bigted

He's not really one of my favorite rappers but Luda's definately one of the better commercial rappers over the recent years, he got a hot flow, I'll probably be checking for this album, btw "Money Maker" is getting quite bit of airplay right now, every time I turn on the radio I hear it playing it seems, it's in the top 10 on the Billboard pop charts, he seems to be the only rapper that Def Jam's supporting at the moment

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DMX and his rival Ja Rule have "squashed" their long-standing beef thanks to efforts from their mutual friend Irv Gotti. The two rappers have been waging a war of words for years after DMX accused Ja Rule of copying his gruff style on records. Meetings between the two have come close to blows. But when Ja Rule's label boss Gotti insisted the pair stage a secret summit meeting to discuss their differences, the seed of peace was planted. DMX admits he initially wanted to scrap with his rap rival when he was released from jail last year before making peace: "Gotti came to me in jail and said I want to make peace with you and him. "I was like, 'Alright Gotti, let's do it. But I need five minutes in a room with your man. I got to put my hands on him.'" But the tough-talking rapper eventually saw sense and agreed to meet with his one-time foe: "Gotti sat down and we squashed it. I said he (Ja Rule) got to stop sounding like me." http://www.hiphopgame.com/news.php3?id=1411

Yeah this has to be a tough time for the family, that statement Run made shows the type of strong minded person he is btw

Well I was a lil' nervous about getting this album with hearing that JD was gonna have quite a bit of imput on this album 'cause a lot of his recent production has been kinda watered down, and if your review is accurate to what it really is than I think that she's gonna have to seperate her love from music, she should work with other producers to give her music more edge instead of having her man do it

This is an unfortunate situation, Run-Dmc were tight on and off the mic, I find that hard to believe there that Dmc would snub them if they asked for help, I think Big Pun's family came out and tried to say something against Fat Joe not supporting them last year, I don't think that's right, the families should be able to support themselves like anyone else in society at this point, if Fat Joe wants to help Big Pun's family out of the kindness of his heart he could and if DMC wants to help JMJ's family out of the kindness of his heart he could but they're not necessarily obligated legally either, I don't think when JMJ was alive that he was the only one in the family with a job...

Motive Sought in Colo. School Shooting By CATHERINE TSAI Associated Press Writer BAILEY, Colo. - The high school in this tiny mountain town was closed Thursday, a day after a mysterious gunman took six girls hostage in a classroom for hours before fatally wounding one and then killing himself as authorities stormed in. "We are a community in mourning," schools superintendent Jim Walpole said. "Our thoughts, our prayers are with our students, staff and their families. Especially the family of the student we lost." The victim was identified by acquaintances and a co-worker as 16-year-old Emily Keyes, shown in a yearbook photo as a smiling blonde who played volleyball and was on the debate team at Platte Canyon High School. She was pronounced dead at a Denver hospital after Wednesday's standoff, which reminded many people of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High, less than an hour's drive away. There was no known link between Keyes and the gunman, who was not identified by authorities. Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener, who had a son in the school as the drama unfolded, was at a loss to explain a motive. "I don't know why he wanted to do this," Wegener said, his voice breaking. The gunman claimed he had explosives in a backpack and was wielding a handgun, authorities said. He released four hostages one by one, then abruptly cut off communication with authorities and set a deadline that forced authorities to act. Wegener wouldn't say what the man threatened to do. He said authorities used explosives as they entered the classroom, only to have the suspect fire at officers, shoot one of the girls and then himself. Authorities were investigating whether any of the girls were sexually assaulted, said Lance Clem, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety. School was canceled for the rest of the week at the high school and the adjoining middle school. The sheriff, a 36-year resident of Bailey, said he knew the slain girl's family and was "scared to death" as he handled the hostage situation. He said the gunman threatened the girls almost throughout the four-hour ordeal and at one point fired a shot inside the classroom. "I have to go and eventually I have to face a family about the fact that their daughter is dead," Wegener quietly told reporters. "So, what would you do?" Tom Grigg said his 16-year-old son, Cassidy, was in a classroom when the man walked in, fired a gun and began telling some students to leave and others - all girls - to stay. "He stood them up at the blackboard," Grigg said. "He hand-picked the ones he wanted to get out." The gunman told Cassidy to leave, but he said he wanted to stay with the girls, Grigg said. "The guy flipped him around and put the gun in his face and said, 'It would be in your best interest to leave,'" Grigg said. The lines of students fleeing the high school and middle school, the bomb squads and the frantic parents scrambling to find their loved ones evoked memories of the Columbine attack, where two students killed 13 people before taking their own lives. Michael Owens, who has one son at the middle school and another in the high school, said the anxiety was worse because the memory of Columbine was still fresh. "Things that are out of your control, you just do what you can do," he said. "It's like an earthquake." The situation unfolded in a narrow, winding canyon carved by the South Platte River about 35 miles southwest of Denver. Ambulances were parked in the end zone of the football field and a tank-like SWAT team vehicle was parked nearby on a closed-down highway swamped with gun-toting sheriff's officers and police. Bill Twyford said he received a text message from his 15-year-old son Billy, a student at the high school, at about 11:30 a.m. It said: "Hey there, there's a gun hijacking in school right now. I'm fine, bad situation though." Jessica Montgomery, 15, said she saw the suspect in a second-floor hallway shortly before noon. She described him as "creepy," with acne and stubble on his face. He motioned her to come over. "I was like, 'the bell just rang,'" she said. "I was like, 'Why isn't he going to class?' And then I was like, 'He's kind of old.'" Sophomore Zack Barnes, 16, said his class moved to a room that turned out to be next to the one where the hostages were being held. They turned out the lights and sat in silence in the dark for about 20 minutes before police guided them out. "I was just praying it wasn't a mass killing," Barnes said. The two schools have an enrollment of about 770 students, with 460 in the high school. Students from both were taken by bus to another school for a head count, and there were cheers from parents as their loved ones arrived

Yeah well her comment's understandable but definately there's an impression that she thinks she has to act like a "gangsta girl" 'cause she's rolling with Hova and in doing that she's gonna lose popularity, she ain't gonna sell a lot of records making songs like "Ring The Alarm"

Well I was watching some of that press conference earlier, it turned out to be on more than just ESPN, actually CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, etc. as well, basically it turned out to be more hype than anything, he's back practicing again and he said that he don't get how it really was just an allergic reaction and then became known as a suicide attempt

I love what JJFP themselves say here on that "JJFP answer the critics" on this site's homepage, JJFP have always been about making positive and fun hip-hop music, they never sold out, the audience tastes' changed basically: When their first hit single "Girls Ain't Nothing But Trouble" led to some cross-over success that laid the groundwork for the pop stardom that was to follow with their sophomore LP - He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. But, after the money started to roll, and their videos started to receive heavy rotation, their original core fans started to yell, 'sell out!' Jeff: When 'Parents Don't Understand' came out, everybody liked it. Once mainstream audiences started liking it, everybody else started looking at it like 'wow, you guys are doing something different'. Will and I had always been on that vibe, y'know, but yes it was hard, because some original fans felt alienated. But how can you be accused of alienating people when we were doing the same thing we were doing for our original fans." Oh yes, hip hop audiences can be fickle, and none were more so than the late 80's, early 90's fans who were starting to discover the highly politicized hip hop of groups like Public Enemy and X-Clan, and/or the experimental sounds of the Native Tongue Family. Backlash was bound to happen. Jeff also realizes that the record company's re-imaging that emphasized the duo's light side caused some long-term credibility problems. Will: The way I maintain, keep it positive man, keep it fun, the original essence of hip-hop was partying and having fun, and im keeping it real for real

Speaking of the whole interview I found it for anyone that's interested in it, it's a long read but I think after reading this I understand why she said what she said, clearly it was taken out of context probably trying to start a negative backlash for her: http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=2065

Well this is the off topic forum where we talk about current events in entertainment, sports, and society in general if you didn't know, and if you don't like the topics don't post in them, btw I'd really like to read the whole interview from Blender and see all that she says, they just throw that one comment in there, I'd like to read the whole thing before I jump to conclusions, Beyonce should just do her thing though and not have to change her style so certain people could feel her, she should just do what comes natural to her that many of her fans enjoy already

Janet is my gurL... ive had every single one of her albums... i may wait awhile on this one tho.... financial reasons. lol. peace, cookie Yeah I feel you on that, there's a lot of albums coming out now that I wanna get but I'm gonna have to wait on, Janet tops my list though 'cause she always brings it

Well Snoop's basically saying there that he wants to make a lil' more mature music, get away from making that kinda derogatory music, he wants to show the critics that he's growing as an artist and I give him props for that, the rap game has been getting quite a bit of criticism and backlash, it's up to the big name artists like Snoop to step up like this, music is entertainment, Snoop is a great entertainer and I enjoy his music

Yeah the media could really twist situations to make it look bad for the celebrities' reputation, it's only natural for record sales to drop every week 'cause there's a lot of music albums coming out, now with Janet's album coming out they wanna bring up her incident with Justin from a couple years ago, when Michael Jackson releases his next album they'll be talking about his trial again I'm sure, I wouldn't be surprised about people calling TO's suicide attempt a publicity stunt, a lot of rap fans said the same thing when 50 Cent got arrested a couple weeks ago, these celebrities live their lives with the media watching their every move to see when they slip up and fans are quick to turn their backs on them, a lot of us go through issues too but nobody watches over us like that, guess that's the price for being paid all that money

Beyonce has had so much success and she's always been humble, what she said here doesn't seem to make sense 'cause that's disrespectful to her audience, not many black people buy albums, she don't need to act thugged out just 'cause she's rolling with Jay-Z

Yeah she doesn't really come across as somebody with an edge like TLC or Mary J., songs like "Ring The Alarm" doesn't really fit her style, btw I don't think her record sales are droppin' 'cause of this, people just ain't buying music that much anymore

I'm watching ESPN now and they're saying that he's out of the hospital already, if it was really suicide attempt I think he wouldn't be out there that fast, it sounds like the information was leaked too fast 'cause he's a big name player

Pop star Beyonce Knowles has sparked controversy by saying she only makes records for black people. www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3805965a1860,00.html Since the Deja Vu singer made the astonishing statement sales of her new album, B'Day, have fallen by 70 per cent in the US. Beyonce, 25, said in an interview with Blender magazine: "I make black records. I write records like I speak, and I don't try to change my songs so everyone else likes them." The singer has also admitted she can relate to celebrities who attack the paparazzi. Beyonce said: "It must be really scary to have your children in front of all these people. That's your kids. That's when Mama Knowles is gonna be punching some photographers!" Meanwhile, Beyonce was booed at the MOBO awards in London on Wednesday night when she failed to turn up to collect her three prizes. The Crazy In Love singer received the most awards after her single Deja Vu won the Best Song and Best Video categories and she was named Best International Female at the ceremony - which recognises music of black origin.

Thanks for this, I'm looking forward to checking her album this week

Yeah hopefully he's able to get his life together, this is shocking news

Some good stuff. :iagree: If less people complained about how hip-hop's dead and gave support to artists like them then hip-hop would be where they'd want it to be, there's a lot of stuff to look forward to

My thoughts go out to Rev. Run and his family

Well I didn't mean it as a diss to them but I was just saying that they're not as active as they used to be so it's cool for them to be in the spotlight for a minute with being honored, I think it'd be an even better honor if major labels and networks gave more support when these legends release new material, I seen VH1 play Rev. Run and DMC solo videos quite a bit when they came out, it's good to see them show love to real hip-hop, there's no doubt thatJJFP will be honored one day, they're a big part of hip-hop history, in fact there's so much more in store for them that I think when it's all said and done that they're gonna have to dedicate a whole show to them...

:iagree: That'd be the best thing for them to do, real hip-hop could still sell if it gets out there, they've been in the buisiness long enough to know how the industry is and they could do something big with the right intentions on it, obvious Jay-Z ain't one of them so it's time for the real mcs to "Takeover", I think that's why people are starting to slow down buying commercial rap 'cause they see that it's wack, people are fiending for the essence to be back on top....

Well ain't Will filming a movie at the moment? He's too busy to be involved in anything music related right now it seems