Blog: The Smoking Section

@missireynolds Start your day with India Reynolds. End your day with India Reynolds. Happy Birthday [...]

Quite the important birth date in New York Hip-Hop history, indeed. As customary this time of year, the game paid homage to B.I.G. on what would've been his 41st birthday. Fellow May 21st baby, Max B, also celebrates his 35th year above dirt today. According to French , The Boss Don is in the process of preparing another appeal for his role in a robbery/murder in 2006 which has him serving a 75-year sentence. Instead of focusing on grim reality of Max's situation, shifting attention to the music feels [...]

New console reveals from top competitors like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo reign supreme in the world of consumer electronics. They're not like yearly iPhone or Galaxy S press conferences featuring "suitable" tech for 18 months. The systems represent the cutting-edge specs of the day and become engines for your favorite games for the next five-plus years. Except, with Sony's and Microsoft's "hype conferences," the drama and anticipation for the future of entertainment gets replaced with uncertainty. We see some of the novel features under the hood, the shiny graphics and recognizable franchises showing off the [...]

"If she can tell it's a Louie smell I scoop her, In a black-bluish SL, bumpin' Luther." A wise move we be to stop and listen to AZ's first single, "We Movin," produced by Statik Selektah, from the sequel to his debut, Doe or Die II . Even though it's been almost 20 years since he first appeared on "Life's A Bitch," A's voice still sounds as youthful as ever and his content is fully immersed in the lavish, Mafioso-style that once garnered him so much praise. Statik's production slips right on [...]

• clockworkmusic - AZ "We Movin" (prod. by Statik Selektah)

July will belong to the Thornton brothers. It'll just be done separately instead of together as the Clipse. Everybody knows the elder of the two has found a new path in God to follow, however No Malice hasn’t given up music and he's quietly been preparing his first solo album, Hear Ye Him . And, today the Re-Up family has announced its July 2nd release date and prepared a trailer to accompany the good word.

Listening to Pharrell's the new song "Happy" should make the day better. The producer/artist is back with the Despicable Me franchise to score the soundtrack to the animated film's sequel. P contributed three tracks of his own – including one titled "Scream," which features Cee Lo Green. The Despicable Me 2 soundtrack will hit the streets on June 18th, while the film will arrive in theaters on July 3rd. [Rolling Stone]

• Pharrell Williams - Happy

Travi$ Scott's been a much talked about artists for the past few months and the same came be said for his free project, Owl Pharoah . Even with all the chatter, there's still little known about Scott aside from his G.O.O.D. and Grand Hustle affiliations. Hopefully, a few listens to Owl Pharoah will provide the answers we all seek. Gauging by the tracklisting, the features look better than some MCs second albums. Stream and download below. Download - Travi$ Scott – Owl Pharaoh Mixtape [...]

Hit-Boy, 2 Chainz and girls, girls, girls for the video to the former's "Fan" remix.

It's hard to believe these words are about to be stated but...here's a new Goodie Mob track that's worth a listen. Titled "Special Education," the Atlanta group's finally back to sounding familiar to their pre-1999 selves and way more fluid in sound and tone than "Fight To Win." The pulsating production works against each MC's thought-heavy lyrics and Janelle Monae provides an almost perfect hook that looks to help disconnect the dots, fighting against the same-old-same in the music and culture. The group's new project, Age Against the Machine [...]

• BlackIce Bell - Goodie Mob f. Janelle Monae - Special Education - 2013

Building a tradition established in 2008, Nike Basketball debuts the new 2013 edition of the Hyperdunk. As the model continues to evolve, designer Peter Fogg stuck with the "less is more" mantra while implementing three of the Swoosh's key basketball technologies: Dynamic Flywire, Hyperfuse construction and Lunarlon cushioning. The Hyperdunk 2013 will be available Saturday, July 20th, 2013 online and at select NSW retailers.

How this video only has 939 views on YouTube is unreal. In 1993, The Notorious B.I.G. had yet to morph into the crossover superstar the world would later come to adopt him as. That doesn't mean his 21st birthday party in Brooklyn was anything less than - what the kids coin now as - "turnt up." In providing some sort of time significance, mentally grasp these four facts. - The first World Trade Center bombing wasn't even three months old yet. - The vibes in New York were so [...]

