What's upper! Happy Fathers Day... First off, I gotta give props to the Detroit Pistons on winning the NBA championship by beating our Lakers last week (Ok Chill Will, I'm bowing down sucka). It's official, Phil Jackson's leaving the Lakers & rumor has it that Shaq's next. What a series regardless... Aiight in music news, Barak Records is dropping three albums this Super Tuesday, June 22nd: Athletic Mic League's "Jungle Gym Jungle," BR Gunna's "Dirty District Volume 2" and Phat Kat's "Undeniable" LP. For more information visit www.barakrecords.com and for servicing you can holla at my dawg Bobo online at: bobo@barakrecords.com or at (248) 552-9242... Bad Boy Records is set to release a digitally re-mastered version of the late Notorious B.I.G.'s groundbreaking debut album, "Ready To Die" (originally released in 1994) on July13th. "Ready To Die" is considered a Hip-Hop classic and has sold over 4 million copies. Bad Boy Records makes this announcement as the staff pauses to remember the late Brooklyn rapper on what would have been his 32^nd birthday on May 21. The remastered CD is being released as a gift from B.I.G. to his fans and also as a special thank you from Sean "P.Diddy" Combs to Ms.Voletta Wallace. The digitally re-mastered "Ready To Die" has a crisper and clearer sound compared to the original CD. The CD/DVD features Notorious B.I.G. classics such as "Unbelievable" and "The What" (featuring Method Man) and music videos including "Juicy," "One More Chance," "Big Poppa" and the long cinematic version of "Warning." The DVD also includes a never before seen live outdoor performance of "Unbelievable" at Oukast's Atlanta barbecue. The CD contains previously unreleased tracks including "Dreams" and "Who Shot Ya?" Until now fans haven't been able to purchase these songs commercially. To date, "Ready To Die" is the highest selling Hip-Hop catalogue ever. In total, the Notorious B.I.G. has sold an excess of 20 million CDs worldwide and is still regarded as one of the greatest MC's to ever live by the Hip-Hop community... If you're in NYC this June 23rd and 24th, the Empire State Building will be blazing in the Manhattan skyline the colors of the Philippine flag. Yellow, blue and red lights will brightly illuminate the tower of the Empire State Building in honor of the Filipino community. Now that's props! MABUHAY... Universal Records Rap Dept. is proud to welcome aboard to their staff , Kenneth Darpo aka Corporate Ken (Director Of College Radio). I'm so happy to see Universal bring back their College Radio dept. which shows the millions that College Radio is still a factor in breaking new Hip-Hop music. WORD. So give our new fam & friend Ken a holla at (212) 373-0793 or online at: kenneth.darpoh@umusic.com and tell him, Rap Attack sent ya'... Have you peeped the new Beatnuts joint "Hot" (Penalty Recordings) yet? Yo, it's da ish & it also features my old school homie, Greg Nice! Peep it & if you still need to get laced, holla at my boy Lee from WMHB & ESP Media at (207) 314-1765 or online at: hiphopnation897@aol.com... Big buzz is startin' with the debut Comp single "Harder" (Def Jam)... Gettin' love from our Rap Attack panel & sounding like it's gonna do some damage is the new Talib Kweli "Peace Of Mind" (Hi-Rise) single. DJ Madsol gets props on his fine producing skills. For more info, call (212) 965-9966 or hit em up online at: promo@firmcleo.net... Couple of new underground ish you don't want to sleep on from RJD2 "Exotic Talk" b/w "Del'Alouette" & Aesop Rock & Karniege with "All In All" b/w "Make News" (Def Jux). Jessica Weber at SPECTRE Music has got the vinyl if you still need to get laced. Give her a shout at (213) 368-1601 or online at: jessica@spectremusic.com... Get ready for Chi-town's Static with his new joint "Birdcall" (Third Millenium) featuring Baby outta Cash Money Records. This record's kinda tight & should get instant love out the box. Vinyl ships late this week... Seattles own graff artist, Angel OneSevenNine from the MADKrew/206Zulu will be featured at the McCaig Welles Gallery in NY along with some of the nations hottest graff artists. If you're in the neighborhood, it's at McCaig-Welles Gallery (129 Roebling Street in Brooklyn, NY) this coming July 3rd. For more info call (718) 384-8729 or log on to: www.mccaigwelles.com. Featured at this exhib will be:

Phem9
Magmo the Destroyer
Kel 1st
Doc- tc5
Mare 139
Dash
Stash
Futura
Lady Pink
Man One
Angry Woebots
AngelOneSevenNine
The Entire Aerosol Warfare posse

Here are the NATIONAL DATES FOR The Shure Inc./Vinyl Kombat DJ Battle & for more information go to: www.vinylkombat.com:
July 1:      El Rey Theater, Los Angeles, CA

July 11: Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO
July 16: The Parish, Austin, TX
July 18: BB Kings, New York City
July 30: SomArts Cultural Center, San Francisco
Aug 5: The Showbox, Seattle
Aug. 8: Nation, Washington DC
August 19: The Metro, Chicago

Detroit's own, King Gordy will be dropping his new joint "Fat-Tastic 4" featuring the Fat Killahz (Fat Father, Marvwon & S. Bango). This is guaranteed to be a big record for WEB Entertainment. Here are the latest cities & dates you can catch D-12, King Gordy, Slum Village & Bone Crusher. Note if you want to get King Gordy to do an interview with you if he's in your market & you need tickets to the show, hit me up at: nastynes1@aol.com:

Mon-Jun-21          Chicago                House of Blues

Tue-Jun-22           Minneapolis         Qwest

Fri-Jun-25             Seattle                   Showbox

Sun-Jun-27          San Francisco     Fillmore

Wed-Jun-30         San Diego             4th & B

Thu-Jul-01            Los Angeles         House of Blues

Sat-Jul-03             Las Vegas            House of Blues

Sun-Jul-04            Phoenix                 Marquee

Mon-Jul-05           Albuquerque        Sunshine Theater

Tue-Jul-06            Denver                   Ogden Theater

Thu-Jul-08            Austin                    Stubbs

Fri-Jul-09              Dallas                    Gypsy Ballroom

Sat-Jul-10             Houston                Arena Theater

Sun-Jul-11            New Orleans        House of Blues

Tue-Jul-13            Boynton Beach, FL             Club Ovation

Wed-Jul-14          Orlando                 House of Blues

Thu-Jul-15            Atlanta                   Earthlink Live

Sat-Jul-17             Myrtle Beach       House of Blues

Sun-Jul-18            Norfolk                  Norva Theater

Mon-Jul-19           DC                           9:30 Club

Wed-Jul-21          Phil                         Trocodero

Thu-Jul-22            Sayerville, NJ       Starland Ballroom

Fri-Jul-23              NYC                        BB Kings

Sat-Jul-24             Providence           Lupo's

Sun-Jul-25            New Haven           Toads Place

Fri-Jul-30              Pittsburgh            The World

Sat-Jul-31             Cleveland              Agora Theater

Sun-Aug-01          Detroit                   State Theater

Rap Attack takes a "WHAT'S UPPER" look this week with; DJ EQ (WBCR-NY): " I got a few things in the works right now. WBAI 99.1FM here in NY has reached out to me to program this 24hr. Hip hop marathon for them starting on June 26 @ 12am to June 27 @ 12am. We have all types of stuff planned out so if any of your artist are in town and want to get on - reach out to me at: YeahYeah321@cs.com"... Chela (WXDU-NC): "PEACE! I'm headed to the NYC so make sure to hit me up if you will be at the National Hip Hop Political Convention (http://www.hiphopconvention.org). You can also catch me guest DJing with DJ Splif & DJ Bluesteel's on their show this Wednesday @ WBCR, 1090am, 7-9pm (www.brooklyncollegeradio.org) & Thursday @ WKRB, 90.9fm, 9pm-12am. Get @ ya girl!"