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May 18th, 2012 | 5:05 pm by Bené Viera

T.I. Wants Out Of The Rap Game Because It’s Fake

A rapper hasn’t earned his or her stripes until they publicly announce that they’re leaving the rap game for good. Like Too Short, Jay-Z, 50 Cent and The Game who’ve all threatened to retire, T.I. went on Power 105′s The Breakfast Club and said he wants out because the game has changed. How many times have we heard this song and dance before from other rappers? On The Breakfast Club video interview posted on HipHopDX.com, T.I. said he would be more than happy to fade to the background. “This is what everyone fails to realize. I want out. I want out, man,” he said. “What the game is going to and what has evolved into from a personality standpoint, it goes against what I represent.” By that he means he’s real and the industry is fake. “What I embody, this game contradicts that. I want out. I’m in it because I love music and I have obligations, contractually,” he disclosed. So, if it wasn’t for those contractual obligations T.I. would be perfectly fine focusing on his artists and other endeavors. Read more…

May 17th, 2012 | 12:35 pm by Bené Viera

Summer Jam Vs. Rock The Bells: Who Runs It? (POLL)

Hot 97 Summer Jam vs. Rock The Bells

Summer is fast approaching and we’re ready to bring on the BBQs, rooftop parties and most of all the concerts. What’s summer without indulging in live performances of the artists you love? Two of the biggest hip-hop concerts this summer, Summer Jam and Rock the Bells, have some acts lined up that are going to be bananas! Not that you’d go wrong attending either, but because they’re as different as night and day, we’ve broken down why one of these concerts rules as the must-see concert of the summer.

1. The headliners tell you everything you need to know about a show.

One of the biggest names in hip-hop, Nicki Minaj, is headlining Summer Jam along with Rick Ross, Waka Flocka and Young Jeezy. As far as mainstream rap, Summer Jam has it covered. With Nicki you’ll get a bit of hip-pop, Waka will make everyone dance and Rick Ross and Jeezy offer the trap anthems to make even the most suburban girl get hype.

Where do we even begin with the headliners for Rock the Bells? Its very big name acts run the gamut of the likes of Nas, Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa, Missy Elliott & Timbaland and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. It doesn’t get more versatile than Nas, one of hip-hop’s legends, and the fairly newbie Wiz Khalifa rocking the stage at the same festival. And Missy Elliott & Timbaland…together! That’s some epic 90s skeez right there. We’re singing, “Supa dupa fly, supa dupa fly” just thinking about it.

2. Whose lineup has the most artists hot in the streets right now? Read more…

May 1st, 2012 | 4:15 pm by Mark Graham (@unclegrambo)

Uprising: Hip-Hop & The L.A. Riots: The Spotify Playlist

Uprising: Hip-Hop & The L.A. Riots premieres on VH1 tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT, and is the latest entry in VH1′s award-winning Rock Docs series. The documentary film, narrated by Snoop Dogg, takes a look back at the riots that occurred in the wake of the Rodney King verdict exactly twenty years ago this week, and the role that hip-hop played in both predicting and ultimately chronicling the tension between the residents of South Central and the police.

The film premiered in Los Angeles last week, and our colleagues over at VH1 News got some 1:1 time with Arsenio Hall before the film began. He detailed for us a story of how Ice Cube passed along a cassette tape to him with an early version of “F*** The Police” on it, which led Arsenio to (ultimately unsuccessfully) lobby his corporate bosses to book N.W.A. on his eponymous talk show. It’s a fascinating anecdote, and one that reflects a time that’s increasingly hard to remember, a time when hip-hop hadn’t yet fully made its way into mainstream American culture.

We also put together a Spotify playlist for you below, Music from Uprising: Hip-Hop & The L.A. Riots, which contains most of the music that you’ll hear in the documentary film tonight, songs like N.W.A.’s aforementioned “F*** Tha Police,” Ice Cube’s “We Had To Tear This Mothaf***a Up” and Dr. Dre’s “The Day The N***** Took Over,” among others.

Too $hort And Scarface Blow The Whistle

Hip Hop Honors taped this past Thursday night, and the high-energy show went off without a hitch, which may have had something to do with the rehearsals that took over Hammerstein Ballroom all last week. The stage was a veritable revolving door of talent, with Scarface passing the mic to Kid Rock during the Too $hort segment, and De La Soul fans like Mos Def and Q-Tip hanging around just to practice their rhymes. The morning of the taping, Bun B, Kid Rock, Scarface, Lil Jon and the Top Dog himself, Too $hort, got together to go through their set one last time.

Read what Big Boi has to say about his first encounter with Too $horts “Freaky Tales.”