Source: 5 Star Hip Hop
The world’s latest obsession has not affected T.I. who claims to be ‘old school’ and not a ‘computer guy’. SMH.
This type of stuff is really commonplace for this guy who just seems to be unstoppable this year and I think will best Koby in the Finals. Truly Amazin’
via Bit-Tech
Rockstar’s latest GTA game, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS has met with disappointing sales that are well below estimates according to investors. That’s even in face of the renewed interest in the platform thanks to the launch of the Nintendo DSi too.
While Rockstar and Take-Two originally reckoned that the game could sell around two million copies in the US in just the first year, those estimates have now been slashed to just 500,000 units according to GI.biz.
“Despite a strong critical reception, Take-Two’s GTA: Chinatown Wars sold a very disappointing 89,000 units in March, well below our more recent 200-250,000 estimate and far below the 400-450,000 we thought the title might sell upon its release,” wrote Doug Creutz of investor firm Cowan and Company.
Investors reckon though that the quality of the game is not the problem though, but the demographical issues surrounding the DS platform. Read more…
via BusinessInsider
Hulu is in the process of developing an app for Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and iPod touch, we have learned from a plugged-in industry executive. The app is coming soon (within a few months) and is “badass” — as excellent as Hulu’s Web site. Video will work over both wi-fi and 3G, we’re told.
It won’t be the first Web video app for the iPhone — CBS’s TV.com app is on the market, as are Joost, i.TV and several others — but it could be the best. Hulu’s tech and design teams have demonstrated themselves as the best in the Web video industry, as everyone is now trying to emulate them. One hurdle, we assume: Because of Hulu’s streaming architecture, it might not be possible to download videos to watch later, such as on the subway or an airplane.
Why would Apple and AT&T approve this app, which will use up a lot of bandwidth and compete with Apple’s iTunes video store? Because it will help sell iPhones, iPod touches, and AT&T subscriptions. And that’s the whole point of the App Store. (And if we were Hulu, we’d offer Apple and/or AT&T an ad revenue-sharing deal, too.)
Mobile video has not taken off yet, mainly because most services — offered by carriers — are too expensive, or look terrible. Just over 3% of mobile subscribers watch video on their phones, according to comScore. An iPhone Hulu app, on the other hand, could be very popular.
We have asked Hulu for comment and will update if we hear back.
via NY Times
Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent.
Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will collect DNA from detained immigrants — the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants.
The F.B.I., with a DNA database of 6.7 million profiles, expects to accelerate its growth rate from 80,000 new entries a year to 1.2 million by 2012 — a 17-fold increase. F.B.I. officials say they expect DNA processing backlogs — which now stand at more than 500,000 cases — to increase.
Law enforcement officials say that expanding the DNA databanks to include legally innocent people will help solve more violent crimes. They point out that DNA has helped convict thousands of criminals and has exonerated more than 200 wrongfully convicted people.
But criminal justice experts cite Fourth Amendment privacy concerns and worry that the nation is becoming a genetic surveillance society.
“DNA databases were built initially to deal with violent sexual crimes and homicides — a very limited number of crimes,” said Harry Levine, a professor of sociology at City University of New York who studies policing trends. “Over time more and more crimes of decreasing severity have been added to the database. Cops and prosecutors like it because it gives everybody more information and creates a new suspect pool.” Read more…
via Times Online
The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government. 
Among the steps taken to ready Israeli forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack.
Two nationwide civil defence drills will help to prepare the public for the retaliation that Israel could face.
“Israel wants to know that if its forces were given the green light they could strike at Iran in a matter of days, even hours. They are making preparations on every level for this eventuality. The message to Iran is that the threat is not just words,” one senior defence official told The Times.
Officials believe that Israel could be required to hit more than a dozen targets, including moving convoys. The sites include Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges produce enriched uranium; Esfahan, where 250 tonnes of gas is stored in tunnels; and Arak, where a heavy water reactor produces plutonium.
