I never knew who was behind the site Rap Genius, but I had no idea it would be characters like these. These dudes got an investment of $15 million from a venture capital firm. I like the site but my hunch is that they’re probably making way more guap off of artists’ lyrics than the artists themselves.

Is your music killing you? Literally? After a thorough 15 year study led by scientific researchers in Florida, it was concluded, for a certainty, that the frequency of 808 kicks causes damage to the human heart over a prolonged period of time.

Researches became suspicious when and abnormal number of southern hip hop artists and Djs began suffering from heart failure. Most of them were otherwise, healthy young men and women. Scientists knew that there had to be link to these fatalities. It was only when biochemist, Patrick Maldini, already recovering from heart complications, had to be rushed to a trama unit after he turned on the radio and was affected by the booming 808 bass coming through his car speakers.

This was the incident that sparked off what would become a 15 year investigation into the effects of low frequencies and how they effect the heart. After some animal and human testing, the study concluded that repeated exposure to the frequencies of 808 kicks Read the rest of this entry »

I dig this. Dope, independent, JVs (joint ventures) made possible by soda company. Mountain Dew brought these two together for a single that will potentially result in some ill music in the process. The single, called “Unorthodox”, will be released on Mountain Dew’s label, Green Label Sound, next week. Neither of them are signed to the label. This is most likely a one single project for an ad campaign. Mountain Dew records it, releases it, and promotes it. Nice when this can kind of thing be done without major labels and radio. I’m looking forward to it.

Joey is is making all the right moves right now. This is how he built is buzz. Take notes.

Read the rest of this entry »

In an attempt to offer more reader feedback to artists and to help give more of them a better opportunity to be posted, we are adding another day of independent hip hop music. Fridays will become a listener feedback day where they can chose whether or not the music they’ve listened to, or video they’ve watched is “Hot” or “Not”. There will be rating buttons on each post, and list of the highest rated posts displayed on the blog.

I’ll continue to post my select picks every Wednesday, but all new music submitted will be first considered for Hot or Not Fridays.

(+4 rating, 5 votes)

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If  you’re in the ATL, check for STANZA’s  feature on Comcast’s, The Stand On Demand. Stanza was featured here on IHH sometime ago.

Indie artists who want to find out more about The Stand On Demand can follow on Twitter. @standondemand

Former Death Row aritst, DR. Dre has filed a lawsuit for reportedly not receiving royalty payments from his 1992 album, The Chronic

Dre claims he hasn’t been paid a penny since he bounced out on Death Row in 1996. Since then, Death Row filed bankruptcy and was recently bought by a company called WIDEawake.

“When it came to paying artist royalties and honoring limits on Dr. Dre recordings that could be released, the “new” Death Row Records, to quote our client, ‘forgot about Dre,’” Young’s attorney Howard King said in a statement. “This lawsuit will make sure they remember.”

Dre is suing for unspecified damages of more than $75,000.

Hmmmm …Sounds like a teachable moment. Check my past article on how music royalties work. Look forward to a more in-depth post about how artist royalties are calculated.

My how time flies.  This blog is a year old today. Up and walking but not quite potty trained yet.  Blogging was totally new to me when I started this. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing or getting myself into. Wasn’t even sure if people would care.  While running a successful beat licensing site, I would receive numerous emails from independent hip hop artists asking me questions about how they should go about breaking into the industry. Read the rest of this entry »

Drake is often used as a prime example for how struggling independent hip hop artists can succeed in the music business. In order for that to be the case, Drake’s path to success would have to be reasonably attainable by other artists who begin their careers in hip hop.  But Drake’s path is not your typical success story.

1. Drake grew up wealthy. Having money doesn’t garuantee your success in the hip hop game but, it sure puts you a lot further ahead of the other runners on the starting block.

2. Drake was a TV star when he started dropping mixtapes. Drake not only appeared in a few films but he developed a healthy fanbase from his Read the rest of this entry »

When I started this blog, I made a vow to myself that I’d rarely use this space as a platform for my own projects. This can sometimes can pollute a good thing (see The Source Magazine). Anyway, Chicago, the city that I live in, has become the most dangerous city in the U. S. for school children. Read the rest of this entry »

Save Me_Chicago Hip Hop Against Violence Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There’s been a lot of talk about Jay-Z’s age lately. Ridicule about him being 40 or close to it. Wise cracks from other rappers in the game about Hov being a senior citizen, and that it’s time for him to step down and let some new blood in.

There are several reasons why this is some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard, and I’m not just saying it because I’m in my mid 30′s. Read the rest of this entry »

For me it was another year and another subpar BET Awards show. I usually make it a point to miss them and the MTV awards because they’ve consistently been so disappointing, but due to the tragic loss of Michael Jackson, I decided I’d watch this year. There were close to no memorable moments but even worse, hip hop added more damage to it’s image last night. I decided I’d grade the hip hop performances with commentary. Read the rest of this entry »

Very seldom is Michael Jackson’s connection to hip hop mentioned. Here’s a map and list of some of the most memorable hip hip songs that sampled some of his music.

* Got to Be There (1971) sampled by Havoc on Be There (2007)
* Maria (You Were the Only One) (1971) sampled by Fat Joe on Bendicion Mami (2006)
* Ain’t No Sunshine (1972) sampled by Ghostface Killah feat. Sun God on Street Opera (2006)
* I Wanna Be Where You Are (1972) sampled by Grand Puba on I Like It (I Wanna Be Where You Are) (1995)
* I Wanna Be Where You Are (1972) sampled by MURS on Can It Be (2008) Read the rest of this entry »

These young ladies helped me promote my website QuickBeats.net. and they did a great job. I threw this pic up because a reader said that I hardly have any women on the site and this was my quickest, temporary remedy for it.

Anyway, I’m going to slowly change the focus of this blog to cater more to fans of hip hop rather than to artists. What do I mean by that? Right now, most of my readers are people in the industry because of the music business related posts that are usually on the site. While I think that this is a good service and valuable, I want to become a better resource for exposing independent hip hop artists rather than solely being a blog centered around music business. Read the rest of this entry »

Real talk! Malice from the Clipse just became my muthafuckin’ hero. With all these fake ass gangsters in the rap game today, cats ashamed to say they held an honest job, even it was as a corrections officer, and beefs that have become an outright embarrassment to the culture, this dude’s words felt like a swig of water in a hot ass dessert.

Why can’t some in hip hop separate fact from fiction? Entertainment from reality? That puzzles me. It wasn’t always that way. A climate has been created in hip hop that says if you’re not living what your spit in your rhymes then you’re a fraud. It’s been costing some the Read the rest of this entry »

Maybe I’ll write a commentary about this later because if I do at this moment, it will be filled with too many expletives.