Billboard Update
Rick Ross makes his third #1 debut on the Billboard 200 with Deeper Than Rap, moving 158,000 units in its first week. His most recent offering, 2008's Trilla, hit #1 with 198,000 sold while 2006's Port of Miami also did the same, but with 187,000.
Ross bumps the Hannah Montana: the Movie soundtrack down a notch to #2 with 104,000 (down 22%). Depeche Mode notches its highest charting album since 1993 as Sounds of the Universe lands at #3 with 80,000 units shifted, while rapper Asher Roth's Asleep in the Bread Aisle debut enters the list at #5 with 65,000, despite a significant undershipment of his album.
Hot 100 Update
The Black Eyed Peas hold onto their to spot on the Hot 100 with "Boom Boom Pow," followed by Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" holding steady at #2. Kid Cudi's "Day ‘N' Nite," meanwhile, hops up three spots to #3, and Jamie Foxx featuring T-Pain's "Blame It" climbs to No. 4. Flo Rida's #5 track "Right Round" is now joined by "Sugar" featuring Wynter at #7. The track is the rapper's fourth top 10.
Raekwon, member of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan, recently talked about his motivation behind teaming up with his new label (EMI), and his ability to weigh in with the younger guns in the game. "I think EMI just recognized that I'm a veteran in the game and they recognize the value in that - and at the same time, they believe in me," Rae said in an interview. "They believe Rae still got the potential to stand next to these new artists and really do his thing. They recognize that I'm a legend and that I did a lot of sh*t for hip-hop. So at the end of the day they came to the table with a sweet deal that I couldn't deny as well as being real excited about working with me. They was listening to me and hearing me out and respecting that I'm really trying to own my masters right now...They felt like I deserved it though and they made a brother smile."
Raekwon also discussed his possible deal with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Records and how Busta Rhymes' departure from the label inspired him to steer clear. "Busta left after our situation was already not gonna happen," Rae said in an interview. "Busta might have felt like he was' getting the proper energy he needed to get, so really one ain't have nothing to do with two, but you never know at the end of the day, you know what I mean? I don't know, I can't call that."
Kanye West recently signed a new artist, Mr. Hudson, and dropped by the studio a few months ago to give the British vocalist a "gift" that the superstar had made for him. Turns out it was a new track that he thought had huge potential called "Supernova."
"'Supernova,' it's a co-write," Hudson explained. "I think our head space, we kinda overlapped with similar emotions about things when we were hanging out last summer. I think we both could relate to the lyrics, so we built it together. Kanye brought in the chorus. We brought the verses up together."
Kanye & Hudson currently shot the video for the song which is the first single from his U.S. debut. "What's cool is, Kanye met my music before he met me," Hudson said of their relationship."
"I shouldn't have said all that to try and put all that pressure on you," Kanye continued, discussing Hudson. "That's one of the problems. On one hand, when you sign with an established person, you get all the limelight, the shine. On the other hand, you've got all the pressure. Then you deal with some of the baggage. You buy into some of the fans and you buy into some of the enemies. I think he'll be able to surpass all of that with his talent."
Rick Ross' new song "Valley Of Death" was initially for Jay-Z and Mary J Blige, but DJ Toomp says that Rick Ross landed dibs on the track by hearing it first. "I heard the whole idea and originally I was gonna give that to Jay-Z, believe it or not," he explained. "We went to Ross' crib in Atlanta. I played that beat and he lost his mind. I played a few beats, but that particular one, he was like, 'That's it, man.' We was just kicking it...I didn't know what happed to Mary. In some way I wanted to work with Mary, that would have been great, man, to know I got Mary J. on one of my tracks."
Trick Daddy was also interested in the track, but Rick Ross ended up mentioning Trick, in a negative way. "Caught a little case, buddy had a little cheddar," Ross raps on "Valley of Death." "Pled out to 15, poured his life in a letter/ Very first line he called Trick Daddy stupid/ Said he had AIDS telling people that it's lupus/ Not the one just to jump to conclusions/ I'm getting money, small talk can be a nuisance."
Listen here.
Lawsuits are flying like bullets these days. Lil Wayne is suing the producer of a song he performed that allegedly sampled another singer's work without permission.
Lil Wayne was accused of copyright infringement in a lawsuit, saying he failed to secure the rights to sample folk singer Karma-Ann Swanepoel's song "Once" on his track "I Feel Like Dying."
A lawsuit filed last week by Wayne's lawyers says Rebel Rock Productions Inc., of Coconut Creek, Fla., produced "I Feel Like Dying" and was responsible for obtaining any necessary licensing agreements.
Last month, a federal judge ordered rapper Lil Wayne to turn over financial records for his Grammy-winning album, Tha Carter III, to Urband & Lazar Music Publishing, which published "Once."
