大象传媒

Playtime Is Over is that lava. Go cop it on June 4th. SickJam says so.

Check Eskiboy at UK Takeover here

R&B cats! Your time now! I've neglected you for too long!!

As Double Up is unleashed on us all, R.Kelly has got his own YouTube channel and on there he's been previewing tracks, giving fans a chance to see him at work in the studio etc... then there's this video:

Why was this even filmed and put on the internet? What point does it prove? That R loves his little girl...

Fabolous has done a video for his big single "Make Me Better" ft Ne-Yo:

Really feeling this track - perfect marriage of HipHop and R&B.

What do you think?

Not content with being a worldwide R&B/Pop phenomenon, actor and certified celebrity; Justin Timberlake has gone one step further in his quest for global domination by launching his own record label. I've just been sent this press release:

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE LAUNCHES TENNMAN RECORDS, JOINT VENTURE WITH INTERSCOPE RECORDS AND WILL SERVE AS CHAIRMAN AND CEO

"(Los Angeles, CA) Multi-platinum four time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Justin Timberlake has launched Tennman Records, a joint venture with Interscope Records, it was announced today by Jimmy Iovine, Chairman, Interscope Geffen A&M. Mr. Timberlake will serve as Chairman and CEO of the new joint venture, which will be based in Los Angeles and will be distributed worldwide by Interscope Geffen A&M.

Ken Komisar, former Vice President of A&R, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, has been appointed President of Tennman Records. The first signings to the label will be announced in the weeks ahead.

鈥淲henever you have the opportunity to get into business with someone as gifted as Justin Timberlake, you take it,鈥� commented Mr. Iovine. 鈥淲e are thrilled to have his label as part of Interscope.鈥�

"We are all excited about the talent we have to offer already on our roster and I cannot wait to introduce the world to my new discoveries," said Mr. Timberlake.

"I am thrilled with the potential of this opportunity that combines the amazing creative talents of Justin Timberlake, along with the vision and passion of Jimmy Iovine and Interscope Records. We are already underway with several artists in development, and look forward to sharing their work with music fans everywhere." said Mr. Komisar.

Justin Timberlake has amassed combined worldwide sales in excess of 13 million copies on his first two solo albums: Justified (2002, containing the hit singles "Like I Love You" featuring Clipse, "Cry Me A River," "Rock Your Body," and "Se帽orita") and FutureSex/LoveSounds with total worldwide sales of over 6 million (2006, with "SexyBack" featuring Timbaland, "My Love" featuring T.I., and "What Goes Around... Comes Around.")

Topping his list of numerous industry and consumer awards are his 4 Grammys: Best Pop Vocal Album for Justified and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Cry Me A River" at the 2004 ceremonies; and (at this year's Grammy Awards), Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "My Love" (featuring T.I.) and Best Dance Recording for "SexyBack" featuring Timbaland. Justin Timberlake has also been honored with awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in the U.S. and Europe, BRIT Awards, American Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, World Music Awards, Mobo Awards, Teen Choice Awards, Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, MTV's TRL Awards, and NRJ Awards.

Ken Komisar is an industry veteran who has served as Vice President of A&R, Sony BMG Music Entertainment since 2000. Prior to this, he spent a decade within the Sony family in various positions of increasing responsibility, starting in 1989, as Senior Director of A&R for Epic Records in Los Angeles. In 1995, he joined Michael Jackson's MJJ Music label where he was involved in marketing and development of their acts. Mr. Komisar began his career in music at Atlantic Records, starting in promotion, moving on to A&R, and then heading the Dance Department. "

Good move or bad move? What kind of music do you think we're going to get from Tennman considering Ken Komisar and Justin's background?

Shouts to everyone who came out for UK Takeover 5. Every kind of person was in the house, all enjoying the music with zero aggro. Unfortunately though, I'm now ill with a kidney infection so while I'm laid up ill in bed, might as well post some good ish on here. First off, check out Kanye's video:

The mixtape 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' is all over the net and is sounding pretty tight (especially the Talib Kweli track) but the label are being stingy and not letting YouTube or other video hosting sites host the video, instead you have to go to Kanye's website to see it, so click the photo above, go watch, come back, comment!

Still don't believe that Joell is THE TRUTH?

1Xtra HipHop co-sign him. What else do you need?

Been rinsing this track on the HipHop M1X Show for a few months now since Matt White put me up on it - Charlie Sloth (remember him from Towerblock Dreams?) putting it down for all the old skool (mainly london) HipHop crews on 'Cant Forget About UK' over Nas' 'Can't Forget About You'. Well, he's only been and gone and done a bad boy video for it too:

Salute to all the guys Sloth mentions in this - Derek B's Bad Young Brother in particular was on HEAVY rotation for me as a nipper! BUT while he does name check and pay homage to every rapper or crew who paved the way for UKHH in London, he misses out a few notables from outside the M25. Who's he missed?

The B/H/N debate over the content of HipHop still rages on in the US and now TI and 50 Cent have given their penneth worth...

TI:

TI has got some very valid points and it's good to hear an artist speaking so very candidly about it - especially as a father - but Tichina Arnold's (aka Chris' Mum on Everybody Hates Chris) face at the end of TI's speech is priceless...

50 - less eloquent but funnier:

Where do you sit now? Have either of these artists changed where you stood on the issue before?

I mean, I know I didn't personally put Lady Sovereign under the amount of pressure she's blatantly under which has lead to her being depressed but the girl must be really low to be doing this on stage in America:

** DISCLAIMER - Please don't click to play this video if bad language offends you**

See, for all those rappers out there that think being signed to a major label will turn you into 50 Cent - take heed. It's not easy. What's next for the S.O.V? Thoughts please...

One Big Weekend in Preston was amazing - I really had a good time and I well and truly flew the flag for 1X tearing it down on the Outdoor arena yesterday! Shout outs to the Radio One and 1Xtra live events team and the R1 staff for making it happen - make sure you check out 1Xtra live this coming week to hear highlights from the event including Dizzee Rascal, Rihanna and myself!

But as the title of this blog entry suggests, it's from One Big Weekend to the next as next weekend sees the biggest British Hip Hop event of 2007 take place - . All the Hip Hop shows on 1Xtra have tickets to give away this week but I've got a pair of guestlist places to give away and what better way to do it than an old fashioned caption competition!

The funniest caption wins - what is going through my head here taken at the Outdoor Arena Stage at One Big Weekend:

You have to be over 18 and can travel to/from Nottingham. If you are and can think of something funny before Thursday 24th May, the places could be yours. Click here to email me your entry!

**UPDATE - After checking through some of the entries, if you're not going down the obvious route of bodily functions, you have an increased chance of winning!!**

Very interesting mini interview with Robin Thicke who's rapidly becoming one of the hottest R&B artists in the world.

Will his views and comments affect that?

Before I run off to tear it down at the One Big Weekend in Preston, thought I'd post a couple of videos for you to look at and comment on! As they're about different genres, I'll split them over 2 posts....

First off, taken from the forthcoming Beef IV DVD - here's Beanie Sigel going at Kanye and Pharrell:

I get his point, that Kanye and Pharrell do dress quite flamboyantly and that if you went to "the hood" in Philly, you may get a little heat but I also get the feeling that Beans is bitter that neither of them produced any tracks on his last album. He needs to remember who produced his best track (Kanye - The Truth). Does this have ANY bearing at all on their music? Is it possible to be 100% Hip Hop and rock a silk shirt? What do you think?

So why have I made so few posts over the past few weeks? Not only have I been preparing for my set at this week's One Big Weekend (as per my previous post) but I've also been putting together the biggest British Hip Hop event in 2007 - UK Takeover 5.

To whet your appetite, check this from last year's Takeover:

1Xtra will not only be broadcasting highlights from the event but also have a load of tickets to give away to the event - check out all the Hip Hop shows and the homegrown shows for your chance to win...but I've managed to grab a pair to give away on here. Soon as I think of a decent question, I'll do it.

Keep locked to the blog...

I have a confession to make. When I first heard Pharoahe Monch's "Body Baby" track ages ago I was disappointed because Pharoahe doesn't usually do tracks like this. Pharoahe is known for his intelligent Hip Hop - anyone who's heard the classic 'Internal Affairs' album will testify to that. Even his club bangers are filled with quotable lines and intelligent rhetoric. "Push" was the perfect first single from his forthcoming album Desire - I was getting excited, I even sang along on air during my HipHop M1X Show. Then came Body Baby. I hated it instantly. It's obviously built to cross over and I hope he makes some $$$ but I just wasn't in it - I now have to admit that I was being narrow minded. What changed my mind? This:

You know sometimes how you don't get a track until you've seen the video? Body Baby was that track for me.

