The City Girls have made their rise to stardom fairly quickly. In just under a year they’ve already put out a mixtape and featured on a few hot tracks. Most notably, Drake’s ‘”In My Feelings”. They’re signed to Quality Control (QC), home of the Migos, Lil’ Baby and Lil Yatchy, just to name a few. And they are taking the female world of rap by storm.

Caresha, or Yung Miami, is the only member representing the group right now. The other half of the City Girls, Jatavia or JT, is serving a prison sentence for fraud. The 24 and 25 year old artists put in a lot of work before JT went in for prison, including documenting their last hours before she went in. In the documentary, you get an inside look at the City Girls. You get a taste of where they’re from and what they’re about. Take a look at the documentary below, and make sure you have your tissues handy.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ4oglk_v7M[/embedyt]

On this day we take the time to remember the King of Pop Michael Jackson. Michael, who would have been 60 today, paved the way for most of the artists in the industry. He’s a household name that we will always remember. Kids that weren’t even born when he was alive experience some of the art he made. The King of Pop will forever live on in our hearts.

His accomplishments speak for themselves. Michael topped the charts for decades. He set record after record in the music industry. Some of those records he is still the keeper of. He performed for years after his last album and delivered great shows every time.

Michael started off in the Jackson 5, making his debut in 1969. His last album was released in 2001, meaning he made music for about 32 years, with every single solo album going platinum. Some of his albums even went diamond. Posthumously, Michael became the best selling artist of 2009.

Michael lives on through his children. Paris, Micheal, and Prince, as well as in all of our hearts. Happy Birthday Michael!

This Saturday, the self-proclaimed first openly gay battle rapper, FlyKingi is dropping a new single called “SuperFLY” from his upcoming project The King in I.

After making appearances on the Bad Girls Club, Power 106 and with an upcoming appearance on MTV for a Nick Cannon show, FlyKingi feels the timing is perfect for his new single “SuperFLY”. While he’s found his way to TV on several occasions with ease, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for FlyKingi as he has pursued his dreams of finding success in Hip-Hop while breaking barriers.

“I started rapping in High School in the 90’s, I used to rap in cyphers back when that was popular. After high school I joined a rap group, but that didn’t pan out, so I did my own thing for my first solo mixtape which was hosted by I Love New York from Vh1 fame. Now just a few years later I’m about to release another project called the King and I. I’ve always been very inspired by Hip-Hop, from the industry, to battle rapping, I love the culture, so it’s dope to get the response that I’ve gotten lately with my music by building up my battling skills,” FlyKingi said.

FlyKingi rose to prominence on the LA battle rap scene via Grind Time’s Rap Battle League, but it was just a few years later that FlyKingi was battling rapper after rapper on the LA Battle Groundz rap circuit.

Taking on opponents in the face of what he calls “blatant homophobia,” FlyKingi impressed the judges and built a name for himself on L.A.’s battle rap scene with clever lyrics and a good sense of humor that eventually got him booked across the map.

“I always was a fan of battle rap from Smack to King of the Dot. After watching videos on YouTube and going to battles for a year or so to get the hang of things, I decided to try it out,” FlyKingi explained. “Then after I joined a few battles I was getting booked in San Francisco and LA and I got my chance to battle on LA Battle Groundz,” he said.

“I was becoming the first LGBT battle rapper, that was openly gay. Others aren’t out yet and I began to get a lot of opportunities because I was out. So it just became this thing to where recently I did a battle with eHart and it was featured on World Star Hip-Hop. It was the first time that an openly gay rapper had their battle featured on World star,” FlyKingiexplained.

While he also knows that he has a lot of work ahead to reach his goals, it’s clear breaking barriers is what FlyKingi does, so expect to hear more from him in the coming weeks and months as he appears on MTV and on the battle rap circuit.

https://soundcloud.com/flykingi/superfly/s-cYFrV

Jab Julien was blessed with a prolific and powerful gift that is uniquely his own. The lyricist-vocalist-songwriter from Newark, NJ uses his pen to finesse lyrics that are uplifting, transparent and stretch across multiple generations.

Relocating to Atlanta in 2017, the rising MC flows with artistic precision over 808 beats on his latest release, the conceptual EP ‘8oss UP,’ which includes 8 tracks about striving to become a better version of oneself every day, trusting the process and advancing towards an infinite vision, which is also the label name. Jab Julien had his hard drive stolen in the midst of the recording process, so the title reflects his own personal journey of perseverance.

A consummate artist, Jab Julien is at the forefront of navigating a movement to alter the landscape of hip-hop with honesty, humor, intelligence and candor.

Recently female rapper Irene the Dream released the music video to her song, “By the Way.”

Adorning gold and diamond body jewelry, Irene the Dream literally shines in this visual set with burning candles, a dancing pole and an erotic bathtub scene. But don’t let the looks fool you, Irene the Dream is preaching to her fellow independent women looking to make an indelible mark on the world.

“I’m giving women game because I was doing this way before Instagram. If anything I’m giving women some intelligence on how you need to handle these men. If ya man ain’t no help you need to trade him – you only eat what you bring to the table,” Irene the Dream said.

“In the entertainment industry there are ups and downs, but regardless of my circumstances, I’ve learned you have to continue to pursue your dreams. From shady managers and promoters to losing money on investments, I’ve seen it all, having invested hundreds of thousands into my career just pursuing my dreams of success,” Irene the Dream said.

Not to be deterred by a relationship gone wrong, industry mishaps and failed investments, Irene the Dream bosses up with “By the Way” letting all her fans, followers and haters know she’s got something more to say before its all said and done.

“This new track is also for all the people trying to compete with me in this new era on IG. I been doing this and so for all the people out there hating, I got something for ya,” Irene said.

Driving traffic to her music and videos via IG, Irene regularly interacts with fans offering advice and showing that there are brains to match her looks.

“I want to keep getting better and better at what I do and I know that this song is the total package and I’m ready to do this. I’m ready. I’m like a self-help rapper giving relationship advice and I’m enlightening men as well letting them know that this is what they need to be doing to keep their lady. Self respect, morals and having some business aspects about yourself. To the women, a man can be taking care of you but dogging you at the same time, so I teach people it’s best for both parties to have their money together. They are together because they want to be not because they have to be,” Irene the Dream said.

Going forward into the Fall, Irene the Dream is continuing to film new visuals and behind the scenes footage. Her new music is accompanied by appearances on reality TV and a movie that she has recently begun filming.

Adding to her entertainment endeavors, Irene the Dream is also launched her own clothing line several years ago with Picture Perfect Styles. You can find out more info above.

Recently Houston rapper Shoota the Outlaw released his music video with Bun B, LE$ and Kidd the Great called, “So Southern.”

Born and raised in Houston despite the fact the he moved moved around a lot, Shoota the Outlaw has lived in Chicago, California, Colorado, Virginia, Pittsburgh and “a little bit of everywhere.”

“I’ve always had my family in Texas” Shoota the Outlaw said. “I wrote this song a long time ago and this song is the beginning of a lot of stuff for me. When I put the pieces together and when I wrote the song, I told myself I wanted to put Bun B on the song. He’s one of my heroes and someone I look up to. So instead of just dreaming about it I made a plan and I just did it. Eventually I reached out to Bun and we put the song together, the rest is history.”

But before you make your assumptions about Shoota the Outlaw, check his resume and you will see he was worked with everyone in the game.

“I ain’t no type of rapper, that song with Bun that’s a throwback almost, like it’s more for the city and the culture, but I got songs with anew wave artists, songs for the club, radio songs. I can do any type of song, I got almost every major artist coming up from Houston right now. Everyone that’s bout to blow, I got songs with all them. You can’t nail down my flow,” Shoota the Outlaw said.

Drawing influence from UGK and Tupac, Shoota the Outlaw has studied the game has a varied style.

“UGK, Tupac thats really about it. I listen to a lot of Pac” Shoota the Outlaw said. “The Houston rap scene is amazing, its amazing becuase the scene and the culture that comes out of Houston is starting to be recognized more and people are paying homage to the city and theres a lot of artists that are out here that are going to be huge.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-DFR77BRyI&w=640&h=360]

Meet newcomer Rakeem Miles, who is making his debut around these parts with his new music video for “That’s My Girl.” The track follows him as he is called to a shorty’s house and he arrives as a real life action figure. He then attempts to woo the girl and successful does so by the end.