Brian Josephs
Lil Kim “Identity Theft” (Nicki Minaj Diss)
For reasons that doesn't make sense other than to herself, Lil Kim decided to rework "Flawless" to take shots at Nicki Minaj. Her crusade against the Queen of Rap continues with the horn-backed "Identity Theft."
Lil Kim took issue with Minaj calling herself the Queen of Rap on the "Flawless" remix...
Gillie Da Kid And Jadakiss Soundtracks A Lively Hood In “Not To Be F***ed With” Video
Gillie Da Kid's last video found him posing by a Porsche and rapping about how well he's doing. He's apparently still doing just that somewhere in the distance, because he's nowhere to be seen in "Not To Be Fucked With," a video that doesn't showcase such wealth...
Lil Boosie Delivers Black-And-White Visual For “Crazy”
Lil Boosie just dropped "Crazy" earlier today (Aug. 6), but he follows the release up with the video a few hours later. The song finds him rhyming about darkness and paranoia, and the visual symbolically follows the theme. A muscular Lil Boosie is featured ruminating alone in the dark and left to illustrate the song's tension by himself...
T.I. Featuring Young Thug And Killer Mike “About The Money (Remix)”
Run The Jewels 2 is likely on the way soon; El-P reported it was fully mixed. Killer Mike shows part of the reason that album is so anticipated on the "About The Money" remix.
With Young Thug's floating vocals, "About The Money" is a piece of celebratory excess...
‘PARTYNEXTDOOR 2′ Enters Chart At No. 15 In This Week’s Album Sales (8/6/14)
With Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' Hypnotic Eye taking the top spot and mainstays like the Frozen soundtrack, Sam Smith's In The Lonely Hour and Now 50 still hanging around, there's no room for hip-hop in this week's Top 10.
The main success st...
Young Chop Featuring Fat Trel “All I Got (Remix)”
Usually when someone prefaces a sentence with "all I got," the person is going to mention three objects tops to convey scarcity and desperation to some sort of epic effect. Scarface's "my word and my balls" is an example.
Young Chop chants on the hook for "All I Got" that he only has his "money and his music," which is quite a lot if you thought about it...
Mick Jenkins Finds A City During A Rain Drought In “Jazz” Video
Everybody who's seen Do The Right Thing and watched Heath Ledger's Joker knows this theory: Anybody goes crazy if they're put in certain situations and given a nudge. Mick Jenkins' "Jazz" video, directed by Nathan R. Smith, provides another example of that.
The v...
Dusty McFly “All Week”
Dusty McFly, who's prepping a new project for later this month, gives hip-hop heads a mid-week goodie with "All Week." Produced by DJ Ready Rob and Kyle Reed, the track rides off a breezy Alexander O'Neal sample that sounds like a Saturday in the summer — like it should've been "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturday Pt. II." The ...
Ca$h Out Featuring Ty Dolla $ign And Wiz Khalifa “Let’s Get It”
Ca$h Out's debut album, Let's Get It, is still a couple of weeks away from dropping. But now, the album's title track is available for a listen. The DJ Spinz-produced track features XXL freshman Ty Dolla $ign and Wiz Khalifa.
"Let's Get It" is an exercise in minimalism and confidence...
QuESt “Lost N****s”
QuEST is an MC out of Miami, Fla. who's preparing a new project for a September release. "Lost Niggas," a cut from that project, suggests that it's definitely something to look forward to. Over hypnotic keys and hi-hats provided by 6ix, QuEST finds a sweet spot between rhyme fluidity and emotion for what turns out to be a solid cut. QuE...
Rick Ross And French Montana Get Down In “What A Shame”
Rick Ross is still working out here. The Bawse has released the new video for "What a Shame," where he counts money with French Montana, possibly orders a hit and watches another murder after some very clunky dialogue.
Depsite the mayhem that goes down, perhaps the most memorable part of the video is how it opens with Rick Ross having sex to "In Vein," which features The Weeknd
Joey Bada$$ “Big Dusty”
The New York scene sub-25 scene has become a bit more crowded since former XXL Freshman Joey Bada$$ and the Pro Era crew broke out in 2012. Bobby Shmurda's "Hot Nigga" is almost unquestionably the biggest thing to come out of Brooklyn these past few weeks where Joey Bada$$ has been quiet (save the short film, "No Regrets")...