Distant Relatives: Tour dates

It's been long awaited, but finally the tour dates for the Distant relatives tour have been announced.

Nas AND Damian Marley on stage at the same time; what more could you ask for? Well, support from Nneka doesn't sound bad either!

Check out the dates below:
I have kindly put UK dates in bold. See you at Hammersmith!

TOUR DATES:

May 2nd West Palm Beach, Fl Sunfest
May 21st Arcata, CA Arcata Community Center
May 22nd Eugene, OR Cuthbert Amphitheater
May 23rd Seattle, WA Showbox Sodo
May 25th Oakland, CA Fox Theater
May 26th Santa Barbara, CA University of California, Santa Barbara
May 28th Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
May 29th Las Vegas, NV The Joint
May 30th Valley Center, CA Harrah’s Rincon – Open Sky Theater
May 31st Los Angeles, CA UCLA Jazz Reggae Festival
June 2nd Santa Fe, NM Paolo Soleri Amphitheater
June 8th Houston, TX House of Blues
June 9th Austin, TX Stubb’s Waller Creek Outdoor Amphitheater
June 11th Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music Festival
June 12th Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
June 13th Lake Buena Vista, FL House of Blues – Lake Buena Vista, FL
June 27th Brussels, BE Couleur Cafe Festival
June 28th Paris, FR Paris Hip Hop Festival
July 1st Arendal, NO Hovefestival
July 3rd Cologne, DE Summerjam
July 4th Gdynia, PL Heineken Opener Festival
July 6th Copenhagen, DK Vega
July 7th Hultsfred, SE Hultsfred Festival
July 9th Frauenfeld, CH Openair Frauenfeld
July 10th Montreux Vaud, CH Montreux Jazz Festival – Miles
July 11th Rotterdam Holland North Sea Jazz
July 13th Hamburg, DE Stadtpark
July 14th Munich, DE Tollwood Festival
July 16th Manchester, UK Manchester Academy
July 17th Dublin, IE Tripod
July 20th Hammersmith, UK Hammersmith Apollo
July 23rd Gräfenhainichen, DE Splash Festival
July 31st Brooklyn, NY Williamsburg Waterfront
August 1st Bridgeport, CT Gathering of The Vibes Festival

(Taken from urb.com)

Tickets don't seem to be up for ticketmaster.co.uk yet, but i'll keep checking.

Sound Sultan Ft. M.I. - 2010

When M.I. jumps on a track, it's always going to be hot: if nothing else but for the pink Raybans...

... In all seriousness though, it's the message of this track that makes it what it is. Big props to Sound Sultan. Check out the video below:




What do you think of Vision 2010?

#enoughisenough
#lightupnigeria

Fashawn: Ode To Illmatic

If nothing else, you have to admit Fashawn has guts; given that with his next mixtape Ode To Illmatic he is attempting to spit over every one of the instrumentals off of Nasir Jones's 1994 debut classic llmatic. Or, is this more a case of foolish arrogance? 

Don't get me wrong, in my books, Fash' deserved his place as an XXL freshman of 2010: but as I'm sure Illmatic graces many of your "Top 5 albums of all time" lists, has the Cali. native bitten off more than he can chew?

 

“What took Nas 20 years to make took me like a week” he recently declared in an interview with xxlmag.com, perhaps sensing how this will sound to fans of Esco, he swiftly rebukes “No bragging or nothing like that, but I’m a student of [Illmatic]..." 

Although it may not sound like it, I'm willing to reserve judgement on the DJ Green Lantern hosted mixtape. After all it was Green Lantern who hosted NaS's controversial The N****r tape. But for an album that taught us all so much about NaS and hip hop culture in general, let's hope Fashawn treats Illmatic with the respect it deserves; it's pretty hard to match perfection!

Due for release: Late April/early May (according to xxlmag.com)

Conflict of interests: Illmatic is definitely on my list.

NaS & Damian Interview

"When we get together, it's gonna be real". More impotantly, when NaS and Damian Marley get together it's gonna be KNOWLEDGE!

This interview was conducted at the recent SxSW festival; check NaS dropping knowledge on the Jazz tip: always remembering his origins. Papa would be proud! Props to Olu dara.



The anticipation just grows and grows...

From Run's house, to running things...

This has been out for a minute now, but was just looking at it again and feel it definately deserves a post! Especially as Diggy is now a signee of Atlantic records. Big things poppin!

So, if you haven't seen it, check Diggy's take on Made You Look.



"The son of a king, so why would I ever bow down?"

Distant Relatives album cover...

Words can't really describe how excited I am about this album.

Could it be one of the greatest pairing of minds we've ever seen in music?

Well, here's the official album cover...

But let's face it; it's all about what's on the inside that counts.

A friend told me they are scheduled to perform in Germany...umm, UK please!!

Release May 18th
Props to rapradar.com

NY-Z Documentary

This sort of gives me the same nervous-excited-hyped kind of feeling that you get when Jay first comes out on stage in Fade To Black. Probably because it's almost like a mini version of the 2004 documentary: as we see Hov prepare to please a paked-out Madison Square Gardens, five years after he famously held his "retirement" show on the very same stage.


In association with Absolut.

It's no surprise to know that, director Danny Clinch, is also a photgrapher by trade; something clearley reflected in the eye-catching cinematography used to portray Marcy projects and Jay's time on stage.

Overall, definately worth giving up 15 minutes of your time for!

Wavin Flag - Naija Remix

The offical song of 2010's upcoming world cup, Wavin' Flag, comes courtesy of the melodic chants of Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan. With views in the millions on youtube; i'm guessing you've already heard it. The song first appered on K'naan's album Troubador, and was later remade as a charity single for Haiti before being picked up by Coca Cola and FIFA as the anthem for this year's- South African hosted- World Cup.

Now coming off of the back of Nigeira's, not-so-succesfull performance at the African Cup of Nations - which were played earlier this year in Ghana- comes ode to the Super Eagles, in the form of the Wavin' Flag (Official Naija Version). This was put in the careful hands of Banky W, eLDee and MI by the people at CocaCola who comissioned and licensed the remix.

The remix is hot! You can check it out at notjustok.com
K'naan ft Banky W & MI
Lets hope it encourages the Super Eagles to rule the sky in South Africa!

"Let the flag inspire us, as now we unify"

Akon gone Gaga

I just came across this clip of Akon talking about Gaga, and how she would pretty much pay for his retirement if he wanted to.


via AssociatedPress

Akon also touches on the subject of how elements of dance music are beginning to filter into Hip Hop; mentioning that Dr Dre has been working on a dance record. There has also been word recently, that 50 Cent wants to try his bullet-riddled-hand at at the genre. Along with Weezy releasing the rock-infused 'Rebirth' it would seem that as the world becomes more open to Hip Hop; Hip Hop becomes more open to the world. Lets not take it too far though guys, don't forget the hip-hop-heads!

SPIN - Beats by Dre

In case anyone has forgotten, yes I would like some Beats by Dre please :)

In the meantime though, the new Beats by Dre 'SPIN' headphones are next out...




They are designed mainly for the DJ folk out there, but they still look pretty cool. You can have your friend speaking to you in one ear, and drown it out in the other ear with your music. I am, of course, joking - I always listen to my friends!

NaS & Damian Marley: Distant Relatives.

I put this up on my twitter the other day but, as I'm giddy with excitement over this album, I thought I'd put it up here too.

So, in case you missed it here's the official track listing for 'Distant Relatives', as previewed by xxlmag.com

1. As We Enter

2. Tribal War (feat. K'NAAN)

3. Strong Will Continue

4. Leaders

5. Wisdom (Sabali)

6. Count Your Blessings

7. Disappear

8. The Promised Land (feat. Dennis Brown)

9. Nah Mean

10. Angola (Friends)

11. My Generation (feat. Lil Wayne and Joss Stone)

12. Africa Must Wake Up (Feat. K'NAAN)

13. BONUS TRACK Ancient People (feat. Junior Reid)

[Editor's note: XXL has learned that one more song,"In His Own Word," will also be included on the album]

I can't deny, I'm more than a little intrigued by the Weezy/Joss Stone combination! Can't even imagine how that will sound?

Air Swell: First Leak

Ok, I may need to be changing the name of this blog to the Chiddy Bang blog, but anyway- hot of the press is the fist leak off of the soon to be released 'mini-mixtape' Air Swell.

Earlier this evening our new favourite Philly beat maker, Mr Xaphoon Jones, hooked us up with the link to 'Under The Sheets (Chiddy Bang Remix)' on twitter...

YO EVERYONE: AIR SWELL first leak: http://neongoldrecords.blogspot.com/2010/03/killing-me.html

Chirdera 'The prototype on the mic' Anamege, jumps effortlessly onto this remix of the original Ellie Goulding track- and after recently performing with the likes of Tinie Tempah- gives the UK a well deserved shout-out, "And that's word to the UK, I keep it kickin and pushin like I was Lupe..."

No doubt, I'll keep you posted as soon as I hear Air Swell has dropped, but that's certainly wetted the appetite for now!

I'm out...

On some 'Cribs' ish!

Ok, ok, I know I keep going on about these guys. But I just had to put this video up. I wonder what the crib will be looking like this time next year? So long as Proto (Chidera) keeps freestylin that way, pretty damn good I imagine!



Shout out to Parlophone

T.I. - I'm back

Yup, it's true, bouncing back like only a rubberband man can- T.I.'s new single "I'm Back" has dropped!

via  thekingsbackti
Better recognise!

Dddddownload

XXL Freshmen mixtape

As I blogged before, XXL magazine is soon to release its annual Freshmen edition. This last month has seen them host some short freestyles from the finalists, but just to keep us even more hyped with anticipation comes the XXL Freshmen mixtape, featuring 17 new tracks from all the artists featured in the magazine. Tracks from: Pill, Jay Rock, Nipsey Hu$$le, Big Sean, Fashawn, Freddie Gibbs, Whiz Khalifa, J Cole, OJ Da Juiceman have been nicely packaged together by the lovely DJ Whoo Kid for our listening pleasure!

Get the download link here

Thanks XXL!

Industry Takeover pics

This Saturday, Urban Development and Richmix, joined forces to bring a number of industry professionals together, in the same place at the same time, and give us 'Industry Takeover'. From what I could tell, the day went off without a hitch and despite leaving very tired, that £5 I spent was well worth it. A crowded music market set a bustling surrounding for the stage, which was also overlooked by the floor above, which held more stalls and the obligatory comfy sofa meets PS3 setup.

The first seminar 'Underground to Overground', consisted of a mixed bag of professionals with the likes of Ras Kwame and Chantelle Fiddy gracing the panel. Topics that were touched on included: what it is to "sell-out", a phrase that Ras Kwame rejected, and described a change of style as merely being an artists right to self expression. How to make the transition from underground blogger to professional journalist was also discussed. The best peice of advice came at the end from Terror Danjah who said somthing along the lines of, go into it thinking you're never going to make it, then you'll be fine! True story!


In between Seminars, there were several workshops running; Bang radio DJ workshop, Rising Tide production workshop and digital DJing masterclass, to name a few. I chose to spend my time checking out the open mic and emerging artists stage, which hosted a range of artists from oustanding to down-right odd!

The second seminar, entitled, 'How to steal my job' was taken over by a panel that included Hattie Collins and Twin B. After a slight detour into how we, the consumers, can get the Giggs tour back on track- each of the panelists gave a run down of their jobs and how they got into the industry, before the floor was opened up for questions. The end of the seminar even saw a few email address being given out from the panelists, but if you weren't there, well, you missed out this time!

Proto's SBTV F64

7 words: IF YOU DON'T KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW! (Phew, yep, definately 7 words)

From first hearing Proto spit alongside eLDee, to wearing out The Swelly Express on my ipod, to seeing Chiddy Bang perform live at the tiny Notting Hill Arts Club and watching The Opposite Of Adults climb up the itunes chart- there's been little doubt in my mind that Chidera 'Proto' Anemege could easily out-rhyme and out-freestyle, well...pretty much anyone. If you need any more proof, check out the F64 he recorded for SBTV; as always it comes straight off the top!




Big props to SBTV for the recognition, and nice to see Xaphoon kicking it in the background.



"Flow sicker than the flu" - No doubt!

via SBTV

Urban Development: Industry Takeover

Tomorrow I'm attending the 'Industry Takeover' event brought to us by the nice people at Urban Development and Richmix.



This is the first time I'm going but from the looks of it, the meger £5 I had to spend on a ticket, is going to be WELL worth it.

Check the blurb:
Urban Development, in association with Rich Mix, will be ‘taking over’ on March 6th to bring you performances from top names in the urban music industry, essential master classes, seminars, open mic sessions, a fashion show, music market, vocal/production workshops, as well as a series of exclusive video and short film screenings.

I have to say, I am most looking forward to "Seminar 2: How to steal my job"- with the likes of Hattie C on the panel, I'm hoping to pick up some good tips!

Try and catch it if you can too, I'll put up a short review of the day when I get a chance.

Welcome Snoop! It's been a while!

It's true! Snoop has finally won his battle over the ban preventing him from entering the UK; a subject close to my heart, after I had to return my tickets to see Snoop and Diddy perform in Cardiff (where I was at Uni) a few years ago.



Apparently the UK border agency was "disappointed by the tribunal's decision in the case"- they must be about the only ones, surely! So, he's free to apply for a VISA and, hopefully we will be graced with a tour in the not-too-distant future. Forget about Johnny Depp and 'Alice in wonderland'; it's all about 'Malice In Wonderland' from now on!


Fo shizzle!

XXL COVER

It's that time of year again: XXL are soon to release their "Freshmen of 2010" cover. In anticipation they have been dropping short freestyles from all the listed artists, which you can check on the website. Here's the cover...



Unfortunately, us UK folk will probably have to wait a little while longer before it hits our shelves, but hold on in there.

Who do you rate from this line-up?