Archives
You are currently viewing the archive for November 2007.
Listen to the Don Vito produced track on the Rasheeda MySpace.
MTV has launched a page where you can suggest names for the Making the Band 4 band. If you have an idea, give it a go!
As I posted yesterday on the B5 Online forums, B5 told me that they have no idea when they are shooting their video. B5's manager, Jim McMahan posted that there may not be a video shot, unless interest in the record picks up. That makes sense.
From B5's management:
Nov 30th in Hartford Conn for jingle jam with Bowow, Soulja Boy and more.
Dec 1st at gwinnett place mall outside of atlanta from 12-3pm. show/signing
Dec 7th in Philly for a show at liacouras center w/ MYXX at 7pm.
Dec 8th in Dallas for the Kwanzaa concert
Dec 13th in Pittsburg school spirit/toy drive
Dec 14th in Columbia SC at club level
Dec 15th in Concord NC Nascar speed park
Dec 7th Cartoon Network Christmas special on Cartoon Network
Watch below. She talks about the new album and the movie she's in, Step Up 2.
Via Theo.
Gorilla Zoe's "Hood Figga" is down to 59 from 55. Bad Boy does not have an album on the Billboard 200 chart.
Sean C and LV are featured on page 62 and 63 of the December 1 issue of Billboard. Nothing much in there that we don't already know, but I wanted to mention it, anyway. You can pick it up on newsstands.
I interviewed B5 today at around 2:15 PM for a bit over fifteen minutes. I was armed with forty seven of your questions with the idea of asking them as many as I possibly could within the time that I was given. I jam packed it as best as I could, getting thirty two questions in, which is more than I thought I'd be able to get in. Every single question asked (except for follow up questions) was taken from the question suggestions that you made. This will definitely be an interview that the fans will enjoy, just like our last one.
It's pretty challenging to pick all of them out of the interview audio just because there are five of them and they sound a lot alike at times, but they did identify themselves a lot, so it shouldn't be too, too bad. But, in any case, I'll be posting the audio from the interview a few days or so after the interview is published. So, if I get any of them incorrect, I'm sure that it'll be pointed out. :)
Thanks again to everyone who submitted questions.
Oh no, she didn't!
AHHA: That rumor sounds like another thing a man probably started, as it was his fantasy or something…
Cassie: [laughs] Yeah they are trying to talk it into reality. Me and Lauren London had made a pact that we would stop reading blogs because they only ever really write negative things...
Cassie, how could you? But, seriously, that's not true as is referenced here at Bad Boy Blog. You can blog while also being a responsible journalist and not a gossip. We'll say negative things when negative things happen, though.
AllHipHop.com has a great interview with Cassie where she talks about the upcoming album and her experiences so far.
AHHA: Who have you been working with on this album, as far as producers or guest appearances?
Cassie: I have no guest appearances so far; I’m sure that will come once we finish up and finalize the track listing and things like that. As far as producers, I’ve got to work with Puffy which hasn’t happened before, which is really, really cool. He’s really been hands-on with this project. I worked with Ryan Leslie of course again, I worked with Kanye, I worked with Eric Hudson, Brian Cox. Lterally I worked with a whole roster of talent. Last night I got the opportunity to work with a writer by the name of Jim Beanz, we had met before but had never really been familiarized properly.
I’m working with Danja and I was telling him, “You know that song ‘Perfect Lover’ on Britney’s album, I love it.” He was just like, “Oh cool,” and then I was telling Puffy that on his album I love “After Love” with Keri Hilson and I just found out yesterday that Jim Beanz wrote both of them. Those are two songs that I absolutely, completely love so I’m really excited to work with [Jim].
AllHipHop.com has an interview with Sean C. and LV:
AllHipHop.com: Puffy is listed as the producer for the tracks that you two actually produced. What percentage would you say that Puffy actually contributed?
Sean C: He helped put everything together. He was in the studio with us working on material. Puff also helped formulate things, and make the records big. He made [the tracks] sound epic and more like a movie. He would even guide the musicians. Overall, the production on the project was a collaborative effort between the three of us.
AllHipHop.com: Working with Puff in production, people are considering you two to be his new "Hitmen," are you trying to take things back to the Bad Boy Era?
LV: No, we're just taking it to where it needs to be at. Right now it needs to be on number one. We just trying to make good music.
AllHipHop.com: Ok, let me rephrase myself, are you trying to take it back to the time when Bad Boy was all over the radio and you heard nothing else
Sean C: Hell yeah! But this time we gonna take it where its Grind Music Hitmen.
Via Theo in the forums.
According to this press release, Diddy is on BLACK ENTERPRISE's "The 2007 HOT LIST: America's Most Powerful Players Under 40".
I just wanted to put out a last call for any B5 interview questions. Not that we're hurting for suggestions (we're not - the response has been overwhelming), but the interview will take place Wednesday at 3:15 PM ET and I will stop accepting questions sometime tomorrow (Tuesday). Thank you to everyone who has suggested questions. It'll be a challenge to comb through them all!
From MTV:
"I got Diddy," Joe laughed. "That might be the next single. I made Diddy sing my hook like he did on 'Last Night.' That joint is produced by Danja. That's that crossover-big smash-hit record."
This is the second singing gig for Diddy (after Beanie Sigel's project) since "Last Night".
