This week in Hip Hop, Kendrick Lamar announced the release date of his forthcoming album. Also, drama ensues around reports saying Suge Knight revealed who really killed the late Tupac Shakur and rumor has it that Eminem just might be releasing new music.
Kendrick Lamar Album Gets Official Release Date
Kendrick Lamar had the whole world thinking that he was dropping his next project April 7 after his ending line on “The Heart Part IV” basically put Hip Hop on notice. He told his colleagues they have until that date to have their shit together.
Yeah, it ended up just being a release date for his new album. The pre-order option is available on iTunes. Though it’s not clear what the name of his fourth studio album will be. “Humble.” is the only song listed in iTunes under what’s been titled “ALBUM” and pitch black album cover.
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Details for Lamar’s album include a rumored tracklist with featured work from producers Mike WiLL Made-It, The Alchemist, 9th Wonder and Teddy Walton, among others. U2 and Canadian group BADBADNOTGOOD are listed on the official credits.
Needless to say, Twitter wasn’t very pleased with the news that they’ll have to wait a whole week for some new Dot.
Read more here.
Suge Knight Says He Knows Who Killed Tupac
Reports said Suge Knight partially blamed his ex-wife, Sharitha Golden, of being the reason Tupac isn’t here with us today.
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Knight allegedly revealed that he was the true target on that fateful night, twisted in a plot to take him out so Golden and his then bodyguard, Reggie Wright Jr., could run Death Row Records together. The story was quickly shot down by the mogul’s lawyer, who said the story was “fake news” and he did not help Knight pen the alleged affidavit.
Golden has gone on record denying the theory and is considering legal action while Suge Knight Jr. chimed in on Instagram to let it be known that his father would never knowingly put ‘Pac in danger.
Read more here.
Eminem & Paul Rosenburg Tease Fans With The Idea Of New Music
April 9 is seemingly the date scribed on the palm of Eminem’s hand when he was photographed with Peter Rosenburg at a 7-Eleven convenience store this week.
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Fans are hoping Em will be dropping a new album on that date. But then again it’s Slim Shady, so you never know what he has under his sleeve. What we do know is, Tech N9ne is hoping to get a record with Billy Joel and Em soon.
Read more here.
DXclusives: Too $hort, The Cool Kids, Suga Free & Sho Baraka
On Monday (April 3), Ruthless Records affiliated producer/keyboardist L.A. Dre passed away. His good friend, Too Short, shared exclusively with DX what his last moments were like.
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“[L.A. Dre’s wife] said that he got off the phone, and that he was in a really, really, really good mood,” Short explained. “He spent some time with his wife and right before he passed, she said that he told her to lean over and he was rubbing on her face. He kept saying, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you,’ then he told her to kiss him and as soon as she kissed him, he grabbed his chest and took his last breath. I never heard of anyone dying like that and I think it was just the greatest thing.”
Editor-at-Large Shirley Ju somehow found The Cool Kids among the hustle and bustle of SXSW and was able to secure an interview where Chuck Inglish candidly gave his opinion on why people love Frank Ocean and Chance the Rapper so much.
“Because it’s the most authentic,” he said. “Frank don’t take a lyric off. Same thing with Chance. Everything is from the heart and completely from their own thought process. People want to hear what your world sounds like, not what you’re trying to make for them. No fans wants to hear music made for them. They want to hear the music you made for yourself, so we can tune in. It’s like going to a different channel.”
Los Angeles legend Suga Free had a show at Los Globos March 31 and DX was lucky enough to snag an interview with the iconic rapper. He spoke candidly with Associate Producer Ural Garrett about everything including why he left the pimp world for music.
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“I’d be a fool not to believe that my name is at the top of some big pimp organization or whatever,” Suga Free explained. “So, I stopped and I got scared when I stopped. My pimp friends like Pimpin Young — I said I felt funny man. I’m going to tell you exactly how he told me. He said, ‘P we done talked about this but you the only nigga that can stop pimping and still pay their bills cuz.’”
Sho Baraka is bringing his album The Narrative to life on Sunday (April 9) in Los Angeles. His show production will be a new experience as far as concerts go.
“I’m trying to progress to a point where I do something that not many Hip Hop artists have done, which is kinda doing like a stage play,” he shared with Senior News Writer Victoria Hernandez. “Not necessarily on the level of Hamilton, but something more — I guess you could say ‘progressive’ — than just a concert, but less than a full-fledged Broadway production. I wanna do something that is somewhere in the middle that respects the art of Hip Hop as well as respects the art of theater, but does something that marries the two worlds in a way that still has an element of a concert while at the same time displays my talent as a communicator, as a storyteller and actor. This is the show that I’m trying to use to get to that point, so it’s gonna be fun.”
