JumpinJack AJ

I think this could be the start of a great tradition. I'd love to hear a "Will 2K" remix with alternate, non-dated lyrics that gets performed every year.

Not exactly the most interesting article. I was hoping to hear something amazing when I saw the title, but nothing amazing is really said. For one thing, it shows it complete distrust and respect for police after all they put him through. Why is isn't a dignified last look at him, it shows he wasn't weak in that moment. Tupac's Final Words Revealed by Police Officer on Scene of Murder Retired Las Vegas sergeant Chris Carroll was the first responder to rapper's 1996 shooting By Ryan Reed May 23, 2014 10:50 AM ET Tupac Shakur Ron Galella/WireImage The first police officer at the scene of Tupac Shakur's 1996 drive-by murder has revealed the last words spoken by the late rap legend. And they're not exactly peaceful. "He looked at me, and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth," says Chris Carroll, a retired sergeant with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, in a new feature with Vegas Seven. "And then the words came out: ‘**** you.’" Shakur was shot multiple times on September 7th, 1996. After leaving a boxing match with former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, the rapper and his bodyguards got into a scuffle with 21-year-old Crips gang member Orlando Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand casino. Carroll, who worked with the city's bike patrol unit, had also been watching the same Mike Tyson fight, but was unaware of the brawl taking place in the lobby. Later, a white Cadillac pulled up beside Knight and Shakur while they were stopped at a traffic light and one man began shooting out of the back window. Carroll was the first officer to respond to the grisly scene. "I grab the car door and I’m trying to open it, but I can’t get it open," he says. "[Knight] keeps coming up on my back, so I’m pointing my gun at him. I’m pointing it at the car. I’m yelling, ‘You guys lay down! And you, get the **** away from me!’ And every time I’d point the gun at him, he’d back off and even lift his hands up, like ‘All right! All right!’ So I’d go back to the car, and here he comes again. I’m like, ‘****er, back off!’ This guy is huge, and the whole time he’s running around at the scene, he’s gushing blood from his head. Gushing blood! I mean the guy had clearly been hit in the head, but he had all his faculties. I couldn’t believe he was running around and doing what he was doing, yelling back and forth." Carroll says when he finally was able to open the door, Shakur's limp body fell out of the vehicle, "like he was leaning against the door." "So I grabbed him with my left arm, and he falls into me, and I’ve still got my gun in the other hand," he continues. "He’s covered with blood, and I immediately notice that the guy’s got a ton of gold on – a necklace and other jewelry – and all of the gold is covered in blood. That has always left an image in my mind. . . After I pulled him out, Suge starts yelling at him, ‘Pac! Pac!’ And he just keeps yelling it. And the guy I’m holding is trying to yell back at him. He’s sitting up and he’s struggling to get the words out, but he can’t really do it. And as Suge is yelling ‘Pac!,’ I look down and I realize that this is Tupac Shakur." Carroll says he attempted to get a "dying declaration" of a potential suspect from Shakur, but the rapper was ignoring him at first. "And then I saw in his face, in his movements, all of a sudden in the snap of a finger, he changed," he says. "And he went from struggling to speak, being noncooperative, to an ‘I’m at peace’ type of thing. Just like that. . . He went from fighting to ‘I can’t do it.’ And when he made that transition, he looked at me, and he’s looking right in my eyes. And that’s when I looked at him and said one more time, ‘Who shot you?’. . . He looked at me and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth, and I thought I was actually going to get some cooperation. And then the words came out: ‘**** you.’ After that, he started gurgling and slipping out of consciousness." So why is Carroll coming forward with with information in 2014? Two reasons: Retiring from the Metro has allowed him the freedom to speak about the homicide case without being reprimanded ("It's been almost 18 years," he says. There's clearly never going to be a court case on this."), and he also didn't want "Tupac to be a martyr or a hero because he told the cops '**** you.'" Carroll says Shakur never spoke another word – remaining silent even when another officer tried to draw out a declaration in the ambulance. “As soon as he got to the hospital, he went into surgery and was heavily sedated, and I guess he went into a coma and really never came out of that, until they took him off of life support," he continues. "So that moment I talked to him was his last real living moment where he was speaking. I talked to the cop who rode in the ambulance with him. He said Tupac never came out of it, and he never said anything at the hospital. There was nothing else.” Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tupacs-final-words-revealed-by-police-officer-on-scene-of-murder-20140523#ixzz32a1j3s13 Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

I read it early today....excellent article!

