Nike Releases Kanye West's Air Yeezy II Red Octobers In Surprise Release

Nike has released the Kanye West-designed Air Yeezy II sneakers, which have been nicknamed the Red Octobers. The product sells out in minutes.

Nike has released its Nike Air Yeezy II shoes, a model of sneakers that has been delayed for some time. The shoe, which Kanye West has discussed for the past year, was released as a surprise today (February 9).

The release was announced in a Nike Twitter post. "The Nike Air Yeezy 2 is now available," Nike's verified Twitter account said. Eleven minutes after the initial announcement, Nike's account updated its followers about the shoe's availability. "The Nike Air Yeezy 2 has sold out on http://Nike.com." 

In November 2013, Kanye West spoke about frustrations with Nike regarding the shoe's availability. "They try to act like people ain't line up for the Yeezys," Kanye West said, speaking about the sneaker's first installment. "[Nike CEO] Mark Parker tried to son me. Yes. Son me because I am the sun and I will shine bright. And when I don't have as much money as a billionaire and when I don't have the factories that, that dude has over there, what I do have is my voice. Ain't no corporation that can take me away from my voice and I'm going to scream at the top of my motherfucking mountain as loud as I want. Anything I want. Whenever I want. Is that crazy? So I'm going to make the announcement on Monday with the corporation that finally let me get an opportunity to create."

Kanye West later announced that he had signed a deal with adidas and he also apologized to Nike for his comments about the company. 

"I really feel honored to have had the chance to blow Yeezy [sneakers] up with Nike," West said in an interview with I Am Tall Boy. "I really appreciate everything they did for me. I'm not knocking them on the way out or burning no bridges. I apologize for my frustration earlier." 

Nike's Twitter updates regarding the Air Yeezy 2 sneakers can be seen below.  

French Produces Diddys New aLBUM

French Montana posts a video of himself in the studio with Diddy, says he's executive producing Diddy's new album.

If a caption rapper French Montana added to a video posted on Instagram this week is true, then the Moroccan-born emcee will soon serve as executive producer on an upcoming album from Bad Boy Records’ helmsman, Diddy.

In the video, which was posted on French Montana’s official Instagram page, Diddy can be seen dancing in the studio as music plays in the background. Below the video is a caption that reads, "Studiovibe executive producing my brother new album @iamdiddy #mmm get ready #getready."

Aside from French’s video, no other details on Diddy’s project, possibly titled MMM, or French’s involvement on the album have been revealed.

In addition to serving as executive producer on French’s debut album, Excuse My French, which was released last year, Diddy will also co-executive produce Rick Ross’ upcoming album, Mastermind.

“It's a team effort," Diddy said in a statement. "Ross, [DJ] Khaled, Gucci Pucci and I are like a family. The goal for Mastermind was to create a classic album. Once we put all our superpowers together we knew there was nothing stopping us from accomplishing our goal."

In addition to his possible work on a new Diddy album, French recently dropped his French Montana Presents Coke Boys 4 project and is currently at work on his next album, Mac & Cheese 4.

In a past interview, French stated that he would be taking it back to the essence with that album.

"I'm going back to the essence on this album," he said while speaking with Rolling Stone. "We're giving the fans that grew up on me what they want. When we made the other music, it was just to be a little different and not do the same thing over."

http://instagram.com/p/kJZ6oBycPu

Rare Kanye West footage Rapping before he became famous (HHAHAHAHA BRAIDS)

It is apparent that Kanye West has always been deeply passionate about his music career. If you never caught that vibe from him, watch this video Billboard released with the help of Kanye West's visionaries Coodie Simmons and Chike Oza. Kanye West gave a pretty expressive speech at Jay Z's 40/40, that was beyond Kanye-like.

Basically don't ever say Kanye West changed.

Artist To watch in 2014 #11 Troy Ave

 Troy Ave

The newest sensation out of New York is making it his mission to “restore the feeling”. Troy delivered on “New York City” the album as well as his recently released “White Christmas 2”. Some have gone as far as to compare him to a young 50 Cent and he’s already worked with Tony Yayo and performed at 50’s boxing event. It will be interesting to see what he does in 2014 and how he continues to put on for NYC.

