bigted

sick battle, chris barely edges it out

now back to boyz ii men i remember back in the '90s, i could sing every song from their 1st 3 albums "CooleyHighHarmony", "II", and "Evolution" by heart to day since i played them so much, they molded this boy to a man, lol....

kelly rowland's probably the worst out the bunch i mentioned 'cause it's watered down pop compared to the others

that was a great battle tim, you brought it hard and had me dig deep for something, there was more i wanted to say too so i tried to squeeze it all in that 16

i'm gonna order the cd from amazon.com this week, there's still some real r&b out there, wbls plays a lot of great music that's out now, we got some great albums from legends like Charlie Wilson, R.Kelly, Joe, Kem, Johnny Gill, Jill Scott, Marsha Ambrosious, Kelly Price, and Kelly Rowland, plus Keith Sweat drops his album next week, Tyrese came out this week, r & b still going strong in 2011 going in 2012 even though they ain't selling millions like they should be, it's just people gotta stop buying this autotune crap from T-Pain and support the real singers I just mentioned

it's really hard to defend either 50 or Kanye 'cause of how they come off as arrogant and conceited in their interviews and their music ain't really that special but i don't hate on them though at the same time, i just don't listen and like who i like

http://allhiphop.com/2011/10/31/exclusive-part-1-boe-scaggz-breaks-9-year-silence-on-jam-master-jays-death/ EXCLUSIVE – Part 1 – Boe Scaggz Breaks 9 Year Silence On Jam Master Jay’s Death by Grandmaster Grouchy Greg Watkins October 31st, 2011 @ 1:00pm Nine years ago today (October 31), the music world was stunned to learn that one of hip-hop’s most famous DJs had been shot and killed the night before. Jam Master Jay of legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC was gunned down in his Hollis, Queens recording studio 24/7, on October 30, 2002. Just like the murders of two other famous hip-hop stars, Tupac Shakur and Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, Jam Master Jay’s murder remains unsolved. Out of all of the unsolved murders that may plague the NYPD, Jam Master Jay’s murder still sticks out like a sore thumb for the department. If the NYPD or the FBI are working on anything, they sure haven’t bothered to contact any of the witnesses, most of whom say they have not heard from investigators since the shooting, in 2002. Jam Master Jay, along with Run and DMC, are pioneering musicians, who have been recognized by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, for their accomplishments in pop culture. Russell Simmons is still a world-famous mogul, while his brother Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons has reinvented himself since Jay’s death, as hip-hop’s most loved Reverend. DMC continues to do good and has become a champion of foster children. But despite all of his famous friends, Jay’s murder and death curiously goes without mention all year. His birthday passes and with the exception of a few websites, including AllHipHop.com, or the efforts of The Scratch DJ Academy, Jay’s passing mainly goes unnoticed every year. How could this be? There were five people in the recording studio when Jam Master Jay was gunned down. There were security cameras. Furniture had been re-arranged while Jay was gone. There was even a convention going on in an office next door. How could two masked gunman brazenly walk into the studio, shoot Jay in the back of his head and kill him, despite a police precinct (shout out to the fine detectives at the 103rd) being right up the block? Some of these questions are answered in this exclusive interview between Rodney “Boe Scaggz” Jones and AllHipHop.com’s founder, Grandmaster Grouchy Greg. Jam Master Jay’s nephew is a key figure in the case and a former member of the rap group Rusty Waters, which Jay had pinned so much hope on. The interview with Boe is important, because this is the first time he’s ever gone on record in detail, about what happened the night Jam Master Jay was killed, what he did after the murder, his thoughts on Randy Allen, and the entire complicated scenario. To refresh yourself on the key players, click on the links associated with each person’s name. Randy Allen. Uriel “Pretty Tone” Rincon. Lydia High. Mike Bonds. Jam Master Jay. Curtis Scoon. Boe Scaggz Tinard Washington Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff 50 Cent “I was kicking him and calling his name. I’m calling his name, kicking his foot, “Jay, Jay, Jay.” He ain’t moving, he ain’t saying nothing. It was really unbelievable at that point. ” – Boe Scaggz. This was perhaps the final moment of the life of Jam Master Jay. This was how a legend in the rap community died. In cold blooded murder. AllHipHop.com: What have you been up to for the past nine years since Jam Master Jay passed away? I know you were part of the Rusty Waters Group, that was a