Frenetic

Bigted// "lol, stop being such a hater to the new school mcs AJ" Woow... what has happened to u man? Did u write that? Stop hating on the new school? Are you okay? Are you having a fever? U sure? ;) Just playin wit u

Ludacris is pretty good. Better than alot of rappers in the mainstream. He just feels more honest and sincere than like 50 cent or Em. I read an interview with him that was really interesting, him talking about hiphop, about growing up where he did, about politics, censorship, about the black community and more. He's really smart actually. I'll see if i can find it. Oprah is... ehm.... okay. She got her good sides, she's done alot of good. But it also feels like she's too weak now. She ain't in touch with the people anymore. Yeah, she got them teary ass shows with homeless and poor people. But her critisiscm and opinions just feels so sugarcoated and... censored.

Oh sorry... that last one was mine.

Bar = a line of lyrics: For years I've been tryin to rip rhymes and get mine And spit lines hot like lava this time I don't got a sitcom to bother with Or a time conflict with my sci-fi hits Those are four bars. the thing is that It's pretty easy spitting two bars, but four bars being as good as two is a bit harder. So i don't want a whole verse, butthe best four bars Will has spit. My contribution is actually: Then one week later our bombs were dropped We seein them, on CNN, they just won't stop The infrared, images of brutal attack He said "Daddy now we killin 'em back," right right So damn intense.. so true, so raw. I've alway known will has the capability of talking about the rapscene. But that first verse on Tell Me Why and those last four bars made me go like :mygod: when I heard it.

Well it depends on who u are.. I mean.. it's hard for them to boycott 50 cent or madonna, cause people really want to hear it. Just like Will during the BWS and Willenium era. But alot of artist gotta do alot of radio and tv shows to be played in radio shows controlled by the bigger corporations.

Jay doesn't declare wars anymore =) DMX isn't the most stable man in the universe... so I ain't really surprised if he never comes out with a album with him being a crackhead rightnow. BTW, LL and Jay are really cool since they battled in the beginning of Jay's career (not a beefbattle, like a friendly rap freestyle-battle). LL said neither of them won and that's why he doesn't get mad if Jay calls himself the GOAT and respects him doing it. The thing is that in Def Jam, Jay will be taking orders from LL. in that Rolling Stondei nterview, Jay bacially says his artists are free to do what they want and that LL is Def Jams most important artist and will be able to do whatever he wants. We don't liike beefs... but we tend to want to see them happen. I think it's dope LL and Jay are cool, damn a collabo would be off the hook.

SOOOOOOO NOTTTTTTTTTTTT PS is THE HITTT... it can rock the clubs more then slide... How come nobody played it then? :willvspaparazzi: Cause there were no promotion for it.. no tv shows.. no performances... no nothing.

The third season is being aired, but only four episodes that were shot before Dave went to Africa. And dave doesn't really want these episodes to be aired as he thinks they're weak.

I read in a interview (that i posted here too) that DMX had problems with Jay being CEO. He couldn't handle getting orders from him.

" he does this more so by SHOWING why he should rank there rather than just saying it." WORD!

Bigted// Talibs new is just a mixtape cd. Not a "real" album.

Nah...he's in dept cause he pays to clear the samples... there's some expensive samples on late reg. + he had alot of people working with ut, full orchestras and so on. AND the fool is making a video for each song on the album =). The game's guest appearnce costed 1$. I can't imagine jigga taking money for it. Nas is the only left that would take huge amounts of money (maybe camron also)

No. Caus yes maybve he could release every Song he want`s but that doesn`t matters caus nobody would come to hear it anway. It wouldn`t be on Tv or something. That wahts up with Indie Labels. It would happen the same way to like to KRS. Read the info again. If u got money... u can get big. if u don't u wont. Will's got the money.

