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You are currently viewing the archive for September 2010.
Over on his site, Jermaine Dupri has posted his own remix of Dirty Money's "Loving You No More," on which he drops an opening verse.
Diddy is featured in a brand new Macy's commercial around their "Find Your Magic" campaign. A shorter version is also being run, but this is the full clip.
Janelle Monae performed "Tightrope" on last night's episode of "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC. Check out the clip below, starting at the 9:34 mark.
Faith Evans' new album, "Something About Faith," will be released on October 5 ( pre-order). It will feature "Everyday Struggle," which samples the Biggie record of the same name.
Another cut from the LP is "Can't Stay Away" featuring Keyshia Cole. On this song, Faith interpolates the hook from The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize," singing "Baby, baby, baby, can't you see? Somehow your love just hypnotized me. I just love your sexy ways. I been fantasizing every day."
You can stream the album in full at Centric.
According to a press release, "Big Poppa" by The Notorious B.I.G. has been added to the list of tracks that will be featured in the "Def Jam Rapstar" video game, set for release on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii ( pre-order now).
This is the second Biggie record included with the set, following "Juicy." A number of other Bad Boy related songs will be featured, including Diddy's "It's All About the Benjamins (Remix)" featuring The Notorious B.I.G., The Lox and Lil' Kim, Nas' "Hate Me Now" featuring Diddy, Yung Joc's "It's Goin' Down" and the Diddy-produced Mary J. Blige cut, "You’re All I Need/I’ll Be There For You."
On Monday, Diddy was featured on CNN International as the "Connector of the Day." He was interviewed about fashion and his business success. Watch the clip below.
In an interview with NewsBlaze, Michele Norris, a host on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," talked about her love of Janelle Monae.
KW: The music maven Heather Covington question: What are you listening to on your iPod?
MN: My iPod is always on shuffle. But if you want to know what artist really has got my juices going, I am just a stone-cold Janelle Monae addict. The girl is sassy and smart, and she's got the dance moves and the attitude. I defy you to sit still listening to her. I just can't wait to see what she does next.
According to a tweet from David Harraway, Aasim's "The Money Pit, Part 2" mixtape album will feature production from No I.D., Mario Winans, Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson, Rock Raida, Aasim, Akos ( who produced "Feel Stronger"), Nocko and more.
The mixtape will be released on October 4.
The Sean John blog has photos of the line's "Ready to Work" collection for holiday 2010. It is "a new range of career focused merchandise that includes blazers, dress pants, long sleeve wovens, sweaters, and vests." You'll find it in both original and tailored fits at Macy's.
10 years ago Sunday, Shyne's self-titled debut album was released. To mark the occasion, XXL talked with Harve Pierre, Mario Winans, EZ Elpee, Nashiem Myrick and (mostly) Shyne about the making of all of the tracks included on the set. For the most part, Shyne talks about how he was in control and what his mind state was at the time.
But, there are a couple of interesting details. Shyne says that he wanted Usher, not Barrington Levy, to sing on "Bonnie & Shyne." Harve Pierre says that Usher was a thought, but that there were other thoughts, as well. EZ Elpee says that he originally made the "Bad Boyz" beat for Lil' Kim. Finally, Shyne says that if he re-released the album, he'd take "Get Out" off of it, due to (in his words) the song's misogynist lyrics.
According to a drastically excerpted report by Drapers, Diddy has announced that he plans to launch the Sean John brand in the United Kingdom in early 2011.
TMZ reports that Janelle Monae will perform "Tightrope" on Tuesday's "Dancing with the Stars" results show, on ABC at 9 PM ET.
Via Chris Harnick.
The Daily Record has an interview with Dirty Money, most of which is spent reflecting on what it means to be in the group.
The rap mogul exclusively told the Razz: "Being in Dirty Money is another level or sense of security.
"It's another level of fun and enjoyment and you feel like somebody has your back. I've always had more success playing on a team anyway."
The hitmaker added: "It's been great to be a solo artist, but some people play better on a team.
Ahead of a scheduled performance at the IdeaFestival in Louisville, Kentucky, Jeffrey Lee Puckett of The Courier-Journal chatted with Janelle Monae. She talks about her background and influences.
“I've actually been told that I look like Muhammad Ali a lot of times,” Monae said, “and I don't understand because I think he's more beautiful than I am. But I take it as a compliment. His fighting spirit is one of his most beautiful things, just his will to never give up, to motivate himself and his tribe.”
