Tag Archives: Mixtape

Drake drops surprise mixtape ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’

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In total Queen Bey fashion, rapper Drake dropped a collection of new music last Friday pretty much out of nowhere. Fans and the industry alike had little to no knowledge about Drake’s surprise release, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Drake has clearly labeled the 17-track banger a mixtape; in other words, it is not his fourth studio album following 2013’s Nothing Was the Same but instead a pit stop on the way to it. He refers to it as a “tape” in his thank you notes on his blog. There you’ll also eye the massive tracklist and the tape’s producers who include PartyNextDoor, Boi-1da, and Noah “40” Shebib. …It’s Too Late releases days after Drake outed a nearly 15-minute short film titled Jungle; it includes snippets of a couple songs from the mixtape.

Download If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late at iTunes today. Though Drake technically regards it as a mixtape, he’s selling it for $12.99. How come, you ask? In a nutshell, Lil Wayne is clashing with his label Cash Money. He’s suing them to get out of his contract, and some speculate that Drake is taking calmer route to remove himself from the equation by releasing a “commercial mixtape” to serve as his fourth “studio album” which may release him from his 4-album contract with the label. For more on the internal drama about the Cash Money artists, head to Vulture. In the meantime, snag a copy of Drake’s latest now–he goes hard and it’s damn good. The surprise tape should hold you over until his next major studio release, supposedly titled Views from the 6, drops in the future.

Music video: Pusha T – “My God”

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Pusha T’s solo career is about to go on fire. About a month after he released his first mixtape Fear of God he’s now let out a music video for the track “My God.” The Ryan Reichenfeld and Pusha-directed video hints at the G.O.O.D. Music rapper’s debut album at the very end. Fear of God 2: Let Us Pray is due out this June.

Update: One half of the Clipse has just uploaded another music video. Check out “Can I Live” right after the break. Continue reading Music video: Pusha T — “My God” →

Mixtape: Pusha T – Fear of God

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If you haven’t heard of Pusha T it’s about time you figure out why he’s the hottest up-and-coming rapper out there right now. He’s one half of Clipse and he’s the newest member of Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music family. Recently he’s been featured on West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy showcasing his skills on tracks like “Runaway” and “So Appalled.” It’s time for him to shine on his own, and so he’s finally released his much anticipated mixtape Fear of God. The 13-track collection plays very much like an EP and features artists Kanye West, Rick Ross, 50 Cent, and Kevin Cossom. On the production side, Pusha’s teamed with West, The Neptunes, Hit-Boy, Tha Bizness, Nottz, and The Inkredibles.

Download the free mixtape right here. Look after the break for the album art and track listing.

[Via 2dopeboyz] Continue reading Mixtape: Pusha T — Fear of God →

Kid Cudi joins Twitter (again), says new mixtape coming this summer

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In December 2009, shortly after Kid Cudi dropped his debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, he stated, “I will never get back on Twitter or Facebook. I’m getting my blog back together and that will be the only way to stay connected with me.”  So much for that.  Today Cudder joined Twitter again, and you can follow him @wizardcud. Why the change of heart?  “i really only got back on twitter becuz i heard will smith tweeted about a fresh prince reunion and i wanted to post my response to that…” he joked.  Only hours after reintroducing himself (“yes, its true. its me, the real wizard”), Cudi dropped an explosion of headlines.

First he announced that his upcoming rock-themed album Wizard is expected to release this summer.  Cudi will serve as producer and he says every track will feature his guitar talents, while collaborator Dot Da Genius is currently learning the bass.  He also spilled that the long lost “Dose of Dopeness” will be a bonus track on the album. He describes Wizard in a tweet: “Wizard is a rock album, no raps, just singing. brand new thing. flavor.”

What else, what else.  He mentions the “Maniac” music video/short film is still under construction; Cudder, Cage, and video director Shia LaBeouf are holding back on dropping it until “everything [is] just right…i need the proper time for scoring…the edit must be epic.”

