Pablo Picasso - "It takes a long time to become young."

Joell Ortiz is getting the Hittman/Melman treatment from the slavemaster Jimmy Iovine:

http://www.xxlmag.com/online/?p=16680

~~~

Ghostface speaks to MissInfo. I hope he's not mad @ the Abbott anymore. To think that Wu-Tang has such a fractured foundation makes me sick to my stomach. Wu-Tang Clan Forever and EVER!



~~~

Old White Women Join Kenya's Sex Tourism Industry - Jungle Fever forever!!

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2007-11-26T162851Z_01_N26389797_RTRUKOC_0_US-SEXTOURISM.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage5

~~~
BY ANY AND EVERY MEANS NECESSARY:
10 Steps to Unlocking 'The Secret'

Use these keys to help open the life of your dreams.

You may have heard about it on Oprah or at the dentist's. Indeed, "The Secret," a best-selling self-help book and DVD, is out. As author and producer Rhonda Byrne says herself, the "secret"--that we create our reality with our thoughts--is nothing new. But it's not easy to digest that every person, thing, and experience in your life is there because, unconsciously or not, you brought it there. Yet using that knowledge to create a dream life is where the juicy fun begins.

"The Secret" gives three steps--"ask, believe, receive"--we offer 10 micro steps to practicing The Secret, an approach also known as "the law of attraction."

1. Clear Your Mind

Find a place in your home to designate as your "intention space," suggests author Lynne McTaggart in her book about the law of attraction (LOA), "The Intention Experiment." You might want to set up an altar, or set plants nearby. Even when you're not here, you can summon this spot for future intention-setting. Then sit, quietly, comfortably, and breathe. Meditate for five to 10 minutes, writes Taggart, to help your brain slip into a relaxed, receptive state

2. Decide What You Want

You need to get clear about what you actually want, or, say LOA experts, you'll attract mixed results. In their book, "The Law of Attraction," Esther and Jerry Hicks say that the thought "I don't know what I want" is really just the psyche's way of saying "I'm afraid of what I want." So get clear and dream big. You might need to confront some scarcity demons, but don't dwell on them, just keep focusing on your desires, whether it's a law degree or a million dollars.

3. Ask For It

Write down what you want very specifically, says philosopher Bob Proctor in "The Secret." And, he says, write it in present-tense, as if you've already gotten your wish: "'I am so happy and grateful now that...' And then explain how you want your life to be, in every area," Proctor says. It's also crucial to ask for it in a way that's positive-the Universe, say LOA experts, responds to every word. For example, instead of the potentially self-sabotaging "I want to get out of debt," (the Universe will "hear" debt and keep on sending more your way), say, "I am living a life of abundance and wealth."

4. Visualize Having It

Every day, close your eyes for several minutes and imagine yourself standing inside your dream home, embracing your soul mate, standing in your ideal body. Keep focusing on what you want and imagining it so clearly that you can see, feel, smell, hear, and taste it.

Recent brain imaging tests show that imagining doing something is almost exactly the same to the brain--and the body--as actually doing something. The idea is to have your thoughts and feelings "vibrate" at the same frequency as what you want; if you desire stupendous wealth, raise your emotional bar to bring that in--expand, expand, expand.

5. Express and Feel Gratitude

Make a list of all that you're grateful for. Gratitude will further magnetize good things to you. It will also open your heart and assure your unconscious that you are capable of having a beautiful life, because in fact, you already do.

In "The Secret" book Byrne writes: "With all that I have read and all that I have experienced in my own life using The Secret, the power of gratitude stands above everything else. If you do only one thing with the knowledge of The Secret, use gratitude until it becomes your way of life."

6. Release Control

You've cleared your mind, decided what you want, visualized those things and experiences, and expressed gratitude for what you already have. Now, see your request going out to the Universe. It will sweat the details, the "how" of manifesting your request.

7. Stay Positive

Be aware of your thoughts. But, as author Marci Shimoff says in "The Secret," it would be impossible and exhausting to watch every single thought-we have about 60,000 a day. Instead, be aware of your thoughts by monitoring your feelings.

If you're tilting toward sad or angry, re-calibrate quickly. Read a beloved book, walk in nature, listen to a stunning piece of music-anything to stay up, light, and inspired. If you start doubting, replace it with knowing, with that feeling of having it. The more you saturate yourself with having your desire, the higher your positive vibration becomes.

8. Be Patient

As metaphysician Joe Vitale says in "The Secret" film, there's no guaranteed timeline for these sorts of things. But don't give up. If your wish or some version of it doesn't manifest in a few, or even 30, days, worry not. Just keep on believing and sending out positive thoughts and feelings. The important thing is to keep doubt--and negative feelings--at bay.

9. Invite It In

Really receive your gifts and enjoy them. And remember to send out gratitude and love for this magical-seeming process based on the connectedness of all matter. Also, continue to steep in it--surround yourself with photos of what you desire, say your desire aloud, go to an open house, a test drive. Do what it takes to let it enter your life.

10. Share the Wealth

Though "The Secret" doesn't specifically address using this manifesting power to help the world, the Law of Attraction is a perfect tool for that. As Jack Canfield, founder of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series, says in the film, Mother Teresa said she wouldn't attend an anti-war rally, but if there was ever a peace rally she'd be there. Along those lines, see Iraq and other troubled places filled with smiling, calm, peaceful people, bustling markets, sweetness, and inspiration. Feel peace in your body, send your love.

And enjoy the secret: "If it ain't fun, don't do it," Canfield says.

~~~

A trip down memory lane - Anticon Artists speak:

DEEP PUDDLE DYNAMICS
"CARLOS, SOME CATS, & A FEW ?D? BATTERIES WITH A SIDE OF ARMAGEDDON"
24 June 1999 ? Chicago, IL

On June 24, 1999, Tim and Wax decided they?d dive into some Deep Puddles and get the lowdown on some ill rap cats that were nice enough to give us a load of their time. So we ventured into puddles and instead of drowning, we were quite enlightened at what we heard and saw. From seriousness to sarcasm to humor and on to philosophy, the great hip-hop crew that consists of MC?s Sole, Slug, Dose One, and Alias, and DJ Mayonaise of 1200 Hobos, joined by emcee Scurge and producer Jel, gave us the lowdown on their experiences, dreams, futures, and pasts. Put on your wetsuit and scuba gear kids, because it?s time to dive in.

Coming from three different parts of the country, how did you guys all come together?

Sole: We all love each other?s music, and decided to all work with one another.

Dose: Uhhh? Furbies on the Internet. Thank you very much.

Alias: I just met them through Sole, because I didn?t know either of them up until last summer.

Did you guys ever do anything together before Anticon? Because that was the first time I ever heard anything between all of you.

Dose: We did Deep Puddle.

Sole: Yeah. We did a whole album last summer.

Dose: June 26.

Sole: Exactly a year ago, we did a whole album. The Deep Puddle album was recorded on the 26th. Yeah, so that?s pretty much how we all met. We were just like "Yo, lets do this album," then we all hooked up, did the album, and then I was like, if we?re going to put this shit out, we should do an EP first to promote it so it doesn?t get wasted or whatever. So we did the EP, and now we have the Deep Puddle album in September.

So the Anticon actually came out after you had recorded the Deep Puddle?

Sole: Yeah. The Anticon shit was actually just some songs people did when we were just f*cking around. They?re good songs, but it wasn?t like a project that was supposed to happen. We were just like, we have these songs that we?re not doing anything with, let?s just put it out.

Dose: Sole is down, and Slug is very down. Alias is down as well.

Sole: Dose is up and down.

Where do you see you guys going from here? I was talking to Slug the other day about the sh*t that was in Urb Magazine, and that was pretty impressive to me because I actually hadn?t heard of the collective name Deep Puddle until I saw that article. Next 100, that?s a pretty big deal as far as I?m concerned.

Dose: Me and Dave (writer for URB), we were in school together. So Dave just hooked us up. We all know Dave.

Sole: I think after this, we?re all gonna go check out a movie, and then maybe all move somewhere. But really what we?re trying to do is take hip-hop where it?s been?

Dose: The lyrical Candice Bergen.

Slug: I?m using this as my marketing thesis for school.

Dose: Like me? Oh!

Alias: This is my "springboard into hip-hop."

(laughs)

Sole: I?m just trying to establish myself as a sex symbol so I can f*ck ravers.

Like I said, coming from three different parts of the country, is it hard to all hook up to record and do shows and whatnot?

Slug: It is pretty hard. After we "blow up" it?s gonna be real easy. Nah, it?s real easy actually. It?s pretty easily accomplished. I don?t know why you?re asking me this question because I don?t go anywhere.

Sole: Slug loves Minnesota. It just gives us an excuse to travel. We love just going around doing music. We?ll whoop out like 30 songs in 20 minutes.

Dose: Like a CD burner. We pump out songs in minutes.

Are you doing anymore shows after the one in Chicago?

Sole: After this, well, there?s this talk of a Santana drummer, Parliament bassist, Sole, and Dose tour up and down the West Coast. D motherf*cker!

Dose: Push it real good.

Sole: We?re talking about a world tour. There?s a lot of shit in the works. But as far as Deep Puddle doing shows - until we have big funding behind us, it?s not lucrative for anybody to go around because we can?t afford to do tours we because we all don?t live in the same area and we all live real lives and sh*t. So once the album drops, and we?re superheroes, and we?re on the cover of Rolling Stone, then we?ll be able to drive around you know.

Alias: I like doing songs with them because, living in Portland, Maine, you can?t really do anything because there?s not a lot of hip-hop kids, and if there are, they?re all on the Wu-Tang, Funkmaster Flex sh*t, which I?m not into.

Yeah. You have to find a way to push it out. That?s what we try to do with our Magazine. It?s up to the artist to create good sh*t. I think if you do it right, you can change a lot of people?s heads.

Sole: Yeah. As far as record labels and industry-wise, Anticon has been just building up, building up, building up, and right now, we?re about to catch everybody way off guard with all the sh*t that?s about to happen. I don?t even want to say videos, and full-page Source ads, and centerfolds?

Dose: To quote Sole, "Ripping mad rhymes like a frustrated poet."

Slug: I like making songs with these guys because they tell me that I?m fresh and pat me on the back and tell me I?m doing a really good job.

Dose: Boy are we organized!

Sole: I run my record label out of a cardboard box.

Alias: I?m looking forward to the day when Sole is in the swimsuit issue of the Source in a bikini.

Sole: We?re selling Dose hand puppets too.

Dose: I?m really gonna miss Jeff when he goes and uhh?and I?m going to try not to catch a cold. Things like that.

Slug: I?m looking forward to the day when we can finally let the world know that?well you know, today could be that day. You know what, today is that day. Today is the day that I?ve been looking forward to letting the world know, Sole if you don?t mind, that

Mickey Rooney is Sole?s real father. Okay. So give me some inspiration. (Taking the microphone) Who inspired you to get in this rap shit in the first place?

Sole: Umm. Well I mean?The MC Hammer phase and DJ Raygun were major inspirations coming up back in the day when I was MC Shoebert. We were putting it down. We?re really trying to take it to the next level. You know, I used to do Beastie Boys cover songs, and ever since then, it?s been wonderful man. The Anticon EP was actually supposed to be a Beastie Boys cover album, which just didn?t come out, you know. We forgot all the lyrics and did have a lot of the original records that they used so we just had to make due with what we had.

Dose: We?re all kind of waiting to get Christ back for a little while from the big guy, because there?s some stuff going on that we really need to know about.

Sole: Yeah, we are all waiting for the third coming.

Dose: Behind the clouds is behind the clouds. No, he got hit by the 38 bus!

Slug: I think you?re right, the third coming is going to be just huge.

Sole: It?s going to be like a Nas concert with big blow up dolls.

Slug: Pyrotechnics, and lots of shit blowing up.

Any of those pyrotechnics in your show?

Dose: Yeah. We have a lot of fires. We set fires. "I grab a bitch by the hair and pull out a book of matches." That?s my next single. It?s a passive love song. I?m really into being around a lot of people. This is good. I?m liking this.

Sole: We all actually rub Vaseline on our bodies and then roll around in kerosene and run around with flames.

Dose: Cooking with Virgo Mack.

What do you have planned for your label? Are you looking for new artists or do you basically have everyone that you want?

Sole: Honestly, I?m on a whole world domination thing you know. But really, we have everyone that we want. We?re not actively looking for new artists, because our hands are pretty full. We have like six albums coming out in the next month and a half. We are releasing the DJ Mayonaise CD, the Sixtoo CD, the Buck 65, the Anticon full-length, the Sole album, the Buck 65 single, the Sole single, and the Deep Puddle single. But those are like only catalogue sh*t. For real releases, we?re putting out the Deep Puddle full-length in September, and the Dose and Jel album called Them coming out in September or October, and Stuffed Animals and Buck 65. And then hopefully slated for a December release, we got our boy Carlos (Dose takes out a talking stuffed animal), he?s the fifth member of Deep Puddle.

Carlos: (inaudible phrase)

Sole: His sh*t is pretty sarcastic, but I think people are really going to be able to feel where he?s coming from.

Carlos: (same inaudible phrase)

Sole: Carlos is from the streets. But yeah, with Anticon, we?re looking for new artists. We?re constantly looking for new artists.

Slug: Nude artists?

