An exploration into the underlying fundamental functions, structures, and principles of rap.
Wasalu Jaco, professionally known as Lupe Fiasco, is a Chicago-born, Grammy award-winning American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and community advocate. Rising to fame in 2006, following the success of his debut album Food & Liquor, Lupe has released eight acclaimed studio albums, his latest being Drill Music In Zion, released in June 2022. His efforts to propagate conscious material garnered recognition as a Henry Crown Fellow, and he is a recipient of an MLK Visiting Professorship at MIT for the 2022/2023 academic year.
In this clip, Smokey Robinson looks back on writing two of his biggest hits, “My Guy” and “My Girl,” for Mary Wells and The Temptations. From there, he explains the competitive nature of Motown Records during the label’s heyday and the way in which the vocalists had to compete to earn the right to sing the hit songs he wrote. Moving along, he talks about writing his first song with the legendary David Ruffin and earning a $1,000 bonus from Barry Gordy for penning his greatest hit. Lastly, he discusses the historical relevance of “My Girl” before calling the song his “International Anthem.”
According to reports, rapper Flo Rida was awarded $82 million in court on Wednesday in his lawsuit against Celsius Energy Drink.
Flo Rida sued the company over money and stock options that were never paid as part of his endorsement deal. Per Forbes, “over $27 million of the damages represent 250,000 shares in Celsius the rapper said he was owed by the company.” What’s more, the jury found that Celsius not only breached their 2014 contract with Flo Rida, but also took action to fraudulently conceal the breach.
“He’s entitled to 500,000 shares of stock via the contract, and entitled to 250,000 shares of stock if certain things happen—one of those yardsticks is that a certain number of units of products need to be sold, but unfortunately the contract doesn’t specify which type of unit—is it a box, is it a drink? And there’s no timeframe or deadline,” Flo Rida’s lawyer John Uustal told Insider.
In this clip, Smokey Robinson detailed his upbringing in Detroit where he lived in a packed house. Smokey spoke about being one of 11 kids in the house, most of whom were his nieces and nephews who, due to closeness in age, were more like his siblings. Smokey also discussed his father’s journey out of Selma, Alabama into Detroit after stabbing a white kid who bullied him for years and fleeing town at only 12 years old.
In this clip, Desiigner addressed speaking about late rapper Goonew’s controversial funeral, where his body was propped up to look like he was performing. At the time, Desiigner told TMZ that if that’s what Goonew wanted for his funeral and his family carried it out, that was the right thing to do. Desiigner explained that it was done in love, and he added that he saw Goonew’s mother’s vision for the funeral. To hear more, including Desiigner reacting to the Outlawz saying that they smoked 2Pac’s ashes, hit the above clip.
In this clip, Mase’s contract situation with Fivio Foreign prompts a discussion between DJ Akademiks and DJ Vlad about recording contracts and how certain musicians are better off remaining independent. DJ Akademiks states that artists should “own your sh*t and invest in yourself,” while DJ Vlad agrees by adding that artists signed to record labels have a 90% failure rate. As the conversation moves along, DJ Akademiks shares some advice that he once received from a record executive about signing artists before talking about budging for artists and recouping money from investments related to recording artists.
In this clip, Desiigner reflects back on being recruited by numerous record labels and being offered several multi-million dollar contracts. From there, the 25-year-old talks about receiving a phone call from Kanye West about using “Panda” for his album called “The Life of Pablo” and signing with his G.O.O.D. music imprint. He goes on talk about how good it felt to give back to the Brooklyn housing projects where he was raised.
He loosened us with his wine, and pot brands, now Snoop Dogg hits us with his own wholegrain breakfast.
Snoopy turns cereal killer with Snoop Loopz, a boxed brekky that will drop at grocery stores through his Broadus Foods business.
Think gluten-free Froot Loops, with “more corn, more flavor and more marshmallows,” enthuses hip-hop entrepreneur Master P, who unveiled Snoop’s new snack food via his socials — accompanied with a cut of “Still A G Thang.”
Founded by Calvin Broadus (aka Snoop Dogg), Broadus Foods already boasts a range of Mama Snoop’s breakfast products, including cereal, oatmeal, grits, pancake mix and syrup, and supports charitable organizations, including Door of Hope.
In this full-length interview, Illmind shares his thoughts on winning two Grammy awards, the depths of his music catalog moving to Brooklyn about 12 years ago, and the way in which J Dilla inspired his style as a music producer. From there, the 41-year-old reflects back on working with 50 Cent and G-Unit for the first time before sharing what it was like to work with Lin Manuel on the soundtrack for “Moana” and the “Hamilton Mixtape.” As the discussion moves along, the New Jersey native shares his thoughts on why Kanye West chose to boycott the Grammys this year. Lastly, Ill Mind talks about working with heavy hitters such as Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, and Beyonce.
Illmind came through for his first-ever VladTV interview, where he spoke about growing up in New Jersey, but having a strong connection to New York. He then spoke about J Dilla inspiring him to become a producer, and Illmind revealed that he copied J Dilla’s beats to learn how to make them and start producing. Moving along, Illmind opened up about 50 Cent’s “Make a Movie Out of Em” being the break-out song that he worked on, and he added that “The Morning” on GOOD Music’s “Cruel Summer” was another turning point in his career. After speaking about working with Little Brother, Illmind detailed getting a production management deal with G-Unit as 50 Cent was on top of his career. To hear more, including Illmind speaking about working with 50 Cent in the studio, hit the above clip.
In this clip, Illmind reflects back on signing a publishing deal that he should not have signed back in 2010. The iconic record producer states that the he signed the contract out of desperation because he needed the money. He also shares that anyone who intends on signing a publishing deal should get a lawyer first. From there, the New Jersey native reveals that he used to sell hip-hop beats for $25-50 before sharing that he now charges $50,000 per beat. This prompts Shirley Ju to ask the record producer how the track that he created for “The Morning” landed on the radar of Kanye West. To that, Illmind details the events leading up to the epic collaboration for the “Cruel Summer” compilation album and the doors that opened for him in the music industry afterwards. The 41-year-old then shares his feelings on Kanye West, the artist/producer before explaining why he looks up to him so much as a creator. Moving along, Illmind talks about being on one the first music producers to release his own brand of sound packs (back in 2012) for musicians to use with their production software. Lastly, Illmind gives the origin story for how he earned his stage name.
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