Music Filter: Hip-Hop

Danity Kane Beats Out 'Kast

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:16:10 GMT

I guess P. Diddy really does know what he's doing...his Making of the Band creation Danity Kane managed to score this past week's #1 album with their eponyous release, handily beat out Outkast's Idlewild psuedo-soundtrack, 234,000 to 196,000. This is both surprising yet not: Outkast have had a phenomenal string of hit records over the last 12 years, scaring up over 20,000,000 in album sales (best believe Danity won't see a fraction of that, ever) and their last album, 2003's went gold it's very first week. Especially with the movie coming out the same week, expectations were high. However, the album suffered from weaker promotion than normally – most of those resources went to the movie – and the album lacked a stand-out single in the way that "I Love the Way You Move," from Speakerboxxx helped build anticipation for that album.

It doesn't help that the Idlewild album, while adventurous, is also inconsistent and far from the group's best work. Critic reviews have been middling and it doesn't seem like word of mouth is bubbling too crazy over it too. All these factors gave Danity Kane an edge to become #1 and certainly, nearly a quarter million in sales is not shabby.

Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics took a 61% hit, dropping to #3 after topping the chart last week. R&B-wise, the bottom two spots in the Top 10 were claimed by Luther Vandross and Kelis respective. A boxset, The Ultimate Luther Vandross, celebrating the music of the late R&B singer, was a hit with his many fans though Kelis' fans just don't seem to be as legion as her "Milkshake" days.

For this upcoming week, keep an eye on The Roots' latest release, Game Theory which dropped on Tuesday.

'Idlewild' Not So Mild At Box Office

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:01:44 GMT

The Outkast period musical, Idlewild posted up respectable numbers this past weekend. Though the film was technically, #9 on the weekend box office, one needs to remember that it didn't come out in huge, wide release but rather, was shown in less than 1,000 theaters around the country. Based on its per-screen average, Outkast was actually the #1 film over the weekend, averaging $6,000 a screen. In contrast, the nation's highest grossing film over the weekend, the football drama Invincible, appeared on nearly three times the screens but made only $5800 per screen.

This bodes well for Idlewild's long(er) term prospects as it's likely to expand to more screens over the next few weeks and with good word of mouth (despite lukewarm critical responses), it may show good legs through September.

In related news, NPR had an interesting story over the weekend about the "real" Idlewild, a resort town, known as the "Black Eden of Michigan" by one scholar who was interviewed to give the town's history. While the fictional Idlewild of the movie was set in 1930s Georgia, the real Idlewild thrived from the 1920s through 1960s until – ironically – civil rights and integration laws undercut the town's rationale as a haven for Black vactioneers shut out of other places due to Jim Crow era segregation laws and discrimination.

(Sources: Vibe.com, NPR)

--O.W.

Mac Dre's Tombstone Stolen

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:45:30 GMT

We've heard of people's fan-dom extending beyond the grave but maybe not so literally: the late Bay Area rapper Mac Dre suffered a posthumous indignity when the 50 pound tombstone marking his grave in an Oakland cemetary was stolen last week. According to family and police reports, an unidentified fan had been trying to find the rapper's gravesite in the Mountain View Cemetery (a very, very nice cemetery, by the way – I used to live down the street from it) and later that evening, officials discovered Dre's tombstone missing. Dre's uncle, Bernard Hicks, told a local newspaper, ""We just think it's some kind of fan. Some crazed fan who put it in their house." (That's one helluva fan prop).

Dre's family has put up a $10,000, no-questions-asked, reward for the recovery of the headstone and are contemplating having his remains moved back to Vallejo (30 minutes north of Oakland) so they can keep a closer eye on his gravesite.

(Source: Allhiphop.com)
--O.W.

Christina Aguilera's "Back To Basics" Breaks Own Record

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:46:04 GMT

With an album that's part urban/part pop/part cabaret, Christina Aguilera crushed the competition to take the #1 album spot this past week with Back to Basics. Her third studio album, it's nealry 350,000 units sold outpaces both her last albums, including her eponymous 1999 debut (also a #1). It's a good showing for Xtina and it's also good news for the record industry after a few rather anemic weeks when albums selling half of Xtina's numbers were still charting at #1. It helped that she had no real competition from other new releases, plus her single, "Ain't No Other Man" is climbing the pop charts nicely.

The rest of the Top 10, urban-wise, is filled with newer B-listers such as Lyfe Jennings whose The Phoenix didn't muster half of Aguilera's sales but still came in second. Atlanta's Cherish scored the #4 spot while Rick Ross' Port of Miami slides down to #7. Obie Trice, the Detroit rapper who surived being shot in the head, made a decent showing with his sophomore album, the cleverly (if not darkly) titled Second Round's On Me and it was good enough to make #8.

For this upcoming week, all eyes, er, ears will be on Outkast's Idlewild. Their last album went diamond (i.e. 10,000,000 copies sold) so it will be curious to see if Idlewild, the movie, ends up overshadowing the album (which isn't really a soundtrack despite being billed as one. Only a small handful of the songs on the album appear in the movie).
(Source: MTV News)

--O.W.

Irv Gotti Just Down With Inc, Done With Murder

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 06:58:01 GMT

The NY Times ran a solid profile of once (and future?) hip-hop mogual Irv Gotti (aka Irving Lorenzo). For those who need a refresher course, in the late '90s, as head of Murder Inc., Irv looked like he could do no wrong with a string of hit artists on his roster and an uncanny sense of what kind of songs and singles would hit. He was fast flying to join an inner sanctum of hip-hop record exec/producer types that include P. Diddy, Jermanie Dupri, and scant others.

Then came accusations that Murder Inc. was helping launder money for a convicted drug lord and with that, The Inc's (they dropped the "Murder" part in order to avoid further controversy) prospects deflated. Today, Gotti has gotten himself a solid deal thorugh Universal: $10,000,000 in development funds, but neither he nor the label are the giants they once were. As the Times' Jeff Leeds notes, Inc.'s two former big cash cows, Ashanti and Ja Rule, have seemingly fallen out of favor with the pop public. However, Gotti managed to build up his label from relative scratch and if forced to do it again, he can still prove himself to be a self-made success story if his musical acumen is as sharp as it once was. Says Gotti: "“It’s like a rebirth. It feels like God put me through hell, showed me a lot of things, showed me who the good people and bad people are around me, and lined me up to do what I’m put here to do.”
(Source: NY Tines)

--O.W.

