The Harlem MC and king of nonsensical rhymes this side of Kool Keith, Cam'ron, made an appearance at a recent Kenny Dope/Solange DJ set at the Boiler Room party in the W Hotel in Times Square on April 25. The Dipset MC blessed the cowd with snippets from his classic "Hey Ma" and the Diplomats favorite "I Really Mean It." Video from his performance is below. If you missed the show, make sure and head to SOB's on May 30 to catch him, tickets are on sale.

Though the SOB's show doesn't feature any fellow Dipset members, another favorite hip hop crew have announced their return to the stage. The Lox (Jadakiss, Styles P and Sheek Louch) will celebrate their anniversary at BB Kings on June 17, snagging support from Funkmaster Flex. Tickets are on sale. Speaking of anniversaries and Jadakiss, look for J-A-to the mwah to play the Doo Wop anniversary party next week.

In other hip hop news, just two days after Cam'ron blesses SOB's, look for Chief Keef to headline the much larger space at Best Buy Theater on June 1. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (May 3) at noon.

Continue reading "hip hop roundup: Cam'ron, The Lox anniversary and Chief Keef playing NYC shows (separately)"

photos by Brook Bobbins, words by BBG

Before the Diplomats hit the stage, the DJ treated the highly energized crowd to a mix of current hits and classics - shouting out the late, great Harlem emcee Big L while mixing it up with hits by Rick Ross and Meek Mill. Once the Diplomats hit the stage, the crowd's energy level soared, chants of "Dipset!" accompanying the Diplomats as they performed songs like "Bout It Bout It Pt. 3," "Ground Zero" and "I'm Ready" . Instead of performing Diplomatic Immunity in its entirely as a group, the Diplomats split up and every member performed a solo set, revealing one of the deepest catalog of hits hip-hop has to offer. -[Stupid Dope]

During those non-Diplomats sets at Best Buy Theater on 9/30, Jim Jones, Juelz and Cam all performed their solo material, bringing guests like Vado and ASAP Rocky to perform tracks from Gunz & Butta and the forthcoming Live.Love.A$AP respectively. Despite the billing as "Diplomatic Immunity in its entirety" the show seemed to be laid out more like a conventional Dipset show between the individual sets and the performance of only part of the advertised LP.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "The Diplomats & friends played Best Buy Theater again (pics)"

DOWNLOAD Copperpot - Art of Rap feat. Masta Ace & EdoG (MP3)
DOWNLOAD Baby Elephant - How Does The Brain Wave? ft David Byrne [Produced by Prince Paul] (MP3)

NEWS

• Prince Paul has a brand new project by the name of Baby Elephant. David Byrne appears on one of the tracks. Download above.
• Tickets go on sale Saturday for the September 21st AllHipHop.com Finale concert featuring Lupe Fiasco, Cassidy, Hurricane Cassidy, and Talib Kweli at Nokia Theatre in NYC. Talib just played Nokia Theatre, and he has a free NYC show coming up too. he also just put out a new album. Rolling Stone gave it three stars.
• Miss Info went to the Kanye West/Graduation preview party. Tom went as well. I didn't go, but you and I can hear it too - the album leaked. In related news, Kanye - along with the Smashing Pumpkins - is set to headline Miami’s Bang! Music Festival (Nov 10-11).
• Diddy has confirmed there will be an 'I Get Money' remix featuring 50 Cent, Diddy, Jay-Z & Kanye West.
• The RIAA has shut down DJ Premier's Live from the HQ podcast, while Ludacris gets renewed on XM. See Ludacris when he plays Radio City.
• FromDaBricks wrote a great deconstruction of Jeru Da Damaja
• Ja Rule & The Game are going to be collaborating.
• Time Magazine comments on Hip Hop's decline.
• Much more exciting: GZA & Killah Priest will do an album together. MF Doom & Pharoahe Monch are performing together. Hopefully the real Doom shows up though. Still excited for GZA performing Liquid Swords in Brooklyn.

More news, downloads, videos and tour dates, below.....

Continue reading "Wes' Weekly Hip Hop News Roundup (August 31st, 2007)"