Weekend Money Unveil "Guatemala" Music Video from Long-awaited Third Album 8-Ball Emoji (Directed By: Gina Amama) 🎱

Weekend Money (or W$) are a Hip-Hop/Electronic duo consisting of emcee NE$$ AKA @NESSTAGRAM and producer/vocalist Amar "Baghdaddy" Ibrahim AKA @AmarBagh & @Bagh3d. NE$$ & Baghdaddy originally hail from Philly & Iraq, respectively, but are currently based somewhere in-between Philly, Brooklyn, and Miami. Weekend Money, during their earliest aughts, were affiliated with now-defunct Das Racist and, at one point, were even signed to Heems' label, Greedhead Music. NE$$ is also, one-half of The A-Alikes, a crew with affiliation to dead prez and their "militant rhyme crew," People's Army. I can still vividly remember seeing W$ at one of Das Racist's final gigs at Union Transfer in Philly right around the same time as their 2013 debut EP, Naked City. If I'm remembering correctly, I believe, Baghdaddy & NE$$ nearly ripped through the entirety of their genre-blending as-yet-unreleased 9-track EP. Now, if my memory is serving me correctly, I believe, in addition to Das Racist & Weekend Money, Greedhead affiliates LE1F, Lakutis, and SAFE also performed at Union Transfer that fateful night in October of 2012.

It's likely, best described by this scenario from Weekend Money's own Facebook page: "if "Ether"-era Nas had French Electro-Dance tandem Justice as his backing band." Weekend Money's music, to my ear, at least, also contains sonic allusions to Pharrell & The Neptunes/N*E*R*D, Kid Cudi, A$AP Rocky, Chromeo, The Cool Kids, and even 80's Electro-Rap. NE$$ says a weekly series called "Weekend Money Wednesdays" is poised to start within a matter of weeks. Perhaps, most phenomenally, Weekend Money's sophomore release, Queen-referencing Freddie Merkury (2014) contains tracks entitled "W$ Will Rock You," "Trapper Keeper" with Fat Tony, and "Clockworkin;'" the latter, yes, containing lyrics such as, "We gettin' guap around the clock tonight / We gettin' guap, guap, guap 'til the broad dadlight / We gettin' guap. We gettin' guap around the clock tonight" delivered in a similar cadence to Bill Haley & His Comets' 1954 smash-hit, "Rock Around The Clock." It's been a few years since Freddie Merkury and there have been a couple false starts, but NE$$ & Baghdaddy are planning to return on Art Basel Weekend with their third full-length release, 8-Ball Emoji.

Weekend Money's "Guatemala" video follows a brief hiatus, which allowed for free time to work on personal projects, such as Bagh's 3-D/VR art installation, Escape to Guatemala and NE$$' Brooklyn-based art space, World Money Gallery. "After my Brooklyn apartment burned down, I had two options: cry about it or find creative release. I chose creative release," says creative director Gina Amama. "A space that was once so dear to me within minutes, lost its charm and became a house haunted with charred walls, burnt furniture, and rubble. "Guatemala" brought me a feeling of a mysterious and dark space. Being able to capture that essence and create from a situation that seemed hopeless was monumental," Amama continued. It appears as though "Guatemala" is just the first of many striking music videos to be released from 8-Ball Emoji. Weekend Money's long-awaited third album, 8-Ball Emoji, will be independently released on Friday, December 7th during Miami's infamous Art Basel Weekend still has yet to be released...

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of...

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra...

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel...

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