State Champ Radio Hip-Hop
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GloRilla Called Out For Allegedly Ripping Off Businesswomen On the heels of GloRilla making headlines with her $550/week personal assistant job listing, people are coming out of the woodwork to accuse the rapper of ripping them off. A Choreographer Says GloRilla’s Team Left Her High & Dry According to FOX13 Memphis, a choreographer named Trinica […]
Hitmaka Catches Heat For Critiquing ‘P***y Rap’ On Social Media Hitmaka recently upset Twitter users with his commentary on women in the rap game. Hitmaka Says He Needs ‘A Pretty Female Rapper That’s Strictly About Bars’ The situation unfolded on Sunday after Hitmaka—who was previously known as Yung Berg—made an odd announcement online. He initially […]
Vivica A. Fox Tells Joe Budden To ‘Sit His B***h A** Down’ On the heels of Joe Budden speaking on Megan Thee Stallion, Vivica A. Fox is chiming in to check the podcast host! As The Shade Room previously reported, Joe recently threw shade at the “Pressurelicious” rapper during an episode of The Joe Budden Podcast. While discussing […]
Pusha T seems to be cutting all ties with Kanye West.
The Virginia rapper revealed in an interview with XXL, published on Monday (Dec. 19), that he is no longer president of Ye’s G.O.O.D. Music Inc. imprint with Def Jam. Pusha had served in the leadership role since 2015.
“At the end of the day, s— is being said today that’s beyond disappointing,” Pusha said of Ye’s ongoing antisemitic remarks. The former Clipse rapper — who worked with Ye on his 2022 album, It’s Almost Dry, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — told XXL that he will continue releasing music through Def Jam and his own label.
This isn’t the first time Pusha has spoken out against Ye, who has been spreading hate speech against Jewish people on social media and during interviews in recent months. “It’s definitely affected me. It’s been disappointing,” Pusha told the Los Angeles Times in late November. “As a Black man in America, there is no room for bigotry or hate speech. So yeah. It’s been very disappointing.”
After receiving backlash for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt in early October at Paris Fashion Week, Ye tweeted that he was going to go “death con 3” on Jewish people on Oct. 16. This began a string of hate-speech-filled interviews, which reached an even more disturbing level when he appeared on Alex Jones’ InfoWars and said “I see good things about Hitler,” among other hateful rhetoric.
Pusha, whose history with Ye dates back to 2010, told XXL that he and his former collaborator are no longer on speaking terms.
“If you ain’t with it, you ain’t down,” the rapper said. “And I ain’t with it. I’m not budging on that. I’m not with it. I heard about this new stuff [on InfoWars]. I don’t know. It’s something that just sort of tells me he’s not well, at the same time. I will say that. It’s going to places where it’s no way to move around it.”
As a professor, Method Man isn’t calling attendance, he doesn’t care who shows up late, and he damn sure isn’t going through bullet points on a syllabus. Wearing glasses, a baby blue Versace t-shirt and a navy baseball cap with the rim to the back, Meth is sitting down, carefully but effortlessly rolling a blunt as he prepares to address the student body.
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No, this isn’t some scene from How High. This is real life, and Method Man is the instructor tonight on a class held via Zoom called “Rhymecology.”
“The anxiety in the studio bruh, because Doc is incredible,” Meth says, giving props to his How High co-star and longtime friend Redman, when questioned by a student about collaborating. “I give credit where credit is due. That dude, he is music… The reason I said ‘anxiety’ is because you want to be at your best…. This n—a is going in the booth spitting straight ether every f—in’ day. And you gotta keep up, son. Even outside the studio, onstage. He helped my creative process so much. Big bruh molded me into the MC I am today.”
Throughout the night, Meth shares revelations, advice, tutelage and insights on everything from the genius of rap battle MCs (“The most brilliant rappers in the world — these muthaf—-s is driving the culture right now”), to being “miserable” for eight straight years making music, to constructing hooks, to his goal for his legendary hip-hop family, Wu-Tang Clan. And that is the Wu making it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“I want that for my crew,” Meth declares. “We have a very strong stake in that.”
Rhymecology, dedicated to the mental health aspect in hip-hop, is just one of the courses laid out as part of the curriculum at the virtual school, Pendulum Ink Academy. At Pen Ink, one of the prime goals is “nurturing creativity through lyricism.”
Pendulum was conceived, developed and co-cultivated by Bronx wordsmith Mickey Factz, who ascended in rap during the rise of the blog era in the mid 2000s. He quickly became adept at multimedia marketing skills (Mickey’s marketing firm and indie label GFC New York had Nipsey Hussle on their roster of clients looking for help with branding), and showcased his wordplay through his freestyles, mixtapes and song collaborations, which helped him landed on the cover of XXL’s coveted Freshman Issue in 2009.
Along with his cover stars Wale, Kid Cudi, and Curren$y, Mickey was tapped to be a leader of the new school. Fast forward to 2019: Mickey was 10 years removed from being up next, and contemplating what was going to be next in his life.
“It was an epiphany moment,” Factz, sitting in his Atlanta high rise office, recalls. After a decade in the game, he felt he has reached his ceiling. “I was like, ‘I kind of feel like this a dead-end job for me right now. I’m working album to album. This doesn’t make sense to me. What am I gonna do when it’s time to retire?’ I started thinking about retirement a lot. So I was like, ‘You know what? I need to retire into teaching.’”
Mickey began researching how he could actually teach without a degree, and came to the conclusion that, sans the credentials, it was almost impossible. The rapper (born Mark Williams) had attended NYU and was a paralegal at a law firm before dropping out of school and quitting his job to focus solely on his rap career in 2007. Even if he had graduated NYU and became a lawyer like he was tracking to do, Mickey says there weren’t too many schools willing to make hip-hop an actual course in 2019 anyway.
Then the pandemic hit, and while so many of us were sequestered at home, Mickey locked his focus on MasterClass. Hip-hop icons such as Nas and Timbaland were lecturing virtually for a fee. Factz felt he found his pathway to rap retirement.
“I DMed them, ‘Yo, I would love to work with you guys,’” Factz recalls. “They hit me back a couple hours later like, ‘Yo man, don’t call us. We’ll call you.’ That was January 2021.
“I’m from the Bronx, man,” Mickey continues with a light chuckle, before revealing his found extra motivation in the wake of MasterClass’ rejection. “I said, ‘Aight. I’m gonna make my own MasterClass.’”
On Dec. 1, 2021, Mickey lectured an online class of 10 people — he was hired for $250 to speak for an hour. Factz realized that not only could he teach students, but he knew his dream could grow. “You can’t do a MasterClass of hip-hop in one class,” he explained. “It’s impossible in terms of writing.”
Factz reached out to his friend, battle rapper Chilla Jones, for help. Jones began to contact some of his associates, and soon a five-man team was formed. Together they came up with an eight-month curriculum, and Pendulum Ink Academy was created.
Along with the core brain trust of the Academy (all of whom teach classes), Pendulum boasts certified college professors on their staff, and courses like Rap Theory, where the students learn cadence and how to rhyme on beat. Rap Theory is taught by jazz musician Comikbook Cam. Meanwhile, Chilla teaches Advanced Technique: Pendulum Ink has 35 rap techniques copyrighted, and put names to skills that MCs have been displaying their entire careers.
“Some of these courses were rejected at universities,” Factz says. “Criminology in Hip-Hop was rejected by three universities. So I said to our professor Ahmariah Jackson, ’Listen, come here. I’ll pay you. Teach it once a month.’”
Pendum Ink launched last February, and Factz recalls not knowing exactly what to expect. “February 24th, we had our first person sign up,” he says. “They paid the full tuition, $2,000. Then every day after the 24th, for about 45 days, people were paying. I was like, ‘Alright, we got something here.’ And mind you, this is the beta [stage], just six courses: Rap Theory, Advanced Rap Techniques, Rhymecology, Mickey Money Class, Battle Rap, Content Creation Class.”
Soon after, Mickey signed up some of his close friends and peers to be guest teachers for these classes. “I told them I had a school and then I walked them through it, and then I asked them if they want to teach or give a lecture,” he remembers. “They said ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Good, because I pay.’ I find it easier for them to do this than to do a record.”
Phonte from Little Brother, Masta Ace and Cory Gunz were all among his first phone calls. Fittingly, Inspectah Deck was Pendulum’s very first guest lecturer: Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) was the first album Mickey bought with his own money as a kid. “Its essential to bring back the art form, and Pendulum Ink does that,” Deck says.
“It’s a gift to receive instruction from a living legend,” says Pendulum student, Al Billups. He signed up and participated in the recent Rhymecology class with Method Man. “The opportunity to peel back the layers of a composition with the actual creator is a treat for any fan of the culture. Participating in a Pendulum Ink session exposed me to an incredible instructional ecosystem that is designed to help MC’s gain a better understanding around the nuances of lyricism.”
Pendulum Ink’s graduation is set for February 26, 2023; Bun B is confirmed as commencement speaker. Veteran hip-hop journalist Sway has also been tapped to participate in the ceremony along with Big K.R.I.T., Stalley and Skyzoo.
Pendulum Ink also just started a nonprofit organization called Pen Pals, where kids from 7 to 17 can learn how to MC. Pen Pals will also serve as space for known MCs to learn how to teach. Factz says his hope is that some of those MCs could be professors at universities one day.
“I want them to have a crash course in our lexicon,” he notes. “You can do it your own way, but structure is very important.”
One of Pen Ink’s students has been hired at Fredrick Pilot Middle School in Boston, and is teaching some of the Academy’s programs to kids ranging from 11 to 14 years old. Meanwhile, Factz himself has accepted an offer to teach at the University of Hawaii, and will teach one month at a time for the whole of March, July and November.
Pendulum Ink has also delved into the actual ink game with their very own textbook coming next year, featuring a foreword written by Big Daddy Kane. The roster of new professors coming to teach in year two of the academy is shaping up to be impressive: Big Boi, Pharoahe Monch, Rah Digga, K.R.I.T., Lord Finesse, AZ and DMC are all locked in to give lectures, while Black Thought has agreed to be the 2024 commencement speaker at the graduation.
“Ten years from now, I’ll be 50,” says Factz, “and God willing, I’ll have three [physical] schools across the country. I’ll have one in the Bronx by 2027, then one here in Atlanta and one in L.A.” The former Freshman still performs shows and puts out his music independently, but says, “I want to have schools for hip-hop and lyricism. I want to be able to create jobs and opportunities for younger students and older people to be able to make money from. It’s important that the culture remains within with us. Because let me tell you something, if I didn’t do this, somebody else not of the culture would’ve done it.”
Hip-hop experienced twists and turns throughout 2022.
Once the ball dropped, Gunna ignited the flame with his club-ready single “Pushin P’,” which made the 16th letter in the alphabet top-tier on social media. Also, no one expected the Memphis rookie GloRilla to cause tremors in the genre with her earthshaking anthems “FNF” and “Tomorrow 2.” Her surplus of hits allowed men and women to get loud and rowdy together as they chanted her lyrics with gusto.
And when we weren’t in a partying mood, we received doses of high-octane lyricism and thoughtfulness from our most well-spoken MCs. Kendrick Lamar’s precision and innate ability to connect with listeners remains second to none, as proven on “Rich Spirit” and “N95,” while Jay-Z’s agile wordplay continues to be at a hall-of-fame level after rattling off an impressive 80-bar melee on DJ Khaled’s Grammy-nominated “God Did.” Vince Staples — who delivered a top-five effort on Billboard’s Best 20 Hip-Hop Albums of 2022 — doled out quality records as well, whether it was the DJ Mustard-anchored single “Magic” or the criminally underappreciated gem “When Sparks Fly.”
The quality of hip-hop records in 2022 came from all walks of life and different sectors of the map, keeping us engaged, intrigued and hungry for more. Can 2023 carry the same momentum and “big energy”? Only time will tell; until then, check out Billboard’s Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2022 below.
New York police are still searching for the person who assaulted a 63-year-old man in Central Park last week in what officials described as an antisemitic attack. According to NBC News, the incident took place last Wednesday evening when the as-yet-unidentified male assailant allegedly hit the elderly victim in the back of the head after making antisemitic remarks while saying “Kanye 2024.”
