| UGHH News: January, 2007 |  |  | Found: 27
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| Little Brother Drops 9th Wonder / Preps Free Mix CD | 1/29/07 |
|  | By: Trees
It's been known for the last few months that 9th Wonder was only going to get possibly one or two beats on the latest Little Brother LP, Get Back. Rumors of bad blood have been rampant in the industry for months, but Pooh recently cleared up any speculation of beef and added a little bit of insight into the situation in a recent interview with HipHopGame.com. "Little Brother has decided, in the best interest of the group, for Little Brother and 9th Wonder to part ways. There are no hard feelings and no beef. This is just a decision that had to be made so all three of us could move forward and continue to provide the world with dope music". Pooh also stated that the LB's are now free of their Atlantic Deal and have permanently left the label and he wants everyone to know- they were NOT dropped. "First, I want to say that Little Brother has not been dropped from Atlantic. We asked to be released," stated, Little Brother's Manager Big Dho, "I think we may just put the album out on Asylum to close our deal, but it's definitely a wrap for us at Atlantic. We weren't happy with how things were going and we decided we wanted to leave and on their end, they decided that they didn't want to deal with that either." Fans shouldn't worry about the label drama tying up any new LB material from hitting the streets soon. Mick Boogie has wrapped up a new LB mix tape And Justus For All, and it will be available for a FREE DOWNLOAD on Feb 13th (Rest assured UGHH.com will hook you up with the link when it becomes available).
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| The Dance Rants About Kweli, Hip Hop Fans, Life, The Toyota Matrix.. etc. | 1/29/07 |
|  | By: The Dance
Talib Kweli's rollercoaster ride of hip hop credibility has just seen another free fall. Kweli has recorded two songs about the Toyota Matrix, one of which will be featured in a commercial for the car. You can see a behind-the-scenes video documenting the creation of the songs here; it's mostly just shots of him getting in and out of a Toyota Matrix and putting CDs into the car's stereo, but it's captivating nonetheless. Now, any UGHH staffer will tell you that I support the merging of art and commerce; (A-Ronious thinks I am going to hell because I could care less how much money Puffy makes every time he sticks his tongue out and limps in a circle like a drunken amputee), However, I am unsure how I feel about Kweli's latest hijinks. This is a guy who put out two classic albums by most hip hop heads standards (Blackstar and Reflection Eternal), then came with a hot solo debut Quality), which smelled like a field of fresh roses compared to the stale Frito and ball sweat stink that was the Beautiful Struggle, next he bashed his fans online and continued to release sub par songs, and subsequently lost support from almost all hip hop fan bases. But then, he teamed up with Madlib and released some dope music in the form of Liberation, which regained all of those downtrodden fans who kept saying how Mos was the best part of Blackstar only to realize that he recorded himself making bowel movements for three weeks and named it True Magic; we should have known something was up when Mos took time off from his burgeoning acting career to NOT pick any album artwork or write any liner notes for his album, claiming that the lack of packaging would only emphasize the strength of the music. Anyway, I forgot what my point was, but I'm quite sure that writing a song specifically for the Toyota Matrix, which gets superb gas mileage by the way, will incite the "sell out" war cries of naive hip hop fans across the globe who think that hip hop can be used as a weapon against poverty/crime/war/capitalism/Boba Fett, etc. I guess if I had to pick a side I would support Kweli in his decision to feed his family, even if pimple-faced Ugly Duckling fans who still live with their parents may have a moral problem with me saying that and him using music to peddle automobiles.
