Posts Tagged ‘mtv’

Rick Ross vs. Floyd Mayweather?! Fuck that! It’s all about Rick Ross going in on Sway! Ha!

MTV Reports: Lil Wayne’s life revolves around a daily regime of “SportsCenter,” studio time and sweets. But on Tuesday (February 9), the Cash Money lyricist will be formally sentenced to prison after he struck a plea deal with Manhattan prosecutors stemming from a 2007 arrest in New York on gun charges. After he officially enters his plea, the rapper is expected to then turn himself in immediately to begin a one-year jail sentence.

Not since 2Pac has an MC been as accomplished and relevant yet faced an impending prison term at the height of his career. But will the lithe New Orleans rapper survive the daunting conditions at the notorious Rikers Island facility?

“Lil Wayne is gonna be OK,” retired NYPD detective and noted “hip-hop cop” Derrick Parker told MTV News. “While he’s in jail, it’s a matter of fact they may not put him with the general population because of who he is and his popularity. They might lock him down and let him come out with a supervisor and stuff like that [when he's] in the main area — but he’s definitely going to be treated differently.”"

Hold your head Lil Wayne and good luck. Read the rest after the jump.

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It was great to see Drake, Lil Wayne & Eminem close out the Grammys with their performance. But it was far from a big night for Hip-Hop. It would have been a big night if they actually announced the winners of the Hip-Hop categories live.

MTV Reports: On Monday, we brought you info from the great Bun B and his journey to tear a hole in every beat he raps on this year. Uncle Bun wants his name next to dozens and dozens of songs this year, whether it’s original material, freestyles or guest spots. Another MC known for knocking the lining out of a beat is Philly’s Cassidy. Cass has been jumping on a slew of instrumentals, from Jay-Z’s “On to the Next One” to Jay Electronica’s “Exhibit C.”

“I wasn’t going to touch it,” Cass told us about getting on Electronica’s instant classic. “I heard so many radio DJs talking about it, and they talking like Jay Electronica was saving hip-hop with that record, so I said, ‘I gotta get up on that joint.’ I’m pretty much jumping on everything that’s hot. I’m saturating the game, really trying to make people suffocate. … I wanted to get the mixtape market in a frenzy, to let them know I’m coming back.”

Cass’ new mixtape, Apply Pressure 2, is tentatively due February 5.

Read the rest after the jump!

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His name should be “Mammoth Wayne.” Lil Wayne is going into 2010 just like he went into 2009: on top of the music game. MTV News’ 2008 Man of the Year’s star is so huge and shines so bright that he’s remained a entertainment focal point — breaking touring records for a hip-hop act despite not releasing Rebirth, his much delayed follow-up to last year’s Tha Carter III. The New Orleans Fireman was more popular than most artists who boasted #1 albums; with hit singles, an endless string of guest appearances, introducing rap’s hottest new clique and dropping another classic mixtape.

2009 Highlights: Staying humble but still riding high off of his 2008 Man of the Year win, Wayne sideswiped a potential rap battle with 50 Cent by refusing to engage the G-Unit General, but continuing to do what put in him a preeminent position: make music and perform it for the people. His I Am Music Tour with the likes of T-Pain and Keri Hilson was a huge critical and commercial success. But Wayne’s biggest live show would happen in February at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Weezy, Jay-Z, Kanye and T.I. stole the program with a historic performance of “Swagga Like Us” only for Wayne to return to the same stage later to rep for his hometown with “Tie My Hands.” Wayne was nominated for eight Grammys and left with three, including Best Hip-Hop Album.

February was also a pivotal month in that his musical collaborator and Young Money clique member, Drake, released the mixtape So Far Gone. Drake, our #8 Man of the Year nominee, went on to be the hip-hop rookie of the year with two hit singles and two Grammy nominations. Drake officially became a Young Money artist in late June. Wayne took his entire camp — which includes another budding rap star, Nicki Minaj — out on tour this summer for the America’s Most Wanted Music Festival. That outing and his I Am Music Tour earned a combined record-breaking tally of over $42 million.

Outside of music, Wayne had plenty to keep him busy. BCD Music Group, an independent distribution company based in Texas, put him in the middle of a lawsuit against mixtape king DJ Drama, while Wayne was in full support of a lawsuit to stop the distribution of the documentary “Tha Carter”, which was produced by QD3. In yet another lawsuit, Wayne sued producer Mali Boi for failing to clear a sample of singer Karma-Ann Swanepoel’s “Once.” The folk singer sued Wayne for copyright infringement for use of “Once” on Wayne’s “I Feel Like Dying.” Of course, Wayne’s most troubling court proceedings dealt with his gun-possession case. In October, the acclaimed performer pleaded guilty to gun possession. Weezy is scheduled for sentencing in February, where he is expected to receive one year in jail.

Despite impending prison time, Wayne’s appeal has reached well into the mainstream. He’s had guest appearances on tracks from Madonna to Drake to Cash Money member Jay Sean. Weezy also appeared on ESPN multiple times (also serving as a celebrity blogger for the sports channel), went bowling with Katie Couric for a primetime special and had his own “Behind the Music” episode.

