Rappers Going into Retirement

October 18th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

We’ve heard those words before,”I’m going into retirement”, from sooo many different hip hop artists, such as Jay-Z, Master P, Eminem and so forth. But for some reason, they just can’t leave the game alone. They all come back one or two years later with a debut album. Jay-Z is by far the worst, if you ask me. He has retired like 4 times, but just keeps coming back. I don’t and won’t believe it anymore if he says it again. Now, it just seems like a big publicity stunt to get people to buy their CDs because it’s the last time they will hear from them.

Now, Lil Wayne is claiming that he will retire, but no time soon. His retirement plan says that he will stay in the game no longer than 8 more years.Wayne claims that he always said that he wouldn’t rap anymore after the age 35. Ha, he says that now. A lot of people agree that rappers and hip hoppers shouldn’t be old and should retire to allow new game to come into the industry. But Jay-Z being an old head, of course, doesn’t agree. He says that it shouldn’t be made easy for the youngsters coming into the hip hop game. If they want to be on top, they’re going to have to work hard for it. Heck, it wasn’t made easy for Jay. Back then, there wasn’t as much competition as there is now, even if a lot of them are low-level rappers. People like these stars because they make good club bangers. After Lil Wayne retires, he’s looking to own a basketball team.

Lil Wayne and Nivea Expecting

October 18th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

So it seems hip hop artistLil Wayne has been quite busy producing these past two years — no not music…babies! With all of the rumors and speculation surrounding Lil Wayne’s and Nivea’s hook-up, it has been recently confirmed that the two are now expecting a baby. This will be Lil Wayne’s fourth child and Nivea’s first. Come to find out, she is so far along that they already know that it will be a Lil Wayne jr. Yes, a lil boy is on the way, how glorious. But this boy won’t get the blessing of being the first, he is actually the third son of Lil Wayne in a little over a year. And Nivea makes the fourth baby momma. Wow…hasn’t someone been busy? With all of this counting, you could easily get thrown off track. Okay, let’s try this.

Lil Wayne’s first son was born last October in Cincinattti and then in September of ’09, his second son came from the actress Lauren London and now Nivea is having his third son. He has a daughter, Reginae, from an older relationship with his ex-wife Antonia “Toya” Carter. When Lil Wayne was asked if Nivea was pregnant with his child, his response was “Yessir”. Then one reporter stated, “Two women pregnant at the same time. Congratulations.” Lil Wayne replied “Three.” No, he doesn’t have three women prego at the same time, what he actually meant was that it would be son number three. Hopefully all goes well and he takes care of his children and be a bit more responsible. Marry one of these women at least!

The Black Eyed Peas New Album & Tour

October 5th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

The new album from the Black Eyed Peas is named The E.N.D. (say it isn’t so!), but don’t be sad because it’s an acronym for the Energy Never Dies. This is very true, especially when it comes to their performances. During their first show in Australia, the group clambered out onto the stage with wide-eyes, looking really loony as though they just escaped from the crazy house. It appeared as though the spaceship in the background delivered them from a different planet. Then a voice explodes from the speakers, it’s will.i.am, “Everything around you is changing, nothing stays the same.” The Black Eyed Peas are known for their whacky party bangers.

But if you look back in time, they weren’t always party-starters. In the mid ’90s, when they first got together, they enjoyed their moderate commercial success, which was produced from their mellow thoughtful hip-hop songs. Then in the new millennium, around 2003, they introduced Fergie as the front woman and since then the band has become one of the hottest in the world. They’ve become renowned for their party anthem songs, such as “Let’s get it started” (a remake of “Let’s get retarded”) and “Rock that Body”. They had everything that was expected of a stadium pop show, the huge projection screens showing red planet images and bright colored paisley prints political video montages that were pseudo-inspirational. Then, of course, there were the back-up dancers that were constantly changing their costumes.

The Black Eyed peas may not be the thinking person’s type of hip hop, but their catchy melodies and big, dirty beats are likable like that (think “My Hump”). I can’t wait to hear more of what they have to offer on their E.N.D. CD and the others to come.

NYC Unites at ThisIs50 Music Fest

October 5th, 2009 | By Safiyyah

This past Saturday, 50 Cent held his first ThisIs50 music festival, which was held on Governors Island (an old military base on the New York Harbor that’s being transformed into a public park). Along with G-Unit, other artists like D-Block, Red Cafe, Cory Gunz, the Diplomats and Maino performed. Fans at the premiere festival also saw an introduction of the newcomer Trav. Fifty Cent stated that the festival wasn’t for artists who necessarily had a single out because that would’ve been like a marketing spiff. And that wouldn’t have been a good representation for hip hop, which is what the whole festival was about.

Opening the show was Wale and Kid Cudi, who performed songs from their young careers, like “Chillin” and “Day N Nite”. Next, Papoose, Slaughterhouse, Cory Gunz and Trav entered the stage. Then Diplomats (performing “Gangsta Music” and “Hey Ma”), D-Block and G-Unit closed the show. The event brought together fans from all over New York. It was a great mix of artists (Jadakiss, Jimmy Jones, Juelz Santana); and a lot of people think that such artists can’t get together, but truth is, they all know they can make more money together than they can apart.

50 Cent performed his popular hit “I get Money”, along with others like “Baby by me” (his new single). When Fifty wasn’t getting the reaction he wanted from the crowd, he instructed DJ Whoo Kid to turn off the music. He then asked the crowd who they came to see; and then said that he was gonna take the crowd back because he knew they didn’t wanna “hear the lovey dovey sh–”, as he said. When the beat came back on, it was “What Up Gangsta”.

The show turned out to be so much of a success that he is planning to take it on the road.