On this date in 2003, Cam’ron’s crew from Harlem, The Diplomats, dropped their debut album Diplomatic Immunity on the Roc A Fella Records/Def Jam imprint during the pivotal time when Dame Dash appointed Cam’ron as the President of Roc-A-Fella Records.
Coming on the heels of the release of Cam’s Come Home With Me LP, Diplomatic Immunity introduced the entire Dipset squad including Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, Freekey Zeekey, Un Kasa, and Hell Rell, who was incarcerated by the time the album was available for purchase. With production from the likes of Heatmakerz, DR Period, and a then virtually unknown Kanye West, the trailblazing sound of old soul samples pushed Dipset to the forefront of the creative curve of Hip Hop, which offered the Blood-affiliated crew from Uptown an almost cult-like following.
The album was saturated with longstanding hits such as “I Really Mean It”, the infectious “Dipset Anthem”, the female-friendly “Hey Ma” and the Master P assisted “Bout It Bout It…Part III”. Commercially, the album was considered average debuting at #8 on the Billboard 200 and selling 92,000 copies in its first week, but the album was certified Gold by the RIAA in 2005.
Salute to Cam, Juelz on the inside, Jim Jones, Freekey and Hell Rell for this classic piece of Hip Hop history!
A quarter century ago today in Hip-Hop history, Notorious B.I.G. released his second album, Life After Death. The double LP was released posthumously by Bad Boy Records. Biggie, who was killed two weeks prior to its release, was nominated for three Grammy’s for this project: Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance for “Hypnotize” and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “Mo Money Mo Problems.”
Featuring artists like 112, Jay-Z, Lil’ Kim, Ma$e, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Too $hort and R. Kelly, along with tracks like “Kick In The Door,” “What’s Beef,” “Notorious Thugs,” “Ten Crack Commandments” and “Sky’s The Limit,” it can be said that Life After Death is one of the greatest rap albums of all time. The album hit #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and the US Top R&B/Hip Hop chart. It went diamond (that’s 10,000,000 copies sold) in the United States alone, double platinum in Canada, and platinum in the UK. Life After Death has also made appearances on top music charts across the globe. The album has been ranked by countless publications as one of the top rap and Hip-Hop albums of all time (The Source ranked it as #8 in 2005).
Salute to Diddy and the rest of the Bad Bot family for this timeless piece of Hip Hop history!
The return of SxSw, might have taken place during the Spring, but on March 18th, in Austin, Texas it was Holiday season! The legendary Hip Hop DJ helped to capture the essence of what SxSw music festival in Austin is all about with his Hollipalooza stage powered by Kim SoMajor, The Umbrella Firm and The Source Magazine.
“The Hollipalooza event was everything you could ask for,” said the Atlanta artist Atmore VI, who debuted an unreleased song he has featuring Bad Bunny called “Passport.” Atmore VI shared, “Hot artists from the past, present, and future all showing love and performing some great music.”
Hollipalooza not only provided the entertainment with big named artists like Trae The Truth, Sally Sossa, Domani, K Shiday, Rob49 and Beat King, it also gave independent artists a time to shine.
“I don’t think they understand,” said Holiday as he introduced his special guest. “I brought some very important people here.”
Along with himself, The Source, and other media outlets in the building, Kim SoMajor and Holiday also brought out Josh “J1” Raiford to help new artist set up their own unique stations as a way to reach those larger audiences. Raiford is the VP of music programming at Pandora.
Attendees felt that the Hollipalooza stage powered by Kim SoMajor and The Umbrella Firm was a great opportunity for them to grow as an artist.
“My Hollipalooza experience was mad lit and definitely one to remember,” said the Georgia native Big Legend who performed” Money Habits.”
He continued to speak on how he took advantage of the mass amount of people present for the event, “I networked with a lot of artists and industry executives, along with making a lot of new fans.”
Rising artist out of South Memphis, Tripstar, loved the enthusiasm of the attendees. Being the next big thing out of Memphis, Trip wanted to know how others felt about his music and said he received a great response.
“I really like how everybody was very supportive and had great energy in the crowd,” said Tripstar, the latest signee to Moneybagg Yo.
Currently, Tripstar’s “Favorite App” song featuring Lil Migo is running on all music platforms.
PGF Shawt, another artist from Atlanta, said The Source was his favorite magazine growing up and loved the fact that he got a chance to perform with them in the building.
“Just being able to be a part of The Source is big,” said Shawt. “It’s a pleasure and honor truly appreciated. Right now, fans can check out PGF Shawt’s new single “Confessions” on all music platforms.
A lot of the performing acts recognized the prominence of DJ Holiday and they all felt honored for the opportunity to showcase their talents in front of him on a big stage.
Atmore VI added, “DJ Holiday is an OG we all grew up listening to, and his down-to-earth demeanor shows you he really does this for the love.”
The Hip Hop duo from St. Petersburg, Florida, Yo Simi, and Dredlock Esoc second that thought when it comes to the persona of DJ Holiday.
“DJ Holiday was a solid dude I got a chance to meet him at the show and after I performed, we chopped it up,” said Dredloc Esco, half of the duo who performed “Vegas.”
FeVaOG also loved the fact that DJ Holiday was down to earth.
“DJ Holiday showed me love and was laid back, so I look forward to working with him,” said the Jersey artist who got the crowd lit with his hit “Casamigos”.
Hollipalooza wasn’t your basic open mic showcase. Along with great networking, The Umbrella Firm offered a single record distribution deal via Beatroot Music to one of the nights top performers. Congratulations are in order to PGF Shawt who won the distribution deal.
Woodrow, CEO of The Umbrella Firm, shared that Shawt’s performance stood out as the “total package.” He said, “Shawt showed he has great music with substance and flow patterns which is rare. Artists usually are one or the other. He’s invested in his career and he has a track record of already having collaborations with other artists and uploading to major platforms.”
“Overall, he has a heavy promotional campaign so he came correct and participated while other artists were performing. That showed humility but he was one of the most dominant independents we had. Looking forward to working with him,” Woodrow shared.
The event also featured a live activation with Atlanta’s own Scotty Atl. Scotty ATL showed some major fan appreciation. Being the new King of Grillz, Scotty gifted out two 6-piece grills to the audience, just for attending the Hollipalooza event. Scotty’s grill company, Grillz By Scotty, provided the grills exclusively done onsite.
“We just wanted to show love, said Scotty ATL, who didn’t perform but brought his artist Just Call Me Veto to the music event.
Under the Cool Club label, Just Call Me Veto introduced himself with his new single “One Of Them Ones.” This was his first Austin performance and the New Orleans-born, but Atlanta-raised artist didn’t take it lightly.
“This is major,” said Veto. “In 2014 I was just walking around. I always wanted to do a show here and now I had three. Shout out to DJ Holiday, Scotty, Kim SoMajor, and The Source. This is major.”
There was a ton of fresh faces in the building for Hollipalooza. Check out a list of some of the new faces of Hip Hop to keep on your radar.
According to several news reports, a woman claims that Detroit slang spitter 42 Dugg assaulted her and held her and a friend hostage inside of a hotel room in Miami.
In several posts on Instagram, the accuser insinuated that her and her friend were offered “hush money” not to speak about the incident, but she wasted no time taking the alleged assault to social media.
“What n*ggas did to me and @_serenitysky is not worth any money sh*t is not a joke,” she wrote. A set of photos was shared by IG user young.poca showing several pics of a woman with a bruised arm and swollen lip, saying, “This is what ya favorite celebrities do on close doors… Like grown man beat on my friend @_serenitysky and literally didn’t let US LEAVE and the HOTEL DIDNT DO ANYTHING.”
42 Dugg nor anyone from his squad have yet to respond to the allegations.
Three decades ago today, Chi Ali released his first and only album The Fabulous Chi-Ali. Chi-Ali first appeared on De La Soul’s single “Say No Go” and on Black Sheep’s debut album, A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing featured on “Pass the 40”. Chi Ali at the time was a core member of Native Tongues, a New York City-based hip-hop collective, and also had connections with the Legion family, along with Showbiz and A.G.
In 1992, Chi-Ali released his first solo single, “Age Ain’t Nothing But a #”, which was a moderate hit and reached #6 in the US Hot Rap Singles chart. The song was popular on urban radio stations, and the music video received good rotation on Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City. The album in which the song was featured was released shortly thereafter, which yielded two other singles; “Roadrunner” and “Funky Lemonade,” which were both remixed and re-recorded.
In the late 1990s, Chi-Ali appeared on Dres’s solo album, Sure Shot Redemption, and began featuring with other artists. His most recent collabo was with Jadakiss on a song entitled “G-Check”.
On January 14, 2000, Chi-Ali shot and killed a man during an argument in The Bronx. He was later arrested in 2001 for the death of his girlfriend’s brother, Sean Raymond, after spending a year evading police and even appeared on an episode of America’s Most Wanted. Chi-Ali hid in numerous East Coast cities until he was apprehended on March 5, 2001, in New York City and was subsequently convicted of the killing and served a 12-year bid at Sing Sing Correctional Facility.
An announcement from Triller and VERZUZ has confirmed the battle between NYC legends Onyx and West Coast pioneers Cypress Hill, which is set to take place in Los Angeles.
After a dope year of memorable VERZUZ battles such as Ja Rule vs. Fat Joe, Snoop vs. DMX, Gucci Mane vs. Jeezy and the legendary landslide where The L.O.X. defeated Cam’Ron and Dipset, two of the greatest groups in Hip Hop history, Onyx and Cypress Hill, will face off in a hit-for-hit competition.
Onyx vs. Cypress Hill is scheduled to take place on May 14.
TMZ caught Dash in the airport and let out a clear statement: “Ye don’t give a fuck about the Grammys. We’ll make our own Grammys.”
“I’m not trying to fit into somebody else’s system,” Dash added. “So we just create our own so we ain’t gotta worry about nobody else’s rules. … It’s not for them to judge who’s hot. It’s for us. They really shouldn’t be giving us the awards. We should be giving them the awards. They gotta respect our culture.”
NBA Youngboy just released a joint album with DaBaby but he has more work loading. Speaking with DJ Akademiks, YB revealed that he will be releasing a new album, The Last Slimeto soon.
“Talked to YB .. he in great spirits n focused,” Akademiks wrote on Twitter. “I complimented him on his work ethic dropping so much music and so consistently n he said this the average for him.. he got a whole nother level… n said ‘The Last Slimeto’ a album not a EP. want his fans to pre order it fri.”
Talked to YB .. he in great spirits n focused … I complimented him on his work ethic dropping so much music and so consistently n he said this the average for him.. he got a whole nother level … n said “The Last Slimeto” a album not a EP. want his fans to pre order it fri
A viral video from TikTok is reportedly is an audio recording of R. Kelly doing a fellow inmate a favor. The video captioned “When your dad goes to the same prison as R. Kelly” shows a phone call from Brooklyn Federal Prison, where Kells gives in to a request to sing “Love Letter” over the phone.
“R. Kelly did me the favor and [sang] for me because he and my dad are serving time together,” TikTok user @Jizzlezoldykk said to the New York Post. She would add the song from Kells wasn’t for any reason other than a simple request.
letting R. Kelly sing to your daughter from his prison cell is actually crazy pic.twitter.com/ukb4CWa6ch
In January, CBS Chicago reported R. Kelly’s current legal team of Steve Greenberg and Michael Leonard have asked the court for removal from his criminal case in Chicago. Greenberg confirmed his request of withdrawal to CBS. If this sounds familiar, it may be because the duo of Greenberg and Leonard attempted to ditch Kells and his New York case back in June 2021.
In September 2021, R. Kelly was convicted of racketeering, with 14 underlying acts, and sex crimes in New York and faces life in prison. In Chicago, Kelly is charged with creating porn with underage girls, intimidating witnesses, and paying hush money. R. Kelly’s Chicago trial is slated to start this summer.
Mike Tyson was out attempting to enjoy a night of comedy and then a random guy decides to pull a gun. TMZ shared a video of a night at a rooftop bar in Hollywood, where Tyson was with a few friends.
Tyson was enjoying the show in the front row and then a random man approached the former heavyweight champ and challenged him to a fight. After refusing the fight offer, the host of the night attempted to remove the man, which elevated the event. The random guy pulled and cocked his gun, but regretted it and put it away. He then pleaded with Tyson to not call the police. Mike listened to the man and hugged him. After the hug, the man left. LAPD was never called to the scene.
