VIDEO: Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley "Patience"

VIDEO: Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley "Patience"

I love a good song and this is it. I mean, whoever thought up the idea of these two guys working together was genius!

"Patience" is on the "Distant Relatives" project by Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley that was released in 2010. Simply put: the project is a good one and not just because it's received critical acclaim. If you only listened to the first track "As We Enter," the shortest track on the project, you'd know; you'd know that the music would be just right ...

Oh, and check the lyrics on this joint because it's a double dose of social messages:

• Lyrics to "Patience" by Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley

Rock the Bells 2009 Line-up Announced

The Rock the Bells Festival line-up has been announced. It's a wowser. Now, before you get super duper hyped, please know that not all of the artists will appear at each and every tour stop. Yeah slow ya roll, son ...

But the line-up is bangin. If you even get a third of who's listed, it will be all good.

So here's how it's lookin:
Nas
Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley
The Roots
Common
Big Boi
KRS-One
House of Pain
Tech N9ne
K'Naan
RZA
Raekwon
Sage Francis
M.O.P.
Slaughterhouse
Eyedea & Abilities
Necro
Slum Village
+ more + surprise performances

Hip hoppers, you need to get your hustle on and start tucking away parts of your unemployment check ... oh, and you should have a 'plan b' too. kfox.

I Do It For Hip Hop :: Luda Jay-Z Nas

I can not take credit for finding this one. It came to my inbox via Mick Boogie's Press Play Fashion Forward website/blog. But I am diggin it - Ludacris, Jay-Z and Nas "I Do It For Hip Hop". Not bad at all.

What caught my attention was the image that accompanied the post. As I was scrolling through, it was one of those "hey, what was that?" The bruthas are lookin fabulous and fly. But nice to know that the track is not all commercial sounding and what not. I expect the lyrics to be strong, but the beats are quite complimentary; a little jazzy and laid back. Very nice.

So check out the track: "I Do It For Hip Hop"

What are you doing for hip hop hip hoppers ... ? kfox.

It's All About Nas

I knew that I could count on YouTube to have the vid of Nas performing last night on David Letterman. Love that.

It was a nice performance. I'm sure that Nas will get down even more tonight in Clev-burg. He's got dj Green Lantern and Talib on the bill too. Nice.

So if you can't peep that show, well, this YouTube vid might give you solace, though I doubt it. Check it anyway:



And don't forget, the Ten Friends Annual Labor Day Party is set for Sunday. It's a good time hip hoppers, you already know! kfox.

Nas is out there - got get a look!

Nice to know that Nas is getting his hustle on and really promoting his latest release "Untitled". He's out there w/Talib Kweli, Jay Electronica and Green Lantern of a tour called "The Jones Experience". Not only that, but some of his tour dates coincide w/the Rock the Bells Festival dates because both tours are Guerilla Union productions. Tour dates are listed below the vid.

Oh, and check out this recent interview Nas did w/Complex.

Check out Nas' latest vid for "Hero". It seems as if a few of the vids on You Tube have disabled the embedding function. So I went for a Nas classic - "If I Ruled The World":



I know that your discretionary funds are tight, but I think you'll get some bang for your buck on this one.

+denotes Rock the Bells tour dates

+Sat 7/19 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
+Sun 7/20 Toronto Arrow Hall
Tue 7/22 Montreal, QB Metropolis
Thu 7/24 Burlington, VT Higher Ground
Fri 7/25 New Haven, CT Toad's Place
+Sat 7/26 Boston, MA Comcast Center
+Sun 7/27 Washington, DC Merriweather Post Pavilion
Tue 7/29 Charlotte, NC Amos' Southend
Wed 7/30 Charleston, SC Music Farm
Thu 7/31 Atlanta, GA Center Stage
Fri 8/1 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
+Sat 8/2 Miami, FL Bicentennial Park
+Sun 8/3 New York, NY Jones Beach Amphitheatre
Fri 8/8 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues
+Sat 8/9 San Bernardino, CA Glen Helen Pavilion
Sun 8/10 San Diego, CA House of Blues
Thu 8/14 Reno, NV New Oasis
Fri 8/15 Chico, CA Senator Theatre
+Sat 8/16 San Francisco, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
Fri 8/22 Park City, UT Harry O's
+Sat 8/23 Denver, CO Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
Sun 8/24 Austin, TX Emo's
Mon 8/25 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
Tue 8/26 Dallas, TX House of Blues
Thu 8/28 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
Fri 8/29 Detroit, MI Chene Park
Sat 8/30 Champaign, IL Canopy Club
Wed 9/3 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
Thu 9/4 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
Fri 9/5 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
+Sat 9/6 Quincy, WA The Gorge Amphitheatre

It is about getting your hustle on, but it's also about hustling to do the things you want to do ... take some time to enjoy the fruits of summer hip hoppers! kfox.

Nas

So there has been a little bit of hype about Nas' latest project. Well there was a name change for the project. But due to technology, there have been leaks of material as it relates to the project.

Check out the vid, but caution is you are not a fan of the 'N' word.

Rock the Bells dates and line-up announced

The line-up for this year's Rock the Bells International Festival is a wow-ser! Love, love, love it.

Headliners

• A Tribe Called Quest
• Nas
• Mos Def
• De La Soul
• Rakim
• The Pharcyde

Also depending on what show you attend, you might get a performance from Spank Rock, Method Man and Redman, Dead Prez, Murs and others. This is a hyper-crazy line-up.

So, you want to know the dates, eh? Because you may be so inclined to sell some of your most personal wares for tix to this joint. The tour doesn't kick off until July - thus giving you a good amount of time to line up your chedda!

Sat 7/19 - Chicago, IL
Sun 7/20 - Toronto, ON
Sat 7/26 - Boston, MA
Sun 7/27 - New York, NY
Sat 8/2 - Miami, FL
Sun 8/3 - Philadelphia, PA
Sat 8/9 - Los Angeles, CA
Sat 8/16 - San Francisco, CA
Sat 8/23 - Denver, CO
Sat 8/30 - Vancouver, BC

I'm leaning toward the Chicago or Miami dates ... where are you gonna be hip hoppers? kfox

Nas and the N-word

Many are taking note and Nas seems as if he can take the heat. His latest project will drop on April 22, 2008 and it's called "Nigger". Why all the hype? Didn't the legendary Dick Gregory write a book w/the same title in the 60s?

NPR's "News and Notes" assembled a panel to pontificate the album title.

In the mean time, check out Nas' last conversation starter "Hip Hop is Dead":

The Hip Hop is Dead Tour!

It's true - NAS is hitting the road! Knew he would, just a matter of when.

How about that tour kicking off in good ole Clevopolis ... that would be Cleveland, Ohio for those who don't do Cleveland speak. Monday, April 2nd is the date @ the House of Blues. Tix begin @ $34.

Nas is out there for about a month and covering lots of ground from the dirty south, across the Canadian border and of course the left coast.

Nas getting some TV love!

I like Nas. I like the body of work that he has put out. Count his latest as a must get - "Hip Hop Is Dead".

Nas performed LIVE on my fav late night talk show last night - David Letterman. Oooh, it was nice. I had expected him to perform "Hip Hop Is Dead" but, that single is over...you should do better at keeping up hip hoppers.

The new single is "Can't Forget About You".

He's got heart!

I've viewed this video blog by ?uestlove a couple of times. His passion is deep for what he and The Roots do ...

... I'm enjoying the holiday season, which is why I've been posting so sporatically (and the end of the semester). I'll have comments on the new Nas (out now) and Mos Def (out on 12.29.06).

Have a nice holiday season hip hoppers ... kfox

It's NOT an eclipse, is it?

Well, well, well ... I have waited patiently for packages to arrive that might include some new and highly anticipated releases and ... I remain waiting; why is that?

I am eager to get my hands on the new joints from:

• Talib Kweli
• Mos Def
• Nas (December 19th release date)

But while I salivated through a nice pile of music mail today, I was pleasantly surprised to get a copy of the new joint from the Clipse - and a clean copy to boot ... Apparently, this duo has been experiencing some record label woes - the situation has been chronicled in Vibe, CMJ and many others (so someone's working the publicity angle ...).

Most folks remember the Clipse from "Grindin" a while back; four years ago, I believe. Well, the Virginia Beach crew is back in the spotlight and I do mean the Virginia Beach crew - the Clipse has hooked up w/their high profile homies, the Neptunes.

I am all about the Clipse's "Hell Hath No Fury"; and I'd like to fill in the blank on that cliche ... I've only checked out the first four tracks, but track one has a really nasty beat, real funky (I can just see the folks doin some A-T-L style dance to it up in the club); it is sort of Neptune like, but somewhat of a departure from the Neptune's more commercial clientele.

Brothers Malice and Pusha have a real grimey delivery; they definitely have an edge and probably good reason too ... They don't pack the disk w/too many guests (except for the Diddy-like Pharrell) because they get the job done. Their mixtape cred is all over this project - at least what I've heard so far.

I'd love to go on and on, but I'm on a mission to get my hands on the aforementioned goodies .... and to seek out some mistletoe, schmooches hip hoppers ... kfox

Your wish list ... it oughta be!

I've been riflin around some message boards of late ... like I have nothing else to do with my time (trust me, these posts are about to get shorter and shorter. I still listen to a great deal of music, but I don't think I will have the disposable time that I've had of late).

That said, I still have some down time and the message boards keep me in the know. I've been diggin the Okayplayer message board for some time now, but I finally signed up. I saw a post from Tony Washington and his signature had the following cd releases - good stuff so I thought I'd share.

• The Roots // Game Theory // Aug 29
• Lupe Fiasco // Food and Liquor // Sept 19
• Mos Def // Tru3 Magic // Sept 19
• Talib Kweli // EarDrum // Oct 10

I was hip to the first two. But I can't say for sure that I knew about Mos and Talib. I mean, didn't Talib just drop "Right About Now"? Makes me no difference though - keep it coming. There is always room for more good music. But if is crap ... well, you know where crap should go ...

One more to add to the list though is:

• Nas // Hip Hop Is Dead //Sept

Oh, and the review on J Dilla's "The Shining" is on the way. I've listened to it multiple times and my only complaint is that it is too short - length wise. But who's not gluttonous when it comes to Dilla?

And in the spirit of stylin and profilin, it's not too early to cop some fly ass boots - get the deals while they're still happenin - ya know, back to school time.

Stay true, kfox