bigted

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

It's definately cheaper to download music than it is to go to the record store and buy 10 albums, I gotta admit I download some as well 'cause there's a lot of stuff out there and I can't afford it all right away, they do got sales on music at ebay and BMG, that's where I get a lot of my music these days when I get albums, computers are real cheap now as well, even kids in the ghetto could have computers, btw the boxoffice numbers for films have been kinda low these days as well, more probably downloading films these days as well instead of going to the theaters, btw I don't even see Janet on that list for the UK :shake:

People might hate on Jay-Z a lil' bit too much 'cause they might expect a miracle with him "Taking Over" Def Jam but really he ain't doing that bad as some of us might put it out to be, we might be overreacting a lil' bit 'cause if you think about it there ain't really many major labels that'll even release albums by real artists like Method Man and The Roots, just releasing them is something positive, real artists get shelved on other labels, Def Jam really promotes hip-hop better still than other labels still as well, DMX left Def Jam and he still flopped on Columbia like he would've if he stayed there, he topped the rap charts for the sixth straight time but Columbia gave up on it after "Lord Give Me A Sign" faded off the airwaves, then again a rap about God to get on the radio is an accomplishment in itself, in reality DMX was fortunate to go platinum all those times, he really raps like an underground artist so you figure sooner or later he probably wouldn't sell much, that's just the way it is, real artists don't sell much now, it's rumored that LL might be going to Columbia too but that don't mean that the grass'll be greener, he could go to Interscope, Columbia, Virgin, etc. and still complain about sales, it's the reality of the music industry and the way they work, hip-hop and music in general ain't selling right now, it ain't all Jay-Z' fault, in reality artists shouldn't care so much about sales/promotion and just do their thing, just like Slick Rick not putting out an album until they promote him better, that's stupid man just put out a damn mixtape you're an artist, either way they're all getting paid better than most of us on the sidelines, then of course you can't really have sympathy for Jay-Z getting criticism when he makes commercials saying he's the CEO of hip-hop, that kinda hype will bring hate, lol, KRS will tell you that nobody owns hip-hop, it is a free culture

That's true everyone misinterpreted his comments about what he said about Jay-Z, he was talking about Def Jam in general, he made the statement the week that the Roots and Method Man came out, he was referring to how they weren't getting any promo I think, LL didn't flop, he went gold, which is more than a lot of rappers this year, he could've went platinum though if he had a third and fourth video, but even the G-Unit rappers he's outselling already and only a handful went gold this year so the album sales were closer to success than a flop, even pop singers like Jessica Simpson ain't even gold, he don't need 50 to boost his sales when 50 ain't boosting his own group, then again LL's looked at as the rapper that goes platinum the most consective times, he's like Cal Ripken playing everyday so him going gold instead of platinum is looked at like Cal sitting down for a game, going platinum is expected for LL Cool J, in reality he'd actually do better with less guest appearances 'cause that's when he was the most popular, a lot of people were thrown off by that, people like Diddy and Kanye need guests 'cause their rapping is boring but LL could carry albums by himself, btw that's awesome you got to see LL perform

Yeah LL's too worried about selling records right now, he should be more concerned about making a better album, the streets know that he could come stronger than he did on "Todd Smith", if he makes a classic album like Busta and Ice Cube did this year, FP did last year, I wouldn't care if he flopped, he should be doing songs with legends like Janet and Rakim not a wannabes like Teiarra Mari and Juelz Santana as well

I just changed it to October 30th at 4:30PMEST, the day before the season begins, that way we could add more by the end of the weekend

Slick Rick, Rakim, PE, Talib, KRS, etc. are like Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Dominique, etc., they're the best rappers that don't have Grammy's(like those guys who never won NBA titles) while these wack rappers are like benchwarmers on the Lakers that rely on their producers to bail them out(Dr. Dre and JD=Kobe and Shaq), lol

But the good thing about with people downloading so much now that there's not that many garbage artists selling much either, a lot of wack artists are flopping too, even these watered down pop artists are flopping which is something I could say that's on the bright side, no watered down singers or rappers are going diamond anymore, Diddy only sold 170,000 the first week instead of going platinum the first week if it was 10 years ago which is a good thing, btw I heard that Xzibit album is one of his best albums, with him hitting it big in movies and his MTV Pimp My Ride show I thought he'd sell better than 17,000 in his first week, wtf's up with that

Real hip-hop's never been about who gets the most sales though, there was always wack stuff playing on the radio, Rakim and Slick Rick never sold 10 million albums, hip-hop still got quality music even though it don't sell, with albums out by mcs like Method Man, Public Enemy, KRS, etc., hip-hop ain't dead

Looking at Soundscan makes me :damnlorettas: Quality music doesn't sell that much, I think DMX's album didn't even go gold :sick:

Well there's a lot of great albums that flop as well, and what about all that crap that's on the radio all the time with weak albums selling? Quality music has nothing to do with record sales, LL's "G.O.A.T." didn't really sell a huge amount more than "Todd Smith" did even though it's much better than that album, "10" outsold both of them and that's probably LL's worst album, lol, Jay-Z put out some weak albums in his career and they sold 'cause he had a lot of songs playing on the radio and his best album "Reasonable Doubt" is his lowest selling album, quality ain't got nothing to do with sales... Busta Rhymes had Dr. Dre producing on his album and released a lot of singles off of his album and he really didn't sell that much more than LL did, sometimes promotion backfires but at least Busta got all the singles he wanted to get out, that's basically all an artist could ask for, I don't understand why Will didn't criticise Interscope 'cause he wanted to release "Tell Me Why", I wonder why he didn't speak up, maybe he didn't care? btw since LL's working with 50 he might get some beats from Dr. Dre since Dr. Dre produces a lot for 50, that'd be the only good thing that I'd look forward to with them doing an album together, other than that I'm not really looking forward to it, "Bump This" is ok but it sounds too much like a remake of "In Da Club", LL needs to come with something more original than that EDIT: I found some pictures on LL's board from his tour this summer, he's actually still doing shows I think, he's doing his part in promoting his album, it's up to Def Jam to give the same amount of effort he does:

LL's a big name artist, he deserves more than 2 videos, I'm sure that Jay-Z' gonna give himself more than 2 videos for his album....

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/artic...%20flop_1012057 JAY-Z 'NOT RESPONSIBLE' FOR LL COOL J FLOP Hip-hop mogul SHAWN 'JAY-Z' CARTER has hit back at claims he scuppered LL COOL J's album success with poor promotion, insisting his "commitment" to the project was 100 per cent. Carter - who recently laughed off rumours he's planning to leave legendary rap label Def Jam - believes his company went all out to publicise his hip-hop rival's latest album effort TODD SMITH. And he refuses to take the blame for poor sales since its release in April (06). He says, "I think that we went above and beyond with his project. We shot two videos before the project even came out. That's not, especially in this climate of business, that's not typical. You know, people get one video, if that. We shot two videos with HYPE WILLIAMS. Got JENNIFER LOPEZ in the video. "The commitment to the project was clearly, clearly there. How much can you give a man?"

:yeahthat: Happy Birthday Wes, Enjoy It!!

Hey the more the merrier, it's all good, btw is this draft time still convienent for everyone here or should I push it back a lil' bit?

Only one day left guys....

Hip-hop really is a combination of many forms of music as well, the originators like Afrika Bambataa say that all the time

Well we just gotta keep an eye to see if he posts something on his myspace or even here in this forum like he said in the message, we'll know when it comes out