The Rap Up: Calm Before the Storm
News/Shows/The RapUp
0 Comments

The Rap Up: Calm Before the Storm

Kanye West’s New Album Is Finally Here… Sort of

With the unveiling of Yeezy Season 3 at Madison Square Garden, yesterday in New York City, the music world continues to wait with baited breathe for the moment The Life Of Pablo has a download button beside it. Now, no one’s quite sure where The Life Of Pablo will be released but logically, we imagine it should be through Tidal (which Kanye West owns a portion of). According to the ever entertaining twitter account of Mr. West, the album is currently being mastered and should be out at some point today however, no specific time has been given. Admittedly, we over here at The Rap Up aren’t too impressed with the final title change, however I, TJ Mroz your Rap Up co-host, am a big fan of the recently released cover art and purposely downloaded Tidal for an early premiere of the album during the streaming of Yeezy Season 3 (instead of studying for my midterm). From what I’ve heard, the album should certainly live up to the hype, however may not sound exactly like everyone is expecting, which isn’t a bad thing. Beware, Yeezy season approaches.

 

Future > Young Thug

If you’re a fan of Future and Young Thug, you may be aware that the only people possibly riding a bigger wave at the moment would be Drake and Kanye West due to their upcoming and highly anticipated albums. With two brand new projects already in 2016, Future has decided to give the fans a new mixtape (Purple Reign) and a new album (EVOL), both receiving a warm welcome by fans. On the other hand, Young Thug has come through with a new mixtape titled I’m Up however the project looks to fall significantly short of its sales goal, expecting to move a mere 15-20k including streams, while Future’s Evol which was released on the same day looks to move around 145-150k with streams. While Thugger loves to claim the opposite, there’s a clear gap between these two artists. Not to mention Future just inked a brand new deal with APPLE which should push him far beyond the realm of Rich Gang fame.

 

All-Star Weekend 2016 Approaches

As the weekend begins, so does NBA All Star 2016 and in case you’re out of the loop, this is a BIG deal. As a result of “the 6” hosting the league’s All Star festivities this year, it will be the first time the event has been held outside of the US. Stars such as Steph Curry, LeBron James and Canada’s own Andrew Wiggins will be taking part in multiple events this weekend. This is also great news for the Raptors who have 2 All Star representatives this year as Kyle Lowry starts in his second straight All Star game and DeMar DeRozan was selected by coaches to round out the roster of the East. If you’re on your way to Toronto, good luck and be sure to bundle up as it will be busier and colder than it’s been in recent memory. The first day of events begins on Friday with the Celebrity Game in which Kevin Hart will be coaching one team and the 6 God himself, Drake, will be coaching the other. The Rising Stars challenge will also take place on Friday as the best of the NBA’s up and coming stars showcase their skills against each other. Saturday will include highly anticipated events that include the Skills Challenge, Three-Point Shootout and Dunk Contest. Rounding out the weekend will be the All-Star game on Sunday.
(Written by TJ Mroz & Manny Rao)

Tracks played this week:

Consideration – Rihanna Ft. SZA

Woo – Rihanna Ft. Travis Scott

Ride of Your Life – Tinashe

Formation – Beyonce

Low Life – Future Ft. The Weeknd

Maybach – Future

Fly Shit Only – Future

F Cancer – Young Thug

Lit – Wiz Khalifa Ft. Ty Dolla $ign

Hear Me – ASAP Rocky Ft. Pharrell

Jungle – Nick Grant

Summer Sixteen – Drake

News Unplugged – Friday, Nov. 20
Shows/News Unplugged
0 Comments

News Unplugged – Friday, Nov. 20

Man sues Toronto police for $5M wrongful arrest

Toronto police officers are facing a $5 Million dollar lawsuit from Santokh Bola – a 21 year old, intellectually challenged man from Woodbridge, Ontario. On November 1st, Bola was in the parking lot of his family’s store, when Toronto police wrongly arrested him for an attempted burglary in the area. Video footage of the incident shows several police officers with drawn guns violently beating Bola to the ground, despite his pleads of innocence. As a result, Bola has suffered physically and mentally in the aftermath of the attack, and his family hopes to find justice.

 

Paris attacks leader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud killed in raid

Last Wednesday, alleged ringleader of Paris attacks, Abaaoud was killed in a French police raid in Paris suburb, Saint Denis. Since the terrorist attacks last Friday that left 129 citizens dead, French President, Hollande has taken severe measures to combat Islamic State terrorists, and has extended France’s state of emergency for an additional three months from November 26th.

 

Islamophobia rampant in Toronto

Over the past week, there has been a spike in Islamophobic hate crimes committed in the GTA as a result of public outcry over the Paris attacks. In the most recent incident, two Muslim women were verbally assaulted on a TTC train at Shelbourne Station. Three individuals on board the train made Islamophobic slurs against the Muslim women, and allegedly, pushed one of them. Meanwhile, Islamophobic graffiti has been found on a GO train on the Lakeshore corridor in one of its bathrooms. In addition, last Monday a Muslim mother was beaten and robbed by two men after dropping off her children at Flemington Park, public school in North York. Spokespeople from both the TTC and GO Transit have made statements that the crimes do not reflect the beliefs of their organizations in any way.

 

Ex-Subway spokesman jailed for child pornography

Yesterday morning, former subway spokesman, Jared Fogle was sentenced to 15 years in prison for child pornography and sex charges. In testifying for the defense of Fogle at the hearing, psychiatrist, John Bradford claimed that Fogle’s “hypersexuality” was a direct result of rapid weight loss, as the spokesman is most well known for losing weight on a diet that included Subway sandwiches. Subway has since fired Fogle, and he has already begun to pay the $1.4 million in restitution to his 14 victims.

 

Palestinian attacks in Israel and West Bank kill five

On Thursday, two attacks in Israel and the West Bank have resulted in 5 deaths. In the first attack, two Israelis died in a stabbing by a Palestinian man outside of a synagogue in Tel Aviv. Later that day, an attacker opened fire from their car in a Jewish settlement, crashing into several civilians, and resulting in the deaths of another Israeli, as well as an 18 year old Jewish American tourist and a Palestinian. Terrorist organization, Hamas has taken to twitter to praise the attackers for their actions, fueling the hate-filled crime. Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu has vowed to punish the terrorists by stating “There is no immunity for terrorists: We will hold them to account, we will exact a price from their families, we will destroy their homes, and we will cancel their citizenship.”

The Rap Up: Weekly Check-In
Shows
0 Comments

The Rap Up: Weekly Check-In

Kendrick Lamar Came to My wedding

Is something most people would pay unreasonable amounts of money to have happen however for one couple Californian couple, that wish came true. However, yeah theres a big HOWEVER… not only did they not recognize the superstar or know who he is but were pretty offened that him and his friends decided to crash the venue. Apparently things got pretty obvious once Kdot started “dabbing” (a dance move btw) around the dance floor and when they couldn’t give the names of who actually got married they were asked less than politely to leave. With a camera in hand, it’s possible the group was simply trying to make a music video but thanks the “happy couple” we’ll never know.

 

Albums all around

Well if you were looking to strengthen your playlist game this week, you’re in luck. On November 13th Jeezy came with his 6th studio album, Church In These Streets, and Ty Dolla $ign finally gave us his debut album, Free TC. We’re not yet though, throw in a very solid album courtesy of Logic who’s been producing great music recently, add Skeme’s newest project, and of course Justin Bieber’s Purpose. While JB probably won’t see life in our show sets we know some of yall be downloading the deluxe version low key, and theres no judgements here. Also, we’re sorry if we indirectly increase your bandwidth download for this month.

 

Drake, the love is mutal

Think about it… who really loves Toronto more than Drizzy Drake? He’s not only the Toronto Raptors Global Ambassador, but brings the biggest names in music to the Molson amphitheatre every year for his OVO Fest which has become such a big money maker, its now receiving funding from the government. While we still don’t forgive Octobers Very Own for the whole “Yolo” thing, it’s difficult to find someone below the age of 30 not referring to the GTA as ‘The 6’? Apparently Toronto has finally taken notice of the enormous swing the young man has in the city and have appropriately named him as the most influential person in Toronto. Drake has claimed this as the most important magazine cover of his career and seeing as it’s a Toronto Newspaper, that doesn’t surprise us.

 

Songs Played tonight:

Body Bags – 50 Cent

36 Oz – Skeme Ft. Chris Brown

Untouchable – Pusha T

Naked – Dr. Dre Ft. Marsha Ambrosius & Sly Piper

Street Poets – GK Nesso

All in a text – GK Nesso

Away we go (remix) – The Runaway x Brett Klassen

Spit Hot Fire – The Runaway x Brett Klassen

Saved – Ty Dolla $ign Ft. E-40

Bring it out of me – Ty Dolla $ign

God (Remix) – Jeezy Ft. Nas

Scared of the dark – Jeezy

Amazing Grace – Rick Ross

Last Breath – Future

Hercules – Young thug

Lord Knows – G Herbo Ft. Joey badass

 

 

The Weeknd Welcomes You To His Madness
News/Shows
0 Comments

The Weeknd Welcomes You To His Madness

The Weeknd kicked off his North American Madness Fall Tour in Toronto on Tuesday, November 3rd.

It’s been about three years since Scarborough native Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, released his three-album debut called Trilogy. Now three albums deep and seeing the singer reigning as a star, being at the opening night of his fall tour was a celebration of his career so far.

Opening the night in the Air Canada Centre, Travis Scott brought heavy hip-hop beats hyping up the whole arena, and California singer Banks chilled out the vibe before The Weeknd made his debut.

The singer had a pretty simple stage look at first, but as soon as the show began the audience was immersed into a show of lights and graphics. He pretty much played his album Beauty Behind The Madness in order for the first couple of songs, as he rose above the audience behind a scrim that projected graphics all night. He then continued into some of his older hits like “High For This” and even performing Drake’s “Crew Love”. As the night rolled on, hit after hit, The Weeknd created a dynamic show by simply giving it his all and paying a lot of credit to his band. The night concluded with “The Hills” where he almost set the ACC on fire as flames ignited the stage to the powerful beat.

As someone who has been to a lot of concerts, ranging from pop divas to hip-hop kings, The Weeknd’s was unlike anything I have seen before. A month after seeing Madonna on her Rebel Heart tour, I felt I had seen it all. Then The Weeknd proved me wrong. I had never seen an artist bring a show of passion and personality to life with lighting like he did. There were three sets of geometrically dynamic lights that hovered above the stage, and he was backed by sprawled along the back, he actually lit up the Air Canada Centre. He managed to express the madness behind his hit album and past music through lighting fixtures unlike any I had seen until that night.

The Scarborough kid also gave a lot of credit to his fans and his home. People commonly refer to Drake as the “6God” rightfully, but The Weeknd has established a face to go right beside Drake as equal rulers. He never failed to keep in touch with fans and express his gratitude to them, some people even felt the love to rush on stage to celebrate the night with him, only to be tackled and dragged by security.

The Weeknd has set the bar high for R&B artists. He has tugged on the dark side of  life – a recent Rolling Stone cover sub-headed the cover story with “sex, drugs, and R&B” – and has created a spot for himself and new R&B artists all over the charts. This tour substantiates The Weeknd’s force in the music business as both thoughtful, provocative, and creative. Welcome to The Madness Tour.

Processed with VSCOcam with e1 preset

The Weeknd performing “Dark Times” (photo from www.instagram.com/kylemccord94)

The Rap Up: Mysonne In The Building!
Shows
0 Comments

The Rap Up: Mysonne In The Building!

Mysonne In The Building!

For those of you who maybe aren’t aware of Mysonne, He was born and raised in the gritty Bronx which we know has produced some of the best hip-hop to date, to which He eventually left but not before making a name in battle rap circuits with the likes of Shyne and DMX. Naturally his talent landed him a record deal with the most successful Hip-Hop label of all time Def-Jam, unfortunately despite being at the top of the game in 1999, Mysonne’s career was put on pause and we never ended up getting his much anticipated debut album due to some legal issues in which he was convicted on 2 counts of robbery. Since his release from prison in 2006 however, fans have been eagerly waiting for the New York general to re-take his place in the rap-game. With features from Rick Ross, Pusha T, Jae Millz and the late Chinx Drugs fans have been getting fed but whats next for the New York general? Your host of The Rap Up TJ Mroz interviewed Mysonne to find out. Mysonne has been holding things down in NYC pumping out heaters on a regular basis, on top of being part of the original committee to plan The 20th Anniversery of The Million Man March. After an immensely successful and well received spoken word speech at the 20th Anniversary ceremony, the NY MC looks to prepare for an upcoming project which should be arriving by mid January.

 

 

Happy Birthday 6God

You know we had to. Celebrating his 29th birthday, Drake decided Las Vegas was the perfect destination for this year’s festivities. But what do you get the man that seems to have everything nowa days? A golden ping-pong paddle and a custom high school jacket apparently. As Drake turned up that night with his famous friends like Big Sean, we hope he’s had some time to reflect on some of his more immature moves. Ya’ll remember YOLO right? 2015 certainly seemed to be the most successful year yet for the 6God with a platinum album, and possibly another on the way, not to mention “Hotline Bling” has been so close to reaching #1 on Billboards Top 100. Look for Drake to be front and center for the Toronto Raptors season opener. WE THE NORTH.