On the Beanie Sigel entry, Theo commented:
lol, Diddy thinks because of "Last Night" [he's] a singer :P...Be funny if he sings like how he did in "Jealous Guy" (from Harlem World)
I'm sure a lot of people are going to make fun of Diddy here (not that Theo was making fun of him), but I think it's important to recognize the difference between "Last Night" and "Jealous Guy" and "Playa Hater" (from "Life After Death"). On the first one, Diddy is seriously trying to sing. On the other two, that wasn't the main point. I liked all 3 tracks and "Last Night" did leave me wanting to hear more, so I'm interested to see how these two tracks play out.
Diddy may or may not have an album in him as a singer, but I think that he definitely can sing on a track and make it a hit or, at least, a track I want to listen to.
Via free and Theo.
Bad Boy has one spot on both The Billboard 200 and The Billboard Hot 100. Gorilla Zoe's "Welcome to the Zoon" is in at 158 on The Billboard 200, down from 123. His first single, "Hood Figga", is at 55 on the Hot 100, down from 47.
As an aside, "Get Buck in Here", the DJ Felli Fel track that features Diddy, debuted at 44 on the Hot 100.
HipHopDX reports on Beanie Sigel's upcoming release, "The Solution", due out December 11. They note that a singing Diddy is featured on a song called "Pass the Patron", produced by Rockwilder. It also features Ghostface Killah and Peedi Crakk.
Via Wikipedia.
The New York Post had reported that Diddy had broken his foot and had surgery, but a rep denied that there was any sort of accident, stating:
"He did have routine foot surgery, but I'm not getting into specifics. It wasn't broken, it was a scheduled operation. He's doing great, and he's on the mend."
The beginning of the "I Get Money" remix is on 50 Cent's new video for "Still Kill". Watch below.
Cheri Dennis will be doing a tour of Apple Stores. The first one is in Chicago on November 29 at 2:00 PM.
Despite the fact that the video for "In My Bedroom" was supposed to be shot before the end of October, it is actually set to be shot at the end of November - the 29th, to be exact. They are looking for extras for the video. You have to be 18 or older.
Cheri Dennis' album, "In and Out of Love", is featured on the imeem! homepage. I mention this because the MySpace bulletin that pointed this out said that it was the first time that they have dedicated the tracks featured on their homepage to a single artist.
LOS has a freestyle over "Duffle Bag Boy" on his MySpace.
Updating a previous story, you can now watch Jay-Z's recent concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom. At the concert, Diddy came out and performed the "I Get Money" remix with Jay. It starts at 56:00. Like I said, a cool performance. Notice how Diddy says "a lot of records on this money, man!" hehe.
From the Los Angeles Daily News:
At a hearing this morning, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said she will issue a final order sometime soon that may formally add Death Row Records executive Marion "Suge" Knight and disgraced ex-LAPD Officer Rafael Perez, among others, as defendants. ...
"Plaintiffs have presented evidence that indicates Perez was on duty the night of the murder and may have been at the scene of the crime in an official capacity," Cooper wrote in her tentative order, issued Friday.
Via AllHipHop.com.
BallerStatus.com has an interview with Gorilla Zoe.
BallerStatus.com: Right now, you are in a similar situation that Jeezy was when he first dropped. He had two albums out at the same time, his solo debut and the Boyz N Da Hood project. That's a crazy coincidence... especially since you're the second Boyz N Da Hood member to drop a solo record since Jeezy did. Do you have the same plan as he did, as far as moving on to pursue your solo career, after this run with the group?
Gorilla Zoe: Nah, nah, nah, we family. It's bigger than rap. Relationships are more important that that, but I do and I do it well. I'm thankful for it, but Boyz N Da Hood is more than a rap group, just like Block Entertainment is more than a label.
Crain's New York Business.com spoke with Diddy on 360 deals. These are "ventures designed to give them a piece of all the revenues that come an artist's way."
Executives say monetizing and sharing in every aspect of a performer's career--from recording and publishing to movies, merchandising and endorsement deals--could make up for losses in record sales. But critics argue that the strategy is just another way for the majors to take money out of an artist's pocket
"Right now, everyone just says this brand-building concept out of their mouths so easily, claiming it's revolutionizing the industry," he says. "But it takes a certain type of superstar who understands at all times what it takes to be in the middle of a 360 situation. This is not going to solve the labels' problem."
Diddy doesn't appear in the video, but Yung Joc and Gorilla Zoe do - along with way too many people to count.
Here's the audio from my recent interview with Cheri Dennis. Besides YouTube, it's also been uploaded to MySpace, Yahoo! and imeem!
B5 will be featured on a bonus disc packaged with a special edition of the Shawna Ray childrens book, "Diverse City". The CD serves as an audio book with the members of B5 doing the reading. It's available for $14.95 plus tax shipping and can be ordered on RhythmRay.com.
You can listen to Cheri Dennis' album, "In and Out of Love", in it's entirety on imeem.
Updating a previous story, a representative for Control Room confirmed that 2:00 PM ET on November 20 is the time that the concert will be available - not at 9:00 PM, as stated on the concert website.
Cheri Dennis will be performing in The Platinum R&B Concert at Westbury Music Theater in Westbury, NY on November 16. See the flier below.
On Tuesday, I posted the clip of Jay-Z and Diddy performing "I Get Money (Remix)" during Jay-Z's stop at Hammerstein Ballroom for his American Gangster tour. I lamented the lack of a DVD.