Ay yo.... sit back... chill.. this is a long interview, but one of the best i've read in a loooong time. It's from rolling stone magazine with jay-z. It's not the usual standard interview... this goes deep. Everyone with some interest in hiphop will liike it. He talks about his father, about hiphop, how he started, his style of rhyming, his nephew, beyonce, nas, the battle, the time at def jam, LL and much more. u can read the full interview here: Interview I recommend u reading the full interview. Here's some loose pieces from it: A new song from Young Jeezy—the 25-year-old Atlanta rapper—has been leaked to radio and Jeezy’s A&R man is afraid this will screw up their plans for Jeezy’s next single. Jeezy is one of Jay’s first big successes as a record executive. His album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation, entered the charts in August at Number Two and has moved over a million units making Jeezy the hottest new rapper of the year. Still, Jay fails to see the song leak as an emergency. He’s always been panic-averse. His persona, in life and on record, is cool and in control—the same even, authoritative tone whether the subject is sex, survival, wealth or vengeance. “His thing is just make it simple,” says Beehigh, Jay’s cousin who grew up with him in the Marcy Projects in Brooklyn. “People make obstacles for theyselves when sh!t ain’t really no obstacle. He’ll just show you the simpler way to do it.” In the 80s, when crack was dominating America’s inner cities, he was a teenage street entrepreneur selling crack and other drugs. In his 20s he escaped the street and became a rapper but when no label wanted to sign him he founded Rocafella Records. As hiphop moved into the Get Big Money era and rappers maximized their earning potential by diversifying into clothes, movies, and bottled water, Jay-Z became one of hiphop’s most successful entrepreneurs. According to a close business associate, Jay’s top revenue stream has been his music enterprises, second has been Rocawear, which has grossed over $500 million since it was founded in 1999, and third an endorsement deal with Reebok (but if Jay liquidated his share of Rocawear that would surpass his music earnings). On December 4th Jay turns 36 and there’s no midlife crisis anywhere in sight: he’s worth more than $320 million and he’s the President of the most important label in the history of hiphop, Def Jam. Founded in 1984 by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, the label has been home to several generations of major rappers: L.L. Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy in the 80s; Jay, Method Man, Redman, and DMX in the 90s; and, more recently, Kanye and Jeezy. But no matter what Def Jam was in the past, many people think Jay being at Def Jam is more important for Def Jam than for Jay. “Def Jam is the number one hiphop label in the world,” said L.A. Reid, the Chairman of the Island Def Jam Music Group. “Having Jay says that the legacy continues. If you’re a 16 year-old rapper in Brooklyn or Atlanta or Houston, and you know that Jay-Z carries on the legacy of hiphop, then Def Jam becomes your preferred destination. Without Jay-Z you start to wonder if it’s become what Motown has become. The past, lost its vision, lost its value. Jay is the foundation that Def Jam continues into the future.” Jay’s deal with Universal reportedly pays him between $8 and $10 million a year. He’s also the President and part owner of Rocafella Records, the proud owner of a small piece of the soon to be Brooklyn Nets (“I was happy to cut that check!” he says), and, owner of two multimillion dollar Manhattan apartments, one of them a 10,000-square-foot loft in Tribeca worth $7.5 million, and the other a penthouse at the Time Warner Center by Central Park worth more than $10 million, from which he can see a penthouse owned by his girlfriend, Beyonce. He is also, sometimes, an MC. “My life is crazy,” he says, in awe of his own journey. “I’m not jaded. I’m on the board of the Nets. I’m the only black guy and I’m the youngest one there. I’m a fcukin President-CEO of Def Jam. That sh!t still sounds crazy to me even to this day. What the fcuk does that mean?” Then he gets all philosophical. “And I’m outside of it, too, baby. I’m outside of it, like, hot damn. That’s some crazy sh!t. And it’s not stopping. It’s gonna get even crazier.” His office has great views, a large chocolate brown couch, a huge-screen TV bookended by gigantic speakers, and, next to his desk, a large monitor for his emails. There’s peach roses, white calalilies, and a purple orchid scattered around. On the wall there’s a picture of Jay sharing a laugh with Prince Charles at a swanky event in London and behind his desk a picture of Jay with a smiling Mariah Carey, an Island Def Jam artist. On the table there’s a two foot-tall three-dimensional model of architect Frank Gehry’s plan for downtown Brooklyn where the Nets will move to in 2008, with little trees and shrubs planted around the wooden buildings and acrylic skyscrapers shaped in the forms that Gehry will create. (Gehry also sent Jay a stack of James Joyce novels after explaining to Jay that Joyce was the first rapper. Gehry explained by email, “When I listen to the tapes of his voice doing Finnegan's Wake it sounds like rap. He's very fast with the Irish accent, it's all slurred together and it's quite interesting. When I heard it I thought he was a rapper and I sent them to Jay Z because I thought he might like it.” Jay says he only reads non-fiction.) In the corner, on the floor, there’s a street sign that says, Marcy Ave., a remnant from his days growing up in the Marcy Projects. And on his desk, in the center, is the Best Rap Song Grammy he won for “99 Problems,” the 2003 single produced by Rick Rubin from the album that announced his retirement, The Black Album. The Grammy arrived a few days ago and he decided to let it sit on his desk for a moment before bringing it home. In 1999 Jay told the Associated Press, “I am boycotting the Grammy Awards because too many major rap artists continue to be overlooked.” Not anymore. “I didn’t care about Grammys until we won one,” he says. This is his fourth Grammy. Beyonce has eight. He says she teases him about having so few. Most of the day the door to Jay’s office stays open and people flow in and out as if his were the cool room in the dorm. They come in and plop down on the couch, maybe toss a football around, maybe talk to him, maybe not. Jay sits behind his desk answering emails, looking at radio airplay charts and album sales charts, listening to songs fresh from the studio brought in by his A&R men (Jay says he edits records but tends not to rewrite songs because with 70 artists to watch over he doesn’t have time), approving art for his artist’s ads, meeting with lawyers and managers, and talking to his artists. “Ludacris calls me every so often,” he says. “I just wanna pick your brain, man, what do you think is my next step? Redman just called the other day and said he wants me to pick the single.” Jay was nervous the first time he sat down with L.L. Cool J. L.L.’s 1985 single “I Need A Beat” was Def Jam’s first release and he’s been on the label ever since, a major part of the Def Jam brand. ”I was a little worried about the meeting,” he said. “I didn’t know how he was gonna take it because he’s the pillar. But he was real cool about it. He was so cool it was shocking. He was like, whatever you want to do, man. He was accepting.” What has Jay told the Roots? Well, he hasn’t said the group must sell truckloads of records. “What’s scarin the sh!t out of me is that his priority with the Game Theory [the Roots’ next album] is us turning in a critically-acclaimed album. When I talk about singles he frowns on that. He says, get that thought out of your head. I’ve never before been presented with a situation where the President is saying I absolutely don’t want you turning in anything you think will fit on Hot 97’s format. He knows, and the one thing that Jimmy [iovine] didn’t know, is that there’s no fooling your audience.” “Managing people is really difficult,” Jay says. “Everyone has their own personality and their own idea of how everything should go. Then you got friends that’s fuedin with each other and you have to be the peacemaker. And the more people you have the tougher it is. But I don’t have a goal to be liked. I want people to relax and just focus on what’s important, the artist. It’s fcukin music. We get paid to listen to music for a fcukin living. C’mon now. Everybody chill out, relax.” Jay strolls around the corner to check out Kanye’s then-unreleased video for “Gold Digger,” on someone’s laptop. He’s impressed by Kanye’s performance in the video, but toward the end there’s a shot of an angry woman holding a dagger. That’s a problem. When Jay talks to the video department about it they know MTV won’t play a video that prominently features a knife, but they’ve had no luck convincing Kanye to edit out the knife because, he argues, Shakira has a knife in her video for “La Tortura,” so why can’t he. But her knife is in a kitchen scene while she’s cutting onions. The shot must be changed and delivered to MTV by 8am Monday or they’ll miss the chance to get onto MTV’s rotation for a whole week. So Jay has to figure out the proper way to get one of his most stubborn and most successful artists to acquiesce. (Kanye later agreed to obscure the knife with sparks of light.) The video promotions woman, who worked with Jay when he was an artist, laughs at his predicament. “You used to do this to me,” she sneers, enjoying the turnabout. “And I used to say I can’t wait till you’re on the other side.” He’s been building the brand called Jay-Z since the beginning of his hiphop career. Jay stepped into the hiphop limelight in 1996 with the perfect backstory: he grew up in Brooklyn, a drug dealer who was never jailed, but was able to walk into the hiphop game with big money. There was no need to exaggerate. But more than that, he came into the game with big talent. “He’s a figure hiphop purists can respect,” said Ahmir of the Roots. “If you bring his name up with KRS-One, Rakim, Nas, and Biggie, most people would agree with you.” The same way that KRS, Rakim, Nas, and Big introduced themselves with classic albums, Jay’s Reasonable Doubt was overlooked by many when it came out, but is now considered a classic by the vast majority of hiphop fans. From that first album he understood what flow was really about. “I try to become an instrument within the track,” he says. Part of why Jay can flow so well is because he’s learned to write without writing. When he was out in the streets hustling he found himself coming up with great rhymes and no easy way to write them down so he learned to memorize his songs, then developed the capacity to store six or more songs in his head. When he became a recording artist he’d listen to a track ten or twenty times, then start mumbling to himself—on Fade To Black, the film detailing his 2003 retirement concert, he called it “my rainman,”—and in his mind the song comes into shape. Within as little as twenty minutes he’ll get in the booth and spit an intricately-written rhyme. He says the penless writing allowed him to have a truer relationship to the music. He isn’t setting words to music, he’s adding his voice as a layer of sound within the song while becoming one with the song. His street stories told us he was tough and courageous, his sarcasm, witticisms and double-entendres told us he was smart and funny, his conversation-chill flows told you he was cool, and his massive, unwavering self-confidence, his swagger, his “I will not lose ever” stance resonated with fans everywhere. Also, despite years of superfame, Jay’s been able to keep much of his life private—sure, we’ve seen pictures of he and Beyonce but he never talks about the relationship, he’ll never do “Cribs” or let the general public see his home, and he says he’ll never do a movie detailing his life. His autobiography, The Black Book, co-written by dream hampton, is written but after years of work, Jay says he probably won’t let it be published. “I know that people really want to know about me,” he says, “and I thought I was ok with it but as it got closer and closer I said, what am I doing? What am I doing? And then when I really got [hampton’s manuscript] I was like, [pantomimes fainting]. Just someone just having your