Meleni was previously signed to Columbia Records but has now taken her career in her own hands, developing a sound that isn’t coming from the cookie cutter R&B mainstream formula.

One of the standouts on the 10–track album is “Grace Jonesin” which pays tribute to the vibrant Jamaican singer with a vintage R&B tune, that harks back to the days of the late, great Etta James.

“Liquid Stars” is an acoustic guitar and violin driven ballad that shows the bittersweet side of love. “The Palm Of Your Hands” is an electronic influenced track that brings a cool vibe with an 80s feel. Meleni outdoes Alicia Keys on the song that Meleni wrote for Keys, “Love Is My Disease.” The track “Only A Fool” is a moving piano ballad that has definite crossover appeal.

The live instruments and various styles create a nice gumbo of musical influences which highlight Meleni’s songwriting chops and distinct emotional voice. Smith has worked with Fugees and Nas producer, Salaam Remi, and she manages to hold her own among the great female artists he worked with such as Lauryn Hill and the late Amy Winehouse.

Listen To “My Heart In Focus” on Soundcloud

Buy “My Heart In Focus” on iTunes

ALSO SEE

Hollywood Black Film Festival Reacts To Controversial “Monkey Gang” Movie

Monkey Gang Introduces The “Low Self Esteem Gangsters”

The creators of the movie managed to get reactions from many people in attendance including Jacqueline Blaylock, the director of programming for the festival. While some in attendance, believed the movie went too far and was too harsh on hip-hop culture, renowned blogger Jackie Jasper of Diary Of A Hollywood Street King appreciated the movie’s satire and parody of negativity in rap music and gave the movie two thumbs up.

After the screening the movie sparked a lively discussion on rap music as it is portrayed in the media and images of African Americans in the media.

Check Out An Exclusive Interview With “Monkey Gang” Creator, Director And Executive Producer, Mr. M

Chicago emcee, Add-2 has a video for his song “Cotton Fields.” The song deals with slavery, the civil rights movement and the struggles of Black people toady. Add-2 is 26-years-old and has worked with acts such as Kendrick Lamar and The Roots.

Check Out Gordon Chambers On Facebook

Cop The Album On iTunes

Up and coming artist Chris Skillz has dropped a new mixtape “Beyond The Sky” and has a new video to promote it. The video is dope and features a hot Tupac quote.

Check The Mixtape

R-Wan’s new album “My Club” has been topping the french iTunes charts with features from Elephant Man , Lumidee, Konvict Music’s Rock City, Nicky B, and new singer Francisco featured on his current single Nightmares.

Fans and clubbers can catch Dj R-Wan on tour with dates in the UK and US. http://www.djr-wan.com

It has been 2 years since Heart Break Kid quietly emerged on the scene as a producer for Snoop Dogg, Young Jeezy, Twista, Ebony Eyes, STL producer/ rapper MC’s single “Pull Up” featuring Chingy.

Now St. Louis rapper Vega Heartbreak steps into the booth to pen a hip hop anthem for his hometown baseball team, The Cardinals. Sampling the piano track from the 10,000 Maniacs’ “Because The Night” , Vega’s rally cry has been getting heavy rotation on many sports blogs and YouTube.

For more from Vega Heartbreak @VegaHBK

The Hollywood Black Film Festival has been called the Black Sundance and attracts studio executives, producers, directors, actors and celebrities such as Spike Lee, John Singleton, Bill Duke and Sidney Poitier.

“Monkey Gang: The Mockumentary” is an independently funded and produced mock documentary comedy that follows the rise and fall of a fictional rap group.

The movie has already drawn comparisons to movies such as “Hollywood Shuffle” which satirized negative stereotypes in film and TV in a similar way that “Monkey Gang” satirizes negative stereotypes in mainstream hip hop.

The movie has also been compared to other music mockumentaries, such as “Spinal Tap” and “Fear Of A Black Hat” and to Chris Rock’s hip hop parody “CB4.”

The movie was executive produced and written by first time director, Mr. M who also stars in the movie. So far the movie has been featured on TheSource.com, AllHipHop.com, Sohh.com, WorldStarHipHop.com as well as many other film and music websites.

Purchase Tickets Here

More Information On “Monkey Gang: The Mockumentary”

More Information on the Hollywood Black Film Festival

Support Monkey Gang On KickStarter

See You There

The Festival will screen 51 films, including 9 feature films, 11 documentaries and 27 short films.

The feature films include, “Rocksteady” a movie about the son of a Jamaican immigrant who becomes a race car driver, “Threading Needles” a story of an African immigrant who falls in love with a white girl, “Chicken And Beef Presents “Monkey Gang” The Mockumentary” a mock documentary comedy parodying negativity in hip-hop, and “Lesson Before Love,” a romantic comedy.

Other features include, “Billy” a story about an African American photographer who encounters racism and opposition when he moves to Canada in 1906, “A Mother’s Love,” a family drama, “Mystery Of Birds,” the story of the struggles of a Nigerian female who immigrates to the U.S., “Fish Above Sea Level” a Jordanian film and “Changing The Game” the story of a Black man from the streets who infiltrates Wall Street only to find out the Wall Street is as crooked as the streets.

Documentaries include, two Jamaican films, “Bad Friday, Rastafari After Coral Gardens,” a movie about Jamaican oppression of Rastafarians during the 1960s, and “Bob Marley: The Making Of A Legend” which covers Bob Marley’s early years. Other docs  include, “Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise And Fall Of The Spook That Sat By The Door,” a movie about Sam Greenlee’s epic movie, “The Spook That Sat By The Door” and “Phunny Business” a film about the legendary Chicago comedy club, “All Jokes Aside”

For more information on The Hollywood Black Film Festival go to www.hbff.org.

Monkey Gang Banana Clip#2 Murder Death Kill

Monkey Gang Banana Clip#1 Young Scrilla

Check Out More At MonkeyGang.net

Recently, Lord Jamar has turned to acting with roles on the Sopranos, Law And Order SVU and the critically acclaimed series, Rescue Me. He is also tapped to play Pappy Mason in the Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichole Biopic which is currently in pre-production.

Check Out These Joints Too

Was The Source Magazine Right About These “Five Mic” Albums?

Check Out These Joints Too

AND1 Will Release Video Of “Hotsauce” Balling With Michael Jackson

Chris Brown Shows Off His Basketball Skills [VIDEO]

RELATED STORIES

“Monkey Gang” Creators Talk Message Behind Movie At NYC Advance Screening

Monkey Gang Resurrects Hip-Hop With Smif N’ Wessun

“Monkey Gang” The Mockumentary (Director’s Cut) is a MUST SEE!A Mock/Documentary about the current state of Hip Hop Culture, & the story of the rise & fall of fictional gangsta rap group”Monkey Gang”
Not only are people saying its very funny, they also admit to the movie being revolutionary, yet to some it’s border line offensive. This is attributed to the topics and situations that this movie
spoofs & exposes; also the “hold no punches” approach of the cast (MC Mighty Casey, & more) and company
(Chicken & Beef INC, & associates).

This is an unprecedented grassroots effort, raising conciseness of the origin & pollution of hip hop. So we are raising funds as well, so that the movie can showcase on numerous screens across the nation in the forthcoming months so if you can, please show your support!

Tickets are only $10 in advanced
$12 on Guest List & Pay Pal Donations

$20 @ the door!
Free Promo CD’s & DVDs!
Free Wine & Sangrias!
Free appetizers !
Free Parking!
Sponsored By Chicken & Beef INC, “Community over Industry”
www.chickenandbeef.info

Check Out Footage From The Last NYC Screening

Hart is an extremely funny story teller. The title “Laugh At My Pain” is extremely descriptive as Hart’s self deprecating humor is evident in the stories he tells. Like Murphy and Prior Hart turns his family and personal life into tales of amusement. While many in the hip hop generation generate their personas from bragging about how tough and how rich they are, Hart tells tales of being too short, too soft and too broke.

Like Prior, Hart uses the tragedies like his father’s drug abuse to create humorous tales. Like Bill Cosby, Hart uses tales of fatherhood to make us laugh. Hart uses tales of his celebrity life and tales of growing up much like Eddie Murphy did in Raw.

Hart’s comedy is not so much a series of jokes, but tales that remind you of one of your funny friends telling stories about his life, his family and his past. His personal style of story telling makes it seem as if he his talking directly to you and not to a crowd.

When I talked to Kevin Hart, he seemed humble yet extremely ambitious. He says he can talk about his father’s drug abuse because today, his father is sober and healthy. He says he’s confident in his material and lets his young children watch his movies and that they know that “that’s just daddy doing his job.”

Hart’s comedy idols, Chris Rock and Eddie Murphy have called him to give him praise and like most great comedians, Hart studies the legends that have come before him.

Hart seems posed to make the transitions from Black movies to mainstream movies. While he may be known for slapstick parody movies like “Soul Plane” and “Scary Movie 3,” he is transitioning to romantic comedies like “35 And Ticking” and “The 5 Year Engagement,” in which he the only African American character.