Busta Rhymes Arrested For Assault

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 17:14:30 GMT

Uh oh...Busta Rhymes, already at the center of a controversial investigation into the shooting death of his former bodyguard (note: Busta is not a suspect in the case), has gotten into more direct legal trouble this weekend. Details are still rolling out but apparently, Busta was performing at the AmsterJam Festival in New York and got into an altercation wtih a concert-goer. That person allegedly spat on Busta's car which precipitated the assault. When the alleged victim reported this to police, Busta and his entourage tried to casually slip out but police found the rapper, arrested him and detained him for several hours before allowing him to leave.

News reports claim that during his time with the police, they tried to question Busta about his bodyguard's death but again, Busta refused to speak on that case. Busta is still the midst of promoting his recent album, The Big Bang which has underperformed expectations. Maybe that whole "even bad publicity is good publicity" theory will help him out here.
(Source: Billboard.com)

--O.W.

Fergie's "London Bridge" Not Falling Down Yet

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 17:04:01 GMT

True, the song's lyrics make little sense (and as noted before, we really don't want to know what Fergie means by her "London Bridge," since it's probably not PG safe regardless) but the single has generated enough heat to stay a second week on top of the pop charts. This is good news for Fergie and even better news for producer Polow who saw two of his singles, "London Bridge" and the Pussycat Dolls' "Buttons" manage to squeeze out a #1 and #5 positions two weeks in a row. Considering that he only had about two major productions before this (Ludacris' "Pimpin' All Over the World" and Jamie Foxx's "DJ Play a Love Song"), Polow's having an amazing summer. Even his mentors like Timbaland can't boast two top 5 singles right now even though his pairing with Nelly Furtado on "Promiscious" is still good for #3.

The Top 5 are identical to last week and it's been solid for the R&B/hip-hop crowd: #2 is Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy," Cassie's "Me & U" is at #4 and jumping up to #6 is Sean Paul's latest, the duet with Keyshia Cole, "Give It Up To Me."

Meanwhile, towards the bottom of the chart, Christina Aguilera and DJ Premier's "Ain't No Other Man" reaches #8 while Ne-Yo's new "Sexy Love" is at #9. At the bottom is yet another urban track: Young Dro's "Shoulder Lean" (didn't Fat Joe already knock out "Lean Back" two summers ago?) feat. T.I. Look for Justin Timberland + Timberlake's "Sexy Back" to make a move towards the Top 10 as it up jumped the boogie from #52 to #35 - a nice rise but nowhere as meteroic as Fergie's "London Bridge" which managed to go from #82 to #1 in just two weeks.
(Source: Billboard.com)

--O.W.

The Pack's "Vans" Banned From MTV

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:17:21 GMT

"Vans," the break-out song by Berkeley, CA rappers, The Pack, has been denied video rotation on the MTV networks despite fitting every critieria of "buzz" that's out there. The song initially began to creep onto people's radar early in the year, especially given its sparse beats and a chorus that had many – skaters or otherwise – chanting, "got my Vans on/but they look like sneakers." However, despite how "Vans" has attained major cult status – plus the blessing of Too Short who signed the group to one of his sudsidiary labels – MTV has argued that the video can't be screened in its current state unless 1) edits were made to the video and more drastically, 2) the chorus would have to be changed.

MTV's reasoning is that in its original state, "Vans" sounds too much like product placement (well, it is a song about shoes, after all) and they were uncomfortable with airing something that, to them, sounded like one long ad for Vans shoes. It is worth noting that MTV took a similar stance against the wildly popular track from Nelly, "Air Force Ones" even though BET had few qualms of playing it.

This does beg the question: if Run DMC had ever made a video for "My Adidas," would MTV have shown that back in the day?
(Source: Prohiphop.com)

--O.W.

Lil Wayne Arrested For Possession

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 04:07:50 GMT

New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne, who named his last album, Tha Carter II after the fictional crack house in the movie New Jack City, was caught up in some real-life drug drama in Atlanta earlier this week when he was arrested for drug possessionee who then got into an altercation with Wayne. Upon being asked to leave the room, the employee contacted the police who arrived at the hotel and ended up charging Weezy "with possession of a controlled substance, possession of marijuana, purchase of a controlled substance and other, minor offenses ."

All in all, not the greatest look for Weezy – him carrying marijuana should hardly be that controversial but getting dimed out by a hotel clerk? Not exactly going out in a blaze a glory with that one. Still, it might make good fodder for Tha Carter III or some requisite mixtape. That plus Wayne needs to find someone else to carry his
(Source: RWD Magazine)

--O.W.

Rick Ross Hustles Up To #1

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 03:48:57 GMT

As many anticipated, Port of Miami, the debut album by Florida's Rick Ross, landed the coveted #1 spot atop the album charts this past week. It's been a slow summer for hip-hop but Ross managed to shake people out of the duldrums ... well, at least 187,000 of them which gave him fairly decent, if not stellar, numbers for an August release. Hey, at the very least he, along with Breaking Benjamin, managed to keep Now That's What I Call Music 22 from claiming yet another week as #1.

Ciaramerie, er, we mean Cassie had respectable numbers for her debut – 100,000 to be exact – good enough for #4 but still behind what LeToya Luckett was able to do a month ago (and unlike LeToya, Cassie's had a hot single burning up the charts but looks like it wasn't generating enough heat. Also urban related – the soundtrack for the dance film, Step Up jumped in at #6 even if the NY Times described it as, "It doesn’t seem right to ask anyone to pay $18.98 for a scattershot CD". Meanwhile, DMX's Year Of the Dog...Again took a big tumble from #2 to #9 (I'd make a "bark/bite" joke but I did that last week).

This current week has few huge releases but next week brings Outkast's long-awaited Idlewild, both the soundtrack (which actually isn't really a soundtrack insofar as the songs aren't in the movie) and the movie itself.
(Source: MTV News)

--O.W.

The Carter Adminstration Announces Water Awareness Campaign

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:45:28 GMT

50 Cent came out with his own vitamin water but Jay-Z used no less than the platform of the United Nations – sitting next to U.N. Chief Kofi Annan – to announce a campaign designed to bring attention to a crisis in clean drinking water available in many poor countries. This is a partnership between the U.N. and MTV – the video channel is developing a documentary called "Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life" that will follow Jay on an int'l tour, including to several of the countries most adversely affected by the lack of drinking water.

