Pusha T

Fabolous plans to release his first album since 2009, Loso's Way 2: Rise to Power, at some point this year, and he's got a NYC show coming up on April 26 at BB King's with Pusha T. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (3/22) at noon. Towards the end of last year, Fabolous and Pusha T collaborated on the track "Life Is So Exciting," which you can watch the video for below. Pusha also recently dropped a free mixtape, Wrath of Caine.

That Fabolous/Pusha T track is from Fabolous' 2012 mixtape, which also featured fellow NYC/NJ area rapper Joe Budden, and Budden has an upcoming show too. He plays with a live band on April 30 at Highline Ballroom. Tickets for that show (including a VIP meet & greet) are on sale now.

Another long-running NYC-area rapper, Styles P, is playing a show on April 15 at BB King's with special guests. That show is a record release party for his new album, Float, which was produced entirely by Scram Jones and is due out April 20.

Much weirder NYC rapper Beans (who is no longer in Anti-Pop Consortium) plays The Bowery Electric on April 18 with Bryant K., Uumans, and Mike Pride's from Bacteria to Boys. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

A huge '90s Hip Hop Revival' show is going down on Friday (3/22) at Public Assembly with a number of classic NYC groups and rappers like The Beatnuts, Jeru the Damaja, Rah Digga, Nature, King Just, Lord Digga, and many more. Full lineup and more info HERE.

Let's shift our focus to the West Coast for a bit to mention that Too $hort is playing NYC on May 2 at Stage 48 with Greedy, Reggie Mills, and We Are NJ. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Andre Nickatina is playing Santos Party House on May 22 with Roach Gigz and Mumbls. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Curren$y at SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Muir)

Now onto Southern rappers. Curren$y plays NYC on May 10 at BB King's. Tickets for that show are on sale now. Curren$y recently released the free mixtape, New Jet City.

Florida rapper SpaceGhostPurrp and the Raider Klan play Santos Party House on Monday (3/25). Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Killer Mike plays previously discussed shows at Public Assembly on Wednesday (3/20) (you can only get into that one through Scion A/V's contest), NYU on March 27 with Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire and Cakes da Killa, and has an upcoming tour with Big Boi which hits NYC on Brooklyn Bowl on April 24 (general admission sold out, but $100 VIP tickets still available) and June 20 at Prospect Park. He was on Letterman last night (3/18) with El-P and Scar to perform "Untitled" from his 2012 LP, R.A.P. Music. Check out a video of that performance below.

And lastly, Hot 97 Summer Jam is returning to MetLife Stadium on June 2. Lineup is TBA but tickets are on presale now (password: "ACCESS") and general on-sale starts April 12 at 10 AM.

Videos below...

Continue reading "upcoming hip hop shows in NYC: Pusha T, Styles P, Curren$y, SpaceGhostPurrp, Killer Mike (who played 'Letterman') & more"

Ghostface at Rock The Bells 2011 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Lyricist Lounge will celebrate 20 years of events and releases with a free Celebrate Brooklyn show at Prospect Park on June 23rd. Ghostface Killah (who celebrated his birthday yesterday, May 9th!) will join the kings of "Luchini" Camp Lo, Astro, and more for this FREE event that kicks off at 7:30. Ghostdeini currently has no other US dates planned, but will go on the road for a string of Australian dates at the beginning of June. Details are below. Check out the full Celebrate Brooklyn schedule HERE.

In other classic hip hop news, Prodigy of Mobb Deep will team up with The Beatnuts, Heems of Das Racist, DJ Rob Swift, Big Baby Gandhi and more as part of an event called "Queens Day" on 6/19 at Irving Plaza. Tickets are still available. Prodigy recently completed recording of his new album HNIC3, which is due for release on July 3rd. Stream the recent track "Gangsta Love" featuring Esther below.

All Ghostface Killah dates, some video, and that Prodigy stream is below. Pay close attention to the tail end of that "Luchini" video and you'll see Butterfly of Digable Planets (aka Ishmael Butler) drop a verse from Camp Lo's "Swing". Butler's new project Shabazz Palaces play Williamsburg Park this summer.

Continue reading "Ghostface & Camp Lo celebrate 20 years of Lyricist Lounge; Prodigy & The Beatnuts celebrate Queens day"

photos by Brook Bobbins

In the Stretch & Bobbito world, mainstream was a four-letter word.

...For the eight years it ran, from 1 to 5 in the early hours of Friday morning, "The Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito Show" gave early exposure to artists like Jay-Z, Nas and the Wu-Tang Clan, who eventually went on to mainstream stardom. But for every one who made it, there were several who remained in the underground, happily or otherwise.

Of the many guests on Thursday night [at Le Poisson Rouge, Feb 10th]-- including Raekwon and Masta Killa of the Wu-Tang Clan -- the underground stalwarts were the fiercest, and often the most visibly moved. There was the fantastically gravelly Rock, of Heltah Skeltah, who performed a bit of "Laflaur Leflah Eshkoshka," and Artifacts, who were the night's first guests, and whose "Wrong Side of da Tracks" was still sturdy, more than 15 years after it was released.

After solo sets, Masta Ace and Buckshot collaborated for an impromptu reunion of two-thirds of the Crooklyn Dodgers, the one-off group assembled for the soundtrack of the 1994 Spike Lee film, "Crooklyn." Nice & Smooth closed the night, and almost stole it, with vintage hits, a tribute to Guru of Gang Starr, who died last year, and boundless energy.-[NYTimes]

In addition to the above-mentioned artists, the Stretch & Bob reunion featured appearances from DJ Premier, The Beatnuts, Natural Elements and many many others (and is that Spike from Top Chef in one of the pics?). More pictures from the indie hip-hop star-studded event below...

Continue reading "Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito reunited w/ many special guests in the house (pics from Le Poisson Rouge)"