Word Up! Magazine was a popular teen entertainment magazine which debuted in August 1987. [1] It focused on hip-hop music and rap artists at a time when there was little hip hop journalism.
The magazine was name-checked by The Notorious B.I.G. in his 1994 hit song "Juicy": "It was all a dream; I used to read Word Up! magazine." [2]
A spin-off of Right On! magazine, Word Up! was headquartered in Queens, NY, with Gerrie Summers as founding editor-in-chief. [2] In the 2020s, both magazines were purchased by Cynthia Horner, former editor-in-chief of Right On!, forming Right On! Media Holdings, LLC. [3] [4] Its principal photographer was Ernie Paniccioli, who later claimed the magazine's mention in "Juicy" was intended for him. [5]
The estate of the Notorious B.I.G. and Budweiser produced two special editions of Word Up! in 2023, celebrating the artist and the 30th anniversary of Ready to Die . [6]
Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known by his stage names The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta rap, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laid-back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content.
Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis, and Miami—five cities which constitute the "Southern Network" in rap music.
Cristal is the flagship cuvée of Champagne Louis Roederer, created in 1876 for Alexander II, tsar of Russia.
Nathaniel Thomas Wilson, better known by his stage name Kool G Rap, is an American rapper. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MCs of all time, and a pioneer of mafioso rap/street/hardcore content and multisyllabic rhyming. On his album The Giancana Story, he stated that the "G" in his name stands for "Giancana", but on other occasions he has stated that it stands for "Genius".
XXL is an American hip hop magazine, published by Townsquare Media, founded in 1997.
The Notorious K.I.M. is the second studio album by American rapper Lil' Kim. It was released on June 27, 2000, by Atlantic Records and was her first album on her new label Queen Bee Entertainment. It debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 235,000 copies in its first week, achieving Lil' Kim's highest peak and biggest first-week sales, and reached the top of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. A commercial success, The Notorious K.I.M. was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 2, 2000. It was the best-selling female rap album in 2000 with sales of over 1.5 million copies in the United States. To date, The Notorious K.I.M. has sold 3 million copies worldwide.
Rohit Loomba is a hip hop journalist based in Chicago, Illinois. Rohit founded Chinatown Productions with his partner, Mike Li, in 2004. Chinatown Productions has since become the entertainment company through which both Rohit and Mike have launched various hip hop–oriented projects. Rohit is currently Editor-In-Chief of Bumsquad Magazine, staff at the heavily trafficked ezine allhiphop, contributing editor for WWS Magazine, and a writer for Ozone Magazine.
The discography of the Notorious B.I.G., an American rapper, consists of two studio albums, three posthumous albums, two compilation albums, one soundtrack and 27 singles.
"Juicy Fruit" is a song written by James Mtume and released as the lead-off single from Mtume's third album, also titled Juicy Fruit. It features lead vocals by Tawatha Agee. The mid-tempo song is Mtume's most well-known, proving enormously successful on R&B radio stations when first released.
"Anything (To Find You)" is a song by American recording artist Monica taken from her seventh studio album, New Life (2012). It features additional vocals from American rapper Rick Ross, and was written and produced by longtime contributors Missy Elliott and Cainon Lamb with additional penning from fellow R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan, Henry Fuse, Miguel "Pro" Castro, and William Roberts. The song samples 1995's "Who Shot Ya?" performed by The Notorious B.I.G. and Diddy, and uses an interpolation of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's 1968 hit, "You're All I Need to Get By".
The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil 1 is the fifteenth studio album by American rapper E-40. It was released on March 26, 2012, by Heavy on the Grind Entertainment and EMI. His sixteenth and seventeenth albums, The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil 2 and The Block Brochure: Welcome to the Soil 3, were also released on the same day.
Sean Joseph Pompey, better known by his stage name Smoke DZA, is an American rapper and songwriter.
Michael Len Williams II, known professionally as Mike Will Made It or simply Mike Will, is an American record producer and rapper. He is best known for producing trap beats for several Southern hip hop and pop artists on commercially successful singles. His credits include "Black Beatles" and "Powerglide" by Rae Sremmurd, "Mercy" by Kanye West, "No Lie" by 2 Chainz, "Bandz a Make Her Dance" by Juicy J, "Pour It Up" by Rihanna, "Love Me" by Lil Wayne, "Body Party" by Ciara, "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus, "Formation" by Beyoncé, and "Humble" by Kendrick Lamar. He embarked on a career as a non-performing lead artist in 2013 with his debut single "23", which peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. His 2017 follow-up single, "Rake It Up" peaked at number eight on the chart. He has released six mixtapes and one solo studio album, Ransom 2 (2017).
The Solution is the third collaborative studio album by American rapper Buckshot and record producer 9th Wonder. It was released on November 13, 2012 through Jamla Records/Duck Down Music. Production was entirely handled by 9th Wonder, who also served as executive producer. It features guest appearances from Dyme-A-Duzin and Rapsody. The album debuted at number 196 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 2,300 copies in the United States.
"Juicy" is the first single by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G. from his 1994 debut album, Ready to Die. It was produced by Poke of the duo Trackmasters and Sean "Puffy" Combs. "Juicy" contains a sample of Mtume's 1983 song, "Juicy Fruit", though it is directly sampled from the song's "Fruity Instrumental" mix, and has an alternative chorus sung by Bad Boy Records cohorts, the girl group Total and label founder, Combs. The song is widely considered to be one of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time.
Ready to Die is the debut studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on September 13, 1994, by Bad Boy Records and Arista Records. The album features productions by Bad Boy founder Sean "Puffy" Combs, Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson, DJ Premier, and Lord Finesse, among others. It was recorded from 1993 to 1994 at The Hit Factory and D&D Studios in New York City. The partly autobiographical album tells the story of the rapper's experiences as a young criminal, and was the only studio album released during his lifetime, as he was murdered sixteen days before the release of his second album Life After Death in 1997. The album features a sole guest appearance from Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by The Notorious B.I.G. The album was released on March 6, 2007 by Bad Boy Records and Atlantic Records, three days before the 10th anniversary of his death.
Notorious: Music from and Inspired by the Original Motion Picture is the official soundtrack to the 2009 biopic film Notorious based on the life and death of rapper The Notorious B.I.G. It features mostly his previously heard songs, inclusively the ones harder to find such as "Party and Bullshit" and "One More Chance (Remix)". It includes two original songs "Brooklyn Go Hard" by Jay-Z and a tribute to the rapper by Jadakiss and widow Faith Evans called "Letter to B.I.G.", as well as three unreleased demos by him and a song with Christopher "CJ" Wallace Jr., his son. "Notorious Thugs", "Notorious B.I.G.", "One More Chance (Remix)", "Brooklyn Go Hard", "Kick in the Door", "What's Beef", "The World Is Filled...", "One More Chance / The Legacy Remix" and "Love No Ho" do not feature in the movie, but are included on the album.
Soren Baker is an American journalist who has spent his career covering hip-hop. Best known for his six years as one of the main editors of The Source, Baker has had more than 3,500 articles published in such publications as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, XXL, The Source, HipHopDX and RedBullUSA.com.
Selwyn Seyfu Hinds is an American screenwriter, comic book writer, film producer and former editor and journalist. He has been editor-in-chief of the hip-hop magazine The Source. He has written for The Twilight Zone 2019 TV series produced by Jordan Peele, and he has been selected to write and co-executive produce the TV series adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor's award-winning novel Who Fears Death?, with George R. R. Martin as executive producer. He is currently serving as creator, showrunner, and executive producer on the Hulu limited series Washington Black, based on the 2018 novel by Esi Edugyan.
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