TDE Announces "The Championship Tour" With Hilarious New Promo Video

Earlier this afternoon, TDE posted a new video to their YouTube channel which announced a HUGE tour that includes every artist signed to their label.

Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, SiR, SZA and Lance Skiiiwalker will all be hitting the road starting this May, for a total of 30 shows that will hit 29 different cities, including 2  dates in Canada (Vancouver on May 4th and Toronto on June 12th). The tour seems to be hitting primarily the west coast, including 3 shows in Texas and 4 shows in California (where the Ohio dates at y'all?!), though there are multiple dates set for New York as well. How else could Kendrick keep his King Of New York title *(Cue angry west coast hip hop heads)*?  Check out this hilarious 80's work out montage style video below, which shows all the dates at the very end of the clip. Is TDE coming to your city this summer?


(*I do not own this video, or the rights to it*)      

Step Into The Ring: Mainstream Rappers Who Should Battle

It seems as if a spotlight has been shined on battle rap in the past year. As popular as it has been throughout the years, it has remained underground and has produced a much different audience from the Lil Wayne, Drake or Kanye (etc.) type of rap fan base that you see and hear every day. I say this being a particularly new fan myself, and it's crazy to think about the differences in recorded rap as opposed to battle rap, they're really two different beasts completely. One side of the spectrum is made for your listening pleasure, while the other shines a much brighter light on the technical aspect of rap with competition being aplenty. It's very hard to mix the two, and if you do one and have the balls to try the other, whether you're successful at it or not, there is a respect factor given to you for even trying in the first place. There are very few mainstream rappers that have the skill to battle rap, and I thought it'd be a good idea to figure out who these guys (or girls even, remember the term "femcee"?) are. Here's a short list of mainstream rappers who could probably battle.

Ab-Soul

I'm a little new to Ab's catalog, but if there's one thing that opened up my eyes to the idea of Ab-Soul having battle bars, it's this freestyle with infamous battle rapper Daylyt (shout out to my good friend and fellow rapper Terrell Cooper for showing me this!). Ab-Soul is incredibly smart with novelist-like bars and Einstein-like wordplay, and if you were stuck in the dark like me, listening to this would enlighten your day with facts that Ab-Soul could indeed hang with some of the best battlers.

Lupe Fiasco

Another big writer-at-heart rapper is Lupe Fiasco. If you've heard Lupe (or if you even know about him) you know how smart and politically/socially conscience he is of everything going on around him. His rhymes take multiple listens to process for even his most die hard fans, and if there's anything that draws attention to a battle rapper, one of the biggest would be how smart and well thought out their rhymes are (syllables, double entendres, similes, metaphors, etc.). Lupe is such a fan of the craft that comes with rapping that he even battled his fans for a short period of time on Twitter, and has been called out by infamous battle rapper Dizaster to battle, though it never panned out for whatever reason.

King Los

                            (*I do not own any of these videos, songs, audio, or the rights to them*)

I'm not as familiar with King Los' catalog as I probably should be (I've heard from too many people that he's dope), but if I got just a mere sample of what he can do, his "Control" response (which seems to bring out the best in everyone, at least for rappers who had a response) is a good example of it. He really impressed me with the following bars: "I'm a king I'm elite, I could never dream of defeat, I could Dr. King you a speech while I'm Rodney King-in your beat." Day-umn Los! Guess I got some homework to do.

So those are a few dudes that could probably battle with some success (or so I think). There are probably many more rappers you could name who could battle and do well (I would probably say any of the other Slaughterhouse guys along with J. Cole and Kendrick), but there are many aspects of battling that some mainstream guys just don't have or don't show in their recorded song history as an emcee. A lot of guys show attitude and confidence on the mic (you almost have to, if you rap for a living it's a given), but if they have the mental stability is the real question, along with being able to successfully freestyle and truly go off the top of their head. If you know any dudes who you think could battle right now be sure to let me know on Twitter (@SuperNovaRover) or Google+ and let me know why you think they'd fair better than the rest.






 
 

What are your rap DREAM COLLABORATIONS?

I'll admit, Shady XV has got me feeling all types of dreamy and wondering what to expect from it, and admittedly some of these thoughts have expanded into bigger ones. Things like when are they releasing a track list, who's going to be featured on the album, and why are they making me wait are just a few questions I had at first about the anniversary compilation. But then I got to thinking about bigger things, outside of Shady, outside of compilations, anniversaries, or any sort of other reasonable rap theories. So the same questions I asked myself, I ask you, rap readers; what are your DREAM rap collaborations?

So obviously there have to be a few terms and conditions to what these dream collaborative tracks will consist of, and I've come up with 3 possible song types defining what type of track I personally would like to hear (although you can come up with your own, these just happen to be 3 song types I could think of at the moment): story telling tracks, lyrical onslaughts, and party songs. Now normally you would think there would be a bit more of a broad selection of types of tracks, but if you REALLY got to hear what you wanted to hear, would it really matter?  My point exactly. Now if you're still confused on the details or the ramifications of these mythical dream tracks, allow me to give a few examples of what I would like to hear on my very own "If I died and could make songs in my own personal version of afterlife" playlist.

Eminem + Nas / Storytelling Track

This song would be absolutely insane. I honestly have to ask... WHY HASNT THIS SONG BEEN MADE YET?!?!  Both of these emcees are practically the lyrical masters of what they do, and the weirdest thing to me is that Eminem & Jay-Z have been on a song together (once, as far as we know, "Renegades"), Eminem & The Notorious B.I.G have been on a song ("Dead Wrong"), and Nas has been on a song with Jay-Z ("Black Republican", "Success", also including multiple other tracks with other rappers), and hasn't been on a song with B.I.G, but apparently was in discussions with Biggie about a Tupac diss track back in the day that never happened. So it probably doesn't add up "statistically" to fans or any sort of logical way like that, but the history of each emcee is highly storied, which only makes sense for them to tell a story on this song!  But of course how can you make a Nas/Eminem collaboration without adding in their trademark lyricism and legendary flows into the picture?  You certainly can't. And that is why this collaboration needs to happen.. like... NOW!

Slaughterhouse + D12 / Lyrical Onslaught

This "dream collaboration" might have been a result of thinking about Shady XV and the possibilities of what will happen on the compilation album, but does that make it any less exciting to think of the possibilities of it?  I'd like to think not. Your attention span would have to be an extra 10 times bigger listening to this song (that's IF all of the remaining D12 members agree to get back together), but it certainly would be one for the ages. This song would be (including Eminem) a 9 person vocabulary-flexing track that you would have trouble ignoring even if you weren't a fan of Eminem, Slaughterhouse, or D12 (although you'd probably avoid it if you didn't like any one of the rappers included, in that case, I say good riddance, who needs you anyways!). The best thing about this "dream collab" is that our dreams could possibly become a reality when it's time for that Shady XV compilation album to drop. An "alleged" track list of the album leaked not too long ago, and the list included a track of not only Slaughterhouse and D12, but also Shady label mates Eminem and Yelawolf as well!  I wouldn't get too excited until an official track list is given, but the idea of this collab is certainly a possibility.

Kendrick Lamar & J. Cole / Story Telling + Lyrical Capabilities

Maybe I had to include these guys just because I'm still obsessed with the idea of this album happening (and it will, I have faith), but honestly, is there a better pairing in hip hop today than these 2?  When you have the possibility to make a perfect track, starting from lyrical capabilities (two of the best) leading to story telling abilities (again, two of the best), while also thinking about social power and speaking on issues (AGAIN, two of the BEST), and also thinking about just making good music in general (do I have to say it again?), who REALLY is better than these 2 right now?  Putting them on one song together would blow up the internet, let alone an entire album (which we've discussed before, do I really have to come back to this discussion?  Doesn't matter, I'm willing to anyways). We've seen tiny little previews of what these two can do together (production on songs from one and hooks on songs from the other), but the fans will always crave more, and I can almost say that's a fact, because I'm a contributor to the discussion!

So these are just a few of the examples of collaboration ideas that are constantly on my mind that would blow the music world up (and step up its game particularly if you ask me, another reason why I need to be an "idea man" for those guys over at Interscope, but that's a discussion for another day). Some other dream collaboration ideas I've recently come up with are Drake & Big K.R.I.T (Houston influence would play a big key with a slow, bumping track, you'd definitely need subs for that one), and even something like an ASAP Mob and TDE collaboration might not be too bad (the discussions of a TDE and Slaughterhouse battle came up in an interview with Ab-Soul recently). The ideas are certainly endless, and this is where the real fun comes into play!  I want to hear about your wildest and biggest dream collaboration tracks. Be sure to give me the type of song you believe it would be (again, no limit to the types I've listed, you can mention your own type of track), and the reason you believe your collab would be so awesome. Make sure to hit me up on twitter (@SuperNovaRover), Google+, or even just leave a comment on this post detailing your dream collab. I can't wait to see the ideas for this one!  





      













             

Royce Da 5'9 & DJ Premier's "PRhyme": Why You Should Be Excited

It seems Royce Da 5'9 is taking it to the next level with this one. Earlier this week a short video surfaced of DJ Premier joining alongside Royce rapping in a video over what you could only assume was some choice Premo production. People of the internet were rather excited about what this could possibly mean, but since then no further details were released...until now.

PRhyme is going to be a full length Royce Da 5'9 LP with DJ Premier taking the reigns handling production. It's hard to tell where Premo is going to take the production with on this one, whether or not he chooses to sample certain artists or keep the sampling to a minimum. He did have this to say about the album recently; "I've never sampled just one artist, I'm known for my reputation and my creativity. I wanted it to be my traditional thing where I sample everything I find, but I am really proud of how the project came out and Royce is one hell of a pusher."  From the sounds of this it seems there is a minimum of sampling from Premo, but time will tell what we see in terms of production on the album.

PRhyme will boast some MONSTER features, however. It is confirmed that the project will feature Dwele, Killer Mike, Common, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, Mac Miller, of course his fellow group mates Slaughterhouse, and Royce and Premo even managed to grab Jay Electronica for a feature. Are you excited yet?!  PRhyme has not been given a release date yet, but is rumored to be put out before the end of the year.

The route the Slaughterhouse members have been taking for their music releases has been an interesting one to say the least. Crooked I's last release Apex Predator was put out about halfway through last year, Joell Ortiz's House Slippers saw a release a bit more than a week ago, while Joe Budden has plans for his EP Some Love Lost in November and the release date for the album All Love Lost has yet to be determined.

Being that it is almost October already, so far it seems like these releases from Joe and Royce will spill into next year, while Slaughterhouse as a whole will supposedly be featured on the anniversary project Shady XV and also have their album Glass House coming (no release date given) as well. So far it seems next year will be a very exciting year for Slaughterhouse and Shady fans alike, but all you can do now is wait. Check out the teaser video for Royce and Premo's PRhyme below.

              (*I do not own this video, or the rights to it, Royce Da 5'9, DJ Premier, or PRhyme*)











                  

Kendrick Lamar Says "i" Love Myself: An Explanation Of His Genius

Were you part of a few (probably) million people in the world this morning at 8 am sharp slowly twiddling your thumbs waiting what seemed like your entire life for this new Kendrick track?  In this regard (obviously) you wouldn't have been alone. It's been almost 2 full years since Kendrick's (debated) classic album Good Kid Maad City dropped and the people are more than ready to jump back on the Kendrick horse and see what he has to offer us next, although this new single might not have been what Kendrick fans had in mind.

Rumors circulated that the sample for said song would be instantly recognizable, and those rumors certainly had that part right. Producer Rahki took a page out of the Isley Brothers book and went all "Who's That Lady" on us. Now if you don't know Rahki (like me), he certainly isn't new to the rap production game, but he's new to the spotlight. He is known as being uncredited for co-production on a banger from Eminem's 2010 Recovery album, "Won't Back Down" featuring singer Pink, but he also has full credit for beat production from other stars like Game, 50 Cent, Curren$y, Ab-Soul, and has even produced for Kendrick before on GKMC.

But back to the lecture at hand. The internet is all over the place about what to think of this new Kendrick:  a lot of people are glad that he's back to releasing music again, while others were expecting a lot more from a lead single from the Compton emcee. But if you know the deal with releasing music nowadays (especially from monster artists such as Kendrick), you'd understand exactly what Kendrick is doing. He is now considered "elite" in this thing we call rap, maybe even music as a whole, and that's where this new Isley Brothers-sampled jam comes into play. Kendrick wants to release great music to be known to all music fans around the world, not just hip hop heads like you and I. This song is a nice, catchy radio-friendly change of pace that could catch anyone's ears.

The approach is explainable, though. Going back to this "elite" argument, he definitely is, and he knows it. By this statement I mean he knows exactly how to use his power. When you think of the true elites in the game and the strategies they use to release their music, for example the Eminems, Kanyes, Waynes, Drakes, etc., they all use this EXACT same strategy when starting to push for an album release. Eminem with that at-first insane sounding "Berzerk", Kanye with the questionable "Black Skinhead", and even Drake with "Started From The Bottom". Do you notice the trend?  Artists NEVER play it safe on the first single, and you should NEVER base your opinion on what you believe the album will sound like on 1 SONG.

So do I love this new Kendrick?  No. Will I play it over and over again to figure out exactly what his plan is?  Of course I will. And so will you if you listen to Kendrick's music. Although if you're planning to listen to "i" to try and figure out what the entire album is going to sound like based off of this 1 song, you're (we're) probably wasting your (our) time. Kendrick has too many things planned for this new album for us to hang our heads on the first single (rumors circulated of Kendrick working with Pete Rock on the new album, and maybe even some DR. DRE PRODUCTION?!?!). So I say sit back, relax, and enjoy the takeover, because we'll be seeing it shortly. I'll be posting a link to SoundCloud for the official audio on my twitter (@SuperNovaRover) shortly.










      



    

Jhene Aiko: Hip Hop's Next Super Honey (If Not Already)

Jhene Aiko has kind of exploded since her arrival on the music scene. Since the release of her EP Sail Out at the end of last year, the L.A. based soul singer has been putting out great song after great song pushing towards the release of her album Souled Out coming out this Tuesday, September 9th. Now minus the fact that she is angelically good looking and practically my soul mate (get it? Still, back off), I can honestly say her voice is unlike anything I've ever heard before. I'm not sure if I could make a better voice myself if I could somehow magically make her and Drake have kids, then have Aaliyah and Frank Sinatra have kids, then by some miracle have those 2 kids meet and have kids. But miracle Jesus-voiced babies aside, the come up of Jhene Aiko has been an interesting one, and not at all one you could say you saw coming.

Admittedly I got in on Jhene a little late. The first time I recall hearing her was on the song "Sparks Will Fly" on the deluxe version of J. Cole's Born Sinner album. Now the intro always sucks me in like a tornado with that crazy wavy, bubbly like sounding synthesizer, or whatever the sound may be. But Jhene stole the show on this one for me. As soon as she came in on that hook, it was over. To this day, every time I listen to it I still wait for the hook more than any other part (sorry Cole, respect to you as well, but come on, really?). Not to mention the ending part of her sort of solo singing performance. Anyways, ever since I heard this song, I've been hooked; waiting for the next thing she puts out, and realizing that I'd never really had my attention grabbed by a singer as much as her.

So like any proper rap geek I went back and did some more research. I know an argument that she isn't a rapper could be made, but the fact that she has a history of rapping on tracks ("Real Now," "In Love We Trust" and "Stay Ready," just to name a few) is good enough evidence to me. Not to mention all the features from rappers she's boasted up to this point (Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Ab-Soul, etc.). So yeah, fellow rap die-hards, she counts. She can turn a hard rap song into a heartfelt, beautifully pieced emotional ballad with one hook.

So up to this point yes, I do consider her a double threat. But on her debut mix tape Sailing Souls she might have been a bit more one dimensional. She sang a lot on songs like "My Mine" and "You Vs. Them," while going for more of a pop sound on songs like "Popular" and "Higher." Then again she did add some decent verses on songs like "Its Real NOW" and "Do Better Blues." So really form your own opinion on how versatile you think she can be (ok not really, because she does EVERYTHING!).

Her Sail Out EP was absolutely no slouch either. Not only did her features step up (Kendrick, Ab- Soul, Childish Gambino), but the production value of her music sky rocketed as well, boasting beats from Fisticuffs and label head No I.D. Her great song writing is shown on every song, but the personal songs are what seem to gain her fan's attention the most. With talks of ex- boyfriends and love on the songs "The Worst" and "Comfort Inn Ending (freestyle)," she makes all the struggles of loving someone familiar and relatable to girls and women everywhere (and maybe even guys, if you're into that).

Her debut album will definitely be one to watch. Interestingly enough she has no rap features on Souled Out, in fact the only feature at all is the Cocaine 80s assisted song "To Love & Die." Is it safe to say that she may be going for a more personal approach? I wouldn't be surprised to see more personal love songs on the album, but that's my opinion. With Jhene it's hard to say she's more unexpected, but the end product usually results in satisfaction from her fans. I suppose we will only see what's to come from the solo soul singer (say that 5 times fast) here in the VERY near future. The only way to go is up: HIGHER! Check out her new music video for "The Pressure" below.

                               (*I do not own this video or song, or the rights to either*)