bigted

I'm looking forward this, the Nas collab should be interesting and it's great to hear that he's working with Mary J. again...

Well if Jazzy Jeff and KRS-ONE could still do world tours even though they ain't that popular anymore, so could Fat Joe, not all of his albums are flops either, "Don Cartegena" went platinum worldwide back in '98 and was involved in helping Big Pun go platinum around that time and I think his "Jealous One Still Envy" almost went double platinum back in 2002 then the next couple albums after that and the Terror Squad only sold around the gold range but that's still pretty good for somebody who's been in the rap game for over a decade, he spent many years rapping before he even had a major deal and when he released his first album "Represent" back in '93 he was opening up on KRS-ONE's tour, hip-hop fans are familar with Fat Joe, 50 was talkin' trash about Fat Joe on MTV about how nobody in Africa knows who Fat Joe is and Fat Joe responded by saying that he's done many shows there in front of thousands of fans and mentioned about one time when he walked down the street there an old man jumped excited out to say, "Ain't that the Lean Back guy?", lol, 50'll be lucky to be able to have any fans left and have any hits 10 years from now so he shouldn't talk **** like that when he's only been around for a few years so far...

http://www.prweb.com//releases/2006/7/prweb415882.htm MegaFest 2006 was a Soulful Event MegaFest 2006, a Bishop T.D. Jakes branded event, was held in Atlanta, Georgia on July 19-22, 2006. It was four days and three nights of spiritual enrichment for the entire family through a multitude of activities, workshops, entertainment and worship services. FTC Publications provided complete series coverage of the entire event and surrounding activities via multiple articles and columns. (PRWEB) July 25, 2006 -- MegaFest 2006, a Bishop T.D. Jakes branded event, was held in Atlanta, Georgia on July 19-22, 2006. It was four days and three nights of spiritual enrichment for the entire family through a multitude of activities, workshops, entertainment and worship services. FTC Publications provided complete series coverage of the entire event and surrounding activities via multiple articles and columns. On the floor and through the crowd, the noise was deafening. There were a number of people that were there of diverse backgrounds from all across the globe, coming together to praise, give thanks and receive healing. The energy was spine-tingling. When Bishop T.D. Jakes took the stage and welcomed his audience, the energy went through the roof. It was very hard to contain composure, throughout his sermon. He is an awesome speaker with such a commanding presence. Bishop T.D. Jakes spoke about healing yourself from within, "You can't deal with the fruit until you deal with the root. You can't rebuke a conflict on the outside if you have a conflict on the inside. What you are dealing with that is seen, starts with the spiritual realm which is unseen." Such power in his words. The audience was riveted and overcome with the spirit. He ended his sermon by asking everyone to hold hands with a prayer partner and pray "Peace Unto You." Praying for their personal well-being, their families' well-being, and for spiritual healing. Afterwards, the audience rushed to the stage with arms held high to receive a special prayer from the Bishop. Thursday night, Bishop T.D. Jakes was commemorated for his 30 years of ministerial service during The Celebration of Unity Concert at the Georgia Dome. The attendees were treated to five hours of gospel music with a twist of soul featuring performances by Aretha Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin, Kelly Price, Fred Hammond, Vanessa Bell Armstrong and Jeff Majors, and the Grammy award-winning Potter's House Mass Choir. Celebrities that personally addressed the Bishop included Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin, Will Smith, Boris Kudjoe, LL Cool J, Star Jones and Tom Joyner. Bishop T.D. Jakes' children also stood up and congratulated their father on his accomplishments and for just being a great father. All of the performances were memorable and much respect to Aretha Franklin. However, after Kirk Franklin exited the stage and the audience began chanting "Oh Oh ... Oh Oh Oh", he turned it out when he came back and had everyone jumping to "Stomp." Donnie McClurkin surprised the audience with a personalized rendition of "Killing Me Softly," which was dedicated to Bishop Jakes. The crowd was amazed at Shirley Caesar's boundless energy and rapping skills. Yes, she really did her thing. The concert was a wonderful event that entertained into the late hour. "A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Hurricane Katrina survivors and the construction of fresh water wells in Kenya, Africa as part of the Potter's House emergency relief efforts," according Bishop T.D. Jakes, referring to The Celebration of Unity Concert. Friday night, The Just Churchin' Comedy Show at Philips Arena, featuring Tommy Davidson, Jonathan Slocumb, Vickie Winans, and Mr. Brown from "Meet the Browns", was one event guests were looking forward to in particular. Steve Harvey hosted again this year and did another stand up job. He kept the show going with his tell-it-like-it-is humor and cool demeanor, without swearing for the sake of his audience. There were also cameo appearances by Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin (Kid 'N Play), Cheryl 'Salt' James (Salt-n-Pepa), and Diane Amos (The Pine-Sol Lady). Tommy Davidson was a MegaHit! He commanded his audience with his comedic gestures and incessant humor. A favorite part of his act was the musical tribute to the old-school R&B songs that are "gone," which had the audience singing along. Overall, MegaFest 2006 was a very positive and inspiring event. No one can deny the fact that he is truly saving lives and healing souls through the word. Bishop Jakes is quoted in Gospel Today saying, "I really want MegaFest and events like this to be a platform that we can introduce new speakers and new ideas and new concepts and expose people who wouldn't ordinarily be exposed. At this point, after 30 years, I'm not particularly as interested about being on the stage as I am in becoming a stage whereby new generations and new speakers and new voices can continue to be heard and exposed. That's one of the ways that the body of Christ can continue to grow and develop and hear what God is saying into the lives of other people." Nicole Wallace writes for FTC Publications, which provides News, Sports, and Event coverage around the world.