The distance from Israel to at least one of the sites is more than 870 miles, a distance that the Israeli force practised covering in a training exercise last year that involved F15 and F16 jets, helicopters and refuelling tankers. Read more…
via Bloomberg
April 18 (Bloomberg) — Latin American leaders railed against the U.S. during President Barack Obama’s first trip to the region, turning what was intended to mark a new direction in relations into a history lesson that chastised “Yankee troop” interventions and U.S.-dictated economic policies.
Obama arrived at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago yesterday promising to “listen and learn” from regional leaders. He got an earful.
In the weekend’s first speeches, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner voiced grievances on issues ranging from the U.S. drug war to American support for counterinsurgency movements of the 1980s. Both urged Obama to end the 47-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, the only country in the Americas excluded from the 34-nation summit.
“For many years, there have been traumatic relations,” Fernandez said. “I want you to know, Obama, that this is in no way a reproach against you. It’s simply an exercise to look back at what happened.”
Obama is trying to revive U.S. influence in Latin America that waned under President George W. Bush as the war on terror diverted attention to the Middle East and the region expanded economic and diplomatic ties with U.S. rivals such as Russia and China. Read more…
photos courtesy of RealTalkNY
OK, this thing is like 2 rounds over board. These dudes are inaugurating a new form of warfare via these cyber clips. Too much tough talking and not enough chalking if you ask me.
via Allhiphop
NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development have confirmed a partnership with the Hip-Hop Association (H2A) to launch the Hip-Hop Education (H2Ed) Center for Research, Evaluation, and Professional Development.
The H2Ed Center aims to ignite education reform by uniting national art programs and educational institutions for the purpose of the study and teaching of Hip-Hop culture.
Overseeing this endeavor will be a select advisory committee of educators, scholars, artists, and administrators who’ll form a reliable think tank to keep abreast of new developments and challenges within the culture.
The H2Ed Center will utilize the annual HHEAL (Hip-Hop Educates and Advances Lives) Festival as its signature showcase.
Last April, the festival conducted a 2 day seminar featuring panels and workshops on Hip-Hop’s viability as an instrument for social change and human rights. Read more…
Asher Roth- ASLEEP IN THE BREAD AISLE
CLICK [HERE] for AUDIO
OK, wanna see what all the hype is about, click on the link above and listen to Asher Roth‘s entire album before it drops on 4/20. Feel free to leave your opinions in the comment section.
KANYE- Wheely Shit (snippet)
CLICK [HERE] for AUDIO
L.A., Jay of whoever the exec is in charge up there at Def Jam/Rocafella needs to remind Ye’ that this is the flow that people love him for. When he’s making up those witty rhymes with that double bar sequence delivery, please get back to that and no mothaf*ckin’ autotune Mr. Gay Fish, thanks!
seen it @ nahright
We were fans of the first installment of Maino‘s webisodes over here at Street Knowledge. Let’s see if Executive Nick can pull the rabbit out the hat twice.
via XXL
Good timing. Prime Minister Pete Nice of late 80s/early 90s Def Jam outfit 3rd Bass with rhyme partner MC Serch recently spilled the beans to XXLMag.com that he is working on a documentary about white artists performing in the black music business.
Nice told XXL that the project, which he labeled a work in progress, is a “documentary on the back history and background on white MCs and whites performing in the black music genre.”
“The title is The White Negro, based on the Norman Mailer essay back in the day,” he added. “Obviously it’s a controversial subject but something that hasn’t been addressed at all.”
Although they haven’t stared to do any interviews for the film yet, Chris Meyers, one of the producers for the Farrelly Brothers (Dumb & Dumber) flicks, is “really interested.”
