Author: hhns

J. Cole recounts trying to give Jay-Z a copy of his beat CD, only to be rebuffed by the mogul. J. Cole says the experience was a reality check.

J. Cole raps about how he “Let Nas Down” on hisforthcoming Born Sinner album, which is due in stores June 18. During an interview with Los Angeles radio station Power 106 yesterday (June 13), J. Cole says thatJay-Z let him down when he was an aspiring artist trying to give him a beat CD.

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It was 2007. J. Cole was fresh out of St. John’s University and saw that Jay-Z was working on American Gangster. “I read the press release online and it was like, “Jay-Z, finishing American Gangster,” J. Cole says to Power 106’s Big Boy. “I was like, ‘Yo, he’s not done yet. I can go make beats right now and get on this album ’cause I know where the studio is at. So I went home, made two beats, one was called ‘Top of the World,’ put a hook on it and everything. Burned my CD. Put the CD in the Jay-Z Vol. 3 […Life And Times Of S. Carter] case, maybe Vol. 2 […Hard Knock Life] case, closed it up, took the train to the city, stood outside the studio, me and partner E, for like three hours, with a bottle of E&J [Brandy], just like passing time waiting on Jay-Z to pull up. The Phantom finally comes around the corner. It’s raining by the way. We’ve been in the rain. The Phantom finally pulls around the corner. Someone get out the car in front of him just to open his door. That was their job, to get out their car, come to his car and open his door. He hops out. I’m froze. I don’t really know what to say. I’m like, ‘Yo, Jay I got this for you.’ He’s like, ‘What is that? What are you doing?’ I’m like,American Gangster, beat CD.’ I can’t really speak and he’s like, ‘Man I don’t want that shit, man. Give that to one of those guys.’ He said it. ‘I’m like, “Oh you mother… Don’t you know I’ve been out here for three hours?”

J. Cole says that that experience changed his perspective. “It took me 15 minutes to get over it, but I realized, ‘You’re not gonna get on like that. That’s not how its gonna happen,'” he says. “But when people come up to me, they give me their CDs, chances are I’m never going to listen just ’cause I’m busy. But I do take it, just to give em that extra boost. They go home like, ‘Yo, he took my CD.’ That might give ’em three more months of like inspiration.”

J. Cole later signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation company and began taking advice from Jigga when he was working on his debut album, 2011’s Cole World: The Sideline Story.

 

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2Chainz offered a colorful commentary on a recent attempt to rob and shoot him.

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“I saw the gun first,” 2 Chainz told Hot 107 in Atlanta. “It was like a .357. It was so heavy he couldn’t really hold it. The gun was so big. That’s what made me take off running. When I went into the street, there was another dude with a whole ‘nother gun,” he added. “That’s when I knew it wasn’t like an episode of Punk’d. I was like this is real…I had bullet fragments in my hair…I think he thought he shot me.”

As previously reported, the rapper’s plight has taken several narratives in the media.

The rapper initially was rumored to have been robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco. 2 Chainz was quick to deny that any of his property was taken or that he had been shot. This account offers greater detail than before.

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Over the weekend reports began flying that rapper 2 Chainz was robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco. 2 Chainz was quick to deny that any of his property was taken or that he had been shot.

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The Atlanta resident posted on Twitter:

Rule #1 if a rapper gets robbed people usually post items that has been taken. Rings, chains, watch , money etc. 2 answer that question. Rule#2 if a rapper gets shot he usually go to hospital or dies. Rule# 3 we definitely got geeked up in San Fran , best smoke in the world. 2 blessed 2 stress. I reportedly killed summer jam tho! #bayarea.

Now TMZ has obtained alleged footage of 2 Chainz and his entourage being held up by an unknown man carrying a gun. In the clip, 2 Chainz is seen running from the assailant.

It’s been a tough week for Chainz. The “I’m Different” performer was also recently arrested in Los Angeles for drug possession.

Watch the clip of the attempted robbery below.

 

2 Chainz’s security guard Harold “Hammer Strength” Folsom called into Columbus, Ohio radio station Power 107.5 to discuss the robbery of 2 Chainz on June 9.

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2 Chainz has denied that he was robbed June 9 in San Francisco, California. Today (June 13), though, the rapper’s security guard, Harold “Hammer Strength” Folsom called into Columbus, Ohio radio station Power 107.5 to discuss the incident, which Folsom said did, in fact, take place. TMZ has also posted surveillance video of the robbery.

Folsom said that after arriving in San Francisco June 9, 2 Chainz and his crew headed to the city’s downtown district. At about 4:30 pm, Folsom said they exited their van and were walking to a store when they were confronted.

