Crib Notes

Which came first, the BET Hip-Hop Awards or Atlanta’s steady flow of garbage-ass rap music?

The chicken-or-the-egg question occurred to me as I watched last night’s broadcast of the awards show, which should’ve been renamed the Gucci Mane Awards for the number of performances (3?) featuring the East Atlanta-bred MC.

It typified a night in which the show took every possible opportunity to reference Atlanta — which is odd considering the crowd is made up entirely of industry fucks (artists, publicists, label reps, promoters, radio heads, etc.) and almost zero fans. (more…)

Bookmark to:

HE AIN'T A KILLER, BUT DON'T PUSH HIM

Michael Render, the Atlanta hip-hop artist formerly known as Killer Mike, would now like to be known as Mike Bigga.

The reason for this is, as he explained to AllHipHop.com, “I really feel like I’m bigger than what I have been in the past and I’ve managed to get legendary status from being a raw rap guy in terms of being able to come out of the shadows of the hardships I’ve had.”

That’s not a sentence any English teacher could support, but the decision to remove the “Killer” from his name probably is.

What other rappers should change their name, you ask?

50 Cent
Suggested Change: 55 Cents
Reason: Inflation!

(more…)

Bookmark to:

1. Atlanta-based bands repped our city at Bonnaroo. (via Metromix)

2. So now we know how T-Pain wooed Taylor Swift into recording a duet. He showed her his BIG ASS CHAIN. (via Concrete Loop)

3. And we thought Usher was boo’d up for life. (via Billboard)

4. Last week Jared Swilley was dishing it out. But can he take it? He might have to after this cutesy film soundtrack drops featuring a song (”Bad Kids”) from the Black Lips. (via Paste)

5. Still beating yourself up for missing Weezy earlier this year? Well, Christmas comes early for you my friend. He’s back in Atlanta this summer with Young Jeezy, Soulja Boy and Drake. (via Billboard)

Bookmark to:

Many hip hop beefs — 50 Cent vs. Rick Ross, say, or T.I. vs. Shawty Lo — are all bluster. But when Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane beef, people die. That’s why it is troubling that the two are at it again.

As reported on Miss Info’s blog, Jeezy apparently took issue with a recent Gucci song and fired off a diss track, “24 23,” which take aim at Gucci and associate OJ da Juiceman. “Tell him this ain’t what he want, not the boy Snow,” Jeezy raps of Gucci. “But between me and you, I think the boy slow.”

It’s not entirely clear what Gucci song Jeezy takes issue with. Sure, his recent Big Cat Records album Murder Was The Case contains plenty of Jeezy disses, but most of that material was recorded years ago. If there’s a shot taken at Jeezy on Gucci’s latest Writing On The Wall mixtape, I can’t pick it out. Anyone?

Finally, as Miss Info notes:

Mind you, this Friday, Gucci Mane, OJ da Juiceman and Young Jeezy are booked to perform at the 102 Jamz SuperJam in Greenboro, NC.

And then on Saturday…again…Gucci Mane, OJ da Juiceman and Young Jeezy are booked to perform at the Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash in Atlanta, GA.

hmmm…let’s hope both sides respect their radio sponsors and keep the peace.

Bookmark to:

ON THE GRIND: Only hours after being released from jail in March, Gucci Mane hit the recording studio.

DOWNLOAD Gucci’s latest mixtape, Writing On the Wall

During his latest stint in jail, Radric Davis spent much of his time contemplating how he could change his life. The veteran Atlanta rapper known as Gucci Mane had built a tremendous regional following based on his oft-autobiographical songs about partying, drug trafficking and street conflict. But the same lifestyle he rhymed about had repeatedly landed him behind bars, ironically stifling his hopes for national fame.

“I got a lot of ideas together,” he says of the six months he served for violating the terms of his probation, stemming from a 2005 incident in which he beat a promoter with a pool cue. “It was a time for me to refocus. I took it and made the best out of a bad situation.” He devoured all of the inspirational material he could get his hands on, he says, from the Bible and rap magazines to a title from the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Continue reading “Fresh from jail, Gucci Mane’s star has peaked”

(Photo by Donna Permell)

Bookmark to:

All right, I admit it. I was wrong about Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em. Since writing him off as a one-hit wonder and giving his latest album iSouljaBoyTellem two stars, I have played that thing more often then I’d like to admit. Especially the banger “Turn My Swag On” and his shockingly innocent/surprisingly tender ballad, “Kiss Me Thru The Phone.”

No, I don’t cry during the video when those old people start smooching each other remotely. Okay, maybe I do, but not that often. Okay, maybe often.

Both tracks are on Billboard’s top 40 right now — “Kiss Me” peaked at number three — and the songs are finding success on iTunes as well.

