Outasight: From There To Here
I had the pleasure of meeting 6th Sense for the first time last week at SXSW. I ran into him in the street the first day, and then pretty much everyday after that. 6th blessed us with a dope Freestyle In The Park, and also introduced us to The Kid Daytona and Outasight. Coincidentally, he just wrapped up Outasight's album prequel, From There To Here. The project sets the course for his LP, From Here To Eternity...Grab the prequel below above the tracklist.
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Jerry Azumah: Off Field MVP Part 1
Jerry Azumah’s on the field accomplishments are well highlighted and quite impressive. He set NCAA I-AA rushing records as a running back at the University of New Hampshire, and won the Walter Payton award, the I-AA equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. After joining the Bears and making the switch to defensive back, Azumah’s rookie season ended with receiving the team’s Brian Piccolo award, handed out for character and merit rather than stats and speed. The Piccolo award distinguished Jerry as an athlete and a man with a strong sense of giving back and helping others.
“I’ve always been the type of person to give back,” Jerry said during an exclusive interview with RH. “I realize that throughout my journey of getting to the pros, being successful, and getting to the point I’m at right now, it happened with the help of a lot of different people. A lot of different things had to come together. There was always somebody that was reaching out, lending me a helping hand pretty much. So much help has been given to me that it’s almost fitting for me to give it back, sort of like passing the torch.”
Azumah has “passed the torch” by providing his alma mater with a new gymnasium and practice facility for student athletes, as well as his ASAP Foundation, a non-profit that provides assistance to under privileged students in the form of financial scholarships.
Jerry Azumah sat down with RubyHornet at Chicago's NV Penthouse Lounge to talk about ASAP and its upcoming Texas Hold’em fundraiser, as well as the work ethic that propelled him to the NFL, and his true passions of music and fashion. Check out part I below.
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Curren$y: "Star Power"
I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Curren$y this weekend at SXSW, a very good dude. I'm not sure if this acutally went down, but Curren$y told me about a very interesting project he was trying to undertake during his stay in Austin, in which he set up a recording studio in his hotel room and invited various artists to come through and lay a verse for a mixtape that he was trying to get out before Saturday night hit...I'm not sure the status of that, but I do know that this new joint recently hit the web. You can grab "Star Power" below as well as see some performance footage from the RubyHornet assisted Grand Ole Party (NR X TSS...powered by Hostway..gotta get that sponsorship in there). You can also look for a video interview and Freestyle In The Park (yes...it is alive and well) from Curren$y coming soon.
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RTC: The Coolest Jew (Blog #8)
I am the coolest Jew, at least I am the coolest Jew in the Chicago land area. I know what you're thinking...is this statement from some sort of poll and/or contest? Did the rabbinical association make some sort of decree, or was this title given to me by Adrian Brody, Adam Sandler, or Natalie Portman (three Jews universally recognized to hand out such a distinction)? Actually the answer is no. My statement is backed up by hard data, by sociologically tested reporting mechanisms, and my title is one bestowed upon me by the people, of different ethnicities and ages, and without any prompting, absolutely none whatsoever. In fact, this title, while I'll wear it as a badge of honor (not a piece of flare though) comes with a mixture of disappointment. Let me explain.
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RH Inspired By: Asher Roth
This past summer I had a great opportunity to interview suburbanite sensation, Asher Roth. At the time, he was the buzz on MySpace, highlighting himself as the realest thing from the ‘burbs through viral videos and playful lyrics. This career through MySpace eventually paid off, landing him in the hands of industry executive Scooter Braun. With the help of Scooter and a rhyme or two, Asher catapulted into the limelight when signing to SRC records and penning The Greenhouse Effect mixtape alongside Gangsta Grillz’ very own DJ Drama and Don Cannon. Now, since numerous co-signs from music heavyweights such as Akon and Cee-Lo, along with buzz from all corners of the internet, Asher Roth is slowly becoming the next budding star. His first single “I Love College” blasted into popular music by breaking into the iTunes Top 10 Songs list, and the awkwardly titled Asleep In the Bread Aisle is heading to stores on the national day of the sticky icky, April 20th. In the heat of this national and worldwide buzz, RubyHornet sat down with the flip-flop wearing and flip cup playing emcee to find out what the inspiration was behind “I Love College", as well as a yet to be debuted track, "His Dream". Check it out below.
RH Photos: Jadakiss Listening Session
The RubyHornet crew, and a lot of others in Chicago's Hip Hop inner circle descended on CRC for a Jadakiss listening session Monday night. Pugs Atomz, Mic Terror, Que Billah, even Kid Cudi Chingy, were all in the house to listen to new tunes and get Kiss' explanation of the songs. The night started out well, there was good music, good people, and hey, AB even brought his own brown paper bag...There was one problem though, I think they forgot to tell Jadakiss about the event, as he came in 15 minutes before it ended and didn't really do much. Honestly, the highlight of the night was getting to hear Pac Div's "Mayor" so many times. Regardless, Virgil Solis was on camera duty and snapped some very dope pics that you can check out below. Also check out our interview with Jadakiss right here.
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RH TV: Bighomie D.O.E. Freestyle In The Park
So, Freestyle In The Park's caught some flak in the new season..."These dudes aren't really freestyling...These dudes suck...etc..." Well, a couple points on that. When we say Freestyle In The Park, we mean it in the sense that artists can do whatever they want. In fact there have been films, books, essays on what exactly constitutes a "freestyle", and I'm not going to get into that here. Second, we can't make a rapper perform well, we merely given them the stage and let them show their stuff. Some do that much better than others...In reality, we've recognized a certain thing lacking in some of the recent FITP features, and we've come to correct all that with this one featuring Bighomie D.O.E. of The Brainiac Society. D.O.E.'s really took off after Mikkey Halsted's Internet On Lock event and hasn't slowed down since. Some of you may have never heard of him before, so allow this to serve as a proper introduction.
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Jadakiss: Better Business
"Hello!?!...Hello?!?"...Great, I thought, Jadakiss is giving me the brush off by pretending not to hear me, as the Yonkers born emcee continued his string of hello's before hanging up about seven minutes into our interview. Ehh-heh, I muttered to myself, and returned to my desk thinking of the various ways I could turn an unfinished interview into a full article. I had just got back to listening to the new Finale LP (A Pipe Dream And A Promise) when my Blackberry started vibrating with another 212 number. It was KI-double, who had called back to finished the interview.
"To be honest, out of the times I’ve been disconnected during interviews, maybe 1 of 5 or so call back and finish," I told him towards the end of our interview. "I understand the importance," he replied. "I know that the interview wasn’t finished. That’s like half-assed business. We were in the middle and you were asking me a question, that wouldn’t have been right to not finish that."
Doing things the right way is something Jadakiss has spent a lot of time on. His longevity as a Hip Hop artist, and mentions as a top emcee prove that's he's accomplished that feat musically, while the cluster f**k that was J. Hood as well as the Free The LOX campaign are also evidence of his struggles and imperfections. He puts his hat back in the Spike Lee ring in promotion of his new LP, Last Kiss, an album that was originally going to drop with the title, Kiss My Ass. The title was scrapped based on a business decision by Kiss, rather than label pressure, yet another indication of Jada's business practices.
In this exclusive interview, Jadakiss talks about the his new album, rap in the recession, work ethic and much more. Check out the full interview below.
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