bigted

Blackstreet "Don't Leave Me", there's not too much soulful tracks like this anymore:

Rap veteran Kool G Rap recently gave his opinion on the late Tupac Shakur and compared the renowned emcee to iconic message-driven singer Marvin Gaye. Kool G credited Pac's love and passion for music as a driving force to his legacy. "I agreed with what [Jay-Z] was saying about Pac [in a past Charlie Rose interview]. It's not that Pac was so crazy lyrically, but it was his passion. Tupac, to me, was like the hip-hop Marvin Gaye. That's the best example, because he was the artist of the time, and so was Pac." (Baller Status) Last November, Jay-Z talked to media personality Charlie Rose about his admiration toward Pac. "I guess I would choose B.I.G. [as one of my favorites] because of his ability to tell stories to be humorous, to be dead serious, he just had it all," Jay said. "Just [b.I.G.'s] voice alone. I would choose Pac because his fire will overcome, what he doesn't have in technical skills will be overcome by passion. If you listen to that 'Tunnel' [freestyle] verse where B.I.G. is saying 'MC Hammer and them 357 women' and then you hear how [Pac] comes on, he just screams on the track, his passion could put a lot of guys to sleep. I guess Kool G Rap and KRS-One would be on there. I need more emcees. Y'all got Eminem and Nas..." (Charlie Rose) Earlier this week, the late Pac received a huge accolade from rap star 50 Cent. "2 pac RT @Crazy4_KStew: @50cent if u could collaborate with any rapper that has died and make a song who would it be?," 50tweeted Monday (February 28). (50 Cent's Twitter) A Pac biopic is reportedly going into production. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in late Spring/early Summer on the biopic "TUPAC," it was announced today (February 10) James G. Robinson, Co-Chairman/CEO, and Rick Nicita, Co-Chairman/COO, of Morgan Creek Productions. Directed by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day," "Brooklyn's Finest"), the film will be shot on location in Los Angeles, New York, Georgia and Las Vegas and is currently being cast. (Deadline)

Public Enemy "Harder Than You Think"

New York rapper Ja Rule recently discussed his emphasis on respecting women with his upcoming Renaissance LP and making "grown-up" music. Click to learn more... Admitting the album is near completion, Rule discussed maturing with his music. "We in Miami doing it, putting the finishing touches on the [Renaissance] project," Rule said in an interview. "Finishing that up and we're getting started on [Pain Is Love 2]. Yeah, Pain Is Love 2. Yeah, it's about to go down. The Renaissance Project, it's got a real soulful vibe, a real music vibe. It's rider music. When you listen to the album, it'll put you in a different zone -- I dealt with the women on the album, you know, different than what you're used to. It's kind of like grown-up conversation. When you're young and you're making records towards the ladies, sometimes they can be rather derogatory. 'B*tch, h*e this, B*tch, that.' So you know, with some of the records on this album, they're more on an intellectual level when I'm talking to the ladies. It's more of a relationship that we've been in for a long time that we know how to talk to each other verbally..." (Rule York) After initially titling the album Venni Vetti Vecci 2, Rule explained his motivation behind killing a follow-up to his 1999 debut. "It's gonna be called The Renaissance Project," Rule told Mikey T The Movie Star, referring to his upcoming album. "I didn't scrap Venni Vetti Vecci 2. I still got a lot of songs from Venni Vetti Vecci 2 but I'm feeling like everybody's doing the sequel album and you know, I didn't want to keep the cliche sh*t going. I'm dropping. That's what they need to know. I'm coming heavy with records in the next few weeks. I'm about to start dropping some records. 'Man Down' is out right now. It's getting a lot of love, getting a lot of response from a lot of deejays and sh*t. But you know, we about to start dropping records heavy. The game is different, it changed a lot. I understand the game is about dropping music even if it's not good material. So [my record label] MPire's getting ready to drop a lot of material in the next few weeks." (Movie Star Status DVD) Rule broke the news on his latest album title in September. "I changed the name of my album from Venni Vetti Vecci 2010, first of all, Venni Vetti Vecci was my baby, that was my first album," Rule explained in an interview speaking on his 1999 debut. "You can never duplicate that era in time. That was my whole life's work in that album up until that time. And then number two, I went to Africa -- it took on a hold of me, when I was doing my album and the whole project, what I was going through right now, with the new beginning, I'm not with Murder Inc. anymore, but they're still the family. I'm on my own venture, so it was a sign of a new beginning, new ambitions, new everything. They built this statue out there, it's called The Renaissance and it's a statue of a man holding his baby on his shoulders with his wife in his arms, pointing to the heavens. To me, it just symbolized what I'm about right now and just the word -- fresh start, I said that's what I want to call my project, The Renaissance Project and it represents what I'm about..." (XXL Mag) Last spring, Rule updated fans on the status of his delayed project. "It's been a good ride, you know what I'm sayin'? It's been a wild ride, but it's been fun. With this album I feel like I've conquered all those little obstacles that I had to get around, and now I'm ready to get this product out to the world again...I worked with a lot of different producers on this album. Some new guys, some veterans. The album's put together really well. It just has an overall feel to it, the sound is vintage Ja Rule, but then it's different, I've been playing with this new sound that I've been trying to develop." (Dubcnn)

Well Eddy Curry hasn't played since he's out of shape and the other centers they traded aren't that good either, lack of size has been their problem but that's a problem most teams have these days, that's why there's only a few teams that're championship contenders, I see what you're saying, adding Carmelo and Chauncey probably clinched them going to the playoffs but without the quality big man they probably won't go too far

I remember a couple years ago when the Nuggets made the Western Conference Finals, Chauncey Billips was more of the MVP for them that year than Melo was, not to mention how he was clutch all those years for the Pistons, especially when they won it all in 2004, people don't give him that much credit but he's a key piece in this trade, now I think that the Knicks have a great chance to win a lot of games at the end of the regular season and make a run for the eastern conference finals if they end up with the right matchups, as a Bulls fan I wouldn't want to play them in the playoffs now...

Alicia Keys "If I Ain't Got You"

Mostly sports from ESPN and MSG Network like the NBA, College Hoops, NHL, NFL, MLB, there's no good hip hop music video show on these days so I watch music videos on my TV from DVDs that I have besides watching the videos on youtube like everyone on the computer does these days, among the current shows I like Two and a Half Men, House Of Payne, NCIS: Los Angeles, and the Cleveland Show, I like the classic shows like Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, Bernie Mac Show, The Cosby Show, Samford & Son, I've also been recently getting classic cartoons on DVD like the Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Underdog, and Tom & Jerry, I've been watching christian programs from Dr. Charles Stanley, Joel Osteen, and Creflo Dollar for inspiration, and I've been watching some of my favorite movies on dvd like Martin Lawrence classic comedies "Big Momma's House" and "Blue Streak", disney animated movies like "Toy Story" and "Up", and of course the Big Willie classics like "Bad Boys" and "Men In Black"

Yeah Grammies are wack, mainstream hip hop is dead at this point

J. Cole "Blow Up", "Friday Night Lights" is better than a lot of albums out: B.O.B. "Beast Mode", he spazzed out on this track:

There was a lot of quality rap out and popular in the mid-90s, that's why he didn't stay retired for long when he came out with "Big Willie Style" a year later, that quote could actually be more directed towards the rap game of today than back then, btw this a great interview, never saw it before, fresh prince dropping some knowledge...

yeah i have no problem when an artist goes against the grain and speaks their mind, i like the song too, lupe's one of the few in hip hop that i check for these days

Of course this song right here is a favorite on this board Will's "Tell Me Why" Featuring Mary J. Blige Nas Feat. Olu Dara "Bridging The Gap"

Well especially the second half of the 2000s decade like you mentioned the good stuff didn't get much recognition, I bet I could come up with a list of the 100 most slept on songs of the 2000s and they'd be better than most of what's mentioned here Here's a few of my favorites that weren't mentioned: Common "The People" LL Cool J "Ill Bomb"

KS's like Skillz 'cause he's written quite a bit of songs for popular rappers out there, he probably got more checks coming in from those hits than a lot of rappers get for putting out albums, and let's be clear when Jay-Z started promoting the wack rappers like Rick Ross over the great rappers like LL Cool J he lost a lot of respect from hip hop heads

Well obviously to say that they're being pimped and exploited is going too far but I don't agree that it's healthy for the Smith children at such a young age have to be in the spotlight, they should be given more time to work on their talents so that way when they're a lil' bit older they could be successful, in other words they should be spend more time having fun being kids rather than dealing with the pressures of the entertainment industry.... And I don't think that having Jay-Z work with Willow is a smart move either...

Happy B-Day!

Game put out another banging mixtape: "Purp & Patron", it's that ish!! http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/13064/the_game_purp_patron.html

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.1647/title.timeless-dj-premier-revisits-gang-starrs-step-in-the-arena

This song always brightens my day!

Yeah this has been all over the news, this is heartwarming and inspiring

Jaheim "Put That Woman First"

BeBe & CeCe Winans "Close To You"

Yeah as long as Nas does something I'm wit it: Rap veteran Nas has reflected on previously contemplating if he should hang up the microphone as a solo artist and only focus on collaborative projects. According to "QB's Finest", his recent studio time alongside reggae artist Damian Marley inspired his contemplation. "Sometimes, you can approach a record and can think, I got to take care of this person and I got to take care of that person, but you really got to take care of you," Nas explained in an interview. "I look at Michael Jackson, and before he passed away, I can only imagine the pressure he had to live up to for the next Moonwalk. And the reality is physically, he wasn't able to live up to that. I would have loved to see him come up with the next level, without even dancing, just using his creativity. It's all about evolving and that's what I want to do, evolve. I been so caught up into me and [Damian's] thing that I started to get used to it. Like, I didn't want to do the solo thing for a while. Me and D have just been doing our thing, reaching millions of people, but it's that time." (MTV) Last spring, Nas opened up about their Distant Relatives album's theme. "Reggae and hip-hop are cousins,'' he said in an interview. "Go back before the '90s and think about the music that was playing on the ghetto blasters and you'll hear it...The whole world is like family, split up all over the place. It's overdue, and I want to help build whatever we can [in Africa]. I've worked with a lot of reggae artists, like Sizzla and Supercat, but not until [2005's] Jamrock did I get a chance to work with Damian. I love his music and I'm a big fan of Bob Marley and the whole family. We haven't worked out any tour dates yet. But I'm sure Damian and I will do something soon." (Miami Herald) In 2009, Nas admitted to worrying over fans' reception of the LP. "I feel good about it," Nas said about the album and his legacy. "So I can't say how it's gonna affect my musical legacy. I just think that with everything I do, I want it to mean something. Like ['Tony Montana'] said, 'I tell the truth, even when I lie.' What he was sayin' is, he never lies. He's honest, even when he makes mistakes or misjudgements, he did it in truth. Everything I'm doing is because I feel right about it. The benefit of it [is] we contributed something to the world. Something like this...I don't know who's gonna like it, who's gonna hate it or whatever, but it's another contribution to the world. One more thing to just listen to." (Hip Hop DX) Upon its release last May, Distant Relatives debuted within the Top 5. Hip-Hop duo Nas and Damian Marley's Distant Relatives leads the way this week at No. 5 as Glee: The Music tops the chart with 135,800 sold albums. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the duo's new collaboration album has sold 57,500 records after a week in stores. (SOHH Sales Wrap)

A part of me is happy that rap is still popular but another part wishes it'd become underground until more talented rappers get popular 'cause all these wack rappers make it look like all rap fans have low IQs