This has to be my tune of the day, summer is just round the corner and everyone is getting in the groove of what summer brings, fun, hot women, late nights in the garden, BBQ’s and great music!!!

Enjoy…

Well it is the last week of British Winter time and everyone just seemed so incredibly happy that summer is nearly here. It helped that the sun was out and the sky was and the ladies were looking beautiful…..

As everyone is on the summer vibe I thought this may help put you in the mood, it is a track from a group called Standaloft and a very good friend Leon (Smith) Rymes, don’t be fooled by the way theses guys look, they are very cool. The video was shot in Morocco and the track is just so incredibly summer- I promise you that this will be on constant repeat in the car, the BBQ’s and house parties this summer.

Enjoy…

I saw this this morning and had to post it, it is a small doc made by Atlantic records.

Atlantic Records Presents: Album Changers.
Can’t hate any of these four artists right here, though. True artistry. It’s just sad that Atlantic recognizes that they’re indeed game changers and yet tries their best to change and manipulate them. Danyel Smith presents.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts on it.

After bringing us the behind the scenes clip RWD have just premiered the official video for “Yeah Right” the Diggy Simmons featuring 1st single from Dionne Bromfield‘s forthcoming sophomore album.

This woman hit london last week and caused complete pandemonium, it was so bad that she was staying at The Dorchester in London and after a full on day of press she arrived back at her hotel to find out she had been evicted. The fans in the UK travelled from all over to reach her in London, getting bodily parts signed by her, wanting to touch her assets on top and bottom, dressing like her known as barbies.

Anyways I think she is a massive talent and after listening to countless interviews she did and listening to her music, I believe Nicki Minaj is a new breed of artist someone who is promoting herself not only through the record stores but through social media circles, she does regular streams for her fans so they are able to get a full insight and behind the scenes look at what it really is like to be an artist in the current music industry.

I really like this track she did with Drake called “Moment for Life”, I am sure it is going to be a big smash this year!
Enjoy…..

With 2011 only a month deep, January is normally a depressing month with many people slow off the mark with everything. However this year seems to be different, as soon as Jan 1st hit, everyone in the world of music are on it, we have already seen visits from Drake, Usher, Nicki Minaj and January has a couple of days left.

Another artist who is making some major moves is a certain son of Rev. Run from Run DMC a.k.a the main character from hit US TV show Run’s House. Have you guessed who it is yet…. no it isn’t his eldest son Jo Jo but Daniel “Diggy” Simmons. This young man has been working very hard, with not only designing his own sneaker line and fashion line with hip hop producer Pharell Williams but he is making some very serious moves in the music business, it seems he is following his father and brother into the family business and making and collaborating on tracks.

He already released a mixtape last year which was posted on his blog and was all over the net in a matter of hours and it seems, however for his latest project there is a video for it.

The track is called Shook ones and the video to it is amazing, I am feeling the track as the beats are big and is from a well known hip hop track! Watch out for this guy in 2011 as he has some big collaborations on the way and is a big talent for the future.

Enjoy…

Diggy Simmons- {Shook Ones Freestyle} from philthegod. on Vimeo.

The buzz behind this gig was incredible, so many friends were on BBM asking me if I was able to sort out any tickets, friends of Ten 8ty Four  were in attendance which included Joleon Lescott, Danny Simpson, Micah Richards, Seb Hines, Stephen Ireland and Sophie Reade to name just a few….

Its is only the second week of January and the big hitters from the world of music are invading the UK helping to bring a ray of sunshine to what is always known as miserable January. Drake’s whistle stop UK tour arrived in Manchester last night for 2 shows over 3 days, with his support act J. Cole playing his own headline UK gig in-between days.

The US rapper delighted fans last night, mainly screaming girls and women with a hits packed set, there were no special guests to join the rapper on stage, as rumors were rife before he took to the stage, it could have been Florence and the Machine or Nicki Minaj.

I haven’t been to a gig in a few years as there hasn’t been anyone that has really interested me and I have seen pretty much most of the current urban artists at smaller intimate venues before they became superstars, however Drake isn’t one, I passed on him a few years back when he played the Apollo as he had only released a few mixtapes, including the one which got him signed by Lil Wayne to the Young Money Entertainment label, “So Far Gone”. This mixtape put Drake on the map, so I was very interested to see what material he would play as “Thank Me Later” was only released in the summer of 2010 with “Over” and “Find your Love” being the big club bangers from the album.

Supporting Drake on this UK tour was one aptly named artist that goes by the name of J. Cole, I was really looking forward to seeing him perform as he has just taken the internet blogs, forums and many digital music sites by storm. He made some major moves by featuring on tracks with Jay -Z, Jay Electronica, Hi- Tek and Talib Kweli to name a few and is known as the first artist to be signed by the Jigga man – Jay-Z- to his Roc Nation record label, he could be the biggest artist this year when his debut album drops in the spring. He took to the stage and played tracks from his mixtape  ”The Warm Up” and “Friday Night Lights” his flow was incredible, he really spoke to the crowd through his lyrics, he didn’t even have to try and connect with the audience. It just came naturally to him and the crowd loved him, hanging of his every word. After playing for more than half an hour it was time for him to leave the stage, but not without a standing ovation from the crowd, the North Carolina rapper will go very far this year if he continues to keep up his work rate.

The main event saw Drake taking to the stage and introducing himself as the guy who goes by the name of “The One Drizzy Drake, a rapper from Toronto who has always dreamed of coming and playing in Manchester” – hmmm, that’s strange to hear as he was only here, in Manchester, last year! However the crowd didn’t mind that with the hordes of screaming girls and women all wanting to throw themselves at Drake and some hoping to possibly share more than just a drink after the gig.

He whipped up admiration for himself from the screaming and screeching fans, getting on his knees and describing with words and pelvic thrusts to the thousands of women about the “Drizzy 3 stroke”, which I am sure it’s something he has performed on many a girl since hitting the big time. The 24- year old made no bone about telling the crowd he was young, single and hasn’t had sex in over 2 weeks (yeah right, whatever) and wasn’t working the following day and if there was any females who would like to keep him company…. the response was immense.

This lead him into “What’s My Name”, a single that was released by Rhianna last year but featured Drizzy Drake, which is currently in the UK charts riding high, but this was just to be one of the large number of hits he played last night including “Aston Martin” and “Single”.

Drake played the game very well, he is a true hip – hop star in the making, with his set geared around his female fans. He is a new breed of rapper, a 21st- century rapper to say the least, who raps for the girls but keeps his credibility and lyrics so tight that he is able to appeal to the male population too. This was very evident to see as the people around where I was sat included both male and females and the passion coming from both sexes was clear to see. The women wanted to sleep with him and the guys wanted to be him as the words that arose from his mouth were very deep and meaningful to them, so much so many rapped along with him to every track he played.

Early on in Drake’s set he played “The Resistance”, which is a confession, where he rhymes about girl trouble, abortion and a lyric on moving  his grandmother into a nursing home and pretends he doesn’t know how to work the phone, he puts it down to being what dreams are made of – maybe, not quite sure about that!

Drake has become famous rhyming about his desire for fame (and girls) and his constant fear of getting lucky. But he has got lucky. Like his onstage pillow talk, which lasted for well over half an hour and got to the point where even the women were getting bored of it, but this shows this artist is on his way to becoming a hip hop superstar as he is comfortable with who he is and what he is about.

“I avoided the coke game,” the man born Aubrey Drake Graham comment, “Took the Sprite route instead” (a cheap reference to the soft drink advert he fronted). If you take away Drake’s African- American heritage and all you are left with is Sacha Baron Cohen who has finally made it as a rapper. Most of Drake’s set came from his debut album proper, Thank Me Later, an anxious, unconventionally produced, club-unfriendly record that none the less went straight to No 1 in the US on its June release. and so far has notched up 1.25million in sales alone, not bad for a former Jewish child actor from Toronto.

Like many other hip -hop artists in the past those to come in the future – Drake is well and truly a mama’s boy. This tour was meant to happen last summer, but was cancelled when Drake’s mother, had to have surgery. However this is a rapper who cannot invoke the danger of drugs or guns, so he sources his street cred from his bedside manner and by the famous company he keeps.

The young rappers promise was spotted not by one but two big names in the industry with both Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne, placing Drake on a pedi-stool as being the next big rapper, someone to take over the godfathers when they decide to retire. He certainly has lived up to the title, with his rhymes being tight and collaborating with the hottest male and female artist out there and firmly putting his stamp on the rap and hip -hop game.

When Drake finally finished talking to the crowd and telling the women how much he wanted to have sex with them and how Manchester was the best gig he had ever played in his life and how he always dreamed of coming to Manchester ever since he was a young boy – he finished the set with “Say Someting” which went sent the crowd wild, the music then suddenly stopped mid way through as had become a familiar annoyance from his set. A single light shone on him, he dropped to his knees and spoke to the crowd with a boxers gown draped over him and tells the crowd “Anytime you’re afraid to try something new, Remember- amateurs built the Ark n professionals built the Titanic”, he continues to speak for another few minutes, the crowd is hanging off every word and expecting an encore and he builds it up to the point where it may possibly happen……but he tells the crowd “Safe journey home”-  the lights go up – what a complete let down.

I have to say his flows are never brilliant but are of a high level, Drake’s mistake last night was to have J. Cole as his support act as he was was up staged by the Jigga man’s protégé, as was the general consensus by all afterwards.

Drake’s second album – Take Care, due in spring – he has a great deal to live up to.

Many thanks to Monique from Island Records.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you all got what you wished for, however I am sure many of you are bored by about 4pm.

So Check this out, its amazing…..

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

If that doesn’t work then try this link as well…

http://kickload.com/stream/1e7dad3a1cb8

any issues please email

All excesses considered, Kanye West’s 35-minute hip hop film Runaway is a bold work of art only possible in the age of the web, and an effective comeback for a disgraced performer who has effectively manipulated media new and old to present himself as a sympathetic and passionate heart despite all his failings. Whether he actually is or isn’t seems beside the point by the time it’s over.

There’s no shortage of weird to be found in the video, which strings together remixed versions of several of the songs from his upcoming album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and sets them as a soundtrack to a Aristotelian poetics-educated narrative that leverages elaborate costume design, careful direction and dance numbers.

The video evokes several of the images and themes the Chicago rapper has introduced over the past few months, including the ballet dancers from his eye-catching Saturday Night Live performance and the mythical elements of his music video for “Power.”

After Kanye fell from grace with his infamous 2009 MTV Video Music Awards faux pas that became an Internet viral sensation, his return to prominence needed to be very carefully calculated. Like Lady Gaga, the celebrity Kanye West is a walking, talking work of pop art crafted from the materials of the innumerable media outlets and mediums we use to share ideas and information.

“First rule of living in this world baby? Don’t pay attention to anything you see in the news,” Kanye says near the beginning of Runaway. Self-indulgent punditry about the vicissitudes of living publicly? Perhaps. But there’s more humility and repentance in this act of hubris than you’d expect.

The video premiered exclusively on Vevo, which has become the new old-school MTV in a lot of ways — the destination for music videos. In the same VMA ceremony that Kanye took the microphone from Taylor Swift, post-punk band Green Day called for MTV to play more music videos, but the case can be made that music videos belong online, not on the airwaves.

Runaway, Kanye’s previous video for “Power” and other projects like Swedish singer-songwriter Jonna Lee’s obtuse iamamiwhoami series show that there are artistic benefits in this. All have runtimes unconventional for music videos, but they can be as long as they need to be — on the Internet, no one is yet going to say it’s time to break for commercial or a reality TV news update.

Kanye and his team have taken advantage of this to use these videos and Twitter as platforms to reshape his image with the skeptical public. He answered fans’ questions on Twitter yesterday after the video’s debut.

The record sales figures and critics’ reviews will decide whether or not the artist was successful after the new album launches late next month, but this is an impressive directorial debut for Kanye and a fascinating look at how the new rules of media and entertainment can play a part in crafting a work of art and restoring a damaged brand.

Here’s the video in its entirety.

The eagerly video for Willow Smith’s debut single ‘Whip My Hair’ premièred a few days  ago. Check out the Ray Kay directed clip below…

Absolutely incredible!

While director Ray Kay clearly pulled out all the stops for the youngster, it was Willow herself who stole the show – and rightfully so. Amidst the gloss and troup of dancers, the 9 year old displayed a level of sass, charisma, and overall talent – well beyond her years. With this one clip, little Willow trounced efforts by artists double, even triple her age. What’s more, the video will go some way in silencing those who claim such attention is only being heaped on Willow due to her surname. Clearly, she possess a brand of talent which money can’t buy.  We’re seriously speechless right now at Ten 8ty Four HQ. Willow Smith, we salute you.