News: Memphis Bleek Defends Not Joining Jay-Z's Roc Nation, "What Am I Getting Out Of That?"
Sunday, Dec 27, 2009 9:00AM
Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Memphis Bleek has discussed his reasons for not joining Jay-Z's Roc Nation and explained how he is out for himself these days.
According to Bleek, he would rather prove his own success without being Hov's artist.
"I coulda went to Roc Nation, but then what am I getting out of that?," Bleek asked in an interview. "Another $150,000 check advance, then I come out [and] sell 300,000 probably, somebody makes two or three million, and I gotta mess with the fact that they gon' say yo you bricked out? Like that's the industry. And that's [with a label run by] my homie. Now if [it's] somebody else, [they] might not even get a 150 [thousand dollar] advance, they probably go get 30. And plus I'd rather be on my own, fam. I been in the game, like you said a decade now, I know what to do; I know what not to do. It's time for me to have my own record [label]. I got a lot of n*ggas behind me that's ready to get they shot. And me being behind Jay, they ain't gonna never get they shot." (Hip Hop DX)
Earlier this year, Bleek confirmed no longer being under contract with Def Jam.
"[The album] is called The Process," Bleek revealed in an interview. "Same album I was working on when everybody was under the Def Jam structure. But once Jay moved and did the Roc Nation thing, I hollered at him and told him I wanted to create my own umbrella to be a branch off Roc Nation...I don't want to be under Jay-Z's shadow forever. I feel like I'm gonna get criticized for that forever. So, yeah. It's one reason I want to do the Get Low thing. People will respect me more if I can show them I know how to walk on my own two. But I still got the big homie. He's setting up meetings with every distribution company for me. I'm just trying to see what's the best fit." (Vibe)
Bleek previously spoke on his label status and why he parted ways with Def Jam.
"Jay's the kindest n*gga that walk the face of this earth and everything ain't money," Bleek said in an interview. "N*gga gave everybody he knew that he came up with rhyming with opportunity, that's all you can ask for...You know Hov broke bread...I left Def Jam...I had options to put out another album on Def Jam but then I had a meeting with him and he made it real clear to me, 'Why do that, you got the opportunity right now to run your own company. I'ma get you the distribution deal for Get Low Records, you sign your artists, drop your albums under Get Low and I'ma still executive produce.'" (Hip Hop Beef)
He also hit up SOHH last year to discuss the concept behind Get Low.
"Roc-A-Fella for life," Bleek affirmed. "Even though Roc-A-Fella's in the blood, [Jay] gave me the opportunity to step out and make Get Low Records for my own company and really get all the proceeds, make all the money from my projects. And I don't think nobody right now, nobody's boss would let them do that in the position I'm in and still be on stage with them touring." (SOHH)
From SOHH.com
http://www.sohh.com/2009/12/memphis_bleek_talks_not_joining_jay-zs_r.html
Kanye West, Amber Rose Volunteer At Homeless Shelter
12.28.09 | by Slava Kuperstein
Kanye West and Amber Rose did their part in spreading Christmas cheer this past weekend with community service.
According to TheBoomBox.com, the rapper/producer and his girlfriend joined volunteers to assist in serving lunch to the homeless on Saturday (Dec. 26).
"It's just important [to give back] when you're very blessed," said West on the matter.
West volunteered for the Los Angeles Mission, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping homeless in the city's "Skid Row" district for over 70 years. Their services are not limited to providing food, as they offer employment, transitional services and rehabilitation to those with substance abuse issues.
"[It's nice] to spread your blessings and take time out, especially during the holidays, to appreciate people who never get that appreciation," continued the superstar. "It makes me feel really good to come out here, [with] my family, and I just thank ya'll [the Los Angeles Mission] for allowing us to be apart of this."
Kanye wasn't the only rapper who helped out this Christmas, as Pitbull also contributed his efforts recently.
From HipHopDX.com
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.10339/title.kanye-west-amber-rose-volunteer-at-homeless-shelter
News: Snoop Dogg On Susan Boyle's Record-Breaking Sales, "Ain't Nobody Doing It Like Her"
Sunday, Dec 27, 2009 8:00AM
Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Rap veteran Snoop Dogg recently spoke on the overwhelming success of music newcomer Susan Boyle and shared his thoughts on her multi-platinum record sales status.
According to Snoop, Boyle is offering the music consumers something new and fresh.
"That state of the industry, there's so many different artists, so you have a lot to choose from," Snoop explained in an interview. "When I came, there wasn't nobody coming like me. The way she did her thing, ain't nobody doing it like her. You gotta be different and diversify who you are and at the right time. Timing has to be impeccable, sometimes you don't have no control over that. I look at a lot of great artists, some of 'em didn't have a great first album but they doing good right now." (Rap Radar)
Earlier this month, 50 Cent expressed his intent to link with Boyle.
"Susan Boyle is hot right now." Fif told the Mirror. "I got to get her on a track, for real. We'd make a hit. Everyone is talking about her, the lady from 'Britain's Got Talent.' I'm always looking to do something new and she's cool, so I'll ask somebody to let her know. I'd love to take her clubbing, show her around my world. She'd have a great time." (Angry Ape)
The singer's I Dreamed a Dream had the biggest first-week sales of 2009 in early December.
Scottish singer Susan Boyle, known for appearing on "Britain's Got Talent" reality show, has debuted atop the charts at I Dreamed a Dream secured the number one spot this week. The international star's debut has sold 700,800 after one week in stores. (Sales Wrap)
Boyle's fame stems from appearing on a United Kingdom reality show.
Amateur vocalist Susan Boyle became an overnight sensation after appearing on the first round of 2009's popular U.K. reality show "Britain's Got Talent." Boyle, who was born in Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland in 1961, caught the judges (and the world) off guard with her masterful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Miserables, due in part to the unemployed and undeniably plain church volunteer's "salt of the earth" demeanor and country spinster back-story. (All Music)
From SOHH.com
http://www.sohh.com/2009/12/snoop_dogg_on_susan_boyles_record-breaki.html
Reflection Eternal Set To Drop Mixtape On New Year's Eve, Readies New Album
12.27.09 | by Krysten Hughes
Hip Hop duo Reflection Eternal, composed of Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek, are teaming up with producer Statik Selektah for an official Reflection Eternal mixtape. Slated to drop on New Year’s Eve, the project will include new songs from the album as well as unreleased material and classic tracks.
Reflection Eternal is also preparing for the release of their second studio album, Revolutions Per Minute. The first two singles off the unreleased album are "Back Again" which includes a video, and "Just Begun" featuring J. Electronica, J. Cole and Mos Def. The project was originally slated to be completed and released before the close of 2008.
The 2000 release of Train Of Thought, Reflection Eternal's first project, had two hit singles ranked in the top five of Billboard U.S. Rap charts. "Move Somethin" peaked at number one and "The Blast" peaked at number two spot.
Revolutions Per Minute is expected to drop in February 2010.
From HipHopDX.com
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.10338/title.reflection-eternal-set-to-drop-mixtape-on-new-years-eve-readies-new-album
News: Fabolous Strangles DJ Drama Mixtape Release, "He Had To Go Away For The Holidays"
Friday, Dec 25, 2009 11:29PM
Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Fabolous' upcoming There Is No Competition 2 mixtape with DJ Drama has been scraped for 2009 as a result of scheduling conflicts.
According to F-a-b-o, the tape will drop early next month.
"Sorry my twiggas spoke 2 Dj Drama.. Last minute he had 2 go away 4 the holidays so we couldn't finish the mixtape. But...," he wrote on Christmas via Twitter, "We will now drop it Top of January & now u can start 2010 off right wit Loso! "There is No Competition 2 - The Funeral Service Jan. 2010." (Fabolous' Twitter)
Fab recently spoke on working toward his next album along with the forthcoming DJ Drama mixtape.
