You know, I live in a city full of cut throats, kunivas and serial haters. New Yitty, of course. Being subjected to so much rampant hate, there are times when I feel the distinct urge to let out some hate of my own. Honestly, I’m a closet hater, so I have a keen appreciation for some well executed hate. In steps ya boy, iHater. This kidd is seriously my hero. I know I preach all this positivity nonsense, but if you’re gonna hate, at least be good at it. This ninja right here, is GREAT! Now, I need yall to post your favorite hater story in the comments. I’m sure yall have some good ones…

Props to Kia via D Bills

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Aight, we’re back on our grind, we’ve been busy the past couple of months dealing with real life, but following in the footsteps of Shawn Lee, we bout to pick things up a little.

Let us introduce you to the future, D-Black. The Harlem born, Bronx bred emcee has been on his grind the past year and is now getting ready to offer you his first mixtape entitled “New Black City” due for a late July release. With production from the likes of Illmind (G-Unit/Sha Money Management), Khrysis (Justus League/Little Brother), and Mr. Porter (Aftermath), D-Black is in shape to bring the NY hip hop scene back to the forefront.

With his slick wordplay and vivid storytelling ability, D-Black is not your typical run of the mill emcee. People can definitely relate to his struggle and experiences. We’ve been workin non-stop in the studio to bring you this mixtape, but for now, heres the sampler. Click the cover and download it, make sure you spread the word. Let us know what you think and hit up D-Black’s myspace to show your support! PEACE

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DERRICK ROSE - Chicago Bulls

The Heat ain’t stupid, they took Michael Beasley with the #2 pick. Hopefully the Knicks don’t fcuk up AGAIN this year. I really hate to hate my own team so much.

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Cappadonna - Milk This Cow

The Pillage: Purchase | Download

First and foremost, lemme pause this particular selection (save your AYO’s J.U.). I can’t front, this is one of my favorite grind songs right here. Donna’s been one of my favorite “sleeper” emcees on the low. The whole unconventional / barely understandable Wu-slang flow has always been a favorite of mine. I’ve always been a Wu-head and I was secretly hoping that Donna would keep puttin out quality joints like his first album. Sure it wasn’t a monumental release but it wasn’t wack either. Sure, his sound is an acquired taste, but the beats on this album were pretty dope. Snatch it up and check it out. You know the deal: If u dig it, cop it. Help get the homie out the cab game.

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Eric Roberson - Couldn’t Hear Me

The Vault: Vol 1.5

Its funny how we hear what we wanna hear in our relationships. I used to be the first to complain about how women do that until I played myself and got semi-caught up too. Point is that we all go into relationships with certain expectations. Smart folks lay theirs out from the jump and DON’T ignore the signs that things might not work out between the two. of you. Others tend to throw a blind eye to the truth and try to make it work. My suggestion is that you take people for who they are and not who you want them to be. That’s the safest way to avoid pain and heartache. Trust me, it can happen to the worst of us.

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Paz

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Andre 3000 - Millenium

ATLiens

Classic Outkast joint. This record just oozes old soul wisdom, from  the thought-provoking verses down to the negro-spiritual hook, it just reaches down into my soul every time I hear it. This is the joint I play when I’m feelin down and out. The juxtaposition of the somber instrumental with the positive lyrics just gets me to thinkin’. Its like you can either sulk and whine about the things going wrong in your life or appreciate the things you have. I know it sounds cliche cuz it is, but its real. We all have those moments when we’re ready to give up all hope and there’s plenty of reason to feel like that these days. Recession, high ass gas prices, needless wars, natural disasters. But there’s plenty to fight for. Basically what i’m trying to say that although we may feel like we’ll never see the best in life, you gotta keep pushin. Ask anyone who’s tasted real success and is able to enjoy it - they all fought till the very end and as soon as they were about to give up, they got their break. Just stay focused on what you love and keep pushin yall. 1 luv…

Honorable mention

Big Boi : “now or never, lets stick together and overcome, but they don’t feel like marchin’ cuz they shoes is overrun, ain’t that a b*tch!” Sheeeeeit!

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Wale - The Perfect Plan

Download audio file (wale-theperfectplan.mp3)


Let me get straight to the point. Hip-Hop fans are fickle. There is no other artform or culture where the mass of their followers not only don’t due the knowledge and pay homage to the past but also don’t support their own future. The effects of this disloyalty are clear in the hip hop community today, where fickle beef and microwavable talent dominate the airwaves. Most folks believe that hip hop is dying when the fact is we’re simply not supporting our favorite artists and culture the way we should. Hip-Hop as we knew it can be revived, but we’ve got to change our collective mentality and put our money where our mouths are. With that said, I’ve devised a “perfect plan” to get hip hop back on track. Like to hear it, here it go…

FANS

Go to live shows: With contracts being what they are and downloading being so prevalent these days, there’s really only one true way to make sure that your favorite artist is gettin paid, go to their live shows. This is how most of your favorite artists like the Roots, earn their living. Although some brands of hip hop don’t always translate well on stage, live shows always help an artist out. Think about it, if their material is wack, they’re surely finna find out at a live show. Anywhere outside of hatin-ass New York, where there’s a crowd full of cross-armed rappers glaring at performers enviously, artists can get a real feel what the people like to hear. So on their next effort they’re more likely to step their game up. Besides, there’s nothing like the sound of crickets to make an artist second guess the “yessum baws” accolades they get from their yes-man entourage at the studio.

On Koch? then cop it! : Most artists on Koch have “fair” contracts, meaning they might actually get paid eventually if you buy their album. Most labels give you a huge advance which you have to recoup (pay back) first before you can make a dime. And you still only get a small fraction of that profit. I truly believe that Koch has the smartest business model of all of the labels out there. Cut out the big budgets and focus on distribution. It keeps artists grounded and makes good biz sense in terms of ROI (Return On Investment). Any biz savvy, B-level artist is a fool if they haven’t considered taking their work to Koch yet.

ARTISTS

Learn the biz : It pains me to hear aspiring acts clamoring to “get signed.” As if that is or has ever been a one way ticket out the hood. Seriously, that’s like a free man signing himself up for slavery. Little do most cats know that MOST artists never see the light of day once their signed and what’s worse is that its hell to get out of a contract and you’re pretty much guaranteed not to get your masters back. So think twice before signing on that dotted line.

LABELS

Develop your damn artists : First and foremost, let me state that I understand that we’re talking about the Business of music here. So I’m not naive enough not to acknowledge that downloads have severely cripled your ability to give talent time to develop. So again, fans, just realize the part you’re playing in being served wack music. HOWEVER, I still don’t feel like labels do enough to develop the talent they have. Contrary to popular belief, labels do actually sign talented artists. In fact, there are tons of great acts stuck on the shelf at major labels. I think that labels need to make a commitment to stepping up the quality of music they feed to the public. They maybe people will consider purchasing music again.

So there you have it, the somewhat perfect plan. Really all in all, this is just my wake up call to the industry and its fans. I think fans do want to support their favorite artists but until we start hearing some better music, bootleg blogging is here to stay. Big up to the homie Wale for the inspiration. Unoooooo

Wale - The Perfect Plan

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(c) Santogold - Creator

Santogold

Love this record. Its so out of the box yet still accessible. A lot of artists struggle to find that balance. They’re so creative that their sound ends up being esoteric to the point where only the music snobs claim to “get it.” You know them cats that rub their chin staring at a dot in the middle of a blank canvas like “hmmm”. N*gga please, I never wanna be THAT kinda “smart”. lol. Anyway, today’s message is simple. FCUK the rules. Step outside the box for a change and enjoy something new. This is just some good ass progressive music. If you don’t dig it, oh well, I tried. Can’t say I didn’t try to put you on to something new. For those that dig this and want some more of that flava, check out the homie DJ ARQ’s blog. Holla

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You know, normally I don’t post sh*t like this. I’m not a huge fan of the whole Smack DVD, flash-ya-guns for the feds bullsh*t but BooBoo is truly in rare form on this one. I’m watchin it on Nahright thinkin to myself, you know what, through all the greasy talk dude is dropping some knowledge. Yeah, its cool to do the knowledge and pay homage to the old heads, but at the end of the day there’s plenty of history (and money) to be made right now.  Just like Nas warned on his new joint with stic.man, you gotta watch who you associate with. Make sure you keep progressive-minded, go-getter types in your circle and you’ll be in a better position to succeed. Take heed…

Links and all that jacked from Nahright, and what?!…Sue me!

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