bigted

If more people bought the album when he came out he'd be able to be more into music but right now he gets the impression that the public just wants him to act and doesn't like his rapping anymore 'cause the public is into 50 Cent now, LL's starting to drift away from rapping too since "The Definition" didn't sell what it would've, he cancelled his tour and never went back once the album fell off the charts, now he's working on a drama series and a few movies. Will said that rappers shouldn't curse in their songs 6 years ago on the MTV awards and mostly everybody in the hip-hop industry dissed him for that so he ain't getting any respect for what he does in rapping, but his fans like us respect him for saying that. If the album was double platinum right now at this moment I bet he'd cancel filming 'Pursuit Of Happiness' and shoot another music video and do more appearances on TV too, but when your album is #141 on the charts, you can't expect shows to want him to come on to perform, even when he was performing on 106 & Park Free asked him about when his new movie was coming when he was talking about "Lost and Found", he ain't getting much respect at all so why should he keep on going out there to promote it? Look at it this way if you had a job that everybody was bothering you at the same time you had another job people respect you at where you could get a promotion, wouldn't you choose the job where you would get the promotion and not wanna work at the job where everybody was bothering you? Will has a great chance of winning an Oscar with this 'Pursuit Of Happiness' so I say why not go for it, it's not like he's gonna win a Grammy next year, wack rappers like 50 Cent and Eminem will probably win which is disrespectful for hip-hop but that's the way people want it right now. At this point if you didn't buy "Lost and Found" you're not a fan and Will's just doing this for his fans, if he had more loyal fans in music, I expect that he'd be releasing more albums faster and maybe would consider stop doing movies so often, look at Slick Rick he just goes out there and performs for his few fans and if he makes another album it'd be for those few fans, hip-hop is not a drug that you push for people to buy, it's a free art that you share with your fans, whether you have a big or small fanbase, Will went out and performed for his fans and I think that's what matters the most.

Even if Will releases 5 singles in 3 months that doesn't mean that the album would do 50 Cent numbers not 'cause he can't compete with 50 Cent but more people love gangsta rap, it's not like Kanye West is gonna outsell all the gangsta rappers either when his album drops today, but his album could draw more people 'cause it has a parental advisory label on it, nobody buys a clean rap album anymore. LL Cool J released 2 singles in 3 months but he still didn't go platinum either and they were both huge hits. 50 Cent released singles to radio without video for a while and they'd do well, there's no exuse for why "Party Starter" ain't in heavy rotation on radio at least until the video dropped, I'm sorry but the majority of the public doesn't like Will Smith as a rapper as much as we do anymore, Will could put all of his money into releasing the singles and he might end up with much less in the end if the album doesn't sell as much as he spent for it too. The album'd possibly be doing at least a lil' better than now but I don't think Will's really worried about selling a lot of albums at this point, he's sold a lot of albums in his career already, he's not 20 years old so he has nothin' to prove, this ain't Bow Wow we're talkin' about here, people should give him recognition for what he's did up to this point already, he won the 1st rap Grammy and sold millions up to this point, people should be talkin' about Will being a legend not just another average rapper on the charts, Will releases singles to express his art, I think he'll still release "Tell Me Why" if he really loves that song as much as he says he does. The bottomline is the movie industry treats Will with more respect than the music industry does, it doesn't make sense to me since he's been rapping longer than mostly any rapper's been living and has more albums released in his career than most too but that's the cold truth and the reason why Will's been releasing more movies over the last few years than albums, well even Public Enemy's album is getting delayed now and they're known as one of the top groups ever, none of the legends get respect anymore, it ain't just Will, even Rakim can't find a record deal. There's no resistance in playing his movie in every movie theater like there is resistance to play his songs on black radio, he likes to do things where he gets respect at and at this point I think he has a better chance in winning an Oscar than he does winning another Grammy 'cause he's known as one of the top actors out while the majority of the public think that all the gangsta rappers are better than Will, Will still has fanbase from his earlier movies too while the majority of fans from the JJFP days are gone, he promoted the hell outta "Code Red" and it still didn't sell not 'cause it wasn't good enough, hell many of us call it his best album, the public was more into gangsta rap at the time and ignored Will, most of the "Homebase" fans abandoned him then, well it's the same way still, this ain't his fault, blame the millions that love 50 Cent and diss Will, some of them used to be JJFP fans too.

