In 2008, three police officers were acquitted of the murder of Sean Bell – who they had shot dead two years prior outside a strip club in Queens, New York, as he left his bachelor party the night before he was to be married. Despite firing over 50 bullets at Bell, who was unarmed, and wounding two of his friends, the officers were deemed not guilty in his shooting death. Following the verdict, rapper The Game responded with the song 911 Is A Joke (Cop Killa) – dedicating it along with his track My Life to Bell.
In a statement ahead of the track’s release, The Game said that he was “outraged and speaking out for my generation that are afraid to speak out against police brutality and murder… I grew in Compton and had to stay silent because of the fear that was prevalent in my community, but now that I have a voice I’m speaking out.” What he found, however, was that it became difficult to find artists who were willing to speak up with him. In recently resurfaced interview footage following the release of the song, the rapper is seen crying as he describes the disheartening experience of being unable to convince people to collaborate with him on the track for fear of speaking out: “I reached out to a lot of rappers and a lot of them… I just got … excuses. Nobody wanted to stand up… We don’t have a problem putting out a mixtape and dissing each other, but when it comes to the problems that affect us like police brutality, excessive force… Nobody wants to stand up for that.” As the interview progresses, he says that he doesn’t want to be a part of the hip-hop community anymore because no one wanted to be vocal anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWYyzCpHUDs&feature=youtu.be&t=1m55s
In the time since the interview, a number of artists have spoken out, be it through statements or music, on the issues facing black people in the United States, as well as throwing their support behind the Black Lives Matter movement. From TINK, Immortal Technique, Killer Mike, Talib Kweli, Kendrick Lamar, J Cole and more, the list is ever expanding, unfortunately prompted by the ever-expanding list of victims. Rappers and industry heavyweights are throwing their voices behind the movement, even calling out each other when it comes to ignorant and misguided comments or lack of involvement.
Recently, following the release of his video for 16 Shots, which details the graphic, violent shooting death of Laquan McDonald in 2014, Vic Mensa commented on Lil Wayne distancing himself from the movement when asked to comment by a Reddit user. “I think it’s a very ignorant, selfish and isolated position to take… even someone as big as Wane is just a black man minus all of his ice and fame, and can be treated the same way.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPWXOAYlgOc
Image: Billoard
Kings Of Leon – WALLS
Sex On Fire will forever be known as the song that turned Kings Of Leon from a little indie-rock act into one of the world’s biggest bands. A soaring stadium pop-rock song with an inescapable hook, the song propelled the band’s fourth album, Only By The Night, to the number one spot in five countries and turned KOL into seemingly overnight sensations.
But it wasn’t all good news for the Southern quartet. For every new fan gained KOL lost twice as many. Most claimed they had “sold out,” but this was far from the truth. While there’s no doubting their first two records – Youth And Young Manhood and Ah Shake Heartbreak – are steeped in Southern traditions with an undercurrent of indie-rock, third album Because Of The Times was the band testing the waters of what was to come. Combining the indie swagger that first gained them recognition with a broader pop soundscape and frontman Caleb Followill finally delivering lyrics in an intelligible manner, KOL were destined for crossover success.
As the band wrestled with their newfound fame on the disappointing Come Around Sundown and well-rounded Mechanical Bulls, seventh album WALLS finds the Followill clan finally comfortable with their place in the music world. Embracing stadium rock hooks, sing along choruses and aspects of the 70s sound filtered throughout their first two albums, KOL have delivered their best effort in years.
Singles Waste A Moment, Reverend and Around The World open proceedings, welcoming listeners with melodic riffs and Followill’s casual Southern twang. All three are big bold rock songs, with Waste A Moment the pick of the bunch. It’s the closest they’ve come to replicating the sheer likability of Sex On Fire without the cheesy chorus. Eyes is unmistakably KOL, with a raging bassline and a guitar riff made for the live arena, with Wild a country-rock head nodder that’s one of the albums weakest points.
