Lacoste L!VE x Breaks of 10- Selector Sessions Party

Last week at their Soho store, Lacoste L!VE threw a collaborative party with blog site, Breaks Of 10 showcasing some of the freshest and talented artists and DJ's in the London hip-hop scene. Last Japan and DJ Motive committed some crimes on the decks, playing the biggest tracks new and old, from this side of the pond and Stateside. The kid, ItsNate was the main performer on the night, the North Londoner doing no harm to his increasing buzz and rep as a talented wordsmith. Nate also invited TR Fernandez to join him, and the two peformed a new number, that had several heads knocking. Free 'juice' was supplied on the night by Koppaberg, and with many attendants in good spirits in the packed store, the night could definitely be seen as a success. 

Above is a video of the said event and yours truly can be seen towards the end of the video.

Butterflies

Talented lyricist by the name of Kieron Boothe showcasing his skills ahead of the release of his upcoming project, "Still Life". You may have to listen more than once to clock all the punchlines though. 17 year old MC from East London, Kieron may be one to watch in 2012 and beyond.

I Don't Know

Nice, simple and stripped down performance with a strong hook by Joel Baker and well-crafted verses by Barney. The rapper is only 20 years old and hails from Forest Gate. This is the first release from the forthcoming EP #TheAcousticSessions. The project should be with us in the New Year, I for one will be giving that a listen.

Nikes On My Feet

Brewer is back with a new freestyle, and as can be expected does not disappoint over the Mac Miller instrumental. Smooth flow and introspective lyrics, fans and followers of the 22 year-old will not be surprised.

For those that are not in the know, you can be brought up to speed by checking this and this out. And this.

P.S. Video was directed & filmed by I.Tell.A.Vision

A$AP X NSW Destroyer Jacket

Nike Sportswear (NSW) continue to collaborate on their popular Destroyer Baseball Jacket. Dom and Jabari from the A$AP Worldwide posse were given the opportunity to rework the piece. A$AP Rocky's flamboyant crew have got the internet going nuts since his 'Peso' video. The jacket looks very tidy, especially with the leathered texture on the arms and featuring the group's acronym on the bottom left hand pocket. With two popular videos ultimately leading to a multi-million dollar deal with Sony  look out for more from the Harlem Collective in 2012.

To THa Beat (F'd Up)

ScHoolboy Q's ignorant anthem  from #Setbacks gets some visual treatment. Fellow TDE reppers, Jay Rock & Kendrick Lamar make expected cameo appearances as well as Mac Miller & Like of Pac Div. Hype song from a brilliant mixtape . Expect the follow up, #HnC to drop soon.

BNDS Bracelet Collection

Beaded bracelets are really on the up and up right about now, especially in men's fashion. Bracelet's can enhance or complete a desired look, an individual was after. Blog site BrryBnds are now offering handcrafted bracelets made to buyers wrist size under the moniker BNDS. As the pictures below and above show, we are talking about some very nice pieces, the buzz grew through word of mouth and now the site has opened a web store to satisfy demand. 

Visit the store here.

Nike Huarache 'Free' Q's

Nearly 20 years after the release of the first Huarache, Nike are gearing up for a re-release of the famous shoe. Nike have brought back the hi-tech running shoe and its well known basketball variation with the addition of the Nike Freesole unit.

These trainers or at least the family, takes me back to my school days, when boys and girls all around me were sporting what I could only see as Nike rock climbing trainers. #NoACG. The trainers are okay, nostalgic folk and sneakerheads will no doubt be foaming at the mouth or doing the 'cooking' dance for days on end.  If you want the product, it will be available from your connect, from the Friday 11th November. 

Wale #NoDaysOff Vlog: Ohio & Maryland

Another vlog from the Maybach Music Empire, showing footage of recent shows Wale put on, in anticipation of his upcoming album, Ambition. If Warner drop the Bad Girls Club video soon, the November 1st release should be concrete. Eagerly anticipating this LP. Like EAGERLY.

Slondon

Intro off ItsNate mixtape, Never Ask Take Everything. Tape drops 30th September. 

 Slondon by ItsNate 

Bars aplenty as usual.

