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Carmelo Anthony: My Man, My Melo By George Skoutakis In just three seasons, Carmelo Anthony has been an NBA force to be reckoned with. The former Syracuse star has taken the Denver Nuggets from an NBA joke to a franchise with a hopeful future encouraged by a lot of widespread supporters. The 22 year-old Forward has changed minds everywhere based on his young leadership on the court. With the arguable exception of Shaq, no hoops star has ever bode as well in the music industry. While Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson were unsuccessful despite major label backing, Ron Artest, Nick Van Exel, and others have hoped to channel success to fledging labels supported with NBA dollars. The jury’s still out if the NBA’s run at the industry will be as close as Master P’s run at the NBA. To date, there's been no burden of proof. Carmelo Anthony, with his age and heavy persona, may stand to change things up a bit. Krossover Entertainment is his vehicle to Hip-Hop. While he adamantly denies wishing to crack the mic himself, it’s Krossover’s artist, Berg, that is the label's first free-throw at the game. AllHipHop.com and ‘Melo discussed his industry plan of attack shorly before the Denver Nuggets’ first round appearance in the NBA Playoffs. While the team’s defeat to the Clippers makes the 2006-2007 season seem very distant in Carmelo Anthony’s life, it brings him to his industry task at hand much sooner. The young star is quiet, but determined. One of those traits feels lost in both music and sports. The other trait has been embedded in winners since the beginning of time. Get the skinny. AllHipHop.com: You’ve dealt with a DVD controversy before. Do you worry about controversy attached to putting out a rap record? Carmelo Anthony: No, because I’m not rapping, so I don’t have anything to really worry about. AllHipHop.com: Players like Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest haven’t been as successful in rap and entertainment as they have been on the courty. What do you think will make you different with Krossover Entertainment? Carmelo Anthony: The difference is all of them tried to rap. I’m not going into the booth, so that’s different. And I don’t think all of them were willing to put the time and effort into it like I am. AllHipHop.com: What types of things do you plan on doing as an executive to make this a success? Carmelo Anthony: Whatever it’s going to take. Whether it’s sitting down and taking meetings with anybody, just doing whatever it’s going to take, I’m willing to do. AllHipHop.com: You have a relationship with LaLa. What role is she going to have with the company? Carmelo Anthony: [i’ll be] using her networking ability, and just using her connects and using my connects in order to make this a success. AllHipHop.com: Is she going to be a part of the label, in terms of performing? Carmelo Anthony: No, not at all. AllHipHop.com: So just for the record, you have no plans of jumping into the entertainment side of it, you’re just going to stick to the business side of it? Carmelo Anthony: Yeah. AllHipHop.com: Besides the music and the basketball, you recently got into the Indy Car circuit. How do you find enough hours in the day to get this all done? Carmelo Anthony: With the Indy Car thing, it’s only on weekends. I’m going to be able to get to some races, and others I won’t. They understand that, because it’s during the [NBA] season. AllHipHop.com: I know Joe Montana was involved in that sport at one time. But how did Indy Car and Carmelo Anthony come together. It seems like a weird combination? Carmelo Anthony: The opportunity was brought to me and my Vice President of Marketing. He [has recently] went to listen to Gene Simmons at a conference in Los Angeles, and they just got to networking, and it was a good fit and good opportunity for everybody. AllHipHop.com: What Hip-Hop do you listen to? What’s in your headphones before a game? Carmelo Anthony: I listen to everything, man. I don’t try to narrow my choices down to one person. I try to listen to everyone. AllHipHop.com: When you’re looking for a specific artist for your label, what do they have to bring to the table for you to give them a good look? Carmelo Anthony: Most importantly, I’m a fan, so I know what I want to hear and I know what people want to hear. I know the music a fan wants to hear, so when I listen to music I listen to it as a fan. AllHipHop.com: Have you sewn up distribution? Carmelo Anthony: We’re still in the process of doing that, but in the meantime we’re doing it on our own right now. We’re trying to do things on our own and show people we’re really working and putting in the effort and time and doing it. AllHipHop.com: When you tell people about your plans for your company have you found that people have been supportive or the “Here we go again…” type deal? Carmelo Anthony: Naw, I think people have been supportive. Of course you’re going to have people out there who say its just another ‘basketball player whose trying to something,’ but overall, I’ve gotten a lot of support

Keep in mind that it's not only Jay-Z in charge at Def Jam, LA Reid is in charge there too, so it's not like Will'd just be working for Jay-Z anyway, keep in mind that before Jay-Z was named president there some artists like Public Enemy and Montell Jordan didn't like the way they were treated by Lyor Cohen when he was in charge so it's not like everything was perfect before Jay was there and it ain't perfect now but being that Jay's also an artist he seems to have respect for the artists 'cause he knows what they go through, I don't anybody's had problems with him yet, except for DMX who was just being stubborn basically I must say as much as I like his music, he seems to have ego problems and that turns me off from X a lil' bit, but Jay lets the artists do their thing, it might not be a perfect label but what label's perfect anyway? Btw why can't Will work with more current artists too he shouldn't just work with ol' school artists ... Come on now ain't ?uestlove producing on Will's next album anyway? Maybe Will does have in mind to go Def Jam since The Roots signed there recently, btw you wouldn't wanna see Will work with Nas, LL Cool J, and Redman? They're all on the Def Jam roster, even The Isley Brothers have an album coming out and Will could work with them too, if you really want Will to go ol' school, lol, Imean if Ronald Isley don't mind working with Jay-Z why'd Will have any problems? I don't think Will should do an album full of guest appearances though, unless it turns out like LL's album, I don't like half of the artists featured on "Todd Smith" but the collabs turned out well, as long as the music's good, who cares who's on it, Will's gonna hold it down regardless, that's what it's about... Jay seems to show more respect for Will than Dr. Dre does, but it seems that being associated with those 2 guys is the only way you could sell a lot of records, it's either join Aftermath or Def Jam or flop doing records with only ol' school artists that nobody buys anymore, I mean you want Will to sell more albums right? All the kids that like Jay-Z would go on the Big Willie bandwagon if they see how much Jay respects him, what's wrong with that idea? I personally have no problem with him sticking at Interscope and selling what he currently does, I don't worry about sales, I just want good music, but I don't care who he works with either as long as the album's dope, Jay got talent, he's been rapping about as long as Will but it took him a lil' longer to get a record deal, I'm not saying he's the GOAT and I don't personally like a lot of his music either,but if he's so wack why don't you make an album better than his or beat him in a freestyle battle? I wouldn't mind if he did something with Will, even if Kanye did something with Will, that'd be aight too, Kanye also got respect for Will, Will should work with people that respect him and he respects back, and it's like that in this case whether you like it or not, they're better than most rappers out now too in my opinion but of course those are not collabs I'd die over if they didn't happen, Will could work with whoever he wants to, he's making the album not us, he could sign to whatever label he wants too to, it's his career, we're all gonna have disagreements on who we want him to work with 'cause we all have different artists that we like besides JJFP but I think we all want Will do keep on droppin' solid albums for the masses to enjoy and Def Jam would be a nice platform for Will to be heard, what's so bad about that? I'm not a fan of Pussycat Dolls, Ludacris, or Lil' Kim but "Lost and Found" and "Willenium" are dope albums, and as long as Will keeps on making quality music he could work with Britney Spears for all I care, I'd be more dissapointed if he decides not to make anymore music...

Well record sales on general are slowing down,I think that's why Teiarra Mari, Ne-Yo, and Rihanna didn't sell higher than they did even with huge hits, Omarion and Marques Houston had videos all in major rotation and they didn't go platinum either, now with Teiarra Mari and Ne-Yo being on Def Jam, it should be really called Def Soul like when Lyor Cohen was president and they had Montell Jordan and Kelly Price on the label, it was under the Def Soul imprint, those are the type of artists they are... btw AJ you talk about bringing positive vibes and not being negative but going on and on dissing people like Jay-Z that you don't even know is not positive even if you don't like his music there's no need to hate him with a passion like this, it's not cool, don't have hate in your blood, you sound like you'd beat up Jay-Z if you met him or something, lol, I'd rather have Will work with somebody like Jay-Z than Tommy Mottolla 'cause whether you like it or not Will respects Jay-Z as a person and as an artist and vice versa, don't worry about Jay trying to turn Will into a studio gangsta, that won't happen, he hasn't done it to LL so why'd he try that with Will? He knows the type of music Will's good at doing and he'll let him do it,it'd be a win-win situation for Def Jam and Will, and like I said earlier Will'd fit right in there with LL, Nas, and The Roots to bring true hip-hop back to the masses, what other label is as strong as that? Will's an open minded individual and a team player but it sounds like if you were in his shoes you wouldn't be a team player 'cause you on and on hating, you'd get into a lot of rap beefs, lol, if you go around acting better than everyone else nobody like you, that's what you respect about Will but why don't you try more of that yourself while you're at it? Bottomline,I really don't care who Willworks with as long as he keeps on releasing albums, Will always stays true to himself, he's not gonna change his image ever...

The best song is probably Michael Jackson's "Thriller", usually that one tops the MTV all time lists all the time...

Nice to see them recognise Will like that, quite an honor indeed to be one of the most influential people in the world, but I don't like how they write in that article that he began his career as a rapper like he ain't one anymore, I mean come on now he had an album that went platinum worldwide last year :stickpoke:

Well I don't think Will'd have to take any orders from Jay if he went there, Jay'd let Will do his thing, they're friends, Jay was talking in interviews a few years ago about how he hangs out at the casino in Atlantic City with Will, Jay knows that Will's a legend and he'll give him space to create, I mean look at how well LL's "Todd Smith" album came out, it says on the album that it was executive produced by "James Todd Smith and The Carter Administration" but it's an authentic LL album, Will's not like DMX in the sense that he don't have a big ego, he's humble, he has no beef with anybody just 'cause he sold more records than a lot of people, he's not gonna have a fit 'cause he has to hand in his album for Jay to listen to like DMX did, he won't have a problem with Jay like that, LL Cool J and Nas ain't too big for Jay so how is Will too big for him? Idon't think Will goes around thinking he's too big to work with anybody, it's not like it's gonna be a Tommy Mottolla situation again if Will decides to go there either, I don't get what's the big deal? It's like who gives a damn if it says executive produced by "Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince, and The Carter Administration" as long as the album's a solid JJFP album, but I think Will should stay at Interscope till his deal expires there, Will just needs to put a lil' more time into promoting his albums, that's all, he can't go off to shoot a movie when the single drops, come on now, with him going to shoot "Pursuit..." what was the point of releasing "Party Starter" in the first place? Frenetic brought up that point months ago and he's right, I mean only if you're a famous music artist like Eminem you could sit back and not do any performances and have a hit, but most artists have to go out and do promo to promote their singles,I mean he didn't even perform it at the holiday shows, you just expect Will to come back from shooting the film and see "Party Starter" #1 on the Billboard charts, it ain't '98 anymore....

Dr. Dre was saying in an interview that "Willenium" is the worst album he ever heard and there's a scene in Dre's "Forgot About Dre" video where Eminem makes fun of Will with the house burning down saying he was listening to Will Smith CD when the house went on fire, Dre was just going along with Eminem, if Eminem never signed to Aftermath and dissed Will on another label I don't think Dre would get involved like that to diss Will....

When was the last time Dre dissed Will? The only reason why he dissed Will is 'cause he was sticking up for Eminem around the time that "Real Slim Shady" came out 'cause that's his artist on his label, I don't think he has any ill feelings towards Will though, that was 6 years ago, he wouldn't do the score for "Bad Boys 2" if he hated Will so much and Will wouldn't be at shows rapping to "In Da Club" beat that Dre produced if he didn't like Dre, I mean damn if Nas and Jay could go through what they did and be friends and collab now I don't see why Will and Dre get together to make great music 'cause the beef was never that serious to begin with, they're both legends and it'd be something that'd shake up the rap world in a big way, Will should have a guest appearance on "Detox"...

"Phenomenon"'s a good album, not his best, but it had some dope tracks, the tracks I like the most are "4,3,2,1" with DMX, Method Man, Redman, and Canibus, "Candy" with New Edition, "Father", and "Starsky and Hutch" with Busta, I'd give it 8/10 rating, I think a lot of those people who post negative reviews on Amazon are haters, I mean look at the "Willenium" reviews and see how ignorant some of their reviews are, they just talk about how much they don't like the artist and don't even review the album, I mean if some people just say the album sucks without even explaining why or just diss the single they heard on the radio which gives you an impression that they never heard the album and they hate the artist with such a passion that they'll diss the album in hope that people read the reviews and decide not to buy it, lol, overall the album has a 3 1/2 star rating though so obviously some people like it, opinions are like assholes and everybody has them and over a million people went out to purchase it so obviously LL did something right on that album that made people wanna buy it, lol, listen to the music and make your own opinion...

Going to either Aftermath or Def Jam seems like a long shot, but as long as he don't go to another Columbia type label that mess with his creative freedom I could care less where he goes, Interscope's not that bad of a label when you think about it, "Lost and Found" basically sold as much as LL's recent albums have sold and he got the creative freedom he wanted, I personally don't care as long as he keeps putting out great music, he should do collabs with Dr. Dre and LL on the next album though, that's something a lot of rap heads would like to see, I don't think many people would expect Snoop to be on a Will Smith album so I think a collab with Dr. Dre is realistic...

Well Dr. Dre produced the score for "Bad Boys 2" so I don't think it'd be that much of a stretch if he worked with Will, I don't like some of his current production as much of his earlier stuff but I think working with a legendary mc like Will'd help bring out the best of him again...

That's great to hear that, btw did any other Will songs make the top 500?

I don't think any of us knows exactly when, Will seems to be more focused with his film career at the moment, and I think that was the problem with "Lost and Found"'s promotion, we all could blame Interscope all we want but if Will went around and performed "Party Starter" instead of shooting "Pursuit Of Happiness" maybe "Lost and Found" would've been certified platinum last fall and then there'd been enough buzz for the album still that "Tell Me Why" would've came out, it reminds me of 6 years ago when Will went off to shoot "Legend Of Bagger Vance" instead of shooting a video for "Potnas" and releasing it to help "Willenium" get more recognition, it's like he went on Rap City saying a couple months earlier that year saying that he's the best rapper in the game but yet he didn't put in the work for people to recognise that, I mean people saw that as a joke since he released the worst songs off the album, he shoulda released the more lyrical JJFP tracks off "Willenium" then the public would've saw him in different light, then when "Born To Reign" dropped Will went to go shoot "Bad Boys 2" instead of shooting a video for "How The Beat Goes" to help "Born To Reign" go platinum, Will said when "Lost and Found" came out that he felt bad about how he let his film career overshadow but it seems to be the same tune, he needs to make a better schedule for himself, I mean if he's gonna a couple years shooting and promoting films, he could spend a couple years on his music then go back to films after that....

I think Will still might be able to do something big on Interscope if he joins Aftermath like Busta Rhymes, Busta's got one of the most anticipated albums of the year, I mean just think how great an album could be if you have Jazzy Jeff and Dr. Dre producing it, that'd be like "Code Red" meets "The Chronic", it'd be the best album ever, can't sleep on that opportunity....

I don't think that Jay would try to mess with Will if he goes there unless he wants his ass kicked.... :chuks: btw, Jay gave LL the creative freedom for "Todd Smith" album so I'm sure he'll let JJFP do their thing too if they sign there, on the most part though Def Jam has been signing new artists lately like Rick Ross,maybe there's a space on Def Jam Left for JJFP where The Roots were signed recently, of course we don't know if Will's still signed to Interscope, he might have more albums on his contract deal before he could sign somewhere else so I don't know if going to Def Jam is in the immediate future but it'd be something that Will should look into eventually...

Interesting first day in the draft, the Titans are gonna be much better this year with having Vince Young and Lendell White, btw here's a recap of everything from the 1st day: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft06/index

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I think we're all gettin' impatient waiting for JJFP to do something new, lol, thinking about voting for this makes me personally feel bad wishing that this was something worth voting for like a new video to get on the airwaves...

:word: This whole thread is pointless, you should lock the thread AJ, that's why I didn't even wanna respond in the first place to the foolish statements being made, hey Lerkot I just don't get how you could say Slick Rick's one of your favorite rappers but then you criticise Will's videos for being too sexual, I mean they don't compare to how explicitly Slick Rick raps about sex min his songs, you coming off as contractictory, it's only entertainment, stop analyzing it so damn much...

Yeah that's basically what I was saying and that's basically all that I'm gonna say in this thread, nuff said..

Aight now, I've been holding back but I just gotta drop my 2 cents here to stop the ignorance, now the point about the "Lost and Found" track was to make people aware of being original with their ideas when they make songs and videos, he's not knocking gangsta rap 'cause he likes gangsta rap in reality, he likes Biggie, 2Pac, Jay-Z, DMX, 50 Cent, etc but he feels that not everybody should rap like them, rappers need to bring originality, that's the problem with the rap game right now, everybody's trying to imitate each other, and record labels only promote a certain image and don't give rappers who ain't rapping about thug life a break into the industry, you shouldn't have to be a drug dealer to get a record deal, that's the point Will was making, I mean if 90% of the rap game was not cursing like Will Smith it'd be pretty boring too, artists need to find their own identity and labels need to celebrate that instead of putting that down, we need balance, and that's basically what Will was saying, read this from Will's site if you haven't already: "Meanwhile, the potent title cut's constructive critiques of his beloved art form begins with Will Smith reciting Webster's definition of "original" over an arrangement of terse strings. He explains, "If you don't dress like everybody in all the other videos dresses, or your drums don't sound like everyone's, or your rhyme scheme isn't like everyone else's, you don't fit in according to the industry. So originality isn't necessarily nurtured. As far as defining it at the beginning of the record, I did that to say, let's clear up what originality means and figure out how that could be a bad thing." "I'm a hip hop head from the old school, so I appreciate all kinds of hip hop. I just need it to just say something. I feel like N.W.A's first album and Biggie's first album should be used in psychology classes-they're such accurate, powerful depictions of the lifestyle. Such brilliant well thought out, well-defined, well-rounded albums. For my taste, I need records like those. They just have some intellectual base to it. I like fun records. I make fun records. But there just has to be a point to it."

As long as the album's in circulation they check sales I'd reckon...

Yeah I think some people might get sensitive towards their beliefs on religion and the God they choose to believe in if they choose so, on that note I'm gonna lock this topic up and if you wanna talk about LL's album start a fresh thread, peace...

Who said that this'd be Will's last album? Will's working on a compilation album with Kel Spencer and is doing tracks with Jazzy Jeff, he's far from done...

come on lerk stop trippin', u keep on bringing all of this negative energy, go get laid, stop ranting like an ol' woman, u bitchin' over nothin' :stickpoke: