tough facade, so to each it’s own in opinions, but isn’t that necessarily the point of putting a girl like Iggy out there now? To sell records and bank of it to the suburban crowd…right off the back. Smart move by Clifford, and not for nothing, but Iggy can still kick a lick or two from what we’ve been hearing thus far. Eh. Check both comments from the gals below.
Says Eve:
“I’m not really into the Iggy Azalea chick. I can’t really fuck with her music, but her look is crazy. I just can’t believe it.”
Later during the XXL Freshmen show, Iggy responded by saying:
“I like Eve. Everybody is different, everybody hasn’t lived out of the box and for you to even know if it’s real, you have to kind of be an out-the-box person or somebody who likes something they’re not suppose to [like]. A girl like her that raps is expected, so, how could you understand something so different?
“I’m not mad at [Eve] for not understanding it. How could you if you’ve never been ostracized or loved something you weren’t suppose to love? Everything you’ve loved you’re allowed to love, so, how could you understand me? Thus, how could you know if it’s real? I used to be like, ‘It is real, let me prove it to you. Now, I don’t care if you think it’s real or not because it’s what I love, it’s my life. I don’t put my story all out there for you because I don’t need to put my story out there and prove it. I don’t give a fuck if you think I am or not ’cause that girl in the crowd understand it and that’s who it’s for, if you don’t then it’s not for you.”
“Females are competitive like that and that’s how it is. I’m sure if I was the best sprinter in the world, all the other sprinters would hate me and I would hate them, too. It’s the same thing— it’s competition, it’s women. I don’t take offense to it. I don’t wake up thinking about another woman. I think about what I am going to do to make sure my career has longevity because that’s my only job. I just think about that, not who can be doing my job better than me —no one can, because I’m the only one that can be me and they’re the only ones who can be them.”
His fans have been practically begging to him to do it, so it’s quite fitting that he returns the good lovin’ gesture by giving ‘em what they want. The illusive Canadian crooner The Weeknd will embark on 14 city tour across the United States where he’ll start with a few appearances/gigs at the 2012 Coachella Arts & Music Festival on April 15th, all the way to hot spots such as Miami, Los Angeles, New York and even Chicago. Hit the jump for a extensive look at the dates to see where you can catch him, which will conclude in early August.
It appears Kanye West is keeping his foot on the neck of all his competitors. Aside from the ruckus that the single “Mercy” may have caused in the past couple of days, ya’ll loyal G.O.O.D. Music fanatics may have something else to be quite excited about. Earlier today, various reports, such as Los Angeles Times (as seen below) have indicated that Q-Tip, the front-man of the legendary crew A Tribe Called Quest has struck a new deal to be apart of the Louis Vutton Don’s music imprint. His pending and long awaited LP, The Last Zulu, will be released under the label. Here’s the news as courtesy of LAT:
Best known as the frontman of iconic rap group A Tribe Called Quest, the Grammy Award-winner is currently working on his fourth solo album, “The Last Zulu,” which will be released through West’s imprint and Def Jam Recordings, according to Universal Republic chairman and Chief Executive Barry Weiss, who handled the hip-hop group’s catalog on Jive Records during the 1990s.
“I am thrilled to be working with Q-Tip once again,” Weiss said in a statement. “He is a respected voice in the music community as shown by his acclaimed solo albums and countless contributions to the work of other artists. His creativity continues to surpass all boundaries of hip-hop, R&B, pop, and jazz. We welcome Q-Tip to the G.O.O.D. Music / Island Def Jam family.”
Riding high off the success of his critically appraised Taylor Allderdice mixtape, Taylor Gang boss-man Wiz Khalifa returned home to speak with Pittsburgh’s 96.1 KISS radio station, where he announced that his upcoming sophomore album, O.N.I.F.C. (acronym for Only Niggas in First Class) will drop on August 28th. The rapper also revealed the forthcoming set will led by the single “Work Hard,” an upcoming cut produced by Stargate (who also did his chart-topper single “Roll Up”) and Benny Blanco, which will supposedly hit the interwebs on April 23rd. Spotted at Rap-Up.
