Boaz - Steel City

Props to NahRight

Boaz's Myspace

A Real Artist

For More Music


Jacked from Here

Dr. T.I.P.

A lot of tracks from Detox are recently leaking with T.I. either ghostwriting and referencing or hired just to reference (which I fail to believe he is just referencing because other artist such as Game, Xzibit, or Bishop Lamont sound more like Dre and would serve as a better reference artist). So it came to my attention that if T.I. is capable of songs like this, why would he make songs like this, or this?

The obvious answer is to sell records but when TIP first came in the game with I'm Serious or even Trap Muzik he was hard body and everyone loved it(or over a million people loved it). But his last LP played like that of Curtis with all this Pop music. Is this what the music industry became; a place were crossover records; by way of lost of artistic integrity, and hardcore fans is the only way to sell millions. Wayne definitely thought so. Here I though T.I. fell off, lost a step ran out of rhymes or whatever have you; but NO he just wants to push units like he supposedly did coke. I don't know whether to be excited one of my favorite rappers still can rhyme with the elite or upset that he's selling out for sake of the possibility of selling a couple thousand more records.

This is the problem with Hip Hop now, to many artist want to sell records but few want to make actual good music. This causes more die hard real Hip Hop fans to go underground like Master Splinter. Slaughterhouse, Drake(although becoming more Wayne like by the day), Jay Electronica, Mickey Factz, Blu, and Evidence, have become my G-Unit, Lil Wayne, Jay Z, Common, Snoop, and T.I. I have no problem with these new leaders of the new school, but what happens when they make it big time, which I pray doesn't happen because then I will again have to look for a new group of starving artists.

If T.I. is any indication of what the mainstream superstar psychy is then this game is all fucked up. Pop, Rock, and Jazz artists rarely ever try just to sell records. Most of the time Rock Albums only come out once every other year or may even take longer because they want to make sure they put out the best product possible. Maybe that is the reason so many of the groups from the 70's and 80's are still relevant... Maybe it isn't the fault of the Hip Hop "artists" maybe the blame should be placed on the record companies for making the bottom line the dollar or the producers for crafting songs where 30% of what they get AFTER the Label, has to go to the Sampled artists. Who knows... But what I do know that if T.I. and other artists bring that real shit more they might get my attention again.

Give Me More Of this



I Hope Kelvin Doesn't follow suit when he makes it. Stay with that real shit.

Its The Real: Hey Ma; Look What We Found (Preview)

Hey Ma, Look What We Found! from The Real Extras on Vimeo.

Tune In Monday!!!

In My Mind

Devin The Dude- Lacville 79



Scarface- Seen A Man Die



Kanye West- Through The Wire




Common- The Food



T.I.- T.I. vs T.I.P (Trap Muzik)



Little Brother- Becoming

Royce Da 5'9-Part Of Me

Royce Da 5'9" - "Part Of Me" from Three/21 Films on Vimeo.


Royce Da 5'9-Part Of Me


If you can recall I posted the preview of the video awhile ago, here's the full video plus mp3

-Bonus-

Joe Budden - In My Sleep

Joell Ortiz - Bout My Money

UNDRCRWN x Asher Roth

This is for all you Asher Roth Fans...

UNDRCRWN, the brand of champions, has collaborated with SRC recording artist Asher Roth on a capsule collection of apparel that is a part of the Spring 2009 Collection from UNDRCRWN. The College Collection as it is being called is influenced by Varsity Sport and features a Letterman Jacket, Sweater, Sweatshirt, and T-Shirt. The collaboration collection will also be used to support Asher’s new single, I Love College, which has just been released.

You can pick up “The College Collection” Here…

For all you people who haven't heard the song, or seen the video click here...

I Call Bullshit...

On Wayne winning Around the Horn... Sure he had some good answers but Wayne only made it to the final round because the moderator of Around The Horn knocked Woody down 3-4 points for NOT having face Tattoos... seriously. "Michael you have no chance at this showdown" didn't Michael just say the same thing as Wayne? Is it me or can Wayne do no wrong in this world now?

On Rihanna "has the potential to be the greatest artist of all time." She doesn't even write her own songs nor sing them, Ike Brown sang them shits if u ask me

On Lil' Wayne beating out Nigger, American Gangster, and The Cool for best album. Is it me or is the Grammy's a popularity contest (ie record sales). But on the bright side at least Heartbreaks wasn't nominated

On the S.L.U. performance

On people saying Ike Brown will get more than 3 months in jail. If T.I. only got a year then Brown shouldn't get more than 3 weeks. (I think he should get the 9 years tho)

On no one caring that dude killed himself after we found out it wasn't Chris Brown or DJ Khaled

On Soulja Boy's life outside music

On having a C- in computer class...

On this being a 3 man blog with only 2 people posting

On T.i.'s new Road to Redemption being "real." What "real" hustler would ever put his self on front street by incriminating themselves and putting a target on there head for police and REAL street dudes to see.

On People actually caring A-Rod used performance enhancement drugs. Man, I wish all Baseball players would use them, then maybe people would watch it. Games being played Home run Derby style doesn't seem to bad to me

Kelvin - The Tribute

Finally we have a full length track by Kelvin titled... The Tribute of course. Here he goes in on the Say You Will beat. This is the first of many so be on the lookout for more songs in the coming weeks. This is a rough meaning its not mixed nor mastered but enjoy;


Kelvin - The Tribute


Also Leave Comments on what you think about the track

Lil Wayne Interview By Katie Couric

I'm Slightly Starting To Respect Him

Welcome To Sixburgh

**Bonus** Pittsburgh Artist

Wiz Khalifa
-All My Life http://sharebee.com/d65fc1af
-Turning Me On Freestyle http://sharebee.com/de13f199
-Young Khalifa http://sharebee.com/3bac9cfd

Vintage
-Pittsburgh Days' Decatur Nights http://sharebee.com/118b3477

Courtesy of OnSmash

Lights Camera Action + Fashion=Vashtie

Can you please give people a run-down about yourself? How did you earn the nickname “Downtown’s Sweetheart”?