Sole: We?re looking for anybody that can help push the envelope and bring something new to the table. We?re not looking for people that recycle the same sh*t that we?re doing or do anything anybody else is doing. We could put out records forever, and it?s not going to matter. Like if everything we put out was like the Anticon EP or Deep Puddle album, it?s not that dope you know. It?s like the same sh*t. So we?re always just trying to build and build and build. Hopefully we?ll get to maintain control of all of our music forever, and you know, have some good music to raise children to.

Is Anticon out of the Maine?

Sole: San Francisco.

Is that where you?re living then?

Sole: I?m living in Oakland.

What?s up with the Rhyme Sayers, because I haven?t heard anything from them in a while.

Sole: Rhyme Sayers is about to drop a lot of stuff?

Slug: Since we dug up some books and found out that Nostradamus predicted my birthday as Armageddon, we?re going to put out a bunch of stuff leading up to the big birthday bash, which is going to be the last party of the year obviously, because the next day the world?s gone. So we?re going to have a big party that everybody?s invited to, and we?re going to have about five releases that come out to lead up to that big birthday party that we?re all going to throw. You guys are all welcome to come up there and, you know, get in freestyle ciphers.

Sole: I?ll be there with no shirt on?

Slug: But the next release is going to be the Seven tape, which is going to be my solo tape. Musab has a solo tape coming out as well, and we?re going to put those out on the same day, just as kind of the spark to lay the groundwork for the plates moving underneath the surface. From there it?s going to build with a compilation that coming out that?s going to make a lot of people blind. People are literally going to lose their sight from listening to this album.

Dose: You can?t see them?

Slug: We also have an album coming out by Sixth Sense, but they don?t call themselves that anymore. Now they?re called Eyedea and Abilities. The Native Ones have an album coming out that will make people fall down. And then Armageddon comes, and then you know, you don?t need CD?s in the afterlife.

I?ve heard a lot from Sole and from Slug and some stuff from Dose - but what kind of sh*t are you on?

Alias: I?m on same insecure sh*t basically.

(laughs)

Alias: I haven?t really had a chance to put anything out because I?ve just been working on developing my own style, which is why I?m glad I did Deep Puddle last summer because it changed my outlook on how to do music. Hopefully people will progress with their musical tastes.

Sole: He has a solo song on the Anticon EP.

Alias: I do have a solo?

Slug: And he?s got a wife?

Alias: And I have a wife, who I love very dearly. No kids yet.

Dose: I?ve got a cat!

Alias: And Dose has a cat named Purple, and I have a cat named Mingus, and another one named Oscar.

Has she seen you in concert?

Alias: Yeah. She?s a big supporter. She thoroughly enjoys everybody?s music, especially the Them album (by Dose). She also likes the Sole and Dose song "Wind Beneath My Wings." But yeah, she?s a great supporter, and she?s very understanding about everything. She puts up with a lot of sh*t.

What about a solo album?

Alias: My solo album I have half done. I recorded it in Portland, and I?m moving to Oakland in August, and I?ll be recording the rest of my album there.

Who?s going to be producing that?

Alias: I?ve been producing it, and DJ Mayonaise is also producing it.

Slug: I will not be moving out to the bay area. I will continue to reside in Minneapolis in the same apartment. And a lot of you people know where that apartment is, and if you still want to f*ck with me and talk sh*t, you can come and talk sh*t at my house.

Sole: The same goes for me!

Dose: I have an album coming out, it?s called Them, and it?s me and Jel, and it?s on Anticon. And I?ve got Green Think 1 and 2 out with my roommate Why Murder. Why Murder is the sickest, and we?ve put out two albums. They?re dope?all these guys are on them. And there?s a bunch of blood and guts you have to check for. If you don?t get shot, you might get served. What else?I?ve done a poetry album called Slow Death. Green Think will be on CD, Slow Death will be on tape. That?s about it man. I?ve got athlete?s feet; I know Sole does?what about you?

Slug: No, I?ve got like a big planter?s wart. I pick it off like once every two weeks, and then it just comes right back. It?s cool. (To Dose) I?ve put it in your pop before. But yeah, the compilation that?s coming out has some of my sh*t on it, and then I?ve got a real album coming out this fall, right on my birthday. Right before we blow up.

How about the Seven tape?

Slug: By the time I get back to Minneapolis, there?s going to be a box of tapes. We?ll see, because the problem is, there?s this really old guy that we pay to make copies of our tapes because we kind of feel bad for this old cat, so we do tapes with him. But he does them on real time. It?s cool because he?s hella cheap, and it?s not just an urban legend?.

Dose: I just found out that last week, Peter Gunz has been bootlegging Hemisphere, so if anybody sees Hemisphere out there, don?t buy it, it?s not mine. It?s Peter Gunz doing covers. Don?t let me catch you buying it alright.

Slug: DJ Mayonaise?.

DJ Mayonaise: Yeah, I?ve got an upcoming album, because I?m going dolo. Coming at ya straight from Portland, Maine, representing 1200 Hobos and Anticon, and 55 Stories, in a store near you baby. Don?t know when, but there?s a lot of cool ditties on there, cha-ching! We?ve got a little "Third Person" revisited song and "Divine." It?s not a mixtape type of album, it?s just like beats I?ve made, and little concepts for each different part you know. Whatever you can think of. You can probably get it on ATAK first, and then in stores afterwards. But you can get in on ATAK probably the first couple weeks of July, it?s called 55 Stories. But, I?m doing a couple beats for the new Deep Puddle songs (claps), and scratches if there are going to be any on there. I did the ones on the "Brain Men" song.

Dose: We cut him out for jungle drums of the remix.

Slug: Yo. I introduce to you now, Mr. Scurge.

Scurge: I haven?t taken a bath in about four days. I drove up here, and I haven?t gotten anything accomplished. I?m going home a very sad man. My nuts still smell like salt and ham. I don?t know whether it?s the caffeine or nicotine, or milligrams of tar, but things aren?t going that good. I?ve got one lame song on the whole thing.


Alias: Hey, tell them about the beat I sent you.

Scurge: Yeah. Alias sent me this beat, and it was jazzy, so I wrote the song to it, but we didn?t use the horn in it because it was too jazzy. I?m not that happy. And then Mayonaise made me this beat, and that was a nice beat. It was evil and stuff like my thoughts are. So I made a song with that. And then they took my song of the other tape, because they said it had some kind of gay bashing stuff in there, and I don?t know what it is. (Laughs) Just admit, fags grab dicks right?

Dose: Heterosexual men grab their own dicks?

Sole: That wasn?t the only reason why we took it off. You had another song. We took the Sixtoo song off and put on another one.

Scurge: You should have put the other song on there. Now everyone?s going to think I?m a rapist instead of a gay basher. Because everyone is going to listen to the song and go, "Why is he talking about rape?" I?m not a rapist; I?m a power maniac. I love fire, my first love. Making other people feel bad, by second love. To remain the king asshole, I will. Thank you.