Last, Cudi drops this exciting bombshell: he’s releasing a brand new mixtape this summer called A Man Named Scott, the followup to 2008’s A Kid Named Cudi.  Of the mixtape he says, “for all those who fucks with my raps, this is for u since ima be all rocked out with the wizard shit. also its free! yes!”  In other words, since Wizard is going to be all about Cudder crooning, he wants to hold over his rap fans with the mixtape until the true successor of Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager releases presumably later this year.

He concluded all these hot tweets with this: “man im really happy to FINALLY get all that good news out there. more to come, not even close.”  And the man’s not lying; in between all this news he revealed that he’s been working with Kanye West and Jay-Z, almost definitely on their collab album Watch the Throne so you can expect a Cudi feature there.  He also shared that HBO’s How To Make It In America starts filming its second season in March and he’s excited to reprise his true-to-life character Domingo Dean.

[Via @wizardcud]

Music video: Diggy Simmons – “Shook Ones Freestyle”

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The young MC is back at it again.  Diggy Simmons has collaborated with director Phil the god once more to fashion out this far too short music video.  Watch Diggy freestyle over a Mobb Deep instrument.  I’m telling you, this kid’s got game, look out.  His second mixtape released in early September; download Airborne here.  It features the Lupe Fiasco & Pharrell assisted track “Oh Yeah!”  Been slacking?  Download his first mixtape The First Flight here.

[Via RapUp]

Single: Diggy – “Oh Yeah!” (Featuring Lupe Fiasco & Pharrell)

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One mixtape (The First Flight, 2009), two freestyles (“Made You Look“, “Over“), and a prelude music video later, Diggy Simmons is readying his next mixtape Airborne by dropping the first track off it.  It’s called “Oh Yeah!” and features verses from Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell Williams.  I’ve said it from the start–this kid is bringing a fresh sound to the rap community and his style of rap at such a young age (he’s only 15) is really impressive.  Enjoy this track as we anticipate the sequel to his first mixtape due out sometime this year.

Download: Diggy – “Oh Yeah!” (Featuring Lupe Fiasco & Pharrell)

[audio: Diggy – Oh Yeah! (Featuring Lupe Fiasco & Pharrell).mp3]

[Via KanyeBlog]

Music video: Diggy Simmons – “What They Been Waiting For”

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Directed by Phil the god, produced by Shane Eli.

The young Simmons is back and in a big way.  This kid is quickly making a name for himself with slick lyrics and awesome visuals in his music videos.  Diggy’s second mixtape AirBorne (it’s planned to be a sequel to his debut in The First Flight) is “coming soon.”  Download “What They Been Waiting For” here.

[Via DiggyBlog]

Raaaaaaaandy vs. Justin Bieber; oh, it’s on.

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I introduced you to comedian Aziz Ansari’s off-the-walls alter ego Raaaaaaaandy last week.  I told you all about his start in Funny People and his upcoming mixtape with TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek.  You also got sneak peek at the mixtape with the release of the first single called “Aaaaaaaangry.”  This week Raaaaaaaandy is back and this time with a targeted agenda: to bring down the young music sensation that is Justin Beiber.  As you can clearly see in the video reenactment above, an older pot-smoking Beiber clearly stole the song “Baby, Baby” from Raaaaaaaandy and turned it into his own song that he calls “Baby.”  And this has Raaaaaaaandy fired up.

Via his Twitter account Ansari is taking matters into his own hands to spread the #BieberStoleFromRandy story.  Tweets like “Is this a threat?! If I get in a ‘boating accident’ in 15 days, y’all know what really happened… RT @justinbieber 15 more days…” and “Swear I just saw 12 yr old with a doo rag & a blunt in his mouth messing w/my car. Brakes might get cut. #BiebersAfterMe;” “So scared I can’t even spell straight man. #DontFuckWithTheBieb;” and “I recorded that video months ago but held it til now cause Bieber was holding one of my nephews captive in Canada” are making waves thoughout the Twitterverse.  Anyway, this whole Raaaaaaaandy vs. The Bieb situation is hilarious and the video’s got me looking forward to more Raaaaaaaandy (and Dave Sitek) collaboration.

