Freddie Gibbs feat. Bun B-"Rock Bottom"

Freddie Gibbs feat. Bun B-"Rock Bottom"

So glad to see these two finally hook up. Gibbs had asked me for Bun's number a while back. I gave it to him, he called but nothing came of it at the time. The next time I hollered at Bun I asked him he had heard from him. At the time, I think Bun (who probably gets a gazillion phone calls for features) probably just looked at Gibbs as another kid looking for a verse. Fortunately, these two met not too long after and really got to chop it up I guess...because I'm hearing that they are actually in somewhat of a group together with Chuck English and Chip Tha Ripper.

Anyways, this song came out really dope. Its more than just some guy getting another guy to hop on a song. The two really teamed up and cranked out something that means something. Good stuff.

Gibbs' Str8 Killa No Filla will be dropping soon in both EP and mixtape forms with some songs being on one and some being on the other. Either way $upport the homie.

Grip Plyaz feat. Aleon Craft-"Step Out"

The who's who of Atlanta's underground scene are all in attendance for this new video from Grip featuring Aleon Craft. Directed by Corey Davis.

Pill-"Surroundings" (freestyle)

Pill goes in over the Big Pun "I'm Not A Player" beat with some Decatur Dan visuals to back him up. Pill's Gangsta Grillz mixtape with DJ Drama, 1140: The Overdose drops on June 1st...

Random Jam: Daz Dilinger-"In California" (1998) x "Money On My Mind" (2006)

Folks really slept on Daz' Retaliation, Revenge and Get Back album. It came out at a time when nobody really cared about Death Row, so off GP, folks didn't really give this album much of a chance. But this shit was jamming from front to back from what I remember...hell, the weakest song on there might've been the joint with 2Pac on it which received the most attention because it was thought to be "his last verse." I always dug the cover art to...which borrows from Marvin Gaye's In Our Lifetime album.

But yeah, I'm over here working on an interview with a West Coast legend and been jamming to some vintage stuff to get in the right mind frame.

While you're here, here is another slept-on gem from Daz featuring Kurupt. This was on his 2006 album So So Gangsta that he put out on So So Def. This had a couple jams on it too.

Mach Five feat. Dreamer-"Just Go"

The homie Corey Davis has been doing some great, good, cool (and not so cool) things with his new foray into shooting and directing. Here is his latest piece of work from his group Mach Five featuring Dreamer of Hollyweerd.

Boondocks Episode Preview: The Legend of Jimmy Rebel

Crazy thing about all of this is...Jimmy Rebel is a real person.

Spotted at TSS and BB

Hollyweerd feat. Big Pooh-"Love Me"

Hollyweerd feat. Big Pooh-"Love Me"

This shit jams. Holly let me hear this in the studio a while ago. I think they hooked up with Pooh while he was here for A3C last year to knock this joint out. Its going to be on their new mixtape Edible Phat 2 hosted by Don Cannon. Trust me, the tape is dope. Probably their best work to date.

I'm also happy to hear Staggolee playing his sax on this joint. That's the one thing I always wanted the group to take more advantage, especially since his appearance on "Have You Ever Made Love To A Weerdo" is the highlight of the song. Fortunately unfortunately, you're probably going to hear more of Stagg playing sax on their songs after this point since his other group, Jaspects have broke up, giving him more time and energy to focus on Hollyweerd.

Next Friday, May 28th: Stankonia Studios presents Inside The Music hosted by Some Guy

Stankonia Studios is welcoming you inside their historic doors for the first Inside the Music featuring performances from Hollyweerd, CyHi Da Prynce and Redland. DJ Solomon and DJ Jamad will be providing the grooves. In case you can't read the fine print on the flyer...yes there will be an open bar courtesy of Heineken and Orgullo Nuestro tequila.

The show will be hosted by yours truly.

Stankonia ain't the biggest planet in the solar system so I advise you to go ahead and get your tickets now.

Here's a video of Holly to whet your appetites.

Vado-"Large On the Streets"

This is pretty nice. Cam'Ron know he be finding cats from out of nowhere.