“All of a sudden three dudes just jumped out with huge guns, .357 Magnums,” Folsom said during the interview. “They pointed the guns at us and we was like ‘Whoa!’ We thought it was a joke for a minute. We looked at them, we stopped, kinda paused. We thought it was a joke. Then all we heard was, ‘2 Chainz give it up.’ So we like stood there and didn’t do anything, and we kinda like froze, cuz we wanted to see if this was real. All of a sudden, the next thing you know, 2 Chainz kinda like backed up a little bit. And then he said, ‘Give it up. Give it up.’ And then all of a sudden he took off. He took off running first. When he took off running, we took off running. Then all of a sudden these dudes, they just start shooting. I don’t know where they shot at.”

Folsom, who says he is from Columbus during the interview, said that some of the media reports regarding the robbery were inaccurate. “TMZ got it all like we just left and left him standing there, and we just took off,” said Folsom, who later added that he was right next to 2 Chainz when the robbery occurred. “But he started running first, and we took off after he took off. So I don’t know what they trying to make it seem like. The bottom line is he just fell, the dude he grabbed his wallet from him, and his cell phone from him, and that’s all they took. He has his chains on him, his bracelet and all that, and all his jewelry with him and they ain’t touch none of that. All they did is they got his wallet, and like I said, he ain’t got no money in his wallet. The bottom line is, man, it was a setup. We know it was a setup so, that’s why he told the police we will handle it.”

Folsom said that 2 Chainz performed as scheduled in San Francisco June 9. “We killed it that night,” he said. “We pray, man. We pray. We don’t care. We pray, so as long as we pray, we feel like God’s gonna protect us.

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In his best Bill Clinton impersonation (sort of) Kanye West denies the recent claims from Canadian model/bartender, Leyla Ghobadi that her and Kanye had sex while he has been with Kim Kardashian.

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Kanye’s reps contacted TMZ to squash the rumor and chalks this one up to an overly opportunistic attention seeker:

“This most recent attack on Kanye West and his family is totally without merit. It’s a blatant attempt by a misguided individual who is clearly seeking publicity, and another in a series of malicious stories drummed up by non-credible ‘news’ sources.”

This is not the first time Kanye and Kim have been involved in an adulterous love triangle. In a 2012 interview with Star magazine, Kanye’s ex Amber Rose called Kim a “homewrecker” and alleged that she cheated on her former boyfriend Reggie Bush with Kanye.

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Kanye West also talks about making “Yeezus” with the help of Rick Rubin and why it has influences from Run DMC to KRS-One, as well as J-Kwon’s “Tipsy.”

Kanye West once said he doesn’t do press but that he gets the most press. While the press has been buzzing about his latest project, June 18’s Yeezus, West took a moment to do press, speaking with Jon Caramanica of The New York Times. In the interview, which also discusses this album’s influences, West compares himself to Steve Jobs and dead prez.

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“I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means,” Kanye West said. “I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of Internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period. By a long jump. I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it’s like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z…I’ve been connected to the most culturally important albums of the past four years, the most influential artists of the past ten years. You have like, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Nicolas Ghesquière, Anna Wintour, David Stern.”

West also explained how his emceeing evolved after being influenced by Talib Kweli, Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey) and dead prez.

“I used to have tracks that sounded like Timbaland; I had tracks that sounded like [DJ Premier]. But Jay-Z was an amazing communicator that made the soul sound extremely popular. And because I could make the soul sound in my sleep, it finally gave me a platform to put the message that my parents put inside of me and that dead prez helped to get out of me and Mos Def and [Talib] Kweli, they helped to get out of me: I was able to put it, sloppily rap it, on top of the platform that Jay-Z had created for me…Before, when I wanted to rap, my raps sounded like a bit like Cam’ron; they sounded a bit like Mase; they sounded a bit like Jay-Z or whoever. And it wasn’t until I hung out with dead prez and understood how to make, you know, raps with a message sound cool that I was able to just write ‘All Falls Down’ in 15 minutes.”

His connection to dead prez must have been strong. In this interview, West declares, “I am dead prez.”

“That’s how I discovered my style. I was just hanging out with them all the time in New York. I would produce for them. You know, I was able to slip past everything with a pink polo, but I am dead prez. And now, because I was able to slip past, I have a responsibility at all times.”

Much of the recent conversation surrounding West’s Yeezus has been around his work with Rick Rubin. According to reports, West and Rubin have been fine-tuning the album, making some changes before it is released. This interview confirms those reports, with West explaining how much Rubin has helped him.

“For [Rubin], it’s really just inside of him. I’m still just a kid learning about minimalism, and he’s a master of it. It’s just really such a blessing, to be able to work with him. I want to say that after working with Rick, it humbled me to realize why I hadn’t — even though I produced Watch the Throne; even though I produced “Dark Fantasy” — why I hadn’t won Album of the Year yet,” West shared.

“This album is moments that I haven’t done before, like just my voice and drums. What people call a rant — but put it next to just a drumbeat, and it cuts to the level of, like, Run-DMC or KRS-One,” he added. “The last record I can remember — and I’m going to name records that you’ll think are cheesy — but like, J-Kwon, “Tipsy.” People would think that’s like a lower-quality, less intellectual form of Hip Hop, but that’s always my No. 1. There’s no opera sounds on this new album, you know what I mean? It’s just like, super low-bit. I’m still, like, slightly a snob, but I completely removed my snob heaven songs; I just removed them altogether.”

Kanye West’s Yeezus has been highly discussed since it was announced. He then made headlines by debuting a new song and video with “New Slaves” on buildings using a projector. Yeezy also added Rick Rubin as the Executive Producer of the album recently. The album is set for release June 18.

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Lil Wayne appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night. Kimmel asked the YMCMB rapper about his “near-death” health scare, being banned from Miami Heat games, whether he plans to retire soon, and if he considers himself an expert skater.

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Watch the 3-part interview below. – –

Freddie Gibbs refers to Young Jeezy as “a fraud,” says the rapper has led fans on for the past 10 years.

The falling out between Gary, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs and CTE founder Young Jeezy continues, with Gibbs sharing his latest thoughts on Jeezy with MTV News. The ESGN rapper even spoke on receiving death threats via Twitter following the various comments he made about the former Boyz N Da Hood member.

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Additionally, Gibbs referred to Jeezy as a “fraud” and expressed his sympathy for fans who he says have been “buying in to” the rapper for the past decade.

“Yeah, death threats. Death threats,” Gibbs revealed. “It’s a lot of people—Aye man, I know it hurts you to hear your favorite rapper’s a fraud. It ain’t my fault. It’s something you been buying in to for the last 10 years. I know it breaks your heart, but I got to break it to ya.”

The falling out between Jeezy and Gibbs first occurred when Gibbs left CTE late last year. Shortly after his departure from the label, he began to speak on the reason behind the move citing differences with Young Jeezy and also stating that it was not an “amicable” split.

Gibbs further commented on his differences with the CTE leader who he says provided nothing but “fake and empty promises.”

“I messed with it. That was the music I was vibing to and I wanted to add to it, but it was just a lot of like—I started seeing the fake and the empty promises and all of that stuff,” said the rapper. “And I just didn’t want to be around it no more. You know what I mean? It’s a whole lot. It’s a book worth of stuff that I could go into, in them two years that was I was there. That I saw. Thing that’ll make you look at your favorite rapper in a different way.”

Despite Gibbs’ vocalness on the matter, Jeezy has remained relatively silent. A statement from Jeezy dating back to December of last year referred to the Midwest spitter as “a talented artist” and wished “him the best in his career.”

Freddie Gibbs is currently preparing for the release of his ESGN album, which is due out on July 9.

Six years after Jay-Z sold his and Dame Dash’s Rocawear clothing line to Iconix Brand Group and the once prominent clothing brand is now facing legal troubles. According to The New York Post,  Rocawear is being sued by wholesale company iSource NYC for $450,000 of unpaid fees for shipping Rocawear clothing from Pakistan to New York City from April to June of 2012.

The deal to ship clothing from Pakistan to NYC between the two companies was agreed at a price of $1 million which Rocawear has since paid only half of. The wholesale company asserts that the clothing “were specially ordered goods . . . [with] the ‘Rocawear’ brand name imprinted on [them].”

While Jay-Z did sell Rocawear he maintained control of product development, licensing and marketing.

D-Dot touches on his past dispute with Kanye West, claims their beef started when the rapper began to use the “ghost-producing” phrase.

It’s no secret that noted rapper Kanye West first wet his feet in the music world as a producer, and according to his one-time manager and co-producer Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie there weren’t many who were eager to hear the Chicago emcee drop any bars.

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While speaking with Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds of HOT 97, D-Dot revealed that he was one of the first who encouraged Kanye to rhyme and even included the rapper on one of his mixtapes.

“Nobody wanted him to rhyme,” said D-Dot. “He tried to shop his group, GLC, and all of them to Columbia. Played ‘em. Was tryna rap to Free, they played ‘em. Nobody wanted him to rhyme. I actually liked him rhyming. I put him on my mixtape…I put him on there rapping and then he actually wrote a song on The Mad Rapper album. I rapped his verse because Free, his other managers, wouldn’t let him rhyme.”

D-Dot also commented on the role he allegedly played in getting Kanye his publishing rights back. And as a result of the feat, the former Bad Boy Records A&R was very much caught off guard when the Yeezus architect started to adopt the “ghost-producing” phrase. The phrase almost resulted in things becoming physical between both producers as D-Dot commented on wanting to “fuck him up” as a result.

“One thing I will say to Kanye, which he never thanked me for, but I got him his publishing back,” D-Dot shared. “You know what I’m saying? Because I refused at that time to take his publishing or take anybody’s publishing…So, they owned 50 percent of his publishing and I told them I wouldn’t manage him unless they gave it back to him.”

“Then the beef came in is when he started using this term called ghost-producing, which I hate. Which I felt was disrespectful because ghost means you’re not seen or heard…Meaning, you get the beat and you do not get a credit. You don’t get a check. You don’t get a piece of publishing. That’s ghost-producing. I got him back his publishing…Of course not because I threatened to fuck him up afterwards. Because now you forcing me to go another direction,” he added.

The full interview with D-Dot can be found below (via AllHipHop).

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Last week former Cash Money rapper Turk gave an interview to G14 Radio where he was directly asked about his former labelmate Lil Wayne’s line “hoes love me like Satan” from his song “B*tches Love Me.” Turk’s response to the question went into an explanation about drug use and how it “overpowers” people.

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Here’s the exchange from the interview:

Interviewer: That line Wayne got like when said “them girls love me like Satan.” I can’t tell you how  many people I came across that come to me and be like “what’s up with that nigga man? What’s going in his mind?” Brothers that don’t know him, we don’t know him. But that line got to a lot of people, girls and dudes a like. Somebody even called and mentioned-  I swear I had a conversation about the shit just last week. We don’t know what’s going on with the Wayne situation. We all love him and wish him success. Hopefully, he’s recovering from all them seizures, but I know you can give some insight on what’s going on…

Turk: My whole thing with that situation, I used to be in a circle where I was caught up in drugs. Couldn’t nobody tell me nothing. I used to do heroin, cocaine. I used to shoot heroin and cocaine like an old nigga, when I was fifteen, sixteen years old, couldn’t nobody tell me nothing. So the only thing I can say about that situation is when you’re under the influence of anything that’s altering your mind, anything can come out your mouth. Don’t necessarily mean that’s the type of person that you is. It’s that drug that’s overpowering you. It’s them spirits that’s overpower you… I will say that anybody that’s under the influence of anything they out they mind. They not the person they are.

While it seems that responding to a question about Wayne’s choice of words on a song with stories of drug abuse and its tendency to make “anything can come out your mouth” would suggest that Turk was making the connection between Wayne’s controversial lyric and drug use, Turk is now claiming that was not the case.

Turk told TMZ, “not one time did I say that Lil Wayne is on drugs. I was talking about myself having a drug problem in the past and what my problem personally was.”

Turk also lashed out at the media on Twitter about the comments saying his words where purposely misconstrued.

The above tweet from Turk’s certified Twitter account was sent over 12 hours after news first broke about his interview with G14.

Earlier that day, Turk repeatedly tweeted articles about his Lil Wayne comments from various websites including one that was posted on AllHipHop.com.

At that time, Turk did not make any public statements that the stories were inaccurate or misleading. His accusations that the media “twisted his words” did not become public until well after Turk promoted the story to his 30,000 followers throughout the day.

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Lil Wayne is currently on probation for a 2009 conviction in New York. According to reports, stipulations of his probation prevent Wayne from consuming or possessing any illegal drugs or controlled substances.

AllHipHop.com reached out to Turk’s representatives for a comment. Requests were not answered at the time this article was published.

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Producer/DJ Mike Dean has been working with the some of the biggest names in Hip Hop since the early 1990′s. His list of production credits include Scarface, 2Pac, Jay-Z, and he has contributed to every Kanye West album. Of course someone with that vast experience in the music industry has plenty of stories to tell.

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During an interview with HuffPost Live, Dean, who started his career at Rap-A-Lot Records, talks about his interactions with 2Pac and Suge Knight.

“[2Pac, Scarface, and I] hung out. He played the Makaveli album for us, uncut, where he was talking about all the people he hated. All the stuff they took out of the album,” said Dean. “Lot’s of shots at Puffy, and B.I.G., Dre, saying their names, [and how he] was going to kill them.”

Dean says that he leaked some of Tupac’s more controversial unreleased material after his death.

“After [2Pac] died, Daz Dillinger and I stole a bunch of reels from Suge Knight,” admits Dean. “We released like six songs that were really crazy talking.”

When asked if he was fearful that Suge would retaliate against him for stealing Pac’s tracks, Dean made it clear he’s was not afraid of the former Death Row boss.

“I’m not worried about Suge,” said Dean. “I came from Rap-A-Lot. They learned their gangsta from us.”

Dean also goes on to talk about seeing Suge Knight smack an engineer, Tha Dogg Pound hiding out from Suge at his apartment, and having to pull out his pistol on a friend at work.

Watch the full interview below.

[ALSO READ: More Unheard Tupac Material to be Released; Afeni Shakur to Release ‘Entire Body of Work’]

 

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 In tragic news, Davienna Mariena Blake, the daughter of West Coast legend DJ Quik, has been charged with murder in the death of her 2-year-old son.Blake, 21, and her boyfriend, Darnell Moses Alverez, 24, were arrested by Phoenix, AZ police after they were found standing over the body of the child outside of their apartment. The child had multiple injuries, including a lacerated liver, bruising and internal bleeding, stemming from beatings from a belt.

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Witnesses claim that Alverez beat the child severely for wetting the bed.

When the child wet the bed on another occasion, Alverez allegedly beat the boy with a leather belt. Blake reportedly did nothing in a passive hope to avoid a prolonged beating of the child.

Blake reportedly went to work and came home to find her son with additional bruising and even stopped breathing as she and Alvarez argued over whether or not to take their son to the hospital.  Alvarez admitted to beating the child with a belt to police. Both parents were arrested on suspicion of child abuse and first-degree murder.

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Closing a muddy weekend, Kanye West premieres new songs including “On Site” off of his forthcoming album, “Yeezus.”

During a muddy weekend on Randall’s Island in New York, the 2013 Governors Ball Music Festival featured new songs from Kanye West’s upcoming Yeezus album.

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‘Ye chose to premiere a new song that many believe is titled “On Site” at the event. He also reportedly performed a separate new song, though the title is unknown. West also performed the much discussed “I Am a God” and the other recently premiered new joints, “Black Skinheads” and “New Slaves.”

During his set, Kanye said he is thrilled to be making music but not thrilled about other aspects of the industry.

“I’m just happy to be making music and be able to perform that shit tonight,” he told the crowd, according to a report by NME. “You know, with this album we ain’t dropped no single to radio. We ain’t got no big campaign. We ain’t even got no cover. We just made some real music.”

He also added that he does not care about radio play or album sales.

“Honestly, when I listen to the radio, that ain’t where I wanna be no more,” West added. “At this point I don’t give a fuck about selling a million records. I just want to put out an album that you can rock to this summer.”

Video footage from Kanye West’s set, can be viewed below, courtesy of Normal Mag.

Governors Ball also included other acts over the weekend. The festival featured Kendrick Lamar, Azealia Banks and Nas among others like Erykah Badu, Kings of Leon and Guns N’ Roses.

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Jamal Diggs, aka J-Diggs tha Rockstar, was arrested in Utah yesterday for a third degree felony drug warrant issued in Hawaii.

St George News is reporting that Diggs was also charged by Washington County, Utah officials for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

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Diggs is a part of the late Mac Dre’s Thizz Entertainment. Diggs, Mac Dre, and fellow Thizz partner Kilo Curt were all convicted in 1992 for conspiracy to commit a bank robbery.

Diggs was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Mac Dre received five years, and Curt served eight years.

Mac Dre consistently stated that he was innocent of the charges, and claimed that it was his loose association with the “Romper Room Gang” (a Vallejo, California robbery gang) that led to his conviction.

In September of last year, Diggs was also arrested on assault and attempted murder charges in Hawaii, and reportedly was released on $150,000 bond.

A $30,000 bond has been set for the new felony drug charges.

 

Diggs was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Mac Dre received five years, and Curt served eight years.

Mac Dre consistently stated that he was innocent of the charges, and claimed that it was his loose association with the “Romper Room Gang” (a Vallejo, California robbery gang) that led to his conviction.

In September of last year, Diggs was also arrested on assault and attempted murder charges in Hawaii, and reportedly was released on $150,000 bond.

A $30,000 bond has been set for the new felony drug charges.

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