After a very long two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual Roots Picnic curated by festival co-founders Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is back and better than ever. This past weekend, The Mann in Philadelphia was filled with beautiful Black people, Black music, Black excellence – a powerful representation in […]
After a very long two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual Roots Picnic curated by festival co-founders Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is back and better than ever. This past weekend, The Mann in Philadelphia was filled with beautiful Black people, Black music, Black excellence – a powerful representation in […]
Heroes come and go….. but “LEGENDS ARE FOREVER“! Ahead of the upcoming concept album “IRON BARS”, Justin Tyme drops a new single featuring The Game & Musiq Soulchild produced by Astronote. The concept of the album is uniting “THE BEST KEPT SECRET” dedicated to forge a masterpiece based on the essence of rap with high-level bars and dope beats straight out of Europe.
Lovers and R&B aficionados will no longer have to hold their breath as it has been confirmed that veteran singers Musiq Soulchild and Anthony Hamilton will face off in a Valentine’s Day VERZUZ battle.
Slated to take place in Hollywood, California, VERZUZ confirmed the face-off yesterday(January 31) in a press release, saying, “Gearing up for love day, VERZUZ—the streaming series launched by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland—reveals the details for its first-ever Valentine’s Day Special,” the press release reads. “Two of R&B’s most notorious crooners GRAMMY® Award winner Anthony Hamilton and GRAMMY® Award nominee Musiq Soulchild square off live from Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday, February 15, 2022.”
It is officially the week of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament. The CIAA is the first African-American athletic conference in the nation and in celebration of the 75th anniversary of its basketball tournament, the conference has stacked a promising lineup of recording artists for entertainment.
The live stage at the two-day CIAA Toyota Fan Fest is headlined by Mr. “I Wish” Carl Thomas and SWV. Inside the arena, Musiq Soulchild will be ready to perform all his love ballads while lyrical powerhouse and North Carolina’s own Rapsody will hit the stage during the tournament inside the Spectrum Center.
Also on stage will be Layton Greene at the Toyota Fan Fest, kicking off the huge shows that will go down at the Charlotte Convention Center. Greene’s career took off when her “Roll in Peace Remix” exploded across the Internet and garnered over three and a half million plays shotting her up the Billboard Hot R&B Songs Chart.
Also on tap for the tournament is Brooklyn Queen who will headline Lowe’s Super Saturday morning event at the Toyota Fan Fest on Saturday Morning at 11 a.m. The 14-year-old rising star is running up the numbers on her YouTube channel after the success of her “Keke Taught Me” single in 2017.
Joining Thomas and SWV on the Fan Fest stage Saturday afternoon will be gamer turned rapper Krypto9095. You may have caught him on TikTok after racking up two billion views for his single “WOAH.” If that’s not enough to keep tabs on the young star, how about an additional 50 million views on Youtube and 25 million Spotify streams? Crazy, right? He will be on at 3:00 pm with Thomas and SWV hitting the stage at 7:00 p.m.
The championship games will not only feature Musiq Soulchild and Rapsody but also Avant. You can catch Musiq at halftime of the women’s basketball championship game that will tip-off at 1:00 pm. Rapsody will have halftime of the 4:30 pm men’s battle. Avant will appear at halftime of the Friday, February 28 game that starts at 9:00 pm.
Tickets are required for entry into the Spectrum Center and can be purchased at the Spectrum Center box office and Ticketmaster. Other in-arena entertainment will come from DJ Shogun, Mike Phillips, LeVelle, Yvette Simore, and DJ Tramare.
In addition to the musical lineup, the free Toyota Fan Fest features interactive sponsor activations, dancing, cheerleading competitions, sponsor activations and giveaways and other family-friendly entertainment events as part of the CIAA Tournament Week.
Additional events in the Fan Fest include a High School Band Competition, a Cheerleading competition, a step show and the crowning of Miss CIAA presented by Food Lion.
The tournament will be a 22-game set that will begin in Bojangles Coliseum on February, 25 and wrap up with the championship finals at the Spectrum Center on Saturday, February 29.
Back in February, Ambrosia For Heads premiered Smif-n-Wessun’s “Ocean Drive” as a part of the Boot Camp Clik duo’s latest album, The All. As Heads would later learn, the Duck Down Music release was one of SnW’s best works to date. Now the Brooklyn, New Yorkers are treating fans to the visual version of the Rapsody and Musiq Soulchild-assisted cut. The video is pretty on the nose, but composed of some beautiful shots of Tek, General Steele and Musiq pushing a drop-top white BMW down the famed South Beach, Miami drag. With an LP released during a frigid winter in New York and other northern places, this is just the right kind of vibe for the beginning of swimming pool and beach season. Smif-N-Wessun Discuss Giving 25 Years Of Their All To Hip-Hop (Video) Although Rapsody and her verse are not in the video, but it takes nothing away from the track’s conceptual escape to beautiful weather and luxury living. The mood is largely made possible by a feel-good beat courtesy of The Soul Council’s Khrysis. Toward the end, the trio is stopped by law enforcement who are star struck once they find out who they have been stopped. Even as 25-year Rap O.G.’s, Smoke and Steele are not above everyday problems facing all too many. However, once everything checks out, the Brooklyn duo and Philadelphia singer pull off into the sunset. The All was released in February and features appearances from Rick Ross and Raekwon outside of those on “Ocean Drive.” It is entirely produced by 9th Wonder and The Soul Council. Outside of its streaming availability, Duck Down Records is offering “The All” bundle packs consisting of The All digital LP, vinyl, CD, hoodie, T-shirt, beanie, sticker pack and Smif-n-Wessun & Champion Sound Live From Prague digi-album.
In the mid-1990s, Smif-N-Wessun burst onto the scene brandishing two barrels locked-and-loaded with raw Rap talent. Following a breakthrough appearance on Black Moon’s seminal Enta Da Stage, the skills of Tek and Steele shimmered on their 1995 debut, Dah Shinin’. Da Beatminerz-produced album balanced vigor, street-smarts, and just the right amount of Brooklyn Soul for a display that cemented the Boot Camp Clik as a force to be reckoned with. Twenty-five years later, General Steele and Tek are still standing strong, with the stars and bars of a decorated career. The pair just released their sixth album, The All. Like their first LP, this body of work pairs the MCs with a respected production team: 9th Wonder & The Soul Council. Moreover, the 12-song effort showcases maturity and vulnerability, all while adhering to their unique brand of Hip-Hop. Featuring Raekwon, Rick Ross, and Rapsody, among others, the Bucktown USA/Duck Down Music release underpins Smif-N-Wessun’s influence on the genre. Now in their forties, Tek and Steele’s artistry is in a state of renaissance, not unlike that of JAY-Z, Royce 5’9, Pusha-T, and other peers. These artists are evolving, shedding skin, and taking listeners to new places. Less than a week ago, Ambrosia For Heads‘ Editor-in-Chief Jake Paine interviewed Smif-N-Wessun at Crown Heights’ Brooklyn Combine. Inside a space where strategic planning happens daily, Tek and General Steele reflect on their career and explain how Smif-N-Wessun reloaded with some of its best music. All can watch the full interview at AFH TV.Masta Ace, Marco Polo & Smif-n-Wessun Team Up To Salute Bucktown (Video) On “Testify,” Tek rhymes, “They say take ‘em back to Dah Shinin’ / But they don’t know the shape that my mind’s in.” At 3:45 in the interview, the two men explain where their heads are at in 2019. “I think we approached [the album] with an open mind. We had The Soul Council, that was really hands on with us. It wasn’t just dudes giving us beats. We had a guy like 9th Wonder who was like, ‘Yo, I can hear this vibe on this type of track. This vibe sounds like this.’ And it’s like, ‘Word? That’s what you hear? Aight; let’s see if we can catch that vibe right there.’ So, we was really building the tracks up,” says General Steele. The pair made two trips to North Carolina. The mornings began early, not without a stop at Biscuit World, a southern restaurant in close proximity to 9th Wonder’s studio. Many mornings, Khrysis, who produced seven of The All‘s 12 tracks, joined for these breakfasts. “We had to come with the content. We had to come with the words and the content that made sense. So, it wasn’t us just sitting there and just writing in the studio,” he admits. I get older, I don’t like writing in the studio. It feels so contrived to me. But when we was in that space, it was more of like a family space. It was an open lane to create. If you get tired of creating, you can go into the room and watch television, watch Netflix or something like that. We come back, and I’ll be in the studio, and we switch it. We pass off [rhyme] books and stuff like that. So really, like, on our own time, you know?” Smif-N-Wessun Show Boom Bap Sounds Amazing With Live Instruments (Video) After past albums with Da Beatminerz and 2011’s Monumental with Pete Rock, Tek describes the chemistry with The Soul Council. “We was all giving input. We worked with Khrysis the majority of the time hands on. So, even if he gave his input, I gave mine. Khrysis gave his. Not only 9th [Wonder], E. Jones, [Eric] G, even Ka$h [Don’t Make Beats], and Rapsody had their joints [in addition to] singing [by Heather Victoria and others]. We had a [white] board writing the names of the songs down. A lot of the titles of the songs came from the actual record we may have been talking about at the time, or whatever we were just feeling in the song. So, we write it down and we record it, and then we’ll just come up with the content of it.” Smif-N-Wessun Join Termanology On A Song That’s Rugged & Raw (Video) Later in the conversation, Smif-N-Wessun recall their time dabbling with Rawkus Records. Already in the Priority Records family, the pair worked extensively on Soundbombing and Lyricist Lounge compilations, in addition to features on Talib Kweli’s solo debut, Quality. The duo recall “Super Brooklyn,” garnering great interest. Sadly, similar to Pharoahe Monch’s “Simon Says,” a sample cease-and-desist halted a much-needed re-awakening to the group entering Y2K. By the late 1990s, Smif-N-Wessun was taking its proverbial industry lumps. A legal battle with the gun company forced a temporary name-change to Cocoa Brovaz at an inflection point. Despite time spent with Tupac Shakur, plans for a One Nation album were tragically halted with his 1996 death. Meanwhile, a fast-rising record like “Super Brooklyn” was stopped right as radio was pushing play. At 34:00, the duo was asked if they feel they have faced a harder road than most. 9th Wonder Brings Smif-n-Wessun & Rick Ross Together For A Song That’s Super Fly (Audio) Steele responds with a powerful sentiment. “Nah. Biggie and Pac [are] dead. Big L is gone. Guru is gone.” Tek interjects, “There’s always somebody who’s got it worse than you. So, the toughest battle is, as long as you breathing every day above ground is a great one.” Steele continues, “Every time we do a show, especially overseas, we always pay homage to the brothers that’s not here anymore. And that’s part of the show where we get a chance to get a breath. Imagine that. We get a breath for all of these ones that set it forth before us. The game has allowed us to perform. It could be worse. It could be worse.” 9th Wonder Closes Out An Incredible Year With More Than 40 Beats & Songs Perspective is critical, and Smif-N-Wessun are positive about a bumpy road. With a statement album newly in fans’ hands, they have reason to celebrate. Watch the full interview at AFH TV.Bundle packs for The All are also available to Heads via Duck Down Music. They include the digital album, vinyl, a CD, hoodie, t-shirt, beanie, sticker pack and Smif-N-Wessun & Champion Sound Live From Prague digital album. Photograph by Photo Rob. #BonusBeat: Smif-N-Wessun’s “Stahfallah” music video:
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