bigted

Nas brings up some real strong points there, clearly this'll stir up more controversey, but it just seems that there's a lot of disinterest towards the music industry, people ain't buying music anymore, the way things are going it's a wonder whether anybody'll be even listening to music in a few years, maybe everyone's gonna be like Will and not listen to it at all, lol

It's too long to post the whole thing, here's the main quotes that he made: AllHipHop.com: Brother Nas, Hip-Hop is dead…you really think so? Nas: [Nodding head] It’s been dead. AllHipHop.com: That being said, how do you bring it back? Nas: You don’t. F**k Hip-Hop. ....Hip-Hop is dead, it’s not a bad thing. It’s just the acknowledgement. The ones that take offense to it are the ones who didn’t benefit from it, the ones who wanna make it better and the ones who know they killed it. They should have known it’s dead. It didn’t take me to see it.... AllHipHop.com: It’s interesting you say that but when I think Hip-Hop, besides rapping I also think graffiti and, DJing, breakdancing; that’s not dead? Nas; Well it’s not a moneymaking business to the point of billions in graffiti or DJing. It’s not the main concentration, it’s almost looked at as corny by the kids today. I think those were the first two to go honestly. But there is a strong DJ culture, strong graffiti culture, that I respect and will always respect, that always will be the original elements of Hip-Hop. But, as far as the respect level from today’s kids, it’s been gone. Me saying it’s dead, they’re like, “Oh, now you’re just realizing that?” [laughing] They’re like they don’t want to hear about that. So it’s really me just saying it’s really done. Not just Hip-Hop. I think all music has been dead for a while. Especially R&B, especially Rock, they been gone. ....like they said video kills the radio star. The unfortunate thing about it is when it gets in the hands of business, it turns into an industry. It becomes a different kind of animal, which is good if it can be controlled and maintained right. But the inevitable happens, and you lose it. AllHipHop.com: A lot of artists in your category are starting to go the indie route, is that something your considering? Nas: I think we have no choice but to do that. You don’t always want the pressures of a major distributor behind you. You want to be able to see what it feels like to do it on your own. I think every artist in the game would want to feel like what it feels like to do it independently, at least once if anything. If you wanna see the rest of the interview where he talks about working with Game, being signed to Def Jam, his baby mother Carmen writing a scandelous book about him, then check the links: http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1627 http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1626

Wtf, I guess Will must be hanging out with Tom Cruise too much these days, lol, that response is quite strange and unusual for him to make, he could be going through a mid life crisis too, gotta keep that in mind, lol

Bill Cosby Won't Let Rapper Call Himself Fat Al Tuesday November 14, 2006 @ 07:00 PM By: ChartAttack.com Staff Al Fatz Bill Cosby reached an out of court settlement with a Canadian woman last week over a lawsuit where she alleged that the entertainer drugged and sexually assaulted her, but there was no settling with teenage rapper Fat Al. Cosby's legal team claimed that the artist's name was too close to Fat Albert, the cartoon character created by the man who played Cliff Huxtable on one of the most popular television shows of the '80s, and wouldn't let him use it. "I guess he doesn't like rappers," the young man born Aljaray Gaston told Reuters. "I'm just trying to come up and Bill Cosby was hating. I know one thing, I won't be buying any more Jell-O pudding." Gaston and Atlantic Records have decided to go with the performing name Al Fatz for his label debut that he's currently working on. Akon and Lil Wayne are contributing to the project. The 19-year-old hip-hopper from Cleveland, Ohio also has a song on the Madden 2007 video game soundtrack and is recording the theme for Electronic Arts' NBA Street Homecourt game. He's also recording a song for a Sprite advertising campaign featuring basketball star LeBron James.

Tyrese Speaks On Black-Ty Reaction and Possible Musical Retirement By Chris Richburg Date: 11/21/2006 7:45 am It's been a good year for Tyrese Gibson. With a hit movie ( Waist Deep ) and one on the way ( Transformers ), as well as a successful collaboration with rapper Chingy ("Pullin' Me Back), the crooner/thespian is riding a wave of good fortune. Couple this with the unveiling of his rhyme persona Black-Ty and Gibson becomes a humbled soul in the midst of the love he's received. "I feel blessed, like I've sold 10 million records already. I feel like I can die in Hip-Hop heaven," Gibson said about Black-Ty's acceptance in the rap community. "It wasn't the fans that was the hardest challenge because sometimes it takes a minute for things to grow on the fans. For me the hardest challenge was my peers, everybody in this industry who make the music business run, who run the game. Everybody that's in this rap game that's embraced me. Those are the cats that I was concerned about." Fellow emcees aren't the only ones embracing Black-Ty. The rapper's latest mixtape Ghetto Royalty has received more than 450,000 downloads in four weeks. The mixtape's success comes as Gibson prepares for the release of his forthcoming album Alter Ego, a double disc featuring R&B from the singer as well as rhymes from Black-Ty. The album boasts cameos from Snoop Dogg, Game and Method Man, David Banner, Lil Scrappy, Kurupt, Too Short, R. Kelly and Lil' Jon. Production comes courtesy of Mannie Fresh, Scott Storch and the Frontline Boyz. Gibson is planning a 35-city outing where concertgoers must wear black to see the singer perform as well as hear music from the album before it hits stores on Dec. 12 Although he enjoys making music and interacting with fans, Gibson hints that Alter Ego could be his musical swan song. "This could definitely be the last," admitted the balladeer, who is leaning toward acting full-time. "If this for whatever reason don't stick, this could be it. It ain't no gimmick but this could definitely be it. I told J Records 'you better get me while you can because if this s*** for whatever reason don't take off, I'm done.'" Black Ty's Ghetto Royalty mixtape is available at www.headquarterentertainment.com.