Update: Though Diddy's earlier tweet indicated that it would be broadcast on CNN, a later message indicated it would be on CNN International, a different network. The show's website confirms this is accurate. I apologize for the inaccuracy. It looks like the interviews are put online, however, so we'll have that if they put the interview with Diddy online.
On Twitter, Diddy mentioned that he would appear on CNN's "Connect the World" today at 4 PM ET. For more background on the feature, check out the CNN website.
In the clip below, 9th Wonder, Big Sean and Skyzoo drop some retrospective thoughts on Diddy's legendary "I'll Be Missing You" performance at the MTV Video Music Awards with Sting, Faith Evans and 112.
In the clip below, Ness announced that he would be releasing an album of material he recorded with music producer and rapper 9th Wonder, titled "The Lost Tapes."
In the clip below, Ness mentioned that he had a "Matrax" album available on iTunes. I looked it up and found that he released the album digitally with DJ Pillzbury in December, followed by a CD on demand release in February. You can pick up the digital copy on Amazon.com and iTunes and the CD on demand on Amazon.com. You can listen to snippets at all of those links, as well. Farther down, check out the cover and full track listing.
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"Get Him to the Greek" will be released digitally and on DVD on September 28. Three DVD formats will be available, including the single disc, two disc collectors edition and Blu-ray editions. All three versions will include both the theatrical release and an unrated edition.
You can pre-order the DVDs from Amazon.com (buy now: single disc, two disc collectors edition and Blu-ray) and the digital editions from iTunes and Amazon.com.
Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel says that the deleted scenes featuring Diddy are "always funny."
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Minnesota Public Radio sat down with Janelle Monae for an interview and some live, in-studio performances of "Say You'll Go" and "Cold War" from her "The ArchAndroid" album. Listen below.
For The Sun's Biz Sessions series, Conor O'Brien of Irish band the Villagers covered Janelle Monae's "Tightrope." Watch now.
Kristin Young of DailyFinance reports that, according to a Luxury Institute poll conducted this year, "high-end female shoppers" ranked Zac Posen among the top 3 luxury shoe brands "most worthy of a price premium" between $400 and $4,000.
Zac Posen ranked third, behind Christian Louboutin and Manolo Blahnik.
Another day, another mixtape: Jeremy Greene has teamed up with Clinton Sparks to release "The Morning After." You can download it for free care of Greene's Twitter. Check out the cover and track listing below.
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Diddy announced on Twitter that he and Rick Ross will release a collaborative single as the Bugatti Boyz. It's titled "Another One" and it will be released on October 1.
Previously, "I'm So Appalled" was reported to be a collaboration with Kanye West for Dirty Money's "Last Train to Paris."
Today, as part of his weekly "GOOD Friday" music release, West released "So Appalled" for free download featuring RZA, Jay-Z, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz and Cyhi the Prince.
At this stage, it's unclear if the record was really a collaboration with Diddy or not and if so, how close to the potential collaboration that this finished record really is.
Aasim mentioned on Twitter that "Feel Stronger," his street single for his "The Money Pit, Part 2" mixtape, was produced by Akos and that the mixtape itself will be hosted by DJ Self.
On Twitter, Aasim announced that he would release a new mixtape, the "We Invented the Remix" mixtape." In the tweet, he mentioned that it would be released prior to his previously announced "The Money Pit, Part 2" mixtape, which is set for an October 4 release.
Veteran entertainment attorney Reggie Osse, also known as Combat Jack, spoke with Complex, sharing some behind the scenes stories tied to some classic hip-hop records (mostly in the 90s). The whole thing is worth a read, but there is a lot of Bad Boy related details in there and I wanted to highlight them.
You'll want to check out his blurbs on "Who Shot Ya," "Player's Anthem," "Hit 'Em Up," "Brooklyn's Finest," "Ain't No N****," "T.O.N.Y. (Top of New York)," "Hypnotize," "We'll Always Love Big Poppa," "How to Rob," "Hate Me Now," "I Dare You" and "Bad Boyz."
Osse discusses the tragic Bad Boy/Death Row feud, insisting neither Biggie's "Who Shot Ya?" nor Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Player's Anthem" were intended to cause such a reaction from 2Pac. "We had no clue Tupac would take this song as a major diss," he says. "We had no clue that 'Pac would soon join ranks with crazy a** Suge Knight and Death Row and use this record as motivation to bomb first. We had no clue this record would later, indirectly, lead to the deaths of not only Tupac, but our man Christopher Wallace."
