New Music: Kanye West f/ CyHi the Prynce & Teyana Taylor – ‘Christmas in Harlem’

Kanye West and G.O.O.D. Music’s CyHi the Prynce celebrate the holidays with Teyana Taylor on the joyful “Christmas in Harlem.” With sparkling piano keys, a bright melody, and festive chorus sung by Teyana, the tune takes it to the New York City neighborhood to celebrate a white X-Mas.

“Merry Christmas to all and all a good night/ Now we all livin’ the good life,” raps ‘Ye, while CyHi extends the holiday cheer to those who don’t celebrate the holiday. The two exit the track halfway through to let Teyana shine, singing about getting under that mistletoe and giving Santa a kiss.

Get in the Christmas spirit below.

UPDATE: Kanye said the final version of the song will feature Cam’ron, Vado, Jim Jones, Pusha T, Big Sean, CyHi the Prynce, Teyana Taylor, and Musiq Soulchild.

Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj to Ring in New Year in Times Square

Get your Money up for the new year. Young Money all-stars Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj will cap off a successful 2010 by performing on NBC’s “NBC’s New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly.” The dynamic duo, along with rock band My Chemical Romance, will take over Times Square in New York City in a pre-taped piece, airing December 31 at 10 p.m.

“With performances from Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and My Chemical Romance, this will truly be an energetic and celebratory night,” stated Daly.

The Harajuku Barbie will perform selections from her debut album Pink Friday, while Lil Wayne closes out the year with his own hits. Weezy will also appear alongside Eminem on this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live,” performing their collaboration “No Love.”

Eric Felisbret Interview

You been covering the New York City Graf scene for 30 years. What finally made you want to put a book out?

Back in the '70s when I was writing I began to photograph graffiti because it is an efermal art form and I wanted to preserve it. Over the course of several years I amassed a substantial collection of photographs. Then back in the early 1990s my bro SPAR ONE, wanted to publish a book, so we started to organize our subway photos and SPAR began to interview artists. During that process the Internet came around and we felt it was a better fit for our project.  It allowed for the project to be open ended, we could continually add new profiles and interviews.  In 1998 we launched www.at149st.com a history of the New York scene. 

Then a few years back  the publishing industry finally got hip to public appetite for the art form.  Plenty of books were being published. I was not crazy about a lot of the books, but I took notice of two books by Abrams; Freight Train Graffiti and Graffiti LA. I felt they were really well done. I had it in the back of my head that I would like to work with Abrams. Then Jim Prigoff (author of Spraycan Art) put us in contact with them. I think it was fate. I'm forever grateful to Jim.

How long did it take to put the book together from conceptualizing to the final product? 
It was about two years from the point I first met with the publisher to the date Graffiti New York was published.  It was the product of several decades of work though.
As a former writer do you ever get the urge to pick up a can or marker again?
I'm involved with so many different projects documenting the art that I have very little free time, but yes the urge does surface. I've got a bunch of paint at home, so I guess I'll eventually paint.
You been part of the scene for a long time, why can't writers get along?
The culture is highly competitive and social interaction is a big part of it, so conflict is naturally part of the game. It may be negative at times, but more often it spurs intense creative competition or heavy bombing.  I think the tension is healthy for the culture.
Do you have a favorite borough as far as style or best writers are concerened?
I really don't favor a particular borough, but I do have many faves from each borough. I'll give you a very short list. Brooklyn cats like SLAVE, DONDI, REPEL, DOC, MAGOO and WEB are untouchable.   Fab 5 crew, LASK, GANO, STRIDER, MARS and GOAL have repped Staten Island with skill. Queens has DON MAFIA, LADY PINK, SYE, SP ONE and SOE XMEN in the mix. The Bronx has PEL, RIFF, PHASE, CHAIN 3, TKID 170, TATS Cru and SENTO. Folks from Manhattan I dig are LEE Quinones and PART, PESO 131 and DOVES. It was a real pleasure writing the book cause I had the chance to spend a lot of time with some of these artists.
What's next for you?

I'll continue working on www.at149st.com. Another graf book and some film projects, and speaking engagements are in the works. I'm also exploring some new media projects like mobile apps and video. I'm also searching for a venue for a history exhibit. I'm always looking for people who want to support or collaborate on such projects.

THIS GUY IS ONE OF THE HOTIST WITH THIS KIND OF ART

Inside Pharrell Williams House

 
Wanna see what it's like to live like a Pop Artist Billionaire... check out Pharrell's Miami retreat. Clearly the man loves his Kaws, Keith Haring, Louis Vuitton and Haruki Murakami.







WORKING HARD, AND MAKEIN THAT MONEY SEEM LIKE IT WORK OUT FOR HIM
BUT GOT DAMN IT SEEM LIKE THIS DO
NOT WAKE UP TO BAD THOUGHT, THAT WHY PHARRELL MAKE HOT SONG'S,
JUST WATE UNTIL THE NEW N.E.R.D ALBUM COME'S OUT

Lil Wayne, What The Fu*k Are You Talking About?

Can music and music producers whose main goal is to sell as much music as possible successfully incorporate social or political messages into their product?

It's become difficult to find any redeeming social value in the hip-hop that sells millions of albums and the rap that gets played on the radio, other than entertainment and the pleasures afforded by a catchy pick-me-up jam.

Who are the best-selling rap and hip-hop artists this week? Well, obviously the ubiquitous Kanye West, but then there's Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Lloyd Banks, and Lil' Wayne. Those are the top 5. It is extremely enjoyable to listen to all of Billboard's top-ranking artists, but try to convince yourself or anyone else that their music stands for more than a love of money, partying, and sexual prowess. The producers have popular music down to a science and can crank out otherworldly beats faster than an alien heart. The lyrics don't even make sense a lot of the time.

Last Spring Break's anthem Bedrock  by Young Money was the first song I heard over 500 times that I couldn't understand beyond the sexual content. Direct quote from the song: "She don't even wonder 'cause she know she bad/And I got her n****, grocery bag." Come on, can someone please explain the sociopolitical significance of that? And I was singing that song to myself for weeks, maybe even months. I wouldn't bat an eye if that song was just a fluke, or if it was meant to be a contemporary Dadaist take on pop music... but it seemed to be the beginning of a trend. Nicki Minaj, the breakout female rapper of 2010, is also fond of the same jabberwocky antics. From Massive Attack: "No one got the ammo, that's why I bullet-proofed the Lambo/In the Middle East on a camel/Runnin' through the jungle, Rambo, Liberace tango/Swingin' on a vine, mango." Mango?

Despite what seems to be a lack of activism on rap's main stage, what Kanye says and does is so paramount that George W. Bush acknowledged Kanye's criticism as the lowpoint of his presidency. It doesn't make sense to demand that artists with enormous young audiences shouldn't make apolitical songs, or that they should try to challenge their fans to think about pressing global issues in their music. Maybe the most they can do is take a personal stand when they feel the need to.

If the songs don't hold water in a political schema, maybe the artists still can. They stick in the spotlight after their songs fall to the bottom of the charts. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy replaced 808's and Heartbreak, but the artist remains. Like Jay-Z said, "It's on to the next one."

 

 

CELEBRITIE DO HELP DO HELP THE WORLD

Today is Human Rights Day, which marks the anniversary of the United Nations adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
This declaration helped and continues to help focus and intensify efforts to confront human rights violations and protect the rights of every person. Most of us are very familiar with civil rights activists and political activists, but human rights go far beyond the basics.
Celebs like Lady Gaga, who is the gay community's reigning pop icon, is a huge gay rights activist who dedicates many of her awards to "the gays." Lady Gaga rallied her fans, gay and straight, to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy when she spoke at the National Equality March rally in Washington and said it was the single most important event of her career.
This one may surprise you, but even outspoken controversial rapper, Kanye West has extended his hand of humanity. Besides stealing mics from unsuspecting teenage country stars, wearing Versace blouses, and his infamous Twitter rants, Kanye actually fights to ensure inner-city children recieve quality education, as well as ensuring that people in Africa recieve access to doctors.
With Jesus being the most well known humanitarian in the world, we've found 15 celebs who may give him a run for his money on humanitarianism.

Surprise! I bet many of you didn't expect to see the outspoken controversial rapper Kanye West to appear on the list, but the self-proclaimed "douche bag" actually has a heart. In 2005, West and his late mother, Dr. Donda West, co-founded the Dr. Donda West Foundation with the goal of reducing the number of kids who drop out of school. The Foundation’s first initiative, Loop Dreams, challenged at-risk students to learn how to write and produce music while simultaneously improving their academic skills. “During my high school years, it’s the music that I really felt saved me,” said West. Through donations, concert proceeds, and his foundation, West has been a vocal and outspoken supporter of broader education issues, and of organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam America.

Grammy award-winning artist John Legend founded the "Show Me Campaign" which is a nonprofit organization that fights poverty using proven solutions. Believing that equal access to quality education is the civil rights issue of our time, the Show Me Campaign fights for education reform in the United States. In Africa, the Show Me Campaign works with Millennium Promise to provide clean water, health care, education and other basic tools that break the cycle of poverty for children.

Scarlett skipped the Oscars in order to tour India and Sri Lanka as part of Oxfam projects. During her 10-day trip she visited an Oxfam-funded school in Uttar Pradesh, got involved in a few healthcare projects and one domestic violence project involving Indian women. Scarlett also traveled to Sri Lanka to see how the charity was helping in reconstruction projects after the 2004 tsunami. Johansson visited Rwanda in September, 2008, to increase awareness of AIDS sufferers in African nations. She spent four days attending AIDS clinics alongside charity workers for the organization (RED).

Angelina Jolie is perhaps the most publicly recognized celebrity champion of human rights through her role as an active United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Her United Nations role has seen her visit numerous countries and give dozens of speeches at political functions. She became involved with the UN after seeing the devastation of Sierra Leona after a Civil War.

 

THAY ARE NOT CELEBRITIE'S THAY HUMEN AND THAY HAVE HEART'S

Lil Wayne ft Cory Gunz “6′7″” (NEW MUSIC)

Let's recap what Lil' Wayne said during an interview with DJ Drama about his upcoming track. "It's a monster, actually." "Hopefully, it shows people where I'm at lyrically. Better than everybody."
GlobalGrind agrees. This is an absolute beast of a song: I'm see through these Nigg*s like sequin/Nigg*s think they He-Man/Pow Pow Thee End.
Wayne is back and he's taller than ever.
The track is produced by Bangladesh, who also handled the frenetic "A Milli" and features, and will feature Young Money's own Cory Gunz. According to Wayne, he's also preparing to shoot a video for the clip with iconic hip-hop music director Hype Williams.

Lil' Wayne "6'7" by GlobalGrind