From the category archives:
There’s loads of talent still coming out of the West these days. Some are coming under the radar and some are working with the biggest names in hip hop. Regardless, they all have talent. Who do you think has the skills to be the best of the best of the new crop of emcees out of the West coast? Discuss why you think they are the best or about to be the best or have potential to be the best in the comments section.
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This one should start some discussions. I was adding Flo Rida’s new LP R.O.O.T.S. to our RapCredits site (which has turned into a great source for samples) when I noticed that track number 12, “Sugar”, samples and interpolates the song “I’m Blue (Da Ba Dee)” from the Italian electronic dance trio Eifel 65 which contains one of the most stupid hooks in pop music.
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Just in case anyone is wondering if the site has been hacked or if you’re in the right place, no it has not been hacked and yes you are in the right place. Welcome to KevinNottingham.com! We’ve been long overdue for a new site design, as the previous design had been up close to a year. I felt the need for something fresh. Besides that, random people were complaining that the site loads extremely slow. So I did a complete re haul and gutted out the whole system, recoding it from scratch. All images have been optimized and all dirty code has been removed.
In addition to the new site design, we are slowly moving away from the name This Is Hip Hop. From now on, we will refer to the site strictly as KevinNottingham.com. The reasoning for this was 1) is was confusing to some and 2) we would like to branch out beyond hip hop. Don’t worry, the site’s content will not change. It just leaves things open for us to cover R&B and other genres from time to time.
Ok, enough yapping. How’d we do? Likes? Dislikes?
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We’re not starting rumors here. This was spotted over at the Okayplayer boards… “fall ‘09, God willin”.
With Big Pooh dropping his second solo album soon, it’s about time Phonte cut one as well. Maybe we’ll see the reunion of 9th Wonder, Big Pooh, and Phonte on a track? What do you all think? Who would you like to see on it?
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My man Gooch hit me up the other day talking about this new kid Will Roush. He’ll be dropping a mixtape soon called, Know My Name Vol 1, which will be hosted by DJ Skee and DJ Whoo Kid. This track here is Will’s question to what a new artist has to do to build buzz and gain attention. Produced by J Dilla, “What I Gotta Do Dilla?” is all about the things people inside and outside of the music business have told Will he needs to do to jump start his career. You’ll hear some familiar voices on the song- Sha Money XL, Stat Quo, Young Buck, Bizarre… etc. Grab it after the cut and let us know what you think. On a similar note, what do YOU think a new artist has to do to get heard?
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Chances are you will not be able to surf the net today without seeing a Biggie tribut post or a Biggie tribute mix to download. Even television and radio today will most likely play our favorite Biggie songs/videos. Today marks the 12th anniversary of the death of Christopher Wallace AKA The Notorious B.I.G.
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Wow, I really don’t know what to say about this cat… lol. Republican rapper Hi-Caliber rhymes about “socialist” Obama and liberal media. Apparently he was convinced to turn conservative by a post-9/11 Michael Savage radio show. Wow, you know hip hop has truely turned mainstream when someone raps against the social issues hip hop is based on. Check the video and hit the link for the full story. Shouts to Hetal!
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Rarely do I go out and do this, but I felt like sparking some debate. Given his most recent, and albeit, impressive mixtape drop So Far Gone, Drake has already established himself under the wing of hip hop’s biggest star, Weezy, and has received the co-sign from numerous legends and current hip hop studs. For a guy who began on Degrassi, the look and the appeal was already there. He threw in a rap voice and some great lyrical skill to pretty much complete his threat. Is it fair to say that he has the potential to be, not only the biggest selling Canadian Hip Hop Artist, but simply, the most known Canadian hip hop artist ever?
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Props to Loud.com for posting up this very informative video. Rich Isaacson, an Ivy League trained lawyer, left his job at a prestigious NY law firm to form LOUD Records with childhood friend Steve Rifkind in early 1992. A lifelong fan of urban music, Isaacson quickly immersed himself in the burgeoning hip-hop scene.
Currently Rich Isaacson is a legal, business and creative consultant for SRC Records and he sat down with Loud.com to discuss samples and getting them cleared. Rich also lets you know that replaying samples won’t get you around a lawsuit. Check it out!
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Major props go out to my man DJ Chew who put together these unofficial instrumentals of Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak. That’s right, these are unofficial, but they are the best unofficial, homemade instrumentals I have ever heard. Excellent quality and very difficult to tell that they aren’t the real deal. So until Kanye releases the official instrumental set, this will most definitely do.
I actually wanna do something with this, but let me throw this out there and get some feedback. I want to hear a hip hop album out of this. Would it be possible to use these instrumentals as samples for a hip hop record? Then get some emcees to rap over them? Would that be a good idea for our next contest? You tell me. Grab em after the jump.
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You may remember a couple of months ago, VH1 released their list of the Top 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs. Well, I know quite a few hip hop fans who highly disagree with the list, myslef included. I was contacted recently by a few other hip hop bloggers who are interested in coming up with a better list… a list that most any hip hop fan can appreciate.
So I’ve been tasked with coming up with my personal Top 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs by the end of the year. This is where I need your help. Hip Hop music has been in existence for over 30 years and there are a ton of songs to go through. I want to know what you think should be on the list.
What are the most important songs in hip hop history?
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So let’s talk about Eminem’s comeback for a minute. Personally, I think hip hop needs Em and has been waiting for him to spit a verse for a while. We saw that earlier this year, when another white rapper by the name of Asher Roth came on the scene. Cats were literally calling him the next Eminem. And it wasn’t a race issue either, although some claim it was. Listen to The Greenhouse Effect and tell me Asher’s not in the same league. Maybe not quite yet, but he’s got the potential…. until now anyway.
What does Eminem’s comeback mean for Asher Roth? Is the gig up? Will his gimick still work? Is hip hop big enough for both emcees? Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? LOL… all these questions need answers… tell us what you think.
While you’re thinking about it, check out the new Asher Roth freestyle after the jump…
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Welcome to The Foreign Exchange Week at This Is Hip Hop! I thought it was more than necessary to dedicate a whole week to the duo comprised of one of my favorite producers, Nicolay, and one of my favorite emcees, Phonte.
All week we will be celebrating the release of The Foreign Exchange’s brand new album, Leave It All Behind. Leave It All Behind is the long awaited follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2004 debut, Connected. The new album, in stores in the U.S. this Tuesday, has been my most anticipated hip hop release for this year…. but wait — turns out Leave It All Behind is not a hip hop album! Looks like Nic and Phonte got their grown man game on and decided to do a R&B/Soul album. What ever they wanna call it, it’s plain and simple good music and it has met just about every expectation I had for the album.
We’re gonna leave the official review for my man Deez, but for the record…. I love the new album. For those of you who have not gotten the album yet, you can grab it now off iTunes. Or if you wanna wait for the full package, which includes the instrumental version of the album, preorder now through TheForeignExchangeMusic.com.
If you got the album already, I’m curious as to what you think about it…
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Kanye West premiered the video to his first single off his new album 808’s & Heartbreak on The Ellen Show of all places. What do you think of the video? I’m also interested to know how many of you are looking forward to Kanye’s new album.
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I saw this floating around and just had to put it up to get everyone’s take on it. The rumored tracklisting to Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3. Personally, I think it’s bullshit. Why put it up? It’s fun, ain’t it? Who thinks up this stuff though? Read on and tell me what you think…
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