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Willie Taylor and Michael McCluney of Day26 make a cameo appearance in Ludacris' new video for "Everybody Drunk." You can watch it below, care of Ludacris' Twitter. They can be seen at the 3:24 mark.
On a related note, the song features a heavy sample of 8 Ball's vocal from the Bad Boy-era 8 Ball & MJG single "You Don't Want Drama."
Via DAY26FrenchyFan.
On Twitter, Aasim released "Feel Stronger," a new record featuring ad-libs from Diddy. It is available for free download and is the street single for Aasim's upcoming mixtape, "The Money Pit, Part 2."
Aasim announced the new mixtape earlier this month and today, Diddy revealed that it would be released on October 4.
On Twitter, Jeremy Greene announced that he will release a new mixtape with Clinton Sparks this evening. The mixtape will feature Akon, Drake, Diddy, Mike Posner and David Guetta.
Dawn Richard and Kalenna of Dirty Money shared some wardrobe photos from Vibe. Mostly shoes, actually.
Here are Bad Boy's positions on the latest Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today.
The Billboard 200
193. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (down from 172).
Top Current Albums
174. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (down from 155).
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
37. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (down from 29).
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According to a press release, Gorilla Zoe will be featured on Pony Boi's "Papered Up," which is set for release in October. Pony Boi, real name Sergio Myers, has achieved success as a film and television producer, working on shoes such as "E! True Hollywood Story," "Sorority Life" and "10 Things Every Guy Should Experience."
Below, check out some behind the scenes footage from the making of "Papered Up."
On Tuesday, I mentioned that Jeremy Greene would soon be releasing a mixtape, "All is Fair in Love and Music." And now it's here.
The mixtape features 11 tracks, including Greene's unofficial remix to Dirty Money's "Hello Good Morning," "How Fly is He" featuring Diddy vocals sampled from "Hello Good Morning" and "Loving U Was Wrong," which is Greene's take on Dirty Money's "Loving You No More," including the instrumental to the original, as well as Drake's verse.
You can download it for free care of his Twitter. Check out the cover and full track listing below.
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Brian Stelter of The New York Times reports that Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez will join Randy Jackson as the judges on "American Idol" this season. Interscope Geffen A&M Records chairman Jimmy Iovine is also joining the program, serving as an "in-house mentor" to contestants.
This announcement puts to rest, for the time being, the notion that Diddy could become a judge for the show. He expressed interest in the post back in May and we launched an online campaign to support that interest in June.
A new Diddy record, "Shades," has appeared online, featuring both Lil' Wayne and Justin Timberlake. The song, which is tagged as Diddy, rather than Dirty Money, begins with a slow build up including a Lil' Wayne verse that is more spoken word than rap. Diddy sings and, toward the end, Justin Timberlake enters with a rap verse of his own.
It is almost certainly unfinished and, though it is tagged as Diddy, I have to believe that it is a Dirty Money record (whether or not it ends up featuring Dawn Richard and/or Kalenna, who are not on the record that is now circulating) because of the timing and the fact that Lil' Wayne and Justin Timberlake are both confirmed collaborators for "Last Train to Paris."
Stay tuned.
DJ Drama and Maino have released a new mixtape, "The Art of War," which you can download for free at LiveMixtapes.com. It includes "Don't Say Nothin' (Remix)" featuring Dirty Money and "This and That" featuring Red Cafe. "What's Poppin" was produced by Bad Boy producer Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson. Listen to the songs below.
Via Platinum Boy Music.
According to a press release, Gorilla Zoe will premiere a new record, "Vampire," around Halloween for a promotion in partnership with Encounter Technologies and MusicMatrix.com. The release also says that there will be an "interactive music video" for the song.
Christopher Jordan Wallace, Biggie's son who made his acting debut in "Notorious," will make his second film appearance in "Everything Must Go," a new film starring Will Ferrell. Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times reports that the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday.
On Twitter, T-Pain shared a picture of his new Ciroc Red Berry chain. He also has a Nuvo chain and joked that he was "'wearing' out the competition."
Santana's new album, "Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All-Time," features a remake of AC/DC's classic "Back in Black. According to Melinda Newman of Hitfix, the song was supposed to feature Janelle Monae alongside Nas. But, apparently, it did not work out.
Nas appears on AC/DC’s “Back in Black,” but newcomer Robyn Troup totally steals the song as she imitates Brian Johnson’s powerful howls. (Early press releases had Janelle Monae on the song, but sources say that at the last hour, it didn't work out) Regardless, Troup, who won NARAS’s “My Grammy Moment” competition a few years ago, is a future star. We look forward to her Serletic-produced debut.
On Twitter, Willie Taylor of Day26 posted a free download of "Soakin Wet." It was written by Taylor and Ashanti Superstar.
Check out the clip below for a clip that essentially features the clip that I shared earlier today where Jeremy Greene announced that he has a new mixtape coming that titled "All is Fair in Love and Music." But, it has some short snippets of audio (presumably from the tape) plus a rough version of the mixtape cover, which I have included below the video.
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Back in February, Cassie's Twitter account was deleted. Well, according to a tweet by Capricorn Clark, Global Brand & Viral Marketing Director for Sean Combs/Bad Boy, she has returned. He account is officialcas. Welcome back.
Dirty Money's "Loving You No More" (featuring Drake) was digitally released today. You can pick it up on iTunes and Amazon.com.
In the video below, Jeremy Greene announces the upcoming release of a new mixtape, "All's Fair with Love and Music." He promises collaborations with Military Mike, "Drake's camp," "Diddy's camp," Sean Kingston, South Boy and J Tarin.
Speaking to MTV News, Nelly shared a couple of conversations, where he and Diddy motivated each other. Watch below.
Dawn Richard has released a cover to Soundgarden's 1994 hit "Black Hole Sun." You can download it for free, care of her Twitter.
Janelle Monae will perform on "Last Call with Carson Daly" on Thursday. The show starts at 1:35 PM ET on NBC.
Via Kyle Anderson.
During an interview with Maine's WMME radio station, Jeremy Greene talked briefly about his upbringing with host Jon James. Watch below.
Back in July, I reported that Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G. and Mase would all be featured in the new "DJ Hero 2" video game, set for an October 19 release. According to a press release this will come in the form of an "FSG Remix" of "Mo Money Mo Problems" by The Notorious B.I.G. featuring Mase and Diddy.
Janelle Monae and of Montreal have been collaborating a lot over the past year or so. They appeared on "The ArchAndroid" and she will appear on their upcoming album, too. And they are currently on tour.
Lead singer Kevin Barnes spoke with LimeWire about how the connection was made.
You recently added Janelle Monae to that family, who’s on tour with you. How did you come together?
We met backstage at a show in Atlanta. She got turned on to our music through the Wondaland Arts Society [collective], and she’d just filmed this video where she was riding a horse, around the time we’d just had a show in New York where I rode a horse onstage, so we bonded over that initially, and then realized how much we had in common. Our two art collectives [WAS and Of Montreal] have done a lot of collaborating, and we’re definitely following the same spirit, artistically and emotionally, so it’s cool that we’re all on the same page, and we just love to hang out with each other.
On September 4, Ness battled Iron Solomon has part of Grizzlemania 2 in Miami, Florida. Obviously, this is pretty vulgar, so be forewarned.
Via The Mad Rapper.
On Saturday, I mentioned a new Red Cafe track featuring Tyrese, "Only You," that I suggested was produced by Oddz.N.Endz, due to an audio tag on the record. I can now confirm that this is true, thanks to the Oddz.N.Endz blog, which is also offering a free download.
Here are Bad Boy's positions on the latest Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released Thursday. Janelle Monae's "The ArchAndroid" makes an impressive bounce back onto The Billboard 200 with a large jump on the Top Current Albums chart.
The Billboard 200
172. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (re-entry).
Top Current Albums
155. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (up from 195).
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
29. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (up from 33).
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums
23. "Ready to Die" by The Notorious B.I.G. (unchanged).
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Last we heard, in July, Dirty Money's "Last Train to Paris" was due in October. Diddy even sent out a vague tweet that hinted at an October 12 release date.
But, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Diddy revealed that, if all goes well, the album will now come out in December.
Speaking to SOHH.com, Rico Love commented on why the album has been pushed back. In so many words, he says that Diddy is a perfectionist, trying to deliver a masterpiece.
We now know that "I'm Still Here," the documentary of Joaquin Phoenix's move to rap ( watch the trailer) was a performance piece, rather than a documentary. But, it does feature Diddy and you can see the two interacting in a clip from the film below.
Diddy asks if he has the budget for his project, then criticizes Phoenix for not approaching music production in the same manner that you would approach a movie production.
