Jay-Z Responds To LL Cool J's Comments On Poor Promotion

[bigted]

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/artic...%20flop_1012057

JAY-Z 'NOT RESPONSIBLE' FOR LL COOL J FLOP

Hip-hop mogul SHAWN 'JAY-Z' CARTER has hit back at claims he scuppered LL COOL J's album success with poor promotion, insisting his "commitment" to the project was 100 per cent. Carter - who recently laughed off rumours he's planning to leave legendary rap label Def Jam - believes his company went all out to publicise his hip-hop rival's latest album effort TODD SMITH. And he refuses to take the blame for poor sales since its release in April (06). He says, "I think that we went above and beyond with his project. We shot two videos before the project even came out. That's not, especially in this climate of business, that's not typical. You know, people get one video, if that. We shot two videos with HYPE WILLIAMS. Got JENNIFER LOPEZ in the video. "The commitment to the project was clearly, clearly there. How much can you give a man?"

[mfuqua23]

Jay made his point. I mean the name "LL Cool J" carries its own. The music market is really tough. I can't jump sides. There's points to be made on LL's side, on Jay-Z's side, and spectators of and at Def Jam.

btw, has anyone heard "Bump This" with 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Hot Rod? I was wonderin' what people on here are thinkin' of LL since that came out?

[bigted]

LL's a big name artist, he deserves more than 2 videos, I'm sure that Jay-Z' gonna give himself more than 2 videos for his album....

[dparrott]

I think the album flopped because it wasn't very good. I've loved LL since 87, but he needs to get out of this R&B mode and come with it like Headsprung or G.O.A.T. One or two love songs are acceptable, but not more than half the album. LL should hook up with Dr. Dre.

[bigted]

Well there's a lot of great albums that flop as well, and what about all that crap that's on the radio all the time with weak albums selling? Quality music has nothing to do with record sales, LL's "G.O.A.T." didn't really sell a huge amount more than "Todd Smith" did even though it's much better than that album, "10" outsold both of them and that's probably LL's worst album, lol, Jay-Z put out some weak albums in his career and they sold 'cause he had a lot of songs playing on the radio and his best album "Reasonable Doubt" is his lowest selling album, quality ain't got nothing to do with sales... Busta Rhymes had Dr. Dre producing on his album and released a lot of singles off of his album and he really didn't sell that much more than LL did, sometimes promotion backfires but at least Busta got all the singles he wanted to get out, that's basically all an artist could ask for, I don't understand why Will didn't criticise Interscope 'cause he wanted to release "Tell Me Why", I wonder why he didn't speak up, maybe he didn't care? btw since LL's working with 50 he might get some beats from Dr. Dre since Dr. Dre produces a lot for 50, that'd be the only good thing that I'd look forward to with them doing an album together, other than that I'm not really looking forward to it, "Bump This" is ok but it sounds too much like a remake of "In Da Club", LL needs to come with something more original than that

EDIT: I found some pictures on LL's board from his tour this summer, he's actually still doing shows I think, he's doing his part in promoting his album, it's up to Def Jam to give the same amount of effort he does:

Edited October 27, 2006 by bigted

[dparrott]

Yea, I couldn't believe a veteran like LL would hook up with 50. It's like he only wants to do what's hot, and not stick to who he really is, like the last Run-DMC album.

[bigted]

Yeah LL's too worried about selling records right now, he should be more concerned about making a better album, the streets know that he could come stronger than he did on "Todd Smith", if he makes a classic album like Busta and Ice Cube did this year, FP did last year, I wouldn't care if he flopped, he should be doing songs with legends like Janet and Rakim not a wannabes like Teiarra Mari and Juelz Santana as well

Edited October 27, 2006 by bigted

[Turntable]

Ll did/is doing a world Tour, and he didnt do that ever since Mr. Smith. I saw him 4 weeks ago, in Amsterdam. By the way, I dont think LL was talking about his own album.

[bigted]

Ll did/is doing a world Tour, and he didnt do that ever since Mr. Smith. I saw him 4 weeks ago, in Amsterdam. By the way, I dont think LL was talking about his own album.

That's true everyone misinterpreted his comments about what he said about Jay-Z, he was talking about Def Jam in general, he made the statement the week that the Roots and Method Man came out, he was referring to how they weren't getting any promo I think, LL didn't flop, he went gold, which is more than a lot of rappers this year, he could've went platinum though if he had a third and fourth video, but even the G-Unit rappers he's outselling already and only a handful went gold this year so the album sales were closer to success than a flop, even pop singers like Jessica Simpson ain't even gold, he don't need 50 to boost his sales when 50 ain't boosting his own group, then again LL's looked at as the rapper that goes platinum the most consective times, he's like Cal Ripken playing everyday so him going gold instead of platinum is looked at like Cal sitting down for a game, going platinum is expected for LL Cool J, in reality he'd actually do better with less guest appearances 'cause that's when he was the most popular, a lot of people were thrown off by that, people like Diddy and Kanye need guests 'cause their rapping is boring but LL could carry albums by himself, btw that's awesome you got to see LL perform

Edited October 27, 2006 by bigted

[dparrott]

I saw LL back in 89, don't remember it though, all I remember is the shirt I got afterwards. That's f'd up I know...haha

[bigted]

People might hate on Jay-Z a lil' bit too much 'cause they might expect a miracle with him "Taking Over" Def Jam but really he ain't doing that bad as some of us might put it out to be, we might be overreacting a lil' bit 'cause if you think about it there ain't really many major labels that'll even release albums by real artists like Method Man and The Roots, just releasing them is something positive, real artists get shelved on other labels, Def Jam really promotes hip-hop better still than other labels still as well, DMX left Def Jam and he still flopped on Columbia like he would've if he stayed there, he topped the rap charts for the sixth straight time but Columbia gave up on it after "Lord Give Me A Sign" faded off the airwaves, then again a rap about God to get on the radio is an accomplishment in itself, in reality DMX was fortunate to go platinum all those times, he really raps like an underground artist so you figure sooner or later he probably wouldn't sell much, that's just the way it is, real artists don't sell much now, it's rumored that LL might be going to Columbia too but that don't mean that the grass'll be greener, he could go to Interscope, Columbia, Virgin, etc. and still complain about sales, it's the reality of the music industry and the way they work, hip-hop and music in general ain't selling right now, it ain't all Jay-Z' fault, in reality artists shouldn't care so much about sales/promotion and just do their thing, just like Slick Rick not putting out an album until they promote him better, that's stupid man just put out a damn mixtape you're an artist, either way they're all getting paid better than most of us on the sidelines, then of course you can't really have sympathy for Jay-Z getting criticism when he makes commercials saying he's the CEO of hip-hop, that kinda hype will bring hate, lol, KRS will tell you that nobody owns hip-hop, it is a free culture

Edited October 27, 2006 by bigted

[dparrott]

True dat, plus all record sales are hurtin thanks to the internet. Gold is the new platinum haha.

[Turntable]

It reallly is. The best selling in the last year's Albums like Gren Day-American Idiot, 50-The Massacre and Mariah-Mimi didnt sell more than 5 Mil ether. That used to be 14 till 30 mil.

[bigted]

Big name artists used to go platinum in one week, but now a lot of them barely sell over 100,000 in the first week, 10-15 agos you couldn't even make the top 20 selling 100,000 in a week, times have changed, gold is like platinum now

[Schnazz]

...people get one video, if that. We shot two videos...

Ok, first, no videos? He's trying to present like that would be acceptable? Lupe (if I understand right) was basically a no-named artist and he got a video. No video's seems insane to me.

However, two videos seems like plenty.

What about commercials, what about doing radio interviews, putting him (or which ever artist they're complaing about) on BET and MTV interviews? Has that kinda stuff been handled properly?