During the press conference where this was announced, Jay told reporters,

"It's a huge responsibility, and humbling at the same time. I wanted to go to these [countries I've never visited before] to just tour and play music. Of course, I can't go to any place without touching the culture and seeing what's going on. When you start getting down to Africa and places like that, you see that billions of people don't have access to water."

It's easily to think a little cynically about this – is it just a smart P.R. campaign? – but even if Jay obviously stands to benefit from the added attention with such a good will campaign you have to admire how he's putting his fame to use especially in an international context. American hip-hoppers are some of the most remarkably parochially minded entertainers around, barking their block in lyrics but sometimes failing to appreciate the wider world that is also struggling around them. Not to overstqate things but it's hard not to compare this to similar international tours taken up by folks from James Brown to Muhammed Ali that served as good will gestures (though not with the same kind of U.N. backing that Jay is getting) and of course, elevating the iconic status of the performers from local to global.
(Source: MTV News)

--O.W.

DMX's Bark Quieter But Still Packs Bite

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 17:15:41 GMT

DMX's new Year of the Dog...Again did not come in as the top album in the nation unlike his previous five albums (an incredible run no matter what you may think of the gruff rapper) but the fact that it even charted at #2 (albeit in a very slow week) is remarkable enough. DMX's first new album in three years, Year of the Dog lacked a strong promotional push, had no major single burning up the charts and in general, it's felt like the hip-hop faithful had more or less forgotten about the X as the troubled rapper appeared less on radio and video shows and more in the news for his time in rehab and frequent arrests.

Yet, it's clear that he still has a loyal fan base, enough to scare up over 100,000 albums sold for the new album. It's not a stellar number – even this week's #1, the Now That's What I Call Music 22 compilation barely limped into that top spot, only a 1,000 units ahead of DMX's 126,000 – but that said, under the circumstances, you can take this as evidence that DMX's loyal fans are still in the proverbial dog pound, rooting for their hero.

Elsewhere on the album charts, last week's #1 from R&B singer LeToya Luckett, LeToya fell to #5 while Pharrell Williams' underperforming In My Mind went from 3 to 9 and is likely to duck out of the Top 10 completely by next week. No big releases on the immediate horizon in the R&B and hip-hop world for this week though Christina Aguilera's pop/R&B double CD Back to Basics drops next week.
(Source: Billboard.com)

--O.W.

Supernatural Sets Freestyling World Record

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 17:00:42 GMT

In today's "why you wanna go and do that?" news, quick-witted rhymer Supernatural set a new world record when he managed to freestyle for nine hours straight, beating the old record held by Canadian MC D.O. by 15 minutes. If anyone remembers Supernat from back in the '90s, he was the freestyle wizard who blew away minds on The Wake-Up Show and other places but when it came time to record his debut album, like a lot of battle MCs, he couldn't kick songwriting strong enough to maintain a larger audience interest. Heck, we didn't even know he was still around but apparently, Supernat still has it in him.

We have no idea what would possess one to freestyle for that long or what possible point there'd be to prove but hey, whatever floats thy boat. Supernat did this at the Rock the Bells Festival over the weekend in San Bernadino and was handed topics by lookie-loos who wrote down topics on a dry erase board and handed it to the rapper to work into his off-the-dome flow. What we want to know is: what's the longest any fan stood around to witness this? That'd be an endurance feat too (I mean, we like freestyling as much as the next guy but for nine hours?)
(Source: SOHH.com)

--O.W.

Oh Word Cooks Up Crack Week

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 07:31:34 GMT

True to the latest fad to return to hip-hop, the community blog, Oh Word, has devoted an entire week to a celebration (of sorts) of rap's love affair with crack. It's not just all about cocaine however as Oh Word takes a few liberties in creating posts that are tangentially about crack yet still pretty brilliant regardless.

One of the best is this fake story about the NY Times new graffiti logo campaign which actually had me going for a few minutes until I realized it was just a touch too crazy to seem true. There's also a post on the story behind Funkmaster Wizard Wiz's forgotten anti-crack rap song, "Crack It Up", including scans.

However, our favorite might just be the Wu-Tang meets Peanuts comic series, especially this episode where Da Snowman pays a visit to Snoopface Killah and Charlie Braekwon. Inspired, f'real.
(Source: del.icio.us)

--O.W.

Texas Church Sponsors Day To Trash Hip-Hop, Literally

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 06:12:18 GMT

Where have we heard this before? The Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX sponsored an event where people were invited to throw their rap CDs onto a heaping pile and then watch as a bulldozer came by and crushed the mountain of music. When asked why the church would host such an event, one congregation member explained:

""It's a culture of hypnosis, brainwashing kids into mimicking degrading values. It's all about, you know, selling drugs, getting money, cheating on your girl."

. This comes in the wake of a recent set of shootings in a Dallas club which left two members of rival gangs dead after Lil' Jon's set-boosting "Put Yo Hood Up" allegedly fanned tensions between gang members. However, the event also smacks of how radio stations used to sponsor events to destroy disco records in the late '70s during the height of that music's popularity and the backlash towards it. Plus, who's gonna clean up that mess?
(Source: SOHH.com)

--O.W.

T.I. Trades In Rollerskates For Coke Keys

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 04:28:37 GMT

Many were surprised when the cinematic debut of Atlanta rapper T.I. in ATL wasn't in a so-called "hood film" but rather, a light, romantic drama centered around...a roller-rink. The only trap game there was the trap of love (sorry, we just had to go there). For his next film however, T.I.'s getting a bit more serious, playing the nephew of a drug lord played by Denzel Washington in a project called American Gangster. Like the Hughes Brothers popular '90s cult film, Dead Presidents, American Gangster takes places during the Vietnam War era and Washington's character smuggles drugs into the U.S. by stashing them in the coffins of returning GIs.

The picture also stars Russell Crowe and T.I. is aware that he's got a few heavy-hitters around him, noting to Billboard:

""Right now I'm learning everything I can about my character. I'm just there to soak things up. There's a bunch of Academy Award-winners on this cast and I'm just there to learn. I'm in school."

Tip is also at work on his next album, tentatively entitled "T.I. vs. Tip." (He's just gotta get a Q-Tip cameo in there; it's only right).
(Source: Billboard)

--O.W.

