bigted

Well Slick Rick did a lot of party songs in his career as well, Slick Rick the ruler loves the jewlery, the partying, the women, that was his image throughout his career, he might have grown out of that a lil' bit now that he's older, he probably doesn't want to come off as conscious as Common and Little Brother, but maybe he might want to do a "Lost and Found" or a "G.O.A.T." type album where it's a mix of fun and serious songs and he probably could have success at that but maybe it's a thing where nobody wants to sign him, we see how Def Jam's going right now, they're out with the old/ in with the new on the most part and most labels don't sign ol' school artists, that's probably what he meant I guess, but the way I see it he shouldn't worry about what the record labels are doing though, he should just get on his grind and put out a record himself, do some shows, open up for Outkast on tour, he's Slick Rick the ruler, there's people out there that'll check for him, a lot of those older fans still listen to his songs and're probably waiting for him to drop something new, even a new generation discovers his music since a lot of rappers sample him

There's a market for mature rap though since there's artists like FP, Common, LL, Nas, etc. that's selling records, I don't get where he's coming from with that, I'm sure a lot of those people who buy those albums would be interested in another Slick Rick album, he should make a guest appearance on FP's next album, another "So Fresh" type song would be awesome, of course right now probably all that drama with deportation he probably ain't really thinking that much about music at this point, hopefully he keeps his head up with everything in his life, I'm keeping him in my thoughts

I actually checked Kel's myspace site just now and noticed that it don't mentioned that he wrote on Diddy's album anymore, his tracks probably didn't make the cut I guess, the same thing happened when he wrote for Nick Cannon's album a couple years ago, the tracks didn't make the cut, he probably still gets paid either way though, lol, btw Diddy doesn't make it a secret that other artists write on his albums, although he said that he actually did some writing himself this time, I found an article on XXL about who's writing Diddy's album and it didn't mention anything about Kel Spencer writing anything, it appears that the tracks that Common wrote didn't make it either: http://xxlmag.com/online/?p=5617

He's probably getting a nice check this week since Diddy's album is at #1 and he did some writing on that

