Livelii

Over the last few weeks the conversation of sports and politics have evolved into one topic. Although conspiracy theories between entertainment and politics have always existed, fans are now seeing the reality of the little power their favorite athletes do not have.  Recently, President Donald Trump, while speaking at a political rally said NFL fans should boycott games and team owners should fire players who fail to stand for the national anthem. Many acted as if they were appalled by Trump's comments, immediately pronouncing the first amendment, "freedom of speech." Although most of the NFL's owners and commissioners agreed that the players should honor the national anthem, they followed with statements like "we are proud of players for using their platforms to make a positive difference," but was the statement of oppression truly supported?  During the 2016 NFL preseason, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick initiated a protest by sitting i...

On April 11, 2017 rapper and face of the Cash Money/Young Money business, Lil Wayne announced his recent signing to Roc Nation. After over a decade of rumors involving Wayne leaving Cash Money to sign with mogul Jay Z , the time has finally come. Here's a brief history of what has happened throughout the last 10 years of Lil Wayne and Jay Z's relationship.   First, Lil Wayne releases Tha Carter in 2004 with the hit single " Go Dj" which officially put Lil Wayne in competition to go mainstream. "The best rapper alive since the best rapper retired" said Wayne showing admiration towards Jay Z, especially since HOV announced his retirement in 2003, on the classic album The Black Album.    After Tha Carter 2 released, Wayne created a solid fan base by releasing a plethora of Mixtapes titled "Da drought". So by the time Tha Cater 3 released in 2008 Lil Wayne was a mega star. Tha Carter 3 allowed Wayne to change the entire industry , by getting mai...

Guess who's back? Well he never left in my opinion, but of course the Goat, HOV (Jay Z), with a few unexpected features released last week. I wouldn't be surprised if HOV decided to drop an album this year. His last album Magna Carter Holy Grail released in 2013, was a commercial success, going platinum before the album even came out. Yes, with the help of his T-mobile promotion deal, and Justin Timberlake featured on the lead single "Holy Grail." Although I loved the album and there were great songs, lyrically this wasn't what his true fans like to hear from him. However in Terror Squad's single " All the way up " HOV decided remix and bring the heat back. This is the classic New York sound, that hip hop listeners love to hear from New York natives. Being that this is the first time the public has heard from HOV, of course he instantly addresses the state of his marriage with Beyonce. This comes as no surprise to fans like myself, because...

The beyhive is once again buzzing over Beyonce's premiers her sixth studio album Lemonade on HBO last night. Following an unexpected single "Formation" in February, Beyonce announced she would be releasing a visual album alongside a world tour. Although I've yet to see all of Lemonade, several clips have gone viral, completely taking over the entire internet. So far I've seen the visuals feature Tennis Champion, Serena Williams getting sexy and twerking. Hmm that's interesting, seems like Serena wants that A-list attention. However the focus of Beyonce's new album is what's stirring up all of the noise. The lyrics blantely states that her husband, Jay Z has cheated on her. Heavily Beyonce weighs in on dishonesty and deceit, that has caused her to threaten and contemplate divorce. Twitter and the beyhive members have gone crazy, just straight coming for Jay Z's throat. It's pretty hilarious and a great way to start off my morning, although I...

As April 29, the release date for rapper Drake's fourth album, Views From the 6 slowly creeps up on us. Drake decides to surprise us with 2 singles titled "Pop Style" and "One Dance." I'm not sure what to expect from Drake's Views from the 6 , but my instinct is telling me he'll deliver another timeless album. Singles like One Dance features upcoming artist Wizkid & Kyla and instantly gives you pop Drake. However Pop Style which features The Throne (Kanye West & Jay Z) does the complete opposite. This is turn up fun Drake, who is kinda taunting with the pop culture, exposing the irony of why he released both songs together. HOV gives his fans a few bars to tease us and Kanye just dominates the song. I guess this is The Throne's way of inducting Drake into their realm lol, well that's how I took the collaboration. I enjoyed the song it's catchy and delievers on each beat. Of course As a HOV fan I would've love his part to be l...

Some years in music are always better than others. It's almost like the artist or corporations sit down together and say "ok this year will be the good music year." The year 2011 was definitely one of those years for hip hop. So I asked myself, if I could only buy 1 of these albums which would it be? After carefully deliberating for a few days, going back and forth from album to album, I chose Section 80. Here's why: Section 80 was the debut album for Kendrick Lamar, and if that album would've been any other Kendrick album I would not care for him too much. As a first album Section 80 instantly grabbed my attention and forced me to place Kendrick in an above standard category. Section 80 was different from the music we we're currently listening to, and was flawless in my eyes. After choosing Section 80 would be Take Care, then WTT, and finally Ambition.  Watch The Throne (WTT) is easily the best collaborative album of the generation. People who weren...

Day 20 My music shuffled  Jay Z & Kanye West - Murder to Excellence My initial thought was "Dag what happened to Kanye", how do you go from creating this great song to making Facts? Kanye has proven in No Parties that he still "got it" but Watch The Throne is and iconic legendary album. One of the best collaborative albums ever created. From the lyricism, to the beat, the album is pure golden, with not a single song that's worth skipping. The album not only addresses constant struggles that we as humans are fighting for, but also displays a story of the creation of man and where it currently stands. Frank Ocean - Thinking about you Instantly I thought “WHERE TF IS FRANK OCEAN"?!??! I've been waiting on a follow up album for Channel Orange since 2012. Frank has literally been absent from the music industry for about 5 years at this point. I feel mislead, deprived, and distraught from words. Thinking about you was the lead singl...

I'm First in foremost you cannot be considered the greatest of anything if you're not recognized. No that doesn't mean the more titles you have determined your greatness, but a substantial amount of people should agree before calling you the greatest. Why? "Great" people influence more people and greater people. Great people skills ultimately are recognized before their name. For example; Michael Jordan is considered one of the greatest, and during his time I'm sure there was a person that could've beaten him, but that doesn't mean that they have more skills than Jordan. If greatness was determined by one time frame, one game, one accolade, and one album, than a lot of "Greats" wouldn't or would be “Great.” Time ultimately shows your talent, work ethics, being able to withstand even under pressure. You could be the best basketball player in the world but if no one sees it, you're only great to yourself, and if you don't compete h...

See anything different on the list? Well I do! For the past 5 years this list has fluctuated between Diddy, Jay Z, Dr Dre, Birdman and 50 Cent. Well not this year, 50 Cent encountered many legal troubles this year including filing for Bankruptcy, and Birdman well he's still on the list just further down. Once again Diddy grabs the number one spot of the highest earnings in the hip hop sphere with his Vodka Ciroc brand. Jay Z with Roc Nation, having major artist like Beyonce and J. Cole on the roster, with J. Cole having his biggest year with his 2014 Forest Drive album going platinum. Although the year is not over 2015 seems to be the year of Drizzy, Drake dropping two mixtapes, opening up a restaurant in Toronto, and having the only hip hop project to go platinum this year. Oh yeah not to mention his explosive beef with Meek Mill that dominated the internet for months, which led to the infamous "Back 2 Back" hit single/diss song. Drake is officially in the major leag...

Conscious VS Trap After Vince Staple tweet about not wanting to be placed in the conscious rap label last Wednesday evening, Hip Hop heads voiced their opinion on the sub labels of hip hop. I am highly offended by the term conscious rap don't associate me with that. — Vince Staples (@vincestaples) August 12, 2015 This brings me to talk about the topic. Should hip hop have sub genres? Hip Hop was founded on the fun of mixing together music with rhymes and developed into storytelling, word play, political power etc... The culture of hip hop will always include the elements of  DJs to turn the tables, a microphone to spit the bars, graffiti to paint the images, and the infinite break dancing. Introduced in the late 70's were hip hop pioneer groups like, the Sugar Hill Gang, who were the first hip hop group to enter into mainstream media with the classic anthem "Rappers Delight," which expressed pure fun, funkadelic beats, rhymes, and basic flow. During th...

Uncovered Classics As you all should know by now, I am a Hov fan, so hearing that an old tape surface created much joy in my heart. Although the surface of this demo may be another marketing technique from Hov in order to solidify the Hov era another decade. The lyrical content and flow in the demo creates this masterpiece. The production inside the tape is lacking, but he gets a pass being that this is prior to the Yeezus era. Audiences have voted to make this a reasonable doubt 2! Well done Hov.  Powered by Spinrilla.com

VMA's  Highlights Nicki Minaj Anaconda Performance Words cannot really express this performance, the performance was almost identical to the official video, except the performance had more clothes and excluded the lap dance to Drake. Honestly I found the performance quite extreme but Nicki did rock the hell out of the stage. Following the performance Nicki Minaj seemed to have had a wardrobe malfunction or she just like holding her dress up. Beyonce Performance The Royal family remains as Beyonce performance expressed her love for her Husband and Daughter. Ceasing all divorce rumors as they share a kiss on stage during her acceptance speech. Beyonce of course having a great performance, she might just be the world best entertainer, since the death of Michael Jackson. Usher Head-Butts Nicki Minaj Butt Usher shows that he still has the moves in him this year at the VMAs. However his performance with Nicki Minaj is what topped the cake. During their per...

I DON'T CARE IF WE'RE ON THE RUN! With such a hectic week Jay Z & Beyonce continues to promote their "On The Run" tour. The trailer features stars such as: Sean Penn, Don Cheadle, Rashida Jones and Jake Gyllenhaal .  Money over everything! Here are the current tour dates JUN 25 MIAMI, FL SUN LIFE STADIUM TICKETS RSVP JUN 28 CINCINNATI, OH GREAT AMERICAN BALL PARK TICKETS RSVP JUL 1 FOXBOROUGH, MA GILLETTE STADIUM TICKETS RSVP JUL 5 PHILADELPHIA, PA CITIZENS BANK PARK TICKETS RSVP JUL 7 BALTIMORE, MD M&T BANK STADIUM TICKETS RSVP JUL 9 TORONTO, ONT ROGERS CENTRE TICKETS RSVP JUL 11 EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ METLIFE STADIUM TBA JUL 15 ATLANTA, GA GEORGIA DOME TICKETS RSVP JUL 18 HOUSTON, TX MINUTE MAID PARK TICKETS RSVP JUL 20 NEW ORLEANS, LA MERCEDES-BENZ SUPERDOME TICKETS RSVP JUL 22 DALLAS, TX AT&T STADIUM TICKETS R...