LeToya Edges Out Pharrell

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 04:11:33 GMT

People expected for a big R&B/hip-hop album to pop up this past week but everyone thought it'd be Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes. It turned out, instead, to be the debut album by LeToya Luckett, aka the Mary Wells of Destiny's Child. She claimed the #1 spot with LeToya – a dark-horse winner if there ever was one given Pharrell's more high-profile stature. However, Pharrell's In My Mind lacked a surefire single – nothing remotely on the level of his summer hit "Frontin'" or the single he produced last year for Gwen Stefani, "Hollaback Girl."

As a result, even despite strong sales, In My Mind floated in at #3, behind Now That's What I Call Music 22. It could be that Pharrell could get a boost later this summer with a better single but we wouldn't bet on that happening. Elsewhere on the charts, the Gnarls Barkley album continues to do well, just slipping one notch from #4 to 5. Not too many big new releases otherwise except for the Jurassic 5 album, Feedback which came in at a decent #15 and could yet rise.
(Source: MTV News)

--O.W.

The Game Leaves Aftermath

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 07:02:12 GMT

While no one should be surprised by the move, Los Angeles rapper The Game has left Dr. Dre's Aftermath label as a way to avoid having to release his second album, The Doctor's Advocate, the follow-up to his breakout debut in 2005, The Documentary, on G-Unit Records. In case people forgot this huge blow-up of last year, G-Unit's 50 Cent and The Game had a major, shots bucked, falling out and had The Game's new album come out on G-Unit, as The Documentary did, it's likely that 50 would have seen profit off of it despite their poor personal relationship and The Game wasn't about to see that happen.

No official notice has been made yet but rumors say that The Game will be signing with Geffen instead. Because G-Unit is a subsidiary of Aftermath, ironically, by leaving G-Unit, he's also forcing Aftermath to take a financial hit despite the full involvement of Dr. Dre on the new album.
(Source: SOHH.com)

--O.W.

Black Eyed Peas Honored In Philippines

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 06:34:45 GMT

The Black Eyed Peas might walk away with Grammys and sales awards but they recently were honored with something very different: a Presidential Medal of Merit from the government of the Philippines, acknowledging what the group has done to "bring positive attention to the country in literature, science, the arts or entertainment." If you're a little confused as to what BEP has done to earn this kind of award, you have to remember that founding member Apl.de.app is, himself, of Filipino descent and a few years back, helped compose a song that BEP released called, appropriately, "The Apl Song" which was about the rapper's experience growing up as a child in the Philippines and his journey to America.

While there for the award, the group also performed at a charity concert with proceeds going to help victims of a massive series of landslides that hit the region of Southern Leyte back in February.
(Source: Allhiphop.com)

--O.W.

The Clipse: Coming Out In Halloween?

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 06:23:17 GMT

MTV News is reporting that the Clipse, whose sophomore album has seemingly been waiting in the wings for years now, will finally see Hell Hath No Fury get a formal release on October 31st (aka Halloween). For the occasion, or perhaps because of it, the album will have a darker, more sinister feel than what was originally plotted. However, because the album took so long to come out, Pusha T and Malice decided to trash their original idea and whip out a new effort.

This has been an on-going drama since their label, Jive/Zomba had inexplicably kept the group's follow-up to 2002's Lord Willin shelved, inviting scorn from the Clipse on their mega-popular We Got It 4 Cheap mixtapes from last year (sample lyric: "f--- Zomba/I sell nose candy/Willy Wonka"). However, it looks like everything has been settled and while the Clipse album was originally due out in late summer, a late October release is definitely preferable to a winter release as had been rumored as well. Said Malice: "It's just fitting. Halloween — let the demons loose." Scary.
(Source: MTV News)

--O.W.

B-Ball and Video Games Help Take ATCQ Back On Tour

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 08:14:04 GMT

A Tribe Called Quest, who called it quits after their 1998 album, The Love Movement are touring again thanks not to some powerful hip-hop source or coaxing by fans...rather, they got back together because of the video game "NBA 2K7". If that seems a bit odd, just remember that Phife Dawg is a massive basketball fan and video game junkie to boot so he was a good contact to initially develop. Eventually, they were able to reel Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammed to join the soiree too.

It will be interesting to see how much of the old chemistry still has survived the last eight years – comeback tours are hard except when you're attracting nostalgists but not younger fans but at least they're picking some major markets with the curious exception of NYC.

(Source: MTV News)

--O.W.

Hip-Hop's Cold Summer Continues

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 08:07:08 GMT

What is up with hip-hop? Rap is supposed to be burning up the summer soundtracks as it has the last how many years but 2006 has been crazy anemic. Just look at this week's album charts: nary a hip-hop album on there with the arguable exception of the Gnarls Barkley LP (which continues to surprise many). Keep in mind too: rap did poorly on a week where everything did poorly: sales haven't been this week since 1994. Oof.

No one should be surprised that Now That's What I Call Music came in at #1 again – this compilation simply destroys whatever's against it most weeks. It's followed by the next one from the Los Lonely Boys, Sacred while Rodney Atkins' If You're Going Through Hell checked in at #3. That Gnarls Barkely is at #4 followed by the High School Musical soundtrack which has seemingly danced in the Top 10 since it first came out. The longevity of this album is simply monster.

Other than that though, the sole urban representation in the bottom half is Rihanna's A Girl Like Me which has been selling consistently enough to keep Def Jam quite satisfied, we assume.

Well, hip-hop might get a bump back by next week thanks to Pharrell Williams' In My Mind which finally came out. You think the Neptunes' cred would get Skateboard P a long ways but according to the Wash Post, don't start popping open the Moet just yet.
(Sources: Billboard, Washington Post)

--O.W. (By the way, sorry for the lag in posting but I'm moving this week so I'm in packing hell).

A New Jay-Z Album? You Don't Say...

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:39:29 GMT

To the surprise of like...no one, Jay-Z has a new album in the works to bring himself out of retirement [insert Michael Jordan analogies here]. There's been no official, burning-bush official notices handed down by J-Hova himeslf but there's been more leaks on this story than in a colander. SOHH.com notes that both the Neptunes and Cool & Dre have already "hinted" that they're working on new tracks for the album and now, an "unnamed source" has said that Dr. Dre will also be working on the album though despite rumors, it's not likely that this new CD will appear on Dre's Aftermath imprint as previously discussed. The latter makes little sense since releasing the album on Def Jam would seem to make much better business sense since Jay is still, last we check, president of Def Jam.