Reviewers could not decide if it was real or not, but "I'm Still Here," the supposed documentary of Joaquin Phoenix's retirement from acting to become a rapper, was a performance piece, not an actual career move.
This, according to the film's director, Casey Affleck. He told The New York Times that it was a performance - the "performance of his career."
The question remains: was Diddy in on it? In the flm, Phoenix tries to convince DIddy to produce for him. Given the clip that was released of him and Diddy interacting, my guess is that Diddy was, in fact, in on the plot and was playing along when he told the press that the rap move was real.
Via Adam K. Raymond, TheCelebrityCafe.com and Tara Ariano and Claude Brodesser-Akner.
In our audio player, you can listen to Red Cafe's "Only One" featuring Tyrese. The audio tag at the start indicates that it may have been produced by Oddz N Endz.
Update: It was produced by them and here is a free download.
On Thursday, Global Grind interviewed Dawn Richard live on USTREAM. Watch the entire interview below.
Back in July, Diddy announced that Dirty Money's "Hello Good Morning" had gone gold. I noticed that, according to September 18 Billboard charts, the song had been certified as gold by the RIAA.
According to the RIAA's searchable database, the certification was issued on August 18.
Here are Bad Boy's positions on the Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released on Thursday, September 9. I was traveling and was unable to post them, but better late than never. Sorry for the delay.
Dirty Money's "Hurt (Loving You No More)" and Red Cafe's "Money, Money, Money" move up.
Top Current Albums
195. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (re-entry).
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
33. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (down from 32).
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums
23. "Ready to Die" by The Notorious B.I.G. (up from 24).
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Check out the clip below as Dirty Money speaks to DJ Envy for MTV's "Sucker Free." They talk about MTV Video Music Awards performances and Diddy jokes about his recent placement on the Forbes hip-hop earners list.
Care of Dawn Richard's blog, listen to a snippet of a new record from her, "Bulletproof," produced by A-nonymous.
The nominees in the 2010 MOBO Awards have been announced and Janelle Monae has been nominated in the Best International Act category, alongside Drake, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, Nicki Minaj, Ne-Yo, Usher, Beyonce, Jason Derulo, Lil' Wayne, Travie McCoy, Trey Songz and Rihanna. Yes, all of them are nominated. You can vote online, but you must sign up for a free account.
Janelle Monae is featured on the cover of the ninth issue of Blurt magazine, alongside of Montreal's Kevin Barnes. Check out the cover below and read the full feature on her official site, in parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Janelle Monae's official site has a scan from her feature in X Factor Magazine, which highlights 10 fashion rules with quotes from Monae.
Over on the Sean John blog, you can check out some highlights from the "Team Noir" lineup of the fall 2010 collection. You can pick it up at Macy's and on Sean John's online store.
According to her official site, Janelle Monae will be featured in the October issue of Vogue. Check out a preview.
Andrew Longstreth of The American Lawyer reports on the lawsuit filed by the bankruptcy estate of Trans Continental (previously run by Lou Pearlman, the former music manager now in jail for organizing a Ponzi scheme) against MTV, Viacom and Bad Boy (both the recording and film production units).
In short, the estate alleges that MTV, Viacom and Bad Boy worked together to strip Trans Continental of its rights in the "Making the Band" television series, which originally featured Pearlman at the helm, similar to the manner in which Diddy would lead the series from "Making the Band 2" and on.
They claim that they have rights and a financial interest in not only "Making the Band," but also "Making the Band 2," "3" and "4," as well as "Making His Band" (which found Diddy building a live band for his tour). In addition, they insist upon rights to "There & Back" (an MTV reality show featuring former O-Town member Ashley Parker Angel), "Taquita & Kaui" (the very short-lived reality show featuring a pair of "Making the Band 3" contestants) and even the untitled reality show said to feature Dawn Richard and Qwanell "Que" Mosley, as supposed spin-offs of the main series.
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Spin Magazine has named the of Montreal/Janelle Monae tour one of the best that this fall has to offer, saying that it will "be total sensory overload in the best way possible."
On Twitter, Jeremy Greene announced that he would be shooting a music video for "Miss America" on Tuesday. He urged fans to make signs and banners to bring to the shoot, and said the location would be announced soon.
Aasim has released his own mix of Drake's "Fancy," calling it "Flashy." You can download it for free, care of his Twitter.
