Tag Archives: LP

Mac Miller Gets Nude For Watching Movies With The Sound Off Album Cover

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Mac Miller Gets Nude For Watching Movies With The Sound Off Album Cover

Mac Miller’s sophomore album Watching Movies With the Sound Off is due on June 18 and the cover art finds the Pittsburgh rapper sitting at a table against a red backdrop, without a single shred of clothing—unless you count his tattoos as cover ups. The “Parental Advisory” sticker on the album cover is strategically placed over his private parts…which parents will surely appreciate.

When Mac previewed a few tracks from his album for the MTV staff a couple weeks back he joked that his mom Karen Meyers (who is actually a photographer) shot the cover, but we’re sure it was all in jest. In terms of the actual album content, he tells MTV News that he wants fans to have zero expectations for the project.

“I really don’t wanna say anything [about the album] because expectations are the worst things in the world for people,” he said. “It ruins their state of mind when they listen to music, so I don’t wanna say anything. Just expect nothing.” But, they can look forward to hearing his production on the LP.

“On Blue Slide Park, the core of the album was everything that me and Jeremy [Kulousek] and Eric Dan did, so we would sit and make the songs from scratch but they would handle the production,” he explained. “The only difference with this one is, I said, ‘You know what? It’s time for me to step in and try this.’ “

Kriss Kross’ Chris Kelly: What’s His Cause Of Death?

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By Maurice Bobb

Now that the shock of Kris Kross’ Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly’s tragic death is leveling off, people want answers. The Fulton County Medical Examiner completed an autopsy of the multi-platinum-selling artist Thursday (May 2), but it will be three weeks after the toxicology report is complete before the official cause of death will be determined, a county rep told MTV News. 

Atlanta police responded to a report of a death at Kelly’s home Wednesday (May 1) evening and when paramedics arrived on the scene, the 34-year old “Jump” MC was found unresponsive and was transferred to Atlanta Medical Center South, where he was pronounced dead.

After ruling out foul play, Atlanta authorities believe that the rapper’s death is the result of a drug overdose, after speaking with Kelly’s mother, Donna Kelly Pratte. In a police report obtained by MTV News, Pratte told police that her son had taken a toxic mixture of heroin and cocaine—commonly known as speedballs—the night before, which prompted her to take him home to “recover from his drug use.”

According to Atltanta’s Streetz 94.5, Kelly appeared to be out of sorts Wednesday morning during a minute-long phone call to the station’s producer Akini just hours before he passed away. “When you listen to the phone conversation, you can tell there is a lot going on in the background,” Akini wrote on the station’s website, which released audio of the conversation online.

Everyone, including Pratte, seems to have accepted the fact that Kelly died of drug use.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce that our beloved Chris Kelly has passed away on May 1,” Pratte said in a statement. “To millions of fans worldwide, he was the trendsetting, backwards pants-wearing one-half of Kris Kross who loved making music. But to us, he was just Chris — the kind, generous and fun-loving life of the party. Though he was only with us a short time, we feel blessed to have been able to share some incredible moments with him. His legacy will live on through his music, and we will forever love him.”

While fans await the findings of the autopsy report, they are reminiscing about the days when wearing their clothes backwards was all the rage in record numbers by supporting the duo’s breakout debut, Totally Krossed Out, which is enjoying new life on ITunes as a featured album. Currently, the LP that spawned the modern day teen idol is sitting at No. 154 on ITunes’ Top Albums list and No. 17 on the Hip-Hop/Rap list.

Kriss Kross & Chris Kelly Paved The Way For Rap Teen Idols

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(Chris Kelly reminisces about his beginnings on “RapFix Live” in February)

By Maurice Bobb

Kris Kross’ Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly may have passed away Wednesday (May 1), but his legacy as one half of the pop-rap duo that made millions “Jump” while wearing their clothes backwards, will live on.

In 1992, “Jump” became the fastest-selling single in more than a decade and grabbed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and stayed there for eight weeks. The Atlanta-bred duo’s debut, Totally Krossed Out, moved more than four million copies and catapulted the young spitters to pop culture superstardom.

“At one point, it was a point where we couldn’t even go to the mall,” Kelly said when he joined Jermaine Dupri on “RapFix Live” via Skype back in February. “Back then, we ain’t have Twitter, we ain’t have Facebook, we ain’t have none of that kind of accessibility, so when we was seen, it was always a big hoopla. At one point, we couldn’t go a lot of places.”

Kelly, who was 13 at the time, had a rhyme flow that was beyond his years, bringing to mind a Little League version of Naughty by Nature’s Treach, who was also one of hip-hop’s rising MCs at the time. Kelly, along with partner in rhyme Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith, were bigger on pop music’s perch of popularity than modern day Justin Bieber. They were rap’s first teen idols. Kris Kross was Justin Bieber before there was a Justin Bieber. Their level of influence amongst teenagers and even young adults reached levels unheard of since Michael Jackson, who they opened for on his Dangerous World Tour back in ’92.

“You kinda can compare it to Michael Jackson cuz we lived a sheltered life, but we didn’t live a sheltered life because at some point, it kind of eased up,” Kelly said. “But at one point, it was hectic, couldn’t do nothin’ really.”

Kelly was joined on “RapFix Live” by Da Brat, the first female rapper to ever go platinum and whom he helped discover in the early stages of her career with a timely introduction to Jermaine Dupri, who was live on set. “We was always a team, we always had the same vision,” Kelly said of JD. “The vision was to put Atlanta on the map and let people see how we was livin’ in Atlanta at that time and that period.”

So So Def mogul Jermaine Dupri discovered the youngsters at the mall, where they held court like celebrities did before they were known by anyone on the music landscape. Dupri was the mastermind behind the group’s sound and packaging, but their swagger was all their own. It wasn’t manufactured like other groups in the past. Their image was their own, it was them, which made their influence all the more substantial.

“Kris Kross wasn’t actually on So So Def, they was on Ruffhouse, which is the same label as Cypress Hill and all of them,” Dupri explained. “These guys at Ruffhouse gave me an opportunity to put out my first group and that was the springboard to get my company off.”

Countless rappers took to Twitter after news broke of Kelly’s passing, offering up their thoughts on the group’s influence on not only their younger selves, but the game as a whole. One tweet in particular, from the Roots’ ?uestlove, summed it up perfectily. “You can get the finga…the middle” –Mac Daddy #KrissKross,” Quest tweeted, referencing the group’s second single, “Warm It Up.”

In February, the pair performed at So So Def Records’ 20th Anniversary concert. Although the group hadn’t recorded any music together since their last LP, 1996’s Young, Rich & Dangerous it was as if they’d never stopped performing together, running through their catalog of smash hits, which included the timeless single that started it all. The crowd knew the chorus word for word: “Jump Jump/The Mac Dad will make you…Jump Jump/The Daddy Mac will make you…Jump Jump/Kris Kross will make you…Jump Jump.”

Believe that.

Jay-Z, Beyonce, Andre 3000 Snippets From ‘Great Gatsby’ Soundtrack Leak

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By Maurice Bobb

Baz Luhrmann’s film “The Great Gatsby” may have Leonardo Dicaprio as its leading man, but it’s Jay-Z, the executive producer of the film’s soundtrack who is making the most noise, figuratively and literally. After dropping his first solo song in nearly a year last week with “Open Letter,” Hov is back with another, “100$ Bill,” one of the 14 songs from the soundtrack, which is due out on May 7.

Fans will have to wait a bit for the full version of the track, but a 90-second snippet hit the Internet Monday (April 22), and from the chopped and screwed sound of it, the Roc Nation Sports agent, who also helped to score the movie, is back to doing what he does best: boasting and toasting to his enormous success.

The “No Church in the Wild” MC keeps up the opulent heme so expertly displayed on his joint LP with Kanye West, Watch the Throne, on this one, rhyming that he’s “Carter, new Kennedy, no ordinary Joe, you will remember me/no prohibition for my coalition, Colin Powell, general admission,” before adding another politically-charged rant, “dollars fall on the skin, some might call it sin, politicians all move for the money, what the hell we callin’ them?”

Jigga’s not just channeling Kennedy, though. He’s also unabashed like Malcolm and smooth like Marvin, spitting, “You all welcome, new Malcolm, of the talcum, by any means, AK looking out the window screen, uh/Let’s get it on new Marvin, you wanna become my hundredth problem, semi-automatic or revolve him, semi-automatic I’ll solve ‘em.”

Keeping it in the family, Beyonce also adds to the excitement with a snippet of her collaboration with Andre 3000, “Back to Black,” which is a cover of Amy Winehouse’s song of the same title. Mr. Three Stacks sings this time around, crooning, “I know a hundred times I go back to her,” before the Queen of the BeyHive adds her sultry vocals, however briefly, before the teaser ends.

