Posts Tagged ‘Jay-Z’
Buffalo Boss
I love this. Big cousin is a self-made millionaire so he helps little cousin achieve his dream of opening his own restaurant and hopefully little cousin will do the same for the fam when he makes it…
Buffalo Boss, a new chicken wing restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn is backed by hip-hop legend Jay-Z. The co-owner is the rapper’s first cousin Jamar White. This will definitely be on my list of places to eat next time I’m in NYC. All the reviews seem good. Loving the heaven/hell concept.
Posted in Food by Bemps
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Happy Valentines Day (!)
Best way to express the emotion on Cupid’s day is through music… a selection of videos from the C4C music archives for you lovers out there…
Posted in Cool Stuff, Music & Gigs by Bemps
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Decoded x Jay-Z Freestyle
The video below shows one of the best freestyles I’ve ever heard. I’ve just finished reading ‘Decoded‘ which is Jay-Z’s semi-autobiography but essentially a book in which he breaks down the lyrical content of some of his most popular songs (what the references mean, what/who he was talking about) and intersperses this with anecdotes from his life – growing up in Brooklyn in the 70′s, the hopelessness of ghetto living, selling drugs in the 80s, the conflict between pursuing a rap career and hustling, rising above his humble beginnings, producing best selling albums, working with some of hip hop finest producers and artists and meeting Quincey Jones, Bono and Obama.
The book is like a collectors item with a creative layout, full of beautiful pictures and Andy Warhol’s Rorscharsh on the cover provides an interesting coffee table feel. No other rapper (as far as i’m aware) has done anything like this. It’s not a book about the life story of Jay-Z but an interesting discourse on rap music from Jay-Z’s perspective. His passion for the genre that made him famous leaps from every page, Jay-Z is almost desperate for his reader to connect with rap music and appreciate it as a credible art form.
It’s a great read with impressive packaging. Naturally, everyone will find something to criticise - I wanted to read about Jay-Z losing the ‘King of New York’ battle to Nas a few years ago and more about the break up of the ‘Roc’ (both absent). Jay-Z is pretty much complimentary about everyone. Nevertheless, the book is inspiring and very hard to put back on the coffee table without being affected by it. Like the freestyle below, even those who have no interest in rap (or Jay-Z) music cannot help but appreciate the talent… listen to the lyrics and his crazy flow over these beats…
Here are 5 of my favourite lyrics from the freestlye:
1. “Suicide, if you succeed, prepare to be crucified, media meddles, niggas sue you, you settle, every step you take they remind you, you ghetto…”
2. “Everybody look at you strange, saying you changed, like you worked that hard to stay the same…”
3. “Load chambers, the enemy’s approaching, so raise your drawbridge and drown them in the moat…”
4. “I’m getting courted by the bosses the Edgars [Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr] and Doug Morrises-sss [Doug Morris, Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group], Jimmy I [Jimmy Iovine - chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M] and Lyor’s-ses [Lyor Cohen, CEO of Recorded Music at Warner Music Group], gotta be more than the chorous’, they respecting my mind now, it’s just a matter of time now, operation takeover corporate…”
5. “Please may these words be recorded to serve as testimony that I saw it all before it, came to fruition sort of like a premonition, uh, uncontrollable hustlers ambition, alias Superstition… like Stevie, the Writing’s On The Wall like my lady, right baby ?
Posted in Music & Gigs by Bemps
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Who will win X-Factor?
Alright, so as you all know this Saturday is the final of The X-Factor, the television show in which the public, but mostly Simon Cowell, gets to choose who will win and have the Christmas number one as well as the biggest selling song of the year. Then go on to release a pretty rubbish second single before fading into obscurity, stopping briefly to perform on Alan Titchmarch’s daytime chatshow, and ending up as a joke in a TV critic’s column in five years time.
Who will take up the mantle this year? Lets take a look at the candidates…
Rebecca Ferguson
As everyone keeps saying, the best singer of the final four, but unfortunately has all the personality of a sheet of tracing paper. She is unable to sing and move at the same time, which doesn’t bode well for her, as Simon Cowell wants an idiot that will jump all over the stage.
Cher Lloyd
The 17-year-old has all the swagger someone straight out of a young offenders institute, she has the ability to sing AND make a terrible job of rapping. Her rapping is the equivalent of Chinese water torture. She has managed to ruin songs by Eminem, Jay-Z, Professor Green and Avril Lavigne for me forever, and I didn’t even like Avril Lavigne in the first place! Her party trick: crumpling into a ball of tears like a kid that’s just seen their puppy being kicked in the face whenever she’s on the brink of going out. Will she win? Probably not, but she’ll be irritating us for years to come regardless.
Matt Cardle
Every year, the X-Factor needs a contestant who isn’t comfortable when not wearing a hat and Matt Cardle took on that role with gusto. I was going make loads of jokes about how he looks like a painter and decorator, and then I found out that he actually is a painter and decorator, which ruined everything. He did go to a private school though, so he wouldn’t fit in Strongbow’s ‘real workers’ ad; a painter and decorator that reaches the high notes that only a girl or a castrato can. I hope he doesn’t win, as we don’t want another Steve Brookstein, Leon Jackson or Joe McElderry situation on our hands.
One Direction
Five young guys that were formed by Overlord Cowell himself. They fit the Bieber template of being bouncy, energetic and extremely irritating. They are being touted as ‘the next boyband’, which is a kick in the teeth to JLS and The Wanted who have only just made it. Regardless of if they win, they’ll still have thousands of young girls screaming their names and crying when they get within farting distance of them, but they probably will win, because Simon Cowell wants them to.
Posted in The Meehan by The Meehan
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LeBron James, Nike and the good people of Cleveland
So after turning his back on hometown team Cleveland Cavaliers, the most celebrated basketballer of today (with no championship rings), Mr LeBron James, kicked off the season with a controversial Nike advert addressing misgivings about his recent conduct.
Exhibit 1: LeBron “Rise”
For those that don’t know, LeBron saw out his contract at the Cavs this summer and led the city and sport fans across the country on a merry-go-round while he decided where he would ply his trade in the near future. The shameless posturing involved meetings with New Jersey Nets owner Jay-Z, an advert by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a lot of promised cash. He decided to walk out on the city that gave him everything and join the Miami Heat and to top it off he announced his betrayal in an hour-long TV show.
Hence just as the clever marketing men at Nike (probably the same crisis control team that worked on Tiger Woods’ comeback ad) thought up “Rise”, the people of Cleveland have hit back with a straightforward response that endeavours to answer the questions posed by “King James”. After checking out both vids, let us know what side of the fence you sit on: LeBron or people of Cleveland…
Exhibit 2: “Rise” Cleveland’s Response
Posted in Sport by Jimmy
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Tinie Tempah talks shop
Tinie, you’ve come a long way since the Wifey riddum (below). Even back then we were like “this kid’s going to be a star”, so naturally we feel partly responsible for your success to date…
Haha, responsible for my career?! I like that.
Alright joking aside, how did you get from being the kid in that video to the young gentlemen about to takeover Brit rap?
That track came out in 2006 and was definitely a big moment in my life as far as making the transition from being unknown to sort of an underground name, and I was sixteen at the time. I started doing shows off the back of it so I hooked up with my cousin and set up Disturbing London. It was our own label and the whole ethos was to act like a major label as far as tracks we put out and videos we did. I set up the Milk & 2 Sugars blog in 2009. A lot of my friends had record deals at the time so I used that opportunity to go to their video shoots and get behind the scenes stuff and exclusive interviews that other journalists couldn’t. It got like a million hits in a couple of months and then all the labels wanted to know.
Is it true you’ve got a clothing line in the pipeline?
Yes indeed. It’s called Disturbing London, that’s basically the name for everything we do, and it’s going to be a good mix between street wear and high fashion. I feel like it will be one of the few brands where you can get the best of both, you won’t have to buy a shirt from here and the bottoms from down the road.
We’ll keep our eyes peeled for it. So can we take it the aim is to be a UK Jay-Z as far as the media moguling goes?
You know what, I’m just trying to be like Tinie Tempah and hope that one day someone will be having an interview in the U.S. or Australia and the interviewer will go, “Are you trying to be like the Australian Tinie Tempah?” Jay-Z is still very relevant and I definitely look up to him, but I feel like it’s a new era and I just want to carve out my own legacy and do something fresh.
So what are you doing different?
Well I’ve got my own brand of tea on the way – I bet you didn’t expect me to say that! I love a nice bit of tea me and soon you’ll be able to pick up my own brand of the stuff. We’re still working on the name but at the minute it’s just Tinie Tempah’s Special Brew.
Alright you win.
Performing new single Written In The Stars @ MTV Live Sessions…
Written In The Stars out now, go support. The debut album Disc-Overy out 4th October.
Posted in Music & Gigs by Jimmy
