Nas looks back at his groundbreaking first album: Illmatic.

This Saturday, April 19th, will be the official 20th anniversary of Nas’ classic debut album Illmatic. VIBE’s Mikey Fresh got together with Nas’ younger brother, Jungle, they went back to the projects of Queensbridge. Their journey takes them to the very apartment that started it all for Jungle and his older brother. Check this out!

Continuing to reinforce its classification as the black TV network that isn’t referred to as a black TV network,VH1 has teamed up with filmmakers Billy Corben and Alfred Spellman and author, advertising executive, and record executive Steve Stoute for a 4-part documentary series based on Stoute’s best-selling book, The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy.

To be titled The Tanning of America: One Nation Under Hip Hop, the 4-parter will give audiences what the press release describes as a thorough examination of hip-hop as a cultural movement, whose profound influence in music, film, television, fashion, business, race relations and politics eventually paved the way for the election of Barack Obama.

The 4-part 4-hour series will feature never-seen-before footage and interviews from numerous pop culture icons and entertainment personalities in America: Diddy, Dr Dre, Mariah Carey, Will.i.am, Russell Simmons, Pharrell, Nas,Reverend Run, Rick Rubin, Fab 5 Freddy, Jimmy Iovine, Al Sharpton, Cory Booker, Brett Ratner, Brian Grazer, Tommy Hilfiger, Ron Howard, Steve Stoute and many more.

The series will premiere on February 24, 2014 on VH1.

More from the release:

VH1’s “The Tanning of America: One Nation Under Hip Hop” provides a visual history of the hip-hopification of America – what Stoute calls “tanning” — from “The Jeffersons” to the Fresh Prince; from “Do the Right Thing” to “8 Mile”; from the streets of Compton to Madison Ave; from block parties to the Hamptons; and from rappers to entrepreneurs to icons. The series unfolds in 4 one-hour episodes that together explore history’s pivotal tanning moments from the 1970’s to present day, and show how hip-hop is deeply woven into the American cultural fabric. It’s the history of hip-hop remixed: an epic journey that begins in the Bronx and travels all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Through engaging and intimate first person stories, “Tanning” takes viewers where they’ve never been before: inside a steamy Madison Square Garden, when Russell Simmons cut a deal with Adidas sneakers during a Run DMC concert… inside the Harvard dorm room where two white Jewish kids decide to start The Source magazine… inside the car of fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger, as he drives through the streets of Harlem finding inspiration in baggy jeans… to the streets of Paris as Diddy takes over Europe for a Vogue fashion shoot… to a New York music studio where Mariah Carey collaborates with O.D.B, forever fusing pop and hip hop; and with Dr Dre as he first hears a rapper who calls himself Eminem.

Over the last three decades, hip-hop culture has been transformed from an underground urban movement to mass culture, permeating virtually every aspect of American life: the music we listen to, the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the cars we drive. Hip-hop has done more to erase perceptions about racial distinctions for the generations that grew up exposed to it than any other force since the Civil Rights Movement. There’s now a whole generation of Americans who grew up immersed in this culture that are, for all intents and purposes, colorblind. This is the true story of that evolution.

Source

Support NAS | Purchase ” Life is Good” Deluxe Version

Our forth installment of In The Streets Radio mixed by DJ 1 Life.

In The Streets | Radio | Volume 004 by In The Streets Radio on Mixcloud

1. EXODUS 23:1 – PUSHA T / THE DREAM
2. SO SOPHISTICATED – RICK ROSS / MEEK MILL
3. DON’T MAKE SENSE – GUCCI MANE / FABOLOUS /8 BALL
4. 3 HUNNA (RMX) – RED CAFE
5. BLACK MAGIC – MEEK MILL / RICK ROSS
6. MORNING SHOW – YOUNG BUCK
7. ACTIN UP – MEEK MILL / WALE / FRENCH MONTANA
8. PULL UP – FREDDIE GIBBS / YOUNG JEZZY / T.I
9. I’M BACK – TRINA
10. THE RECIPE – RICH KIDD
11. SASARAF – LIL WAYNE
12. AMEN – MEEK MILL /DRAKE / JEREMIH
13. TALKING SHIT – SHAWNNA
14. LET IT GO – HUNIT GRAND (FREESTYLE)
15. PUT MY LIFE ON IT – DROP
16. BURN – VERSE MUNEY
17. IN MY TRUNK – DEV / 2 CHAINZ
18.YAMAHA MAMA – DRAKE / CHRIS BROWN
19 PRIDE N JOY – FAT JOE / KANYE WEST / MIGUEL
20. SOMETHING – NELLY FURTADO / NAS
21. MY HOMIES STILL – LIL WAYNE / BIG SEAN
22. FUNCTION – E 40 / Problem / French Montana / Young Jeezy / Chris Brown /Red Cafe
23. PUT A DRINK IN HER HAND – CORY GUNZ