 

 

Rich & The Restless

Well here’s a douzy…. It’s long been rumored that Hip-Hop legend Jay Z and now-R&B-legend Rihanna were hooking up a few years back. Seems ridiculous for Jay Z when you’re married to possibly the most powerful and aesthetically pleasing women in entertainment right? Well apparently Queen Bey wasn’t having any of it. In fact, the two spent a year apart from each other once Beyonce got wind of the rumors and wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, as at the time Jay Z was recruiting the 17yr old Rihanna to sign her first deal. Thankfully we now have some clarification regarding the situation as its now being reported that Rihanna’s publicist was the one who actually started the rumour in an attempt to kick-start her career. We’re not ones for daytime TV dramas over here at The Rap Up but we wouldn’t mind watching a season of this situation unfold from the beginning.

 

 

Songs Played Tonight:

Mood – Ace Hood

Dope’d up – Tyga

Angel – Fetty Wap & French Montana

Solid – Ty Dolla $ign Ft. Baby Face

I don’t play about my paper – DJ Khaled Ft. Future & Rick Ross

You mine – DJ Khaled Ft. Jeremih, Trey Songz & Future

I Lied – DJ Khaled ft. French montana, meek mill, jadakiss & Beanie

I Ride – DJ Khaled ft. future, boosie badazz, rick ross & jeezy

G Shit – Mysonne Ft. Pusha T

Deadly Combination – Mysonne

Don’t know nothing bout it – Mysonne

Justice or Else – Mysonne

Overtime – Bryson tiller

Let em’ know – Bryson tiller

Sorry not Sorry – Bryson tiller

502 come up – Bryson tiller

The Rap Up: Post-Reading Week
Shows/The RapUp
0 Comments

The Rap Up: Post-Reading Week

We Know When That Hotline Bling

Seems like the music video for Drake’s ever popular summer jam “Hotline Bling”, took longer than it should have to drop but the reward far outweighs the negative. Sure, the music video is kind of cool, colourful and so on, but the one thing everyone is fixed on is the 6God’s dance moves. Twitter’s meme game is at an all-time high, and this was a free-throw. Who seems to love it most of all? Drizzy of course. He’s even uploaded some of his favourites to his Instagram encouraging the strange love, which we think is a very smart move. Drake hopes “Hotline Bling” will be his first single to reach #1 on the Billboard Top 100 despite a wave of placements already (more than the beetles, that’s right). The number #1 spot is currently being occupied by none-other than The Weeknd. Oprah’s looking at like Toronto like “And you get a W, and you get a W, and you get a W!”.

 

Shhh… It’s a Documentary

The Game has been let’s say, active in recent months? I mean, recording near 700 songs for your double disc album, interviews and promotion all over the country, and taking shots at Young Thug whenever he gets a breather seems to be a full schedule. The Documentary 2 and The Documentary 2.5 are now available for purchase and stream although Game is probably hoping you choose to purchase the two disc set. Despite being very solid projects with an all-star roster of features, both discs brought in “meh” first week sales combining for less than 150k. Perhaps this might be a lesson in quality over quantity.

 

2015 BET Hip-Hop Award Winners

Take a look at some of the winners from this year’s BET Hip-Hop awards. Your host of The Rap Up TJ Mroz also made his expert picks and try’s to defend the ones he missed (Winners in bold text).

Best Hip Hop Video

Big Sean featuring Chris Brown & Ty Dolla $Ign – “Play No Games”

Big Sean featuring Drake & Kanye West – “Blessings”

Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen”

Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”

Nicki Minaj featuring Beyoncé – “Feeling Myself” – TJ (It’s hard to bet against Queen B on anything)

___

Best Collabo, Duo or Group

Big Sean featuring Drake & Kanye West – “Blessings” – TJ (Sean, Drake and Kanye? Shut up already and take my money)

Big Sean featuring E-40 – “Idfwu”

Fetty Wap featuring Monty – “My Way”

Nicki Minaj featuring Beyoncé – “Feeling Myself”

Nicki Minaj featuring Drake & Lil Wayne – “Truffle Butter”

___

Best Live Performer

Drake

Cole

Kanye West – T (But Kanye’s shows are almost a full on Broadway performance?! Love Cole though!)

Kendrick Lamar

Nicki Minaj

___

Lyricist of the Year

Big Sean

Drake

Cole

Kendrick Lamar – TJ (Duh)

Nicki Minaj

___

 

DJ of the Year

DJ Drama

DJ Envy

DJ Esco – TJ (Thought they’d give it to Esco for the all Future mixtapes this year, oh well)

DJ Khaled

DJ Mustard

___

Producer of the Year

DJ Mustard

Cole

Kanye West – TJ (Okay seriously, why they ridin’ Mustard?)

Mike Will Made-It

Pharrell Williams

Timbaland

___

MVP of the Year

Big Sean

Drake – TJ (Of course)

Future

Cole

Kendrick Lamar

Nicki Minaj

___

Track Of The Year

“Alright” – Produced By Pharrell Williams & Sounwave (Kendrick Lamar)

“Blessings” – Produced By Boi-1da & Vinylz (Big Sean FEATURING Drake & Kanye West)

“Commas” – Produced By Dj Spinz & Southside (Future)

“Idfwu” – Produced By Dj Dahi, Dj Mustard, Kanye West & Key Wane (Big Sean FEATURING E-40)

“Trap Queen” – Produced By Tony Fadd (Fetty Wap) – TJ (You know you love this song too)

 

Album Of The Year

Big Sean – Dark Sky Paradise

Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late

Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive

Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly – TJ (Thought they’d ride Kendrick on this one, Cole truly deserves it!)

Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint

Wale – The Album About Nothing

___

Who Blew Up Award

Bobby Shmurda

Dej Loaf

Fetty Wap – TJ (Yaaaaa Baby – Fetty voice)

Rae Sremmurd

Tink

___

Hustler Of The Year

Dr. Dre – TJ (Let’s face it, Dre had a monster year… Get it, monster? Headphones? Anyone?)

Drake

Cole

Jay Z

Nicki Minaj

___

Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip Hop Style)

A$Ap Rocky

Dej Loaf

Drake

Kanye West – TJ (But the Yeezy Boost…?)

Nicki Minaj

___

Best Club Banger

Big Sean featuring E-40 – “Idfwu” (Produced By Dj Dahi, Dj Mustard, Kanye West & Key Wane) – TJ (Everyone report to the dancer floor please)

Dej Loaf – “Try Me” (Produced By Dds)

Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen” (Produced By Tony Fadd)

Future – “Commas” (Produced By Dj Spinz & Southside)

Rich Homie Quan – “Flex” (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh) (Produced By Dj Spinz & Nitti Beatz)

___

Best Mixtape

Future – 56 Nights

Future – Beast Mode – T (Either way Future was winning this one)

Future – Monster

Lil Wayne – Sorry 4 The Wait 2

Travis Scott – Days Before Rodeo

___

Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse

Drake – “Blessings” (Big Sean Featuring Drake & Kanye West) – TJ (no excuse for this one)

Drake – “My Way Remix” (Fetty Wap Featuring Drake)

E-40 – “Idfwu” (Big Sean Featuring E-40)

Kendrick Lamar – “Classic Man Remix” (Jidenna featuring Kendrick Lamar)

Lil Wayne – “Truffle Butter” (Nicki Minaj featuring Drake & Lil Wayne)

___

 

Impact Track

Big Sean featuring Kanye West & John Legend – “One Man Can Change The World”

Common & John Legend – “Glory” (From The Motion Picture “Selma”) – TJ (But the movie was so good)

Cole – “Apparently”

Cole – “Be Free”

Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”

___

People’s Champ Award

Big Sean featuring Drake & Kanye West – “Blessings” – TJ (Im waaaaay up, I feel blessed)

Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen”

Future – “Commas”

Kendrick Lamar – “I”

Rae Sremmurd – “No Type”

Rich Homie Quan – “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)”

 

 

Songs Played Tonight:

Pour Up – Lil Wayne

Clarity – Ace Hood

Fuck It – Tyler The Creator

Streetz – Jeezy

When I See It – Kanye West

Woodcrest Manor II – Raury

Like Woah – Logic

Me Myself & I – G Eazy Ft. Bebe Rexha

The Ghetto – Game Ft. Nas, Will.i.am

Up on the Wall – Game Ft. Problem, Ty Dolla $ign

From Adam – Game Ft. Lil Wayne

Magnus Carlsen – Game Ft. Anderson Paak

I Don’t Play About My Paper – DJ Khaled Ft. Future & Rick Ross

You Mine – DJ Khaled Ft. Jeremih, Trey Songz & Future

Gold Slugs – DJ Khaled Ft. Chris Brown, August Alsina & Fetty Wap

Saved – Ty Dola $ign Ft. E40

Don’t – Bryson Tiller

Rambo – Bryson Tiller

Overtime – Bryson Tiller

Exchange – Bryson Tiller