Well folks in the world of Hip-Hop journalism it seems the major competitors to The Source have a hard time keeping up. The latest victim is Blaze Magazine. After coming out strong a little over a year ago, blaze seems to have hit the skids and can't earn enough money to keep its pages open. Management feels they are not making enough profits so the next issue will be their last. This will upset a few people, but most heads have seen the rapid decline since their stellar first issue and it was only a matter of time before fate caught up with them.
In saddening news, one of the most anticipated albums of the year, Run DMC's Crown Royal, will be delayed indefinitely or until further notice. Sources at Arista records have reported that they have pushed the album back and no release date has been specified. This comes right after the big news of Run DMC possibly breaking up due to DMC's lack of interest in the groups new direction. No one knows if they will reconcile their differences and just put out the album like the fans want. For now we will just have to wait and see and pray it doesn't disappear forever like the Large Professor LP that was supposed to come out over four years ago.
It seems Canibus once again has been thrown into the battle hype spotlight. This time it is with former producer, friend and teacher Wyclef. It seems that all of the frustration of the first album built up and lead to Wyclef and Canibus parting ways. In the midst of all this going on, Canibus released a 12" entitled "2000 B.C." that stated, in one simple but effective line, Wyclef was the one who was responsible for the lack of success on the first album because he had creative control. In response to this one simple line, Wyclef has come back with his own retaliation track entitled "It Hurt's." This track is directed entirely to Canibus and shows Wyclef venting his frustration. This battle situation is all too familiar to Canibus as he went through the same hassles right before the release of his first album with LL Cool J. Now on the verge of his second album Canibus has to deal with this madness again. But this time it seems that he has learned from his past. When asked if he would reply to Wyclef's dis track with a song of his own, Canibus simply replied "hell no." He said that he will never do that again and that he just stated what he and the rest of his fans felt with his simple line on "2000 B.C." So hopefully Wyclef is done with his beef and will let Canibus get on with finally establishing his career with his much anticipated and much improved second album.
And finally folks summer is upon us. The always hot summer release schedule is looking to be one of the best in years. It all kicks off on May 23rd when will see releases from Eminem, Dilated Peoples, and Sauce Money. Then in the months following we will see follow-ups from Canibus, LL Cool J, De La Soul, Snoop Dogg, MC Eiht, DJ Quik, Erick Onasis, Busta and the highly touted and much awaited Xzibit album which quite possibly could be the summer blockbuster with Dr. Dre behind the boards and Executive Producing. We will have to wait and see but it looks like a very long, hot, head nodding summer that is sure to please. So be sure to keep checking as we will reviews all of these albums as they hit the streets.