Jay Rock Wins With New Video
Jay Rock has released the visual for his track "Win" and it just confirms that T.D.E. isn't going away any time soon. With adlibs from Kendrick Lamar throughout the song and cameo appearances from Isaiah Rashad, SZA, Ab-Soul and other Top Dawg heavy hitters Jay Rock proves that he is part of the upper tier of rappers.
The video is directed by Dave Meyers and Dave Free (of The Little Homies) who also directed the Humble video. "Win" is the first single off of Jay Rock's upcoming album Redemption, which will come out June 15th. Watch the video below.
[SXSW Journal] Day 3
Photo by Kristen Wrzesniewski
After a whirlwind Wednesday that had me crisscrossing the town chasing interviews left and right, Thursday took on a bit of a different tone. The festival continued on in the wake of the terrible accident that took the lives of two on Red River Street the night before as a car plowed through crowds to avoid a DUI check. With that in the back of their minds, festival-goers stormed the streets of Austin en masse. Seriously, en masse. The sheer number of people who made it out for either SXSW official and unofficial showcases, the iTunes Festival, the MTV Woodie Awards or one of the dozen parties taking place was pretty astounding. Deciding to experience a little more of what was happening everywhere, I hopped the ATX version of a Divvy bike and headed into town where I made my first stop at the Fader Fort for some much needed early cocktails and people watching. After awhile, I left to see what the Woodie Awards was all about since Austin Vesely was a strong favorite to capture his first major film award for ‘Best New Video’ for his work on Chance The Rapper’s “Everybody’s Something”. Before any of that could go down, or I can continue further with the story, I have to mention that the Woodie Awards really have no business being in Austin during SXSW. There is plenty to do and see without quite literally another festival being dropped right inside of it. But, Vic Mensa took the stage to screams as he opened with “Orange Soda” and moved into his up-tempo hit “Feel That”. I left there to head down to the Complex House where Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul took the stage to a packed house that seemed to know more of the words to their songs than they did. In the middle of the Schoolboy Q show, a fan got punched in the face, only to get called out by Q for not fighting back. “Don’t act like a bitch and let him fuck up your day! Do You!” Shouted the TDE rapper before launching into “Man of the Year” which popped the top off the party in a hurry. Scurrying out of there, I met up with a few local Chicago acts and stopped in the Columbia College AEMMP Hip-Hop Showcase which put on for the full breadth of the burgeoning scene in the city. Later that night, standing near where the accident happened a night before, a wall of people, shouting and walking with intense purpose began marching down Red River in a huge crowd. The crowd turned out to be none other than the A$AP Mob, with General Rocky leading the charge. It was weird, but I guess an interesting show of force. Thursday was slow, but Friday is going to be turnt, stay tuned for more and keep up with my experience at SXSW.
[Songs of the Day] 3/3/14 (Feat. Coldplay, Big K.R.I.T., Ab-Soul & More)
The weekend gave us a plethora of new tracks to sift through, and we got them all organized and ready to stream here as we get into another week of Songs of the Day. Starting things off is Smoke DZA who linked up with TDE's Ab-Soul for the dark track, "Hearses" and newcomer Sunni Colon continued an impressive run of singles in the lead up to his new project, this time dropping a demo of "Voyage/Light Years". Big K.R.I.T. offered his sentimental, thoughtful southern drawl on "New Agenda" with Rick Ross, who's Mastermind album leaked today, a day ahead of the scheduled March 4 date. Coldplay's "Midnight" got a remix from Marcus Schossow, Kevin Gates made a comeback of sorts with "Get Up On My Level", Lil Herb & Lil Bibby linked back up for a new song in "At Night" while fellow Chicagoan Chief Keef dropped a new one,"No Cashiers" as we wait on Bang 4, the unordered prelude to Bang 3. A$AP Ferg did his thing on Bobby Johnson's banger "OG Bobby Johnson", Mic Terror teased his show at the Hard Rock Chicago on March 7 with a new song "N.W.G." while Coldplay satisfied a large part of the population by releasing their latest single in "Magic". Check out all of these and more below.
Track of the Day: Coldplay: "Magic"
Smoke DZA: "Hearses" (Feat. Ab-Soul)
Sunni Colon: "Voyage/Light Years"
Big K.R.I.T.: "New Agenda" (Feat. Rick Ross)
Coldplay: "Midnight" (Marcus Schossow Remix)
Kevin Gates: "Get Up On My Level"
Lil Herb & Lil Bibby: "At Night"
Josh Sallee: "Notice"
Chief Keef: "No Cashiers"
A$AP Ferg: "Shit Y Not"
Mic Terror: "N.W.G."
Coldplay: "Magic"
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[Video] Schoolboy Q Performs Everywhere In Support of "Oxymoron"
If you haven't heard already, the second wave of TDE just crested and is currently flooding the country with smooth, introspective new-age west coast gangsta rap, courtesy of the bucket-hatted Schoolboy Q. As casual as one can be stepping into the bright lights at the top of the rap world, Q has handled it gracefully thus far, and has been on a marathon pace of performing as of late. The 27-year-old father made recent stops on Conan, where he performed "Studio" with BJ The Chicago Kid, at Arsenio Hall where he killed "Man of the Year" and then, the other night, in a parking lot outside a Hooters from the top of a tour bus with Mac Miller he did "Yay Yay" at a pop-up concert across the street from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. All that on top of the release of Oxymoron isn't bad for a week's work. The live backing band is on point in both late night show performances and the energy at the pop-up show is just an inkling of the power hold TDE has over the genre of hip-hop today. Schoolboy Q hits the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, MA on March 2 to kick off the "Oxymoron World Tour". Check out the videos below.
"Man of the Year" on Arsenio Hall
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"Studio" on Conan
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"Yay Yay" in a Hooters parking lot with Mac Miller
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[Album Stream] Schoolboy Q: "Oxymoron"
All the hype has finally led to this: the highly-anticipated and talked about major debut for Schoolboy Q. With the release of his album, Oxymoron, tomorrow, Q follows a tough act from fellow TDE-signee Kendrick Lamar who set the bar with 2012's Good Kid, m.A.A.d City. It's also the first substantial release we've had from him since 2011's lauded Habits & Contradictions. In the lead-up to the release, the L.A. native also dropped a visual for he song "Break The Bank" which features his four-year-old daughter Joy, who also helped him announce the release dates late last year. The soulful, piano-infused track sets the tone for that should prove to be one of the better hip-hop releases to reach the public in recent memory. Kendrick Lamar took over the rap game with his proper debut, it will be interesting to see if the public connects with Schoolboy Q the same way. Pick up the full project and listen to it streaming via iTunes
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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.
[Video] Isaiah Rashad: "Ronnie Drake"
In case you haven't noticed, TDE is a pretty big deal these days. The latest from Top Dawg Entertainment comes from the pair of recent signees, Isaiah Rashad and SZA. The newbies show they can certainly hold their own, proving why they were tapped by Kendrick, Schoolboy, Ab and Jay Rock to join the team. The video here is directed by Fredo Tovar and Scott Fleishman and eschews stereotypical hip-hop motifs for a more organic, grassroots approach that accentuates Rashad's lyrical ability.Keep an eye out for his upcoming release, Cilvia, due out soon and check the video out below.
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