Recording artist Shawn Chrystopher is set to release his Sophomore LP, entitled You, & Only You on October 19th, 2010. After the widely popular debut album A City With No Seasons last year and the ever-growing The Audition EP (released March 2010), Shawn is ready to get back to what he does best and provide listeners with an in-depth, artistic look into his life and everything that surrounds it.

“This album will almost be like a diary or journal of what’s been going in my life. I feel that if you write about human experiences, you never limit your audience because these will be stories and emotions that we all go through on a daily basis.”

Hit the jump for the rest of the press release.

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HIP-HOP ARTIST MURS AND COMIC AUTHOR JOSH BLAYLOCK LAUNCH COLLABORATIVE ONLINE COMIC BOOK SERIES

Los Angeles, CA – Successful underground rap artist Murs has teamed up with Josh Blaylock, comic publisher and founder of both Devil’s Due Publishing and PopCult Solutions to create an online comic book series via Merch-Girl.com.  Officially launched in April, MerchGirl: The Curse of Yumiko Morales tells the story of a young girl [Yumiko Morales] encountering strange and mysterious events while she tours with her boyfriend’s band “Murder Acts.”  To enhance this groundbreaking effort, Murs and producer Foundation are creating 10 original songs to coincide with each chapter.

For the rest of the press release, hit the jump.

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[New York, NY – May 6, 2010] Platinum-selling and award-winning rapper Yung Joc has inked a recording deal through his own imprint, Swagg Team Entertainment with Polo Grounds Music/RCA Music Group and a production deal with Battery/Jive Records for emerging acts through Swagg Team Entertainment.

“It is my pleasure and honor to announce my affiliation and new partnership with Polo Grounds Music/RCA Music Group and Battery/Jive Records,” states Yung Joc. “Now I can actually work and not wonder if I’m going to be held back from building my own brand as well as the Swagg Team brand. I’m very excited to work with this team.”

As an artist signed to Polo Grounds Music/RCA Music Group, Yung Joc is currently working on his new album tentatively titled Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood, slated for a late 2010 release. One of the most sought after rappers for cameo appearances, Yung Joc has been featured on T-Pain’s “Buy U A Drink,” David Banner’s “Get Like Me” which also featured Chris Brown, Bobby Valentino’s “Beep” and Slim’s “So Fly.”

For the rest of the press release, hit the cut. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a brand new cut from singer YahZarah, who was also featured on The Foreign Exchange’s  Leave It All Behind album. This is also YahZarah’s debut single off her upcoming album, The Ballad of Purple St. James, dropping on May 4th.  Check out the press release below.

Download: YahZarah–Why Dontcha Call Me No More (prod. Nicolay & Phonte)

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Obie Trice is finally making a return! Peep the press release for his upcoming album, Special Reserve, which is the first LP since his departure off Shady Records. Peep that after the jump, as well as the tracklisting.

OBIE TRICE’S SPECIAL RESERVE TO BE RELEASED ON 12-15-09

Returning with his first LP since his departure from Shady Records (where he was one of the label’s top selling artists), Obie Trice readies a new street LP, Special Reserve, which finds him collaborating solely with rising producer MoSS.

With a very strong fanbase, a strong presence on commercial radio and having sold in excess of 1.5 million albums to date (including the certified Platinum Cheers), Special Reserve is a departure from Obie’s typical sound, as a wide range of gritty audio mosaics are provided by MoSS, as he continues to not only raise his profile, but the bar he’s set from his previous work with Raekwon, Ghostface, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, AZ, Slum Village, Havoc, Kool G Rap, KRS-One/Buckshot etc. MoSS is also the first producer signed to the legendary DJ Premier’s “Works of Mart” production company.

Obie Trice’s Special Reserve will be released on 12-15-09.

Tracklisting and credits for Obie Trice’s Special Reserve:

1.) Welcome

2.) Got Hungry

3.) You’ve Been Slain

4.) On & On

5.) I Am

6.) 4 Stories

7.) Roughnecks f/Deuce Wonder

8.) Cool Cat

9.) What You Want

10.) Jack My Dick

11.) Dope, Jobs, Homeless (alternate take / Bonus Song)

Well, I’ve always wondered what was the hold up w/ Kid Sister’s LP, because she had a couple of solid joints out there. Anyway, you can peep the press release, remix of “Right Hand Hi“, official tracklisting for “Ultraviolet“, and her upcoming tour dates below.

The much lauded superstar in the making, Kid Sister, is releasing her long-anticipated debut album, Ultraviolet, on November 17th on Downtown Records / Universal Republic. When Kid Sister (aka Melisa Young) turned in her album, originally titled Dream Date, in September of 2008, she pulled a daring move and asked Downtown to hold off on releasing it.

“There were a few things about the album that irked me…the album wasn’t cohesive”, Young told Pitchfork in an interview earlier this year. Downtown allowed her some time to make the album what she wanted, and she went back to work with executive producer A-Trak and the rest of the creative team behind Fool’s Gold. The result is the stunning Ultraviolet. The album is a landmark, merging electronic music and club rap in ways that have never been done before.

The album includes production by some of the most sought after, cutting edge producers working today (including A-Trak, Rusko, Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso, Sinden, XXXChange, Brian Kennedy, Herve, Yuksek and DJ Gant-Man) who all seem to have recognized the talent and star power that also motivated Kanye West to collaborate with her on 2007′s Pro Nails single, helping in part to create the deafening buzz that surrounds her now. The album is 12 songs deep, with each track being mixed seamlessly into the next, creating a continuous mix of songs that contain an innovative approach to their perfectly honed pop sensibilities. The final release of Kid Sister’s signature effervescent rapping style with these innovative producers will cement her debut release as one of the most talked about this year.

Download link here: Kid Sister- Right Hand Hi (Kingdom Remix)

Here’s the official tracklisting:
1. Right Hand Hi
2. Life On TV
3. Daydreaming
4. Let Me Bang 2009
5. Big n Bad
6. Pro Nails (feat. Kanye West)
7. Step (feat. Estelle)
8. Switch Board (feat. DJ Gant-Man)
9. Get Fresh
10. 53421
11. You Ain’t Really Down
12. Control

Kid Sister is also gearing up for a national tour that starts next week-

10/20 – Seattle, WA – Neumos*
10/21 – Portland, OR – Holocene*
10/22 – San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop
10/23 – Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar*
10/24 – Los Angeles, CA – Ecchoplex*
11/04 – Salt Lake City, UT – W Lounge
11/06 – Columbia, MO – Jesse Auditorium
11/08 – Austin, TX – Fun Fun Fun Fest
11/21 – Dallas, TX – Palladium Ballroom
11/25 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues*
11/27 – New York, NY – Webster Hall*

For info about a free ticket giveaway click here.

I know the Chamillionaire fans are patiently waiting for his new album, but until then, here is the official press release/brief info about his album “Venom“, which officially drops December 8th. After the jump…

( Houston , TX – Friday, October 1, 2009) – Few artists have embraced the monster that is the internet and its abundance of social networking tools quite as comprehensively as Platinum, Grammy-winning rap artist, Chamillionaire; using it to engage with fans for everything from Twitter takeovers to live broadcasts from his own highly trafficked site, Chamillionaire.com. Last week saw him go out to his legions of fans visiting the site daily and asking for their input in renaming his upcoming Chamillitary/Universal Republic third album release, which had originally been titled “Venom”; a name Chamillionaire felt he should change as the growth and direction of the album’s intended tracks, to him, no longer fit the moniker. Thousands submitted title suggestions and after narrowing it down, Chamillionaire put his top ten picks up for a vote on his site. To his surprise, his original album title “Venom” won by an overwhelming margin and, a man of his word, the newly-entitled, highly anticipated “Venom” is set to hit stores nationwide December 8, 2009.

“I wanna show all of my haters love. This song’s for you…,” Chamillionaire sings melodically on the intro to Venom’s lead single, “Good Morning”. Produced by DJ Frank E., with a track inspired by Tom Petty’s 1989 smash, “Free Fallin’ “, this ode to killing your naysayers with kindness feels as comfortable as an old friend and fits seamlessly into any Top 40 radio playlist. In fact, the single has already found a home on many Top 40 stations since being serviced earlier this month.

As far as other possible singles or artist features on “Venom” go, Chamillionaire is keeping that information pretty close to the vest, saying cryptically on his site’s blog, ”Venom stands for ‘visually entertaining negatives of money’. I plan to shoot visuals to accompany the leakage of multiple records. I won’t be talking too much about features and producers. Well, at least I will try not to. The visuals should do the talking.”

Plans for the first of these visuals, the music video for “Good Morning” are already in the works with a shoot expected in Los Angeles in the next couple of weeks.