Presented by ItsTheReal:

Last week, someone pretending to be the director for Jay-Z’s new video, Run This Town, put out a “director’s commentary track” providing fake insight behind the scenes of the big single off of The Blueprint 3. Now, we don’t claim to have helmed Run This Town, but we have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. This week, we present Run This Town (Official Directors’ Commentary).

They’re catching bodies on this one, just like Kanye’s verse on the song.

Related: The Rosenthal Brothers’ Interview w/Stan Ipcus

As mentioned here, Bun B came out at the Houston stop of Mos Def & Jay’s The Ecstatic Tour to do his “Uptown” verse from So Far Gone.

Imagine these two on a song together…

I caught up with Nas and Damian Marley at Rock the Bells in L.A. They talk about their forth-coming ‘Distant Relatives’ project.

*The concept of Distant Relatives.
*How they hooked up.
*Working in the studio.
*K’naan gets the ultimate co-sign.

The Nas footage isn’t the best, but that’s how it goes when you get 10 minutes with one of the hottest rappers in the game in his tour bus, 12 minutes before he hits the stage. There wasn’t enough room on the tour bus for my camera crew.

Sidebar: this was shot before the Blueprint tracklist leaked.

via MTV Mixtape Daily:

“You hear my mixtapes on ThisIs50 and you hear them with DJ Whoo Kid,” Yayo explained. “I wanted to go out of my element this time. It was like, ‘Who should I go to? DJ Drama.’ Atlanta is poppin’, New York City’s poppin’, everywhere is poppin’ — but I had to go to Gangsta Grillz. [Mastermind DJ Drama] paved the way for a lot of artists. He’s the hottest DJ to go to. Shout out to Whoo Kid, but I did this one with Drama this time.”
…
“Reason I call it Gangsta Paradise is because the gangstas in Queens call it ‘gangsta’s paradise.’ Brooklyn is the jungle. That’s the name of Queens — shout to Southside Jamaica. I’ve been dropping a lot of mixtapes on my own, learning from 50. I think I’m starting to get the game mastered. It takes some time. Swine Flu, Swine Flu 2: The Pandemic, Public Enemies. Now I got Gangsta Paradise. Shout to Willie the Kid and La the Darkman. The video is crazy. Real recognize real.”

Yayo and Dram are hopeful that they can knock out a full G-Unit Gangsta Grillz once 50 finishes filming his latest movie.

Voting ends 9/21.

For the criteria, we factor in the following: How the MC’s words penetrate on the mic: Can their lyrics stab hearts, does their flow enthrall you? Obviously we look at how they implement their talent with the quality of music as well. The music is always primary, but not the only aspect of a Hot MC. We look at their success, both musical and entrepreneurial: Do they sell albums, singles and ringtones? Do they top the charts? Are their records heavily spun on the airwaves? Do they have businesses that flourish? Have they put other MCs in the game? Do companies clamor to get them to endorse products? And finally, there’s the intangible, impact: Of course you can look at metrics such Google hits, Twitter followers and YouTube views — which we do — but do these MCs move the needle on the culture? Can the mere mention of their names start conversations? Continue reading this post…

In front of my old cubicle, the guys from Slaughterhouse ask XXL EIC Vanessa Satten how many shots a dude gets to make a…lasting impression.

Shot in Bushwick yesterday to promote Warning Shots 2, September 29th on Amalgam.

RR via Daemon Snead

Previously: Saigon – Aye Aye Aye (prod. Buckwild) | Saigon – Warning Shots 2 Artwork

Even though this footage is dated by now, the interview is actually on point. It’s from last January when the Clipse were out there.

There’s gonna be much more footage of the guys in the upcoming weeks as they’re gonna be promoting both the Fall line of Play Cloths dropping in stores as well as their new album ‘Till The Casket Drops.

Hit the jump for the full video with better audio/video.

Continue reading this post…

Tek of Smith and Wessun offers a collection of G-mixes and collabs as a precursor to his upcoming solo project 24Kt Smoke.

Tracklist and link after the jump.

Continue reading this post…