David Banner Talks Death of A Popstar and Says "F*ck Mixtapes"

David Banner talks about his new album with 9th Wonder, Death of A Popstar. He starts off kinda complaining as usual about people's attitude towards the music he's chosen to make and put out over the last five years.

But then he eventually touches on a few things I've been preaching for the last few months. The mixtape game and free music being one of them. I'm not gonna front, free music makes it easier to do my job, but as fan, I would like to see more artists, my favorites included, get back to putting a sense of value on their work. I hate to see cats spend all this money and time into making dope music...only to give it away and it not be documented or appreciated like it should be.

He also spoke on something that me and 9th Wonder talked about during our sit down, the death of Black music.

RESPECT. Self-Portrait Series: Barron Claiborne

Not sure how often you visit your local bookstore, but a new magazine called RESPECT. has been on stands since late last year. It features photographers and their most iconic work in the world of Hip Hop. They've also been doing an interview series. Here is the latest one where they talk with Barron Claiborne. Dude seems a little cooky. I guess that's what made is interview a little more interesting than the others they've posted.

Random Jam: The Roots-"Star" (2004)

Everybody is damn star nowadays. Everybody is on camera...doing and saying shit that really don't need to be recorded or shared for that matter. Got a couple emails today that just made me think of Sly's song and then this. Nobody likes to just do their damn job anymore or simply contribute to society without having to get some kind of fame out of it.

Bizarre feat. Yelawolf- "Down This Road"

Bizarre feat. Yelawolf-"Down This Road"

Okay so...

I wrote Bizarre's bio for his new album Friday Night at St. Andrews. Meaning that I had to go to the studio to listen to the music and get familiar with it. I'm not a stranger to Bizarre's music. I checked out the D12 albums and I own that Hannicap Circus album (the song with Big Boi and Devin the Dude was jammin, nasty, but jammin).

By now you know that Bizarre's music has a very acquired taste. Dark, off-kilter and at times very disturbing. And honestly, when I was visiting the studio to square away business, I'd hear some of the music when the studio door would swing open...and yeah. At times I was really considering giving dude his money back.

But then, the day I heard the actual album, I was very relieved. He calmed down on that crazy shit and just stuck to telling Devin-esque stories and just rapping. The beats were pretty dope too. So, when I told people "yo man, that Bizarre might be aight, for real"...people looked at me crazy and was like, "yeah right, nicca."

Well the album comes out on Tuesday, so if you want, you can check it out for yourself. From looking at the final tracklisting, a couple of the songs I liked didn't make the final cut and new ones (including one of the disturbing ones) were added. So, this album might sound a little different from the one I was telling folks about. My personal favorites were "Can't Get Enough," "Some Days," and "Whatcha Smokin On."

Either way, the homie Boogie Brown said I could leak out this joint "Down This Road" with Yelawolf. Bizarre got a song with Playboy Tre floating around too, I might track that down to share as well.

Produced by Will Power of SupaHot Beats

Hawks (But Not Joe) Thank The Fans

Just got this email from the Atlanta Hawks that included this video. Marvin Williams (smh) and Al Horford thank the fans for all of their support through the season. Noticeably absent from the video is Joe Johnson.

Man listen, I've been a Hawks fan since I was 5 years old. I'm always going to love my team. I know its a PR move, but you don't have to apologize to us for Joe's comments. However, I do need an apology for your underwhelming performance in the playoffs this season. Outside of games 1 and 2 in the series against Milwaukee, we never looked like a #3 seed.

But yeah, this season was a remarkable season and the most exciting one in years. I thank you, Hawks, for that.

Random Jam: Young Bleed-"Better Than the Last Time" (1998)

Man, where the hell is Young Bleed at? Last thing I remember hearing him on was Big Mike and Six 2's "Down Home" (which was straight fie btw).

But yeah, easily Bleed's My Balls and My Word is the best album to be released on No Limit (yeah I said it), eventhough it wasn't really a No Limit release. He was actually a part of C-Loc's Concentration Camp crew (the camp who gave Boosie and Boo of CTE their starts) who was just cool with Master P on the business tip at the time.

