I SHALL RETURN....

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH.... NEW AND IMPROVED.... BELIEVE THAT....

WALE mix-tape dropping 2morrow!!!!!

With Wale’s new mixtape Back To The Feature set for release tomorrow (June 19), XXLMag.com chopped it up with the DC MC about the delay, as well as the collabo-heavy focus on the follow-up to his critically acclaimed Mixtape About Nothing.

“I kinda treat my mixtapes like albums in that I don’t rush ‘em out,” the XXL Freshman alumnus said in regards to the year-long wait for his latest tape.” “You don’t wanna oversaturate, for one. Two, at the same time, I’m working on my debut album, Attention Deficit—I put a lot of energy towards that—as well as a really intricate road show. So a lot of those things were happening and I had just signed my deal—I announced ‘Back To The Feature’ before I signed with Interscope.”

The tape features guest spots from a laundry list of lyricists, such as Bun B, Beanie Sigel, Young Chris, Talib Kweli, Royce Da 5’9, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, and Jean Grae. Some include Roc Nation and Allido affiliates but some collabos seemed to come out of left field. “In hip-hop, it’s like artists have a secret world—it’s like a club,” he explained. “There’s a lot of people that don’t like each other and they don’t make it public and it’s not no nobody’s business. There’s a lot of people who are cool with each other who don’t make it public because there’s no need.”

Yet, the rapper didn’t consider any of the high-profile collabos for his upcoming debut studio album. “We knew exactly what it was,” he said. “It ain’t overly thought out like The Mixtape About Nothing. It’s competitive—everybody’s trying to spit. We’re not going at each other or nothing. I texted Royce like, ‘Yo, send me this, but don’t kill me on this joint.’ So I know if I’ma do a record with Royce, I gotta come with it. Or when Joe Budden was in the studio with me, he was like, ‘Yeah, you had me, but I dropped this line so I might’ve got you.’”

“It’s just competition—it’s just what makes hip-hop good,” he continued. “And I think a lot of that went out the window. It ain’t nothing DJs can play in the club. It’s something the DJ wants to go home from the club and want to listen to in his whip just to hear good ol’-fashioned hip-hop music—a little bit of boom-bap, you know.”

Back To The Feature hits the web tomorrow (Friday), with a Twitter listening session hosted by the rapper @Wale. - Devin Chanda


(Courtesy of xxlmag.com)

Kanye West Directing video for Drake's "Best I ever had"

Toronto rookie of the year, Drake continues to keep his buzz going as he was recently in Brooklyn filming the video for his hit single, “Best I Ever Had.”

An inside source confirmed with XXLMag.com that Drizzy’s self-described biggest musical influence, Kanye West, is directing the clip. And the all-star cast doesn’t end there. Among cameos from mentor Lil Wayne, Common, Fabolous, Trey Songz and his Young Money crew mates, the video may also have an appearance from Jay-Z. Apparently Hov -who as previously reported, has already recorded material with the aspiring rapper - was on set during the shoot.

The video will have a Degrassi theme according to the inside source. Drake starred on the popular N series before pursuing his career in music. A rough draft for the video is expected to be finished in two weeks. – Elan Mancini

KOBE... THE GREAT?

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Where does Kobe Bryant rate among the modern superstar NBA champions? Here is a good place to start:

Michael Jordan -- 6 championships
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -- 6
Magic Johnson -- 5
Kobe Bryant -- 4
Tim Duncan -- 4
Shaquille O'Neal -- 4

Bryant may now be viewed as being on the same tier as Shaq, who was the dominant force in basketball and MVP of the Finals during all three of their championships together with the Lakers from 2000 through '02. The tension that ultimately divided them was created by both of them, but one of the obvious issues was mired in Bryant's ambition to fulfill himself. He wanted to become more than Shaq's "sidekick," as he referred to himself disparagingly in Phil Jackson's book on their final season together.

"From the standpoint of responding to the challenge," Bryant said Sunday, "from people saying I couldn't do it without him, [winning the title] feels good because you prove people wrong." But he chooses to focus more on what they accomplished, as opposed to the additional titles they might have won.

"I think people can look at the special teams that we had together," Bryant said after being named Finals MVP following the Lakers' Game 5 victory against the Magic. "It's probably the first 'dynamic duo' that had two alpha males on one team. We managed to make it work for three championships. For me, it's about the years that we had, but also enjoying the ones to come."

Bryant's achievement is unique. Not only has he won his titles in different eras seven years apart, but he also has grown into an entirely different player while developing leadership skills that seemed beyond him when he played with O'Neal.

Then there is the matter of Bryant's supporting cast. Jordan had Scottie Pippen for all six of his championships, and Magic was paired with Jabbar for all five titles with the Lakers. Duncan won with different rosters in San Antonio -- with David Robinson for the first and with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili for the latter three. And, of course, Shaq won as the inside complement to Dwyane Wade, who was MVP of the 2006 Finals with Miami.

The argument can be made that Bryant won this championship without a Hall of Fame teammate. Maybe Pau Gasol will earn that kind of standing eventually, but it was one short year ago -- following the Lakers' 39-point thrashing in Game 6 of the Finals at Boston -- that Los Angeles was denigrated for having no strong second star to complement Bryant.

Gasol became an All-Star for the Lakers while playing alongside Bryant for a full season, and he turned in a highly effective Finals defensively against Dwight Howard while managing 18.6 points on just 12 shots per game. The Lakers may win more titles as Gasol continues to grow into his new role and Andrew Bynum matures, the health of his knees permitting. At the moment, however, Bryant's victory is an example of how he has made the most of what he has around him.

"It was annoying," Bryant said of the incessant reminders that he hadn't -- and maybe couldn't -- win a championship without Shaq. "It was like Chinese water torture -- just keep dropping a drop of water on your temple. I would cringe every time.

"I was just like, It's a challenge I'm just going to have to accept because there's no way I'm going to argue it. You can rationalize it until you're blue in the face, but it's not going anywhere until you do something about it. I think we as a team answered the call because they understood the challenge that I had, and we all embraced it."

Bryant appeared to recognize his place in the game last summer during the Olympics, when his peers deferred to his leadership. He established the daily mood of the team -- whether this was to be a day of relaxation or of all business -- and the rest of the team followed his lead. When they needed scoring at the end of the gold medal game against Spain, it was Bryant who made the big plays down the stretch.

In a strange way -- strange for a player with multiple rings, an MVP award and hundreds of millions in earnings -- the Olympics supplied the positive feedback he had long sought but rarely received. In his early years with the Lakers, he grated against his secondary role on the team, and even when he tried to "play the right way," the results were mixed and he was criticized as often as not for his decision-making. But last summer in Beijing he turned the corner, and the years of adapting to Phil Jackson's teachings paid off all at once.

"He's grown up," said L.A. guard Derek Fisher, who was a fellow Lakers rookie with Bryant 13 years ago. "He's doing everything that we could ever ask him to do in terms of leading the team and performance on the court, during the games, in practice and trying to be the type of guy that guys will follow, as opposed to just dominating performances by himself and then expecting everyone to catch up to him. He's really done an unbelievable job getting everybody to believe and buy into what we were trying to do this year.''

Bryant's leadership became obvious in February, when Bynum suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury during a difficult Eastern trip that included games at Boston and Cleveland. Bryant took it upon himself to drive the Lakers to wins against the Celtics and Cavaliers while also throwing in a Madison Square Garden-record 61 points against the Knicks. Clearly he was not going to allow the injury to Bynum dissuade his team from its mission.

All of these leadership achievements have raised him to peer status with the best players of the last 30 years. While this was not a dominant Lakers team, the upside of young teammates such as Bynum and Trevor Ariza (as well as the continued improvement of Gasol, who proved reliable in the post against the stronger Howard) gives Bryant hope of winning a fifth title -- which would equal the achievement of his childhood idol, Magic Johnson, and leave him one ring short of Jordan's six. For a former league MVP who will enter next season at age 31, those goals may remain within reach.

Mos Def interview Snippet from XXL.com

I fucks with Dante... but he says some off the wall shit at times!...

XXL: How do you feel about Obama being in office? Do you feel like he has the potential to change?
Mos Def: We still gotta see. I mean, I’m glad. In a world where image is everything, in a country where image is everything, it’s nice that the perceived boss looks like people in my family. That’s got very positive effect. Very positive effect. But we’ll see. I’ll watch. I’m watching. I’m just watching.

Where were you when he got elected?
I was in Stockholm with Nas and De La [Soul], we were at work.

You guys were together?
Yeah, it was a weird moment ’cause… it was fresh. We were eating McDonalds. It was like this weird super American moment. We were like in this real swanked out club in Sweden. It was after the show and Nas was there and De La was there. We was hungry and didn’t have no food so we went out to McDonalds and brought it back. Some African people there, they started crying.

Did you cry?
Nah, I was just like, “okay.”

I was balling. I guess nobody knows—you don’t know why you’re crying?


Emotions, yeah yeah yeah.

This is who you believe

Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Music Fest!!!!

Big tour this summer, Soulja Boy, Young Jeezy, Drake, and LiL Wayne. Here are some of the details, courtesy of MTVnews.com



As we reported earlier this month, Lil Wayne is going back on the road this summer, and he'll be joined by Young Jeezy, Soulja Boy Tell'em and Drake. The outing was officially announced on Monday morning (June 15) and dubbed Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Music Festival. The tour starts July 27 at the Toyota Pavilion at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and ends on August 23 in Dallas.



According to the tour's reps, Weezy will headline, after Jeezy, Soulja Boy and Drake go on in front of him. All parties are currently working on new LPs. Lil Wayne's Rebirth is due in August, while Jeezy's Thug Motivation 103, Soulja Boy's The DeAndre Way and Drake's Thank Me Later do not have dates yet; Drake has not even signed with a label yet.

Over the weekend, Drake talked with MTV News about the tour. "It's definitely moving along well," he said. "I think it will be an exciting night for each city that we go to. You got two young guys [and] two guys that have been killing the game for a minute, so I think it will be a dope tour."

»7/27 Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion
»7/29 Saratoga, NY @ Performing Arts Center
»7/30 Pittsburgh, PA @ Post Gazette Pavilion
»7/31 Philadelphia @ Susquehanna Bank Center
»8/1 Wantagh, NY @ Jones Beach Theater
»8/2 Virginia Beach @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
»8/4 Toronto @ Molson Amphitheater
»8/5 Montreal @ Bell Centre
»8/6 Cleveland @ Blossom Pavilion
»8/7 Washington, D.C. @ Nissan Pavilion
»8/8 Raleigh, NC @ Walnut Creek Amphitheater
»8/9 Atlanta @ Lakewood Amphitheater
»8/8 Raleigh, NC @ Walnut Creek Amphitheater
»8/12 Phoenix @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
»8/13 Los Angeles @ TBD
»8/14 Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
»8/15 Concord, CA @ Sleep Train Pavilion
»8/17 Vancouver @ GM Place
»8/18 Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
»8/20 Denver @ Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
»8/22 Houston @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
»8/23 Dallas @ Superpages.com Center

"I GOT NEXT" YounG FRee

When I first thought of doing a blog site on music, fashion, entertainment, etc... I thought what would make this site more unique than all of the other hip-hop sites in this world? I am a frequent visitor on these other hip-hop sites in this world, and I never see anything on artists on the "Come up". I listen to mainstream music,and I listen to a lot of Indie artists waiting on their next big break! So why not give these artists some "Love", and let you get a chance to know who they are!!! so, here is our first annual "I GOT NEXT" featuring North Carolina Hip-Hop artist YounG FRee. (Pictured above...Editors note- "I dig the Che shirt...)

MindLess Souls- Where does the name come from? There are so many artists with the "young" attached to their name...

Young Free- Well, Thank you for the opportunity(laughs). The Free comes from my middle name, my Grand-parents raised me, and they were in the Nation Of Islam when I was coming up. So Free, was short for Farid, which is a very common Islamic/Arabic name, and it means unique. A lot of my cousins would call me "FREED" or "Free", and Free sounds so much cooler to me. My family still calls me Freed, go figure. The Young is from being compared to Jay-Z a lot early on. I was a Stan, that I will admit. I used to listen to Hov shit every single day, and get the ad-libs down, the breathing techniques, everything. And Jay would say Young alot, and my friends would always call me young, because they knew how much I liked Jay, and I combined the two.

Mindless Souls- I've Heard several songs from you since we first met. And though you are from the South, your music is definitely not.... Southern. Explain?

Young Free- I don't know. I'm not really into Southern hip-hop to tell you the truth. I mean, I rocked with the Southern shit when it first popped off, wit No-Limit, and Cash Money, OutKast, and all of the other Southern Pioneers. But as far as modern Southern Hip-hop, I can't relate to it. I don't feel like i'm not Soutern, I just don't speak on the same shit they do. I don't do the trap music, or any of that. I respect they grind, and they movement, but it's not what I do, so therefore I can't relate. I did see your post, about the new issue of XXL ( Editors Note: I did a post a few weeks back, where I said Hip-Hop was officially dead with XXL putting Oj Da Juiceman, GUCCI Mane, Soulja Boy, and Shawty Lo on it's cover. I still stand by that!) and I see why people would feel that way. Outside of a few artists, southern music is missing the substance. If you look at acts like Little Brother, they bring that, but not to the proper acclaim. I think I aim to have the substance, but at the same time do the kind of music that can be played on the radio. I don't want to be just another lyrical underground artist. I think I don't sound southern from what I came up on. I listened to a lot of East Coast Music, and it has stuck with me.

Mindless Souls- What makes you different than any other rappers trying to make it into the music industry?

Young Free- I think you just answered it. I don't consider myself a rapper, in any way, shape, or form. I feel like I am an artist, that happens to do hip-hop and rap. I write melodies, and hooks, and bridges to go along with those melodies and hooks. I hope for my music to be able to speak for itself at some point of my career. I want to do good Music. I want to definitive Music.

Mindless Souls- Put on for your city? (Laughs)

Young Free- Not at all. Put on for myself! (laugh) I mean, I love Raleigh North Carolina, but the atmosphere here is at an all-time low. The energy is gone! These people act as if they know nothing about good music anymore, I think the melting pot that we were onced acclaimed for has gone away. I hope to restore it at some point.

Mindless Souls- WOW...

Young Free- I'm just being honest fam. There are so many talented artist where I live. We deserve the opportunity to share our music with the world.

Mindless Souls- Do you have any projects coming out?

Young Free- I do. Young Revolution inc has a mix-tape coming out titled "Paid Progrtamming". It's our whole babel, as well as some guest spots from some local artists I rock with. I am also releasing "The Best things in Life are...FRee" will be out in October.

Mindless Souls- Well we dig your music, your movement, and we hope you have a properous future in the music industry.

Young Free- Thank you, and likewise with your site. I really dig this shit a lot.

You can hear Young Free's Music at www.myspace.com/youngfree, follow him on twitter at www.twitter.com/youngrevolution, and you can visit his blog site at www.youngrevolutioninc.blogspot.com.