Yesterday was the birthday of the late, great Phife Dawg and fans have honored the fallen hip hop legend by helping the latest and final A Tribe Called Quest album,&nbsp;We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, the number one album in America.

According to Billboard,&nbsp;We Got It Here... Thank You 4 Your Service&nbsp;sold approximately 135,000 copies in its first week, earning it the top spot on Billboard&#39;s Top 200 chart. This is ATCQ&#39;s first #1 album&nbsp;in twenty years, with their last #1 debut being 1996&#39;s critically acclaimed&nbsp;Beats, Rhymes, and Life.

The album was recorded before Phife Dawg&#39;s sudden and unexpected passing earlier this year. Earlier this week, a street sign in Phife Dawg&#39;s home neighborhood of Queens, New York was dedicated to the rapper with a ceremony that was attended by family and friends. Phife Dawg&#39;s final solo album is scheduled to be released sometime next year.

We Got It Here... Thank You 4 Your Service&#39;s&nbsp;commercial success has matched its critical acclaim, as the album has received almost near unanimous praise from professional critics since its release. While the album is most definitely a success in ever definition of the word, the remaining members of ATCQ have said that the process of finishing the album without Phife Dawg was an emotionally taxing one.&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s so hard for me to sit in there and hear his voice,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/arts/music/a-tribe-called-quest-new-album-interview.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Q-Tip told The New York Times earlier this month</a>. &ldquo;Sometimes I just have to like take a break and walk away. It gets heavy. It doesn&rsquo;t necessarily get sad, it just gets heavy. I literally feel the energy from him when I hear his voice.&rdquo;

By Michael Lacerna for RAPstation.com

Yesterday was the birthday of the late, great Phife Dawg and fans have honored the fallen hip hop legend by helping the latest and final A Tribe Called Quest album,&nbsp;We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, the number one album in America.

According to Billboard,&nbsp;We Got It Here.....

A Tribe Called Quest's last album is the #1 album in America

The historically themed hip hop musical &quot;Hamilton&quot; became the center of a political firestorm earlier this week when President-elect Donald Trump and his future VP Mike Pence claimed they were disrespected by the show&#39;s cast during a performance of the hit show.

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Brandon Victor Dixon, the actor who made the statement that so thoroughly offended the future President of the United States of America, appeared on CBS News this morning to defend himself. &quot;There&#39;s nothing to apologize for,&quot; he said proudly.&nbsp;&ldquo;The producers, the creators and the cast, we recognize that Hamilton is an inherently American story told by the definition of the American community. We are men and women of different colors creeds and orientations.&rdquo;

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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJiKwhqltpY" target="_blank">Watch the Hamilton star&#39;s interview here.</a>

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Just in case you missed it, this was the statement said at the end of the show that set Trump off:&nbsp;&ldquo;We, sir &mdash; we &mdash; are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights... We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us,&rdquo; Dixon said on behalf of the entire Hamilton cast and crew.

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Trump responded, as usual, by with a series of angry tweets, declaring that&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/799974635274194947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank">the theater needed to be a &quot;safe space&quot; for people like him</a>. Trump&#39;s followers responded by threatening to boycott the musical. Somehow, I doubt that a musical starring a largely minority cast will lose any business by angering the President who ran a campaign based on racist rhetoric and has a Vice President who is openly homophobic, but nevertheless, Trump&#39;s supporters have managed to keep the hashtag &quot;#BoycottHamilton&quot; trending on Twitter for most of the weekend.

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Many Conservative pundits have responded to the Hamilton controversy by equating criticism of Trump with being unpatriotic. The proper response to their call to silence would be this quote from Republican president Theodore Roosevelt, on the importance of always questioning the President&#39;s character and actions:&nbsp;&quot;The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.&quot;

By Michael Lacerna for RAPstation.com

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&nbsp;<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XJiKwhqltpY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>

The historically themed hip hop musical &quot;Hamilton&quot; became the center of a political firestorm earlier this week when President-elect Donald Trump and his future VP Mike Pence claimed they were disrespected by the show&#39;s cast during a performance of the hit show.

&nbsp;

Brandon Vi...

Hamilton star refuses to apologize to Trump & Pence

November 19--This day in Hip-hop celebrates twenty years of Foxy Brown&#39;s debut record&nbsp;Ill Na Na.

