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Was it more appropriate for Nas to criticize a male rapper on “Ultra Black” instead of Doja Cat who is a pop star? 

This is a historic photograph. And a chilling one. https://t.co/eXD5Em48tW

— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) August 15, 2020

What will be done about President Trump’s tampering with postal services before the upcoming election?

"…major labels bear responsibility for limiting R&B’s reach. They're unwilling to imagine the genre occupying a different place in the music ecosystem, where “pop” is at the top & everything else is a second-class citizen."https://t.co/km88iMvodk via @RollingStone

— Craig Seymour, Black gay music critic (@craigspoplife) August 14, 2020

Are Charlie Wilson, Ledisi and Anthony Hamilton right to go independent because record labels have such a limited vision for the marketing of the genre? 

Wanda Sykes is the host of the 28th Annual Bounce Trumpet Awards. The show, which celebrates African-American achievements will premiere Sunday, January 12th at 9 PM ET on Bounce. The black-tie event took place in Hollywood for the first time and the honorees are Martin Lawrence, Cedric The Entertainer, Marsai Martin, Ambassador Andrew Young, Hydeia Broadbent and Phylicia Fant. 

Faith Evans’s performance of a hit medley with Sheila E is one of the musical highlights of the evening including Rapsody’s duet with R&B singer Elle Varner. Nas gave a rendition of his classic “If I Ruled The World” and the evening ended with a performance from B. Slade, Le’Andria Johnson and Jason McGee & The Choir. Niecy Nash, Mike Epps, Anthony Anderson, Sylvia Rhone, Lamman Rucker and Xernona Clayton will present the honorees with their awards. 

[youtube id=”3hOZaTGnHU4″]Nas’s “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” was one of the songs to appear on his 1994 debut album Illmatic. The Large Professor’s production included an instantly recognizable sample of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.”  In his lyrics, Nas promised therapeutic effects on his listeners and explained how rapping was as essential to him as taking the next breath. His poetic delivery mesmerized rap fans, colleagues and the music industry. He was initially thought of as the next Rakim until it became clear that his voice was its own force. The video was a tribute to the film Wild Style and parts of it was shot on the same stage used for the last scene from the movie. “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” has been copiously sampled and Illmatic is regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever released. Nas saw the release of The Lost Tapes 2 in 2019. 

[youtube id=”8BEwNkGYkMM”]Nas calls himself the “Jarreau Of Rap” on a song from The Lost Tapes 2. He invokes the late jazz singer Al Jarreau with support from contemporary musician Keyon Harrold who plays trumpet on the track that is based on Jarreau’s “Blue Rondo à la Turk.” The Lost Tapes 2 comes out July 19th see the tracklisting below. 

Tracklisting

1. No Bad Energy

2. Vernon Family

3. Jarreau of Rap (Skatt Attack) feat. Al Jarreau, Keyon Harrold

4. Lost Freestyle

5. Tanasia

6. Royalty feat. RaVaughn

7. Who Are You feat. David Ranier

8. Adult Film feat. Swizz Beatz

9. War Against Love

10. The Art of It feat. J. Myers

11. Highly Favored

12. Queens Wolf

13. It Never Ends

14. You Mean The World to Me

15. Queens Bridge Politics

16. Beautiful Life feat. RaVaughn