TDE in NYC

Top Dawg Entertainment In New York City from Dwayne LaFleur on Vimeo.


Some dope footage of the most exciting rap group out now, Black Hippy. For the uneducated, Black Hippy is comprised of Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul & Jay Rock. The educated will spot the cameos by ASAP Rocky, Smoke DZA & Freeway.

HiiiPower

1977

The-Dream today released the free album, '1977'. Going under his government name on this one, Terius Nash, this should be nothing short of ignorant, witty, R&B brilliance, if any of his first three albums are like this one.

Frank Ocean and especially The Weeknd fans should give this a listen, this was the first R&B singer to swear like a rapper.

Download here.

Dam

The homie TR Fernandez drops his debut track , which was filmed out in Amsterdam, where a lot of us were for the Wiz concert, in May. Directed by Henry Houdini of PHD-LDN, quality stuff all around.

Shouts to whole Slobbervorst-Gang movment!

Vitamin Water Uncapped With Casey Veggies

Footage of a day in the life of LA's own, Casey Veggies. This consists of  hanging on Fairfax Ave, committing drive-bys on civilains with water pistols, dropping a few nice bars when he returns home.

Be on the look-out for Casey, he is definitely going places. He graduated out of high school in the summer just gone. Yes, high school.

Kanye Buys His Other Other Benz

KANYE WEST OTHER OTHER BENZ from Creative Control on Vimeo.


Footage of when Kanye back in 2002, traded his first Benz to get a new one.
Funny how Lance, the car salesman, tries to get 'Ye to purchase a Maybach, the same car he would so famously gut out and give a facelift for the recent 'Otis' video.

Video shot by the ever-impressive Creative Control.

Ya'll Dont Hear Me Tho

Definitely the Rookie of The Year. Look out for Dream Chasers, dropping August 11th. Shouts to Dave Patten again for the visuals.

Origin London Exhibition

Should be a lot of stuff, if local check it out and if your not local, its London so you can be local in a minute. Shouts to Henry Houdini and Gabriel, some good times were had over the weekend.

House Called Home

AKS "House Called Home" from Okayplayer on Vimeo.


I received this gem in my inbox earlier on today, it's been on repeat for a while. Strong hook, lyrical talent in abundance, nice video and a positive message. Last week, AKS became the first UK artist to have a video premiere on okayplayer.  Taken from his well-received offering, The Bus Stop EP, with material like this, I doubt many passengers will be getting off soon.

Betty

New video from two guys defo doing their thing, Ash Catch'Em and Its Nate. Directed by Morgan Keyz of SBTV. Dopeness.

The Legacy

Nike pays homage to the one of the greats, Ronaldo. I would go as far to say he is the best striker I have ever seen, and considering I've been about since the late 80's, that is one heck of a player.

Keys To The City

Nipsey Hussle - Keys To The City from Nipsey Hussle on Vimeo.


Clean. Off Nipsey's impressive free offering, The Marathon.

I was banging this mixtape on many bored hot afternoons in Ghana, especially during powercuts.

The Life and Times of Albert Heijn

Myself and a bunch of others went to Amsterdam not too long ago, to see Young Khalifa perform. DJ Motive was on the bill that night and there was bunch of us out there. 3/4 of the Trapstar Collective were present, Skits, Shadez The Misfit and Its Nate- Henry Houdini, JC Adams, Jack Cannon and countless others. The concert was alright, and Amber Rose is something else. Good times were had. And then some. Pics below.

When Fish Ride Bicycles

I have been following these kids since my little sister told me to listen to Gone Fishing. That was some two years ago, anyways, Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish's first LP, is due to drop July 12 in the US. Not sure about a physical release over here, as they are signed to Mountain Dew's Green Label Sound. If you don't understand imagine Oasis or Powerade had a record label, fingers crossed it works out for them. Nice artwork though.

 The Cool Kids - "Bundle Up" by greenlabelsound

First single, Bundle Up is up above.

Oh and yes I am alive, until the next time.

Thursday Thoughts - Rolling Paper or Toilet Paper

Around this time last year I found myself chilling to the sounds of Wiz Khalifa's "OJ & Kush" and even a few times engaging in that "Taylor Gang" lifestyle. I even woke up extra early, the day his tickets were going on sale to make sure I got one.

He followed up with "Black and Yellow" which increased the anticipation of the album, then the bootleggers got it a week or two before it's official release and the report was negative, I thought I would hold out and purchase the cd like my partner Kwarmz. He then told me it was one of his worst purchases. I then proceeded to download (don't judge me)

I couldn't believe what my ears were hearing, it was a sound completely different to what I was expecting. That being said,  the album performed well commercially speaking as it came in at #2 on the Billboard Charts and in it's first weel shifting close to 200, 000 units off the back of a multi-platinum selling single. But as an original fan (well the first wave of OJ & Kush listeners) I feel like Wiz dissed me, I feel like an Everton fan when Rooney lifted his shirt after scoring and it had the message "once a blue, always a blue" then went to Manchester United the following season., as you do.

Before

After

Maybe I'm being over dramatic just a little, but hey thats how I feel and I guess with 'fans' like myself choosing to download, whereas 'die hard' fans since "Black and Yellow" would have been happy to hear the same sort of sound. Just happier, poppier and something that also ends with 'er' at the end.

I really do hope at Young Khalifa's show he doesn't perform too many tracks off the album or it will be a long night., and an appearance from Amber wouldn't hurt nobody or maybe thats just wishful thinking.

Till then I'll keep playing the songs which made me a fan.

Shouts to my brother Nomes on the title.

Pusha T - My God

The second video to drop from Pusha's latest mixtape "Fear Of God"



Fear Of God 2: Let Us Pray is slated for a release in June.

Enjoy

Thursday Thoughts- We're So Appalled

The latest internet phenoms, all have one thing in common, despite their musical styles appearing like night and day. One is a shirtless rapper from Los Angeles, that has gathered a lot of die-hard fans, over one video, in which he tops himself. The other is a 13 year old girl, that cannot sing, sings badly written songs, in which she details the interesting tidbits of her day, events such as eating cereal and waiting for the bus stop. The last, is from these shores, a young girl from Birmingham, bragging about how sexually prolific she is, this being made more sensational by the fact she is 17 years old. Now what has made Tyler, The Creator, Rebecca Black and OG Niki overnight YouTube sensations, is nothing to do with their musical talents, in Rebecca's case, its her actual lack of it, the three of them have achieved internet notoriety because something about their song/freestyle has been so outrageous.

Tyler, because he appears fully clothed at the start of the video, rapping about everyday things (threesomes with triceratops) by the end he has eaten a coakroach, his eyes have turned black, and for his finale, after taking off his shirt, revealing many gold chains, the young rapper ends up hanging himself. Rebecca Black's laughable but bankable 'Friday', people check her video to actually laugh at her, not realising they and countless others are racking up millions and millons of views (over 100 million in fact and two million downloads for the song), which naturally results in a bidding war, because hungry label execs are in search of a YouTube monster they can make a lot of money off. I'm talking Euros, Dollars, Pounds, Yen heck even Cedi's.  OG Niki, the young girl from Birmz, now has a verified account status on Twitter, usually stated on the profiles of mega celebrities or tweeting politicians. Word around the online watercooler is, that she is holding several meetings with important people in the industry, her rise to fame might be the most shocking, a girl bragging about her sexual exploits is nothing new, but being so graphic and talking about taking on six men, I am pretty sure this is brand new. Not even the Notorious K.I.M. or Ill Na Na herself (that's Foxy Brown, for the uneducated) were talking about things the way OG Niki does.

A still from the shockingly bad yet humorous video. Check out the grammar as well.

Which led me to thinking, if an aspiring artist wants a whole load of YouTube views, and to be a #hash-tag trending topic on Twitter, they might have to shock us, not blow us away by musical talent. Even look at a certain Ms. Minaj, before people started listening intently to her, the talk was whether her asset's are real or not, and how everybody wants to hit it, many girls included.