[Via Azizisbored; Twitter]

Single: RAAAAAAAANDY – “AAAAAAAANGRY”

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OK so here’s the story.  You know Aziz Ansari, right?  He plays Tom Haverford on NBC’s Parks & Recreation and he had a minor role in Funny Peoplewhere he played a rising comedian named RAAAAAAAANDY (that’s right, with 8 A’s).  Shortly following the release of the movie Ansari decided to take things a step further and bring RAAAAAAANDY the comedian out of the movie and into real life.  You can head over to Funny or Die to watch a three part series that follows Ansari’s alter-ego on the road.  They’re pretty damn funny but contain many expletives, so beware.

And that brings us to the present.  Ansari–err–RAAAAAAAANDY is teaming up with TV On the Radio’s Dave Sitek to make a mixtape!  Ansari shares with the world the first track off the mixtape and it’s appropriately called “AAAAAAAANGRY.”  In it he complains that none of the rappers he invited to make a verse for this track got back to him about it.  He calls out Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Drake, Dr Dre, and Eminem.  To Kanye he says: “So quick updating your blog and send us your verse.  ‘Oh, here’s a couch I saw.’  Can you sit on that couch and write your verse real quick?  ‘Oh, here’s a picture of a dope tree house in Scandinavia.  Oh, I’m designing a new shoe with BugleBoy.  Hey, why don’t write some lyrics on a shoe and rap ’em and send us back a fu**in verse?”  And to Drake: “Last name ever, first name slowest.”  He has the utmost respect for these guys–it’s comedy, remember?

Listen to the track “AAAAAAAANGRY” below and download it for free here.  Looking forward to the full mixtape!  Peek after the break for a short video blog featuring RAAAAAAAANDY and his trusty sidekick DJ Ol’ Youngin.

[audio: RAAAAAAAANDY – AAAAAAAANGRY.mp3]

WARNING: Pretty much everything that comes out of RAAAAAAAANDY’s mouth is paired with an explicative.  This track (and even more so the videos at FoD) contain many explicatives and involve dirty subject matter.

[Via AzizIsBored; EW-Music Mix]

How To Make It In America premieres tonight on HBO

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How To Make It In America, the new series from writer Ian Edelman and executive producers Mark Wahlberg (Entourage), Rob Weiss (Entourage), and Stephen Levinson (Entourage) — premieres tonight (2/14) at 10PM on HBO.  It’s a story that “follows two enterprising Brooklyn twentysomethings as they hustle their way through New York City, determined to achieve the American Dream.”  Since a handful of the staff comes from Entourage you can expect the show to have a similar vibe but with stark differences; it’s set in New York City, the main set of characters start at the bottom and work their way up to success and fame, and instead of dealing with the entertainment industry, this seres is grounded in the fashion scene.  To learn more about the show, check out my previous two posts.

Look after the break for a ton of HTMINA content, including a new trailer, a conversation with stars Bryan Greenberg and Scott “Kid” Mescudi, and a behind-the-scenes ‘making-0f’ video.  HBO collaborated with with Kid Cudi, DJ Green Lantern, and Broke Mogul to create a HTMINA official mixtape.  It includes tracks from Dan Black, Chromeo, Lupe Fiasco, Styles P, and Phoenix.  Click here to listen to and download the (free) mixtape, and look after the break for the track listing.

UPDATE:  If you missed the premiere episode you can watch it in its entirety at YouTube.  WATCH IT HERE.

[Via YouTube; KanyeBlog]

Continue reading How To Make It In America premieres tonight on HBO →

Mixtape: Lupe Fiasco – “Enemy of the State: A Love Story”

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Lupe Fiasco is back.  Though previous album ventures like LupE.N.D., The Great American Rap Album, and LASERS have yet to come to fruition, rapper Lupe Fiasco has no intention leaving his followers empty handed.  “Enemy of the State” is a rockin’ mixtape and proves that he’s still got it.  Interestingly, the original mixtape was released in cassette-style format (continuous start to finish).  If you want that verison, click here.  A traditional separated track-by-track version dropped later; click here for this version.  Tracklist after the break.

[Via 2DopeBoys; KanyeBlog]

Continue reading Mixtape: Lupe Fiasco — “Enemy of the State: A Love Story” →