big part of Jam Master Jay’s plans. Boe: Yeah, well when we first… like in the first year, like I guess 2003-2004, I was still kind of running around with Garnet Reid, he was like the manager for Rusty Waters. Me and him was doing a little something. Then I signed to Russell Simmons Music Group, but then that kind of fell apart, and then three years ago, I had did a little deal with Irv Gotti. I was over there at Murder, Inc. for a little bit but you know, with Gotti… I don’t know what his thing is, but that’s my dude. We just ain’t get far, you know what I’m saying? So now me and my boy Chopper started up a company called MOE, you know what I mean? AllHipHop.com: Yeah, I’m definitely familiar with MOE. You and Chopper have been building it up for the past few years now. How’d you get down with Chopper? Boe: Actually, I met Chopper years ago, maybe like 2003 when I was running around with Garnet I met Chopper. We was staying at Bangladesh’s house, he did a whole bunch of little joints. So we hooked up out there. We made one song together, this track called “Quarterback,” that Bangladesh actually produced. Then he went about his business and I went about mine, but we always stayed in contact. You know what I mean? AllHipHop.com: That’s dope. What kind of influence did Jay have on your rap career? I interviewed your grandma a few years back and she said he was like a father figure to you. I’m curious what kind of influence he had on you. Boe: I think everything… all my music stuff comes from Jay. My mom didn’t do music or my pop didn’t do music, you know what I mean? So everything that I did that’s music, it comes from Jay. When he first had 50 Cent, we used to be in the studio with 50 Cent. Ja Rule used to be in there with us. We used to be all together. And I used to be watching this. I wasn’t really too good back then, but I had that potential, I wanted to do it. He was like “keep going, you’re going to be better than 50 and them, you’re going to be better than them.” I just kept going and going and going. Without Jay I probably wouldn’t even be doing this. I probably would be playing basketball for a career because I was a really good basketball player. AllHipHop.com: If you look at Tupac Shakur and Biggie’s murders, they’re so much in center and in the forefront, whereas with Jam Master Jay, you might go a whole year and until it’s his anniversary you don’t hear anything. You don’t hear anything about the investigation, you don’t hear anything about anything. You know, Jay was maybe more influential than both of those dudes, because of the many firsts that Run-DMC accomplished as a group. They are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. With Jay being such a high profile murder and so influential, why aren’t more of his “friends” pushing harder? Boe: I think everybody has their own agenda, you know? It’s like when they say out of sight, out of mind. Every now and then they might think of Jay over there, but their whole life isn’t dedicated to Jay like how my life is. AllHipHop.com: Did you see “Two Turntables and a Microphone? (It was produced by his Jay’s cousin Stephon “?Phonz”? Watford. Boe: Yeah, I seen Two Turntables and a Mic. AllHipHop.com: Yeah, what did you think about that? Boe: I think that’s garbage. I think that’s straight garbage. I didn’t like how they tried to point the finger at Randy Allen like that. Without actually having any facts or anything like that. It almost makes some people in that DVD look guilty, but when you try to swing the blame on somebody without having no real facts, it kind of makes you look a little guilty yourself. When I look at that DVD, I look at it and it’s like I don’t know. I just think that my cousin Stephon was trying to find a way for him to come up and get some money, because I don’t really see how did that documentary help anybody. It really just pointed the finger at one person, and made the world think that actually Randy was the person that had something to do with Jay getting killed. People are just assuming, and I don’t think that’s good to just put something on somebody you don’t really know what the deal is. AllHipHop.com: Especially something like murder. Boe: Especially that. And everything he’s talking about on that documentary is me. Like these are the things that I told him. So he’s actually talking the documentary like he’s me. AllHipHop.com: It’s interesting to hear you talk about Randy like that, because right afterwards, there were so many people pointing the finger almost at Randy, saying he had something to do with it. There was a lot of heat on him. I know you were cool with Randy Allen from working through Rusty Waters. What was it like working with Randy? Boe: Before Jay passed, me and Rand were like brothers, you know what I’m saying? He was like my uncle. He’s the older guy, probably about Jay’s age. So he was kind of like an uncle to me. We was real close. I never really think of him in a funny manner. He was like Jay’s best friend. Maybe if Jay felt something about him, he didn’t tell me. I don’t know exactly. But he didn’t seem like… we was all together like a family. AllHipHop.com: So on the day that Jay got killed, what were you doing that morning? Before you even got to the studio to get a haircut. Boe: I was excited because we had just signed a deal with Virgin Records and we had actually just received half of the check. So we just got our upfront money. I was really ready to go on tour with Jay, our tour had started the next day. So I was just kind of really happy to finally have my own money and be able to do my own thing. I was only a kid. So Jay was taking care of me anyway because I was his nephew, and I was just a child. I wasn’t even 20 years old. But when I got to the studio I didn’t have any money, so I figured Jay, would give me a couple dollars or whatever. And he was like “I don’t have the money, call Randy. You know, your check just came in today, you should try to get over to Randy and get your money.” So I’m “like oh yeah, alright.” So I call Randy and go down and meet Randy. We’re on the Avenue, we’re shopping and everything since we’re leaving tomorrow, so we’re shopping and things like that, and I decided to get a haircut. We both were going to get haircuts. I’ve got braids and Randy has like a bald head. I was sitting down to get my cut, and he went back to the studio. He took my bags and everything that I had brought from the Avenue, he took it with him back to the studio. He wound up staying in the studio, and I wound up staying and getting a haircut. When I finished getting my haircut, I went and started walking back to the studio, and that’s when Mike B. ran towards me, saying something about there was a shooting in the studio. I wasn’t really in a hurry to get back into the studio because I didn’t have no gun or nothing like that and he didn’t really make it clear that they shot Jay dead in the studio. He just said there’s a shooting in the studio. I’m thinking ni**a’s still in there with guns and s**t. I didn’t try to hurry up to get back to the studio, but when I did make it to the studio, it’s was not good. Jay’s on the floor. AllHipHop.com: You actually saw Jay? You got there in time to actually see Jay pass away? Wow. Did you see Randy come out? Boe: When I got there, Randy wasn’t in the studio. He had already run out of the studio. AllHipHop.com: What was going through your mind? That’s deep actually seeing it right after it happened. Boe: When I seen him on the floor, I was calling his name, kicking him. I’ve been shot before. Sometimes, a ni**a might be passed out, you might not be dead. It wasn’t registering in my brain. My brain wasn’t comprehending it. So I was kicking him and calling his name. I’m calling his name, kicking his foot, “Jay, Jay, Jay.” He ain’t moving, he ain’t saying nothing. It was really unbelievable at that point. And I wasn’t immediately saddened or raged because it happened so quick, I couldn’t even really believe that this was going on. It was so unbelievable. I didn’t really feel that s**t immediately, I can’t even explain that feeling. It’s like somebody punching you in the face and knocking you out. You don’t really feel that until you wake up, understand? AllHipHop.com: Was there anybody else in the studio when you got there, when you came in? Randy was gone, but was Lydia and them still there? Boe: Yeah, Lydia was there. She was on the floor. She was on the floor in the corner screaming and crying. AllHipHop.com: Mike B rolled out? Boe: Mike B came back in with me. Me and Mike B came back into the studio together. And the boy Tony Rincon, he was on the couch because he had gotten shot too. So he was on the couch. And the police came by the time I was getting ready to leave. AllHipHop.com: When the police got there, what did they do, question everybody? Or most people had gone? Boe: Everybody that was there, they tried to keep them there, except for me. Because one of the police started grabbing on me, so me and the police started fighting at that point. Then they asked me to leave. AllHipHop.com: When all this was taking place, there was a convention going on in the other room. Do you know about that? Boe: Yeah, they had like some company called Primerica. I don’t really know what that company does or what, or why they even was in the front room of the studio, but their business was open to everybody. So the only thing you had to do was ring their buzzer and you could come into the building. And that day, the hallway was filled with these people. You know what I mean? AllHipHop.com: So in theory, somebody could’ve seen whoever did it leaving, especially if somebody came in with ski masks? Boe: Or he could’ve took the ski mask off and walked out, you know what I mean? Amongst the crowd of different people that was already there. I really don’t know. I don’t know how they could’ve done that.

All DMX gotta do is go back and listen to his albums and realise that he's been given this god given gift and that he shouldn't blow it, by distancing himself from the negative people that've been dragging him down and the direction of his single he's taking the right steps

Can't knock the brother for doing his thing, thanks for that article AJ...

Hero better stay out my lane or get rejected like Mutombo All competition's like Tiki Barber when they fumble Like Joe I got them all in a "Stutter" I'm like Run-Dmc stalling mc suckers Since Big Ted's destined to be The livest mc since the '80s Having your girl wanting to be 4ever my lady As if I'm a member of Jodeci But this ain't a slow jam Since I'm the hot topic on the programs Bringing out the logic so you could understand That I'm like Rakim bringing out my master plan See what Big Ted does is all based on design I'm like Public Enemy when I don't believe the hype When the reality comes to the light The peeps will see that Hero didn't put up much of a fight

rappers like kanye and 50 are dope compared to the garbage out there on the radio but they don't measure up compared to the legends

i've been busy lately that's why i haven't been on here much but i'll be down to take the final spot

A few more albums also come to mind from 2002/2003: Naughty By Nature "iicons"(a lot of people slept on this album but it was dope) Wyclef Jean "The Masquerade"(my favorite album from him besides "The Carnival") Fat Joe "Loyalty"(sure it's a lil' disappointing compared "J.O.S.E." but I liked it)

This was the list of albums that I played a lot during my senior year of high school: LL Cool J "10" Will's "Born To Reign" Nas "God's Son"(the true classic from this time period, probably my favorite from Nas even though I think "It was written" was his best) Busta Rhymes "It Ain't Safe No More" KRS-ONE "Spiritual Minded" Public Enemy "Revolvotion" DMX "The Great Depression" Jay-Z "Blueprint 2"(I know I might be the only one in the world that actually likes this better than "Blueprint" but I thought it had more balance to it) Ja Rule "The Last Temptation"(a lot of people started turning on him when 50 came out but I still liked this album better than "GRODT") Eve "Eve-o-lution" The Roots "Phrenology" Bringing Down The House Soundtrack Brown Sugar Soundtrack 8 Mile Soundtrack I could make a big list of all the great r&b albums that came out then too from Keith Sweat, R. Kelly, Dru Hill, Blackstreet, Boyz II Men, Musiq Soulchild, Kelly Rowland

i remember when "grodt" came out back in 2003, I wasn't really that much into the hype that everyone else was, one of my friends from high school during my senior year burned a copy of it from his computer for me and I liked it but I thought there was better albums out there at that time too, I remember the 2002-2003 season had a lot of great albums, it was actually one of the better times in commercial hip hop compared to today

Damn this is ill! http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/15153/fat_joe_the_darkside_2.html

thanks for the prayers AJ, I'll be praying that things work out the best with your theater...

I'd like to send my thoughts and prayers out to my friend John Lyons that I graduated high school with in 2003 who I found out was killed in Afghanistan a couple days ago, Rest In Peace brother http://www.app.com/article/20111028/NJNEWS/310280060/Seaside-Park-soldier-Sgt-John-Lyons-killed-Afghanistan

yeah nas is basically the last rapper from the golden era to consistantly put out music and it's unfortunate that the music industry's all about what have you done for me lately and most of those I mentioned haven't put out music since the '90s or only an album every 4-5 years with more frequent acting like Will, LL, and Latifah, while Nas puts out something every year since the early '90s

the problem that has held him back is his ego in thinking that he's greater than he really is and his worry over trying to have pop hits, if he could just get the mixtape hunger that he had when he got his record deal then he could definately put out a classic, he does seem to be going in that direction, that diss track against Game and Wayne was his hardest song in years

yeah the state of the game in 2011 is much worse than it was in 1999, we need some real hip hop back on the scene asap, we've been waiting for too long, give us something will...

The mixtape's dropping on Halloween for anyone that cares: -Fat Joe is prepping to drop his new mixtape, the sequel to 2010’s critically acclaimed album, The Darkside, Vol. One, for free this Halloween, (October 31). On the eve of its release, the Bronx-bred rap vet spoke to XXLMag.com about who he worked with on The Darkside, Vol. 2, the death of gangsta rap and why he decided to put it out as a tape as opposed to a proper studio album. As far as Joe is concerned, he’s trying to go a radio friendly route with his next album, but when it comes to his new mixtape, he wanted to make it strictly for the streets. “Darkside One was an album and it got great reviews and it’s what I like to do in hip-hop music; the hardcore ****,” Joey Crack explained. “But, you know in a mainstream world talkin’ about killin’ niggas and hustlin’ and all that, niggas, they scared to play that on the radio. So I said, you know what, we gon’ keep the Darkside brand, we gon’ keep feeding the fans, because niggas who love Fat Joe they want that hard ****.” The Terror Squad leader feels that his brand of aggressive music is missing in the current rap climate. “I been noticing since I been thinking about this Darkside mixtape, I’m like, Yo I feel like gansgta rap is extinct right now,” he said. “It used to be the backpack rappers were always like, ‘Yo we don’t get our just due.’ Now its like them niggas get all the just due. And the gangsta rap niggas they ain’t even getting heard like that. I felt a need to just touch the streets with that Darkside.” D Two features Joe’s fellow East Coast gangsta rap peers, Raekwon, Jadakiss and French Montana, who appears on the project’s intro, “Welcome to the Darkside.” While FJ has some recognizable features, on the production side, he decided to try out a crop of newcomers, like Mark Henry, who produced 80 percent of the tape. Meanwhile, 99 percent of the tape is all new material, except for the track, “Pushing Keys,” which he dropped earlier this year. “All new records,” he said. “One record that I feel like I had put out a while ago. To me it’s like an incredible record. It’s called Pushing Keys and not many people heard it. And I’m leaving that on the mixtape ’cause its just like, it’s too dope.” “Other than that it’s all new material,” he added. “I ain’t gonna lie to you, I believe in quality over quantity so I went into Darkside Two like it’s an album. To me it ain’t just a mixtape. Maybe I’m crazy but I feel like I reached the status of where I can’t put out bull****. I gotta try my best all the time.” —Jesse Gissen

It's a complete joke that Lil' Wayne's the modern day Slick Rick and Drake's the modern day Big Daddy Kane, the old school rapper that I'd compare them to would be Vanilla Ice 'cause they make weak pop rap but he's probably better than them as well...

i was just thinking that will needs to do an interview with xxl or allhiphop/start a twitter account and give us more details, tells us what's up fresh prince!!!

Sure those legends are influential and probably all ranked in my top 10 but most of the modern mcs can't hold the torch and that's why the legends are still the best in the game, just like when Fresh Prince drops his next album it should be up for album of the year, the pioneers still set the standard, anyway this is refreshing to see the real mcs get credit where credits due, would've been nice if they threw in the Fresh Prince since there's definately a lot out there that try to do the rapper/actor thing: http://allhiphop.com/2011/10/26/can-modern-hip-hop-be-traced-to-6-mcs/ Can Modern Hip-Hop Be Traced To 6 MCs? by AHH Staff October 26th, 2011 @ 11:00pm Mecca’s, a Hip-Hop aficionado that rhymes and works in the game, has concocted a “Hip Hop Lineage Tree” that says that all rap styles in the current era can be traced back to six influential MC’s. These artists are the legend L.L.Cool J, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, K.R.S One, Slick Rick and Kool G Rap. Here is the discussion from various bloggers and insiders. Watch and weigh in!