Less than two weeks ago, we showed you behind-the-scenes footage of Young Money’s “Roger That” video. The clip looked like it’d be dope even when Wayne, Tyga, and Nicki were just rapping in front of a green screen, but the final version surfaced online last night and it’s even better than we expected. With “Bedrock” peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week and this sick, Sin City-inspired visual debuting at the same time, Weezy can turn himself into authorities today knowing that his YM crew is capable of holding things down for the next several months.
Tune in to Complex.com every morning at 8 AM for your daily “Wake N’ Watch” video.
Everyone knows Lil’ Wayne is going hard with the video shoots before he goes in for his year-long bid, but Derick G, the crew’s official behind-the-scenes guy, has some great footage showing exactly what one of these hectic, last-minute shoots is like. The video is “Roger That,” the catchphrase-inspiring, fan favorite from the Young Money LP. Nicki Minaj and Tyga spit verses, and familiar faces like Birdman (no Drake, though) and the rest of the YM collective are present as well. The vid looks like it’ll be dope when it’s finished, but we’re just wondering if one of the members who does more hanging out than work (looking at you, Lil’ Twist) is getting kicked out any time soon.
Tune in to Complex.com every morning at 8 AM for your daily “Wake N’ Watch” video.
If you weren’t in Indianapolis weekend and/or don’t keep up with innovations in off-the-dome hip-hop, a dude named M-Eighty freestyled for more than nine hours and fifteen minutes on Saturday, with observers from Guinness World Records on hand to help verify the proceedings. If the 555 minutes of rapping about what people in the audience were wearing holds up, then M-Eighty replaces Supernatural as the officially sanctioned Longest Freestyle Ever record holder (Supernat set the record in 2006 by inducing narcolespy for just over nine hours).
That’s all well and good, and we congratulate dude’s seemingly indefatigable ability to rhyme one-syllable words together, but it made us realize that the existing rap-related world records just aren’t that exciting. Longest freestyle? Fastest rap? Why not acknowledge achievements that have really done something to change the world we live in? That’s why we took it upon ourselves to make our OWN list of world records. This is for you, hip-hop!
It’s a Young Money world, the rest of us just live in it. Yeah, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you know that Weezy, Drake, Nicki The Ninja and co. are kind of killing it these days, and today’s release of the very dope We Are Young Money album just underscores the fact.
But every crew’s got a weak link, right? After some intensive research, we’ve compiled the wackest line by each YM member, including both Wayne and the golden boy from Canada. Who gets kicked out of Young Mula? We let you decide with our poll at the end. Somebody’s gonna catch feelings…
Left To Right: Pharrell, Big Boi, Brandon Flowers, Young Jeezy, Tyga
Each day Complex scours the music blogs for 5 fresh songs that you should listen to in our 5 O’Clock Shuffle post. Instead of going crazy trying to keep up with your RSS feeds everyday, just head over to Complex.com to stay up-to-date on important leaks and releases.
Sometimes we have to look everywhere for the five songs on our Shuffle playlist. Not today. Notable leaks from big artists in the past 24 hours were plentiful and we’ve rounded up the best of the bunch. N.E.R.D teamed up with Santigold. Big Boi did the same with Gucci Mane. The Killers rocked out for the unexpectedly dope Twilight soundtrack. Yeah, we got all of that and more. Keep reading to start listening and downloading…
Well, it’s official: Prince is a genius. After the Eagles and AC/DC posted huge numbers last year releasing albums exclusively through a Walmart, Prince signed on to release a three-album set for sale only at Target. Mark our words: he’ll be platinum by June.
The trend got us thinking that some of these struggling rookie rappers could benefit from the strategy. Granted, big dog retailers like Best Buy and Target probably won’t cut exclusive deals with newcomers like Kid Cudi and Asher Roth, but we thought of some less obvious stores that might jump at the chance. Read on to see marketing plans for ten of our favorite up-and-coming MCs…
Back in the dayâ„¢, if a rapper didn’t have an album (or at least a song on the radio), the only shine he might expect would be a few sentences in the back of The Source. But nowadays, every MC Tom, Dick and Harry with a MacBook'no matter how irrelevant or untalented'can make a name with a video blog. Quite simply, rapper video blogging is outta control.
Be clear: We are not talking about video blogs from dudes like Diddy, Weezy, and Soulja Boy'though they are no less asinine, you’re allowed a little slack when you’ve proven you have actual fans. For this poll, we’re aiming directly at the lames who put out more web videos than actual music, the ones that clog up worldstarhiphop.com with their mindless fuckery. So who’s the worst video blogger of the bunch?
Middle-aged white guys buy snazzy sports cars and flaunt them as if they’re chrome, fuel-injected, super-charged effigies of their now flaccid cocks. Rappers, on the other hand, buy gaudy medallions attached to equally gaudy links and rock them as if they’re platinum-and-gold-plated, diamond-encrusted effigies of their now flaccid cocks. So you can imagine how emasculated your favorite rapper feels when another rapper, or local stick-up kid, comes along, takes their shine, and leaks a picture or youtube video. It’s like they’re holding their penises (¡NH!) fully exposed for the world to see! Ay Carumba!
In any case, the latest incident of manhood snatching befell poor widdle Yung Berg while the diddy-bopper cruised the mean streets of Detroit (what he was doing wearing jewelry in the D, we don’t know either). Needless to say, Berg is probably somewhere licking his wounds. But cheer up, lil’ buddy! You just entered a club whose members include hip hop’s elite.
To boost Berg’s gloomy disposition, Complex combed the annals (ayo!) of hip hop history (along with rumors and allegations as well) to compile an authoritative list of the most notorious chain snatchings ever. To be fair to the victims and the vickers, we rated each incident by how emasculating it was to their careers, as well as the probability that the snatching actually happened (since almost none of the incidents can be verified by police reports) . If you don’t read this blog, you’re just robbing yourself.
When you think of rappers talking smack, images of brolic heavyweight types like 50 Cent and Fat Joe come to mind. But recently, Yung Berg and Tyga'two light-weight MCs known for making teen-friendly crossover hits'have gotten caught in the crosshairs of rap beef. Berg claimed he would punch Florida MC Brisco, while Tyga released a video to clap back at G-Unit flunkie 40 Glocc, who claimed he stole the youngster’s chain.
For two positive kids who just want to make fun music, it’s sad that they’ve gotten pulled into the world of back and forth rap beef. But if they want to have a long career in the competitive hip-hop world, it certainly won’t be the last time they’ll make enemies. Which little guy will hold up better under the pressure? Watch both of their recent tough-guy videos and vote below.
Middle-aged white guys buy snazzy sports cars and flaunt them as if they’re chrome, fuel-injected, super-charged effigies of their now flaccid cocks. Rappers, on the other hand, buy gaudy medallions attached to equally gaudy links and rock them as if they’re platinum-and-gold-plated, diamond-encrusted effigies of their now flaccid cocks. So you can imagine how emasculated your favorite rapper feels when another rapper, or local stick-up kid, comes along, takes their shine, and leaks a picture or youtube video. It’s like they’re holding their penises (¡NH!) fully exposed for the world to see! Ay Carumba!