The compilation album was cancelled last summer AJ posted this, close thread...

Ice Cube's directing and performing in some films and he still finds time to rap once in a while, he actually released his first rap album in 6 years this year so who knows maybe in a few years we might see Will release another album in between directing and performing in films, woosah, let the man live his life, he's not a rap machine

Nah man I don't think that's possible to run out of ideas to rap about, that's like saying he ran out of life, I'm sure there are some things going on in his life that he might want to talk about in music, maybe he might just be doing it for himself right now

The way I see it Will doesn't really owe most of these rap fans **** at this point, they're a bunch of sheep that don't appreciate the most talented artists, he's put out enough great music to hold over the few real fans that appreciate true skills already, if he comes back with another album one day I'll be sure to support it, the climate of the rap game has changed quite a bit from how it was 20 years ago that it might not be that much of a thrill to rap anymore, he probably growing out of it as a fan of it too like a lot his age are, back then it was a growing genre where everybody was pushing their creativity and there was excitement but right now it feels like a tired genre where the most innovative artists get slept on except for a handful, I could understand where's Will's coming from and I just hope he does something that he'll be happy about

Exactly man, I don't understand why we gotta worry so much about Will's place in the rap game or when his next album's coming or if it's coming, let the man live damn it

Well to me I don't care if an album sold 10 thousandor 10 million copies, if it's hot it's hot and if it's not then it's not

I think there are more people who act like if your song ain't getting played on the radio that you're wack, I hear more fans saying "so and so's better than this underground rapper since he's selling more records, nobody's listening to that bull**** but everyone loves so and so", there are a lot of sheep out there, they just listen to what TV and radio plays for them and that's it, they don't want to give underground artists a chance

Well I think that Will is trying to go out with some pride and dignity, I really see too that music fans are very fickle like I said before, you don't know how you're gonna sell from one album to the next, to get people to buy albums is like pulling teeth, it's especially harder when most rap fans only like it gangsta gangsta and they look at everyone else who ain't as corny and soft and they won't check that out, it ain't like that with movies though, it seems that any movie Will puts out that it'll go #1 in the boxoffice, but it's really hard to get to #1 on the music charts, if any other rapper was making 20-30 million dollars a film would they actually even put rapping as a thought? I mean Queen Latifah hasn't released an rap album since '98 and she don't even make half of that, LL wrote in his book that he wishes that he was in Will's place, the only reason why he continues to rap now is that he ain't really expanding his acting career the way Will has but the day he does is the day that he'll stop rapping.... Basically since kids buy most of the albums they don't want to listen to somebody that's old as their father, it's sad but true, the music industry has to change, Will wants to reach more people and he could do that with movies right now, he don't get criticised for being soft when he does a movie the way that he does when he does music, the movie fans appreciates skilled artists more than the music fan does... Sure that allhiphop.com shows some love to Will but there's more discussion about who's the hardest/most gangsta rapper, I go on other hip-hop boards and it's the same ****, even so hip-hop fans get caught up in that bull**** and they spend more time talking about who got cred than the skills that a rapper has, skills ain't appreciated...

A lot of rappers say they're gonna retire but most end up coming back, maybe it's just that he just wants to keep the focus on the film right now and not talk about music, if we don't hear anything about a new album by 2008 then I think it might be safe to say that he really is retired from rap

Well the thing is that even after "lost and found" came out, there's still a lot of people that view him as an actor and not as a rapper so that probably frustrates him, he probably realises that many people his age don't listen to rap anymore, he realises how movies touch more people and he wants his art to impact many people, slick rick was basically saying the same thing a couple weeks ago in an interview about how mature people don't really check for rap so that's why he don't record anymore himself

Things have changed quite a bit since the days when Will decided to make albums with Jazzy Jeff 20 years ago, back then you really needed to have the most skills to get on but now you have to start controversey to get on, he probably sees how a lot of his ol' school rap friends struggle to sell 10,000 albums and probably doesn't want to end up like that so he figures he better go out now, but when the time's right he'll want to do it again, he probably still has some music at his crib that he's working on but he might just want to keep it for himself till the right time comes to release it, the timing has to be right, when there's rappers coming out with high skills and a creative motive then he'll be motivated, the rap game has gotten stale though, there are still some great albums out but it's just not being recognised, it just seems that a lot of people are really starting to look at rap as a gimmick since hardly any rapper's selling anymore, hopefully with all these weak rappers like G-Unit flopping the record execs will realise that they have to go after more quality artists, FP might want to get out before the rap industry goes out of buisiness, I could see that happening soon if the right artists don't get promoted

Now I think he loves music and performing but I'm sure he don't like how he always gotta be criticised for being soft constantly even though he's one of the most skilled mcs ever, he might just do music for himself at this point, the way things are going nobody's gonna be buying rap music in a couple years anyway while people will still be going to movies, unless something miraculous in the rap industry happens, really rappers ain't saying or doing anything worthwhile at least on a mainstream level, the most innovative rappers don't get support by the media or the fans, I think the fact that Interscope didn't want to release "Tell Me Why" might've been the last straw for him to continue rapping as well, he's sick of the industry bull****, but as an actor he don't have to receive all that criticism for his acting ability, he's accepted as an actor much more than he is as a rapper even though he spent much longer doing music, that probably hurts his pride but the music industry is much more shady, and the thing is too he did have success with "Lost and Found" and he beat out 50 Cent at the AMA's, he probably figured that he might not be able to top "Lost and Found" and a lot of his other great music at this point either, he really put his soul into that album, he might want to go out on top instead of dragging along his career to the point where only a few people check for him, he don't want to end up like some of his ol' school buddies and not be heard at all, maybe when the time's right he'll do another album though, he'll probably do some more shows too for the fans, you don't need an album out to do performances

Yes he's human like everybody else, Will's been a top name in Hollywood for years, you would've thought that he'd quit 10 years ago if it was just about the money, I think it's basically about pride, I don't think he wants to come across as angry and bitter, he's tired of constantly being criticised everytime he puts out an album for being too soft, blame fickle rap fans and critics for the reason why he's quitting, he probably wants to curse them all out but he wants to go out with dignity, he don't wanna look like an out of touch ol' school rapper, maybe if they appreciated his skills more he'd want to stay, movie fans appreciate him, he's going where he's loved, it's about power and respect as well as money, you want to do something where you get paid good but you also want to do something where you feel appreciated, Will wasn't feeling the love that he deserved

Well the way the music industry is could you really blame him? It ain't really that fun anymore in the rap buisiness, he shouldn't have to beef with everybody everytime he puts out an album at this point in his career, btw it's a sad time for Philly right now, Donovan Mcnabb blows out his knee yesterday and now the greatest rapper in Philly history retires today

Well you could clearly tell that on "lost and found" album the way that he was rapping that he wasn't happy with how the music industry is, it's still the same now so it doesn't really surprise me, the rap industry has basically reached rock bottom, the movie industry is where he could reach his biggest potential and get the full respect he deserves, he has to do what's best for him at this point, the fans are loyal to go out and see all of his films but rap fans are very fickle

Well I don't think it's definate that he won't do anymore, he might feel this way at the moment the way the rap game is but I think when things get better he'll be back

Well if Will decides not to do any music anymore, we gotta deal with that, it's his life like I said earlier, whatever makes him happy more power to him, I understand, really though he's really the only ol' school rapper from the '80s besides LL to have commercial rap hits in the '00s and now he could expand his movie career even further as he's older, most rappers would kill to have his career

I think if things get better as far as seeing rap critics and fans being more open minded to give credit to the most talented rappers then I might see FP doing more rap more often, it really ain't a fun time right now in the rap game, the timing has to be right for him to want to be more involved, and like I said many times before I think the best thing would be for him to branch out and distribute the album through his own imprint instead of waiting for a record label to promote him, he got all that money, he should give it a shot, he already could outsell most of the G-Unit rappers with crap promotion just imagine how well he'd sell with the big time promotion that he could give himself, FP sure sounded motivated and he really had his creative juices flowing on "L&F", I don't think the tank is empty quite yet, it really comes down to when he wants to do it again

Will got respect in rap industry as far as other artists that do got respect for what he does, even Eminem knows what's up, but it seems like there are some rap fans and critics who are too ignorant to realise that, when the time comes I'm sure he'll release another album though since he always seems to "Wave 'Em Off", it has to be the right time, can't rush greatness, a lot of rappers who release albums every year don't always do that well all the time either as far as making quality music

Yeah I'm the same way too, I still use a lot of those words, I hear them a lot too since I play '90s music more than today's music it seems, lol