Summer/Fall Hip Hop and R&B album drops

The summer is here (or not so much if like me you live in the UK), and there are some exciting drops waiting to happen this summer/fall. Here is a list of some of them for you. Personally I cannot wait for drops from Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Nas, G.O.O.D. Music, Wiz Khalifa, and T.I.

July 3
Chris Brown - Fortune
Flo Rida - Wild Ones
Young Zee & Mr. Green - One Crazy Weekend
Prodigy - H.N.I.C. 3

July 10
Aesop Rock - Skelethon
La Coka Nostra - Masters Of the Dark Arts

July 17
8Ball - Life's Quest
Alchemist - Russian Roulette
Madchild (Swollen Members) - Dope Sick
Nas - Life Is Good
Masta Ace - Ma Doom: Son of Yvonne

July 24
REKS - REBELutionary
Big Shug - I.M. 4 E-VA

July 31
Rick Ross - God Forgives, I Don't
Necro - The Murder Murder Kill Kill Double EP

August 7
Bumpy Knuckles x Statik Selektah - Ambition
G.O.O.D. Music - Cruel Summer

August 14
2 Chainz - Based On a T.R.U. Story
Kreayshawn - Somethin' Bout Kreay
The-Dream - Love IV MMXII

August 21
DJ Khaled - Kiss The Ring

August 28
Slaughterhouse - welcome to: Our House
Meek Mill - Dreams & Nightmares
Wiz Khalifa - O.N.I.F.C.
Madchild (Swollen Members) - Dope Sick
Brandy - Two Eleven

September 4
Blu and Exile - Give Me My Flowers While I Can Still Smell Them
T.I. - Trouble Man

September 11
A$AP Rocky - LongLiveA$AP
Ludacris - Ludaversal
Saigon - Bread and Circuses

September 18
Skyzoo - A Dream Deferred
Ne-Yo - R.E.D.
DJ Drama - Quality Street Music

October 2
Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, Mad City
Bobby V - Dusk Till Dawn

November 13
Big Boi - Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors

Kendrick Lamar performs at the electric ballroom camden- 26th June

I travelled to London last night to see Kendrick Lamar perform as part of his 2-date mini tour in the Electric ballroom in Camden. He had never been to the UK to perform before so yesterday and Monday's gig was an exciting and rare opportunity for his UK fan base. There was a great turn out and he even seemed a lil shocked at the knowledge of his musical history that we UK fans possessed. He performed classic hits like 'ADHD', 'Suck My Dick', 'Pussy and Patron' (We all went crazy for these ones, and sang along with extreme volume), He rapped the first verse of 'HiiiPOWER' A-capella which was sik but I would have loved to hear the whole track, this is the one I was looking forward to the most. I can imagine how hype the place would have been all joining in to the chorus of ‘HiiiPOWER'. His set finished just under an hour which left me wanting more, but he finished off with two tracks ( ‘Cartoons & Cereal’  and  ‘The Recipe’ ) from his upcoming debut album 'good kid, m.A.A.d city' (release date oct 2nd 2012)  which left me buzzing.

Highlights of the night was him claiming we are all family and passing bottles of water to the crowd telling us “sip that shit nigga pass it around", and just his pure energy on stage. His rapport with the crowd was on point and the atmosphere was electric.

I guess the only let down for me was not hearing him perform tracks like 'HiiiPOWER' or 'Rigamortis', oh and the fact that as the ticket said 'and special guests' I kept expecting ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul or Jay Rock to jump on stage.

The videos I took were of very poor quality, due the fact I have a Blackberry, (anyone with a BB curve will understand). So here is a video for my favourite Kendrick track- HiiiPOWER.

                             

K.Dot's official site- kedricklamar.com

Kendrick Lamar explains what it's like to work with Dr. Dre and gives an update on his debut album 'Good Kid in a Mad City'

Kendrick explained that while his first commercial project doesn't have a specific release date, that doesn't mean it's trapped in commercial limbo. He said that he's been factor behind its delay so that he can ensure that he's completely satisfied with the quality of product before he unleashes it.

"I can't give out no date right now, I just know I'm pressed for time," he joked. "[Aftermath] want[s] what I been doing. That's a good space to be in. You can get in a lot situations where your people actually don't understand your vision, but I've got a good backing and good following and a good team behind me, they understand me and it's all on me, so I'm gonna deliver. I've got the music; I'm just real, real sensitive on the touch ups as far as the structure [of the LP]."
K. Dot also spoke on his working relationship with Aftermath head and musical mentor Dr. Dre. Although he said there is some pressure in collaborating with Dre, he looked to many of the same producers from his 2011 smash Section.80 for production on his impending debut.
"It's definitely intense [working with Dr. Dre], but the best thing about it the creative process," he said. "That's the fun thing because he's a genius at his work, and for me to be in the same studio [as him] says a lot about my craft and how far we're going with it, so I love it…I've use[d] my own in-house cast for the majority of the music I did [for Good Kid in a Bad City] - Soundwave, Tae Beast, Willie B, Digi+Phonics - all the people I came up with, they [produced] the majority of the album. When I turned it in to Dre all the way back at the end of the year, then we did new material and see what cuts through."
Check out the full interview below.

via Hip Hop DX

Oh and while we're talking about Kendrick Lamar, let me once again express my sheer excitement about him coming to the UK. I have my ticket and I will blog all about it. for now here is one of my favourite Kendrick videos. Enjoy...

ScHoolboy Q Says A Black Hippy Album Will Drop Once It's a "Classic"

My first post had to be about Black Hippy.. I am a HUGE, HUGE, fan!
As a fan, I, along with many others have been eagerly anticipating the drop of the first Black Hippy album. In an interview with Karen Civil, Los Angeles rapper ScHoolboy Q revealed that Black Hippy won’t be releasing their group album until they feel it’s a classic project. During the interview with Karen Civil and KarmaLoop TV he explained that the group is more concerned with releasing an album that will “stick.”

“When it’s ready to be a classic,” said ScHoolboy Q when he was asked about a release date for the Black Happy album. “[We’re] not gonna just do it cause everyone else is doing it and everybody just want us to drop a project. We want it to be classic…We want our shit to stick, like classic.”
In the interview ScHoolboy Q also briefly spoke about his solo album which he’s already a couple of tracks into.
“[I’m] about five records in on my album. I think I got a couple singles ready. You never know until it’s that time you know what I’m saying, but I got something,” ScHoolboy Q explained.
Later in the interview Black Hippy’s Ab-Soul gave his thoughts on the group’s first big feature in XXL magazine. While Ab-Soul explained that he wasn’t too overwhelmed by the opportunity he did reveal that he was honoured to be a part of it.
“It’s not like overwhelming, if you will. But we grew up watching XXL too. Who didn’t? You know what I’m saying? It’s definitely an honor,” said Ab-Soul.


I will be seeing Black Hippy member Kendrick Lamar perform at the Electric Ballroom in London on Tuesday (26th), I'll make sure I blog all about it. For now here is my favourite Black Hippy vid. It's not a music video but it is everything I love about Black Hippy. Enjoy...