The thing is, "I Feel Like Dying" isn't even on "Tha Carter III," but a lawyer for Urband & Lazar argues that Lil Wayne promoted the album by singing that song in concert and allowing fans to download it for free on his Web site.
De La Soul are releasing their first new music in five years! On April 28 as part of the NIKE+ campaign, the 45 minute long track will be released in partnership with Apple. It was written specifically for runners.
"We'd worked with Nike before, designing kicks and playing some of their marathons," says Kelvin Mercer, aka Posdnuos. "We were excited when they approached us because we're the first actual band to do one of these tracks."
Previous NIKE+ tracks have been recorded by LCD Soundsystem, A-Trak, and Aesop Rock.
"The set we did is an actual album, with eight or nine songs, not one long DJ set," says Mercer. "We recorded the songs and took them to Nike for feedback, and then brought in Flostradamous to mix it all together."
Mercer says working on the tracks and wanting to get the pacing right inspired him to work out more. "I've dabbled in running before, but I got back in to it and would run to test it out," he says. "Nike also has a team of runners on staff who listen to it and give us their opinion."
De La Soul are also celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their debut, 3 Feet High and Rising, and are planning tours of Australia, Europe, and the UK. They're also in the process of working on another album!
Ja Rule exists! And he's just as useless, annoying and fake as ever! That didn't stop the industry MC from weighing in on the Rick Ross and 50 Cent beef, however, unsurprisingly taking Ross' side.
"Yeah, it's fucking hilarious," he said about the 50 Cent and Rick Ross beef. "I'm sittin' back getting a good laugh and shit. But yo, check me on that 'Mafia Music' remix. Holla back. Ross, you know how we do, nigga."
In the interview with WorldStarHipHop.com, Ja also spoke on his beef with DMX.
"I think it started through jealous and a misunderstanding of what we were. X was cool. We used to run around and do everything together, battle niggas...He's locked up right now, I haven't spoken to him recently, but you know, I ain't got no beef with X," he said, contradicting interviews where DMX claimed he could have had Ja killed while waiting for him outside of an airport.
"Me and X was real niggas. I don't think it's beef because X is not like that." Right! X is actually a really stand-up dude. I keep telling everybody that, especially those pesky cops who always seem to find something wrong with his actions. Can't a man freebase, steal cars, impersonate police officers and have dogfights in peace? Jesus!
Tom Morello’s newest side project, Street Sweeper Social Club, featuring rapper Boots Riley of the Coup, are set to open on the highly anticipated Jane’s Addiction/Nine Inch Nails tour. They've also announced the details of their self-titled debut album, an 11-song LP that is set to be released on WMG's Independent Music Group on June 16. The album’s first official single, “100 Little Curses,” is streaming now on Street Sweeper Social Club’s MySpace page.
“It’s revolutionary party jams,” Morello said in a press release posted on the band’s MySpace. “It’s got huge steamroller riffs combined with depth, charge, funk, while Boots unloads clip after clip of incendiary rhymes rich with satire and venom.” Morello has remained active since the break-up of Audioslave, first reuniting with Rage Against the Machine, then branching out with his solo the Nightwatchman and finally launching the Axis of Justice tour. With Street Sweeper Social Club, Morello has linked up with the similarly politically minded Riley of the poli-hip-hop duo the Coup. “This is a time when the working class is being fleeced left and right. More families will be homeless and more people will be jobless. They’ll need something to listen to on their iPods while storming Wall Street,” added Riley.
In addition to the first single currently streaming on MySpace, a pair of Street Sweeper tracks also appeared on the Jane’s Addiction/Nine Inch Nails EP that was available as a free download last month. Head over to nin.com for more info/downloads.
John Legend is planning a major U.S. tour for this summer in support of his latest album, Evolver. He's expected to hit over 50 cities, beginning June 27th in Muskegon, MI, and finishing off in Berkely, Calif., on Labor Day. India.arie is scheduled to open select shows, and that should be a ticket-seller alone.
Legend will team up with non-profit environmental organization REVERB to go "green" on the tour. They'll coordinate with venues and local caterers to facilitate the use of green products and practices, along with neutralizing CO2 emissions from venue energy use, hotels, flights and touring vehicles. The tour's "carbon footprint" was calculated by REVERB and neutralized by financially supporting the construction of new renewable energy projects like wind farms. Eco-friendly merchandise will be available for fans and a John Legend on-line ride-sharing service will encourage and assist carpooling to shows.
Legend was recently named #1 on the Billboard Green 10, and last June he received the CARE Humanitarian Award for Global Change in Washington, D.C.
Want a free, new Del The Funky Homosapien album? While the rest of us rage against the recession and argue over the value of file sharing, legendary Oakland MC and core Hieroglyphics member Del The Funky Homosapien has been prepping his answer to all our problems- it’s called Funk Man (The Stimulus Package), and he’s giving it away. For free.
Don’t call it a mixtape- Funk Man is a polished, 13-track burst of genuine Del goodness that features an evolved style and production method.
For “audiophiles and nerds,” the album’s offered in 8 different download format options, including FLAC and Apple Lossless. That’s right- no half-steppin’ here. The same can be applied to the tracks, which after first listen strike me as a beat-heavy logical next step for the notoriously creative MC.
It takes time to peel apart a Del CD. I’ll give it a couple days to sink in before a proper breakdown, but so far my ears are happy.
Download Funk Man: The Stimulus Package here
MTV reports that Anthony "Geezy" Gonzalez, former manager for Clipse, has been charged with running a $10 million drug ring. He faces an 82-count indictment for drug trafficking in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Someone involved with Clipse may have sold drugs?! Can I get a collective "DUH"?
Shepard Fairey, in collaboration with One Day As A Lion’s Zack de la Rocha and Producciones Cimarron, created these limited edition posters to draw attention to the pressing need for immigration reform in the United States.
"The United States was created by immigrants," Fairey writes,"and now our country needs immigration reform. All the proceeds from these posters go to creating materials for the May Day marches and donations for immigration reform organizations. Thanks for supporting human rights!”
Zack adds: “There is nothing criminal about a families search for dignified work and housing. There is nothing illegal about the need to alleviate hunger and find peace and security for people in their communities, or find adequate health care. In my mind these are rights that are universal, transnational, and non negotiable. Displaced by corporate globalization and war, the more than 12 million undocumented workers within the U.S. in search of those rights are not only denied the fruits of their labor, but are beaten away from the tree of enormous wealth and services that their sweat has watered for generations.”
Learn more here
Hey Maxwell, shut up. You've got a smash catalogue of albums, millions of women would kill their husbands/boyfriends for one night with you, you've got the body of a goddamned chiseled god, but you're insecure?
He needed his tour last year to give him the confidence he needed to get back in the game, he said. "Just the encouragement, you can't imagine," Maxwell said at a reception Tuesday. "I'm an insecure person at best. ... I feel like going on the road, I got so much inspiration."
Maxwell used some of that inspiration to create his latest album, BLACKsummers'night, due to be released July 7 and marks Maxwell's first album in almost 8 years. And yeah, I didn't just put the word BLACK in all caps for racially sensitive fun. That's how it's displayed on the album.
"To have the gift of having people just need me to be onstage ... that was enough for me to make the best album I could make," he added.
The album's first single, "Pretty Wings," has been released to radio stations already.
When asked what kind of reception he expected for the album, he said: "I try not to live by expectations. If you just do it with love, the rest will be taken care of."
Black Lips and GZA performed together at SXSW this year, and by most accounts it was a sonic nightmare mess, and everybody was happy once it ended. But somehow, the ATL punks and the Wu-Tang MC decided it would be a good idea to record their collaboration
GZA drops a verse on a remix of Black Lips' 200 Million Thousand track "Drop I Hold", which you can hear over in Forkcast now. The remix appears on the Drop I Hold EP, which will be released on iTunes on May 5. The EP also includes the album version of the track, as well as the instrumental and the video.
Rapper/producer Swizz Beatz has been recruited by Hennessy V.S. to help launch a new line of cognac called Hennessy Black.
The rapper will perform an original song, "When I Step Into the Club," alongside the JabbaWockeez of "America's Best Dance Crew" during a launch event in New York on May 5. An accompanying video by director Hype Williams will be revealed as well.
"Beatz is a long-time fan of the brand and approached us looking for ways we could work together. Since this product is all about having fun in the club, he suggested collaborating on a track that would be a hot dance song in the clubs," Andy Glaser, senior VP of Hennessy Business, told Billboard.
Hennessy plans to launch a dance contest titled "Up/Down" on their YouYube channel, where fans will be able to create and post their own "Up/Down" dance for a chance to be flown to LA, where Williams will film and cut them into a new version of the video to "When I Step In the Club."
Hennessy Black is the company's first major launch since 1961, and will be available in 10 markets throughout the U.S. The company's hoping that the new drink - which has a blend of Jasmine, daffodils and orange flowers mixed with citrus, honey and grapes - will lift the Hennessy brand out of the cognac category to the premium mixed spirits.
In a baffling display of economic denial, Glaser added, "Today is an ideal time to launch a new product - consumers are increasingly seeking new and different ideas that can excite them."
