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Recently Canadian rapper Filip Filipi dropped his mixtape hosted by Gucci Mane titled, Nine Roses. The project coincides with the unveiling of his elaborate plans to build a high tech basketball court in Akron, Ohio, the home of LeBron James.  The futuristic backtop is dedicated to Filipi’s former manager Kiza, their shared heritage, love for music and basketball. 


"I grew up on basketball culture, I'm obsessed with basketball. If you ask me, 'Who was the 12th man on the Celtics in 2004?' I can tell you - I love basketball trivia. So the court was inspired by my former manager who passed away two years ago at the age of 33. It was very important for me to do something with a humanitarian aspect of my music and we decided on the proceeds of the music, the merch and with some donations, we were going to make the most high tech basketball court. It has Wifi, it has eco-friendly paint, it has solar-powered benches that have wi-fi and everything you would want. But it has an important political message that speaks on the media manipulation using motifs of Serbian art that show the area where we are from. I can't wait to get started on it. I don't care if I get 10 billion streams or 10 million or 10 hundred. The fact that people would come play here and contribute to the court in any way - I'm proud.  It's something for the community."


While Filip Filipi is still building his buzz, he has been working on the craft of Hip-Hop for over a decade and has had his music placed on major nationwide television shows after his Sizzerb mixtape garnered widespread attention. 


"In middle school around 10th grade, me and my friend were freestyling in class and we started recording on his computer mic at his parents’ house when we were like 15," Filip Filipi said. "Back then, my thing was basketball, by the time I got to college I played a little bit of ball, and then I began to focus on rap.  People were saying I could spit, so a few months after I started, DJ Vlad hosted my tape, and it sold like 11k physical copies. For me it was a really big deal because I'm from a small town in Canada and people were buying it in New York."


Following up with a few more mixtapes, Filip Filipi found commercial success with his single "Boom" on the show So You Think You Can Dance. Stepping away from his more conceptual 90's style, Filip Filipi was estranged from the rap he knew and he felt his story was becoming distorted.


"When I was coming up the sound was Dipset and that soul sample style on the beat, and every beat had the set of samples. We used to sample old Balkan and Serbian samples and really kind of made that the trademark of our production. There was a time when I started to not like the direction that Hip-Hop was taking toward Techno and EDM.  To this day I listen to Tupac, Biggie, Nas, Lauren Hill, Bob Marley, The Fugees and that's my gold standard of Hip-Hop and music. Like all the tracks remixed with the Backstreet Boys and other boy bands, that's not Hip-Hop to me." 


Choosing to step away to focus on humanitarian work, Filip Filipi, recalls going on a hiatus from music after he felt local artists were attacking Drake on a chat group. 


"I just had to step away and focus on humanitarian work.  I'm from Canada, and I turned away from rap music in Canada at the worst time. Toronto was a black hole for music for a time and then Drake hit. He had been coming up with his Degrassi following but he just blew up and at that point it wasn't really cool to blend Degrassi and rap. At one point, I remember on MSN messenger when everyone was dissing Drake and they started picking on him like a cybergang for like 30 minutes. At that time, my home country was going through a really rough time, so I was already thinking about trying to use my music to do something there. I guess that convo was the straw, because it made me focus completely on the humanitarian stuff, the organization, UN, all that. So I just exited that MSN convo and then The Weeknd, Drake and a whole bunch of other rappers broke big a month later."


Now back for more Filip Filipi is merging the worlds of basketball and Hip-Hop in memory of his former manager. He hopes music, art and basketball will come together on the court in Akron to provide refuge for other young kids, like they had for him. 

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Recently female Detroit rapper, Mena Mahone, released the audio to her new song, “Keep It Moving” ft JRich and produced by Killa Smuv. Putting on for the 313 like few female emcees ever have, her song is a domestic violence awareness song and looks to spread truth about domestic abuse in America, while providing hope for those that are trapped in an abusive relationship.

While the song is a domestic violence awareness song, don’t sleep on the bars that Mena Mahone has on this song or any of her other recent singles like “Workin.”

“This video is about domestic violence and as a survivor of domestic violence, I want you to know that you too can overcome domestic violence. We are bringing awareness to this issue, whether they grew up with it or they are in a relationship of domestic violence. We are letting people know that this is a problem and that it is a problem that nobody is talking about.  Thankfully Hot 107.5, a Detroit Hip-Hop radio station, stepped up and they are supporting the Keeping It Moving record. We want to help domestic violence victims overcome anything that are going through trying to get out of that bad relationship” Mena Mahone said.

While many people are rightfully raising awareness to police brutality, Black Lives Matter and COVID-19, Mena Mahone doesn’t want people to forget about how domestic violence is also plaguing our communities as well. 

“Its saying whether you are in a domestic violence relationship or you have  a friend, family or whatever that is trapped in one, this is not what defines you as a person – Keep it Moving. You are better than that, you are a survivor, just because we make mistakes doesn’t mean we have to live through those mistakes for the rest of our life,” Mena Mahone explained. 

Mena Mahone also spoke about her crew the Bully Boys and her friendship with the widely popular and rising rapper Boldy James who recently collaborated with Alchemist for what some people have been calling the album of the year. As the “First Lady of The Bully Boys,” Mena Mahone takes her role seriously and can keep up with the guys, bar for bar. 

“The Bully Boys is my crew, you feel me. You got me you got me, you got Boldy James, Fast Lane, Reddi Rock, JFox the Breadman, and of course me”,  Mena Mahone explained. “Boldy James is the homie – I’m down with him til the wheels fall off. He’s been on the road, he’s one of the hottest rappers out right now. He had just dropped his album with Alchemist so he’s making a lot of noise right now.”

Expanding on her sound and how it fits into the Detroit scene, Mena Mahone explained her sound and the purpose of her music. 

“Not a lot of people have the same sound as me and I don’t mean that in a bad way, but my sound is different, and there’s not a lot of people that sound like me.” Mena Mahone explained. “I got into music because it was an outlet to me to express my emotions. As far as making music I wanted to start making a positive impact in my community, so if someone is going through something in life hopefully people can put on my music and take something from it and learn and grow.”

That seems to be a theme throughout Mena Mahone’s music as she hopes to inspire her listeners whether they are homeless, domestic violence survivors or just the hard working Detroiters who wake up every day and punch the clock.

“The type of music I am making is inspirational. If you are homeless, suicidal or whatever, I want you to know you can put on my music and it’s going to inspire you. When you hear my music like the single Workin, the number one thing you gonna take from that is – let me get up and start Workin. This is about bars and all that, but we want to make a difference in people’s lives. If I can’t inspire anyone, then what am I doing? It’s never been about money, fame and clout. To me when someone comes up to me and tells me that I motivated them out of a situation or to go get a job, thats the kind of stuff that makes me happy about my music.”


 Recently Rockstar Rodie released the audio for his critically acclaimed and aptly titled track, "Rockstar." 

The track traces Rockstar Rodie's past experiences on the road after having been on sold out tours with popular artists like Future, Kevin Gates and Chief Keef to name a few.

"Shout out to Future, he let me come rock out on his tour, I've been on tour with Kevin Gates, I was on the Chief Keef tour and I even did a solo tour last year," Rockstar Rodie said. "I want everyone to know about the music that is out now, so I want people to check out the songs with Future that's got 4 million views, Kevin Gates, OT Genasis and I got songs with a bunch of up-and-coming artists in Chicago. I got tracks with Money Man and a bunch of others, I've been putting in the work and I got the co-signs."

Shunning any comparisons to rappers in Chicago and rappers in general, Rockstar Rodie believes his music is beyond the scope of what typical rappers are putting out. 

"I don't even follow up in the rapper category, much respect to all the artists from Chicago but I'm a rock star. I don't pay attention to any of the beef these cats are involved in, I'm more focused on the positive vibes and the music," Rockstar Rodie explained. 

"Please don't call me a rapper / I am more like a rockstar," he raps in his lyrics of "Rocksta,r" echoing his thoughts of not wanting to be called a rapper. 

"Rockstar is a feel good record a record that’s meant to motivate or even uplift whoever listens to it. The Rockstar record is produced by Ronny, he does beats for the stars and he's worked from Keyshia Cole to Drake to 2Chainz so I was really happy to do an album with him - he co-produced this one," Rodie said.
The new music comes on the heels of Rockstar Rodie undergoing a name change, to refresh his movement and brand.

"I changed my name from Joe Rodeo to Rockstar Rodie, I just felt it was time for a change, I had been doing music under that name for a while and I felt like this was more of an artist's name," Rockstar Rodie said. "I think the visuals are going to put a fresh face on it because everyone is trying to figure out what's up with the song."

Rockstar Rodie's "Rockstar" is a release from Synergy Jaz Records and will be featured on his Rockstar Status album. 



Recently Gulf coast rapper MGM MIKE MIKE dropped his project, Stupid Genius. 

Emerging from a wide open Hip-Hop scene rapper, MGM MIKE MIKE has broken through with a new take on what's going on in the world today .

Having made appearances on Shade45 via Kay-Slay and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Radio - 94.5, MGM MIKE MIKE is prepping for interviews to take things to the next level. 

With his family being from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the Mississippi area, MGM MIKE MIKE has roots in the South that run as deep as his music.

"I spent the majority of my life in Mississippi which is different because of racism and just being at the bottom of nearly every statistical category such as education, obesity, teenage pregnancy, wages, etc. So anyone who makes it out, I feel like owes back to tell their story to help the up and coming youngsters make it out," MGM MIKE MIKE said. "My brother set me up with a producer named Heartbeatz, out of Hattiesburg during a time that I was put in the middle of some BS. And I made my first song called Takeover, I created No Sleep Gang (NSG) And the rest is history!" 

Inspired by the late Nipsey Hussle, MGM MIKE MIKE maintains a constant connection to the streets. 

"I used the oxymoron just, based on who I am, for example, Malcom X is a stupid genius. Genius in so many ways. Speaking. Leading. Inspiring. But then the same person still put himself in a situation that allowed people to kill him.  Nipsey Hussle is another example," he said. "NinoBrown305 gives his reality of the streets on two different songs on the project.

Combining the efforts of different producers like Heartbeatz, First Class Rossy, C-Sick, Richie Hardo, NFL Bigg Boy, Burns Beats and more, MGM MIKE MIKE says this is, "timeless music." Combined with the efforts and work of well known manager and music businessman Smit BDM CEO, MGM MIK MIKE is creating timeless music that will reach the masses. 

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