A$AP Rocky & Skepta Release New Visuals
A$AP Rocky & Skepta team up on the split screen visual representing New York City & London for their song "Praise The Lord (Da Shine)." Following a similar vintage hazy feel of the previous video, "A$AP Forever." The combination of the quick transitions, A$AP's outfits, Tyler the Creator cameo, and the cool color tone creates another epic music video.
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A$AP Rocky Explores New Ground on Testing
A sample filled experimentation of sounds is described best by A$AP Rocky himself during an interview in January. "Basically, the point of this whole shit is just testing new sounds. Just new wavelengths. It’s more so the outcome of an experiment.." Testing explores new land for the Harlem rapper who decides to sing over rapping on tracks like Calldrops, which feature an incarcerated Kodak Black.
The addicting hook in F**k Sleep is made for the replay button.
"Fuck em, fuck sleep, come clean, zonin'
Can't forget that I'm golden, can't forget where I'm going
Fuck popo, police, enemies, fake homies
Can't forget that I'm a OG, better act like you know it"
Melodic and effortless, Rocky pulls off a new sound I hope to hear more of in the future.
Returning to his roots with Clams Casino on "Black Tux, White Collar", Rocky delivers his iconic pitched down voice before the final track plays. "Purity", next to "Changes", marks the most introspective side of Rocky we have seen to date. With the aid of an unforgettable Frank Ocean verse, Rocky speaks about drug addiction and his sisters death on the outro track of an album that is truly 'testing' new grounds.
[Trailer] DOPE
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DOPE was one of the biggest hits out of Sundance this year, receiving offers from at least six production companies (eventually receiving domestic and international distribution from Open Road Films and Sony, respectively). With a cast that features names like Zoe Kravitz, A$AP Rocky, Casey Veggies, Tyga, Vince Staples, Rick Fox, and more, DOPE was almost guaranteed to find distribution from the festival circuit. It also didn't hurt that Forest Whitaker, Pharrell, and Puff Daddy also had their hand in producing the film, as well.
However, names are one thing - what matters most is the actual film itself. If early reviews from Sundance are any indication, DOPE more than lives up to its celebrity-filled cast. Shameik Moore stars as Malcolm, a '90s hip hop geek and singer for a high school punk band. While the straight-A student is typically perceived as a geek at his Los Angeles high school, he finds himself attaining "dope" status after attending an underground party. However, at what lengths will he go to becoming dope, especially if some of those lengths ultimately change who he is?
DOPE will be in theaters on June 19th.
[Songs of the Day] 2/28/14 (Feat. A$AP Rocky, Wild Beasts & Chris Crack)
Photo by Andrew Zeiter
Friday is here at long last and we have another list of new music for you to check out before you head out for the night. Starting things off, we have another impressive track off the soundtrack to "Divergent" as A$AP Rocky teams up with Gesaffelstein for "In Distress". Boy In A Movie teased his upcoming album with the single, "Change You", Sizzy Rocket got to some admissions in "I Wanna Rob", Perfect Pussy, one of the more interesting names to comes across the radar recently, drop a rock-heavy single in "Interference Fits" and Wild Beasts' song "Wanderlust" gets a remix from The Field. Chris Crack also teamed up with TREE for the entertaining "Follies" and street reporter Giftz let loose a new one in "Movie". Check out all of the tracks, streaming below.
Track of the Day: Chris Crack: "Follie" (Feat. TREE)
A$AP Rocky: "In Distress" (Feat. Gesaffelstein)
Boy In A Movie: "Change You"
Sizzy Rocket: "I Wanna Rob"
Perfect Pussy: "Interference Fits"
Chris Crack: "Follies" (Feat. TREE)
Wild Beasts: "Wanderlust" (The Field Remix)
Giftz: "Movie"
[Video] A$AP Rocky: "Phoenix"
A$AP Rocky entered pop culture lexicon through a video ("Purple Swag"), so it's no earth-shattering revelation that the head honcho of the A$AP Mob is a bit careful when it comes to putting together his visuals. The recently released "Fashion Killa" video featured Rihanna in a film noir aesthetic and his latest video, this one for "Phoenix" off of LongLiveA$AP is directed by Francesco Carrozzini and has a guest spot from Omar himself, Michael K. Williams. The storyline features a domestic dispute between Williams and a female beau, played by supermodel Joan Smalls, with sparse shots of Rocky throughout. Rocky chooses his videos well, and this one is no flop. As he explained to MTV: “This tale of a Phoenix is it dies and is reborn in its own ashes. So metaphorically we wanted to manifest that into my video.”
