bigted

The whole album leaked? Wow that's not a good sign for Nas since it's not coming out for another month and a half, he's gonna flop like Lupe now...

It's a hot track, can't wait till his album drops, he really seems focused

Vipa got an all star team with Nash, Artest, Mcgrady, Lebron, Baron, etc, he got the team to beat, I say I got pretty lucky to get both Yao and Shaq, got some good guards like Stephon and Gordon too, I got a good balance I'd say to compete, I like your team too Max having Kobe, Carmelo, D. Howard, and J. Kidd, we start playing on Week 2 which begins Monday November 6th

Yeah if Will wants to prove that he don't follow everybody when it's time to rap, he should just go back to the basics, have 2 turntables and a mic with Jazzy Jeff and that'll be enough to please real hip-hop fans

Great draft guys, I'm happy with my team, let the games begin!! :chuks:

I think albums are like mixtapes these days, it seems like there's guests on every track on most albums, I like some guest appearances but I'd prefer that Will's album having less guest appearances, he could carry albums by himself

You figure Will Smith fans should know that already not to judge somebody on one song...

I love Boyz II Men, I got all their albums, it's been a lil' bit dissapointing that Michael ain't in the group anymore, it don't seem the same without him, and I had no idea they were doing anything new lately, btw I found this listed on amazon.com, it mentions there how what got released now it's only released in Japan, the US won't get the release until Feb. 14th, 2007: "The US version of this album will be a DOUBLE CD and will be available on February 14, 2007. Please visit - www.biimstudio.com - www.boyziimen.com - www.myspace.com/boyziimen"

Well this'll give Will an exuse to do more movies :stickpoke:

K-Solo got nerve to call DMX's album a flop when he hasn't sold a record in god knows how long, lol, X is real as mcs come these days too, there are many fake rappers that he could be going after instead of DMX, please...

We got even teams now to do the draft tomorrow :woowoo:

We won't be able to do a draft until there's an even amount of players

People who think that Jay-Z' coming back to save hip-hop are blind when he does a lot of the same things that those who they criticise for ruining hip-hop do

Well we could do the draft today and get the best players and then whoever wants to join later won't have that benefit :interesting:

A wise slogan once said "Just Do It" I know a lot of people who've talked about starting this or that business, but that's as far as most of them take it. In my view, the most important thing is to start doing things. Plans are good, but they don't accomplish anything by themselves. And regardless of how much you study it and plan for it, you don't really know what you're doing till you try (and frequently mess up) a few times. I started a software company a few years ago. To get started I, in this order, developed a product, went down to the local government building to registered a company name, registered a website, developed a website, and setup an account with a merchant. Of course your steps will likely be different depending on the type of business you're starting. Are those ads on the internet about how you have to put out a payment to get information to start a buisiness at home actually legit? I've been curious to know since I've seen quite a bit of them when I do job searches

Well it says that Rita Marley wanted that rapper Reggie to be on the stage and Jay-Z refused so that's disrespect, Jay-Z' probably the most overrated rapper and he has a garbage personality, I mean he's acting like a diva, he shooting a special for MTV for awareness of water and he charges high ticket prices in the poorest country in the world, it's obvious that he don't care, he just doing a lil' PR but at the same time he wants to make sure his pockets are fat

