5TH Seal

5th Seal Vlog #3 from 5th Seal on Vimeo.

BINK! Discography

Ms. Instrumental Makes a Beat (3)

*NEW* Just Blaze & Alchemist Soundclash 2011

ARAAB MUZIK & LEX LUGER KEEP IT TIGHT ON TWITTER

araabMUZIK araabMUZIK 

@SmokedOutLuger We both doin our thing my g lets get it!

8 minutes ago 

in reply to ↑

@SmokedOutLugerLexus Luger

@araabMUZIK na my nigga u do wonders with dat mpc dawg. U not human in front of one! Lol

It's great to sse the new generation of producers showing love to one another..Hip-Hop unity

ProStudioApp Presents BeatLibrary Coming Soon. Http://www.NovLeg.com

araabMUZIK Studio Session With Alchemist

50 Cent Says Dr. Dre Expected To Leak Collabo Single, Hopes To Top Debut

The next "Detox" song we hear is likely to feature one of Dre's star pupils, as 50 Cent claims he hopes to top "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'."

Queens, New York superstar emcee 50 Cent's best-selling work to date is 2003's official debut, Get Rich Or Die Tryin'. The critically-acclaimed work, executive produced by Hip Hop icons Dr. Dre and Eminem, featured such hits as "In Da Club," "21 Questions" and "P.I.M.P." and went on to become certified eight-times platinum.

No longer with Shady/Aftermath Records or parent company Interscope, 50 Cent recently tweeted that he is looking to top his work from over eight years ago.

Swizz Beatz Announces "Haute Living" Release Date

The Monster also says that M.I.A. and Alexandra Burke will appear on the LP.

Swizz Beatz ha s announced the release of his upcoming third solo album Haute Living. During an interview withBBC Radio 1Xtra’s DJ Semtex, the super-producer revealed that the album will drop on his birthday, September 13^th. 

“Monster Mondays was a warm-up for people to understand that I’m doing things different. So when we get into my album Haute Living, which I’m dropping on my b-day September 13th, people, when they hear the track with me, Bono and Kanye ["Skyscrapers"], they can be prepared for it. When they hear the track with me, Lenny Kravitz and Lil Wayne, they can be prepared for it,” he said. 

He also revealed that British singer Alexandra Burke and M.I.A. will make guest appearances on the album, which has already spawned the single "Everyday (Coolin')"  featuring Eve. “When they see all these different zones, they can be prepared for it, not just thinking of one club track, because I have so much to express. I have so much to let people know who I am as a person, how I’ve grown, where I’m ready to take it and just trying to set the bar for the culture 20 times higher,” he continued. “And it comes with no sleep and putting extra work and doing things people are scared to do. I already shot five videos for my album already. Epic ones.” 

The Bronx, New York native also revealed that he may shoot a video for the Monster Mondays giveaway “The Transporter”  featuring Rick Ross. Before ducking out of the interview, he offered his opinion on upstarts Odd Future, supporting their movement.

“Odd Future, it’s a cool movement. I got to witness Frank Ocean in the studio, he’s a very talented guy. He’s definitely different from the rest of the group, which I’ve seen. I think he’s very special and I know for sure he has a lot of big things that people are going to witness that I witnessed,” he said. “I mean, having your freedom is always the best, but sometimes when you’re a young group like Odd Future, you might want to have a little extra support.”

Statik Selektah Hints At Collaborative Album With Freddie Gibbs

UPDATE: Statik Selektah hinted that he will man the boards for an upcoming emcee-producer collaboration LP with Freddie Gibbs.

While the Hip Hop world anxiously anticipates the outcome of Freddie Gibbs' recent decision to sign with Young Jeezy's Corporate Thugz Entertainment label, the Gary, Indiana lyricist says he's not worried, nor does he feel much pressure, due to his confidence.

"I didn't get into this to be the most famous rapper," he told Conspiracy Worldwide Radio. "I'm just getting started. I haven't even gotten my feet wet yet, I still got a long way to go. I haven't even dropped my first album yet. There's a lot of things that I haven't done yet, and I'm still further along than other people."

