The sleeping king of Shaolin has made an uncanny return known lately through a number of mixtape appearances. With his latest release, Flashback Memories, the song revisits a reminiscent past for the gritty, mafioso story teller we all grew to admire in the 90’s. The momentous era which is now defined as “The golden age of Hip Hop” is far fetched from today’s contemporary rap music — where lyricism and storytelling were once key, they have now been replaced with the smoked mirrors of image and “club friendly” songs. Rae promises deliver as he did when he was apart of the New York City hip hop era that reigned supreme in the early 90’s. He’s made it clear that OB4CL2 will be keeping true to his roots and going back to what he normally does with no intent on dropping “club friendly” songs to garner commercial success. He refers to his production lineup as a “Gumbo of Heat” and rightfully so, with Hip Hop hall of famers Dr. Dre, Pete Rock, J Dilla and RZA on board, it would be hard to think otherwise. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2 coming this August 11th, 2009.
download here:
source: hypebeast

Deceased Wu Tang Clan rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard will be memorialized in an upcoming documentary and a series of tribute albums, all produced by his cousin Raison Allah. The first release, “All In Together Now Raw, A Tribute To Ol’ Dirty Bastard,” comes out in May, along with an accompanying DVD trailer for the documentary, “Dirty. One Word Can Change The World.” A new tribute album will be released every other month leading up to the release of the documentary in November.

“Years ago I promised to keep Dirty’s legacy alive, so we formed Zu Films and started filming a documentary which tells his life story. When word got out that we were working on a documentary, Wu fam started sending me so many tracks that we didn’t want to wait until the soundtrack to the DVD to put them out,” Allah said on a statement. “We decided to put out a tribute album every other month until the documentary, ‘Dirty. One Word Can Change The World,’ is released in November. Each tribute disc will include a short trailer to promote the upcoming DVD Documentary.”

“All In Together Now” is a ten-track disc executive-produced by Allah and features Wu Tang Clan’s The RZA and affiliates 4th Disciple, Brooklyn Zu, Allah, Masta Killah, Killah Army, Free Murder and other.

The “Dirty” film is also produced by Allah and will be released by his own Zu Films.

“Dirty,” which took three years to put together, features interviews from ODB’s family, musical collaborators and friends, including a 13-year-old girl who ODB saved from a car crash when she was a toddler. It also takes viewers through a journey of his old Brooklyn neighborhood and highlights some of the erratic rapper’s most famous public moments.

“For our family, Dirt is very much alive,” said Allah. “He was more than an entertainer, he was my blood and we miss him! I know the tribute album and documentary would have touched his heart.”

This song/video really defines who we are and what were about. We are that group of people that refuse to lose. The seed has been planted and we will be the ROSE that grew from the concrete! At the end of the day “I”‘m the only thing I’m afraid of”….

On a side note we probably wouldn’t be as passionate as we are if Kanye’s words weren’t so inspirational!! Nice work YEEZY!!!

XXL got down with this cover. Eminem looks like he’s once again ready to take on the world!

On April 4, iconic hip-hop group, Run-DMC, was officially inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. The star-studded gala also saw Little Anthony and the Imperials, Wanda Jackson, Metallica, Jeff Beck and Bobby Womack, inducted into the prestigious music Hall of Fame. Thousands of fans attended the event, including numerous celebrities like Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Bill Adler, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood, Justine Simmons and Eminem, who introduced the Run-DMC. via.

Photo: Lovekin/Getty

DJ Class & the one and only KANYE WEST make it happen on this one!

Next Saturday March 14th, Mexico City plays host to Mx Beat, one of the cities most well-received music festivals. N.E.R.D will be joining a roster that includes Vampire Weekend, Primal Scream and Girl Talk amongst other acts. In celebration of their appearance, not to mention being the only Ice Cream/BBC account in Latin America, Headquarter will be hosting a signing event featuring Pharrell Williams. The event will place between 3pm and 5pm on March 14th, 2009.

Headquarter
Colima 244 PA
Col Roma
Mexico DF

source: hypebeast

This is the beat for this weekend!!!!!

Slim Shaddy is BACK!

It’s official, Marshall is dropping not one, but two albums this year.

Here’s the full press release:

SANTA MONICA, CA – March 5, 2009 – Eminem, the biggest selling music artist of the decade, officially announced the street date of his eagerly awaited new album; his first original studio album in over four years. Relapse (Interscope/ Aftermath/Shady) will be released on May 19, 2009. The first single from the album and its accompanying video will see a simultaneous release on April 7th.

Anticipation for Relapse has been building since the fall, when Eminem first announced the album title and debuted the freestyle, “I’m Having A Relapse,” during an interview on his Shade 45 satellite radio station. Last month, the release of “Crack A Bottle” from Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent brought that anticipation to a head. The track soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Eminem’s second #1 after 2002’s “Lose Yourself”) and set a Nielsen SoundScan record for opening week download sales (418,000). The recording ranked third in the history of all weekly download sales. “Crack A Bottle” will be included as an album track on Relapse.