Who’s got the Featuring Trinidad James playlist? TJ hops on another song with some fellow Georgia spitters. Travis Porter’s back! Are you excited? Keep it 100. HHNM x DJ SP

Hey America. Saigon uses his freedom of speech and weighs in on the world’s problems in this new provocative clip from his GSNT 2: Bread and Circuses. Direction by Peter Dmitriyev.

Good times in DC on Sunday night. Along with Miss Info and Karen Civil, I attended Russell Simmons’ second annual Hip Hop Inaugural Ball. Got to see a lot of MCs suited or tuxed out too. Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, Swizz Beatz, MC Lyte, and Doug E Fresh were among the many honorees for their service to the hip hop community and society. The event’s main sponsor, Heineken, who supports initiatives that empower consumers and inspires them to become more […]

Photos: Ravie B. Before I connected with Raekwon at Greenhouse last night, the wife @danamo put together an amazing birthday gathering with dear friends and music industry heavyweights. None bigger than Mr. Carter who blessed me with a toast. Powerful room. Warm emotions. Forever grateful. Thanks to all.

Guess it’s safe to say, Cruel Summer is the most polarizing release of the year. Ha! Shit, I enjoyed it especially the final iTunes mastered version. Yeah Kanye made us wait til the fall for this compilation and released most of the best records first (“Mercy”, “New God Flow”, “Don’t Like”, “Clique”) but there was still new tunes to enjoy. Who can resist Ye charmingly boasting alongside fellow Chi-town Hall Of Famer, R. Kelly on “To The World”? But the […]

Make no mistake, 2 Chainz gets by with a lil help from his friends on his Def Jam debut. Most notably Kanye West (“Birthday Song”) and the YMCMB familia (Lil Wayne on “Yuck”, Drake on “No Lie”, Nicki Minaj “I Luv Dem Strippers”). But although Tity Boi is well connected, my favorite moments on Based On A T.R.U. Story are when he elected to go for self. “Crack” is an essential head-nodder. “Dope Peddler” is punchy and playful and “I’m […]

You wanna be one of the illest MCs? Well go out there and prove it. On your own. Then get with 3 other ill MCs and prove it. On y’all own. Then maybe you’ll get signed by one of the greatest MCs. Eminem is all over Slaughterhouse’s Shady debut and he ain’t got no worries. After spitting alongside the crew on the title track, Marshall gets raunchy on “Throw That” and goes crazy on “Asylum”. But it’s Joe Budden, Royce […]

Kurtis Blow wrote the hook. Nas flipped it. And French Montana sold it. It’s an undisputed fact that Rick Ross’ Rich Forever single set hip-hop 2012 off and even ignited a beef with Drake and Common. Y’all know how we feel about Drizzy’s performance but Frenchie’s verse was also noteable since folks struggled to comprehend his opening bars. Fanute? “From the hoopty coupe to the ghost dawg.” I ride for Rozay and producer Beat Bully’s smash. Salute!

Eight long years. Eight long years. Released during his current incarceration for gun possession and tax evasion, PIL 2 was Ja Rule’s first album since 2004’s R.U.L.E. Damn, that’s hard to believe. Ja decided to stick to the old script and re-connect with producer Aurelius Seven who handled the entire project. Too bad this beatmaker has lost his touch. Even the somewhat enjoyable opener “Real Life Fantasty”, where Ja laments the loss of fellow Murder Inc. artists, sounds too choppy. […]

Diggy’s my nigga, I hate it had to be him. But Unexpected Arrival was dead on arrival. Run’s son showed great potential on his “Made You Look” debut but his first album fails to ignite. He stumbles out the gate on “Hello World”, loses our interest on “I Need To Know” and guest Jadakiss can’t save the painful “88.” Young Simmons asserts himself better on “Two Up” and “4 Letter Word” and even adds some singing in the mix. But […]