Stalley – Chevys & Spaceships (Prod. Rashad)
25th May2011
0 Comm
20th Dec2010
Ten Things I Learned from Jay-Z’s Decoded
Spotted At:Passion Of The Weiss
Jonah Bromwich decodes Decoded so you don’t have to.
1. I knew Marcy Projects wasn’t Mt. Holyoke before I started Decoded but three scenes from Jay’s old neighborhood really struck me. According to Jay, kids in Marcy would go up to “leaning nodders” (heroin addicts ) and push them off the benches they were sleeping on “the way kids on farms tip sleeping cows.” (pg. 4) And girl gangs like the Deceptinettes (the female version of the Decepticons) were “broads who would just walk up to grown men and punch them in their faces so hard they’d drop.” (pg. 13) Finally, Hova’s first drug connect was murdered like “something out of a mob movie. They cut his balls off and stuffed them in his mouth and shot him in the back of the head, execution style.” (p. 15)
2. It turns out Jay had Hammer on the brain before he recorded his verse for “So Apalled.” He references Stanley Burrell twice. The first time, he notes that “even when [Hammer] was spinning around with his pants billowing all around him, you could see in his eyes that this was still a nigga from the hood. Sean is a bit more careful about hurting Hammer’s feelings in print though. In discussing the man’s fall he writes “It’s no dis to Hammer to say that it was shocking to watch it happen.” (pg. 93) He’s a bit less delicate when talking about Hammer’s attempt to become a gangster stating “Really? Please don’t. You don’t have to! (italics his). (pg. 249)
30th Nov2010
Che Guevara With Bling On: How A Music Journalist Helped Write Jay-Z’s “P.S.A.”
Anyone who’s ever been lucky enough to see Jay-Z give a stunning rendition of “P.S.A.” in a live setting will tell you that it’s a powerful song. It’s the type of arena-rock anthem that shakes a building to its foundation. Excerpts from Jay’s memoir, Decoded , reveal that the second verse of “P.S.A.” wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Village Voice reporter Elizabeth Mendez Berry.
Peep game:
“Just Blaze was one of the house producers at Roc-A-Fella Records, the company I co-founded with Kareem Burke and Damon Dash. He’s a remarkable producer, one of the best of his generation. As much as anyone, he helped craft the Roc-A-Fella sound when the label was at its peak: manipulated soul samples and original drum tracks, punctuated by horn stabs or big organ chords. It was dramatic music: It had emotion and nostalgia and a street edge, but he combined those elements into something original. His best tracks were stories in themselves. With his genius for creating drama and story in music, it made sense that Just was also deep into video games. He’d written soundtracks for them. He played them. He collected them. He was even a character in one game. If he could’ve gotten bodily sucked into a video game, like that guy in Tron did, he would’ve been happy forever. I was recording The Black Album and wanted Just to give me one last song for the album, which was supposed to be my last, but he was distracted by his video-game work. He’d already given me one song, “December 4th,” for the album–but I was still looking for one more. He was coming up empty and we were running up against our deadlines for getting the album done and mastered.
At the same time, the promotion was already starting, which isn’t my favorite part of the process. I’m still a guarded person when I’m not in the booth or onstage or with my oldest friends, and I’m particularly wary of the media. Part of the pre-release promotion for the album was a listening session in the studio with a reporter from The Village Voice, a young writer named Elizabeth Mendez Berry (more…)
23rd Oct2010
Hypemen (@JensenClan88 & @ItsTheReal) Podcast Episode 10 W/Combat Jack
EPISODE 10: Industry insider @Combat_Jack" href="http://twitter.com/combat_jack" target="_blank">Combat Jack joins the Hype Men to discuss what the heart and soul of early Rocafella + Dame Dash asshole moments + the Hitmen’s resentment toward Puffy + 50 Cent and The Madd Rapper + the nicest rapper you’ve never heard + what the New Boyz bring to the table + comic books + his Complex list + more!
Download “Episode 10 With Combat Jack” Directly
(Source: hypemen)
06th Oct2010
@ItsTheReal & @JensenClan88: Hype Men Podcast Episode 7 w/ Just Blaze
Jeff, Eric (It’s The Real) and Jensen sit down with Just Blaze for their latest Hype Men podcast and honestly, this is probably the best one.
EPISODE 7: super producer Just Blaze joins the Hype Men to discuss what he owes the Diplomats + his portrayal in Jay-Z’s movie Fade To Black + early Kanye + Jay Electronica’s next move + Amil’s whereabouts + the latest on T.I. + running into Charles Hamilton + his current thoughts on Joe Budden + “Pump It Up” + his falling out with Dame Dash + what Aloe Blacc’s done for cancer research + more!
Link: Hype Men Podcast Episode 7 w/ Just Blaze
Hype Men Podcasts: Ep. 0 (Introductions) | Ep. 1 (Jean Grae) | Ep. 2 (Peter osenberg) | Ep. 3 (Bobby Moynihan) | Ep. 4 (Jake Fogelnest) | Ep. 5 (Martin Starr) | Ep. 6 (Brett Gelman)
15th Sep2010
Cam & Jim Jones Diss Kanye?? Uh…Ok (Updated)
UPDATE: Jim Jones & Cam’ron – Toast Freestyle | Mediafire [via Miss Info]
Jimmy posted these two videos of him and Cam’ron in the studio on Twitter last night. He was previewing a song they had just cut over Kanye and Pusha T’s “Runaway” beat with Jim on the chorus, and Cam is talking over the music in the first video (after the jump.) The second video (above) is a snippet of the Cam’ron verse, and although the “Jigga” part is inaudible, it’s pretty clear how he feels about Kanye:
And Kanye, you a sucka n*gga
Dissed Dame, so my attitude is f*ck the n*gga
Stuck to Jigga, how you gon’ live with that?
