Beyond the ever-growing hype surrounding the albums with a June 18 release date, this week in Hip Hop saw Papoose informally and controversially performing at Summer Jam XX after Kendrick Lamar and his Black Hippy family, leaving some to speculate if he rushed the stage. Tha Dogg Pound member Kurupt opened up to HipHopDX about his 20-plus yaer career. Finally, Clayton Hill, who confessed to an-after-the-fact role in the murder of Notorious B.I.G., has escaped from a Georgia prison.
Papoose Surprise-Headlines Summer Jam XX, Questions Raise
While Papoose’s short performance at Summer Jam XX earlier this week was initially seen as an unsanctioned grasp for attention, most notably on Twitter by Hot 97’s program director and one of the show’s main organizers Ebro Darden, the post-Kendrick Lamar set was actually TDE sanctioned and offered up as a result of Pap’s long-standing support of Kendrick himself. After Ebro launched an aggressive round of questioning towards Papoose regarding his appearance that same night, the next morning Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg confirmed TDE’s support of the performance on-air.
AD LOADING...
Papoose himself also spoke exclusively with HipHopDX this week about the independent success of his long-delayed album The Nacirema Dream: “All the shit I’ve been through, all the people that tried to hold me back and didn’t want my work to get out there to the masses—all of that inspired me. I just came to the point where I could go nowhere but up. I experienced it all. All the butterflies and shit that artists experience on their first album, that shit disappeared for me. It was like there was no more they could do to me. They held me back for years, did all this fuckery and tried to fool the people into thinking I’m something that I’m not. They tried to degrade my work.”
You can watch Pap’s Summer Jam performance of The Nacirema Dream cut “Get At Me” below.
Kurupt Opens Up About His Beefs & Past Relationship With Foxy Brown
Speaking with HipHopDX for an in-depth interview, former Death Row Records artist (and onetime label president) Kurupt revealed that while “Philly gave [him] his skill, Cali critiqued it.” Continuing on with his explanation of his hometown’s importance to his own career and Hip Hop in general, Kurupt added: “I’m a bi-coastal cat. I’m born in Philly, where I got all my skills for rapping and being a part of the real Hip Hop era. At 16, I moved to California. I brought that skill over here, and that’s when Dr. Dre and Dogg taught me how to make records. I just wanted to Battle Rap all the time. That was my thing. It turned it into making records. That difference between rapping and making records—total difference. I wanted my label to be that type of label. I wanted to concentrate on the East and the West Coast, because that’s who Kurupt is. He’s a product of the East and the West. As you can see, it shape-shifted the entire West Coast. The way people rap, you hear a lot of East Coast influence in their raps nowadays from Game to—everybody has skill now. Back in the day, everybody didn’t have too much skill. It was more subject-oriented. Now, they’re rapping like they got a little bit of East Coast in them. That’s what I wanted the label to be based around.”
Clayton Hill, Confessor To A Role In Biggie’s Murder, Escapes Prison
After participating in an interview with HipHopDX in 2011 outlining his after-the-fact role in the murder of Notorious B.I.G.—claiming to have helped dispose of the murder weapon—Clayton Hill has mounted a successful escape from a medium security prison camp in Atlanta, Georgia. According to an affidavit signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell G. Vineyard, Clayton Hill simply “walked off the grounds…A bed count was conducted to verify Hill’s status, and at approximately 6:40 p.m. Hill was identified as missing.”
AD LOADING...
The White Mandingos’ The Ghetto Is Tryna Kill Me Praised; Album Stream
Made up of veteran Hip Hop journalist Sacha Jenkins, longtime Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jennifer, and the ever-capable West Coast emcee Murs, the White Mandingos have offered up one of the year’s most in-your-face releases with The Ghetto Is Tryna Kill Me. DX’s own review, helmed by a 4.5 out of 5 rating (only the second Hip Hop release of the year to score that high), hailed it as “a purposely jarring listen…the Punk Rock backdrop allows the trio to break convention, while being independent theoretically shields them from having to kowtow to a label in hopes of reaching the coveted 18-24 demographic. Ultimately it’s an educating, challenging and informative listen.”
AD LOADING...
J. Cole Gives Born Sinner Full Tracklist & Onetime Fan Listening Sessions
The June 18 release of Cole’s sophomore album will feature a deluxe version containing extra songs from Truly Yours 3 (those bonus songs in the deluxe package feature an asterisk below).
1. Villuminati
AD LOADING...
2. Kerney Sermon (Skit)
3. LAnd Of The Snakes
4. Power Trip featuring Miguel
AD LOADING...
5. Mo Money (Interlude)
6. Trouble
7. Runaway
AD LOADING...
8. She Knows featuring Amber Coffman
9. Rich Niggaz
10. Where’s Jermaine? (Skit)
AD LOADING...
11. Forbidden Fruit featuring Kendrick Lamar
12. Chaining Day
13. Ain’t That Some Shit (Interlude)
AD LOADING...
14. Crooked Smile featuring TLC
15. Let Nas Down
16. Born Sinner featuring James Fauntleroy
AD LOADING...
*17. Miss America
*18. New York Times featuring 50 Cent & Bas
*19. Is She Gon Pop
AD LOADING...
*20. Niggaz Know
*21. Sparks Will Fly featuring Jhene Aiko
J. Cole also gave fans a chance to hear his new album on June 5th with information coming in the form of a short list of cryptic locations that included Atlanta, Boston, New York City and Los Angeles.
AD LOADING...
Other items of note:
Chief Keef Confirms His Appearance On Kanye West’s New Album
Just Blaze And Young Guru Break Down Production On The Blueprint
AD LOADING...
Roc Marciano Confirms Album With Alchemist
DJ Paul Confirms A Reunion Of Three Six Mafia Members
Meek Mill Says Beanie Sigel Made Him Love Rap
AD LOADING...
Wale The Gifted Release Date, Cover Art And Tracklist