Though no DVD is on the way, it looks like we'll get to see the whole concert in a high quality video format as MSN Music will be broadcasting it at http://music.msn.com/jayz on November 20. Before going to that link, you should login to MSN first as it attempts to spawn an endless number of login boxes, if you do not.
The time, I am not sure of, as their press release indicates 2:00 PM ET and the site itself says 9:00 PM ET. I've contacted Microsoft PR for clarification and will report back once I know.
Update: The time is 2:00 PM ET.
From the AP:
A former associate of Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a motion Wednesday to prohibit the hip-hop mogul from circulating FBI interrogation records in which an informant appears to link the associate to a shooting of the late rapper Tupac Shakur.
James Sabatino, once a consultant for Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment Inc., claims his former colleague is distributing the FBI reports as part of a smear campaign. Sabatino, 31, is imprisoned in Pennsylvania on fraud charges and sued Combs last month, claiming he is owed $19 million for music by the late Notorious B.I.G., another former client.
Monsters and Critics and People report that Diddy flew 100 of his closest friends to his home in Miami for his birthday party last Saturday. Jay-Z, Pharrell, Stephen Baldwin and Kim Porter were at the event. People has a couple of pictures.
MTV reports that Diddy joined Jay-Z on stage at the final spot on his American Gangster tour, at Harlem's Apollo Theater.
Diddy came out and acted as Jay's hypeman for "Encore."
"Now can I get an encore, do you want more?/ Cookin' raw with the Brooklyn boy/ So for one last time I need y'all to roar," Jay and the crowd chanted while Diddy spun in circles.
"They love you Jigga," Puff said when the song ended.
From Billboard:
Jay-Z scores his 10th No. 1 album on The Billboard 200, as "American Gangster" (Def Jam) debuts on top this week after selling 425,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The rapper thus ties Elvis Presley in second place for the most No. 1 albums on the chart; only the Beatles have had more, with 19.
Thanks to Theo for reminding me. I think I got distracted by the A-Rod drama.
Here are the Bad Boy releases on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 charts.
The Billboard 200:
123. "Welcome to the Zoo" by Gorilla Zoe (down from 103).
The Billboard Hot 100:
47. "Hood Figga" by Gorilla Zoe (down from 45).
G4 has a video segment with B5 for their Freestyle 101 series, featuring Kelly freestyling and a quick interview portion with the group.
It's been well over half a decade since Cheri Dennis joined the Bad Boy family. She's paid her dues, waited patiently and it's finally her time - the day that her debut album, "In and Out of Love" is released. I interviewed Cheri on the eve of this long anticipated moment, covering a range of topics - from her album and how she got to Bad Boy to her relationship with label mate LOS and the video for "Portrait of Love". And, of course, I asked her some of your questions.
Harold asked: How did you get signed to Bad Boy?
I'm signed to Jimmy Cozier who has Cozi Music and a friend of his worked at Bad Boy at the time and invited Puffy to a party and I sat down next to Puff and I sang over the music that was playing and that's kinda how I got my deal.
Do you remember what you sang?
No, I was just ad libbing over music that was playing and I can't even remember what song was playing. I just kinda was freestyling and I guess he liked what he heard and that's why that happened.
»
Read More
Watch below. Words can't describe how awesome this is. Let's start selling some DVDs. How many times do I have to say it? I'll buy DVDs of these events. Somebody needs to get together so that they can get my money.
Thanks Ricardo.
HHE reports on Jay-Z's concept at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC.
Jay also brought out Diddy for 50 Cent's "I Get Money" remix while Memphis Bleek, Beanie Sigel, Freeway and Young Gunz also made appearances. They performed during a Roc-A-Fella block that included "Roc The Mic," "What We Do," "Can't Stop Won't Stop" and "Ignorant Sh-t."
Listen to this track at DJBooth.net.
As you may know, Kanye West's mother has passed away suddenly. I'm a Kanye fan and Kanye is a friend of Bad Boy, so I just wanted to take a moment to express our condolences. Our thoughts are with Kanye and everyone who was close to Dr. West.
Today, "In and Out of Love" by Cheri Dennis has been released exclusively on iTunes. The album will be receiving a physical release on February 26, 2008.
1. "Intro"
2. "I Love You" featuring Jim Jones and Yung Joc
3. "Portrait of Love" featuring Yung Joc and Gorilla Zoe
4. "Remind You"
5. "All I Wanna Do"
6. "Alright"
7. "In and Out of Love (Interlude)"
8. "Dropping Out of Love"
9. "Pretend"
10. "Spaced Out"
11. "Act Like You Know"
12. "Showdown"
13. "Ooh Ooh"
14. "Finally Made It (Interlude)"
15. "Caught Up"
16. "Waiting"
AllHipHop.com has an interview with Keri Hilson where she discusses producing a track for Yung Joc (it didn't make the album) and writing for Danity Kane ("Right Now" and "After Love", which ended up with Diddy and her singing on it).
AHHA: As an established writer, is it ever a complicated situation where you have to make a decision on whether to give a song to someone else or keep it for yourself?
