EVEN THOUGH THAT DIS TO 50 CENT HE DID WAS PRETTY WEAK... GZA IS STILL A GOD OF CEREMONY MASTERING.
GZA: PAPER PLATES (CURTIS JACKSON DIS)
~~~
DRE-DOLF HITLER? IS HE FOCUSING ON HIS STUFF THAT HARD?
As the buzz for Bishop Lamont’s newest single “Grow Up” spreads to newer outlets, so does Lamont. In a recent interview on the Wendy Williams Experience radio show, Lamont talked about Detox as well as Eve’s quiet fallout with Aftermath and Dr. Dre.
Being somewhat of a spokesman for Dre’s Detox album, Lamont provided a current yet quick report on the project that has put Dre in a mental stalemate. “It’s not done, we about 50% in. You gotta realize with dude, [it’s been] 22 years, and dude is like ‘it’s gotta be the best it can be.’ He’s under pressure, the worst pressure. The worst scrutiny is coming from his own mind, his own ears.”
Switching the subject to former Aftermath signee Eve, Bishop gave his reasoning as to why her music career wasn’t in the right place so to speak. “Eve started doing the TV show, Eve was doing the Fetish thing, and she was getting money a lot of other ways. So the same incentive to try and work on records wasn’t there. And Dre wants you to be all in, but she had other ties. So her energy wasn’t the same coming in because when you work with Dre you gotta do 150%.”
After stating he’s been in a metaphoric “concentration camp” working with Dre on both albums, Lamont jokingly confessed he has had very little time for any outside distractions because he’s “always in the cave with 'Dre-dolf Hitler.'”
The Reformation is looking at a November release date.
~~~
I WANT TO READ THIS BOOK LIKE RIGHT NOW:
Foxy Brown has broken her silence on Broken Silence—her unreleased biography that was set to be released by publishing giant Simon & Schuster.
The company recently filed suit against Brown, alleging that the east coast emcee was given an advance for a book she never delivered. Now, Brown’s attorney is speaking up on her behalf to clear the air.
"In 2005, after Foxy Brown's delivery of her uniquely personally written synopsis, both Simon & Schuster Inga Marchand were excited to join together to publish her autobiography, Broken Silence, one of the most highly anticipated books in rap history, and” Laura Dilimetin told HipHopDX exclusively.
Dilimetin says that when Brown lost her hearing, she had the company’s blessing to go forward with the recovery, but learned that the book deal was off the table after completing rehabilitation to restore her hearing.
“After returning we were told that Simon & Schuster decided not to go forward with the project. Many attempts were made by Foxy Brown's agents to resurrect the deal, to no avail.”
According to published reports, Brown was given a $75,000 advance for the book, which the company has filed suit to recoup.
Simon & Schuster "exhausted all other avenues on recouping the money on a manuscript that wasn't delivered,” company spokesman Adam Rothberg told the Associated Press.
Dilimetin counters the claim, saying that the company is trying to prevent the book from being released.
“Now that Foxy Brown is being courted by many publishers to negotiate a new book deal, I find it suspect that after all of these years of silence, Simon & Schuster pick now to bring this meritless action when they were the ones to halt the project.
“Foxy Brown would love to continue with Simon & Schuster and welcomes talks to continue to solidify a deal.”
I GOT THE XXL WITH FOXY BROWN ON THE COVER.
---
CHASEY LAIN IS CRACKED THE FUCK OUT:
---
YUP, SHUT UP SOULJA BOY. WHEN SPICE 1 SAYS IT, YOU LISTEN.
Being from California himself, it would be obvious that Spice 1 was on Ice-T’s side in the war of words with Soulja Boy [click to read]. Talking to PushinTheBayTV, Spice had some words of his own in the dawn of the feud.
Amazed by the change that has taken place since he came out the gates in 1991, Spice explained the way in which the streets would handle a verbal bashing like that of Soulja Boy’s. “We are in 2008 man, that’s all I know. When I think like that I’m like damn we are really in the fuckin’ future. This nigga’s got balls to say something to Ice…nigga’s will look for you and hunt your ass down and take your head off partner. They will cut your balls off and hand them to your little young ass.”
Belittling his name, Spice 1 ridiculed Soulja Boy on his attempt to be something he isn’t. “You think you a soldier, boy? You’re not a soldier, you a boy, nigga. I respect what you doing cause you dancing for the kids, but don’t try to take it there with these G’s out here in Cali, nigga.”
Spice 1 ended his statement with words of caution, hoping to get through to Soulja Boy. “I don’t know who listens to Spice 1. Soulja Boy could be a fan, I don’t know. But as far as you going against Ice-T, let that shit go.”
