Exclusive: Elijah Blake Discusses the “Drift” EP, Celebrity Crushes, & Growing Up In the Industry with Harley Quinn!

Elijah Blake Phone interview

There aren’t many names left in the industry that Elijah Blake hasn’t worked with! Being featured as a songwriter or collaborating artist with the likes of Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Usher, The Game, Common, and countless others, Elijah Blake is next up on the screen, having just released his new EP, titled “Drift”! Suprisingly, the project has only one feature, nabbed by J. Cole, on the “Venture” single. The 5-track EP contains fan favorites like “Wicked” and my personal favorite, “Strange Fruit.” After streaming the album, and talking with Elijah, this is one of the most creative projects I’ve heard this year, because of its out of the box concepts! “Strange Fruit” is a popular song, not only for its usage of the famous poem of the same name, but for the incredibly dope Outkast “Elevators” sample!

Hailing from Florida, Elijah Blake is an artist is every sense of the word, bringing his vision of love, pain, and music to the world through carefully planned and articulated projects. In an exclusive phone interview this week, he talked to me about his ultra-meticulous process when songwriting for himself and others, his painful childhood growing up with an abusive father as told in the single “6” featured on the album, why he’s not into industry chicks and just wants a regular girl, and the right way to act around a celebrity. Get into it below!

HarleyQuinn_NJ
Continue Reading

(Video) Jeremih Sings Your Text Messages in New Nissan Commercial

Embedded image permalink

Imagine having your text messages serenaded to you by your favorite R&B singer! Jeremih is the new face of Nissan‘s “Hands Free Text Messaging Assistant”, a new feature to be included in the 2014 Nissan Sentra released last November. In the crazy cute commercial, Jeremih politely offers to read a woman’s text messages to her as she enjoys her ride in her new Nissan Sentra on the way home to enjoy movie night with her husband. Now, this is just me, but if I had Jeremih in my car singing to me, I probably wouldn’t be on my way to see my husband! Jokes aside, this is a great innovation to reduce the risk of texting while driving, and you can even ask the Assistant to respond to texts for you. Now you can keep in touch while safely you enjoy the road. Jeremih not included.

HarleyQuinn_NJ
Continue Reading

(Photos + Video) Ty Dolla $ign & Jhene Aiko “Hydrate The Hustle” With vitaminwater and The FADER

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!
Continue Reading

(Video) What Was The Biggest Song Of Summer 2014? Marisa Mendez, Rob Markman, Lowkey, Kazeem Famuyide & More Debate!

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!
Continue Reading

Music Video: Mike Zombie – 616

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 MaMeek 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!
Continue Reading

(Photos + Video) Me Doing Misc. Cool Shit – August 2014

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!)
Continue Reading