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Tag: rap
Once Sidelined, Hip-Hop Finds Grammy Spotlight With Kendrick Lamar

Once Sidelined, Hip-Hop Finds Grammy Spotlight With Kendrick Lamar

By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Kendrick Lamar heads into Monday’s Grammy awards with a leading 11 nominations and the chance to make history if he wins album and song of the year, categories that have traditionally shunned hip-hop artists.

In the 58-year history of the Grammy awards, only two hip-hop albums have ever won the music industry’s top prize for album of the year; Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999 and Outkast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in 2004. No rap song has won song of the year.

But while the odds are historically stacked against him, Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” album was both a commercial and critical success.

Butterfly, which sold around 5 million copies in the United States last year, topped Rolling Stone’s best albums of 2015. The magazine called it “a sprawling epic that’s both the year’s most bumptious party music and its most gripping therapy session.”

In Butterfly, 28-year-old Lamar from Compton, California, the home of hip-hop pioneers NWA, fused poetry with jazz, blues and funk in songs that mix social issues with homages to black artists like Miles Davis and Tupac Shakur.

Lamar’s anthemic “Alright,” about the obstacles that face black youths in America, is nominated for four Grammys including song of the year.

“Kendrick Lamar is stepping up to be an important voice in a very essential way,” said Brian Hiatt at Rolling Stone. “It would be a very exciting thing if Kendrick actually won album of the year.”

Lamar faces stiff competition from Taylor Swift’s 1989, country artist Chris Stapleton’s Traveller, R&B breakout The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness and blues-rock group Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color.

The Grammy awards, decided by members of the Recording Academy rather than the public, have often shunned popular performers in favor of lesser-known musicians regarded as more artistic.

Last year, indie-rocker Beck was the surprise album of the year winner, prompting rapper Kanye West to declare afterward that Beyonce had a better album.

“The Recording Academy nominates music that they feel is the best music released in the eligibility period over the past year, so it’s not based on what’s the most-streamed or who’s the most-liked on (social media),” said Keith Caulfield, co-director of Billboard Charts.

The eligibility period for this year’s Grammys runs between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015, which disqualified Adele’s multimillion selling November release 25. Adele, however, is scheduled to perform on Monday.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Photo: Kendrick Lamar at the Orange Stage, Roskilde Festival July 3, 2015. REUTERS/Simon Laessoee/Scanpix Denmark

Rapper Related To Chief Keef Killed By Two Gunmen

Rapper Related To Chief Keef Killed By Two Gunmen

By Peter Nickeas, Jeremy Gorner and Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — A Chicago rapper who was related to Chief Keef was gunned down near where he grew up as two gunmen fired more than two dozen shots, striking the victim as many as 10 times and wounding a relative.

Mario Hess, once known as Blood Money, had recently been paid $50,000 to sign with a major record label, according to his manager.

Chicago police were investigating if rap feuds played a role in the slaying of Hess, a second cousin to rapper Chief Keef. But no motive had been established for the Wednesday night shooting in a pocket of the crime-ridden neighborhood that hadn’t seen much violence of late.

The shooting marked the second in two weeks with a connection to Chief Keef, the 18-year-old rapper with reputed ties to Chicago street gangs. Chief Keef, whose real name is Keith Cozart, was in the Northfield, Ill., residence of his manager on March 26 when a man was shot and seriously wounded.

Hess was a relatively minor but longstanding figure in the local rap scene that has seen its share of artists — including Lil Reese, Young Chop and King Louie in addition to Chief Keef — signed to record label deals in recent years.

This past year, Hess rapped in Chief Keef’s song, “F— Rehab.” He was considered the elder statesman on Keef’s local imprint, Glory Boyz Entertainment, and had released several mix tapes of hard-core street rap that won a following on the local “drill” scene. Hess’ mix tape, “Drug Wars,” for Glory Boyz, was released in 2013 before his recent signing to Interscope Records, the same label that had signed Chief Keef two years ago.

Interscope confirmed the recent signing but had no further comment.

Hess, 30, a father of five, went by the rap name of Big Glo at the time of his death but had been known as Blood Money before that.

Hess’ manager, Renaldo Reuben Hess, who identified himself as a first cousin to the rapper, said he had been trying to remove Hess from the dangers of Englewood and inner city life.

“It’s a lot of crime and violence in Chicago. These rap guys are being targeted, so you know, just trying to get him outside the neighborhood. He’s from the streets,” Hess said Thursday.

“He was basically trying to just get his rap career together because that’s a good opportunity,” he said. “They gave him some money upfront. It was a good chance for him to get himself out of the hood.”

Mario Hess was shot at about 9:45 p.m. near where he grew up. So many shell casings were scattered at the scene — more than two dozen — that police at first had to use index cards as evidence markers.

