New Albums / CDs

UPDATE: (from allhiphop.com) "Smif-n-Wessun’s new album Reloaded is slated for a June release and features a collaboration between the duo and fellow Brooklynites, Dead Prez on the track “Warriors Heart,” which was produced by Coptic Sounds."

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Smif n Wessun aka the Cocoa Brovaz have a new CD currently planned for a May 10th release, entitled "Welcome to Bucktown USA." It's coming out on the crew's own Bucktown Records. BCC Soldiers can pre-order it here.

50 Cent's new cd "The Massacre," originally titled "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre," was slated to come out Valentine's Day weekend, but has now been bumped back to March 8th. A new promo video for it came out today, you can check that out here: All Eyes on 50 Cent: The Sequel.

Here's a little more advance word:

MTV News:

After the past few months of different people throwing overt and subliminal disses at him and his camp on mixtapes, 50 says he'll use the album — at least in part — as a forum to wholeheartedly respond.

"You listen, you hear what's going on out there," 50 said on the red carpet at the Vibe Awards. "I got something for everybody talking. It's gonna be entertaining. I don't want to give it up before we get there. It's gonna be interesting. This is chestnut checkers, these are not warning shots."

50's first dart has just hit. It's called "Disco Inferno" and was produced by Dr. Dre. The Queens MC can be heard getting at the ladies on that one. The G-Unit are already calling next year "2050 not 2005," and the leader of the squad says when his album drops, "It's gonna feel like brain freeze across the country for rappers."

The NY Times:

A Wealthy Hartford Suburb Longs, Vainly, for a Rap-Star Neighbor's Company

ARMINGTON, Conn., Feb. 16 - In this Colonial-era village, where bling is restricted to a single strand of pearls and the rim-spinning Escalade is trumped by the scratched Mercedes with a faded beach sticker, everyone is buzzing about the party slated for Thursday night at the home of Curtis Jackson III.

At the Barney Library, with its garden club book collection; at Miss Porter's, the all-girls' private school where Jacqueline Onassis studied; and at the Epicure, the gourmet market with six kinds of olive oil, the talk was all party.

But no one had actually been invited. Nor has anyone in this placid Hartford suburb ever met or even seen the elusive celebrity who lives in their madras midst.

That's because Mr. Jackson, who is 28 and is better known as 50 Cent, a platinum-selling musician, restricted the invitations to rap world luminaries such as Missy Elliott and Busta Rhymes. He also invited the 163 winners of a nationwide radio contest; they will be bused in through the wide, white gates that lead to his vast cream-and-white main house.

For the past few weeks, MTV has been shooting at the house and around town for its "MTV Cribs" program and filming the minutiae of party prep. (On Wednesday, they put a camera on a U.P.S. driver as he prepared to unload the truck.) Mr. Jackson's publicist, Yvette Gayle, said her client is expected to perform in the 3,500-square-foot party room, including songs from his new album, "The Massacre," with themes and lyrics that were cruder than the Cole Porter tunes at the clubby, downstairs bar at Apricot's, a restaurant on the Farmington River.

But it was the house and woodsy setting, not the tweedy neighbors, that drew Mr. Jackson here, Ms. Gayle said. Two years ago, he paid $4.1 million (about a quarter of the original asking price) for the house, which had been owned by Mike Tyson. The house, listed in town property records at 48,500 square feet, has 52 rooms, including 21 bedrooms and a room walled entirely in Gucci leather. It also has 39 bathrooms and 4 whirlpools.

"I have to say Farmington is the last town where you would expect to find someone like 50 Cent," said Willard Holmes, the director of the Wadsworth Atheneum museum in Hartford, who lives a few blocks away from Mr. Jackson. "But my 6-year-old son is obsessed with seeing him."

The boy is not alone. Although residents here generally avoid pop culture and publicity like mulligans on the first tee, there appears to be an endless fascination with Mr. Jackson, despite his being something of a spectral presence...

Beanie Sigel's new CD "The B.Coming" hits this week, Tuesday March 1st. Here's the advance word from hiphopgame.com (via mtv.com):

Beanie Sigel's sending out a red alert for his new album. He says he's already got enough gems to deem the disc a classic, but since The B-Coming's release date has been pushed back, he wants to give a few of his favorite producers a chance to make the cut.

"Whoever wants to get on this project, you'd better have the illest sh--, 'cause I'm closing out," Beans said earlier this week. "We got a couple people like Kanye [West] trying to make it. I put a [call] out on RZA. I've never worked with RZA, but I know he can come with something dirty. I know [DJ] Premier can come with something crazy."

The B-Coming as it stands now is a tight ship with just a few producers on the roster. DJ Scratch, Chad West, Aqua and Heavy D are among the ones who supplied beats. The only other MCs Sigel names as track accomplices are Busta Rhymes, Bun B, Redman, Twista and Peedi Crakk.

"I think I took him back to 'Rated "R," ' " Sigel said of working with Redman, referring to a track off Red's 1992 LP, Whut? Thee Album. "No concept, I wouldn't even want to do a concept song with Redman. That was somebody who I was f---in' with before I started rapping. [On my new song,] I had the beat from Bink. I wasn't gonna use no hook, no nothing. I kept listening to it and thinking what else I was going to do. I gave them 48 bars straight. The song is called 'One Shot Deal.' I was gonna do the 48 and bring it back to the beginning, but I was like, 'Redman will sound crazy on this joint.' I sent it to him and it came back crazy."

The new cd/album from Prefuse 73, Surrounded by Silence, is set to drop on March 22nd. Here's the advance word on one of the year's most anticipated releases:

Tracklist:

01. I've Said All I Need To Say About Them (Intro) 02. Hideyaface feat. Ghostface and El-P 03. Bad Memory Interlude One 04. TV Versus Detchibe feat. Tyondai Braxton 05. Expressing Views Is Obviously Illegal 06. Pastel Assassins feat. Claudio and Alejandra Deheza 07. Pagina Dos feat. the Books 08. Silencio Interlude 09. Now You're Leaving feat. Camu 10. Gratis (Pedro vs. Prefuse) 11. We Go Our Own Way feat. Kazu Makino (Blonde Redhead) 12. Mantra Two feat. Tyondai Braxton 13. Sabbatical With Options feat. Aesop Rock 14. It's Crowded feat. Claudio Deheza 15. Just the Thought feat. Masta Killa and GZA 16. La Correccion Exchange feat. DJ Nobody 17. Hideyaface Reprise (Shaolin Finale) (Reminder + Prefuse Notate Small Ensemble Version) 18. Morale Crusher feat. Beans 19. Minutes Away Without Yu 20. Rain Edit Interlude 21. And I'm Gone feat. Prefuse vs. Piano Overlord vs. Broadcast vs. Cafe Tacuba

from billboard.com

Prefuse 73 mastermind Scott Herren is surrounded by a cavalcade of notable names on his new album, "Surrounded by Silence," due March 22 via Warp. Among the guests are El-P and the Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah on first single "HideYaFace" (due commercially in late February), fellow Wu-Tang members GZA and Masta Killa, Aesop Rock, Tyondai Braxton, Cafe Tacuba, Beans, Broadcast, the Books, DJ Nobody and Blonde Redhead guitarist Kazu Makino.

"This album is a collection of collaborations between those I respect musically and those who I share personal friendships with," Herren says. "The master plan was to not use any collaboration that had been a commodity to sell a record."

from Prefuse's site:

"Surrounded By Silence", the new Prefuse 73 album is just my attempt to get people in different worlds and environments together. Was there really no Fab 5 Freddy "changing the beat" in two languages back in the day? Who cared that it was in two languages, people burned up speakers with the s**t and thought it was dope. Wait, i forgot, that wasn't kraftwerk that Bambatta rocked and nearly shaped the face of what we call booty shake, freestyle and bounce....? Was Blondie just cashing in on hiphop back in the day by collaborating? hell no, what the f**k was there to cash in on? They were a new wave band on their own s**t. YO!!!! wasn't that FUTURA 2000 behind THE CLASH in the 80s? Graffiti = a cash crop? Hell nah! not until the early to mid 90s with those stupid ass graff typefaces, you know the ones where anyone could look like a graff writer type ish behind a computer?

Whether you dug those first two records by Big Audio Dynamite, who cares? They wouldn't have existed without "the Clash" and "Basement 5" teaming up in another form.. Seeing Mick Jones in a sideways puma hat in full on b-boy stance was hella cool to me as a little s**t... That definitely was "Phase 2" underneath his hood rocking all kinds of s**t when he opened for Prefuse in Bologna, Italy 5 years ago..... and yeah, that cigarette i smoked that night was laced with the out of body type ish. I didn't say that though.

Ok, so Mantronix, Chep Nunez, Latin Rascals, etc.. never f**ked with vocal chops either? Using crazy outside sound sources? I remember when my first Prefuse record dropped, there were heads in an uproar(mostly, well, only journalists) because they figured edits=disrespecting the m.c.... I was thinking, "this is just the s**t i grew up on and mix a little bit of 90s hiphop in there(it was the 90s, joder!), a little bit of bling and lace it over some boom bap, with bugged sounds and you had Prefuse 73. If I was disrespecting any m.c. then why was Doom (btw..hollerrrrrrrr at me!), Aesop, Mikah 9, and whoever else on there unscathed by my so called "wrath".... To all those journalist now, eat a d**k!

For fans of Prefuse; do you remember the song: "back in time"???? the quote/sample about not just doing something with the mc and beats but something more, etc...? That was from a "Wildstyle" interview with Charlie Ahearn. That's the point, i'm not the first to invent anything, i'm carrying on a traditional element of hip hop that never left my system. People wanted to experiment from day one with this artform, not just me... That's what this is all about, I don't hate on the simplest hip hop track, i don't hate on the weirdest, i'm just doing what i do. This was not a major label based, trust funded parents, investment recording. This was an out of pocket excursion i recorded to try to make some s**t happen... everyone on this record was on some love s**t and helped me immensely.. i rode the lines between normality as we know it and bugging the f**k out with some people... big love to all involved..