Yeah 50's gonna have to start putting more effort into his music if he really wants to stay in the game, I mean you can't diss artists with more experience like Nas, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, and Ja Rule by putting out a garbage album to answer back to them and then when he went after his own artist Game he got burned quite a bit, hiscredability is now being on the balance,if he really cares about the music as much as he says he does he should have his ear to the streets to know that he needs to work harder to get to their level,he should be able to turn it around and if not we won't hear from him that much longer 'cause when more and more fans gets disinterested Interscope'll find another rapper to promote instead, btw I think he realises what he's doing 'cause I was reading recently in the allhiphop.com rumor section that he's considering leaving the rap game after his contract expires, I think he probably realises that he's ego is bringing him down and he'll probably be saying bye soon,but with all that money in the contract he won't just leave just yet, that'd be stupid, like I said before when people say certain things that might change if they get thrown a lot of money.... And the thing is that Interscope's just like any other record label, they're only about getting that money, they don't care about the artists,like Nas said in one of his songs the rap game is like the crack game, it could be a shady buisiness but on the bright side it's better to see people sell CDs instead of selling drugs,btw 50 was singing on a lot of his earlier stuff too so he shouldn't have even had criticised Ja for doing that in the first place, personally I don't mind if rappers sing, if you don't like singin' then I guess you don't like soul...

Yeah Ron played on the Kings last year after being traded from the Pacers, if I'm not mistaken I think he played on Terror Squad's team in the Rucker Park streetball tournament in NY this summer so he's down wit Fat Joe...

I think the book was written before "The Massacre" time and he definately predicted his own downfall with saying when rappers feel themselves too much their careers go down, you could see his popularity has been decreasing ever since his ego's been increasing, going on MTV when that album came outand saying "look at me my last album sold 12 million, i'm this, i'm that...", he later on predicted that his movie would do better at the boxoffice than "8 Mile" and it flopped, he needs to step his game up before he could talk as much trash as he does, I think the next album is gonna make or break his career really, that's why he's reaching out to work with LL 'cause he knows he needs help if he wants to stay in the game, LL has talked a lot of trash in his career saying that he's the baddest rapper in the game and he's the G.O.A.T. and has built a career that could justify those statements, 50 puts out wack stuff when he says he's hot so he ain't, that's the difference...

Well I don't really like his music that much still but at least I could understand why he does what he does now a lil' bit better, like what Will said when he won his AMA about how he doesn't consider 50 a "lost" artist living in the dark'cause there's truth to what he says in his songs, he ain't a studio gangsta making everything up when he never lived that life, that's who Will was going after in "Lost and Found" song, now I doubt that Will plays 50 in heavy rotation either ,the curiousity of wanting to read this book was to learn a lil' bit better why 50 does what he does,don't get confused this doesn't mean I'm on 50's side now at all, far from that, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, I'm more into thinking of course I need something to use as reference if he's still on top when I get in the game, it's like when teams study opponents on game film, lol...

There's nothing wrong with being a follower. It's just a matter of who you're following. That's true, but a lot of people follow the wrong path and shortcut themselves which is what I was driving towards in the point I made there and of course there ain't many who want to be different and try something new 'cause they know that they're going against what most people do and they're afraid they'll be dissed for not following along what's hot to do.... Btw, I recently borrowed 50's autobiography from my local library and I gotta say after going through it I actually gained some respect for him as a person surprisingly, check some of these quotes he said in it, since we spend so much time criticising him on this site, I think we should read these quotes, you can't call him a studio gangsta either 'cause of all the rough experiences he's endured for most of his life and even when he started his musiccareer with his record deal at Columbia falling through right after getting shot,being dead broke for a while until he hit the mixtape circuit, he ain't frontin' if he raps about guns and crack in his songs 'cause that's all he knew: "People want the truth. Even if they can't handle it, they want it. They may want to look at it as a story or music so they can distance themselves from it, but they want it. That's why people watch the news everynight. There's nothing good on the news. They'll throw in a little "good news" near the end, like something about a cat being saved from a tree. But before you hear the cat, you're going to learn that someone got shot and killed, an earthquake killed a couple of hundred people, and that whatever war is going on at the time is still going on and going hard. And you still watch. Why? Because you want the truth. You complain but you'll watch. Every night. The news always gets good ratings. So I spread my news because no one will do it for me. I let you know that I survived nine bullets not to sell records, but because it's the truth..I haven't shown my scars on television to sell records, there are thoustands of people who will never get the opportunity to go on TV and tell you what happens in places where gunshots settle arguments, when you look at how my body healed, I want you to see the bodies of those who never healed, that's what I'm the poster child for and nothing else" "Even though I don't like going to NYC announced, I'll never forget exactly where I came from and who helped me to get where I'm at now. I just got into the rap game and I don't want to turn my blessings into something negative where I can't recover. I believe in a higher power. I believe in right and wrong. I believe in God...But not everybody gets it. A lot of rappers will stand in front of you and tell you s--- they know damn well they never experienced...With me, 90 percent of my music is real, and only about 10 percent of it I'll embellish....I wouldn't have anything to write about if I didn't use my own experiences. You're being unfair if you tell me to come up with rhymes and not use what I came from, to put no part of me or anything that I've been through in the music. If I don't write about what's going on with me or what's going on in the 'hood, I ain't got nothing to say. The day 50 can't be real, that's when I'll say, "Thank you for support, it's been a pleasure- and I'll leave..." "When artists get spoiled that's when they start slipping. They start believing their own hype. They get to be a place where they think that they shouldn't have to be outperforming anyone. That ain't me. The way I see it, regular people go to work everyday from nine to five, picking up boxes,hard labor, and you're telling me all I have to do is perform for 45 minutes on stage? F--- that, I'm getting out that mother-----, I need to be there everynight performing. It's a luxury to be in this buisiness.." "Ask any hustler and they will say the same thing. "If there is more to be made, then I'm gonna be the one to make it." A hustler's attitude is: "they gonna get it somewhere, so it might as well be me. I may as well make them ends." "It" could be anything: drugs, music, clothes, drink, cars, or even hamburgers. People think that hustler's mentality is confined to the ghetto but that ain't true, America was founded on hustler's mentality. All the big names started out pushing something..." "On the flip side, some people do music as a hobby, but it's more than that to me, to me it's everything, an opportunity to get away from the 'hood, to make a better life for my son, to do everything I wanted to do...Like I said before I believe in God, I didn't survive being shot nine times for nothing, I've got a purpose..."

Art immitates life really, they're many ways for people to sell out, more people want to be followers rather than leaders and that's why society is the way it is...

Hey Turntable I know you were saying you're gonna see Fat Joe well this something else you could look forward to when you're there, lol: http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur27601.cfm Los Angeles -- Controversial NBA b-baller Ron Artest will be the opening performance on Fat Joe's European tour, which kicks off on July 28 in Lisbon, Portugal and travels to Germany, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Norway and Denmark. Artest will be performing songs from his album My World, which is slated for an October 24 release on the Lightyear Entertainment label with distribution in the United States through WEA, in Canada by Koch, in Japan by JVC and by independent distributors in Europe and elsewhere. Artest has been performing throughout the summer at several venues across the United States.He was the opening act for Young Jeezy on several dates in May and June, and performed as part of the pre-event festivities at New York City's HOT 97's Summer Jam Festival in June. Guest artists on My World include Mike Jones, girl group Allure, Challace, Ruc, and Braska.Artest's music has been taking both fans and critics by surprise, as all discover that he has talents outside of basketball. Schedule of European tour: July 28: Lisbon, Portugal. Torre de Moncorvo Carvisaic Festival July 29: Gollhofen, Germany, Diva Palace July 30: Paris, France, Elysee Montmartre July 31: Zurich, Switzerland, Volkshaus August 1: Amsterdam, Netherlands, Paradiso August 3: Munich, Germany, Crowns Club August 4: Braunschweig, Germany, Jolly Joker August 5: Chemnitz, Germany, Splash Festival August 6: Lausanne, Switzerland, Cult Club August 7: Copenhagen, Denmark, Vega August 8: Oslo, Norway, Rockefeller Venue About Ron Artest:Artest has been playing professional basketball in the NBA since 1999 and his talents have brought him many accolades.He was selected to the 2005-06 NBA's All-Defensive Team, was voted by the media as 2003-04 NBA's Defensive Player of the Year, and was the only man with 271 steals in his first two seasons in the NBA, breaking Michael Jordan's record.Artest was born and raised in Queensbridge, and grew up in New York's largest public housing complex; the same neighborhood that bred rappers Nas and Mobb Deep.Artest has not forgotten his roots and goes back to Queensbridge on a regular basis to sponsor various basketball tournaments, the LaSalle High School Basketball Camp, and provides scholarships for students.He also donates to and sponsors events for the Wheelchair Charity Organization. Artest always had a passion for music, and established his own production company, Tru Warier Records, so he could work on cultivating his talents in the music arena.His upcoming album My World, showcases a variety of themes and soundscapes and has songs everyone can relate to.Special guests on the album include Mike Jones, Allure, Challace, Braska and Ruc.The album is slated for release on October 24 on the Lightyear Entertainment label with distribution thru WEA in the United States, by Koch in Canada, by JVC in Japan, and by independent distributors in Europe and elsewhere.

Well the thing is like I said if an artist just follows what's hot out there at the moment, they're really short changing themselves to have a short career, maybe sell a lot in a short period but they don't leave much of a legacy and they'll end up feeling used like prostitutes, and now the artists who've been consistantly been true to themselves are the ones who've had long careers and still have fans checking for them when they do something new, real recognises real, and if you choose to sell out you're gonna pay the consequences later on, most artists today are like a quick high, they might leave thrills for a lil' while but they let down in a short while...

Yeah Jazzy Jeff is right on point here, it's definately wack that the radio plays the same garbage all the time when there's a lot of artists out there with fresh songs that deserve some spins...

Well it's the sign of the times, 50 has influenced a lot of garbage to be played on the radio, if Will was #1 or one of the top 5 to influence then that means that a lot of great music would get played on the radio, when Will when was on top in '97 with "Big Willie Style" it was one of the last great years in commercial hip-hop, and with 50 being on top from 2002- now it marks the worst years in hip-hop, Interscope sees that they make more money off garbage than quality so that's why they promoted 50 much more than Will last year, hype sells more in the music industry than good music does, these days getting shot 9 times gets you more airplay than putting out a great album...

Yeah there was far more producers on "Code Red" besides Jazzy Jeff than there was with "Willenium"...

