Heeee’s Back!
I live my friend Theophilus London‘s life vicariously through the internets. Sometimes he’s hanging in Paris with Kanye at Virgil Abloh’s Pyrex x Colette Pop-up. Then he’s Karl Lagerfeld’s special guest at the Chanel runway show (dressed in a 3/4 length green python tweed Chanel jacket, of course). And there’s late night cabarets with vapid models and funky old rich dudes… Or studio sessions with the faces of the cool cartels, like Solange Knowles, Matthew Williams, Aaron Bondaroff et al. But don’t let the felt hats and photo shoots fool you, Theo keeps his humor and his friendliness at all times, and he’s got new music cooking to boot!

Theophilus has been living in Paris (and working on his français), recording a follow up to Lover’s Holiday and Timez Are Weird These Days. And he’s already teamed up with lots of diverse talents, everyone from electro producers like Club Cheval, Brodinski, and Gesaffelstein…to Afro-soul artists like Thomas Brenneck of The Menahan Street Band and Budos Band.

In the meantime though….
Theo blessed us with a remix of Rihanna’s “Jump” that he did with Club Cheval that we love!
Listen to the exclusive…After the jump!
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Teacher and student connect on “The Movie Life,” the new collaboration between Wu Gambino Raekwon and his Ice H20 Records signee, Ceazar. The track opens with a typically tough verse from The Chef, who then makes way for his Staten Island understudy to unleash his own lethal lyrics over the muffled yet majestic instrumental. “The Movie Life” serves as an early sample of Ceazar’s DJ Whoo Kid-hosted mixtape, Render The Throne, dropping Mar. 6. Rae is expected to release his sixth solo LP, F.I.L.A., later this year, too.

Listen to “The Movie Life” after the jump…

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(Pusha T talks about French Montana’s oddly endearing off-beat “wave”)

Miss Info: Yesterday we gave you the trailer for Pusha T and Rick Ross’ upcoming “Millions” video…along with an interview clip of Pusha sharing the true crime inspiration behind the song’s hook.
But this Monday (Jan.28, 2013), Pusha T releases his latest mixtape, The Wrath of Caine. And just like when we teamed up with Pusha for the listening party for his 2011 Fear of God mixtape , Pusha sat down with me at the Capsule menswear trade show to give you guys an exclusive preview of his new heat….

Pusha T and Miss Info preview Push’s favorite songs off the new mixtape:
“It Doesn’t Matter” Feat. French Montana (Prod. by Harry Fraud)
“Only You Can Tell It” Feat. Wale (Prod. by Kanye West…maybe; )

Watch the video, after the jump…
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Miss Info: It’s practically a tradition, catching up with Pusha T at the Capsule menswear trade show to check out the next season’s best ‘fits. We chatted about fancy sweatpants and men’s skirts, which we will post soon.But more importantly Push played us the goodies off his Wrath of Caine mixtape, dropping this Monday!

We kick off the Wrath of Caine festivities with the dramatic trailer of Pusha and Rick Ross’ new “Millions” video…
Plus, Pusha talks about the song’s theme….drug dealer stash spots, of course!

Watch Pusha T x Rick Ross “Millions” Trailer…
And Pusha and Miss Info…
After the jump….

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Vado is back and now a free agent. After gracefully leaving Interscope Records, the Harlemnite rings in 2013 with the third installment of his Slime Flu series. The 17-track mixtape includes contributions from araabMUZIK, Fred The Godson, Jae Millz, Gunplay, Chinx Drugz, and J.R. Writer.

Miss Info: Rumor Mill #Exclusive
So, I’ve been closely following the latest developments of our Harlem prodigy, young Vado….especially since we’ve been covering his career from when he first came on the scene with Cam. And it looks like there are some heavyweights all vying to sign Vado to various camps. Recently, Vado tweeted and deleted a subliminal about joining DJ Khaled’s We The Best team down in South Beach, and our sources say, Khaled is still the front runner. But I’ve also heard that Drake has been looking at Vado to possibly join his new imprint at Warner Brothers, and T.I. has been in talks with Team Vado as well. Out of all three options, I think Khaled has a great track record for commitment (um…Ace Hood has how many albums already?) while Drake and 40 would bring the most diversity musically.

But whatever happens, Vado is getting a precious second chance. Good for him.

Stream and download Vado’s Slime Flu 3, after the jump…..

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(DJ Cassidy, Nas and Miss Info)

This past Tuesday night Nas and Hennessy kicked off their latest Wild Rabbit campaign in NYC. As you know, Miss Info hosted an exclusive Q & A session and concert which was live streamed on Hennessy’s official Facebook page. But, there was also a private session that wasn’t broadcasted on the ‘Net. Don’t worry, though, we have you covered with the highlights. One of the best moments came when Info and Nas looked back his fashion evolution. After talking about how giving most of his jewelery over the years to friends and family, he then reminisced on his love for the original Bailey shoes from the 80s, and desperately begged for some retro releases. Jordan style.  Before things wrapped, Nas broke down the science behind the Frank Lucas style minks worn in his “Hate Me Now” video. Esco revealed that it wasn’t Diddy’s influence as most people thought.

“I caught a lot of heat for that [hat],” Nas said. “People were mistaking that for Puffy style, but he came to me like ‘This is what you’re doing now. I see it. I know you gonna do the mink.’

“We were going back and forth on the things we saw growing up as New Yorkers, African Americans, watching the older guys doing it. So when we wore it in the video, people didn’t get it. They thought it was over the top, and it was, but it was a style that we were representing that we grew up watching, and adored.”

Watch the clip after the jump…

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Life is only getting better for Nas. The Queensbridge MC just inked a deal with Hennessy for their second annual “Wild Rabbit” campaign. The campaign will see Mr. Jones perform at a private concert at New York’s R Lounge on Jan. 15—an event which will be broadcasted online through Livestream, and later made available to download on Hennessy’s Facebook page. But before that, Nas and Miss Info will be sitting down to talk about the new partnership and much more. Fans will also have the opportunity to connect with Nas before the show during a live Q&A session on Twitter. It all goes down at 9:15 ET via Livestream on Hennessy’s FACEBOOK Page. We’ll have the stream link here for you tonight a well.

This partnership with Hennessy has been almost two decades in the making. I am honored to be included in the group of previous partners Hennessy has selected over the years and hope this campaign will inspire others to ‘never stop, never settle.–Nas

Watch one of last year’s “Wild Rabbit” TV spots starring Manny Pacquiao after the jump…

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Miss Info: 2012 was notable for the way we vicariously experienced the bleak numbness of Chicago’s GBE gang babies, and the way our idea of what guys can and can’t wear changed via Harlem’s ASAP dandies, and the reinvented sound of the Compton Boyz in the Hood…but in addition to those stories, there were others brewing, biding their time.
In 2013, those crews will make their move. Bodega Bamz and the Tan Boyz will add their chapter to the Nuyorican tradition of The Beatnuts and Terror Squad etc. And Phony Ppl, an eclectic crew of kids from Brooklyn, will convert fans by making instruments as vital to their act as lyrics. We’ve seen how fast image and a hook can blow up a “star,” but you gotta think that after the buzz, studying the craft is the only thing that will sustain you, right?
After seeing Phony Ppl perform as a collective, and getting raves from Plain Pat and Theophilus London etc, I can’t wait to see what they do next! The crew is already repped by agent Cara Lewis (Kanye West), and will be joining The Roots and Erykah Badu on tour this spring.

Check out Phony Ppl’s new video “Statues”, and stream their full album Nothing Special ….
And tell me what you think…
After the jump
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(Wiz Talks About Working With Cam’ron at his NYC Listening)

On Monday night, Atlantic and the Rostrum Records fam held a private listening for Wiz Khalifa’s upcoming album, O.N.I.F.C. At the antique strip club turned hipster hangout, Westway, Wiz and the Taylor Gang rolled up countless joints with the new music substituting for candy and other munchies to the red-eyed attendees. Catching a contact was unavoidable in the tight venue. But Wiz’s stripped down LP was definitely sobering in the hazy room. In a good way. I think with everyone’s ears so eager and ready to auto-compare the LP to its predecessor Rolling Papers, there was a real thirst to hone in and listen close. And I can thankfully say Wiz successfully regained control of his ship. This is the album for the Taylors. Sure, he revisits familiar themes like his love for high-end greenery and ambition to just ball out, but sonically he provides the jams his rowdy followers craved on his Atlantic debut. There may be a R&B hook, or two, but it’s never a stretch on O.N.I.F.C. Even on his Pharrell collabo, he does the duty of bringing P to his world (and it was more than than the weed). He really let the music and vibe of each song take control. Check out what he had to say about working with one of his biggest influences.

“This song is awesome cause its a super f*ckin’ dream come true for me. If anybody doesn’t know, I f*ckin’ love Cam’ron. That n*gga had so a influence on me, my style. And I never even thought I would ever get to meet him, let alone do a song with him. So it’s like Snoop, Cam, Juicy J, and anybody from Wu-Tang, they was like all my niggas man.. and Bone! They all got the same place in my heart. So me doing this song with Cam was really big.”

Check out more footage of Wiz talking about Pharrell and more after the jump…

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Heems, 1/3 of NYC based hip-hop group Das Racist is back with his second solo mixtape, Wild Water Kingdom. This past January Heems caught the attention of “alternative rap” listeners with his solo debut,  Nehru Jackets, which was produced entirely by his Stuyvesant High School friend, Mike Finito (WWK includes beats by Harry Fraud and others). If you aren’t familiar with Das Racist, the diverse crew combines toilet humor, New York centric swag, off kilter production and of course some real hip-hop into their music. If you’re growing tired of the same 4 rappers on new remixes everyday, give this a shot. One of our favorite cuts from the mixtape is the Childish Gambino-assisted, “Tell Me.”

Download and stream the full mixtape after the jump…

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