NODFACTOR.COM has an interview with music producer Tony Dofat. It focuses on his work with Diddy during the Bad Boy CEO's days with Uptown Records. In addition, Dofat discusses how Faith Evans was introduced to Diddy.
I did this Christopher Williams beat and Vincent Herbert came in the studio and said “I got this girl from Jersey, her name is Faith. Yo she sings.” He brought her by the studio and she sang for us. We asked her if she could do something for the Christopher Williams records and she said yeah. She went into the booth after I did the beat she sang on it. We said she sounded hot. That was her first time in the booth and we were like, we gonna keep that. Puff ended up signing her and she became a super star.
In an interview with MTV UK, Bad Boy producer Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson revealed that he has produced songs for French Montana, Machine Gun Kelly and Red Cafe that have yet to be released. All 3 artists could release albums this year, though only Montana has a release date. His "Excuse My French" album is set for a July 17 release.
In the latest issue of B.O.S.S. E-Magazine, Bad Boy producer Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson talks about the importance of education and his educational background, including an interesting experience in college. You can read it for free.
The Source has some behind the scenes photos and a little bit of video from the music video shoot for French Montana's "Pop That," which features Rick Ross, Drake and Lil' Wayne. In the clip, you can hear some of Drake's verse.
Day26's Willie Taylor is featured on the new single from Q Parker, formerly of the group 112. The song also features Olivia. Watch the music video below.
French Montana and Red Cafe appear on the new remix to E-40's "Function." The song, which also features Problem, Young Jeezy and Chris Brown, can be downloaded from Hip-Hop Wired, care of E-40's Twitter.
Here is the music video for Omarion's new single, "Let's Talk," featuring Rick Ross. The song features some vocals from The Notorious B.I.G., taken from the late rapper's hit "Big Poppa."
"It was ahead of its time," he said. "He rapped from a perspective of someone who lived a full life. He rapped from a perspective of someone looking ahead, someone who was looking to move on from one phase to another. It was a double album which was a bold move. It also showed that he was an artist of substance, so much that one album would not be enough. He's honestly one of the greatest to ever do it.”
In an interview with POWER 106, 2 Chainz revealed some advice that Mase gave him, that he said that Biggie had given him. The advice: "Get it while you can and can it when you get it."
Last week on Twitter, producer Rob Holladay announced that he and Cassie would release an EP. No date was given, except to say that it would be "coming soon." Stay tuned.
Machine Gun Kelly kicked off a second season of his web video series "KellyVision" today with the clip below. In it, he gives you a tour of his "Lace Up" tour bus before engaging in some general chaos.
In an interview with Global Grind, released today in honor of the late rapper's 40th birthday, Voletta Wallace talks about The Notorious B.I.G.'s legacy.
On Mother's Day, they published a clip from the same interview, where she shared her favorite Mother's Day memory.
Programming note: "Hip Hop Squares," the new hip hop inspired "Hollywood Squares" spin-off, will premiere on MTV2 on May 22 at 11 PM ET. The show features Machine Gun Kelly. Watch a preview below.
Meek Mill has released a video update from Drake's Club Paradise Tour, which he is featured on alongside French Montana. In the clip, which you can watch below, Meek Mill freestyles with Montana playing hype man.
The track listing has just been revealed for "Self Made 2," the upcoming album from Maybach Music Group (Rick Ross, Meek Mill, Wale, Stalley and Omarion). French Montana will appear on 3 songs:
All Birds by Rick Ross featuring French Montana
Actin Up by Wale and Meek Mill featuring French Montana
I Be Puttin' On by Wale featuring Wiz Khalifa, French Montana and Roscoe Dash
Cassie is among the artists set to appear on Far East Movement's new album, "Dirty Bass." It has already been released in Australia and is set for release in the U.S. on June 11. For now, you can listen to a preview on the iTunes Australia store.
Blue Flame shared the stream below of the tagless version of Future's "Same Damn Time (Remix)" featuring Diddy and Ludacris. The song premiered last night.
In an interview with Karen Civil, French Montana listed a number of artists that he has collaborated with for his upcoming album, "Excuse My French," due out on July 27.