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| Another Free Album On Stones Throw | 1/26/07 |
|  | By: Trees
Another Stones Throw & [adult swim] collab, and another album of all-new material. Artists include Guilty Simpson, Percee P, Four Tet, Dabrye, Aloe Blacc, Roc C and Oh No. Chrome Children Vol. 2 will be a free download on stonesthrow.com for a month starting January 29. In other Stones Throw news, Stones Throw Podcast #17, "Thank You Jay Dee, Act 2" by J.Rocc will launch online in early February. There are also several tributes to J Dilla being planned in London, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other cities to be annouced. All will listed on stonesthrow.com and the J Dilla Myspace. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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|  | By: Trees
Though Chris Lowe is a producer extraordinaire from Connecticut by way of Chicago who has been in the entertainment business for over 15-years (a true example of longevity in the Hiphop community), he's only recently begun to garnish the accolades he's deserved; including being named one of Urb Magazine's "Hot 100" artists in 2004. While Chris maybe best known for his early, ground-breaking work with Stezo, he's mostly noted as a "break beat king", Chris and Dooley-O were also the first to discover the famed "Skull Snaps" break beat, using it for Stezo's now fabled "It's Your Turn". He is widely considered to be in the same class as Large Professor, Pete Rock, and DJ Premier, Chris Lowe combines the aesthetics of his early 90's production prowess with the crisper tactics of today, melding an LP of Funk and Soul Sampling sensibilities with the up-jump crunch of the future. In 2007, Chris Lowe returns to follow-up his critically-acclaimed debut, with its sequel, Black Life II (The Next Thing Smokin'), which will be released by Nature Sounds on 4-17-06 and is entirely produced by Chris and features no guest appearances!! Breaks and beats aside, Black Life II is simply The Rap Life as it harkens back to Hiphop's glory age! Classically timed, lushly-produced and ripe with the ingredients that made so many of Chris Lowe's past collaborations the integral pieces of Hiphop history they are today. Check for it. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Who The Hell Are The Snowgoons? | 1/26/07 |
|  | By: Trees
The roots of the Snowgoons are earthed in the late 90s. Det, a German producer linked up with DJ Illegal to form a two man production duo. They started producing tracks for German hip hop groups, as well as American up-and-comers. As time progressed, and their rep grew bigger the duo decided to expand the operation a little and added two more members to the squad in 2006, Torben and DJ Waxwork. While each member has a distinctive style to their sound, cohesively they are second to none. Having just inked a deal with Babygrande, the collective are now ready to attack the American hip hop scene with force. Their new LP, German Lugers is set to drop 2/27. The upcoming album features a veritable who's who of today's underground elite: Sean Price, Living Legends, Jus Allah, Chief Kamachi, Rasco, Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers, O.C.,Wordsworth, Reef The Lost Cauze, MED, Virtuoso, Last Emperor, Doujah Raze, Born Unique, Celph Titled, Majik Most, Edo G, J. Sands, Baby Blak, Craig G, Breez Evahflowin', Pumpkinhead of Brooklyn Academy & many more. To peep the lead-off single from the crew, "Never" feat. Reef The Lost Cauze, please click here. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Madlib Collabo's W/ Badu And Other News From The Bombshelter | 1/26/07 |
|  | By: Trees
What's up with Madlib? A phone message from Madlib was left on the Stones Throw msg board a few days back stating: "In the studio with Badu ... she's working on one track right now. It's going to be a tribute to Dilla." In other Madlib news, his free downloadable collabo LP with Kweli, Liberation continues to receive attention with a review this week in Rolling Stone. One Madlib production from Liberation and another with Norah Jones will appear on Talib Kweli's upcoming album Eardrum. Madlib is also compiling a new album of new material he has been working on by Yesterdays New Quintet, Sound Directions, The Joe McDuphrey Experience, Kamala Walker & the Tribe, The Electro Accoustic Space Jazz Ensamble, Young Jazz Rebels, The Otis Jackson Experimental Trio, and other yet-unheard creations. The album will be called "Yesterdays Universe" and it will be released in Spring. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Jeremy Fish Contracted For All Of Aesop Rock's Album Artwork | 1/26/07 |
|  | By: Trees
Taken from Aesop's MySpace Page: "Jeremy Fish will be doing all the art and layout for the new record. So far it's crazy. While nothing is finished yet, the packaging is most likely gonna be more image heavy than text heavy. No book. Just some cool shit to look at so maybe a few people won't just throw away the packaging once the cd is on their computers." | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Friends Of Disco D remember His Spirit. | 1/26/07 |
|  | By: Trees
Chamillionaire issued this statement regarding Disco D on his MySpace page:
"A couple days ago he hit me on the myspace email and I replied back and told him that Lil' Wayne was gonna spit on the track that he submitted for my album. He was excited and happy that his track was gonna make my album… Lil' Wayne kept it all the way real and recorded his verse real quick so I had to call Birdman to get the clearance to use Wayne's verse on the album. I spoke wit Baby and he was lettin' me know that everything was all good and that he would make sure everything went smoothly, so I was like good lookin' out and then we ended the conversation like that. Right after I hang up the phone I get an email on my sidekick sayin Disco D the producer of the track committed suicide today, like right after I hung up wit' Baby The whole day before I found out about that news I was getting' 2 way messages and back and forth comments between his lawyer and mine. The usual negotiation process, life is crazy and I'm not even talkin' about the fact that he was a young hungry and talented producer or the fact that he produced a dope track for me it's that you never know what someone else is goin' through sometimes. I woulda guessed he was excited about the future, but instead he took his own life, ya never know mayne. Makes you just sit back and think about things in a different light. I hope he's restin' in heavenly peace."
Disco's Friend DJ Warrior issued this statement:
"Disco D was a very good and personal friend of mine outside of business. He was one of the realest and most genuine people I have met in this music industry. He was going to be on my album. It's just so sad all the things he was going through in his life. We just started business together last summer. I just spoke to him 3 nights ago he was at his mom's in DC. The financial problems he had with people in the music business and people were not paying him for his tracks, it's sad that we lost another genuine person for nothing. Talented people like that are hard to come by. I am shocked and lost."
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| James Brown's Family Releases Tribute Tracks | 1/26/07 |
|  | By: Trees
One month after the unexpected passing of the Godfather of Soul James Brown, his sister and business executive, Ms. Fannie Brown-Burford, accompanied by Brown's musical family held a press conference at the Gat-3 Studios in Charlotte, NC yesterday (1/25/07) to present The Original Bands of the Godfather of Soul and a special farewell track, "Godfather of Soul, We Loved You So" featuring the Famous Flames, the James Brown Revue better known as the JBs and the Soul Generals. Prior to Brown's passing, he was quite concerned with the path of today's music and the decline of social responsibility to the youth. He expressed, quite often, and wanted the hip hop generations to know that this is Judgment Day. He understood clearly from his own musical career and, in general, the universality of music being the pathway to the uplift of humanity. What permeated his mind in his last days was to "change the music and save the kids." In carrying out the wishes of Mr. Brown, Ms. Brown-Burford with the Original JBs recorded Its Judgment Day, Save the Kids and a Stop the Killing Series, which Mr. Brown, mentions in his last recording to be released at the press conference. In the track, Mr. Brown stated, "Hey rappers, its Judgment Day! We got to save the kids, music, is the only way (uh) save them (uh)!"
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|  | By: The Dance
Disco D (AKA David Shayman), up-and-coming hip hop producer, committed suicide early in the day on January 23rd, he was 27 years old. Disco D was best known for "Ski Mask Way", a song he produced for 50 Cent on 2005's The Massacre; he also produced tracks for Trick Daddy, AZ, Lil' Scrappy, and Nina Sky. No specific information surrounding Shayman's suicide is available, but he was bipolar and suffered from depression. From all of us at UGHH, our thoughts go out to Disco D's family and friends. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Styles P: I'm Not A Rapper Anymore, I'm an MC | 1/23/07 |
|  | By: Trees
After lukewarm sales of his latest album, Time Is Money, D-Block's Styles P has officially left Ruff Ryders/ Interscope, however in an interview with MTV he was quick to point out that the LOX are still signed to Ruff Ryders as group. Styles expressed disdain for the label that delayed his LP several times over a three year period only to finally drop the project without support of a video or proper single upon it's release in late 2006. Styles explained the split was amicable and he is currently fielding offers from several major and independent labels and is ready to immediately drop another album in 2007. "I guess it's hard to market me," he said. "I may rap one way one day and make 'I'm Black,' then another way another day and make 'Favorite Drug.' I had to spread my wings and do what I do. You can look to hear from me hard in March or April. I will be right back. I haven't thought of an album title yet. I'm still smoking and pondering on it. But I'm the Phantom now; the Ghost is over with. If you're my friend, you can call me the Ghost. But as far as MCing … and don't call me a rapper no more. Call me an MC." | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Kanye Aiming At Grown And Sexy On New LP | 1/23/07 |
|  | By: Trees
Well we're all getting older I guess. First Jay-Z drops his adult contemporary and now Kanyeezy. Truthfully, I thought I wouldn't have to listen to anymore Coldplay after my ex-girlfriend split but guess what, wrong again. Kanye West has enlisted the help of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin for the first single off of his new LP Graduation. The LP is slated for a 2nd Quarter '07 release on Def Jam. In other WTF news, Kanye is slated to remix a track for fellow Chi-City natives Fall Out Boy, who are also featuring Jay-Z and production from Babyface on their new LP. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Spend Valentines Day W/ DJ Neil Armstrong | 1/23/07 |
|  | By: Trees
DJ Neil Armstrong is no stranger to getting the ladies wet with his turntable skils. Oscillate Wildly is still the ultimate 80s banger for any boombox having party host. For Valentines Day though, Neil wanted to give you a chance to up your game a little. This is the Limited Edition Warmfuzzy gift set. Only 500 of them will be made, and the boxes will be hand numbered by Mr. Armstrong himself. Once they're gone, they gone. Included in each Boxset is a copy of Warmfuzzy - AOK Part 1 and a limited edition Warmfuzzy Ladies Thong, all housed in an ill jewelry gift box, with gold foil embedded printing to bring it all together in a nice little classy package. If your significant other is a music fan, then this is everything you need for Valentine's day. We're going to try to convince Neil to let us carry a few of these when he comes up to Boston this weekend for UGHH.com's Fresh Produce Party. The party goes down at the Goodlife Lounge, Saturday 1/27 @ 9PM. Of course it's free, so get there early (it's cold outside).
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| Hip Hop Documentary Tackles Tough Issues | 1/23/07 |
|  | By: The Dance
Byron Hurt, a young filmmaker, has a new product to hustle called "Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes." In this "loving critique" from a self-proclaimed "hip-hop head," Hurt tackles issues of masculinity, sexism, violence and homophobia in today's hip-hop culture by talking with rappers, moguls and fans. It includes interviews with UGHH favorites like Mos Def, Chuck D, Busta Rhymes, and Jadakiss, plus many more! The film, which premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, airs on the Emmy Award-winning INDEPENDENT LENS, hosted by Terrence Howard, on Tuesday, February 20, 2007, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS. I predict a wave of UGHH message board hate for this movie after it airs. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| The Government Stays Hating The Hip Hop Hustle: DJ Drama Arrested | 1/17/07 |
|  | By: Trees
DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon of the Aphilliates were taken into custody on charges of racketeering after federal agents stormed the Aphilliates compound in Atlanta yesterday afternoon. The Feds seized over 50,000 mix CDs, several cars, recording equipment, and an unspecified amount of cash. 17 other Aphilliate employees were also taken into custody for questioning. The government decided to crack down on Drama, (who is widely considered to be the top mix tape DJ in the game right now), after they received numerous complaints from the RIAA in relation to bootlegging and the illegal counterfeiting of music.
While arrests and raids for bootlegging and mixtape distribution are common in today's society, this is the largest known raid ever conducted involving a high profile industry power player.
Matthew Kilgo, a spokesman for the RIAA had this to say about the situation; "These guys are actively advertising online. They've got a website that they're advertising from, that's where you place your orders and that's how the orders are shipped out. Statistics also show that you can make up to a 90% profit just off the resale of counterfeit CDs. So there's huge money to be made in it, and there's no stigma attached to purchasing it."
What's sad about the whole situation is that if anyone involved in the raid actually took the time to listen to a DJ Drama Mix CD they would find that 95% of his releases contained a majority, if not completely exclusive tracks, leaked to Drama for distribution to help promote artists upcoming albums. Many of the visitors to this site may know Drama from his highly lauded Mix CD with Little Brother last year. The Mix CD, much like each release he drops, was released with the seal of approval from Little Brother and their record label, and the group worked closely with Drama in helping to craft the final product.
Think about the situation closely. Both the labels and artists endorse the mixtape game as a promotional tool. Just last month, Def Jam sent UGHH.com boxes of Mix CDs from both Mick Boogie and Statik Selektah to use to help sell their upcoming releases. The reality is, the RIAA doesn't make any money off of Mix CDs and they are using their power to stop a legitimate hustle. No one is being hurt by the sale of Mix CDs except the greedy guys up top. Our thoughts go out to our business associates The Aphilliates, DJ Drama, and Don Cannon.