Keri Hilson: I just kind of cross the bridge when I get there. If I’m in a booked session and summoned by the label or their artist, then I always have to give them first dibs. But if they don’t take it, I have the option to keep it for myself or sell it elsewhere. And of course I’ve sold songs that I would have kept for myself. One of them was “Right Now” for Danity Kane. [Also] “After Love” for Diddy. I actually wrote that for Danity Kane as well, but somehow it ended up in Diddy’s hands. So things happen like that, but it’s only because I’m always giving my best work. Of course I’m going to like something that I’m doing, because I write stuff I like all the time. But I’m in the business of doing both, so that’s what I do, and I don’t feel like my artistry is slighted at all. ...
Keri Hilson: I’ve gotten to work with [T.I.] on a couple of things. Like, he was getting into producing, and we worked on a couple songs together. One was for Young Joc. It didn’t make the album so we may be doing something else with it, but I got to spend a lot of time with him. ...
Update: We are now closed to questions. Thank you to everyone who posted!
It's that time again! Our first interview with B5, back in July; went so well, that we're planning to do it again.
This is your chance to ask B5 whatever you'd like to ask them. As with last time, I'll pick the most appropriate questions, keeping in mind what will make for the best interview and what will fit into the time that we have. That said, please suggest as many questions as you would like. There's no limit!
Please know that I won't ask them inappropriate questions (or questions that would get me thrown in jail!), questions that I can guess the answer to, questions that are already covered by widely available info or questions that I asked in the last interview. Edit: Also, "when are you coming to X?" type questions will not be asked as they could fill a whole interview by themselves and, really, B5 aren't tour planners. Sorry.
As a bonus, I'll be posting the audio from the interview online a few days (or so) after the interview itself is published on this site.
If you want your question to be considered, please post it here on Bad Boy Blog and not anywhere else. Please post it only once - posting it more than once won't make it any better or worse a question. If you want to direct the question at a specific member of B5, please specify who.
I think that's all there is to it. If there is something you'd like to ask B5, let me know by leaving a comment on this entry! Thanks.
I've taken FOX News' Roger Friedman to task a few times before. Bring critical of Bad Boy is one thing - but stating inaccuracies is quite another. It's that time again. In an article yesterday, Friedman comments on Warner Music Group's shrinking stock price and says the following:
What's wrong with Warner Music Group? It's not downloading. It's lack of music, no artists, no signings, no development of new artists, as well as wildly overpaid executives and bad business deals.
For example, a $30 million investment in Sean "Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment has turned up nothing of value. And another multimillion dollar investment, in a private luxury concert business this summer in the Hamptons, was a bust.
" Nothing of value"? The Bad Boy and Warner partnership was announced on April 14, 2005. Since then, we've seen the following releases:
"Boyz N Da Hood" by Boyz N Da Hood.
"B5" by B5.
"The Black Rob Report" by Black Rob.
"Duets: The Final Chapter" by The Notorious B.I.G. (platinum album with a gold single).
"New Joc City" by Yung Joc (gold album with a 3x platinum single that reached #3, platinum single that reached #17 and gold single).
"Cassie" by Cassie (with a platinum single that reached #3).
"Danity Kane" by Danity Kane (#1 platinum album with a gold single that reached #8).
"Christian Daniel" by Christian Daniel.
"Press Play" by Diddy (#1 gold album with a single that reached #9 and a single that reached #10).
"Greatest Hits" by The Notorious B.I.G. (#1 album).
"Ridin High" by 8 Ball & MJG.
"Hustlenomics" by Yung Joc.
"Don't Talk, Just Listen" by B5.
"Welcome to the Zoo" by Gorilla Zoe.
"Back Up N Da Chevy" by Boyz N Da Hood.
In about two years and seven months, Bad Boy has made fifteen releases, seven of which were debut albums. This yielded three #1 albums, eight top 5 Billboard 200 albums, two platinum albums, two gold albums, one 3x platinum single, two platinum singles, three gold singles, five top 10 Billboard Hot 100 singles and fifteen Hot 100 charting singles.
There's no doubt that there have been a number of poor sellers (though that's not something unique to Bad Boy), but that wasn't what Friedman said, either. He said that Bad Boy had given Warner nothing of value. That's absurd. "New Joc City" was one of the biggest albums of 2006. Do you know how many singles were certified 3x platinum in 2006? Three. No single was certified 4x, either. That album, in itself, was huge and represented tremendous value.
Via Monsters and Critics.
It looks like my interview with Cheri Dennis will be taking place Monday (November 12) evening. So, if you have anything you'd like to ask Cheri, please tell me what it is. Thanks!
In an interview today with Charlie Rose, Jay-Z has the following to say about Diddy's production prowess. Watch below for a clip with this quote as well as Jay talking about the creation of the tracks (he said that Diddy actually had about 30 tracks), Biggie and more.
Jay-Z: ... He made the foundation to which all the other producers produced into. Because I would play it for the producers and say, "it has to fit in this, it has to sound like this - sonically, it has to have this sound on it." And, the great thing about Puff, what I really realized is, he's a great producer. I've always known this, but it really brought me back-
Rose: Many people think that's what he does best. He thinks that's what he does best.
Jay-Z: I think that's what he does best. It made me realize that he's not a good producer - he's a great producer. And he's produced "Ready to Die" and "Life After Death" and Mary J. Blige's album, Jodeci's album and, you know, I start getting these tracks back and I'm like, who's doing this? He's a director. He's like, "it's like Motown over there in my studio, I got horn sessions...". I mean, the things that he added after the lyrics was on there - you had to hear the bare tracks. The bare tracks were great tracks, but what he added after it, made it a movie and made it complete.
