February 2009

<!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; &lt;![endif]--> The internet might be the strongest tool in the world at this point. It can, obviously, be used for a variety of things – including getting famous. But if that kind of technology seems a bit beyond your grasp, you can follow the Kevin Federline model to attain the heights of stardom. Firstly, you’ll need to become a dancer. That’s right gentleman, go get those leggings ready and you’ll be on the way to fame. Next, you need to knock up a rich, but rather naïve pop star and pull her down into the hillbilly hell that she sought to escape through whoring herself out in music videos. Then, take her money. Almost done. Read more

<!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; &lt;![endif]--> The landscape of rap is ever shifting, but perhaps at no other time in the musics history did it undergo as many changes as it did during the nineties. As a teenager rap became moody and despondent, believing in only itself as a manner in which to communicate with society at large. But it also turned on itself. And throughout the decade, countless artists were cut down in their prime for nothing more than a trifling disagreement.

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<!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; &lt;![endif]--> On the ever expanding list of entrepreneurs that call hip hop home, the man that refers to himself as Hired Gun needs to be reckoned with. Over the past decade, this New Jersey bred Brooklynite has worked with countless groups in different genres and doesn’t seem to be slowing. In fact, Hired Gun has begun to disseminate his ideas – as well as those that he respects – via his Fresh Roots label. Read more

<!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; &lt;![endif]--> It would simply be unfair to say that Lewis Parker is a RZA disciple. The two seem to have the same respect for dirty and dusty drum beats coupled with vintage soul samples. And though, those tendencies are a part of a huge number of many producers’ repertoires, the fact that Parker worked on Ghostface Killah’s fifth album, Fishscale only serves to further this comparison. Read more