Pusha T speaks on his next album, King Push, and a scheduled 20-Day studio session he has planned with The Neptunes. Yes, Chad too.

Jesse Abraham will be re-releasing an expanded version of his “One Day” EP on 5.17.2011 and “Holy Crap” is one of the new tracks that will be included on that re-release (he also has a new track with Homeboy Sandman that will be included as well among others)

LISTEN: Jesse Abraham – “Holy Crap” (prod. The Neptunes)

Jesse Abraham – “Holy Crap” (prod. The Neptunes)

This track dropped late last year, and for whatever reason really resonated with us. Perhaps it was The Neptunes infectious track? Directed by Shomi Patwary for Illusive Media and Star Trak Music.

Only hours after Game announces the titles to the two upcoming singles from his The R.E.D. Album, the street singles hits us. This track features Pharrell and his produced by The Neptunes. Expect the radio single very soon.

LISTEN: Game + Pharrell – “It Must Be Me”

Chronicle writer Kevin Lincoln asks Pharrell, member of N.E.R.D a few questions before he performs at Cameron Rocks at Duke University on April 1, 2010. He mentions the new album, Nothing, is currently in the works.

Last week we showed you The 20 Most Embarrassing Sellout Moments In Hip-Hop History. On the flipside of that coin, there have been some dope moments when rappers starred in commercials for products, many times the commercials themselves more memorable than the items they were pushing. Let’s take a look…..

20. Lil Jon + Subway – Definitely one of the strangest commercials on this list, this one is pure win, based on the fact that Jon looks up from his sandwich to play hype man for some Subway-eating white people.

19. Pete Rock + C.L. Smooth + Sprite – The first of many Sprite ads on this list finds Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth goofing around in the studio, while Sprite catch phrases are product placed into their freestyles. Given the group’s classic but short-lived legacy, we’ll take anything included in it. Kind of ironic C.L. disses commercial rap… in a commercial.

18. The Neptunes + Nike – The rich simplicity of fools getting dunked on to a sparse Neptunes track made this one of the most memorable Nike commercials ever.

17. Eminem + Itunes – Em broke the mold of the typical Itunes ad of the time, which featured really funky hipsters dancing to tunes from Black Eyed Peas and Jet. Instead, we find a slightly muted silhouette of Eminem rhyming his own personal Rocky anthem, “Lose Yourself”. This was huge at the time because it showed a major artist – perhaps the biggest artist of the moment – embracing music’s shift to the digital medium. Take that, Beatles.

16. Dr. Dre + Rhys Darby + HP - See, Dr. Dre is working on Detox, his manager Murray just walked in on a studio session.

15. MC Shan + KRS-One + Kid Capri + Sprite – This literally left heads with their mouths wide open the first time they saw it. Probably Sprite’s ballsiest of ads, recreating the legendary KRS vs. MC Shan battle to sell soda. We guess they were going for the blue-collar, grumpy, 40 year old b-boy demographic.

14. T-Pain + Bud Light – Now answer this: Is autotune really dead?

13. MC Hammer + Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company – There’s nothing greater than self-parody.

12. LeBron James + Lil Wayne + The Cornershop + Nike – Nike’s had a long legacy of hip-hop influenced ads, and this one featuring Lebron tossing up handfuls of chalk while Lil Wanye watches on might not have any super symbolic meaning, but is dope regardless. High art.

11. Fat Joe + Common + Mack 10 + Goodie Mob + Afrika Bambataa + Sprite + Voltron – Talk about sensory overload. Someone at Sprite had the brilliant idea to do a multi-part ad campaign with rappers from each coast, teaming up to fight evil hip-hop culture hating robots from the Voltron cartoon. After the dust from the east-west beef had settled, this was Sprite’s way of bringing all the regions together, under the watchful eye of Afrika Bambaataa. This is also wins for the “most backpack rap ad” award.

10. Charles Barkley + Michael Jordan + Humpty Hump + Nike - After Barkley’s controversial “nineties-n***a” and “not a role model” quotes, Barkley fashioned himself as the antithesis to Michael Jordan, as the two compared and contrasted their shoes, while Humpty Hump did his best Ed McMahon.

9. Master P + Snickers – In an alternate reality, Master P hangs out with a Snicker chewing dude named Josh, who helps him with important financial decisions.

8. Jay-Z + HP – Jay-Z can make anything look cool, even computers from Hewlett-Packard. Pharrell was also a part of this ad campaign, but Jay’s convincing, headless sell gives the viewer insight into just how many pockets he had his hand in at the time, even hinting at his eventual return to the game. Not only did this commercial sell the product, but had the streets talking as well.

7. Nas + AZ + Sprite - Of all the Sprite ads, this one had the most flavor, as it broke things down to simplicity, without the over-the-top, high production value of some of the other ads included on this list. Here, Nas and AZ play Wild Style, rhyming on the corner in probably the most realistic portrayal of their actual lifestyles ever caught in a music video.

6. 50 Cent + Jay-Z + Just Blaze + Reebok - Embarking on a tour together at the time, the two biggest egos…. personalities …. in rap engage in an informal battle in studio over who’s got the better shoe game, while Just Blaze crafts a beat that’s equal parts Run DMC and BDP. The best thing about this commercial is that while both 50 and Jay are incredible businessmen, at the end of the day they are still rappers, who can even make peddling shoes sound dope.

5. Snoop Dogg + Adidas + Daft Punk + Star Wars – What does it all mean? We’re not sure, but throw all of these things into a pot and you’ve got our attention.

4. Hammertime Live On Sunset Blvd. - This campaign was used to raise awareness of Hammer’s forthcoming reality television show, Hammertime. While you couldn’t pay us to watch it, this brilliant ad found unsuspecting, snooty Sunset shop-goers assaulted in legion by an army of dancers to the tune of “Can’t Touch This”. Hammer fan or not, you can’t front on this.

3. Mos Def + Nike Air Jordan XVI – It’s hard to top Spike Lee’s portrayal of Mars Blackmon in the Air Jordan commercials of the late 80′s and early 90′s, but Nike took a different approach with this millennial take on how to market the shoe. With Jordan retired, Mos Def’s “Umi Says” animates the hoop dreams of the aspiring athlete.

2. St. Ides Promo Spots – While Mista Chuck would disagree, in the 90′s St. Ides spearheaded the rappers-as-spokesmen-idea before anyone, with an unprecedented rawness in both style and production, that the Sprite ads could only hope for. Rappers like Wu-Tang Clan, 2Pac, Biggie Smalls, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, King Tee, Ice Cube, Rakim, Tha Alkaholiks (naturally) and others all lent their talents to these legendary commercials, unfortunately promoting the sale of 1 million bottle-bags (count ‘em). Regardless of how you felt about the controversial move, these spots produced a handful of legendary original tracks, many of which were collected on DJ Drank’s Greatest Malt Liquor Hits mixtape, which you can find online if you look hard enough.

1. Jay-Z + Rhapsody – “The Blueprint 3″ TV Spot – Aside from being among the best hip-hop commercials, this might just go down in history as one of the best commercials period.

A little West Coast as Snoop prepares to re-release his latest album under the title More Malice.  The album comes out March 23rd and will feature seven new tracks and a DVD of the movie Malice In Wonderland. Included on the re-release will be the “I Wanna Rock (G-Mix)” which features Jay-Z along with “That Tree” which features KiD CuDi.  Two more tracks that leaked today are below.  One is from Snoop by himself named “House Shoes” and is produced by The Neptunes.  The second track is referred to as another G-Mix and is the remix to “Pronto” featuring Soulja Boy Tell Em and Bun B.

LISTEN: Snoop Dogg – “House Shoes”
LISTEN: Snoop Dogg + Souljah Boy Tell Em + Bun B – “Pronto”

The Neptunes have always had a knack for producing unique sounding beats for thuggity rappers like Clipse and Slim Thug, and Fam-Lay is no exception. Always loved his “Hit Me On The Beeper” – original and Count & Sinden reimagining – but he’s never been able to get that Traintogo LP out. His latest offering, “Youinstantly” is another great collabo with Pharrell and Chad, serving up pouty-faced gangster braggadocio over obnoxious horns and bouncy drums. Coming from his “Da Coffin’” mixtape.

Listen: Fam-Lay + The Neptunes – “Youinstantly”

    Despite the title, while The Neptunes have elements of their production which make it easy to pick out their beats, they have managed to reinvent themselves several times over, never afraid to experiment with new styles or breathe new life into old ones. Case in point, “Blaze Of Glory”, starring Clipse, Pharrell, and Ab-Liva is a hard-hitting posse cut that is abstract as it is addicting, and one so different that most big time producers would be afraid to put out there. Same goes for Snoop Dogg’s “Blows My Mind”, a phat chronic anthem that brings back the 80′s lowrider car-show boom, re-imagined with a killer horn section. FamLay also takes us back to the 80′s with “Rock N Roll”, a drug-dealin’ anthem that bangs with Ice-T/Eazy E style cadence. And N.E.R.D. steps back on the scene, vastly improved, showing Outkast-like chemistry as they team up with Clipse for “Loser”, which is one of the few rap/rock collaborations that has ever worked. And speaking of rock, Spymob once again proves why they were a worthy enough band to back up N.E.R.D. on In Search Of… with the incredible “Half-Steering” (they’re next big thing, MTV).

    Nevertheless, for however experimental the Neptunes are, they do have cater to the masses by delivering mindless drizzle like Busta’s “Light Ya Ass On Fire”, which plays like an X-Rated meeting of the minds between Newcleus and Kraftwerk. Not to mention each Ludacris, N.O.R.E., and Ol’ Dirty Bastard who deliver “It Wasn’t Us”, “Put ‘Em Up”, and “Pop Shit”, respectively. The Neptunes show their sensitive side with two winners on both “Frontin’” and “Popular Thug”, where resident Trakkies Pharell and Kelis share tracks with dueling kings of New York, Jay-Z and Nas. While mindless drizzle it may be; fun, catchy mindless drizzle it is.

    However, the one flaw with Clones is that it is all over the place, and while it’s purpose is to obviously show off the diversity of sound that The Neptunes present, one might not be in the mood for the Green Day-esque “Fuck and Spend” by High Speed Scene, after listening to Snoop Dogg rap about weed for 4 minutes. And the comp does hit low points at times, with tracks that actually do clone themselves after stuff we’ve heard before. Nelly’s “If” sounds like a rehash of every other Nelly song that ever existed; Vanessa Marquez’s “Good Girl” lazily waters down the “Grindin’” beat for some 16-year old girl R&B crooning; and sorry Roscoe P. Coldchain, but “Hot” was a much hotter beat when Skillz did it earlier this year on a few mixtapes.  

    Clones will lay the groundwork for what’s to come from Star Trak Entertainment over the next few years. From the sounds of things, hopefully the label will concentrate on sure-fire acts like Clipse, N.E.R.D., Kelis, and Spymob, as this compilation once again proves their worth. As far as the new batch goes, only time will tell; but hey, The Neptunes made Justin Timberlake sound good.