Hip Hop Herald 02.08.12: M.I.A.'s Super Bowl Controversy, 50 Cent Wins Big, Raekwon Talks Wu-Tang,. More
Posted by Bill Wannop on 02.08.2012
News and thoughts on 50 Cent scoring a big Super Bowl win of his own, M.I.A.'s Super Bowl controversy, Raekwon talking about what's killing the Wu-Tang Clan and more!
Welcome one and all to the Hip Hop Herald. The column will deal with anything related to hip hop whether it be underground, mainstream, or the new-age pop infused rap (you know the stuff Timberlake and Timbaland make). We will cover news, opinions, release dates as well as feature some music and of course videos.
Be for we start, be sure to check out some of our exclusive interviews as well as follow me on Twitter.
Music Intro
This week's music intro comes courtesy of T.I. and features a verse by non-other than Dr. Dre. T.I. is slated to drop an album shortly, so this will likely be featured on that. Take a listen and enjoy!
News
MIA Creates Superbowl Controversy
In a desperate attempt to stay relevant, MIA gave the middle finger and delivered an uncensored verse to Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin'" , which she and Nicki Minaj are both featured on. Following the game, NBC, who broadcast the event, issued the following statement, "We apologize for the inappropriate gesture that aired during halftime," said a spokesperson. "It was a spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late."
The NFL added, "The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing, and we apologize to our fans."
This is a really desperate move by MIA to try and create some controversy in order to get back in the news media, after she has been somewhat forgotten about. What is worse is that mainstream pop acts were slowly being allowed back into the limelight in terms of the halftime show after the wardrobe malfunction many years ago, but with this incident, the television networks and NFL will likely go back to the tired old timer's performances. In any event MIA got people talking which is what she wanted.
Superbowl Bets
It seems like the new thing to do is if you are a music star is to wager an insane amount of money on the big game and then brag about it. 50 Cent has openly stated that he would bet $500,000 on the game, money which he claimed to have won on the division championship games. While 50 must be happy that he bet on the Giants, Birdman allegedly bet $5 million dollars on the Patriots. If that was true then it is likely going to be a very bad week for anyone working at Young Money.
The fact that these musicians bet millions on a football game is crazy enough, but what is more crazy is that I am talking about it. It really is that slow of a news week, in fact it has been a very slow news year in terms of hip hop. Now maybe with the money that 50 won from the big game, he can finally get some leverage and release his next album.
Did Solo Careers Kill Wu-Tang?
Raekwon recently conducted an interview where he stated that he feels that the Wu-Tang Clan hasn't been an active team as of late due to the solo success of the members. He explained that when the Wu was first working together, there was a certain energy and hunger that unified the nine members behind the W. But as members branched off with their own projects, certain emcees' solo fame led to divisions within the group that ultimately hurt almighty Wu's effectiveness as a team.
"What I really miss is that energy from my brothers. We were young, we were child stars at that time, but I miss being around niggas and laughing in the studio just, every line that come out niggas, everybody's head lift up like, 'Oooh,' and everybody's head go down and get back in that pen and pad," he said. "To me, it just created a force and I'ma tell you something - and I ain't told nobody this - but I feel like in a way, us doing solo things hurt us [as a group]. I never told nobody that, y'all niggas the first ones to know. When we had something so pure and so solid together, it could've been structured more togetherly. It could've been stronger if we knew it had to stay like that. But when we allow[ed] each other to do us, some did better than others and when some did better than others, it caused a certain kind of reaction in the whole movement."
He added, "It wasn't like nobody was trying to out-do each other, because we all was nice, it was just that some probably worked a little harder and some did more things and some was just playing his part. You can't be mad at it; the nigga is playing his position and when it's time to go shoot and you say, 'Yo, shoot!' - 'Aight, shoot - bong,' but not being a slinger. To me, when we did that, it kinda like put us in a more competitive situation with each other instead of focusing more strongly on the brand. The brand is so big just as a team, it's like when we did that, it jumped into some ego shit - which normally happens, but what I'm just trying to say is if we would've stayed more tighter, we probably would've had about 30 albums right now."
This is the tried and true story, where individual success leads to the death or even breakup of the group. While the group has not dead, the individual success of certain members likely led to a lot of the friction and fighting within the group. When you have an individual who become successful by doing things a certain way, it is only natural that he would try to achieve that same success by directing the group to do things his way. If that way is different than what has been done before or some members to not agree things can get messy.
Release Dates & Album Updates
Next Snoop Album
Snoop Dogg continues to pump out the albums, by announcing the title of his
12th solo album, titled Reincarnated which will feature a corresponding documentary.
In 2012 the Priority/EMI Records executive and artist released Doggumentary, along with a collaborative soundtrack work with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania emcee Wiz Khalifa, Mac + Devin Go To High School.
This year will be 19 years of albums for Snoop, who's acclaimed multi-platinum debut Doggystyle released in 1993.
Obie Trice Delays Bottoms Up
Obie Trice appears to have delayed his latest album, Bottoms Up to April 3rd, pushed back from the previous date of February 28. He stated that the release was due to wanting to release the album simultaneously worldwide so that all fans are able to experience it at the same time. While that may be the reason, I would more likely believe that he changed the date in order to not get lost in the shuffle with the large number of hip hop releases slated for Feb 28. With his new date, Obie will have less competition and will get more press because of it.
The rest of the dates can be seen below (new updates are underlined, while anticipated releases are highlighted in RED)
February 14
M-Phazes & DJ Rhettmatic of Beat Junkies - Phazed Out
Sean Born - Behind the Scale
Various Artists (John Legend, The Roots, Wyclef, etc.) - Soundtrack For a Revolution
February 21
Tyga - Careless World: Rise of the Last King
February 28
Mad Child Dope Sick
Planet Asia Black Belt Theatre
E-40 - The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil
Ja Rule - Pain Is Love 2
Copywrite - God Save The King
Kid Cudi W Z R D
Too Short No Trespassing
March 13
B.o.B. Strange Clouds
Del - I Wish My Brother George Was Here
Bow Wow - Underrated
March 27
Apollo Brown & O.C. - Trophies
DJ Premier & Bumpy Knuckles - The Kolexion
Gift Of Gab (Blackalicious) - Logical Progression
¡MAYDAY! - Take Me to Your Leader
April 3
Nicki Minaj Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded Obie Trice Bottoms Up
May 15
Slaughterhouse Welcome to Our House
Pushed Back
Chino XL RICANstruction
Swizz Beatz - Haute Living [2012]
Fabolous Loso's Way 2 [2012]
Big K.R.I.T. - Live From the Underground [January 2012]
Rick Ross God Forgives, I Don't [2012]
Other Recent Announcements
DPG Alumni [Early 2012]
T.I. Trouble Man [March 2012]
Chris Brown Fortune [March 2012]
Asher Roth Is This Too Orange [March 2012]
Masta Ace & Doom MADOOM [2012]
Kool G Rap & Necro The Godfathers [2012]
DJ Khaled Kiss The Ring [2012]
