TRA releases Blunt Trauma LP

TRA (Tha Rhyme Animal) just dropped his new album, Blunt Trauma. It features appearances from Adam Bomb, Tommy Spitz, Renee Wynter and Talksick. Production duties were handled by Frank Dukes, Big Sproxx, Amir, Phat Tony, Rich Kidd, The Quarter Inch Kings and Noah “40” Shebib.

PURCHASE: TRA – Blunt Trauma (Bandcamp)

2012 Stylus Award Nominations Announced

The nominations for the 7th annual Stylus Awards presented by Pioneer DJ have been announced. The event will take place on May 26th and will be hosted by comedian TRIXX. Tickets for the event can be purchased at ticketmaster.ca beginning on Monday. A few of the award nominations are listed below. Click here for full listing.

Fan Choice Club DJ of the Year presented by Pioneer DJ
4 Korners (Toronto)
Charlie Brown (Toronto)
Hedspin (Vancouver)
Lissa Monet (Toronto)
Wristpect (Toronto)
Keith Dean (Montreal)

Fan Choice Artist of the Year presented by Pioneer DJ
Anjulie
Drake
Kardinal Offishall
Karl Wolf
Melanie Fiona
The Weeknd

Canadian Hip Hop Single of the Year
A-Game – Oh My!
Classified – That Ain’t Classy
Drake ft. Tyga, Lil’ Wayne – The Motto
JD Era ft. Lokz – Change
Kardinal Offishall – Ignorant
P Reign – I Need It All
Reema Major – I’m The One
Rock Da House – For My City Remix

Canadian Producer of the Year
Arthur McArthur (Tyga – “Kings & Queens”)
Boi-1da (Drake – “Headlines”)
Cirkut (Rihanna – “You The One”)
Illangelo (Drake – “Crew Love”)
Noah “40” Shebib (DJ Khaled ft. Drake, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne – “I’m The One”)
T-Minus (Lil Wayne ft. Drake – “She Will”)

Toronto DJ of the Year
4 Korners
Charlie Brown
Jester
Lissa Monet
Ritz
Wristpect

Artist Mixtape of the Year
Ayah & DJ Jazzy Jeff – Back For More
Belly – The Greatest Dream I Never Had
Magnum – I’m G.O.O.D
Raz Fresco – MCMXCV
Reema Major – I Am Legend
Rich Kidd – We On Some Rich Kidd Sh*t Vol 5: Born To Win
Shaun Boothe – Waiting Room
Son Real – Where’s Waldo?
The Airplane Boys – Where’ve You Been
The Weeknd – House of Balloons

Underground Hip Hop DJ of the Year
Big Jacks (Toronto)
Dames Nellas (Toronto)
DJ Fase (Toronto)
DJ Law (Toronto)
DJ Sage (Vancouver)
Marvel (Vancouver)

Hall of Fame Inductees
Michie Mee (Artist)
DJ Bunny (Calgary) (DJ)

2012 Juno Award Nominees Announced

The Juno Award nominees for 2012 were announced today and, of course, there’s some Toronto hip hop artists up for awards, including Drake, who is up for 4 awards.

The nominees for Rap Recording of the Year are:

    Classified – Handshakes and Middle Fingers (Half Life/Sony Music)
    D-Sisive – Jonestown 2: Jimmy Go Bye Bye (URBNET/Fontana North)
    Drake – Take Care (Cash Money/Universal)
    Kardinal Offishall – Anywhere (Ol’ Time Killin’ Part 2) (Black Stone Colleagues/Universal)
    Swollen Members – Daggermouth (Battle Axe/Suburban Noize/eOne)

Drake is also nominated for Album of the Year, Artist of the Year and the Juno Fan Choice Award, while Kardinal Offishall finds himself nominated twice in the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year category for collaborations with Jully Black and Karl Wolf.

For the Juno Fan Choice Award, Drake is up against Arcade Fire, Avril Lavigne, City and Colour, Deadmau5, Ginette Reno, Hedley, Justin Bieber, Michael Bublé and Nickelback.

Drake’s Take Care is up for Album of the Year against the new albums from Avril Lavigne and Nickelback and a couple of Christmas albums from Justin Bieber and Michael Bublé.

City and Colour, Deadmau5, Feist and Michael Bublé are Drake’s competition for Artist of the Year.

Noah “40” Shebib was nominated for Producer of the Year for the songs “Marvins Room” and “Take Care” from Drake’s album.