Flash back time. Back on June 3 of last year, I reported that an upcoming remix of Cassie's "Must Be Love" would feature Aasim and Ness. Three days later, a remix backed by the beat from The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Gimme the Loot" was released. But, the remix with Aasim and Ness was never seen.
Until now. On Twitter, Aasim offered a free download of the record, which features rap verses from Aasim and Ness and the "Gimme the Loot" beat, as well as some new ad-libs from Diddy to match them. It's a legit remix.
Thanks Theo for the tip.
All the way back in March of 2007, Diddy released a remix to "I Am" from his album "Press Play" featuring Lil' Wayne. This was followed by an extended cut that featured Aasim.
I have always wanted to find a legitimate download link for both of these records. Well, today is the day for one of them, at least. David Harraway, who represents Aasim in some capacity, posted a free download link for the version that features Aasim. Download now.
Yesterday, I mentioned that Mickey Da Kid had released "Coco Loso," a record referencing the Ciroc-based drink mix.
In the video below, the rapper discusses the making of the track as well as the reception he's received thus far.
Red Cafe's "Money, Money, Money" was released digitally today and can be purchased on Amazon.com ( clean version/ dirty version) and iTunes ( clean version/ dirty version). The record features Diddy and Fabolous and was produced by Jahlil Beats.
Check out the clean and dirty single covers below.
On Friday, Moreno's "Brooklyn Riders" was released on iTunes ( buy now). The song features Red Cafe and Joell Ortiz.
The record was posted online earlier this year. Listen to it below.
The brand new remix to Dorrough's "Get Big" features ad-libs and a rap verse from Diddy, alongside DJ Drama, Yo Gotti, Bun B, Diamond, Shawty Lo, Wiz Khalifa and Maino. You can download it for free, care of Dorrough's Twitter.
Diddy announced on Twitter that official t-shirts for his "Love Movement" are now for sale and can be purchased online. There are three colors priced at $30 each.
About four months ago, Rap Radar asked Diddy who the baby was on the cover of The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut album, "Ready to Die." Today, on the 16th anniversary of the release of the album, they posted the footage. Diddy says that it was simply a casting call.
BBB reader Theo passed along the video below. Starting at the 7:19 mark, Black Rob comes on, proclaiming himself as "the newest member of the Duck Down family." Shortly after, he says that "we [are] back to Bad Boy for the "Losing's Not an Option" album."
While this does seem to indicate that he is "back to Bad Boy," Rob has come out on Twitter, saying that any suggestion that he has signed back to Bad Boy is simply "rumors" and "false."
On Twitter, Diddy passed along a free download for "Coco Loso" by rapper Mickey Da Kid. The record is inspired by the Ciroc-mixed cocktail of the same name.
At press time, it has been downloaded 9,933 times.
On Twitter, Diddy mentioned that Aasim will be releasing a new mixtape, "The Money Pit, Part 2," to follow "The Money Pit," another mixtape that Aasim released, back in 2005.
On a related note, Aasim announced on Twitter that he would re-release the first mixtape with a new song.
A month ago to the day, I reported that Aasim would be releasing a new single featuring Dawn Richard titled "We Ride." Aasim has now released the track. Download it for free. The record was produced and mixed by Aasim and Tony Dofat.
Update: Initially, this story had indicated that the song was produced by Aasim and mixed by Tony Dofat, as that had been the official information provided previously. But, Aasim this evening mentioned on Twitter that the record was produced and mixed by him and Tony Dofat.
Yesterday, we learned that Gorilla Zoe's "King Kong" had been taken off of it's October 26 release date and was now simply coming this fall.
Today, on the Block Entertainment Twitter, it is noted that the album will be released in October. Stay tuned for an official date.
Janelle Monae recently performed on Belgium TV program "De Laatste Show." She did "Tightrope" and you can watch the full performance on the show's website.
The nominations for the 2010 BET Hip-Hop Awards have been announced and Diddy and Dirty Money combined to pick up four nominations in three categories. Here is the break down:
Reese's Perfect Combo Award
"Hello Good Morning (Remix)" by Dirty Money featuring Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj
"All I Do is Win (Remix)" by DJ Khaled featuring Rick Ross, T-Pain, Busta Rhymes, Diddy, Fabolous, Fat Joe, Jadakiss and Nicki Minaj
Hustler of the Year
Diddy
Best Club Banger
"Hello Good Morning" by Dirty Money featuring T.I. and Rick Ross
As an aside, Hype Williams (director of Dirty Money's "Angels," "Hello Good Morning" and "Hello Good Morning (Remix)" music videos), received a nod in the Hip-Hop Video Director of the Year category.