Anyways, this was probably my favorite song on there. It features Maxminelli and Lay-Low and its produced by Happy Perez. Maaaaaan, if I keep listening to this song I'ma mess around and smoke a Black (I "quit" this week, haven't smoked since Sunday).

Gucci Mane + Jail = Marketing 101

Well, Gucci Mania is officially back upon us now that the political prisoner, rapper born Radric Davis has been released. Locked up since late last year, Gucci walked out of Fulton County jail aka "Rice Street" looking like he hadn't done a day. Fresh haircut, crispy Black tee, jewelry around his neck and wrist. Its the shit rap videos are made of...

I don't know if any of yall have been to jail for an extended amount of time (I haven't either), but, I never knew that they had barbers and jewelers on site to make sure you looked good for your big day. I guess, that's a luxury reserved for popular rappers...hold on, I take that back. Hell, when T.I. got let out of Rice Street before Urban Legend came out, he walked out of that bitch rocking a skull cap, hoodie and carrying a brown paper bag from what I remembered. I guess since Gucci is one of Fulton County jail's most frequent visitors he gets membership privileges.

But yeah. About last night. I was asked to go and cover this "event" but I couldn't make it because of a prior obligation. I didn't really think I was going to be missing anything anyways. I mean, who was going to be at a jail at 12:30 at night to watch a rapper walk out? You can do that shit on a random Tuesday afternoon (*drum kick*). But to my surprise everybody and their mama was there. Channels 2 through 69, the gossip bloggers, the photo bloggers, the "hood" bloggers, photographers...everybody.

But the visitors that caught my eye in the many videos that were posted this morning were Shawty Lo and DJ Holiday. Obviously, these guys are pals and that's cool. I'd love to see my potnas greeting me when I get out too...but I'd also like to see my family too.

At this point, I may be assuming, because like I said, I wasn't there...but where was buddy family at? You mean to tell me after doing a six month bid, the first people this man is seen on camera with are another rapper and his DJ? On top of that, the first people dude thanks are his lawyers and his label? That shit just seems funny to me.

And why have a press conference and read a statement? Gucci went to jail for probation violaton i.e. fucking around and doing the same shit that got him in trouble in the first place. He didn't kill anybody (this time), he didn't rape anyone, he didn't get wrongly convicted and released after DNA evidence finally got him exonerated. Dude had cloudy piss. Then on top of that, the first people who get thanked are his lawyers and label?

I'm probably not saying anything new to the thinking people out there, but am I the only one who thinks this whole episode is just a part of the he and the labels marketing scheme? It seems like EVERYTIME dude has an album about to come out or is blowing up, he goes to jail.

I was at the first Gucci Mane jail press conference back in '05 when he shot ol' boy from Macon and had to fly down from New York where he was shooting Rap City, to report to the jail. That was a scene as well. The label he was signed to at the time, Big Cat, had wrapped trucks, a promo team and publicist on site to make sure you knew that his debut album Trap House was IN STORES NOW!

Damn, I wish I still had the pictures from that shit. Gucci was rocking a Martin Luther King shirt and I remember his lawyer comparing Gucci's plight to the political prisoners and civil rights leaders of yesteryear. Yeah, it was some bullshit. I also did his first interview after he was released. This wasn't much of an event, we was just in the studio with his lawyers listening to the new song he made. The crazy thing is, it seemed like in the course of that interview (one that he didn't answer questions about what got him in jail), some light bulbs went off in people's heads in the room. As I was asking him about how his buzz continued to grow despite him being behind bars, people eyes got big, as if they were saying "you, know, we might be onto something here."

And it just seems like ever since that day, its been the same routine again and again. Hit song-->album release date-->jail...hit song-->album release date-->jail.

After watching the press conference video from last night again this morning, I tweeted that I was convinced that jail time was just a part of Gucci and Asylum's marketing plan. Judging from the amount of retweets it got, alot of ya'll seem to agree.

I was actually joking when I said it, but then I messed around and got my hands on this document...



Yes ladies and gentlemen. This is a copy of the written statement Gucci Mane made to the media last night. Yes, Gucci's label was handing this con-unist manifesto to folks who showed up so that they could read along with Gucci. This further convinces me that all this shit is a farce. I'm starting to debate if buddy was even jail at all. He might've been laying low in Forsyth County somewhere and just snuck in the back and walked out the front last night.