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| Tame One Droppin' New Mix CD | 1/16/07 |
|  | By: Trees
2/12/07 will mark the day the brand new Tame One Mix CD, The Grudge is droppin. Tame has confirmed that the Mix will feature a majority of new music, and not just him rappin' over pre-released industry instrumentals. Production on the Mix is kept to mostly Jersey heads and features Shape, Mishap, Mr.Mone, Arkitekt and also features a rare exclusive freestyle cipher with Rah Digga & Redman from the now-defunct DJ Stretch Armstrong Hot 97 show over a classic EPMD beat. Right now it looks as though the CD will only be sold @ certain skate shop locales around Jersey, but holla at the Weatherman and say, "Sell Yo Shit @ UGHH.com". Oh yeah, the link to his MySpace is right here. In case you wanna know. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) Droppin' New Solo LP This Year | 1/16/07 |
|  | By: Trees
2007 will finally bring us another Prodigy solo LP. Entitled, Return Of The Mac the solo venture will be produced entirely by The Alchemist and is slated to drop March 27th on Koch Records. In support of the album Prodigy plans to shoot 8 videos for the project. So far 2 have been leaked to YouTube. To view the video for "Mac 10 Handle" click here & for the video for "New York Shit" click here.
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| Sean Price / Guilty Simpson + Sean Price / Agallah Full Lengths Confirmed | 1/15/07 |
|  | By: Trees
Sean Price's epic new LP, Jesus Price Superstar hasn't even hit store shelves yet, and people are already heralding it as a contender for album of the year. And while the buzz for the LP is huge right now, people have already begun to talk about P Body's future endeavors, namely a full-length collabo LP with Detroit up-and-comer Guilty Simpson. For those that ain't up on the man known as Guilty, refer to J Dilla's The Shining and Stones Throw's Chrome Children LPs. As if that wasn't exciting enough the bulk of the album is slated to be handled by Fat Beat's recording artist Black Milk and the unsigned heavyweight MoSS (most notably known for producing Ghostface's "Kilo" track offa Fishscale). Sean Price recently confirmed these rumors in an interview with thaFormula.com. Also on tap for Sean Price is a full length collaborative effort with Purple City producer/MC Agallah. Sean Price and Agallah have both confirmed that the LP is in the works. Some of you may remember the results of previous Agallah/Price combinations (Grand Theft Auto Soundtrack, "Telemundo", etc.), and if those were any indication of what's to come let's not be surprised if we see this, if not both, of these releases ending up on a major label sometime soon. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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|  | By: The Dance
Timbaland, as we all know, is pretty much as big as a producer can get. Many regard him as a musical genius and he very well may be, but is he also a thief? There is rampant internet speculation that Timbo stole the beat for Nelly Furtado's "Do It" from a Finnish musician/programming nerd named Janne Sunni. Sunni composed the music in 2000 at a Demoscene competition (chances are if you're not a computer geek then you don't know what Demoscene is, but I learned about it here). There's a YouTube video that you can watch here that pretty much explains the whole situation. Decide for yourself whether Magoo's best bud is a thief. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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|  | By: Trees
Well, it was too good to be true. The Madlib / Talib LP is no longer available for a free download (at least legally). One can only assume that the Lib's realized they stand to make a decent dollar off the deal and have pulled it from all the official download sites. Hopefully you scooped up a copy while you could. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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| Stones Throw's Latest Podcast a Gem Amongst Gems | 1/11/07 |
|  | By: Trees
The Stones Throw Podcast is synonymous with quality. With fifteen of them in the bag all seemingly better than the last, it's fitting that #16 has Egon, Wolf, and J Rocc paying tribute to the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. Piecing together songs by JB, songs sampled from JB and songs paying tribute to him, the trio concocted a masterful portrayal of Brown's unmatched legacy. J Rocc is no stranger to honoring the legend. His previous J.B. Mix CD sold out faster than we could stock it on the shelf. So if you're not up on the Stones Throw Podcasts, quickly educate yourself by heading over to StonesThrow.com. They're always free and always choice. | | | | Subscribe RSS |
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