Ghostface is back! Not only on Raekwon’s new banger sequel Only Built For Cuban Linx 2 (one of my top albums of the year dead ass), but also on his own solo and self-described “ghetto love” album.
Includes features by the whole R&B family - Raheem Devaughn, John Legend, Fabolous and Estelle - and Pretty Toney rapping all kinds of sweetheart lyrics to his girl(s). The dude is smoov; I suggest following him on Twitter immediately for some real-talk love and sex advice.
For your entertainment, I’ve also included DJ Whoo Kid’s amazing interview, in which Ghostdini touches on the topics of Dream fronting (”it’s a bullshit era”), why he took off the golden hawk and mask and the inspirations for his new album (Kels!) Will have you laughing your ass off all weekend I promise. Last but not least, click here to see Ghost’s sex-chat with Angela Yee on Lip Service, where he fields questions about oral, fidelity and being a Muslim. Bone ’til ya moan Tone. Enjoy!
Formerly an actor and assistant to Donna Karan, the Haitian New Yorker Jean-Philippe Boucicaut (pictured above) has shifted his focus and returned to one of his original passions - painting. The opening of his second solo show of canvas work was held last night in Harlem at a private residence. Among notable family members is his late cousin Jean-Michel Basquiat, but while the breakthrough artist of the 1980s started the neo-expressionist movement, JP’s work is more centered on spiritual themes and emotive pop art portraits. JP currently shares time on the east and west coast and picks up his paintbrush - or camera; he is also a gifted photographer - as often as possible. Don’t be surprised if you hear more about this talented artist in the near future. See below for some of the show’s highlights!
JP’s website, which includes photo work as well . . .
This is a bad bitch. Beka Goedde, who I have known since the awkward high-school teenage years (yes we played on the same soccer team!), is really the one responsible for bringing me to New York. But all that’s irrelevant. This artist lady can draw. And paint. And make sculpture out of an-y-thing. And film [...]
Blu’s would-be protege is the New York-based rapper Sene, who just dropped an ill new mixtape. Production by Blu (who also produces all of Sene’s debut album, A Day Late and a Dollar Short, coming in October) and a feature by my second favorite LA rapper Co$$ . . . the mixtape has a fresh [...]
For those who are nerd-core (MF) Doom fans like me, eat your heart out: the metal-faced villain made a classy appearance in The New Yorker last week. Ta-Nehisi Coates - my fave journalist, Atlantic blogger and hip-hop head - nails Doom’s crotchety (no’homo) comedian caricature, his absurdly genius rhymes and his desire to be the [...]
Shafiq Husayn is one third of production hot-house Sa-Ra - along with Taz Arnold and Om’Mas Keith, respectively - and the big LA homie is about to release his debut solo album Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka via Plug Research. The title’s double entendre draws from “Ka”, the ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) signifier of mind or spirit, and [...]
For any bands about to shoot a music video, take note of this great one by The Phenomenal Handclap Band. Very simple, very well done. Very New York. Eight movies shot over several weeks of summer in the city, made into one final product. Watch it, love the split screen.
I know I said I would come back to the 10 XXL Freshmen of 2009, so here it is: Blu returns! Ever since I first heard Below the Heavens, I have been copping all of Blu’s records, from the DJ Heat compilations to the Valentine’s Day mixtape. Blu reps LA like a mufucka but like [...]
After the tragic passing of Slum Village founder Baatin (pictured far right, above) last month, Detroit/Brooklyn production wizard and DJ Waajeed (what up fam!) teamed up with Ghostly International (what up Migs!) to make GhostlyCast #26: Waajeed The Eternal Mixtape.
Press play and give thanks for life and all the gifts that Detroit has brought to [...]
My roommate Kim Harty is an amazing glassblower and performance artist, but this week she has been one of 100 artists asked to make something for the Coney Island USA auction (which raises money for the non-profit arts center and for the preservation of the amusement park). Each artist was given a cast of Coney’s [...]
Ghostface is back! Not only on Raekwon’s new banger sequel Only Built For Cuban Linx 2 (one of my top albums of the year dead ass), but also on his own solo and self-described “ghetto love” album.
