bigted

Hey now the Jay-Z' song's cool but I find it a lil' weak that I see him using that song in a beer commercial when probably most of his fans are too young to be drinkin', that's not a good look

Aight let me break this down, I think Will criticises gangsta rap 'cause of the fact that people constantly diss him for not being a real rapper 'cause he ain't hardcore, he don't really have anything against gangsta rap, he's not a hater, he talks about Pac and Biggie 'cause he likes their music, it's more of a thing that he's angry at how the record companies only promote gangsta rap and fans get brainwashed into thinking that if you ain't a hardcore rapper then you're soft, he's basically saying that just 'cause I ain't a gangsta rapper don't mean that I ain't a talented rapper, like he says on "I Wish I Made That" that people sleep on his talent 'cause he don't make hardcoresongs like "Drop It Like It's Hot" and "Lean Back" but if you put Will in a battle with Fat Joe and Snoop he'd definately hold his own lyrically at the very least where more than likely he'd crush them, what's wack about the rap game is that people buy albums off of image instead of talent, if you ain't rapping about booze, guns, and drugs then you ain't gonna sell records even if you got mad talentand that's what makes gangsta rap wack, and ironically as I'm typing this I see the brand new Jay-Z Budweiser commercial come on in between the Mets game I'm watching, it's like people diss positive rappers like Hammer for advertising healthy things like cereal and Gatorade but if you're a hardcore rapper advertising Budweiser or Miller Lite(Flava Flav's my man but thumbs down to that) then you're looked at as cool.... Talib Kweli got much more elevated wordplay than Eminem does but he ain't rapping about killing his mother so he ain't selling anything, Kel Spencer would've blown up like 50 Cent by now if he was rapping about getting shot 9 times, sad but true but it's just like how there's probably a lot of average looking girls that could sing really good but don't have dynamite bodies like Britney and Christina so they won't get record deals, the whole music industry's that way, that's why I don't really pay attention much to mainstream stuff, I'm more into good music rather than the image, it don't hold much weight to me, I think Will does probably listen to a lot of different types of music besides hip-hop too...

Update: Cops Target Fabolous In NBA Robbery Wednesday - October 18, 2006 by Dick Johnson Investigators are looking into a connection between the shooting of Fabolous and an NBA player having his chain robbed minutes before the incident, police said. Reports have surfaced that Sebastian Telfair, a point guard for the Boston Celtics, was stripped of his $64,000 chain minutes before Fab was shot in front of Sean "Diddy" Combs' Justin's Restaurant in New York City (October 17). Initial reports had Fab being shot in the leg following an altercation in front of the restaurant. Detectives apparently learned of the robbery while probing Fab's shooting. A dozen men, including the Brooklyn rapper, were brought into the 13th precinct for lineups. Ed Hayes, Telfair's attorney, told ABC's Eyewitness News that his client was "being cooperative." Telfair, the cousin of New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury, first gained national prominence as a high school hoop star in Brooklyn, NY. "He's a witness and nobody suspects him of anything," Hayes told Eyewitness. "He's a lovely young man." Fab is set to be arraigned on weapon charges in Lower Manhattan, NY today. According to investigators, Rascharm Davis, 29, Percell German, 23 and Kevin Bass, 18, are also scheduled to appear in court today.

Tyrese Reveals Talking With Fabolous, Cassidy Around Time Of Incidents Singer/rapper also says he roped in Game, Snoop, R. Kelly, Lil Jon, Method Man for double-LP. by Shaheem Reid NEW YORK — Tyrese was on cloud nine Monday night at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, introducing his rapping alter ego, Black Ty, to a crowd of fans and celebrities. But on Tuesday, the R&B-singer-turned-actor was quickly brought down from his high and forced to reflect on a startling series of events. Among the people who came out to support him Monday night was none other than Fabolous. Ty said he was shocked when he heard the following day that Fab had been shot just hours after the concert (see "Fabolous Shot And Arrested In New York"). "I just heard this morning," Tyrese said Tuesday in the MTV News offices. "I was just with him. He was in my dressing room last night hanging out. He leaves my concert, goes to a restaurant, gets shot. Crazy. But that's what hip-hop is. Is it threatening, intimidating? Yeah. At times." Police are still investigating the Fabolous shooting, and although the Brooklyn MC did not suffer life-threatening injuries, his troubles are not over. On Tuesday he was officially charged with criminal possession of a weapon and possession of a defaced firearm (see "Fabolous Slapped With Two Weapon-Possession Charges"). As disturbing as it was for Ty to hear about his friend Fab, he was comforted by other news Tuesday via a call from Cassidy, who he considers a brother. The rapper, who was critically injured in a separate recent car accident, had been in a coma (see "Cassidy's Lawyer Says Rapper Is On 'Road To Recovery' After Crash"). Now, with his medical condition improving, Cass is alert. He says they spoke for two hours. "He feels like, within a year, so many horrible things have happened in his life, from the murder trial to now this accident," Tyrese explained. "So many things are going on in his life that the public don't know about, that I know about. And he's actually happy [the car crash] happened. He feels it's all a part of God's plan to make him a better man. "He said to me, 'Tyrese, it's crazy. Six people in the car, I'm the only one that got hurt, the only one that ended in a coma. That was supposed to happen,' " Tyrese added. "He's learning, he's mannin' up. He was like, 'When I get out, I'm gonna be at about 75 percent, but I'm coming out a whole 'nother man. I'mma be at 50 to 75 percent mentally, but I'm gonna be at 150 percent as a man.' So he's actually feeling like what he's going through, he's happy it happened. He's blessed. I never heard it put like that." Cassidy remains hospitalized. Meanwhile, Tyrese — who says he's the most determined man anyone will meet — presses on with his own career. His next project is called Alter Ego and is a double-LP featuring one disc of R&B selections and one consisting of nothing but raps from Black Ty (see "Tyrese Gives In To Rap Passion, Plans To 'Change The World' With Double LP"). The hip-hop side features friends such as Cassidy, Game, Snoop Dogg and Method Man. Meth appears on the single "Get It In," which was produced by Scott Storch. The song is a party record, and Ty says he's been lacking those in his catalog. "People don't dance to my R&B songs," he said. "Everything about what I'm doing is real spiritual," he said about his rapping side. "We pray before we rhyme. We keep everything humble. We don't be in the studio rappin' about who shot you, bustin' heads on the curb. I want to make hip-hop fun again. Everything is so dark." Ty — who also has a Black Ty mixtape on the streets called Ghetto Royalty — worked with the likes of Lil Jon and R. Kelly on the R&B half of Alter Ego. He has a single out as well, "One," in which he talks about settling down with one woman. Alter Ego comes out on December 19.

I was switchin' back and forth between watching that and the Mets game last night, I'm gonna check the re-run to see the full performances, I liked a lot of what I saw, btw I saw a commercial on VH1 about Ice-T hosting a reality series "Rap School" I believe it's called, I'm sure to be checking that out....

Well sadly I think there are many people that're gonna always think like that, his success in Hollywood has been the gift and the curse, it'd take him selling over 100 million albums to equal the massive success that his movies get, it shouldn't be that way at all, his Hollywood career has overshadowed his rap career but he shouldn't worry much about it, easy for me to say since I ain't in his shoes, the thing is though that all the criticism probably gets to him as much as I hope that it wouldn't 'cause if I was in that position I could how it might not be fun to rap much anymore 'cause whenever he raps he faces criticism, what's the point to rap if you're only rapping all the time against the criticism, that ain't fun, he's released a lot more classic albums than mostly every rapper ever has, he shouldn't have to prove anything at this point, he should get the recognition for what's he's done in the rap game already, how much does he have to do to get it? Releasing 9 albums selling over 30 million albums, basically creating a path for other rappers to expand their careers into acting, and winning the 1st rap grammy ever in a span of 20 years should be good enough already but people overlook that to a degree, he might get a lil' bit more respect after releasing "Lost and Found",there's more hate than love still since he ain't thugged out like the other popular rappers it might be hard for some to accept him and there's really this backlash to a lot of older rappers for some reason by fans, record labels, and even some younger rappers which is sad to say, Rhymefest talks about this in his blog on SOHH.com btw,there shouldn't be a clock for greatness, rappers should be able to go as long as they want to, since majority of the rap consumers are younger they seem to only want to hear from rappers closer to their age which doesn't make sense, I'm discusted of my generation quite a bit, personally I don't give a damn if the artist is 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, or 70 years old, if that artist makes good music I support, I ain't gonna stop trying to get in the game either no matter how long it takes either... Being in the spotlight that long he desires to be loved for what he does, listen to "Could You Love Me" and you understand what he means, it's probably more fun to do movies 'cause he don't receive much criticism, people all ages and walks of life appreciate a good movie but it's really hard for certain people to accept a good rap album,we all could relate to that 'cause in our lives we want to do something that people'll appreciate and if we don't see people appreciating us for it we might not want to do that job anymore, Will probably gave up rapping for a while after "Code Red" 'cause he put a lot of work into album just as much as his earlier JJFP albums but because rap's image changed people didn't check for it, really though whenever he put work on his movies he'd get more and more recognition, if "Lost and Found" was a movie it'd been the biggest of his career but with music it ain't like that, it's all image more than anything which is sad, he put out an album better than a lot of the thugged out and younger rappers and it deserved to outsell all of them, Game says on his single about older rappers "You're 38 and still rappin'? Uhhhh", when in reality one bar from 38 year old Will Smith is better than his whole career's worth, but hey that's ok when he gets to Will's age 10 years from now he'll go through the same thing from some other younger and I'm sure he won't like that either, that's if he still has a career left, with the way the rap industry's going who knows if it'll even be around in a few years, people're losing interest in it, throwing the pioneers out the door is ultimately what's gonna end it I believe, if the older generation ain't there to lead it'll become disorganised, like my man fuq says "Some of my past will stay with me in the future", that's what the rap game needs to do to survive, we can't forget our past, need to keep it in our present.... The thing about the rap game that really hurts it's image is that there's talented rappers like FP who get dissed 'cause they ain't hardcore enough, not saying that hardcore rappers ain't talented but the point is that you could do a movie and image doesn't matter, only the performance does, that's what should matter the most but it ain't that way it seems, as a fan it's dissapointing to see fans argue over who is the hardest rapper rather than focus on who's the most talented, on top of that as an up and coming artist like myself it hurts me to know that most of the rappers from my generation that're rapping about selling drugs'll get a record deal faster than the ones like me that're writing songs with positive messages to them even if they all have the same amount of skills, Kel Spencer didn't blow up yet not 'cause he don't have skills but 'cause he don't fit in with what the industry wants, if FP was 18 years old and coming up now in 2006 he'd probably have to go to college and not decide to rap 'cause he wouldn't make it now even with his up and coming classic albums he's was working with Jazzy Jeff would be fire, it shouldn't be that way, when Will first came into the rap game fans were more open minded than they are now and it was strictly about who had the most skills to get on, that's why the fans who're around his age might not listen much to rap anymore either or say rap is dying from the way that really there's no appreciation for the history, the public might sleep on Will as a rapper but they know him as an actor but there are some pioneers like Kurtis Blow where the public don't even know who he is if you ask them, it's better to be known for something than nothing, no appreciation for the music anymore or the history....

We gotta wait a couple more weeks... http://www.amazon.com/Hip-Hop-Forever-Vol-...ie=UTF8&s=music

"Some of my past will stay with me in the future" Yeah our past really could be helpful for the future, it's like that cliche of how history repeats itself, certain experiences that we go through in the past are things that are used to bring a stronger future, true words my friend

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6101301426.html

Well that's the difference between when Teddy Riley sampled it, he didn't use Flava's voice, but he did do the saxaphone loop sample just like Jay-Z' song like I said earlier: "Show Me," which samples a saxophone loop originally used on Public Enemy's "Show Em Whatcha Got" from the group's 1988 Def Jam album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"

The sample is "Show 'Em Whatcha Got" from PE's "Nation Of A Millions" album in 1988, Teddy Riley used that sample on "Rump Shaker" too, they showed the video for this Jay-Z song on Monday Night Football last night, very dope video, alotta energy

Rapper Fabolous Shot in NYC Parking Garage By SAMANTHA GROSS Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - Rapper Fabolous was shot early Tuesday as he stood at a Manhattan parking garage, spurring a sequence of events that left him both hospitalized in stable condition and under arrest, police said. The rapper, whose legal name is John Jackson, was shot once in the thigh when a male with a gun approached him and three others and opened fire, police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wysokowski said. The four jumped into a vehicle and fled, attracting the attention of police. Officers stopped them and discovered two guns in the vehicle, both of which were apparently unlicensed, Wysokowski said. All four men were arrested, and charges were pending. The rapper was taken to a hospital. Police were searching for the shooter. The Brooklyn native's hits have included, "Breathe" and "Can't Deny It," and his songs cover topics ranging from romance to street life and violence. He recently took part in the taping of the VH1 Hip Hop Honors, which were to air Tuesday evening. An e-mail seeking comment from a representative at Def Jam Recordings was not immediately returned early Tuesday. The label is producing the rapper's upcoming solo album, due out in December, according to Fabolous' Web page on MySpace.com.

you guys should read his blogs on sohh.com, that's a real dude right there...

The JJFP album could be released independently for the hip-hop heads with Jazzy producing about 80% of the album(Pete Rock, DJ Premiere, and Teddy Riley could get one track each) and the FP solo album could be released on Interscope for the commercial fans(the popular names like Timbo, Swizz Beats, Will.I.Am, and Neptunes doing all the production), that'd be the best way to do it, the way things are looking right now though FP being involved in an album in the near future looks uncertain but in the meantime we know one thing for certain, at least we got Jazzy's "Hip-Hop Forever 3" coming out tomorrow and "Return Of The Magnificent" to look forward to in the near future

Jazzy was involved in producing "La Fiesta", "So Fresh", "Pump Me Up", "Can You Feel Me?", "Potnas/Interlude", "No More", "Uuhhh", and "The Rain", how's that only 2 tracks?, that's really 8/15 tracks if you do the math for "Willenium",while he produced "Twinkle Twinkle", "I Wanna Rock", and "Boom! Shake The Room street remix", 3/12 for "Code Red" The album that Jazzy produced a couple tracks was "Big Willie Style" in "Don't Say Nothin'" and "It's All Good" which is actually 2/12 tracks if you don't count the interludes Game, set, match :stickpoke:

Yeah Jazzy Jeff actually produced more on "Willenium" than he did on "Code Red" believe it or not, Jazzy produced 3 tracks on "Code Red" while he produced most of "Willenium"

Name: Gracia Miller Jr. Age: 21 Location: Seaside Heights, New Jersey JJFP Fan Since: 1997 Job:Currently unemployed, was working this past summer on boardwalk, graduated from online college last year studying computer programming

Yeah I'd rather see Will take his time and do an album with Jazzy Jeff but I'd definately not mind another "Lost and Found", "Willenium", or "Big Willie Style" type album with something fresh for these times, I'd still buy the album whether it's Will Smith or Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince album as long as it ain't another "Born To Reign" again that'd tarnish the legacy I could deal with that, Will really don't have to prove anything though, he's just doing it for the love of the game at this point, he made his impact on the rap game already, and there's plenty of great music that he made to hold me over, he don't need to rush out another album to please me, another JJFP album would be nice course but if it don't happen it ain't the end of the world

Bump up for anyone that's interested and didn't see the post

Rhymefest Heads To The UK To Meet With Conservative Party Leader By Nolan Strong Date: 10/15/2006 7:50 pm Chicago rapper Rhymefest will act as an international spokesman for Hip-Hop culture when he meets with Conservative Party leader David Cameron in the United Kingdom this week. Rhymefest will meet with Cameron at the House of Commons on Thursday (Oct. 19) to help change the politician's view of Hip-Hop music, according to UK daily The Sun. Cameron criticized BBC's Radio 1 during a British Society of Magazine Editors event last June, accusing the station of playing music that "encourages people to carry guns and knives." He singled out the station's Saturday night schedules, which includes DJ Tim Westwood's Hip-Hop show. Cameron's comments came during an outbreak of violence in the United Kingdom that claimed various victims, including a 29-year-old policewoman and a 15-year-old schoolboy. BBC's Radio 1 denied Cameron's accusations and defended it's programming stating the station followed "strict producer guidelines that govern all of the output." In August, Rhymefest responded in an open letter aimed at changing the Conservative Party leader's views of Hip-Hop music. "My challenge, is to ask that you sit down and have a cup of tea with me," Rhymefest wrote. "In fact, let me come and perform for you. I am sure you will see that rap music is more than murder music or knife culture. "If you truly believe this is a democracy then sit down and discuss with me the issues that you see. And if you are correct, and your opinion of rap music is the same, then we should come together with the community; rappers, politicians and radio DJs, and have a wider discussion...because, Mr Cameron, this generalisation is not all of us, it’s just a few bad apples that spoil the bunch...let’s solve the problem of the rap community in a civilised way and in a way that music can still be entertaining." Rhymefest admitted he was surprised to learn Cameron had accepted his challenge to meet and have a constructive conversation. "Whoever thought that the power of the pen was truly mightier than the sword? Coming from a ghetto on the South Side of Chicago, I know I didn't," Rhymefest wrote on his Myspace.com blog. "Well, maybe now it's time for me to accept my responsibility, face my trial in life and take my place in history." According to Rhymefest, reporters from MTV and the BBC will cover the meeting.

I don't think he'll do that, he'll probably just release an album then he might say in an interview a couple years later if they ask him about when he's gonna rap again he'll say that he's done, btw he did say in an interview earlier this year that Tim posted how he said he's not working on music lately so who knows if we'll even get another album, I don't even worry about it anymore, it's his life man, if he wants to go on and do other things that's ok at this point

Yeah that "Born To Reign" title did seem misleading, there was no reign on that album, he got too much in a confort zone from all of his success and really didn't have much fire to make that album, it really seemed at that point that he could do no wrong, the dissapointment probably actually motivated for him to comeback strong to show that he still got it, now if "Lost and Found" really is his swan song he's going out on top, as long as Will still got the motivation to still make more albums then he should do it but if he doesn't then he shouldn't, he don't need to do an album just to say he's doing an album and have people saying he's hanging on too long

Yeah what Will did on "Lost and Found" shows that he definately could still go as long as he wants to, it wouldn't make sense for him to stop now, it sure don't seem like he needs to, he shows that he's still in the prime of his career where before it looked like he was losing some his reign on "Born To Reign", there's no doubting his ability, why retire now?

Maybe the best thing for Will to do is to release an album the same time as one of his movies like Outkast and TI did this year, most likely it'll probably be like "Lost and Found" where it's a blend of his old and new school style songs, and hopefully with a lot of the G-Unit and Shady artists flopping over the last year maybe Interscope might give Will a bigger chance in promotion since they see that the public is starting to grow tired of gangsta rap, Interscope has shownbig support to Black Eyed Peas over the last couple years or so who make positive rap like Will does, I think when the time comes where Will decides not to make albums I don't think he'll announce it, we'll just know after a while, like if we see that in 5-10 years that he hasn't released album yet we should know that he ain't gonna be rapping anymore