On this date in 1998, Terror Squad general Fat Joe released his third full length album Don Cartagena on the Atlantic/Big Beat/Terror Squad imprint.
On his first “official” release of Terror Squad as a crew and label, Fat Joe garnered the support from his then TS crew Armageddon, Triple Seis, Cuban Link and new recruit standout Big Punisher to pull together a superstar-laden album that would catapult TS to an equal level of success. With Pun’s almost overnight stardom from the smash single “Still Not A Player”, it gave Joe the leeway to bring in the rest of the crew sans Remy Ma, who was in Bedford Hill Correctional Facility. Singles such as “Bet Ya Man Can’t (Triz)” and “The Hidden Hand” left fans looking for that Terror Squad album with the original cast members, but internal strife only allowed those tracks to bring those thoughts into fruition. The real album feature was of course the Ski-produced “John Blaze”, which featured Nas, Jadakiss, Raekwon and Pun, is still considered one of the greatest joint tracks ever laid.
The album’s commercial success reflected the response from the fans, being Joe’s first top ten Billboard 200 release, grabbing a A- from EW and selling 100,000 in its first week was right in line of the thinking of The Don. Within a month, Don Cartagena was certified gold by the RIAA.
Salute to Joe, Pun(RIP), the entire original Terror Squad, Just Blaze, Dame Grease, Preemo and everyone else involved in the making of this Hip Hop classic!
Irv Gotti has placed moments of intimacy shared between him and Ashanti into the public eye recently. During appearances on Drink Champs and in The Murder Inc Story, Gotti revealed they hid a relationship, but now he is putting all of the information out there.
Despite the criticism of the general public, Irv Gotti is standing by his words, citing, “I just told my truth.”
“It’s my life. They paid me a bunch of money to talk about my life at Murder Inc. and I caught all this flack because of it,” Gotti said to Essence. “It’s my life. I’m not a lying type person. I wish Ashanti all the best. If you’re watching Ashanti, I wish you all the best. But I just told my truth.”
During the conversation with DJ EFN and N.O.R.E., Irv revealed Ashanti’s single “Happy” was the product of the two having sex.
“Let me explain the relationship and how it worked, and how it worked to our advantage,” Gotti said. “We just finished sleeping together, or whatever, I’m taking a shower. I’m in the shower, a nigga be creative after [sex]. I think of the whole track in the shower.”
Gotti said afterward he called producer Chink Santana to create the beat and then tapped back in with Ashanti to craft the lyrics. “That record came about ’cause of our energy,” Gotti said.
TMZ caught up with Judge Mathis in New York City and he stated Ashanti should send a cease-and-desist or go to court for a gag order.
You can hear the full conversation on Drink Champs and Judge Mathis’ opinion below.
Red Bull is excited to announce the US debut of Red Bull Symphonic: an unprecedented collaboration of hip-hop and classical symphony that brings audiences a larger-than-life celebration of music, heritage, and community. Taking place in the cultural mecca of Atlanta, the event will deliver live stunning orchestral renditions from the repertoire of multi-platinum superstar and rap legendRick Ross, alongside Atlanta’s award-winning all-Black symphony,Orchestra Noir, with an intermission featuring acclaimed favoritesSAINTED andMapy.
Merging classic with contemporary, Red Bull Symphonic is a groundbreaking spectacle that brings together today’s most exciting and influential artists with a full-scale symphonic orchestra—paying homage to the heritage of hip-hop through an original live format. The event will open with Orchestra Noir’s astonishing 50-person orchestra led by conductor Jason Ikeem Rodgers, followed by an intermission act that will feature SAINTED, a musical group and trap choir party founded by DJ Fannie Mae and Grammy award-winner Dennis Reed, that curates immersive events which pay homage to the southern Black church through trap, soul, old school funk, gospel, and new age hip-hop. The audience will also experience the artistry of award-winning violinist Mapy, fittingly nicknamed the “Violin Queen,” who turned heads as she performed at the 2021 Grammy Awards and seamlessly melds the warm, rich tone of the violin with high-energy hip-hop, Afrobeats, reggae, and soca.
