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!