Jimi Hendrix is back from the dead … kind of.

Donning an afro and a style straight from the ’60s, OutKast’s Andre 3000 was snapped Monday on set of the upcoming ‘All is By My Side’, a biopic about the legendary guitarist.

Andre 3000 – whose real name is Andre Benjamin – will stray from his rapper past to play the psychedelic rocker. The film is said to be based on Hendrix’s pre-fame years and is due out next year.

[Via NYDailyNews]

Jay Z and Kanye release the ‘fashionably late’ visual for “No Church In The Wild” featuring Frank Ocean. Solid track and video.

Nas premiered his visual for “Daughters” today on MTV Jams, with a guest appearance from his 17-year-old daughter Destiny Jones.

Life Is Good is schedule to release on July 17th.

Justin Bieber releases the official remix to his hit single “Boyfriend” with Mac Miller, Asher Roth and , Two Chainz! (2 Chainz voice).

Believe in stores June 19th.

Via Illroots.

Lupe Fiasco

Earlier this week (May 21), Grammy-winning Chicago MC, Lupe Fiasco released the first single for his upcoming album, Food and Liquor 2. Well, you can listen to the track, “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free)”, below. The production is an obvious (and admitted) remake of “T.R.O.Y (They Reminisce Over You) by Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth. Shortly thereafter, Pete Rock took to Twitter to voice his dislike for the track’s interpretation of his work. And that’s putting it mildly. Some excerpts from his twitter stream(twitter.com/peterock):

No disrespect to lupe fiasco and i like him alot but TROY should be left alone. Feel so violated,the beat is next to my heart and was made

Man I’m a lupe fan and everything but TROY was my homie man. I think about him and Hev every f*cking day!!!! Smh

I’m not flattered @ all. Dat sh*t is wack, and the producer should be ashamed of his f*ckin self. Smh

So untalented and unoriginal. Makes me feel like I’m truly the best that ever did it. Yo hev and t-Roy I love and miss da sh*t outta y’all

For a remake SOOOO close to the original, I assume Lupe’s folks and the producer got the appropriate sample/re-use clearances, otherwise it would be litigation-city. Lupe stated in a radio interview today that his people got the approvals needed and “reached out” to Pete Rock. He never said they actually had his blessing, and PR sounds like he has been so disrespected, so who knows if he was notified. Doesn’t sound like it, maybe he doesn’t own the publishing? Not really important.

Now, I am of the school that respects “T.R.O.Y” as a classic among classics, but many commenters in the blogo-twitter-sphere, think this song is completely untouchable, especially given the highly personal nature of the song. I wouldn’t go quite that far. I respect the creativity in flipping a sample and creating something new, BUT you can’t call out talent and originality in a genre that is LARGELY built on sampling. And the song in question samples 2 or 3 other songs(see Tom Scott’s “Today”). And even that song is a jazz cover of a Jefferson Airplane song!

On the other hand, you need the blessing of the god to do something like this. it’s an unwritten hip-hop rule. This is an undeniable classic. A song that helped define and build hip-hop in the 90s. Regardless of industry maneuvers, or who cleared what, this is a complete remake, and should not have been done without a Pete Rock’s personal co-sign.

*UPDATE* (May 23)
Well that was fast. Around the time this post was to be published, it appears Lupe and Pete Rock have cleared things up.
PR posted this message on Twitter today (May 23)

I just got off da phone lupe, we worked out our differences and we bout to get it in. Gonna be epic and we gonna give Troy and hev the…Proper respect they deserve and make history with lupe.

Who knows what this will lead to, but a top-shelf rapper like Lupe over a good Pete Rock beat is always welcome.

Sources:
[egotrip]
[HipHopDX]

charliedigital is guest contributor to MusicandModeling.com. Find his random tweets and re-tweets on hip-hop, black culture, and technology @charliedigital

Man oh man! The new Google Doodle is awesome! Right now, Google has a fully functioning analog synth attached to an old-fashioned reel-to-reel tape machine as it’s Doodle in celebration of Robert Moog’s birthday. I’ve easily spent a couple of hours so far today Moogin’.

Detroit native, Dwele, returns with “What Profit”, which is the first single from his upcoming fifth album. Check it out below.

By the way, if you’re in or near SC make sure to check out the Ribs & Renaissance Festival 2012 feat. Dwele. More info can be found here.
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Lil Kim stopped by the Breakfast Club Morning Show and chatted about a little of everything. But, she spent most of her time talking about her issues with Nicki Minaj, and how Nicki stole her sound. Check it out below.

Watch Nicki Minaj’s new video for “Right By My Side” featuring Chris Brown.

Slaughterhouse has definitely become one of the most interesting groups in hip hop. Here’s the 6th installment from the tour.