NO RECESS

February 27, 2011

Nesby Phips "The 3rd Side Sessions" (Part 1)

Go behind the scenes with Nesby Phips as he works on "Gots Ta Do" ft. Ja and Suave.

Free Buju

"An exclusive report documenting the happenings of Buju Banton's final day of trial on Feb. 22, 2011."
Video Credit: www.itscreatinity.com

Elespee & Prospek - The Trip EP

On their latest collaboration, rapper Elespee and producer Prospek set off on a hallucinogenic trek through the decadent and depraved streets of New Orleans. The aptly-titled The Trip EP plays like a hip-hop homage to Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas—a streetwise journey to the heart of the Hip-Hop Dream.

All 10 of The Trip EP’s tracks were the result of a drug-fueled weekend at Prospek’s Inner Recess Studios. “I’m trippin’ balls right now,” Elespee utters as he launches into “How’d You Get Here.” The song tells the tale of the pair dropping acid in the French Quarter, praying at the doors of the House of Blues, and “blending street gumbo” onstage at the Dragon’s Den. Along the way, they coax senior citizens into exposing themselves and give props to Crescent City DJs Tony Skratchere, E.F. Cuttin and Maddie Ruthless.

To preserve the fidelity of Elespee’s warped, subversive vision, none of the tracks received any post-production work. The outcome is like a lost session between the RZA and Andre 3000 recorded in another dimension: Prospek layers hazy, mercurial grooves on top of soulful jazz samples and raw, skeletal beats while Elespee’s swift, perplexing flow laces each cut. “My kingdom for a horse or at least a decent snare / a quick drum I can ride from way out there / to boldly go where no one cares,” he spits, sizing up Shakespeare and Star Trek in the final verse of “Channels of the Mind” before the head-nodding ride devolves into a string of B-movie sound clips.

After the chilled, ambient “Attempt” transcends the grind of the streets, the set standout “Sunrise,” which samples Duke Ellington’s “I Like the Sunrise,” offers a moment of clarity amidst the clamor. Still, it’s the lysergic leanings of “Rabbit Hole Rhyming” that best captures The Trip’s deranged allusions: “The future’s now, stupid, and they say he’s a psychotic / He dropped a killer disc and the loonies ran to cop it.”

GET YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD

February 25, 2011

Live In The Hive

It was live in the hive Wednesday night when Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets defeated reigning slam-dunk champ Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers.

February 23, 2011

WORLDSTARHIPHOP PREMIER: Meco - Fresh Out The Jects

I know I posted this a few weeks ago but now it's on www.worldstarhiphop.com so I thought I'd remind ya. Video by @AWNP_Brando....Check it out! Get those views up!

February 22, 2011

Nesby Phips - The 3rd Side

Nesby Phips has blindsided us with a new tape from out of the blue. Make sure you check out The 3rd Side!

Jon Mercure - Coming Home (short film)

Make sure you download Surrender To Win

Jon Mercure - Surrender To Win

New Orleans emcee Jon Mercure drops his new album Surrender To Win. The majority of the project is self-produced with additional contributions from Prospek & M’Fn Entertainment. Guests include Nesby Phips & E.D. Nix. Download it for $FREE.99 here

February 19, 2011

Wiz Khalifa - High Times Interview

Rappers challenging other MCs to do battle has been common practice since hip-hop’s inception. Of course, the matches have all had their varied results. Nevertheless, Pittsburgh, PA’s 22-year-old Wiz Khalifa, a rising star who was voted MTV’s “Hottest Breakthrough MC,” is convinced that he can go blow for blow and emerge victorious from this latest gantlet.

“I’m about to just get a camera and bombard niggas’ studio sessions and smoke them under the table, so they can see how much rappers don’t smoke – and how much me and my homie Spliff do smoke,” Wiz boasts, adding that although OG Kush is his all-time favorite, he highly favors Headband (a cross of OG Kush, Master Kush and Sour Diesel) at the moment.

In bygone days, a number of rap artists connected heavily with the weed-smoking community, and many of those artists still do. However, Wiz – an extremely fan-friendly rapper – has positioned himself as hip-hop’s new marijuana spokesman. On his mixtape skits, he’s even incorporated “Mr. EZ Wider,” who serves not only as a smooth and mysterious presence, but as a clear indication of Wiz’s rolling preferences since giving up blunts over a year and a half ago.

“I got a really sick bong that I enjoy, too,” he adds.

Neither his deal with Warner Bros. Records nor his 2006 debut, Show and Prove, managed to propel Wiz to the forefront of the rap scene. However, after departing from the label in 2009 and releasing the album Deal or No Deal, Wiz saw his career begin to catapult. Nationwide, he’s now selling out arenas filled with fans who vigorously represent his flourishing Taylor Gang clique, throwing joints onstage and handing him weed at almost every show.

“My shows are a great representation for the hip-hop community,” he says. “When the marijuana community comes out, there’s rarely any problems. But a lot of people don’t know that if you let everyone smoke, everything will be cool.” He attributes a huge portion of his current rampant success – including his recent signing with Atlantic via Rostrum Records – to his incessant utilization of social-media platforms like Twitter and YouTube. Early in 2010, he released his hit mixtape, Kush and Orange Juice – a title that soared within hours to the No. 1 trending global topic on Twitter, as well as No. 1 on Google’s “hot search” trends.

Wiz’s easygoing personality and strong affinity for high-end fashion, champagne, women and airplanes (to say nothing of elevated states in general) are abundant in his music. Whether he’s sampling rock, classic soul, pop or electronic music, or holding his own alongside heavyweight talents like Rick Ross and Curren$y, Wiz is a risk taker who’s never content with anything less than dancing to the beat of his own drum. Even as a child, he felt the subconscious desire to be different. “I used to tuck my pants in my socks. My dad told me I used to do that out of nowhere,” Khalifa laughs. “Just the fact that I would run around blurting shit out, singing songs and making loud noises, having to be heard, made me different. I’m not the average individual who someone’s going to run into.”

In his poverty-stricken industrial hometown, which Wiz has dubbed “Pistolvania” – and where, as a teen, he partook in the low-grade weed that locals call “50” – opportunities for advancement are rare. There, the people’s faith in these hard economic times resides primarily in the city’s professional sports teams. But for a multitude of Pittsburghers, Wiz symbolizes a new breed of hope. To his great surprise, when the Make-A-Wish Foundation agreed to grant a local cancer patient a wish, the young recipient asked to meet Wiz.

“I was like, ‘Damn, a kid that’s going through what he’s going through wants to meet me?’” he says. “It’s nothing I seek commendation for, but I went to his house and kicked it with him. He raps and got a chance to spit for me. And I don’t know if he wants it to be out there, but there was some smoking going on around there. I don’t know where that shit was coming from, but it didn’t stop. It was real smoky!”

Despite his success, Wiz still enjoys living in Pittsburgh with his mom, whom he’s been smoking with since he was 16. He admits that she was reluctant to smoke with him until he turned 18, but eventually she caved. “She started seeing the big bags of weed that I had, so she was like, ‘Yeah, you might as well break bread,’” he laughs.

In all seriousness, though, it’s safe to assume that Wiz’s torch will be burning brightly for some time to come.