Singer/songwriter Santogold is the latest artist to join the Roc Nation roster. The Philadelphia native has already worked with Jay Z in the past when she collaborated with him on his track 'Brooklyn We Go Hard' and will be joining the likes of recent signees J Cole, Jay Electronica, K Koke and Willow Smith.
This is great news and future of music continues to shine bright.
Finally the video for J Cole's 'In The Morning' has arrived. Featuring Drake and shot whilst accompanying him on his Light Dreams and Nightmare tour, Cole has produced what was possibly the most sexy R 'n' B tinged rap collaboration of 2010 and I'm sure his female and moupie fans alike, will appreciate the video in all its glory.
Introducing Dave Raps, a new rapper hailing from New York. Having discovered a love for music at a young age and reared in a Caribbean household, it was normal practice growing up hearing the native music of his parents fused with the most diverse sounds that a multicultural city like the Big Apple, has to offer. Taking full advantage of this, it wasn't long until Dave made a firm commitment to pursue a career in music and has since devoted his time to perfecting his craft as a rapper.
Currently unsigned, this by no means has impeded Dave's grind as the rapper has already built up a respectable catalogue of music (just Google his name and you'll see for yourselves) and is readying the release of his forthcoming EP, due to drop next month.
In the mean time however; Dave Raps has given us a taste of what is yet to come with his latest mixtape titled 'Too Unknown' and the release of his new video which sees the rapper giving his own swag infested spin, on J Cole's 'In The Morning'.
UK artist K.Koke is the latest singnee to join the Roc Nation roster. Joining the likes of Cher Lloyd (sorry minor spelling error), J Cole and Willow smith, the rapper has also managed to bag himself a joint deal between Jay's Roc Nation and Suspect Entertainment, of which Koke is a member.
K.Koke is said to be in the process of making his forthcoming mixtape, "Pure Koke Vol.2" and it is also rumoured that Tinie Temper could be the next UK artist in the firing line of Jay Z's British invasion.
And suddenly the future looks bright for the UK music scene...
Both Drake and J Cole were in town last week, treating their London fans to a foray of shows that have left many on a permanent high. Both doing their media round, J Cole stopped by Maid Vale's live session for Mista Jam's BBC 1 Xtra show, to perform popular tracks 'Who Dat' and 'In The Morning'. Meanwhile, Drake spoke on a range of subjects in an interview with fellow 1Xtra disc spinner, DJ Semtex.
Press play to watch both rappers in action.
Listen, breathe and sing along if you know the words.
It's hard to fathom how an artist "straight out of the Villle" could sell out a celebrated venue like KoKo without having an album to his name. However, if your name is Jermain Cole then all confusion aside, this was bound to happen. J Cole performed his first concert in London last night much to the satisfaction of his ebullient fans and what was presented was pure unadulterated music.
One thing that stood out to me the most throughout the entire evening was his undisputed loyalty to his original fans, churning out tracks like 'Young Simba', 'Dollar And Dream' and Lights Please' taken from his classic underground classic mixtapes, The Come Up and The Warm Up, appearing more prepared to focus on material which help put J Cole on the map. With that said, being the attentive rapper that he is, Cole would on occasions slow the lyrics down similar to that of school teacher and his students; when trying to ensure the message of the songs resonated with the audience, leaving new fans in awe of his old material and the more established fans amped with excitement.
Of course the evening wouldn't be complete without performing certified, audience pleasing anthems courtesy of his most recent mixtape, Friday Night Lights such as 'Blow Up', 'Higher' and 'In The Morning' (disappointingly without Drake) which sent the crowd into an uncivilised frenzy.
Passionate, endearing and entertaining, J Cole's no gimmick approach to his performance made certain that even with a basic back drop on stage, he had an alluring stage presence which made it hard for your eyes to wander and though I can't speak for everyone else, I left the show on an amazing high.
Last night, Drake played his first Concert in London to a zealous crowd at Hammersmith Apollo. Performing hit tracks from his platinum selling album 'Thank Me Later', judging by the video footage, Drake brought the house down. J Cole also stopped by to perform a few a tracks giving London a taste of what can be expected from his debut show, tomorrow.
As you've probably sensed by now, I'm quite the J Cole stalker fan and as such you can expect to see MOABG saturated with future J Cole related news-especially as I eagerly await his début album due next year. Catching up with funny man Nardwuar, the self professed 'Human Surviette' (don't ask), Cole jovially touches on a range of subjects and looks fooine doing it!
Roc Nation affiliates J Cole and Wale have kindly given us a 20 minute documentary on the day to day life of a 21st century Hip hop artist. Produced by the team over at Banks Films and directed by Ali Banks, if like me, the desire for the inside scoop gets you rather excited-this will certainly satisfy your intrigue.
You know what to do. Part One:
Part two:
I hope Wale will be joining J Cole at his Koko gig on the 9th January. I'm assuming you've purchased your ticket already, right?
'In The Morning' featuring Drizzy Drake, is the latest instalment taken off J Coles 'Friday Nights Lights' mixtape. Do yourself a favour, press play, download and press play again. That's all!
Describing the current beef between Roc Nation affiliates, Wale and Kid Kudi as a "Let down", J Cole shared his view on the situation in an interview with DJ Funkmaster flex.
“From the outside looking it, I don’t know a lot about the situation, but it was a letdown,” Cole said. “You don’t wanna see that happen, especially with two artists who came up in the same era. But I think Wale handled it correctly, because everybody expected him to go crazy and black out with a Twitter rant.”
Briefly addressing the misconstrued beef between himself and rapper Jae Millz, Cole puts an end to the speculation that his so-called "diss" rap, during his previous radio visit to Funkmaster Flex, was directed towards Millz after the rapper made an unfavourable comment about who he thought should have made the cut for XXl Magazine's Freshmen 10' cover earlier this year.
In the interview J Cole also continues to keep his fans in suspense on his eagerly awaited debut album, stating "It could be in December; it could be in January I'm not sure."
In his own words, Cole admits "I don’t want to come out and do low numbers and just have my fans pleased. I want to reach the masses. That’s what we’re working on now.” I guess we'll have to sit and wait patiently.
