Final Fridays. “Mr Hit Dat Hoe” is in club rotation and C-Dog (Streetdog Ent.) is the truth. - Edward “Pookie” Hall (urbansouth@gmail. com)
GAINESVILLE, FL:
Gainesville is swaggin’ and surfin’ with Def Jam’s F.L.Y. (Fast Life Yungstas) as they promote their new single. Pretty Ricky stopped by as well and Alexandra Marie of 101.3 grilled Spec on his controversial video. The Commissioner’s new mixtape Mr. Gainesville is in the streets with a major buzz, while J Road is in the studio working with The Runners’ first signed artist Bali. Gainesville Police Department and Alachua’s Mike Peterson of the Falcons put it down major for kids in the community with “Operation Respect Yourself.” They also held two huge cook outs, a sports camp, and pool party, all for charity. - Jett Jackson (g5jett@gmail.com)
HUNTSVILLE, AL:
Twista was at Focus. R.I.P. to the young lady that was killed that night (Deangelia Bell). 6 Tre G celebrated great success with his mixtape Boss Muzik hosted by Bigga Rankin. PT from the group Untamed has been cooking up some heaters lately. He produced the “Alabama Dodgers” track for Jackie Chain. D-County just dropped their new CD. Newcomer Nate B has been in the lab grinding. Alternative group Sound of Silence has been recording with a lot of Huntsville Hip Hop groups. Mookie dropped his mix CD with DJ Holiday. Chrome 32 has been holding down Decatur. Greg Street and 103.1 are throwing a celebrity car show. For the fellas, check out www.lakenleshe.com and www.meshamodel.com. - Codie G (huntsvillegotstarz@gmail.com)
TAMPA, FL: The 6th Annual Tampa Music Conference included memorable performances from Dynasty, Prophit, and Lord Drak, and unfortunately ended with Young Joe involved in a scuffle with two other men. The economy continued to take its toll with the closing of multiple recording studios, including Music Matrix. Aych and many others celebrated the 3-year anniversary of Tampa’s premier Open-Mic and weekly performance forum “Da Cypher.” CBS announced this season’s cast for their hit reality show Big Brother which will include Street Laced DJ and Shut-it-Down Squad member DJ Mingle Mixx (above at right, with 3LG). - Slick Worthington (Myspace.com/SlickWorthington)
KILLEEN/BELTON/FT. HOOD/TEMPLE/ WACO, TX:
It’s been reported that Spark Dawg recently knocked out local rapper Mic Wrecka at Greencity’s mixtape release party for Strength in Numbers. San Antonio rapper Kyle Lee was also in attendance. Rumor has it the entire ordeal was caught on film. Killeen Texas R&B Artist Tylenol has a new single with Maxx Calzz ft. Big Bee, Jessie James, iTut, Kinfolk Corleone, and Young Ced that has is creating a buzz. New local Hip Hop club, Club Inferno, brought artists such as Dorrough Music, Lil O, and Z-Ro. Even with the top local radio station B106 running ads for these shows, they all had a small turnout. - Chris OA (jupzchris@gmail.com)
LOUISVILLE, KY:
Lil D, a.k.a. D. Wash, launched Gracie Urban, a label that serves as an outlet for Louisville’s up and coming artists. It was a good month for the University of Louisville Cardinals’ Terrance Williams, he was drafted by The Nets, and Earl Clark was taken by The Suns. Speaking of E5, he had an NBA draft party that was on swoll. Ellis Myles brought in DJ Envy on the 1s & 2s, and Young Dro gave the crowd what they wanted. Keenan Burton of the St. Louis Rams had an All Star Celebrity bash that was also nice. - Divine Da Liaison (OuttaDaShopEnt@hotmail.com)
MEMPHIS, TN:
Up and coming Memphis R&B artist K. Michelle got some shine by having Gucci Mane featured on her new song “Self Made” off her upcoming album Pain Medicine. Juicy J reached out to Memphisrap.com to speak about supporting change and unity in Memphis amongst artists. Gospel rap artist Mr. Del released his new label DMG and album Thrilla. He hosted a release party/listening party and his spiritual message is reaching out quickly. You may see Gangsta Boo jookin’ real soon since she hooked up with BET award winning Memphis jooker, Ladia Yates. Playa Fly introduced his video channel “Fly TV” with cameos from Memphis rappers Crunchy Black and Yung Kee. - Deanna Brown (Deanna.Brown@MemphisRap.com)
PHILADELPHIA, PA:
Tone Trump digitally released his album Trump Life through online music promotion company Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes. The Roots held its 2nd annual Roots Picnic at the Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing. The event featured Public Enemy, TV on the Radio, The Black Keys, Antibalas, Santigold, Asher Roth, Writtenhouse, Back 2 Basics - King Britt and Dozia, and Kid Cudi. 100.3 FM has a new morning show featuring Charlamagne. Pleasure P and Power 99FM held a concert at Plush Nightclub. Switch It Up Sundays at Shampoo Night Club features DJ Sojo, DJ Touchtone, Jay-Ski, and Gregg Nyce on the turntables. Streettalkin.com is a video magazine featuring Philadelphia Nightlife. Young Chris’ released a new song featuring Freeway called “The Last Two” produced by 9th Wonder. - Infamous6ixx (infamous6ixx@gmail.com)
RICHMOND, TRI-CITIES, VA:
Audra the Rapper is currently working on her 2nd mixtape Miseducation of Audra, inspired by Lauryn Hill’s first solo LP. Audra is working with Timbaland and his latest protégé WizzDumb. Quick Flip Ent. CEO/Artist Ron Flip Da JumpMan is promoting his new single “JumpMan” from his upcoming album AWESOME!. He’s also pushing a song with Nappy Boy artist Young Cash that’s available on Twitter. ChiChi The Kid released two hot singles digitally: “Wear It on the Right Side” and “She’s Da Only Reason.” Noah-O of Charged Up Entertainment is hitting radio hard with the new single/VA anthem “I Got It” ft. Streetz Deep & J-Nero, produced by Big Boyz. - Atiyyah Wali (atiyyahwali@hotmail.com)
SACRAMENTO, CA:
In one month alone, Beyonce, Bobbi Valentino, David Banner, Yung LA, E-40 and The Dream all slid through the City of Trees. Sacramento artist JGib released his new single “Sidekick” feat. Raw Smoove to rave reviews. Sac heavyweight Bueno shot the video for his single “6AM” and hosted a huge boat party on the Sacramento River. Former NFL linebacker Adrian Ross hosted his Maddbacker Celebrity Weekend and provided several high profile parties. - Lavega “Kream” Sims (Lavegais@yahoo.com)
ST. LOUIS, MO:
Hot 104.1fm did it big with Summer Jam 2 which had over 15,000 fans in attendance. Yung Ro not only sold out at his in store signing for his CD The Rising Sun, but he also charted #7 on Billboards singles chart with “Donk Dat.” Unladylike dropped their debut album Certified. DerrtyBoi Montana’s album DerrtyBoi Muzik also dropped recently. Kenny Knox released his album called Pop’n That Metal and Family Affair released The Family Blessing. St. Lunatics are circulating their single “Get Low 2 da Flo.” Stevie Stone dropped his debut album The New Kid Comin under Ruthless Records. His single “Wait a Minute” is getting love coast to coast. Hot 104.1fm’s Tony J. does a live broadcast from Club Casino every Saturday night from 1-3am and 100.3fm The Beat’s Kiki da 1st Lady does a live broadcast 10pm-1am at STL Nites every Friday. - Jesse James (JesseJames314@aol.com)
WASHINGTON, DC:
The highly anticipated $1000 rap battle between King Swagg and Pro’Verb fizzled when Pro’Verb pulled out over a financial dispute with the promoter. XO has just released the Monumental mixtape which contains the blazing single “F.R.N.O. (Crown Vic Music).” Southeast Slim has finally dropped his latest CD The Medium. And Wale’s new mixtape Back to the Feature was produced by 9th Wonder. K-Beta is currently holding down first place in the Rap Leagues, a freestyle competition organized by Tyrone (Mental Stamina) Norris. - Sid “DCSuperSid” Thomas (dcsupersid@aol.com)
OZONE MAG // 17