He confirmed that he will be releasing a collaborative album soon, but when asked about who he'd be collaborating with, he gave little details. "I can't tell you," he said. "It's with a producer. Just me and a producer."

He also kept mum about whether this producer is one of the top producers in the industry. "He might be. You know, [in the] underground [scene]. I don't know who gets the most respect production-wise. You got mainstream dudes. You got so many guys out here, but yeah he's definitely one of the most top respected guys. It ain't like [Dr.] Dre or Timbaland or anybody like that but it's [someone] who's name holds weight…We're releasing some music from it real soon so people are going to hear it and they'll know who it is."

Cassidy No Longer Speaks With Swizz Beatz

The Philly rapper explains that Swizzy doesn't answer his calls anymore.


Formerly signed to Swizz Beatz’s Full Surface label, Cassidy has revealed that he and Swizzy are no longer on speaking terms. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania rapper took to his Twitter page to explain that he hasn’t spoken to his former boss in over a year.

“@THEREALSWIZZZ don't even answer my calls anymore: we ain't speak in over a year: i thought we was fam, but times change, Smh That why I changed.. Ain't no love loss.. It is what it is,” he wrote.

While the two didn’t have a falling out, Cass explained that Swizz let him focus on his career without his oversight, but no longer speaks to him. “It's never a war, I'm just speaking my mind.. How can we talk if you never pick up, You said you let me do my own thing ASAP, but what does that have to do wit communicating, since I'm doing my own thing you don't talk to me anymore.. Thats crazy..,” he continued. “the only reason I'm on twitter is cause that's the only way I can reach you.. RealRap.”

Together, the duo crafted singles including “My Drink n My 2 Step,” the platinum-certified “I’m a Hustla” and “Hotel” featuring R. Kelly.

DJ Premier Recalls Producing Nas' "NY State Of Mind," Buckshot LeFonque

Mean Joe Preem also reveals that he has two TV shows in the works.


DJ Premier is scheduled to man the turntables behind Nas at this year’s Rock the Bells performance, where he’s performing his classic 1994 debut Illmatic. Premo recently spoke on the opportunity, explaining that it serves a bigger purpose for the hip-hop community.

“Let’s see who still comes correct and gets it going. We can fix the economy and the culture ourselves, but you’ve got to connect with the people that’s gonna make it that,” he told DJ Ron. “I’m here to make it that, and that’s all I’m here to do. That’s all I will ever do, is to make it right all the time. Make it right is my new name. I’m DJ Make It Right.”

The legendary producer also reflected on recording “NY State of Mind." “Shout to Showbiz, Showbiz from D.I.T.C. was there that day. It was Showbiz, Biggest Gord, me and Nas had a whole bunch of his friends with him from Queensbridge,” he recalled. “Back then, he used to roll real thick with a lot of dudes. Big crew. We all had posses. I used to have 100 people on stage with me. I made the beat on the spot, right there at D&D studios, and he likes to sit at the head of the control board and rhyme like this, with his hand over his mouth like he can only hear himself while the beat plays.”

He remembers Nas struggling to start the verse, and how it naturally flowed out. “You hear him say ‘I don’t know how to start this shit.’ [...] What it is, he’s looking at the paper because he’s trying to figure out how to format coming on the beat, but I’m counting going ‘1, 2, 3’ and at the last minute, he’s looking at the paper going, ‘I don’t know how to start this shit,’” he continued. “I guess out of the corner of his eye saw me going ‘1, 2, 3’ because my booth is where we can see each other. So it’s always amazing that he did that whole verse in one take, non-stop. Very impressive.

As for upcoming projects, Preem revealed that a new album from Buckshot LeFonque could be on the horizon, and that he’s currently working on a children’s and adult television shows.

“We was just experimenting, having fun. Buckshot LeFonque was supposed to be the not normal project that just does whatever it happens, happens. We’d just be in the studio doing whatever,” he said. “We even talked about doing a third one. It hasn’t gone down yet, but we talked about doing a third one. I’m working on a cartoon and a children’s show for television. The cartoon is going to be more adult with cursing and all of that. The children’s show will be for kids and I want Branford [Marsalis] to be music director to put music together for the project, so I’m looking forward to that. I just asked him, he said he would love to be a part of it. So I’m excited about that. And I want to get into television, too.”

Best Of Hard Knock TV: Havoc (Mobb Deep) Talks Nas, Wiz Khalifa

Action Bronson & Statik Selektah Plan "Well Done" Album, Lil Fame Featured

One of New York's most talked-about new emcees teams up with a veteran producer for a July 5 album.


Queens, New York emcee Action Bronson self-released the cult-championed Dr. Lecter earlier this March. Following the reaction to that, the DXnext alum has teamed with with producer/deejay Statik Selektah for a collaborative album, Well Done. Due July 5, the project will feature M.O.P.'s Lil Fame, Mayhem Lauren and Maffew Raggazino.

Released on Statik's Showoff Records imprint, the release will have a CD pressing as well as digital copies. Last year, the pair worked together - with Termanology, on 1982's The Evening News EP.

Wu-Tang Clan Artists Planning A Compilation Follow-Up To "Wu Chamber Music"

RZA, Ghostface Killah, Method Man and others are back for a follow-up to their 2009 indie gem, featuring M.O.P.'s Fizzy Womack co-production.


Fans of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan got a taste of what the group’s upcoming project titled Legendary Weapons will be like when the first single from the album was released earlier today.

The album’s first single, “Only The Rugged Survive,” features just RZA and is produced by Noah Rubin. Rubin produced several tracks for Legendary Weapons and also produced the majority of songs on Chamber Music.

A follow-up to 2009’s Chamber Music, Legendary Weapons will include appearances from Ghostface Killah, RZA, Method Man, Cappadonna, Inspectah Deck, U God, and several special guests.

The album will also feature production from Fizzy Womack (more commonly known as Lil Fame of M.O.P.) and Andrew Kelley.

Legendary Weapons will be released on Tuesday, June 28.

Swizz Beatz Claims Jay-Z Sounds "Hungry" On "Watch The Throne"

The super-producer also shared that video cameras filmed their studio sessions for potential future release.

Swizz Beatz previously revealed that he linked up withJay-Z and Kanye West to record for their upcomingWatch the Throne LP. The super-producer explains that while in the studio, Hov stepped his lyrical game up on the project as if he’s never made a dollar off of rap music.

“He just did that recently. Jay is on another planet right now. I was just working with him and Kanye on they album, and I got to vibe with Jay on some other things. I’ll let him tell you about it. But he just lyrically stepped it up like he didn’t make it into hip-hop yet,” he told BBC Radio 1xtra’s DJ Semtex. “I was like, man, you sound hungry like you didn’t make a dollar yet. And that’s the key to maintaining staying hungry and maintain staying dedicated to the craft.”

That same dedication is what inspires Swizzy, though he’s learned to vary his interests so he doesn’t burn out. “That’s why I do so many things outside of music, because I’m just doing beats, beats, beats, my love for it is not going to be the same. I have to switch it up a little bit and go design over here with Christian Louboutin or go design with Reebok or go design with Aston Martin. Just do different things or go teach at NYU or do philanthropic work or go be with my family. I have to do these different things to keep it all balanced.”

And while they were in the studio, Swizz claimed that there were video cameras on site to capture the magic, and that much of the music was created without any conversation.

“That’s like working with my brothers. I know Kanye for a long time, I know Jay for even longer. To watch Kanye grow to the point of being an amazing, respected artist, and watching Jay-Z, already being a respected artist, advance his craft and to get all of us in the studio, it wasn’t really no talking It was like you know what you had to do and you know what you had to do and I know what I’m here to do,” he said. “It wasn’t really no talking. It was just history being made and the good part is that I seen the video camera around so the world will one day get to see these vibes.”