:iagree: I think they're slept on, I only heard a few songs that they did, mostly the songs they did with Pac, but I think they got talent, I'd rather see the Outlawz on the top of the rap game instead of G Unit 'cause they're the ones that're keepin' Pac's legacy alive, while fools like 50 Cent are ruining it, if Pac's fanbase were into him they'd be the top group out right now, I'd rather just see them rap over Pac's unreleased material than anybody else 'cause they're Pac's homies and Pac would've wanted it that way.

They'll release Party Starter. It would be highly ridiculous to have the video and not release it. ← It happened to Nas, he was on 106 & Park when "Just Another Moment" was premiered sayin' that he shot a video for "U.B.R."(Unauthorized Biography Of Rakim) but it never came out 'cause "Street's Disciple" sales plummetted badly and Columbia bothered not to release it, I hope Nas leaves that label. :jada: I wouldn't be surprised if "Party Starter"'s video never comes out after last night, I'm not gettin' my hopes up anymore, the album's at the point where it's gonna take a big miracle to turn sales around, Will still has one of the top 5 sellin' rap albums this year so it didn't really flop that badly, I just hope Will releases "Tell Me Why" even if it's through DVD.

Step in the reality man, Will's done a lot of promotion for this album over the last few months, if people haven't bought the album by now they ain't gonna buy it, commercial rap fans ain't into Will anymore, they think he's too old, it ain't '97 anymore, everybody loves Eminem and 50 Cent now, it ain't like Rev. Run's gonna sell anything when his album drops either, I still seen his video since it debuted 2 weeks ago on 106 & Park, the public doesn't want ol' school rappers anymore, sad but true, crying over it ain't gonna help, you should be happy that the album came out and screw what the public thinks, Will already said in an interview that it doesn't matter if his album sells 300,000 or 13 million, it's just about expressing his art and that's what he did, I got nomore to say.

