If you are a regular reader of Bad Boy Blog, you know that every week we post the latest Bad Boy positions on the Billboard charts. Usually on Thursday.
You may have noticed that Thursday, July 21 came and went with no charts. And the same thing happened on July 28. I'd like to apologize for that.
The reason for it is that the login system on Billboard.biz has been down for at least 11 days. Billboard.biz, a more music industry focused site than Billboard.com, gives paying subscribers (like us) access to the full Billboard charts. I have called and emailed them and they said (last week) that it was a known issue that they were hoping to have fixed soon.
As soon as they fix it, we'll go back and post the charts that we have missed as well as the current charts.
Soul Culture has a making of feature about 112's self-titled debut album, from the perspective of group member Daron Jones and producer Steven "Stevie J." Jordan.
Among the cuts that didn't make the album were a collaboration with Blackstreet's Dave Hollister and "Erase The Day," a song that was produced by Al B. Sure! All in all, it's an interesting read. Check it out.
Today on Twitter, Janelle Monae announced plans to release an instrumental album of "The ArchAndroid." She also mentions that "new music is/'has been done." It's unclear if this is for the instrumental album or for her upcoming (vocal) album.
Maybach Music singer Masspike Miles has released "I Can't Take It (No More)," which samples Diddy's vocals from The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya," including the Bad Boy CEO as a featured artist. The beat, which was originally sampled from David Porter's "I'm Afraid The Masquerade is Over," is also present.
Singersroom.com reports that, during an appearance on Access Hollywood, singer Kelly Rowland revealed that she had agreed to become the new "ambassador" for Empress, the new fragrance for women from Sean John.
In a post on his official blog, U.K. singer Robbie Williams offered praise for Janelle Monae.
"Have you lot checked out Janelle Monae?," he wrote. "Go check the whole concept... she's come up with where it's at... me thinks. Inspiring and unique."
The music video for Red Cafe's "We Get it On," which was shot in May, will be released on August 1, according to Red Cafe on Twitter. The song features Omarion.
"Fly Together" is the upcoming single from Red Cafe, produced by Ryan Leslie, that will feature Leslie and Rick Ross. In the clip below, check out some behind the scenes footage of Leslie and Red Cafe in the studio.
The Outlawz, a hip-hop group created by 2Pac who appeared on the Bad Boy diss record "Hit 'Em Up", and Lil' Cease have collaborated on a new record for DJ Kay Slay's upcoming album, "Bury the Hatchet."
Much buzzed about, Drake affiliated act The Weeknd, which is comprised of 20 year old singer Abel Tesfaye, made his live debut in Toronto on Sunday. Joshua Ostroff of The Globe and Mail reports that Bad Boy was represented at the show, possibly among the bevy of labels interested in signing Tesfaye.
He even quotes the representative as saying, of the performance, "for a first show? I've never seen anything like this."
Former Bad Boy A&R Geno Sims is offering a free download of "More Than I Can Say" by Nas featuring Keyshia Cole. According to Sims, the song was recorded during the sessions for Diddy's "Press Play" album. The song didn't make the album and didn't get far enough for Diddy to record something for it.
"I was honored then and I am now that I had the opportunity to share the same tour and stage with Amy this year in Brazil ... At our first meeting she was very shy, a sweet girl. Her first words to me were, 'It's so nice to meet you finally, I'm shy, you're a shy girl like me, huh?' ... I am so happy for her recordings as we will forever get to hear a rare talent with a voice all her own. There will never be a tone or vocal delivery like Amy's. May her music and voice live forever."
The Miami Herald reports that this Sunday's episode of VH1's "Behind the Music," airing at 10 PM ET, will feature commentary from Diddy, who has been an instrumental part of her career.
In a video interview with YouHeardThatNew's Lowkey, Red Cafe covers a wide array of topics, but perhaps the most newsworthy one is that, according to him, his official, debut album is coming in February and "that date ain't changing." Watch below.
Ceasar & PStarr have released a posse, posse cut titled "War Music." The song features Red Cafe, in addition to Grafh, Saigon, Mysonne, Styles P, Parlae, Kool G Rap, Mistah F.A.B., Serious Jones and Avery Storm.
DJ Thoro has released "Wake Up F***** Up," the title of which comes from a sample of the Notorious B.I.G. from the late rapper's "Everyday Struggle." Care of DJ Thoro, you can download it for free.
Movie Moron has a review of the soundtrack for the new movie, "Friends With Benefits," which stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. Janelle Monae's "Tightrope" is included on the album, which you can purchase on Amazon.com in both CD and MP3 format.
"I was trying to write the song and it was just coming out too aggressive," she said. "I didn't want people to leave with a bad taste. I asked Ne-Yo to write the song and he came back in an hour as he does."
AllHipHop.com: So what is going on with The Shakedown? That project – It’s like your own personal Detox so to speak. What’s the status of that?
Red Café: At one time it was The Shakedown; at one time it was Red October, and where I’m at with it today, I’m going to let everybody know pretty soon. But yeah, the album is coming and we’re on a countdown right now. Like literally, we can start counting down right now! All the features is great on there. I had great people help me out with the album, producer wise as well. The countdown starts now, and every week or every other week, I’ll be giving you different parts of the recipe for this sauce that I’ve been putting together. And look out for the first single “Fly Together,” produced by Ryan Leslie, featuring Ryan Leslie and Rick Ross. So that record is coming in maybe two or three weeks.
On Tuesday, the "A** on the Floor (Remixes)" EP was released on Amazon.com and iTunes. It features the remixes by Zedd and Gemini in addition to Michael Woods. You can listen to previews below.
Red Cafe revealed to AllHipHop.com that he's formed a group with Fabolous, the Bedrock Boyz, and that they hope to release an album this fall, alongside solo album's from both Red Cafe and Fabolous.
He said that the group's name comes from Bedrock being a nickname for Brooklyn, where both rappers hail from.
In mid-April, we singer/producer Ryan Leslie revealed that he had produced "Fly Together" for Red Cafe and said that he would feature on the song, which would be released in 3 weeks with a video. Obviously, the song was never released. It turns out, the plans have changed.
Red Cafe told Vibe that the song will now feature Rick Ross alongside Leslie and that it will be the "first single" from his upcoming solo album, which he hopes to have out in the fall.
Fans of Jay-Z will know that he references The Notorious B.I.G. regularly, both by name and through the use of lines originally used by the late rapper. In the clip below, Jay-Z explains the reason and the meaning behind this.
"In 'City is Mine,' I said, "this way a world with amnesia won't forget your name," right?," he said. "There was a vow in that song about Big. Doing was my way of always keeping him fresh and keeping his music fresh on everyone's mind. So, I'm inspired by music and I'm a fan and a historian.I study music and different emotions and things like that. So, if I'm inspired by it, I just use it. It's not a crutch for me."
"Countin' Stacks," a new track from Rampage samples The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Everyday Struggle" to build the chorus. Last month, he released the song for free download (both the main and instrumental versions).
Rampage is best known to Bad Boy fans as one of the featured artists on Craig Mack's mid-90s classic remix to "Flava in Ya Ear."
Fabolous recently performed a Red Cafe-less version of "Y'All Don't Hear Me Tho" on the Brooklyn Bridge for VEVO's "Go Shows." The original was featured on Fabolous' "The S.O.U.L. Tape mixtape (free download).
A new version of the live performance has been released. Titled "Fab's Cut," this one features a mix of the Brooklyn Bridge performance with a new performance with Red Cafe at the Vinnie Styles boutique, according to Nate Santos of The Source. Watch below.
On the song, Elliott mimics Diddy's vocals from The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya and the "Who Shot Ya" beat, itself sampled from David Porter's "I'm Afraid the Masquerade is Over," is also featured.
When the song debuted on the Billboard charts, however, the version listed did not feature Lil' Kim. Billboard's Erika Ramirez and Alex Chapman reported that Lil' Kim had been removed due to unspecified contractual issues.
On Twitter, Monica revealed that Lil' Kim had been removed because Voletta Wallace refused to clear the sample with the rapper on the record. Biggie's estate is led by Ms. Wallace and Biggie's widow, singer Faith Evans. In recent years, Lil' Kim has aimed pointed remarks at both and it would be naive to think that such things come without consequence.
Diddy told BBC's Newsbeat that, for the immediate future, he wants to take a step back from being an artist and, instead, focus on production.
Specifically, he says that "it's about supporting Dawn and Kaleena on their solo projects and the rest of the Bad Boy projects."
This sort of thing has happened before as Diddy has divided his attention over the years between music (both as an artist and a producer), acting, fashion and various business endeavors.
Bad Boy released just two albums in 2010 - Janelle Monae's "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" and Dirty Money's "Last Train to Paris." The label has not yet released an album in 2011 and no forthcoming albums have been given an official release date. If Bad Boy fails to release an album in 2011, that will be the first calendar year where that has happened since the inception of the label.
According to the Associated Press, one of those men, Tony Austin, has filed a lawsuit against Diddy and the establishment, alleging that restaurant management knew the outside of the facility was unsafe and did not provide adequate security.
Soul Train has an interview with Bad Boy producer Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson. They talk, at length, about production and the various roles that Thompson works in.
On Twitter, Diddy offered a free download of the trailer for "Make You a Believer," a new song from Cassie that features rapper Jadakiss of The Lox. Download now.
"I Got This," formerly released on Red Cafe's mixtape "Above the Cloudz" mixtape (free download) as Red Cafe featuring Lore'l, has been re-released as a Lore'l single with a new verse from Cory Gunz.
You can pick it up the dirty and clean versions for free, care of Red Cafe's Shakedown. The song was produced by Don Cannon.
HipHopDX's Paul W. Arnold files their full story, which they referred to as the "conclusion" of their report. Understandably, they previously published most of the eye catching allegations in their first story. This one elaborates on those details.
Cassie is featured on the cover of the 63rd issue of BLANK, a Panamanian magazine covering fashion, design, music and more. You can view the cover and the accompanying 8 page spread on their website. There is also an interview, in Spanish. The interview doesn't appear to feature anything new on her album, judging from a quick translation.
BLANK also allows you to download a free PDF copy of the issue, by clicking on the "DESCARGAR > PDF" button on the bottom right portion of the site.
According to Rap-Up.com and BBC News, Diddy and Dawn Richard came out in support of the Orange RockCorps Collective during a project at London's Toffee Park Adventure Playground and Youth Centre. Rap-Up.com has photos.
Orange RockCorps gives volunteers tickets to music concerts in exchange for time dedicated to serving the community. Diddy/Dirty Money will be performing at their concert at Wembley Arena in London on Tuesday.
In an interview with Bleu Magazine, Destiny of i SQUARE revealed that the group's debut album is "pretty much 95% done." She also discusses the album's direction, her style and shares he thoughts on being the only girl in the group.
In June, Jay-Z's debut album, "Reasonable Doubt," celebrated it's 15th anniversary. For the first entry in VH1's new monthly "album-versaries" series, they take a look at the making of the album. For part two, they discuss "Brooklyn's Finest," the Biggie featured song from the album, with Damon Dash, who executive produced the album and Clark Kent, who produced that song.
Fast forward 19 months and "Empress" has now been officially announced. According to Women's Wear Daily, care of The Scented Salamander, the new perfume will launch in August and will be available at Macy's stores.
"'Empress' is a crisp floral perfume," writes Marie-Helene Wagner of The Scented Salamander. "It opens on notes of key lime pie, mandarin imperial, starfruit and imperial french berry before developing a heart resting on raspberries, passion flower, peony, cardamom and ambrette seeds. The scent lingers on with vanilla, sandalwood, crystallized caramel and second skin accord."
It will be released in two sizes, a 1.7 oz. bottle for $57 and a 3.4 oz. bottle for $74. A 6.7 oz. body cream will also be available, for $38. What will be bottle look like? Check out the picture below.
In an interview with PunchBowl Blog, Janelle Monae discussed her touring, her mentors and more. Newsworthy: Monae will be playing guitar and piano on her new album and will be more involved production wise.
Missy Elliott's latest Biggie sampled (or, if you prefer, interpolated) production is Monica's "Anything (To Find You)" which features Rick Ross and Lil' Kim, with some vocals from Elliott herself, mimicking Diddy's vocals on The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya."
The "Who Shot Ya" beat, itself sampled from David Porter's "I'm Afraid the Masquerade is Over," is also featured.
The clip below features footage from Janelle Monae's July 3rd performance in Roskilde, Denmark. The video description says that Monae called it her "best show ever."
Have you heard of Turntable.fm? The social DJing service allows you to play licensed songs for others and/or to listen to what others play. It is a lot of fun and I have been spending a lot of time on it lately.
The service allows you to create rooms and, for a couple of weeks now, I have wanted to try to host a Bad Boy Records DJ set, focusing on music released by or featuring artists that are now or were once signed to Bad Boy. With former artists, I will be playing music that they released or were featured on while they were with Bad Boy.
Our first attempt at this is going to be this Saturday, July 9, from 9 to 10 PM Eastern Time. I'll be DJing for the room, playing a wide array songs and hopefully taking a few requests, as well. If it goes well, we'll make it a regular thing and maybe even extend it beyond an hour.
Turntable.fm is not open to the general public, unfortunately. To join, you must be in the United States and you must have a Facebook friend who is already on the service. Visit Turntable.fm and connect your Facebook page to see if you have one. However, if you don't, all is not lost. I would be happy to add you as a friend on my personal Facebook, so that you can get in. When you submit the friend request, please include a note saying that you are a Bad Boy Blog reader, so that I know where you are coming from.
Once you are on Turntable.fm, you'll have everything that you need to hang out in the room, listen to some Bad Boy music and chat with me and others. You can find the Bad Boy Blog room at turntable.fm/badboyblogcom. I look forward to seeing you there!
Willie Taylor of Day26 has jumped on the "Marvin's Room" train, becoming the latest artist to release his own version of the song Drake released last month. You can pick up a free download care of his Twitter profile.
In an interview with EDGE, i SQUARE member Destiny revealed that the group's upcoming solo album would "definitely" be coming in the fall. She also mentioned that she has a song on the album that is a solo, titled "Spread Me like a Rumor."
"I don't allow myself to get lazy, believing that I've made it. I always work hard," she says, shrugging off the suggestion that she's reached super-stardom and highlighting a strong work ethic that she puts down to genetics. "It's in my DNA. Both my parents were janitors. I'm a big believer in turning nothing into something."
Clayton Hill, a former member of the Nation of Islam who is currently serving time in Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center on charges of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Identity Theft, has alleged to HipHopDX that he once harbored a man who claimed to be on the run after murdering The Notorious B.I.G.
According to Hill, the man identified himself as Dawoud Muhammad. Hill says he was ordered by Nation of Islam officials to not only pick the man up at a bus station in Atlanta, but to secure a weapon from him. This was a semi-automatic handgun, though Hill couldn't confirm other details about it. He did say that Muhammad told him that he had received $25,000 for the shooting.
After the exchange, Hill alleges that he was told to deliver the weapon to Emile Muhammad, who the HipHopDX article labels as the official driver of Nation of Island Minister Louis Farrakhan. The gun, he says, was then brought to the organization's headquarters.
Hill was asked to look at photos of Amir Muhammad, who has previously been suspected of being the shooter. Hill could not confirm that they were one in the same, but did say that they looked similar.
Aasim has added an opening verse to Chris Brown's "She Ain't You," which you can listen to and download below. If you want to hear the original, check out the music video farther down.
Did "Coming Home" have any sentimental meaning for you? How often do you actually get to go home?
I guess it makes sense. I never get to go home, so it's kind of special when I do go home. The song does mean something to me in that sense, because it is quite rare for me to be going home. I'm on tour now, and away from home for two and a half months -- just to paint a little picture of it
Ness recently appeared on Batcave Radio, on Philadelphia's 100.3 The Beat radio station, to promote his upcoming battle with Arsonal. Watch the clip below for a freestyle from Ness.
Ness will battle New Jersey rapper Arsonal on July 24 in Philadelphia, according to a flier posted on Ness' Twitter profile. You can purchase advance tickets at pcradiolive.com, though that link is currently down for me. Watch a pair of trailers for the battle below.
"I Just Want the Paper," a song by U.K. rapper Bigz, is generating traction online thanks to a posse cut remix featuring Chipmunk, SAS, G FrSH, Sincere and Smiler.
Both the remix and the original version feature a sample from The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Dead Wrong," which serves as the chorus. The visuals of the video pay homage to Craig Mack's "Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)" music video, one of the definitive posse cuts in rap history. Bigz opens his verse with a line from Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Gettin' Money (The Get Money Remix)."
To start his verse on the original version, Bigz begins with a line from The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Gimme the Loot," while the music video features Bigz on a throne reminiscent of the one that appears in the visual for the Biggie classic "One More Chance/Stay With Me (Remix)."
Free downloads are available for both versions of the song. The original is on Bigz's "Starman" EP while you can find the remix on the newly released "Quantum Leap" mixtape. Watch the music videos below.
BBC's iPlayer has video of Janelle Monae's performance at the Glastonbury festival. It appears that you may be able to download the clip, as well. But, I am in the United States, so I cannot confirm that. The video will only play if you are based in the United Kingdom.
Via Lauren Hamer, who says that the video will be taken offline tonight.
On his blog, former Bad Boy A&R Geno Sims discusses the making of "Godfather," a mid-2000s cut that Sims says was one of the early songs created during the recording process for Diddy's "Press Play" album.
The song at the time just had Dep's verse on it and a couple bars from Black Rob," Sims says of when he first heard the record. "I was like 'hold up, stop the press!' Puff walked in and was like 'what's this playing?' Then he kept talking about how hot G. Dep is lyrically. What people may not know [is that] Puff is into lyrics. Puff can dissect and analyze lyrics with accuracy of a sharp shooter."
Sims offers a free download of the song, which was produced by Bink! In the end, the song was not released officially as they could not clear the sample.
