Ironically, the sound of the times borrows from the fast-paced melodic rapping that his father and his peers made in the 1990s, so not only is it natural for him it is what he ought to sound like today. Like most poets, the long-haired musician talks about what makes him who he is today, teaching himself, his relationship with his father, religion, being bullied in school, daily activities, and more.

Lil Bizzy is part of Elev8tor Music, an independent label run by “Supa” Mario Pizzini and his producer RASHAD. Lil Bizzy released his debut 8-track extended play titled, “SOUL (Son of Uh Legend)” today. The official video for “Bizzy’s In The House” is out now.  Be sure to peep it at the top of the post and feel free to leave us with your thoughts in the comments.  Also, be sure to stream Lil Bizzy’s full EP below.

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The post #MusicMonday: Lil Bizzy – “Bizzy In The House” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

One man who knows all about this is Las Vegas rapper Dizzy Wright. Earlier this year, Wright experienced the fallout of the record label he was signed to, Funk Volume. Overcoming turbulent times, the rapper is now moving on creating his own label Still Movin and doing what he does best, providing us with some dope music. We caught up with Dizzy fresh off the release of his new EP 702.

RESPECT.: You’re constantly turning out music incredibly quickly with your two EPs this year, what was your writing process for the 702 EP?

It was a little more comfortable this time. I’m in a more comfortable space but we’re were just having fun. The turn up music is a little easier to make than the other stuff.

RESPECT.: What’s your favourite track from the EP?

Eastside, because it’s a song about an area, helping you become a man.

RESPECT.: It’s now been some months since the Funk Volume fallout. You’ve had some time away from it, how do you now view everything that happened?

I just view it as a blessing in disguise. I think it was just time for me to move forward and do my own thing and build off of my own momentum.

RESPECT.: What’s your current status record label wise? We saw your post on Instagram about creating your own label Still Movin. Is that completely official now and is that what you are recording music under?

I am eventually going to drop music under my label, yes. That’s definitely going to be official but right now I’m recording music. I’m still working for things for Still Movin and just getting everything on the back end done that I need to get done. But it’s moving and it’s looking like I’m going to be able to do something great.

RESPECT.: What’s the experience been like of setting up a new label? Has it been what you’ve expected it to be? Did you take any lessons learnt from Hopsin as well?

Well I guess I had the biggest lesson still with me, which is with Damien Ritter and I guess, that’s who Hopsin had a falling out with. My relationship is different with Damien and I’ve learnt the business, the record label business when I got off Funk Volume. So I was already familiar with how things were ran and how to accomplish things and how to build momentum. Yeah I’m just being strategic and doing things the right way. I already had a real insight into that with Funk Volume so I’m just going to stick with that knowledge with Still Movin.

RESPECT.: Obviously, right now your priority is with your own music and the label, but in the future what are your thoughts on getting other artists on board? What sort of artists would you want to attract to your label?

All kinds of artists. Not really picking and choosing, just good people that believe in themselves that can make us believe in them. If you can make me a believer and you can make the world a believer, I have the knowledge that I have and I haven’t changed. People believe in me and believe in my word. I want to be a visionary and be able to just give the world good music and positive dope people.

RESPECT.: With the Funk Volume situation, and situations like this, have you ever felt the need to seek out advice from your very famous uncles (Layzie Bone and Flesh-n-Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony)?

That’s a good question. No I haven’t, no one has ever asked me that, but no I don’t reach out to them for advice in these situations. I feel like the game has changed a lot from social media, to being independent and being able to dp music videos so cheap. Back in the day they used to do it way different, put all their money into videos. There was no social media and everything was different. So, I’m kind of like my own little prodigy right now. I just go to the people that are around me, that have gone through this all with me.

RESPECT.: So part of the reason of not going to them was that they would have not experienced something like this in their era of making music?

Yeah…yeah the owner of the label walked away from the label, so most people wouldn’t experience these kind of things.

RESPECT.: Would you ever be open to signing to a major record label or have you now completely ruled that out?

No I haven’t completely turned it out or anything. I mean at this point, if anything, I would like a label deal. I still want my music to reach its full potential. I feel like there’s a lot that I haven’t been able to do with my music. Still to this day I haven’t been on a late night TV show. But that’s kind of like an accomplishment that I want to make happen. It’s small for some people but it’s still something I’m striving for. With the established labels, I feel like those are the sort of things that they bring to the table. I just think that I’m ready for that now. I kind of also don’t want to go just go in as an artist, that wants to accomplish his little thing. I want to also be able to accomplish the bigger picture which is the label. I would love to have a major label to get behind what we have going on with Still Movin and help me turn this into something amazing. But it takes time, but I’m not completely tuning it out.

RESPECT.: We noticed from your social media that you recently visited Flint, looking at the water crisis. What was that experience like?

It was crazy, it was crazy. I really just wanted to know if things had gotten any better since Obama got on TV and talked about how the water was okay to drink if you were above three years old. It was a crazy experience.

RESPECT.: We know you have your track “They Know Why.” For you, how important is it right now for artists and celebrities to throw their weight behind the #BlackLivesMatter movement?

It’s not important to me at all. People can do whatever they want to do. I’m not holding anyone accountable for not being a part of it and the people who do stand up. There’s that saying ‘stand up for something or you’ll fall for anything.’ That’s just how I look at it. But’s it’s like some people will stand up for it but some people are just going to fall for anything. You can’t change that. For me, the right people will stand up and speak and the people who don’t, are maybe the people who wouldn’t have worded things the right way or said it the right way. Everybody has an opinion but some don’t know how to say it in the right way. You can’t hold people account for that. I really don’t care. I just want people to vote and know that this is an important time for this country.

RESPECT.: Who would be your dream collaboration?

Right now, still probably Nas and Damien Marley. Damien on the hook and get a 16 from Nas (laughs), that’s my dream collaboration. Their album that they did together is one of the best pieces of music, art to me. Yeah that’s my dream collaboration.

RESPECT.: Currently with all the rappers who are on the scene, who is the person you want to work with?

Um..I would say Wiz Khalifa and Ty Dolla $ign. Ty Dolla $ign is one of my favorite artists out at the moment right now. I think he’s just super dope. Wiz is killing it. Those would be the ones that are still killing it that I would want to work with that are current.

RESPECT.: Something that’s been dominating currently the headlines is the Taylor Swift and Kanye beef – who’s side are you on?

Oh I’m not even familiar with it (laughs). I know that Kanye said something about her in his album. I thought it was a little odd that he said that but other than that…What Taylor Swift beefing with Kanye West, that doesn’t even sound right (laughs)!

RESPECT.: Kim put Taylor on blast because they had a recording of her approving the lines in “Famous.” The bit about her being a bi**ch, that wasn’t addressed.

So she supposedly agreed to it and now she’s said she didn’t agree to it? Did she agree to him saying something about her in the song? Or did he show her the lyrics, and did she know she was being called a bi**ch? I’m thinking she probably didn’t know she was being called a bi**ch. That just seems retarded that she would allow that. But then again maybe she just overlooked it (laughs)! I don’t know why Kanye would ask her if he could use the lyrics. Either you stand by that or you don’t say it because you know it’s kind of wrong! I don’t know. You got to be that dude. Like Eminem and Mariah Carey, you just got to be that dude. Or you shouldn’t be saying it because you know it’s probably going to rub up that person the wrong way and you care about that person.

RESPECT.: So what’s coming up for you Dizzy?

I’m about to go on tour, a headline tour. I was on tour with Logic but I haven’t had a chance to do any of my own shows this year. So I’m about to go out on tour and then a little later this year, I’ll be dropping a free mixtape with the artist Demrick. We’ll give some more free tracks away for the fans. I’ll just be dropping more visuals and stuff like that. I’m just really gearing up for next year.

Dizzy Wright’s 702 EP is available to stream here and can be purchased on iTunes.

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The post RESPECT. Interview: Dizzy Wright Speaks On Life After Funk Volume, Black Lives Matter and Taylor Vs. Kanye appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Mariah has made many contributions to the music world throughout her music career.  The singer is known for her signature whistle high note, but more importantly: Mariah is known for a good-ole collaboration.  Mimi’s partnership with artist that included singers and rappers has provided her with more than a few chart-topping collaborations that have broken records and made history. Here are a few of Mariah’s classic collaborations.

“Breakdown” featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony: In 1997 Mariah dropped her sixth studio album Butterfly. The album’s fourth single “Breakdown” perfectly explains one’s feelings when a relationship abruptly ends; causing one to have an emotional breakdown. Wish Bone & Krazyie Bone of the rap group Bone Thugs are featured on the song, which was written by Carey and Stevie J. with production from Puffy Daddy and Stevie J. both.

“Heartbreaker” featuring Jay-Z: Carey’s first commercial single to feature a hip-hop artist was assisted by Jay-Z and produced by DJ Clue. Serving as Mariah’s leading single off her 1999, Rainbow album, it also contains a sample of “Attack of the Name Game” by Stacy Lattisaw. Aside from constantly being compared to one of Mariah’s early hit songs, “Heartbreaker (Dessert Storm)” remix featured pals Missy Elliott and Da Brat spitting rhymes over the Snoop Dogg sampled “Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None).” The remix received a video too; just not as theatrical and expensive as the songs original that cost $2.5 million.

“When You Believe” featuring Whitney Houston: Battle of the biggest diva with the biggest voice was laid to rest, when Mariah and Whitney joined vocal forces for “When You Believe” from The Prince of Egypt soundtrack. Written by Stephen Schwartz and produced by Babyface; the ladies went belt for belt on the inspirational tune. The tune went on to win an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 71^st ceremony.

“Honey” featuring The Bad Boy Family: Butterfly’s leading single was compliments of Stevie J., Q-Tip, Puff Daddy along with Mariah. All co-producing and writing the number one (3 weeks) hit song that’s credited as a re-defying moment in her career. The track contains samples from “The Body Rock” by the Treacherous Three, and “Hey DJ” by the World’s Famous Supreme Team. The popular remix features Mase and The Lox handling the intro and outro for the song, which critics called a “genuine transition!” However, the song’s video gained just as much attention with its James Bond theme, that had Mariah held hostage in a mansion before she makes a crafty escape. The video is rumored to mimic Carey’s divorce that took place at that time.

“Fantasy” featuring ODB: Mariah had a beautiful partnership with Puff Daddy when it came to music. In 1995 Puffy turned Daydream’s leading single “Fantasy” into a massive hit. Containing samples of “Genius of Love” from Tom Tom Club’s 1981 song. Mariah Carey and Dave Hall penned the perfect song but it was Wu-Tang Clan’s member Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s assisted verse that helped Carey’s transition into hip-hop. In the song, Mariah maybe fantasizing about an impossible relationship, but in real life the song experienced a new relationship, becoming the second song in Billboard history to debut atop the Hot 100, along with being the first female artist to achieve that. “Fantasy” held the number one spot down for eight consecutive weeks. *Sings “Me and Mariah…”

“One Sweet Day” featuring Boyz II Men: 1995 was really good to Carey. The Daydream album was Mariah’s best-reviewed album, and became her second album to become certified diamond (10 millions records sold.) The album’s success was due to her hit “Fantasy,” but even more her biggest hit to date “One Sweet Day.” It speaks about losing a loved one and hanging on to the thoughts of seeing them again. It features R&B group, Boyz II Men, who wrote the song with Carey and Walter Afanasieff. Released on November 14, 1995 and on December 2. 1995 “One Sweet Day” began its reign in the 58-year history of the Billboard Hot 100. “One Sweet Day” spent 16 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, and is the LONGEST RUNNING NUMBER ONE SONG ON THE CHART EVER! “One Sweet Day” would receive six Grammy nominations, but sadly Carey left empty-handed at the 38^th ceremony. However, the song is ranked as the Best Collaboration of All Time, and will go down in music history.

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The post Check Out Some of Mariah Carey’s Chart-topping Collabo’s appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Do us all a favor and watch this awesome mashup, seriously. Sesame Street is legendary for bringing education into so many homes. So, this mash up was laugh out loud funny. And if you don’t think this is funny, remember when we asked for your opinion? Us either. There is just something about Elmo rapping along to “Tha Crossroads.” The head nodding to the music is just classic stuff. It is a lot like the actual video. The puppets capture the essence of the rappers perfectly. Grover is clearly Bizzy Bone. Elmo is Lazy Bone. Cookie monster is Krayzie Bone. Telly is Wish Bone. Watching this was pure comedy. People born after 1995, could never understand. They even opened the video with Grover standing in the rain. He captures the mood with ease.

Bone-Thugs- N- Harmony was that group back in the day. Remember “First Of The Month”? Let us school you on the legacy of Bone Thugs- N- Harmony. Bone Thugs-N- Harmony was a prolific rap group from Cleveland Ohio in the early 90’s. Eazy E, a former member of rap group NWA, discovered and signed Bone Thugs- N- Harmony. When Eazy-E passed away due to complications with aids, the group wrote and dedicated “Tha Crossroads” to him. It won a Grammy award in 1997. To see Sesame Street characters cover this is nostalgia at its finest.
Music videos were more original in the 90’s. The original video starts off with members of the group paying tribute inside of a church during a funeral. Then, the grim reaper reaches into the casket and pulls out a soul from the casket. The rappers rap inside of a cathedral after their friend is shot down. There are visions and re-occurring themes of God and the grim reaper throughout the video. At the end of the video, the grim reaper leads all the souls he took to the almighty kingdom to sit with God.

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The post Watch Sesame Street Cover Bone Thugs -N- Harmony’s ‘Tha Crossroads’ appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Those who follow sports know that tonight is Game 1 of the NBA Finals, between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Getting the momentum rolling early for his home team, Machine Gun Kelly rounds up Yo Gotti, French Montana, Ray Cash and the legendary Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for “Till I Die Part II”. Peep the video above, and if your team is playing tonight make sure this is on full blast.

Peace to WSHH.

The post Machine Gun Kelly featuring Yo Gotti, French Montana, Ray Cash & Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – “Til I Die Part II” (Video) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Song Link: http://soundcloud.com/ddotomen/ddotomen-com-the-game-feat

The post THE GAME FT. BONE THUGS N HARMONY – “CELEBRATION (REMIX)” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

It is here! For those whose tastes in hip-hop vary from HOT 97’s annual Summer Jam, Rock The Bells is here to rescue you. This year’s festivities expanded to two days and are scheduled to visit four major North American cities — San Bernardino, CA (Aug. 18 + 19), Mountain View, CA (Aug. 25 + 26), Holmdel, NJ (Sep. 1 + 2) and Miami, FL (December).

(Note: The dates for the New Jersey show fall on the same day as Jay-Z’s “Made In America.” So, I guess flip a coin or something.)

A$AP Rocky, Mac Miller and 2 Chainz will appear on the lineup in select cities. Even more important, though, is the reunion of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and the scheduled performance of the elusive Missy Elliott with Timbaland.

J. Cole, Nas, Lupe Fiasco, Ice Cube, Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi, Method Man, Redman, Immortal Technique (as always), Naughty By Nature, Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane and Murs are just SOME of the names that are going to tear down every possible stage. The freestyling champ, Supernatural, will host the gig (as he has down plenty of times in the past) along with RZA.

For tickets and more information, check out the festival’s site right here.

The post Rock The Bells 2012 Lineup Announced (Kid Cudi, Nas, Wiz Khalifa, & Everyone in Between) appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.