Took the beat, now come get it back…
My question is,
06th Jun2010
Hilarious Black Keys Drummer Patrick Carney on Not Growing a Beard, Damon Dash, and Danger Mouse
In their nine years together, the Black Keys have performed to heads of states (Barack Obama), had a track covered by Kelly Clarkson (“Lies”), and provided the theme song to a show about a dude with a huge schlong (Hung). In just the past week, the bluesy indie-rock duo from Akron opened for Pearl Jam at Madison Square Garden, and their sixth full-length, Brothers — which has received a collective critical high five — debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard albums chart, a career high. How does a band celebrate this hard-earned success? By getting hammered, of course. We caught up with groggy drummer Patrick Carney the morning after. (The other Key, singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach, was already at 30 Rock prepping for their Late Night With Jimmy Fallon taping.)
So, last night …
When we found out that our record went to No. 3, that led to us going to a bar and me staying up later than I should have. [Big yawn.] I’ll really celebrate it tonight, when I go to bed early.
How did you meet Dan?
We met when I was about 8 or 9. My parents got divorced, and my dad moved to Dan’s neighborhood [in Akron]. All I remember is that I sometimes played tag football with him and his friends, who were kind of assholes. We really didn’t hang out too much until high school. I was real into Devo, Pavement, Captain Beefheart, and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Dan was into R.L. Burnisde and the Fat Possum stuff. That’s kind of where we bonded. A lot of my [other] friends growing up would make fun of me because I liked Led Zeppelin. But all those motherfuckers who made fun of me discovered Led Zeppelin at age 25 — and that’s the most depressing thing ever, to watch a 25-year-old discover classic rock.
05th May2010
Dame Dash Speaks w/MTV On Diplomats Reunion
I’m more happy than anything that they’re friends — that they were able to salvage their friendship, if that’s the case. I think they’re better than me for that: being smart enough and humble enough to apologize to each other and move forward. I really do hope that where I failed to be the right example, that they can be that. You always want the people ahead of you to do better than you anyway. For that, I gotta give them props for being men above anything.
He also says he would be open to the Dips returning to Roc-A-Fella.
Um, under the right circumstances. As long as everyone is happy, as long as the quality of living is never compromised, as long as everyone is on the same sheet of paper — of course. It’d be great. Anything is great under the right circumstances but a dream could become a nightmare when everyone doesn’t have the same agendas. That’s just a general statement.
Yesterday, Dame told MTV about his relaunch of Roc-A-Fella on Def Jam, with Curren$y’s Pilot Talk (June 15) and Ski Beatz’ 24 Hour Karate School mixtape as the first releases.
04th May2010
Curren$y Signs With…Roc-A-Fella Records??
Eh…or maybe not…
Nation Explains:
So last week, when we posted the trailer to Curren$y’s new video, somebody over at Def Jam asked me to include a buy link for the single on iTunes. Although it was slightly more subtle than the defj.am link they had up on their site, I had to ask what was up. Apparently Dame/DD172 was trying to sign Curren$y to a P&D deal (pressing and distribution) with Def Jam through the Roc-A-Fella imprint… which belongs to Def Jam.
“The name is mine, I’ll take the blame for that” -Jay-Z
“Def Jam or Universal bought the brand. I think the ‘beef’ [with us and Jay-Z] was that Jay made it clear he didn’t want me or Biggs to be a part of it. That’s really where it was at. Now that he doesn’t work for Def Jam anymore, he doesn’t have the right to use the name. So there’s no reason for us not to use it. It’s there, and it’s a brand that’s not being used. So I was like, ‘I’ll take it.’ It always meant something to me.” -Dame Dash
via MTV.
Wow
18th Apr2010
Words Of Wisom From Dame Dash
Inside Dame’s DD172 art gallery, the Roc-A-Fella founder drops a jewel on commanding respect and the importance of artists (specifically Curren$y) on having interstate relations.
30th Mar2010
Ski Beatz & Dame Dash x YRB Magazine (Video)
Ski Beatz joins YRB Magazine for a Couch Session.
The 24 Hour Karate School is scheduled to drops any minute now…
19th Mar2010
Floyd Mayweather x Dame Dash at DD172
Dame meets up with Money Mayweather while he was in town doing some press and takes him to the DD172 compound where he got interviewed by DJ Envy, presumably for Envy’s new Sucka Free gig on MTV.
After the jump, Damon Dash gets interviewed by Good Morning NY.
(more…)
07th Mar2010
Steve Rifkind Interview w/ HHC Pt. 1 (Video)
Says Sumit of The Hip-Hop Chronicle UK:
I caught up with Steve Rifkind during his stay in London.
Firstly I got him to break down the Duck Seazon lyrics where RZA says “Stev Rifkind must be sniffin”.
We then get onto speaking about Steve’s first encounters with artists.
He explains how Havoc lit up a blunt and caused a fire alarm during their first meet.
Steve talks about the first time he met Melanie Fiona and thought her manager was “breath-takingly beautiful”.
Dame Dash as a 16 year old was a “cocky motherfucker”. He came into Steve’s office shouting and screaming with his cousin.
Then Steve tells me two stories about how he threw a chair out of the window and was escorted out of the building in handcuffs over a Wu Tang record and how he almost had a fight with a label President because they wouldn’t sign Jay-Z.
25th Feb2010
Curren$y Interview w/ CDR (Video)
Talks Dame Dash, Smokee Robinson and Saints winning the Super Bowl.
Curren$y is headlining the BluRoc show at The Gramercy Theater in NY on Thursday night. Get tickets on LiveNation.
