Today in Hip hop marks the nineteenth year since the album&nbsp;Phenomenon, which signified rap icon LL Cool J&#39;s seventh studio album under Polygram and Def Jam Records.

Following the success of his previous album,&nbsp;Mr. Smith, Cool J echoed its fundamentals, catering to numerous R&amp;B-influenced tracks, as well as blending a little hardcore rap. The album showcased production from Sean &ldquo;Puffy&rdquo; Combs as well as his line of in-house producers, &ldquo;The Hitmen&rdquo;.

The album also resonated to the forerunning success gathered by the previous, peaking at #7 for the&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;200, and #4 off the Top R&amp;B/Hip Hop Albums chart. To this day, the album has sold well over one million copies nationwide, attaining RIAA-certified Platinum notoriety.

Being his seventh album,&nbsp;Phenomenon&nbsp;showcases Cool J twelve years into the Hip-hop scene, and this album capitalizes his formidability. While the album recaptures the rapper&#39;s &ldquo;uncanny ability to get listeners up on their feet and keep them there&rdquo;, it also displays Cool J addressing issues such as abuse, domestic violence, as well as the harsh realities inherent in the modern world.

Cool J also flaunted his take on introspective lyricism, which is made most visible on the track &ldquo;Father&rdquo;, where Cool J narrates an autobiographical account pertaining to a harsh upbringing. The song peaked at #18 off the&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;Hot 100, and gained the rapper his eighth #1 Hot Rap Single.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Today in Hip hop marks the nineteenth year since the album&nbsp;Phenomenon, which signified rap icon LL Cool J&#39;s seventh studio album under Polygram and Def Jam Records.

Following the success of his previous album,&nbsp;Mr. Smith, Cool J echoed its fundamentals, catering to numerous R&amp;B-i...

Retrospect Record: LL Cool J's “Phenomenon”, 1997

Gucci Mane is invading the month of October and making it his own with his upcoming album,Woptober.

Since his recent liberation from a lengthy house arrest, the Trap King has placed tremendous amounts of time with his latest music, and he&#39;s making sure his fans across the country are rewarded for they&#39;re faithfulness.

Fans in Miami are the first to experience Guwop&#39;s patronage as he hosts a special event at DJ Khaled&#39;s restaurant today, October 13, to continue magnifying the hype towards the album&#39;s release. Mane will also be participating in a live Q&amp;A discussion anchored upon the subject of his second LP since his return to the music scene.

In response to his previous critically-acclaimed album,&nbsp;Everybody Looking, which peaked at #2 on the&nbsp;Billboard&nbsp;Top 200 and #1 on the R&amp;B/Hip Hop Chart, Gucci Mane&#39;s forthcoming album,Woptober&nbsp;is scheduled for its much-awaited debut this&nbsp;Monday, October 17&nbsp;(10/17&nbsp;cough cough*).

Woptober&nbsp;features the singles &ldquo;Last Time&rdquo; and &ldquo;Icy Lil B&mdash;ch&rdquo;. The album also hosts collaborations with Travis Scott, Rick Ross, as well as Young Dolph, who was featured in Mane&#39;s most recent single, &ldquo;Bling Blaww Burr&rdquo;.

For fans looking to get a hold of the album, Mane previously announced early access to the album via Twitter post&mdash;so we advise you to check it out and stay tuned.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Gucci Mane is invading the month of October and making it his own with his upcoming album,Woptober.

Since his recent liberation from a lengthy house arrest, the Trap King has placed tremendous amounts of time with his latest music, and he&#39;s making sure his fans across the country are rewarded...

“Woptober” Never Felt So Fine, Thanks to Gucci Mane

Multi-talented artist Questlove recently revealed his latest project in the form of &ldquo;Questlove Supreme&rdquo;, a radio show which made its first broadcast last&nbsp;September 7th. Accessible through the Roots drummer&#39;s Pandora station, the program has showcases a blend of wide-ranging playlists and conversations with artists such as Maya Rudolph and Kimbra.

&ldquo;I see in Pandora both a deep respect for the craft of music and a commitment to the musicians that make their living,&rdquo; mentioned Questlove in an interview with&nbsp;The New York Times, &ldquo;[It] is a company born of a musician&#39;s experience, and I&#39;m very excited to join them in their mission to create a healthy and vibrant industry for artists and fans alike.&rdquo;

Since its first broadcasting which, Questlove described as &ldquo;the black version of NPR&rdquo;, featured Rudolph conversing about children in 1970s soul music. Following shows have also hosted notable segments such as a &ldquo;Renaissance of Hip-hop&rdquo; talk with Dante Ross and an introspect conversation with rock band The Revolution, which had radio host Questlove traveling to the bands headquarters in Minneapolis.

A more recent episode featured a chat with Alan Leeds, former confidante for several icons, such as James Brown, D&#39;Angelo, and Prince. The two discusses several topics, such as Leeds&#39; childhood and his initial introduction to black music, as well as interesting bits about his tour management ventures and the artists catered along his catalog.