As 2009 came to an end, Wayne — who came in second on MTV News’ Hip-Hop Brain Trust’s Hottest MCs List — dropped his impeccable No Ceilings mixtape. The free CD was meant as a thank-you to all the fans who supported him throughout the year. Meanwhile, as Wayne gears up for the release of the We Are Young Money LP on December 21, he’s still drumming up attention for Rebirth — “Drop the World,” featuring Eminem, was just leaked to the Net Monday.

Courtesy of MTV.

New Orleans native Gudda Gudda has a bunch of superstars in his camp, including Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj and Drake. Dude might be next in line to blow. Gudda, who’s been down with Wayne for around a decade, has been lacing family records like “Thinking to Myself” (his verse about Kunta Kinte steals the show!) “Bedrock” and “Every Girl” with his laid-back, spoken-word flow. This week, though, Gudda steps to the front with his own mixtape, Guddaville.

“The theme behind Guddaville, I’m taking people on a walk through my eyes,” he explained. “Every time you heard me been a group project. Guddaville is just me expressing how I feel about a lot of different things, taking you in my world.”

Gudda — a New Orleans native — has been mentored by Lil Wayne. Weezy liked his look and wrote Gudda his first rap. After that, though, Gudda stepped his game up through the years. He’s going to be good money on Young Money. One of Gudda’s biggest inspirations has been N.O. hero Soulja Slim. He shouts him and former Hot Boys member Turk out on the mixtape.

“Soulja, any young dude, period, not just a rapper, any young guy from New Orleans, he was like our ‘Pac. So, you know, we all look up to him. I had to acknowledge him. We bumped heads in a lot of different places. It was sad to see him go. I’m gonna continue to acknowledge him. As far as Turk, we speak at least twice a week from jail. I always holla at him. Turk will be home soon.”

You can download Guddaville on HotNewHipHop.com. You can also keep up with Gudda on his Twitter page.

Joints to Check For:

“Welcome to Guddaville.” “This is the intro to my mixtape,” Gudda said. “On that song, I’m venting a lot. Just letting people know what’s going on at the time. What I been going through. Different things with different people. I just let it all out on that track. I had to put that all on paper. This is a good intro into my world.”

“Always Love You” (featuring Nicki Minaj and Short Dawg). “Me and Nicki was in the studio one night trying to get something going. We heard the Whitney Houston sample, pulled the beat up, and Whitney was on the sample saying, ‘I will always love you.’ The obvious choice would have been to speak on a female or dude. We was like, ‘Let’s speak on our cities and how much we love where we from.’ I was like, ‘We could get somebody else on it.’ I ran into Short Dawg. He was like, ‘Let me hear the joint. … I love it.’ He put a verse on it. We did it. New Orleans, H-Town, New York.”

“Getting to the Money” (featuring Tity Boy). “Basically, I was in the studio, I heard the beat. Instantly, the hook popped up, the lyrics started coming. The beat, I just had to do it. I laid it down and said, ‘It gotta have that ATL flavor.’ I said, ‘Let me call my homeboy and see if he’ll jump on it.’ I hit Tity up, he sent it back two days

Courtesy of MTV.

Nicki Minaj isn’t worried about the people who criticized her for not spitting off the dome during the BET Hip-Hop Awards cyphers.

“How many people on that cypher do you think spit off the top of their head?” Minaj fumed to Richmond, Virginia, radio host TT Torrez last week. “I don’t write off the top of my head. I can’t come up with those punch lines and metaphors off the top of my head. Everybody besides KRS-One, who else can you name that spit off the top of their head? They will tear apart a female, like, ‘She did a good verse, but she wrote it.’ … The only thing that matters is that I wrote on a paper and memorized it. Wayne never wrote my sh–. No one ever wrote my stuff.”

Nicki’s Young Money family member Drake went through some of the same problems earlier this year. When he was on Funkmaster Flex’s Hot 97 show, Drake spit his rhymes while reading them from his BlackBerry. Some bloggers and fans wrote negative responses, and comedian Affion Crockett even posted a video spoof online.

“I’ll never forget the night, man, when I went up to Hot 97, and it wasn’t scheduled,” Drake explained. “It wasn’t like, you know, ‘Drake’s coming up here Tuesday.’ It was literally like, ‘Funk Flex wants to meet you,’ and bam, like, two seconds later, it was like, ‘Let’s go on the radio and just kill New York.’ I’ll never forget how nervous I was. It was such a rookie hip-hop moment — and, obviously, the controversy of me pulling out my phone and rapping off my phone because I just wasn’t prepared. A lot of people don’t know the difference between freestyle or off the top and coming to a radio show knowing you got to go there, so you got verses cued up in your head, whether they be off your upcoming album or verses just that you have laying around. A lot of artists get that preparation time.”

Drake said the moment was an important steppingstone.

“That moment, just as far as hip-hop, as far as MCing goes, that moment was one of those … it was just, ‘Whoa! I’m really here and I got to get better. I got get to be better than this. I can never be caught off guard again,’ ” Drake said. “That was probably one of the most interesting moments of my life this year. I’m a writer, man. I appreciate the elements of hip-hop. I appreciate a guy like Common who goes city to city and just spits at the crowd for 10 minutes about everything he sees. I admire talent like that, because that’s just not my creative process. So, you know, as far as moments this year go, though, I’ve had amazing stories. I don’t want to tell them all in interviews, because then Thank Me Later will just be empty, so I think I’m going to tell them in this album as vivid as I possibly can.”

Courtesy of MTV.