Hip Hop

We’ve been talking about Reks‘ next project, Revolution Cocktail, for a minute now. This morning the LP was officially given a July 2nd release date. Along with this news comes the latest single, “Flags” (produced by Numonics).  Relentless and insightful with the flow as always, listen as Reks vents on a number of topics from gang warfare to gentrification. The post Reks “Flags” appeared first on Okayplayer.

XXL - Hip-Hop On A Higher Level Since parting ways with Gucci Mane in a public display of matching IDGAF attitudes, Waka Flocka is back and focused on new music. Just over ten days ago, he released his highly praised DuFlocka Rant: Halftime Show mixtape, and took to his Twitter today to announce the October 5 release date of his forthcoming third LP, Flockaveli 2. Check out the Tweet below, and stay tuned for more updates on new music from Flocka. October 5th #FlockaVeli2— Waka Flocka Flame (@WakaFlockaBSM) May 21, 2013 The post Waka Flocka Flame Announces Release Date Of ‘Flockaveli 2′ appeared first on XXL.

A week since the famous Burger King franchise opened it’s first doors in South Africa and the queues are not getting any shorter! More than 10 000 burgers sold, stories of up to 3 hours in a queue and the joy of sinking your teeth into a Whopper. youtube

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Thurz performs “Third Eye”, which appeared on the recent Cornerstone Mixtape #160, at Truth Studios. Previously: Skylar Grey ft. THURZ – Final Warning (MisterMike Remix) | Thurz ft. Willie B & Glasses Malone – Gravedigger

XXL - Hip-Hop On A Higher Level When Steve Dickey landed an internship at Bad Boy Records’ Daddys House studio in 2005, it didn’t take long for the Institute Of Audio Research student to make himself useful. “I went in there and told all the engineers that I knew what I was doing, and if they needed a hand with anything, I could give them a break,” says the now 28-year-old New Jersey native. “Sure enough they realized that I did know what I was doing. So they would all leave at night and go out and left me to run four rooms by myself as an intern. So I earned my stripes that way.” It wasn’t long after that Dickey became Bad Boy’s in-house engineer, working on The Biggie Duets as well as Danity Kane and Day26’s Bad Boy debuts. His latest project, which is in stores today, is French Montana’s long-awaited Excuse My French. We got a chance to chop it up with Steve about his experience recording and mixing French’s debut album. Here’s what he had to say: XXL: When did Excuse My French enter your life? Steve Dickey: I started working with French as soon as he got signed to the label, which is going on about two years at this point? It’s been a while. We’ve done hundreds of songs. When you get booked with a client to work, you really don’t have any idea where it’s going to go. It could be mixtapes or features with other artists or just promo records they might want to throw out. Once you start gelling with an artist and get booked with more and more sessions with them, then you get privy to information like “We’re working on an album” or this or that. All of that comes after your initial sessions. So initially, you’re just kind of working on a handful of different French songs without an album in mind? Yeah, at first you don’t really have a direction or anything. [French] may not necessarily have had a direction. Everybody’s just doing records. Later on comes a timeline and deadlines, and then everything starts to funnel into that lane of “This is going to be for the album” or “This is not going to be for the album.” This is an album that saw a lot of delays. Did you guys have a full body of work ready to go last summer? We had probably 300 songs by then, but with a situation like that… It’s a process. Most albums go through this. It’s gonna get pushed back for one reason or another. Until you’re done and upload the final album to the label, you know there are still going to be changes made. It’s usually not a creative thing when that happens. It’s the business side. Clearances or maybe it’s not the right time of year for an album to come out. Maybe they want something else to come out behind it or with it. Once I get more time with it, it opens up a lot more time to do work. So it’s a blessing and a curse at the same time. How did you like working with French? He was actually extremely talented and way more musically aware than I thought he was going to be. Usually, when we’re assigned to work with a rapper, I just figure they’re only going to be into rap. But he came in with this broad spectrum of music he listened to to pull ideas from. It’s awesome to work with somebody like that. Does he have any interesting studio habits? [Laughs] French is a whole other monster. Most sessions are late at night and go into the morning—that’s the usual audio engineer life. But we were doing two and three days in a row type of sessions. I’d go home for four or five hours, change clothes, grab some food or whatever and go right back in for another two or three days in a row. Especially towards the end of this album. I think January was the fourth quarter for us where we put all the final touches and tightened everything up. I think I only went home maybe five days in the whole month of January, and that was only for a couple of hours each day. The rest of the time I was just in the

Despite a few subliminal tweets and Instagram posts shared between Chris Brown and Rihanna, Riri's dad has high hopes for Chrianna getting back together. “I’m still his No1 fan — I still like Chris regardless," he shared in a recent interview with The Sun. “They have a very passionate relationship but if they split up it does not mean it’s forever with them. In a couple of months they’ll be back together.” Rumor quickly spread that the superstar duo was together no more when Chris's ex Karrueche was spotted at his 24th birthday party while Rihanna was performing on the other side of the country. The split was soon after confirmed when both the "Fine China" singer and Rih took shots at each other on-the-low through social media. Chris Brown Says He Loves Rihanna and Karrueche in Confessional Video Meanwhile, Karrueche has further added to the speculation leaving many to think that she and Chris have reconciled. First, the petite model posted a raunchy picture of the two on her Instagram while Chris made it a point to give her a birthday shout out via Twitter. Rumorfix reports that Breezy may have made amends with his business partner. Tran was allegedly cozied up with Chris at a nightclub in the Bellagio following the Billboard Music Awards this past weekend. Till we get confirmation from either party, the love triangle saga continues. Photo Credit: US Magazine

Robin Thicke had some fun with Pharrell and T.I. on his hit “Blurred Lines,” but he returns to familiar territory on “4 the Rest of My Life.” The tender love ballad, which is scheduled to hit iTunes on May 28, is destined to become a wedding anthem (Thicke has performed at weddings for Kim Kardashian and Michael Jordan). The romantic crooner reminisces about first laying eyes on his wife Paula Patton and knowing that she was the one. “For the rest of my life you know I’m gonna be yours,” he sings in a falsetto. “Blurred Lines” continues to shoot up the charts, while his album of the same name is due this summer. [HHNM]

No Malice has released a trailer for his upcoming solo debut album Hear Ye Him and announced the release date for it — July 2nd.

Bob Marley's & the Wailer's renowned album Legend is being recaptured by a handful of top teir DJ's and producers including RAC. The remix to the first single "Three Little Birds" comes to us from Stephan Marley and Jason Bentley, and is now available on iTunes. The making of the Remix album is also being documented, and gives us in-depth information as to how the album was put together and brought to fruition, as well as some commentary from Bob's family. In the coming weeks the songs will be available on Bobmarley.com, however no release date for the album has been disclosed yet.