Sunday, September 14, 2014

Glasses Malone Defends Ray Rice, Says "His Wife Lost A Fight"

"If you hit someone, be prepared to get hit back," Glasses Malone says. "Women are fighting for rights to be equal. They think they are men."
Joining dozens of other celebrities and musicians in reacting to recent news of Ray Rice hitting his wife and being subsequently dropped from the Baltimore Ravens and banned from the NFL indefinitely, Los Angeles emcee Glasses Malone spoke with XXL about the incident.
Footage from the February 15 altercation was first released in April before a full video documenting the entire incident surfaced on September 8. The latest security footage shows Rice punching his wife unconscious in the elevator following an altercation and then dragging her out into a lobby.
Coming to Rice’s defense, Malone alluded that the running back hitting his wife was justified—”if you hit someone, be prepared to get hit back”—and said outright that men and women “are not equal.”
“If you hit someone, be prepared to get hit back,” Malone said. “Women are fighting for rights to be equal. They think they are men. Now, I’m looking at Ray Rice and his wife and they look like they are intoxicated. She actually slaps him. They got in the elevator and she got in his face. Whatever they’re doing, that’s their couple thing. She hit him and he backed up. She rushed into him and he threw a check and then hit her. My point is, I get it, in your mind. Women are saying, ‘oh you’re stronger than us.’ Then stop saying we’re equal.”
Addressing the NFL’s disciplinary response, Malone leveraged blame on 
Janay Rice
, the football player’s wife, for the abuse.

“Does he deserve a suspension, sure,” he said. “We don’t think it’s okay for men and women to fight. So suspend him for two 
games
. But to take away his pay and indefinitely suspend him when there’s worse things that’s happening in the NFL, I don’t know if that’s really fair. I mean, if she got over [it] and married this man, she must have understood the place they’re in and she loves him. So for the rest of the world to come up with the act of chivalry—chivalry died with the Women’s Rights Movement. It’s dead. All of these things link together and they leak into situations like this. Why would a woman physically challenge a man if you know he’s stronger?

“I’m really disappointed in people, especially women,” he continued. “I’m feeling a certain way with men too. The idea of not hitting a woman is all within chivalry. You cannot do what a man does. That’s not your purpose in life, that’s not your role. The oxymoron is for a feminist group, a group that’s pushing equality to complain about this situation. This is how men deal with physical disagreements. If you assault, us we respond physically. [Look at] Solange in the elevator with Jay Z. Say she fuckin’ drops Jay Z. She hits him and he falls. Now people looking at Jay Z saying you let Solange knock you out. Do you buy his records? Do you respect a man that allows a woman to knock him out? No you don’t. So why is Solange allowed to assault Jay Z? Say it’s just family drama and she’s allowed at the next award [show]. If it’s the other way around, Jay Z is not allowed at the next award [show]. Stop pushing equality.”
Malone finished by outlining his view of gender roles (which he says is biblical) before equating the incident to a “fight” instead of domestic violence.
“I believe a man should provide and protect for his family, and a woman should nurture and love hers,” he said. “We have different roles, but we are not equal. My role and responsibility should be greater because God designed it to be greater...I fought all of my best friends, we all had physical altercations with each other. Friends and partners fight. You can’t start a fight, then say afterwards that you’re being abused when you got hit back. You can’t do that. Everybody should be held accountable for their words and their actions. Watch what you say. His wife lost a fight. I’m not saying it’s cool, but people who love each other fight. Get the fuck over it.
“My views are very biblical,” he added. “I never had to hit a woman. If you think I’m sexist, I’m not.”
"Help is great,” Brown said of dealing with cause of domestic abuse. "I still talk to my therapist twice a week, and it helps me to…If I’m frustrated and I’m dealing with something, to vent and say what I’m going through so I can hear from an actual clinical person, ‘This is how you should react,’ or ‘It’s good to feel this way because feelings, emotions, and energy are supposed to come and go. It’s not supposed to stay there, you’re not supposed to keep it inside, because it’ll bottle up and you’ll become a monster.’ Dealing with my anger issues and understanding myself has helped me really focus on what’s important and not F up.”

French Montana & Khloe Kardashian Split, Star Reacts

"She still thinking about Lamar, the alleged coke-head," Star says. TMZ
 reports that Khloe Kardashian and French Montana have split, citing a source who claims that Kardashian made the decision as she “still hasn’t fully recovered from her” break from NBA player Lamar Odom in December.

Kardashian and French Montana began dating in April and TMZ also reports that the reality star worried that the relationship had moved too fast.
Speaking with People last night (September 12), Montana said, "I'm feeling great," when asked about the split. "Feeling great and looking even better." 
Reacting to the news on his show Live & Direct, Star speculated about the news.
“Khloe Kardashian has dropped French Montana,” he said. “What does that mean? Real niggas know off the top, that means his dick game is weak. She still thinking about Lamar, the alleged coke-head. Allegedly he was smoking crill somewhere but when he came home, he came down off the shit off the shit he was fucking her lovely. And she’s a nigga lover and that’s all a nigga lover needs: a long, black cock. French Montana, either he’s got a weak-ass dick game or he wasn’t plowing the bitch. You got to plow a white bitch like you plowing a field...It hurts me ‘cause a light-skin nigga lost out to a dark-skin nigga.”
In July, Montana spoke about the experience of dating the reality star.
"If I'm not mistaken, it's the #1 TV show," he said. "The thing about they TV show that I respect is that at first, I was telling Khloe I didn't want to be on it. Me telling her that is like trying to ruin her thing. They show us more...It's really reality, what they do every day. So, if she comin' to see me, they like, 'We have to do this.How much do he need? We gotta buy his time.' That's the thing with them. I'm sure Kanye didn't want to be on there, too. But they was like, 'Nah.'"

Jay Z Reportedly Announces Beyonce Is Pregnant Again At Paris "On The Run" Tour Stop

Jay Z reportedly changes the lyrics to "Beach Is Better" to reflect Beyonce's pregnancy.
During the On The Run tour stop in Paris yesterday (September 12), Jay Z announced that Beyonce was pregnant, according to Black Americaweb
The Brooklyn rapper changed the lyrics to “Beach Is Better,” rapping “'Cos she pregnant with another one.”
On the Magna Carta Holy Grail song, Jay Z mentions Beyonce but does not discuss her being pregnant.
Jay Z and Beyonce kicked off their On The Run Tour June 25 in Miami.  
The couple performed solo songs and duets throughout the their 42-song opening night set.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

SZA Says Kendrick Lamar's Storytelling Is "On A Grander Scale" On His New Album

Speaking to Complex, TDE's SZA gives some clues about Kendrick Lamar's upcoming album.

As if Kendrick Lamar's follow-up to good kid, m.A.A.d city needed any more hype. Having released this decade's most critically acclaimed album (of pretty much any genre), Lamar barely needs any help from the media on the road to his next project, but hype keeps coming, whether in the form of news about Pete Rock and Dr. Dre's involvement, or from breathless praise from his peers.
Fellow TDE artist SZA is the latest to gush about the album, telling Complex in a recent interview that "It’s vivid as fuck. It’s beautiful. It’s so dope.” She added, “It sounds amazing. That’s all I’m gonna say. It really is amazing. It’s incredible. It’s next level. It’s next level for sure. He was storytelling before, but now it’s like on a grander scale."
In particular, that last observation stands out, as good kid, m.A.A.d city housed one of the more involved plot arcs we've seen a hip-hop album attempt in recent years. But if we've learned one thing from King Kendrick's career, it's to never rule out the chance that he could top himself again. 

10 Things We Know About Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter V"

Plenty of Young Money features

Given the whole theme of Drake and Lil Wayne's tour, you know these two have collabos on deck. Lil Wayne has previously confirmed that Drake will be on the album "multiple" times, and we've already received two such features ("Grindin" and "Believe Me"). This album will be heavy with Young Money members, as Weezy has also confirmed Nicki Minaj will be on the project. He will repay the favour on her new album The Pinkprint too.

Tribute to mama Carter 

The cover art of the album is a picture of Young Lil Wayne, standing next to his mother, Jacida “Cita” Carter (see above). Although just a kid in the photo, the tattoos remain. This follows a reoccurring theme of past album covers inTha Carter series, minus Tha Carter II. Apparently, his mother had no idea this was happening. He noted how much this album meant to him, and that it was time to have his mom on there.

He's nervous about what you'll think

For as long as Weezy has been in the game (23 years), he is still nervous about the release of this project. In an exclusive interview with XXL, Weezy states, “I was feeling the success of Tha Carter I. I felt like people wanted to hear me. I was amped to do that, but then Tha Carter III? I don’t know what happened. It was amazing. And then Tha Carter IV was just unexplainable, and now this one here, there’s no words. I just hope everyone likes it…I’m always feeling like I ain’t done shit. I’m still nervous about Tha Carter V… I’m confident about what I do, but I’m still nervous about what people think."

Post-album retirement?

You may recall that in November 2012 Lil Wayne claimed this album will be the last in Tha Carterseries, as well as his last solo album. However, he also previously announced he would retire at the age of 35…He is currently 32. What’s going to take place in the next 3 years?!

Da Other Album

So what will Lil Wayne do with all the material that doesn't make it on the album? Create another album! Duh. Genius. Weezy spoke on creating a compilation of outtakes and drop it as Da Other Album (that is not necessarily the LP title, just what Weezy referred to it as). During one of his Weezy Wednesday vlogs he stated, "I'm dropping two albums. ya dig? This year, look for two albums from me because I kinda been out the game for a second ya dig, album wise."

Tha Carter V is about growth

Lil Wayne stated in an interview with ESPN that we can still expect Weezy to talk his usual shit on Tha Carter V, but perhaps in a more grown-up manner? The rapper says that the new LP is "about growth, flat-out. My thoughts are wiser. I still say what I want to say—it just sounds better and makes more sense. That all comes with growth and maturity."

Carter V season

With the release of the track “Kobe Bryant,” we all know Lil Wayne is a die hard Lakers fan. However, the two took their relationship a step further when Kobe was employed to kick off the album promo. The Mamba himself was actually the first to reveal the promo art of the new album. In a tweet, Kobe wrote, “Carter V season begins #carterV,” along with the image. Wayne revealed that the entire idea of "Carter V season" was Kobe's. "‘Carter V Season’ was all Kobe. He came up with it. I saw that and thought, That’s dope as hell, so that’s what we’re calling the [album] campaign. I thanked him. Then we thought about Floyd."

Know the producers

Producers Mannie Fresh and Key Wane are back at it, after being involved with Lil Wayne's Carter series.  Mannie states that they are trying to recapture the sound from Tha Carter I, the first instalment in the series. “If you know Tha Carter I, then you know Mannie Fresh and we’re just trying to recapture that sound.”
While Key Wane isn't positive his beats will end up on the album, he is excited to hear the final project. He states, “Regardless, Carter V, Carter VI, Carter VII – I’m going to listen to them whether I’m on it or not.” He has always been a huge fan of Weezy.

Mustard on the beat ho!

Confirmed on the red carpet at the 2014 MTV Music Video Awards, DJ Mustard states that one of his beats will appear on Lil Wayne's Tha Carter V. Weezy has rapped over 2 tracks of Mustard's in the past: "Face Down" and the "My Nigga" remix. "Face Down" is a banger from Mustard's latest 10 Summersalbum, and YG's "My Nigga" remix is a genius collab featuring Weezy, Rich Homie QuanMeek Mill, and Nicki Minaj

Album Count: 16

Lil Wayne released his first studio album Tha Block Is Hot, at just 17 years old. It debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200. Since then, he has released endless projects, including collaborations with Hot Boys, Birdman, and Young Money. The upcoming Carter V will be his 16th studio album. These are the facts.

Samples Of The Week: September 11

A breakdown of the week's hottest tracks by their samples.

When hip-hop began, samples were all that DJs and producers had to construct instrumental tracks with. They'd dig through crates of vinyl trying to find isolated drum breaks, melodies or vocals that they could repurpose for use in hip-hop music. Today, sampling has become less common, but a choicesample can still push a track from lukewarm to hot faster than you can say "uh-huh honey". 
This week, see who WaleBJ The Chicago Kid and Lecrae sampled on their recent releases. We were gonna include Yelawolf on this thing for the third week in a row with his take on The Doors' "Alabama Song," but decided to give some other artists shine instead.
On "The Body," the lead single from Wale's upcoming Album About Nothing, him and Jeremih flip R. Kelly's 1995 classic "You Remind Me Of Something" into an updated, but no less soulful track. 
Master hooksman BJ The Chicago Kid is quickly becoming one of the R&B singers who's most worthy of our attention, thanks to some truly great recent solo tracks. The latest of these is "Real Love Never Dies," an old-school style track that BJ calls an "homage to 'King Heroin' by James Brown." Basically, BJ had his band recreate the Brown song's instrumental while he created an entirely new song on top of it. Dope stuff.
This week, Lecrae dropped his album Anomaly, the follow-up to his Grammy-winning previous project. Included on there is "Wish," a song that borrows a few bars from Skee-Lo's timeless classic "I Wish." Lecrae's interpolation comes around the two minute mark.

Tyler, The Creator Announces String Of U.S. Tour Dates

Tyler, The Creator announces six new U.S. tour dates to follow Camp Flog Gnaw.

Recently the Odd Future camp announced the line-up for this year's Camp Flog Gnaw carnival. In addition to many notable members from the OFWGKTA camp performing, including Tyler, Earl Sweatshirt, The Internet and Hodgy BeatsPharrell will be headlining. Rick RossMac MillerMurs and Action Bronson were also tapped for this year's event.
Following Camp Flog Gnaw on November 8th, Tyler has announced a string of U.S. tour dates. He'll only be hitting six stops on the mini-tour, which will take him from San Antonio, Texas on December 12th to New York on December 21st.
Check out all the cities he'll be stopping in below. Tickets go on sale on Friday.
12/12 – San Antonio, TX – White Rabbit
12/13 – Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle
12/14 – Chicago, IL – Concord Music Hall
12/18 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
12/20 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
12/21 – New York, NY – Terminal 5