#MYOL News: Nate Dogg Passes Away (March 13th-19th)

There is no one better when it comes to hooks in Hip Hop and there never will be! Nate Dogg has influenced generations of artists both directly and indirectly. RIP Nate Dogg!

#MYOL News: One-Legged Anthony Robles Wins Division 1 Wrestling Championship (March 13th-19th)

I'm a sports advocate, no matter what sport it is. For someone to dedicate themselves to anything arts, sports, etc shows a commitment and character. Physical sports are even harder to dedicate yourself to because on top of the mental fatigue you also feel the physical bumps and bruises. Wrestling is one of those sports where you experience both mental and physical fatigue. There are many people born with disabilities that don't allow them to participate in sports. Some of those disabilities do not allow people to participate at all and some disabilities just put others at a disadvantage. Having only one leg while wrestling is a major disadvantage. What I really love about sports is that although everyone may not have the same level of talent, once you hit the floor, field, mat, etc is that everyone's hunger to win is on an even level. Heart is something that certain people are either born or not born with. Watch this video above as Anthony Robles shows you what heart can do for you even with one leg! Shouout to Anthony Robles who definitely made his lane like no other! This is not the last the world will hear from Anthony Robles!

#MYOL News: Will Smith Replaces 30 Laptops To School In Philly (March 13th-19th)

After a school in  West Philly reported that 60 laptops were stolen, The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation and the Charlie Mack Cares organization donated 30 new laptops to replace some of the stolen ones. The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation was created to help inner-city children and their families. Will Smith is giving back to the community he grew up in. The accomplished rapper-turned-actor’s foundation, Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation, teamed up with the Charlie Mack Cares organization to gift West Philly High School with 30 computers. The donation replaced some of the 60 computers stolen from the school last month.

According to NBC Philadelphia, the equipment stolen was worth $80,000 and included 58 laptops, two desktops and an LCD projector. Ironically the burglary came just as the school was celebrating its 100th anniversary. Surveillance video revealed three people wearing masks and gloves running through the school’s hallways on the day of the burglary. The suspects have since been apprehended and charged with the crime. Police were able to recover only half of the stolen property, when Smith and his friend, Mack stepped in giving laptops and a desktop computer to the school.

Known for his philanthropy, Smith was honored at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Annual Tribute Dinner in 2009. “Will often gets honored for the great talent he is, and it’s just fantastic to see him being honored for the great man that he is,” his wife Jada said during the event.

The Will and Jada Smith Foundation supports acts to improve the welfare of inner-city families and education.

#MYOL News: Happy Birthday Quincy Jones! (March 13th-19th)

Quincy Jones is an American musician. As a conductor, record producer, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter his career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991. He is particularly recognized as the producer of the album Thriller, by pop icon Michael Jackson, which has sold more then 110 million copies worldwide, and as the producer and conductor of the charity song “We Are the World”. Mr. Jones' accomplishments, awards and nominations are endless. He was the driving force behind the most classic time in African-American music history. He is an icon and an inspiration in my pursuit to get into the music business one day. The dedication and vision of Mr. Jones is one that I will continue to study and imitate in my growth as a brand. 

#MsLMstatus:Happy Birthday Queen Latifah (March 13th-19th)

From hardcore female MC to an entertainment icon, the "Queen" is the epitome of #MsLMstatus. From the beginning of her music career she let us know that if you were called her a bitch you would get "punch dead in your eye" on her first hit single "U.N.I.T.Y.". She helped pioneer a Hip Hop sound that is used by many MCs today both male and female. Her abililty to kick hot, heartfelt lyrics and sing on a track was helping her sell millions of records way before Nelly came along. In true #MsLM status form she capitalized on her success as a rapper and after her second single "Just Another Day" the Queen began her takeover in Hollywood. She is now an executive producer, director and actress with a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination. Queen Latifah came in the game demanding respect as a black woman and has set an example for many people aspiring to reach their dreams in music, entertainment but more importantly life and philanthropy.

Hip Hop History: SXSW Panel - What Hip Hop Gave America (March 13th-19th)

Chart-topping work by black artists

In the 1950s, The Crew-Cuts remade “Earth Angel,” a song originally done by The Penguins. The Crew-Cuts version went higher the charts. In the 1980s, Robert Palmer remade “I didn’t mean to turn you on,” a song first performed by Cherelle. His version was more successful. In both ages, Charnas argued, radio and TV stations rarely played music by black and white artists. As hip-hop began to get radio play, its success exploded – no no “translation” needed, as Charnas put it. “It can’t just be the biggest thing in black culture,” Wilson said. “It has to be the biggest thing in pop culture.”

Hustling

All this viral marketing we’ve seen down at SXSW, all the stickers, fliers, street teams and semi-secret events – they all came from hip-hop, Charnas contends. Early on, rappers couldn’t get their music on labels, on radio or TV, so they had to promote it themselves. It worked, in a big, big way. “Suddenly, there was a whole industry built around this stuff,” Charnas said. There’s something to think about for all those folks handing out USB drives full of indie rock or stickers for hard-core bands.

Super-empowered artist moguls

Once upon a time, artists would approach labels and ask for branding that would give them a larger audience, even as it sacrificed their control over their work. Enter Wu Tang Clan and a deal that allowed them to sign as a group while all nine members could continue to create solo work. “Instead of artists looking to be branded by the label, labels were looking to be branding by the artists,” Charnas said. That led to bigger and better deals, and hip-hop leaders commanding their own business.

Hip-hop in the corporate world

Charnas played a commercial that will probably appear in my nightmares for the next few weeks: Rapping chicken nuggets. As he explained, “It was a big joke, a big joke to corporate America, this rap stuff.” But it didn’t take long for corporations to notice there was a serious and growing audience for hip-hop, and they couldn’t treat it as a fad, or approach it with rhyming puppet nuggets.

President Barack Obama

The president wasn’t elected only by rap stars, but panelists argued that a generation familiar with hip-hop had to happen before Obama could’ve won.

“He’s a great orator. He gives great speeches. He’s not a rapper. He’s a little bit older, but we look at this guy, and he kind of understands this stuff…he’s gonna keep our point of view in the politics of the world,” Wilson said.

Stone took it a step further: “This is hip-hop’s America. That’s the America I live in, and the America I want to live in. Very diverse. The vote for Obama was a vote for this vision of America.” 


-CNN

Hip Hop: Lil Wayne Announces Carter IV Official Release Date! (March 13th-19th)

Hip Hop: XXL 2011 Freshmen Freestyles - Cyhi Da Prynce (March 13th-19th)

Hip Hop: XXL 2011 Freshmen Freestyles - Lil Twist (March 13th-19th)

Hip Hop: XXL 2011 Freshmen Freestyles - Big K.R.I.T. (March 13th-19th))

Hip Hop: Killers - J.Cole (March 13th-19th)

"This may be the last time you see me free ma, Don’t spend it cryin’/You did your best, me I was blessed, know you were stressed tryin’/To keep me out the streets, me ducking police/Tryin’ not to make a peek to wake you up out your sleep/A drunk and high fool/Skip a class, fluncking high school I know you taught me better, somehow I never learned/Said I was playing with fire, somehoe I never burned/You tried to set me straight, somehow I never permed/You tried to show me right but somehow I never turned/Lost in a cloud of marijuana, are you sane dummy/Dry your face mommy, your not to blame for me/See I’m a man, I gotta take whatever came for me/At times I wonder ’bout my father/Would it change for me if he was around?"

"N-ggas that I used to hoop with is doing triple life/Gave up the jump shot/Work on the john shot/Who woulda thought I used to block this n-ggas lay ups/Now he’s in a cell layed up/I wish you well, stay up
Like insomniacs/This life can make a n-gga fold like a laundry mat/I sip this cognac though to ease my brain from all this pain/and so that I react slow, in this fast world/Slow n-ggas, fast girls"

"You had to scrap with any n-gga that would call you lame/Ashamed no doubt, so many n-ggas go they brains blown out/Snatched a n-gga chain and he got his name rolled out in obituaries/Another body in a cemetary/Another young n-gga in the penetentiary/And he don’t give a f-ck no missionary/Rap visionary, paint a picture n-gga pictionary/Tell you what it is, I’m a dictionary/I knew a n-gga that threw his d-ck in every chick in every city that he went to/Went hard like the rent due"

Hip Hop: American Rapstar - Big K.R.I.T. (March 13th-19th)

"An A&R once told me “you can determine the worth of a song within 15 seconds of it playing” With complete nutter lack of the fact that it takes takes all 3 minutes and 40 seconds of a song to comprehend what I’m sayin’, It aint a single if it don’t fly, It aint a hit if it don’t ride, Now he couldn’t tell me the components of a smash but the ringtones were at their alltime high And a rappers only as big as his chain, the flashier the better"

"And understand the difference between a n-gga and the King that I am/Gotta keep ya finger on the trigger/Pac died, Biggie died, they aint found a killer/Momma say she worried ’cause I rap about the Government/And how the Church caked up while other people out there struggling (its real though)/I just call it how it is foe/I’m breathing for a reason, what you here for?"