According to the NY Daily News, the music-making process between Dre and Jay is rather funny considering that it doesn't sound like the two even meet in person:

"Dre will E-mail Jay some new beats," a source told the Daily News. "Jay will E-mail him the lyrics, then Dre will E-mail him the mix."Somehow, if they ever make the Jay-Z autobiographical movie ala Ray, I just can't imagine these scenes of Jay and Dre emailing each other to be as riviting as watching an re-enactment of Ray Charles talking with Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd. Call me crazy.

The album "might" be out around Thanksgiving (though we've heard rumors that have it slated much sooner than that. But hey, they're just rumors). Can't be soon enough – this year's been middling enough as it is. Then again, after hearing some of Jay's recent guest verses, maybe we shouldn't be so excited after all.
(Source: SOHH.com)

--O.W.

Pharcyde Tour. Sort Of.

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:09:52 GMT

A friend hit me with the Spike Jonze DVD sometime around 2005. Then it got lent out. Then it basically stayed in "oh, a friend has it but I can't remember who" limbo for over a year until I recently got it back. Popping it back in, I watched the video for "Drop" again by the Pharcyde and thought:
1) This was a really entertaining video.
2) Rhyming backwards can't be easy.
3) It's weird that Spike and Sophia Coppola were married. And...
4) Damn, what happened to the Pharcyde?

The last question is pretty easy to answer: their second album was a disappointment to many, hip-hop changed and the group fell apart.

Pharcyde are back on tour but it's really just Imani and Bootie Brown. Does that reall constitute the "Pharcyde" is half the group members are missing? I mean, take John and George out of the Beatles and you're left with something not the Beatles. That said, I can't be mad at them still trying to stick with it and they'll be joining a few dates on the Roots tour, with a few dates also featuring Common. Heck, it'll be like it's 1995 again!
(Source: SOHH.com)

--O.W.

Pimp C Hits #3

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 17:41:07 GMT

Can I just say again: the summer of '06 has been crazy slow for hip-hop. Last week, there were no hip-hop albums in the Top 10 of the Billboard Charts save for the Gnarls Barkley album and it's hip-hop merits are up for debate by fans. At least Pimp C had a good week: his Pimpalation was good for #3 on this week's chart, selling 87,000, his best outing ever on the pop charts.

That said, C was still out-pimped by the unstoppable force known as Now That's What I Call Music 22, the latest installment in the recent-greatest-hits compilation series which almost always smashes the competition for the first week. Question: in an iTunes world, who buy this album? We're just asking.

Pimp C was also edged out - narrowly - by Thom Yorke, leader of Radiohead, who debuted at #2 with his solo LP, The Eraser. Gnarls is still sitting pretty at #5 while Rihanna's album took a dive from #6 down to #10. This current week doesn't promise too much else to chart that high with the possible exception of Jurassic 5's Feedback (but we don't see it cracking the Top 10 yet).
(Source: Billboard)

--O.W.

Outkast Says "No" To the Big O

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:49:45 GMT

As some of you may have heard, there's been a brewing controversy over whether Oprah Winfrey hates rappers or not. The quick summary is that Oprah finds their lyrics misogynistic and offensive and that's why she usually chooses not to book them on her show. As a result, many rappers have accused her of turning her back on a obviously popular and important form of Black culture.

The latest incident is that Outkast recently turned down an offer to appear on Oprah's show. This was supposed to have been in September, right around the time Outkast's long awaited movie/musical Idlewild is coming out. In declining Oprah's offer, the rumors are that it had nothing to do with Outkast protesting the host's stance on hip-hop, but rather, reflects internal tensions between group members Big Boi and Andre 3000.

According to Fox News, who broke the story, the two cannot agree over how to promote the album and that ultimately lead them to have to decline Oprah's offer. To be sure, there's a lot of "I heard from so and so" about the situation so things might seem worse (for Outkast) than they really are but then again, people have bee whispering rumors about the group breaking up for years now.
(Source: Vibe.com)

--O.W.

CD Brings Rap Crew Down

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 18:25:05 GMT

Rather interesting story that the NY Daily News is reporting on: a Brooklyn rap crew was arrested on drug dealing charges and part of the evidence used against them were song lyrics from one rapper's CD.

Brooklyn police had been investigating a drug ring being run out of the Bushwick Houses. One member of the alleged ring, Terence Jones is also a rapper named Big Chef and his crew is called the Murda Crew. The News reports that Jones:

"bragged on his CD that he was "the 500-gram cooker" and "bag twister" - and listed the names of his drug-dealing cohorts in the liner notes, cops said. "It's like the confessions of a rap star/drug dealer," said Inspector Steven Powers, commander of the Brooklyn North narcotics unit. "We looked at it and said, 'Wow, he's giving a lot of details about his life.'"

Of course, it's too early to know if the song lyrics can be proven to be anything more than just idle boasting rather real crime tales but for now, Jones has been arrested alongside 21 other people. Maybe it's just better to rap about things you don't know.
(Source: SOHH.com)

--O.W.

Rules For Rap Fans Online

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 07:24:31 GMT

The folks over at Oh Word are inviting a slew of guest posters, including a recent funny little ditty about how the rules for being a hip-hop head online require certain understandings less you end up playing yourself like a fool (which is quite easy online as some of you may have noticed).

#1 is dead on: "Your opinion doesn’t instantly matter. With inflation and the rise of the Euro, 2 cents just aren’t what they used to be. Don’t think hating makes you stand out or that copping pleas for garbage tracks earns you gold stars. Undervalue your opinion. Be slower to react and backspace often. Your mom was wrong, you aren’t that special. Post less, think more." (We should all be so lucky to have people appreciate the sanctity of this rule).

Other highlights include: "5. Status ain’t HD. If you have a myspace page, a youtube account, a series of webcam pics, and a screen name, don’t pretend to be the Metatron of the hood."

"7. An album that came out last week is not a classic. An album that leaked five hours ago isn’t an all-time great."

It's funny 'cause it's all true.
(Source: Notes From a Different Kitchen)

--O.W.

Will.I.Am Distances Black Eyed Peas From Hip-Hop

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 16:50:44 GMT

According to Vibe.com, Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.I.Am wants to "distance the group from hip-hop", claiming that the genre has become, "just angry, negative music that just makes black people look bad." Will went on to say, ""When you compare it to today's standards of what hip hop is ... don't even call it that, cause that's like, an insult."

Hmm... Newsflash: a lot of hip-hop fans haven't considered BEP to be part of hip-hop for years now, seeing them instead as just another saccharin Top 40 group that happens to borrow from hip-hop's aesthetics but otherwise lack any real credibility. (Hint: "My Humps" = not helping matters).

Frankly, we're just tired of this "hip-hop is this/that" arguments. It's one thing to critique the music's shortcomings but dismissing the genre entirely is one of those baby + bathwater scenarios. More over, we find Will's comments highly suspect considering that he produced Busta Rhymes' latest song whose album title (unsanitized) is "I Love My B----." Way to help promote positivity and positive Black images!
(Source: Vibe.com)

Oh, and speaking of positive rap role models, it's just coming out on the wires now but Eminem (oh Slim, why must you keep backsliding?) got into a fight with a man in a strip club. The victim, Miad J., claims that Eminem confronted him in the men's room (oh, the layers here) after Miad tried to talk to him while the two men were, uh, relieving themselves. We're not making this up.

No one has been arrested yet but the charges are being investigated.
(Source: Allhiphop.com)

--O.W.

House of Vibe Torn Down, To Be Rebuilt

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:07:16 GMT

What initially looked like a change in top editors at Vibe Magazine has now turned into something more like a complete housecleaning. As was reported last week, the magazine was bought out by Wicks Media recently and their first order of business was laying off Editor In Chief Mimi Valdez alongside several other key, senoir staff. That's not unusual, especially in a buyout situation and Danyel Smith, who was a seminal Vibe EIC back in the 1990s was brought back to help run the magazine again.

However, in the week since, not only have senior editors resigned or been laid off, but Wicks has now purged at least 1/5th (over 20) of its editorial staff with even more layoffs rumored to happen in the next few weeks. Looks like the magazine is taking the whole "clean slate" approach to heart.

A few things to think about here: First of all, Vibe isn't quite as top dog in terms of rap/R&B magazines as it was just a few years ago. Its circulation is slightly down though it's still fairly impressive nonetheless but ad revenue has declined as well and with the recent sale of Vibe's once sister-publication Spin, the writing was on the wall for a few months.

Is a comeback possible? Yeah. The folks I've spoken to all think the mag's brand is still very, very viable and especially now that The Source is still trying to limp its way back to relevance, there's not a ton of competition out there.

And on that note, it's very well worth noting that Smith is married to Elliot Wilson who happens to be EIC over at Vibe's main competition: XXL. Some have wondered if there would be any conflict of interest here but I actually think this may help both magazines strengthen their niches with Vibe going more upscale (as it's always been) and XXL keeping it street (maybe not Murder Dog street but...)

One lingering question though: where does Vibe plan to hire all the new staff from? Will they cherrypick from other mags (possible but unlikely given the cost that might incur)? Or go with greenhorns?
(Source: Adage.com)

--O.W.

Dallas School Fronts on Fronts

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 17:16:05 GMT

The Arlington school district out side of Dallas has banned students from wearing grills aka fronts aka metal teeth caps that anyone who's watching a Southern rap video has seen in play for about, oh, ten years now. It seems that school officials are alarmed by...uh...wait, what's the problem here again?

"The district is having to respond to fads because they've become distracters or a safety hazard for those around them," says a local school official. Ok, we can vaguely buy the "distracters" element but a "safety hazard"? Are they insisting students brush and floss everyday too since the only danger grills seem to have is dental work?

Then again, they've also banned "gauging," which is the lengthening of ear lobes through inserting progressively bigger discs (very National Geographic) and offer this additional justification: "They don't serve a purpose for schooling; they're for cosmetic purposes." (Unlike say, cosmetics. Or clothing for that matter. Hmm...)

We're not saying this is some anti-hip-hop/subaltern prejudice (actually, that is what we're saying)...it just seems like another silly example of asserting adult control over youthful activities that people just don't get.
(Source: Dallas Morning News)

--O.W.

Dallas Austin Got Help From Utah Senator

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:48:01 GMT

The tale of Dallas Austin's unfortunate trip to Dubai, laced with powdered pockets (and we're not talking about sugar), has seemed rather surreal. For one thing, you have to be profoundly stupid to try to bring in drugs of any kind – regardless for personal consumption, let alone distribution – into a country where they execute for drug offenses. Just saying. If you really want to get your sniff on, skip Dubai. Or most other Muslim countries.

In any case, after Austin looked like he's about to spend some quality time in Dubai's correctional system, he was pulled out of there by a probation agreement and immediate transport home. It seemed surprising: Austin's really not that big a star compared to, oh, say, Michael Jackson yet he seemed to be getting some very lenient treatment and high-level diplomatic intervention. How high?

As it turns out, no less than Utah Senator Orrin Hatch was looking out for Austin. As it turns out, Hatch is a songwriter himself (though presumably not for TLC) and he and Austin share the same attorney. When Austin landed in trouble in Dubai, his attorney asked Hatch (among others) to help intervene and Hatch happens to be on good terms with the government folks out there. MTV News also reports that Lionel Richie was key in helping secure Austin's reduced sentence given that Richie apparently has many fans in that part of the world (perhaps more so than here, these days) and that his willingness to vouch for Austin's good behavior was integral in working out the deal.

It's good to have friends in high places.
(Source: MTV News)

Speaking of high places, the drama around New York radio station, Hot 97, got unexpected coverage in a feature story in The New Yorker.
(Source: The New Yorker)

Meanwhile, also in NYC news, the Hip-Hop Museum in the Bronx got a $1.5 million dollar grant to begin construction on their building.
(Source: Allhiphop.com)

--O.W.

Who Speaks For Hyphy?

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 05:45:55 GMT

Here's a rather strange story brewing out of the Bay Area: an organization, Hyphy Inc., has accused E-40 and Lil Jon of "exploiting" hyphy music for their own gain, basically calling them a bunch of carpetbaggers trying to ride the hyphy gravy train. A rep from Hyphy Inc. said, "E-40 is not considered a hyphy artist or a part of the hyphy movement. True enough 40 brought exposure to the movement, but bringing exposure to the movement and being a part of the movement and then exploiting the movement for your own personal financial gain is two different things."
This is a rather astounding accusation, especially in accusing E-40 – who is an undisputed legend in Bay Area hip-hop cirlces – of trying to rip off the hyphy movement. Not surprisingly, 40 was some curt words in response, including some regional card-pulling. He noted,

"The hyphy movement started in Oakland for one. So can't nobody from San Francisco be talking about that. I love Frisco, that ain't got nothing to do with the city of Frisco, but I'm not gonna affiliate that with these suckers, whoever these cats is."

Even if E-40 may not be as hyphy-affiliated as someone like Keak Da Sneak, you'd have to be pretty nit-picky to beef with him over it
(Source: SOHH.com)

--O.W.

Hip-Hop Brand Loyalty

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 16:36:19 GMT

Now that Jay-Z has brought down the hammer on Cristal because the sparkling wine makers have sought to distance themselves from rappers who shout out their product, other brands have gone the other way to be politic in vocalizing their appreciation for what hip-hop has done for them. According to AP News story, Hennessey VP Noel Hankin loves all the hip-hop attention:

"We appreciate that business. We want it. It's critical to our business success. We've never had any hesitation or reservation about embracing the hip-hop community."

Other companies cited in the story include: Cadillac, whose Escalade model has enjoyed a good number of shout-outs in rap songs; Mercedes-Benz (always classic); and Bentley (the new status symbol). Wait about three months and then see how Gulfstream reacts to rappers giving love to their G4 private jets (next level!)
(Source: Prohiphop.com)
(Photo of Hennessy X.O. © Hennessy.com)

--O.W.

Juelz/Weezy Consider Album-izing Mixtape

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:24:41 GMT

Ask anyone on the street if most rappers are putting out better music on mixtapes or their actual albums and most will say, without hesitation, "mixtapes." There's something about tapes (ok, CDs, increasingly DVDs) where the spontaneity and utter disregard for label politics, production costs, copyright, etc. allows for artists to be in a rawer element than what ends up on their official albums. (The Washington Post breaks down the mixtape game today, as it were).

However, in what could be a very interesting development, Harlem's Juelz Santana and New Orleans' Lil Wayne have discussed turning what was to be their colalbo mix-CD, I Can't Feel My Face (it's a cocaine reference for those who need these things spelled out in lights), into a legit album instead.

Weezy told MTV that,

"It's a mixtape, but we just sat down and listened to it and noticed that we didn't use no outside beats. We used all produced beats. We can go album with this. Look out for it, we are deciding [whether to release it as an official LP]."

Personally, we'd be down to see this happen. Artist collabos like this, especially across label lines, can produce great music sometimes (see Method Man and Redman's Blackout)...or be disasters (see Jay-Z and R. Kelly's Best of Both Worlds 2) but we think team of Juelz and Wayne could go together like Pyrex and water. Note: that's not a cooking reference.
(Source: MTV News)

--O.W.

The Roots Chat Up 'Game Theory'

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 04:00:21 GMT

Henry Adaso, over at About.com (their hip-hop coverage is a lot better than most of ya'll realize), has a solid interview with The Roots' ?uestlove about their upcoming, late summer album, Game Theory. The Roots are in an interesting, challenging spot - Tipping Point (their last album, from 2004) was a critical letdown and only a modest commercial success. And then, in the midst of some label drama, Def Jam snatched them up earlier this year and suddenly, they're being overseen by the S. Carter Administration. It's a pretty amazing turn of fortune except you'd expect there's some pressure on 'em to be some multi-plat success. Here's what ?uestlove said Jay had to say about it:

"Yo, I'm not Jimmy Iovine. Don't come here with no bullsh*t. If y'all come here with snap music, I'm snapping y'all the f*ck out of my audience. If I hear y'all remotely trying to jump on some trend or all of a sudden, Tariq got a southern accent, I'm kicking y'all off this label. I want the real Roots album."

Other tidbits to consider: the group had started the album while still with Geffen but when they signed over to Def Jam, they had to leave the songs they already recorded back with Geffen. I'd be curious to know 1) what those songs sound like and 2) if Geffen ever plans to do anything with them (eh, probably not).

Also, for a while, the Roots had considered adding Jean Grae to the group but ?uest explains:

"At that point, we couldn't afford her. So, she had to do what was best for her situation. I was telling her to hold on, but, I couldn't make it happen quick enough. [Talib] Kweli and Cory Smith [Kweli's Manager] were telling her to come over to Blacksmith, so, she's signed to Blacksmith now."

Game Theory is slated for the end of August but we'll believe that when we actually see it drop.
Source: About.com

--O.W.

Busta Gets Nelly-ed; Gnarls Barks Up

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:17:56 GMT

His stay at the top was short like leprachauns...Busta Rhymes, after enjoying the #1 album spot last week, has gotten bumped down to #5. Nelly Furtado's new album, Loose replaces it at the top spot.

A Big Bang lost a whopping 67% in sales which could mean one of a few things:
1) The folks who bought his album the first week were likely long-time fans of the artist but there isn't enough momentum by newer fans to carry sales higher and/or 2) Busta's "I Love My Chick" single hasn't caught fire enough to help drive album sales.

On the other hand, Field Mob's Light Poles and Pine Trees debuted at #7, the highest ever first-week sales for the group, likely benefitting from the recent success of their "So What" single. Even more impressive, indie hip-hop/hipster darlings Gnarls Barkley have steadily climbed up the numbers, this week finally cracking the Top 10 at #9 with their St. Elsewhere album.

Because of the July 4th holiday next week, no new major releases are planned. Expect to see Busta dip further while Field Mob climbs.
Source: Billboard

Posted by O.W.

Whither the Clipse?

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 04:39:14 GMT

Everybody knows that one of the best rap albums of 2005 wasn't even an album, it was the Clipse's sickdiculous We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 2 mix-CD. On there, in between telling their label Jive/Zomba to have carnal relations with themselves, they claim that "all the label drama coming to an end."

Maybe not.

According to the bloggers at XXL, the Clipse's long, long, long awaited sophomore release, Hell Hath No Fury has been pushed back indefinitely...or at least, not in August as originally planned. As Kris Ex noted, had they opted for the summer release, the Clipse could have owned the dog days of summer since, "the only real competition in their path would have been Rick Ross and a bunch of eight dollars-per-record millionaires from Koch Records."