Upon being discovered by production team Trackmasters and appearing on multiple singles with Case, LL Cool J, and Jay-Z, a solo record from the Brooklyn rap diva proved both inevitable and highly-anticipated, thus, Def Jam released Foxy Brown&#39;s memorable debut, which sold well over 100,000 copies nationwide in its first week.

Synonymous for her impressive resume of collaborative performances, the album marked a myriad of guest appearances from artists like Blackstreet, Havoc, Method Man, Kid Capri, and Jay-Z, all of which only complimented Brown&#39;s braggadocio themes anchored upon fashion, flirtation, and mainstream media.

The album reaped much commercial success, debuting at #7 on the US&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;200 and #2 off the Top R&amp;B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, while fans and critics alike alluded much recognition towards the record&#39;s three critically-acclaimed singles, &ldquo;Get Me Home&rdquo; and &ldquo;I&#39;ll Be&rdquo;, as well as &ldquo;Big Bad Momma&rdquo; with the eventually being added onto the album&#39;s UK reissue.

\Brown&#39;s raw rhymes seemingly flow effortlessly as evident on &ldquo;I&#39;ll Be&rdquo; with Jay-Z, &ldquo;Nasty girl don&#39;t pass me the world/ I push to be not the backseat girl/ Don&#39;t deep throat the C-note she float/ Murder she wrote, and keeps the heat close/ Firm n&mdash;ga, we &#39;posed to be the illest on three coasts.&rdquo;

The song signified Brown&#39;s highest chart-ranking single, climbing onto #7 on the&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;Hot 100, and even making #52 inducted onto&nbsp;VH1&#39;s 100 Greatest Songs of Hip-hop. Three months following its debut,&nbsp;Ill Na Na&nbsp;attained RIAA Platinum, accounting over one million copies sold within the US.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

November 19--This day in Hip-hop celebrates twenty years of Foxy Brown&#39;s debut record&nbsp;Ill Na Na.

Upon being discovered by production team Trackmasters and appearing on multiple singles with Case, LL Cool J, and Jay-Z, a solo record from the Brooklyn rap diva proved both inevitable and hi...

Throwback: Foxy Brown Debuts with "Ill Na Na"

This day in Hip-hop caters two iconic artists celebrating their day of birth: Mike D and Phife Dawg&mdash;both respectively renowned in their well-characterized careers and for the significant impact they&#39;ve punctuated in rap music altogether.

First of the two is&nbsp;Michael Diamond (Mike D for short)&nbsp;and is best known as one-thirds of the legendary rap group, the Beastie Boys, who along with Adam &ldquo;MCA&rdquo; Yauch and Adam &ldquo;Ad-Rock&rdquo; Horovitz, ushered in a new era for Golden Age Hip-hop.

Following their experimental rap radio-hit &ldquo;Cooky Puss&rdquo;, Diamond and the boys made their memorable debut with their groundbreaking record&nbsp;Licensed To Ill, which apart from its extensive list of awards, accolades, and chart-topping numbers, fans and critics alike have named it an imminent Hip-hop classic and legendary record. The album recently celebrated its 25th&nbsp;year on November 15 this year.

Apart from his celebrated career with the rap group,&nbsp;Rolling Stone&nbsp;reported Diamond &ldquo;making new stuff again,&rdquo; to which the Hip-hop icon announced multiple projects, such as producing for American Rock band, Portugal and English punk collective, Slaves, as well as releasing several remix tapes.

Also celebrating today is A Tribe Called Quest&#39;s&nbsp;Phife Dawg (Malik Izaak Taylor), who alongside Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Jarobi White, formed another landmark rap group born out of the Golden Age. It was during this era that Taylor was nick-named &ldquo;Five Foot Assassin&rdquo;, prominent for such fearless hard-hitting rhymes flowing furiously from a man standing five feet and three inches.

Phife Dawg&#39;s feat is most evident on the tribe&#39;s sophomore album&nbsp;The Low End Theory, wherein the Five Footer stirred razor-edge rap flurries out of social and political maladies inherent within mainstream media at that time.

Earlier this year, Hip-hop reeled at the announcing of the iconic tribesman&#39;s passing at the age of forty-five. Nevertheless, the tribe just released their latest and final album,&nbsp;We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service,&nbsp;which garnered an imminent&nbsp;Saturday&nbsp;Night Live&nbsp;special performance, with the Five Foot Assassin himself making an artwork appearance as his some of his final verses played through the radio&mdash;proof that the legacy of Phife Dawg will forever continue throughout the realm of Hip-hop.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

This day in Hip-hop caters two iconic artists celebrating their day of birth: Mike D and Phife Dawg&mdash;both respectively renowned in their well-characterized careers and for the significant impact they&#39;ve punctuated in rap music altogether.

First of the two is&nbsp;Michael Diamond (Mike D...

Birthday Wishes to Phife Dawg and Mike D

Cash Money still means business as Birdman announces Trev Rich&#39;s upcoming debut album.

Despite ongoing conflicts with the recent Weezy contract issues, the Cash Money train stopped in Denver to recruit their latest protege, none other than homegrown emcee Trev Rich. Likewise, the indie rapper reported back-to-back trips from Mile High to Miami, eventually landing in New York to finalize the deal.

Rich admits that with the Denver Hip-hop scene still considered a work-in-progress market, landing a deal with the major label aspires the young rapper to represent not only himself but his hometown, &ldquo;I definitely feel like this is fresh,&rdquo; shares Rich in an interview with&nbsp;HipHopDx.

&ldquo;It&#39;s a new chapter, it&#39;s a new slate to my career. Going from that to this, I don&#39;t know how any artist would not be motivated, not be inspired to do better and stretch and go outside of what you think your box is when it comes to creativity and just try to make the best music possible right now,&rdquo; he continued.

Birdman made the announcement of Rich&#39;s debut album via Instagram where he shared the artwork, as well as captioning its upcoming release date. Cash Money Record&#39;s promising new star looks to make a name for himself and his hometown, as the Mile High emcee drops his much-awaited album&nbsp;To Make a Long Story Short&nbsp;on&nbsp;December 19.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Cash Money still means business as Birdman announces Trev Rich&#39;s upcoming debut album.

Despite ongoing conflicts with the recent Weezy contract issues, the Cash Money train stopped in Denver to recruit their latest protege, none other than homegrown emcee Trev Rich. Likewise, the indie rapper...

Trev Rich's “To Make A Long Story Short” Marks Much-awaited Debut

Atlanta rapper 6lack seeks to make a name for himself as he drops his&nbsp;Free 6lack&nbsp;album.

The eleven-track collective marks 6lack&#39;s (pronounced &ldquo;black&rdquo;) highly-anticipated debut onto the Hip-hop scene, and upon an initial play through, the record proves the Atlanta emcee&#39;s got game. The album caters to multiple chart-capable singles, such as &ldquo;PRBLMS&rdquo;, &ldquo;Gettin&#39; Old&rdquo;, as well as &ldquo;Ex Calling&rdquo;, which covers Future&#39;s &ldquo;Perky Calling&rdquo;.

Signed under Interscope Records, 6lack proudly represents the ATL collective LVRN (LoveRenaissance), and upon years and years of projecting songs through Sound Cloud, 6lack finally punctuates his mark onto the scene with a formidable debut record.

In terms of the album&#39;s artwork, 6lack fashions an image vividly juxtaposed to DJ Khaled&#39;s&nbsp;Major Key, exchanging the latter&#39;s symbolic lion figure with a grizzly bear, to which the Atlanta singer attests to a &ldquo;multi-dimensional&rdquo; theme the project exhibits. &ldquo;As big and vicious as a bear can be, a bear also has grounding qualities,&rdquo; spoke 6lack to Pigeons &amp; Planes.&nbsp;

He continues, &ldquo;With this album, I wanted it to be powerful. I wanted it to be aggressive, but I also wanted it to be calming. I want people to feel something. Regardless of how personal it can be at times, and how intense the message is, it can still give you a soothing feeling.&rdquo;

Check out what 6lack has concocted with his debut album,&nbsp;<a href="https://soundcloud.com/6lack/albums" target="_blank">Free 6lack</a>.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Atlanta rapper 6lack seeks to make a name for himself as he drops his&nbsp;Free 6lack&nbsp;album.

The eleven-track collective marks 6lack&#39;s (pronounced &ldquo;black&rdquo;) highly-anticipated debut onto the Hip-hop scene, and upon an initial play through, the record proves the Atlanta emcee&#...

A Tribe Called Quest's last album is the #1 album in America

Hamilton star refuses to apologize to Trump & Pence

Throwback: Foxy Brown Debuts with "Ill Na Na"

Birthday Wishes to Phife Dawg and Mike D

Trev Rich's “To Make A Long Story Short” Marks Much-awaited Debut

6lack Drops Much-Awaited Debut Album

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