Much of WALLS is inspired by death and self-destruction, pretty bleak subject matter when it comes to pop music, but KOL convey their feelings well over the course of the record’s 10 tracks. The six minute Over, inspired by Joy Division, attempts a post-punk sound as Followill sings about his battle with alcohol, drugs and fame. Find Me is about someone falling in love with a ghost, and the Mariachi-esque Muchacho is a dedication to a good friend of the band who recently passed away from cancer. The album’s self-titled track about a lost love is also the record’s best. Closing out WALLS, the tune is an acoustic slow burner allowing Followill room to express his unique vocal style over the light instrumentation. It’s their 2016 version of Milk, and along with opener Waste A Moment, is on par with the band’s best work yet.
KOL have finally embraced the pop-rock sound that shot them to stardom, and while old fans will whinge about them not sounding like they used to, WALLS is the best version of the band heard in years.
Verdict: If this was a school paper it would receive an A.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdF41Ne2cnQ]
The Game – 1992
After numerous setbacks and a long winded beef with Meek Mill, West Coast rapper The Game finally delivers his much hyped 1992. Dedicated to 90s rap and focusing on Game’s outlook on the scene and Compton during the year he turned 12, 1992 is part rap throwback, part autobiography, with a sound firmly cemented in hip-hop’s golden age.
Reminiscent of the soundtrack he created for Streets Of Compton, 1992 showcases tales of gang life, drug dealing and murder in the streets of L.A. from the point of view of a young Game. Savage Lifestyle opens with a media clip from the Rodney King Riots before Game documents the problems that faced black men during that period, eerily echoing the same problems black men face today. The relationship between the Crips and Bloods is detailed on True Colors / It’s On, a song that also weaves tales of Game’s family members and samples Ice-T‘s legendary Colors.
As well as lyrically painting a picture of 92, Game samples many well known 90s track to ram the message home. Fuck Orange Juice keeps the nostalgia rolling by sampling Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five‘s iconic The Message, I Grew Up On Wu-Tang samples the New York collective’s C.R.E.A.M., and However Do You Want It, a laid back 90s beauty samples Soul II Soul‘s track of the same name.
While Game repeatedly said there would be no features on the album, a number of guest rappers and vocalists inevitably turn up. Osby Chill adds a verse to True Colors / It’s On and Jason Derulo provides the hook on Baby You, a track dedicated to Game’s ex and mother of two of his children, Tiffany Cambridge. All Eyez, a collaboration with Jeremih, was tacked on at the last minute to help with the album sales. It’s a decent R&B type tune with commercial appeal, with it’s biggest draw being production from Scott Storch.
Verdict: Another solid Game album.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeOQNHXobpQ]
Yelawolf – H.O.T.E.L. (House Of The Endless Life)
Southern rapper Yelawolf seemed to have the world at his feet when he signed with Eminem‘s Shady Records in 2011. Riding high off the success of his well received Trunk Muzik mixtape, Yelawolf quickly followed with his feature filled debut, Radioactive. While critics applauded his honest lyricism and merging of hip-hop styles across the album, he struggled to find a commercial footing, with many hip-hop fans writing him off as the Southern Eminem. Since then he’s released a number of mixtapes integrating hip-hop with his country roots, creating a strange yet alluring combination best heard on tracks such as Till It’s Gone and American You from last year’s Love Story, his best release yet.
As puts the final touches on his forthcoming third album, Trial By Fire, Yelawolf has also been working on a new website, Slumerican, that launched last week. To celebrate the site, he’s gifted fans new EP H.O.T.E.L. (House Of The Endless Life). The seven track release is another step forward in Yelawolf’s evolution as one of hip-hop’s most overlooked superstars.
The EP opens with the unusual Supersonic Alley Cat. This is four minutes of gentle instrumentation that goes off the deep end when the production turns into a futuristic space theme with Yelawolf dropping a rapid fire rap during the tracks final 30 seconds. It’s a strange introduction to H.O.T.E.L. and not really in line with the rest of the songs, aside from the short 45 second lost 70s rock themed In Love Tonight,
Known for his love of Chevys, You Should Have Known is another track that uses the famed American car as a metaphor for Yelawolf’s relationship with a woman. Throughout the song he makes reference to the car and raps about being with a woman more interested in his fame, eventually leaving her to pursue his true love, rap. Good Love is another song about a woman, although this time it’s about a one night stand, with Yelawolf rapping about, “smashin’ that ass from the back.”
The hip-hop country-rock hybrid that’s become more recognisable in his sound can clearly be heard on the aggressive Someday. Sampling Bob Seger’s classic of the same name, Yelawolf paints a vivid picture of trailer park life as he spits with a venom similar to Eminem over a haunting piano loop. This is Yelawolf at his best as he reveals his version of Southern life. “Broken bottles and trash in the grass of a Gadsden trailer park / I’m a fucking savage / I just woke up drunk and brushed my teeth with a soap bar / Blocks under that pickup truck.” Yelawolf also samples the intro to Royal Blood‘s Out Of The Black on the steely Renegades, going hand in hand with the 70s feel of Someday.
The biggest surprise with this EP is the appearance of Bubba Sparxxx. An early Timbaland protege who didn’t quite have the Missy Elliot effect (anyone else remember Ugly?), Sparxxx has been dropping albums over the past decade without much fanfare. His cameo on Be Yourself shouldn’t come as a shock, as he recently signed with Yelawolf, but his verse has no context. Yelawolf is rapping about being true to yourself and not caring what others think, while Sparxxx spits some gibberish before getting on the same page as Yelawolf with the words, “Be yourself.” That said, it’s good to hear him on a track and realise he’s still out there getting it done, despite nobody seemingly giving a fuck.
Verdict: H.O.U.S.E. continues Yelawolf’s evolution as one of the South’s most underrated MC’s.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTJE2QzTar0]
Rapper The Game and his eldest son, Harlem Taylor, are continuing their charitable efforts, having started a new fundraising campaign for three-year-old Zachaeus Waters who was shot in the face in May after he witnessed the execution-style murder of his pregnant mother, Candace Pickens, at a local park. The toddler, who was found next to his mother’s body and has lost his eye as a result of the shooting, now has a GoFundMe campaign in his name started by the Compton rapper and his son in an effort to raise $5,000 for him and his father.
It is believed that Pickens was killed by her partner when she refused to get an abortion. While the motive remains unconfirmed by authorities, it is a sentiment that is echoed by many of her friends and family in reports and on social media.
The Game reached out to Waters’ father, Daquan and asked for permission to launch a charity drive on GoFundMe to help the grieving father and son get by. The initial goal was to raise $5,000 through crowdfunding but the goal has since been surpassed and has reached $10,000 in the three days since its launch on August 1st, with The Game and his manager kick starting the initiative with $1,000 each (The Game has since donated a further $5,000). The campaign has since been shared on Twitter by Snoop Dogg.
Support the cause. 🙏🏾 https://t.co/CQVbuQJg4n pic.twitter.com/YWzWQUoro6
— Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) 1 August 2016
Waters’ story came to the rapper’s attention when his son brought it to him and the two decided to put their fundraising abilities to work through sharing their GoFundMe campaign for the toddler on Instagram. This isn’t the first time The Game has promoted his son’s charitable efforts, having previously shared another GoFundMe campaign, A good song for a good cop, started by the thirteen-year-old, which continues to raise to raise money to assist a police officer’s community building efforts in Little Rock, Arkansas (to which The Game also donated).
While some critics question why the rapper doesn’t simply make the donation in full himself, he has explained in the past that he hopes to empower his son by allowing him to set up the GoFundMe and invite the public to join him. Leading up to the release of The Documentary 2, the rapper gave away $1,000 a day to fans and he has donated $1 million to the city of Flint, Michigan in the midst of its water crisis. He also does his own charity work through The Robin Hood project.
Image: The Game (Instagram)
Maybe I’m just immature, but when I saw the news that Jayceon Terrell Taylor (AKA The Game) and 50 Cent had ended their notorious beef at a strip club, my mind went immediately to dick jokes. Freud, eat your heart out. But come on! The terms “beef” and “strip club” should be reserved for only the most euphemistic of writers. Headlines could only have been improved if they had resolved their differences at a vegetarian restaurant. But I digress.
Reports have emerged of The Game grabbing the microphone at the Ace Of Diamonds strip club in Los Angeles overnight, proclaiming that he “fucks with 50,” and that “what happened that shit was twelve years ago, n*ggas ain’t on that shit… Ain’t nobody on that old shit.” The two were then seen conversing in the club.
The news is incredibly surprising because Taylor and 50 Cent have been feuding for years. It kicked off way back in 2005, when 50’s second album The Massacre was pushed back to accommodate the release of The Game’s debut. Then, 50 dismissed Taylor from G Unit live on radio. This led to a cold war period between them, where Taylor formed G Unot, and the two traded diss track after diss track. The Game offered an olive branch in ’06, but G Unit made it clear that that wasn’t good enough. Another set of diss tracks were traded (fun fact, over 100 diss tracks have come out of this feud), and the beef continued. Game again extended his peaceful desires, calling for a G-Unit reunion… which did happen… minus The Game.
Rumours of a reunion between the pair and the rest of G-Unit had previously surfaced back in February of this but Game was quick to dismiss them, saying everybody was “on their own shit” at the time. Who knows whether this booty-based peace treaty will last, it might be telling that 50 didn’t make an announcement like Game did but hey, even if the feud reignites, at least we had this beautiful headline.
Image: Capital Xtra
Rome Fortune – VVORLDVVIDE PIMPSTATION
Earlier this year Atlanta rapper Rome Fortune finally released his long awaited debut album, Jerome Raheem Fortune (read our review here). Since then Fortune’s been promising the third in his series of Beautiful Pimp mixtapes, but last week took a detour with VVORLDVVIDE PIMPSTATION, an 11-track collection combining the themes and concepts of his Small VVorld and Beautiful Pimp mixtape.
Fortune continues his merging of Southern hip-hop aesthetics with electronic, dance influenced productions on VVORLDVVIDE PIMPSTATION. Sometime collaborator Toro Y Moi laces Long Days with a groovy beat, Balloons has a sleazy trap feel and SEAVVORLD is a part club hit, part moody rap record.
The list of producers is long and varied, with regular Fortune beat makers Dun Deal, C4 and Richie Souf all contributing, with Souf’s icy retro work on Lit Freestyle one of the tape’s best productions. Aside from iLoveMakkonnen – who lends his off-kilter vocals to Lit Freestyle and My Boy Band Extortion – the guest verses are kept to a minimum. Candice Mims’ sensual vocals sing the hook on Trouble, Nessley’s auto-tuned delivery provides an annoying edge to the otherwise spacey My First 00,000 and Wara from the NBHD shows up on the 808 heavy Balloons.
Verdict: Good stop-gap before the next Beautiful Pimp tape.
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/275485631
BONES – PaidProgramming2
Few underground rappers have such a cult following as Californian creative BONES. Over the past six years the rapper – formerly known as Th@ Kid – has released over 40 mixtapes and almost double the amount of music videos, yet remains unsigned (of his own volition I might add). PaidProgramming2 is BONES’ second mixtape of 2016 and another inspiring and exhilarating collection of dark and moody rap songs.
Like previous releases, the majority of tracks on PaidProgramming2 are less than three minutes long, with BONES’ unique delivery and abstract rhymes pairing with post-apocalyptic electronic beats from a host of unknown producers. Often compared to Yung Lean, there’s less of a dreamy nostalgic quality to BONES’ music. Although the auto-tuned AwayFromKeybaord and WordsCannontEncapsualte share qualities with Lean’s music, BONES’ material has much more of an undercurrent of dread and depression to it.
BONES also changes up his flow throughout PaidProgramming2. There are slow, monotone raps (MyHeadHurt,INeedToLieDown, Maggots), melodic, head bobbing flows (TheCurseOfTheGhost, LivingstonCountryLegend), right through to BONES’ frantic, rapid fire rhymes (Rocks, YourMusicSucksAndYouLookLikeADickhead).
For someone whose music doesn’t always sound positive, BONES is far from a self loathing pessimist, with his lyrics largely discussing his greatness in the game and the trust you have to have in yourself to succeed. He’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but BONES output is more consistent and challenging than most of today’s so-called rap stars, and for that you can not fault him.
Verdict: Another one.
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/275254480
The Game – Block Wars
Just a month on from the release of his first soundtrack to the documentary series, Streets Of Compton, The Game returns with another soundtrack to his new mobile game Block Wars. It’s a Grand Theft Auto-esque game were players vie for control of the drug trade and the streets as they battle rival gangs, mobsters and the police.
As you’d expect, the game is heavy with violence and aspects of gang life, which is represented in Game’s lyrics across the 10 track album. While he’s always positioned himself as a West Coast gangsta rapper, Block Wars is Game’s most concise collection of tracks themed around gang banging and life on the streets of Compton. Game tackles gang violence on the self-titled opener, dope spots and the L.A. streets on Gutter, and street killings and death on Murder and Bullet With Your Name On It.
This is very much a typical Game release, with plenty of Compton references and a plethora of name drops, with the G-Funk inspired Get High mentioning the likes of Method Man, Redman, Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, B-Real and O.J. Simpson, just to name a few. There’s also only one guest featured on the album, being L.A. vocalist Lorine Chia, who provides the hook on the depressing look at life on the streets detailed in Uzis And Grenades.
Verdict: Game continues to accumulate an impressive body of work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR8EFHTyWVA
Image: Wikipedia
The Game continues his campaign to bring positivity to his community, this time by contributing to 16-year-old, Isaiah Cooper’s GoFundMe page. Cooper has just finished a solo aviation trip across the United States, making him the youngest black pilot to do so.
He has now set his sights on becoming the youngest pilot to fly around the world and Cooper wishes to attempt to do so when he turns 18. The current Guinness record-holder for the youngest person to fly solo around the world is Matthew Guthmiller, who set the record at age 19 in 2014; however, 18-year-old Australian Lachlan Smart is currently embarking on the same journey so perhaps Cooper will have to head off a year earlier.
The Game donated $1,000 to Cooper’s GoFundMe page, which aims to raise $45,000 for the teenagers trip. Cooper is from Compton and wrote on his page “I began attending an aviation youth program in Compton at Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum (TAM) when I was 5 years old. But as I got older, I began hanging with the wrong crowd, doing seriously self destructive things. Realizing that this was not how I wanted to live my life, I returned to TAM. My main goal is to become a productive young man with a future in aviation, and not a statistic.”
The Game explains why it was important to him to help the teenager in his journey and asks others to spend the time and money to support the cause.
Over the past few weeks The Game has started the “Yo Mama, My Mama” campaign, where he bought $1,000 worth of groceries for a mother of eight; held a forum with Snoop Dogg for LA’s gangs; Snoop and The Game also led a peaceful rally to meet with the LAPD and The Game and his son, Harlem Taylor, also raised more than $50,000 for Arkansas police officer Tommy Norland.
Given all the good deeds he’s been doing it’s surprising to see The Game still has time in between to spit new rhymes. His latest track Get High (Block Wars) will appear on the original soundtrack for the mobile video game Block Wars, which is The Game’s game. Right? About time The Game had a game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1-rZaRv-3U
Image: richestcelebrities.org
Snoop Dogg and The Game have held a forum in Los Angeles between notorious street gangs the Bloods and the Crips, calling for a peace treaty.
The move comes after the two hip-hop legends launched operation H.U.N.T (Hate Us Not Today) and held a peaceful rally to the Los Angeles Police Department, which saw the two call for gang leaders to meet with themselves and Nation Of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan to discuss the state of the streets.
On Saturday, H.U.N.T put out another call through The Game’s Instagram, calling all local hood gang members to congregate at the South Los Angeles community centre for a meeting to discuss relations within the black community.
“On behalf of myself, @SnoopDogg and the honorable @louisfarrakhan I want to extend the invitation to all CRIPS, BLOODS, ESE’s & all other gang members, major figures & GANG LEADERS from every hood in our city as well as the surrounding cities to our meeting,” stated the caption.
“The sad truth is, to get our own lives to matter to anyone else….we have to show that our lives matter to us!”
The forum, which was held on Sunday, reportedly had a turnout so large that a screen had to be set up just to accommodate the sheer overflow of people, with The Game noting that “It’s beautiful out here today and together we are gonna make waves in the direction of saving this city….from the reoccurring plague of death here and worldwide.”
The forum concluded with the signing of a cease-fire between the two gangs, with the conditions of the document stating that those accountable to it would not “abuse children”, “use the B word to describe any black sister” or “raise my hand with a knife or gun to beat, cut or shoot” for any reason except in the name of “self-defense.”
Operation H.U.N.T has aimed to help solve internal problems within the Afro-American community in the wake of the recent killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, in addition to the Dallas police massacre.
With both Snoop Dogg and The Game having past ties to the Crips and the Bloods respectively, the combination of their efforts towards making real and positive change is exactly the kind of leadership so desperately needed in America in these turbulent times.
Image: xclusivezone