Hustler Musik - Lil' Wayne

VH1 brought back it's Behind the Music series (I must say I THINK I'm happy about this). Their first show was Lil' Wayne, no matter how much I may think he's gone off the deep end his story is an interesting one. It goes into detail about his 11-year-old sex and drug life, him shooting himself, his admitted drug use and of course his music career. Now when VH1 did Behind the Music in the past, they never (to my remembrance) actually spoke to the artist (often anyway) and usually was told from the accounts of others close to them. However this time, Lil' Wayne pretty much tells his own story. IDK if it is because he IS so open about his past or not. I know the Steelers game was on as well as the Real Housewives of Atlanta, so if you missed it, it's ok check it below.

Things We Do - Slum Village

♫ Gucci Mane and OJ Da Juiceman reply to Young Jeezy's "24/23," but not like rappers should. XXL Magazine reached out for comment/response from the two and they simply said "We not feeding into that; we getting money." I know some of you may not be hip to what's happening or why Gucci and Jeezy are beefing in the first place, but remember Gucci's first major hit "So Icey" back in like 2005? Well, Jeezy claims Gucci hadn't paid him sufficiently for his appearance on the track (the irony in his/Oj Da Juiceman's statement to XXL). Then Gucci claimed Jeezy put a hit out on his life and the two haven't been getting along since. But all three are scheduled to perform/be in the same vicinity as each other in Atlanta at Hot 102.7's Birthday Bash this upcoming weekend.

♫ Speaking of Young Jeezy, he, Lil' Wayne, Drake, and Soulja Boy are indeed going on tour with each other this summer. Excuse me, it's a music festival. Yes, yes, it has been confirmed that the quad will headline the America's Most Wanted Musical Festival and the tour dates have been released.Drake told MTV this about what's coming on the tour:

It's definitely moving along well. I think it will be an exciting night for each city that we go to. You got two young guys [and] two guys that have been killing the game for a minute, so I think it will be a dope tour.

I think it's BS that they aren't coming to Detroit ( how do you go from Canada straight to Ohio), but In case you are wondering here are the dates/cities:

♪7/27 Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion
♪7/29 Saratoga, NY @ Performing Arts Center
♪7/30 Pittsburgh, PA @ Post Gazette Pavilion
♪7/31 Philadelphia @ Susquehanna Bank Center
♪8/1 Wantagh, NY @ Jones Beach Theater
♪8/2 Virginia Beach @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
♪8/4 Toronto @ Molson Amphitheater
♪8/5 Montreal @ Bell Centre
♪8/6 Cleveland @ Blossom Pavilion
♪8/7 Washington, D.C. @ Nissan Pavilion
♪8/8 Raleigh, NC @ Walnut Creek Amphitheater
♪8/9 Atlanta @ Lakewood Amphitheater
♪8/8 Raleigh, NC @ Walnut Creek Amphitheater
♪8/12 Phoenix @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
♪8/13 Los Angeles @ TBD
♪8/14 Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
♪8/15 Concord, CA @ Sleep Train Pavilion
♪8/17 Vancouver @ GM Place
♪8/18 Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
♪8/20 Denver @ Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
♪8/22 Houston @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
♪8/23 Dallas @ Superpages.com Center


♫ Remember those guys that once rapped about Blue and Yellow Purple...hills? D12, was their name and they are preparing to re-enter the rap game. Eminem leaked to BET [as reported by MTV] that they were getting the band back together and scheduled to hit the studio soon to begin work on their new album. This will be the groups first album since Proof's murder and Slim Shady told the peeps over at Rap City this:

Right now, my music would probably be the same [if Proof was still alive]. I think this is what Proof always wanted, was for me to go crazy again. My life would be different because I would still have him.

Tell Me Something Good - Rufus & Chaka Khan

♫ Soulja Boy is allegedly going on tour with Lil' Wayne, Young Jeezy and Drake. The rapper confirmed that announcement via his Twitter page. Here's where things get a lil' tricky, Soulja Boy's rep told MTV that he was joining this lineup as well, however a rep from the Young Money /Lil' Wayne camp told them that a concert tour with at least some of the four artists will happen...*My bets on Jeezy not being on it!* But more news from the SOD camp (that's my word for today, camp) Soulja Boy is releasing a Gangsta Grillz mixtape. What's killer (the bad killer not the good killer) about the mixtape? It's called "Follow Me: Gangsta Grillz Twitter Edition," yes the mixtape is dedicated to Twitter, will be released through Twitter first, and he's actually pulling a Yung Berg with this Twitter title. *except I doubt he'll scam his DJ, would YOU mess with DJ Drama?*

♫ So you'd be lying to yourself if you said Drake wasn't a record label's wet dream he's: new, endorsed by rap bigwigs, getting love on the radio, crazy rumors about his romance life and best of all, he's unsigned. Drake reportedly has three record labels on his tip to get him to come to their side, much like a super fly car at an auto auction. Jimmy Brooks is moving too fast for his own speed though, he's already about to be involved in a major lawsuit. Canadian Money Entertaiment (CME...Ca-na-di-an...Canada...) released a "Drake" mixtape through iTunes and there would be nothing wrong with that if a) it weren't unauthorized and b) if it were REAL! The CD was being SOLD on iTunes and Drake and his peeps are filing a lawsuit against the group. A cease and desist letter has been sent to iTunes and according to XXL Drake's manager, Al Branch, had this to say:

This is a straight bootleg, a scandal. We are behind promoting records at radio, but haven’t sold it. iTunes position is that they are store and they stock everything. They have a waiver and as long as people sign it and are responsible for the product they submit, then they go for it.

♫ Ay Remember Sticky Fingaz from the hip-hop group Onyx (group also had Fredro Starr aka Q from Moesha for all y'all uber late 90's babies)? Well he's doing a hip-hop musical, no it's not some uber lame 3 hour show with shiny and sequined dance sequences (how's that for alliteration?) It's a movie told in the form of rap, which would probably make it sound more like Spoken word than anything else. It's going to be released via Lions Gate films (they've done Tyler Perry's joints), and it's also straight to DVD and will arrive in stores July 7, 2009. Some of the stars Mekhi Phifer (I think he really wants to be a rapper, secretly, lol), Omar Epps, Faizon Love, Treach, Ray J and a few others. Peep the trailer below.

A DAY IN THE LIFE - Trailer from KB on Vimeo.

*Now I did peep this film on IMDB.com and according to it, it was a 2007 film and has Lamont Bentley (Of Moesha fame as Hakeem) cast as one of the characters. What's weird is Lamont Bentley passed away in 2005, which means that this film had to have been filmed either just before his death or a year earlier. Had to throw all this in because I didn't want any discrepancies about anything*

Know What i"m Talking About - Gucci Mane

♫ RZA (yep from the Wu-Tang Clan) is planning a remake of The Last Dragon ( a 1985 Bruce Lee film). Nothing wrong with that, but he wants both Chris Brown and Rihanna to have roles in the film. Awkward Much?

♫ Official News on the Hova front, Jay-Z's album will be released on the 8th anniversary of The Blueprint..which is September 11, 2009 (for all the non-super-fans). Yes, some of the information leaked yesterday, but quality beats delivery with me and I had to assure the accuracy with this (basically info from blogs equal no-no). ANYWAY, this is a big deal, it's his first album with Warner Music Group. Before you jump ahead, that's the other Hov news I have for you, Jay-Z signs on for The Blueprint 3 with WMG/Atlantic, but Roc Nation (his label with Live Nation) goes through Epic. Though this seems complicated, it's all for distribution purposes because supposedly TB3 (my nickname for it) will be distributed through Roc Nation as well. Jay-Z is a business, man; I expect everything to roll through smoothly.

♫ There were rumors floating around that Mos Def had pushed back the release of "Estatic" until August but according to an e-mail Mos Def's label will be releasing the album on time June 9 (THIS TUESDAY), and beginning THIS Saturday, the album will be available for listen on his MySpace page. One track that has my heart jumping rope is the Talib Kweli/Mos Def (Black Star) collab on the Dilla (sidebar: "Jay $tay Paid" released this week, cop that!) beat "History" check it below.


♫ Weezy F. Baby says that "Rebirth" is finally ready for release. Production has finally been completed on the album (which has been pushed back 3 times already). Lil' Waye spoke with MTV briefly at the MTV Movie Awards and naturally was questioned about expectaitons:

Expect great music. That's all I ever want them to expect from me. I wanted to grow and show my growth as well. It's a difference from when you go in a room and come out and you're better and everyone says, 'How did you do that?' So with this album, I wanted everyone to see my growing pains.

I have never been anxious for a Wayne album...and nothing has changed, this shall be interesting though.

Prom Queen - Lil' Wayne

Unless you've been under a rock on Neptune, then you all know Lil' Wayne is releasing a rock album. Though they're saying it's a mix of rock and rap- maybe he realized the rap suicide he was committing by even considering an all rock album-, label execs are still cautious about his June 23rd release. Yes, it has been pushed back yet again and from what has been said the label wants to release the Young Money Compilation album at the same time, but that hasn't been confirmed yet.


Production duo Cool & Dre (who have worked with Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Trina, Teairra Mari, and Wale) have produced several tracks for Rebirth and in an interview with MTV Dre even went as far as to compare this upcoming album to Outkast's Aquemini.

It’s almost like where OutKast was when they made Aquemini. It’s still a rap album, but was it really a rap album compared to all the other rap albums at that time? No, they were doing some really creative s**t...

That's some heavy duty stuff to say and in my book puts Cool & Dre on the chopping block if this album fails--which I'm thinking is going to happen. I'm not saying the album isn't going to sell, of course it is because it's Lil' Wayne, but the reception after the release especially with so much dropping this summer is going to be horrible.

But back to this interview, Cool said Wayne put out classic albums....

Name one. Straight Outta Compton is a classic. Illmatic was classic, Ready to Die is a classic, All Eyez on Me...classic, American Gangster is a classic, Speakerboxx/Love Below is a classic. What Wayne album can touch any of those?

Wayne is a mixtape rapper in my opinion and I think it's because he has more freedom to do and say as he pleases without the record and label execs interfering Personally my favorite thing Wayne has ever done was the Dedication Pt. 2; everything he released commercially can't really touch that.

If you want to see if for yourself, peep the interview with Cool and Dre below.

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