Oh yeah, I forgot...Gucci has a shiny new website boasting that he is "GA's Most Wanted." Its just too convenient.

But yeah, that's about it. What do ya'll make of all this?

Nappy Roots-"Ride"

Skinny and Scales hold it down in this video from Nappy Roots upcoming album, Pursuit of Nappyness. For real though, listen to what Fishscales saying on this song, dude is really spitting.

Under the Influence, Part II

So...the last time I wrote one of these it sparked alot of debate, phone calls and slightly awkward moments with said artist (everything is super duper gravy now though). So, we'll see how this one ends up being received...



Right now, the internet is going crazy over Meridian, Mississippi rapper/producer Big K.R.I.T. and his new project K.R.I.T. Wuz Here. Actually blogs and other web tastemakers have been co-signing K.R.I.T.'s work since last year some time. He's built on his buzz over the last few months by hooking up with those Creative Control folks and shooting some nice "looking" videos.

Naturally, alot of my peers have been asking me "what you think of this new dude Krit?" I'm not big on being a stickler unless it really really really matters, but I always find myself going into this long spill about how Krit isn't "new." Dude been around for about 4-5 years now. I first heard of him in early 2006 when I interviewed him for Ozone Magazine's Patiently Waiting section. Matter fact, K.R.I.T. was the first artist I did a photoshoot with with my own camera.

The stuff he was making at the time was pretty good and from talking to him I kinda knew dude was going to be around for a while. Not necessarily as a rapper, which he was decent at and had some real things to say, but moreso as a producer. Which was funny because he said the only reason he started producing was because he couldn't afford to pay people for beats. He came out with a few other mixtapes after that and also spread his wings a producer doing beats independent artists around the way including the homie Big Floaty.

After that I kinda fell out of contact with dude until I ran into him a couple years ago when he was pushing his new mixtape with DJ Infamous. Honestly, from what I remembered, I didn't care for it too much. It kinda sounded like he sacrificed his lyrics to try and fit in with what was hot at the time. After that I kinda just check him out from afar when he'd make some blips in blog land.

(sorry for rambling)

But yeah, when people started asking me what I thought of dude's music, I'd just be like...well, I've heard it already. The stuff that folks had been going goo goo gaa gaa over for the last few months, didn't really sound that different from the stuff that I got introduced to back in '06. From the random songs that had been leaking out, I didn't really hear the growth I would've liked to hear. It sounded like what I heard years ago, so I didn't really have the "oh that shit is hard!" answer people were looking for. Shied, I mighta hit a few folks with an "eh."

Fast forward to last week. Alot of people seem (or sound) to be messing with K.R.I.T Wuz Here pretty heavy. I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical about it. Matter fact my first listen, I was kinda turned off from it. It sounded like he was doing his best Pimp C-over-DJ Paul-production impersonation. Which brings me to the argument I brought up in the previous Under the Influence...should we be happy to hear "new" artists like K.R.I.T. be so heavily influenced by artists we love? Where does that line get blurred?

When I listen to K.R.I.T., it reminds me of the first time I listened to Da Backwudz album. After interviewing them, reading their bios...and shit, going to school with one of them...it became apparent that they UGK, 8Ball and MJG and Outkast were their musical inspirations. Fortunately unfortunately, you could hear it on their debut album. One song sounded like Ball and G, another sounded like UGK and another sounded like 'Kast. Is that a bad thing? Hard to tell. You know, they could always draw inspiration from some wack ass rappers, but instead, they drew it from great ones. But the fall back to that is failing to leave an impression of your own on the listener. Its cool to have folks say "oh this song reminds me of {insert favorite rapper}, but that can hinder you as well.

So yeah, with K.R.I.T. the Pimp C and DJ Paul influences (and some times T.I.) run rampant throughout the project, sometimes diluting the poignant lyrics and dope production he sprinkles in here and there. Yeah, we all country as hell, but sometimes you're like damn, he sounds just like Pimp. Whether its the vocal tone, enunciation or even at times the subject matter. But hey, nobody has a patent on being a country boy with a strong sense of spirituality stuck in the middle of reality.