I don't know what else there is to say.
Via HipHopDX.
Winners have been announced in the 2007 VH1 Soul Vibe Awards.
Diddy was nominated in the "Hip Hop Artist of the Year" and "VStyle" categories, losing to Lil' Wayne and Beyonce, respectively. However, "Song of the Year" was given to "Buy U A Drank" by T-Pain featuring Yung Joc.
The RIAA has finally, finally updated their searchable database of platinum and gold certifications. I'm not sure how long ago, exactly, but it can't be all that old. With it, there are a bunch of new (to me and, probably you) Bad Boy platinum and gold certifications.
First of all, you have to be in awe of "New Joc City". Regardless of what "Hustlenomics" is doing, bow to the great Yung Joc. I was already blown away by the success of the album, which I knew to be certified gold with a 2x platinum single in "It's Goin' Down". It doesn't stop there. "It's Goin' Down" was actually certified 3x platinum. On top of that, "I Know You See It" was certified platinum and "1st Time" was certified gold. Do you know how hard it is, these days, to have a gold album, with a 3x platinum single, a platinum single and a gold single? Let's just say, it's not something that happens everyday.
Cassie's "Me & U" was certified platinum. "Showstopper" by Danity Kane was certified gold. "Nasty Girl" by The Notorious B.I.G. was also certified gold. Finally, for some reason, "Big Poppa" is showing up as having been certified gold in late 2006. I'm not sure what that's about, except to speculate that, perhaps, "Big Poppa" is being measured as a single of it's own, separate from the "Big Poppa/Warning" single that has already been certified platinum.
Jay-Z kicked off his tour on Tuesday night at the Hollywood House of Blues, bringing out Diddy during his encore set.
After performing “Big Pim***’,” Jay-Z says, “Thank you, I had a good time.” STOP!! Jay, I love “Big Pimpin’ ” but I know you ain’t going to go out like that. The band begins to play again, so Jay-Z cuts and you know he’s going to come back. About 15 minutes later, a voice goes, “We don’t have to go home!” — it’s Jay! Back onstage for “What More Can I Say,” followed by the final guest appearances of the night: Jermaine Dupri and the world’s greatest hype man, P. Diddy. You know Diddy had to get a mic even though he didn’t quite know all the words to the song, but the crowd barely noticed because they were back to head-bobbing and hand-waving. To close it out, Jay called for Beans and Freeway to come back up but Beans was literally in the middle of the crowd so he asked Freeway to hold him down on the final song, “Roc Boys.”
AllHipHop.com has a review of "Back Up N Da Chevy", giving it a fairly mediocre 6 and 1/2 stars out of 10.
I just got word that Bad Boy Latino's first (and only, as far as I know) artist, Christian Daniel, has been dropped from the label, following disappointing sales of his self titled, debut album.
Here are the Nielsen SoundScan sales for the week ending November 4, including the Billboard 200 position of the album.
88. "Welcome to the Zoo" by Gorilla Zoe, 6,300 (up from 103, 85,600 overall).
NR. "Hustlenomics" by Yung Joc, 3,900 (158,200).
NR. "Back Up N Da Chevy" by Boyz N Da Hood, 2,500 (33,800).
NR. "Greatest Hits" by The Notorious B.I.G., 1,400 (281,100).
NR. "Don't Talk, Just Listen" by B5, 1,200 (39,700).
NR. "Press Play" by Diddy, 500 (688,100).
NR. "Ridin High" by 8 Ball & MJG, 500 (157,500).
Though the studio version hasn't been released, watch below for a live version.
Watch below for the video to Jay-Z's "Roc Boys (And The Winner Is...)". Cool video featuring appearances by Diddy and Cassie. The shot with Diddy, Jay and Nas is cool. They should sell a print of that.
Via Theo.
I just opened my copy of American Gangster. I was pleasantly surprised to see that beyond just Diddy, Sean C, LV and Mario Winans, Bad Boy artists Cheri Dennis, Cassie and Shannon Jones contributed, as well as Bad Boy writers Adonis Shropshire and Carmen Cameron. Here's the noteworthy stuff:
"Pray"
Produced by Diddy and LV & Sean C for Grind Music/The Hitmen/Bad Boy Entertainment. Mario Winans provides strings and drums. Bad Boy writers Adonis Shropshire and Carmen Cameron provide vocals, as do Bad Boy artists Cheri Dennis and Shannon Jones. Interestingly, Cheri Dennis appears courtesy of Cozier Entertainment, Inc./Bad Boy Records instead of just Bad Boy Records.
"American Dreamin'"
Produced by Diddy and LV & Sean C for Grind Music/The Hitmen/Bad Boy Entertainment. Co-Produced by Mario Winans for Yellow City Entertainment/The Senate. Winans also provides live drums and strings.
"No Hook"
Produced by Diddy and LV & Sean C for Grind Music/The Hitmen/Bad Boy Entertainment. Strings and drums by Mario Winans.
"Roc Boys (And The Winner Is...)"
Produced by Diddy and LV & Sean C for Grind Music/The Hitmen/Bad Boy Entertainment. Drums by Mario Winans. Additional vocals by Cassie.
"Sweet"
Produced by Diddy and LV & Sean C for Grind Music/The Hitmen/Bad Boy Entertainment. Drums by Mario Winans. Additional vocals by Cassie and Carmen Cameron.
"Party Life"
Produced by Diddy and LV & Sean C for Grind Music/The Hitmen/Bad Boy Entertainment. Drums by Mario Winans. Vocals by Shannon Jones.
Diddy, LV and Sean C receive writing credits on all 6 songs.
There is a very cool thing at the very end of the credits. Though Diddy didn't get an executive producer credit, he did get a mention in the very last words printed in the booklet. "Associate Producer: Sean "Diddy" Combs and The Hitmen".
There will be no criminal charges filed on the Steven Acevedo assault case against Diddy (which I've written about many times), according to the New York Daily News:
Officials said Acevedo would not cooperate with law enforcement and had given various versions of the event.
"For those reasons, we cannot prove any charges beyond a reasonable doubt," said Barbara Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Diddy's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, released this statement to Access Hollywood:
“I’ve been informed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office that after a thorough investigation, they have made a decision not to authorize any arrests in connection with the incident involving Mr. Combs and Steven Acevado on October 13. I want to commend the DA’s office and the New York City Police Department for conducting a thorough and very fair investigation into this incident and not allowing this private disagreement between two acquaintances to turn into a criminal charge.”
The New York Post has this:
Acevedo's attorney, Mark Jay Heller, said his client chose to take the "high road" because he believes in "good Karma."
Whatever it was, whatever happened behind the scenes, the situation appears to be resolved.
MTV has an interview with Frank Lucas. He's the subject of the film "American Gangster" and a former acquaintance of Diddy's father, Melvin Combs.
MTV: Even though you aren't a fan of rap, you were friends with the father of one of hip-hop's most famous artists, right?
Lucas: Melvin Combs. He's a good friend of mind. That's Puff Daddy's father. He used to bring [his son] to my house every day, at least at least two or three times a week. And my daughter used to push him off the [toys]. He made it great. You see where he's at now. He's on top of the world now.
MTV: Were you and Melvin just friends or business partners?
Lucas: All the above. We did business and we were good friends. He was really a good friend of mine.
MTV: Do you remember how you met him?
Lucas: We all were out there on Seventh Avenue, and everybody knew everybody out there; I don't remember how I met him. But we had a good relationship. Me, him and [former street-basketball player] Pee Wee Kirkland. We were about as good of friends as you could get.
Here's the cover for "In and Out of Love", Cheri Dennis' debut album, due out November 13.
Today on Oprah, Diddy has announced/is announcing (depending on what time it comes on in your area) the results of his publicly held search for a new personal assistant.
Thanks to Oprah's website, we know the answer. Diddy will choose Heather, who describes herself as follows:
"I think I should have this job because my experience as a lawyer, a return Peace Corps volunteer, and my wide scope of professional experiences, I believe make me uniquely qualified to serve Mr. Combs. I'm very humble and not unwilling to take the role of assisting him because I understand who the star is in this relationship and I'm willing to support him in the way that he needs."
Her video is below. She went over the 3 minutes that Diddy asked that everyone stay under.
Congratulations to her.
Diddy also announced that VH1 has signed on for a reality show where he will be looking to hire three additional assistants, so everyone who may be interested is still encouraged to post their application videos on YouTube.
As we reported last week, Cheri Dennis' "Remind You" (produced by Rodney Jerkins) is the iTunes Single of the Week and can be downloaded for free through the service.
The confirmed producers for "In and Out of Love", besides Soul Diggaz and Ryan Leslie, are Rodney Jerkins, Timbaland and Mario Winans. I'm working on getting a full tracklisting with producers and will post it when I have it.
BallerStatus.com has an interview with Diddy on Ciroc deal.
BallerStatus.com: What are some of your ideas for the marketing campaign if you aren't planning on gearing it toward the hip-hop community?
Diddy: Step one in the advertising campaign would just be to get the name recognition out there. Getting it recognized and getting it known that Ciroc is pronounced "S-ur-rock." [For people] to know that, they can request it at a bar and its level of luxury. That's an ultra-premium vodka. It's not a regular three-tiered vodka and that it is affordable. It's separate because it is the only vodka made by French grapes. Other vodkas are distilled by potatoes. So, it'd be getting that information out there. Phase one.
The next phase is to make it known for New Years Eve and the holidays, that this is the drink of choice. This is a time when people are going to be celebrating, having parties, trying new beverages. This is a time when they would organically try Ciroc. And that it is available and it's The Official Vodka Of New Years Eve, because Diddy said so. And I'm not really wrong when it comes to this party stuff.
Reviews are pouring in for Jay-Z's "American Gangster" and they are very, very positive. Diddy and The Hitmen (LV, Sean C. and Mario Winans) created the album's sound, producing 6 tracks. Here's a sampling of reviews.
Boston Globe:
One of the main pluses of "American Gangster" is it gets Diddy off the party circuit and back into the studio doing what actually made him famous. As a producer, Diddy's feel for '70s soul is impeccable, and the choogling congas, deep bass, and smoky blaxploitation atmospheres are a boon to tracks like "American Dreamin' " where a lone male falsetto hollers about the inner-city blues, Marvin Gaye-style.
The Daily Orange:
Purist fans of Jay-Z are going to celebrate his latest effort for its sharp lyricism and gritty portrayal of the drug underworld, a pronounced move away from last year's "Kingdom Come." Those looking for Jay-Z lyrics idolizing commercialism will not find them here.
