Trae ft. Styles P - Smile (Taken from Tha Truth Show mixtape) Trae quietly dropped Restless last year. The album was enjoyable, engaging, and exhilarating at the same time. Numerous ingratiating elements made it a funfare of interest to general audiences as well as southern rap aficionados. Simply put, it was the best southern rap album of 2006.
This collabo with SP reminds me of the songs that made Restless tick.
Rappers, you now need more than slick punchlines to win battles in this era of nerdy stanisms and innanet amelioration. Sleep on the digital revolution at your own risk. While you’re at it, keep in mind that images of The Game as a stripper, Diddy giving it to a man, The Game as a wig-rockin’ homo thug, disgruntled ex-Roc-a-Fella employees as the Benchwarmers (below), among other landmark photo[shop] moments will grace hip-hop history books for a long time.
F*ck what you heard, says Mr. West. Well, not exactly in those terms. But Kanye has debunked earlier reports that he had signed on for a reality show. In an email fired off to The Rap Up office this afternoon, West confirmed (through a Def Jam rep) that he’s in the incipient stages of production on a TV series currently being developed with Larry Charles and Rick Rubin.
“For the last couple of years, Larry, Rick and I have been developing this pilot. It’s a situational half-hour comedy. It’s fictional, and loosely based on my life. Maybe this will give me the opportunity to spazz out at the Emmys one day.”
If the chip on Ye’s shoulder was any bigger he’d be a lumberjack
-Two-6-Mafia explain Crunchy Black’s absence, and insist nothing’s changed since their surprise Oscar win.
-I was going to comment on MTV’s “I’m From Rolling Stone” but O-dub already echoed my thoughts. Take it from the guru himself; he’s been around long enough to discern a good music journalism-hinged media pitch from a horrific one.
-It’s uplifting to see Houston’s #1 Grill duo Johnny Dang and Paul Wall getting involved with this whole anti-conflict diamond media frenzy. Funny thing is, when I interviewed Mr. Dang for ENVY magazine last year, he had no inkling of a clue as to what “blood diamond” entailed. I chalked it up to ignorance back then. His partner Paul Wall also disclosed that he had never heard of Sierra Leone prior to that Kanye West song. Nothing wrong with trying to find out though.
What’s with the bad teeth? (Hey, this looks familiar.)
On a related note, The Source is in need of interns for their editorial, online, advertising, fashion, marketing, and admin departments. That’s if you’re not too skeptical about the idea of sending your resume to bum915@tmail.com. I don’t know that there’s any tangible compensation for weed carrier position at urban publications, but you should look on the bright side. Go in there with hopes that the new Source board hasn’t wiped out that free flowing supply of weed and porn we all heard about.
-Breaking News: Marketers no longer rely on hip-hop to attract Black consumers.
-Eskay, who’s rumored to be the new XXLMag.com Editor, sits down with Cormega to discuss his post-Firm ups and downs.
-A couple of nignorant fellas have chosen to honor James Brown by shooting each other. Can’t we all just get along?
-T.R.U. reader Raj was kind enough to send me this high quality version of that Make It Rain (Remix) I posted a couple days ago. The package contains a radio cut and a dirty version.
-From the world renown duo Rafi Kam and Dallas Penn comes this hilariously irresistible short film BODEGA. Why am I suddenly hugry for pork rinds?
20 minutes of solid performances, audience interaction, etc by Common (”Be a capella,” “A Dream”), Talib Kweli (”Listen!!!”), Digable Planets, etc. I have a feeling this movie falls along the line of “white chick comes to town and saves black kids from themselves…” but I might be wrong.
