The Radar
Hip-Hop Headlines
The Radar
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KANYE WEST- LUPE FIASCO- Lil wayne
KANYE WEST STEALING THE HEADLINES Once again the hip-hop superstar Kanye West makes headlines. After another successful platinum album release “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, Kanye is set to headline the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival held at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California but not without backlash. Some fans of the Coachella Festival are threatening to boycott. In dismay of Kanye’s headlining annoucement, disgruntled fans have started an official Coachella 2011 SUCKS/ Boycott thread on Coachella’s own official :web forum. Some of the entries read Haters unite! This festival sucks. This lineup sucks. You know it does. Please join me in boycotting this bullshit! Help me give more room to those people I don’t like, listening to that music I don’t like! Make it happen. Last year we had Edward sharpe, Them Crooked Vultures, The Dead Weather, MGMT, The Specials etc... This year, we got all the leftovers from last year’s other festivals. I mean there is a definite lackage of rock ‘n roll here. Another hip-hop superstar Jay-z was set to headline a similar outdoor music festival the Glastonbury Festival in 2008 when he received backlash from Oasis front man Noel Gallagher. Saying “I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It’s wrong.” in which in turn Jay-Z responded by opening his act covering Oasis’ “WonderWall” which Gallagher wrote. When asked about Jay-Z’s performance sometime after
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wRITTEN bY cLINT eASTHOOD
lupe fiasco from losers to lasers
the show Gallagher had changed his tune and responded, “I thought it was great. I love Jay-Z” Maybe the same fans who don’t want Kanye West to perform Coachella will change there tune as well after Kanye’s performance. Kanye is well known for his stage performances, and is considered one of the top performers in all of hip-hop along with Jay-Z, Eminem, and Lil Wayne. Alternative rock hip-hop and electronic music acts dominate Coachella and Kanye West isn’t the only Hip-Hop act set to perform, so we know Hip-Hop isn’t the issue. Maybe its Kanye’s image from the Taylor Swift incident or the fact that at another music festival where Kanye was to perform , Yeezy’s set started almost 2 ½ hours after its scheduled start time and ran for half the allotted time. Fans do not forget. Outside of Coachella 2011 Kanye West is making headlines with his plans to release a studio album with Jay-Z in March titled “Watch The Throne”. The first single from the LP “H.A.M (Hard As a Mother F*cker) was released 1/11/11. In addition the collaboration with Jay-Z, Kanye announced via his Twitter that he will be releasing another solo album this summer.
Its been a long road for Lupe .Fiasco leading up to Lasers Lupe was originally supposed to release his triple album LupEND as his third and final album, but his contract with Atlantic wouldn’t allow it. After that project was scrapped Lupe went back to the lab and was due to release The Great American Rap Album in June 2009. That album was delayed as well and he started on a new album, “We Are lasers” now titled “Lasers”. After riffs with Atlantic, label petitions, single leaks and more Lupe completed the album did his part and submitted the album to the label. After collecting dust on the desks of Atlantic Record executives a fan by the name of Richard Barker organized an online petition demanding Atlantic Records to release “Lasers”. The petition got the attention of major hip hop blogsites as well as attaining over 5,000 signatures on its first day. This was the beginning of a wave of public support from Lupe’s fan base. A week prior to the event Lupe announced “victory” via his twitter feed and announced that “Lasers” would be released March 8. Following that annoucement in October 2010, Lupe Fiasco fans organized a march