Newsday:
"American Gangster" is bold, both in concept and in execution, with Jay-Z telling the story of a Brooklyn teen getting into the drug trade and then getting stuck in it. Jay does it in character, as if it were a series of monologues crafted into a one-man play. However, it is no one-man effort, as the musical backdrops - many crafted by Diddy and the Bad Boy Entertainment's production team The Hitmen, as well as Pharrell Williams, Jermaine Dupri, Kanye West and Just Blaze - are often just as remarkable.
Grade: A
USA TODAY:
While not officially linked to Ridley Scott's film, Jay-Z's bracing American Gangster concept album (* * * ½ out of four) draws its narrative from key scenes and revisits the rapper's hardscrabble origins and the dope-slinging lifestyle that he has been documenting since 1996's Reasonable Doubt.
AllHipHop.com:
With the unbearable, Lil’ Wayne assisted “Hello Brooklyn 2.0,” which ruins the album’s pacing, as the only flagrant misstep, American Gangster remains triumphant. There is no definitive radio smash hit present but that’s what keeps the project fresh. Jay goes from running the block to cornering the market without forcing the issue, leaving no need to question his G file.
9 stars out of 10.
EW.com:
Scott's Gangster follows the ascension of Frank Lucas, a notorious '70s heroin kingpin played by Denzel Washington. While Jay-Z does not make the ambitious leap of trying to write from Lucas' point of view, he does use the film's story and period vibe to color his own elaborate legend. On ''American Dreamin','' a Marvin Gaye sample provides the backdrop as Jay-Z wistfully recounts his early days as a wannabe dealer, scheming with his buddies. ''We need it now,'' he raps over the (slightly too) drippingly soulful Diddy-produced track, ''We need a town/We need a place to pitch/We need a mound.'' Nobody flips a drug-trafficking metaphor better. The more celebratory but less garish ''Party Life'' is another old-school contribution from Diddy, with Jay channeling slick '70s icons like Goldie and Superfly over a slow groove and silky guitar licks. ''So tall and lanky,'' he boasts in no hurry, ''my suit, it should thank me.''
B+
DJBooth.net:
American Gangster starts with Pray, a cinematic flashback that recounts Jay’s lost childhood innocence. The beat pulses with a deadly seriousness as Jay rhymes “everything I’ve seen made me everything I am/bad drug dealer or I victim I beg/what came first moving chickens or the egg?” If this album was a movie, Pray would be the creation of Hova, the birth of the best rapper/businessman hybrid hip-hop’s ever seen. Moving on with the cinematic metaphor, the next scene would be Sweet, a track that has Jay swimming in the rewards of his success. As good as Jay’s flow is throughout the album, and it’s extraordinary, Sweet shows the production is equally clutch. Diddy’s production team The Hitmen (LV, Sean C and Mario Winans) take soul and funk samples from the likes of Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield to create a cohesive musical thesis so 70’s even I’m inspired to grow an afro. Listening to Sweet is like watching the original Shaft, only instead of Isaac Hayes we get intimidatingly powerful rhymes from Jay-Z.
4.5 Spins (out of 5)
HipHopDX.com:
... Ever the master of malicious coke raps with murmurs of lamentation and humanity, Jay makes it all go down sweeter with flows befitting of his reputation. Even though he rarely makes reference to himself as a rapper – largely sticking to character – his enduring brilliance is on display as much as it ever was without needing his insistence of it. Where this ranks amongst Jay’s catalogue will be determined as time passes. It certainly isn’t perfect, but it has a quality that should resonate into something special. ...
4.5 (out of 5)
HHNLive.com:
The "Intro" sets the tone for the album. The theme? "Gangster." This leads into "Pray", one of six songs produced by Diddy and the Hitmen (Sean C. & LV). A pulsating beat accented by faint background screams provide Jay the canvas to tell stories of watching drug sales and transactions go down. The song is a great departure from the glossy Jay-Z sound and takes it back to Jigga getting money by any means necessary. "American Dreamin'" is a smoothed out track from Diddy and co. with a bad 70s cop show sound (but in a good way). The song sees Jay telling the story of rising to the top and achieving success through moving the weight.
4 Kicks (out of 5)
Rolling Stone:
The music has the Seventies vibe of The Blueprint, led by Puffy, who oversees five tracks with his reassembled Hitmen production squad. Puff keeps the Harvey's Bristol Cream flowing through "Roc Boys," "Party Life" (with a killer Miami disco sample from Little Beaver) and "American Dreamin' " (with a Marvin Gaye chorus and fierce live drums from Mario Winans). ... the concept is really just a spark to get Jay started. Forget Frank Lucas: The real black superhero here is Jay, and with American Gangster, Gray-Hova is back in black.
4 (out of 5).
247HH has a video interview with Gorilla Zoe. See parts 1 and 2.
From her MySpace:
Nov 6 2007 7:00P 100.3 WPHI Radio Interview - Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Nov 6 2007 11:30P Cheri Dennis and WPHI at $2 Tuesdays Philly, Pennsylvania
Nov 7 2007 12:00P 92.3 WERQ Radio Interview - Baltimore, MD Baltimore, Maryland
Nov 7 2007 3:00P 95.5 WPGC Radio Interview - Washington, DC Washington, DC, Washington DC
Nov 7 2007 6:00P 93.9 WKYS Radio Interview - Washington, DC Washington, DC, Washington DC
Nov 8 2007 3:00P Radio Interview - XM Radio -The City Washington, DC, Washington DC
Nov 8 2007 5:00P Radio Interview -WHBU Howard University Radio Washington, DC, Washington DC
Nov 8 2007 11:00P Fur Nightclub - Washington, DC Washignton, DC, Washington DC
Nov 9 2007 3:00P 106.5 WBTJ Radio Interview - Richmond, VA Richmond, Virginia
Nov 9 2007 11:00P Listening Party @ Club Night - Richmond, VA Richmond, Virginia
Nov 10 2007 7:00P 102.9 WOWI Radio Interview - Norfolk, VA Norfolk, Virginia
Nov 10 2007 11:00P Album Listening Party @ Club Encore - VA Beach, VA VA Beach, Virginia
You may have noticed in the Cheri Dennis iTunes Single of the Week flier, the URL badboyworldwide.com is featured near the bottom. The new home of Bad Boy Online? No - just a typo. The Bad Boy site will remain at badboyonline.com.
According to a YouTube video on the new Oprah channel, Diddy will be on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Tuesday, November 6, to announce the person he picked to be his assistant from the online search that he conducted.
Via EURweb.com.
RWD has an interview with DJ Drama where he mentions Diddy while talking about his own struggles.
Due to that whole situation, did anything to do with your business end up being affected negatively?
Nah. It basically just affected my business positively. I think it put me on a larger scale. I did a lot of traveling, I got booked for a lot of international gigs and you know the mixtape game as a whole slowed down, so that was a definite turn of events. But I think that's slowly but surely coming back to life, because of people like myself and a lot of other people are putting in a lot of work to bring the game back to life. I'm a firm believer that mixtapes will never die. But overall it didn't affect my business in any negative way.
At the end of the day, the stories in the media are always full of half truths and you're always going to have up's and you're always going to have down's. You got to take the good with the bad. A prime example would be Puffy. Look how many things Puff has been through? I've used this example before but let's just say he would have quit after the riot at that basketball game? Then he would never have started 'Bad Boy' records. Let's say he would have quit after Biggie got killed, let's say he quit after the trail for the gun charges? You can't let any type of controversy stop you from doing what you love.
Jordan McCoy's "Next Ex-Boyfriend" has been added to Dance! Online, a free online dancing game.
The second single from Gorilla Zoe's "Welcome to the Zoo" is now in our audio player. It's "Welcome to the Zoo" featuring labelmate Big Gee. The video for the track has already been shot.
You can listen to "American Gangster" now on Rocafella.com.
Anthony Falzone at Slate writes an article about the legal defenses of sampling and questions why Diddy has not done more to defend it under the fair use doctrine.
Combs is not alone in his failure to bring fair use to the court's attention. Although the Beastie Boys successfully defended their right to sample a three-note flute sequence in one of their songs a few years back, they too failed to pursue the fair-use defense in that case.
Why would Combs, one of the biggest names in hip-hop, fail to defend sampling? Maybe it was simply inadvertence. Maybe it was a strategic decision (albeit a very bad one, as it turned out). Or maybe it was more calculating. Combs and his label can afford to pay for samples. Many aspiring artists and their fledgling labels—the next generation of would-be moguls hungry to unseat Diddy—cannot. Maybe Diddy cares more about the benefit of reduced competition than defending the work of the artist and the technique that helped create his empire. Tell us, Diddy, what were you thinking?
It's an interesting read, but I have one key problem with the assertion: Diddy is almost certainly going on the advice of his attorneys. He's not the attorney and he's not making assertions regarding copyright laws or fair use - that is how for attorneys. So, if you want to fault someone for this, I think the fault has to lie there as they decided what their legal strategy was and it didn't include fair use.
Diddy and Cassie attended Roberto Cavalli's Halloween at Cipriani's in New York. whudat has a picture (note that there is some generally risque content at the link). Diddy went as V from "V from Vendetta" while Cassie went as some sort of police officer, from the looks of it.
There has been a tracklisting for "In and Out of Love" posted on iTunes. Here it is:
1. "Intro"
2. "I Love You" featuring Jim Jones and Yung Joc
3. "Portrait of Love" featuring Yung Joc and Gorilla Zoe
4. "Remind You"
5. "All I Wanna Do"
6. "Alright"
7. "In and Out of Love (Interlude)"
8. "Dropping Out of Love"
9. "Pretend"
10. "Spaced Out"
11. "Act Like You Know"
12. "Showdown"
13. "Ooh Ooh"
14. "Finally Made It (Interlude)"
15. "Caught Up"
16. "Waiting"
I'm interested to hear it, though my first question is where is "Matrix" (produced by Diddy) and the "Sky's the Limit" remake produced by Harve Pierre? I was looking forward to those!
Cheri Dennis' "Remind You" will be the iTunes single of the week, starting on November 6. You'll be able to download the track fo free. See the flier below.
The video for "In My Bedroom" is going to be shot in Los Angeles.
The Bad Boy Publishing MySpace notes that Mario Winans assisted on the drums and strings on all of the Bad Boy produced tracks for Jay-Z's November 6 release, "American Gangster".
According to the Bad Boy Publishing MySpace, the season four premiere of Run's House was the highest rated show of the day (Thursday) on MTV.
|