Legendary Celtics coach Auerbach dead at age 89 ESPN.com news services WASHINGTON -- Red Auerbach, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships in the 1950s and 1960s, died Saturday. He was 89. Auerbach won 938 games with the Celtics and was the winningest coach in NBA history until Lenny Wilkens overtook him in the 1994-95 season. As general manager, the straight-talking Auerbach, who celebrated victories with a postgame cigar, was also the architect of Celtics teams that won seven more titles in the 1970s and 1980s. Red Auerbach has been a mainstay at Celtics games for years. Auerbach's death was announced by the Celtics, for whom he still served as team president. The team said the upcoming season would be dedicated in his honor. He died of a heart attack near his home in Washington, according to an NBA official, who declined to be identified because the family had not made an official announcement. His last public appearance was on Wednesday, when he received the U.S. Navy's Lone Sailor Award in front of family and friends in ceremonies in Washington. "Red was a guy who always introduced new things," Steve Pagliuca, a Celtics managing partner, told The Associated Press in an interview this month. "He had some of the first black players in the league and some people didn't like that, but you've got to do what's right for the fans. So I think we tried to do things thoughtfully. We didn't come in here and change everything overnight." Born Arnold Auerbach in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Sept. 20, 1917, Auerbach was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968. "I never thought he'd die," said author John Feinstein, who last year collaborated on a book with Auerbach on the coach's reflections of more than 70 years in basketball. "He was a unique personality, a combination of toughness and great, great caring about people. He cared about people much more than it showed in his public face, and that's why people cared about him." With the Celtics, he made deals that brought Bill Russell, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale to Boston. He drafted Larry Bird a year early when the Indiana State star was a junior to make sure Bird would come to Boston. The jersey No. 2 was retired in Auerbach's honor during the 1984-85 season. He coached championship teams, including eight straight from 1959 through 1966, that featured players such as Russell, Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Bill Sharman, K.C. Jones and Sam Jones, all inducted into the Hall of Fame. Phil Jackson matched Auerbach's record nine championships when the Los Angeles Lakers won the title in 2001-02. After stepping down as general manager in 1984, Auerbach served as president of the Celtics and occasionally attended team practices into the mid-1990s, although his role in the draft and personnel decisions had diminished. When Rick Pitino became coach in 1997, he also took the president's title and Auerbach became vice chairman of the board. After Pitino resigned on Jan. 8, 2001, Auerbach regained the title of president and remained vice chairman. The team was sold on Dec. 31, 2002, to a group headed by Wyc Grousbeck and Auerbach stayed on as president. Through all those titles, Auerbach didn't lose his direct manner of speaking, such as when he discussed the parquet floor of the Boston Garden shortly before the Celtics' longtime home closed in September 1995. "The whole thing was a myth," Auerbach said. "People thought not only that there were dead spots, but that we knew where every one was and we could play accordingly. "Now, did you ever watch a ballplayer go up and down the court at that speed and pick out a dead spot?" he asked. "If our players worried about that, thinking that's going to help them win, they're out of their cotton-picking mind. But if the other team thought that: Hey, good for us." As Celtics president, Auerbach shuttled between Boston and his home in the nation's capital, where he led an active lifestyle that included playing racquetball and tennis into his mid-70s. Auerbach underwent two procedures in May 1993 to clear blocked arteries. He had been bothered by chest discomfort at various times beginning in 1986. Auerbach was also hospitalized a year ago, but he was soon active again and attended the Celtics' home opener. Asked that night what his thoughts were, he replied in his usual blunt manner: "What goes through your mind is, 'When the hell are we going to win another one?' I mean, it's as simple as that." Auerbach had planned to be at the Celtics' 2006-07 opener, in Boston next Wednesday against the New Orleans Hornets. In his 16 seasons as Boston's coach, he berated referees and paced the sideline with a rolled-up program in his clenched fist. The cigar came out when he was sure of another Celtics' victory. He had a 938-479 regular-season coaching record and a 99-69 playoff mark. Auerbach had a reputation as a keen judge of talent who always seemed to get the best of trades with fellow NBA coaches and general managers. In 1956, he traded Ed Macauley and Cliff Hagan to St. Louis for the Hawks' first-round pick and ended up with Russell -- probably the greatest defensive center of all time and the heart of 11 championship teams. In 1978, he drafted Bird in the first round even though he would have to wait a year before the forward could become a professional. Before the 1980 draft, the Celtics traded the top choice to Golden State for Parish and the third choice. The Warriors took Joe Barry Carroll. The Celtics chose McHale. In 1981, Boston chose Brigham Young guard Danny Ainge in the second round. Ainge was playing baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays organization at the time, but was freed after a court battle to play for the Celtics. In June 1983, another one-sided deal brought guard Dennis Johnson from Phoenix for seldom-used backup center Rick Robey. Auerbach attended Seth Low Junior College in New York and George Washington University. His playing career was undistinguished. In three seasons at George Washington he scored 334 points in 56 games -- a 6.0 average. He would often attend games at GW's Smith Center. He was an instant coaching success, posting the best record of his career in his first season. He led the Washington Capitols to a 49-11 mark in 1946-47, the NBA's debut season, and took them to the playoff semifinals. The Capitols had winning records the next two seasons under Auerbach, who moved on to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks for one season in 1949-50. They had a 28-29 mark, Auerbach's only losing record in 20 years as an NBA coach. In the NBA's first four seasons, the Celtics never had a winning record. But Auerbach changed that dramatically when he succeeded Alvin "Doggy" Julian as Boston's coach for the 1950-51 campaign. They went 39-30 that season, and the Celtics never had a losing record in his 16 seasons as coach. Boston never had a winning percentage below .611 in his last 10 seasons. His last game as coach was on April 28, 1966, when Boston edged the Lakers 95-93 in Game 7 of the finals to win the NBA title. He was just 48 years old, but ready to move on. On Feb. 13 of that season, Auerbach was honored at halftime of a loss to Los Angeles at Boston Garden. "They say that losing comes easier as you grow older," he said after the game. "But losing keeps getting harder for me. I just can't take it like I used to. It's time for me to step out." Russell became player-coach the next season, while Auerbach concentrated on his job as general manager. Russell was the first of five Boston coaches who had played for Auerbach. Auerbach is survived by two daughters, Nancy Auerbach Collins and Randy Auerbach; his granddaughter, Julie Auerbach Flieger, and three great-grandchildren.

Well that's how the whole battle started, over "Spellbound", DMX was basically trying to make a name for himself using that Spellbound rap in his battles when he was trying to make it in the game and K-Solo did a song called "Spellbound" and DMX got mad over that and the beef started, K-Solo did a lie detector test on the "Beef" special saying that he wrote "Spellbound" and he passed the test, DMX CD flopped 'cause Columbia screwed up, maybe if he talked to Will he wouldn't have signed there, lol...

Between what he said about LL and this, I'm really losing whatever respect I had for this man, I don't even care about his album anymore, what an idiot: "A hip hop MC has to be more than just somebody who can sit and piece together a few rhymes. In hip hop there is nothing more objective then one’s personal opinion of what constitutes not only a good rapper but a great one. Reggie had thought of Jay-Z as a great rapper… well until Jigga breezed through the capital and “fleeced” Hip hop heads with his refined brand of predatory capitalism. Rockstone is still perfecting a mean punchline for a few diss bars he might be putting on wax soon. He’s peeved: “African Americans romanticize Africa, you know. These are the big wigs, these ‘cats’ got money and they’re trying to act like there is nobody here. When they go to Europe they don’t charge that much plus they try to do collabos with these European artistes. Is he saying that we don’t count and then he comes here and charges like five times the price? They will pin the over-pricing on the promoters but if people are getting pimped like that, Jay Z is the king of his castle and he could have made a statement about it so at least we know he is not about extorting people. Matter of fact he was supposed to be getting water for these same people who love his music. How the f#*k do you turn around and over charge them. Motherf*@^$# didn’t even take a picture with any of the artistes who opened for him.” Well that kind of puts Reggie’s boycott in perspective -- the fact that Jigga came to a third world country and charged between $75 to $105 dollars seems very much contrary to the ‘keeping it real’ anthems in his songs. In Nigeria tickets went for as much as $800. That’s minus the extra bucks that came along with black market pricing. “I was one of the first to start ‘bigging’ him up when I heard he was coming to Africa. I actually wanted to meet him. Better yet I thought he had to know who I was and how much grinding I put in this thing to make the environment conducive for him to be here. If he checks out my history, he will know that I’m like ‘Kool Herk’ or Africa ‘Bambata’. Can you reject something like that? This is a man who gives props to dead rappers like Tupac and Biggie as part of his stage act. Do you think any of them Negros like Mos Def or Talib Kwale would come here and do that? Or you think Tupac would come to the motherland and disrespect like the way Jigga did when his mother is Afeni Shakur?” Reggie wasn’t looking at Jigga as an artiste. He wanted Jay Z to be aware of who he is so he can become a mouthpiece for the people, as supposed to all the Ghanaian artistes being opening acts with the possibility of Jay Z not even watching them perform. Rock sights this as another reason he boycotted the concert plus not being able to watch one of his favorite artistes should also make him double pissed off. “If I had gotten on that stage, he knows I would have pulled his coat about the prices. What the f#*k happens to us black folk when we get up there. Matter of fact, the Negro that made him an ambassador for this water project was born here so he could have at least humored us with just a little respect. Somebody might be out there calling me arrogant and think I’m just doing this to get my shine. F#*k shine I need. If you check my track record, I was opening for artistes Jigga would have loved to be on a bill with back in the day. But forget that, I’m responsible for a whole genre of music that is putting food on people’s tables. Urban clothing, freedom of speech, the attitude and the culture all came out as an extension of Hiplife. Jay Z is the CEO of Def Jam and he can make power moves that could empower this movement that I’m about. If you throw me on stage like I’m nobody and my people couldn’t even speak for me, that ain’t right. Do you know what would have happened if I walked onto the stage with Jay Z and he saw the love that my people gave me? That would have opened a way for dialogue.” Maybe what Jay-Z also didn’t know is that one of the people that helped Reggie set off Hiplife works for him. Rab Bakari sent a package containing Reggie’s dossier to Jigga through his personal assistant, Carlene. Whether the package got to Jigga at the moment isn’t very clear. “I was supposed to go on stage with Rita Marley and Jigga. That’s Bob Marley’s wife and you sh*t on her like that? It wouldn’t have hurt Jigga nothing to do that. At the moment I feel like the streets are calling for another Reggie album so I just might be heading back to the studio. All I wanted was recognition for Hiplife but obviously Jay Z didn’t think we were important so he came in, made his money and that’s all that mattered to him.” So much for a great MC whose claim to fame was ‘repping’ for the have-nots. Source: JIVE Entertainment Weekly ( http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePag...nt=2357427#com )

Their music is disposable so they come and go, they won't make it in the industry when they get to FP's age

KRS and PE's recent albums have been indenpendent and probably all their albums they released combined won't equal to the total that "Todd Smith" sold alone and Hammer might as well just starting his album out of his trunk again he'll probably sell more that way, lol, he just released his album through I-Tunes, it won't hit stores until early next year, and I don't think the major labels'll care either if all the real artists went independent, that's what they want to see happen so they could profit off of weak artists and none of them will complain 'cause they ain't smart enough to know the buisiness, going indendpendent basically is career suicide, let's be real, being independent means that you won't get any airplay at all, in the music industry it's pick your poison, either you get pimped at a major label or you go independent and get no promo at all, Young Jeezy and Rick Ross put out trash albums but I see Jay-Z promoting them hard, Jay-Z is promoting Jay-Z well right now too, he has like a million commercials on TV and half his album's on the radio already and from what I hear it don't sound like the second coming of "Reasonable Doubt" either, he don't deserve all that hype, I like "Control Myself" better than "Show Me What You Got" "Todd Smith"'s not LL's best work but he could throw up on record and sound better than those fools, "Control Myself" was LL's biggest hit in a lil' while, if Def Jam pushed other singles like that he'd be the highest selling rapper right now, they dropped the ball, but in all fairness LL wasn't happy with Russell Simmons either when he released "The G.O.A.T." and only had 2 videos released off that album, Chuck D was really pissed at the way Def Jam and Russell Simmons treated PE at Def Jam, Montell Jordan wasn't happy with Russell either, he called his next album "Life After Def" when he left there, not everything was perfect there with Russell Simmons, people hype him up to be some sort of rap god but he had flaws too, basically when he left most of the artists from the '80s/90s he already dumped so who's really to blame, Jay-Z walked into a mess basically...

Thanks man I just put in for it!! :thumbsup:

Def Jam basically gave up promo for LL's album right after it came out, they didn't arrange for LL to perform "Freeze" at any shows when it came out, maybe if he did a couple more live performances on TV his sales would've went up, LL has been touring but the tour ain't on the airwaves, that's just something for the fans, really being on the airwaves is the most important thing, Will did a lot of performances on TV and that's why "Lost and Found" sold a bit more than "Todd Smith" even though Will didn't tour for his album while LL did, btw it's been a really slow year for sales, SOHH.com said that TI's the only rapper that released an album this year that certified platinum, Justin Timberlake's probably the only singer to go platinum this year off my memory too that went platinum, probably some country singers as well, it just seems that platinum's like the new diamond if you get that you're outselling the whole industry, lol, and I gotta say that I thought that Jay-Z wouldn't even respond to LL but I guess he's pulling all the stops since he's promoting his CD, I heard about this first when I was listening to the radio this morning, the radio jock mentioned that it's hard for artists now since record labels give up on artists after first week sales if it ain't doing real high numbers they pull the plug, that seems to be the truth 'cause LL was getting major promo but came in at #6 in a week where some of those platinum country albums I was talking about came out, it was sorta unfair that Def Jam gave up after that week, LL tours and they do nothing, damn shame...

Big name artists used to go platinum in one week, but now a lot of them barely sell over 100,000 in the first week, 10-15 agos you couldn't even make the top 20 selling 100,000 in a week, times have changed, gold is like platinum now

How much did Outkast's album sell this time? The last time I checked a couple weeks ago they sold about 350,000 copies so far, that's a major drop from selling 10 million on their last album a few years ago, btw I think "Idlewild" is much better than "Speakerboxx/Love Below" is, and I really hope that movie gets to DVD by the holiday 'cause it's damn good, that tells you quality don't sell, it's sorta like when "Willenium" sold 2 million after "Big Willie Style" sold 12 million before even though it was a better album