What do you think? Love it or hate it?

Over the past few days, I've been preparing for 1Xtra's big sister station Radio 1's Big Weekend where I'll be flying the flag and representing solo for 1Xtra. If you don't know what the Big Weekend is all about, it's basically Europe's biggest free festival and it's taking place this coming weekend at Moor Park in Preston. The line up is huge and diverse and features Dizzee Rascal, Rihanna, Mark Ronson and Groove Armada alongside big rock bands like Razorlight, The Fratellis, Stereophonics, Kaiser Chiefs and The View alongside pop acts like Mika, Scissor Sisters, Natasha Bedingfield and Just Jack alongside big deejays like me!

Check out the highlights from the event on 1Xtra live soon!

The soundtrack to my getting ready has been the NY Split Endz Volume 2 CD ('Willow' is potentially one of the best tracks I've heard all year), the new Move.meant album (classic material!), Mark Ronson's Version album (open your mind, it's BAD!) and KRS One & Marley Marl's new stuff.

Heard a few tracks from their forthcoming collaborative album 'Hip Hop Lives' and I have to say, it's sounding big. You know what you're gonna get from the pair of them - nothing innovative, nothing outstandingly new but instead classic boom bap Hip Hop. Check this:

For me as someone who used to bump KRS One's 'KRS One' album on the bus to school, what I've heard from this album is as strong but I wonder if they're going do some numbers with this or if they're just not relevant to a Hip Hop audience in 2007. What do you think?

What is it with Usher and the women in his life?

It's been confirmed that Usher has fired his mum who has been his manager since the start of his career. Why? Because she doesn't get on well with his fiancee. Usher is denying this is the case, saying in a statement 'She [his mum] and I are on great terms and support each other in our life's endeavors'; he believes by separating his 'business and personal life' that he can have his mother strictly as his mother, 'with no added pressure'.

Now, Usher's been off the scene for a hot minute now and has only recently resurfaced on the Omarion Icebox remix and on R.Kelly's Same Girl - do you think that such a major change will have an impact on his future career? After all, Mummy Usher is credited with having managed him since the start of it all - creating 'Usher' as we know him (in more ways than one!)

Will he be able to knock the also-mummy-managed Justin Timberlake off the top spot as current Prince of R&B without his strong support network? Will we see an unrecognisable Usher when he comes back as he hasn't got his mum holding the reins? What do you think?

First Swizz Beats did it for Busta, now Kanye's doing it for himself - sampling Daft Punk I mean! Here's a far-away camera phone videoed clip of Kanye performing his new track 'Stronger' - apparently the lead single from new album Graduation:

- I ain't hating though, I love me some Daft Punk. I have all their albums and am just bitter I didn't think of sampling them first.

What do you think? Gold Digger size hit or pile of rubbish?

...now I'm back with the jump off!

Been very busy organising things for the next UK Takeover event which is taking place on Bank Holiday Monday 28th May at Nottingham Trent University SU in Nottingham. If you've never heard of UK Takeover before, it's basically British HipHop's version of this:

Instead of 50, Jigga, Jeezy, Diddy, Nelly and Jermaine Dupri though, we've got Lethal Bizzle, Klashnekoff, Sway, Wiley, Taskforce, Kyza, L.Man, Chain Of Command, Stig Of The Dump & Dr Syntax and many more performing on one stage - check for more info. More details and a competition coming soon - you know I got ya!

Someone else who's been quite busy is Busta Rhymes - busy getting arrested again that is. Over the last 10 months, he's been arrested four times (that even beats Snoop Dogg) most recently for drunk driving.

According to "In exchange for pleading guilty, Rhymes would have served one year for the assault charges, been fined $1,500 and forced to participate in an anti-drunken driving program, said Edison Alban, a spokesman for the DA's office" but he's rejected that deal and instead is due in court on July 10th - personally even though I'm a Busta fan, if he's done the crime, he needs to do the time. Someone with his wealth and success has no business breaking laws. What do you think? Is he being targeted by police as his lawyer claimed or is it just his stupid fault for breaking laws in the first place?