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Up and coming artist, and future Jack Kerouac, Joe Tapiro better known as rudeFILTER, will tell you himself how humbled he is by that comparison. As a college graduate and only 23 years old, he sees himself as a writer and poet before a musician. When talking to him, especially about music, he definitely proves his deep appreciation and reverence for music and the art of hip-hop/rap. He grew up in Stockton, California and was raised by a single mother who has undoubtedly had a hand in shaping the person he is today. When asked what kind of message he wants to put out there, he wants people to know that hip-hop is not all "rags to riches" and that he's fighting against stereotypical views of hip-hop artists. A quote that really stuck with him comes from Stephen Curry, (Tapiro admits t

Kanye West performed at the Pan Am Games closing ceremony in Toronto on Sunday night (July 26th), but ended his set suddenly due to technical difficulties. West's scheduled performance had received some backlash, with a petition of over 50,00 signatures being circulated to prevent him from performing. West's performance did continue as planned, with his set including 'Stronger', 'Power', 'Black Skinhead', 'Can't Tell Me Nothing', 'Touch The Sky', 'The Good Life', and 'All Of The Lights'. The entire performance lasted a total of 13 minutes. It's been reported that West was planning on ending his set with ‘Gold Digger' but technical difficulties caused him to cut his set short. West threw his microphone up in the air, with it smashing on the floor, before exiting the stage. Prior to

Sandra Bland was a 28-year-old Chicago woman who was arrested in Texas and found dead in her jail cell three days later. Bland's death has sparked even more conversation around the topic of police brutality, it's even added to the ongoing national outcry on and offline, including hashtags like #JusticeForSandraBland, #IfIDieInPoliceCustody, and #SayHerName. On July 23rd, Nicki Minaj joined the conversation and took to Instagram to encourage her fans to learn more about her. Minaj also posted video of Bland's arrest saying, "Rest In Peace #SandraBland". According to NBC News, a prosecutor spoke to reporters on Thursday to say that "medical examiners ruled the death of Sandra Bland a suicide by hanging, and the autopsy uncovered no evidence of a violent struggle." Aside from the sus

Azealia Banks commented on the Twitter feud between Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift recently. The feud saw Nicki Minaj accusing Taylor Swift of defending the "racist media" following the recent MTV VMA nominations. The dispute started when Minaj took offense at her being excluded from the nominations for Video Of The Year, saying it's due to the industry's inherent racism. Nicki tweeted: "When the 'other' girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination," a tweet that Taylor Swift took upon herself to assume it was directed at her. Swift replied to Minaj with, "I've done nothing but love & support you. It's unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot.." Swift then invited Minaj on stage with her if she wins the award

Erykah Badu has called out the Black Eyed Peas for copying one of her music videos. The Black Eyes Peas recently ended a four-year hiatus by releasing a music video for 'Yesterday'. The video was released to mark their 20th anniversary, and plays tribute to the golden age hip-hop artists and albums that gave inspiration to the group. In the video, you see members will.i.am., Taboo, and apl.de.ap. (but not Fergie), browsing through classic LPs in a record store, at which point each cover comes to life with the Black Eyed Peas filling in for original artists. Despite how many albums the group plays homage to in their new video, the group have been accused of ripping off Badu's 2007 video for 'Honey' which has the same concept. The Black Eyed Peas version even contains some of the sa

A petition recently surfaced to prevent Kanye West from playing the closing ceremony of the Pan American Games in Toronto later this month. The Pan Am Games take place every four years, and recently announced that the rapper would perform to close the event on July 26. The petition calling for West to be removed from the bill reads: "The Toronto Pan Am games have proven to be very important for Torontonians this year and have triggered a unified sense of pride in our city. It would only be just to ask a proud Torontonian (or even a Canadian for that matter) in the music industry to perform, such as Drake, Walk Off The Earth, Feist, Metric, Shania Twain, deadmau5, Crystal Castles, Zeds Dead, The Weeknd, Peaches, K'naan, and many many more!" Mark Daye, the Deputy Leader of the