Big Boi has no shortage of friends, so it’s only right that on his new solo album, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, the Big Boi is joined by a slew of guests. On the production side, Scott Storch (who helmed “Shutterbug”), Salaam Remi (Nas, Fugees), Organize Noise, the rapper’s own Boom Boom Room producers and Boi-1da (perhaps best known for his work on Drake’s “Best I Ever Had”) contribute to the set.

International Hip Hop superstar Nas and Grammy-winning artist Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley join creative forces to release this highly anticipated and exciting 2010 collaboration. This is an album created by the two serious artists to explore and celebrate the correlations and deep-rooted connections between reggae and Hip Hop, tracing both sounds back to the African motherland that is both the cradle of humanity and the wellspring of mankind’s music. The project features the signature instrumentation and musicianship of Marley with the hard-hitting beats and lyrics of Nas. Distant Relatives traces the direct line from Dancehall Reggae’s breakthrough moment 40 years ago to the rise of Hip Hop several years later.

With three successful albums to his credit, Ross is at the top of his game and ready to take on the world. On his fourth album Teflon Don Ross is riding high with the album’s first single “SUPERHIGH” feat. Ne-Yo. On Teflon Don, Ross joins forces with music’s elite, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Chrisette Michele, Raphael Saadiq to name a few, to create another classic album in his hip hop legacy.

Known primarily for his heavy smokers anthem, ‘Cloud 9,’ and the frenetic energy of his song ‘Haterz Everywhere,’ B.o.B scored a record deal with Atlantic Records while he was still in high school. Now, the teen-aged rap phenomenon is ready to bring his genre-bending style nationwide with his highly anticipated debut, ‘B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray’ on Rebel Rock/Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records.
‘B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray,’ is a fascinating journey into the Atlanta artist’s far-reaching imagination. On the track ‘Not Alone,’ a song B.o.B describes as an alternative rock chant, he touches on his pain as a child who was unable to fit in with his own peers. The Tombz-produced cut, ‘Camera,’ explores the story of a young woman who chooses life as a stripper over a college education.
B.o.B continues to rap to the ladies on ‘Cyber Heaven,’ where he claims his lovin’ will take them out of this world, while ‘Haterz Everywhere’ featuring Rich Boy, a song that has flooded the South since its release in early 2007, proves his stronghold over the competition. B.o.B’s most honest reflection of his artistic intent comes on ‘Trippin’,’ where he raps about using his craft as a therapeutic means of solving his feelings of eccentricity. ‘I feel like I have a really different perspective,’ he says. ‘When I grew up it was really hard for me to figure out why I felt that way, like I really felt like I was from another planet. Now, it’s the opposite. All of that time I spent developing my talent and really analyzing myself, now I feel like I can express all of that and give all of my energy and love to the world.’
After producing the majority of his album by himself and learning to play multiple musical instruments – including the piano, trumpet and French horn – B.o.B is destined to spread his message of creativity and empowerment through his music. ‘I just want to show people that there are endless possibilities of what you can do,’ he says. ‘You don’t just have to be a rapper, you don’t just have to be a trapper; you can be anything you want to be and whatever you do, just love it and it will show.’

To call it “long-awaited” or “eagerly anticipated” would be the understatement of the year – as hip-hop’s most daring pioneers the Roots release their 9th studio album (and third for Def Jam Recordings) on June 22nd, HOW I GOT OVER. The album, which takes its name from Clara Ward’s gospel classic (made popular by Mahalia Jackson), is the Roots’ first new release since joining Late Night with Jimmy Fallon for a full time gig as the show’s house band.

Grammy Award winners the Roots characterize the songs on HOW I GOT OVER as “depicting the everyman’s search for hope in this dispiriting post-hope zeitgeist”.

The lead single from the Roots new set will be “Dear God 2.0.” The track re-imagines the Monsters Of Folk song “Dear God” and features MOF members Yim Yames from My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes and M. Ward.

HOW I GOT OVER also includes two appearances from Grammy-winning soul man John Legend: “Doin’ It Again” a re-working of his track “Again,” and “The Fire,” an original song written for the Roots’ 2010 Olympic concert performance.

The Roots and Legend have developed a strong musical bond, as the group has produced John’s entire upcoming release Wake Up, which shares the socially conscious themes of the “How I Got Over” set and is comprised of late sixties/early seventies covers.

Other guests on HIGO include Joanna Newsom on “Right On,” Phonte Coleman (Little Brother, The Foreign Exchange), Blu (Blu & Exile), Peedi Peedi , Mercedes Martinez, Icelandic alt-pop singer Patty Crash, newcomer Sugar Tongue Slim as well as long time Roots’ Crew members Dice Raw, Truck North and P.O.R.N.

Off the successful February release of his Smokey Robinson Mixtape totaling over 100 thousand downloads, Curren$y is releasing “Pilot Talk.” Featuring tracks produced by Ski Beatz and Mos Def, and featuring artists such as Jay Electronica, Mos Def, Wiz Khalifa, Devin the Dude, Mikey Rocks, Stalley and more, Pilot Talk promises to be a legendary album.

THE E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies)

The new album by The Black Eyed Peas is off to a blazing start! The first single from The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies), BOOM BOOM POW was also the Peas’ very first #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart!

With The E.N.D., The Peas are poised to continue with the success of Elephunk and their fourth release Monkey Business – they have had multiple hit anthems, such as “My Humps” “Pump It” and “Let’s Get It Started” along with “Don’t Phunk With My Heart” “Where is the Love?” and “Don’t Lie”.

In the midst of the success of the Black Eyed Peas, FERGIE released her debut solo album, The Dutchess, in 2006. To date the album has sold over six million copies worldwide and spanned five Top 5 hits. Moreover, Fergie became the first female artist in history to have four consecutive #1 singles (Billboard).

Will.i.am is also a Grammy nominated producer – nominated for the Producer of The Year Award in 2007 and nominated again at the 2009 Grammy’s. He has lent his services to some of the biggest superstars in the business; Fergie, The Pussycat Dolls, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Ricky Martin, Justin Timberlake, Diddy, Nas, Michael Jackson, Usher, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and U2. Besides his music endeavors, will.i.am is committed to social activism and is an outspoken advocate of progressive political initiatives. His “Yes We Can” video won an EMMY and a Webby Award and has over 19 million views on YouTube to date.

The Black Eyed Peas have sold over 20 million albums worldwide, have won three Grammy awards and have been nominated for 11 total as well as awards won at Teen Choice, MTV, American Music Awards, among many others from around the world!

The much-anticipated new album – EMINEM RECOVERY

On Recovery, his seventh major label studio album, EMINEM has reached out to an exciting list of first-time collaborators, including DJ Khalil, Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Boi-1da, among others.

EMINEM releases Recovery just over a year after his last album, 2009′s Relapse. Relapse put the cap on an impressive ten years of recorded output, and contributed to EMINEM being the biggest selling artist of 2000-2009. In recognition of this, Neilsen SoundScan named him their Artist of the Decade. Relapse entered the charts at #1 and, at nearly double platinum, was the best selling rap album of last year. It also earned EMINEM his 11th Grammy award, winning in the Best Rap Album category. Relapse’s first single, “Crack A Bottle” from EMINEM, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Eminem’s second #1 after 2002′s “Lose Yourself”) and set a SoundScan record at the time of its release for opening week download sales (418,000). The album also spun off two other hits; the Top 10 “We Made You” and Top 20 “Beautiful.”

“I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year,” remarked EMINEM. “But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title.” EMINEM has sold more than 78,000,000 albums worldwide. After 1999′s quadruple platinum The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002) became two of the Top 5 best selling albums of the 2000s, with approximately 10,000,000 copies of each sold in the U.S. alone. 2004′s Grammy-nominated Encore reached #1 and was certified quadruple platinum. The #1, double platinum, 2005 greatest hits collection Curtain Call: The Hits and #2, platinum, 2006 various artists compilation Eminem Presents: The Re-Up followed.