Para fans de Hip-Hop y Electrónica.
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Method Man grew up in both the Long Island and Staten Island neighbourhoods of New York, splitting his time between his separated parents. He first rose to stardom in the early 90’s, as the youngest and arguably most successful member of the now legendary New York Hip-Hop collective, Wu-Tang Clan. Method Man has recorded five studio albums with the Wu, as well as four of his own solo releases with Def Jam. Method has also proven himself as a strong actor, starring in comedies “Scary Movie 3” and “Soul Plane” and gangster flick “Belly”.
Redman, who grew up in Newark, announced himself onto the hip-hop scene with a notable guest appearance on an EPMD album in 1990. Following that brief cameo the infamous Def Jam snapped him up, and distributed his debut album “Whut? Thee Album” in 1992, the same year he was named “Rap Artist of the Year” by The Source Magazine. Since his debut Redman has released a total of seven studio albums, and also featured on Christina Aguilera’s smash hit, “Dirrty”.
The pair were friends before collaborating, having met on previous Def Jam tours. They were first featured on the same song together when they both contributed verses for rapper Tupac’s “Got My Mind Up” in 1996. They released their debut album “Blackout!” as “Method Man & Redman” in 199, when they were at the height of their popularity. The album was met with critical acclaim and named in many album of the year lists.
The first album served as a prelude to the pair’s debut as an acting duo, in the 2001 motion picture “How High”, a stoner comedy that achieved cult status in the early 2000’s. They also filmed a sitcom in 2004 called "Method & Red".
In 2009 the pair reunited to record their follow up album “Blackout! 2”. The pair stated that they delayed the release of their second album to focus on their various solo ventures. The album was a commercial and critical success despite the 10 year gap, cementing their status as one of raps go-to partnerships.
In 1991, whilst still 16, Jadakiss had made a name for himself as a freestyle rapper, and competed in the Floridian freestyle battle the “Jack the Rapper Competition”. It wasn’t long before the rapper was making connections and soon became affiliated with the Ruff Ryders management company. Alongside friends Sheek Louch and Styles P. Jadakiss formed the rap group The Warlocks and signed with Sean Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment. At the suggestion of the label the group changed their name to The LOX, and made their debut recording on The Main Source’s LP “Fuck What You Think” on the track “Set it Off”. During this time Jadakiss developed a close relationship with The Notorious B.I.G., and The LOX’s first hit came as the B-side to Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You” entitled “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa” in 1997.
A year later The LOX released their debut full-length “Money, Power & Respect”, which earned the group positive reviews and platinum certification. Despite the album’s success The LOX parted ways with Bad Boy Entertainment, deciding to sign with Ruff Ryders Entertainment instead. Jadakiss’ solo debut album “Kiss Tha Game Goodbye” was released in August 2001 featuring guest contributions from The Alchemist, DMX, Eve, Snoop Dogg and Swizz Beatz. Despite these high-profile artists however the album was a commercial flop, and Jadakiss has since admitted the album was completed out of a contract obligation to Bad Boy Entertainment.
The rapper’s 2004 sophomore album “Kiss of Death” however received much more favourable reviews, aided by the lead single “Why?” featuring Anthony Hamilton. In 2007 Jadakiss signed with Roc-A-Fella Records in a move that Jay-Z had been orchestrating for a few years. The rapper’s debut release on the label was 2009's “The Last Kiss” led by the single “By My Side” featuring Ne-Yo. Subsequent singles included “Can’t Stop Me”, “Death Wish” featuring Lil Wayne, and “Who’s Real”. In 2012 Jadakiss released the mixtape “Consignment” and in 2013 the single “Big Boy Dialogue” featuring vocals from The-Dream.
Born and bred in Yonkers, New York, alongside childhood friends and fellow rappers Jadakiss and Sheek, Styles P formed hip-hop group, The Lox, in 1994. With very little time passed the trio recorded a demo which subsequently landed into the hands of R&B singer Mary J. Blige. Impressed with the street influenced, East Coast rap style Blige gave the demo to Sean “Diddy” Combs who immediately offered the group a publishing deal. The deal allowed the group to collaborate with the likes of Diddy, the Notorious B.I.G., and Mariah Carey, and raised the group's profile and notoriety in the hip-hop mainstream. Styles P released two full-length albums with the group, “Money, Power & Respect” in 1998 and “We Are the Streets” in 2000, before focusing on his solo pursuits.
In 2002 Styles P issued his debut full-length album “A Gangster and a Gentlemen” through Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Interscope Records. Climbing to No. 6 on the Billboard 200, the record earned positive reviews from the press, led by the No. 22 single “Good Times”. Despite earning more favourable reviews and production from The Alchemist, Styles P’s follow-up, “Time Is Money”, peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard 200. In a split release between Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Koch Records, the rapper’s third album “Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentlemen)” was released in December 2007. Rising to No. 5 on the Billboard 200, the record was led by the singles “Blow Ya Mind” and “Gangster, Gangster”.
In 2009 alongside D-Block, Styles P released the album “No Security”, followed a year later by the collaborative album “The Green Ghost Project” with DJ Green Lantern. The solo full-length “Master of Ceremonies” arrived in 2011, which was greeted with critical acclaim, and showcased a rapper determined to stick to his roots. The following year the talented performer issued the album “The World’s Most Hardest MC Project”, before releasing his sixth studio album to date “Float” in April 2013. Featuring Sheek Louch, Vado, Jadakiss, and Rocko amongst a host of other rappers, Style P released “Phantom and the Ghost” in April 2014, led by the single “Sour”.
The Philadelphia native Dwight E. Grant’s earliest hip-hop excursions came in 1994 when the rapper made appearances on a number of DJ Clue!’s mixtapes. Able to nurture an image and rising career for himself, Grant subsequently appeared on Jay-Z’s “Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life” and signed with Roc-a-Fella Records. Named after a street in South Philadelphia where Grant called home, Sigel’s debut album, “The Truth”, was released in 2000. Introducing Beanie Sigel’s smart, gritty, and hard-hitting rap delivery to a national audience, the record peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and featured the likes of Jay-Z, Eve, Memphis Bleek, and Kanye West on production. Earning a host of critical acclaim the album spawned the singles “Anything”, “Remember Them Days”, and “The Truth” and catapulted Sigel to rap notoriety.
A year later the rapper released his sophomore album “The Reason” this time with guest appearances from Daz Fillinger, Freeway, and Young Chris. Whilst not earning as favourable reviews as its predecessor the record peaked once again at No. 5 on the Billboard 200, after which Sigel starred in the Dame Dash-produced movie “State Property”. The film paved the way for the group State Property to form, who produced the film’s soundtrack in 2002 and subsequently “The Chain Gang Vol. 2” in 2003.
Despite the splintering of Damon Dash and Kareem Burke away from Roc-a-Fella, Sigel’s third full-length “The B. Coming”, released on Dame Dash Music Group, still featured a host of artists from the Roc-A-Fella roster including The Neptunes and Just Blaze. The record spawned the hit single “I Feel it in the Air” and generated a spread of rave reviews. Following a year’s prison sentence for a drugs and weapons possession charge, Sigel signed with Roc-A-Fella Record again and issued his fourth studio album “The Solution” in May 2007. Featuring guest appearances from Jay-Z, Ozzy Osbourne, R. Kelly and Ghostface Killah, the record was led by the single “All the Above” and charted at No. 37 on the Billboard 200.
Two years later the full-length “The Broad Street Bully” arrived marking Sigel's first independently released album. In 2010 he released the State Property collaborative album, “The Roc Boys”, alongside rapper Freeway, which hosts features from Wale, Young Chris and the Young Gunz. The rapper subsequently issued his sixth studio album “This Time” in 2012, following which he returned to prison for a two year sentence for tax evasion.
The group came together as high school students and started to perform local shows, developing a following. They had celebrity followers in Mary J. Blige who was the person who passed on their demo tape to Sean Combs, who later signed them to his labels. This was when the band confirmed their name The L.O.X, which stands for Living Off Experience.
They broke through to the mainstream, featuring on the song “It’s All About the Benjamins” after “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa”. They would go on to feature on many pop successes such as “Honey” by Mariah Carey and “Jenny From The Block” by Jennifer Lopez. The group released their debut album “Money, Power & Respect” on January 13th 1998 which would go on to peak at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the Top R&B albums. The group’s following album “We Are the Streets”, released on January 25th 2000, managed to reach number 5 in the Billboard 200 and number 2 in the R&B chart. It was produced by Timbaland and produced the singles “Wild Out” and “Recognize”.
The band would go on a hiatus that would end with a collaborative album with Wu-Tang Clan, which was released on November 27th 2012. The album was entitled “Wu Block”. They embarked on a worldwide concert tour called The Trinity. On March 1st 2014, the group released a song called “New York” which was endorsed by Funkmaster Flex.
As a kid, Smith was exposed to music through his father who taught him how to play drums and write poetry. His favorite super hero was Ghost Rider. Smith got off to a rough start and was involved with drug dealing to get by. His only saving grace was his ability to rap and rhyme and eventually he and 8 other friends came together to form the Wu-Tang Clan. They released their first album “Enter the Wu-Tang Clan: 36 Chambers” in 1992.
Smith became famous as Method Man with his first independent album “Tical” released in 1994 by record company Def Jam. The album charted at #4 in the U.S. and eventually sold upward of one million copies. The single “All I Need” was remixed with a Mary J. Blige song to create “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need” which earned them a Grammy.
The sequel Wu-Tang album “Wu-Tang Forever” was released in June 1997 followed by Method Man’s second album “Tical 2000: Judgment Day” in 1998. Both albums did extremely well with his solo album becoming certified double platinum. "Judgement Day" lyrics theorized about the end of the millennium and featured guest appearances by Chris Rock, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, Janet Jackson, and even Donald Trump.
In 1999 Method Man toured with Jay-Z on the Hard Knock Life tour and simultaneously recorded the album “Blackout!” with partner Redman. The two subsequently tried their hand at acting for films like “How High” and had a brief stint on FOX on their own sitcom “Method & Red.”
The single “What’s Happenin’” with Busta Rhymes came out on Method Man’s “Tical 0: The Prequel.” The album featured more mainstream artists like Missy Elliott and P. Diddy and was criticized as sounding too commercial. Method Man listened to his public’s feedback and released “4:21: The Day After” in 2006, which had more input from the Wu-Tang Clan, especially leader RZA and stayed true to his hip hop roots.
New Jersey’s Reginald "Reggie" Noble made his first mark on the scene on a track with legendary rap group EPMD and instantly made an impact with his dominant but surprisingly fluid vocal style. After inking a deal with Hip Hop powerhouse Def Jam Records, he released his debut album ‘Whut? Thee Album’ in 1992. An instant hit with both fans and critics, the album is now viewed as a classic after it turned gold and Redman won the coveted ‘Rap Artist of The Year’ award from The Source Magazine.
Redman continued to ride this high with a run of equally successful albums including the likes of ‘Dare Iz A Darkside’ and ‘Muddy Waters’ containing the song ‘Do What You Feel’ which would later become the soundtrack to a Grand Theft Auto game.
Following this, Redman struck up a number of fruitful partnerships with the likes of Def Squad, Tupac (appearing on his ‘All Eyez On Me’ album) and most notably, label-mate Method Man. Their first collaborative album ‘Blackout!’ went to number 3 in the charts, selling over 250000 copies in its first week and continuing a hot streak for Def Jam Records.
They didn’t just pair up musically though, they also began a rather bizarre but highly successful acting duo. Possibly their most notable appearance came in the cult stoner-film ‘How-High’ in which the pair manage to get to Harvard after cheating on their tests with the help of some highly potent Marijuana. No matter how bizarre it may seem, whatever Redman touches is usually a solid gold success.
Over the course of a twenty-odd-year working relationship, Method Man and Redman have only managed two studio records, but it certainly hasn’t stopped them touring; they’re on the road across Europe once again this summer. The significance of the pairing is obvious to most hip hop fans; back in 1999, when they dropped the excellent Blackout!, it marked the first time that Method Man had really delivered what he was capable of outside of the Wu-Tang Clan; he’s always been the group’s real star and was accordingly tipped for solo greatness in the early nineties, but that never really materialised, with Tical and Tical 2000: Judgement Day only ever meeting with a lukewarm reception. As far their upcoming UK dates, expect a slew of material from Blackout! and its 2009 sequel, Blackout! 2, especially those tracks that have proved such firm favourites that they’ve made it into Wu-Tang setlists - ‘Da Rockwilder’, especially, is guaranteed to have every room bouncing. There’ll also be a fair few Meth-heavy Wu cuts - expect ‘M.E.T.H.O.D. Man’ for sure - and the best of Redman’s impressive catalogue, too. Meth himself has always been the most entertaining live member of the Clan; the man knows how to put a show on, making any gig with him on the bill an enticing proposition.
Back in 2002, himself in the midst of a career comeback that many hadn’t considered possible, Eminem paid tribute to the up-and-coming Jadakiss - real name Jason Phillips - on the basis that he was one of the finest talents in the game. This was something, at the time, that wouldn’t have been agreed upon by the critics; Jada’s first record in his own right, Kiss tha Game Goodbye, had been largely dismissed as undercooked and repetitive by the press, despite an impressive array of guest stars and producers. However, in 2004, Jada made good on both his own promise and Eminem’s endorsement by releasing his sophomore LP, Kiss of Death, which piqued the public conscience with the politically-aware ‘Why’ - one of the year’s biggest hits. The album would eventually go platinum. After 2009’s The Last Kiss confirmed Jadakiss as a hip hop heavyweight, he toured extensively, delivering high-octane sets across the U.S. to packed clubs, that both saw him run through his hits and freestyle extensively, with members of the audience frequently encouraged to engage with him on the latter front. He hasn’t made it over the UK for a while, but with album number four set for later this year, there’s every chance we’ll see Jadakiss sooner than later.
Professionally speaking, Yonkers, New York rapper David Styles goes by the name Styles P; as to what the P stands for, your guess is frankly as good as mine. He can now reflect on two decades in the rap game so far, having kicked off his career back in 1994; growing up in suburban New York, he was a member of The LOX, a hip hop collective that remains active to this day, and that counts Jadakiss and Sheek Louch as its other members. In their late teens, they met Mary J. Blige, who was impressed with their output and passed on a demo tape to Puff Daddy himself (as he was known then, at least). The rest is something like history; Puff immediately hired them to write songs for Bad Boy Records, and it wasn’t long before the trio were straight up collaborating with the man himself, as well as Blige and the likes of Mariah Carey, too.
Since 2002, Styles has been dropping his own albums, with an impressive seven already released; the latest of those, Phantom and the Ghost, was released back in April of this year. He’s already played a slew of live shows across the U.S. in support of it, but it remains to be see as to whether he’ll make a visit to Europe - his fanbase here is a small one, but certainly dedicated.
Sheek Louch is such a successful hip-hop artist having released five studio albums to date, having being signed to D-Block Records, with his contemporaries, Styles P and Jadakiss. This gathering today are all clearly hip-hop enthusiasts, ready for their fill of Sheek Louch’s genius writing. He performs with such a great deal of charisma, keeping this audience in good spirits throughout the set. He performs with a smile too, which gets this audience in a great spirit for the evening. The reaction from the audience when he performs songs such as “Good Love” and “Mighty D-Block” is huge, with an utterly euphoric atmosphere in the cards. It’s great to hear this artist perform some of his biggest songs from his career with songs from his “Walk Witt Me” album which reached number 9 in the US chart and 3 in the US R&B chart too. It’s no wonder as to why this hip-hop artist is still doing his thing today.
Dwight E. Grant better known by Beanie Sigel was a former member of Dame Dash Music Group and Roc-A-Fella Records where he met rap icons such as Jay-Z and Freeway which would go onto influence both his future sound and performance style. He is one of the most self-assured artists on the circuit and despite not performing excessively, he still manages to sell out every time he rolls into town.
After selling two million albums worldwide since his career began back in the mid-90s, he has a global appeal yet stays true to his homeland by playing the majority of his shows there. Although there are no all-star collaboration appearances such as Eve or Snoop Dogg tonight, he is joined by vocalists and artists to perform collaborative tracks such as 'Think It's A Game' and 'All The Above'. The whole room goes absolutely wild for a final performance of 'Anytime' and ends the night in an aptly cool manner.
Freeway is a real force of nature taking to the stage this evening, commanding the crowd from the moment that he walks on the stage. This Roc-A-Fella Records alumnus performs a slew of his best work this evening, with fantastic flow and articulation, every word is hung on to by this audience. His song “Beautiful Music” fills this venue, with a thumping bass over a new jack swing sort of beat, washed with what sounds like a very minimal Rhodes keyboard being played atop. It is when Freeway performs “Lights Get Low” which originally featured Rick Ross & Dre on the recording that this song really sets off the atmosphere, and then “Flipside” maintaining this huge party atmosphere. It’s interesting to hear renditions of songs that he would usually perform with other artists such as “Roc the Mic” which featured State Property on the original recording. Fantastic vibe and a great watch.
The Lox is a hip-hop group who hail from Yonkers, NY, who has been going for two decades. They have had such a fantastic career up until this point showcasing their hip-hop and rap as such an art form with so much conviction and feeling to their sets. They were in fact discovered by Mary J. Blige and signed to P. Diddy’s record label, Bad Boy Records.
To see them perform is just fantastic with the atmosphere being that of a party. Seeing them live solidifies and confirms their reputation as such a successful group with each song showcasing a certain conviction that simply works amongst these hip-hop hungry patrons. You just want to get up on stage and join in. Everyone in this place is dancing and singing along. They perform some of their most successful songs to date such as “Recognize” and “New York City”, in which, they boast where they are from with their fantastic charisma, commanding the room to wave their hands from front to back.