The post Photo of The Day: DAME DASH by Photographer CHRIS McPHERSON from the RESPECT. Archive appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Photo Credit: NYM LO

While Christmas and the New Years are fast approaching some artists are making sure fans are supplied with heat to keep them going through the celebrations. One in particular named NYM LO, has released a new visual, via Vibe, for his track titled “Speedin”. It’s his cautionary tale of growing up fast in the inner city.

Photo Credit: The Playbook Agency

I wanted the video for Speedin to be gritty and authentic, reflecting the consequences of living too fast when you’re young in the inner-city. When I wrote the song, I took a lot of experiences from my own life, chasing money, chasing girls and some of the reckless decisions I made.

Taking it a step further, NYM LO explained why he took this approach when creating the visual saying, “Speedin happened by accident. The song was one of DZA‘s favorites, and he added it to his most recent project (‘Cuz I Felt Like It Again’). When it came time for the video, I needed it to be raw and semi-autobiographical. That’s why I used my son as the main character.”

NYM LO is preparing his fans for another drop in 2018 as, “Speedin is the first release from my upcoming project “Everything LO,” coming Feb 2018.” He will also appear in the new Damon Dash and Kanye West produced film “Honor Up” hits theaters February 14, 2018.

Follow NYM LO on Instagram and Twitter

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Growing Up Hip Hop’s Boogie Dash & RESPECT Magazine’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson. Photo Credit: Scoop B Radio

Entrepreneur/dj and Growing Up Hip Hop star Boogie Dash chatted with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on Scoop B Radio. Press Play Below To Listen!

Entrepreneur Damon “Boogie” Dash has had success in the entertainment industry. An accomplished EDM dj, he’s the co-founder of Chipz Cookies and Dusko Whiskey and a list of other business ventures.

Dash is also the namesake of his father, Roc-A-Fella co-founder and media mogul, Damon Dash.

Check out Boogie Dash and Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson playing Street Fighter V with Hot 97’s Hiphopgamer.

Boogie has learned a lot from his pops. Checking in on a recent episode of Scoop B Radio, he broke it down. “Well the advantage that I have over a lot of people is that he opened the doors for me,” Dash told me.

“And, he taught me everything he knows. So I’m him plus what I know.”

Boogie Dash and Damon Dash attend the Cinema Society and Entertainment Weekly screening of “The Wrestler” at the Tribeca Grand Screening Room on December 8, 2008 in New York City. Photo Credit: Houston Style Magazine

The younger Dash compared his industry learning curve to a certain current member of the Golden State Warriors. “It’s like Stephen Curry,” he said.

“Yeah, his dad can shoot too, but Stephen Curry can SHOOT! Like he can shoot from anywhere. So I feel the same way. My dad taught me how to be humble and keep my head on my shoulders and to keep fighting and that an L isn’t ever failing. But an L is when you completely stop doing what you’re trying to do.”

Added Boogie: “Nothing happens overnight. That’s a false statement that people should just stop saying because you know, people will do whatever they’re doing for a year straight and then eventually get one out the park. But you know, I have a lot of advantages and I got to see the game hands on.”

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Ironically, the album titled the turning point in the career of then 30-year-old Jay Z.  The Blueprint laid out the direction in which his already legend would become legendary.  The symbolic and iconic masterpiece was a defining moment in the genius of music.  The Blueprint, executively produced by Shawn “Jay Z” Carter, Damon Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, oozes Roc-A-Fella epicness since September 11, 2001 until now.  The album also holds a sadden memory that day, the day of the 9/11 attacks that the world will never forget.  In Hip Hop, the album was the beginning of the end of a trilogy that will go down in the history books of greatest of all time.  The all-in-blue memento was perfectly written and stories were perfectly told.  Producing handles by some of the greats: Kanye West, Just Blaze, Trackmaster, Timbaland, Bink, and Eminem, who also lended a hand as the album’s solo guest contributor on one of the hardest tracks, “Renegade.”  The beat hits so hard as the vocals ring off in your ears and Jigga and Eminem’s bars flow so fluently together.

