SKAM2? lets another bat loose from under the big top of his Flying Monkey Murder Cirkus with the bizarre visuals for “How To Boil Vomit”.

Multi-platinum music icon Prince, and global music and entertainment platform TIDAL, confirmed that the next release from the entertainer will be exclusively on TIDAL on September 7, 2015.

The upcoming release, the experimental, HITNRUN, was first announced by his band, 3RDEYEGIRL, on BBC radio late last month, following the release of the critically praised first single, “HARDROCKLOVER”. Minutes after the song was released on July 1^st, critics raved with The Guardian saying, “Prince is back to his old sensual self ‘ripping jeans’ and ‘making women scream’ on this minimal slow jam.” Billboard called the single “A dreamy rock song”, and Rolling Stone described it as simply “Wild”.

“Super hardcore Prince fans that know every song he’s ever recorded – we refer to them as ‘The Purple Collective’ or ‘The Purple Army’ – this album is absolutely for them, because it’s super funky,” reported 3RDEYEGIRL. “There are a lot of experimental sounds. It’s just hit after hit and definitely caters to those fans who just love to hear what Prince has to say, rather than wanting to always hear that classic Purple Rain Prince sound.” Prince worked with co-producer Joshua Welton on HITNRUN – Welton was also a co-producer on Prince’s ARTOFFICIALAGE album, released late last year.

The Prince/TIDAL partnership has been in the works for some months, but was quickly cemented out of mutual admiration and respect and a profound belief in artists’ rights. The relationship began in May with TIDAL live streaming the first hour of Prince’s RALLY 4 PEACE concert in Baltimore. TIDAL hosted live audio of the event and matched funds for donations made on TIDAL.com.

The music icon stated, “After one meeting, it was obvious that Jay Z and the team he has assembled at TIDAL recognize and applaud the effort that real musicians put in2 their craft 2 achieve the very best they can at this pivotal time in the music industry. Secondly, TIDAL have honored Us with a non-restrictive arrangement that once again allows Us to continue making art in the fashion We’ve grown accustomed 2 and We’re Extremely grateful 4 their generous support. And lastly, in the tech-savvy, real-time world We all live in 2day, everything is faster. From its conception and that one & only meeting, HITNRUN took about 90 days 2 prepare its release. If that’s what freedom feels like, HITNRUN is what it sounds like.”

JAY Z added, “Prince has always been a visionary, a free-thinker. We’re honored to offer his breadth of work, “1999,” “Purple Rain,” etc., music that has inspired so many, on TIDAL. We’re also excited to be the home for his new upcoming album, HITNRUN. Both Prince and TIDAL share the belief that all creatives should have the opportunity to speak directly to those that love and support them. This partnership with Prince represents TIDAL’s philosophy in its truest form, a 1 to 1 connection and direct delivery of artistry to the world.”

About TIDAL
TIDAL is an innovative platform to experience and discover music from artists around the world, enjoy access to exclusive and curated content, and connect and share with artists. TIDAL is available in more than 44 countries with a 30 million song catalog, and more than 75,000 high quality videos. The service offers high-fidelity CD sound quality, high quality video, expertly curated content and unique experiences.

Follow TIDAL at http://facebook.com/tidal and http://twitter.com/tidalhifi

SOURCE TIDAL

Hours before releasing his critically acclaimed third studio album Compton (Aftermath/Interscope Records), a sixteen track effort that’s musically “ornate and grand-scaled”, as noted by the New York Times, and which is inspired by the sounds and sights of his iconic hometown, Dr. Dre announced plans to fund a new performing arts center in his old neighborhood. “I’ve been really trying to do something special for Compton and just couldn’t quite figure out what it was,” he told the Beats 1 host Zane Lowe in an interview conducted late last week. The idea’s genesis came from Compton Mayor Aja Brown; “she was already in the process of working on it,” Dre told Lowe, “so I said, ‘Boom, this is what we should do!’ ”

Compton, a body of work lauded by the Irish Times as “magnificent”, with “track after track rocking back and forth with a vibrant, invigorated and pointed momentum”, is rich with imagery and ideology about life in the infamous southern Los Angeles neighborhood. It has been heralded – via Rolling Stone, who remarks Compton “contains some of his most ambitious, idea-stuffed production ever”, the Guardian, who names Dre’s “gift for rejuvenation remarkable”, and Grantland who calls it “the first undeniably earth-shifting and socially abstract eyes-wide-open moment in a solo career” – as offering a unique new view of the city’s evolution over the last several decades, since Dr. Dre and N.W.A. put Compton on the cultural map with the 1988 release of their classic record, Straight Outta Compton.

In short, there is no more appropriate source of funding for a new facility meant to serve as a haven and source of creative inspiration for Compton’s youth. “It will give kids something to do during these long summers,” said longtime Compton resident Rick Bludso, when asked about the new center by The Los Angeles Times. “It is real good thing, a real good thing.”

SOURCE Interscope Records

RIP to Sean Price…

According to Rolling Stone… Price first rose to prominence under the moniker Ruck as a member of Heltah Skeltah alongside fellow Brownsville, Brooklyn rapper Rock. The pair were members of a hip-hop collective known as the Boot Camp Clik, which also featured Black Moon’s Buckshot, Smif-N’Wessun’s Tek and Steele and the trio O.G.C. After first appearing on Smif-N-Wessun’s revered 1995 LP Dah Shinin’, Heltah Skeltah released their own 1996 debut Nocturnal. That was followed the next year by the first Boot Camp Clik LP For the People.

Price has been working on a new mixtape Songs in the Key of Price, due out August 21st, at the time of his death.

Russell Simmons is taking it from YouTube to your living room TV with a new HBO deal.

Music mogul Russell Simmons and his latest venture, All Def Digital, a multi-platform media company, signed a deal with premium television network HBO. The agreement entails the Def Jam co-founder and his team creating and developing a wide range of small screen projects for HBO.

Currently, Simmons has five active projects on the table with HBO; three of these are in development via All Def Digital. The projects are as follows:

a comedy series that curates the best of All Def Digital’s live comedy shows, happening every week in Hollywood.
These Are My Friends, a comedic docu-drama by Shaka King that takes an original look at authentic hip hop culture, following four friends as they struggle to break free from the starving artist stigmata, and keep their dreams alive.
a third comedy series through All Def Digital featuring the Broken Lizard troupe, who brought you viral videos like “Super Trooper” and “Beerfest.” The Broken Lizard Show will take an unprecedented look at race, when, in the future, a space ship exploring the galaxy stumbles across the first white man in the galaxy.
a highly anticipated miniseries, Codes of Conduct, executive produced by Simmons and directed and developed by Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave). The show follows a young man with a mysterious past who enters the ranks of New York’s high society.
a Def Comedy Jam 25th anniversary special, produced by Simmons and Stan Lathan, featuring an all-star line up of the best comedians, ever.
Says president of HBO programming, Michael Lombardo:

“We always speak of having distinct voices at HBO, and few in the industry are as unique and intelligent as Russell. He’s been a part of our family for a long time, and we are so pleased to be continuing our relationship.”

Simmons has had a working relationship with HBO for years, since 1992, when he c0-created the Def Comedy Jam series that helped make household names out of Martin Lawrence, Chris Tucker, Bernie Mac, Jaime Foxx, Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, and other big name funny guys.

“HBO has been like a home to me for a generation,” Simmons says. “I am enormously proud of the broad range of programming they have nurtured. Together, we have discovered new voices and helped launch emerging artists that deserved a mainstream platform. I am even more excited by the next generation of talent and shows that we are developing through All Def Digital TV.”

Stay tuned to see even more from Simmons and the All Def Digital team as they take over the airwaves on HBO.

What was originally scheduled to drop August 18th… “Bang 3” is now available… This is Keef’s third mixtape since October 2014… A$AP Rocky and Mac Miller are featured on “Bang 3”