Do I think K.R.I.T. is biting or trying to replace Pimp C at all? No way. But I guess what we are witnessing with his growing popularity is that K.R.I.T. may very well become that UGK-type artist/personality to the crowd that's currently rocking to Curren$y, Wiz Khalifa and other artist cut of that "XXL Freshman" cloth...just like how Nipsey Hussle is kinda becoming their Snoop Dogg.

All in all, I wound up listening to K.R.I.T. Wuz Here again all night last night and the shit is dope. There is no disputing that. I just think the dopest moments are when K.R.I.T. is K.R.I.T. and not sounding like his inspirations too much. Especially on tracks like "Children of the World," "They Got Us," "2000 and Beyond," and "I Gotta Stay."

But yeah, I encourage you to check out the project for yourself. It really offers a bright future for Southern Hip Hop or as Pimp would say "Country Rap Tunes." Dude doesn't waste alot of space with the rapping, dude really touches on some real life topics. The shit is dope, but I'm really looking forward to the music K.R.I.T. starts making when he really finds himself as an artist.

DOWNLOAD: Big K.R.I.T.-K.R.I.T. Wuz Here

Big Boi Tells www.MAURICEGARLAND.com Why Outkast Hasn't Been Honored at Vh1's Hip Hop Honors

I caught up with Big Boi the other day over at Stankonia. We talked for a minute and one of the things that came up in the conversation that ranged from Black N Mild addiction to CHEMTrails was why Outkast hasn't been honored at Vh1's Hip Hop Honors show. I've already shared my feelings about how the show was being handled and so has Suave House founder Tony Draper. So I figured I might as well drop this clip of Big speaking his piece on why 'Kast hasn't been honored.

Freddie Gibbs-"The Ghetto"

Gibbs really has a knack for flowing over beats so well that he makes you forget the original. This is the video single from his next project Str8 Killa No Filla. Expect some interesting Gibbs news soon...

E-40 Covers Ozone (West) Magazine

I wrote this months Ozone (West) Cover story on the legendary E-40 and its one of the prouder moments of my career. Yep, right up there with the Goodie Mob cover I did for Creative Loafing last year.

Growing up in Atlanta, people nowadays find it hard to believe that we f*cked with E-40 HEAVY down here. Hell, we always messed with the Bay here. We bumped all the old 40 tapes...

hell we used to ride to that D-Shot Boss Ballin too. We loved the Bay down here; Mac Mall, Dru Down, 3XKrazy, Luniz, RBL Posse, everything.

40 was always one of my favorite rappers, but I always found myself defending his music to people who just didn't get it. As I mentioned in the story, 40 is probably one of the more polarizing figures in Hip Hop when you sit back and think about it. He has no fair-weather fans. You either love him or hate him. If you have one E-40 album...you have 4 more. If you have none, you don't plan on buying any soon.

To be in the game as long as he has, 40 still doesn't get his props if you ask me. Like he said in the story, it may be because he was and still is ahead of his time. Nobody sounds like him and nobody can. The most they can do is jack his slang and personality *cough* Jazze Pha...Snoop Dogg *cough*.

I feel happy to say that I'm actually cool with this guy too. I met him a few years back through the homie Deshawn. At the time 40 was spending alot of time in Atlanta because he was signed to Lil Jon's BME label at the time. Everytime we went to holler at him, he always had a bottle of Rossi on deck, just like he said in his rhymes. He was always cool and inviting, and he'd even ask me what I thought about a song he was recording or try to test my knowledge to see if I knew where a certain scratch or reference came from.

The biggest highlight of knowing dude is a story I've probably told you if I know you personally. One night when Jon, 40 and Al Kapone were working on a track at Stankonia, 40 invited Deshawn and I to fall through. Jon was in the corner tinkering with a beat and 40 was doodling in his rhyme book and Kapone was playing with melodies. After while they started bouncing around ideas and names for a hook. Jon suggested getting Nate Dogg, but by this time Nate was kinda worn out. Then Akon name came up, but he was on damn near every song on the radio at the time and it might feel like overkill.

