Saturday 28 April 2007

Does Suspatition Have a Deadline....?


Supasition was born in the small town of Greenville, North Carolina. He was an early fan of Hip Hop music and culture, and began rapping as early as 1986. In 1995, at the age of 18, he began to pursue a career in rap. Over the next seven years, he experienced severe industry mistreatment, receiving the runaround from various labels.

He spent 2 of those years waiting for his contract to expire after he was shelved by Davey DMX's (early RUN DMC producer) Lo Key Records. After a mutual friend introduced him to Cali emcee Rasco, he released the single "Broke Man's Anthem" on Rasco's imprint, Pockets Linted Entertainment. By 2002, he was finally able to release his debut album, 7 Years of Bad Luck, through Freshchest Records.

The title referenced the seven years he spent struggling in the music industry. The project was widely unnoticed and received moderate reviews.

In 2003, he appeared on Cunninlynguists acclaimed SouthernUnderground album. Supastition began receiving more wide attention in 2004, when he entered an Okayplayer record contest. His track "The Williams" (produced by Dutch producer Nicolay) was picked out of over 5000 entries as the winner, and was included on Okayplayer's True Notes, Vol. 1 compilation that year. Billboard Music labeled the song as one of the standout tracks on the compilation. In summer 2004, he appeared on legendary MC KRS-One's album Keep Right, on the song "Still Spittin'". In late 2004, he released an acclaimed EP titled The Deadline.

The single "Boombox" (great track) reached #2 on National College Radio charts and was featured on MTV2's One Life: The Love, The Game. He continued his exposure in 2005, appearing on projects from Little Brother (The Chittlin' Circuit and Separate but Equal mixtapes), Pumpkinhead and Cesar Commanche. In late 2005, he released his second full length album Chain Letters, featuring production from Nicolay, Jake One, Illind and M-phazes. The effort was one of the more acclaimed underground Hip Hop releases of the year. Chain Letters received high praise in magazines such as Scratch, XXL, Elemental, and many other highly respected publications.





Jazzy Jeff (One of the Greatest)

The Magnificent DJ Jazzy Jeff

DJ Jazzy Jeff aka Jeffrey Townes was born on January 22, 1965 in Philadelphia known primaraly for his early work with the notorious Will Smith as half of DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.


Together, the duo had several gold and platinum-selling albums and singles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, earning them the first rap Grammy ever presented in 1989 for Parents Just Don't Understand. When Smith branched out into television with the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.


DJ Jazzy Jeff is not to be confused with Jazzy Jeff from the earlier hip hop group Funky Four Plus One, which in fact filed and won a lawsuit over the name Jazzy Jeff against Jeff Townes and Jive records when they signed DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. After DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince broke up, Townes went on to become a prominent R&B, soul, and neo soul record producer, establishing the A Touch of Jazz production company in his native Philadelphia. Among the artists that Jazzy Jeff has helped develop are Jill Scott and Musiq. Even though he separated from Will Smith as music partners, they are still best friends and still occasionally work together. Some songs by Will Smith were produced by Jeff Townes (Ex. Here He Comes), and he has performed on some songs by Will Smith such as "So Fresh" and "Potnas". In addition, he appears in several of Smith's music videos such as "Will2K", "Freakin' It", and "Party Starter".


He, along with DJ Cash Money, is credited with making the transform scratch famous. The scratch was actually created by another Philadelphia DJ by the name Spinbad (not to be confused with DJ Spinbad from the cold cuts crew). On July 2, 2005, DJ Jazzy Jeff performed with Will Smith at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia. In the past, Will has performed on concerts with DJ Jazzy Jeff for the scratches. Moreover, Will acknowledges him in his music like "Comin' To The Stage" from the album Lost & Found or "Potnas" in his album Willennium.


The Magnificent






Released in 2002 On the great BBE record label, The Magnificent features various artists on different tracks, all contributing their own individual styles to form a cohesive whole. The guests on here range from the established, to the upcoming, and include Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman, soul singer Jill Scott, acclaimed rapper J-Live, and underground hip hop legend The Last Emperor.
Although Jeff is the chief producer of the album, he nonetheless recruits an assortment of talent, which includes ?uestlove (of The Roots), Masters At Work (Louie Vega & Kenny Dope), and Kev Brown (who contributes 7 of the 18 tracks).

Tracklisting

1 "Da Ntro" (guests: Pauly Yamz & Baby Blak)

2 "Shake It Off" (guest: Chef Word)

3 "For Da Love of Da Game" (guests: Baby Blak & Pauly Yamz)

4 "Break It Down" (guest: J-Live)

5 "How I Do" (guests: Shawn Stockman & Cy Young)
6 "Worldwide" (guests: Baby Blak & Pauly Yamz)

7 "Musik Lounge" (guest: Oddisee)

8 "Rock Wit U" (guest: Erro)

9 "Travelz" (guests: Baby Blak & Crushall)

10 "Scram" (guest: Freddie Foxxx)
11 "My Peoples" (guest: Raheem)
12 "Know Ur Hood" (guests: Chef Word & Pauly Yamz)

13 "Love Saviour" (guests: Flo Brown & Raheem)

14 "Mystery Man" (guests: The Last Emperor)

15 "We Are" (guests: Cy Young & Raheem)

16 "Charmed Life" (guest: J-Live)

17 "We Live In Philly" (guest: Jill Scott)

18 "In Time" (guest: V)





Jazz on UK Amazon


Jazz on The Japanese Amazon

Tuesday 24 April 2007

LL Cool J - 14 Shots To The Dome & Mr. Smith

An Old Legend who if you like kinda soled out - namely James Todd Smith III (born January 14, 1968), better known as LL Cool J, is an American hip hop artist and actor. He is best known for romantic ballads like "I Need Love" as well as pioneering pop rap like "I Can't Live Without My Radio", "I'm Bad", "Boomin' System", & "Mama Said Knock You Out". He has also appeared in several films. LL Cool J is an important figure within the hip hop community, and is one of a few hip-hop stars of his era to sustain a successful recording career for more than two decades. He has released 12 albums and a greatest hits compilation so far, with his next album, Exit 13, set to be released sometime in May, 2007. The album will be the last for LL's record deal with Def Jam Recordings, a deal which has lasted more than twenty years, making it the longest single hip hop deal to date.

Around the late 1980s, hip hop began experiencing a shift in consciousness away from the music's early themes of partying and braggadocio, to more socially aware issues such as drug abuse, race and racism, and economic empowerment. LL Cool J, as a result, experienced a drop in popularity due to the view that his music was behind the times and materialistic.

Following this, LL released Mama Said Knock You Out generally leaning towards a tough street image. The record reestablished his reputation in the hip hop community. It spawned three hit singles, "The Boomin' System," "Around the Way Girl," and the title track, which received special notice after LL Cool J's dynamic performance of it during an episode of MTV Unplugged. It was also featured in the film The Hard Way. The album included themes of police misconduct, spirituality along with back-to-basics hip-hop party rocking. Mama Said... eventually went on to sell over two million copies. It marked the first of many self-reinventions LL Cool J would undergo to adapt to hip hop's often changing atmosphere.

After acting in The Hard Way and Toys, he released 14 Shots To The Dome (1993) (definately his best album) to muted sales and mixed reviews, despite producing the small hit "Back Seat of My Jeep." He starred in In the House, an NBC sitcom, before releasing Mr. Smith (1995), which went on to sell over two million copies. Its singles, "Doin' It" and "Loungin", were two of the biggest songs in 1996 and both songs' music videos were hugely successful on MTV. Another of the album's singles, "Hey Lover", featured Boyz II Men sampling Michael Jackson's "Lady of my Life," which eventually became one of the first hip hop music videos to air on American VH1. The song also earned LL a Grammy Award.

In 1996, LL also helped to launch a clothing line named FUBU — an acronym for "For Us, By Us", meaning the clothes were made for, and marketed to, African-Americans by African-Americans. Around this time he became partially involved in the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry when 2Pac dissed him, apparently in response to LL Cool J's "I Shot Ya" and its remix, both of which were featured on his "Mr. Smith" album. Neither of the songs however mention 2Pac or the simmering East Coast-West Coast conflict.


LL Cool J (93) 14 Shots To the Dome





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