I AM AYO

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

#Watch & #Read @JoeyBADASS_ “Killuminati” | Music Video Preview

Disclaimer: Video contains flash photography

Having wow’d us with “Survival Tactics,” “Waves” and then pretty much stealth released “Blooming Blossoms (Flowers Pt. 1),” fast-rising BK emcee Joey BadA$$‘ has decided to tease us with a preview visual of his forthcoming cut “Killuminati,” the combination of two words: Kill and Illuminati, coined by the late great Tupac Shakur. 

The [snippet of the] track is taken from the the emcee’s anticipated solo project 1999 and has been alined with footage from the Pro.Era frontman’s Urban Outfitters photo-shoot with photographer Bobby Whigham, who has been working with the brand taking lifestyle stills for their current season.

Theories, thoughts, beliefs, lies, hearsay, and ultimately opinions on the “Illuminati” have been ingrained in the depths of Hip-Hop and many other genres of music for years. I myself have been in many a conversation and argument with friends, ex-girlfriends, work colleagues and fellow Hip-Hop heads regarding the quote-unquote Hip-Hop “Illuminati” and will probably end up in another one sometime in the near future.

Although I have heard my fair share of ”Illuminati” based songs in my time I can’t help but feel incredibly intrigued to hear the BK native’s take on “bring down” the Freemason sect. Joey’s level of lyrical maturity and young revolutionary mindset will make for an interesting listen, beliefs he has already eluded to on some of his current and past solo material. 1999 coming very soon [probably not soon enough].

Note: I didn’t even mention Joey’s age once. Ha!

Written for Soulculture.co.uk

READ: Joey BadA$$ : Get Familiar

(Source: youtube.com)

#Watch @_ASAPRocky on producing for the first time on LongLiveA$AP (by @SoulCulture) 

Following a non stop schedule of SXSW performances, flights and his sold out London debut show at Cargo yesterday, that “Pretty Muthaf*%ka” known as Harlem repping hip hop sensation A$AP Rocky sat down with SoulCulture TV earlier today for a quick interview.

In this section of our chat the 23 year old emcee revealed to us (after SoulCulture’s very own Marsha Gosho Oakes utilised her psychic ability…) that he produced his first track ever and it will appear on his debut solo studio albumLongLiveA$AP.

“I produced my first track. Me, my boy Hector, and Curtis Williams, we produced a track and it’s called “Suddenly”…”

Not only does Rocky breakdown the story of how he produced the track, he also gives us a preview of some of the lyrics on the album cut. Watch the interview after the jump.

Subscribe to SoulCultureMedia on YouTube.

Article: The Best Way To Tweet If You’re An Artist

Sound and vision

For music fans, Twitter is the next best thing to being backstage. And for performers, connecting with your fans in an authentic way is one key to your success. A Twitter connection tells fans how much you appreciate them, and it also enables you to tailor your messages. The fact is, Twitter provides more authenticity and creative control than any other online medium. Tweets come straight from you, and go right to your followers all over the world, in real-time.

Twitter styles are as varied as the people who use Twitter. Whatever your goal, Rule #1 is that your Tweets should reflect the things you’re passionate about. And you won’t be surprised to hear us say that practice makes perfect— just like learning an instrument or writing music. That’s why we’ve put this guide together: to help you and your fans get the most out of every single Tweet.

Whether you’re a mega-pop star or a self-funded indie band, here are some examples that will work for you.

The artist’s voice empowered

Musicians are always surrounded by people who want to tell their story. Whether it’s a publicist, a manager, an agent, a label rep, a journalist or that guy or gal you dated in high school, it seems no one hesitates to share their take on you and your work. But the most powerful voice is your own. Whether you’re celebrating a career milestone or need to clear the air, Twitter is the easiest and most powerful way to get your message across, directly and clearly.

Katy Perry offers a great example for us. During a period of personal difficulty splashed across the tabloids, rather than do interviews, Katy posted this:

That’s direct and powerful — and it illustrates that when all is said and done, speaking your own truth is the best way to make your point.

Use hashtags

Hashtags are Twitter’s way of collecting Tweets around a topic or conversation. You can click on a hashtag to see search results for recent Tweets also using that hashtag. Great hashtags are creative, and the best ones compel followers to join the conversation by tweeting with them. Read more about hashtags here.

For the South American leg of Selena Gomez’ We Own The Night tour, she tweeted to ask fans to help her choose what to wear, and included the tour’s official hashtag:

Reply to your fans

Twitter will be more fun for you and your fans if you connect with them directly. The best way to do this is through @ replies. A good practice is to take a few minutes a day replying your fans this way. Not only does this supercharge your engagement rate, but it lets your fans know that you care about them. Equally important, it can signal that you manage your own account, and not someone else.

Gavin Rossdale of Bush is a textbook example of how to reply and retweet to fans effectively. Every day he replies to scores of fans. He answers questions, thanks them and sometimes wishes them happy birthday.

Fan interviews

Sitting down for interviews with reporters can be laborious and time-consuming—but doing fan interviews via Twitter isn’t! There are few ways to do these:

On The Fly

Simply tweet something like, “Hey guys, killing time before my flight for the next 30 minutes… want to ask me anything? #Ask[YourName]”. Then start replying as the questions roll in.

Once fans start asking questions, retweet their questions with your answer and add their handle. Remember that if you start a Tweet with an @username, only the mutual followers between you and that person will be able to see the Tweet (read this article for more clarity on @mentions). Therefore, we suggest the “retweet, then answer” approach.

Advance Planning

When Tom Petty did an interview with fans, the date and time was announced in advance on his website and Twitter account. An official hashtag was also featured so fans could easily tag their tweets and he could answer their questions. Then, just like a regularly scheduled program, Tom started answering questions as promised.

Live-tweet events

Whether you’re about to play a festival in front of 50,000 fans or you’re watching the GRAMMYs from your cozy couch, you have a perspective that no one else in the world has— until you tweet it. So give your fans something they can’t get from anyone else: your unique point of view.

Singer and musician St. Vincent did exactly this when she live-tweeted about the GRAMMYs and was able to share little facts about herself that her followers probably didn’t know:

Live-tweeting not only gives your fans an inside look into your world; its impact on rate of follower increase and engagement can be remarkable. During the 2012 GRAMMYs, 25 musicians live-tweeted the awards from home. Those who posted 15-25 Tweets over the program (St. Vincent, Tegan and Sara and Hunter Burgan) gained on average 25 times more followers than they usually do every day. And by tweeting with one another and their fans, their engagement rates shot up almost 32 times. For more tips, check out our Live-tweeting Best Practices.

Include photos

Tweets come even more alive when they include photos. If you’re already owning your Twitter space by @-replying fans and conducting tweet interviews, up your game by including photos of unique images and scenes that could only come from you. This is your chance to show not only your backstage point of view, but also your sense of humor, newest song lyrics— even a comparison of your hairdos:

Tips for running band accounts

Expressing yourself on Twitter can be a little more complicated for a band than for a solo artist. Here are two possible approaches for a band: The first is to have one member manage the band’s account, but consistently point to the usernames of other members. The second is to have a primary account in the band’s name that all the members share.

If you don’t want to share one account, you can create one primary band account for news and feature individual band members’ handles in the profile. This way, you can tweet updates, tour news and promotions, and individuals members can have their own accounts that match their own style. Another great reason to do this: the band can aggregate a larger “total” number of followers by having multiple accounts.

Foster the People does a great job of this: band member Mark runs the account, but their profile tells you how to find the rest of the group on Twitter:

Silversun Pickups all reply to tweets from their primary account, and sign their tweets with an initial so you know if Nikki, Brian, Chris or Joe are responding to you. For general posts, they don’t add a name. This is an easy format with an authentic touch.

Break news and break bands

As an artist on Twitter you hold the power to break your own news anytime. You can choose when to tell the world about your next release or new baby. You don’t always have to rely on a publicist to say that you’re excited that about your GRAMMY nominations; simply tweet it and share the joy instantly.

And if you have a lot of followers, Twitter gives you the power to help your followers discover other artists. Just saw a cool band nobody knows yet? Have a friend whose new band you adore? Think your opening act is amazing? Tweet it.

Use Twitter to source your album, your show, or your life!

It all starts with having a bit of vision and an genuine approach.

Musician Amanda Palmer is a Twitter ninja. Not only does she communicate with her fans in a very real way, she’s also a regular at “Twitter crowdsourcing”. Whether it’s designing a shirt and selling it via Twitter (with just 30,000 followers at the time, she made $11,000 in two hours) to finding costumes for a show or finishing up song lyrics, she has made her followers part of her creative process, collaborators in her music.

Amanda sees a high amount of interest in her Tweets because she manages her own account, and writes from the heart. It’s clear that she cares about the content she shares. Her followers see this, and in return, they care more about her. And when Amanda asks, her followers answer. She was one of the first artists to leverage Tweet-ups (real-life meetings arranged via Twitter) effectively as a means of getting fans to secret shows.

Remember

Twitter is your platform, where you can interact with your fans, followers and band members all in one place. Here are a few final tips:

If you want to put your music on Twitter, we recommend using a YouTube video, Rdio link, or iTunes link, as all these services show up inside of a Tweet on the Twitter website.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

A few weeks ago Power 99’s own @DJCosmicKev played to host @_ASAPRocky and his A$AP Mob crew members on The Come Up Show. After dusting off the interview the Harlem bred rap crew, consisting of Rocky, ASAP Nast, ASAP Ty, ASAP Ferg, ASAP Twelvyy and ASAP Yams, blessed the mic with a freestyle session, spittin’ over timeless Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang instrumentals… a few of the emcees crumble under the tri-state pressure but the rest totally black out on the M.I.C. Stream and download the 10 min session below…

This Day In Sneaker History: MJ Returns To The NBA In “Chicago” Air Jordan 10 (by nicekicks)

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

#JDilla Mix.

Recorded 19 February 2012 at DONUTS ARE FOREVER 6. Brooklyn Bowl.
Executive Producer LEE HARRISON for US&THEM.
Mixed and Mastered by ALEJANDRO “SOSA” TELLO JR at AMPLIPHONIC STUDIOS.
Design/Art Direction : HelloVaughn.com / Fragment Media.
www.rareformnyc.com
www.donutsareforever.com

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

First came the rumours, then came the confirmed reports that Eminem would feature on Obie Trice’s forthcoming third solo album Bottoms Up, now set for release in April. A snippet of the highly anticipated Shady Records alumni link up, produced by Statik Selektah, has now been made available for yours, ours, everyones listening pleasure.

The unveiling of the collabo, albeit a preview, will finally put rest to many fraudulent claims that Obie left the house that Em built on bad terms back in 2008, causing friction between the two Detroit natives. In a recent sit down with HipHopDX Obie, who released two albums under the Shady/Interscope banner, stated despite departure his friendship with Marshall is firmly intact. “That’s still my family though, Shady Records. As you know Eminem is on the album doing production and performing so we still going to get this money together, nothing changes that and that’s my brother forever, me and Em forever close.” See below for Bottoms Up’s confirmed tracklist…

1. Bottoms Up (Intro) [Prod. by Dr. Dre]
2. Going No Where
3. Dear Lord
4. I Pretend
5. Richard (feat. Eminem) [Prod. by Statik Selektah]
6. BME Up
7. Battle Cry (feat. Adrian Reeza)
8. Secrets
9. Spill My Drink
10. Spend The Day (feat. Dre Skidne)
11. Petty
12. My Time
13. Ups And Downs
14. Hell Yeah
15. Crazy (feat. MC Breed)
16. LeBron On (Bonus Track)

Written by Ayo “I AM AYO” Biyibi for Soulculture.co.uk

READ POST: http://www.soulculture.co.uk/blogs/obie-trice-f-eminem-richard-prod-by-statik-selektah-snippet-new-music/

Follow me on Twitter.com/iam_Ayo

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Gotta respect talented British Hip Hop group Quaranteam Team.