So far the writing for Kevin hart’s movies have not matched his own talent and joke writing ability so Kevin is writing movies and TV pilots with his own production company, HartBear. Hart also has been utilizing technology and has created his own Iphone app, a video game that also allows access to news on Hart and his stand up comedy.

Judging by the bootleggers, barbershops, and the stand up comedy circuit, Kevin Hart is the number one comedian for urban America. If Hart’s movies or TV show can receive the same writing that he puts into his stand up, he can join Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor as one of the few Black comedians who transitioned from stand up comedian to movie and TV star.

Check Out These Joints Too

Kevin Hart’s “Laugh At My Pain” Tour Coming To Theaters This Fall [VIDEO]

Kevin Hart Says No One Is Safe At BET Awards [VIDEO]

Check Out Some Hotsauce Highlights

Originally written as a demo for an ill fated 9th Wonder collaboration (the beat is a chopped loop from Little Brothers “Home”), Caktuz drops this gritty black & white video, directed by Deitrich Davis (Director of Photography for “Gangstamuzik: Acts I&II”, “Still N The Hood”, “Dose It”), to ready fans for his new EP; How 2 Dress Well 4 Suicide.
No news from the Caktuz camp as of yet to the meaning behind the title or a release date. Ever the constant reinventor, its anyone’s guess where the ‘hip hop-rocka rolla’ will take fans next with his music, but if the cult success of his 2010 album GOD*Z PORNO is any indication, It’s garaunteed to be one hell of a ride.

Click For for more information on “L.A. 3000″
Click fore more information on Over The Edge Books

Doors will open at 9. Sullivan Hal is located at 214 Sullivan St. in the West Village of New York City.

Check Out These Joints Too

Scarface Records With Up And Coming Artist “Yung Texxus”

Chris Skillz Drops Hip-Hop Knowledge At The Legendary Vinnie’s Styles

Check Out Their Album Here For Free

For discounted entry, email chickenandbeefinc@gmail.com

or send message from http://www.chickenandbeef.info/contact.html
For advance tickets PayPal users can get purchase tickets here

I recently had the chance to interview Phife Dawg from a Tribe Called Quest at the Los Angeles Premiere of “Beats Rhymes And Life” in Los Angeles and talked to him about his relationship with Q-Tip, the legacy of a A Tribe Called Quest and his struggles with diabetes.

Check Out These Joints Too

“Beats Rhymes And Life” Just Scratches The Surface Of A Tribe Called Quest

“Viva Riva!”, “Beats, Rhymes And Life” Lead Pack Of Black Indie Summer Films

Currently, there is a bill on the Senate floor (the PROTECT IP Act) that aims to extend copyright liability to these music storage and distribution sites and blogs. NOW, it is our job Fly Society to be there with the assist in any way we can.

With that being said, let’s us put you onto game by introducing you all to Iamnotapirate.com, the première Direct-to-Music Fan Music Blog that has launched today! Their mission is to protect the file sharing rights of artists, websites, and fans.

They have composed a Filesharing Bill of Rights that breaks down the entitlements of every music creator and fan alike. There is online signage available as well as sponsorship opportunities. For more information, log onto the site or contact:

www.iamnotapirate.com

Marvin Barksdale Marvin@Hydroshare.tv

Khalid Jackson Khalid@Hydroshare.tv

And for Media Inquires:

Jessica Jaques  jessy@trademarkpublicrelations.com

Tiffany Minott tiffany@trademarkpublicrelation.com

In the video, the NYPD can be seen assaulting a man and woman at 2:53, and a police officer hits rapper Rock of the group Heltah Skeltah at 4:35

Another overhead video shows the large police presence and police pushing a person into some garbage at 0:10 and attacking a man at 0:56.

There were also reports that rapper Louie Skaggs was brutally beaten by police Skaggs as just featured on Duckdown records latest group BackBlocks song “The Makings Of You”

General Steele & The BackBlocks – The Makings of You from Bucktown USA on Vimeo.

Since the trailer for the movie debuted in January of this year, Monkey Gang has been the talk of the internet. The trailer was posted by sites such as WorldStarHipHop.com, AllHipHop.com, Sohh.com and on the blogs of UK rapper, Tinie Tempah and UK deejay, DJ Semtex.

The first screening in June was a resounding success with viewers of the movie already comparing it to classics such as “Hollywood Shuffle,” “Fear Of A Black Hat” and “Bamboozled.”

The movie will screen July 3rd at Anthology Film Archives, 32 second ave and 2 st New York, NY, starting at 2pm and ending at 5. Tickets are $20 at the door and $10 in advance. For advance tickets contact Chicken & Beef INC or email  chickenandbeefinc@gmail.com

Monkey Gang Trailer

RELATED STORIES