Michelle is working on a new album, which is set to be a mix between her gospel work and her R-N-B music. Destiny's Child has reunited for one of the songs, which you can hear if you click the link below. Sadly, this isn't good as the two previous songs they've recently done. It has this faux Latin/Dance vibe that sounds a little underdone. Hopefully it'll get a more solid remix or something to take it to that next level. http://thesource.com/2014/05/21/listen-to-michelle-williams-new-song-say-yes-featuring-beyonce-kelly-rowland/ Of course this follows 2012's "Nuclear" off their Love Songs compilation... And last years "You Changed off Kelly's most recent album (which is the best of the three songs)...

I've always been a fan of Ice-T, though I was never that much in to Body Count. To be honest, I haven't listened to the majority of their stuff. Partly because I'm selective when it comes to Rap-Rock fusion. Well, I must say, the new track is dope!! Ice-T is a monster in it. The shocking music video reminds me of the music videos of the early and mid '90's when artists were pushing the boundaries of what could be in a music video. Check it!

It's kinda crazy, because they are fueling this off a tabloid angle of a picture that is completely innocent. I don't understand how they can dignify an investigation. Idiots...

I thought there was a post on this topic, but I can't find it....so it's going here. Looks like they're taking this too far. Will & Jada Pinkett Smith Being Probed By Protective Services For Willow Photo? Will & Jada Pinkett Smith Being Probed By Protective Services For Willow Photo? The Smiths are reportedly being 'extremely cooperative with officials' during the investigation Camille Travis Posted: 05/20/2014 04:30 PM EDT It seems Will and Jada Pinkett Smith aren't just catching flak from the general public about a picture that showed their 13-year-old daughter Willow Smith in bed with a shirtless 20-year-old Moises Arias. Radar Online reports Protective Services are also looking into the incident. An insider alleges the Los Angeles Department of Children & Family Services has launched an investigation over the controversial photo, but say the Smiths have been "extremely cooperative with officials." "The investigation was formally opened last week and is being taken very seriously by the department," the insider told the site. "Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have been extremely cooperative with officials. Of course, they aren't happy that their parenting skills are under scrutiny, but they understand." The photo of Willow caused a firestorm after Arias, best known for his role on "Hannah Montana," posted it to social media. The picture was later deleted. The insider continued, "Social workers will also be talking separately with Willow, and they also want to talk to the young man in the picture with her as well. This won't just be one or two visits with the family, and it will likely be an open investigation for at least a month, out of an abundance of caution." In response to the backlash, Jada told inquisitive paps earlier this month, "Here's the deal. There was nothing sexual about that picture or that situation. You guys are projecting your trash onto it. You're acting like covert pedophiles and that's not cool." The Smiths have yet to speak out about the reported investigation. http://www.centrictv.com/whats-good/entertainment/2014/05/20/will-jada-pinkett-smith-being-probed-by-protective-services-over-willow-photo.html

This article by Complex was done to celebrate 20 years since Aaliyah's debut. As a huge fan, I'm actually pleased with this list. it has the hits, as well as some lesser-known songs. If you're a fan, check the list and post your own top favorites. http://www.complex.com/music/2014/05/the-best-aaliyah-songs/

DJ KAY SLAY w/ THE OUTLAWZ + ONYX - My Brother's Keeper (2014) Whoa, I love this!

98 DEGREES - Impossible Things 2.0 (2013)

I think the whole thing is stupid. There's nothing wrong with those pictures. It's a picture of two people hanging up and clearly talking to/facing someone else. The angle that they happen to be on a bed is a weak and easy low blow from the tabloids. People are stupid.

I enjoyed this more than the stuff you previously shared. There's some great lyrics and I think having music under you has you introducing more rhythm to how you flow.

ERICA CAMPBELL - Changes Help (2014)

Ahhh, it must have been the preview on SoundCloud. Well, you can download the song here.