http://rapstation.com/inside_the_rhyme/artist_interview/ Outlawz - Artist Interview Flatline: After the death of Tupac and members leaving the group, what keeps the Outlawz ticking? Noble: Just this Outlaw pride man. We put in a whole lot of work and we never really got a fair shot...whether it be tragedies or just, whatever...so that really keeps us going. I feel we're just as talented or probably more talented than the number one dudes in the game. We still young, we started when we was young...16,17. That really keeps us ticking....Pac lookin' down on us every day man. So it's just the spirit we got in us. The streets keep us ticking man. Flatline: You switch up a couple lines from RUN DMC's "Peter Piper" and make it your own on the album. Who influenced you coming up and who did you listen to? Noble: Aww man, growing up, everybody influenced me. Dudes like Kool G Rap, Rakim...of course RUN DMC...EPMD...everybody man. I was definitely a kid of hip hop man. Flatline: Do you ever think Tupac's murder will ever be solved? Noble: (pause) Naw, hell naw. I don't think the police ever wanted to solve that one. Flatline: You've been on several independent labels. In general, what do you think of the music industry? Noble: The music industry? It's a lot of ****in' bull**** that go in the game but the flipside of that is when you meet good people and build good relationships. It can take you far, you know what I mean? There's a lot of money in this industry besides the smoke screen. The industry is cool...but I don't really feel like we've really been IN the industry like that. Like, sometimes, you can be in it, but not really IN IT, you know what I mean? It's kinda like a job. I love doin' music but, you know, we got kids to feed at the end of the day. So we really on the business side of it. We never really been on a major label. We basically been on Death Row but we never put out an album with them... Flatline: What happened with the Death Row situation? Noble: Well, Suge was locked up when we signed. When we was doing all that music, all that "All Eyez On Me" and all that Makaveli ****, we wasn't even signed to Death Row. Pac was tellin' us to hold off so we could sign to Makaveli/Death Row, so he could get the majority of the money off us. Being that we had a whole lot of music over there when he passed, we figurin' that was the place for us to be to carry the torch. If Suge had been out, it probably would have been a way different story. We haven't had the privilege to be on a major label...with big push and three videos for our album. We ain't never had that shot yet. I feel like we deserve that shot and we ain't never gonna stop. You know, I feel like we're not an independent group man...we got a worldwide message. Flatline: On "Outlawz 4 Life" you got a few guest spots on there from people like TQ and Bun B from UGK. What was the goal all of you had in mind going into the studio to record the new album? Noble: To be honest with you, when we was recording, it wasn't really like we was recording this specific album...we just record. That's just what we do. We got a whole lot of projects we're working on. Like me and Edi just did an Edi & Noble album...we just finished a Dead Prez/Outlawz collaboration album.... Flatline: You worked with Dead Prez?! Noble: Yeah, we got a whole album done with Dead Prez. Flatline: When is that coming out or is there any release date yet? Noble: We tryin' to find distribution for it right now. Flatline: Any chance of you maybe hooking up with Paris to have him do some production? Noble: I'm sure we will. Actually, Paris was supposed to send us some beats for the Dead Prez/Outlawz album but I don't know what happened. I'm sure we probably will be doing something with Paris sooner or later. We also just did a little compilation with JT The Bigga Figga. We just WORKIN' man. We independent and we about to smash the streets like we never did before. When it comes to making substance, we do that **** in our sleep. We do that **** with our ****in' eyes closed man. I don't really feel like too many dudes that are out now can even really compete with us man. People get it confused...like when you hear people on the radio every day and see'em on the tv every day....it's because they got push behind them. Them ****'s don't be no hit records. Everybody doin' the same ol' ****...somethin' for the clubs.... Flatline: The majority of it is cookie cutter material... Noble: Yeah, and everybody's video is the same...same bitches in the video...comin' with too much of nothin' new, no type of substance. There's a few dudes...like, I like Kanye and Common...there's a lot of dudes doin' their thing, don't get it wrong. I ain't talkin' about nobody...everybody gotta eat, everybody play their position. But I feel like, as far as what we do, can't nobody do it. Like, when you listen to Tupac and you get that feelin'...you can't get that from nobody else and it's the same with the Outlawz man. When you listen to us and you get that sort of feeling, you can't get that **** from nobody else. We try and put our soul on over them tracks. "

:word: That doesn't make sense, I hope the storm doesn't hit as bad as rumored or else they'll all be dead.

Will was planning on releasing "Tell Me Why" as the 2nd single originally but Mary J. Blidge couldn't free up her schedule so he had to hurry up to shoot the "Party Starter" video 6 weeks ago, if it came out right away in the end of July the album would be doing much better at this point and we'd basically guaranteed to see "Tell Me Why" come out right after 'Pursuit Of Happiness' gets shot but the way things are going, "Tell Me Why" might be like "So Fresh" where Will's gonna have to pay for the video himself 'cause Interscope's being real cheap on him the way they're promoting this album.

3/4 of the performers and artists on the MTV show were hip-hop, not necessarily good hip-hop, but they're hip-hop, most of the albums that top the charts are hip-hop albums, which sorta isn't a good thing in a way 'cause there should be all varities out there for people, even hip-hop on the radio used to be diverse now it's all a continuation or maybe even a remix in some cases of the same song, the diversity of hip-hop lives under the radar like I stated earilier basically like it used to for a while when it came out and wasn't popular, fuq and I were having a discussion about that the other day.

It'd be a good idea to release "Tell Me Why" to radio even though we won't be able to get a video due to Will's beard, lol, Interscope is the enemy in this situation though, we didn't even get the "Party Starter" video yet, we might not even get that before sept. 11th the way things are lookin', they just ain't puttin' much effort in promoting "Lost and Found".

:iagree: I feel the same way, summer's ending and I'm listening to more conscious rap myself lately, I was bumpin' "Big Willie Style" and "Homebase" type albums quite a bit but now I've been more into "Lost and Found" and "Willenium" type albums, "Tell Me Why" would really be the soundtrack of Sept./Oct, but the only problem if you ask me is Interscope is not doing a very good job releasing songs, if Will had it in his power I'm sure he'd made an effort to release it around this time and would've released "Party Starter" earlier this summer, they're the reason why it won't happen.

Basically the way you're raised is the way you act, my parents take time out to teach me values to think before I talk but there's peeps out there that live in a single parent household and they run the streets all day so they say or do what they want, so you can't really blame them for cursing so much but if all of a sudden I started cursing a lot my parents would be upset with me 'cause they know I don't usually talk like that but maybe some other rappers out there might do that since their parents don't care about them, but rappers like Will Smith and Chuck D grew up in a household where their parents would teach them values like I get taught in mine, I feel like I could relate to them in that aspect, I mean if my mama took a look at my rap notebook and I was cursing like a sailor in it she'd throw it away, lol, but I don't do that, there's certain songs that I can't blast on my stereo either 'cause my parents don't like hearing so many curses, I could bump Public Enemy and KRS-ONE albums and they're cool with that since they ain't cursing like every 5 seconds and all their songs have messages to them, hip-hop needs to go back to where you could play songs that the whole family can enjoy, Chuck D talks about the joy that he and his family shared listening to Aretha Franklin and James Brown while he was growing up, his parents, grandparents, and him would enjoy it all and not be offended, you can't blast 50 Cent and have the whole family enjoy it though 'cause some would be offended, hip-hop is supposed to be for everybody. I don't say n**** 'cause that's disrespect towards my ancestors no matter what way it's put, it's about having pride to stand up for what you believe in. I wasn't really trying to be hard on Kanye in that last post either, he might just be a lil' ignorant about that and that's not his fault, maybe his mama doesn't mind if he says n***, but people criticise Will for cursing in his movies since he tells rappers to not curse in their songs but they gotta realise that Will didn't write the script, he's a songwriter and music you can control so if Kanye, Nas, and every other rapper that says n*** in their songs want to make a conscious effort not to say it in their songs they can 'cause they're the songwriters that have the final say in their art.

:iagree: LL needs to do more songs like these on his next album, it's cool to do songs about the club but songs with a strong message are more special, that's a "Power Of God"/"Can't Think" type song right there, just like I like it more when R. Kelly does those "I Believe I Can Fly" type songs more than those "Playas Only" songs.

Yeah like the way Will said f*** in "Tell Me Why" was there for emotion but he bleeped it out on the final cut, he could call that a gospel song if he wants to and it'd be true 'cause he had the conscious to bleep it out, 2Pac changed the words to some his songs to radio 'cause he also cared about the audience listening to appropriate music on the radio.

I personally thought a lot of the BET Awards sucked too, Will and Jada's commentary was the only fun thing about it except for a couple other moments, to see the biggest representives of hip-hop are 50 Cent, Mike Jones, and The Game tells me that hip-hop is dead on the commercial aspect, the real hip-hop is under the radar.

I like the way Chuck D said n*** on Public Enemy's "LSD", "I ain't gonna call myself a n*** just to get the benjamins". I like too how rappers like Chuck D and KRS could make rhymes without cursing so much, a lot of the conscious rappers comin' up on the scene need to do somethin' like this too, I do find it a lil' disturbing that Kanye said n*** quite a few times on "Jesus Walks" even though it's a great song but he said it's supposed to be a gospel rap song and he even performs it in a church too in the video, every song on the album he says n**** too, Nas says it quite a lot too but he doesn't call his music gospel rap, LL said n*** quite a few times on "Mr. Smith" and "G.O.A.T." but he doesn't go around actin' like it's holy music, Kanye said "College Dropout"'s a gospel rap album on 106 & Park too even thought there's curses, that's wrong to say that though 'cause some people get offended by cursing. He got a song on there where he talks about how big his d*** is, it's aight to make a song like that too if you want since it's all entertainment but just don't call it a gospel album, gospel rap songs are supposed to be clean, that'd be like sayin' "Bad Boys II" is a gospel movie, lol, he can't perform that in a church unless he bleeps out the word, this is what I think makes him a lil' hypocritical to me, he could avoid sayin' that it's a gospel song and that'd be cool, there's other gospel rappers like Cross Movement, BB Jay, and T-Bone that've been doing it for years without cursing but they don't get any popularity, it's like the radio doesn't play a rap song if it don't have edits in it now, if you wanna be a conscious rapper that wants to take a stand you should stop making songs sayin' n****.

