Universal Music Group & EMPIRE Enter New Distribution Deal

San Francisco, CA – The powerhouse that is EMPIRE Distribution just keeps growing with each passing music quarter.

For the latest blockbuster business deal, the San Francisco-based indie music hub has reached a non-exclusive, multi-year deal with Universal Music Group. The newly inked partnership is yet another clear indication of the music industry’s ever-changing parameters.

“In a rapidly changing landscape, we turned water and oil into cream and coffee,” EMPIRE Founder Ghazi Shami exclusively tells HipHopDX. “The unique blend of size and strength (Universal Music Group) combined with speed and ingenuity (EMPIRE) will be a force in the industry.”

With the new agreement, EMPIRE joins Caroline and Priority in UMG’s accessible stable of independent music distributors that are on the wave of burgeoning talent. It’s been well documented that EMPIRE released Kendrick Lamar’s 2011 icebreaker LP, Section.80, but they have put out some Billboard 100 smash hits in Fat Joe, Remy Ma and French Montana’s Grammy-nominated “All The Way Up,” DRAM and Lil Yachty’s “Broccoli” and even a Billboard 200 win with XXXTENTACION’s debut album, 17, which debuted at No. 2.

ODIE’s (@odiexyz) album “analogue” is out today and has the potential to be one of this years most important debut releases. Do yourself a favor and check it out on the digital service of your choice. S/o @carlchery @applemusic for their support.

A post shared by Nima Etminan (@nima_empire) on Apr 6, 2018 at 3:08pm PDT

The fast-growing record company also recently announced a string of new hires, with former Chris Brown manager and Def Jam executive Tina Davis joining the fold as V.P. of AR, former HipHopDX Editor-In-Chief Justin Hunte coming onboard as Director of Content and Strategic Marketing and former Wavo.me employee Moody Jones assuming the role of Director of Digital Marketing.

Article source: http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.46618/title.universal-music-group-empire-enter-new-distribution-deal

Slum Village Release "Lost Scrolls Vol. 2"

Slum Village may be no more, but the acclaimed group has provided fans with something new(ish) to enjoy via the release of Lost Scroll Vol. 2.

The project compiles 11 demos and remixes from the vault of the original trio: J Dilla, T3 and Baatin. Each song is produced by Dilla and was recorded during the timeframe of 1996-1999.

Check out Slum Village’s Lost Scrolls Vol. 2 stream, cover art and tracklist below.

Slum Village's Lost Scrolls Vol. 2Slum Village's Lost Scrolls Vol. 2

1. Hold Tight [Lost Remix] f. Q-Tip
2. Burn
3. Hard Core
4. Bring It Back
5. Dilla Freestyle
6. Oh!
7. Like This
8. Living It Up
9. On the Run
10. Talk About the Hoes
11. Lab Test

Article source: http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.46619/title.slum-village-release-lost-scrolls-vol-2

Chance The Rapper & Kim Kardashian Defend Trump-Loving Kanye West

Twitter (Again) – Most people have figured out Kanye West is on a Twitter rampage that’s seemingly spiraling out of control with pro-Donald Trump posts, random bits of self-help advice and a Candace Owens co-sign.

Wife Kim Kardashian took a moment from posting nude photos of herself and ran to West’s defense, while blasting the media for “trying to demonize” her husband.

On Wednesday (April 25), the reality television queen wrote, “To the media trying to demonize my husband let me just say this… your commentary on Kanye being erratic his tweets being disturbing is actually scary. So quick to label him as having mental health issues for just being himself when he has always been expressive is not fair.”

While the jokes about West being in the “sunken place” — a reference to the film Get Out and its social commentary on racism — are running rampant, Kardashian says that’s when he’s truly himself.

“He’s a free thinker, is that not allowed in America?” she continued.”Because some of his ideas differ from yours you have to throw in the mental health card? That’s just not fair. He’s actually out of the sunken place when he’s being himself which is very expressive.”

And she didn’t stop there. West, who famously took a meeting with Mr. Trump last year, has continued to voice his “love” for the current POTUS but Kardashian believes he has a right to own viewpoint and insisted he wasn’t cosigning Trump’s politics.

“Now when he spoke out about Trump… Most people (including myself) have very different feelings opinions about this,” she wrote. “But this is HIS opinion. I believe in people being able to have their own opinions, even if really different from mine. He never said he agrees with his politics.”

Finally, Kardashian ended her tirade with a note about mental health and chastised anyone making light of people’s personal struggles.

“Kanye will never run in the race of popular opinion and we know that and that’s why I love him and respect him and in a few years when someone else says the same exact thing but they aren’t labeled the way he is and you will all praise them! Kanye is years ahead of his time.”

“Mental Health is no joke and the media needs to stop spitting that out so casually. Bottom line.”

While a wife defending her husband isn’t exactly something to write home about, Chance The Rapper took it up a notch when he stuck his neck out for his fellow Chicagoan and tweeted, “Black people don’t have to be democrats.”

Prior to that gem, Chance replied to a Twitter post from Hot 97’s Ebro Darden who questioned if West had been in touch with Lil Chano. The Coloring Book rapper is convinced it’s just Kanye being the same old Kanye.

“Talked to him two days ago,” he wrote. “He’s in a great space and not affected by folk tryna question his mental or physical health. Same Ye from the Vmas, same Ye from the telethon.”

 

Article source: http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.46620/title.chance-the-rapper-kim-kardashian-defend-trump-loving-kanye-west

Prince’s Estate To Release Original, Exclusive Material

Minneapolis, Minnesota –

Fans of The Purple One may have new memorabilia to swoon over sooner than later.

According to TMZ, boxes of unreleased photos and writings have been found by the Prince Estate in Minnesota. Paisley Park Enterprises, the merchandising division of Prince’s Estate, intends to cash in on the discoveries, having just filed documents for clearance to release the handwritten poetry, lyrics, journals and never-before-seen photos. The estate plans to produce a collector’s book of this original printed material, though there has been no word on when the book will be available.

The announcement comes after the criminal investigation into Prince’s death was closed. Last week (Thursday, April 19) TMZ has reported that after a two-year investigation into Prince’s death, no one will be held responsible, due to insufficient evidence of who provided the fentanyl-laced Vicodin that killed the legendary singer. According to Carver County District Attorney Mark Metz, Prince was likely unaware that he was taking fentanyl, but had been taking opioids for quite some time for “significant pain.” Prosecutors allege he did not have a Vicodin or fentanyl prescription on record.

Just hours prior to this decision, court documents revealed that Dr. Michael Schulenberg had agreed to pay $30,000 in a federal civil violation suit for illegally prescribing Prince Oxycodone. Schulenberg had treated Prince at least twice, and had written Oxycodone prescriptions to Prince’s bodyguard, Kirk Johnson as a cover, claiming he used Johnson to protect Prince’s privacy. Though Oxycodone was not found to play a role in the musician’s death, this violated the Controlled Substances Act. This case differs from Michael Jackson’s, in which the doctor responsible for administering MJ a deadly dose of propofol was eventually sentenced for involuntary manslaughter.

In a statement Thursday (April 19), U.S. Attorney Greg Brooker said, “Doctors are trusted medical professionals and, in the midst of our opioid crisis, they must be part of the solution. As licensed professionals, doctors are held to a high level of accountability in their prescribing practices, especially when it comes to highly addictive painkillers. … We are committed to using every available tool to stem the tide of opioid abuse.”

The decisions come around the two-year anniversary of Prince’s death, when he was discovered unresponsive in an elevator of his Paisley Park estate in April 2016, aged 57. The singer has continued selling albums and racking up streams – an April 2017 Billboard report showed that he surpassed Drake and Adele to total $7.7 Million in sales in the first year after his passing.

Article source: http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.46615/title.princes-estate-to-release-original-exclusive-material

Kanye West Aligns Himself With Donald Trump & Says He Can’t Be Managed

Kanye West isn’t backing down from his support of Donald Trump.

The G.O.O.D. Music founder’s Twitter spree continued on Wednesday (April 25), affirming his love for Trump and addressing a recent report about West cutting ties with his management.

“You don’t have to agree with trump but the mob can’t make me not love him,” he tweeted. “We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.

“If your friend jumps off the bridge you don’t have to do the same. Ye being Ye is a fight for you to be you. For people In my life the idea of Trump is pretty much a 50 50 split but I don’t tell a Hillary supporter not to support Hillary
I love Hillary too.”

He continued, “I love when people have their own ideas. You don’t have to be allowed anymore. Just be. Love who you want to love. That’s free thought. I’m not even political. I’m not a democrat or a republican. And also I’m all the way out the sunken place. And I’m not scared anymore. I’m not scared of the media. I’m not scared of the past and I’m optimistic about the future. This tweet is in love not fear.”

Later in the day, the music superstar tried to clarify his aligning with Trump — thanks to prompting from his wife, Kim Kardashian-West.

“My wife just called me and she wanted me to make this clear to everyone,” he noted. “I don’t agree with everything Trump does. I don’t agree 100% with anyone but myself.”

Early on in West’s latest string of tweets, he took aim at TMZ’s report about him splitting with management. Although he took exception with being called “erratic,” ‘Ye largely confirm much of the reporting.

“I no longer have a manager,” he wrote. “I can’t be managed. I’m nobody’s ‘client.’ yes I got rid of my last lawyer why? Because he wouldn’t come to work full time. I also asked my last manager to come work full time for Yeezy of course the last lawyer and manager said no. So now I hired a CEO and a CFO and i have two full time lawyers as of now.”

He added, “We have 160 positions to fill by the end of the year. Yeezy will hit a billion dollars this year. It is the 2nd fastest growing company in history. It is a unicorn on its way to becoming a decacorn.”

West also boasted about his Yeezy brand.

“I am currently the single highest paid person in footwear,” he said. “That means I make more money on shoes than Michael Jordan. there’s been a lot of fake news so I just wanted to give you the facts. Yeezy will become the biggest apparel company in human history by working with the most genius level talents and creating product at an affordable price. I hired the head of supply chain from the Gap. We will reach the prices I’ve promised.”

After declaring himself “this generation’s Ford Hughes Jobs Disney,” West directed a message to TMZ founder Harvey Levin.

“Harvey Levin of TMZ your hearing from your future president,” he wrote. “Let’s be friends. Please never use the word erratic to describe a person who is economically and psychologically empowered.”

West claimed he’s not afraid of any negative reaction to his tweets. He referred to himself as a free thinker and joked again about the “sunken place” from the hit film Get Out.

“I’m used to the heat of independent thoughts,” he said. “Free thinkers don’t fear retaliation for your thoughts. The traditional thinkers are only using thoughts and words but they are in a mental prison. You are free. You’ve already won. Feel energized. Move in love not fear. Be afraid of nothing.”

Article source: http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.46616/title.kanye-west-aligns-himself-with-donald-trump-says-he-cant-be-managed