Waka didn’t choose the title of his album overnight. Mr. Flame tells MTV, that it was Tupac’s alias Makaveli, which inspired him to hit the books and read up on philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli. Philosophy, good. “Tupac introduced me to the [writing] of Machiavelli. That’s why I made that. I can’t just, ‘Oh, Tupac did that, so I’m gonna do that too.’ If people read, they would love that man. That man is a mind-game genius. I read the Machiavelli war-tactic books, his biography, […]

This is one “clap” you need to get familiar with. During Pharoahe’s trip to London, he stopped by Kiss 100′s Hip Hop Show on Sunday and premiered a new track off his upcoming W.A.R. LP. Below he explains the concept behind it. “That song is like a year and some change in the making – not that it took me a year to write it, but I found the beat on tour in Australia. I started writing over it after […]

[vodpod id=Video.4603805&w=425&h=350&fv=] Busy day for Drake today. He’s currently headlining Kodak’s “So Kodak” campaign concert in NY. But earlier, Drizzy stopped by Hot 97 to chop it up with Angie after his interview with CBS News’ Katie Couric.

Chess anyone? Last weekend, Twista and Shallah shot the visual for their recent scorcher in the A. No ID & Legendary Traxster on the track. The Perfect Storm arrives November 9th, but until the video drops—make your move. fsd

You’ve heard this live last week, but now, get your mind right with N.E.R.D.’s latest track produced by Daft Punk. Nothing in stores November 2. yk2 via nqm

Seems like everyone’s got a chip on their shoulder these days. Here’s Jada and Styles’ take on Kanye’s track. Not appalled at this whatsoever. uhtn

Lupe gave the keynote address this past Saturday at The Second Regional Academic and Cultural Collaborative in Dayton, OH. During his speech, he spoke out against Atlantic Records offering him a 360 deal and the delay of his long-awaited album, Lasers. Next Friday, fans plan to protest outside the label demanding the project’s release. lupeend

Nipsey Hussle surpassed 58,00o followers on Twitter today. So to commemorate the milestone, he released this new track over Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y’s roll bounce off How Fly. It’s the planes, fool!

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This time around, Banks trades the fatigues for some finer threads on his new album cover. HFM2 drops November 23rd. hhnm via yaf