His name comes from Troy Avenue, a street near his boyhood home. In November 2013, his first studio album, New York City: the Album, was released.Upon release, the album debuted at number 47 on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart

Artist To Watch #12 to watch in 2014 Childish Gambino (Donald Glover)

Donald Glover appears intent on stamping his imprint on every corner of

American popular entertainment. Originally a writer on The Daily Show and 

30 Rock, he is now a much lauded stand-up comedian and comic actor. 

He is also set to star in Atlanta, a Seinfeld-style situation comedy loosely

 based on his own life.

Yet in recent months Glover has rowed back from his many activities to focus on Childish Gambino, the hip-hop alter ego that he first launched in 2008. Initially, Gambino was little more than a one-note spoof, a lighthearted response to the boneheaded thuggery of 50 Cent-style gangsta rap. Lately, Glover has been taking his creation more seriously.

Gambino's latest and second album, Because the Internet, came as part of an ambitious multimedia package featuring a short movie, Clapping for the Wrong Reasons, and a 70-page screenplay, both of which he posted online. The protagonist of all three is the Boy, a disaffected rich youth who wastes his days throwing mansion parties, trolling social media and making music that nobody will ever hear.

The album's central concept of alienation and its fractured, jagged production owe much to Kanye West's Yeezus, but live, Gambino demonstrates little of West's showy angst and overweening hubris. Nor is his performance crippled by arch irony: backed by a full band, he's a coiled ball of tension, drenched in sweat in a white T-shirt, bouncing on his heels and getting off on the energy of an adulatory crowd.

It's notable how acutely Gambino has honed his rapping and singing skills since his earlier, more parodic days. His rich, soulful croon on bothThe Worst Guys and Shadows could be Drake essaying vintage 70s soul, while the staccato WORLDSTAR is as attitudinal as the hip-hop website from which it takes its name. The recent single V3005, by contrast, is a slick slice of old-school west coast hip-hop with a gorgeous sunshine melody.

Gambino unsurprisingly freestyles with quick-witted acuity and invention. But it's a shame that a laptop hitch prevents him from encoring with Because the Internet's intoxicatingly dark finale, the existential meltdown of Life: The Biggest Troll (Andrew Auernhelmer), which finds him plaintively inquiring: "Where's the line between Donny G and Gambino?" It's a very good question, and right now only the tirelessly prolific Glover knows the answer.

Also check out myself featuring Mr.Gambinos track "The Great Daisy" 

off the album "The Next King"

• Did you catch this gig – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #Iwasthere

Artist To watch In 2014 # 13 Vic Mensa (Love this kid right here)

Vic Mensa

Age: 20
From: Chicago, IL
Label: N/A

Before Chance The Rapper, before Chief Keef, before even his own group Kids These Days, Vic Mensa was a teenaged rapper who earned the attention of major label suits and seemed on the verge of breaking out. Kids These Days performed at Lollapalooza in 2011 and gathered attention from critics and big names like Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, who produced their debut album Traphouse Rock, but in the year-plus that it took to craft the album, the tensions within the group (and Chicago's growing profile outside of it) caused the Kids to rupture.

Finally liberated, Vic dropped an impressive 2013 solo project, Innanetape, which was enough to establish him as a promising new national artist, although perhaps not enough to quite disentangle himself from Chance's suddenly looming shadow.

"I still get jealous of Vic," Chance spit on his song "Acid Rain," "And Vic still gets jealous of me," capturing in two sentences the dynamic of these friends and artists. Even before Chance was a known commodity, Vic had pioneered the lane he capitalized on: a bit streetwise, a bit of a backpacker, and 100% pure talent, Vic has the ambitions and abilities to make himself a major player in 2014—assuming he can make a statement that puts him out in front of his competition. —David Drake

Blaine

Philip Seymour "Everyman" (dead at 46 a look back)

He was a beefy 5-foot-10 but won an Oscar for playing the slight, 5-foot-3 Truman Capote. He had the booming voice of a deity but often played schlubs and conflicted characters.

He could be heartfelt and giving, as with his male nurse in "Magnolia" or rock critic in "Almost Famous," or creepily Machiavellian, such as the gamemaster in the latest "Hunger Games" movie.

                                               Philip Seymour Hoffman was an actor who could be anybody.

"I don't know how he does it," director Mike Nichols told The New York Times Magazine in 2008. Nichols directed Hoffman on both stage ("The Seagull," "Death of a Salesman") and screen ("Charlie Wilson's War"). "Again and again, he can truly become someone I've not seen before but can still instantly recognize. ... He may look like Phil, but there's something different in his eyes. And that means he's reconstituted himself from within, willfully rearranging his molecules to become another human being."