Nice couldn’t have picked a better time to work on his film. Eminem is prepping the release of his long awaited comeback album Relapse on May 19 and suburban sensation Asher Roth drops his highly anticipated debut, Asleep in the Bread Aisle this Monday (April 20). Read more…
via SOHH
Trick Daddy has reacted to Rick Ross’ “Valley of Death” record where the Miami “Boss” is heard referencing Trick’s battle with lupus.
Opting out of dissing Ross on a song, the rapper discussed the disease’s seriousness.
“Millions of people are stricken with lupus,” Trick said in an interview. “I have stayed out of the bullsh*t, I will continue to stay out of it. Ross had been with Slip-N-Slide Records as long as I have been with Slip-N-Slide Records. He’s known I’ve had lupus for 10 years. I was referred to my doctor by Ted Lucas who is the head of Slip-N-Slide Records. I would like to apologize to everyone suffering with lupus. I would like to apologize for the insults.” (MTV)
Ross raps that Trick is not telling the truth about his diagnosis.
“Caught a little case, buddy had a little cheddar,” Ross raps on “Valley of Death.” “Pled out to 15, poured his life in a letter/ Very first line he called Trick Daddy stupid/ Said he had AIDS telling people that it’s lupus/ Not the one just to jump to conclusions/ I’m getting money, small talk can be a nuisance.” (Rap Radar) Read more…
via CNN
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (CNN) — President Obama said Friday he is seeking “a new beginning” in U.S. relations with Cuba.
Before addressing the representatives of 34 countries at the Summit of the Americas, Obama and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez saw each other and shook hands.
“Every one of our nations has a right to follow its own path,” Obama told the assembly. “But we all have a responsibility to see that the people of the Americas have the ability to pursue their own dreams in democratic societies.
“Toward that end, the United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba.”
Obama arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Friday evening for the Summit of the Americas, a key meeting of hemispheric powers. Although it was not represented at the talks, the subject of Cuba dominated the president’s speech.
In prepared remarks, Obama said that “decades of mistrust” must be overcome, but noted that he has already loosened restrictions that limited Americans from traveling to visit relatives in Cuba and from sending money to them.
Obama lifted all restrictions Monday on the ability of individuals to visit relatives in Cuba, as well as to send them remittances. Read more…
This has got to be the year of the ‘gaffe’. Somebody is going to compile all the goofs and mishaps and make a television show or book and make a ton of cash.
via HuffPost
A reporter for Sportsnet, Canada’s version of ESPN, didn’t realize he was beaming out live when he said a dirty word to camera during a segment this week. He slipped up while discussing the Flames/Blackhawks game, but instead of continuing on he stopped, said “c**ksucker” and shook his head in a reproachful manner. Then said nothing.
via CNN
(CNN) — As Ashton Kutcher becomes the first to collect 1 million followers on Twitter and Oprah Winfrey sends out her first tweet, tech observers are debating: Does Friday mark a new peak for the microblogging service? Or the beginning of its demise?
Some bloggers and Twitter users have expressed concern that the once-cultish site is being overwhelmed by celebrities and media hype, while others are excited by Twitter’s ever-growing reach.
“It’s a big milestone. This brings Twitter mainstream,” said Andrew Cherwenka, a Huffington Post contributor and Web developer at Trapeze.com, referring to Kutcher and Winfrey’s Twitter breakthroughs.
“A lot of people are saying this is going to be the death of Twitter, and I don’t understand that at all,” Cherwenka added. “It’s just another stage in Twitter’s acceleration.”
“The challenge for Twitter — besides, of course, getting a business model in place to handle the infrastructure required to sustain this kind of growth — is going to be maintaining the fact that it’s the community at large, not the celebrity users, that’s at the core of this service,” said Caroline McCarthy, who writes a CNET News blog about social media. Read more…
via Telegraph UK
Experts believe the ruling could be the first step towards ending illegal downloading, which has cost music and film companies billions of dollars in lost revenue.
Founders Peter Sunde and Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, along with two other employees Fredrik Neij and Carl Lundström, were sentenced to a year in jail after being found guilty in a Swedish court of making 33 copyright-protected files accessible for illegal downloading on the website Piratebay.org.
The four were also ordered to pay $3.6 m (£2.4m) in damages to copyright holders, including Warner Brothers, MGM, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox Films, Sony and Universal, according to Swedish media reports.
In a Twitter posting before sentencing, Mr Sunde said: “Nothing will happen to TPB [the Pirate Bay], this is just theatre for the media.”
The Pirate Bay provides a forum for its estimated 22 million users to download content. The site has become the entertainment industry’s enemy No. 1 after successful court actions against file-swapping sites such as Grokster and Kazaa. Read more…
via Allhiphop
Hip-Hop entrepreneur P. Miller and son Romeo have joined with Walmart to give financial support to the community-centered Living Dream Telethon.
Founded by social activists Ladell Beamon and Percy Townes, the Living the Dream Telethon focuses on bringing mainstream awareness to the poverty, crime, and subpar education of Memphis’ inner-city children.
Through his various contacts in entertainment and corporate America, Beamon has highlighted this year’s main goal as addressing the rising, alarming numbers in violent deaths of youths involved with drugs and gangs.
P. Miller knows about these realities firsthand through his upbringing in New Orleans, and now seeks to heal troubled communities across the country. Read more…
via Street Level
Philly-based clothing brand UNDRCRWN got with Asher Roth, rap’s greatest, whitest hope since he who shall remain nameless to do three new tees inspired by his hit “I Love College” and appropriately, the movie Animal House. If your college experience is/was all about the bras and brews you need these tees in your life. The release coincides with the release of Roth’s debut album, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, on April 20th and will be available at the UNDRCRWN online store.
via HipHopDX
Kid Cudi, the rapper behind the hit song “Day N Nite” has finally found a label to call home. On April 15, it was announced that the Ohio-born rapper will be joining Universal Motown.
“Kid Cudi is at the vanguard of a game-changing new generation of artists,” Universal Motown President Sylvia Rhone explained in a statement. “He crosses musical boundaries with an appeal that goes beyond genre, format, race, language, and culture. Cudi lives easily in the Hip Hop, Indie Rock, Pop, and R&B worlds – a diversity that shows in his innovative music and his all-embracing persona. He is a born storyteller who brings a positive, life-affirming message to his brilliant lyrical flow and compelling music. There are no clichés in what Cudi does. He is a breath of fresh air – a dynamic and important new voice, not only in the next phase of Hip Hop, but as a groundbreaking trendsetter who represents the future. I am thrilled to welcome Kid Cudi into the Universal Motown family.”
Without the assistance of any major label, Kid Cudi has managed to begin a successful career. His song “Day N Nite” has managed to stay on the Billboard charts for an impressive 96 weeks, peaking at the number seven spot on the Pop 100 chart. The song is also a Top 5 download on iTunes.
Currently, Kid Cudi is working on wrapping up his debut album Man on the Moon: The Guardian. The album is expected to be released later summer 2009. Read more…
Seen this posted via Snoop’s Twittpic a few days ago now they got a story to accompany it, cool
via Allhiphop
Madame Tussauds has announced that Hip-Hop star Snoop Dogg will be the latest rap icon immortalized in wax.
Deceased rappers like Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. also have their own wax figures, but Snoop Dogg is the first living Hip-Hop star to be enshrined in one of Madame Tussauds’ world famous wax museums.
Snoop’s wax figure will be fittingly unveiled on April 20, or 4/20 and will feature clothing Snoop Dogg himself donated, including a baseball jacket from his Rich & Infamous clothing line.
According to rep’s for Snoop Dogg, the rapper’s handcrafted wax statue was created in Madame Tussauds’ London studios at a cost of $300,000.
Madame Tussaud’s wax museum has branches in Amsterdam, Berlin, Las Vegas, New York City, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Washington, D.C.
Each year, over 30 million visitors visit Madam Tussauds, which also has wax figures of musicians like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Elvis Presley, Shaquille O’Neal and many other famous figures.
I meant to throw this up yesterday but lost focus…know I like the man affectionately known as “L.A.” but I don’t dig how the victors get to rewrite history. It’s obvious Dame ruffled a few weather, especially over at Def Jam but for the execs to be attributing the success of Kanye West to Jay-Z when the people who were there know damn well it was Dash who was riding with the “Gay Fish” is an insult to history. He offers up some keen perspective on some other topics, so this clip is worth viewing to see how and why the game is in the state that it is…blame it on the musicmen!
via HipHopDX
Jim Jones [click to read] has taken his act to a stage, but not one we may have come to expect. Instead of a regular stage he normally performs on, he’s taken his act to the theater stage. He recently worked on Hip-Hop Monologues: Inside the Life and Mind of Jim Jones.
While many believed he went into this to pursue another avenue of expression, Jones admitted that it had nothing to do with artistry.
“I’m not one of the people who say I do things for the craft of it,” Jones said in an interview, according to Associated Press.
“Even though when I get on camera you think that (I’m) a crafty individual, but I’m all about the money and whatever it takes for me to get that money, I’m going to master that,” he said.
He also said he hopes other rappers can follow his lead into Broadway.
“I should hope I’ve created a new lane for rappers who are woody enough to complete a task like this to go into a whole other form of revenue,”he added.
The play was featured at New York’s 37 Arts Theater.
In related news, a free screening of This is Jim Jones, the documentary, will be shown this Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia.
Saturday, April 18th
Sound Shop
816 Oak Street
Atlanta, Ga 30310
2:00 PM
via SOHH
Hip-Hop mogul Jay-Z and a couple record label executives are being accused of not paying a $1,500 nightclub bill in New York City prompting the owner to consider pressing charges.
The incident reportedly took place earlier this year.
Jay-Z is said to have enjoyed a night out at the city’s M2 hotspot in Chelsea in February 2009 with Atlantic Records executive Michael Kyser and Universal Music Group boss Shawn Costner. M2 manager Dan Develin claims the group was handed a heavily discounted $1,500 bill at the end of the night but left without settling their tab. (Contact Music)
Develin claims the club has been trying to get the bill paid for over a period of weeks.
“Jay-Z ordered a bottle of Patron Platinum and some expensive champagne, and everything was going great,” he explained. “Jay-Z ended up tipping the waitress $500 and going outside to wait…Before we could get [Kyser] to sign the receipt, he left the club…Of course, we still have his card, so we called up his office, and his assistant told us someone would come by to sign. Weeks went by, and no one ever did. Finally, we got a call from AmEx and were told that Kyser was disputing the charge. When we called him up again, his assistant said, ‘Oh, Michael says he doesn’t actually remember being there’ — which is crazy because we have his card and photos of him and Jay-Z.” (New York Post) Read more…
I had an funny feeling this thing was far from over even with an apology issued by Foxx. So, the saga continues, and Billy Ray pointed to the herring in the room, the fact that Foxx has a young daughter himself. So, Billy Ray hits him below the belt and poses the predictable question…”How would he feel if I said these things about his daughter?”
This is truly Street Knowledge, using the medium of Hip Hop prose, better known as poetry to teach a read a story to a class full of children who seem eager to learn. Hats off to him.
via NY Times
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday made public detailed memos describing brutal interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency, as President Obama sought to reassure the agency that the C.I.A. operatives involved would not be prosecuted.
In dozens of pages of dispassionate legal prose, the methods approved by the Bush administration for extracting information from senior operatives of Al Qaeda are spelled out in careful detail — like keeping detainees awake for up to 11 straight days, placing them in a dark, cramped box or putting insects into the box to exploit their fears.
The interrogation methods were authorized beginning in 2002, and some were used as late as 2005 in the C.I.A.’s secret overseas prisons. The techniques were among the Bush administration’s most closely guarded secrets, and the documents released Thursday afternoon were the most comprehensive public accounting to date of the program.
Some senior Obama administration officials, including Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., have labeled one of the 14 approved techniques, waterboarding, illegal torture. The United States prosecuted some Japanese interrogators at war crimes trials after World War II for waterboarding and other methods detailed in the memos.
The release of the documents came after a bitter debate that divided the Obama administration, with the C.I.A. opposing the Justice Department’s proposal to air the details of the agency’s long-secret program. Fueling the urgency of the discussion was Thursday’s court deadline in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which had sued the government for the release of the Justice Department memos. Read more…
Yes this girl has definitely come along way from the Luda video with Chris Brown and here is the ad for the Louie Vuitton Don’s new sneakers that are probably twice as much as the recently released Air Yeezy‘s. Gotta admit that having two different shoes from the biggest brands in the world is truly “Amazing”. via Icedotcom
via RapRadar
Interview: Brian “B.Dot” Miller
This June, hip-hop icon Nas and reggae star, Damian Marley plan to release their collaborative album, Distant Relatives. Though the announcement came as a shock, their chemistry proved positive on the mash up, “Road to Zion.” In part one of Double R’s feature, Nas discusses their collision course, his fixation with the motherland, and why a collaborative album with AZ never materialized.
Doing an album with Damian Marley seems like a stretch. How did this even come about?
You know certain things, just happen because they was supposed to happen ’cause it was a good thing. And certain people you just gon’ meet. It could be a two minute conversation or a two hour conversation or it can be a relationship that starts because of two people meeting. I’ve known him for a while and he’s good people, man. And the energy of it and the flow of it is good money, man. Nothing else but pure fun.
Is this coming out on Def Jam?
Well, cause of me, Def Jam is involved. It’s Def Jam, the label Damian is on which is Republic and you have even also Tuff Gong, the Marley label.
So being that this is not coming through a major label, is there less pressure?
Yeah, ’cause it hasn’t been done only [for] a hip-hop artist and reggae [artists] to the level of my knowledge. Forgive me if I’m wrong. But, I think it hasn’t been done, so it has its own lane. If we had a radio hit, cool, but it’s like it has its own lane so it’s interesting to see what happens with the single. Does it remain among music people and they choose it? Or, does it become a top ten hit? Who knows, we don’t know. So, there is no pressure ’cause we don’t have to do the norm. We can do what we want.
Growing up in Queensbridge, did you listen to a lot of reggae?
I grew up, it definitely was in my mix. Early hip-hop to me is like reggae. From, what’s the kids called? Sound of a generation?
Musical Youth?
Yeah, them. To a few other records that were out when I was hearing early hip-hop, I was hearing early reggae at the same time. So, you know yeah, big time fan.
On your record, “Theif’s Theme” you named dropped Peter MacIntosh. Was he an influence?
Yeah man, “Legalize It!” He’s amazing. Just that whole thing, The Wailers. Like, Jamaica’s own Temptations or Supremes or what have you. But it was just that movement and the music that came out of that group is crazy. Read more…
Yeah do your research and you will understand why this came about. Better yet let Eskay tell it:
So Brian Pumper is the porn star that bears a striking resemblance to Lloyd Banks. You may recall that some pics of a Lloyd Banks looking dude engaged in some homosexual activity were circulating around the web a couple of years ago. Everybody assumed it was Pumper, but a couple of G-Unit enemies, including Ross, continued to fuel the urban legend that Banks used to do gay porn. In this clip Brian denies ever doing any gay scenes and suggests that Ross has to pay for sex. Which might not be entirely untrue. NSFW and best watched on mute.
Spotted at SmartenupNas
Russell gets all spiritual on us again with his observations of President Obama…peep his yogi logic.
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