Rumors have been surfacing over the past few days regarding a lovechild Calvin Broadus Jr. AKA Snoop Dogg has been hiding for the past 20 years.  News broke that he may have had a relationship with a huge television star some twenty years ago but that star was unidentified until now.  Golden Girls and Mary Tyler Moore star Betty White has come forward and stated that she is indeed the ‘baby momma’ of young Calvina White.

White took to Twitter to deliver the news.

So So Active has learned that the relationship stemmed from Snoop’s recording session of Gin and Juice in January of 1993.  We had the chance to speak with White about the affair over the phone.  She tells me, “Calvin, I like to call him Calvin, was rehearsing [Gin and Juice] with [Dr.] Dre when I walked into the studio.” 

She continues, “[Snoop] flubbed his line the moment I walked through that door.  He put his headphones on the stand, walked out of the booth and tried to sweet talk me with his gangsta talk. I wasn’t having it.”  She goes on saying she was playing hard to get until finally she caved in later that January night.  “We made love all night long.”

Calvina White has remained hidden in plain sight going to school and even graduating from high school in Long Beach back in 2011 a grade early.  So So has received a photo of young White.

The surprise is how long she remained hidden, especially with none of her parent’s good looks.  Snoop Dogg has not responded to any of the allegations.

(Just Rumors)

Social Music News | Music Technology and Start-Ups

Disc Jockeying has slowly become a musical art form by its own right. With an estimated 1 1/4 million professional DJs in the world and most of them male, female Hip Hop DJs are hard to come by. Here are the top 10 female Hip Hop DJs who are proving that DJing isn’t just for the boys.

1. DJ Spinderella

Spinderella began as a DJ for one of the most successful hip-hop groups, Salt-N-Pepa.  She’s also worked as a radio personality in California and Texas and has made several appearances on VH1 with Salt-N-Pepa.

2. DJ Cocoa Chanelle

DJ Cocoa Chanelle is best known as a radio personality on New York City’s Hot 97 and Kiss FM. She was also the DJ employed by BET for their show “Teen Summit”.

DJ Lazy K started by making mixtapes for herself and her friends before she people began requesting them. She then dove straight into the male-dominated industry and has managed to hold her own ever since.

4. DJ Traci Steele

You probably know her best from Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta, but DJ Traci Steele is a tour-de-force of her own. While she was stationed in Virginia as a member of the United States Air Force, she responded to an open casting call for radio personalities. Music has been her passion ever since.

5. DJ Mami Chula

Mami Chula can be heard on WILD 105.7 and 96.7 and is known around the party scene.

6. DJ Brandi Garcia

Brandi Garcia began following her passion straight out of high school by hosting mixshows on WBWT 100.7 in Florida. She now works for LA’s 93.5 KDAY as the midday host and is considered one of the top national female DJs.

Princess Cut got a late start with her spinning career when at the age of 20 she experimented with the turntables at her local bar. She hasn’t stopped spinning since and has fought for her way to the top as one of Atlanta’s premiere DJs.

London-born Rekha Malhotra is known for her fusion of international hip-hop and beats with traditional bhangra music. Her work has become a key theme in the NYC club scene.

9. DJ Shortee

The Grammy foundation has deemed DJ Shortee the World’s First Premiere Female DJ and she is known for her multi-genre scratching skills. She is one of the very few DJs that is respected on a global scale.

10. DJ Beverly Bond

At the age of 17, DJ Beverly Bond moved to NYC to pursue a career in fashion. After following a love of music and a desire to spin at local clubs and bars, she soon found herself performing at hot events like the VH1 and Glamour Fashion Awards.

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With the release of debut album Absolute Zero and a string of quality festivals already lined up the future certainly looks bright for this highly talented Dublin quintet. Long has this band waited for their time of recognition and that time is now.

Ironically so, it was now their turn to keep the almost sell-out crowd brimming with anticipation until the very last second as they opened with the lyrics, “I’ve been waiting for a long-time.” As Faye blasts out her haunting vocals from the opening number, ‘Red and Blue’ she indeed has a way of controlling the crowd whilst waking them up from a slight slumber.

Eagerness for the big ones sure is high and ‘Angel Owl’ does a good job at changing the pace with what one might call an ode to Irish band Director’s hit ‘Reconnect’. (Have a listen and you’ll see what I mean)

‘Please’ is to follow, again displaying Faye’s amazing sexy low pitched vocals and then time for Steve to shine on ‘Little Red Dragon’ which he indeed does and then back to Faye for more of the previous on ‘Kitchen Floor’.

“Sick as them…”Yes you sure are LGC, perhaps ‘sick’ and reminiscent to someone like Bell X1. You can truly tell this band have worked together for a long time as their pure unison is always present.

The theme throughout the gig was one of a build-up and when it came to ‘My Love Took me Down to the River’ the audience were on a unified high as wild guitar beats ensued and everyone in the crowd sang the lyrics back to the stage.

Little Green Cars-John Wayne

‘John Wayne’ was of course welcomed with open arms and worked perfectly as a follow up being the better known of the two and perhaps the highlight of the night. As Steve sang the lyrics, “slowly falling in love with you” I can assure that for myself and everyone in the audience this is life imitating art with us doing just that for Little Green Cars…

The night was perfectly wrapped up with an encore of slower songs, ‘Goodbye Blue Monday’ and ‘The Consequences of not sleeping’ creating a feeling of intimacy and the sense that you just witnessed the awakening of something very special.

Little Green Cars debut album, Absolute Zero is out now….

Social Music News | Music Technology and Start-Ups

The Downtown Music Festival kicked off this weekend in New York City’s Lower East Side. The Downtown Music Festival is designed to showcase rising artists in a small, intimate environment. I began my festival experience by starting out at Element where Ryan Hemsworth, Antwon, and Earl Sweatshirt would be playing. Unfortunately, my time at Element wasn’t as exciting as I was hoping.

Element offered the small, intimate space that the Downtown Music Festival promised. However, I feel they also should have been advertising a night of rude behavior and uncomfortable situations. As I patiently waited in line and revealed my ticket along with my ID, I was immediately outed to the streets of New York as a “country bumpkin”. While I am indeed from a rural area, I think I’ve lived in the city long enough to no longer be classified as a bumpkin, but that’s beside the point. After a quick pat-down by security where my pen was confiscated for being a dangerous weapon (my friend managed to sneak in mace, but again, I digress), I was quickly ushered to the under 21 section. I wasn’t thrilled at being segregated initially, but I ended up having a much better experience from the balcony than I would have had on the floor.

As the crowd began to mill in, it struck me that this was just another, slightly more expensive night, for Element. Ryan Hemsworth brought out his new mix he made specifically for the Downtown Music Festival, but no one paid much attention. He was essentially a glorified DJ at a New York City nightclub. That’s not to say his mix wasn’t good. He cleverly mixed current hip-hop with some classic Backstreet Boys that overall created a nice vibe, but the Downtown Music Festival didn’t really showcase his talent much. Everyone was much more focused on the dancing or the alcohol they were consuming.

Ryan Hemsworth at the Downtown Music Festival

There was a slight break before Antwon took the stage and the crowd grew. I wasn’t very familiar with Antwon prior to his performance, so his attitude may have been an act; however, he seemed a little too angry. He lacked the necessary stage presence to have the audience focus on him, and it wasn’t too long before the crowd of people resumed their club-style dancing and drinking. There were several moments when he yelled profanities at various audience members and tried to force his way into the crowd. The crowd alternated between clearing out of his way and pushing him back onstage, and he still never managed to fully grab their attention. He was less than pleased with their response and made his displeasure known with a “f**k you” dropped every 5 minutes. After he unraveled himself from the mic cord that he had spent his act wrapping around his body, Antwon left the stage abruptly with little feedback from the audience.

Antwon

By the time Earl Sweatshirt took the stage, it was obvious that he was who the crowd really came to see. As the joints were lit and passed around (but I couldn’t bring a pen in?), Earl Sweatshirt took the stage to an excited uproar, but he too didn’t have the stage presence I was expecting and hoping for. In between songs, he would spend several minutes conferring with his DJ before performing. He knew what his fans wanted and how to handle them, but even then, I had expected a more organized set list. Or a set list. When he did rap, I was left unimpressed. My favorite line of the night, which he encouraged the audience to sing with him, was “I’ll f**k the freckles off your face, b***ch”. True poetry.

The true star of the night was Sweatshirt’s DJ, who had more stage presence that any of the acts combined. She was fierce and knew how to handle the stoned and drunk crowd before her. She was easily the best part of the night.

There were a lot of determining factors that made my first half of the night unenjoyable. The crowd was more club-ready than concert-ready and the venue left a sour impression, but there were plenty more acts and venues to see before I could write off the Downtown Music Festival.

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My Downtown Music Festival experience didn’t get off to a great start. I was less than impressed with the first 3 acts I saw and a random downpour that I happened to catch the end of was really just encouraging me to call it a night. But I persevered onto Capitale for my final performances of the night.

The venue was instantly better. Set in an old bank on Bowery, Capitale felt more like a concert and less like a club. People were seated along the side of the dance floor while waiting for the next act to come on stage and it was apparent that they were here for the music and not the alcohol.

Photo Cred: QRO Mag

Black Hippy was one of the most high profile performances of the festival and they delivered. Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Kendrick Lamar each performed separately, before coming together to perform as a group. They owned the stage and showed the crowd why they were finally garnering the nationwide attention they deserve. But as wonderful as Black Hippy was, my favorite act of the entire Downtown Music Festival was Fat Tony.

Photo Cred: QRO Mag

Fat Tony is one of those hip-hop artists who takes everything that I hate about the genre, the misogyny, the homophobia, the crudity, and does away with it. Fat Tony’s lyrics are genuine and deal with things that everyone struggles with. He sings about being overweight as a child. He sings about domestic abuse and offers encouragement to women that are trapped in those situations. While Fat Tony’s stage presence was great, that wasn’t what made him such a phenomenal performer. Fat Tony was real and relatable. At the show, he announced that his new album, Smart A** Black Boy, would be released in the following month. Fat Tony may not be huge now, but after the Downtown Music Festival, I have no doubt that he will be.

Social Music News | Music Technology and Start-Ups

If you watch Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta, then you should know who Joseline Hernandez is.  For those of you who don’t know, look at the picture above and that should be enough to let you know.  If not, she’s an aspiring artist trying to make it big with her music. Like I said earlier, she’s a cast mate on Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta, a reality TV show on VH1 full of drama, drama, drama, and, oh, did I mention drama? Well, here are ten facts you may not have known about Ms. Hernandez.

1. Many people believe Hernandez is a man.  This one may not be so ‘fun’ but there are many websites and articles dedicated to exposing Joseline, or Joseph, as a man.

2.  According to her VH1 Love and Hip-Hop profile, Joseline was a stripper.  Also, she was a personal trainer.  That could explain why her physique is structured the way it is.

3.  Hernandez is a criminal.  Well, not really but she was arrested in 2003 for Lewd acts in Miami. For more info, see fact nine.  Maybe she was posing naked for some photos, which brings us to…

Since her nude photo was very NSFW, you get this gem instead.

 

4. Hernandez has posted nude photos of herself on her Twitter account.  It was a way to show people that she wasn’t born a man.

 

6. Since her family was struggling to make ends meet, she began dancing at 16, according to an interview with Global Grind.  She would bring home upwards of $1,000 a month to help her mother and stepfather.  Her real father died of a drug overdose.

7. She does a lot of lunges.  She says her butt is the real deal because she works out her backend.

8. She also goes by the name Shenellica Bettencourt, or used to.  See fact 9.

10. This one is also not so “fun.” Her ‘alleged pimp’ died of AIDS some years and people have urged her to get tested.  Read the full article here at Diary of a Hollywood Street King.

Social Music News | Music Technology and Start-Ups

Here a few pictures that I took of 50 Cent at SXSW 2013. It was my first time getting to see the man up close and personal as he spoke about business ventures, Floyd Mayweather, G-Unit and conscious capitalism. Fiddy can talk and damn he makes some interesting facial expressions….

Social Music News | Music Technology and Start-Ups

Listen to Kilo Kish’s Downtown Mixtape HERE

Festival Acts Include: Black Hippy, Purity Ring, Earl Sweatshirt, Sky Ferreira, DIIV, Palma Violets, Nguzunguzu, Trash Talk, Andrew Wyatt (of Miike Snow), Autre Ne Veut, Antwon, Cities Aviv, SZA, 9Kilo Kish, Ratking, Kingdom feat. Kelela, TEEN, Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire, Vashtie, Fat Tony, and More

Super-Fan Tickets On-Sale Now

With The Downtown NYC Festival happening this Friday and Saturday in New York, Downtown Events has released the final schedule for the two-day Lower East Side takeover. Over two days, festival acts like Earl Sweatshirt, Purity Ring, DIIV, Sky Ferreira, Palma Violets, Nguzunguzu, Trash Talk,Autre Ne Veut, Kilo Kish, and over 40 total acts will play a variety of intimate shows at venues like Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Rockwood Music Hall, Capitale. Element, and more. The Downtown NYC Festival will also see a number of firsts, including the live debut of Andrew Wyatt’s (of MiikeSnow) Descender featuring a chamber orchestra, as well as the first time Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock have performed together in New York as Black Hippy. Full schedule below.

To coincide with the release of Downtown’s final schedule, festival act Kilo Kish has made her festival playlist available for stream. Listen to the mix hereor at The Village Voice where it premiered.

One-Day-Passes and Two–Day-Passes are available. Passes get you access to all the venues and other festival perks. VIP tickets are available and include early admission, guaranteed admission, festival merch and access to VIP bars and special viewing areas. Super Fan venue-only tickets are also now available. Admission is based on capacity. All tickets available on Ticketweb.com.

To coincide with the release of Downtown’s final schedule, festival act Kilo Kish has made her festival playlist available for stream. Listen to the mix here or at The Village Voice where it premiered.

One-Day-Passes and Two–Day-Passes are available. Passes get you access to all the venues and other festival perks. VIP tickets are available and include early admission, guaranteed admission, festival merch and access to VIP bars and special viewing areas. Super Fan venue-only tickets are also now available. Admission is based on capacity. All tickets available on Ticketweb.com.

FRIDAY

Capitale

Black Hippy 1am

Fat Tony 12am

Andrew Wyatt 9pm

D’Eon 8pm

Element

Earl Sweatshirt 10:30pm

Antwon 10pm

Ryan Hemsworth 9pm

Branchez 8pm

Mercury Lounge

Sky Ferreira 1am

Teengirl Fantasy 12am

SZA 11pm

S+M 10pm

Mess Kid 9pm

Bowery Ballroom

Palma Violets 11pm

Guards 10pm

The Orwells 9pm

Pianos

Royal Teeth 11pm

Rush Midnight 10pm

Sparxx 9pm

NSR 8pm

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 1

Jenny Ray 12pm

Derek James 11pm

Plume Giant 10pm

The Loom 9pm

Noble Hunter 8pm

Josh Elkes 7pm

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2

Wooly & The Mammoth 12: 30 am

Port St. Willow 11pm

Anais Mitchell 10pm

Alice and the Glass Lake 9pm

Belle Mare 7pm

Cake Shop

Beach Fossils 12am

Cosmonauts 10pm

The Garden 9pm

Tammany Hall

RINSED 2:30

Nguzunguzu 1:30am

Kingdom feat. Kelela 12:30am

Kilo Kish 11:30

Nire Feat. Nani Castle 11pm

RINSED 10pm

SATURDAY

Mercury Lounge

DIIV 12am

Lodro 11pm

Xray Eyeballs 10pm

DJ Dog Dick 9pm

Bowery Ballroom

Purity Ring 10pm

Mas Ysa 9pm

Pianos

Inc. 11pm

Autre Ne Veut 10pm

Weeknight 9pm

DJ Thanksgiving Brown 8pm

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 1

Steady Sun 1am

Brendan Rivera 12am

Clementine and the Galaxy 11pm

Raveena Aurora 10pm

Cheap Blue Yonder 9pm

Town Hall 8pm

Wyndam Baird 7pm

Mary Beth Doran & Amy Vachal 6pm

Tiger Darrow 5pm

Andrew Berger 3pm

Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2

Rocket and the Ghost 12am

Ducktails 11pm

TEEN 10pm

The Chevin 9pm

San Fermin 8pm

Jade <3 and Blind Benny 7pm

Cake Shop

Trash Talk 1am

Cities Aviv 12am

Low Fat Getting High 11pm

Shackletons 10pm

Tammany Hall

Hefna Gwap 2am

Farrington 1am

Ratking 12am

Black Dave 11pm

Vashtie 10pm

Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire 9pm

AWKWAFINA 8:30

Hefna Gwap 8pm

Social Music News | Music Technology and Start-Ups

There have been a number of changes to the meaning of New York Hip Hop in just the last few years alone, with artists like A$AP Rocky and Action Bronson taking Big Apple rap in surprising diree ctions that many could not have predicted. But for Bronx emcee Mysonne, it’s all about sticking to the script and showing respect to the tradition and the original, signature sound of NYC. SoSoActive recently caught up with Mysonne in a phone interview where he touched on his relationship with Chris Lighty, his new mix tape due May 15, and making sure New York Hip Hop continues to sound like, well, New York Hip Hop.

What are some of the current projects that you’re working on that fans can expect to be exposed to soon?
I have a mix tape dropping on May 15, and I just dropped a mix tape, The Definition of a G: Part 2, that’s been getting a lot of love and a lot of people showing it love. And that’s really it right now.

Your latest video, “The Sound of NY”, seems like it’s all over the Internet and getting a big amount of buzz. Were you inspired by the unfortunate events around Chris Lighty’s passing to make that song and video?
Oh most definitely, because Chris Lighty was the first person that signed me back in 1998. I know how much of a fan of Hip Hop that Chris Lighty was. He always wanted New York to have and to create its own sound. Me and Chris had a relationship to where I would always hit him up and be like, “Listen to this song; what do you think?” When I was making the song and he wasn’t here to hear it, I was like “Damn, I know he would like this.” I just wanted to make a song that I know he would approve of as a tribute song to him.

From your bio you seem to have collaborated with some rather important musical movements out of New York, from Ruff Ryders to Violator. Can you talk about how some of those collaborations came about?
Well like I said, Chris signed me to Violator because it was his label. I was originally supposed to sign to Ruff Ryders, which didn’t happen because I decided to go with Chris Lighty. But me and Ruff Ryders were really family-oriented, but I was also always told that you can’t do business with your brother. So I went with Chris because he was cool, but we were doing business, and I had an agenda. Ruff Ryders was already so big, they had built their own stamp, and X was the face of the label, so I wanted to be the face of my own label. So I decided not to follow Ruff Ryders based on that. But Ruff Ryders is still family and we still do music together. So all of that came about just like that.

There’s been a lot of talk about the direction that NYC Hip Hop is going in. What’s your take on it and what do you predict the future holds for Hip Hop coming out of New York?
Well, I hear lots of New York artists and it’s just like, “Why are we trying to sound like the South?” We have a sound. We have our own vintage sound that has a feel to when you hear it, you think its sounds like a New York sound. There are so many artists that are trying to cater to so many different states and different areas and I don’t believe we have to do that. We should continue on with our own sound, and we don’t have that distinct sound anymore and you don’t hear it on our radio stations. That was my whole idea when I made that “The Sound of NY”.

Since being released from prison in 2006, what are some of the biggest changes you’ve personally noticed in the rap game? Have they had any effect on your career?
The music is more about gimmicks than substance now. Music is more about image and controversy. It used to be based on your skill level, that’s what got people to listen to you. At this point, rappers are just good entertainers.

Like many artists, you really seem to have taken control of your own music career. Do you feel like the playing field has been leveled these days for artists to remain independent but still be successful?
Of course. I think it’s like a gift and a curse. Because if you put out a song or anything that goes viral, people are more into the controversy as opposed to being into the music. A person that beefing with another person has music that gets more of a look as opposed to just a skilled artist. But in retrospect, if you’re an artist and you’re consistent with putting out good music, you can build up a fan base. It takes longer, but it’s a strong fan base. Now you don’t have to worry about certain people playing your music because you probably have fans worldwide that you didn’t even know about. So it’s definitely leveled the playing field.

Is it important to you as an artist and an entrepreneur to remain independent and stay in control of your music and your brand?
Of course. I think at this point you have to be in control of your brand. Nobody knows how to sell you better than you. That’s a thing that has hindered a lot of artists in the past. A lot of artists weren’t in control of their projects. They ended up putting out music that they thought they were supposed to put out and ended up losing. Because when you don’t sell they get rid of you. And a lot of artists are putting out their projects on the Internet and virally, when a lot of them used to be on major labels. So when you’re in control, even if you lose, you can live with it.

You’ve worked with some of the biggest names in Hip Hop, from DMX to Mase to Game. Who, if anyone, are some of the other artists that you’d want to get in the studio with?
I have to work with legends. I have to work with Jay-Z and Nas. Or like Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole. I like music with substance. But you might hear me in the studio with anybody depending on the song I’m doing. Different artists can bring different things to tracks. Depending on the track, you might hear me with anyone who’s talented in their genre of music.

What do you want to say to potential fans that might not know Mysonne’s music?
I say Google it. Go online if you have a computer or a phone, type in M-Y-S-O-N-N-E and you get me. No sugar coat, no bullsh*t, no fakeness. Some people are going to love it and some people are going to hate it. But I stand by my brand. Whatever I say I mean, and whatever I mean I feel. And that’s that.

What advice would you give to up and coming emcees to become successful in this game?
Know what you want to do and don’t take no for an answer. Don’t be discouraged. Because you’re going to hear a million No’s before you hear one Yes. You have to have belief in yourself and nobody can tell you who you are. Nobody knows who you are better than you do.

Social Music News | Music Technology and Start-Ups

In my experience, you’re a fan of either The Jam or The Style Council. Paul Weller either did his best work pre- or post-1982. In your opinion. And most people do have an opinion about Weller. About his songs and his performances. He’s that strange kind of pop star who shuns the title. And yet he’s one of the biggest pop stars the UK has produced.

A new book out on 17 May gives more evidence for stalwart Jam fans of why this was a great era for British pop music. I met with photographer Derek D’Souza just before publication.

“I contributed a few photos to last year’s Thick as Thieves and realised that I needed more space to do my photos justice,” Derek said.

Thick as Thieves includes my favourite image of The Jam – one of a load taken by Derek in Chiswick Park in August 1981 for the single Absolute Beginners. It shows Paul, Rick and Bruce standing behind a wrought-iron gate. Paul is pulling at the bars as if in jail. A metaphor for how he felt at the time and in the months leading to the band’s split? Who knows.

So, Ian Snowball and Stuart Deabill’s book was the spur that Derek needed. “In the Crowd was originally laid out in 1984, but it never saw the light of day. It always had the same title, taken from the track on All Mod Cons from 1978. That is what this book is about – being one of the crowd of fans observing their favourite band.

“Some of the photos have been used over the years for other projects around The Jam, but more than 100 of these have never been seen before. It’s all about producing my best work – I wanted this book to be a quality piece of work that shows the respect I feel for the band.”

In the Crowd shows Derek’s view of The Jam between 1979 and 1982. As a fan, most of the shots are looking up at the band on stage, but some are taken backstage and in soundchecks. “I sometimes had the opportunity to speak to the band and photograph them off-stage, but I didn’t want to intrude. They gave me more access than most fans ever get and I remain so grateful to them.

“They gave me a great opportunity because they were really keen on staying in touch with fans and always knew we were important to their success. The Jam is one of those bands that – even now – their fans feel an intense connection to. Most of us know all the words to all the songs.

“I wasn’t always strict on copyright of my photos, but I’m sorting that now. I’m proud of these photos and the collection is something quite rare. I obviously chose my best photos first for the exhibition last year and then for this book. It’s definitely a fan’s perspective of the band and I hope that it means something to everyone who buys it.”

Out in a couple of weeks, In the Crowd is on pre-order on Amazon and it’s already in the top 50 among similar Music books. It looks like that first edition will sell out fast!

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