A Digital Version of the 50/50 Compilation Is Now In Stores, Listen

The DJ Grid has released their newest album 50/50 Compilation. The 10-track album features a wide range of features: Sean Kingston and Quavo (on the song “All I Got”), Beadz with Twista (on “Go Hard”) and KC Da Beatmonster (on “Preacher”). Elsewhere on the record are JonBlaze, Neighborhood Watch, Franchise TYG, Avatar Frost, D.Elo, Trill Loop Dogg, Shocka and Lightskin Bobby. The comp curators have also created a deluxe version that will be released featuring artists like Lauryn Hill, Alex Can Do That, Floy Dexx, Chris Brown and more. Listen to the 50/50 Compilation below.

The DJ Grid has had a busy 2020. They kicked off the year by teaming up with SONY and UMG’s leading distributor to release a series of compilations that charted Top 25 on the Billboard Charts. The Predicted Platinum album series peaked at #1 on iTunes Hip Hop Chart and #12 on Billboard’s Compilation Chart. The album featured headliners such as super producer Khao, Gucci Mane, Lil Baby, Amara Le Negra and Arrested Development.

To keep up with new releases hosted by The DJ Grid, follow them online via Instagram. To submit your music to be featured on their compilations, you must distribute your music through their parent label, Amada Records.

Here's the Official Tracklist for 'Hip Hop Cruises To Jamaica' feat. Ms. Lauryn Hill, Sean Kingston, Quavo and C-Murder

On the heels of the success of the blockbuster reggae album, Tropical House Cruises to Jamaica, Contractor Music Group and Amada Records will release the follow up album Hip Hop Cruises to Jamaica. The maiden project Tropical House Cruises to Jamaica did 19 weeks on the Billboard reggae album charts and spent 4 weeks at number 1. The album featured Ed Sheeran, Wyclef Jean, Damian and Stephen Marley, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Chronixx, Sean Kingston, Safaree and several other reggae stalwarts.

Amada Records Receives #1 Billboard Plaque

The new hip hop project’s release date has not been provided and boasts another stellar lineup which include Quavo, Sean KIngston, Royce Da 5’9, Capleton, Lauryn Hill, Master P’s brother C-Murder, Lil Nate Dogg (Son of Nate Dogg), Inno Combs and others. There is also an Audiomack version of the album which includes bonus tracks from French Montana and Chris Brown.

Tiffany Gaines, entertainment executive of SSMG/UMG Distribution says she’s absolutely thrilled to work with Contractor Music Group and Amada Records to distribute the album Hip Hop Cruises to Jamaica. Her company represents over 4,000 artists and 39 sub-labels and she says she jumped at the opportunity when she saw the first project premier on Billboard, Pitchfork, MTV and MSN Entertainment. The digital downloads & physical copies of Hip Hop Cruises to Jamaica will be distributed by VIP Recordings / Amada Records out of Atlanta.

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Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards head of the Contractor Music Group based in Ocho Rios Jamaica says, “I am delighted to have them distribute this hip hop album because it allows us worldwide access to more outlets HMV, MTV, HULU and Barnes & Noble.”

Kevin Gates hasn't been behind bars since 2018, but that hasn't stopped him from returning to a prison to visit another rap star inmate.

July 8th, a photo of Gates and C-Murder was uploaded to the incarcerated rapper's Instagram account. In the photos, C-Murder meets with Gates, who covers his face with a stack of cash.

"REAL RECOGNIZE REAL. @iamkevingates came through and hollered at Cee. Nothing but respect for the homie Gates. A lot so call real left the homie hanging. You have to be real when you take time out your celebrity life to visit a homie in the pen. Salute @iamkevingates for the realest shit. #freecee #freeleelucus #freebigmarlo @freecornbread #freemac #tru4life #justice #tru #trudat #trumovement #freecmurder," C-Murder wrote in his caption.

C-Murder, who was born Corey Miller, is still behind bars after he was convicted of second-degree murder in 2009 for a 2002 nightclub killing. His request for a retrial was denied by a judge earlier this year. Judge Steven Enright of 24th Judicial District Court ruled on Jan. 23 that C-Murder's defense did not make a compelling case for any kind of post-conviction relief. Enright said that the recantation of both witnesses' testimonies are "highly suspicious."

Both his brother Master P and his nephew Romeo Miller have been extremely vocal about C-Murder's release even before the witnesses recanted their testimony. Two of Miller’s friends and collaborators, Cuttboy G-Dinero and 2Meka Diaz, submitted his case to Reasonable Doubt, a true-crime show with the TV network Investigation Discovery in August 2017. When the investigators on the show searched for Jordan and another witness, Jordan finally stepped forward to change his story.

“I think he was all of a sudden ready to talk, and I think he saw that show as an opportunity to put the truth out there,” Barker said.

Cuttboy G Dinero says he has a new single with C-Murder coming soon, “Dey Put Da Blame On Me,” which was recorded while Miller was on house arrest before his 2009 conviction. The snippet can be heard here. The song will be featured as a main single on the “Hip Hop Cruises To Jamaica” compilation album.

Subscribe to the label website VIP Recordings for the official release date.

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Hip Hop Cruises To Jamaica Tracklist:

1. Kali Ranks - A Perfect Match (feat. Lauryn Hill)

2. Sean Kingston - All I Got (feat. Quavo & Jon Blaze)

3. Capleton - Never Stop Trying (feat. Lucci Gabbana & Contractor)

4. Cuttboy G-Dinero - Dey Put Da Blame On Me (feat. C-Murder)

5. Ralo & DJ Kutt Throat - Run Them Bandz Up

6. Beadz - Get Home (Bone) (feat. Layzie Bone)

7. Alonestar - Crossroads (feat. Royce Da 5’9 & PlanB-Strik9)

8. Virgo & A-K Swats - Keep Playing My Song (feat. Lil Jay of Crime Mob)

9. Faided - N Dis Bish (feat. Project Pat)

10. Inno Combs - The Weekend

11. FLO - Gotta Get It (Prod. By KC Da Beatmonster)

12. Lil Nate Dogg - The Last Word

13. Boneface - Spend It

14. LeLe Ortiz - Rain (feat. Jay Ryan)

15. CPF - Lucious (Prod. By Grip Beats)

16. Chantly Jones - Ain’t A Game (feat. Gunplay)

17. KC Da Beatmonster - Preacher

18 SPLIFFGOD - Gothpack

19. DJ So Cincere - Superhero

20. Avatar Frost - Floyd

Amada Records Celebrates Earning Three Commemorative Billboard Plaques On Their Very First Release

Amada Records is a premier record label underneath the EAE Management Group umbrella and is distributed independently. Recently, the indie label has reported to us that they’ve charted numerous times, not just once. Their first album Tropical House Cruises To Jamaica, charted on Billboard’s Reggae Chart at #1, the Compilation Album Charts at #14, and #7 on Billboard’s Year End Chart gaining the most sales in the world, the year of 2018.

Whether despite or because of Ed Sheeran’s contributions, the project became surprisingly successful, especially considering it was the first release on a new indie label, Amada Records. The buzz led to its founder, an Atlanta marketer, and entrepreneur named AG The A&R, releasing a thematic companion piece, Hip Hop Cruises to Jamaica.

“We had a lot of negative feedback from hardcore reggae fans in regard to having Ed Sheeran on a reggae album,” label head Contractor tells me when we discuss some of these questions. “Most of the charts are dominated by American reggae bands; some Jamaicans worry about us losing reggae.”

But was seeing Sheeran in a Caribbean context really that big of a detour? The Jamaican national motto is “Out of Many, One People,” and though dominated by the African-derived drum—or its digital version—since Rasta’s 1970s rise, island music has always had a global strain. Since the late 15th century genocide of their indigenous people, the island’s inhabitants basically came there to work, whether forced or voluntarily. End result: Though essentially the product of African descendants, the house of reggae was also built by islanders of European, Lebanese, or Chinese extraction, and by the Indians who may well have worn the isle’s first locks—the traditional presentation of their ascetic holy men. The tribes that expat Jamaicans went on to create are even more outernational, all linked by the old Jamaican phrase that the Wailers once sang: “who feels it, knows it.” That group even cut a 1965 single, “Rude Boy,” with a soaring hook that named and reclaimed the 18th century European quadrille line dance, which was evidently still held in some affection despite dating from hellish plantation days.

But the problem arises when creators don’t reap the benefits financially, as has all too often been the case. Sixty-nine-year-old Jamaican DJ Big Youth, who appears with singer Dennis Brown on Step Forward Youth, forcefully exclaims, “Historically, Jamaican artists have been defrauded and disrespected from every angle and in every way. Since I began in the 1970s, people have claimed they own the rights to my music, when they never wrote a line, and I never signed anything with them.” In that knowledge, reclamation is foundational for the Cruises albums—a spirit that also motivated contributor Damian Marley, the founder of the real-life cruises that inspired Amada’s theme.

Spreading the wealth of music seems to be the direction of culture now, as downloading and now streaming have helped formerly niche genres boom and overthrow rock’s old commercial monolith. “The way they merge sounds today, genres are not going to exist 10 years from now,” says Hip Hop Cruises contributor Mojo Morgan. “No one wants to be boxed into one genre. Creatives today want their voices to be heard, freedom of expression, and I believe we are creating a new more eclectic type of music and music consumer.”

Are we solely our inherited DNA, or are we more than the sum of our plasma? Can we use culture as a tool to build a more constructive future? The combined energy and significance of these compilation releases suggests that we can.

To purchase the new Hip Hop Cruises To Jamaica album which includes bonus tracks from Chris Brown, Kali Ranks, Lauryn Hill, Quavo, C-Murder, Inno Combs & More, visit Amada Records’ official website here. You can stream the full album when it becomes available soon. Tropical House Cruises To Jamaica can only be streamed on Billboard’s website here.