bigted

I never went to a concert but I saw Snoop Dogg perform in Seaside Heights in 2002 when MTV came here, it was awesome

I was watching today, they were all freestylin', it was sick!! :kool:

I found this over at allhiphop.com: Reality Check: Truth About Goin Independent In order to become a boss in the game you must first master it. UC is here to clear up all the industry smoke and help you see your vision clearly. Welcome to the real world! Right now, let’s scratch the surface of the "Indy Game." I wanted to clear the air about the independent game because there are many myths floating around out in the streets. First of all, I think it's always a great move for an artist to do as much for himself as possible and not to sit back and wait for their piece of pie to be handed to them. However, the Indy game can be just as treacherous as dealing with the majors. Myth: Majors are evil; money hungry bastards that will rob every dime from the artist if possible and the Indy’s are good hearted, culture-caring entities that always give the artist their fair share of the pie. Truth: Indy or Major, they're all crooked when it comes to "fixing the books, "charging the artist for every expense under the sun, snatching all his/her publishing, etc. You want to make sure you’re working with a label you trust, better yet, start your own. If not, expect to get robbed, there's no way around it. All you can do is reduce the robbery by arming yourself with knowledge and sharp legal reps. Also, if you run your own label, the distributor will try to rob you blind as well. Myth: You can make $6 per album by coming out on an Indy as oppose to $0.50 as an artist on a major. Truth: While it’s true that an Indy will tend to give you more points per album sold, getting 6 dollars per album is not going to happen. Use common sense on this one. If the artist gets 6 and retail gets let’s say, 5 what does that leave for the label? The label is NOT going to put all the up front money only to get back less money than the artist per album does c’mon! Remember, if the record doesn't sell guess who takes the L? Not the artist, but the label. Now if YOU’RE putting up all the money and you’re dealing directly with a distributor that's a different story. Myth: If I put out my own album, I'll make millions like Master P! Truth: Yes, you can make serious money but please remember one basic rule when it comes to business: IT TAKES MONEY TO MAKE MONEY! How can you sell 50,000 copies when you can't afford to press up 50,000 copies? Even if you could, how would you get 50,000 people to buy your product? That takes a whole lot of promoting, branding, doing shows and marketing...all cost MONEY! Don't ask the distributor for help! The more he does for you the more he will dig into that pie (and that's if he's even willing to take a risk on your rookie ass). Myth: If I sell 10,000 copies on my own the majors will give me a 30 million dollar P&D like Universal did with Cash Money! Truth: Homie please! It takes a whole lot more than that to get that kind of deal. Truth be told, the Cash Money situation was basically a once in a lifetime deal which probably won't go down again (disregard their re-up) in the game. First, you have to prove to the major distributor that you’re actually a full operating record company and not just some rapper selling his CDs hand-to-hand. Also, you must have a TRACK RECORD of success, not just with one project but with several projects and different artists (which Cash Money did before their deal). Also, it depends on the markets you got a buzz in (having New Mexico on lock is way different from Louisiana), your BDS history, retail relationships, etc. This is chess not checkers! Myth: Artists on majors are broke, artist on Indy's are rich. Truth: Most artist period are broke because the success rate in the music industry is only about two percent. Indy artist make more money per album and the major artist have more opportunity to make money from non-musical sources. So the question is would u rather make 100 grand by generating 2 million for someone else or 100 grand by generating 100 grand for yourself? The only difference is the first situation, the artist didn't have to risk a dime of his own money, the second one the artist is risking his dough. Cormega is making good money on his own terms, which is great. 50 cent is making money Cormega will NEVER see (if he stays in his current situation), which is also great. Choose your own adventure. Next time around, we'll get down into the specifics concerning putting out your own product. These are just basics on the topic, nothing too deep. My Advice: If you love to kick verses and you’re not trying to get rich off of it I suggest doing it all yourself, press up a few copies, slang them in your hood, get the money back and do it all over again…have fun with it. If somebody seriously hollas at u, go for it! If you’re trying to get rich off of beats and rhymes then be prepared to deal with the truth. The game is based on money, relationships, know-how and talent (in that order). If you don't have money then your goal is to attract investors (which is all a label really is). Either way you need gunz before u can go to war. Arm up! -Urban Connects

Jazzy Jeff is a big name in the hip-hop community as one of the most respected DJs, I think if somebody dissed him, a lot of hip-hop fans would be offended by that but the majority of Kanye's fanbase probably don't know who Jazzy Jeff is so he might be irrelevant to them and the reason why they think Kanye is so great is 'cause they don't know a lot about the history of hip-hop and that there was better music being made before this era we're in now, basically Kanye is just another TRL rapper, Jazzy Jeff is irrelevant to teenyboppers but Kanye is irrelevant to most of JJFP's original fanbase who don't really buy albums anymore, he don't really have many fans overage I'd bet, I see your point there, that's like Nelly makin' a battle track to KRS-ONE a few years ago on his album, most of Nelly's fans who got that album don't know who KRS is but I don't think KRS' core base would be caught dead bumpin' a Nelly album, and as far as that "Fresh as the Prince Is" line, Kanye's fans wouldn't pick up that he was talking about Will unless he said "Will Smith" or "Big Willie", "Fresh Prince" is irrelevant to commercial teenybopper audiences, they probably would just know that he's the guy that made "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" and "Switch" if they knew anything about his music, they might own some of Will's solo albums but they probably have no idea he rapped before '97, and of course they'd know he's a big time movie star, but their parents might have a JJFP album in their music collection, it's a generation gap between JJFP and Kanye fans on the most part, most of the 30- 40 year olds that got "Rock The House" when it came out ain't listening to Kanye and most of the 15-25 year olds that have Kanye's albums never heard a JJFP album, I'm a big fan of golden era hip-hop so my taste is closer to the older generation of hip-hop fans than it is towards today's 106& Park/TRL commercial audience even though like them I was in diapers when JJFP came out and truth be told more than likely the majority of those anticipating another JJFP album would be over 30, not many in my age group cares though since they're Kanye fans, they want to see another Jay-Z album, not another JJFP album, now some of y'all here might claim to be Kanye fans and listen to JJFP albums too but that ain't the majority unfortunately...

Will's about to start filming a new film very soon, if he was gonna record new music he'd done it over the last 6 months he had off from filming since he was done shooting "Pursuit Of Happiness", the song should be recorded already if he was gonna do one, I doubt they'll be any music for a while...

That board still exists? :sick:

Everyone here's so quick to call out everyone who shouted out JJFP as a diss 'cause we get so used to hearing people dissin' them I guess but clearly that line is far from a diss, as much as some people might hate on JJFP there are plenty of their favorite rappers that look up to JJFP, Kanye West is one of them, but as far as hating on Kanye goes Kanye's ego is the reason why people hate on him, if he just makes music and toned that down I don't think many would have a problem with him, I give him credit for trying to bring real hip-hop back but that ego turns me off from him a lil' bit

some1 explain that :ponder: Yeah those are the award winning lyrics from the greatest rapper ever, I never saw such creative lyrics in my life :smart: :rofl:

That's what I'm saying this is a golden opportunity for Will to get the recognition of a great recording artist he is if he does a song for this movie and after that trash by Three Six Mafia won an Oscar we need a real hip-hop song to win next year, this song could make a big impact, unfortunately though it probably won't happen

"iicons" was a very good album and was one of my favorites back in 2002, it'd gone better than gold if more songs besides the song with 3LW was released, obviously it was lacking beatwise without kay gee at the helm of course, but now with kay gee back hopefully this new album will be big, they're one of the greatest groups ever, i'm looking forward to treach's album too

Uhm... yeah.. thats realistic.. as usual. Yeah it's not like JJFP ever work together that much anymore to do that but it'd be fun to see that happen since I'mtired of Kanye's attitude when he ain't half as great as he claims he is, when great rappers get record deals again then he'll only be on the boards, I don't think it was a diss 'cause if it was then everybody would be talking about it, it's just a line in a song, nothing more, nothing less, and I never said that Kanye West was wack but if you listen to hip-hop from 15-20 years ago and then listen to Kanye's music, Kanye can't hold a candle to much of them from that era, he acts like he should win a million awards for his albums but there was a lot of albums from that era that didn't have the type of success but they're much more quality than what Kanye could ever do, if his albums came out then he'd been considered average, the truth is being one of the best now doesn't mean anything 'cause it's a weak era...

Yeah it'll probably be years until we get another album so he should do guest appearances with other artists and songs on soundtracks in between to hold us music fans over but doing no music at all for years is the reason why he'll never be as popular in music as he once was

Yeah if you compare Kanye to somebody like 50 Cent then he'd look like Rakim and FP but that's why hip-hop's dead at least on a commercial level 'cause he ain't even close to their level but there's nothing else out there, there's not any quality, there needs to be more skilled rappers than Kanye that're on top even though I'd rather see him more popular than 50 Cent if those were the last 2 rappers on earth...

Yeah this album leaked a few days ago, I didn't listen to it yet 'cause I wanna try to hold off til I get it on release date but so far it's been getting a lot of positive response with people saying it's his best album in the last 10 years, it's gonna be big

I think doing a song for a movie would do a lot for his popularity as a rapper 'cause that's why he was so popular 5-10 years ago but it sorta hurt his image as a rapper at the same time since they were songs to commercial films, this is a more serious role and a powerful song like "The Rain" would really show the public that his music is just as diverse as his movies are and he'd sell millions again

If this was a diss then JJFP could finish off Kanye's egotistical career, he acts like he's the best thing since sliced bread, somebody needs to check his ego, like I said if he came out 15 years ago he'd have to stick to producing, it shows you how wack the game is right now that we got producers making albums, if Jazzy made a rap album it'd sound better than anything Kanye has done, lol, Pharrell's flow is kinda boring too, I think he should stick to beat making himself, he actually sings better than he raps but I got no problem with him though 'cause he don't run around acting like he's the best rapper, he just does it for fun...

If Kanye is one of the best rappers out there then hip-hop is dead, he wouldn't be allowed to grab a mic if he came out 15 years ago in the golden era, he's really average at best, he has given props to Will before in interviews and he did produce a song for him on "Lost and Found" that never made it so I doubt that he'd go dissin' him and Jazzy now, it was just an anology, like AJ said there a lot of his rhymes don't make sense but at least he tries to put positive messages in his music and he gets some credit from me for that, but I'll never call him one of the best...

"Fresh Prince was hot, the movies killed him", god forbid if he takes years off doing movies but it's ok for him to take years off from music :ponder:

Kanye ain't the type of rapper to diss others in songs, if this was Eminem saying this it'd be more suspect but more than likely it was just a reference....

This would be a golden opportunity for Will but I doubt it'll happen, he ain't really that focused on his music career at this point, it's dissapointing that we'll probably have to wait 5 years before we even hear him do another song at this point, he seems lost as an mc again 'cause of his Hollywood career, if there is a soundtrack he probably won't even be a part of it...

Tuesday - May 30, 2006 The original members of Naughty By Nature recently reunited for an unforgettable performance at New York's BB Kings nightclub mid-May, the first time in the city since 1999. On Wednesday (May 17), Treach and Vinnie took a crowd through memory lane, performing classics such as "O.P.P.," "Hip-Hop Hooray," "Everything's Gonna Be Alright," "Uptown Anthem," and "Mourn You Til I Join You" before bringing nearly half of the audience onstage to party with them on their closing song, "Wild Muthaf---as," (produced by and featuring Lil' Jon) from their last album, IIcons. But, the highlight of the night came when a special guest joined the Naughty duo onstage. Midway through their performance, Treach requested his signature drink, Hennessey, shouting the request out to the bar. But, instead of a waitress bringing the bottle of cognac up to the stage, none other than Naughty By Nature's former producer/DJ, Kay Gee, joined both Treach and Vinnie onstage to a stunned crowd. While photographers' bulbs flashed simultaneously, Treach proclaimed "he's back" alluding to Kay Gee's return to the group as producer of the next Naughty By Nature album. The BB King performance marked the first time the original three members of the group performed together since their split in 1999 with the release 19 Naughty IX: Natures Fury. Now, with the announcement of their reunion, the trio plan to return back into the studio to record a forthcoming album, while in the meantime, Treach is writing songs for long anticipated his solo effort. "The party anthems that we created with Kay Gee defined Naughty By Nature sound, so were really happy to have him back with us," said Vinnie backstage after the show. "Looking back and seeing Kay there brought so many memories. It's good to know that he's back," proclaimed Treach. The night was definitely one to remember. But, Naughty By Nature was not the only performers of the night. Others included Black Sheep, UMCs, and Chip Fu of The Fu Schnickens with surprise appearances from hip-hop veterans Just Ice, Craig G, King Sun, Grand Master Caz, Melle Mel, DJ Red Alert, Chip Fu, Mark 45 King, D-Nice, and newcomers Garden State Greats. In addition to Kay Gee's return, the group will be relaunching their Naughty Gear clothing line, the first clothing line started by a hip-hop group. The line, which includes embroidered hoodies, heavyweight ringer Tee, boxers, bed sheets, and even lingerie for the ladies all imprinted with their naughty logo, can be purchased on their official website, www.naughtybynature.com.

Hey AJ do you know what'd be the best website for me to get those FP singles you were mentioning? btw, Allhiphop.com has now done an interview with DJ Scratch, check it out: DJ Scratch: Face Off By Melanie J Cornish H aving traveled around the world and back again during his 20 years in the game, New York’s very own DJ Scratch is on a mission. This mission isn’t impossible, it is totally viable. He wants his home city to be recognized for quality music. That want is made clear in his recent Busta Rhymes and Swizz Beats hit, “New York S**t.” But beats and track-boards are not all that keeps this legend motivated. The New York street bike community is where Scratch mysteriously rides on a chromed out Suzuki with a helmet to match. The former EPMD DJ unveils his identity. Whether it’s lacing hits for Busta Rhymes and LL Cool J, or popping wheelies, the face is revealed and the game is real. AllHipHop.com: Everyone is on the “New York S**t” track right now; does it still feel the same hearing your tracks on the radio now as it did when you started producing? DJ Scratch: Yeah I still get excited when I hear my songs on the radio, you know it’s been over 20 years now, and I still get the same feeling. AllHipHop.com: Was that track made with Busta in mind? DJ Scratch: Nah, it was just made with New York in mind. Me and Swizz were talking, and I was talking about how New York Hip-Hop basically doesn’t exist anymore and the South is 90% on the radio - no disrespect to the South. [but] I was telling Swizz and I said I wasn’t doing any records for any other region until New York has a banger. So we came up with this record and it was done five months ago. I had that beat for 17 years. I gave that beat to EPMD for their second album, but they didn’t use it. We did the record and played it for a couple of people, and it created a buzz and a lot of people didn’t hear it, but they heard about it. Flex heard about it; Angie Martinez heard about it. Angie Martinez used to call out on the radio and asked Swizz to bring the record up and let them hear it. We had to place someone on this track as it needed to be out there right now. If Swizz had done an album it would [normally take] a year and a half or whatever, I wanted the record out right now. Jay-Z heard about it, he backed up off it for a second. Busta heard it and he wanted it from the first time he heard it. AllHipHop.com: Has Swizz got co-production on this track? As a lot of people appear to think that this is actually his beat? DJ Scratch: No, Swizz is just doing his vocal on there. When Busta’s album comes out, it will show that the production credit goes to DJ Scratch. AllHipHop.com: Since Busta aligned with Aftermath, you don’t appear to be involved in his projects as much as you once were; is there a reason for that? DJ Scratch: Since Busta left Elektra Reords, we didn’t work as much and even his first album, which was on Elektra, I had no tracks on that album. I always give Busta the hit singles that he needs, because if nobody knows what to give Busta, I know what to give Busta. Artists want to try new things and you have to let them do new things and hopefully they are successful and if they are not, they can always come back home. I wasn’t on the Genesis album, but I did five tracks on that album; the one after that, It Ain’t Safe No More, only one track made the album. Everyone tries new things. He was doing his thing and I was doing my thing. I just want him to win regardless; even if I don’t do any tracks I will help him pick his tracks. You know it all came back together and look what happened. AllHipHop.com: That seems true of LL Cool J too. After working with The Trackmasters in recent years, he went to you for G.O.A.T. How did that come to be? DJ Scratch: Well that was basically through the Funk Master Flex [and Big Kap] project, The Tunnel Album. I gave a beat to Flex, it was the track “Ill Bomb,” Flex put LL on it and he killed it and that is one of my favorite songs out of my whole discography. I went to do the scratches on the song, and LL was there in the studio, and he asked me if I had any beats. I gave him a CD with six songs on it, and he picked all of them for the album. AllHipHop.com: What sort of an experience was that for you working with him? DJ Scratch: Man, I had always wanted to work with LL, he is basically the “G.O.A.T.,” he has been here the longest, he has the most consistency, he is still current. You know his first fans are 40 years old now. It was a great experience working with LL, he works professional, he writes fast as hell. In the studio, he gives advice on life and on business; it was a cool relationship. Both of us have been in the game near the same length of time and we are still current, as when he was on the mic, I was on the turntables. We shared a lot of stories, but working with LL was a great experience. AllHipHop.com: I heard your intro-track on Rampage’s album, Have You Seen? is crazy… DJ Scratch: Well that is another guy, Rampage, Flipmode family, he hasn’t had an album out in nine years. I was like, “S**t, I have tons of beats, and he said he was working on his album, and he was telling me he was working on his project. Of course I am going to support him regardless. So I didn’t give him some C-Class beat that I had because it wasn’t going to generate that much money you know what I mean, I gave him the hottest s**t, and it is about preserving this s**t and helping people out. AllHipHop.com: So working on independent projects like Rampage's doesn’t bother you? DJ Scratch: Oh not at all. I didn’t even charge him for that beat. AllHipHop.com: Yeah he mentioned that he didn’t pay for any beats on his album. DJ Scratch: Yeah, I mean people always want their money. I could have definitely got some cake for that beat from someone else. Like when [DJ] Premier heard that beat, I was overseas. He hit me up telling me the beat was retarded. AllHipHop.com: So it’s got to be something big if that is what Premier is saying. DJ Scratch: Yeah I mean people like Premier and Beatminerz, that’s my satisfaction right there. Those are the guys I look up to on some producing s**t. AllHipHop.com: How is your School of Turntable Arts working out? Is that still a go with you being out on the road so much? DJ Scratch: That’s still a go. I do classes on Saturdays and Sundays. Obviously, with touring, I haven’t been doing them lately. It is like one-on-one tutoring, and I am teaching DJs the basic art of DJing. I am not teaching them how to scratch and do a bunch of crazy s**t, I am teaching them the basics. A lot of DJs watch the DJ battle videos and they are learning advanced scratches, but they don’t know the basic s**t. When I taught myself how to DJ, I took ideas from Kung Fu movies when I was training myself. I used to have my brother’s turntables, and his needles were really light, and you couldn’t scratch on the record so I had to figure out how to make my hands light so I could scratch on these wack ass turntables. So I took the idea from a Kung Fu movie and I put ankle weights on my wrists, and practiced with those on everyday for months. I am letting you into a secret right now. I used to teach myself with these weights and I am not sure if people have ever done anything like that, but there is so much strain on your arms and your shoulders so from doing that it is painful at first. Once I took them off, my touch was so light and my arms were so strong at the same time and I was so fast that I could cut on anyone’s turntables. Back then, the needles weren’t made for scratching, so you had to put your quarter on there - or your nickel, depending on your needs. I was able to scratch with no quarter. I teach them placement when you are DJing. The DJ ramp [isn’t] big on some stages, and you only have a couple of inches of foot room behind you when you are up there. I always gotta do tricks, and if you can only take one step back, you can’t really do much. So I used to practice with two milk crates on each side of my feet and spin around where I had just enough room to do that, spin around clockwise, spin around counterclockwise, everyday and that basically made me stay in one spot and do tricks; so when I get on stage with a little riser I can still do tricks and not fall off the stage. AllHipHop.com: Motorbikes appear to be important in your life, is that your hobby? DJ Scratch: Yeah, besides DJing, that is. [laughing] AllHipHop.com: So what do you ride? DJ Scratch: I got a Ducati 998 and I got a Suzuki DXR 1000. The Ducati is just like the Bentley, it is powerful as hell. AllHipHop.com: Is that the appeal of bikes, the power? DJ Scratch: Yeah, if you are a bike rider, everyone wants a Ducati. It is a street bike, but a classy bike - fast enough to blow everything else out of the water. It is multi you know (laughing.) The Suzuki, that is one of the fastest bikes on the street and I went and got that customed out. I painted it and I chromed it. When I ride around, I ride around with a chrome hockey mask on and a chrome helmet so people don’t know who I am. AllHipHop.com: Well if they know their Hip-Hop history they should. DJ Scratch: Yeah, one day I didn’t ride around with the hockey mask on. I parked up on this bike strip and the guys that were standing next to me with their bikes, they was talking about me - they was saying they had seen this dude in Brooklyn, and he has a chrome bike, he had chrome knuckles on his gloves and he had a chrome f**king hockey mask on. When he said the hockey mask, the other guys were like, “Yeah I seen him too.” I jumped in the conversation and I was like, “Yeah, I saw him down Atlantic Avenue.’ It is like a secret identity.

I'm surprised through all these posts that nobody mentioned Common, he got mad punchlines and he beat Ice Cube 10 years ago in a battle afterall, he's the only one that could say that 'cause Ice Cube is a legendary battle mc himself,btw I don't see why underground mcs can't be mentioned 'cause a lot of them got record deals, now you can't mention Da Brakes since he don't have a deal yet, lol, I'm surprised that Tim didn't come in and say Aceyalone and Hieroglyphics yet, lol, and of course we all know that Will could rip most mcs if he wanted to but he seems to be too worried about filming now to do that, now "Lost and Found" proves that he's capable but with all these films lining up now it seems like it's becoming a lost opportunity as an mc again, plus like I said earlier he had a chance to destroy Eminem's career 5 years ago but he's been too concerned about winning an Oscar than he is about battling anybody and raising his mc status, Eminem seemed to destroyed himself anyway but it'd been worse for him if Will responded then, Game's aight but I don't think beating G Unit proves that he's the most witty mc, he needs to defeat more of a challenge to be considered one of the last standing, Rakim could probably beat the entire industry too if he wanted to but he's slowing down quite a bit so I don't know if he could anymore, he said he's supposed to have an album out this summer but I'll be shocked if it does come out the way things been going for him, Will and Rakim probably need time machines to get back to the time when they put out music at a frequent pace and dominated the industry, lol, I also think Chuck D's probably more concerned about battling George Bush than he is about battling mcs, ultimately KRS-ONE'll probably be the last mc standing, it seems like he's gonna be rapping forever, he ain't slowing down at all, he's proven that he could handle any mc from any era in a battle and he's going on his 14th album this summer, I think it'd be fun to see KRS, LL, Will, and Rakim all battle each other for the top spot, it'd be a legendary battle like Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins slam dunk competition...

That sucks that there ain't no unreleased/remixed tracks on there but I'm probably gonna pick it up when I buy Ice Cube's album the same day, usually you could get 2 albums for $20 on album release week

1. Definition Of A West Coast G (Intro) 2. Why We Thugs 3. Smoke Some Weed 4. Dimes & Nicks (A Call From Mike Epps) 5. Child Support 6. 2 Decades Ago (insert) 7. Doin' What It 'Pose 2Do 8. Laugh Now, Cry Later 9. Stop Snitchin' 10. Go To Church (featuring Snoop Dogg & Lil Jon) 11. The N***a Trapp 12. A History Of Violence 13. Growin' Up 14. Click, Clack - Get Back! 15. The Game Lord 16. Chrome & Paint (featuring WC) 17. Steal The Show 18. You Gotta Lotta That (featuring Snoop Dogg) 19. Spittin' Pollaseeds (featuring WC & Kokane) 20. Holla @ Cha' Boy