Frenetic

that beat by kanye was kind of wack, it's actually the base of Gone on his new album. Good thing the beat turned out to be the best beat of 2005.

Kind of cool that people on the IC defends Will. Check this

Little Brother has been the underground’s darlings ever since the seminal classic “The Listening” dropped. Phonte has always been the most outspoken member of Little Brother. Rather its conversing with fans after shows, debating on various websites, he’s always the one that doesn’t have a problem speaking his mind. With their superb sophomore album, “The Minstrel Show” in stores, and LB on a small touring hiatus, the most outspoken member of Little Brother sits down to talk with me about parenthood responsibility, the ‘just entertainment fallacy’ and a host of other things. Check out the Part I of the Phonte interview. B-Moore: What would you say is the difference between “The Listening” and “The Minstrel Show”? Phonte: Maturity. “The Minstrel Show”, shows a lot more maturity than “The Listening”. For me, “The Minstrel Show” has more of a sense of urgency than “The Listening” does. When we did “The Listening” we were just happy to make music. With this one, we knew that we had a lot more to prove. Instead of coming out and making the standard album, we really wanted to have something say. I was just really concerned about making an album with some substance. B-Moore: What’s the difference in the way ABB handled your album and the way Atlantic is handling it? Phonte: It ain’t a whole lot [laughter]. I mean ABB didn’t have the power to do a lot of sh*t, you know what I mean. There really wasn’t a lot that them niggaz could do. The only beef I had with ABB was the distribution on [The Listening]. They really fu*ked up the distribution with the album. With ABB a lot of the short comings they had, I excuse them because they are an Indie label. With Atlantic, niggaz gonna really have to show me a whole lot this next year of really carrying out our plan with this slow grind. That’s pretty much where I’m at right now. Just looking at the Soundscan numbers there really isn’t a whole lot of difference. B-Moore: Were you worried that Atlantic might try to change your sound, to make you more commercially viable? Phonte: Naw, I wasn’t worried about that. I always felt we were a commercially viable group. I just think niggaz are real close minded. They think commercial music is about the club or stripping or some stupid sh*t. Just because we don’t rap about that doesn’t mean it’s not commercial. I mean Little Brother isn’t rapping about quadratic equations. We just a group that makes music, we just never had good exposure. As far as them putting that pressure on us, it was never like that. If we felt it would be that kind of pressure we would have never signed with them. We made it known up front, this is what we do, love it or hate it. I got a lot of respect them for because they accepted us. They let us do us. Every note on the album is us and not their suggestion. B-Moore: Naming your album “The Minstrel Show” was a bold move, do you worry about the general buying public not ‘getting it’? Phonte: Not really. I mean, I talked to Atlantic about it. I just didn’t want them to over think it. At the end of the day, it’s a rap album. It like if the beats are dope and the rhymes are dope, then you should worry about focusing on that. The whole thing of ‘are they gonna get it’ or this or that. They not gonna know what that sh*t is. The niggaz that bought “Like Water For Chocolate” they didn’t know that it was named after a book. I just think the album works on two levels. It’s got to work on two levels. The whole Minstrel Show thing that good for the college niggaz and niggaz to debate about online, that’s for like the people that are into it to that degree. It’s for the journalist to discuss. For the general listening public, its ‘is it dope or not, if it is I’m riding with it’. I think it works for on both levels. B-Moore: So where do you think the line between entertainment and “minstrelism” is? Phonte: Man listen bruh, I got a lot bones to pick with you about that. The “line” is all subjective. There is no such thing as its just ‘entertainment’. That’s the biggest thing I try to come across in my interviews. Its like, 30 years ago, when niggaz were rocking in the park and just putting out 12” on Sugar Hill Records then maybe you can argue that it was just entertainment. Now this sh*t is a multi-million dollar business. It goes everywhere. Its like, dog, all this just entertainment sh*t is a moot point. This sh*t is raising kids. That’s not to say that the parents aren’t at fault. Its like, my nigga, how much can a parent really be expected to do. If I’m sitting in the car with my daughter and it goes from ‘shake my laffy taffy’ to ‘wait till you see my d*ck’ to ‘its getting hot in here so take off all your clothes’. Its like, unless I lock my daughter in a closet