On Twitter, Aasim announced that he would be releasing his own remix of Dirty Money's "Loving You No More." He suggested that he might even release it tonight.
According to an E1 Music promotional e-mail, which I followed up with to confirm it's accuracy, Gorilla Zoe's third album, "King Kong," has been moved off of it's scheduled October 26 release. It is now simply listed as fall 2010.
On Saturday, I mentioned that Aasim would be releasing his own unofficial remix of Ne-Yo's "Champagne Life" today and he released it this evening. Download now. This mix features Aasim with an opening verse for the record.
Back in July of 2009, "1,000 Stacks" by Nelly featuring Diddy and The Notorious B.I.G. appeared online. In December of 2009, we heard that Diddy would serve as a producer on Nelly's then untitled new album. And in June of this year, it was reported that Diddy would be featured on the album, now titled "Nelly 5.0."
Billboard's Muriel Concepcion confirms that "1,000 Stacks" will be featured on the release, which is simply titled "5.0" and set to hit stores on November 16.
Over on Diddy's Facebook page, there is an image posted that is presumably the single cover for Dirty Money's latest single, "Loving You No More" ( free download) featuring Drake. Check it out below.
Block Entertainment CEO Russell "Block" Spencer has confirmed to me that Boyz N Da Hood will return for a third album, as previously reported, but it will be with an all-new lineup.
The group's first album consisted of Young Jeezy, Jody Breeze, Big Duke and Big Gee. The second album saw Gorilla Zoe fill in the slot vacated by Jeezy. With the third album, they are apparently starting from scratch.
No word on when the album is slated for release. It is also unclear if the group will remain with Bad Boy or will be part of Block Entertainment's new deal with Atlantic and E1. Though, it is assumed that they are presently Bad Boy at the moment, as Diddy has said that all of the artists he had on Bad Boy under Atlantic are still with the label, unless reported otherwise.
On his Facebook page, you can listen to "Miss America" by Jeremy Greene.
If you are a regular Bad Boy Blog reader, you know that I've generally skipped 50 Cent's recent critical comments aimed at Diddy. Mainly because I think it's a waste of editorial space and attention.
He talks about how he likes Dirty Money's "Angels" and how Diddy "was hitting notes" on the record, then he says the music Diddy is making right now "sucks." "Angels" had Biggie vocals and 50 Cent has even jumped on numerous records with recycled Biggie vocals, but then he's critical of Diddy for using Biggie vocals or referencing Biggie. I feel that, in general, these statements are hypocritical.
And with 50 Cent, it all seems to depend on the moment and the timing of this most recent moment has always seemed weird to me. Everything seemed to be fine until Diddy aligned with Rick Ross and began to use the Supreme Team moniker. The original Supreme Team was a drug operation led by Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff who, at one time, was alleged to have had a hand in the shooting of 50 Cent in 2000.
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On Twitter, Diddy shared a free download link for Dirty Money's "Loving You No More" featuring Drake. As I mentioned in August, this mastered cut follows the appearance of the unfinished "Hurt" online. In the latest Billboard rankings, the track was credited as "Hurt (Loving You No More)."
During Friday night's huge Jay-Z/Eminem show at Detroit's Comerica Park, Jay paid tribute to Biggie with performances of "Hard Knock Life" and "A Dream" (backed by Aerosmith's "Dream On") with a "One More Chance/Stay With Me (Remix)" and "Mo Money Mo Problems" medley in between. He also mentioned Pimp C, 2Pac, Eazy-E, Big Pun, Guru, Jam Master Jay, Aaliyah and Proof. Check it out below. B.I.G. forever.
Via Rap Radar.
According to David Harraway, Aasim has put his own take on Ne-Yo's "Champagne Life" featuring Rick Ross. It'll be released on Monday.
On March 9, 2004, Bad Boy released a compilation album, "Bad Boy's 10th Anniversary... The Hits" and that compilation featured one new record: "Victory 2004" by Diddy featuring The Notorious B.I.G., 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks.
It is a remix of the original "Victory" with new rap verses from Diddy, 50 and Banks. The main cut was around 6:23 long, but they also released an extended version with additional bars from Banks that finished at around 7:48.
Banks spoke to Rap Radar about the track, which apparently began as a freestyle before making it onto "Victory 2004."