After watchin' that MTV Awards crap, I really get the intention that hip-hop is dead, sure that Hammer/Grandmaster Flash moment was sweet but all the other crap before and after that made you forget about that moment, it was also a lost opportunity for millions to see the message that Will had in "Party Starter", especially that important 3rd verse.

Hip-hop needs to go back to being fun again, there's too much drama and egotistical fools just chasin' the money that they don't care about rockin' the house and expressin' their art, I don't blame the rappers though, I blame the commercialism of industry that made it this way and the fans who buy into this crap. :nhawong: I'd rather see Fat Joe outsell 50 Cent 'cause at least he talks about lovin' hip-hop and he pays respect to KRS and LL, 50 got no heart at all.

At this point I don't blame him, they don't delay releasing his movies like they do his videos, the movie industry treats Will with more respect than the music industry does, it appears that he's gonna have to fight somebody to release the "Party Starter" video, he don't have that aggrevation with his movies 'cause they come out when they're scheduled to, the music industry's forcing all the great mcs out, it might get to the point where Will might not wanna record anymore.

I don't think Common dissed 50 Cent, he used just used him as a reference, "I ain't 50 Cent but I'll still say bitch it's your birthday", now 50 might've even took that personally but he knows if he says somethin' about Common his career will be over 'cause Common's on top of his game. Fat Joe's easily one of the better commercial rappers out now 'cause he actually has some skills, he just needs to get off that pop tip and do some more of that boom-bap hip-hop he did in the mid-90s when he was touring with KRS, maybe since his new album flopped I'm hopin' he goes back to his old roots again and really put the nail in the coffin for 50's career with the skills he had back then, especially the way he spit on "I Shot Ya" remix with LL and "John Blaze" he did with Big Pun and Nas or just retires before he embarasses himself.

Hey homie we already got a post about the beef in the Caught In The Middle section! :daveuidiot: :lolsign: I think most of the show sucked and I was dissapointed that "Party Starter" didn't come on and I had to sit through it!

Never say never. ← :word: Hopefully they have a change of heart one day but I just don't get it, Rev. Run could have different producers for his music this time but he can't get together with DMC and have a different DJ to rock the house? It wouldn't be disrespectful for JMJ 'cause I don't think if he would want them to seperate just 'cause he ain't here anymore, the show has to go on and hip-hop needs Run-Dmc.

You made some interesting points there, but I was just referring to when you're not sure about if the news is accurate or not don't tell everybody, just tell the few potnas that're here so not that many people'll get dissapointed if it doesn't happen like what happened here.

That was very immature the way they acted but Fat Joe didn't really stress on it too much, he was more just introducing the reggaetone artists to the stage, 50 Cent was way out of line though, I guess even with Suge Knight getting shot he still has no conscious to know that he needs to squash the beef before he gets killed himself. :ShockRifle:

Katrina Charges Toward New Orleans By ADAM NOSSITER Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore early Monday and charged toward this below-sea-level city with 145-mph winds and the threat of a catastrophic storm surge. Katrina edged slightly to the east shortly before making landfall near Grand Isle, providing some hope that the worst of the storm's wrath might not be directed at the vulnerable city. Martin Nelson, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said the northern part of the eyewall came ashore at Grand Isle, about 60 miles south of New Orleans, at about 5 a.m. It was moving northward at 15 mph. Katrina's fury was soon felt at the Louisiana Superdome, normally home of professional football's Saints, which became the shelter of last resort Sunday for about 9,000 of the area's poor, homeless and frail. Electrical power at the Superdome failed at 5:02 a.m., triggering groans from the crowd. Emergency generators kicked in, but the backup power runs only reduced lighting and is not strong enough to run the air conditioning. Chenel Lagarde, spokesman for Entergy Corp., the main energy power company in the region, said that 370,000 customers in southeast Louisiana were estimated to be without power. Even though the storm was hours away from New Orleans, Karina's advance winds were already blowing slate tiles off the old roofs of the French Quarter. The wind was blowing the rain sideways, and debris was carried up more than 100 feet. Power was on and off in sections of the city, and emergency vehicles patrolled the main streets, their blue and red lights flashing. "I'd rather watch this than watch a movie," said Steven Grades, 22, one of the Superdome evacuees as he looked out through the windows at the gathering storm. Katrina, which weakened slightly overnight to a strong Category 4 storm, turned slightly eastward before hitting land, which would put the western eyewall - the weaker side of the strongest winds - over New Orleans. "It's not as bad as the eastern side. It'll be plenty bad enough," said Eric Blake of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Mayor Ray Nagin said he believed 80 percent of the city's 480,000 residents had heeded an unprecedented mandatory evacuation as Katrina threatened to become the most powerful storm ever to slam the city. "It's capable of causing catastrophic damage," said National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield. "Even well-built structures will have tremendous damage. Of course, what we're really worried about is the loss of lives. "New Orleans may never be the same." Crude oil futures spiked to more than $70 a barrel in Singapore for the first time Monday as Katrina targeted an area crucial to the country's energy infrastructure, but the price had slipped back to $68.95 by midday in Europe. The storm already forced the shutdown of an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity. Terry Ebbert, New Orleans director of homeland security, said more than 4,000 National Guardsmen were mobilizing in Memphis and will help police New Orleans streets. The head of Jefferson Parish, which includes major suburbs and juts all the way to the storm-vulnerable coast, said some residents who stayed would be fortunate to survive. "I'm expecting that some people who are die-hards will die hard," said parish council President Aaron Broussard. The evacuation itself claimed lives. Three New Orleans nursing home residents died Sunday after being taken by bus to a Baton Rouge church. Don Moreau, of the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office, said the cause was likely dehydration. Katrina, which cut across Florida last week, had intensified into a colossal Category 5 over the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico, reaching top winds of 175 mph before weakening as it neared the coast. The storm held a potential surge of 18 to 28 feet that would easily top New Orleans' hurricane protection levees, as well as bigger waves and as much as 15 inches of rain. A hurricane warning was in effect for the north-central Gulf Coast from Morgan City, La., to the Alabama-Florida line. Tornado warnings were posted for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. For years, forecasters have warned of the nightmare scenario a big storm could bring to New Orleans, a bowl of a city that's up to 10 feet below sea level in spots and dependent on a network of levees, canals and pumps to keep dry from the Mississippi River on one side, Lake Pontchartrain on the other. The fear is that flooding could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, as well as waste from ruined septic systems. Nagin said he expected the pumping system to fail during the height of the storm. The mayor said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was standing by to get the system running, but water levels must fall first. "We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared," he said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime event." Major highways in New Orleans cleared out late Sunday after more than 24 hours of jammed traffic as people headed inland. At the peak of the evacuation, 18,000 people an hour were streaming out of southeastern Louisiana, state police said. On inland highways in Louisiana and Mississippi, heavy traffic remained the rule into the night as the last evacuees tried to reach safety. In Orange, Texas, Janie Johnson of the American Red Cross described it as a "river of headlights." In Washington, D.C., the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it has been advised that the Waterford nuclear plant about 20 miles west of New Orleans has been shut down as a precautionary measure. New Orleans has not taken a direct hit from a hurricane since Betsy in 1965, when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged parts of the city in seven feet of water. Betsy, a Category 3 storm, was blamed for 74 deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida. Evacuation orders also were posted all along the Mississippi coast, and the area's casinos, built on barges, were closed early Saturday. Bands of wind-whipped rain increased Sunday night and roads in some low areas were beginning to flood. "Hopefully it will take a turn and we'll be spared the brunt of it, but it just don't look like that," said James Bosco, who was packing up a final few items from his beachfront apartment in Gulfport. "I just hope everybody makes it all right. We can always rebuild." Alabama officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying coastal areas. Mobile Mayor Michael C. Dow said flooding could be worse than the 9-foot surge that soaked downtown during Hurricane Georges in 1998. Residents of several barrier islands in the western Florida Panhandle were also urged to evacuate. Katrina hit the southern tip of Florida as a much weaker storm Thursday and was blamed for nine deaths. It left miles of streets and homes flooded and knocked out power to about 1.45 million customers. It was the sixth hurricane to hit Florida in just over a year.