Questlove Supreme&#39;s latest guest came in the form of Shep Gordon, whom the host introduced as &ldquo;the guru of all gurus&rdquo;. Joined by fellow underground Hip-hop star Phonte, the three engaged in a two hour conversation involving several profound concepts such as fame and vice, as well as the correlation between success and struggle, which Gordon expressed &ldquo;There was always a link between fame and using crutches that really hurt you.&rdquo;

With the show accounting one month of broadcasting, Questlove Supreme has enabled fans to dive deeper into the minds of the artists they follow, as well as learn more about the subjects wherein both artist and fan share a common ground.

Questlove Supreme airs every&nbsp;Wednesday&nbsp;at&nbsp;1pm EST&nbsp;via Pandora, broadcasting continuously for the next 48 hours following its initial schedule.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

&nbsp;

Multi-talented artist Questlove recently revealed his latest project in the form of &ldquo;Questlove Supreme&rdquo;, a radio show which made its first broadcast last&nbsp;September 7th. Accessible through the Roots drummer&#39;s Pandora station, the program has showcases a blend of wide-ranging play...

Questlove's Radio Show, How's That Been So Far?

Today in Hip-hop commemorates the release of Nas&#39; 1992 debut single, &ldquo;Halftime&rdquo;, which featured his original Nasty Nas persona. The song was initially released under Ruffhouse Records off the&nbsp;Zebrahead&nbsp;soundtrack collective, and later inserted onto Nas&#39; ground-breaking debut record,&nbsp;Illmatic.

Produced by Large Professor, the single contained samples from Average White Band&#39;s &ldquo;Schoolboy Crush&rdquo;, Gary Byrd&#39;s &ldquo;Soul Traveling&rdquo;, and &ldquo;Dead End&rdquo; by Japanese Hair. Large Professor&#39;s sampling presented the song&#39;s iconic up-tempo blend, and, reinforced over percussion and trumpets, became the perfect stage for the Illmatic star to dish out his hard-hitting hooks.

&ldquo;You couldn&#39;t catch me in the streets without a ton of reefer/ That&#39;s like Malcolm X, catchin&#39; the Jungle Fever/ King poetic; too much flavor, I&#39;m major/ Atlanta ain&#39;t Brave-r, I&#39;ll pull a number, like a pager/ &#39;Cause I&#39;m an ace when I face the bass/ I&#39;m as ill as a convict who kills for phone time.&rdquo; The song showcased Nas&#39; introspect lyricism flowing through his iconic, unfiltered rhymes, which carried on throughout the rapper&#39;s career.

&ldquo;Halftime&rdquo; came to be known as Nas&#39; breakout hit, often alluded significantly to the single&#39;s inclusion to the&nbsp;Zebraheadsoundtrack, which eventually scored him a deal with Columbia Records. The song showcased Nas&#39; formidability as a stand-out rapper, and quickly gained him notoriety as &ldquo;the new Rakim&rdquo;.&nbsp;The Vibe&nbsp;magazine applauded that the song &ldquo;created a niche that only&nbsp;Illmatic&nbsp;could fill&rdquo;.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Today in Hip-hop commemorates the release of Nas&#39; 1992 debut single, &ldquo;Halftime&rdquo;, which featured his original Nasty Nas persona. The song was initially released under Ruffhouse Records off the&nbsp;Zebrahead&nbsp;soundtrack collective, and later inserted onto Nas&#39; ground-breaking...

14 Years of Nasty Nas' Debut Single, “Halftime”

Numerous reports claim Birdman sightings in the Rocky Mountains. As strange as that may sound to some, what it actually means is Cash Money Records found its newest member, in the Denver-based MC, Trev Rich.

Making its first stop in Denver this summer, the Birdman decided he&#39;d found his latest recruit upon hearing the MC&#39;s singles &ldquo;Score&rdquo; and &ldquo;All Mine&rdquo;. Rich began working with a Cash Money engineer the next day. &ldquo;I was just back and forth from the hotel to the studio,&rdquo; mentioned Rich pertaining to the sessions spanning for two weeks.

Birdman flew the young artist to their Universal Music Group HQ in New York, and the official signing commenced. &ldquo;I met everybody, and they treated us like family from the beginning,&rdquo; recalls the Denver native, &ldquo;They presented the contracts that day... and it probably took about two or three weeks after that time to get the whole deal complete.&rdquo;

Prior to the tremendous record deal, Rich had already been gaining prominence as a local artist, as well as becoming recognized as &ldquo;the Denver scene&#39;s biggest advocates for years.&rdquo; With the arrival of Birdman and Cash Money rostering Rich as their newest artist, the neighboring communities have expressed their enthusiasm regarding the Mile High City&#39;s first major-label artist.

Sharing with the city&#39;s eagerness is co-rapper and long-time friend, DJ Squizzy Taylor: &ldquo;Honestly just for upcoming Hip hop artists to have a major behind you is big. It&#39;s something that in my generation, maybe prior to that we&#39;ve never seen before. For [Birdman] to vouch and for him to put his stamp or the Cash Money stamp on Denver is huge.&rdquo;

Trev Rich has been releasing music since 2010 with his collectives&nbsp;The Bar Code Series,&nbsp;still under the pseudonym, Rockie, to his most recent record&nbsp;The Way We Love. Rich was also highlighted on Joe Budden&#39;s&nbsp;A Loose Quarter&nbsp;mixtape back in 2012, which caught the attention of several other labels, ultimately leading to the deal with Cash Money.

By Jods Arboleda for RAPStation.com

Numerous reports claim Birdman sightings in the Rocky Mountains. As strange as that may sound to some, what it actually means is Cash Money Records found its newest member, in the Denver-based MC, Trev Rich.

Making its first stop in Denver this summer, the Birdman decided he&#39;d found his lates...

Cash Money Recruits Denver-based Artist, Trev Rich

Still riding high from his recent release,&nbsp;The Impossible Kid, Aesop Rock has announced a new run of North American tour dates in support of his acclaimed new album. He&nbsp;will be joined, once again, by Hail Mary Mallon counterpart&nbsp;Rob Sonic&nbsp;and&nbsp;dedicated turntablist DJ Zone&nbsp;for an extensive headlining tour supported by&nbsp;Homeboy Sandman.&nbsp;Aesop and the Stones Throw artist also collaborated on the recently released free EP&nbsp;Lice 2: Still Buggin&rsquo;.&nbsp;

In conjunction with the announcement, he&rsquo;s also shared the visuals for the track &ldquo;Shrunk&rdquo; off The Impossible Kid. The Rob Shaw-directed video finds Aesop at the arcade where he is met by Rob Sonic, and manages to contextualize the song&rsquo;s narrative about the rapper&rsquo;s adversarial relationship with therapy through video games. .&nbsp;The Impossible Kid&nbsp;received rave reviews from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR, Wired, XXL, and more. He also made his first national television appearance in his 20 year career on Late Night With Stephen Colbert earlier this year. Check out &ldquo;Shrunk&rdquo; and the tour dates below. Tickets go on sale&nbsp;Friday, October 14.&nbsp; 
 
By Kyle Eustice for RAPstation.com 
 
<center><iframe src="http://www.rapstation.com/videos/embed/288" width="670" height="400" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" ></iframe></center>

 
&nbsp;

11.25 - Eugene, OR - WOW Hall

11.26 - Bend, OR - Domino Room

11.27 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory

11.29 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Bar

12.01 - Sacramento, CA - Harlow&#39;s

12.2 - Chico, CA - Senator Theatre

12.3 - Pomona, CA - The Glass House

12.5 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre

12.6 - Mesa, AZ - Club Red

12.7 - Flagstaff, AZ - The Green Room

12.9 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre

12.10 - Ft Collins, CO - Aggie Theatre

12.12 - Billings, MT - Pub Station

12.13 - Missoula, MT - Monk&#39;s

12.16 - Edmonton, AB - Starlite Room

12.17 - Calgary, AB - The Gateway at SAIT

12.19 - Vancouver, BC - Fortune Sound Club

12.20 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom

1.6 - Fargo, ND - The Sanctuary

1.7 - Sioux Falls, SD - Icon Lounge

1.9 - Iowa City, IA - Blue Moose Taphouse

1.10 - St Louis, MO - Delmar Hall

1.11 - Indianapolis, IN - The Vogue

1.13 - Cincinnati, OH - 20th Century Theatre

1.14 - Louisville, KY - Mercury Ballroom

1.16 - Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel

1.17 - Charleston, SC - Music Farm

1.19 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage

1.20 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw

1.21 - Huntington, NY - The Paramount

1.23 - New Haven, CT - Toad&#39;s Place

1.24 - Pawtucket, RI - The Met

1.25 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street

1.27 - South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground

1.28 - Montreal, QB - L&#39;Astral

1.29 - Toronto, ON - MOD Club

Still riding high from his recent release,&nbsp;The Impossible Kid, Aesop Rock has announced a new run of North American tour dates in support of his acclaimed new album. He&nbsp;will be joined, once again, by Hail Mary Mallon counterpart&nbsp;Rob Sonic&nbsp;and&nbsp;dedicated turntablist DJ Zone&nb...

Retrospect Record: LL Cool J's “Phenomenon”, 1997

“Woptober” Never Felt So Fine, Thanks to Gucci Mane

Questlove's Radio Show, How's That Been So Far?

14 Years of Nasty Nas' Debut Single, “Halftime”

Cash Money Recruits Denver-based Artist, Trev Rich

Aesop Rock Announces New North American Tour Dates

Sight

Sound

Story