I just blurted out T-Pain name on some word association shit since he was signed to Akon. Plus I had just saw him not to long ago because I wrote his bio. Everybody seemed to like the idea of giving the new guy a shot. 40 asked if I had his number, I was like "yeah." I hit his manager Bu up to see what was up and they said they'd fall through.

I had to go to work the next morning and it was already late, so me and Deshawn dipped by the time T-Pain got there. By that next morning 40 was texting us saying that T-Pain came through with "one of those ones." Later that week he played the song over the phone. I ain't gonna lie, I ain't really like the song that much, haha. It might have been because I could hardly hear it, but yeah, I was just like..."oh ok, cool."

Months later...

40 wanted to talk about this night and the results in the Ozone story and name dropped me in multiple quotes. I left that stuff out, the story is about 40, not me. I ain't get a check from this (damn...haha...DAMN), but 40 shouted me out heavy on 106 & Park, makes sure everybody that asks about the song knows I had something to do with it, he answers the phone when ever I call or hits me right back when I need something and drinks and food have been on him ever since...so I can't complain.

But yeah, I'm rambling now. Just wanted to share that to show another example of 40 setting a trend, because after that, everybody and their mama started getting T-Pain on their hooks.

Go ahead and check out the story. I titled it "Thank Me Later," borrowing from Drake's rather conceited album title. 40 has contributed alot of flavor and style to Hip Hop that he doesn't get credit for. He's helped build alot of careers and bridges in rap music as well. By the way, this is only the second time 40 has ever graced the cover of a nationally-recognized, mainstream (I guess)rap magazine (no shots Rap Pages). The first was 2 years ago...it was Ozone as well.

I also penned a piece called "Happily Ever After" about the lives and trials of married rappers. The piece features 40, Bun B and Paul Wall. I wanted to do this story to show at least a little bit of positivity in the scandalous times we're living in.

READ: E-40 "Thank Me Later"
READ: Happily Ever After: The Life of a Married Rapper

Marco Polo and Ruste Juxx-"Nobody"

Shawty...I am fuggin with this shit right here. BOMBS, SUCKER PUNCHES, THEFT, ASSAULT, EXPLOSIONS, PROFANITY! YES! YES! YES! AND MORE PLEASE!

I'd been meaning to check out their The eXXecution album but I haven't gotten around to it yet. But this shit is hard as hell right here. Folks always talking about what needs to happen to "bring back" East Coast Hip Hop...hell, its stuff like this! Aggressive lyricism is what made people love the East Coast, so get back to that. Leave the jiggy shit to Diddy, Jay and Fab...they got that.

Cutty Cartel-"Gyrlz"

Cutty Cartel-"Gyrlz" (prod. by Royal Flush)

You may remember Cutty Cartel as 1/3 one of the greatest Southern Hip Hop groups ever (in my opinion) Jim Crow. Or you may remember as the dude who did the hook on Youngbloodz' "85." Or the dude who did the hook on Trillville's "Some Cut." Or shied, you mighta seen him at the club or at the car wash, who knows.

But right now just know that he's still out here working and he just signed with Big Boi and Purple Ribbon. I've been over to Stankonia a few times over the last couple weeks to hear what he's cooking and its pretty dope. Alot of the production is handled by Royal Flush, including this track "Gyrlz."

Its some vintage A-Town player shit. Think "Area Codes" but international. Witty wordplay throughout the joint if you thought Cutty was just some hook guy. He dropped a indie project on the web some months ago called Planet 808 that had some cool joints on it too. The homie Rick of Royal Flush gave me this joint fresh off the computer so this joint might not be the official crystal mastered version.

This is not computer music by the way. I encourage you to burn this on a CD or MP3 player and go straight to the car with this. Turn the beat all the way up. That's the best way to enjoy music if you ask me.

Stanza-"High For Hours"

Stanza is back with a new video for his song "High For Days." More of the same working-class reality rap you should be growing to expect from him. I'm glad to see he got a good visual for this joint. His songs deserve good looks because they always tell some type of story. I'm still hoping he shoots another video for "A Million Dollars" though.

Pill-"I'm Back"

Pill's Gangsta Grillz is right around the corner (and in my CD player).

Phil Ade-"Always There"

This song is kinda jammin. Cute ass girls in the video too which doesn't hurt at all. An associate of mine put me up on Phil Ade about a year or two ago. From what I heard it was cool and it was obvious that buddy could rap. Just didn't really stand out to me at the time. Because, everybody is rapping and there are alot of good rappers out there contrary to popular belief. Plus at the time I think his stuff reminded me of alot of the "sneaker model" rap that was going on at the time so I was just, eh ok. But this joint that dropped this morning is pretty jammin.

Its a damn shame how with all these (quality) rap videos and songs dropping on the daily, that a show like Rap City ain't even on the air now. Sometimes folks need a host and a good look to properly present their music to the world instead of it just winding up on the internet in the middle of the day. I mean I don't know about you, but shows like Rap City introduced me to artists like Mobb Deep, Luniz, Crucial Conflict and on a greater scale Nas and Biggie. I know ya'll remember watching the Rap City Top Ten countdown to see what was going to be that new video that they played in between number 2 and 1.

But yeah, check out this joint from DMV-repreenter Phil Ade, shit is pretty cool.

Fat Joe Answers @Maurice_Garland Followers Questions

At the end of my interview with Fat Joe last week, I had a little fun and asked him the questions some of ya'll sent me via twitter. I could tell some of ya'll was being funny and sarcastic, but he was still a good sport and answered the questions in the realest way possible. Shout out to everybody to hit me back with the questions.

Sean Falyon feat. Playboy Tre and Scar-"Wonderful Life"

The homie Sean Falyon just dropped his new video for "Wonderful Life" featuring Playboy Tre and Scar. He shot it up in Philly and it was done by Diwang Valdez of Motion Family.

After you're finished watching it, be sure to shoot over to MTVu to vote Sean's video for the Best Freshman video.

VOTE HERE (MULTIPLE TIMES PLEASE)

Previously: www.MAURICEGARLAND.com Interviews Sean Falyon

Stay Grindin Inc./ Omega Red Press Junket in Puerto Rico

A couple weekends ago I went down to Puerto Rico to kick it with Stay Grindin' Inc. recording artist Omega Red for his press junket. I'm not even trying to brag, but I had the time of my life down there. Plenty of other folks was down there too including Shaheim Reed of MTV, Chuck Creekmur of AllHipHop.com, Angela Yee of Shade 45, Julia Beverly of Ozone Magazine, Brooklyne Gipson of XXL, Janee Bolden of Bossip and Mr. Mecca.

Omega just shot over this footage from the weekend and it almost does the trip justice. Definitely trying get back here pronto tonto.

Photos, Video and Re-Cap: Converse Band of Ballers

This weekend I hooked up with The SP Agency and The Smoking Section to cover the Converse Band of Ballers Tournament. Was out there getting interviews and a couple shots (that's me on the Jim "Valvano" Jones shot). Shout out to everybody I gave tickets to that ain't even show up! Ya'll missed a good time.


photo by www.MAURICEGARLAND.com

Anyways, one of the bigger stories from the event was Cam'Ron and Jim Jones being there together. Hopefully some new music will come out of it. Squashing beefs is great and all, but the fans need the music to make it official.

Cam actually suited up and passed the ball a couple times in a game but that was about it. Matter of fact, hardly none of the rappers played in the games. It was mostly ringers and street hoop legends playing. Shoutout to Southern Hospitality (OJ, Pill, Shawty Lo an'nem) for showing up to a 3-on-3 game with like 20 dudes.

But the thing that kept catching my eye was Jay Electronica's defense. He played for team called "Bad News" that featured Sean Price, Donnis and his manager Dan. I talked a few players and they all agreed that Jay was not a pleasure to play with. Come to find out, he actually liked it like that.



Overall though, the event was great. The final game between The Jones Family and Southern Hospitality dragged at times because of all the arguing and fouling, but it was still cool to see an event like this go down. Here are some pictures I took throughout the day.

Freddie Gibbs-"The Ghetto" trailer

I actually got to see this joint the other day. Shit is dope. Vintage reality rap music video.