DJ Grain Ear to the Streets Weekly Hip Hop News Wrap Up - March 21st 2009

What it do, people? Ya boy Grain is back yet again with another week of Hip Hop news.

Kid Cudi has called off his retirement. Last week Cudi said he was hanging up the mic to focus on his acting career. Man, he hasn't even dropped his first album yet!!!

Memphis Bleek has officially left Roc-A-Fella Records. He said that Jay gave everybody an opportunity when it came to rhyming. Bleek said that he saw the breakup of the label coming. Also, he stated that money changes folks and it definitely strained the relationship between him and Dame Dash.

Kanye West and his manager have been charged with misdemeanor battery, grand theft, and vandalism. If convicted, they could each face up to 2 1/2 years in jail.

Rap beef is going to far these days. People are starting to go after folks' mothers, children, baby mamas; enough is enough. Man, this stuff is getting wild!!!

We have a little audio from Rhymefest about his feelings on Hip Hop, Charles Hamilton and life in general (peep the clip below).

Until next week folks,
Grain.

DJ Grain Ear to the Streets Weekly Hip Hop News Wrap Up - Feb 28th 2009

What it do, folks? I'm back again with another weekly wrap up.

Twista has just signed with EMI/Capitol after a brief stint with Koch Records. He is also hard at work on a new album entitled "Category F5" which is set to be released this June.

Russell Simmons has been ordered to pay US$480,000 a year to ex-wife Kimora Lee. That is messed up - she is pregnant again by another man!

Universal wants to shelf Lil' Wayne's rock n roll album "Rebirth". The execs at the label are cautious of the album after the first single Prom Queen only reached #15 on the U.S. Billboards Hot 100 chart.

DJ Khaled is now the president of Def Jam South, taking over for Scarface.

Cam'Ron has spoken to Jim Jones. For those of y'all that don't know, Cam has been M.I.A. for some years. Freaky Zeekey setup the situation because he felt that two friends should not dissolve a friendship over petty stuff.

Until next week...

DJ Grain.

DJ Grain Ear to the Streets Weekly Hip Hop News Wrap Up - January 31st 2009

2009 has been off to a great start so far. All this beef has to end, there is so much right now you could stock McDonald's for five years. Everybody around the world has been suffering from the bad economic times and even folks in the music industry have been hit hard by the scams and scandals.

DMX has been sentenced to 90 Days in an Arizona jail. He received the sentence as a result of his long list of convictions that include theft, drug possession and cruelty to animals.

50 Cent has released a Rick Ross diss track after Rick dissed him on a track untitled "Mafia Music". I will keep you all tuned into any updates on this situation.

Violator's own Chris Lighty was a victim in Bernie Madoff's $50 billion Ponzi scheme. Up to now, there have even been rumors that said that 50 Cent, one of his clients had lost millions to Madoff. Nothing has been confirmed so I will leave that as a rumour. Lighty would not elaborate on any details of his dealing with Madoff.

Upcoming rapper Charles Hamilton has been going at a lot of rappers as of late. He went at label mate Soulja Boy, Serius Jones, and more recently Rhymefest. Rhymefest struck back hard with the track 'SuperSonic' and well, you all need to do is listen to it. Why he is attacking all these rappers, nobody knows.

Well, 'til next week...take care and I got more news next week.

Peace,

Grain.

DJ Grain Ear to the Streets Weekly Hip Hop News Wrap Up - January 24th 2009

In the world of Hip Hop, this had been another wild week. To top it all off, Phonte (of Little Brother) let loose on Kanye West, letting his feelings about Yeezy's latest album and the autotune madness. Barack Obama has now officially been confirmed as the President of the United States.

Just Blaze had to mediate to severe beef between Joe Budden and Saigon before things got physical or violent.

Phonte has called Kanye West a coward for his latest album. All that autotune ish did not impress Phonte, who said that '808s & Heartbreak' was garbage and if he really had talent he would have used his real voice.

Former Bad Boy rapper Mark Curry has broken his silence of Puff's crazy business tactics. In some cases, Diddy would charge his own artists to appear on their songs and in their videos. The worst thing was that Diddy would insist his artists have his Bentley in all their videos, then charge them and write off his car as a tax credit for business purposes.

J-Dilla's family unfortunately is not getting anything from the sale of his beats. His money is tied up in medical bills and IRS debt that his estate still owes. In this case, it is very bad because his mom, who now has lupus, is not getting anything and also his daughters are not getting a dime from his estate.

'Til next week y'all, take care and stay tuned for more news.

Peace,

Grain

DJ Grain Ear to the Streets Weekly Hip Hop News Wrap Up - January 17th 2009

This week was another wild and crazy week in the world of Hip Hop. 2009 has been great thus far - I just hope it continues to be great. Here are some of the happenings this past week:

The auction of Death Row Records has now concluded. It was auctioned off for $18 million, $7 million lower than the previously highest bid. The Canadian based company called Wide Awake Holdings now owns the master recordings from Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and other Death Row members, as well as various memorabilia from the label.

Slim Thug has now signed with Koch Records, officially ending his deal with Geffen/Star Trak.

Lil Wayne was on ESPN earlier this week with Skip Bayless. Suprisingly, he did very well and he had a thorough knowledge of college football. I'll admit I was impressed. Shouts to Wayne.

Barack Obama, the first African American President of the USA, will be officially taking office on Jan. 20th. Over 2 million folks are going to be in DC for the inauguration and conformation of his election as the 44th President of the United States of America.

T.I. is coming out with a new docu-series called the Road to Redemption: 45 Days to Go. The show will focus on T.I. showing teenagers across the country the mistakes he has made and the lessons he learned from making those mistakes.

Next week I have some sad news about J-Dilla's estate and rumors about DJ Drama having some problems at the premiere of Notorious in the ATL.

Y'all be safe and take care.

Grain.

DJ Grain Ear to the Streets Weekly Hip Hop News Wrap Up - Dec 27th 2008

What up, folks?

Here is my last 'Ear To The Streets' report for 2008 on The Edutainment Hip Hop show.

2008 was a great year and there were many ups and downs. I was able to link up with folks around the world through this music stuff. In 2009, expect many projects from The Movement Fam and several mixtapes from DJ Grain. The artists to look out for in 2009 are Drake, Mickey Factz, Che Grand, Tanya Morgan, and many, many others. This should be an interesting year. I hope everyone had a great new year and are geared up for an even greater 2009.

Peace,

DJ Grain.

PS. I jacked the dope image from Aggregate Dope's blog. Check him out. Oh and I'm taking a break for the first show back on January 3rd, but I'll be in effect the following week, folks.

Check out the audio from my report on Dec 27th 2008:

Also, Cee dropped in for a quick chat with BT, so check the audio for that too: