bigted

Honestly if he just did more performances, guest appearances, radio interviews in between where he drops an occasional freestyle I wouldn't mind if it took him 3 years to come up with another album but just seeing him just doing a bunch of things film related and nothing music related is what's puzzling coming from somebody who loves music, but hopefully he works on balancing it out properly so he won't let down his music fans so much... If Will was concerned with his sales he could've made sure that it wouldn't take so long for "Party Starter" to come out, you can't expect the album to sell so much milking the weakest track, maybe if he done a few more shows and actually performed album cuts instead of greatest hits that'd help sales too, there's things he could've done where it'd help that album make a strong impact, I bet if he releases the singles himself it'd do better than just sitting back waiting for Interscope to do so, he has the star power to do that if he really wanted to, if Kanye West puts money out of his own pockets to distribute videos, why can't Will? btw, He wouldn't have had to look for a label in the 1st place if he didn't go shoot a film a month after he dropped "Born To Reign", that'd even had gone platinum if he put in a lil' more effort in the promotion of the album, then again looking back at that it'd been best to delay that album a lil' bit and just release "Black Suits Comin" as a single for the soundtrack then release the album a lil' after shooting "Bad Boys II" where he'd have time to go out and promote it, just the lil' things he could do in between that'd help his image as a music artist...

Well this quote right here refers to the beats: "If your drums don't sound like everyone's....you don't fit in according to the industry", I really don't have a problem with the beats on "Lost and Found", it ain't a classic sound like "Code Red" or "Willenium" production, but I think it's a step above most generic commercial rap production out now that's on the radio that sounds repetitive, btw we talk about how great production helps albums sell but then why is "Code Red" the least selling JJFP album since it's one of the best produced albums of all time? :stickpoke: I think image sells more than anything, if 50 Cent had "Lost and Found" beats for his album, he'd still sell millions 'cause of his image...

Well I think there is some ol' school hip-hop artists like Afrika Bambattaa and Grandmaster Flash that're in their 50's now still performing, there was hip-hop artists a decade before LL and JJFP that came on the scene that're in their 50s now,so it's a possibility that there might be a handful of ol' school artists still going for a while...

it seems that jazzy and will ain't that tight anymore like they used to 'cause you figure with jeff's influence will'd wanna do music more often...

The point that upsets me is that from that quote I get the impression that he's putting music on the backburner 'cause it ain't as popular as his movies but to be real a lot of that is his fault doing albums every 3 years you can't expect to sell 5 million each time, you have to release something in between if you're a music artist, even a lil' guest appearance in between would hold fans over, but doing nothing in music for 3 years and just films is not a good look for him Could you imagine 50 Cent or Kanye West taking a break for 3 years and being just as popular? He shouldn't complain about his albums sales if he don't put in the work.... Believe me I don't mind he does some movies but I think it'd be better though if he put a lil' more work into doing more shows with Jazzy Jeff/guest appearances in between then he could be as popular in his music just as his movies which he's worked so hard at over the last 15 years with no music tours but hey there are a lot of artists who came out the same time as JJFP that don't do much now but a lot of that though is not under their own power, they don't get record contracts so they can't release anything, but you can't say that for Will, he's in a position that most artists could only dream of at this point, doing a lot of movie projects after saying that your first love is music is what upsets us music fans Jazzy Jeff is probably the more credible artist from JJFP 'cause he's worked more to please the few fans he has, they don't have to wait forever to see him, Will's one of the richest men in America at this point so he could do whatever the **** he wants, if he wanted to do more music he could do it, it's not like he's a broke ol' school artist that can't afford to record....

Remember what Will said: "Why should I try to sound like y'all sound?": 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." Running to Dr. Dre for beats would look like he's just trying to get hits like other pop rappers, that don't help his credability, I'd rather see DJ Quik produce for Will than Dr. Dre, he got some dope ****, he could call up KRS-ONE, Paris, DJ Johnny Juice, RZA, Pete Rock, Wyclef, and Teddy Riley if he wants producers besides Jazzy to give him great beats, even though they ain't that popular now, it's unfortunate that Will never got to work with J. Dilla either 'cause he was dope as hell too, a track with Swizz Beatz and Neptunes would be aight too 'cause they're the best mainstream producers out at the moment, even Jermaine Dupri is better than Dre now, I think Will'd have great chemistry with them, I want quality ****, not just pop hits, I don't want Will riding the G Unit bandwagon

Didn't critics call production on JJFP albums popcorn too? It seems like they always hate on Will 'cause he don't make hardcore rap, I do remember "Party Starter" getting dissed and Luda produced that, his music easily stacks up against all the parental advisory artists but they diss his music 'cause it don't have a PA sticker...

Dr. Dre's album's gonna suck if 50 Cent helps him with it :shakehead: BR: Are you going to be on your mentor Dr. Dre’s album, Detox? 50: Well, Detox, when it actually comes out, I’ll be on it. People have been anticipating this record for a long time, and I feel like Dre always comes through. It’s going to be something special, but he takes his time with it. More than normal, you know, because he’s such a perfectionist. You know what it is? The saying, 'there’s a shadow of doubt cast over every artist in between projects.' Because, when you deal with the general public you deal with the world people. And a lot of people aren’t successful because they don’t believe in themselves. And if they don’t believe in themselves, how could [they] expect anyone to believe in [them] as an artist? After a while they [don’t] start going, ‘do you think 50 Cent can make a good record,’ but ‘do you think he can do it again? Do you think he can make an album that does as well as his first one again?’ And I went through that going into The Massacre. I couldn’t understand it at first because I had so much consistency with the other material that I released; having everybody that I released through my record label scan over a million records. I sat around and I kind of thought about it, and said things to him and he just goes, ‘well, they gonna do that anyway.’ And I felt like they was doubting that I would do it again when I got ready to do my second record. But Dre, I think he feels that pressure because he has to beat the last thing that he’s done. And while we might be thinking about The Chronic, he might be thinking about Get Rich or Die Tryin', and “In Da Club.” So he feels like his record has to be bigger than that last record that he made. It’s difficult. I’ll hear music and I’ll be like, ‘look … I need this beat.’ Like, how we do all of these out-of-control records? We do the records in the studio. And he’ll be making new records because he’ll be like, ‘yeah, that was cool, but…’ And he’ll move on to something else. And I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. This one. Give me this! I know what to do with this. You can stay in the studio and make records if that’s what you want to do. Let me go to Bangkok with this one.’ [Laughs] It’s a process for him, so you just kind of got to be patient with Detox and Dre’s records. But, I’m looking forward to it.

They now posted a new interview with Paris who talks about writing and producing for this "Rebirth..." album

http://www.blastro.com/news/ In "I got quotes for days" news, Curtis "Interscope" Jackson has finally responded to the slick comments that came out of the little homey Spike Lee's mouth. You know how 50 plays it. Why actually I don't EbenGregory, care to explain? Here's the short version: A couple weeks back, Spike Lee laid into 50 Cent for his "gangster" ways. He also took a few jabs at Irv Gotti. You can read all about that here. Back to 50. The G-Unit Capo recently sat down with Bangkok Recorder magazine to talk about a variety of jazz including the recent comments made by Spike Lee. Here's 50 Cent to Bangkok Recorder magazine on Spike Lee giving him the gas face: Like anything violent that goes on, they kind of put me to it. For instance, I think Spike Lee's new motivation for talking about me had something to do with the incident with Busta Rhymes' bodyguard: Cause, Spike Lee's not a friend of mine. Here's 50 Cent to Bangkok Recorder magazine on Spike Lee's movie production skills: I actually dislike the part in his movies where the character stands still [and the camera pans back] and it looks like [the character] moves. I think that’s the corniest thing on the planet. Here’s 50 Cent to Bangkok Recorder magazine on Spike Lee talking jazz: I don't know if Spike Lee actually has a problem with 50 Cent, 50 Cent's image or the things that are being projected on me, or if he just needs new press and publicity: Who's Spike Lee? Spike Lee's not relevant to 50 Cent. He's not even in my life. I could care less about him. He's right about one thing, EbenGregory could care less so: Here's some jewelry being dropped by EbenGregory on 50 Cent talking jazz about Spike Lee and EbenGregory doing a half a$$ story about it: The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any. While the jewelry has nothing to do with the price of tea in China, it still looks good. Jewelry doesn't always match, but it always looks good. BR: Like in Crooklyn? 50: Yeah, he does it in all of the movies. He’ll just stop and he’ll have the camera moving instead of the actual character. I think it’s difficult to control [the misrepresentations]. Because whenever you become public property, you have to adjust to people’s opinions. But you can’t allow that to affect your day-to-day. I know what’s important to me and what I’m doing creatively. I can’t tell you, a journalist, ‘well you have a responsibility to write what you want the person that’s reading…’ You could be a journalist writing the actual story, but it’s your fault because you have a responsibility too - to not give people anything that inspires them to be bad. Which means that we think all the information in every story that we receive through our media outlets should be censored. But instead, you want to place those standards just on 50 Cent, just on music. And not even apply it to larger forms of entertainment, like film. They protested my [Get Rich or Die Tryin’] poster boards because I had a gun in the poster boards. But how often have we seen guns utilized for the marketing of a film? For 007, they put a gun pointing straight at you in the logo. I’ve seen the The Matrix, how many guns did you see in that? All of these action films. You know what cheap action is? [Makes hand into shape of a gun and makes a gunshot noise] A gunshot. It’s a blank and a squib that explodes on your chest. That’s cheap. Five dollars. We can do it for like five dollars. [imitating a director] ‘Let’s shoot it again. Wait, let’s shoot this scene again.’ And guess what? The movie’s no good if it doesn’t look real. I think that visuals are more effective than sound, so they should apply those standards harder on film than they should on music. But it’s easier to attack one thing. Like, you’re attacking one person when you say you have a problem with it. And, I don’t know if Spike Lee actually has a problem with 50 Cent, 50 Cent’s image or the things that are being projected on me, or if he just needs new press and publicity. It’s something for us all to look at, you know? Like when you decide from out of nowhere to mention it. Who’s Spike Lee? Spike Lee’s not relevant to 50 Cent. He’s not even in my life. I could care less about him. And to say that he has a problem with my image or what I’m doing creatively, it means nothing to me, you know? You could read the rest of the 50 Cent interview here: http://www.bangkokrecorder.com/?p=redakt.a...6&ArtikelID=168

Well Will doing a song with Nelly would be like doing that "If You Can't Dance" song with the Pussy Cat Dolls or another 'Switch' which would've been huge if it came out or LL doing a song with J-Lo, it'd be a party pop rap song done to get a big hit on the radio and TRL but a song with Souls Of Mischief would be something that'd display Will's skills as a lyricist, and show that he's more than a party rappers but it'd flop like "Party Starter" since people don't buy top notch skills anymore

What reviews said that?!! I think the production on "Lost and Found" is better than anything Dre's done in the last 5 years, there's nothing musically creative about Dre anymore, if you wanna hear dope beats from Dre buy 'The Chronic' album and then you'll see how garbage his beats are today, he just follows trends now, he ain't no different than any other pop rap producer today, his beats all sound the same and generic, it seems like Trackmasters ghostproduce for him now, lol, people just kiss up to him 'cause he's Dre but if anyone else made those beats they'd get dissed no doubt and they diss Will all the time anyway no matter what he does 'cause he's Will, if Will made gangbanging songs they'd give props to his beats, but Dre should just give it up, Jazzy's the G.O.A.T. producer by a country mile....

Will contradicts himself 'cause if he says he loves music so much he would do it more often, he says he doesn't worry about sales now he says that he does movies more 'cause they're more popular than his music, and then he'll come back 3 years from now with another album and be asking people why he don't get respect for his music.... :blabla:

Well I think that Will doing movies is great too don't get it confused, it's not like I hate him doing them, but doing 5 films for every album doesn't make me that happy 'cause I think if he balances it out more he'll be cemented as the greatest entertainer ever, he won't get the full respect as a music artist if takes 20 years to go back on tour, he should release an album for every film with an occasional tour too but it doesn't look like he wants to do it that way and that's what pisses me off, btw if we could have Rolling Stones and James Brown still touring at their ages I don't see why we can't have a senior citizen rapper as well, hip-hop is still not that old yet but realistically there won't be too many 'cause most artists that came from the era of Rolling Stones and James Brown are either retired or dead, there's no way that he'll be able to go on tour 30 years from now if he don't want to now, he's wasting the prime of his life right now by not touring, this is time where the best performances would be done and of course there's so many rappers dying at a young age I'll be happy that he even makes it there to that age but since he ain't in a gangsta rap war he might, lol...

:paperbag: :ohdear: Maybe in 2020 we'll get a JJFP reunion tour...

Afrika Bambaataa and Chuck D Demand Accontability in Hip-Hop Tuesday - February 28, 2006 by Rebecca A. Murphy Hip-Hop legends Afrika Bambaataa and Chuck D of Public Enemy recently held a Zulu Nation meeting at Harlem's National Back Theatre to discuss the issues of hip-hop. Last Tuesday (February 22), the Supreme World Council of the Universal Zulu Nation held an emergency meeting to speak on the current state of rap music. Chuck D and Bambaataa blasted the media, particularly radio stations like New York's Hot 97 and Power 105, for "brainwashing" their listeners with their repetitive radio show playlists. "If you're playing 50 Cent, we want to hear Common Sense," said Bambaataa. "If you play Missy Elliot, we want to hear Sonic Force. If you play Sean Paul, we want to hear Bob Marley." This is not the first time Bambaataa has gone at Hot 97. R.E.A.C.H.Hip-Hop, a group that Bambaataa is a founding member of, has spoken out on multiple occasions against the station and Miss Jones, their morning show host. Chuck D suggested that hip-hop artists add a variety of sound to their music, speaking directly to rap stars such as Lil' Jon and the Ying Yang Twins. "That's all you hear is a mixture of a thug life and children," said Chuck D. "How you going to make a club song and your marketing campaign is aimed at a 14-year-old? Why? A 14-year-old can't get into the goddamn club. And not only is it a club, it's a strip club. So what the hell does an 11-year-old who rushes home from school to turn on the radio or television know about strip clubs anyway? "This is not a building full of bitter people, bitter old recording artists who are mad that their records ain't getting played on the radio anymore," he added. "This is a town meeting for the survival of people . Hip-hop is caught up in a time where one's worth and status are contingent upon money rather than a genuine love for the music."

Did I read that right, Eric B. with Death Row??!! :hmm: It seemed like Death Row died with Pac...

will gave us a gem of an album but it still didn't impact the way it should've, people still consider him as an actor who makes rap albums more than a hip-hop artist who acts, but that's more of interscope's fault more than anything, there wasn't enough promotion for everyone to even know that album came out, there's no JJFP reunion tour, and right now Will and Jeff are doing seperate music projects rather than coming together and recording an album like they should be, and in a few months will's gonna be back on his movie career again so that means he'll be putting music on the backburner for awhile again, things could be better no doubt, but i guess that room for improvement will keep will hungry to stay in the game rather than if everything was perfect 'cause it seems like when a lot of will's ol' school peers get a lot of recognition they don't work that hard anymore, except for a couple...

AllHipHop.com seems to be showing love to a lot of the ol' school hip-hop artists

thanks for the news, maybe there's a possibility he's traveling to look for collabs for his album too?

this seems to be the million dollar question on this board, the way things look now i wouldn't hold my breath to say that there'll be a JJFP reunion album or Will quiting acting anytime soon though :stickpoke:

I think Will owns his publishing if that's what you're asking

If Will did a song with Nelly it'd get major airplay in the clubs and on the charts

I think that "Rock The House" is probably one of the most critically acclaimed albums for JJFP, they had a lot of credability for that album and so did "Code Red" so how could you call them the worst ones? I'd say "And In This Corner..." was probably a dissapointment for many 'cause it came after the classic "He's The DJ..."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1334 Chuck D: You're Gonna Get Yours By Paine IIn their independence, Public Enemy has released some outstanding albums. Still, according to some critics, those albums struggled to reach the masses. For the last two years, there has been talk of Public Enemy allowing their creative vessels to be directed by Bay Area legend, Paris in Rebirth of a Nation. This album, written and produced by Paris, features Public Enemy, dead prez, Immortal Technique, MC Ren, Kam, and the Conscious Daughters in one place. If ever there was an album that Conservative White America would try and stop, they should have attempted with this album. Consider it an opportunity missed. Chuck D discusses his experience in making this album, with AllHipHop.com. He reflects on that distribution system that has made PE’s plans harder than Chuck would hope. The Strong Island icon also touches upon some issues from a recent Elemental magazine column – including why “Stop Snitchin’” is hurting us all. Suckas to the side… Chuck D speaks. AllHipHop.com: It was interesting to me that on Rebirth of a Nation, you have this song, “Invisible Man”. Originally, those lyrics appeared as “I” on There’s a Poison Goin’ On. Was it your idea or Paris’ idea to revisit that? Why? Chuck D: Paris renamed it “Invisible Man”. I think he looked into it, and took it to the next level. When I originally wrote it [as “I”], I wrote it as a story of just a day walkin’ through the hood. When I first wrote “I”, it was actually inspired off of when I saw a video of Bruce Springsteen [“Philadelphia”] walkin’ through Philadelphia. That’s as simple as it was for me. AllHipHop.com: I just loved the opening lines, “I came from a place I forgot / woke up in a parking lot / far from a meal and a cot.” It means something different each time. Chuck D: That’s why we write songs. Sometimes they’ll make an immediate impact, sometimes they’ll be time capsules in themselves. I’m glad you dug the song. AllHipHop.com: On the stuff from this album, “Hard Rhymin’” with Sister Souljah is that classic Public Enemy sound. At one point in the song, you say that young kids are probably confusing the term ‘ghetto’ with the term ‘ignorance’. That said, what does ‘ghetto’ mean to you? Chuck D: Number one: I’d like to clarify – I wrote no lyrics on this album except for “Invisible Man”, and that was the whole gift of the great experimentation of the project. What would it sound like to be actually [written for] and produced by somebody you truly admire from brick to mortar? But my take is that there is nothing ever fabulous about the ghetto, ‘cause the ghetto is forced upon you. Yes, maybe it’s making sugar out of salt. But to me, the “stay in the ghetto” mentality is to accept what the slave-master has forced upon you. That’s always been my belief. Maybe the world is the ultimate ghetto? But let yourself be exposed to all the [things] that the world has to offer instead of saying [that the ghetto] is only your world, and you can’t go no further. That’s some bulls**t, for real. AllHipHop.com: This album was supposed to be released a lot earlier – like a year ago, the campaign started. What was the hold up? Chuck D: I have my own label [slamJamz], and we also release Public Enemy records all around the world. We wanted to release three albums in a short period of time. But in the route, distribution has a bottom line of dictating to you what they’re gonna take, as far as a title from an artist. They’re only gonna take one [release] at a time within a six month window. [laughs] So, it wasn’t so much as what we wanted to do as record labels, artists, or creators – it’s what distribution dictates. I’ve worked very hard to try and balance that playing-field out. But I don’t have a wand that waves over that world. At the end of the day, I’m still using the same distributors that go to the same retail shops which shows how quite primitive that whole system is. We just released a record [New Whirl Odor], and the other record we’re releasing, How You Sell Soul to a Souless People Who Sold Their Soul, which is a real gem – that’s gonna wait till next year. I wanted to release three albums in the period of a year, like they used to do in the 60’s. Distribution dictated that we spread them. Ain’t that some s**t? AllHipHop.com: Except, they did allow Nelly to release Sweat and Suit on the same day last year… Chuck D: Yeah, well, he can release them on the same day. But in essence, it’s the same barcode numbers. Plus, it comes from a major. A major has a ruling thumb on what their gonna dictate to the retail audience. It’s a business that's unusual, right? AllHipHop.com: Now as far as New Whirl Odor, how have you perceived the fan reaction from that album so far? Chuck D: Based upon performance or the recording? AllHipHop.com: The recording. Chuck D: [laughs] I don’t look at albums like – you drop an album and wait for the first month’s reaction. I think it’s a tragedy that they’ve turned the recording industry into the movie industry. That’s so ridiculous. Anything I kinda record and write is always step one. The next step, the main step is – can we perform those songs? If you really don’t perform a song, it’s just a song. When you perform a song, and it’s able to have a part of you, then it takes on another form of life. That’s one thing that Public Enemy [can do]. We can do concert tours with the U2’s or the Dilated Peoples. We can do it till 2026. [laughs] My thing is – always make sure a performance is enjoyable. It’s the thing that’s allowed us our passport to the windows of the world. We deal with about 30 countries, and there’s nothing sweeter than that. AllHipHop.com: You pen a monthly column in Elemental magazine. In the latest issue, you wrote two pages on “What I Want to See From Hip-Hop in 2006”. In particular, you address your displeasure with the Stop Snitchin’ campaign. I urge people to read the article, but tell me, in a nutshell, why you feel that way… Chuck D: What I’m sayin’ is – to make this even smaller than a nutshell – is that I’m so ticked off of smarter people havin’ to dumb themselves down to feel comfortable with themselves in society. It’s not a Black thing homie, it’s an American thing. Americanism encourages people not to be smart, not to figure out what’s really goin’ on in the first place. So when it comes down to it, to see college journalists actually accept these aspects in Hip-Hop just so they can feel like they’re down with it, or down with the streets, this is a ridiculous notion. At the end of the streets, are two industries – jail and death, which are highly profitable for everybody other than who comes up out of the hood. [laughs] So I think, if somebody’s smart, and they know better, than they should say better. The whole snitchin’ aspect – if your mom needs to get from one place to another safely, how you gonna actually say she don’t need no protection? If you can’t protect her, who the hell can? I just think a lot of these cats in Hip-Hop who know better, are so hypocritical to the way things are really supposed to be. AllHipHop.com: What do you tell those people? Chuck D: I would tell them that I don’t care how rough they say they life is in America. I deal with cats who are from Russia, and I ain’t never seen no hard life as Russia. How will people know if they don’t respect themselves? My job is also to give as much respect to them as possible. When I see wrong, I say, “That s**t’s wack, that’s f**ked up.” Hip-Hop is also known as the artform that points at s**t as being wack. Snitchin’ came out of the 60’s, when you had revolutionaries who had the neighborhood in the best interest, [as] they were actually being disassembled by COINTELPRO. But if you don’t know what happened in the 60’s, and you don’t know COINTELPRO, and you just lookin’ at snitchin’ as somebody who just rattin’ out on a drug-dealer who ain’t doing no good for no f**kin’ body any God damned way, you’re grossly misunderstood - and Hip-Hop’s not about that. When it comes down to that criminal element, it affects Black people first. They can say I’m a racist, but that’s just the way it is. When I say I’m a ‘race man’, it’s easy for people to run away from me, or say, “Ah, I heard it before.” This ain’t a passing trend, this is what it is. I’mma die Black. That’s just the way it is. Society doesn’t need dumb mothaf**kas actually speaking for us - that needs to stop. The country already has a village idiot at the top. We don’t need that same attitude in Hip-Hop. Quote me on that. AllHipHop.com: In the same column, you also said, “Rap albums need decent liner notes by good journalists.” Tell me why… Chuck D: I think everything needs an interpretation – not to be studied immediately. I take it yourself, just like myself, can actually have a portal into something we might not have previously been into, based on the liner notes. I mean, if I’m reading into some album by Prestige that they happened to have graciously given us in CD form, with the liner notes included. That allows me to get into the psyche of the music – and also get an idea of the sense of the time that it was [recorded] in. I think that’s very important, to squeeze in the elements of what surrounded the musicianship with clear-cut interpretations. I think that Rap music now has a better chance of being enhanced by the liner notes because what we deal with is dealt with the written word. Having an interpretation by some journalists who have an idea of music history of Hip-Hop, can actually bring the best out of an artist, and explain the best out of an artist to somebody who might grossly be misdirected just on time [period] alone. People need to step away from anti-intellectualism and dumbassification. You always need a think-tank, and it doesn’t always need to be for the sake of money. Believe me, if these motherf**kers were so smart on the money tip, then they should go straight to Wall Street, and make they money that way. This industry is based on the communication and spreading of souls. Yes, it has a profitable window somewhere in the picture, but it is not the theme that we should look and aspire to, and [have it] be the reason that we do it.