State Champ Radio Hip-Hop
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Lauren London took a moment to honor Nipsey Hussle on what would have been his 38th birthday. On Tuesday (Aug. 15), the actress shared a photo to Instagram of the late rapper holding up prayer hands and looking into the camera, with an array of gold chains draped around his neck. Explore Explore See latest […]
Travis Scott‘s super-sized roll-out of his Utopia album continued on Tuesday (Aug. 15) with the free YouTube posting of his 75-minute Circus Maximus film, as well as four Utopia music videos.
The trippy film — which played in select theaters on the album’s July 28th release date — opens with a scene in which Scott dreams he is being enveloped by a gigantic sea creature before setting off on a quest across a desolate landscape that brings him to a lavish mansion where he meets up with producer Rick Rubin.
Seen through a keyhole, their interaction initially finds Rubin asking probing questions (“is the house half empty, or completely empty?,” “how are the kids?,” “are you still crying?,” “how about the drugs, are they still working, or are you just tired of them?”) as an exasperated Scott tries to gather his thoughts.
What unfolds over the next hour-plus is a head-spinning film — written by Scot and co-directed by the rapper, Andrew Dosunmu and Kahlil Joseph — that incorporates all 19 tracks from the feature-filled album in a series of colorful vignettes. It bounces from Scott rapping “Hyaena” in an African village, to the MC participating in a Catalan-style human tower build in “Sirens,” all intercut with bits of the Rubin interview.
Elsewhere, there is a futuristic taxi chase set to the Beyoncé-assisted “Delresto (Echoes),” a strobing underground dance party for “Modern Jam” and some fresh footage cued to “Hyaena” and a remix of “Jam” in which Scott stands in front of a massive wall of speakers in Rome’s Circus Maximus, which bleeds into an extended run of footage from the recent album release show in the ancient venue that drew 60,000 fans and a surprise Kanye West cameo.
The break-out videos for “Sirens,” “Modern Jam,” “Hyaena” and “Delresto (Echoes)” are all versions of the clips that appear in the Maximus movie. Utopia has ruled the Billboard 200 albums chart for two weeks in a row, earning 147,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. for the week ending Aug. 10, down 70%, according to Luminate, from its debut the week before with 496,000 units earned.
Check out the Scott videos below.
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Quavo served up an unexpected treat for the 40,000 fans who turned out for Tuesday night’s (Aug. 15) Atlanta Braves game against the cellar-dweller New York Yankees. The hometown team — who have a comfortable 10-plus game lead over the Phillies in the NL East — cleared some room on the top of their dugout for the Migos member to preview his upcoming solo album, Rocket Power, which is due out on Friday (Aug. 18).
Wearing a No. 94 jersey with his album title across the shoulders, Quavo bounced back-and-forth across the dugout shouting the chorus of his new single, “Who Wit Me,” at a packed Truist Park, slipping in an ad-lib shout-out to his hometown on the song that honors his late nephew, Migos member TakeOff.
“My nephew just told me he with it/ Even my sister just tole me they with it/ I’m sayin’, I’m sayin’ who with me,” he rapped along to the track. TakeOff (born Kirshnik Khari Ball) was shot and killed during a private party he attended in downtown Houston with his uncle on Nov. 1, 2022.
“If you ready for the Braves let me get a ‘Yes sir!,’” Quavo shouted to the crowd cheering on the team with the best record in the majors. Quavo’s anticipated second solo venture will follow-up his 2018 solo debut, Quavo Huncho, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart; the rapper also teamed up with Travis Scott in 2017 for the joint album Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho.
Speaking about the loss of TakeOff in a recent interview, Quavo said, “I think about him all the time. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep.” He also described how he had to change his work flow during the making of Rocket Power due to the loss. While he would normally cut the hook and the verse and show it to his Migos bandmates — which also includes Offset — “Now he’s [TakeOff] gone and I don’t have nobody to play the music for… I just try to connect with the earth and just try to hear them like that.”
Quavo said the album — which was first teased back in May — is fueled by his late nephew and partner-in-rhyme’s spirit. “All the pain, all the hard times, all the times I cried and all the times I just made music [to cope with loss],” he said. “And to pull up and try to play songs and he’s not there, and I’m just trying to get this fuel from above and this feeling from the sky and just call it Rocket Power.”
Check out Quavo’s performance below.
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Rappers are not the only ones in Hip-Hop bringing their A game to the big screen. LEVEL Magazine has detailed how several journalists have been winning in Hollywood.
As the world continues to celebrate the culture’s 50th anniversary the media outlet showcased another way Hip-Hop is influencing the world. LEVEL recently featured several writers who have originally worked at Hip-Hop magazines during the early parts of the career and have since gone on to to pen television shows and films. Included in the panel was Kim Osorio (The Source Magazine), Erik Parker (Vibe Magazine), Elon D. Johnson (XXL), Selwyn Seyfu Hinds (The Source Magazine), Cheo Hodari Coker (The Source Magazine), Laura Checkoway (Vibe Magazine), and Carlito Rodriguez (The Source Magazine).
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When the roundtable was asked how they made the transition from covering the genre to creating shows the response was simple; they had to put in the work. “I work in the documentary genre, and coming from print journalism, our skills definitely translate, especially the reporting and interviewing” Parker explained. “You really do need to trust yourself and just do the thing you want to do. Laura used to do some fact-checking when we were at Vibe. That definitely translated into her work in documentaries as well.”
Further into the discussion Coker, who was the mastermind behind Marvel’s Luke Cage on Netflix, explained how his tenure in print journalism translated while working on set. “After all these years, I can get star-struck on a set. If I’m working with Mahershala Ali or Regina King, and I’m like, “I have to tell these people what to do?” Just for a hot second. And then, I remember, if I were interviewing them for Vibe or The Source, it would be easy” he revealed.
You can read the panel discussion in it entirety here.
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Drake had a simple request for fans at his Los Angeles-area concert on Saturday (Aug. 12): “Y’all keep your bras on.” While visiting the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., as part of his It’s All a Blur Tour, the 36-year-old Toronto MC asked concertgoers to keep things innocent out of respect for his 5-year-old son, […]
Lil Durk has a message for the fans who stole his merchandise following a false active shooter report at his Chicago show on Saturday (Aug. 12). The 30-year-old drill rapper took to his Instagram Story on Sunday morning (Aug. 13) to call out concertgoers in his hometown who were caught on video looting merch amid […]
“If you remember anything from tonight, remember this one thing: I ain’t s— without you,” proclaimed Lil Wayne at the Hip Hop 50 Live concert on Friday (Aug. 11). As tens of thousands of fans descended upon Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the most important and influential art forms in the world, Wayne’s message was proven correct.
Hip Hop 50 Live, which featured headliners Run-D.M.C. in their final show, was a celebration of the genre’s roots and evolution as much as it was a celebration of the fans and community that have kept pushing the culture forward for 50 years and counting. Featuring a crowd as diverse as New York City itself, the concert placed a heavy emphasis on honoring the genre’s pillars such as The Sugarhill Gang and Melle Mel. From undisputed icons like Roxanne Shante to new-school innovators like A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Friday night’s concert was the physical embodiment of the cross-generational impact of hip-hop.
Assembling a lineup that effectively conveys the cultural, regional, sexual, and generational diversity of a genre as multilayered as hip-hop is no easy task. While the show was notably lacking in contemporary stars, the concert’s lineup was more than capable of captivating the massive stadium. Performances included sets from Nas, Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, Wiz Khalifa, Ghostface Killah, Common, Lupe Fiasco, Cam’Ron, T.I., Lil’ Kim, Trina, Remy Ma, Fat Joe, Slick Rick, EPMD, Snoop Dogg and more.
Hip Hop 50 Live specifically commemorated a legendary party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue hosted by Cindy Campbell and DJed by DJ Kool Herc — a party that birthed hip-hop. As such, the celebration took things all the way back to the beginning. The Sugarhill Gang delighted the audience with a rousing rendition of “Rapper’s Delight,” which is widely regarded as the first commercially released hip-hop song, and rap pioneer Grandmaster Caz rocked the house with performances of “It’s Us,” among other Cold Crush Brothers selections.
Of course, hip-hop is about more than just the rappers. DJs also got their due at Friday’s concert, with legendary DJs like Marley Marl and Mannie Fresh keeping the energy flowing with sets that frequently highlighted the sub-genres and sounds of hip-hop not present on the official bill.
As the night transitioned into lengthier sets, both Lil Wayne and T.I. reminded attendees that both have an endless stream of hits across eras and genres. T.I. held it down for the South and 20 years of Trap Muzik with a set that included such hits as “Swagga Like Us,” “Whatever You Like,” and “Live Your Life.” Lil Wayne, who masterfully tore through countless anthems, pulled out hits like “A Milli,” “Uproar,” “I’m Goin’ In,” and a cruel tease of “Back That Azz Up,” that left the crowd hanging.
Hip Hop 50 Live was co-produced by Mass Appeal, Live Nation, and the New York Yankees. Emmy Award-winner BASSic Black Entertainment CEO Adam Blackstone and producer and keyboardist Omar Edwards served as the concert’s creative music directors.
Here are the 8 best moments of Hip Hop 50 Live:
Doug E. Fresh Transforms Into ‘Human Beat Box’
Image Credit: Danny Vasquez/Mass Appeal
It’s Friday and there is a ton of new music drops this week! DJ Khaled dropped a new track featuring Future, Lil Baby and Lil Uzi Vert; Trippie Redd teamed up with Roddy Ricch for “Closed Doors”; French Montana’s “Good Summer” is here; and more. Nas reveals five things you didn’t know about him. Billboard […]
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The DMV, the acronym for the region comprising Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, boasts some of the strongest Hip-Hop talent in the nation and across the globe. e Words, Beats & Life Inc. (WBL), the longest-running Hip-Hop educational nonprofit organization, is hosting the DMV HIP HOP 50 concert featuring homegrown acts such as Oddisee, Adé, Nonchalant, and more.
The DMV’s Hip-Hop history is a rich one, dating back to the 1980s and exploding in the 1990s with the likes of Opus Akoben, the AMPHBNS crew, graffiti crew EBO, the Soul Controllers mix show at the University of Maryland College Park campus and venues such as State of The Union and Kaffa House, and more.
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Acts such as Questionmark Asylum, D.C. Scorpio, Stinky Dink, and the aforementioned Nonchalant helped to expand much of the region’s sound beyond its familiar Go-Go sound and introduced the nation and the world to another side of the Nation’s Capital and its bordering lands.
This Saturday (August 12) at the Lincoln Theater, WBL will kick off its DMV HIP HOP show with the globe-trotting Oddisee, now based in Brooklyn, N.Y. but never losing sight of his roots. He’ll be rocking with his band Good Company, and his Diamond District cohorts, yU, and Uptown XO are also on the bill. Adé, formerly known as Phil Adé, is still crafting music at the major label level and Nonchalant is keeping her feet in the game working both as an artist and DJ.
The stacked lineup includes the likes of the talented Dior Ashley Brown, longtime crew Meridian with Dimes, Noyeek, Theory, El Beta, ane BenOfficial, Prowess The Testament, Asheru, Substantial, Priest Da Nomad, and the legendary DJ Kool. On the wheels will be area mainstay DJ RBI, and attendees can expect performances from Enoch, Flex Matthews, Odd Mojo, Sub Z, and a homecoming for Freestyle Union founder, Toni Blackman.
In other WBL area happenings, WHINO, a dazzling art and dining space in Arlington, Va., is hosting a Hip-Hop Karaoke event TONIGHT (August 11) on Hip-Hop’s 50th and invites attendees to show off their rapping skills with all of the heavy lyrical lifting done for you. All you have to do is read along and spit those bars with conviction. Find out more about the event here.
If you can’t make either event, WBL has its Fine Lines Graffiti and Paint Jam on Sunday (August 13) for a live session of graffiti art and the like. Learn more here.
To get your tickets for WBL’s DMV HIP HOP 50 concert, click here.
Learn more about WBL here.
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Photo: WBL
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It was the 50th anniversary of hip-hop on Friday (Aug. 11), and Good Morning America celebrated the milestone during its Summer Concert Series. Fat Joe and Remy Ma took the stage together to perform their smash hit “All the Way Up,” before Busta Rhymes took over to deliver a medley of fan-favorite tracks, including “I […]
