By: Lil Richye

Rapper and author Lil Richye has returned with the visual for his hit single “I Want The Bag“.  At just age 15-years-old, the Charlotte, NC native is already a performance veteran with over a decade of experience under his belt, having been an entertainer since the age of 3. As an artist, songwriter, entertainer, author, influencer and fashion trendsetter, he has taking his level of creativity to new heights.

Produced by mega hit producer Zaytoven, this release is his biggest and best to date. Being heavily rooted in church and singing in the choir, he and the hit maker connect on many levels outside of rap music. In January of 2019, Lil Richye starred in Lifetime’s The Rap Game hosted by Jermaine Dupri, who dubbed his little brother’s PB3 collective as “the next Kris Kross” when they met. This experience led to him working with Zatytoven, and the rest is history.

On this video you will see the North Carolina native hard at work. One moment he is cutting hair in the barbershop, and the next he is washing the tires on a Mercedes Benz. As he goes hard in the booth to prove his worth and determination to make it big, he links up with Zaytoven and they prepare to take the music world by storm.With authentic storytelling and raw swagger, he draws musical influence from Tupac, Slick Rick and KRS ONE, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar. Lil Richye is on his way to becoming the hottest millennial rapper in the game.

Be sure to press play below to stream his newest visual “I Want The Bag” produces by Zaytoven.

The post Lil Richye & Zaytoven Link Up For The “I Want The Bag” Video appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

The Legends Fest: Hip Hop Edition

Hip-hop legend Scarface will be joined by some of hip-hop’s most honorable artists from the 80s and 90s, including KRS-One, MC Lyte, Roxanne Shante, and DJ Quik.

Chicago’s own, Twista, known for his chopper-style of rapping and chart-topping hits, performs in his hometown alongside hip-hop icons to cover fan-favorites and take concert-goers on a trip down memory lane.

Performances by the reigning queens of hip-hop, Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte, and Shawnna, will shut down the building with their legendary hits for the real hip hop lovers.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi_SbrsjCMZ/?hl=en&taken-by=mclyte

About The Legends Fest:

The Legends Fest is an annual event that honors music’s greatest icons. Past headliners include Busta Rhymes, Brandy, Monica, G-Unit, Da Brat, and many more.

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The post Scarface, KRS-One, MC Lyte and More are Headed to Chicago for the 2018 Legends Fest: Hip Hop Edition appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Photo Credit: @Richhomiequan

Rich Homie Quan‘s latest project Back To The Basics is here. RHQ’s major debut is taking a while to drop but he’s still making music to keep you dancing.

The new Motown Records signee released the new set on Friday after teasing fans with tracks like “Replay,” “Da Streetz,” “Heart Cold,” and “Word Of Mouth,” and the streets are loving it.

Rich Homie Quan/ Twitter

Aptly named, Rich Homie takes it back to square one on the 11-track set with a blend of party music and vivid storytelling which first got the blogosphere buzzing about him in 2013.

This time around, Rich Homie mixes it up and keeps his audience entertained with creative aesthetics. The project title as well as Rich Homie’s look in the visual to “Da Streetz” points to influences from Jamaican dancehall artist, Beenie Man.

And if you listen closely to his delivery on the hook you’ll hear inflections of dancehall reggae as well.

I ain’t know nothing ’bout no drink until the age of 13 I ain’t know nothing’bout no money ’til the age of 14

Do you notice it in the video below?

Though it’s something new coming from Rich Homie, it’s not new to hip-hop.

The trend of hip-hop artists employing dancehall reggae music in their body of work was showcased in the 80s and 90s by various hip-hop artists including KRS-One, and A Tribe Called Quest.

In the last two years, there’s been a resurgence of reggae music in hip-hop with both old-school and new-school artists like Jada Kiss, Tory Lanez, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar.

So it wouldn’t hurt for RHQ to dabble in it a bit. Fans are quite thrilled to have him back either way while they wait for his studio album to drop.

Back To The Basics is all RHQ save one guest appearance from Jamaican-American artist, Cyko. Stream the new project on Spotify and view the Back To The Basics visual below.

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The post Rich Homie Quan Gets ‘Back To The Basics’ appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Ghostwriting has been around since the genesis of recorded music. The precedent was set early on that the art of making music was not to be a singular act. In order to record a song professionally a lot of moving parts have to be in place working cohesively. In every genre of music besides rap, ghostwriting is accepted as the norm. Perhaps it’s because in every other genre the voice is the main component for an artist,  while in rap it’s your lyrical ability that makes you an emcee. Although the rap community has  historically looked down on ghostwriters, many ghostwriters have still been utilized. It seems like ghostwriters are used more as insurance for record companies. As a record company, if you put millions of dollars into an artist you want to make sure you receive a vast return on your investment. The ghostwriter is most likely there so the artist has a better chance of crafting a hit record. Although fans of rap always want to know that an artist’s perspective is coming directly from him, the truth of the matter is this is the music BUSINESS. These artists can’t just come from the heart, they have investors and corporate executives to answer to.

Record companies are not the only ones at fault for the usage of ghostwriters. For many artists, having a writing partner may be a part of their creative process. I imagine Drake‘s situation is that  he always likes to have a writing partner that he can bounce ideas off of. Does that make him less of a credible emcee? Do we really expect our favorite rappers to write everything they recite? The answer is yes. We want you to write every piece of lyric that comes out of your mouth. If you had help we do not want to know about it.

In all seriousness, every artist needs inspiration. It would be unfair for fans to hold such extremely high expectations. I propose we look at ghostwriting in a few different ways.

Collaboration: When two artists work together to pen the lyrics of a song or album.

Writing Consultancy: When one artist writes the lyrics but receives inspiration, ideas, and advisory from another party/parties.

Ghostwriting: When an artist writes basically the entirety of the lyrics and another artist just performs and adds their charisma to it.

Going by this format, Quentin Miller would be considered Drake’s collaborator or writing partner. This means that Quentin Miller should receive the same praise and recognition as drake because it seems like they created Drake’s music together. If it’s truly a collaborative effort, rap artists should just be transparent. We’re more likely to respect an artist that admits to having a writing partner then one that denies it. A writing consultant is what I imagine the majority of rappers have. Artists do require assistance and inspiration, so an advisor would come in clutch during the song making process.

I define ghostwriting as when a person completely writes every lyric for a rapper. If that occurs, that rapper is not an emcee.

PEACE!

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The post Rap talk: Ghostwriting Defined appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

2016  marks the first day of the 40th year that we highlight the history and countless number of African-American achievements that have helped to make our nation what it is today through the observance of Black History Month. I have been going through a lot of songs and videos that may give us food for thought, inspire us and reflect what this month should ideally be about…obtaining knowledge of self  and remembering that Black History is World History… It’s also something that occurs everyday, not just limited to the Month of February…

Remember when historian/ scholar Carter G Woodson established the second week in February Negro History Week in 1926,  it was done with the intent of acknowledging the birthday of Fredrick Douglass and providing us with a vehicle to push for Black History to be a foundation to American History…

Negro History Week grew over the years and in 1969 Black students at kent State expanded the week long celebration to a Black History month.. Several years later in 1976, President Gerald Ford acknowledged Black History Month..

Over the years lots of artists have stepped to the plate and delivered timeless songs that uplifted our history… I gathered a few for us to peep and reflect on.. Some of this is a mixture of the past and present.. enjoy..

You Must Learn by KRS-One

This is one of my favorites… it was dropped by KRS during what many considered the Golden Era of Hip Hop.. There were two different versions of this song. One used the break beat Supersporm by Captain Sky, the other  depicted in this video uses the popular break ‘Get Up and Dance‘ from Farther Than Imagination

Acknowledge Your History by the Jungle Brothers

This was always a favorite from the Jungle Brothers.. It’s off the album Forces of Nature.. I wish they had done a video because the song is dope.. Also coming out of Hip Hop’s Golden Era..

We Wear the Crown by Gary Byrd & Stevie Wonder

Byrd when he released this song, teams up with Stevie Wonder in 1983 and does a stellar Black History song.. The pairing represented a break in ‘elders supporting rap/Hip Hop when so many at that time were highly critical and against it.. They saw Hip Hop as an embarassing throwback.. Byrd and Wonder saw things a bit differently..They saw the potential ion Hip Hop and wanted to help lead the way…

Freedom Rap by Queen Latifah, Yo-Yo, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes (of TLC), MC Lyte, Patra, Nefertiti, Da 5 Footaz Salt-N-Pepa, Meshell Ndegeocello

Many people have overlooked or don’t even know this about this song. It was done for a hard to find sound track for 1995 movie Panther..That album had a quite a few songs, but this was a standout in terms of the allstar cast of female emcees and singers who were at the top of the field going for it.. This song will forever be a treasure

Proud to Be Black & Black History Rap by Run DMC

I’m going back to back with Run DMC.. This song is off the landmark album Raising Hell and it speaks for itself.. damn near every song off that album was a banger especially at that time.. and this song hit the mark..Rap was still making its way into the mainstream and it was good to see Run DMC do this song in prominent spaces.. during the mid 80s…

The second song, Black History is a rare and hard to find song that was given away for FREE back in like 1984 and proceeds the Raising Hell lp…The Black Cultural Workshop (BCW) put the actual video together for the song

The post #Respect Celebrates #BlackHistoryMonth with “Timeless” Hip-Hop Classics appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Billy Danze (M.O.P.) is arguably rocking with some of the hottest up-and-coming and lasting emcees on his We Build Hits roster; state to state and out of the country. We Build Hits artists are setting it off properly with the legendary Dj DooWop on this eight minute old school hip-hop excursion. Short introductions to each verse emulating the Ruff Ryders’ 2000 classic “WW3” was a good twist here, as we can all reflect how much we loved that record.

One thing we can all admire about Billy Danze‘s movement here is the artistic freedom in which he allows each artist to obtain and work with. In a more recent interview with Dread Solo he specifically noted the freedom aspect and how important that was to him, and the artists.

Getting into description on each artists verse is unnecessary, as the track speaks on its own. Nonetheless, Los Angeles’ Reign Major sets it off over BDP‘s “The Bridge is Over“, jumping into Tona‘s verse which canvases Black Moon’s 1993 classic “How Many MC’S”. By this point if you are not convinced, or sold, on We Build Hits as a movement, you may consider re-evaluating your standards. Philadelphia’s promising emcee Lucci Loner closes out over Pete Rock‘s “T.R.O.Y.”. Be sure to keep up with each artist on an individual basis, as they are all making pretty major moves separately as well as a collective with Billy Danze’s blueprint in effect.

Reign Major | Tona | Money Mark | Demorne Warren (D-Dub) | Eyeznpowa | Ronve | Caktuz | Lucci Loner

The post New Music: Dj DooWop & We Build Hits Freestyle appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

When rappers try write songs like Oddisee‘s “Own Appeal,” it normally ends with something preachy, corny. Here, though, the Mello Music Group rapper/producer handles topics vague (life directions) and definite (women and money) with wise ease. He begins the third verse promoting deep thought and denouncing drugs but in a way that the current-day KRS-ONE could take notes from, he does it with an airy, casual vibe, so it doesn’t feel preachy, it just feels wise.

“I got a hunger for knowledge and I miss no meals /
I stay high off life and I miss no pills /
I’m addicted to thrill of walking along the edge /
Not knowing what lays ahead but always knowing the deal”

Pre-order Oddisee‘s upcoming Tangible Dream here.

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