somewhere, how much power as a parent do I really have, to prevent this sh*t from going into the head of my child. The whole music is just entertainment, in 2005, ***** no. Anyone who believes that is fooling themselves. Music has always been a force. Just as you eat physical food, [music] is mental food. If you just feed your mind garbage it affects the social climate and the mind state of the people. If you look at the song titles from the 70’s and the Civil Rights Movement they were representative of the times. There were songs that spoke for the people on some ‘We in a bad situation, we gotta work together, let’s do it’. B-Moore: But back during those times, the community was stronger, parents were being parents, the school system was exponentially better. Phonte: Again, it’s really 50/50. Back in the day, I would say its 100% on the parents. Before had a whole bunch of cable channels, the internet and XM radio yeah I would say that. Stakes are higher now. I have 4 year old son, I can’t explain to him what sh*t means. If we listen to a song that has curses in them, then he knows not to say those words. I tell him those are bad words and not to say them. But if we’re listening to say, T.I.’s “Rubberband Man” where the hook is, “Rubberband Man/wild as the Taliban/9 on my right/45 on my other hand”, those aren’t bad words, they aren’t curse words, but it’s not content a 4 year old should be repeating. He might ask why, and in my best 4 year old teaching I would explain to him that a “9” is a gun and tell him that he shouldn’t do those things. Parents should be parents. I totally agree wit that point. But, niggaz who rap should be responsible for their sh*t. I don’t see what’s so hard for niggaz to understand about that sh*t. You got these record company niggaz this music is for the kids. I’m lookin at them like “OK”. Half the rap niggaz is from their late 20’s to damn near 40. They are making music for the clubs that half these kids can’t get into. So how is this sh*t for the kids? Granted. Everybody has their own line and standards. There has to be some sh*t that niggaz should agree with. There should be blanket statements. Can we all agree that crack is bad? Can we just agree on that? At least that’s a start. God damn, some sh*t should be understood. B-Moore: Isn’t it’s an artist responsibility to be honest and truthful to himself and his art? Phonte: You’re right it’s an artist’s responsibility to tell the truth. But its moreso the artists responsibility to tell the WHOLE TRUTH. That’s what a lot of these niggaz ain't doing. If you sold crack, you were up in the hood the other day. Ok, that’s your story. I would never ask a nigga to tell nothing other than your story. That’s good. If you sold crack, that’s not what you did 24/7. You didn’t love doing it all the time. You telling me you never had some remorse about it? Or a time when you took time off from selling crack to see your relatives or the people that love you? Or if you sold to a pregnant woman and felt bad about it. Its two sides to everything. When niggaz say ‘I’m giving the truth’ niggaz ain’t giving the whole truth. The best comparison I can give is NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton” and NWA’s “Niggaz 4 Life”. As a hip hop fan, both of those are classic albums. The first album they were like “We’re NWA, we’re from the streets, telling you how it is in Compton, police niggaz beaten our ass” so me being an east coast nigga I’ve never been out there so I thought that was what’s up. It represented a truth, the angry black man from LA that we never heard before. On the 2nd album, these muthafu*kas, they became caricatures of themselves. Instead of being street reporters, you are telling me now, you killing hookers? It’s like what part of street reporting is that? That’s where the line between street reporting and glamorizing violence get drawn. Not only that, but reveling in it. Like on the Jeezy sh*t, (editors note: An elusion prior conversation that was had on the Justus League’s site about Young Jeezy) I think there is a line between talking about selling drugs and glamorizing it. Like when Jay came out, he was like I did this and did that, I’ve been in the streets, the whole "Carlito’s Way" dialogue. And even on his first album he did a song called “Regrets”. He was like ‘Yeah I did it but sometimes this sh*t doesn’t sit right with me’. But when you put on a Jeezy record, and the closet thing to an amendment is not getting caught, “What the ***** is that?” As a parent and a grown as s man, don’t support that sh*t. Niggaz need to grow the ***** up. The whole snowman thing, did niggaz really need a crack mascot? …Stay tuned for Part II…where Phonte addresses: the fact that the streets might not be feeling them, Touring global and still being considered local, The Commerical Tour finale, the shafting from XXL and The Source, and much more… Props to my man over on BXD for this interview.

I really he gives up RAPING soon...

Hmm.. Lost and found, ofcourse. Late reg BE Minstrel Show Looptroop - Fort Europa It has been a good year, alot of nice albums, but those has got to me the most,

doesn't need to be wack or something, cause it may just haven't have fitted into the albums musical image. I''m most surprised over timbo not being on it, cause that was in the media alot just days before the album release.

As someone said.. he may not have dissed 50, but the said at the show that they are saving the eastcoast with this line up and that beef is wack. And him not taking 50 cent in a eastcoast reunion is like locking him out of the play. 50 said in a couple of days ago that He IS the eastcoast and that NY does what 50 cent says it should do. Than Jay-Z comes and basically sh*its on him. It like when G-Units beg for mercy dropped and Jay-z changed his date to the same date. or the tony yayo thing and knaye west chaning the date to the same day. Jay is basically showing who runs hiphop.

No he didn't diss anyone. But ****.. that night was history. bringing Beanie and Freeway together, bringing LOX and Puffy together, bringing Him and Nas together. Funny thing is that Nas had the same gear on which he had in a video for a single of illmatic. And him rapping the chorus in dead presidents which is one of my top 10 songs. I wanna see a collabo! Eastcoast is back fo real.

this gave me some what faith in hiphop again. Eastcoast back together, nas and jay. rumours are still saying that jay is gonna appear on the remix of We Major with Kanye, Nas and Really Doe. That last picture.. damn. It's like there is yet again two huge SKILLED rappers again. I didn't wan to say this before but I'm saying it now.. JAY PLEASE COME BACK. And nas... please sign to Def Jam,, u need some success and some guidance!

This is what happened: Alot of artist performed in something looking like a new hiphop union. Alot of rappers that squashed their beefs and so. T.I, P.Diddy, Mary J Blige, Kanye, Beanie Sigel and alot more performed in something looking like a peace show. BUT... Jay-Z was rappin "where I'm from".. he comes to the line: "who's the best MC, Jay-Z, Biggie or Nas?". Music Stops. He says he's gonna do something hiphop deserves. Nas comes out, BLAO, they starts rapping Dead Presidents TOGETHER! After that Nas did a couple of songs and Hate Me Now with P.Diddy. Part Two of the concert is being held tonight and rumours about they all are gonna go at 50 Cent just won't stop. -- BTW, Cam and Jay were never close. Hated eachother from the beginning when Cam tried to take the power of the roc in a wierd manouvre with Dame Dash when Jay was in Europe.

Tonights the night for Jay-z's War-Concert. Rumours say he's teaming up with Game, Joe Budden, Memphis Bleek and.. NAS to go at G-Unit. Apperantlly Fifty has been talking too much about the ROC. We'll se what's going on!

Sad thing is that you can say that about most political parties... democrats included... Yeah, I said it. :word:

They don't use it in sweden, they do talk about it during religion classes, but not as a scientific fact... That's to controversial.. and wrong. The school system in Sweden is about educating people on facts.

Being a republican is like participating in the Olympics for handicapped people.. U may win.. but ur still handicapped.

SMITH*WILL LOST & FOUND 3,042 2,743 -9.8% 644,721 He sold 2,7k last week and has sold 644k. Just thought u guys wanted to know, cause he ain't in the top 200 anymore.

Lerkot: Or just a movie based on a book.

Rappers delight is a dumbed down song with stolen lyrics and fake set up. Everybody knows it was like a record company stunt. Lyrics were stolen from alot of streetrappers and sugar hill never even liked the song. The difference is that back then everybody liked anything that was put out, cause people were positive to new hiphop. I like the message more.

i hate it. not hard to flow to the beat. even though u could think so. good delivery. but the lyrics and chorus is trash

From another forum.. but the info is like everywhere, check out some releaseschedelues and you'll see it.

Well u know, people dumb down in different ways. We all know how Willie dumbed down in some of his songs. How jay-s did (he also admitted it) and Nas never admitted it but come on.. some of the songs he made after illmatic was like: WTF DUDE? Kanye dumbs down in for example Golddigger by being very catchy and easy on the hook. It's a very light song. He did the same with workout plan. That's a fun song, but not one of his best. So he uses the shine from those songs and make peoplpe buy the album, just like will does or any other rapper does (well not G-unit). Kanye did though make a bold decisision in diamonds from siearra leone as lead single. That didn't turn out so well, so they were quick with golddigger. Now Heard Em say is coming which is a dumb decision in commercial wise. Well, it does have a white singer on it, so maybe. But the song is very....ehm..how should i put it... it makes u feel pretty sad, and hopeless. It is different from his others songs. It won't be a hit, cause kanye is way too much in the whole political thing after the beef with bushie boy. Touch the sky after golddigger would be perfect. On a whole other subject: Michael Moore was present at Kanyes tour startoff loving the show. Now that's a team..

It hits the stores nov. 22 1. Right About Now 2. Jump Up 3. Fly That Knot 4. Ms. Hill 5. Roll Off Me 6. Two & Two 7. Beast, The 8. Dance With Me - (featuring Pit Bull) 9. Where Ya Gonna Run - (featuring Jean Grae) 10. Drugs , Basketball & Rap 11. Flash Gordon 12. Supreme - (featuring Mos Def) 13. Rock On After that Mos will drop a album late winter/ early spring and then a Blackstar albums ischedlued for the summer. For the swedes on the board i can als say that Africa Bambaata and Blackstar are preliminary booked for a hiphop festival in sweden the summer of 06. Yeah.. u can thank me for that.

Commons page Hope it gets him some shine in the limelight. The cd has sold alot for a rapper whoms music doesn't interest the mainstream (a little over 640k I believe it has sold, I may be wrong though). Love the video!

I have a Sony Ericsson W800i Walkman Phone and A ipod Nano. I'm a gadget geek. And i like my phone more. The nano is usefull when i go on longer trips and take the bus for like one hour. But not in everyday life. It gets to complicated with different gadgets. So my nano will last long. But, i just got a new memory card for my Walkman, it can now store like up to 250 songs. And my old one can store about 450mb movies in a MPEG4 codec (That would be about 1,3 gb in divx) So bascially almost two movies. So that's why i like my phone more.

Well nobody is actually saying Kanye is the most conscious rapper on the scene, but he is the one getting most time in the limelight. In a recent interview with a radioshow overhere, he even said that he didn't like to be called the political rapper, or the conscious cat. Cause he says he raps about being a human being and what comes with being a human being. That's why he speeks on contradictions, that's why he makes jesus walks shouting out that killers has jesus walking with them. Or about golddiggers, the state of the black community (check out the new single Heard 'Em Say). And, he also said that when he was younger, he loved the bling bling rap. He loved all the chains and flashy stuff, so when he got a lil bit older, his dream was producing for Mase, Puffy, Biggie and other major players that did the whole bling thing. But as all men, he has grown up. Common speaked on that in Vibe i think it was saying that Kanye was just a irritating brat wanting to get some of my shine cause Common had started to get big in CHI-City by then. And he didn't even do good beats that he liked. It wasn't until Kanye moved to NY and started hanging out with D-dot, Dead Pres, Nas, Talib, Mos that he got some schooling on what is more real hiphop. Like u can' use the contradictions against him, cause he knows about it, he raps about it. He is admitting; All falls down: Man I promise, I'm so self conscious That's why you always see me with at least one of my watches Rollies and Pasha's done drove me crazy I can't even pronounce nothing, pass that versace! Then I spent 400 bucks on this Just to be like nigga you ain't up on this! And I can't even go to the grocery store Without some ones thats clean and a shirt with a team It seems we living the american dream But the people highest up got the lowest self esteem The prettiest people do the ugliest things For the road to riches and diamond rings We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us We trying to buy back our 40 acres And for that paper, look how low we a'stoop Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coupe I say **** the police, thats how I treat em We buy our way out of jail, but we can't buy freedom We'll buy a lot of clothes when we don't really need em Things we buy to cover up what's inside Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth Man those last two bars is insane. From the most wack song on College Dropout: Golly, more of that bull**** ice rap I got to 'pologize to Mos and Kweli (probably) But is it cool to rap about gold If I told the world I copped it from Ghana and Mali? (Mali!) First nigga with a Benz and a backpack Ice chain, Cardi lens, and a knapsack Always said if I rapped I'd say somethin' significant But now I'm rappin' 'bout money, hoes, and rims again And it's still about the Benjamins Big faced hundreds and whatever other synonyms Strippers named Cinnamon More chips than Pentium What'cha gon' buy next? Whatever new trend it is I'm tryin' to spend my stacks And I'm so broke I look back like "Damn, was I on crack?" I mean twelve platinum chains, was I on that? What the hell was wrong with me dog? And the new single: They say people in life are seasons, and anything that happens is for a reason And niggaz gun clapping to keep the squeezing and gram keep praying and keep believing In Jesus, and one day that you see him Til they walk in his footsteps and try to be him The devil is alive I feel him breathing Claiming money is the key, so keep on dreaming And put them lottery tickets just to tease us My aunt Pam can't them cigarettes down So now my little cousin smoking them cigarettes now His job try to claim that he too niggerish now Is it cause be skin blacker than liquorish now I can't figure it out, I'm so sick of it now Actually; the minid control thing is a touchy subject. Ehm..as u prolly know... the whole catholic church and the pope did tell people what was right and wrong in things they didn't have any knowledge in in the dark ages / medieval times. But Mind Control now? No, maybe ignorant followers and some specific churches. But not as a guideline form the catholic church.

Frenetic, you know that I hold Will to some level of complicity in the matter. We had this discussion a few months back and for the most part, our points were the same. We were even called impatient while album sales were dropping. Where we do differ is on the topic of whether Will set aside enough time for music and whether he is rushing back into film. Will had more than adequate time for music, but it's apparent that promotion was mismanaged and that either he, interscope, overbrook or a mixture of the three didn't do everything that could have been done to ensure the sort of success Lost and Found deserved. The level of blame each party should receive is unknown... I'm not even going to guesstimate, but I do understand that you want to point out that Will may deserve some blame. I think that's fair. yeah, it's not like i want to diss will. But u know..everybody makes mistakes... sometimes mistakes are made after other people made them and put up an enviroment that is easy to make mistakes in