... Witnes (KPFT-Houston): "EARLY WARNING, EARLY WARNING, EARLY WARNING, EARLY WARNING, I WILL BE IN N.Y. ON THE 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND. TO ALL MY N.Y. PEEPS PLEASE REACH OUT OR TRY AND COME THROUGH THE "WEAPONS INSPECTION" ART OPENING JULY 3RD.HIT ME UP AT: wit713@hotmail.com"... DJ A-Beats (WGMU-Washington, DC): "Still crazy since coming back, but things are starting to get back to normal. Got to see an awesome O’s game this weekend as I saw Barry Bonds go deep and Rafael Palmeiro went deep twice to tie and pass Mickey Mantle in the all time homer list. What a great baseball moment. Speaking of sports. How bout them Piston’s. Congrats to all of Detroit and a big In Ya Face!!! To all the Laker fans. HAHAHAHA. Got to love seeing the Lakers get crushed the way they did. Cant wait to hear the Skillz comeback at Shaq Fu. Word is a fellow VA native, who just won a championship ring, might make a special guest appearance on the Shaq diss. I guess only time will tell"... Edgie Kokoski (WUNH-NH): " This week I'm amused by all of the people who have basically handed the NBA Championship to the Pistons, because if being a Red Sox fan has taught me one thing, it's that there's no such thing as a sure thing. And if Larry Bird has taught me one thing this week, it's that there's not enough white guys in the NBA. How about if we take some of the abundance of white guys in rap and send them to the NBA? That ought to even things out a little bit... Flavor Flav is planning to further demean himself by starring in the third season of "The Surreal Life", the reality TV show that puts washed up entertainers under one roof. Flav will be rooming with Uncle Joey from "Full House" and one of the guys from NKOTB. Hopefully, one of the two will end up stabbed to death thus making the world a better place. There are two fashion trends in hip hop that are already getting on my nerves:1. Shower caps- This is so retarded that it needs no further comment and 2. Wearing your hands free set at all times- Don't even front like you are blowing up so much that it is too inconvenient for you to remove the headset from your ear. Lame"... Brian Coulombe (WBRS-MA): " Howdy folks. The new Beastie's joint is finally out! I'm looooooving the album. Our station just announced its upcoming fall schedule and things are really taking off for the Hip-Hop department as the station has added yet another Hip-Hop show to their lineup. We're up to 6 shows now focusing on strictly Hip-Hop (and some r&b). I think we had maybe two shows when I first started. Much thanks to all of you for continuing to send us music so we have the ability to have so many shows"...Don't forget to update your mailing list with the following new addresses for our Rap Attack reporter's:

WNUR- DJ 3^RD Rail

6415 South Knox

Chicago, IL  60629

DJ Nesto (E.Acosta)
WODU Hip Hop Director
900 Burksdale Rd
Norfolk VA 23518

 

KHDC #2 - Jason D

8300 Kem Avenue, Q154

Gilroy, CA  95020

TRAK (Trakstars.com/FAU-OWL RADIO) - Reggie Love

777 Glades Road

University Center Room 207D

Boca Raton, FL  33431

"Rock The Beat Double Vinyl Volume 1" should be in your hands by now! Every cut on that disc is da ish so make sure you show love on your wheels this week with Specifics, J-Bully, NSS16 (the exclusive REMIX), Hill-B and Strange Fruit. "Volume 2" is getting ready to be mastered & pressed on vinyl. Stay tuned as we'll announce who's gonna be featured on that in a couple weeks...

SHOUT OUT TIZIME: Happy B'day this week to Shanda Sealey from Platinum Queens, to the late 2 Pac who would've turned 33 last week on June 16th & to DJ EQ from Brooklyn's WBCR who's celebrating his b'day this June 27th! Much love goes out to Mae (da fiz-zine pinay) reppin' Glendale, AZ (my HTML buddy), to my QBan Mami, Christy outta Miami & to Cindy Baer, Celeste, my friends & fam from the upcoming movie "Purgatory House" (it was great being with all y'all at the L.A. screening! Love you all & thank you for makin' that night a very, very special night for me) & to my Mngr., Donnice Wilson of DuckLit Productions for still believing in me!

PEACE, LOVE & HIP-HOP UNITY (God Bless & Isa Mahal),

Nasty-Nes

(Pinoy Pride4Life / John 3:16)