Seen on TRF!
From GrandGrooveTV:
“We had the privilege to catch up with Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg while he was in town for Rock the Bells. We touched on subjects such as HOT 97, Meeting Maxwell, Jim Jones, Juan Epstein and … Big Jacks’ passport!? A very funny and dope interview, don’t sleep y’all.”
Seen on RR!
From Billboard.com:
With his knee nearly healed from a July stage injury, Drake says he’s ready to get back to work in earnest on his debut album, still tentatively titled “Thank Me Later” and due out in February.
“I’m able to walk around, so I’m working very hard on the album,” the singer-rapper-actor tells Billboard.com, adding that his rehab period impaired his writing as well as his mobility. “I’ve been out of the scene for so long because I’ve been off my leg,” explains Drake, who’s planning to head out to Los Angeles on Oct. 11 for more writing and recording. “Sitting at home in your apartment and having a doctor come over every day and eating healthy and going to the gym — there’s not much of a rap album to be made off that. I have to get my inspiration and start seeing things and going to dinners and meeting people again and just finding stories to tell for this album. I’m trying to make something timeless.”
Drake — who’s EP, “So Far Gone,” debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 in September -is planning to release the album’s first “story,” the single “Shut it Down,” in the near future, though it might not come out until January.
Drake describes the track which, as first revelead on Billboard.com last month, features The-Dream, as “an R&B song…It’s sexy. It’s slow, but there’s an energy to it. I rap on it. Me and Dream both sing on it. It’s cool.” It also has a “message that’s never really been explored by male singers,” he says. “This song is sort of like an anthem for women, like pre-the club. It’s like an anthem for you to be at your house with your girlfriends getting ready, what you listen to before you get there. It’s a song for the non-famous woman to make her feel special and just to let you know that even though I’m up here and have the option to mingle wtih these ‘upper-echelon’ women, if you will, that sometimes I’d rather be with the girl from back home or a student or a girl that works at Wal-Mart. They don’t have to be a star or rich or anything like that; that’s kind of the gist of the song. It’s an empowering song for all women.”
As he prepares to get back to the album, Drake says Jay-Z, Kanye West and his Young Money label chief Lil Wayne are still slated to be on it, and he promises “a couple of guest that may be very much surprises for a hip-hop album. I just want to give people a musical experience. I like to open up the minds of the fans in my genre.”
But even as the highly anticipated album looms, Drake is also plotting his next acting move. “I’m working on that right now,” the “Degrassi: The Next Generation” star confirms. “One of my best friends in this industry is Jamie Foxx…so hopefully we’ll get to do a movie together. And I’m a big Judd Apatow, comedic timing fan. I love all those movies that they do. So, yeah, I really want to get back into acting. It’s definitely something I’m interested in and always will be.”
From FarBeyond’s Youtube Chanel!
Ron D of Toronto Fresh.com chops it up with Shaun Boothe about his upcoming Hip-hop In 3-D project with producer Nineteen85.
(smh@ Famous, lol)
Check out the full interview here. Here’s a taste. And if you don’t already have the mixtape (sleeping), link is below!
Toronto, ON – With the release of From The Bottom Of The Can the third installment of his We On Some Rich Kidd ShitRich Kidd is riding high on a wave of good will and accolades. Both his skills on the mic and his wizardry on the boards have contributed to making him one of the most sought after artists to break out of Canada in the last little while. A who’s who of the Toronto hip-hop community came out on a hot July evening to lend him their support and take in a night chock full of Rich Kidd’s beats and always present humor. Tona, Saukrates and Ayah just to name a few, all came out to celebrate their peer and friend into the night. But Rich Kidd is a man with a lot more than beats and rhymes on his mind. He has plans to take over the world as well as an eye towards spreading a few blessings along the way. I had the opportunity to sit down with the one they call Rich Kidd to pick his brain on a variety of subjects.
HipHopCanada: I wanted to start by talking about your newest mixtape. It’s titled We On Some Rich Kidd shit: From the Bottom of the Can! Where did that come from? When did this project start taking shape in your mind?
Rich Kidd: trilogy. MC/Producer From the Bottom Of the Can comes from . . . My manager Courtney has a saying where he likes to say we’re coming from the bottom, to the top of the Can . . . as in from the bottom of Canada. So I hit the Internet for some inspiration going through some shit and I came across some old Coca Cola ads and I went ahead and tied these two loose concepts together. Just to see if people would get it. I just like to do creative things. Shit people won’t get right away. I want people to call me back 20 minutes later saying: “What the fuck?!” I don’t want to do regular covers and artwork. I don’t want to sit in front of a green-screen holding an AK-47 with money flowing out of my pockets. I don’t do all that.
HipHopCanada: After you finished your previous mixtape when did you start bouncing ideas and start thinking of the next one?
Rich Kidd: The mixtapes themselves are pretty easy to put together because most of the joints on there are joints that were already done, that I had already put out or joints that the artists had put out themselves. We also have some exclusives on there, as well as some tracks that are unheard. It’s an easy process I don’t really have to get in a zone to make it. Usually when it comes down to all the other creative stuff that comes with it putting a mixtape together, it usually ends up being a last minute thing. I usually work on it like a week before Caribana. I give myself that deadline so I know I’ll get it done. I’ll give myself a month and still do it all in a week. I’ve been that way since school doing homework the day it was do. Honestly, I rush it but at the same time I’m a perfectionist.
Previous: VIDEO: OTA Talk w/ Rich Kidd, Andreena Mill & Slakah the Beatchild
Previous: NEW VIDEO: Junia-T feat. Sinotra & Rich Kidd “Back 2 Basics”
Previous: Rich Kidd – We on Some Rich Kidd Sh*t 3!!!! (Full Mixtape DL)
Interview with Melanie Fiona by Lola Plaku (for HHC):
“I think I have to live through Lauryn Hill and live through Alicia and I have to go back and credit Sam Cooke and Bob Marley, and I had to live that to get here. I feel like more people are trying to get back to being music and if I can be a pioneer in that direction, I’m about it.” – Melanie Fiona
Toronto, ON – Boundaries have been broken in the recent years in Canadian music. It is about time that recording artists get recognized internationally for their efforts. It has been a slow process, but the musical gems are finally being discovered one by one, leading Canada into mass recognition.
One such gem is Melanie Fiona. She is an outstanding vocalist that has been singing and recording professionally for some time, but finally now, in 2009, she is getting the recognition she deserves. Her single “Give It To Me Right” made U.S. Billboard Hot R&B & Hip-Hop Songs and her album The Bridge, was released in Canada on June 30th (but still pending on a U.S. release), has received rave reviews.
Earlier in the year she toured with Kanye and now she is headlining her own shows not only here in North America, but all over Europe. An avid twitter user, she recently shared “JUST HAD THE GREATEST SHOW OF MY LIFE… sold out a 2,000 person Venue in Germany… and the show was televised LIVE…. ON CLOUD 9!!! [twitter.com/melaniefiona]
But before she was able to ride the mainstream waves, Melanie had created quite the resume for herself under the moniker Syren Hall. She performed throughout Canada and the US, sharing stages with artists such as Keyshia Cole, Robin Thicke, Lupe Fiasco, Buju Banton, Collie Buddz and more. In 2007, Melanie performed in Long Beach, California at the Ragga Muffins Bob Marley Festival. Her song “Somebody Come Get Me” also appeared on Reggae Gold 2008
Her stage presence is truly electrifying and it sets her apart from what most artists today have to offer live. “I think that aside from working hard on a good performance and sweating and just working hard, people want to experience an emotional rollercoaster and leave feeling an experience,” Melanie says.
HipHopCanada caught up with Melanie Fiona [AKA Syren] back in 2007 and Lola [iluvlola.net/HipHopCanada] was able to catch up with her again to discuss her career and new album The Bridge.
HHC/ILL: So The Bridge, your first album . .
Melanie Fiona: The Bridge . . . yes.
HHC/ILL: Were you nervous before it came out [in Canada]?
Melanie Fiona: Yes and no.
HHC/ILL: Why no?
Melanie Fiona: No, because I feel so confident in the album and the music and I feel like people will really love it and I feel really good and strong about it. Nervous, yes, because it’s my first album. They don’t know me and they don’t know what I’m about and it’s always nervous trying to get the attention to people and wanting them to like you. But I feel like once they give it a chance they won’t be disappointed.
“The first installment of this new producer series is with Montreal-born, now Toronto resident, C4, whose work many of you probably have heard before, but just havent realized it. Not only has he worked with artists like JD Era, Rich Kidd, and Donny Goines, just to name a few, but he has also made his mark on the advertising world by producing ads for corporations like Taco Bell, Hasbro, and most recently, Volkswagen.”
Peep Part 2 and more HERE!
Seen on RR!
Haven’t even watched this yet but you know how Nardwuar does (lol!)
Previously – Nardwuar interviews Pharrell (Classic!)
Kayvon TV interviews Illtown’s finest. Jokes as usual plus I actually learned something new about Young MC.
Previously: Kayvon TV interviews Kweli & “Tek 9” (lol!)
Seen on Belly’s official blog 7days & 7 Nights!
The song’s been circulating for a bit but this is the official version which features Snoop Dogg.
Also peep an interview he did recently on Calgary’s The Backstage Pass:
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