life in their hands made me like, I ain’t doin this sh!t.” He paused. “I can’t read it, by the way. She was sending me chapters but I haven’t read it all together like one thing because I can’t. On this Friday Jay leaves the office around 6:30pm. As the Maybach flows back into New Jersey the phone rings. It’s Beyonce. He immediately starts teasing her. “Houston ain’t ghetto!” he says. “You told me Houston was ghetto. You ain’t tell me they got surfin down there in Houston. I saw SportsCenter.” This morning there was a report on people who surf waves made by oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico. “The water’s green. They got grass and white people. That ain’t ghetto. Let me find out you lyin, homie,” he adds, throwing in a little Southern twang to tease her even more. You can hear her laughing on the other end. Until recently Jay never knew the real reason why his father left. While dream hampton was working on the Black Book she uncovered the truth in an interview with Jay’s mother. “He didn’t know that a big turning point in his Dad’s life was when his younger brother got stabbed in the heart,” hampton says. “Jay’s uncle was stabbed in the chest during an unfair fight and his father became consumed with desire for revenge. His boys would be calling him at two in the morning like yo, I just saw that nigga over here and he would throw on some clothes and head out lookin for this nigga. And he kinda never recovered from that.” Jay said, “That made him a bitter, evil, different guy.” When Jay’s mother found out that AJ didn’t have long to live she made it her mission to get Jay and his father to reconnect before it was too late. Jay was resistant. “I was like, mmmm, nah,” he said. “But she kept going, kept goin. So I was like alright, bring him over to my house. Of course, I knew he’s not gonna come.” Jay sat at his place in New Jersey, waiting for his father to come see him, just knowing he wouldn’t come, bringing back childhood feelings of abandonment that he’d worked so hard to insulate himself from. AJ didn’t come. “I was like, I knew it,” Jay said. But on June 28th, 2005, Luckie was killed in a car accident in Pennsylvania while riding in the Chrysler Jay had bought him as a graduation present. Jay was in LA for the BET Awards when he heard. “He cried,” Waples said. “I know he had a couple good cries. He told me he needed a good cry. I think it was mind-blowing for him.” Jay said, “It was the toughest sh!t. Nothing close to it. Numbingly. Like I’m numb. I’m numb.” Months later he’s still deling with the pain. “sh!t comes time-released.” He paused. “Beautiful kid.” On Thursday, October 27th, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the current home of the New Jersey Nets, hiphop history was made. It was 11.25pm, two hours into Jay’s “I Declare War” concert sponsored by Power 105.1. Jay was onstage, moving through the Oval Office-themed stage—a rug with a presidential seal, a desk with two green banker’s lamps and an all-red phone, and two secret service-like men standing still at the back of the stage. He was doing his classic “Where I’m From,” from In My Lifetime Vol. 1. He rhymed, “I’m from where niggas pull your card/ And argue all day about who’s the best MC/ Biggie, Jay-Z, or Nas.” Then he abruptly told the DJ to stop the record. The concert was called “I Declare War” because Jay had promised to diss some rappers, to damage some careers. Now, the crowd thought, Jay will deliver on his promise of war. Four years before at a radio station-sponsored concert in New York Jay unleashed “The Takeover,” a song dissing Nas (a.k.a. Esco, after Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar) and Mobb Deep. A venomous and all too personal battle ensued between Jay and Nas, who came back attacking “Gay-Z and Cock-A-Fella Records” on “Ether.” Jay feels he won the battle though he knows many people think Nas won it. “I think if you judge “Takeover” against “Ether,” it’s a better record,” Jay said. “But when you have a David and Goliath situation, it’s tough to win those things when you win everything.” Many people were offended by Jay’s rhymes in “Superugly,” his underground reply to “Ether,” where he spoke in graphic detail about having sex with the mother of Nas’s daughter, but Jay felt justified to say anything after “Ether,” where Nas slings several gay slurs. ”If you listen to “Ether,” like d!ck sucking lips and sh!t like that, as a man you don’t say that to another man,” Jay said. “I would never tell a man, yo suck my d!ck. I would never say nothing like that to a man unless I planned on goin all the way with him.” Days later Jay was typically understated. “That was some little sh!t,” he said. “Don’t make it a big section at the end of the article.” But Nas feels it was a major moment. “That was the highest mountain ever climbed in the game,” he said. “The feeling was beyond words.” Nas said the reconcilliation began when he realized he was nearing the end of his deal with Columbia and started thinking about signing with Jay’s label. “Def Jam is somewhere where the understanding of our culture is respected,” Nas said. “I’m all for people who love the music to control it. That was what I was wantin to get into and just by explorin what was out there, this conversation [with Jay] came about. It just felt like time.” Nas and Jay met a few weeks before the concert. “It was a conversation that was long overdue,” Nas said. “There was a lot of laughter and a lot of serious conversation where there’s no laugh or smile. It was a meeting of the minds and reconcilliation.” He feels that hiphop has become overrun with beefs and battles. “Ever since me and Jay started our thing, the whole thing has been battles,” he said. “Just about every MC got a beef with another MC. Everybody. Which is cool, could be creative, but uplifting is what the nature of hiphop is about and I think people are forgettin where to draw the line. That beef sh!t is played out.” The main source of beef in modern hiphop is, of course, 50 Cent, the neighborhood bully of hiphop who’s currently got issues with Nas, Jadakiss, Fat Joe, the Game, and Dr. Dre. Asked if the concert had been partly about 50, Nas said, “If the shoe fits.”

People say Koch is not a good label cause they never go Plat. But that's cause their artists ain't got so much money from the beginning. But Will is LOADED. he could easily afford a huge promotion tour.

Pretty good list even though i might question what the hell Fat Joe is doing up there, Xzibit 2.

My take on it is: Who gives a ****? Like seriously, if he is dissapointed of not winning an award, let him be. If he has ego problems, than let him. BUT DO NOT FORGET: He DOES good music. He IS a talented musician. And in the end... all that matters is the music. If u can't listen to his music cause his statements, than U have problem, not him. And I've said this before and I'll say it again: U guys have ZERO source-critisism. I don't doubt that he said, but U don't know if how much he meant it. And if he joked about it or not. I saw the barbra walters interview, and I was stunned by the haters reaction of it. EVERYBODY takes out everything "bad" he says. He said alot of really good things in that interview, but what gets attention is the controversial things that people label as ego-problems. U don't think 50 cent has egoproblems? Jeezy? Bow Wow? WILL? Where's the difference between one of Wills award speeches being: "I KNEW I WAS GONNA WIN THIS" and Kanye saying he deserves to win? Having a big ego and confidence if a part of Hiphop. BigTed: Come on... u should know... I mean doesn't KRS have the biggest ego of all time? Search in the forums for my interview/talk with Quincy Jones III and u'll se what is said about him. But i don't hate KRS for that, I don't make remarks about it. I just listen to the music. The day his music gets worse or inflected by his ego, than it'll be a problem. But until then. Who gives a frruuuck? Now just let look beyond the fact that he has said it. Look at the nominees of Best Album: Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi Paul McCartney - Chaos And Creation In The Backyard Gwen Stefani - Love. Angel. Music. Baby. U2 - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb Kanye West - Late Registration The only album being in the same class as Late Reg there in terms of being new, revolutionary, provocative, important, having a message, Is U2. And Kanye won't be upset if he looses against U2. If he does get real upset I will be disappointed. but I don't think he will. He has alot of times said he loves U2. And let's look past the Nominees, which albums was as good as Late Reg? The only ones competeing with it would be BE, Get Lifted and Lost and Found. of course there's been alot of good udnergroudn releases to, but they don't get nominated for these kind of things.

His deal with interscope is just distribution and promotion wise. Now as we know, alot of us have been unsatisfied with the singles released, or mostly the time they've been released and so. And the promotion. Now what if he signed with Koch? Koch distributes cd's. u get like 4-9$ per cd sold, but u have to pay for ur own vid's, ur own promotion and u have to pay for the guest appearances directly from your own pocket. But on the other side... YOU decide what kind of promotion you do, you choose the singles and u have more freedom to do whatever u want. alot more responsibility on the artist. How would that be?

I don't care about the albums success.. i care about Tell Me Why. I mean... the song seems to mean alot to him.

Okay, let's face it, dude got a nice life. Unlimited amount of money, nice wife, good children. The American Dream. BUT... as we know, Will's most sincere passion if Music. The meaning of this post is to shed some light on the promotion of L&F. Not the fact that is was poorly promoted (we already know that) but the fact that almost before releasing Switch, Will started talking about Tell Me Why as his best song and that he really wanted people to hear it. As it seems now.. it isn't getting released. Is Will happy with his position at interscope? How many albums are in his contract with Interscope? Will he release the song without interscopes help (like with So Fresh)? Cause to me... even though he says he doesn't care about sales... he did care about the song,

Is it surprising that the industry shuts him out? NO Has it been done before? Yes Am i Surprised? NO Well, He would def deserve some nominations, but i don't think he would've won anything. Both Common and Kanye dropped a bit hotter this year. It's been a good record year. But yeah, There is NO quality in 50 cent's music. I mean.. seriously, the grammys ain't a popularity award, it's a MUSIC award. Will is getting blackballed. 50 is in it just cause Iovine pulled some strings.

K. West J-dilla Swizz Beats Scott Storch Hi-Tek Just Blaze

XXL: "you had a pretty good year. You did the acting and music thing pretty big. Are you tryna be the next Will Smith?" Bow Wow: "....he did his little rap thing first. But to me honestly, Will wasn't like a real rapper. He was more like a gimmick. Then he zapped into get a TV show, and it was poppin. Then after that he was in Hollywood. So things with came easy for him. With me, I'm a rapper. I ain't with the whole coloful cornball-type things. That's just not my style.." I wonder if it was JD or T.I that wrote that answer =)

I got a Sony Ericsson W800i.

NO!