"I'm looking to come next summer," Fab said of the album's release date. "I like summer releases. It's good timing. People are out, a lot of people need good music to ride to. I'm looking towards June or July again and come with Loso's Way 2." As of now, the roll-out for the original Loso's Way is still underway. Fab wants to release viral visuals for "Lullaby," "Last Time" and "Makin' Love," while a clip "I'mma Do It" hit the 'net a few weeks ago. Look for Fab to keep heating up cyberspace with a new mixtape on December 25, hosted by DJ Drama. (MTV)
Earlier this week, Fab said he felt the mixtape game initially seemed to be dying out.
"The Drake mixtape of course was a huge success," Fab explained in an interview. "Lil Wayne's tape generated a lot of interest. I saw Wayne and just listening to his tape gave me kinda the feeling that people still accepted the mixtapes and wanted to hear it. I guess it's particular artists that they attach to but I had felt even with the most high-class artists, people were getting so used to getting free music that the mixtape game wasn't that influential anymore. So when I seen what [Wayne's] No Ceilings did, it let me see that there's still definitely potential there, there's still that market there. I think for me it's definitely there because my albums tend to be a little more mainstream than my mixtapes." (Real Talk NY)
While he believes mixtapes are declining in popularity, Fab previously said there were ways to help strengthen them.
"That game is really saturated," Fab said in an interview about the mixtapes. "I feel like you really have to do something special now, but there's not really anything special you can do on a mixtape besides trying different things musically or with the way you distribute it...There's nothing special to me about a mixtape now...There's pretty much one coming out every five minutes. Right now, I think the dopest thing is to have a mixtape online--don't even have a hard disc, because even that's slowed down. When was the last time someone went somewhere and bought a hard copy of a mix CD? So maybe the next step is to release something digitally and tie it in with that." (Hip Hop DX)
From SOHH.com
http://www.sohh.com/2009/12/fabolous_strangles_dj_drama_mixtape_rele.html
News: Joe Budden Ponders Slaughterhouse/Eminem Deal, "Let's Show N*ggas How To Rap"
Friday, Dec 25, 2009 11:00PM
Written by Cyrus Langhorne
Slaughterhouse's Joe Budden recently spoke on the status of his team joining Eminem's Shady Records and expressed the impact it would have on hip-hop.
According to Jump Off, becoming a Shady artist would be strengthened by having Em as a visible sign of support.
"I would like that -- I think if that happens, wrap it up hip-hop," Budden told radio personality Tony Touch. "I'm f*cking great either way. I always said I would stay away from a major. Me, as a soloist. But the group? Let's f*cking go. Let's do it, let's show n*ggas how to rap. Especially having the best f*cking rapper in the world behind us. That's the important part, the [record label] and Interscope, all that's great. Eminem though? That's a different type of, see, that's a different type of rapper. That's like having the big brother that can beat everybody up." ("Toca Tuesdays")
Group member Royce Da 5'9 recently detailed the importance of having their next move by joining a major label.
"Right now, the focus is the group," Royce explained in an interview. "I'm focused on the group in terms of the next move, like with signing. Yeah, Shady is an option, there's a lot of great conversations being had and hopefully something like that could happen. Our goal is to put the group album on a major and get the real machine behind it so we can get that balance back in hip-hop." (Sound Session)
Royce also confirmed plans to drop a follow-up project to the group's self-titled 2009 debut earlier this year.
"It's like, everything is so hypothetical right now," he said in an interview. "See like right now we're talking as if things are a definite...We already agreed that we're gonna do another album. That's our decision. It's our decision on how much music we wanna do. Now, in terms of where it's gon' be at, we can't make that decision 'cause we can't sign ourselves. The only thing we can do is put ourselves in the position to build up some type of interest." (Hip Hop DX)
Earlier this year, Budden explained the significance of rappers coming together.
"I don't know what you mean 'speak on it,' [laughs] I hope it happens!," Budden playfull told radio personality Jessie Maguire in an interview. "I would be happy, happy as could be. [laughs] No man, the rumors have been going around and it seems to be the number one question as far as Slaughterhouse goes, like I said, I'm hopeful that it will happen. I would like for it to happen, uhm, but is it a definite? Is it confirmed? Is it 100 percent in stone? No, not at all. I mean, until that happens, I been in this industry a long time, and I'm sure aspiring artists can attain to this also, a lot of people make promises and a lot of people sell you dreams and often at times, things look extremely hopeful and they turn out to be the exact opposite. So I've learned to prepare for the worst and expect the best. But I certainly hope it takes place. I hope it goes down, I think a move like that would be a monument for hip-hop and not only that, there seems to be a lot of artists getting with that whole unity thing, instead of destroying one another." (Jessie Maguire)
From SOHH.com
http://www.sohh.com/2009/12/joe_budden_ponders_slaughterhouseeminem.html
News: Drake Pays Homage To Late R&B Singer Aaliyah, "I Hope You Hear The Words In My Music"
Saturday, Dec 26, 2009 10:00AM
Written by Rosario Harper
Rapper/Singer Drake has paid homage to the memory of late singer Aaliyah and publicly expressed his thoughts on her death nearly a decade ago.
Writing via his popular Twitter page, the Canada-based emcee spoke on Aaliyah.
"I miss Aaliyah...," he wrote this week. "I hope you hear the words in my music and smile knowing you inspired them all." (Drake's Twitter)
Past reports suggested an Aaliyah biopicture film was in the works.
Canadian R&B star Keisha Chante has reportedly been casted to portray Aaliyah in an upcoming biopic about the late R&B superstar. During her career, Aaliyah sold 32 million albums worldwide and was nominated for five Grammys. The biopic is scheduled to open in theaters in 2009. (Music 2 Nite)
The singer passed away from a plane crash in 2001.
A star in the R&B world before she was even out of her teens, Aaliyah's promising career was tragically cut short by her death in a plane crash at age 22. Even with only three albums under her belt, she'd already earned a place as a talented trendsetter among the R&B elite. Following a successful transition to a more mature image, Aaliyah played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late '90s. (All Music)
Aside from putting together his Thank Me Later debut, Drake is currently touring with Young Money.
Lil Wayne and Young Money's tour dates, according to their rep: » 12/17 - Hidalgo, TX @ Dodge Arena » 12/18 - Laredo, TX @ Laredo Entertainment Center » 12/20 - Corpus Christi, TX @ American Bank Center » 12/26 - Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena » 12/28 - New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Arena » 12/31 - San Diego, CA @ San Diego Arena » 1/1 - El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Arena » 1/2 - Tucson, AZ @ Tucson Convention Center » 1/5 - Beaumont, TX @ Ford Park Arena » 1/6 - Austin, TX @ Travis County Expo » 1/7 - Allen, TX @ Allen Events Center » 1/8 - Lafayette, LA @ Cajun Dome » 1/9 - Little Rock, AR @ Alltell Arena » 1/10 - Southaven, MS @ Desoto Civic Center (MTV)
From SOHH.com
http://www.sohh.com/2009/12/drake_pays_homage_to_late_rb_singer_aali.html
Eminem To Censor Lyrics To Avoid Anti-Gay Protests In UK
Published Saturday, December 26, 2009 4:47 PM
By Roman Wolfe
Controversial rapper Eminem has agreed to refrain from performing homophobic lyrics during an upcoming festival in the United Kingdom next summer.
Organizers of the popular Wireless Festival 2010 were fearful that various gay rights groups, such an OutRage! would picket the concert.
According to UK’s Evening Standard, OutRage! has agreed to refrain from picketing the concert, as long as Eminem does not use lyrics that encourage or incite hatred against gay people.
Eminem agreed to sign up after he was assured there would be no protests at the show, according to spokesman David Allison.
Eminem also reportedly agreed to both parties demands that he censor his lyrics, to avoid confrontation with the gay rights groups in the country.
OutRage! and other similar groups have actively boycotted singers like Beenie Man and Buju Banton, who have had tours of the country interrupted due to protests over their homophobic lyrics.
At press time confirmed performers for the 2010 Wireless Festival include Pink and The Ting Tings.
The event takes place at London's Hyde Park in July of 2010.
From AllHipHop.com
http://allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2009/12/26/22076933.aspx