Hess was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital. The second victim, 30 and identified by Hess’ family as his cousin, was shot in the stomach and driven to Stroger by another family member, police said. He underwent surgery but was expected to survive.

Police wouldn’t say if Hess or his cousin may have been targeted by the two gunmen.

Condolences began pouring in on Twitter shortly after the shooting and into Thursday. Others tweeted their suspicions about who killed the rapper.

Early Thursday afternoon, more than a dozen friends and relatives of Hess gathered on porches, sidewalks and inside cars on the block where the shooting took place. The strong scent of marijuana wafted from one of the vehicles, while some mourners walked around with cans of beer. Others signed posters affixed to a fence at one of the single-family homes.

“I miss u dearly,” read a handwritten message on a poster.

“Half of my heart gone,” read part of another.

Relatives said Hess, who lived elsewhere on the South Side, was visiting the block to celebrate the birthdays of two of his cousins. Allena Taylor, who identified herself as one of those cousins, said people were jealous of his success as a rapper.

“Like you see stuff on Instagram and stuff, jealous of him because he made it,” an agitated Taylor explained. “He deserved that. He worked hard. Those were his rhymes out of his mouth.”

The rapper had a long arrest record that included felony convictions for narcotics and weapons offenses.

Photo: Michael Knapp viaw Flickr

Rapper Big Glo, Chief Keef’s Cousin, Shot To Death

Rapper Big Glo, Chief Keef’s Cousin, Shot To Death

By Peter Nickeas, Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — A Chicago rapper who recently signed to a major record label and was a cousin of Chief Keef was shot to death Wednesday night in the Englewood section of Chicago.

Mario Hess — who went by Big Glo at the time of his death and Blood Money before being signed — was the oldest member of the Glory Boyz Entertainment crew and was Chief Keef’s second cousin.

Glo’s manager said he was trying to get the 33-year-old musician out of Englewood and the city. “It’s a lot of crime and violence in Chicago, these rap guys are being targeted, so you know, just trying to get him outside the neighborhood. He’s from the streets,” Renaldo Reuben Hess said early Thursday morning.

“He was basically trying to just get his rap career together because that’s a good opportunity,” he said. “They gave him some money up front. It was a good chance for him to get himself out the hood.”

Police said two shooters opened fire just south of 56th Street on Elizabeth Avenue around 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, leaving more than two-dozen shell casings in the street.

Hess was shot as many as 10 times and pronounced dead at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County. A 28-year-old man was wounded and taken to Stroger by a family member, Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said. He was in serious condition.

Hess said he didn’t know the second person who was shot or his relationship with the rapper.

Police had a hard time keeping track of the shell casings at the scene. Ripped up index cards served as evidence markers until police were able to get plastic ones to the scene. But when the plastic markers were set next to the casings, they scraped across the pavement in the wind.

Hess was found south of a newer model dark red Cadillac Escalade. Four vacant lots bordered the crime scene.

Hess was a relatively minor but long-standing figure on a scene with its share of artists who have signed record label deals in recent years, including Chief Keef, Lil Reese, Young Chop and King Louie.

He was considered the elder statesman on Keef’s local imprint, Glory Boyz Entertainment, and had released several mix tapes of hard-core street rap that won a following on the local “drill” scene. Hess’ 2013 mix tape, “Drug Wars,” for Glory Boyz, reportedly led to his recent signing to Interscope Records, the same label that had signed Keef two years ago.

The rapper had a long arrest record, appearing in Cook County courts in at least 36 separate cases, according to records.

In September of 2002, Hess was charged with manufacturing and delivering cocaine. He pleaded guilty and some of the charges were dropped. He was sentenced to a year in jail and credited for almost 200 days time served.

In 2007, he pleaded guilty in a case where he was charged with weapons violations, including aggravated battery and possession of a firearm by a felon. He was sentenced to two years in jail and given credit for time served.

In April of 2008, January of 2009 and April of 2013, he was charged with possessing 30 to 500 grams of marijuana. He was given jail time for each of those cases after pleading guilty, records show, and credit for time served.

In the more recent case, he was sentenced to two years probation and was accused of violating that probation about eight months later.

This past year, Hess appeared on Chief Keef’s song, “F—Rehab.” His manager said Hess had recently signed a contract with Interscope Records.

This is the second shooting in two weeks involving someone associated with Keef.

Police say Keef was in the Northfield home of his manager in Northfield on March 26 when someone inside was shot and seriously wounded. He was a passenger in the car that dropped the wounded man off at NorthShore Skokie Hospital, Keef’s lawyer has said.

Keef, whose real name is Keith Cozart, was questioned in connection with the shooting and released. No arrests have been made.

Hess said he worried that it was only a matter of time before violence would catch up with him.

“I basically had an intuition about … just telling him he really needs to move out of Chicago,” Hess said. “He was trying to get the rest of this money and stay off the streets, you know?”

Photo: Michael Knapp viaw Flickr