In addition to Jay, Bey and Andre 3000, the project will also feature songs by will.i.am, Lana Del Rey, Fergie and Q-Tip.

Pusha T And Fabolous Want Spots On ‘Hottest MCs IX’ List

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By Rob Markman

Pusha T’s name is his name, but the G.O.O.D. Music MC took exception when his name didn’t appear on the final tally of MTV News’ “Hottest MCs in the Game VIII” list back in March. Well, there’s always next year, right? We’re still quite a ways off, but Push and his homey Fabolous are already eyeing a spot on “Hottest MCs in the Game IX.”

“Your list was good man, it was just a little off, but it was good,” Pusha told MTV News noting his absence from the yearly hip-hop countdown.

The Clipse spitter was in contention for a top 10 placement, but both he and French Montana were left off of “Hottest MCs” in favor of Meek Mill who snagged the #10 spot. “They played me all the way out,” Pusha told Fab while laughing out loud.

Pusha’s lyrical ability has never come into question, but the hip-hop brain trust argued that because he hadn’t yet released his debut album My Name is My Name it was too early to rank him amongst the “Hottest.”

Now, with the LP set to drop this year Push is looking forward to next year’s debate and so is his “The Life is So Exciting” tour mate Fabolous. “I’m just putting out an album to get to that list, that’s where I’m at right now,” Fab joked of the sole motivation behind his June LP Loso’s Way 2. “That’s what made me say, ‘You know what I gotta put out an album.’ I’m not making these lists.”

Who would you like to see on the next “Hottest MCs in the Game” list? Let us know in the comments!

N.O.R.E. Already Plotting Student Of The Game Sequel

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N.O.R.E.‘s new album, Student of the Game, hasn’t even been out a full day yet and already the rapper, who now goes by P.A.P.I., is gearing up to create a sequel to his latest LP. Student of the Game II: Dyslexia won’t be an insignificant follow-up, though, because it has special meaning to the Queens, New York, rapper. Read the full story at MTV News or hear N.O.R.E. explain in the video above.

Kid Cudi Celebrates Indicud Album’s Official Release

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Kid Cudi Celebrates Indicud Albums Official Release

Kid Cudi’s had the quite eventful month. At the beginning of April he announced that he’d officially parted ways with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label and just a few days later his much anticipated third solo album Indicud leaked. That leak forced him to bump the LP‘s official drop date from April 23, to today, April 16 and now he’s finally celebrating, tweeting, “Listening to my album like its not my f—ing album. Was feelin left out ha we all jammin…hello again friends.”

Since the album dropped Cudi has been engaging his fans on Twitter, asking their thoughts on project and he has a pretty good sense of humor about it. One fan who expressed his distaste got a retweet and a reply. @DaloMike: Extremely disappointed with the new album. I want the old cudi back. @ducidni” Too bad sucka!!! HA INDICUD.”

He’s even been clocking it as it climbs the iTunes charts, tweeting, “#4 on Itunes. So grateful to have the fans I have. Blessed beyond my wildest dreams,” and later adding, “Ahhh #2!” Oh and then the positive tweets started pouring in, “@ducidni Anyone that begs for the old cudi is stupid. He’s happy, he’s producing his music. It’s called progression. Stop whining. #Indicud.” Buy Indicud on iTunes.

Indicud tracklist:

1. “The Resurrection of Scott Mescudi”
2. “Unfuckwittable”
3. “Just What I Am” feat. King Chip
4. “Young Lady” feat. Father John Misty
5. “King Wizard”
6. “Immortal”
7. “Solo Dolo Part II” feat. Kendrick Lamar
8. “Girls” feat. Too $hort
9. “New York City Rage Fest”
10. “Red Eye” feat. Haim
11. “Mad Solar”
12. “Beez” feat. RZA
13. “Brothers” feat. King Chip & A$AP Rocky
14. “Burn Baby Burn”
15. “Lord of the Sad and Lonely”
16. “Cold Blooded”
17. “Afterwards (Bring Yo Friends)” feat. Michael Bolton & King Chip
18. “The Flight of the Moon Man”

Wu-Tang Clan Decides On New Album Title

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Are Wu-Tang Clan all in together now? It certainly appears so. The Wu have finally decided on a title for their upcoming anniversary LP and are planning for a July release, according to HipHop-N-More. Read the full story at MTV News.