bigted

so it wasnt his choice ?!? Well it was part Rakim's choice, he really saw that he didn't fit in there, and of course Aftermath went a different direction and got rid of him, but the main point I was saying is that it's been taking years since then and he don't have a deal quite yet lol that's crazy ... i got some feeling he is gonna make some track with KRS 1 :wiggle: .... is there any other news from Rakim The only other news I heard about him recently is that he's gonna be honored on VH1 Hip-Hop Honors this fall

2Pac Cross That Line Celebration or exploitation? YN pulls no punches as he tackles the key questions surrounding Tupac’s legacy and its place in the rap game. Posted In: XXL Magazine, Features, Main Words: Elliott Wilson Images: Reisig & Taylor I know the question y’all asking yourselves: Why did XXL put Tupac on the cover again? Well, it’s the 10th year of the anniversary of his death, stupid. And our ’Pac covers have always done their numbers. I even sold one with his mom, Afeni, on the front a few years back. My bosses said it couldn’t be done, but y’all proved me right. You got to give the people what they want. Truth be told, there’s just not enough true rap stars around these days—artists who have touched the world the way ’Pac has. I was shocked when my staff was so overwhelmingly supportive of doing this issue. They seemed to feel it would be almost disrespectful not to acknowledge the man who remains the most influential person in hip-hop culture a full decade after he left us. Plus, the past 10 years of his career achievements needed to be documented. Now that you’ve enjoyed our tantalizing time line, it’s time for da boss man to face the music. So I’ll address 10 topics that have come up in discussions around the XXL offices while we’ve been slaving away trying to finish this thing. Thank God for granting me this moment of clarity. How long will YN mourn him? Until y’all tell me to stop. 1. HOW EXACTLY DID ’PAC BECOME THE HIP-HOP NATION’S CHOICE FOR G.O.A.T.? Well, it starts with Makaveli. Though it was body-slammed by critics when it dropped two months after ’Pac’s death, the album is a classic that captures hip-hop’s most controversial star at his most volatile and engaging. From the fiery venom of “Bomb First (My Second Reply)” and “Against All Odds” to the playful bravado of “Toss It Up” and “Just Like Daddy” to the riveting religious overtones of “Hail Mary” and “Blasphemy,” ’Pac’s most potent platter is the album your favorite MC can’t live without. It’s the record that rapper is playing in the background while he’s chillin’ at the crib. The one he cops over and over and over again. This album is even beloved by two artists who get dissed on it: Nas and Jay-Z. In fairness to the New York giants, it must be noted that ’Pac’s death (and that of his arch rival, the Notorious B.I.G., six months later) was a determining factor in allowing them to embrace the memory of their former antagonist—all is forgiven in death, and it should be. Ironically, five years later, it would be Nas and Jay-Z engaging in rap’s biggest battle since ’Pac and Big and all the East-West nonsense—complete with claims of swagger-jacking and sleeping with the enemy’s woman. And how twisted was it in 2002 when Jay-Z remade a song from an album that targeted him to announce his then-budding relationship with his real-life squeeze, Beyoncé Knowles? ’Pac’s original “Me and My Girlfriend” was just a metaphor for a gun—a concept that Nas himself mastered earlier in 1996’s “I Gave You Power.” Speaking of power, it’s the rappers that emerged in the late ’90s and the new millennium that put ’Pac in the top position. His peers anointed him king, and the fans cosigned. Example: Go see Jay-Z live and watch the dope boys and girls go crazy when Jigga Man lets his DJ drop the needle on a ’Pac classic. That gets more cheers than the main attraction. 2. WITH ’PAC DEAD AND GONE, ARE WE ALLOWED TO QUESTION THE MOTIVES AND MOVES OF HIS DEAR MAMA? It’s a fact proven in rap: Mothers become celebrities when their sons pass away. After a legal tussle with Suge Knight, Afeni is the official boss lady. Simply put, she’s in charge of the legacy. What projects will come out and which won’t? Who gets permission to use which vocals on what song? She’s got the answers, the one and only master of the masters. Kinda ironic, since ’Pac and ma dukes didn’t always have the best relationship. She wasn’t always there for him as a mother, but now she reaps the benefits of her son’s recording career—something that, before he died, she seemingly had little to do with. Where was she when her baby boy was signing his life away to Death Row Records? An ass-whuppin’ by the one who gave him that life in the first place might have been needed back then. To give credit where it’s due, Afeni has put together a couple of quality projects and created a respectable foundation and arts center, all in her son’s name. Like all parents’, her intentions seem to be in the right place. Still, the decision to have wack rapper #2 produce an entire album of her son’s material? That’s a never-forgive action. 3. ISN’T THERE JUST WAY TOO MUCH POSTHUMOUS ’PAC MATERIAL? Yup. And bet your bottom dollar, most of it ain’t worth your hard-earned cash. Only the most bored of rap fans or the most fanatical of ’Pac fanatics would really take the time to listen to double-disc debacles like 1997’s R U Still Down? (Remember Me) or ’01’s Until the End of Time in their entirety. And honestly, couldn’t someone have talked some sense into Afeni before she decided to drop a spoken-word album based on ’Pac’s poetry? Oy vay! 4. ARE THERE ANY POSTHUMOUS ’PAC SONGS WORTH LISTENING TO? You gotta have a hole in your soul if the “The Realist Killaz” doesn’t get you amped. Producer Red Spyda’s sinister pairing of ’Pac and a then-emerging wack rapper #1 was a vicious volley in 50’s beef with Ja Rule—and packed an extra punch since so many rap fans felt that Ja had been biting ’Pac’s style for years. You know the late star would have been laughing watching Shady rumble with Murder Inc. throughout 2003, arguing over who would get to break bread with ’Pac if he were here on God’s green earth. (The real answer? The Boot Camp Clik. They actually knew the nigga.) Then there’s Trick Daddy. While they never met (to the best of my knowledge), ’Pac’s “Still Ballin” (from 2002’s Better Dayz) featuring the Miami mack has enough sonic chemistry to make it feel like it could have been a real collaboration. Trick loves the kids. ’Pac loved the thugs. So it’s not hard to imagine these two raising hell down in the Sunshine State. The after party at Club Rolexx would have been off the chain. Still, ’Pac’s most poignant cry from the grave might just be “Changes” (from 1998’s Greatest Hits). Despite the cheesy Bruce Hornsby sample, this previously unreleased gem proves that no amount of overproduced studio magic can match the quality of material that ’Pac actually saw to completion. That’s just the way it is. 5. IS IT WRONG FOR ’PAC’S FORMER ENEMIES TO RECORD SONGS WITH HIS VOCALS? Yeah. But actually, Nas is the only culprit here. Don’t get me wrong, “Thugz Mansion” is a good song. But it’s hard to justify making amends (by way of making music that will surely make money) when the other person isn’t around. I know Nas insists that things between the two were copacetic in ’Pac’s last days, and I’m sure Afeni asked him really nicely to get down. But come on, Esco, just say no.

Yeah this is a good move on Nick's part to do this, not really a fan of his but this is good to see him make this move with the right intentions

Yeah I'm with Schnazz here, I'm not really a big supporter of the death penalty but in this situation this was a heartless and horrid crime and they deserve it, they're a waste of life

Why? 'Cause it's a waste of life to go around and want to kill innocent people all the time

Well record sales are down and record companies are trying to do anything to get people to go out and buy the albums, it's really unfair for the fans though but I guess if I really like the artist I might buy another album for bonus materials to support, get a good buy on ebay or something for it, but if I'm not really a fan of the artist then one copy's good enough whether it has bonus materials or not

Yeah it seems like I'm the only one responding to the other topics to try to get people here away from talking about this topic, this'll be my last reply in this topic, there's nothing more to say really, I'm glad that they're done with this gimmick so that nobody'll talk about it anymore :davidblaine:

If anybody deserves to get the death penalty, I'd say those bastards do

so it wasnt his choice ?!? Well it was part Rakim's choice, he really saw that he didn't fit in there, and of course Aftermath went a different direction and got rid of him, but the main point I was saying is that it's been taking years since then and he don't have a deal quite yet

When a legendary mc like Rakim has to wait years to get another record contract after getting dropped from Aftermath that tells you the direction of the music industry

Well I think they probably realised that a lot of people were looking at that beef as a gimmick and that they wouldn't profit off of it like they thought they would so they quickly cancelled it, if 50 don't realise that people ain't gonna buy into him beefing with other rappers before every album he releases his career'll be over soon, and Diddy already knows that everybody in the world knows that he don't write his own raps so he knows that nobody gonna buy into him becoming a hardcore rapper dissing other rappers in songs...

Well getting back to topic the beef's squashed already according to allhiphop.com: 50 and Sean "Diddy" Combs ended their feud Wednesday after mutual acquaintances of the two moguls persuaded them to end their beef, official sources said. Sources close to the negotiations told AllHipHop.com that the two spoke in person last night (Sept. 6) about their verbal jabs at each other on upcoming albums and mixtapes. "We are definitely doing a 'cease fire,'" Chris Lighty, CEO of Violator Management, told AllHipHop.com. http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/

Well that's a tough situation there, somebody that's been in the music industry for all those years shouldn't have problems paying taxes unless the record label ain't paying the artist the money that he deserves, and considering all the artists that sample the Isley Brothers I don't see the problem unless the royalty checks ain't coming in...

Yeah if somebody puts out a hot album I'm gonna look into it, I'm just a fan of good music, even if I'm a lil' upset by how Jay-Z is running Def Jam if he puts out a good album I'm gonna listen to it, and those who are my favorites I stick by them no matter what others say as long as they put out good music most of the time, I try more these days to not pay attention to the music that I'm not into and give more attention to what I do like, and yeah we could call these wack rappers sellouts all we want but they ain't really I mean look at this article and see what they're doing this month to help out the youth, I don't think it's fair that there's all this attention about the negative things they do and don't give any credit for the positive things they do: T.I. & Young Jeezy Perform For NYC Youth Volunteers Thursday - September 7, 2006 by Anthony Roberts RockCorps and Boost Mobile have partnered to put on a concert for youth volunteers featuring T.I., Young Jeezy, Fabolous, Don Omar, and others at NYC's Radio City Music Hall. The exclusive event will be hosted by Nick Cannon and is set to take place on September 23rd. The concert will reward and recognize over 5,000 local youth who have volunteered their time through such programs as environmental initiatives, playground renovations and food distributions associated with the RockCorps organization. Founded in 2003, the organization uses music as an incentive for young people to become active in their communities and offers entry to various concerts in exchange for at least four hours of community service. Other acts such as Panic! At the Disco and Taking Back Sunday are also scheduled to perform. Previous to the NYC concert, the Boost Mobile RockCorps program also made stops in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington D.C. and Minneapolis/St. Paul in an effort to further rally volunteers. Other hip-hop acts such as Ghostface Killah and Rick Ross have performed in past RockCorps performances. This summer alone, the volunteers would have completed approximately 40,000 hours of community service and transformed close to 125 project sites in eight cities across the country. For more information log onto boostmobilerockcorps.com. The RockCorps/Boost Mobile concert featuring T.I., Young Jeezy, Fabolous and others is on September 23rd at NYC's RadioCity Music Hall.

Yeah there's a lot of stuff out right now that I'm looking into but I'm definately gonna look into this, sounds dope

Yeah I was putting in the bid for that tape for the last week or so but I didn't say anything here 'cause I figured somebody else here would want it :kekeke:

Man that's the realest stuff you ever typed, it's like what LL said in his book about when rappers/entertainers are coming into the game after having nothing for most of their lives that it's a tough adjustment to realise exactly how much impact on the public they have: "I can't condemn those rappers and entertainers who aren't always positive. You can't expect someone to become a positive role for all of mainstream America overnight. It takes time to realize the power your music has over people. It took me more than 10 years. For a lot of artists, they never get that time. By the time they figure it out, they're finished. Somebody who is on their first of second album-they don't know how powerful they are. They don't know how influential they are when it comes to children, so they say what they feel. But four, five, nine years down the road, after they've had a few albums and can see what statements they've made and how they've affected people-then it's time for them to live up to their responsibility and be a role model to a wider audience. You can't expect a kid who is fresh out of the projects and going triple platinum to understand the complete spectrum of his influence as an artist. When did he get that opportunity to grow and learn about what that means?" And on the real I think a lot of times fans are fickle, some fans wanna hear this, some fans wanna hear that, it's hard for an artist to exactly tell what the fans wanna hear, it's like a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, everybody receives some sort of hate whenever they do something, it's really about the artist being true to themself more than anything 'cause fans come and go no matter what, there's only a few loyal fans that stick by an artist, I really think a lot of the times fans sell out on the artist more than the opposite....

Speaking of Ebay, I was able to find a "Rock The House" cassette for only $6.99 after shipping, now my JJFP collection is complete!! :gettinjiggywitit: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1 Btw when I look up JJFP, I type Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince

Well we could always dream :wiggle:

Will recorded 3 tracks with Jazzy Jeff recently?

That'd be a sweet collab but basically there's a slim chance of that happening which I probably wouldn't mind either, there's a lot other rappers that I'd rather see FP work with first before Lupe, the main concern is whether FP's gonna do any music at all within the next few years with all the movies he's working on, he don't have time to work with other rappers when he can't even do anything with music on his own

http://rap.about.com/od/intervie2/a/RakimInterview.htm Rakim Interview Besides Jay-Z, Rakim is probably the most revered rapper alive, and undoubtedly one of the greatest. Yet, he's more approachable than you would expect. Following an explosive concert at Houston's Warehouse Live, Ra relinquished his "cool-off" and spent a couple of hours autographing posters, hats, t-shirts, 20-dollar bills, cassette tapes, CDs; and listening to white teenagers who thought that The Master--Ra's least successful LP--was the best thing next to electricity. When we finally got a chance to pick his brain, Ra had a lot to say about the benefit of delaying The Seventh Seal, his relationship with Nas, and the dangerous curves hip-hop's drawing-up for the youth. The crowd was 'live' tonight. Did you anticipate that? What was on your mind coming to Houston? Rakim:To be truthful, being that the game has changed so much, you come hoping for the best and expecting the worst. To my surprise, there's a lot of love out here for me. It confirms everything that I thought that I started. It makes me feel a little better knowing that I still got an audience to return to, man. It's been along time since you came to Houston. You really felt at home here. Rakim: I didn't expect it like that. I thought I'd come through and get a little love, but I didn't expect that. Like I said it's a blessing to be in the game this long and go so far from home and get love like this. I was talking to a friend of mine awhile ago and I said, "Rakim's about to drop an album." He said, "I hope he's not coming on an independent label, because people are gonna sleep on it." Apparently, we're at that point where people are interested in knowing what label you're on. How do you approach that? Rakim: Presentation is a big thing now. They want to see you come out big. They want to see neon lights. That's like half of the battle. That's why it's taking me a while to do this deal I'm doing. Not kicking something major, but I didn't want to go that route, you know, and I didn't want to go indie. So, I had to sit down and see how I could come up with a plan where I can do an independent deal and make it major, you know what I mean. You know major distribution is the key and then put some money into the project so we can promote it and make it look major. We were able to set that up and do some things that not a lot of people have done in the game. Hopefully, it'll make some changes and make a blueprint. You just need somebody to back you, like in any situation. But, it's not as hard as we think, man. For a lot of the rappers that are making money, they don't have to go down the road that they're going. Step back, evaluate, ask some questions, get the prices, and if they invest in themselves they'd be surprised what they could make. Majors give us pennies, you know what I mean. And you're the one creating the art. That's the messed up part about it. Rakim: Exactly. It's like they're pimping us for our product. It's like a door-to-door salesman and I come up with an item for $10 and I go knock on the door and sell that item and get $10. If I step back and let somebody else sell it, why if he go to the door and my product is $10, then why do I only get $1? And that's what we're going through with the major labels, man. It's not even to the point to where they're saying, "Alright, it's 3 1/2, it's 4 1/2, it's almost half of it." That's the last thing that would come out of their mouths. So, the way I'm trying to do this it's taking me awhile but at the end of the day it's going the way I want it to go. Now, I get the general idea but what are the specifics? Did you start a label and then get major distribution to go with it? Rakim: Yeah, basically that's all I did. All you got to do is if you got extra amount of money, then you can do your own thing. Depending on how much money you've got, that determines whether it's going to be major or independent. The average money to put out for an album, a top shelf album, you need a million dollars. So if you can put a million dollars in promotion you've got a major distribution. A million dollars at the most to have your music everywhere: BET, MTV, and the magazines, everything. If you can do that then you'll have major distribution. There's nothing to separate the majors from you. If you have a setup like that...that's what we had to do and that's the key for whoever wants to do it like that. If you have enough money, you can get a major distribution deal. Speaking of the album, have you picked a single yet? Rakim: Nah, right now we're just trying to do as many joints as we can. At the same time, we're trying to finish up with the deal and then once we finish up with the deal, we get ready for some big time collabos. We're just trying to load up and be ready for the end of the day when you can just sit down and listen to 20 to 25 records and pick the best 15. I know you've probably been asked this a couple of times, but who are you working with on this album? Rakim: We goin' to keep that quiet 'cause I don't usually do it [collaborations], you know what I mean. I still believe in the element of surprise, you know what I mean. So, we want to keep that quiet. It's some smart collabos I'll put it like that. All the callabos are going to make sense. People are goin' to appreciate who I'm doing the callabos with. And at this point in my career, I'm trying to show some love to a lot of people that's been showing me love in the game and people that I have respect for. I know Nas has already said that he's probably gonna be on you're album. It's that something that looks like it's going to happen. Rakim: Yeah, no doubt. It's just a matter of me and him linking up and sitting down, man. Me and Nas, a lot of people don't know we go back to powerplay when I was working on some of my early albums, he'll come to the studio with Large Professor. He was always like my little dude, you know what I mean. Hopefully we'll get a chance to get it in and do something special in the studio man. If it ain't special I'm not gonna try to do it. If it's just a beat and he spits 16 and I spit 16 then I ain't gonna do it. But, if it's something that makes sense and it's special, then we'll do it. Out of the new crop of emcees who would you say is the next Ra, or maybe close to that? Rakim: Umm, that's kinda hard to say. There's a lot of cats out there that I respect. I like Saigon. Papoose is doing his thing right now. A lot of different breeds coming out of the game right now. But, I'm so different and knowing how different I am...[shakes his head with a smirk, thereby, shaking off any hint at Rakim's dispensability]. But, there's a lot of cats out there that I love. What would you say has changed the most between back when you guys pioneered this whole lyricism movement and now? Rakim: I think what has changed is the conscious level. I think now it's lower. The conscious level in the hood and the conscious level in the game is at the point where the rappers aren't dealing with the consciousness and the hood ain't dealing with it. You know what I mean. So, it's a little slow right now. The hood is in a situation where they see it like they are in between a rock and a hard place. You can't blame it on the rappers, you can't blame it on the industry, but, we do play a part and there is something you can do about it. That's addressing the situation, addressing our hood, addressing our youngsters, and schooling them. A lot of times, "keep it real" is a little slogan. But, the kids look at it as if they are really keeping it real when that's not what these dudes are doing. At the end of the day, the little kids wind up busting their guns and going to jail, while the rapper's sitting in his crib watching TV on his big screen doing him. So, we're setting the wrong example because the little kids look up to us and they take it to the heart. They hear their favorite rapper talking about "Yo, I'm gonna a killer. I keep the gun on me," and "Don't disrespect me or I'll stretch you out." The little kid takes that to heart like, "My man said that, so that's what it is." They set that up and kids run with it, kids get caught up in it, and the rappers sitting at the crib watching the news. We need to be a little bit more responsible. We can't say that we're not role models when we're making records. Rap was a little different than R

Yeah Trackmasters are definately underrated as producers, they really put in quite a bit of work in the music industry over the last decade, "Just Crusin'" was probably one of FP's strongest singles in the last 12 years, the music video was hot too I must say :kool:

Yeah that's an unfortunate situation, we see other celebrities do way worse things and get a slap on the wrist

Mos Def's fighting the power! :hail: