Source: Buzzfeed

Sorry to excite you — or incite more conspiracy theories that 2Pac might really be alive — but isn’t this visual pretty spot on? Last week Buzzfeed created a gallery showing what dead music artists of our age would look like had they stayed on earth just a little while longer, and they captured some of the most iconic stars of our kind from every genre, like Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Aaliyah, and, of course, Pac.

Though I’m sure Pac probably wouldn’t have gone from a supremely shaven bald head in his younger years to trying to hold on to this slowly receding hairline later in life, the caption Buzzfeed provided, “Director Tupac Shakur and his wife Jada Pinkett Shakur arrive at the after-party for the premiere of Shakur’s lastest film in New York City,” is probably just about right. Sorry Will!

Check out the photos and Buzzfeed’s prophesies for what these starlets would be doing now had they not passed away so soon. What do you think?

Source: Buzzfeed

Aaliyah, 34

Singer, actress, and designer Aaliyah joins this season’s cast of American Idol as a judge.

Source: WENN

Chris Brown has been out and about lately in an effort to promote his upcoming release, X, which will be released in the late summer. However, his lead single, “Fine China” will drop on April 1. While talking about the music, Brown has also been discussing Rihanna and the drama that surrounds his life. He continued to do just that when visiting Big Boy’s Neighborhood today. He opened up about trying to “coexist” in this music industry with arch-nemesis (kidding!) Drake, his love for Tupac, people testing his patience, and how past depression after the infamous domestic violence incident between him and Rihanna in 2009 and the backlash he received for years helped shape him into a better man.

On Drake:

“Oh yeah, people can coexist in the music industry.

It’s more me being real saying what I gotta say. I ain’t out here trying to go at him, I ain’t got ni**as–I aint got people after him. We just chillin’. I have my differences and he has his. His music still hot!”

On whether the female DJ who played “Started From The Bottom” in the club (when he said “F**k Drake!” on the microphone), and other people in general are trying to test his patience:

“I be chillin. I would look like the corniest dude ever if I sat up there and got mad every time I heard his records. He gone hear me, I’m gone hear him…I’m not going to put myself in a situation for anything to mess up my career. Focus on what it is and focus on the music.

It was funny, I think the girl tweeted and said, “OMG, he called me a girl DJ. Yes, I said it’s awesome we have a lady DJ in here. I said that’s amazing. I don’t know how that was sexist or you take offense to that. But it’s always a target or you feel like it’s a target. Also, it’s also me too. It’s the choices I make and it’s also me having to be able not to put myself in those surrounding or in those situations. It’s just a learning process.”

On doing a better job of keeping his relationship with Rihanna out of the public eye:

“It also has a lot to do with how much we’re in the public eye or how accessible we are. Mystery is key. That’s why half the time I don’t get on my Twitter, I don’t even have an Instagram anymore. The mystery is in the music and in the magic. Whatever my talent is I want people to focus on that so I can be able to do my personal stuff without people having to KNOW, know.

His appreciation of Tupac:

“I just identify with a young black male who deals with trials and tribulations but who can express his art through his poetry. I’m passionate so I can identify with that. Everything I do is passionate, I wear my heart on my sleeve…I can identify with how Tupac kind of had that in him.”

On whether dealing with the animosity towards him after the domestic violence episode in 2009:

“I was going through early stages of depression. I prayed on it, I stayed humble and stuck with all the people I grew up with. Went back to being Christopher instead of Chris Brown…it happened when I was 18, so 19 is the year everybody was like ‘We’re not playing his music, we don’t really like him. It’s a no all the time!’ For a 19-year-old young man it’s kind of hard not being able to accept people not liking you when they loved you for whatever. It was kind of hard, even friends not talking to you, friends in the industry talking bad about you, but I think it’s a learning step for me. I wouldn’t even take it back. I wouldn’t change it for  the world. What I went through and what I’m going through now in life is making me a better person.”

Check out both parts of his interview on the next page! 

Photo Credit: Johnny Louis/WENN.com

The other day I saw a hilarious SomeeCard meme that read: “I can’t believe the music that you kids listen to nowadays. What happened to the good wholesome songs like Push It and Me So Horney?”

That got me thinking about Rick Ross. From Hello Beautiful:

“Known for his braggadocious lyrics, showboating style and dangling stomach, Rick Ross stomped all over the lines of inappropriate, disgusting and misogynistic content with the release of his verse on Rocko’s song “You Don’t Even Know It”: “Put Molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it,” the MMG bawse rapped with confidence.”

It’s no secret how I feel about our favorite ex-correctional officer turned “BAWSE.” But this is sort of Ross’ schtick, right? Say something inflammatory, watch people get mad and reap the benefits financially from the controversy? Remember last year, when Ross took us on a swagged-out voyage through the slums of Nigeria for his video to “Hold Me Back?” Or the time that he tried to woo the ladies with this romantic line from Usher’s “Lemme See,” “Chanel hoodie on looking like Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman don’t want it.”

Move over Barry White! Because nothing says let’s get it on more than having your dude tell you that you remind him of a murdered teenager. Oh, and let’s not forget that Ross cover art for his The Black Bar Mitzvah mixtape, featuring himself draped in a fur coat, centered inside of the Star of David, not only raised the eyebrows of the Jewish community, but also ruffling the feathers of the nefarious Gangster Disciples, who too use the symbol as part of their own logo. The man obviously has no filter, nor does he understand (or maybe care about) boundaries. And at this point, I would be more surprised if Ross had something more thoughtful to say.

Yet if we are being honest here, Hip-Hop has always said some pretty messed up things. I freaking love Biggie Smalls, but I remember cringing like hell when I heard him say, “I’m using rubbers so they won’t trace the semen/The black demon, got the little hookers screaming/Because you know I love it young, fresh and green/With no hair in between, know what I mean?” Yes, I know what you mean and that is not appropriate. Ice Cube was my favorite quasi-conscious West Coast rapper from back in the day, but aren’t we being hypocritical when we chastise Lil Wayne for his “whip it like a slave” lyric and not thinking about when Cube said, “So don’t believe what Ren say/Cuz he’s goin’ out like “Kunta” Kinte/But I got a whip for ya Toby…”?

Too $hort made an entire career out of his misogyny. And there was no other more gangster rapper than Scarface. I remember in high school, one of the biggest dancehall songs at the time was Sasha’s “Kill the B***h.” According to her Wiki page, Sasha has since rediscovered Jesus and will no longer perform the song that made her a ghetto household name. But that doesn’t change the fact that she once thought nothing wrong with mimicking sex through half of the song. Neither did my best friend and I, who used to take pride in the fact that we knew all the words to Dr. Dre’s The Chronic album, and would sit in the back of our classroom, flowing to B***hes Ain’t S**t. We swore up and down that since we weren’t those type of girls, those lyrics we belted out out had nothing to do with us. It would take years later to learn that some dudes, despite our best efforts at respectability, still couldn’t tell the difference. Even our beloved Tupac, who most try to remember canonizing women in “Dear Mama” and “Keep Ya Head Up” (“…cause Tupac care, if don’t nobody else care”) also reminded us that, he’s only got one night in town so basically, “Break out or be clowned.” While being the agent of and the voice of the downtrodden and politically conscience who screamed “fight the power,” Hip-Hop too has always offered a welcoming home to voices who only wanted to talk about the money, clothes and most importantly, the ho*s. And we have sort of been kind of okay with that for a while now.

We tried to tell ourselves that there was a bigger purpose; that these rappers were not just appealing to the rebellious side of our natures but also daring to speak on the authenticity of what is taboo. Or as stated by Jay-Z (with assistance from Dream Hampton) in his book, Decoded:

“Hip-hop has always been controversial, and for good reason. The music is meant to be provocative—which doesn’t mean it’s necessarily obnoxious, but it is (mostly) confrontational, and more than that, it’s dense with multiple meanings. Great rap should have all kinds of unresolved layers that you don’t necessarily figure out the first time you listen to it. Instead it plants dissonance in your head. You can enjoy a song that knocks in the club or has witty punch lines the first time you hear it. But great rap retains mystery. It leaves s**t rattling around in your head that won’t make sense till the fifth or sixth time through. It challenges you. Which is another reason hip-hop is so controversial: People don’t bother trying to get it. The problem isn’t in the rap or the rapper or the culture. The problem is that so many people don’t even know how to listen to the music.”

Yet I don’t really think there is no deeper significance or much else to “get” from Ross’ lyrics, other than that this hopefully fictitious woman in this song was date-raped – and she didn’t even know it. And I think that is the point: rappers recognize that you don’t have to say much of substance or even be lyrically inclined these days. You just have to be provocative and obnoxious. And I feel like like our inability to call it out or acknowledge the music genre’s shortcomings earlier on paved the way for Ross and other industry folks to commodify and repackage the art form into a cash crop of the most garish, misogynistic and overall opulent images and lyrics. Instead of checking the rappers of past, many of us yelled foul over what we felt was the government’s attempt at denying 2 Live Crew constitutional rights to be as narsty as they wanted to be. We forgot later on that the group’s Supreme Court victory would later be symbolically used to justify why it was okay for Snoop Dogg to walk across mainstream stages with women on leashes and later why it would become acceptable for Ross to rhyme nonchalantly about drugging and sexually assaulting a woman.

A wax figure of Tupac was unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s in London last month. Rex Features via AP Images

The late Tupac Shakur was known a prolific artist. And when he died at the age of 25, it has been reported that he left behind a trove of songs and song concepts. Now his mother, Afeni Shakur, has announced she will release her son’s entire body of work.

According to Billboard, the late rapper’s estate is now being handled by Jampol Artist Management. His mother is head of the estate and founder of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation. “I believe it is our responsibility to make sure that Tupac’s entire body of work is made available for his fans. My son left many incomplete pieces and even more unfinished ideas. Using the blueprints he gave us, I am committed to fulfilling this duty,” she said in a press statement.

His estate will not only be releasing more Tupac tracks, but also plans to market his name. Jampol Artist Management will oversee licensing, apparel, and other ventures in all media worldwide, as it relates to Shakur’s music, film, name and likeness, reports Billboard.

JAM also handles the estates of The Doors, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Peter Tosh, and Henry Mancini and consults on the estate of Michael Jackson.

“It’s our responsibility — and our privilege — to ensure that new generations of fans experience the power of Tupac’s music, his ideas  and his storytelling,” JAM founder and president Jeffrey Jampol said in a statement.

Tom Whalley, the label executive who signed the hip hop artist to his first record deal, will be working with Jampol Artist Management on the upcoming music projects, notes Billboard.

When Tupac was murdered in 1996, he had registered 11 number one albums on the Billboard 200. He has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide as of 2010.

WENN.com

Every year there are plenty of odes to some of the world’s most prominent people. This past year it was Abraham Lincoln. It was Alfred Hitchcock. It was Margaret Thatcher. But who should be next to have their life story told on the silver screen? Madame Noire makes its picks for 15 legends who deserve some cinematic recognition.

The world of fame guarantees that all of your personal business will be aired out; it’s the simple downside to a life that’s decorated with the finer things. Even so, many celebrities, for years, have managed to keep small nuggets of knowledge about their past and personal lives from the public for long stints of time before that info is unearthed. We learned as much from Janet Jackson’s secret marriage.

So, in the interest of discovery, here’s a list of little known, but more fun facts about some of your favorite celebrities.

PNP/ WENN.com

Jamie Foxx

As a 2nd grader, Django Unchained star, Jamie Foxx was so talented at telling jokes, his teacher used him as a reward for the hard work and cooperation of her students. If the class behaved, Jamie would entertain them.

Fans are known to make outlandish claims defending the supremacy of their chosen idol. When debates get heated and tempers flair, it’s time to face the facts. As the song goes, “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.”

Album sales don’t come as easily as they used to. Purchasing an album is a commitment only the best artists can persuade audiences to make. Compiled below are the best selling black artists in Pop/R&B and Hip-Hop, as tallied by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). How does your favorite measure up to the best?

At the Billboard Music Awards in 1995. Image: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Hip-Hop #5 – Notorious B.I.G.

17 million units

A gift for storytelling and a penchant for humorous, violently detailed narratives of Brooklyn street life launched the Notorious B.I.G. to stardom and paved the way for the return of East Coast rapper after the Dr. Dre era. His untimely death in 1997 raised his impact to mythic proportions.