Dose: Why you kill puppy? Why you kill all puppy?

Being in Oakland, have you gotten up with anybody out there?


Sole: Yeah, I?m down with everybody. But the thing is, what I?m trying to do is significantly different than most of the people out there. Like, I f*ck with Ocean Floor, L-Roneous Da Versifier, or Ab Rude. You know, I do shows with all those guys, but the only people who I really enjoy doing music with on the West Coast are Circus and L-Ron, and Megabusive - he?s from San Jose, he?s really dope. But you know, it?s like everything. I?m not from there, I?m not trying to be down with the Bay area scene. I just want to live in a nice place you know, and that?s where we all want to do our music because we see it as a big window of opportunity, and because people are really open to the kind of stuff we?re doing, more so than anywhere else. We?re just doing our own thing, and I?d much rather spend $300 on a ticket to go fly and do a song with Slug than to hop on the BART and do a song with somebody who?s not as good as Slug you know. I?m not dissing the bay area scene, there?s a lot of really talented people out there. I have respect for the Legends, I have respect for Sacred Hoop, and the turntablist scene is really dope out there.

Hiero?

Sole: Yeah. They?re cool you know. They?re good rappers. Labtekwon, and Project Blowed?.

Dose: Who is the guy who did "My Hoopty"?

Slug: Sir Mix-A-Lot!

Dose: Him too, him too.

Sole: Unfortunately, when you move in somewhere and you kind of have a little name, you?re stepping on toes everywhere you go, but luckily people in the bay have been pretty open and loving towards me---some of them. It?s all love really.

Scurge: I?m not from this place, I?m from Memphis, Tennessee.

What?s it like to work with some good artists like this, whereas in Memphis, I don?t have too much good to say about the things I?ve heard coming out of there.

Scurge: I don?t really work with them, it?s just like I send stuff in. I?m like a broker or something in a far out place, and they?re somewhere else doing something. They?re actually involved with each other, and I?m just a loser.

What?s the scene like in Memphis?

Scurge: Oh - the scene in Memphis? It sucks dick. You could fit everybody down with good hip-hop into my bathroom. But I don?t even do hip-hop; I do aggression music, so I don?t even fit in that category.

Sole: We?re doing the music that we think is true to the ideals we grew up on in hip-hop. But unfortunately, expansion in hip-hop is kind of dead, and everyone is just recycling ideas. We?re trying to constantly evolve. Every time I do something, I just throw it away - I?m just like f*ck it. The music that we?ve done is cool and we really like it, but we just want to keep moving forward. Unfortunately, most of the people in hip-hop nowadays are just stuck on this two-by-two rhyme scheme talking about hip-hop and talking about cliches, and everything is cliché even when they thing they?re not talking about cliches. So as far as emcees we want to work with outside of our crew, there aren?t very many at all because even the fools that were dope last year fell off, everybody?s falling off. And especially independent people, they?re making sacrifices since they think they?re catering to a larger audience, when if fact, these are the people that are feeling us now and aren?t feeling them anymore. People keep defeating themselves, and I?m losing a lot of respect for people that I once had respect for. So when you ask me if I?m excited to work with people in the Bay?maybe they haven?t changed, but I have, and the music that we?re doing is hopefully where hip-hop is headed, and if it?s not where it?s headed, it?s at least an exciting movement to be a part of. People like Labtekwon, Dose, Aesop Rock, Slug, L-Ron, the LA underground; the Minneapolis scene is really dope. There are a lot of cool scenes elsewhere, but unfortunately, people are afraid to try new things. For instance, when we try to sell our records in certain cities on the East Coast, or where I?m from, people want to say that that?s not even hip-hop; they want to say it?s like spoken word or poetry, but the beats are there, we?re ripping it you know. But because we?re talking about candles or philosophical ideas, it ceases to be hip-hop because it?s thoughtful and they want to label us beat poets are something, and that?s just ridiculous. It?s a shame, it?s a real shame that people have stopped trying to push the envelope. Everybody says it?s some next sh*t or because somebody?s using big words or rocking over chopped up loops, or screaming independent or doing whatever, it?s all just gimmicks. It?s like, just make good music, and try something new, and don?t be dumb because people are listening, and people know the difference. And if they don?t know the difference, once we?re through, hopefully they will at least have a choice between bullshit, mediocrity, boring rap, dun rap, thug rap, and now there?s intelligent and exciting rap for everybody.

If you could define hip-hop in one sentence, what would you say?

Sole: Some dude expressing himself over beats and moving people.

Alias: Trying to be more innovative than the next person.

Sole: But you know, hip-hop is a relative term. Rap is something I do, hip-hop is something I listen to.

Scurge: What everyone else thinks hip-hop is or what I think it is?

What you think it is?

Scurge: A falling empire.

DJ Mayonaise: Something I used to like, but now I don?t like it as much. It?s like a falling empire, basically what he said in a way.

Sole: Hip-hop is like anything, but to me, when I think of hip-hop, whether it?s a culture or a movement or music or whatever, basically everybody has a different definition of what hip-hop is. I?m from Maine, I?m from the suburbs - I didn?t grow up breakdancing. I think now it?s become a cliché or a stereotype to wear fat laces and "be hip-hop." Now, it?s like a hip-hop show is just ravers and coffee shop chicks you know. I?m like f*ck hip-hop, fuck rap, fuck rock, fuck everything, just make music you know. We?re listening to a lot of different forms of music now, just because rappers have ceased to move us, and fueling that energy into what we call hip-hop. Anticon is getting reviews in Alternative Press, and College Music Journal (CMJ), and lots of really big publications like Accelerate or Urb, that aren?t necessarily straight hip-hop magazines. That?s a sign that what we?re doing is more music and more emotional and more creative than just straight rap you know. And if people want to say it?s not hip-hop, that?s cool, I just want to rap over beats and if people don?t consider it hip-hop, then f*ck ?em.

It?s music.

Sole: Yeah. It?s just music. There?s a lot of really good jazz and really good rock, and it?s all just music, and it?s all art, and it?s all expression, and no matter what medium it?s in, it should still be based around expressing an emotion, getting a feeling across and making your point, and if you?re not doing that, then what the f*ck are you doing. Why are you on the mic if you?re not moving people or making people feel something. Hip-hop is cool, but there are a lot of people that are just feeding off of it, and especially the independent thing and the major label thing.

Scurge (over a megaphone): What do you think of men?s asses?

Dose: No comment, I refuse to let Sole comment.

How would you define hip-hop in one sentence (to Slug & Dose, who?ve been out of the room)?

Slug: What kind of answers did you get from this guy (Sole)? Sh*t!

Scurge: A paragraph.