Slick Rick Can I Live? To us, he’s a living legend with personality to spare. To the Department of Homeland Security, he’s an ex-con who they desperately want to deport. With his case being reopened yet again, we spoke with The Ruler about the government’s lack of compassion and his plans to help hip-hop finally grow up. Posted In: Features Interview: Brendan Frederick Slick Rick is not a terrorist. Sure, he has an eye patch, but he’s not even a freaking pirate. Slick Rick is a 41-year-old legend of American popular music, and yet, our government wants him to get the hell out. That’s right, the Department of Homeland Security has once again urged a court to reopen Rick’s case, which could result in him being deported back to his native England. It all started 16 long years ago. At the height of his recording career, Rick went to prison for committing a felony. After serving three years, the government said he was rehabilitated and he was released. In 1996, a new law was passed that said aliens who have served five years could be deported back to their homeland. Luckily a judge ruled that Rick, who was born in England and immigrated to the United States at the age of 11, had served less than five years, so he was permitted to stay. Things were fine until the events of September 11, 2001 prompted the Department of Homeland Security to step in and do everything they could to get potentially dangerous aliens out of the country. Gone were the nuanced, personalized decisions—Ricky D was just a number to them. After performing on a cruise boat off the coast of Miami, Ricky D was arrested and thrown in jail without bail for 17 months while they decided his fate. A judge in New York once again came to the same decision—Rick was not a threat and was well within his bounds to stay in America. In late 2003 he was able to resume his life, until recently. Despite the fact his crime was committed and tried in New York, the government is now trying to re-try Rick in a Florida court, where he was detained back in 2002 for “deporting himself”. XXLMAG.COM caught up with the Ruler to discuss the government’s campaign again him and other immigrants, as well as the lack of mature music in hip-hop’s marketplace. Herrrrre we go. It’s pretty clear that you’re not a terrorist. Why can’t the Department of Homeland Security get that through their heads? The law says that if you’ve served more than five years, you can be automatically deported. I had only served three years. The other four years were served fighting the immigration, so that brought us to seven years. It’s just a basic common sense thing. The judge already had granted me my freedom on those grounds [in 2003]. The only reason I can think that they would bring it up again would be because of everything that’s happening now with trying to fix their immigration situation. The attitude since 9/11 is that we have to give up some of our individual freedom in order to make everyone safer. What do you see as the alternative? It needs to be more humane. Everything can’t be like, robotic or mechanical. You can’t lose compassion for mankind along the way. I mean, we’re talking about something that happened 16 years ago. Some of the things are kind of obvious. This was a law they had passed after I served the sentence. If you serve your time, you’re rehabilitated, you’re in the streets, everybody is content, fine. And then you have to go back to jail for four and a half years to decide if you should be deported? That’s longer than the time you did for the crime! And then 16 years later, for you to bring up the case again? I’m serving more time playing political games than becoming a rehabilitated human or whatever. You have the press conference with the Hip-Hop Action Summit coming up tomorrow. What do you hope that will accomplish? To give awareness to the public, and to keep their minds on what’s going on around them in the world. There’s not much people can do right now. Maybe later on they can sign a petition, but right now the idea is to just to open up everybody’s mind. You don’t see too many [immigrants] who have high exposure to the public, except for people like myself, which isn’t even that high. Imagine if I was John Lennon or something? The problem is we don’t show a side of compassion in our theories. We’re talking about abuse of the judicial system. It’s not that you can blame one person or two people, it’s just that sometimes you’ve got to look at people as humans and not as machinery that can be moved around for the benefit of Homeland Security or whoever. Have you thought about what you would do if you lost and had to be deported? Well, if you lose and you get deported, what are you gonna do? You gonna pack your suitcases and you’re gonna leave, ain’t you? There’s only so much you can do. If it doesn’t work out in your favor, then you just gotta move on to the next thing. Do you feel like you have any connection to England at this point? Not really. I left in 1976, so it would be like a fish out of water. I was 11 years old. Have you been recording much music lately? Well, not right now. I’m waiting for a market to open up for a [more] mature audience to see where we can fit in. We need to be inspired. Right now, the market is pretty much…it’s not bad, but it caters to the youth. And the youth market, they really talk about stuff that we’ve already talked about. Going to the club, meeting girls, trying to be the tough guy here and there. All of that stuff we did in our 20s, and I’m 41 now. I’d rather talk about things that 41-year-olds talk about, but without sounding preachy, just having a good time. This how we talk, this is how we move. We just keep it sensible and true. Why do you think hip-hop has so much trouble with maturity? You gotta look at it like this: hip-hop never had a blueprint. It was just something that was brought up for fun. And now hip-hop is about 40 years old. But it doesn’t act like it’s 40 years old, it acts like it’s in some kind of remission stage and it can’t get past 20 or 25. Like once everyone hits about 25 or 26, they start lying about their age. It’s just the pressure of the market. The market forces you to be younger than you are. When you hit a certain age, the record companies are not that interested in you. And then you lose inspiration too, because you don’t want to feel like you’re competing with children for a children’s market. You wanna be like Prince, or these older artists that have their own audience. What about all your fans from when you first came out who are now grown up? Aren’t they looking for something more mature? Yes, I definitely think there’s an audience. If you’re a hip-hop fan, you’re not gonna want to listen to childhood raps if you’re like my age, but it’s not really happening. Music has become more commercial. It’s no longer free spirits that were blessed with a talent that had a market to sparkle. Now it’s just become an industry, a business that just puts a Black artist on a song to sing about sex and girls and that’s it. Everything is pretty routine and monotonous now. What would have to happen for that market to really open up? I guess it would just take real genuine people with genuine talent to be able to present their gift up front. Like, for example, when Avril Lavigne came out. That’s her name, the young White girl? Yep. The way she sang that song, “It’s a damn cold night/Trying to figure out this life/Is there anybody out there?” That made mature sense. Even with the other guy, what’s his name…“We’re just ordinary people…” John Legend? Yeah, see what I’m saying? Songs like that, you don’t hear [in hip-hop]. People are not relating as a whole anymore. Only certain songs inspire us as a whole, and there’s not too many. Just so you know, the rumor going around is that you’re working on a new album called The Adventure Continues. [Laughs.] I mean, that’s a good title to tell you the truth. What’s your relationship with Def Jam like nowadays? Right now, like I said, they’re catering more to a younger market. They pretty much put us on the shelf, you know, until we can finesse a record deal with somebody else or just say I want to be dropped or anything of that nature. I just hope that this record label gets to see that there is a market for this mature rap. I’ve heard from a few different artists who were signed to Def Jam in the ’90s that they stopped being attentive to them when the regime change happened. I wouldn’t just say it’s Def Jam, it’s the whole industry in general. Too much catering to the youth mentality. Imagine if all our stars—the Beatles, whoever—all they sang about was womanizing, and stuff that we did as kids but have now grown up. It would get tiring after a while. You won’t even enjoy yourself when you go to a disco and a club anymore because everything sounds shallow. So if the market does open up and it comes time to release another album, would you look at other labels, or would you stay on Def Jam? If that’s what it comes down to. Right now, my record label has the option to do whatever they gonna do. Once they decide what they’re gonna do, then I can decide what I’m gonna do.

Chauncey Black from Blackstreet and Chilli from TLC have solo albums by the end of the year, all these albums are probably coming out now 'cause the holidays are coming, they make good stuffing stockers

That's awesome to hear, definately looking forward to the king of pop's return

Ruben Studdard's album came out last week

Yeah, hopefully we could get somewhere between 6-10 teams so it could be competitive

Fat Joe: Safe to Say Part 2 By Dove ~Sheepish Lordess of Chaos~ AllHipHop.com: As far as image, you come across as a very serious person most of the time but you did a skit with Andy Milonakis, who is probably one of the craziest people in the world. Do you think that people misunderstand your personality sometimes and don’t see that you’re a fun guy? Fat Joe: Big time they mis-underestimate my personality. It’s not my fault I’m a real n***a and most rappers aint real. It’s not my fault that I go in the club maybe three or four deep and I get the respect of the n***a hustling popping the bottles, the killers. They all respect me as a man, as a serious and real n***a, I’m not the rapper getting drunk smoking a blunt in the club looking like an a**hole, or getting smacked up and robbed that’s not what I do. People take that image and they look at it like, “Damn he’s unapproachable,” but I’m the nicest dude on the planet Earth. That’s why I’m in my community, that’s why I talk to the kids and give computers back. That’s why we talk to everybody, I’m the funniest n***a. My n***a T.A. tells me, n***as ask him all the time “Yo Joe Crack, he looks serious [all the time].” Another thing is this Hip-Hop game is full of a lot of wanna be and attachable n***as and n***as bandwagon and s**t like that. I know all you n***as, I will never let you n***as hang out with me. So all these n***as that hang out with all these other rappers that I dismiss [they say] “Yo Crack you the realest. Let me hang out with you, let me hold your bag for you.” N***a please, you see me with the same n***as I move with the same crew. We’re small, we not down with the wanna be fake n***as. We’re not dissing you, we’re just not down with that - I wanna be cool and associate myself with real people. So it’s different, but actually Fat Joe is probably one of the only rappers that truly cares about his community and the people and I love people and joke with people. If I gotta play softball with people, if I’m at the Rucker and got a team, I’m walking through Harlem going to eat there, spending my money back in The Bronx I love you guys. When you see me and I just got that ice grill on in the pictures and all that, that’s part of me. That’s my Hip-Hop wild out side, but I’m a father, a family man and actually a fan and a great friend. AllHipHop.com: What’s the status of your relationships with Remy [Ma] and Tony Sunshine at this point and will you work together in the future? Fat Joe: Of course I’ll work with Remy, Remy just came to the video for “Clap and Revolve”, we talk to her every single day. I’m getting tired of answering this, but Remy Martin is the best female rapper on the planet Earth. Her album was incredible. Me and Remy argue all the time behind the scenes, because she’s my sister. She damn hear lived with me for five years, so the one time she came out the side of her mouth on the radio she was feeling pressure. She thought the album wasn’t gonna do as well as it should, so she was mad at the world but she threw me under the bus as she does to me every day. We could argue everyday, hug everyday it is what it is. Everything she was saying was actually right, but she was picking the wrong person to be mad at. I’ve been working with Steve Rifkind since Pun, he’s responsible for putting me on and making me an executive. He gave me the deal for Big Pun when everybody told him not to, all the f****ts in the industry were like, “Yo don’t work with him, them dudes are crazy” - he gave me a chance. So I was very loyal to Steve Rifkind. Because of Remy’s project I don’t talk to Steve Rifkind no more, and I have a long history with him of making mad money and doing positive things with him. I don’t even work with him no more, I took Terror Squad off of Universal because of Remy. So I was up there everyday arguing with him, arguing with the chairmans [like] Mel Lewinter, and every time you saw Remy’s album pushed back, I kept telling them to push it back because I was like, “This is not set up properly, we did not spend the right marketing money, send her out on the road long enough, spend the right money to market this video.” I know what it takes to make hits and sell tons of records and give you the visibility, so at least you have a chance. So everything she was saying, I totally agreed with her, the problem is she threw me under the bus. The difference is you gotta understand that in Hip-Hop, if she said Mel Lewinter would you care? Would you know who he is? Even with Steve Rifkind, would you care? Would you know? So what happens is when The Lox go on the radio and say “Let us go!” and Puffy cant walk through the streets because n***as is like “Yo, let them go!” but if they had signed to Rob Wockenthorn they could have been screaming that s**t for a lifetime and n***as wouldn’t give a f**k nor would they have gotten their publishing back. I know the cost of being the boss is very, very hard, and I accept that responsibility - but it is what it is. Tony Sunshine’s album is coming out in March, he’s Puerto Rican and he does Black music. He’s incredible, his album is phenomenal crack music. But we signed him to like three or four labels and they didn’t understand, they tell me, “We wanted the Latino movement.” I’m like. “Yeah well he is the Latino movement.” [They say] “Yeah but he’s Puerto Rican and he does Black music.” Well what the f**k you think Big Pun and Fat Joe is? They get nervous because they never seen nobody like him in R&B music. Right now he has a beautiful home, we signed a joint venture with UBO and these guys are motivated to popping him off. Ladies I know you’ve been waiting a long time, fellas I know you love Tony Sunshine. He’s coming out in March. I mess with very few artists because in order for me to endorse an artist or really get behind him I have to feel like they’re superstars. I brought you Big Pun, the greatest Latino ever and one of the top rappers ever. Remy Martin is the best female, I brought you producers like Cool & Dre who’s made tons of hits. I brought you DJ Khaled, best DJ on the planet Earth. So whenever you see Fat Joe embrace and mess with something, you automatically know he’s behind it and he really knows this s**t is hot. So everybody in the hood comes at me like, “Why don’t you put out more n***as?” - another thing is I’m just the middleman. Puff Daddy is a middleman, all of us are middlemen. Jimmy Iovine is the f****t’s boss [50 Cent], at the end of the day we try to get it popping but all we are, is like, spokesmen. [Like I mentioned] earlier, how many times rappers I was down with told me, “Let’s just retire, we did it already.” Every two years they tell us we should retire and we come back with a smoker. Just before “Lean Back,” I was talking to - I cant even tell you who - but they was like “Yo, you know you rich already, just give up” and I came up with “Lean Back” and smacked these n***as in their face. It’s tough to be built like this and go up against the world, really honestly, we’re the poor people’s champions. We throw rocks at tanks. A lot of people don’t want us here, a lot of f****t n***as in power, not meaning actual homosexuals, just saying the bougie society who is scared of guys like Fat Joe and they really never wanted me here. Through my music I’ve been able to last this long. Another thing is, I can’t force you to buy the record. You love the music, go buy it and support. I can’t put a bazooka at the fans and tell them go buy it. I can’t force radio and video to play my record. A lot of people think just cause Fat Joe is that tough bravado type n***a, some n***as think I done thugged my way in this industry and forced n***as to making me number one. [laughs] It’s the most illiterate s**t I ever heard, I’m working day and night trying to promote my music and go out. I can’t chase down the whole f**king country. I work for you, the people, be clear. I make music for you, if you don’t appreciate it and support it that’s your choice. AllHipHop.com: With the changing shift in Manhattan with living situations, how do you feel about the gentrification of the South Bronx and what it’s doing to the Hip-Hop culture there? Fat Joe: This ain’t a racist conversation, this is a reality conversation. I’ve heard stuff like, “Joe reps the Spanish, he might be racist.” Well, I didn’t say Public Enemy was racist and they were green, black and red and I bumped that s**t all day, I’m for everybody, the people. But the true statement [that] we’re gonna say right now, is that obviously people have to be closer to Midtown. It’s going on around the whole country, Humboldt Park in Chicago, Philly it’s going down. Whenever you see the f**king Starbucks come up and the Jamba Juice, it’s on. So you take a little old lady who owned a house in Harlem for all her life, she’s a property owner and what you do is a find a way to raise her tax so that she’s old already and can’t pay $20,000 a month in property tax. So what she has to do is sell the s**t, somebody goes to buy it who can afford it and be 10 minutes away from Manhattan. This is going on in every hood in every city in America. The thing that bothers me is I wonder where these people go. When everybody’s thrown out of hood, they move everybody out and beautify it, all of a sudden s**t starts being clean. You know when you’re in the hood you ain’t got no f**king clean s**t, it ain’t no cops, you hear a million shots. Once that Starbucks comes up and that Jamba Juice and Citarella, [there are] no more shots and cops on every corner, n***as walking freely. It’s a matter of do you wanna help or you don’t wanna help. It’s like obviously they help when they want to help.

I got this email today from Kel, did anybody else here get this? I actually did email him quite a few times to hear some of his previous material he recorded on mixtapes, this is a great idea for him to do this: First off... I'd like to thank all of you for being a part of the 3RD Power/ L. BENNETT Movement. I appreciate the love and support and ask that you continue to be a part of what we're doing as long as we're doing what you like... I just wanted to announce the Kel Spencer Re-release of 2003's "The Streets Know That EP." I was at a different level of artistry back then. I was at a different level of focus back then. I was at a different level of spirituality back then. But, due to overwhelming requests for its re release, I'm doing just that. And I'm sure you love the CD as well as the opportunity to watch my growth from one level to the next. So after receiving this e-mail, be on the look out via Myspace. JJFP Forum, etc... for the opportunity to get your hands on it and/or bring some other folks on in to the the 3RD Power family... I appreciate you. Grace and Peace... -- L. Bennett the Man, Kel Spencer the Artist

Yeah when I first heard about this rap school I had some doubts but it turns out to be really good and it shows a different side to Ice-T, he looks like he's having a lot of fun with this show

When I found out that I was getting the chance to interview one of the biggest legends in the rap game, I was hyped, but a little weary -- after all, rappers are world -- renowned for ego tripping and shutting down during interviews. But I ended up being surprised; he was humble, charismatic, and enthusiastic. And not surprisingly, after we talked for a little while about his current projects, I found out one of the game’s most outspoken rappers still has a lot to say. Young bucks, pay attention.... we have a legend in the building. Interview By SOHH Eighty SOHH Eighty: So ****’s a little hectic these days, huh? Ice-T: Yeah, well it comes like that, you know what I’m sayin’? I mean, I try to stay busy, but it seems like everything just kinda happened at the same time. And it’s really good for me right now, ya know, so I’m rollin’ with it. So far as doing the Hip Hop Honors thing, doing "Rap School," and then recording the album, which came first second and third? Well we finished the record up at the end of last year. We had the record -- we were just trying to figure out exactly how to come with it. ‘Til I hooked up with Brian Turner at Melee, we didn’t really find the right people to do the deal that I was tryin’ to do, ya know? So we been sittin’ on the record for a minute. And then the Hip Hop Honors stuff, that just came around because they honored me last year and they asked me would I be willing to do it, and I said yeah, cause, you know, the show turned out to be pretty decent. And then the "Rap School" stuff happened because I was at Vh1 dealing with the Hip Hop Honors, so when this particular project came around, they said, ‘let’s have Ice do it.’ So it’s all happening now; it just happened to be at the same time. So as far as "Rap School," how did that all come about? "Rap School" is a spinoff of a show they did called "School Of Rock," where they took Gene Simmons and had him teach some British kids about rock. When they brought it to the United States, kids wanted to learn about hip hop. And they decided they wanted to go to the oddest place and pick the farthest-removed kids, so they went to an upscale New York school called York Prep and pick the last kids that you think would know about rap. And then somebody -- I don’t know who -- said, ‘let’s call Ice and see if he’ll do it. He’s like the worst gangster rapper so let’s see if we get him in there how it’ll come out.’ And when I heard the project, I thought it was kinda clever, so I said, ‘yeah, that’s cool.’ And plus, I got kids so I know how to act with kids, and then maybe it’ll give me a chance not only to educate these kids, but educate the whole world about rap. Did any of these kids end up surprising you by knowing a little bit about hip hop, or were all of them completely in the dark? Nah, not really. You get in there with a bunch of 12-year-olds, I’m not expecting to pull Jay Z outta there. I just kinda rolled with ‘em and taught ‘em the fundamentals, and taught ‘em the culture, and taught ‘em what hip hop was all about. It wasn’t really about making anybody a tremendous rapper. At the end of the day, these kids had to open for Public Enemy. For lack of a better word, it’s kinda cute -- they tryna go for it, these are youngsters, ya know? And we wasn’t puttin’ too much pressure on ‘em. A lot of people thought I was gonna abuse ‘em and I’m like, ‘C’mon, gimme some 18, 19 year old kids and I’ll send ‘em through boot camp. But that’s not what this show’s about -- it’s more like, you just gotta laugh at it, it’s funny. Did you have fun doing it, or was it a little frustrating sometimes? I had fun doin’ it. It was different for me. You know, I’m always doing something so dark and so sinister. I had some laughs with the kids, it was cool. It shows another side of me. But I had to put my foot in some of they asses, ‘cause a lot of these kids don’t deal with discipline; these are rich kids that kinda have their own way. So I was like, ‘Well look, you ain’t gonna have that with me.” Are any of your kids within the age range that these kids were? Yeah, my kid came on the show. Lil’ Ice showed up, He’s 14 now. He got a whole ‘nother demeanor and a whole ‘nother swagger than these kids, but he kicked back, you know? He’s a different kind of cat, so they let him make his comments on the kids, but I don’t know if they cut that out of the show or not; I haven’t seen those episodes. So as far as the Vh1 Hip Hop Honors show, do you think that’s gonna shed some new light for a lot of kids? Well, you’re dealing with a generation right now, a lot of these kids that are so deep into hip hop, have never seen Ice Cube perform. There are rappers that have never actually seen Rakim. Do you think that a lot of hip hop fans today are kind of disconnected from the history of Hip Hop? I think hip hop right now is pop. The underground is still the underground and the internet feeds that, but right now, the average hip hop fan doesn't know the first thing about it; they think Justin Timberlake’s hip hop. If you don’t know your history -- I mean, it’s like being a jazz fan and not knowing who Dizzy Gillespie is. If you really are hip hop, you should research the history and find out where it came from. You know, there’s a lot of kids who think Eminem is the first white rapper- Nah man, you could take it back to Beastie Boys or 3rd Bass... Right. But see, that’s what you do. But there’s people that don’t know that. Even when I did "Rap School," I asked the kids, ‘Who’s the first rapper you ever heard of?’ and they said Nelly. Yikes. Yeah. Exactly. So that’s what this show is about -- it’s kinda like a good feeling for people who come from back in the day, and it’s kind of an eye-opener for some of the kids that are lovin’ the music today. A couple years back if you looked at Vh1’s programing, they wouldn’t really **** with hip hop. They would play Chris Isaak. Yeah, Exactly. I was gonna say they were on some really safe, adult contemporary kinda ****. And now it seems like they’re doing some pretty decent **** as far as hip hop on television is concerned. Well you know what happens, man? The executives had to change places, and a lot of the kids that were interns end up being producers. Things change. Fab Five Freddy was the first host of Yo! MTV Raps and was in Wild Style, so you can’t get much more O.G. than that. But those cats, they, know. And right now, they’re up, saying, ‘Who we gonna get next year?’ and they’re movin’ names around and they’re tryin to do the right thing. So you don’t think it’s completely commercially-driven? Well, it’s all commercial, and once it’s on television, it’s commercial. Once you make a record and it’s on the radio, it’s commercial. The only reason they play your record on the radio is because they can get listeners and they can sell ‘em some soap or soda. But I don’t really look at it like that, I look at it from the other side. Right now, there are no television shows on network television or cable where you can see live rap. So it’s kind of like the lesser of evils? Well I don’t even see it as an evil because everyone who makes a record wants to get on MTV or Vh1. I mean, when you get in the business, you’re like, ‘Damn, man, maybe one time I’ll be on MTV,’ ya know? That’s the goal of an artist: to be seen and to be heard. I think they respected it and they did it well. You gotta really watch it and see it. It’s complicated. I mean, I understand your point, but I think it’s kinda like, everybody’s tryin to make a buck, and this is a good show with a good vibe to it, you know what I’m sayin’? But thank God somebody came up with it, ‘cause you can watch enough awards shows and see the guy that did it last year; we already know Kanye West sold a billion records. But, you know, where did Kanye get his influence from? I wasn’t trying to hate on it. I mean, Vh1 is actually putting on some programming that’s actually entertaining and isn’t the same recycled garbage... or at least some of it isn’t. Trust me, when a lot of people heard about "Rap School," they was like, ‘It’s exploitive, it’s corny, yadadadada,’ but now that people are getting a chance to see it they’re like, ‘Yo, this is so good, it’s a good look, ‘cause Ice is teachin people all about rap and teachin’ it the right way and lettin’ people see what it’s really about.’ And the first thing I taught these kids, I said, ‘Look. Hip hop is from your own experience, so therefore I rap from my own experience. I was gangbangin’ and all that stuff, but none of y’all came from that. Not one of y’all came from that. So the only way you gonna rap in front of me is you have to draw from your own life. And then we gonna take it from there.’ So you ain’t got no thug rappers ‘cause none of ‘em lived it. So it’s kinda like I’m explainin’ to the world why certain people rap a certain way, ya know? I think the key is who’s behind it. When you have Vh1 and you have a bunch of square people that have no understanding of hip hop tryin’ to do something, then you lookin’ at some bull****. But on my show I got DJ Premier, Kid Capri, I got Common, I got Chuck D... we got official people. So they put in the hands of someone who knows what to do with it. Got to, got to. Because, you know, I’ve been doin’ this rap **** for twenty-somethin’ years and me and Luke and Cube, we fought the wars. There were wars so that hip hop could live on today. They used to snatch Luke off the stage, you know what I mean? They used to run us out of town. Ain’t no rappers gettin’ in trouble for rappin’ no more. That was an era in hip hop where hip hop was actually dangerous. And as far as people who personified that, I mean, you need look no further than your Rolling Stone cover from when Body Count was doin’ their thing and you guys had just dropped “Cop Killer.” And this might be something you’re sick of talking about, but you guys did blaze a trail and now the **** is just clear and open for hip hop artists to run through. Aww, nah, nah, now you go out, you get your G Unit CD, you pack it in your little daughter’s knapsack and send her on spring break. The danger, the scariness... I mean, it’s just because it was brand new. I think once Eminem did it, everybody just said, ‘Ok. We’re scared for the last time.’ And I don’t necessarily think we needed anybody to be scared, I just think it was a shock period where people just weren’t used to the hood. America had never really seen the ghetto, they had never seen us. And of course, initially, they were scared. And then, after awhile, you know, they were like, ‘You know, I kinda like Ice. I kinda like Snoop.’ You know what I’m saying?And we like, ‘We cool, dog. We just tellin’ you what’s goin’ on in our neighborhood,’ you know? So after a while it kinda mellowed out, but it’s pop now. It’s popular culture. You don’t say ‘nigga’ on you record, you say ‘killa,’ and they play it. I could tell you stories- wild stories -of me and Too Short and The Geto Boys gettin’ arrested; I mean, it was outlaw music. You would come into town and the cops would meet you at your hotel and warn you... it was bananas. But that’s what made that so intriguing back then and nowadays, so much of it just seems... bland. But I don’t really think it’s bland, I just think your brain has accepted it. So you’ve kinda like, stepped up to it and understand it on another level. But honestly, to us it was bland then. The gangstas, it was just what we talked. I mean, it scared America, but to us it was just like,’This is how it is, cuzz.’ I think now, the world kinda understands it- it’s just the truth, it’s hat’s really going on. But then also, you got the influence of a bunch of fake people making the music that never been through it and they dilute it too, because now you don’t know what’s real and what’s not. And that ****s it up. To Be Continued...

Yeah I heard this album's really good and some of her best work , Monica's definately one of the great singers, I got it on a wishlist of albums I wanna get soon, lot of good music coming out lately

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguide...%2Aentries%2A=0 Lyrics Born founded the Northern California hip-hop collective Solesides in 1992 along with DJ Shadow and Blackalicious. Originally recording as Asia Born (his birth name is Tom Shimura), LB adopted his present moniker in 1996 when he began recording with his labelmate Lateef. His latest album, Same !@#$ Different Day, is a remix of 2003's Later That Day..., which was easily one of the most creative hip-hop albums of the year. We asked LB to tell us about the music he loves and thinks his fans should hear, and this is what he had to say. Find more artists' recommendations on our main Music You Should Hear page: http://www.amazon.com/mysh Lyrics Born's List of Music You Should Hear Thriller, Michael Jackson As a child you cannot believe how exciting the whole 'Thriller' era was. The height of parachute pants, zipper jackets, white gloves, drip curls, and baby hair. MJ moonwalking TWICE at the Motown anniversary special!?!?…Even the 300 lb. redneck 7-11 clerk was talking about that the next day. How many would-be artists decided they wanted to be performers that day? At least one. Paid in Full, Eric B. and Rakim This joint brought hip-hop in the modern era. No more shouting, no more "Yes yes y'all," no more drum machines. Rakim's calm, spacious, and intelligent writing and delivery mixed with Eric B.'s sample-heavy, cohesive, and clear production would be the benchmark for hip-hop for the next 15 years. They are still the only group that got their start in the '80s that consistently makes everyone's top 10 to this day. By All Means Necessary, Boogie Down Productions Of course, everyone acknowledges BDP's first LP, Criminal Minded, as a bona fide classic, but to me, 'By All Means' was what propelled KRS-One to the forefront of hip-hop. Released at the early stages of the "conscious" era of hip-hop, KRS began to spread his wings and make huge strides as an artist, creating an amazingly multifaceted LP, where subjects ranged from safe sex to battling emcees. 3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul What more can I say about De La? Along with Run-DMC, Eric B. and Rakim, Public Enemy, etc., De La is one of the greatest rap groups of all time. Their abstract and unpredictable flows combined with Prince Paul's idiosyncratic production made it okay to color outside the lines in hip-hop. The game would not be what it is without the contributions of De La Soul, which now span 3 decades. AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube Fresh from his breakup with the world's most notorious rap group, N.W.A., the scowling, howling, front man went for dolo and created one of the most visual, edgy, and provocative records of that era, regardless of genre. Cube worked with legendary producers the Bomb Squad of Public Enemy fame to create a harrowing soundscape that made Amerikkka take a good long look at itself in the mirror, showing the nation what the networks wouldn't.

A lot of mcs say that they look up to JJFP like Fat Joe, TI, Ludacris, Nelly, Jay-Z, and even supposedly Will's biggest hater Eminem was listening to JJFP growing up, lol

This is really getting to be annoying, if you don't like listening to certain rappers then don't make a million posts about saying how much you don't like them, it's getting ridiculous guys, there's enough good music out there where we don't need to make posts about wack artists, let's spend more time talking about that instead :bat: Why are we even considered hip-hop fans if all we do is complain about hip-hop being wack or hip-hop being dead? We could do better than this, JJFP are open minded individuals, there's certain things about the rap game that they don't like but they don't spend all their time complaining about it, keep in mind that Will didn't say who's lost in his song "Lost and Found", he shouted out the artists he sees that're found, if hip-hop fans shined light more on the positive artists rather than the negative artists hip-hop would be where it needs to be, we need to make a difference as fans....

lol thats so childish i never considered goning on the board over there but it has nothing to do with that anyway where do you get 99% of my post when i also posted about other things as well? why are you bringing up posts about him? why even open the post? i can't have an opinion ? why do you care so deeply that i defend him? ITS MY OPINION ! I didn't make this thread and you're entitled to your opinion but you're outnumbered man, you'll be better off defending somebody else since nobody here like 50 Cent besides you 'cause if you're gonna defend 50 Cent most of the time here what's the point of posting?

He's one of the top producers in hip-hop, the album really is basically a mix in between since he works with all different artists, man all you gotta do is read the interview I posted and you'll know a lil' bit more about him, just looking at the intro of it gives you an idea: "It’s amazing that Hi-Tek could float under the radar for the past five years and yet still have so many production credits to his name. But since he’s joined in the ranks of Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment and the label’s growing stable of artists and producers, Tek has seen his name drop in a few places hip-hop heads might not have expected, lending his production talents to the likes of 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, G-Unit, Busta Rhymes and The Game. Now trying to build his own production company, push along the career of singer Dion, also signed to Aftermath, and preparing to release his highly anticipated sophomore album, Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip, the Cincinnati producer spoke with AllHipHop.com about his upcoming about, why it took so long to drop and how his production has evolved since his days of Reflection Eternal and Black Star."

I feel you there man, hopefully a day comes where all these suckas like him will get dropped by record labels and all the deserving artists get the due they deserve, btw 50'll never make it as an actor, his movie got trashed reviews and it flopped horribly, lollololololol

lloyd banks #3 on billboard 200 isn't a flop and when you do 100,000$ to 100,000 from january to january that is not a flop either this sounds fake #3 is bad for G-Unit, I thought they were supposed to be the top selling group in music, they only brag about their sales all the time so if they don't sell millions they're a flop, selling 100,000 in the first week instead of what they used to do a couple years ago shows that they're fading out, they're a faze that's getting played out, now if they were real artists like FP and didn't worry about sales and actually let it be about the music then these artists ain't a flop, the only thing G-Unit had was sales and now that's gone they're nothing, G-Unit don't represent real music so they're a flop, people are finding other artists to listen to, 50 Cent fans are starting to like who he dissed more than him now, even Fat Joe could sell more than 100,000 in the first week and 50 made fun of him for doing that last year but now the table's turned on him and his click and he's wondering why he's getting dissed for now, lol, and you're out of line to say that Hi-Tek album is only average at best when G-Unit ain't even close to being average, to quote my man Nas "It's real hip-hop not that 50 Cent ****" you were out a line for that why? so bitter and all you just said made no sense because you have no proof of that not to mention g-unit ain't going nowhere and is not a fad people still feel them more than the people they dissed , not to mention they are real artist you sound no better than 50 with this grade school nonsense you gotta be above that , and wasn't this an opinion board? you do know i have a right to my own opinion plus if anyone was out of line it was you with that last comment Why are 99% of your posts defending 50 Cent for? Can't you realise that most of us here don't like him? Go to the G-Unit groupie board so you could defend him all you want if you wanna make 99% of your posts about them

That's what Fat Joe's saying: Fat Joe: [They] gotta make good music. It’s too simple, I sit here and I listen to mix shows and all these rappers are rapping about the same things. You can’t even tell the difference who’s who, same kind of music. Every beat sounds like the same guy made it, even though different people made it. We basically gotta start making hit records.... He's saying that the artists need to do less complaining about what coast is selling more than the other and just make great music that everyone would want to bump, not just a certain region, he's saying rappers need to make universal music, there's some cats on the east coast saying the south is wack when they put out wack music too and they wonder why they ain't selling, they need to look in the mirror before dissing

Man that's dope, thanks for sharing

South rappers collab more with each other, that's why they're so popular, people like to hear collabos, a lot of east coast rappers beef with each other instead of recording hits together, in order for NY and the east coast to get back to the top of the map rappers need to stop beefing, if there's more big collabs like Busta's "Touch It" remix then the east coast will be on top of the game again