The latter appeared to be a reference to the reported second long-shot White House bid by disgraced rapper Kanye West (who now goes by Ye), who has gained attention in the past few months for a string of interviews with right-leaning media outlets in which he made a series of antisemitic remarks while repeatedly proclaiming to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones: “I like Hitler.” Last week, West was named “Antisemite of the Year” by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism.
NBC reported that the alleged attacker — described as a man of medium build in his 50s with a light complexion — fled on a bike after the assault, which left the 63-year-old victim with a chipped tooth and a broken hand; the person of interest in the case had a bike with a trailer featured a sign that read “Hungry Disabled.”
“Crimes like these have a ripple effect across communities and cause unique trauma on top of physical harm,” Scott Richman, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of New York/New Jersey, told CNN. While the attack appeared random, Richman told CNN that it was an example of how Ye’s antisemitic rhetoric has “perpetuated violence and incited others to act out.” Richman added, “When public figures with huge platforms fan the flames of antisemitism, people will copy it and begin to think it’s normal.”
Councilman Eric Dinowitz, who chairs New York city council’s Jewish Caucus, agreed, telling CNN, “I am deeply disturbed by this vile, yet predictable antisemitic attack in Central Park. Anti-Jewish attacks are rising at an alarming rate, fueled by hateful rhetoric and willful ignorance. These attacks on Jewish New Yorkers are not isolated incidents, but a pattern of attacks on an entire people.”
The Anti-Defamation League reported that antisemitic attacks reached an all-time high in the U.S. in 2021, with figures up 34% from 2020. Over the past several months there have been a series of incidents in which others have seemingly expressed solidarity with Ye’s repetition of anti-Jewish tropes and stereogypes, including unknown persons who hung a “Kanye is right about the Jews” banner over the 405 Los Angeles freeway in October while making the “Heil Hitler” salute; the same message was displayed on the outside of TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, FL a few days later.
Lizzo brought some holiday cheer to Saturday Night Live on Dec. 17.
Stepping in for previously announced performers Yeah Yeah Yeahs — who canceled because the band’s guitarist Nick Zinner is still recovering from pneumonia — the pop-rap star served as the NBC sketch comedy series’ final musical guest of 2022.
For her first performance during the Austin Butler-hosted episode, Lizzo transformed the stage into her own personal bedroom while delivering “Break Up Twice,” a moody track from her latest album, Special, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in July. Dressed in a silky white nightgown, the performance began with Lizzo rising out of bed to shut off a buzzing alarm and ended with the artist belting out the song with the backing of a full band.
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Later in the show, the singer-rapper treated viewers to a cover of Stevie Wonder‘s 1967 holiday classic “Someday at Christmas,” which she released as an Amazon Music Original in November. In true holiday spirit, Lizzo donned a silver and gold dress while passionately delivering the song amid several beautifully decorated and lit Christmas trees.
“I chose to cover ‘Someday at Christmas’ not just because it’s a classic, but because it’s a reminder to us that almost 60 years later, we are still fighting for peace, compassion, and equality,” she said in a past statement. “A friendly reminder to spread love and kindness this holiday season.”
In addition to serving as the evening’s musical guest, Lizzo also made a cameo during the “Please Don’t Destroy Me” skit, where host Butler gets pitched on the idea for a plastic clothing line. “I ain’t got no planties on,” she whispers to her boyfriend Martin.
Lizzo pulled double-duty on SNL earlier this year, serving as both musical guest and host. In between hilarious sketches, the artist debuted her Special title track and performed her Hot 100 chart-topper “About Damn Time.”
Watch Lizzo’s SNL performances below. For those without cable, the broadcast streams on Peacock, which you can sign up for at the link here. Having a Peacock account also gives fans access to previous SNL episodes as well.
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Kendrick Lamar is known to largely keep his personal life outside of the public eye–except when it comes to his music. On Friday (Dec. 16), he released the music video for his Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers deep cut, “Count Me Out,” depicting the Compton artist in a piano-side therapy session with Oscar award-winning actress Helen Mirren.
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Directed by Lamar and pgLang cofounder Dave Free, the video begins with a skit about Lamar taking a woman’s parking spot, before presenting a three-way split screen, showing the “HUMBLE” rapper rattling off his innermost thoughts on one side, Mirren with a steady gaze of empathy on the other, and in the middle, the scenes he describes playing out, including shots of Lamar’s partner, Whitney Alford.