Big K.R.I.T breaks down Returnof4eva project, R4 tour, David Banner, and Yelawolf

Boon Doc on MPC-Pt.2

MPC 5000

Lil Jon Receives Honor for "Apprentice" Earnings

When Lil Jon was fired from Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice," the rapper-producer fell short of the amount of money he wanted to raise for his charity.

That charity thought his efforts were just enough, though. On Tuesday, he was honored by the United Methodist Children's Home for raising $80,000.

The proceeds will be placed in an endowment fund to help educational opportunities and refurbish buildings at the sprawling 99-acre campus in suburban Atlanta. 

There will also be multimedia studio named after Lil Jon to help launch a music and performing arts program.Sporting a gray suite and a black bow tie, the normally energetic Lil Jon — who is known as the "King of Crunk" — was at a loss for words. His voice trembled when the pointed out that today was the birthday of his father — who died several years ago."I'm rarely speechless, but I'm speechless today," Lil Jon said. 

"The goal was to raise awareness to this children's home. Through the show, a lot of people got to learn about this home. Through the show, more people said they'll make more donations. I'm happy with that."

iLLmind - Going Behind The Curtain Pt. 1

ASCAP Atlanta Hosts New Series, "Check It Out!" Featuring J-Hatch

On Friday, May 13th, ASCAP Atlanta gathered prominent music industry executives at Solitaire Studios to hear music written by our members for feedback and possible song placement. The panel included J Hatch (iStandard), Al McLean (Kobalt Music Publishing), Shanti Das (Veteran Music Executive and CEO of Press Reset Entertainment), and Tmah (Bu Vision).

ALL THE WAY FT. FREDO PRODUCED BY RAYDO

Mac Miller Talks Choosing Beats, Working with DJ Premier

Mac Miller discusses the process behind selecting beats and what it was like to work with DJ Premier.

iLLVibes recently chopped it up with DX Next alum Mac Miller at a recent show at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. During the interview, Mac discussed the process that goes into choosing beats for projects. He explains that a producer's popularity isn't as important to him as the quality of the beat.

"When I first starting making a name for myself, what I really wanted to do was just work with as many people as possible," he said. "I'm just an excited fan, so as a fan, I want to work with everybody, like, I want to work with all of my favorite [artists]...but what it comes down to is, the people who I really want to work with are the people who really support my movement and who really support what I do and who really want to see me succeed...but as far as picking beats and everything, it really doesn't matter what the name is to me; I'ma pick the dopest beats. When I didK.I.D.S., a lot of those beats were straight up off of an email...that shit happens now, too."

Mac also revealed that he recently linked up with the legendary DJ Premier to work on music together. He said that  the experience of recording in the same place as greats like Nas, Jay-Z and his personal favorite Big L was the best part of the experience.

"I did a jam with DJ Premier, which was a life changing experience for me because that's like the top producer of all time," he said. "It was cool, like, because the one I like about working with people, especially [people] like Premo, [is that] my favorite rapper is Big L...and [Premo] was able to tell me all these stories about L. I actually stood in the same booth that Big L stood in to record and that so many other people like Jay-Z and Nas [stood in]. Premo has the same booth; he keeps it 100% traditional." 

Big Sean's "Finally Famous" Delayed Another Week, Features Revealed

UPDATE #2: The Detroit, Michigan native nets collaborations with Lupe Fiasco, Wiz Khalifa, Kanye West and more.

Back in June of 2010 the folks at G.O.O.D. Music had the ambitious plan of releasing three albums on the same day. September 14 was going to see Kanye's fifth album, Kid Cudi's sophomore effort and the debut of Big Sean. While that obviously did not happen, Big Sean is now on deck.

According to Y2KDaily the Michigan native is scheduled to release his debut Finally Famous: The Album on May 3rd via G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam. The album will feature Pharrell Williams, Mike Posner and of course the big homie Kanye West. His Chris Brown-featured, No I.D.-produced single "My Last" is out now.

 The 23 year old emcee going up against some of Hip Hop's most respected veterans. With Pete Rock & Smif-N-Wessun, Large Professor & Neek The Exotic and the Beastie Boys all slated to drop albums that day.