The real shame is not that OG Niki and Rebecca Black may end up being exploited and scribbling newly developed signatures on many papers, not knowing what they are signing on the dotted line for, but as of writing this, I am watching a Cyhi Da Prynce interview on The Monique Show, someone with great potential, but may not realise it, because he could be too 'ordinary' for us to tweet or update our Blackberry's about him.  Tyler's line about picking Steve Wonder as a running back in American Football is pretty darn cold, but the drones off Tyler 'fans' who had only heard or seen him when the Yonkers vid dropped, but now rep Odd Future (his team) like they have been with them during the Myspace age, really annoys me. If the video wasn't out there, most of them probably still wouldn't have heard of him.



Peep the Tyler vid if you haven't (above), and you know where to go see Rebecca and the young OG. (YouTube folks, those videos are not being embedded anywhere around here).

Finally, any aspiring artists out there should intentionally make a bad song, have a video with a lot of T+A, or just be outrageous, that's the quickest way to gain the most amount of follwers or views on the ol' Tube. Maybe Tyler, Niki and Rebecca aren't so night and day after all, perhaps they met in the afternoon, and with plans to make the netboyz go crazy. I believe, it can be claimed they have. And then some.

HiiPoWeR

Kendrick Lamar over a J.Cole produced beat, some of the dopest ish to drop in a while.
Kendrick Lamar - HiiiPoWeR Prod by J.Cole #Section80

Just Play Your Part

Earlier on I brought Maybach Music Group to your attention, today they have released the video to "Play Your Part" one of favourite songs off Rick Ross' latest mixtape "Ashes To Ashes".



May 24th "Self Made, we'll be cool as long as you play your part"

Enjoy

My Last Freestyle

Video of Pepstar riding over Big Sean's latest. Footage of him out on the road, Pep is definitely doing his thing, look out for his new mixtape, 'No Fly Zone'.

Alone With My Thoughts Part 2

I don't what kind of life I have been leading, I apologise to present this to you four days late. I received this on Friday afternoon, but didn't have time until the early hours of Monday morning to listen to this. Brewer delivered his first effort, in February of last year. Things are still the same, an exceptional flow, strong lyrical content and production overseen by production team, The Confectionery. Guvna B, Ghetts and Ny are some of the supporting cast members.

Hit the download link, you will not be disappointed. The EPK providing an insight to the mixtape and more about the artist himself, is located below.

Thursday Thoughts- Last Of A Dying Breed

Been a while, but we are back with another thought for this day of the week. While I unwisely think of adding to  my modest Lacoste collection and I can only dream of having  an assortment of  Jordan trainers, I do have quite an impressive CD album collection. Probably beat into me during my younger days, when I would  take a look at my father's hi-fi system and could easily see a Lionel Richie LP sandwiched between an ABBA, Take That or Barry White.  On any given day I could even see an Elton John CD on top of a Daddy Lumba disc. Can't even lie, that stuff is still kinda hard to this day, that Elton John Duets album is no joke, and the song with ladyboy RuPaul, I can remember hearing on countless journeys in the car, is a certifiable banger.

This is not a post about Elton and his Rocket Man exploits, but one asking the question, does anyone still buy albums any more?  My older brother used to bring new albums home on a weekly basis, as he got older, and I got a little bit of change, I took on the mantle and probably have contributed to the half of the CD collection currently gathering dust in my room.

All of the artist's here, have at least 2 album entries in my collection.

People have asked me many times, why I continue to shell out on CDs, when I can download them for free and even get them before they are supposed to come out, that's all fine and dandy for some but not for me. When  you downloaded Get Rich or Die Tryin', and burned the disc, when you hear the songs, they might take you back to when you wearing Akademiks or slapping down your hair with Freeze Gel, but the burned disc doesn't, the actual album does.

It's all about the memories, when I bought the disc, the tracklisting, the fashion, the thank you's, the popular producers and rappers at the time, all this can come flooding back when you just pick up the case, well for me anyway.

Also, I buy albums from the artists I respect and the albums I have been looking out for, like eagerly anticipating. That being said, if I don't buy an album, I won't download it, cos I feel if I really wanted to buy it, I would have.

Close up of the albums in heavy rotation.

Matty and Nate get on to me about another one of my rules, not listening to an album's second single or some of the tracks that will appear on the LP, this is because I want to hear as much fresh material as possible, rather than having heard half the album, so only listening to like 7 tracks for the first time isn't desirable for me.

I have more rules, but I will leave them out for now. Also a lot of people I know have tons of DVD's, like serious collections, which to me is similar to blowing a stack on albums. What's even worse with films, after one or two plays, you probably wont watch them again and the longer they sit on your shelf or are just in your room, the more your friends have a tendency to want to ask to 'lend them for a bit', only for you to not ever see or to be in possession that film again.

The dusty rack, these CDs NEVER get played. There are like 20 albums here.

I don't know, maybe I am weird, but wanting to support my favourite artists's is not a bad thing, you get details on where the song was recorded, who did what and looking at the cover can bring back a ton of memories, a DVD or burned disc for me , just can't do that.

Are you a buyer like me or a RapidShare beast?

An Evening With The Black Stars

Yesterday, the whole HNW team, (there's just two of us by the way) rolled to Wembley to see England take on Ghana. I have never witnessed such an atmosphere in my life, really happy I witnessed this game up close. It could have been oh so different, as Dante had me standing near a hot dog stand, waiting for him to provide with my ticket. To top it off, I was wearing my prized pair of kicks, so I was looking out in fear random drops of ketchup and trying to spot a dimpled stocky individual at the same time.

Despite some instances over-excited folk standing up when Ghana had the ball on the halfway line (in footy, this usually only happens when a team looks like they might score).  Best match I have been to, and one of the funniest nights of my life. On the train, on the walkway to the Stadium, queuing up for £8 cheeseburgers, (not me, way too cheap for that) I heard some wild score predictions and I saw many friends, family members and old school/college people.

When Baby Jet netted that last minute equaliser, I think the noise we made could have been heard in Kumasi Market, the real one.

Shouts to Haw, Abz and Marc and everyone else I saw.

Thursday Thoughts- Public Service Announcement

Have to apologise, no Thursday Thoughts again this week. Just got home, will be back next week with more than one though, that's a promise.

Fear Of God

It's been long awaited, but tomorrow should be the first solo release from Pusha-T of the 'Clipse'. I've been from early and I also believe that his features during Kanye's G.O.O.D Friday series has earned him a wider a fan base. I have great  expectations of this mixtape and hope to hear more cocaine filled rhymes from Pusha.

 Pusha T - My God (Mastered) by Hypetrak

I'll be waiting for the download link as soon as I have it, so shall you. Till then peace.

Gassed

Just come across whilst browsing my timeline and I'm fully buzzing, littered with highly flammable punchlines and a lot of boastful claims Dirty Danger presents us with "Gassed".  I believe it will appear on Dirty Dangers debut release "I Aint Rich Yet" and the song  features fellow Ruff Sqwad/Flee Gang members Tinchy Stryder and Slix.

Enjoy

Thursday Thoughts- LASERS- Great Marketing Ploy or Real Talk?

Lupe Fiasco has basically been to hell and back with his label, Atlantic Records, over the release of his new album, LASERS. Originally meant to be a triple disc LP, called LUP.END (probably to quickly fulfil his contractual obligations, and then be able to retire). The label obviously scoffed at this idea, and Lupe had to release albums the good old fashioned way - one at a time. Many release dates for LASERS came and went, frustrated fans set up a petition for Atlantic to release the album, protests were even organised in show of support for Fiasco, a week before the protest, Lupe posted this image on Twitter (below) with Atlantic President Julie Greenwald, in an attempt to show, the artist and label were on the same page, with the March 8th release date (7th over here) being given as final. 

Then the the first single, Show Goes On dropped,. No talk, obviously in the lead time to an album release, artists have to do a lot of press. 

 Lupe Fiasco Feat. Bruno Mas - Nothin' On You (Original) 

(Atlantic supposedly gave Lupe many songs to record, this being one of them. Many songs, choruses and beats are shopped around before seeing the light of day. B.o.B was given this song, because Atlantic were not happy with the job the 1st & 15th representer did).