In defense of my rating — I’d give it 3, maybe even 4 stars if I had it to do over — I’m far from the only critic who has recently seen the light about Soulja Boy. In fact, suddenly SBT’E is turning into a bona fide critic’s darling.

“He writes unbelievably effective hooks, which he rattles off as if he were seeing them for the first time on a teleprompter,” gushed Village Voice writer Zach Baron recently. All of the sudden the word “genius” is being bandied around to describe someone whom critics had absolutely no patience for during “Crank That (Soulja Boy)”’s peak.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Not everyone is feeling the buzz surrounding Young Jeezy’s new video for the song, “Circulate.”

According to the Liberator magazine blog:

If Jeezy says anything worth saying in this song it’s, “when shit get rough no tellin what they’ll sell you”. Cause really I think he’s subconsciously telling on himself. Afterall, dude is using a sample made famous by Dilla, to sell Vodka (who cares what brand) by using remnants of the Obama-hype from his “My President” anthem and theme.

The unnamed vodka company referred to is Belvedere Vodka, for which Jeezy is now a spokesperson. Belvedere partnered with Jeezy and financed the video, which resembles a recently released Belvedere commercial that also stars the Atlanta rapper. Appearing on Young Jeezy’s latest album (The Recession), the DJ Cannon-produced “Circulate” samples the 1975 Billy Paul classic “Let the Dollar Circulate” — which speaks to today’s hard-up economy as well as it did 34 years ago. The song has been sampled in the past by producers J Dilla (for the artist Spacek) and 9th Wonder.

Shot by Terry Richardson, the video certainly makes for a paradoxical backdrop — with Jeezy throwing red, white and blue confetti and dancing on the bed with bikini-clad dime pieces — while the bridge features Paul singing, “interest rates going up/seems like no value’s in the buck.”

But like so many of today’s artists, Jeezy’s literary device of choice is irony: “It was all good a week ago, Young the big tipper/Grinding all week and threw it all at the stripper/Got me lookin’ at my stash like where the fuck is the rest at/Lookin’ at my watch like it’s a bad investment.”

It’s hardly much to agonize over. And with copious amounts of alcohol to swig and an over-sized chocolate cake-replica of the White House on hand, Jeezy doesn’t appear to be suffering much. But therein lies the compelling sales pitch. Because if we’re to believe the values he espouses in his lyrics, Young Jeezy is a capitalist above all else. Whether the product is coke or Coke makes no matter to him. When hard times hit — as they did in the music industry long before the rest of the country began to feel the pinch — a hustler must find a new way to grind.

So we shouldn’t be surprised that Jeezy’s Belvedere-sponsored video creates an orgiastic mess of things — mixing the cultural pride expressed over the election of Pres. Obama with the capitalistic excess symbolized by a bottle of top-shelf liquor. It’s a celebration, bitches. And suddenly, a song Billy Paul originally meant as a plea for economic mercy becomes a commercial hyping young America to swag it out.

The message is clear as a fifth of Belvedere: Let the vodka “Circulate.” It’s the American way.

(Photo courtesy Belvedere Vodka)

Bookmark to:

Back in ’06, when NY hip-hop critics began hailing the arrival of Atlanta-based rapper Young Jeezy, it left a lot of southern rap aficionados a little mystified. It wasn’t so much that we weren’t feeling Jeezy’s trap-or-die flow, we just didn’t expect those East Coast hip-hop snobs to jump on the Snowman’s jock so quick.

Well, looks like it’s about to snow again. Another Atlanta trap-rapper OJ da Juiceman (coincidentally affiliated with one-time Jeezy rival, Gucci Mane) has been creating quite a buzz with such mixtapes as Culinary Art School and I Got the Juice. And Fader, for one, has taken notice. The music mag typically favors alternative progressives (Kanye West and No Age cover reversible sides of its December issue — argue amongst yourselves), so the interest in OJ is suspect.

Call me a paranoid Southerner, but their praise of the artist seems like a joke everyone is in on but da Juiceman, himself.

You make the call. Check out the video interview above that Fader filmed over lunch with OJ in NY.

Bookmark to:

It’s hard out here for an entertainment blogger.

Just ask Gyant of SOHH.com, who posted a rant yesterday claiming that Young Jeezy’s security jacked up his photographer Wednesday at the Tabernacle. The Atlanta-based rapper’s local concert coincided with the release of his third solo joint, The Recession. (Read CL’s feature on the new release.)

Apparently, Gyant was especially flabbergasted by the treatment considering how “cool” he’s been to Young Jeezy, CTE, and the rest of the industry’s corporate thugs:

Let’s be crystal clear on one thing artists, record executives and promoters; if we are as ‘cool’ as you claim to be then it’s only natural that I’d expect you to look out for me and whomever is in my company when I’m at your event –especially if I’m an invited media outlet. …

Don’t get it twisted, I am not some wet behind the ears journalist who will take whatever you give me. I’ve pounded the pavement for almost 5 years in Atlanta. I’ve covered everything and I have probably covered it twice. I’ve turned blind eyes on your scandals [sometimes] and sometimes I even bite my tongue or put down my keyboard when all your business gets spilled out on Front Street.

I’m no rookie and I expect to be treated accordingly. Putting it plainly, I want/demand my respect!

Read the full blog here.

Bookmark to:

Four years ago, the Boston Globe ran a story that exposed the darker side of hitting the lottery jackpot. As expected, most achieved instant popularity as they spent winnings on expensive cars and lavish vacations. But many also shared an overwhelming sense of isolation as distant relatives came out of the woodwork seeking financial gain.

Psychologists call it sudden-wealth syndrome. Hip-hop refers to it as the Biggie Smalls theory: Mo’ money, mo’ problems.

“When I come home,” Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy states via phone, “I have to deal with my family and friends. These are people I’ve been knowing that are going through real hard times. You can’t save everybody; It’s just real, especially when you come from [equally hard times].”

And you thought he was all about clubbin’ with Usher.

It’s not your fault, though. Cats like Jeezy have built careers spitting hot 16s about cool cars and buying out bars. No other genre of music has created a wider gap between the fantasy it depicts and the reality lived by its fan base. Mainstream rappers have painted such lavish images of themselves that it’s hard to distinguish the truth.

Read the rest of this article here. 

(Photo courtesy Def Jam)

Bookmark to:

First Congressman John Lewis, now rapper Young Jeezy.

In the August issue of Vibe magazine, Young Jeezy is quoted in the cover story as saying, “No disrespect to Barack, but I fuck with John McCain.”

Turns out, he meant to say the opposite. At least, that’s what he’s saying now in a classic what-had-happened-was moment. He’s even posted a YouTube video statement to clarify his position, saying “somewhere down the line my words got misconstrued.”

In the video, he wears a shirt printed with the words, “My president is black,” and aligns himself with the Democrat party, saying “I represent the streets, the struggle. I represent Democrats.”

In a not-so-ironic twist, his upcoming CD scheduled for release this summer, is titled The Recession. The high cost of gas is just one of the topics he plans to address.

The quote in question came after Jeezy met Senator McCain in May on the set of Saturday Night Live where they briefly shook hands. McCain was hosting the show and Jeezy was there performing “Love in this Club” with Usher. In the YouTube video posted last week, Jeezy disses McCain while addressing Senator Obama with the cool moniker, “Barack-O.”

Whether it’s a pure publicity stunt or a genuine flub Young Jeezy wanted to correct, it shows how much of a pop phenomenon Obama has become that a rapper of Jeezy’s commercial caliber would go so far to align himself with a presidential candidate.

But here’s something I can’t help but wonder: Can the support of a rapper like Young Jeezy — who’s been alleged to have ties to the BMF drug syndicate and nicknamed himself ‘the Snowman’ (hint, hint) earlier in his career — do more harm to Obama’s campaign than good? Or will the dope boy constituency be politically ignited to vote en masse, thereby countering those who might otherwise be offended?

Bookmark to:

Testimony offered yesterday in the federal government’s cocaine-conspiracy case against alleged Black Mafia Family member Fleming “Ill” Daniels revealed a stunning allegation: According to a witness, Atlanta hip-hop superstar Jay “Young Jeezy” Jenkins received kilos of cocaine from BMF.

Jeezy has not been charged with a crime in relation to the allegation. When asked whether there is an open investigation into the rapper, Justice Department spokesman Patrick Crosby said he had no comment.

Read the rest of this post at CL’s Fresh Loaf blog.

Bookmark to:

The vibe outside the courtroom in the Richard B. Russell Federal Building and Courthouse went from hopeful to depressed shortly after noon Friday when the doors to T.I.’s arraignment/bond hearing opened for a second time and a slew of industry heavyweights, the rapper’s closest family members and media exited without Clifford “T.I.” Harris Jr.

According to the AJC, his request for bond was denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman after T.I. entered a not-guilty plea, but T.I.’s defense team will have another chance to argue for bond next Friday.

“I haven’t decided on releasing him yet,” Baverman said, “I just haven’t heard the conditions yet and I’m not satisfied.”

The conditions offered by his defense team included 24/7 house arrest with electronic and human monitoring, plus “a $2.2 million bond, along with separate bonds backed by his record company, record company executives and the equity of his two homes,” according to the AJC. You can read the full story here.

The number of industry heavyweights inside the courtroom indicated how valuable an entity T.I. is to the music world. (more…)

Bookmark to: