joelortiz

Wes' Weekly Hip Hop News Roundup | (Jan 24, 2007)

Joell Ortiz

The most anticipated MC of 2007? Joell Ortiz. Lets just hope Aftermath won’t change him. Watch arguably the greatest EPK of all time. The hunger, the flow, the conviction. Incredible.

That video is what’s right with Hip Hop. Now watch a prime example of what’s wrong.

RIP
Disco D reportedly committed suicide Monday night (January 22).. His discography includes albums by 50 Cent, AZ and Nina Sky.

Those who knew Dave know he was a once in a lifetime person with an electric and captivating personality. He was a friend without equal, who was selfless with himself and his counsel, consistently living up to his mantra, “the only thing you cant make more of is time.” He was a relentlessly creative, passionate and ambitious artist whose passion for music illuminated everything he touched.

Under the alias Disco D, Dave was responsible for production on 2 grammy nominated albums and releases totaling 17 million in sales worldwide. [Disco D Message Boards]

Download “Outro” at Palms Out Sounds. And here’s one more MP3 courtesy of the Fader:

DOWNLOAD: T-Pain – I’m Sprung (Disco D Baile remix) (MP3)

Freddie FoxxFreddie Foxxx aka Bumpy Knuckles, the scariest man in Hip Hop, is working on a new album featuring beats by DJ Premier, Alchemist, Pete Rock and more. Why can’t Nas just do this?!! Check out 4 songs on Freddie’s myspace page. Fire.

First Jay-Z‘s Kingdom Come, now Coldplay’s Chris Martin is set to appear on Kanye West‘s upcoming record.

Mobb Deep‘s very own Prodigy has announced he’s dropping a solo album on Koch produced in full by Alchemist. Why can’t Nas just do this?!!

Brother AliLupe Fiasco, The Roots, Ghosface Killah, El-P, Brother Ali and The Coup are among those scheduled to play Coachella this year

OhWord writes about what is shaping up to be an album bound to land in my 2007 top 20: Brother Ali‘s The Undisputed Truth.

Tom Breihan called the White Rapper Show “the best thing on TV“, and wrote a smart review of “White lines: A new book examines hip-hop’s crossover appeal“.

This week’s WTF moment : Jesus & Jigga. Presenting a Biblically Balanced Respect for Hip-Hop Culture.

More news on the Ghostface/MF Doom project.

Fabulous managed to avoid the 4th quarter, and is now set to drop March 13th.

Idolator has the hard-to-believe story of a Timbaland beat jacking move (as seen here too). Timbaland is also working with Bjork.

Brandy‘s lil’ brother Ray J is making no-budget one-camera music videos with Snoop, and oh – he’s also dating Whitney Houston.

Tru Life shows off his entertainment skill and sense of humor in this interview on Shade 45 Radio.

50 Cent comes out to agree with me on Jay-Z‘s Kingdom Come being a good album.

Blender calls Suge Knight the second worst thing to happen to music.

Clipse still hasn’t sold out their Wednesday night show at Bowery Ballroom (and did tickets just go up in price?)

Independent rapper Timz, an American born rapper of Chaldean and Iraqi descent, and a nominee for Best Hip-Hop Album at the 2006 San Diego Annual Music Awards, sent us a link to his controversial new video.

Middle Eastern tinged beats with incendiary rhymes in an effort to shatter those ugly stereotypes that have plagued people who look like him since 9/11 and the start of the Iraq war.

Share your opinion on the song & video with us in the comments.