RIP: The Notorious B.I.G. – March 9th; 14 years Later

Rest in Paradise shout the Legend from BK. The King of NY Forever. WATCH THE THRONE! Always Loved, Never Forgotten! Miss ya Big. Still the GOAT!
RIP to the Crook From The Brook

Music: Kanye West feat. Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz – “Power (Remix)”

This track right here is THEEE Truth. Kanye enlists his ‘Big Brother’ Jay-Z for the “Power” remix and does not disappoint…at all. Both kill the track…but ‘Ye’s last verse is crazy.

Music: Kanye West feat. Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz – “Power (Remix)”

See the lyrics after the jump

Jay-Z At Barclays Center Groundbreaking (Home of BK Nets)

Jay-Z participated in the official groundbreaking ceremony of the Barclays Center — the new home of the Brooklyn Nets. Bigwigs such as Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Rev. Al Sharpton also took part as well. Jay was accompanied by his wife Beyonce to the event and even gave a brief speech (@ 2:30 mark) where heeven gave a shout to the Notorious B.I.G. by quoting his phrase… check out the footage.

“What I stand here and represent is hope for Brooklyn, New York City. I’m a son of Brooklyn, I’m from Marcy projects.” Jay said. “I think about growing up in Brooklyn in the Marcy projects and shooting jump shots, thinking I can make it to the NBA. Now I stand here as an owner of team that’s coming back to Brooklyn. The pride in that, and bringing that dream so much closer for people, brings me so much pride I get a little nervous about it. But I’m very happy, very excited about this day. And we did it again Brooklyn — shout out to B.I.G.”

Hit the jump for pics of what the Barclays Center will look like

Video: Notorioous B.I.G.’s Performance At The 1995 Source Awards

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The Source has been holding out on us…Check out the footage of Biggie’s performance during the 1995 Source Awards that they’ve finally released. In the video see B.I.G. run through his hits and see cameos by by Bad Boy’s Craig Mack, Puff Daddy, Total, Junoir Mafia, Lil’ Kim & Faith Evans.

Classic!!!! RIP Frank White!!

Props: The Source

Time Magazine Puts Raekwon’s “OB4CL 2” On Top 10 Albums of 2009

TIME  magazine has placed Raekwon’s critically acclaimed album “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II” on it Top 10 Albums of 2009. That’s a really good look for Hip-Hop & HUGE for Rae. Rae’s opus was the only Hip-Hop entry on the list and Time ranked it #7. Props!!

The sequel to Raekwon’s much loved 1995 solo debut picks up as if no time has passed. He’s still rhyming about cocaine deals, hustlers and urban menace — which makes for an elevated degree of difficulty, since a song about the production of crack (“Pyrex Vision”) should be not only impotent in 2009, but deservedly so. The reason it works, like all of Cuban Linx, Pt 2, is that Raekwon is a poet of grime, a storyteller who understands that rap is less about an easy hook than the collision of carefully chosen words. He’s also a melancholic who prefers replaying the circumstances of growing up in hell (“All my life around drug niggas, villains who want millions/ Niggas with them hoodies on with Teks in the building”) to celebrating the trappings of success. With production from nearly every top name in hip-hop, it’s a spooky and sad monograph — not lovable, but quite powerful.

Raekwon reacts to the honor:
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Video: J. Cole & Wale Freestyle At Denny’s

Check out J. Cole & Wale making a “refuel” stop while out on the road during the ’09 BP3 tour:

While waiting for food in a Denny’s Restaurant in Champagne, IL, Wale and J.Cole spit a quick freestyle off the dome.

Props: J.CF

Video: Alchemist Vs. Just Blaze – Red Bull Battle 2009 (Full Footage)

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Although it’s a bit blurry, here the full footage of the Red Bull Battle 2009 ATL where ‘beatsmiths’ Alchemist takes on Just Blaze. Definitely a classic moment and worth the watch…blurry and all.

Spotted @ RR via TMD

DJ Stretch Armstrong Reminisces On The Unsigned Days Of Nas, Biggie, Jay-Z & More

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Folks over Gasface catch up with the legendary Stretch Armstrong and reminisce over them early 90’s ‘golden era’ days where the legends of Hip Hop were just unsigned hype looking to spit on  his famed college radio show with Bobbito…definitely got classic tapes off that.

Walking back from a shooting in Harlem, we bumped into Stretch Armstrong, right in front of WCKR (!)
That’s the station where he started -in 1990- what would later become the “Stretch and Bobbito Show”, which many consider the best show ever.
The guy NORE used to call “the albino ostrige” recalls a number of great moments and a greater number of (then) unsigned rappers who blazed the show : cats like Jay-Z, Eminem, Big Pun, ODB, Big L, Biggie, and also a 16 y.o kid in shorts named Nasir…

Props: NR via GF

R.I.P.: Jam Master Jay/Jason William Mizell (January 21, 1965 – October 30, 2002)

JMJ…pioneer, legend, loved. Nuff said.

RIP

Slaughterhouse Signing With Eminem’s Shady Label???

Wow! That would be a good look for all involved…If you saw the “Forever” video that featured Drake, Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne and Mr. Slim Shady you would have noticed that during the Eminem’s portion of the video the visuals showed the rap supergroup Slaughterhouse (Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz Crooked I & Royce da 5’9″) stand directly behind him throughout his verse (which was ILL…and the hottest on the track).  Well it would appear that the random appearance was a possible hint of future collaborations. Miss Info had the scoop and details about the potential partnership:

So here are the “rumors” that I’m hearing…

That Slaughterhouse appearance in “Forever,” was indeed a non-verbal announcement of the contract negotiations going on behind the scenes. For the past month, both sides have been working towards bringing the group to the Shady label. And that the gathering of Em and the guys at the shoot, is the first of more collaborations to come.

For now, Eminem is working on Relapse II, in Detroit. Joe is working on The Great Escape. Royce is preparing his Oct. release, StreetHop. Crooked I is working on an EP called Mr. Pig Face Weapon Waist (lol!). And Slaughterhouse will be on the road with TechN9ne for all of Oct and Nov. But fans all want to see Em plus Slaughter on a track (especially Em and Royce). Imagine the killer verse volleys!

Hopefully we’ll see some progress on this Shady/Slaughterhouse “rumor” in the next few months. It’s good for hiphop.

Props: Miss Info