Hip-hop studio owner keeps it clean

Koran Bolden, 28, a hip-hop artist known as RikDikulous who was once signed to Def Jam, and now founder and co-owner with his wife, LaPortcia Bolden, of Street Dreamz, a recording studio and artistic development center at the St. Louis Mills mall.

FAMILY • Along with working at Street Dreamz, his wife is a nursing student at St. Charles Community College. They have three children: Tahlia, 10, a fourth-grade student in the Francis Howell School District; Koran Jr., 6, first grade; and Kailee, 10 months old. Bolden is the youngest of three children born to Adrianne Bolden, a nurse in St. Louis. His late father, Matthew Brown, was active in local politics and a McDonnell Douglas employee. His brother, Anthony Bolden, was killed at age 22 when Koran was about 5 years old. His sister, Cherie Bolden, 35, works for the city of St. Louis. Bolden and his family live in the St. Peters area.

EDUCATION • Bolden grew up in the Tower Grove neighborhood. He graduated from the Gateway Institute of Technology in 2001 and did not attend college.

How did you get your music career started?

When I was in high school, I was with a local hip-hop group called 1st Draft. I rapped and produced the music. After I graduated, I got a job as a car salesman, but music was my first love, and I kept working to try to do something with it. Then through some people who heard us, we got a record deal with Def Jam.

That must have been exciting. What happened?

They flew us to New York and we signed the deal and a producer from MTV came out and shot our video. This was in 2006. Three weeks after we signed the deal, the president of Def Jam, Kevin Liles, resigned. We had a record out under their label, but after Liles left, there was no one pushing for us.

What did you do?

There were three of us in 1st Draft, and we went our own ways. J. Nicks went to Atlanta and became a host on BET, and Robert Jackson, whose name in the music business is Robby Jerome, went to Atlanta for a while, too. I stayed in St. Louis because I wanted to raise my kids and decided I couldn't keep chasing my dream of a career in the music business.

What did you do for work?

I got a job in telemarketing, and from there, I went to work in the customer service area of Brown Shoe. That was a really good company to work for, and I enjoyed what I was doing there. There was a lot of room for advancement. But I have a passion for music and it never shut up.

What were you doing to pursue your music dream?

I put my vision down on paper. I wrote a business plan.

Where did you get the money to start it?

After I had worked at Brown Shoe for a while, they started laying people off. They offered a severance package and the amount they offered me was exactly — almost to the penny — the amount of money I had figured in my business plan that it would take to open a recording studio. I took the money and bought this computer, which was the first step to opening a studio.

How is Street Dreamz different from other artist development centers and recording studios?

First off, I have a strict no profanity rule. I just want to clean up the music. I want to inspire leadership in the kids we deal with, and I want them to become positive role models back in the community. My focus is on my family and my faith, and I want to use that to inspire young people and to help them focus on community service. I want to teach them that they can write and make quality rap, hip-hop, pop or rock records that aren't negative and filled with foul-mouthed lyrics.

Does that turn off some prospective clients?

Yes, definitely. I get a lot of people who walk away, but I get a lot of people who walk in and like what I am doing. My friend Robby Jerome came back from Atlanta to work with me, and he's the vice president of my company. Rob, LaPortcia and I are role models in the community. We work with city officials, public schools and our church to instill positive values in young people.

What church do you belong to?

Church on the Rock in St. Peters.

What do you offer kids at the studio?

We work with adults as well as with kids, and experienced musicians as well as beginners. We have a full-service recording and video studio. We are also a place where parents can have a child's birthday party or just drop in to make a music video, or record a song or demo CD. It can be as much or as little as you want.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I'm writing a book that is about finished. The title is "Never Say Never," and it's about how it is never too late to make a fresh start. I'm also working on an album that is about ... striving to find balance in your life. Other than that, we spend time with our family — my wife is one of 14 children, so there are always a lot of get-togethers with her family.

What was the last best book you read?

"Talent is Never Enough," by John C. Maxwell. I read a lot of books by Maxwell.

And what do you drive?

A silver 2000 Monte Carlo SS.