Author: Marisa Mendez

(Photos) Kinship Pays Tribute To Bad Boy, Dip Set With Bomber Jackets

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Kinship x Dip Set x bomber jacket

Streetwear brand Kinship is celebrating Bad Boy‘s 20th anniversary with their latest bomber jacket, following their previously-released Golden Era and Dip Set versions. (The latter of which you KNOW I’m dying to get my hands on, and have every plan to!)

The Bad Boy Bomber features an all-over print of all of the label’s greatest albums, from the Biggie and Ma$e golden days, to modern day with the likes of French Montana and Janelle Monae. They even have the short-lived supergroup Boyz N Da Hood on there!

“I wanted to create pieces that pays homage to the music I was raised on,” said Kinship founder Reggie Thomas. “Bad Boy definitely deserves major recognition. Hopefully people will appreciate it just as much as I did.”

The Diplomats “Dipped” bomber features classic Dip Set covers from the mixtapes to official albums, like Diplomats Vol. 2, Purple Haze, Hustlers P.O.M.E., Diplomatic Immunity, From Me To You and more. The third in the line of jackets, “The Bomb,” features 50 of your favorite albums of the 90s, including Nas‘ Illmatic, Snoop‘s Doggy Style and Dr. Dre‘s The Chronic.

The jackets are all 100% satin with a satin lining (purple for Bad Boy, red for Dip Set, black for the Golden Era) and a full zipper front. Take a closer look at them below!
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(Photos + Video) Ty Dolla $ign & Jhene Aiko “Hydrate The Hustle” With vitaminwater and The FADER

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LifeIsTremendez_Ty Dolla Sign x uncapped x Philly

I was doing my bi-weekly browsing of DollaSignWorld.com/Tour over the weekend (judge me – I don’t care!) when I noticed a new Ty Dolla $ign date in Philly for Tuesday. The show was a part of vitaminwater and The FADER‘s “Hydrate The Hustle” #uncapped series, alongside Jhene Aiko and newcomer, Raury. Of course I had to be in the building, so on Tuesday night, I headed down the Jersey Turnpike and spent a few hours at The Skybox.

Despite my VIP band that allowed me to watch the show from the upper level without being smushed in the crowd, I had to be front and center to get my fan-girl on, and that I was during the opening act, Raury, followed by the $ign. I’d only heard of Raury prior to last night and never actually heard his music, and watching him live, I can see why the industry is buzzing about him being the “next big thing.” Backed by a full band and mixed in with high-energy performances of tracks from his recent Indigo Child mixtape, the ATL singer that caught Kanye‘s attention also covered a few Nirvana and Queen songs…winning me over with “Bohemian Rhapsody.” (TOTAL childhood memories right there!)

Next up was Ty Dolla $ign, and although I paid attention to nothing else but my own little world as I sang along to every song, according to the recap, the crowd went nuts too. LOL! Hitting the stage in a Pink Dolphin ski mask (that came off after the first 2 songs,) Ty performed a medley of his hit singles and features, including fan-favorite “Irie,” “Or Nah,” the song that gave him his big start, “Toot It & Boot It,” “Paranoid” of course, his “You & Your Friends” hook, “Dead President” off his recently-released $ign Language mixtape and more. I’d share some video that I captured, but they all have clips of me singing and looking kind of ridiculous, so I’ll refrain.

Closing the show was the beautiful Jhené Aiko, who performed a steamy set of ballads (all while barefoot, of course) including “Spotless Mind” and her hit single, “The Worst.” Check out video of Jhene‘s performance below, as well as a few pics from the night!
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(Video) What Was The Biggest Song Of Summer 2014? Marisa Mendez, Rob Markman, Lowkey, Kazeem Famuyide & More Debate!

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LifeIsTremendez_Round table

Now that the summer is coming to a close, it’s time to take a look at which song dominated these warm months.

STASHED has rounded up some of the most well-respected minds in music media to settle once and for all what the “song of the summer” was on this special episode of “The Week in STASHED.” Joining the roundtable is Rob Markman (MTV News), Tracy G (“Sway in the Morning” on SHADE45), Mikey Fresh (VIBE.com and MissInfo.tv), Marisa Mendez (Hot 97, InFlexWeTrust.com, LifeIsTremendez.com), Nile “Lowkey” Ivey (YouHeardThatNew.com), and STASHED mainstays Nate Santos (staff writer) and Christian Lavery (deputy editor).

Check out part one of our debate below! UPDATE: Now part 2 as well. My choice for song of the summer: IAMSU‘s “Only That Real” featuring 2 Chainz and Sage The Gemini!
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Music Video: Mike Zombie – 616

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Mike Zombie

New Jersey native Mike Zombie was introduced to the masses in 2013, when Drake released his Grammy-nominated single “Started From The Bottom” with Zombie on the track. After discovering Mike in 2012 through their mutual friend, battle rapper Hollow Da Don, Drake signed him to a production deal on his OVO Sound imprint, and as they say, the rest is history.

Most recently, Mike had the likes of the legendary Jay Z, the newly-released Remy Ma, Meek Mill, Rick Ross and French Montana on one of his beats, courtesy of DJ Khaled‘s “They Don’t Love You No More“…but Mike isn’t only a producer. The talented 22-year-old has been simultaneously crafting his skills as a lyricist for as long as he’s been producing, and has put out numerous projects over the years. Rapping over all of his own beats of course, Mike‘s most recent project was 2013’s The End Of The Beginning, which spawned his current single and video, “616.” Though one would assume the song’s title is in reference to an area code of some sort, it’s actually an ode to a local haunt that Mike and his friends apparently had some epic times at in their late teens.

The video has been spinning on MTV Jams and mtvU for the last month, and is now up to be put in rotation on mtvU with help from fan votes! I hadn’t stumbled on Mike‘s rapping until just recently so I wasn’t going to post the video, but in the spirit of garnering more votes, here it is. Check it out below and MAKE SURE YOU GO HERE TO VOTE! Amazing talent coming out of New Jersey? You know I’m supporting this one!
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The Source Presents: HEAVY ROTATION || Behind The Blogs With Marisa Mendez

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marisamendez

This was super dope! My girl Tatiana over at The Source (yep, the one from my Dip Set days!) reached out recently, and had me pick 5 songs that are currently in rotation in my iTunes. With songs from Kehlani, IamSu!, Machine Gun Kelly and more, I’m sure you’ll find something in there that you like! Check out the write-up and listen to my playlist below!
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(Photos + Video) Me Doing Misc. Cool Shit – August 2014

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AUG REAL

Visits from Lil Jon, DJ Mustard, Tony Rock, Kevin Gates, Joell Ortiz and Broookkkklynnnnn (Bobby Shmurda x Rowdy Rebel x Maino x Uncle Murda) at Hot 97, and I hit the skate park with Lil Wayne (you can catch a couple glimpses of me in the video below!)
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Mixtape: Kehlani – Cloud 19

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LifeIsTremendez_Kehlani - Cloud 19 mixtape cover

19-year-old Oakland native Kehlani is next up. The singer/songwriter, who currently holds down the coveted First Lady role of Bay Area collective Heartbreak Gang and is co-managed by Nick Cannon, comes with powerhouse vocals and content that makes you question how she could possibly be so young but touch on topics that we can relate to at any age.

Her latest release is an 8-track mixtape, with features from her HBK CEO, IAMSU!, as well as singer Kyle Dion. I usually pick one standout track from each project but I’m torn between 2 on this one: “Get Away” and the Su-assisted “Act A Fool.” Listen and download Cloud 19 below. For more info, visit Kehlani‘s official website here.
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