[Video] Scoolboy Q, Vic Mensa & Vado on 'RapFix Live'
Wednesday might as well have been "Come Up Day" over at the MTV RapFix studios in New York City. I say that because Sway, wearing a SaveMoney sweatshirt nonetheless, found himself flanked by two of the most aggressively progressive artists in hip-hop today in Vic Mensa and Schoolboy Q who were also joined by Cam'ron protege, Vado. The four men chopped it up between the couches with Sway, touching on what's come, what's gone and what's on the horizon. Schoolboy Q, whose album, Oxymoron is about ready to explode from anticipation leading up to the February 25 release date, showed up looking like he stole a page out of Pharrell's style book with a full brimmed hat capping off an ensemble that included a full-length grey trench coat and pink 'TDE' sweatshirt. Anything goes I guess when you're the 'Hood Pope'. Vic joined Schoolboy on the couch, rocking a matching sweatshirt to Sway's and giving the pink 'TDE' piece a run for its...money? Anyway, check out the full episode, streaming below courtesy of MTV.
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[Songs of the Day] 2/19/14 (Feat. Schoolboy Q, Major Lazer, Hudson Mohawke & More)
Wednesdays tend to be a bit slow for new music on the web, but we scoured our way through everything ot find some gems that hit airwaves today. Schoolboy Q teased his highly-anticipated debut album Oxymoron with the lead single, "Blind Threats" featuring none other than 'The Chef' himself, Raekwon. The Legion of Dudez got together to spin a remix of their hit single "Diamond Girl" by Blakkass Westley and Chandler London, with fellow LOD member Cadillac Duke dropping a verse on the updated version. We got a solid song from newcomer Joyner Lucas in "That's Okay", Hurt Everybody, the duo of Supa Bwe and Carl dropped "God Shit" and Major Lazer continued to keep fans salivating with another cut from his upcoming album, this time reviving Sean Paul for a cameo spot. GXNXVS gave Sway Clarke II's "I Don't Need Much" a remix, Cosby Sweater, a production duo out of Indiana released "Your Girlfriend's a Stoner" and "Bound 2" producer Hudson Mohawke gave listeners a new track with Olivier Daysoul in "Forever I".
Track of the Day: Schoolboy Q: "Blind Threats" (Feat. Raekwon)
Schoolboy Q: “Blind THreats” (Feat. Raekwon)
Blakkass Westley & Chandler London: "Diamond Girl Remix" (Feat. Cadillac Duke)
Joyner Lucas: “That’s Okay”
Hurt Everybody: “God Shit”
Major Lazer: "Come On To Me" (Feat. Sean Paul)
Sway Clarke II: "I Don't Need Much" (GXNXVS Remix)
Cosby Sweater: "Your Girlfriend's A Stoner"
Hudson Mohawke & Olivier Daysoul: "Forever I"
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[Mixtape] Isaiah Rashad: "Cilvia"
Among one of the most talked about young artists in the game right now, TDE's latest signee, Isaiah Rashad, offered up his latest project, Cilvia today with a free stream on Spotify. The project comes as the hip-hop world anxiously awaits label-mate Schoolboy Q's upcoming Oxymoron project, and closely follows a disappointing Grammy Awards for TDE flagship artist Kendrick Lamar. Cilvia, which hit the net today, is the first full project we've heard from Rashad since joining the TDE imprint and continues to showcase the immense talent that the collective has been able to garner and develop over the past few years en route to being one of the premier labels in the game. The project has a healthy dose of fellow recent TDE appointee SZA, as well as a rousing performance from Chicago-bred newcomer Jean Deaux, who has quietly been establishing herself on the west coast. Jay Rock and Schoolboy also hop on the ride out track, "Shot You Down". With Ab-Soul also preparing his full-length, expect TDE to continue its hip-hop reign, on every level of the rap spectrum. Cilvia, streaming below.
[Songs of the Day] 2/5/14 (Feat. St. Vincent, Zedd, Kelela & More)
Maybe it was the heavy snow across the Midwest, but there was a big surge of quality jams hitting the 'net today, and we have them all wrapped up together as part of today's "Songs of the Day". We got the preview of a couple albums, as Chicago band Empires teased their upcoming LP, Orphan, with "How Good Does It Feel", evoking a sort of post-alternative/punk feel while Detroit's Black Milk dropped "Cold Day", itself a preview of his upcoming project, Glitches In The Break EP. The ever-talented Kelela proved she will continue to be someone to pay attention to in 2014 with her single drop of the song "The High" while remnants of both Ratatat and White Flight got together in Peru for the ever-entrancing track "Two Colors" by the duo, performing under the moniker Abuela. IAMSU! continued to keep listeners at bay for his upcoming project with his latest single, "Yesterday" and St. Vincent followed up her creepy, still video for "Digital Witness" with her latest single, "Prince Johnny". Grammy-nominated DJ Zedd got a remix of his track "Clarity" from ASPDR+ while DJ OHSO xo put together a mix of Schoolboy Q to act as a sort of unofficial prelude to his upcoming Oxymoron release.
We also saw a healthy dose of music come out of the center of the map in Chicago today, with one of my favorite young rhymesayers in Muddagoose, who showed her handle of the spoken word "Little Darling" with John Walt while Closed Sessions dropped a collaboration from Alex Wiley and Mick Jenkins in their track, "Forever".
Track of the Day: Abuela: "True Colors"
Empires: “How Good Does It Feel?”
Black Milk: “Cold Day”
Kelela: “The High”
Abuela: “True Colors”
IAMSU!: “Yesterday”
Muddagoose: “Little Darling” (Feat. John Walt)
Alex Wiley & Mick Jenkins: “Forever”
Zedd: “Clarity” (ASPDR+ Remix)
DJ OHSO xo: “Schoolboy Q ‘Oxymoron’ Prelude”
St. Vincent: “Prince Johnny”
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Schoolboy Q Helps Promote Launch of SoundCloud's New Visual Player
Popular online audio platform SoundCloud has released a new visual player that gives a complete makeover to the embedded player by now allowing artists' artwork to be displayed along with their music. Artists' artwork is important, and now it is front and center for everyone to see and SoundCloud also revamped its waveform to give users a better visual experience. The new player also offers a better listening experience, too, by offering continuous listening by suggesting related tracks when a song is paused or when it's finished playing.
The company has also enlisted the help of artists to promote the newly unveiled player ranging from The 1970 to Schoolboy Q. After raising $60 million of funding this could be just the beginning for SoundCloud. Check out a snippet of the new track “Gangsta” from Schoolboy Q's upcoming album and see what the new visual player is all about.
[Via TechCrunch]
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"Win Y'all Hearts Before I Win a Grammy": Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Grammy Wins
Well, it was what we thought it was. The 2014 Grammy Awards came and went, with the same frustration and disappointment that seems to follow the milestone award ceremony year-to-year. After a run-up to the show that included the judges for Hip-Hop suggesting that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis not be included in the rap category for their album, The Heist, which eventually stayed put, winning that and sweeping the rap category. A lot else happened at this year's Grammys, but this may have been the biggest robbery since Naughty By Nature's Poverty's Paradise beat out 2pac's Me Against The World in 1996, the first year the title was a part of the festivities. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis deserve a ton of credit, and they certainly received it last night, but The Heist was not the best rap album of the year by any stretch. To be fair, Kendrick's Good Kid, m.A.A.d City should have been last year's Rap Album of the Year, having been released in October of 2012, but nonetheless was the most powerful album on the list by far.
Last night Macklemore & Ryan Lewis very well may have realized both the best and possibly most damaging moment of their careers. A lot was written about 'white privilege' in hip-hop and the Grammys at large and the inevitability of the Seattle rapper walking away with the golden gramophone. To be fair, The Heist deserves accolades, but different ones. It is a huge independent success that has laid a road for artists like Chance The Rapper to keep from signing, and furthered the ability of an artist to create music creatively and find an outlet, but even he knew what would happen if the Grammy voters were as un-inventive as ever, choosing him for every award available. In an interview with The Source Macklemore said: "“We’re up against Kendrick, who made a phenomenal album. If we win a Grammy for Best Rap Album, hip-hop is going to be heated. In terms of [that category], I think it should go to Kendrick. He’s family. TDE is family, and I understand why hip-hop would feel like Kendrick got robbed [if he didn’t win]."
One thing is for sure; Kendrick got robbed. No one in the building or watching on TV last night can dispute that, but at least they got it wrong with the right guy. With a message behind his music that saw 33 gay marriages happen live onstage, Macklemore allowed an optimistic spirit in a year when we crept to the edge of the fiscal cliff several times while battling each other over petty social issues seemingly on the daily. The hip-hop game needed a breath of fresh air and got it in Kendrick Lamar, but the greater world needed a breath of fresh air from day-to-day life, and that's what Macklemore & Ryan Lewis provided. On his 2009 mixtape, The Kendrick Lamar EP, K Dot rhymes, "See y'all don't understand me/My plan B is to win y'all hearts before I win a Grammy." With those bars in mind, perhaps no one understands Kendrick's loss better than him.
Macklemore's text to Kendrick afterwards.
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Schoolboy Q Releases "Oxymoron" Cover Art + New Song
The anticipation for Schoolboy Q's latest release, Oxymoron, is starting to get out of hand. The project has had a lead time bested only by Dr. Dre's decade-long wait for Detox, and today the TDE-signee dropped the cover art for his debut studio project along with a fresh track, "Break The Bank," produced by The Alchemist. Oxymoron will receive a pair of covers, one for the deluxe edition and one for the regular buy. His daughter, Joy, who was also featured in the announcement for the project's release date, poses in an iconic Schoolboy bucket hat, complete with face tattoos while the other is a mugshot-like snap of Q. Check out the track below, the photo above and keep it locked to RH for the latest on Schoolboy's latest, dropping February 24.
[Video] Schoolboy Q: "Man of the Year"
Earlier this year, on the heels of close friend Kendrick Lamar being named GQ's "Man of the Year", fellow TDE-signee Schoolboy Q penned a song to celebrate the landmark moment in K Dot's career, thus the song sporting the same name as the title. An instant hit that has been smothered on radio play and blogs alike, Q today dropped the video for the track which seems to detail precisely what Schoolboy would do if he had the distinction. Oxymoron, the follow-up to Q's memorable 2012 release, Habits & Contradictions, is set to drop on February 2 and has been one of the most anticipated releases for well over a year or so now. Check out the latest from Schoolboy Q below.
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