Universal has announced that Straight Outta Compton, the N.W.A. biopic, will be released on August 14, 2015.

Straight Outta Compton Synopsis:

Set in Compton in the mid-’80s, at the dawn of gangsta rap, Straight Outta Compton follows the meteoric rise and fall of N.W.A., It tells the astonishing story of how these youngsters revolutionized music and pop culture forever the moment they told the world the truth about life in the hood and ignited a cultural war.

Above is the first official picture of the cast, which Ice Cube and Dr. Dre tweeted. The pic shows Ice Cube, director F. Gary Gray, Dr. Dre, Corey Hawkins (Dr. Dre), Jason Mitchell (Eazy-E), and O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Ice Cube). Yup, that’s Ice Cube’s son playing Ice Cube.

Incidentally, Ice Cube was my very first celebrity interview. When he called he said, “Yo, this is Cube!”

Ice Cube, Dre, and Eazy-E’s widow, Tomica Woods-Wright, are producing the film. Cube has stated that, “We’re telling the story from the inception of N.W.A. to the death of Eazy-E and that’s the story.”

Filming is expected to commence this July.

Rock Hard \m/

“We are takin’ battling to another level SON,” says rapper Hopsin, challenging users to take him on.

Battle Rap Stars consists of five rounds, where users face and compete against real rappers. The game features Grammy-nominated rapper Paul Wall, world-recognized battle and freestyle rapper Mistah FAB, critically acclaimed and outspoken L.A.-based rapper Hopsin, J Peezy and Fresh Caesar.

“Getting past these other rappers is even hard for me, so you have to seriously bring it in order to make it to the final round,” says Paul Wall.

Battle Rap Stars is on sale now for a limited time for only $0.99 at the iTunes App Store and will be available in the next few weeks in the Android Market. For more information, visit the official site.

Well, the news about the Grammys is a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, Iron Maiden won for Metal Performance for “El Dorado” off of *The Final Frontier, and that’s a good thing. But you also have to consider that, while Maiden is likely happy to have won perhaps the most coveted award in the music industry, it’s too little too late at this point in their illustrious career. Also, throw into that mixed bag all the criticism about the NARAS, and you might have an award that’s pretty meaningless.

While we were more or less rooting for Slayer’s “World Painted Blood” to win, Iron Maiden beat them out. Other nominees who were defeated by the British metallers include Korn (thank god they didn’t win), Lamb of God, and Megadeth (whom we would have been happy to see win as well).

Other categories in the rock world that we were interested in were the Best Hard Rock Performance (“New Fang” by Them Crooked Vultures won, defeating “A Looking in View” by Alice in Chains, “Let Me Hear You Scream” by Ozzy, “Black Rain” by Soundgarden, and “Between the Lines” by STP) and Best Rock Performance (which was won by The Black Keys).

Iron Maiden Win Grammy News Story

In the rap world, it’s good to see that Eminem’s comeback was recognized as he went home with the awards for Best Rap Solo Performance (“Not Afraid”) and Best Rap Album (Recovery). Other rap winners include Jay-Z & Alicia Keys (“Empire State of Mind”) for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and “Empire State of Mind” for Best Rap Song.

Eminem Accepts Best Rap Album Award

Credit: Iron Maiden

Sure, the title of the track alone, “Monster,” caused our ears to perk up since it grabbed at our horror sensibilities, but once we saw the video and realized that it actually did feature monsters, well, we just had to share it with our readers. As a bonus, the rappers actually use the monster/horror theme throughout, though the monster they’re talking about isn’t exactly the kind we’re used to. Still, how can we ignore it when Jay-Z refers to himself as “Sasquatch, Godzilla, King Kong, Loch Ness, goblin, ghoul, a zombie with no conscience/Question, what do all these things have in common?/Everybody knows I’m a mutha fuckin’ monster.”

Hanging bodies, vampires, zombies, corpses in bed, stiletto stabbings, feeding vampires, werewolves, skipping girls, decapitation, torture, BDSM, yes, “Monster” has it all and might well end up being one of our favorite tracks of the year. My favorite scenes are when Rick Ross sits among hanging bodies, when Kanye plays puppeteer with the corpses of two women, and basically the whole Nicki Manaj segment (I think you can figure out why), which also includes the amazing lyric “OK, first things first, I’ll eat your brains/then I’mma start rocking gold teeth and fangs.”

And who is that drop-dead gorgeous woman dragging a body across the floor?

OK, check out Kanye West’s “Monster” for yourself and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Credit: AftermathMusic.com

As an artist, this is perhaps Dr. Dre’s introduction to the new world of leaked songs over the internet (no doubt he’s experienced it as a producer and record exec), and here’s what he’s had to say about “Kush” being leaked:

It got leaked, and it was a version of it that I wasn’t really happy about. But we’re gonna go ahead and push it and put it out, since everybody seems to like it. It’s about weed smoking, and I didn’t want people to think that’s what my album was about. This is actually the only type of song with that type of content on it.

A lot of people are drawing comparisons of Dre’s forthcoming Detox to Guns N’Roses’ Chinese Democracy and hating Akon’s appearance. First, unlike Axl Rose, Dre never became a parody of himself and always remained relevant (if not as a rapper, as a producer); it’s not like Detox took forever because he was being a prima donna. Next, Akon was needed to perform the higher octave stuff because, at least I believe it to be true, the whole trend of using some female “soul” singer on the backing track is dead.

We like it, but check “Kush” out for yourself, make up your mind, and tell us what you think about it in the comments section below.

Rock Hard!

What is best needed with this album is a step back. There are two types of promotion for a record when that promotion overshadows the record itself. The first type is where the album has no artistic merit and therefore flash is needed to sell the thing. Best compared to a movie where the best and only good scenes are in the trailer. It usually occurs when a band is the fabrication of a record company looking to benefit from a trend.

The second type of promotion is where marketing is used to create an image. The album has merit but with an image surrounding it, sales can move from 500,000 to 6 to 10 million.

Get Rich or Die Tryin’ is the latter example and that is why a pause is needed before looking at this album. You need to put aside the hype. You need to put aside the shooting in Jamaica and all the MTV over exposure. You need to put aside the hoopla surrounding the feud with Ja Rule. You need to forget about 50’s hard life on the streets of Jamaica and his run ins with the law. You need to forget about all that and listen to the rap!

And once you do, you will realize that this album is still utter crap. Just as grunge hit its wall in the mid to late nineties (for the actual true music listener) Gangsta rap is doing the same in the 2000s. Eminem hit it big (i’m no fan but), not so much on the gang, gun, and drug lifestyle, but with writing on domestic violence and social criticism. Gansta rap has been done over and over since rap moved from New York into LA 15-20 years ago (NWA etc.) and it has dried up. 50 Cent is treading over much used territory and because of that he is nothing original.

Sales will still go well just because of his street cred. (at least he is not a wankster as his song describes). He is, or was, a hustler, drug dealer and all around bad guy before he became rich on the hype. The problem now is how, with all the loot, is he going to mellow out without losing the cred that made him a star in the first place. Maybe a bullet will solve all that or maybe he will get some good advice from Dre. who made the transition without too much fuss.

Although this album glorifies all that is wrong with mainstream hip hop in the United States, just as “Lose Yourself” by Eminem is a favourite song of mine (Em finally uses his skill in a positive way and the result is fantastic) “In Da Club” is a great tune for the more mellow lifestyle. Will he be like ‘Pac as he wants to in the song? Time will tell. But if he used the mood and the point he is putting forth in the song as a personal mantra for his future life (ie. relaxing and enjoying himself (he deserves some much needed relief)) he might make it past his 27th birthday.

Similar Artists:

Eminem, 2pac, Dmx, G-Unit, The Game, Nas, Snoop Doggy Dog, Timbaland, Xzibit, T-Pain, Obie Trice

Yell! Rating (x/5 Skulls):

[rating:2.5]

Artist/Album

50 Cent

Album:

Get Rich or Die Tryin’

Year Released:

Feb 6, 2003

Label:

Interscope

Genre

Gangsta Rap

Official URL:

50 Cent