Movie star Philip Seymour Hoffman dies

"Philip Seymour Hoffman's precise, uncanny performance as Capote doesn't imitate the author so much as channel him, as a man whose peculiarities mask great intelligence and deep wounds," wrote Roger Ebert about 2005's "Capote."

Hoffman was found dead Sunday. Reports attribute his death to a drug overdose.For years, Hoffman was the kind of anonymous character actor who earned critical raves but was often unnoticed by the general public. He had an Everyman face -- burly enough to be an athlete, soft enough to be an artist, with an eye twinkle that could be either vicious (as in his "Mission: Impossible III" villain) or humorous (the frat-boyish Sandy in "Along Came Polly").

Consider the roles that earned him Academy Award nominations: a conniving writer ("Capote"), a cranky CIA desk jockey ("Charlie Wilson's War"), an upbeat, dissembling priest ("Doubt") and a charming, enigmatic cult leader ("The Master").

Or consider the ones that didn't: baseball manager Art Howe ("Moneyball"), suspicious Freddie Miles ("The Talented Mr. Ripley"), clever Plutarch Heavensbee ("The Hunger Games: Catching Fire").

The New York Times' Ben Brantley, who saw him on stage, was unequivocal. "One of the finest actors of his generation," he wrote in his review of the 2012 staging of "Death of a Salesman" -- even while finding Hoffman miscast in that production.

One of a kind everyman:

He's of a type harder to find in Hollywood these days, where movie-star looks and charisma often take precedence over the ability to disappear into a role. Indeed, even when movie stars do try to disappear, we're all too aware of the tricks, whether it's weight gain, a putty nose or an unfamiliar accent.

Movie stars sell tickets. Character actors -- and Hoffman, for all his intensity, was a character actor -- support movie stars.

That seemed OK with him. You could more often find him in challenging roles or secondary parts than leads. He liked to take chances.

He worked with director Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "The Master") before either was a big name, and Anderson provided him with a steady stream of interesting roles. He took small parts in such films as the dark comedy "Strangers with Candy," based on the unpleasant characters dreamed up by Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert, and "The Invention of Lying," Ricky Gervais' comedy about religion and atheism.

In some respects he followed the path of one of his heroes, Paul Newman, who had looks and magnetism to burn but wasn't shy about taking "character" parts, such as a broken-down lawyer in "The Verdict" or a ne'er-do-well in "Nobody's Fool." The latter featured Newman acting opposite Hoffman, as did the HBO miniseries "Empire Falls."

He also kept his talent sharp with frequent stage work and the kind of "one for me, one for them" movie philosophy that made sure he was both busy and successful.

The price of fame:

In recent years, he'd become a more recognizable face -- and persona. In a video that quickly made the rounds, his voice was dubbed into a trailer for the Joaquin Phoenix movie "Her," taking the place of Scarlett Johansson's operating system, Samantha. Where Johansson is relaxed, Hoffman is intense; where Johansson is helpful, Hoffman is wily. It neatly summed up his capabilities.

But with fame comes intrusion, and Hoffman seemed uncomfortable with the attention. He was a New York-based actor, not a movie star. It was a job, not an excuse to turn him into an open book.

"Somebody wanted me to talk about my personal life," he told the UK newspaper The Independent in 2012. "I'd rather not because my family doesn't have any choice. If I talk about them in the press, I'm giving them no choice. So I choose not to."

His death has left his colleagues in shock.

"We have lost a true artist," said Robin Wright in a statement. Wright worked with Hoffman in "Moneyball" and the forthcoming "A Most Wanted Man."

"He was a giant talent," said Tom Hanks, who co-starred with Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War."

But perhaps director Nichols was most succinct -- and heartfelt -- in describing the void left by Hoffman's death.

"No words for this," he said in a statement. "He was too great and we're too shattered."

"Great" is an all-too-appropriate word, as Hoffman himself used it when expressing his goals. Given his work and the circumstances of his death, a line from the 2008 New York Times Magazine profile seems more haunting today.

"For me, acting is torturous, and it's torturous because you know it's a beautiful thing," he said. "I was young once, and I said, 'That's beautiful and I want that.' Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great -- well, that's absolutely torturous".

8 People you shouldn't have sex with

1. Someone else’s significant other.

You would think this goes without saying, but it’s surprising just how many people can’t seem to get this when in the heat of the moment and presented with a sexy little piece who just happens to be attached. The desire can be overwhelming, and you can even manage to convince yourself that their current SO isn’t good for them or isn’t what they really need but SPOILER ALERT: That isn’t your choice to make. If they are really unhappy in their relationship, it’s up to them to do the decent thing and get themselves out of it before they go frolicking through the genitalia forest with impunity. Nothing good comes from being the Other Person, and it makes you kind of a terrible person (no matter how good the sex is.)

2. Your roommate.

Do not, I repeat, do not, bone the roommate. Yea He or she is so hot and ya'll live together and everything seems fine but I have witnessed more than a generous handful of otherwise-copacetic living situations devolve into a cess pool of awkward half-feelings, demi-jealousy, and discreet handjobs. There is just no way to make a dignified exit when you’re stuck living with this person through, at the very lease, the end of your lease. It’s like trying to slam a revolving door — you just can’t make things as clean and final as you want them to, and you end up looking ridiculous in the process. The two possible outcomes of a roommate tryst are: you end up happily ever after, and the exchanging of co-habitating fluids never presents a problem, or one of you has to move out. There is no alternative. None.

3. The ex it’s never going to work with.

Stop doing this. Yes, it’s easy. Yes, it’s convenient. Yes, you guys know what the other one likes. Yes, there is a spicy bit of complicated feelings to make the whole thing feel passionate and fresh, when really it’s just two exes having sex in the back of a Civic parked out by the movie theater. But these are not valid reasons to keep stretching out the already-awful “let’s stop hurting each other process” and making the blurry lines between the two of you even more… moist. Best to just leave them in the past where they belong, at least until you can think of more constructive things to do as “friends” than illicit fornicating.

4. Someone who isn’t that into you.

Man, doesn’t it feel great when you’re with someone, and you can tell that they consider the act of sleeping with you to be a huge favor to you? You know, when you’re really, really into them and all they seem to be is vaguely bothered by your desire for their affection in return? It’s just awesome when you can feel them trying to extricate themselves from the bed the second the actual sex is over, lest you interpret their post-coital spooning for an indication of deeper feelings. It’s maybe the best feeling ever, honestly.

5. Someone you’re not that into.

Yeah, never do this to anyone else. It’s the worst.

6. The person you’re trying to break up with.

If there is something more oppressive to the human spirit than the act of sleeping with someone who you have not yet found the courage to break up with, I don’t want to be aware of it. It’s just like, how much more cruel can you be? How much more empty or deceptive of a physical act could there be? It’s basically the emotional equivalent of having sex with a corpse, only more damaging and awful. I’m shuddering just thinking about it, honestly. Let’s all collectively vow never to go there again, for the betterment of humanity.

7. Your boss.

This is a bad idea. You know it’s a bad idea, and you still kind of want to do it anyway when the opportunity presents itself because, come on, that shit is like some terrible erotic novel. You’re ready to get yourself into some 50 Shades shit and start knocking boots over on the Xerox in accounts receivable. But it’s just a bad idea, and nothing good will come of it. Come on, you know that.

8. Your friend’s ex. The Answer? No

There is a code in life. I don’t adhere to all of the individual rules personally, but I know there are certain ones that should not be transgressed — and sleeping with the ex of a friend is amongst the crimes that deserve the social version of the death penalty. If the friend is not 100 percent over the ex, if you have not spoken with your friend about this openly and obtained his or her approval beforehand, and if you don’t handle everything with the utmost respect, you are basically a real-life Disney villain. And even then, tread with caution.

Artist to watch in 2014 #14 A$AP MOB...A$AP NAST

A$AP Mob are releasing their album "L.O.R.D." on March 4th.

The A$AP Mob has been relatively quiet in past months. We heard in August that there would be an official A$AP Mob album to follow up their mixtape,Lord$ Never Worry, and although it was originally supposed to drop in October, obviously October has came and went without signs of an album from the collective.

Now we've received word of a release date for the upcoming A$AP Mobalbum, which continues the mixtape theme with the title L.O.R.D. The album has a release date of March 4th, according to XXL. There aren't any other details yet, but we can assume it'll feature collaborations from A$AP Rocky,A$AP Ferg, A$AP Twelvyy, A$AP Nast, A$AP Ant, and probably some notable guest appearances.

We'll update you once more details on the collaborative effort arrive. You can go back to Lord$ Never Worry in the meantime.