Run DMC nominated for Rock & Roll HOF!!!!!

GO RUN DMC! The Legendary rap trio Run DMC has been nominated for induction into the 2009 ‘Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame’. Rolling Stone reports that Run DMC was nominated alongside Bobby Womack, Metallica, Wanda Jackson, The Stooges, Jeff Beck, War, Little Anthony and the Imperials.

If Run-DMC get voted in, they will be the second hip-hop group behind 2008 inductees Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. The 2009 ceremony is slated to take place at Cleveland’s Public Hall on April 4th and will be open to the public.

Courtesy of Missxpose.com


R.I.P. JMJ

Trick Trick gets All-Star assistance

Lisa Marie Basile, N.Y.

Some of the biggest names in hip-hop are present on Detroit rapper Trick Trick's new album, "The Villain," due Nov. 11 via Koch.

Eminem has production credits on three songs, while Dr. Dre mans the boards on another. Kid Rock, Esham and late Detroit rapper Proof are featured on a cover of Run-D.M.C.'s "Together Forever," while Ice Cube and Guilty Simpson also make guest appearances.

The first single is "Let It Fly" featuring Cube. A video will be released in the near future.

"The Villain" is Trick Trick's Koch debut. Its 2005 predecessor, "The People Vs.," was released by Motown and reached No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. It has sold 59,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Beyond the new album, Trick Trick is planning to release his own drink line, G-Punch, a grape-lemonade flavored energy drink through the Citron Beverage Group. He is also gearing up to appear in the films "Cut Print" and "Gang Squad."

Courtesy of Billboard.com

20 Years Later, we celebrate Eazy-E and Ruthless Records

Eazy-E's Ruthless Records Celebrates 20 Years as an Indie Pioneer

Gail Mitchell

Let's hitch a ride on the music time machine back to the year 1987. Whitney Houston, Madonna and Michael Jackson rule the No. 1 hit parade on the pop charts, along with rockers U2, Bon Jovi and Bob Seger. In control on the R&B front are Jackson again, baby sister
Janet, Luther Vandross and Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam.

Still in its formative years, rap is mostly an East Coast happening. Eight years have elapsed since the Sugarhill Gang rhymed its way to commercial success in 1979 with "Rapper's Delight." And it's three years since Afrika Bambaataa and Soul Sonic Force landed on "Planet Rock."

Now rapper LL Cool J has nabbed his first No. 1 single—"I Need You"—just a year after Run-D.M.C. stepped up its legacy with top 10 singles "My Adidas" and "Walk This Way."

It's in this climate that co-founders Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and music industry veteran Jerry Heller decide to launch rap label Ruthless Records. Little did anyone know that the upstart indie would put West Coast and gangsta rap on the map, let alone house a stable of gold- and platinum-selling acts, among them pioneering rap group N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude)

Read the full story here.

Courtesy of Billboard.com