News

RZA Round Up, Colbert Report Report, More Wu, Buckshot x 9th x Kwe Video Is HERE Tomorrow, Phonte On The Hook, Blender Mag x Keys x Badu, C.R.S. Glows, & N.E.R.D. Nose.

Shout out to the home-girl Mos Bef

• The Rzarector seems to be doing just that to his career so far in ‘08. After receiving fairly good reviews for his acting work in American Gangster, RZA has upcoming roles in the movies Life is Hot in Cracktown and Repossession Mambo. As we told you before, Bobby Digital will be releasing his new album Digi Snax soon. The album is said to drop July 1st where no dates on those movies yet. Most recently RZA partnered with chesspark.com to form WuChess.com, according to allhiphop. It is being described as an “online community geared towards chess players within the Hip-Hop culture worldwide” (so you can play chess now without worrying about gettin run for your lunch money).

• Last night The Roots (or some derivation there-of) performed on The Colbert Report which has been broadcasting live all week from Philadelphia. Watch the videos where they perform the opening theme song as well as their version of the “SPB.” Michelle Obama held it down in her interview. Kirk smashed his guitar (surely a rental- dude loves those instruments second only to his fam!). Yesterday we falsely promoted that it was the first ever musical performance (we werent counting John Legend’s two appearances since both involved Colbert making them more sketch like) but last night definitely saw some firsts for the show.

• More from the Wu. Seems a bit out of sync with any marketing plan but the official video for “The Heart Gently Weeps” off 8 Diagrams dropped yesterday. Looks good. As you know, the song features Erykah Badu although she is not in the video. The RZA isn’t the only one getting his acting on. Method Man makes his return to the silver screen in this Summer’s film The Wackness. Watch the trailer along with some interviews over on NahRight. Ever wonder how the Clan interacts while in the office together? More episodes of Wu Tang Office have surfaced.

• Tomorrow OKP will have the exclusive world premiere video for “Hold It Down” by Buckshot. The single features Talib Kweli and Tyler Woods and is off Buckshot’s upcoming album with 9th Wonder The Formula, droppin April 29th. In the meantime we’ve got some more Duck Down related footage to “hold you down” till tomorrow (yeah I know that was weak). This clip is Smif-N-Wessun’s video diary in Paris, during their tour in Europe.

• And for collaborations out of left field we have a new song by Playaz Circle (yeah dem duffle bag boys) featuring Phonte of Little Brother called “Paper Chaser”. To make this pairing even odder Phonte doesn’t even rhyme on the song, he SINGS the hook, and nonetheless the ish is hot. We see you, ‘Tay!

• Allhiphop caught up with Ms. Keys who claims her comments in Blender Magazine were taken out of context, that she is not, in fact, a “conspiracy theorist,” and did not mean to imply that the government is responsible for creating gansta rap. Meahwile, Erykah Badu appears in the May 2008 issue with this interview.

• Here’s an interesting video where Lupe Fiasco and UK MC Sway interview each other. Lupe makes it clear that CRS (that’s Kanye, Pharrell, and Lupe if you spend your time under rocks) will be making their debut during the “Glow In The Dark” Tour. Some parts that stood out were Lupe once again claiming he’s making one more album then retiring (hmm where have I heard that before?), and Sway claiming to be the “#1 rapper in the UK. Lupe ranks himself as the #4 rapper in Chicago and #11 in the world. What ya’ll think bout them rankings? Hit the boards and let the people know.

• And lastly, for more Pharrell, watch the crowd surfing go down in this behind-the-scenes footage filmed at the video shoot for N.E.R.D.’s latest “Everyone Nose.”

- dantana, gingerlynn & shamz

p.s. Pre-order your copy of Rising Down today!

pps. Support “Record Store Day” in your town!