Fans of fast-paced action, click play and hold on tight before listening to Snow, Tha Product's latest track, "ON. NOW." The quick-tongue Mexican spark plug's joined by Texas' own Trae Tha Truth and the two shred the song to pieces in a little over three minutes. Watch for Snow's Good Nights & Bad Mornings 2: The Hangover , coming soon. Snow, Tha Product Ft. Trae Tha Truh - "ON. NOW" (Prod. By Cardo)

@ kdtrey5 steps forward and gives $1mil matching gift to the ARC for disaster relief, text "REDCROSS" to 90999 for a $10 donation. — Red Cross Oklahoma (@redcrossokc) May 21, 2013 Per the Red Cross , Kevin Durant stepped up in a big way for residents of his adopted home. In the wake of yesterday's tornado that hit Moore, OK and surrounding areas, the Thunder forward donated one million dollars to the charity organization's disaster relief fund, matching the donation [...]

Soon cometh, Reebok Classics will be re-releasing Allen Iverson's Answer 1 sneaker, the shoe Bubba Chuck wore during his second season, and tapped Rickie Jacobs to lace an acapella backdrop for part one its #HeresYourAnswer initiative. Perhaps paying homage to the playground-style game of A.I.'s, the clip's director Samuel Rodgers travels to Harlem's historic Rucker Park to bring his black-and-white vision to life. Where there's a positive in young Rickie's endorsement opportunity and the A12s seeing the light of day in 2013, also comes the doleful truth if what was revealed in this [...]

By all means, take the stance saying JJ Watt did this only for personal and selfish reasons. The guy at least gets the "glass half full" from these parts until proven otherwise. Last week, Houston's KHOU-TV aired a special about Cristian Beasley, a brave 12-year-old young man taking the fight to leukemia. Unable to attend sixth grade physically due to his condition, and as one of 34 kids nationwide, Beasley does so virtually with the help of a robot, "Watt." The 'bot was named after Cristian's favorite football player and reigning Defensive [...]

Without much knowledge on Detroit's Doughboyz Ca$hout, I quickly turned to the Crew's resident D-Town Hip-Hop aficionado, Beware. Come to find out, they've been one of the biggest acts from the city not named Big Sean for the better part of three years. Having caught the eye of Young Jeezy - who, remember, is giving this A&R thing a whirl again - and his CTE imprint, the group snags the Snowman for "Mob Life." Maybe he's been doing this and I've failed to take notice, but ever since Young's gone back to his [...]

• CTEthaWorld - Doughboyz Cashout ft Jeezy "Mob Life"

Hanging around Gucci Mane's already seems to be having a negative influence on Chief Keef. According a mugshot posted on the rapper's Instagram, he was booked into Dekalb County jail yesterday afternoon and he also tweeted the message "Jus Got Out Of Dekalb County jail In Atlanta Mad As fuck" on his Twitter . TMZ got on the case and figured out that Keef, real name Keith Cozart, was busted for smoking ganja in a hotel room. According to the Sun-Times , Sosa [...]

Hanging around Gucci Mane's already seems to be having a negative influence on Chief Keef. According a mugshot posted on the rapper's Instagram, he was booked into Dekalb County jail yesterday afternoon and he also tweeted the message "Jus Got Out Of Dekalb County jail In Atlanta Mad As fuck" on his Twitter . TMZ got on the case and figured out that Keef, real name Keith Cozart, was busted for smoking ganja in a hotel room. According to the Sun-Times , Sosa [...]

More new music from Neighborhood Nip as he throws up "Face The World" after just sharing "Smoking With My Stylist" only a few days ago. 9th Wonder's soul-drenched production almost upends the show from Nipsey but he hangs on to make "Face..." a good listen. Hopefully, the new material is all a run to get ears in tune for Victory Lap .

• iHussle - Face The World (Prod. by 9th Wonder)

Any Bo Jackson trainer by Nike usually gets my money by default. Nostalgia and style always take over and another pair is added to the pile. Then there's the latest release, the Air Trainer Max '91 QS "Raiders," which pays homage to the two-sport star and gives a hat tip to his former football squad as well. The thought behind them is good but the execution looks overdone like these were left in the oven too long. Trainer '91s tend to go for good money on the secondary market and we haven't seen them [...]