Here's the first collabo Jazzy has released with Dayne Jordan. I know I've peeped this song somewhere before (he probably put it on Facebook or something). Not exactly what I'd expect from Jeff, but I like it. Something fresh, dope scratches, a refreshing beat, and a new school emcee who isn't relying on cussing/ho's/money/sex/self-centeredness.

We knew it was coming, and here it is. The article only mentions her suing Viacom, so I'm wondering if she left TLC, L.A. Reid, and VH1 out of it. http://www.centrictv.com/music/articles/2014/04/28/perri-pebbles-reid-sues-viacom-for-40-mil.html The former manager of TLC sues over portrayal in group's VH1 biopic Justin Dwayne Joseph Posted: 04/28/2014 10:14 AM EDT Perri “Pebbles” Reid---singer and former manager of the R&B trio TLC---is suing Viacom for $40 million over the group's made for cable television biopic. PEBBLES BREAKS SILENCE ON TLC DRAMA, TALKS CHILLI AND L.A. REID AFFAIR In federal documents filed in an Atlanta court on April 25, Reid, 48, claims that the 2013 VH1 movie CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story portrayed her “as a conniving and dishonest business woman who hoodwinked three innocent girls and exploited their talent for her own personal gain.” PLAYLIST: THE MUSIC OF PERRI "PEBBLES" REID “[Viacom] ignored fundamental canons of journalistic and literary conduct by publishing false and defamatory accusations with actual malice,” states the documents. The lawsuit also states that contrary to what was depicted in the film, Reid never controlled TLC’s lawyers or accountants, never withheld contract terms from group members, and always paid the group what they were owed. WAS PEBBLES SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR TLC'S MONEY PROBLEMS? After selling 11 million copies of their 1994 album CrazySexyCool, TLC filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Members Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, and the late Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes sued LaFace Records and Reid's management company, Pebbitone, claiming they were each paid only $50,000 in 1993 and 1994. A spokesperson for Viacom said, “It’s our policy not to comment on matters in litigation.”

I couldn't believe it when I read it yesterday. Here's the first decent article I've seen on him. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dj-e-z-rock-of-it-takes-two-fame-dead-at-46-20140427 DJ E-Z Rock of 'It Takes Two' Fame Dead at 46 Rodney Bryce leaves behind ubiquitous tracks that helped hip-hop infiltrate pop world Rob Base (left) and DJ E-Z Rock during 2005 VH1 Hip Hop Honors Gold Carpet at Hammerstein Ballroom on September 22nd, 2005 in New York City. KMazur/WireImage By Jason Newman April 27, 2014 6:07 PM ET Rodney Bryce, who made his mark on hip-hop under the name DJ E-Z Rock, died Sunday, a spokesperson for Bryce's friend and collaborator Rob Base confirmed to Rolling Stone. The cause of death has yet to be revealed. 