~~~
IMMORTAL TECHNIQUE SPEAKS:
When a rapper goes on a long hiatus between releases, it’s usually due to a creative block, troubles with their label or with the law. But for Peru-born, Harlem-raised Felipe “Immortal Technique” Coronel, he simply took a break from the game to live out his beliefs. After independently pushing over 120,000 copies of his first two releases Revolutionary Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, and establishing himself as a sharp-witted, politically-minded underground king, Immortal Technique became involved with various charities and organizations, and began buidling an orphanage in Afghanistan. Thankfully for thirsty fans, he and New York native James “DJ Green Lantern” D’Agostino (they met at a High Times conference in 2004) have teamed up on The 3rd World, a collaboration that’s also Immortal Technique’s first album in five years. While on the Rock the Bells tour, Immortal Technique and Green Lantern checked in with Rhapsody to discuss working together, issues facing the old neighborhood, and the Rick Ross-corrections officer controversy.
Rhapsody: What was Green Lantern’s creative role on The 3rd World?
Immortal Technique: Green basically came in and blended up tracks that we put together like a mixtape. But conceptually, I had started doing the tracks a minute ago. Between Green Lantern and Southpaw, my engineer and producer, they did the production for over half the album. Green brought me "The 3rd World” beat and then “Harlem Renaissance.” Originally, I was planning to hold them off for Revolutionary Volume 3. But I decided the tracks are really good, so we should just do our best to facilitate this project.
Did having him attached to this project widen your audience?
Immortal Technique: Well, there’s a duality to it. Certain people from the underground have been like, “Is it going to have a more commercial sound now?” because Green Lantern makes a lot of mainstream hits. Once they finally heard the project, they were like, “Oh, okay. This is classic Immortal Tech.” Anyone who knows Green, knows me and him have similar viewpoints on a lot of things. Neither one of us is going to hold our tongue.
Green, has anyone unexpected reached out to you after hearing the project?
Green Lantern: I’ll give you a great example. Mavado and his manager -- really it was his manager -- hit me up one day, like, “Yo, we heard about dude before, but then when we saw he was rockin’ with you, we took a listen and we can’t stop.” That was somebody that, because he knows me, went and listened to it and now he can’t get enough of Immortal Technique.
What was the first thing you heard from Immortal that caught your attention?
Green Lantern: I think it was some pieces off Revolutionary and probably “Dance with the Devil” -- you know, older joints. I gotta thank Mos Def. The whole concept for the “Bin Laden” song, which is the reason [Immortal and I] ended up connecting, is based on an a cappella freestyle that I got from Mos Def, where he said, “Bin Laden didn’t blow up the projects, it was you n*gg*, tell the truth n*gg*,” and then never said anything political for the rest of the freestyle. I was like, “Damn that’s a hook!” But he was really b*llsh*tt*n' off the top. So, I was like, “I need somebody to go in on this topic who’s going to do it justice.” I just sat there for a second and said, “Ooh him. He’s crazy, yes. He’s just the type of lunatic I need.” [Laughs.] I think that’s a classic record. I introduced Tech at the Highline Ballroom [in New York] and the crowd was incredible. I said, “I’m not going to bring this next artist out until you finish his line.” I was like, “Bin Laden didn’t blow up the projects,” and 2500-3000 people in there were screaming, “It was you! Tell the truth!”
Immortal, you had touched on gentrification on “Harlem Streets” and do so again on Third World with “Harlem Renaissance.” Do you feel like there’s any good that’s come out of gentrification?
Immortal Technique: Good for who? For the rich people that just moved in or for the residents that got kicked out? Everybody who’s poor isn’t a criminal. The ‘hoods have been mischaracterized; even that standard is perpetuated by hip-hop itself. Not everybody in the 'hood sells drugs, is a prostitute or is getting that work in. Most people just work blue-collar jobs. And now more than ever, it’s becoming harder and harder to maintain that based on where they’re living. It’s not being made better for us. Not by tearing down buildings and then putting up condominiums that are selling for $2 million. That’s just changing the face of our neighborhood. You got white people jogging and painting at 6 o'clock in the morning and you never seen that before. I’m not saying it’s bad for people to live anywhere they want to, but I think it’s important for us to realize who’s specifically being moved out of that neighborhood and targeted for the relocation. It’s the beginning of the way this country was founded. It was founded on extreme amounts of gentrification. Did something good come out of it? Yeah, for white European Americans. Did good come out of it for Native American people? Why don’t you go to a m*th*rf*ck*ng reservation where they live a third-world level poverty life and ask them n*gg*s how gentrification helped them out.
“Reverse Pimpology” is interesting because a lot of people categorize you as a “conscious rapper,” and might not expect that kind of record from you.
Immortal Technique: You have to understand something; I’m not a “conscious rapper.” I’m not walking around trying to wear a Kufi hat. The song brings up the interesting dualities of the fact that we talk about how we pimp things sometimes, but really, we’re the ones that have been getting pimped, whether it’s by the government or hip-hop or the culture or our relationship with women. It’s funny when people in the underground criticize fake gangsters, ‘cause to me, I find a fake revolutionary 10 times more disgusting. It’s one thing to sell a certain image to the people, but revolution is sacred. You could see anything I’m involved in -- from back in the day to now -- and understand my track record in terms of working with human rights organizations, immigrants, with the 9/11-Truth movement, and now with the orphanage that I’m opening in Afghanistan. This is real sh*t that we do. I’ve always appreciated the fact that Green Lantern is an approachable cat and never acts Hollywood. I’m definitely a person that isn’t of that mindset. At Rock the Bells, I walk around everywhere. I don’t have any social anxiety disorder that other rappers do when they can’t show supporters some love.
You’ve spoken previously in interviews about how your revolutionary message wouldn’t mean anything if you didn’t own your own master-tapes. Do you feel like the message of groups like dead prez or Public Enemy didn’t have as much impact because they didn’t own their own masters?
Immortal Technique: I can’t comment on their business situation. I learned a lot from Public Enemy, KRS-One and dead prez, about pitfalls of the music industry and how you can become reliant on that. That dictates a lot more of the aspects of their career. I’m glad to see that now dead prez is doing it without that monkey on their back, and they’re capable of making moves. When I listen to Let’s Get Free, I couldn’t see how they would be censoring that. If they were to censor something, definitely they would have to censor the whole album. To me, it’s more of a question of how are we gonna do this from now on, as opposed to how we did it a few years ago. Ownership is a big thing, too. I’m glad that we’re moving towards that.
What were your thoughts on Jesse Jackson saying he wanted to “Cut Obama’s nuts off”?
Immortal Technique: I guess his frustration was that he thinks Obama was catering too much to the emotions of white people saying, “Hey, it’s all our fault, we need to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. It’s not the responsibility of White America anymore.” In other words, [Obama] was just saying things so that people would accept it, to move towards the center and away from [the perceived] “Reverend Wright” mentality. But what did Rev. Wright really say? He said America is run by white people. Is he lying? [Laughs.] On top of all that, he said the country is biased and founded on racism, slavery and genocide. Well, we definitely did genocide all these Native American people to get them off the land, and we definitely did build the capital for capitalism with the money we got from not paying people to build this nation, including the White House. But I think he definitely should have watched his mouth at Fox. But I think [Fox] were the ones that instrumentally played it up.
Lastly, there has recently been a lot of controversy regarding whether or not Rick Ross was a corrections officer, which he has adamantly denied. What are you thoughts on that situation?
Immortal Technique: I was actually supposed to do a song with Rick Ross back in the day. My n*gg* DJ 2Nen is cool with him and his peoples. I can't judge a man and to keep it real, I despise when the media asks me to do so even indirectly because there is only one way that really comes across, like some “1996 VIBE magazine” sh*t. But irrespective of anyone else, I've known, seen and been around several crooked-*ss COs in my lifetime. N*gg*s that handed down some beatings, trafficked drugs and such. Just because you had a day job doesn't mean that you weren't living some sort of illegal life. There are criminals in college, on Wall Street, in government, on the police force, in law, and definitely in the music business, especially the underground. People are quick to judge and it puts [the judged] in an incredibly difficult position to justify a life they obviously no longer live when incriminating information surfaces. But no one should ever hate on a man for having a job.
I had several jobs before doing rap full-time. One of them was even pretending that I didn't speak English ‘cause I needed quick money. When I was released on parole my criminal record made it hard for me to find a legitimate place of employment. So, I worked in a factory just so I could afford to pay for the first 3200 [copies of] Revolutionary Vol.1. I was there with Dominican, Haitian, Mexican and Southeast Asian immigrants busting my *ss on a 10-hour workday stacking crates and stocking products on trucks. I think about that place whenever I take the train or drive through Queens. I worked hard for everything I have and instead of going back to robbing and stealing like I did when I was young and ignorant, I endured tough times in the pursuit of a dream that many people who are still working there will never have. There is a glass ceiling, or rather more like an arctic ice block surface of reality that only has a few air holes of success. The American dream is contingent on many things. It used to be race, but now it’s a lot of different things. And the ‘hood isn't a community of killers, rapists and drug dealers, just poor people who dream like everyone else. Many whose dreams never get to breathe and eventually die. So, they float through life like those lifeless seals that never get to one of those holes in the ice for a pocket of air to give their dream life.
---
I LOVE WHEN PEOPLE STILL TRY TO PROMOTE DEAD ALBUMS:
THEY GOT A GOOD MARKETING CAMPAIGN THOUGH.
CHECK THIS OUT. THEY DON'T SELL 50 CENT'S FLAVOR IN CANADA (PAUSE). JUST THE OTHER VITAMIN WATERS... IT'S FUCKED UP.
AND YOUNG BUCK SPEAKS TO A GUY NAMED BUCKI NAKED. HA HA:
~~~
REALLY? KILLER MIKE GOT BEAT UP? RAP IS OUTTA CONTROL.
~~~
RAPPERS BOWL TOO! LOOK, LIL WAYNE AND JUELZ SANTANA HIT THE LANES:
~~~
THIS IS JUST BEAUTIFUL.
IT'S STILL WU-TANG FOREVER, GOD!
~~~
I FEEL IT NOW. CONSTANT FOCUS. IT FEELS... NICE.
I LOVE YOU, KATE! THANKS FOR THE EMOTIONAL HONESTY.
LOVE,
MINDBENDER
No comments:
Post a Comment