The point is that this record has people that are famous m.c.s and people that will leave you scratching your head, if i wanted to rent the hottest m.c.s and put them on top of my beats, i would have, but why?. As i said, i want the world to hear these different people on totally different wavelengths on the same record and i wanted to make it respectively, not out of novelty or commodity. Onward with collaborations? No man, i'm done... Hate it, Love it, It's on you.... It is not One word extinguisher pt.3, it is what it is.... Go buy Linkin Park vs. Jay-Z if you can't get with this and that's all fine... This is the only collaborative album i will do in this nature, the next one is already started and it's got no similarity to this one.

The new Gorillaz CD / album will reportedly be titled "Demon Days," and prominently features the work of DJ Dangermouse, of Grey Album fame. Here's the scoop from nme.com

GORILLAZ have let slip to NME.COM that their new album will be called ‘DEMON DAYS’. The follow-up to 2001’s self-titled debut is set for release in May and was recorded at the group’s own Kong Studios in Essex.

Drummer Russell Hobbs told NME.COM: “We've noticed that some people have picked up on 'Reject False Icons' as being the new Gorillaz album title. This was actually more like the motto we used while we were working on the tracks to keep us fresh.”

He added: “The album title now is 'Demon Days'. We've pretty well finished. Noodle and Dangermouse are just trimming the last bits of the back and then this cut should be razor sharp. I guess we're looking at a May date for this thing to drop.”

The title has, according to guitarist Noodle, a number of different meanings. She said: “Its’ interpretation is completed by the instinct of the listener. In one sense the Demon is a disease and the disease is an absence of thought, a state where people make action without consideration. This is the invisible evil, with a million eyes. This is the return of the ogre, the rise of the beats. Its time is now...”

...Gorillaz are rumoured to be releasing ’Feelgood Inc.’ as the first single from ’Demon Days’, which is also expected to hit the shops in May.

Tweet's new Album / CD "It's Me Again," is set to drop on March 22nd, featuring the leadoff single "Turn Da Lights Off", co-starring Missy and the return of Kwame on production.

Advance word:

tweet-news.com/

After a three-year hiatus, Tweet is back, and ready to unveil the long overdue It's Me Again, an exciting, new chapter in her life, which she refers to as "Southern Hummingbird times two." Says Tweet: "It's still me, but it's a different revelation of me. I've grown as an artist as well as a woman--I've been there, done that, and it's a great feeling."

1. Intro/It's Me Again
2. Turn Da Lights Off (f/ Missy Elliott)
3. Iceberg
4. Could It Be (f/ Rell)
5. You
6. Cab Ride
7. Things I Don't Mean (f/ Missy Elliott)
8. My Man
9. Sports, Sex & Food
10. Small Change
11. Two of Us (f/ Tashawna Johnson)
12. Where Do We Go From Here
13. Steer
14. I'm Done
15. Bonus: We Don't Need No Water

On her new album It's Me Again, Tweet speaks of her most personal experiences with love - the bitter and the sweet, the romantic and the realistic side of love. However, this time around the vibe of the CD is sunnier and she's all about being cool with herself, as witnessed on the groove-laden "We Don't Need No Water" and the disco-ish "Things I Don't Mean." It's Me Again features executive production from Missy Elliott once again. The first single, "Turn Da Lights Off," proves that the album has an indispensable amount of hip-hop, but the sound is unique in that it recalls those timeless vinyl records. The latest news is that Tweet recorded the theme song for the new USA Network series, KOJAK that stars Ving Rhames. The track will now be included on her album as a bonus track and she is shooting a video with Ving Rhames on Feb 12th on the set of Kojak. Look up, the Southern Hummingbird is flying high again...

A new solo album from Sean Price, entitled Monkey Barz, is expected to appear on April 26th 2005. Sean Price AKA Ruck from Heltah Skeltah is releasing his CD around the same time Smif and Wesson drop their new album, and Buckshot releases his collabo with 9th Wonder, "Chemistry." The Boot Camp Clik is labelling this as the "Three the Hard Way Triple Threat." No word on how much the Beatminerz will be involved.

From allhiphop.com: "According to Duckdown CEO Dru Ha, Sean Price’s album is slated to hit stores on April 26th, via Duckdown’s distribution only deal with Koch Records and features appearances by his BCC brethren."

Buckshot and 9th Wonder have collaborated on an album entitled "Chemistry," which will hopefully be released on May 24th, 2005. This CD comes around the same time as the new releases from Sean Price and Smif N Wesson, as the Boot Camp Clik delivers the "Three the Hard Way."

According to Big Dru Ha at allhiphop.com:

"Chemistry came about after Duckdown CEO Dru Ha buzzed 9th Wonder, inquiring about production.

“I reached out to 9th about six months ago,” Dru Ha told AllHipHop.com. “He told me he was a big fan and he said ‘why don’t you bring some of the BCC down to North Carolina?’ He told us to come down and we did. I took Buck, Tek and Steele and Sean Price. 9th actually has production on all of their albums. When we got down there, 9th and Buck, they just linked and it was like a good match, so they ended up doing a whole album while they were down there.”