Dose: I?d define it as, "What kind of answer did you get from this guy sh*t." No, it?s really relative though. Hip-hop is whatever you want to call it. It?s KRS versus Shan, or it?s what I do in my living room. It?s different sh*t, it?s a lot of different sh*t. It?s not all art though, I?ve got to say that. Hip-hop is a lot of things. What?s that group? Sprint 182? Len! Len is hip-hop you know! Stuff like that.

Slug: Hip-hop is the distribution of information to youth through esthetically pleasing and ear-pleasing concepts and means.

(claps)

Dose: Rhythmic American Poetry!

Do you guys have any last words?

Slug: I came in the door, and I said it all before?I am MC, hear me roar.

Dose: Open, stay open, open again.

Sole: D motherf*cker! Spell the motherf*cker.

Scurge: I?m not a rapist, I just need a job.

Alias: I hope people stay open-minded.

Slug: I owe people a lot of money?.I?m not a player I throw up a lot.

Sole: I?m not the white Master P, I just want to own my masters and make sure my friends always have records out. Oh yeah, listen to what I say, not what they say, not what they say or what they tell you. Not them (Deep Puddle), but them.

*Special thanks go out to Slug, Sole, Dose, Alias, DJ Mayonaise, Jel, Scurge, Jason the promoter, and that ill cat that Dose had. Also thanks to Tim and to myself (Wax) for doing the damn interview!

~~~

Scarface and Trey Songz make that rap music:



~~~

Jay-Z has more flaws than just his voice... I'd say his lack of social commentary is even more of a flaw. Like, just give us ONE token song about REALITY as you see it, Shawn! Not just the hustler's perspective. Meh, you're still a million times better than most rappers out these days, so I'll accept your imperfections gladly:

NEW YORK — Everyone has something to say about Britney Spears these days ... and Jay-Z is no different. Hov name-checked the troubled pop star on a couple of tracks from American Gangster: current single "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is ...)" and "Ignorant Sh--."

On "Roc Boys," Jay spits: "Hero'n got less steps than Britney/ That means it ain't stepped on, dig me?"

In deciphered terms, Jay — channeling Frank Lucas, main character of the "American Gangster" flick that inspired the MC's new LP — is saying the drug hasn't been stepped on, or hasn't been cut with another substance to lessen its quality. Hov then seemingly ties in that concept with a witty reference to allegations of Spears' drug use, and the 12-step program that would presumably ensue in recovery.

The coded reference, Hov said, is part of the appeal of making rhymes. He called the lyrical device his favorite function of music, but sometimes the references are even more veiled. It's not for him to spell things out all the time — don't expect him to hold your hand.

"[Those hidden references are] really for the people who like to listen like that [closely], first," he said. "And it's [also] for people to catch later. I think sometimes you have to leave [them] in there — it's almost like an Easter egg hunt or whatever. You just leave things in there that are too far. They're not set up, it's not your typical punch line, and you can't guess it. You know how sometimes someone says a line and you can guess the second one, where they're going? You can't guess it or can't see it [with me] — it just comes out of nowhere. And you might not get it ever. Or you might get it five years later. That's what it's for. Something you put on and you go, 'Oh my goodness, I didn't realize that he said ... .' I think that's the best thing about music, just realizing something years later. So I leave certain things out there, open-ended in space."

Although Jay's hidden Britney gem isn't exactly a double-entendre, he considers that type of clever hidden phrasing to be his main strength as an MC. He's rapped so many of them over the years — so many, in fact, that he said he can't pick a favorite off the top of his head. ("Man, I'mma need to send that to you, I got to think about that one," he said, joking.)

But he explained how he extended the double reference beyond a line or two for "I Know," a track from American Gangster in which Jay again discusses heroin. He cleverly disguises the story about addiction as part of an allegory about love and lust.

"The emotion of the song dictates the song for me," Jay said. "The first thing I do, I say, 'What is the song saying?' For me ['I Know'] sounded like heroin. It sounded like someone like Miles Davis in a jazz club just high out of his mind, just going off playing some of the most amazing freestyle music you ever heard. That's what it felt like to me. That's what happens with drugs: They don't pound you like that. They talk to you, sweet. That's the allure of it, and it pulls you in. And that's what was happening. The lyrics were harmless — it's like a love song. So it was pulling you in, further and further. Until you realized that now you've become addicted to this drug. That was the whole method behind why [the song] sounded so sweet."

Although Jay was candid in talking about his strengths as an MC, he was less revealing when it came down to nailing his biggest flaw as a rapper.

"My voice," he said, before laughing, "is less than 10. Let's just say that. I never thought I had a great pitch. ... What I do is overcompensate with words and flow."

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1575127/20071127/jay_z.jhtml?

~~~

Nas's new album comes during February aka "Black History Month" (which really is EVERY month, considering THEY ARE NOT TEACHING IT IN THE REGULAR SCHOOL SYSTEMS) but I digress:

So far there's been a lot of talk about Nas' controversially titled new LP, Nigger, but no music. The man — and the album's title — has caused incitement and excitement without the public hearing a single note or rap.

Nas had originally planned to put the project out next month, but according to his camp, the album has been pushed to February: Black History Month. Nas told MTV News the first single will drop sometime in January.

And over the weekend, a snippet of what was labeled a new Nas record called "What It Is" leaked to the Net.

"Racist neighbors flinchin'," he rhymes. "They don't know if I'mma rob them/ Or if I'm Russell Simmons/ They thought it was me, just like Mike Bivens/ They pray for my downfall like the mom of Robin Givens."

Nas' camp said the MC is still working out the album's final track list. On Monday afternoon (November 26), Nas himself clarified to MTV News that "What It Is" will definitely not be on the album. Those are vocals that were leaked and added onto a random beat.

"I never rhymed to that beat," he said.

Atlanta's DJ Toomp (T.I., Ludacris) and longtime Nas collaborator Salaam Remi have already contributed tracks, in addition to a slew of new producers. Diddy and his new Hitmen are also scheduled to come onboard before production closes in the next week or so.

While community leaders such as the Reverend Al Sharpton have spoken out against Nas' use of the N-word, the wordsmith has gained a swell of support from his peers — including Alicia Keys, Method Man, LL Cool J and even Def Jam founder Russell Simmons — as well as current label head L.A. Reid.

Thank God that new song isn't going to be on it... 'What It Is' just isn't that dope... and I don't know if Nas is telling the truth about 'not rhyming to that beat' cause the chorus totally sounds like it's him in the groove... he STILL needs to let Jay-Z pick the beats on his album, LOL

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1575054/20071126/nas.jhtml

~~~

Before I Self-Destruct, I hope I don't Lose Myself like Eminem:



~~~

Cash Money Brothers: When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong #666:

Cash Money Records co-founder Bryan “Birdman” Williams and his brother Ronald “Slim” Williams were arrested in Kingsport, Tenn. on Tuesday evening (November 27) and charged with posession of marijuana. According to the Kingsport Times-News, the brothers were traveling in an RV on Interstate 81 with a group that included Birdman’s wife, and road manager, Shahid Muhammad. A local police corporal stopped the the vehicle after it made an improper lane change and forced a tractor trailer into the emergency lane. When the officer stopped the vehicle, he reportedly smelled marijuana and later found a pound of the substance hidden in a trashcan. A 2-23 carbine assault rifle, a 9mm handgun and a magazine for .45-caliber handgun were also confiscated. Birdman, his wife, Slim and the other 13 people aboard the RV were all arrested and charged with possession of over one half of an ounce of marijuana. The other passengers were all believed to be employees of Cash Money Records. The RV was moved to a secure location in order to allow for a more thorough search. So far, none of the passengers have been charged for the weapons, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will be assisting with the investigation due to the presence of the assault rifle.

~~~

I fucking told you fucking fucks: Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuttin' ta fuck with!!!
Who cares if they are having little arguments. Those things will evaporate in time. But the music? ETERNAL. God bless the Shaolin Superheroes. I believe RZA here. Brothers ARE going to work it out:

"How can hip-hop be dead if Wu-Tang is forever?" the RZA asked over the summer. A few months later, some fans are asking if his sentiments will continue to hold true.

To the dismay of Wu-Tang fans, the Clan seem to be falling apart, and RZA is in the proverbial eye of the storm when it comes to the group's open dissention. Two of the group's most vocal, flamboyant and popular members, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, have accused the RZA of mismanaging the group's money and creative malpractice.

Rae told New York radio personality Miss Info that he and the crew craved more street-orientated beats on the new album, 8 Diagrams. Meanwhile, Ghost told MTV News that the album was "rushed," he hasn't heard good word-of-mouth about the handful of records that have leaked and, most importantly, the RZA owes him more dough than they have at your favorite pizza shop.

While others in the Clan have remained silent, one thing is for sure: The unity the group showed during the summer on the Rock the Bells Tour with Rage Against the Machine has been absent. Two weeks before what was once proclaimed to be the Clan's triumphant return December 11, the biggest buzz around 8 Diagrams has been about the group's infighting. Rae and Ghost have denounced it. There is no official single, let alone a video, and the group's promo run to push the album has been reduced to RZA telling his side of the turmoil and dragging his name out of the mud.

"It's really all good, it's just different directions," RZA told U.K. radio DJ Tim Westwood, in an interview posted online Monday. " ... Everything is back [to] peace already."

While in the U.K., the RZA also rebutted claims that he owes group members any money. "I ain't never take no money from nobody, and I don't owe nobody no money," he yelled. "Don't never say that. I pay all my bills. I work hard and pay all my bills."

In an interview with MTV News last week, the RZA said that any discord the Wu may have is only temporary. "Over the years some of us have grown in doubt, or maybe some of us have grown creatively in different directions," he said. "But I will say that when we do come together, a lot of things just seem to evaporate. When we get on the stage together, we can have a problem 10 minutes before we get onstage. But once we're onstage, we feel like everything evaporates.

"When you read on the Internet that Ghostface is upset that his album is coming out the same day as the Wu-Tang's album, that's because after the tour, Ghost was gone for two or three months into his own world [and] we went back into our own world," RZA added. "So nobody was in synergy of what's really happening and that's what makes the problem. You've got to build every day. ... I can honestly say, though, we did come together to do this record, and it was recorded without money. Nobody got any money in the beginning to do this record — we worked the deal out later — but to sit down and do it, we were still negotiating, but every MC came to the table. Method Man came to that studio, his lawyer called him up [and said], 'Meth, don't go to the studio.' But he came. I think Method Man gave one of his most vicious, most hungriest performances in years on this album. U-God was the first one to come to the studio and said to me, 'You know brothers are trying to say that your production is on left. Let me hear what you got, brother.' I start playing the music and he was like, 'Man, we're going to be on fire. This is beautiful.' When he said that he loved the music I was producing, I knew I was on the right track, because he's the one that that really will say, 'F--- you.' I took it on face value that we all came because this is what we believe in. Now I think it's a little different, because all this flak is popping up, and it's like, 'Wow, I thought we were all on the same page.' "

That unified sentiment was the inspiration for the album's title, 8 Diagrams. RZA was watching a kung-fu movie almost 15 years ago, and the light bulb turned on. "There was a movie called 'Eight Diagram Pole Fighter,' which features a group of brothers all fighting for their country," he explained. "Their loyalty to their country and their loyalty to each other really struck a nerve to me, and when we first formed Wu-Tang Clan, we actually was called Brother Number One, Two ... Brother Number Five — that's originally how we did it. As time went on, we just took different names and abandoned that idea. For me, it's time to bring that idea back in effect, and that's what the 8 Diagrams is helping to do."

Musically, RZA's beats on 8 Diagrams were inspired by everything from the Beatles to his very own cousin, the late Ol' Dirty Bastard.

"The way I produce now is I produce more like a musician," RZA said. "In the old days, I produced more like a DJ. I didn't understand music theory at all. Now that I do understand music theory, I make my music more playable, meaning not only could you listen to it, you could get someone else to play it. Before, you couldn't even write down Wu-Tang music. I think almost 80 percent of this record can be duplicated by a band, which is important for music, because that means 10 years from now, somebody can make a whole song out of it and cover it like how I'm covering the Beatles song."

RZA's good friend, DreamWorks Records exec Michael Ostin, let the famed producer know that the Beatles' George Harrison wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and Eric Clapton played guitar on the classic song. When RZA decided to redo the record, Ostin also tipped him off that Harrison's son Dhani was a huge Wu fan and would probably clear the record. Not only did the young Harrison give his sign of approval for the new interpolation — the Wu used the composition sample, not the master sample, as they did not receive permission to use the original songs as heard on the Beatles LP commonly referred to as The White Album — he played acoustic guitar on it for the RZA. Then Erykah Badu was brought in to sing vocals after Corinne Bailey Rae bowed out.

"When I heard this song, 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' ... I made this big [drug] metaphor of my own," RZA said of the Wu's version, "The Heart Gently Weeps." "It's my own imagination. I got Method Man and Raekwon to give me the illest verses. Ghostface delivered one of his best verses in years. To me, that verse is comparable to the verse on Wu-Tang Forever's 'Jamie.' I heard his best spirit in it."

You can feel the spirit of ODB on "Life Changes." The Clan pay tribute to their deceased brother, expressing how they feel about his tragic loss. " 'Life Changes' I named it because the hook is kind of saying I go through life changes," RZA said. "But really, life does change after you lose somebody so dear to you. Your whole life can change. Maybe the grass is not green anymore. Maybe the spring does not feel like the flowers are there anymore because you don't have that person there to share it with you. That's one thing that I truly miss about ODB. I think I said it in my lyric: 'It's hard to live without you.' "

"Take It Back" and "Get 'Em Out Ya Way Pa" are probably 8 Diagrams' best examples of vintage Wu wolf music — that means fans will wild out as soon as the tracks come on. But RZA insists the album isn't all about wolf music.

"I was so aggressive and so unfriendly to people at one point, and now I feel like I'm good," he said. "I can sit here, I can talk to people, I can shake hands. I feel like I'm a mature man. I think it's important for me and my crew. It's not all about making music to punch people in their face. [I want to be] making music to inspire people to stop punching each other in the face."

But how big can Wu be with a more mature, worldly sound?

"I think we're bigger than we used to be," RZA said. "I see 19-year-old kids in the audience, and I don't know how they know my music, but they're jumping up and down singing my lyrics. We did shows in 1997 — the biggest audience I've seen in front of the Wu-Tang Clan was 30,000 kids with their 'W' way up in the sky. I was real proud of that: 'Wow, we've made it.' On this last summer tour, I saw 70,000 kids do it, 100,000 kids. I mean, the biggest crowd was 115,000. So it's bigger. It's just not popular in the media. And the funny thing about that is, when Wu-Tang came out before, it wasn't popular in the media. The media totally missed it. By the time they got it, it was already platinum. I think it may happen again: By the time certain people get it, it's going to be already over here. I'm not worried. I'm feeling very confident. It's not really about the record sales, either. Record sales don't really measure the bigness or magnitude of the person. MC Hammer is the best example. He sold more records than all of us. But who wants to talk to MC Hammer?"

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1575174/20071127/wu_tang_clan.jhtml

~~~

These guys are worth knowing about, reading up on, and learning from. Yes, Life is a Race, Rick Ross. That's the most intelligent paragraph I've heard you say ever, except for when you said "keep white in the office, call it Jerry Heller", LOL! And Young Buck is cool, but man is he hubristic. And that's coming from ME! Ha ha! Dude's dope, but he's missing that 'je ne sais quoi'. If he always rapped like he did on the Damian Marley album, THEN he'd be bigger than 50. But he doesn't. Meh. Jigga and Saigon speak truth too. They are my heroes. Read up:

Well, no Greatest Story Never Told this year, but the ball is rolling nonetheless. Saigon tells us that his December 4 release date has been pushed back to early 2008.

"Everybody is fighting for that date," he revealed. "It's nothing to wait another month or month and a half. ... I'd rather wait for the new year than get caught up in that fourth-quarter congestion. It's good. It's definitely coming through. It won't be another six months or five months. It's coming real soon."

No tears for the patient, though. Sai Giddy just put out a full-fledged street album, with original beats and rhymes, called The Moral of the Story, to tide everyone over. There are a few joints on there that left the Mixtape Monday fam flabbergasted. They're that good. Saigon breaks down the tracks (and read what Jay-Z himself has to say about one of the records further down in "Streets Are Watching").

Joints To Check For:

* "Come on Baby" remix (featuring Jay-Z and Swizz Beatz). "American Gangster, Jay is on fire once again," Sai said. "We thought the timing was good to put it out now. The video [with the original version] premiered. They took so long to shoot the video for the original, we just launched the remix to radio. We couldn't get Jay to do the video."


* "What a Life." "That's my favorite song on the [mixtape]," the Yardfather exclaimed. "The first two verses is complaining, the third verses, I'm saying, 'What a life, everything is good.' When you say, 'What a life,' it could be good or bad. You could be in a f---ed-up situation or you could be in a great situation. It's a universal record. Nas' artist Trey Williams is on there singing. It won't be on the album. So when you think songs like that won't be on the album, imagine what we are holding. I wanted that on the album, but it's nothing I'm willing to take off to put that on. 'Pain in My Life' is hanging on by a string, and that's the record people love me for."


* "Who Can Get Busy." "That's a classic off the Brand Nubian All for One album," Sai said. "That's one of my favorite songs, and [Grand] Puba is one of my favorite artists of all time. I reached out to him, he came to the studio same day and laid it down for me on some mutual respect. The reason I only put a snippet on the mixtape, that's another song I want to be on the album. I only put the second verse. That's Brooklyn; that's the real grimy Jamaican gutter sound. I want to shoot a street video for that. Just Blaze did that beat. It knocks real hard."

There's Young Hov, but then there's really young Hov. Samgoma Edwards is the 15-year-old Bronx native who plays Jay-Z's corner-boy incarnation in the upcoming video for "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is ...)." Director Chris Robinson personally sought out Edwards for the role after Edwards, his brother Samtubia, and producer Chris Alvarez shot their own video project titled "The Young Hov Project," based on tracks from Jay-Z's The Black Album. Robinson saw Edwards star as Jay in the Gorilla Films videos posted on YouTube and reached out. The rest has been a star turn for the high school sophomore.

"It was crazy when I went to school [after the video came out]," Edwards told Mixtape Monday while taking a bathroom break from class to sneak in an interview. "I couldn't even breathe my own oxygen. It was wild. I only told, like, three of my friends and was like, 'Yo, keep your mouth shut about this.' I just wanted people to see it when it first came out. I didn't tell anybody."

Edwards is an admitted Jay fan, but he only began listening to the rapper with The Black Album. "The track that I liked was 'My First Song,' " he said. "It was the last track, and I thought that was gonna be his last album and everything, so I just thought, 'Yo, he's doing his thing.' "

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground

Jay-Z
Jay-Z told us the obvious: Just Blaze is to blame for him getting on the remix of Saigon's "Come on Baby."

"I met Saigon before," Jay said last week in L.A. "He's a cool guy as well. But Just Blaze ... that's his artist. So we had records and work like that. It's in-house.

"Big fan? Of Saigon? "Yeah, he's good," Jay added. "But I wouldn't have did it ... to be honest with you. I like Saigon. If I don't have a relationship with the artist, I'm not just doing it for the sake of doing it. If you look at my past record, I've done records because of relationship, not 'cause this guy's good or whatever."

One good guy Jay is feeling is an artist under his Def Jam label, The-Dream. Dream (a Fire Starter alumnus — told you so, haters) is smashing the game with his "Shawty Is a 10," in which he's feeling himself so much he proclaims he doesn't need a chorus on the song: "I don't need no hook for this sh--!" Jay took his non-chorus chorus for the American Gangster song "No Hook."

"I was working on this song and it just keeps going and I get down to how many bars the verse is, and I'm like, 'What's gonna be the hook for this?' " Jay remembered. "Then I was like, 'I don't need a hook for this.' That, of course, led me to the Dream song, and I was like, 'I'm just gonna take that.' "

"When he played all the records [off his album] and I heard that record and he's saying, 'I don't need no hook,' I was like, 'That's crazy,' " The-Dream gushed. "This is Jay saying this? It's a whole 'nother level of respect. It's crazy. I remember when Jay was playing it at the 40/40 club. Like, 'Y'all don't know nothing about this.' People was calling saying, 'Jay ran the song back six times.' " ...

Young Buck
Young Buck is definitely all in with the G-Unit. He's been working on their December release, Shoot to Kill, but Mr. Ten-A-Key is also working on his own compilation — Young Buck Presents: Product of the South.

"I'm establishing me right now," he said of his Cashville Records. "I signed C-Bo from the West Coast, as well as my own group, 615 — that's me, a cat by the name Lil' Murder and High-C. I said, 'I'll drop a [compilation] album.' ... That'll be the bridge to their project. Everybody is going to get a single and a video."

Buck's label is independent. "I'm sure you know these labels ain't really giving a lot of money out to start a situation," he explained. "What I did was create my own buzz pretty much promoting G-Unit South. I wanted to name my label G-Unit South, but I knew [Interscope Records Chairman] Jimmy [Iovine] wasn't going to let any other label have the luxury of having the name G-Unit. ... [So] I wanted to start something fresh, brand new, create a whole new brand."

Buck released "Driving Down the Freeway" with the Outlawz and says he's actually picking up jewels from them.

"It's an even thing," he said. "It's more me being quiet and learning off of them sometimes. It's things in the game they been through and I haven't learned yet. It's a learning process. They bring a lot to the table on their own. I'm just pretty much bringing their career more to the forefront. I feel that the Outlawz as well as C-Bo never got their just due."

The unabashed Southerner feels the same way about himself. "I ain't get what I deserved at Interscope," he said. "I feel my album [Buck the World] is better than Kanye's album and 50's album, but it's one of the most slept-on albums due to whatever reason. I'm still trying to get what I deserve off of Interscope, so it's still a hustle to me."

Buck noted that he and 50 are on great terms, and when and if 50 leaves the 'Scope for free agency, Buck and the rest of G-Unit will be with him.

"All of us are signed to G-Unit," Buck said. "If 50 goes, we all go. I stand behind Interscope with all the power I can. I'm sure there's a lot of people that put in as much work as they could for Young Buck and the G-Unit crew, but it's a lot of people that won't too. At the end of the day, I can only speak specifically on mine. As far as the marketing, I don't think they knew how to market a project such as mine. When you have a song like 'Get Buck' and 'You Ain't Going Nowhere,' there's no lane. You can't just market me to the South. I'm worldwide. I come with the Southern background but worldwide flow. They have to understand how big I aim outside of 50 Cent to get the push from them. I'm still in the shadow of 50 to them, but to the streets, I'm Young Buck. I'm my own person. I just gotta get my label to understand that part."

Now to the scandalous: Everyone is quiet familiar with 50's line in "Fully Loaded Clip," in which he raps, "When Trina was telling [Lil] Wayne, 'I love you, boo'/ She was running games, she told Buck that too." Buck insists it's all gospel.

"It's the truth, it's the f---ing truth! 50 is not f---ing lying," Buck proclaimed. "You want me to tell you the truth? I'mma tell you the truth. I was messing with her while she was messing with [Wayne]. I would hear him on the phone [in the background] every now and then while she's laying right there. She knows it. 50 ain't doing nothing but speaking the truth."

So what about Lil' Kim? There is Internet footage of the Queen Bee grinding all over Young Buck onstage, then she has miraculously mended all beef with 50.

"She's cool," he downplayed, all of a sudden getting shy. "She came out onstage, hollered a couple of times. At the end of day, she's doing her, and I'm doing me. ... Ask Lil' Kim what she thinks of Young Buck. What do I think of Lil' Kim? She's cool."

He says the same about Byrd Gang leader Jim Jones. The two of them are cool in a way different way from him and Kim, of course, but cool nonetheless.

"I never had a problem with Jim Jones," Buck said. "Jim Jones visited my city a long time ago and saw what type of individual I was. That was the bridge for 50 Cent to even say, 'OK, I'mma see what's up with Jim.' Me and Jim was on the same page. Jim is about getting his paper, that's what it really is about. It's all about keeping it real too. That was my issue with Lil Wayne and all them: Keep it real with the real n---as. You come around stealing our swagger. What y'all see, the bling-bling and all that, they stole all that from Cashville. It's hard for me to explain all this sh-- because they know what the truth is. It'll get more interesting as it goes." ...

Rick Ross
Rick Ross is going for the hip-hop checkered flag with "Speedin'," the first single from his December 18 album, Trilla.

"Speedboats, the cars, the dimes," Ross said, describing the "Speedin' " video shot last week in Miami. "We finnin' to make us a mini-movie. It's gonna be a big event. Me and [DJ] Khaled gonna get pulled over. The state trooper is gonna disrespectfully knock on my tinted windows. I let down the window, the smoke is gonna billow into his circumference, and I'm gonna make my move.

"We're speed-racing to the top," Ross added about the track. "It's a race to see who gets the most money, it's a race to see who puts their side on the map, it's a race to see who's the best. Living, to me, is a race. It ain't no time for sleeping and resting. It's that fast life."

R. Kelly guest-stars on the track, as you've heard if you've been out to the clubs lately.

"I been a fan of his for so long," Ross noted. "Once I got my money right, I had to go see him. With his schedule, with his tour and court, I didn't get a chance to go to the studio with him. I just sent him the track and we talked over the phone about the song. We chopped it up, he did it."

The Runners, Cool & Dre, DJ Toomp, Akon and J.R. Rotem also put in work on the LP.

"I got Lil Wayne and Trick Daddy on a record called 'Luxury Tax.' We're pushing the boundaries in every direction. We also got songs like 'Japanese Denim,' 'Street Money' — I'm coming in all directions."

Ross ain't never lyin'. Besides his official LP, he'll be featured on a slew of cameos (Freeway's "Lights Get Low," Baby's "100 Million Dollars" and Ludacris' "Dirty South") and is dropping even more mixtapes.

"We just put out Maybac Music, then we have The Boss Is Back with Papa Smurf," he said. "There's Trilla Is Coming with DJ Khaled. It's the mixtape before the album. All you gonna hear on it is 'December 18.' Then you get another hot record and another hot freestyle, and you we remind you 'December 18, the biggest street album of the year is coming: Trilla.' "

http://www.mtv.com/bands/m/mixtape_monday/111207/

~~~

I don't feel like talking about myself today. I feel like creating myself.
Peace to everyone in my world.
People who don't like me: it's our loss. Especially yours.
I don't know who's increasing the negative energy in the world these days, but JESUS HELL CHRIST, stop going overboard with it!!! People are falling apart. Important people. Beautiful people. Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. I'll Marshall Mathers this bitch, one time. Matter of fact, I think I will anyways.

Chill.
Love, Adhimusic