After hitting you so hard once it would only be appropriate that Jigga came through for the ladies on “Girls, Girls, Girls.”  On the track, Jay Z gets around the globe showing love to every type of woman there is.  He gives us tears with “Song Cry,” behind a hot melody and a brilliant storyline; “They say you can’t turn a bad girl good, but once a good girl’s gone bad, she’s gone forever…” The meaning runs deep, the feeling is real, and the the tone is raw in expression.  “Never Change” forever holds an authenticity that can never be denied, “I’ll never change, this is Jay all day…”

“The Takeover” is timeless and was done effortless in response to the famous beef at that moment in time; “Ask Nas, he don’t want it with Hov, nooo!”  Jay made the statement of all with “The Ruler’s Back” and shows there is no love with “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love)”, later performed with Mary J. Blige.  “U Don’t Know” reigns as the greatest track on The Blueprint, “U don’t know what you do…”  “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” is the album’s anthem, “I can’t leave rap alone, the game needs me…”  The Blueprint is truly a classic, all 13 tracks included plus two bonus tracks, “Breathe Easy (Lyrical Exercise) and “Girls, Girls, Girls (Remix)”  To Hip Hop this spells legendary and the best Hov album in history; not to mention his very own closing remark in the thank you’s:

“To This Whole Fake Bulls**t Industry, Thanx 4 being so Fake and Keeping me on my Toes!!! I Love Ya’ll Holla Back!”

-Jay Z

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The post The Chronicles of Jay Z: Marking the 15th Anniversary of ‘The Blueprint’ appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

“Brooklyn’s Finest,” Jay-Z is one of the greatest rappers of all time. His influence on hip-hop culture and lifestyle is beyond measurable and surely has made history. He made “The Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can,” made striped button-ups and throwbacks a “thing,” had everyone rockin’ platinum jewelry and brushin’ the dirt of their shoulders. Not to mention, Hip-Hop’s most beloved couple wouldn’t exist: Beyonce & Jay-Z. But, if it weren’t for the men who recognized his talent from the beginning, none of that would’ve occurred. With it being the 20th anniversary of Jay-Z’s debut album, Reasonable Doubt, let’s learn more about the men who created Roc-A-Fella Records and history.

The post Dame Dash, Kareem “Biggs” Burke & Jay-Z: The Men Behind Roc-A-Fella Records appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

The music community still mourns the death of Aaliyah almost fifteen years later. And there’s no doubt in our minds how difficult it may be as family, friends, fans to still try come to an understanding as to why she had to leave us so soon, so young. A question that will never be answered is sparked up by gems she has left behind: classic hits such as, “Are You That Somebody,” and “Rock The Boat,” her phenomenal acting roles in Queen of the Damned and Romeo Must Die, and the inspiration she had through the wisdom she shared in various interviews and interactions, leaving everyone to fall in love by her presence. Despite Damon Dash’s relationship with the Princess of R&B being private, many fans were aware of how in love the two were. Damon even revealed the two planned to marry before her death. In a new episode of Family Therapy With Dr. Jenn, Damon Dash expresses how losing Aaliyah has had a huge affect on him.

“Everything that scared me is losing people I love and everyone that I’ve really loved, as it relates to females, I’ve lost. So what it’s made me be, the animal that I am, is that I don’t want to sit down and think about the things that are hurting me.”

Family Therapy With Dr. Jenn isn’t the first time Damon Dash openly admits how heartbreaking it was losing Aaliyah.

“The energy we created together for people to observe was kind of crazy. We’d be in a room full of people talking to each other and it felt like everyone was listening but it would be just us. It would be like we were the only ones in the room,” The music mogul told Billboard in 2011.

“It was like something was going down in history every time I was with her. Every time I was around her I felt it was the place to be. Our time together meant so much that when we got more time, we felt like that [engagement] would be next. She was one of the best people I ever met. Even with the pain I felt I would do it all over again. ”

Make sure to catch Family Therapy With Dr. Jenn on Wednesday, April 13 at 8/7c on VH1.

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The post Almost 15 Years Later: Damon Dash Speaks on Losing Aaliyah appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

This April Fool’s day marks the scheduled release date for Smoke DZA‘s newest compilation, Dream.ZONE.Achieve. Like its title, the album is structured in three acts, each with seven cuts apiece. Of the 21 songs confirmed on the album, one joint is a relic from the past–last spring’s “Ghosts of Dipset.” But this week, two new anthems have emerged on the web to get fans excited for Dream.Zone.Achieve‘s spring unveiling. Yesterday we dropped DZA‘s collaboration with Ab-Soul and DJ Dahi, “Hearses”. Today, we’re blessed with a fresh new video for “City of Dreams,” directed by none other than New York’s own Damon Dash. Check it out below.

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