My name is Vashtie. I am a director, designer and party promoter (1992 with OSCAR / OPEN with Q TIP). I was born and raised in Albany, New York as the youngest of three children. My parents are working class immigrants from Trinidad. I moved to New York City to attend art school at SVA and to ultimately pursue all my dreams. I recently left my position at Island Def Jam as Director of Creative Services to work for myself. Last season I launched my brand VIOLETTE.

“Downtown’s Sweetheart” started off as a joke. A friend of mine refused to walk with me to a store in Soho. He said “I don’t have time, you’re going to run into too many people you know and it will take us hours. You know everyone, you’re like Downtown’s Sweetheart or something.” I adopted it because I thought it was funny and it just stuck. I have many affiliations so it made sense. It’s a funny play on America’s Sweetheart, although I represent a different area.

What inspired you to create and launch your clothing label Violette?

As a kid I was always drawing and making stuff. I got into designing and making my own pieces when I was around 12, I originally wanted to study fashion. Then I got really into film and music videos and decided to head in that direction, because I figured I could still do fashion on the side. Throughout high school and college I worked retail. In 2000, I was working at Stussy and the urge to make clothing re-surfaced and I started designing and screening my own shirts. It came about because there were so many things at that time that were not available, it was before this whole “streetwear” explosion happened. As a girl who dresses boyish, I could never find tees I wanted in my size and I really loved all the boy brands. I had been getting my Supreme tees altered by my tailor so they could fit me. Girl brands just never appealed to me. They say “necessity is the mother of invention” and well, I needed an option.

How has your strong network of peers helped you achieve your goals?

In film-making and parties, my peers are huge helpers. Either by supporting at the events or working on set. Just having people around helps. Especially with film-making. It’s a team effort and you need a solid crew and extra helping hands. It’s important to have a community of people who support you.
As far as the brand, I’ve been doing it on my own…designing, printing, funding, sales, marketing, etc. I had a couple of investor options, but I wanted to learn every aspect and be able to say I did it on my own (at least in the beginning). There are no secret cooks in the kitchen and it’s definitely been more stressful that way, but it’s a learning process. I’ve had a couple of good friends help with organizing and the laborious moments, without them I would have gone crazy!
I’ve gotten a lot of advice from friends in the game; Kunle/Irak, Scott/Pegleg, Loic/BBC, Erin/MadeMe, but it came down to trial and error for me. James Jebbia gave me great advice, he said “take your time” and I did. Ha, It took me 8 years to finally launch a brand.

How does fashion differ from other creative mediums such as music-making or video directing?

Well, video directing almost always involves other parties…for example the record label, the artist, etc. The original ideas can get lost in a tug of war between everyone involved. It’s a struggle and you have to learn how to bargain with people. That’s the story with commercial art everywhere, it becomes a forum. Fashion (now) has been purer because I have no one to answer to but myself. I’m making all the things I like and it’s almost limitless. That may change as time goes on, but I think it will always be more independent than others.

What are the inspirations behind your debut collection?

Really the brand reflects me and my style, tom-boyish and fashion forward. I’ve always been opposed to super feminine themes and I never wanted my brand to scream, “I’m a Girl”. It’s obvious I’m a girl, I don’t need a t-shirt to tell people that. What isn’t obvious are the things I may like or dislike, the opinions I have. Also, because the designs were so “neutral” I decided on a making a line of t-shirts for the fellas, VIOLETTE HOMME.

I focused a lot on the branding of VIOLETTE with the use of logos. I wanted it to feel like an old brand and I tried to keep the designs classic and simple – that’s something that will be found in every season. I played with sarcasm and irony with a couple shirts just for fun.

For instance the KILL FOR PEACE tee was an inspiration from a World War I jacket that had buttons with that message branded on it. The irony and boldness of that statement was so great, it started to be humorous. The idea of killing for peace was such a strange concept, then again – in some dire situations it becomes a possible solution.

I also like things that serve a purpose and hold a message. Some of the tees have commentary. The EFF YOU tee was designed when I was working at NIKE ID in 2005. It was such an old design, but it really explained how my peers and I felt about the scene. From working retail in 2000 at Stussy, we saw how the sneaker/streetwear game just exploded. It became so massive that everyone was the same, there was nothing different or new. Everyone talking about what kicks they had, what line they were starting, etc. It was so boring and I know Hypebeast readers can relate to it. If you truly love something you can, at times, hate it. I’m not excluding myself because I am apart of that world, so I added the “F*@K VIOLETTE”.

Also, if you notice, there is a heart on the sleeve on the shirts. I wanted to really brand that, “wearing your heart on your sleeve” idea. As someone who is strong, tough and can hold my own… I can also wear my heart on my sleeve amongst the people closest to me. It’s not an accepted way of living, but I appreciate it because it’s honest. We as a people get caught up in “acting” a part, afraid of people seeing the real you. Obviously, you can’t leave yourself open for hurt, but I find beauty in someone who isn’t afraid of showing how they truly feel.

- Violette’s Website

Text: Eugene Kan
Photo: Stephen Wordie


Interview via HB

Mafia Music