Lo and behold two weeks before the album drops, Lupe seemingly every other day has something to say, about he hates certain songs on the album, how he was feeling suicidal after his botched version of the song that became B.o.B's worldwide smash, you name it he said it. The general public responded, by turning out in their droves to purchase the album, I would have thought, publicly disowning your latest album was not the smartest move, however Lupe has been projected to sell well over 200,000 copies. This would be the biggest opening of the year so far (in the US) behind Adele's 21.  It led me to start thinking, is Lupe really unhappy or wants people to feel sorry for him and rush out and buy the album?

The album in its final form.

Like think back to The Black Album, the reviews, all the hype, all the interviews were not about another rapper from in my opinion, The Greatest Rapper, they were all about his 'retirement'. Kingdom Come, American Gangster and Jay-Z Collections Vol.1 later, a major label accepting a succesfull rapper's resignation is like if Paramount allowed Steven Spielberg to retire in the middle of production Saving Private Ryan or something, the income that would come in, is too great too ignore on compassionate grounds. 

I rate Lupe Fiasco very highly, although I cannot understand what he is on about sometimes, he is a top class lyricist and The Cool was a great album. However, every day I was waking up to quotes and soundbites from Fiasco, I am just wondering if it was from a disgruntled employee, or the ugly duckling who turned into the label's precious but problematic child, who was finally taking orders from upstairs.


Any thoughts?

Reebook GL 6000 SS11 Collection

I have been a fan of some of the most recent products, I own a pair of Paris Runners and my own pair of  GL 6000. These two are part of the Spring/Summer collection and this time, its a thumbs down from me.

Someone said, this is the best part of either colourway.

Turn Off The Radio

Nate will be there, so will I, you can be there if you want. Simples

Air Jordan Retro I-XXII (1-22)

Entertaining video by a sneakerhead from Oslo, (Norway) by the name of Mike displaying his Jordan trainers, ranging from numbers 1 to 22. Now, that is what I call a collection.

Kindle Freestyle

Nice freestyle from the guy they call Brewer, clever use of the instrumental used on the Amazon Kindle adverts. Listen closely, yours truly gets a mention.

Trapstar YoYo Mixtape

Last Thursday, the Trapstar and YoYo showcase popped off. I wasn't present because at that time, I was paying my phone bill (at work), however these pics and personal reports confirm to me I should have pulled a sickie. Pics and the serious showcase mix provided by DJ Motive is below.

Trapstar X YoYo Mix by DJ Motive by TrapstarLDN

Pics courtesy of the Trapstar blog.

6 foot 7 foot

I posted the audio for this a while ago, the video has now dropped. Hype Williams is the director and you do not have to worry about having epileptic fits.



Enjoy

Thursday Thoughts - Oral

Oral sex also known as "head", yes my Thursday Thoughts is about this often called "taboo topic". For ages I've had this debate with my friends, both male and female, about it. Many claimed they would never indulge or looked in disgust and there was always the odd person who would put themselves out there and admit to being a keen practicer.

"You niggers are sweet like the pussy i eat" :s 

The above lyric is from the P***y Monster himself Lil' Wayne. I have heard Tunechi and many another rappers from the other side of the Atlantic (America for those of you who were late to Geography) come up with inventive ways when rapping about 'eating'. I have even heard jokes about napkins and whetting the appetite. Over here some older guys let me know, they are down for the cause of pleasing their lady in every which way, so maybe it's a youthful frame of mind, which is the reason why some are so opposed.

 
 Amongst males, or at the least the ones I have come across in my life, it seems here in the UK giving head is frowned upon, but if you receive it your the GUY, where as in America its more of a social norm but I believe it's slowly but surely being accepted in society.
I'm not going to lie I'm a fan of receiving head, then again who isn't? 

I remember back in my school days anyone that even had the thought of doing it was deemed or labelled something negative, but as you get older these views change... Surely?
 

I guess it's different for boys and girls, I mean its always seemed just that little bit more acceptable when a girl gives it to a guy but why is this?? I suppose, being honest, to give it to a woman is more intimate you can't deny that and no male wants to be on the receiving end of the "bow cat" jokes.. But at the end of the day we are all adults having fun.. 

So that being said, will more men and women be using their head, to please one another, and own up or will we in public be vocal about it never going 'DownTown' but have a yearly season pass in the bedroom?

Time will tell, but are you or any of your friends oral (speak about it) about giving oral?