Next To Blow: A$AP... Recognize That Name.

So, who is A$AP Rocky? Born Rakim Mayers, the 23-year-old Harlem native is working on bringing a new sound, energy, and image to hip-hop. Rumor has it that he was named after the famous 80’s hip-hop star Rakim, who was one half of the Eric B. & Rakim duo. Growing up A$AP Rocky didn’t have it so easy; at the age of 12 year old his father was sent to jail in connections with distributing drugs. In the years that followed, Rocky's older brother was found murdered near his apartment. After losing his brother, this inspired him to take rap very seriously. Since the tender age of 8, hip-hop has always been apart of Rocky. 

In the fall of 2011, A$AP Rocky’s “Peso” leaked onto the Internet and within weeks it received airplay on the highly profiled New York radio station Hot 97. He quickly released a second single entitled “Purple Swag”. The music videos for "Peso" and "Purple Swag" helped generated a bigger buzz and resulted in A$AP Rocky signed a $3 million record deal with RCA and Sony. In October of 2011, ASAP Rocky released a mixtape entitled, “Love.Live.A$AP”; the mixtape received positive reviews from critics, fans, and listeners. Rocky will be set to release his first studio album entitled, “Long.Live.A$AP”, which is set to be released in the summer of 2012. A$AP Rocky isn’t just an artist, but also a businessman. According to sources, the deal with RCA/Sony wasn’t just to push Rocky as an artist, but to also push his own group A$AP Mob. A$AP Mob is also set to release a studio collaboration album entitled, “TRILLUMINVTI”; which is set to be release in May of 2012.

So, what’s next for Rocky? Well, A$AP Rocky just rapped up his tour with Young Money/Cash Money’s very own Drake, for Drake’s “Club Paradise Tour”. The tour also featured Compton’s own Kendrick Lamar, so you can bet that with free time; Rocky will be working on all his feature projects.  

Excuse My French

French Montana is one of the hottest hip-hop artists coming out of the Bronx and is seen as one of the best out. French Montana who was recently in a bidding war over several label like Kanye West's G.O.O.D Music and Rick Ross's Maybach Music. The South Bronx rapper was once seen representing numerous labels at one point; which made the viewer and listener unaware of where he called his artistry a home. It first started with Akon's Konvict Music, and Gucci Mane's Brick Squad. In recent news, Montana made it very clear where he was calling it home. Montana has signed with the label that has helped manufactured talents like 112, Faith Evans, Total, and one of the hip-hop's greatest of all time The Notorious B.I.G. French Montana has joined what Sean "P. Diddy" Combs calls the "The New Bad Boy". The new resurgence of Bad Boy consists of a list of new and reformed faces like Red Café, MGK (Machine Gun Kelly), Day26, Cassie, and Los. One of the significant out comes with the signing of French Montana was the fact of Montana did not sharing his publishing rights with Bad Boy. Rumor has it that Montana is believed to be the first artist to ever sign with Bad Boy and walk away with his publishing. French Montana is currently meeting expectation so far as a signed artist. He has one of the hottest records out entitled "Shot Caller". Which was followed with a remix featuring P. Diddy and Rick Ross.

History of NaStradamus.

Most won't believe it's Stillmatic', but Nasir "Nas" Jones has recently signed a book deal, agreeing to publish his history and memoirs this year. The memoir is to be entitled, "It Ain't Hard to Tell"; which was also a track title on his first album, Illmatic. It will also be in collaboration with music journalist Touré, who will co-write the book. The book will tell Nas's whole story, not just about the hit records and champagne bottles. It will cover certain periods throughout his life and his career as a hip-hop artist. Nas will now join numerous artists who have taken their biographies as rap musicians and translate it into a published book like Jay-Z, Chuck D, and Grandmaster Flash. According to sources, the biography will cover Nas's feud with former rap enemy Jay-Z and TV talk show host Bill O'Reily. It will also uncover his mother's battle with cancer. The book will also shine light on his four-year marriage with Kelis, and his relationship with ex-girlfriend Carmen Bryan, who is also the mother of his first child. Carmen Bryan also wrote a tell-all book back in 2006, and in the book she gives some insight on the good and bad with her relationship with Nas. Hopefully Nas's book can help clarify the truth about her tell-all publishing. The book is set to be released by Simon & Schuster imprint Atria Books in the Autumn of 2012.