Now it's possible the Clipse could be facing off against 50 Cent, Nas and whoever else wants to try to go plat off of end-of-the-year holiday sales. I mean, I know crack rap is popular but I don't think anyone would put Pusha T and Malice against 50 Cent and think it'd be much of a fight.

I'm not one to second-guess Jive (well, not anymore than I'd second guess any record label) but the Clipse have been riding a wave of anticipation for years now...you'd think they'd pull out some stops to help their stars step up.
Source: XXLmag.com

Posted by O.W.

Jay-Z Knocks Back To His Early Hustle

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:04:31 GMT

Guess who's bizzack? After a bit of a hiatus, the Music Filter site has returned, this time with a two-man tag team, on some ol' Run DMC + Aerosmith pairing. Me and Shrug will keep the music news flowing like ~~Kristal~~ Moet. He's got the rock, I get the R.O.C. (holla) and all other things hip-hop related. (Question: what isn't hip-hop related in music news these days? You think Taylor Hicks won't be dropping a collabo with Young Weezy soon?) In any case, expect to see me drop a quintet of posts every week (if not more, depending on how fast the rap news stacks up.

Back to the Roc: Jay-Z performed the first of two shows this past weekend, celebrating the 10 year anniversary of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt. It's rare that most rappers are even remembered after 10 years, rarer still that they're still recording (albeit for Jay, in cameo form) after that time, and pretty damn unusual that they'll sell out Radio City Music Hall in the process. Sure, you can say it's all preening and self-celebration (but uh, how would that be different than any other rap concert?).

Jay basically performed his debut album in its entireity, though he started with the LP's last song ("Regrets") first and then walked through the original sequence. Accompanying him musically was the same team who helped him on his MTV Unplugged gig, namely The Roots' band, lead by drummer ?uestlove. Otherwise, Jay did his best to recreate the album, song for song, including bringing on a few key guests who originally appeared with him.

That included protoge Memphis Bleek ("Coming of Age"), longtime M.I.A. rapper Sauce Money ("Bring It On") and Foxy Brown who performed on the breakout single, "Ain't No N----" despite having some notable problems due to her well-publicized hearing loss.

Not appearing included The Jaz aka Jaz-O, Jay-Z's old mentor who originally was on "Bring It On" but in recent years, Jaz-O has publically attacked Jay-Z (presumably for not being appreciative enough) and looks like they couldn't get beef squashed for the event. Mary J. Blige normally would have been on "Can't Knock the Hustle" but Jay's girlfriend Beyonce handled the hook instead. And of course, the other half of "Brooklyn's Finest," the Notorious B.I.G. is dead so Jay rhymed his lines along with his own.

Following the album recap, Jay's encore comprised of a greatest-hits package that included songs like, "Give It To Me," "Big Pimpin'" and "Excuse Me Miss."

Extras:

MSNBC corners Jay on whether he'll come out of retirement (he's being coy about it but c'mon, the answer is basically "yes").

Hiphopgame.com has audio from the show.

Check out Allhiphop.com's review of the show as well.

Source: SOHH.com

Posted by O.W.

Kanye West and Ice Cube Land Film Projects

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:33:46 GMT

Two more film projects from the music world to report on (sort of). First of all, Kanye West plans to shoot a feature film "inspired by his music." The description so far is a bit vague; Billboard describes it as, "a multi-perspective portrait of the United States as seen through the eyes of West and several filmmakers," which basically sounds like a series of vignettes rather than a unified, single narrative. However, the Billboard article is careful to note that while there will be multiple directors working on different parts of the film, they will be filming "short stories" and not "music videos." Overseeing this will be George C. Wolfe, creator of Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk.

Meanwhile, there are plans to turn the '70s t.v. show, Welcome Back, Kotter into a feature film and cast in Gabe Kaplan's original lead role is ... Ice Cube. Yeah, we didn't quite see that one coming, especially since most of the recent Cube news has been around him getting back in the studio and rapping for a change but looks like he's balancing that with playing a school teacher. Be sure to read the comments section of the Stereogum post to see people's guesses on who else might get cast. (Sources: Billboard, Stereogum)

What If Biggie Had Lived?

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 19:36:16 GMT

Yesterday marked the 9th anniversary of the death of Biggie and SOHH.com went out and interviewed a variety of people to comment on "what if Biggie never died?" The responses are mostly humorous, a few poignant, a couple would likely have proven prophetic. Here's a scattering:

"There would've been a Brooklyn Mint flagship store on 5th avenue, Notorious cologne, B.I.G.Bling watches by Jacob and Co., and Warning: The Video Game." - Miss Info, hip-hop journalist
"Jay-Z wouldn't have anyone to quote." - ibeblunt, SOHH
"Lil Kim would still look like Lil Kim." - BK Mecca, SOHH
"The competition to be the King of New York would have been crazy. It would have been BIG, Jay, Nas, Jadakiss, 50 [Cent] - Lord Finesse
"I'd have one more friend in the world." - Bonz Malone

In related news, Biggie's mom, Voletta Wallace has given the green light for a feature film to be made about her son's life. Director Antoine Fuqua has been named to helm it (he did Training Day if you recall). No cast has been named yet though we'll be curious 1) who will play Biggie himself and 2) if "real" rappers will be asked to play themselves or if actors will be hired to play Puffy, Tupac, etc. We'd like to see the latter actually. (Sources: SOHH, Allhiphop)

Cam'Ron Still Going After Jay-Z

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:37:52 GMT

We thought Cam'ron had decided that his attempt to diss Jay-Z has more or less faltered, especially after Jay-Z refused to respond. However, the Harlem rapper was just waiting to reload: he now plans to go after Jay-Z in the video for his upcoming "Lick It Or Not/Wet Wipes" single. Cam hired actor J.J. Walker (of Good Times fame) to play Jay-Z in the video, outfitting Walker with a Yankees cap, button down shirt and requisite Roc-A-Fella chain (plus sandals and jeans).

It's never explicitly said who Walker is supposed to be but it's pretty obvious, especially when Walker is shot, stepping out of a Maybach luxury sedan (Jay's car of choice). In the video, Cam'ron is also shown taking women away from Walker, a further, subtle insult being thrown at Jay. We have to say ... we think Cam's beef is pretty silly but this video sounds pretty creative and we're looking forward to seeing how it ends up playing out. Then we look forward to Jay-Z crushing him. (Source: MTV News)