Yeah Black Eyed Peas sold more albums than Ying Yang Twins and Three 6 Mafia combined, Will.I.Am's also been involved producing for John Legend, Mary J., and Busta, there's impact being made...

Kanye's one of the few newer artists in hip-hop over the last few years that has put substance in the music he makes and he's been very good in help bringing other talented artists into the industry where they probably wouldn't be there if he didn't help them since not many labels look for the most talented when they sign somebody, he might not be the best rapper/producer ever but he definately deserves some props for what he's done...

Yeah "Lost and Found" deserved to help Will make it but it didn't impact thanks to Interscope, if they released more than one single in 5 months maybe Will could've made it on the top 10, maybe even top 5...

The music industry has turned into prostitution, the labels are pimping the artists who shake their ass in videos and most of them don't last long... Think about how many artists who were platinum plus 5, 10, 15 years ago are still platinum now? A lot of these artists end up having to find other jobs for the rest of their lives, that's why some go into depression and you hear them becoming drug addicts and alcoholics 'cause they can't handle the pressure anymore, not many artists are strong enough to handle it but really they gotta realise whilethey're there they should try to have some integrity so that way people'll remember them for something inspiring when their career's over... There's no integrity, just money greedy bastards, it's more of a dirty buisiness than it is about music, I wrote about this in one of my songs: "Music should be about the artform/But these fools only worry about burning up charts more"... Now the way that the music industry could change though is if there's somebody to show these kids that there's more music out there than what's played on the radio and that those artists on TV ain't as rich as they look so don't think you could drop out of school and get a record deal and live a comfortable life, not everybody in the world could be playingfor the Lakers orhave platinum records but that don't mean you can't survive, there's more to chase than a pipedream...

U lucky bastard :jusmindyabizness: Glad to hear u enjoyed the shows man...

Well yeah really we always want to point the finger at the artists like 50 and say that they're dragging down hip-hop but really it's more than just them, it's a combination of things, on the most part like Turntable said is the millions of kids who go out and buy these albums and of course what happens to everybody else that don't fall into that teen fanbase? I thought hip-hop has generations of fans, a lot of them complain about the state of the game and what they kids listen to, they don't be supporting the true artists out there like they would if they really love hip-hop, what happens when they get past their teen years they don't listen to it or buy it anymore? How could we seriously expect the music genre to expand and be diverse if only teenagers make up the consuming audience? Record companies deserve some blame for being greedy and monopolizing off of it.. And yes this 50 and Game beef is dragged out like fuq mentioned, Game needs to focus on making a great album and needs to ignore 50's immature antics 'cause it seems like 50's just doing anything to get attention but with most of hip-hop's audience being arround his age as far as maturity is concerned this is why he acts this way 'cause these kids could relate to that, lol, he acts like those punks in grade school who always wanna start fights for attention 'cause they get ignored at home, 50's got insecurities...

Record labels ain't gonna change their ways 'cause not many people check for the artists that're true at the present time, people only buy into the trends so that's what gets promoted by the labels, it's supply and demand, and really a lot of these artists on TV ain't as rich as they say they are either, the people who work at the record label as executives make more than the artists do,you can't believe the hype... I understand what you might mean Turntable, some people talk about being true to themselves but then they'll turn around and act like they'll sell their family for a million dollars the next minute, they'll sell their souls but that's not smart 'cause once the money runs out they have nothing when they sold their integrity, there's other ways to make money instead of selling out for a quick buck, if people applied themselves hard enough they'll get what they want gradually anyway so why rush and do something stupid?!

Exactly what I've been trying to say, if we get another album like that I don't think we'd complain that much whatever it's called!! :smart:

Jazzy Jeff was also in both "Will2K" and "Freakin' It" videos and the album was executive produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, the only thing missing was it being said on the album cover, really it's been the closest thing to a JJFP album since "Code Red"...

Yeah well if you compare her last album to her previous ones then it's a flop but she's still one of the most popular singers, it's hard to sell the same amount all the time 'cause times change and a lot of fans come and go...

So how did it go man? Tell us all about it!! :wiggle: