HipHopAtLunch.com will be covering shows and interviewing all the talented artists whose path we cross.

Last night’s bill consisted of Termanology, Skyzoo, Statik Selektah Bekay, Emilio Rojas, Jon Hope, Shawn Chrystopher, Donny Goines, and JtheS, but we soon found out that anything can happen at CMJ.

Termanology and Shawn Chrystopher didn’t make it to Santos, however special guests Joe Scudda, Sha Stimuli, and Cormega put on a good show in their absence.

John Hope really got the crowd involved with his energetic stage presence.  He also came through with his Essence Music Group family to represent Providence for the night.

Check out Jon Hope performing “The Most Important Song Of My Life.”

That song is wonderfully produced and carries a great message of respect and love within the hip hop community.

After his set, Jon Hope took a minute to touch base with HipHopAtLunch.com, explaining his previous comments about Pill’s “Trap Going Ham” video, and talking about why he follows porn stars on Twitter!

Jon meant no disrespect when he recorded “Smartest,” inspired by Pill’s “Trap Goin Ham.”  Instead he decided to portray the change he would like to see in hip hop.  Jon took this interview as an opportunity to clear that up.  Also, if you’re a pornstar hit Jon up on Twitter:@JonHope and let him know what you thought of the interview!

Jon Hope’s upcoming project, A Work In Progress, should be interesting, as he stated that it will differ greatly from Some Kind of Wonderful.  If we can’t have Some Kind of Wonderful Part 2, I hope we see more tracks like Breathin’ which saw time on MTV.

Other standout performances from the night were Joe Scudda’s “Trunk Rattle.”

Joe Scudda has a great stage presence, delivery, his confidence really comes out in live performances.  I can’t wait to hear the album he’s working on with Statik Selektah!

Emilio Rojas performed “Bold & Arrogant.”

His upcoming mixtape, The Natural, with DJ Green Lantern is something to keep an eye out for.

Donny Goines performed “Bring It Forward.”

If you haven’t downloaded The Breakfast Club yet, I suggest you jump on that.

Bekay performed “I Am,” produced by The Alchemist.

That’s a dope track about hip hop.

Cormega performed “Journey,” produced by the Large Professor.

That opening line is sick, “Life is a journey/Before I went the rap route/I served niggas off the bench like Stackhouse/Going in with no intention to back down/My cocaine flow solidified/I spit crack now.”

My favorite performance of the night was Skyzoo’s “The Beautiful Decay.”

I like how Skyzoo started off performing Nas’ “The World Is Yours,” which he said inspired “The Beautiful Decay.”

Statik Selektah also blessed us with a first listen of his upcoming album’s radio record, “So Close, So Far,” featuring Bun B, Wale, and Colin Munroe.

Bun B, Colin Munroe, and Wale is one sick line up!

Sha Stimuli closed out the night.

If all of CMJ has as much talent as last night, my camera is in for a workout!

Before leaving Santos, we asked Jon Hope to speak on the origin of his name.  To much surprise, Young Jeezy had some major influence!

I didn’t realize Jon Hope had so much meaning behind his name, but it’s definitely a good thing he doesn’t call himself Jeezy anymore!

Big shout out to Statik Selektah, Brandon of Show Off Marketing, Matt of Coalmine Records, and everybody who came through or showed love!

This producer, singer, and songwriter from Canada is quickly making a name for himself within the hip hop world.

Colin’s remake of Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” is a good example of his unique sound.

This video was leaked by Colin about a year ago, and was quickly picked up by major online music publications, including Kanye West’s blog.  Kanye co-signed the video, and released Colin’s version of “Flashing Lights” on his Glow in the Dark Tour mixtape.

Here is the video for “I want those Flashing Lights.”

As Colin shows us with that video, the key to creating a great remake is to change as much as possible, while still keeping the basic feel of the original song.  Most artists just add a new verse…

Recently, Colin Munroe stopped through Brooklyn to film the video for Izza Kizza’s “Connect the Dots,” which features Colin on the hook.  HipHopAtLunch.com and PocketFullofPaper.com stopped by the video shoot to ask Colin about his own music, as well as Canada’s growing presence in today’s Urban music scene.

The amount of talented artists that Colin Munroe has collaborated with by simply reaching out to them is quiet impressive!  Like Colin said, thank God for today’s hip hop artists who are willing to go outside the box with their music.

When we asked Colin about giving away his music for free, he brought up the great point that he’s building trust and earning loyalty with his fans.  This same trust and loyalty is the basis for Colin’s Twitter usage.

Speaking on Twitter, Colin mentioned that he doesn’t bombard people with links and content, rather he invites them into an experience.  This way, when his followers are presented with opportunities to buy something and support Colin financially, they do it not because they’re being sold, but because it’s another part of the experience!

Colin’s Twitter outlook is quite impressive.

After the interview, we grabbed some quick footage of the making of “Connect The Dots.”

Part of that video has the artists performing their lyrics backwards, a concept that will generate a lot of buzz!

To get a good feel for what a Colin Munroe collaboration feels like, check out “Will I stay,” featuring Wale.

Big shout out to @ParisTokyo who sent me that video!

If you want to hear more from Colin, check out his Colin Munroe Is The Unsung Hero mixtape, which features his hit single, “Piano Lessons.”

Colin’s debut album, Don’t Think Less of Me, is due out in Mid October.  That being said, he is currently toying with the idea of releasing a series of EP-sized albums on a consistent basis instead of a full out LP.

Albums, in the traditional sense, are losing appeal, and creative artists like Colin Munroe are looking to capitalize on this shift!

This Valdosta, Georgia, native is bringing back the fun, creative, boundless hip hop style made famous by artists such as Busta Rhymes and Outkast.  Most importantly Kizza is able to keep his own originality in the process!

This presence is what lead to Kizza signing a record deal with Timbaland’s Mosley Music Group label.

To get a feel for Izza Kizza’s lyrical style, check out this line from The Wizard of Iz:

“I ride tracks like a steam locomotive,
thought I had a phantom grinnin, I was dreaming when I drove it,
Spark it off, let it sizzle in your ear lobes,
I’m talking in the future and you listenin a year ago,
So if you think you’s a hip hop ambassador,
Call me the sniper that assassinates your character.”

Izza Kizza’s lyrics are refreshingly original!

Recently, Izza Kizza was in Brooklyn to film the video for his track “Connect the Dots” featuring Colin Munroe.  HipHopAtLunch.com and PocketFullofPaper.com stopped through to ask Kizza about his music, and to get a better feel for his personality.

As you can tell from the interview, Izza Kizza is a fun dude, and when we took a minute to speak on his mixtapes, Kizza said some really insightful stuff.

He pointed out that, everyday, people pay for crappy music while he’s simply releasing his music for free in exchange for people’s attention.  Kizza doesn’t feel cheated by giving out his music for free, rather, he feels that anyone who doesn’t pick up his mixtapes is getting cheated!

Hit up Izza Kizza on Twitter: @IzzaKizza, and let him know what you thought of the interview.  Also if you missed Kizza’s story about almost catching himself on fire, go back and check it out!

The “Connect the Dots” video was shot with Izza Kizza and Colin Munroe both performing their lines backwards…  Watching the artists learn their lines in reverse was quite entertaining!

This video is going to get some major buzz, simply becuase of its creative concept!

Another creative video from Izza Kizza is “Hello.”  This video off of Kizzaland was filmed in NYC.

He is definitely putting out some of the most creative videos in the game!

Like you heard in the interview, Kizza is about to start his 69 day tour, which will hit 49 college campuses. Don’t miss Izza Kizza when he comes to your city!

Everyone has their own view on The Blueprint 3 and Death of Autotune, but all of the artists in the video hoped to hear the best from Jay on his latest release.  If you haven’t heard the album yet, click the link below and let me know what you think!

Stream The Blueprint 3

September 11th is the official day that Jay-z’s 11th studio album, and final installment to the Blueprint trilogy, will drop. However, the entire album leaked onto the internet yesterday, killing the suspense behind what it would sound like.

Due to all this suspense, Jay-z  released The Blueprint 3’s first single “D.O.A.” live on Hot 97 back in June. Every hip hop fan was glued to the radio to hear Flex drop the bomb, and seconds later, Twitter exploded with Jay-z dominating the trending topics.

Jay proceeded to be the special guest at Hot 97’s Summer Jam Concert Series a few days after, where he performed D.O.A. live for the first time.

That live video is sick!

In light of Everybody’s Nobody’s recent success in the mixtape world, XV and his producer Seven flew to NYC to celebrate at the mixtape’s official NYC release party.

HipHopAtLunch.com met up with this Kansas duo who is causing a stir in the hip hop world, and asked them some interesting questions to give you a better understanding of both their careers and personalities!

Here is a video of our interview with XV, where he touches on coming up in Kansas as a hip hop artist, his favorite video games, how he uses twitter, and of course his feelings on Everybody’s Nobody.

Now I know all the real XV fans will appreciate the following interview with Seven, who is responsible for 90% of the production on Everybody’s Nobody.  Seven touches on what he uses to produce beats, the response Everybody’s Nobody has received within the hip hop community, and gives advice to up and coming producers.

Since we were already introduced to XV’s career with our previous post, I am now going to dive further into his DJ Benzi and DJ Enuff hosted mixtape, Everybody’s Nobody. (touching on the mixtape’s tracks which I didn’t speak about in the last article.)

One of the best things about this mixtape is its wide range of sounds and styles which XV uses to show his versatility.  By the end of Everybody’s Nobody, we realize that this kid from Witchita is about to put his city on the map!

Lets start with XV’s up tempo tracks “Awesome” and “A.D.D.,” which show the artist having fun on the mic while creating great party music. Where as  “Awesome” is more of what you would expect to hear on a hip hop mixtape, “A.D.D.” has a real electro funk feel to it and sounds like it belongs in dance halls.

Now if your looking for more lyrically promising tracks, then “Bad News” and “The Rabbit Hole” should meet your needs. On “Bad News” which samples Kanye West’s song of the same name, XV spits:

“I’m dying to see the day that I finally get on,
Sometimes I think I wanna make it just to prove people wrong,
I did this all on my own and never asked for handouts…
How can a blog say I’m not nice, the only dude from Wichita to spit on NahRight!”

With “The Rabbit Hole” XV talks about the negative aspects of being successful over the track’s eerily creepy beat:

One of the song’s strongest verses is:

“Everyone got an opinion and you sit there and listen,
They looking in your eyes, but they do not see your vision,
They say they got your interest, but who are you fucking kidding?”

He also uses this song to touch on losing friends, drug addictions, people who used to give you cold shoulders wanting hugs, girls who used to ignore you wanting to hang out, etc.

XV puts together a great commercially marketable track with “Mirror’s Edge.”

This track’s clean sound makes it great for use on the radio, in commercials, or in video games. (Hopefully the video game fanatic gets “Mirror’s Edge” featured in the commercial for some upcoming game.) Even the lyrics give you the feel that XV is a video game super hero! “Till I’m in the place where reapers go, Im running on walls and leaping poles.”

A fan favorite from Everybody’s Nobody is the track “Come Back Down.”

With this song, XV brings his story full circle…a story that has been told over a handful of mixtapes on which we saw XV leave Earth for planet Squaria. Having been on Squaria for awhile now, XV hears the screams for him to “Come Back Down to Earth!”

Finally, we come upon “Undeniable” the motivational track that will leave you wanting more from XV.

XV’s flow over the cold piano keys coupled with his witty lyrics, puts this track in contention for his best record yet. The beat to”Undeniable” builds as XV’s momentum gains speed, and we hear XV spit some of Everybody’s Nobody’s most memorable lines:

“I’m just asking for cats with passion in this, is there any left….
Niggas try to improvise while I try to improve it,
Take a look inside just so I can out do it,
Nights on the mic, but I’m making the meanest music,
If they call it garbage, I swear I’m making the cleanest sewage…
Tired of trying to make these labels understand…
Stay sunnin’ rappers hope u fagots need a tan,
Call me Adam cause you know that I’m the man.”

And

“I try to see what they see,
I get it, you hear music everyday,
but you can’t hear my tape and say that my shit is not crazy,
20 mixtapes later,I am still not lazy,
and red lights still don’t break me!”

If you are impressed by what XV can do on the mic with no features, check out the Everybody’s Nobody tracks below where he teams up with artists such as Colin Munroe, Ne-Yo, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, and Harlems Cash.