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time: Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock's "It Takes Two" Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock released their first single, "DJ Interview," in 1986, but the 46-year-old Bryce cemented himself into the hip-hop canon with 1988's iconic track "It Takes Two." Produced by Teddy Riley and built around a vocal sample from Lyn Collins' 1972 hit "Think (About It)," the song blended hip-hop with house music and became a nationwide hit, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Songs chart and helping to lift rap into the pop consciousness. The track would later be sampled by Snoop Dogg, Gang Starr, Girl Talk and South Korean girl group 2NE1, among many others, and has long become a pop culture staple, appearing in everything from the soundtrack to the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to a scene in Sandra Bullock's 2009 romantic comedy The Proposal. Questlove included the track on his Top 50 Hip Hop Songs of All Time for Rolling Stone, singling out James Brown drummer John "Jabo" Starks' work for the Brown-produced "Think." "Jabo's sparse, all-on-the-one funk was more at home with conservative soul lovers, which is why it makes total sense that... Jabo was the anchor of the New Jack Swing movement," wrote the Roots drummer. "Jabo's go-to magnum opus was on the five-break-filled JB-produced 'Think (About It)' by Lyn Collins. James' holy ghost yelp almost threatens to upstage Starks' show, but it's Starks' steady glide that gave R&B music its blueprint some 15 years after its release." The duo released two other singles from their debut album —"Joy and Pain" and "Get on the Dance Floor"—but "It Takes Two" would be the standout single off the group's debut album of the same name. The album was certified platinum in 1989 and reached No. 31 on the Billboard 200, an impressive feat for a hip-hop album at the time. Bryce would not appear on Rob Base's 1989 follow-up The Incredible Base, but reunited with the rapper for 1994's Break of Dawn. Rob Base and E-Z Rock both grew up in Harlem, becoming friends in the fourth grade. "Back then, there were other groups and we used to see other people perform," E-Z Rock told Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call in 1991. "I bought a set of turntables and he bought a mic." As E-Z Rock recalled, the duo sent "It Takes Two" to hip-hop label Profile Records and received a call from the label the next day. "At first, it was kind of weird because we only had one record," Rock said of the group's first hit "Make It Hot." "We would open up for people and get on for 15 minutes doing that one song. Then, when 'It Takes Two' came out, we started headlining." Speaking to The Boombox in 2011, Base was asked about the group's pop- and R&B-influenced sound. "Well, I know definitely I was one of the first artists to do the hip-hop and R&B thing," said Base. "When we did it, I just wanted to do something different. I didn’t want to do the same thing that the other groups were doing at the time. So we just did it that way and I really didn’t care what people said. There were a few groups that were saying, 'Oh, you’re selling out. You’re this, you’re that.' And I look at them now and they can’t even get one show." Various hip-hop artists paid condolences to the DJ on social media. DJ Scratch posted a late-Eighties picture of the duo on his Instagram, while Biz Markie tweeted, "R.I.P. to EZ Rock from Rob Base and EZ Rock. You will truly be missed." DJ Red Alert tweeted, "We Have Lost Our Very Own From Harlem NYC & The Hip-Hop Culture Our Brother DJ E-Z Rock. Rest In Peace…" and Base himself posted a picture on his Instagram with a picture of Bryce and the message "R.I.Power DJ EZ Rock. Team Fearless Salute." Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/dj-e-z-rock-of-it-takes-two-fame-dead-at-46-20140427#ixzz30EFtdd5W Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

ROB BASE + DJ EZ-ROCK - Break of Dawn Break of Dawn (1994) Rest in peace, DJ EZ-Rock.

LATRELLE w/ LEFT EYE - Dirty Girl Dirty Girl, Wrong Girl, Bad Girl (2001) I don't know why they never released her album, Latrelle embodied everything that was great about radio-ready R-N-B in the early 2000's.

KELLY ROWLAND - Angel Down To Earth Soundtrack (2000)

I'll see what I can do. I saw my cousin today for Easter and I asked him to take a look at my scanner, which has been down for months. He's gonna try to swing by the crib sometime soon. Once it's fixed, I'll try to get it up here. I haven't read it in years, but it's a great article.

I like how Nas addressed it, but FP addressed it in the Source back in 1997 (Puffy is on the cover of the issue). He says how when he was writing some songs, Nas would be like "I like this, but what if you flip it this way?" It was casual and minor collaboration between peers Nothing less, nothing more.

And no, it’s not as simple as “hip hop is dead,” because it’s not. If you’re plugged in to what’s going down at Coachella, you’ve no doubt heard by now that one of the most illustrious hip hop acts of all time suffered a disastrous reunion set in California on Friday night, to the point where Andre 3000 asked the lackluster crowd mid-performance, “are y’all still here?” As the set progressed, people streamed out of the crowd and the supposed climax of “Hey Ya!” went over with the intensity of a poorly faked orgasm. Well, this got off to an awkward start…I guess appropriately so. There’s no other way to describe a legendary reunion show being met with such malaise. Fifteen years ago when lyrics-based hip hop ran the popular music scene, a Coachella audience would go crazy for a show like this. Live hip hop was the most exciting game in town, and your average festival-attendee would have a more personal connection with the act on stage. They were more likely to buy their ticket not with a “music festival experience” in mind, but with particular artists in mind. With the advent of the modern music festival, driven by dance music, this sentiment has shifted dramatically. A large portion of your average, mainstream festival-goer of 2014 heads out their front door with a different expectation than their counterparts in the past. Festivals today with any sort of electronic tilt have implicitly promised stratospheric production values, insane light shows, and flawless control of crowd energy: in summary, an opportunity to lose your ****ing mind. You can plop down hundreds of dollars without knowing a single artist and still know you’re going to have a blast. The needle has slowly shifted away from “music,” towards “party.” That’s okay. We all like to party and dance around. But now a great deal of people that come out to festivals have an expectation of immediately accessible music. You could have wandered into Dillon Francis’s Coachella set without knowing a single song and absolutely loved it. EDM, in a live setting, has a way of being instantly entertaining – and here’s the kicker – in a way lyrical, 90s-style hip hop really has no chance at matching. When you’re accustomed to thousands of perfectly synced strobe lights and the energy-building peaks and valleys of a common electronic dance music set, suddenly, watching a guy pace back and forth on stage uttering halfway-audible lines isn’t as entertaining anymore. So when Outkast took the stage, and began performing Outkast songs, with no dramatic flourishes or fireworks displays, the crowd almost seemed puzzled. A song that should be easy to sing along with, “ATLiens” for example, barely got a vocal reaction from the crowd. Wave your hands in the air, that simple command they could understand. But calling out one of the quintessential hooks of the 90s? Not happening, because most of the crowd didn’t know it already. What we saw in full force Friday night was a generational disconnect, mixed with a mismatch of expectations. To be fair, not a single person could be expected to go berserk for “Aquemini” if they were hearing it for the first time at a concert. If you’ve been bumping that album for a decade and know every word, you’d be loving it – but that type of person is increasingly becoming an endangered species at massive festivals. When Andre asked “Coachella are you tired?” it was indicative of the fact that most of the crowd had no idea what was going on. Having no idea what’s going on works just fine at most popular EDM performances – that’ll soon be remedied by a catchy melody, easy-to-follow chorus, or blast of bass – but at a hip hop show it’s fatal. Lulls between hit songs used to be tolerable, because A) it was expected to happen, and B) the crowd would be stocked with fans who knew every song anyway. But now the percentage of people like that has been diluted, and perhaps most critically, everyone is conditioned to that time between hit songs being filled with, well, more hit songs, often from other artists. Which is why many forms of music outside of the electronic sphere now just can’t hang with even a GTA or a Deniz Koyu at a major festival. The bar for energy and excitement has been set too high, and the mainstream interest at attending music festivals, driven by the proliferation of EDM mega-fests, has brought in a wide swath of people who simply aren’t what readers of a site like this would consider music fans. Everyone, from the most intense fan who listens to full albums on the day of release, to the casual listener whose only source of music is the FM dial in their car, can have a great time at a big EDM show. Toss that same wide cross-section of people in front of Outkast performing “Spottieottiedopaliscious?” You get the artist exclaiming, “I feel like I’m here by my goddamn self.” Can you even imagine a DJ at Coachella having to say that? It’s a new era for live music, and acts that aren’t going to be bringing the requisite amount of energy to please a crowd filled with thousands of casual fans need to consider their audiences more carefully now than ever before. You can’t expect someone who just staggered away from getting their brain rearranged at an explosive, confetti-filled Zedd performance is going to respond in any meaningful way to lyrical hip hop, unless they’re already a fan. It’s sad in a way, that a duo with such a storied career can no longer sufficiently entertain a large festival audience - but all is not lost. It’s a matter of “picking your spot,” and I can say with complete confidence that Outkast, or any of their contemporaries from the bygone golden era of hip hop, can still rock a crowd of thousands. Just not at a mainstream festival anymore. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFK6IaRFNKc

I think it was recorded in 1999. I believe Tim believes they might have done two songs together. It's been awhile since we discussed it, so my memory is a little foggy. It would have been great if they released a proper MIIB soundtrack...it would have been the perfect way to release the song. MJ also did a song with LL Cool J after Bad but before Dangerous. I have it on the mixtape.

I haven't listed to "Escape" (the version that leaded 10 years ago, or so), in a long time. It's on my parents computer and I just haven't been able to get my music off it yet. I remember sounding more slick and even more like some of the stuff on Invincible. I'm pretty sure this is remixed with a vintage MJ feel incorporated.