“From The Biggest Boss I’m going to make sure I give y’all an unforgettable and one night only performance,” said headliner, Rick Ross. “Red Bull Symphonic is helping us celebrate heritage, musicians, and more importantly Black excellence. We gonna innovate big that night.”
Cross-genre artists will come together on stage for an unforgettable performance showcasing all-Black talent from all over the country, including musicians from the South’s most prestigious historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Grounded in the artists and local communities that have paved the way for Atlanta’s thriving music scene, Red Bull Symphonic is an elevated experience that reinforces Atlanta’s position as the hip-hop and creativity capital of the New South.
For over two decades, Red Bull has supported artists and local communities worldwide through festivals, workshops, and artist collaborations including a successful history of events in Atlanta that includes: Red Bull Culture Clash in 2018 (Zaytoven, Mija & Kenny Beats, Kranium, and Fuego), Red Bull Music Festival in 2019 (Teyana Taylor, Gunner Stahl, Yung Baby Tate, Zaytoven), Red Bull Zeltron World Wide in 2020 (Denzel Curry vs. Joey BadA$$), and most recently, Red Bull SoundClash in 2021 (Shelley FKA DRAM vs. Westside Boogie). With Red Bull Symphonic, Red Bull will celebrate the musical contributions of Black communities and artists across genres.
For more information around Red Bull Symphonic and to purchase tickets for the event, visitredbull.com/symphonic to stay up-to-date on all things Red Bull Symphonic, follow along @RedBullMusic + #RedBullSymphonic.
After a brawl in Miami with Jim Jones and company and social media beef with DJ Akademiks, Freddie Gibbs has added Griselda’a Benny The Butcher to his list of adversaries.
Even though the two have collaborated on songs in the past, the chain snatching incident, which was an incident in March in Houston where Benny The Butcher got robbed for his jewelry. It didn’t take long for the Buffalo native to get payback, with Gibbs getting lifted of his jewels in Benny’s hometown. Gibbs ended up with the chain and has been flossing it on the internet, with Gibbs recently responding.
In response, Freddie Gibbs threw numerous insults at his rival via IG stories, challenging his manhood and saying that he doesn’t deserve to have his chain because he didn’t earn it during their fight back in the Spring.
On this date in 1998, after her successful intro into the game with The Fugees, Lauryn Hill embarked on her solo journey and released her first solo LP entitled The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill on the Ruffhouse/Columbia imprint.
As a play on the titles of Carter G. Woodson’s The Mis-Education of the Negro and the 1972 film The Education Of Sonny Carson, Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation album fused the sounds of neo-soul, reggae, R&B and Hip Hop to create an album unlike anything similar to that which was created during the “bling” era. The 16 track classic was a mainstream hit, mainly because of the cross over appeal of singles like “Everything Is Everything”, “Doo Wop(That Thing}”, Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” and “Ex-Factor”, with production courtesy of Ms, Hill herself.
Supreme shout out to Ms, Hill for this timeless piece of Hip Hop history!
t’s been a quite week for hip-hop emcee and author Cormega, who dropped a new single, “Essential,” produced by Havoc. In addition to formally announcing the release of his long-anticipated next album, The Realness II, heunveiled a billboard in Times Square! New music isn’t the only thing he’s preparing for. The proud parent of two is also getting Queensbridge kids and their families ready to return to school!
On Sunday, August 21st from 1pm-3pm, Cormega partnered with Adidas to distribute FREE Adidas book bags to hundreds of kids in front of The Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement aka Queensbridge Community Center at 10-25 41st Ave, Queens, NY 11101. For the past four years, Cormega has discretely given backpacks and school supplies to kids in the community. This year he welcomed families publicly sharing, “I came to Queensbridge as Cory, and Queensbridge made me Cormega!”GB NY Sneaker Boutique and Riis Settlement Center, joined as sponsors of the FREE family friendly event which featured free vegan pizza from Krave It NY Pizza, ice cream, and of course music!
Cormega has been giving back to Queensbridge Projects long before he recorded his first record. Hiphopdx.com wrote an exclusive story in 2002 about an all-expense trip which took several busloads of people to Six Flags Great Adventures Amusement Park in New Jersey.
“I usually sponsor basketball tournaments, but I wanted to do something more to impact families, especially during inflation. For three years, I have purchased whatever was available, book bags, school supplies, clothes and and gave them to kids in Queensbridge. Some kids got book bags with flowers and stars. This year we upgraded to Adidas bookbags! It was cool to partner with a brand the kids and their parents respect,” shares Cormega. “I’m grateful to everyone – Adidas, GBNY, Riis, Krave It, the ice cream man – who joined in to help get the kids ready as they return back to school!”
In an exclusive sit down with Tony “The Closer” Robinson on his Get Yo Ass Up podcast, Entrepreneur and hip-hop mogul Dame Dash speaks on pain, love, and enjoying life regardless of both. Outspoken, respected by many, and often misunderstood, Dame Dash shares why he will never stop questioning authority, what he considers his biggest accomplishments, and his advice for young entrepreneurs trying to reach the heights he has conquered.
Robinson asked Dash if he regretted anything in his relationship with Hov, saying that he did not expect to be “betrayed” by the cultural mogal.
“Yeah, all that, but we were friends. How would you feel if your brother betrayed you for money? Would it hurt?… That’s the algorithm. It wasn’t surprising ’cause that’s what always happens. It was surprising ’cause no one—that’s what it was, we were breaking the algorithm, we were doing it a different way and sticking together, but that’s what always happens. They make one sell out the other, their friend, divide and conquer, that’s a normal story.”
Former Bad Boy Records President Kirk Burrowes spoke to The Art Of Dialogue candidly about what kept the beef between rap icons and former friends Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. alive, saying that Biggie’s “Who Shot Ya?” record was one of the riff’s major culprits.
Burrowes says that the record was never directed at Tupac, but Diddy took it upon himself to take advantage of the recent shooting and robbery of ‘Pac in Quad Studios and drop a record that could easily be misconstrued as making Shakur the target.
“The way it was marketed by the company and released, in the succession of things that were going on that we were dealing with, on all the levels that we were dealing, that record did what it was supposed to do,” said the former Bad Boy executive. Burrowes continued,“That’s a perfect example of how my former business partner works and thinks. And if you could remember that three-dimensional type of thinking, then you could start to pierce through a lot of the common things that are being told and get to what’s really behind those things.”
On this date in 1993, J-Ro, Tash, and E-Swift, the West Coast collective known as Tha Alkaholiks, released their premiere album 21 & Over on Steve Rifkind’s Loud/RCA imprint.
Founded by West Coast legend King Tee, Tha Alkaholiks and their music are recognized as the epitome of Cali party music, with the clinking bottles and drunken burps as the backdrop. The 21 & Over project served as one of the few examples of the West Coast Hip Hop that wasn’t oversaturated with California gang life. Instead, Tha Liks were a part of the Cali movement of MCs who had to prove their lyrical skills were competitive when compared to their East Coast counterparts.
The ten-track classic is less than 40 minutes in length, but the drunken style theme is maintained throughout the entire project, with sure shot singles like “Last Call”, “Make Room” and “Likwit” that solidified Tha Liks as a force from the West that continues to be recognized for their contribution to the game.
Salute to King Tee and the crew for churning out this timeless Hip Hop classic!
According to a confirmed report from TMZ, music and fashion mogul Kanye West will not be charged with for allegedly punching a fan after a heated exchange outside of a hotel in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office told TMZ, “After a thorough and careful review of all the evidence, our office is declining to file based on no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
As reported, Yeezy got into a physical confrontation with a photographer back in January near the Soho Warehouse, where Ye was accused of pushing and punching the man in question. The alleged battery could’ve landed Yeezy behind bars for a maximum of six months, but the report has confirmed that Mr. West will not be charged.