On the Block Entertainment website, you can listen to "Money on Me" by Block featuring Gorilla Zoe. It's in the audio player in the upper right portion of the site.
Below, you can listen to "Free Falling" a new record by former Day26 member Que and Dawn Richard.
In August, I confirmed that Gorilla Zoe had signed to E1 Music, adding a new label to the mix alongside Block Entertainment, Bad Boy and Atlantic Records. At the time, it was unclear if the deal was part of something larger with Block.
According to Russell "Block" Spencer, Block Entertainment, Atlantic and E1 have "formed a big deal." He didn't go into further details. He says this in the video below at the 2:06 mark. He mentions Koch, but Koch is actually E1.
I mention this here because it may have some effect on Boyz N Da Hood, the only remaining Bad Boy/Block Entertainment artist, besides Gorilla Zoe, who is already with E1. Zoe mentioned back in February that a third Boyz N Da Hood album would be released around the time of his third album, "King Kong." Now that "King Kong" is set for an October 26 release, it is unclear if that is still the plan.
Dawn Richard recently paid a visit to Haiti and she recorded a video blog, as well as some clips of the support efforts and a local dance troupe. She also posted some photos. Check out the video blog below.
Care of Dawn Richard's blog, here is the cover for the second Danity Kane comics issue. When it is released, you'll be able to pick it up at IndyPlanet.
Yesterday, I reported that Diddy would executive produce the upcoming debut album from Pentagon/Interscope group i SQUARE. Today, I confirmed with someone at Interscope that their lead single, "Hey Sexy Lady" was also executive produced by him. Listen and download below.
Red Cafe has launched a new website at redcafe.tv. At this stage, it's a pretty typical artist site.
According to a post on their official website, linked on the Interscope Twitter feed, Diddy will serve as executive producer on i SQUARE's debut album, alongside The Pentagon.
The message on the Interscope feed gave the impression that Diddy had produced their debut single, "Hey Sexy Lady," which you can listen to below. But, the post itself makes this a little unclear and a message sent to the Interscope Twitter account, asking for clarification, was not immediately returned.
One very interesting detail: the group is signed to Pentagon/Interscope Records. Almost a year ago, I reported that, according to Damon Thomas and Diddy, the two were working together with Interscope on a new label called The Pentagon. The video where they mentioned this was deleted shortly thereafter and the partnership was not mentioned again.
For B.o.B's "MTV Unplugged" episode, he was joined by Janelle Monae for a performance of "The Kids." Watch below.
Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today. "Hurt (Loving You No More)" by Dirty Money achieves it's first chart mention.
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
32. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (down from 30).
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums
24. "Ready to Die" by The Notorious B.I.G. (up from 25).
Singles
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
41. "Hello Good Morning" by Dirty Money (down from 34).
99. "Money, Money, Money" by Red Cafe (unchanged).
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Aasim has released a new track for free download titled "Rock Da Mic."
Back in May of last year, I mentioned "Go Off" by Aasim featuring Joell Ortiz. Now, you can download the track for free via Aasim.
TMZ reports that former Bad Boy publishing division chief Francesca Spero has sued Diddy and Bad Boy (including the publishing and management divisions) for $12 million, claiming that she was fired due to age discrimination.
According to the report, Spero says in the complaint that she had been addicted to prescription medication and alcohol and subsequently "suffered a relapse." She claims that Diddy was "unsympathetic to her condition" and began to distance himself from her, leading to her being fired in March of 2010.
Further, Spero, 51, says that she was replaced by a woman who was 10-15 years younger who did not match her qualifications.
TMZ has a statement issued by a spokesperson for Diddy. "This is a grab for money by someone who concedes in her complaint to having had a drug relapse while on the job and an employer who was not satisfied with her work," he said. "There are many reasons why Ms. Spero is no longer employed by Bad Boy, but age discrimination is not one of them."
Paying homage to video gaming of yesteryear, Eclectic Method has released has released "The 8-Bit Mixtape." The track samples classic video games and the finale features some Biggie vocals from "Juicy" with an emphasis on his mentions of Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.
Via DIDDYBLOG.
Faith Evans has released "Everyday Struggle" featuring Raekwon. The record relies on a sample of Dave Grusin's "Either Way," just as "Everyday Struggle" by The Notorious B.I.G. did, off of the rapper's "Ready to Die" LP. You can listen at XXLmag.com.
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