One-fifth of the crew, emcee/producer and Soulculture extended familia Loudmouth was last year officially the first emcee on the scene with “#Winning,” just over 24 hours after Charlie Sheen had his world-famous interview meltdown. Now, following the release of their well received #THEQUARANTEAMEP project, the team [albeit two-fifths, Pyro Barz and Loudmouth] are the first to jump on and remix the infamous and hilarious Jamaican radio interview where radio host 2Lips, in an act of Sex advice gone wrong, goes off on a caller eventually telling her to “Keep calm and mek di pussy quint.”

With today being the International Day Of Love the emcees along with up and coming rhymer Postman P thought it no better time than to chop up the vocals from the interview and spit some dope bars over the instrumental to M.I.A.‘s recently released single for their very own Valentine’s Day concoction entitled “Bad Girls (Quint Anthem).”

Listen to the fruits of their labour below… Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

Written by Ayo “I AM AYO” Biyibi for Soulculture.co.uk

READ POST: http://www.soulculture.co.uk/blogs/music-blog/newmusic/pyro-barz-x-loudmouth-melvin-x-postman-p-bad-girls-quint-anthem-new-music/

Follow me on Twitter.com/iam_Ayo

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

South London hailing R&B superhero on the rise Jermaine Riley is back to his good old refixing ways.

Following the release of his debut solo FreeLP Hello Earth, Mr Riley takes on Usher‘s Diplo-produced electro-soul single “Climax,” and gives it the refix treatment and has given us the green light to SClusively present it to you guys.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Earlier this month we introduced many of our faithful readers to Joey Bada$$ via our Get Familiar series. The lyrically talented 17 years old emcee [yes 17!] has slowly but surely been making a name for himself in New York’s underground Hip Hop scene and online with his equally talented group Pro.Era (or Progressive Era).

Recently the BK bred emcee has turned up the heat with the release of “Survival Tactics” and “Waves” off his forthcoming solo mixtape project 1999, which as resulted in Joey becoming one of the most talked about burgeoning emcees from NY. A few weeks ago a track entitled “Blooming Blossoms (Flowers pt. 1)” hit the Internets and is now rumoured to be off the Pro.Era front man’s forthcoming mixtape.

The cut another prime example of three main traits that puts Joey head and above my of many of his peers and, to quote Soulculture capo Verse, “the reason why your favourite rapper will retire or damn near go broke trying to sign him.” One: lyrical depth; Two: maturity; Three: An good ear for dope production.

The release of this track should quench the thirst of his ever growing fanbase as they clamour for more music off 1999, or even the mixtape itself [which thus far hasn’t been given a definite release date]. Thank Verse and myself later…

[via controlaltdelight]

Written by Ayo “I AM AYO” Biyibi for Soulculture.co.uk

Follow me on Twitter @ Twitter.com/iam_Ayo

No Lay - Rebellion EP | Stream Free Download

After dropping not one, not two but FOUR full projects over the last 12 months, countless guest vocals and music videos, not forgetting her heatless demolition of Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Sympathy” instrumental, South London rapstress No Lay is back with her first project of the year, the Rebellion EP.

This new twelve-track project finds the the former Unorthodox emcee doing what she does best — spittin’ fire over a mixture of Electronica and Hip-Hop instrumentals. The project also features the very well-received Drum & Bass remix of her Ms. Dynamite-assisted single “Drugs,” which is currently being championed by many notable Drum & Bass figures. #NoLayBack like she never left.

Stream and download the full tape below:

Stream… No Lay – Rebellion EP | DOWNLOAD

next »