The video and lyrics touch on themes of frustration, growth, infidelity and ego, staying true to the color scheme surrounding Lamar’s Big Steppers tour — black, white and red — as well as themes of life and death. Mirren’s vocals were also used in transitional moments during Lamar’s tour set.
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers released in May and debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, with 295,500 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 19, according to Luminate. The album earned Lamar Grammy nominations for both album of the year and best rap album, with “Die Hard” with Blxst and Amanda Reifer up for best best melodic rap performance. He also received a whopping four nominations for “The Heart Part 5” in categories including record of the year and song of the year.
As of Dec. 15, 2022, we’ve had 30 years of The Chronic, hip-hop legend Dr. Dre’s breakout solo debut album. That’s three decades of house parties, backyard BBQs, collegiate ragers, beach/lakeside hangouts and slow drives in the sunshine soundtracked by The Chronic and its innovative G-funk sound.
It’s the great unifier. Its funky, silky-smooth live instrumentation with slick guitar and deep bass, inspired by Parliament/Funkadelic and George Clinton, broke down cultural walls; everyone loves The Chronic. It lifted hip-hop to a new echelon of cultural relevancy and set the stage for the next generation of rappers and producers. It crowned Dre atop the industry as its preeminent artist-producer.
The context in which it was created, however, was far rockier.
The Chronic was recorded in the aftermath of the L.A. riots in April 1992—vocal samples from people on the streets were used on tracks like “The Day the N–gaz Took Over” and “Lil’ Ghetto Boy.” And its lyrics captured the world that then surrounded Dre and his crew – drugs, guns, gangs and overt misogyny (which can make The Chronic uncomfortable to revisit given the rapper’s public admission of beating women as a young man, including his attack on TV host Dee Barnes in 1991. Dre has since apologized for his actions).
Then there was Dre’s beef (over a financial dispute) with his N.W.A collaborator Eazy-E, Ruthless Records and its co-founder Jerry Heller. Dre got his start by co-producing N.W.A’s 1988 album, Straight Outta Compton. But by the early ‘90s—following public insults from N.W.A member Ice Cube on his brutal diss track “No Vaseline”—Dre wanted out. He wanted to join up with Death Row Records, the notorious label owned by former football player/rap don Suge Knight. Dre took aim at Eazy on the tracks “F-k Wit’ Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)” and “B-tches Ain’t Sh-t,” among others. It was a tense time.
Dre doesn’t have such fond memories of that era: That’s “the toughest record that I’ve recorded in my career,” he told BigBoyTV. “I was in survival mode.” And with “all the things that were happening in the studio during the making, it was crazy. During that process, my house burned down, I was shot in the legs, and I was in the studio on crutches for a couple of weeks. So, it was a lot that went into that record. It was blood, sweat, and beers that went into it, you know what I mean?”
When The Chronic dropped on Dec. 15, 1992, however, it paid off. The Chronic produced three top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 (where it spent eight months in the chart’s top 10) and won the Grammy Award for best rap solo performance (“Let Me Ride”).
The Chronic also introduced his clique of collaborators to the world: Snoop Dogg, who appears on 11 of its 16 tracks, plus Nate Dogg, Warren G, Kurupt, The D.O.C., Daz Dillinger, RBX and The Lady of Rage. Snoop, in particular, captured attention with his lyrical, laid-back flow, further focusing the attention of the hip-hop world on Los Angeles and Death Row Records.
And for Dre, it kicked his career into overdrive, beginning a string of hits that continued with artists like Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, Kendrick Lamar and others. This would ultimately lead him into tech (Beats By Dre, Apple), film (Straight Outta Compton) and sports (the 2022 Super Bowl performance) on his way to become one of richest artists on earth.
The Chronic redefined the West Coast sound, which up to that point, was aggressive, in-your-face, abrasive and less accessible. By packaging the gangsta lifestyle in funkier, smoother sounds, Dre’s G-funk lifted hip-hop out of the inner city and gifted it to the rest of the world.
The album’s legacy continues to inspire artists far and wide. To celebrate its 30th birthday, let’s revisit and rank The Chronic’s 16 tracks.