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[Video] Vic Mensa, Bun B, A$AP Rocky Freestyle on MTV's Rapfix Live
If you haven't heard yet, Chicago's own Vic Mensa is killing the game lately. Having dropped his first solo project in three years, hit the road with J. Cole and Wale and spit a verse on BET, I'd say it's been a good year so far for the 19-year-old Save Money member. Never one to slow down, Mensa, hungry as ever, showed up to MTV's Rapfix eager to prove that his verse on BET's The Backroom was no fluke. What preceded was absolutely ridiculous as ever, with Mensa spitting bars for days to the point Sway literally had to stop him to go to commercial. Vic's got bars, folks and both Bun B and A$AP Rocky, two of rap's heavyweights seemed endlessly impressed. Please, do not sleep on Save Money, they just keep upping the bar. Watch the full video below.
Wanna see Vic live? Enter RubyHornet's contest to win tix to his show in Chicago 12/7! Details here!
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[Sunday Coffee Sipper] Reflecting on the BET Hip Hop Awards
On October 16 in Los Angeles, California Rap music's elite showed out for the annual BET Hip Hop Awards, commemorating the best of all things hip-hop in the past year. Kendrick Lamar cleaned up, hauling in five awards including best album and lyricist of the year while Jay-Z, Big Sean and the rest of hip-hop's governing body took turns patting each other on the back. For today's Sunday Coffee Sipper I break down the list of winners from several of the categories and decide who I would have picked from the very small group of nominees that were available for the awards, enjoy!
Best Hip-Hop Video: Drake "Started From The Bottom": I literally thought this was the most bogus video I had seen until Chief Keef's "Love No Thotties" premiered this week. Seriously though, you're not making it any easier to legitimize the "Started From The Bottom" mantra with the opening scene of a Toronto youth soccer game played in a bubble, or perhaps it's the perfect metaphor. The fake snow, all white everything convertible dance scene is just downright goofy, as is the Wal-Mart confetti-strewn dance party. Drake had a lot of dance parties at the bottom. Where is 'here' anyway? Could be anywhere. Ah, Drake, they'll love whatever you do.
Who Should Have Won: Kendrick Lamar – ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’
Reese’s Perfect Combo Award (Best Collabo, Duo or Group): A$AP Rocky f/ 2 Chainz, Drake & Kendrick Lamar "Problems": Of the nominations, this was an easy favorite for the best collaboration of the year. Featuring the top names in hip-hop today and a blistering verse from K Dot it stood head and shoulders above even Ace Hood and Future's summer banger "Bugatti" and J. Cole and Miguel's "Power Trip".
Best Live Performer: Jay-Z: Not sure about the nomination or the win on this one. Jay-Z is certainly a pillar of hip-hop, but there are plenty of better live acts around the country that could have vied for the title, even outside of the nominees. Granted, Jay-Z proved to be a step ahead of the competition in the crafting of a different live set idea with his "Picasso Baby" art installation, a wholly different take on hip-hop as an accepted artform. Regardless, I can't help but feel there was a better choice to be had.
Who Should Have Won: J. Cole/2 Chainz
Lyricist of the Year: Kendrick Lamar: They probably didn't need to announce this one. Between good kid, m.A.A.d. city, the much-talked about verse on Big Sean's "Control" and a host of outstanding features throughout the year, Kendrick cemented himself as the lyricist to match in 2013. The "Control" verse in general, in which he called out the other top names in the game, nestled Kendrick firmly in the upper echelon of hip-hop artists today.
Album of the Year: Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid m.a.a.d. City: Again, a fairly easy choice as the top rap album of 2013. Kendrick finally emerged from Section 80 to the big leagues with his chart-topping album that, as stated earlier, vaulted him from one of the new guys to the forefront of everything happening from here on out.
Producer of the Year: Mike Will Made It: It's hard to be too upset with this decision, Mike Will Made it had some of the year's biggest songs, using his enormous drum ensembles to shake the walls of clubs from coast to coast with songs like"No Lie" by 2 Chainz, "Bandz a Make Her Dance" by Juicy J, "Pour It Up" by Rihanna and "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus. They weren't the best songs of the year, but they topped the charts. I can't forgive him for allowing Cyrus to don a Michael Jordan jersey while twerking in their "23" collaboration, though. In comparison, Pharrell did songs with Jay-z, Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke and Daft Punk.
Who Should Have Won: Pharrell Williams
Track of the Year: "Started From The Bottom," produced by Mike Zombie and Noah "40" Shebib: Can't even lie about it, this song was not the best track of the year, by any means. Drake's attempt at convincing listeners that watched him as Jimmy on Degrassi that he, "started from the bottom" was ill-conceived and uninteresting. Sure, the beat and hook get stuck in your head, but is that all it takes to have a hot track? Of course, you catch more fish with a larger net and most of the nominees for each category were held to roughly the same six characters. That makes for a small net.
Who Should Have Won: ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ – Produced by Sounwave (Kendrick Lamar)
Best Mixtape: Big Sean, Detroit: This one just didn't make sense. In a category that included a host of independent artists including Chance The Rapper and Travi$ Scott, this would have been the perfect opportunity for BET to sway towards the up and coming, essentially the heart of hip-hop today. Instead, the crown for best mixtape was given to Big Sean's Detroit, making for an un-inspirational win for the G.O.O.D. Music star.
Who Should Have Won: Chance The Rapper: Acid Rap
Who New? Rookie of the Year: A$AP Ferg: This is deserved. Trap Lord was easily one of the hottest releases of a packed summer of new music and Ferg showed that the buzz surrounding him and his major debut release was no fluke. With co-signs from just about everyone in the game right now, the award was fitting. Tough competition here, too, with Earl Sweatshirt, Action Bronson and Joey Bada$$ rounding out the nominees.
MVP of the Year: Kendrick Lamar: Honestly, he could have taken most of the awards with the competition BET stacked up against Kendrick. More than anyone else, Lamar and his TDE crew have brought about a sound and a mentality that had been lacking in hip hop as of late. As he made it known on that fateful "Control" verse, this is now Kendrick's game, and everyone has to step up.
[RH Photos] Under The Influence Tour w/ A$AP Rocky and Wiz Khalifa in Austin
Photos by Virgil Solis
The Under The Influence Tour had a pretty impressive line up of some up and comers in the game, including the likes of Joey Badass, Smoke DZA, and Trinidad James, but it was B.o.B., A$AP Rocky, and Wiz Khalifa that would go ahead and close out the night. B.o.B. was the first of the three to take the stage and set the tone for the rest of the night. At the time of his performance, many had still not yet arrived as people were still continuing to fill up the venue. As he played through his set, more and more people started to get into the performance, and once his twerk team got on stage, the audience really go into it. He played some of this popular songs, but it was "Nothing on You" where the crowd got excited, and you could hear them recite every lyric throughout the venue. What I thought was pretty cool was when he stopped in the middle of his performance to take a big group picture of the crowd for his Instagram, which you can see here.
Next up would be A$AP Rocky, who I came to see since it had been a little over a year since I saw him perform live. He came out with a lot of energy during his set, and people were really pumped to see him, but it wasn't until A$AP brought out B Real from Cypress Hill when the crowd really flipped out. Together, they performed the cult classic "How I Could Just Kill A Man," and from there on, he had the entire venue in the palm of his hand. It was really cool to see B Real come out, and it was something that neither I or the crowd could have expected. I'm stoked I got to see the two on stage together. It was also dope to see A$AP come out with a live band and not simply just a DJ and a hype man; the band added to the whole experience. He ended the night with his more popular songs, like one of my favorites, "Peso," as well as "Goldie," and finally closed it out with "F**ckin' Problems." All in all, I really digged A$AP's performance, and I could tell the audience did too.
Last up was the headliner of the Tour, Wiz Khalifa, and you could just see by the look of the crowd that the majority of them were there to see him. I did see a lot of A$AP fans, but the Wiz fans clearly outnumbered them, judging from all the band tees. When Wiz took to the stage, the crowd really got into it, and it seemed the crowd got larger. Wiz really got into his performance from the get-go, and when he performed "The Thrill," the crowd was really behind him, reciting literally every word to the point where I couldn't even make out his voice. The same could be said when he came on stage for "Work Hard Play Hard," and for a lack of a better word, he did come out hard. Like A$AP before him, he also had a live band, and there's just something about listening to that track with real instruments that made it one of the better songs of the night. I give it up to Wiz - he put on a good performance and played for almost an hour and a half. One reason for it being that long, though, was that he had like three to four costume changes throughout his set. By the end of the night, Austin had a great night of music, and the Under The Influence Tour gave them their money's worth.