Among them: Kanye West, The Weeknd, Travis Barker and Uncle Luke. Last week, we learned that he was working with Barker, though it wasn't made clear that they were working on Montana's album. Meanwhile, Uncle Luke will appear on "Pop That," his upcoming single that will also feature Rick Ross, Drake and Lil' Wayne. He also mentioned frequent collaborator Harry Fraud.
Funkmaster Flex has the premiere of Future's "Same Dame Time (Remix)" featuring Diddy and Ludacris. It has the customary Flex tags. Stay tuned for a tagless version.
For the second straight year, Diddy has gained on the Forbes Celebrity 100, the managzine's annual list of the most powerful celebrities. They take into account estimated earnings and media exposure.
There are five subcategories within the rankings, including Money, TV/Radio, Press, Web and Social. Diddy ranked highest in Web (#22), followed by Money and Social (both #36). He was #60 and #67 in TV/Radio and Press, respectively.
Idolator.com has the premiere of new music video for the brand new R3hab remix of Cassie's "King of Hearts." It was shot in London and Paris. According to the article, shooting in Paris was "overseen" by Diddy. Meanwhile, Capricorn Clark did the same in London. The music video was directed by Julien Bachelet. Watch below.
The Coke Boys just released their first vlog from the Club Paradise tour, which French Montana is featured on. In the clip below, Drake brings out French for a performance of "Stay Schemin."
Diddy's son Quincy Brown, recording under the name of Quincy, recently released the music video for his single, "Stay Awhile." The music video features cameos Diddy's other sons, Justin and Christian, as well as Justin Bieber. Diddy isn't in the video, but he is in this behind the scenes footage and has a proud father moment at the end.
On Machine Gun Kelly's official store the rapper has released a couple of new items. You can get a tour t-shirt and you can pick up an EST 19XX bandana.
Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker told AllHipHop.com that when he's feeling defiant, sometimes he'll listen to The Notorious B.I.G. In addition, he said that the rapper released one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all-time in his eyes. Watch below.
Machine Gun Kelly is working on the artwork for his debut album, "Lace Up," and he is looking for submissions of photos of fan tattoos featuring either the MGK logo or the Lace Up logo. The deadline is tight - May 10 through May 18. You may want to take a look through the rules, which say that the photo becomes the property of Universal Music Group. That aside, you can enter now.
Bad Boy has released the remix to French Montana's "Everything's a Go," which features Baby, Wale, Fabolous and Jadakiss. Listen to it in our audio player.
For DJ Prostyle's birthday celebration at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, French Montana performed. He brought out a surprise guest in Akon, and the two performed "Hurt Somebody," Akon's new single that features the rapper. Watch below.
Drita D'Avanzo, one of the women featured on VH1's "Mob Wives," recently contributed a verse and appeared in the music video for French Montana's "Everything's a Go." Part of the creation process was featured on a recent episode of the show.
This included a meeting at Bad Boy with marketing head Jason Wiley and Blue Flame's Nick Storm, who works a lot with the Ciroc brand. Following that, D'Avanzo records a verse and sends it to Bad Boy. Finally, she shoots the music. Watch the full episode below.
During a recent episode of VH1's "Mob Wives," Drita D'Avanzo was shown recording a verse for French Montana's "Everything's a Go." Below, check out the special cut of his music video for the song that features her verse. You can also watch the original.
In an interview with HipHopDX, Bad Boy producer Antwan "Amadeus" Thompson talks about working with Diddy and Bad Boy, preparing to go on tour with Trey Songz and more.
DX: Well, let me ask you this as people always go on about Diddy not doing things for them when they are signed to him in whatever way. When you look at him and how he came up, he certainly didn’t have things handed to him on the proverbial silver platter. Do you think that that is what he is looking for when he signs people to the label, people who are able to be self-sufficient?
Amadeus: That is a great question. I couldn’t say that any better as that’s exactly how I feel. You have to show and prove and that is the same with everybody, the artist deals, producer deals. You can’t just sign on the dotted line and then watch everything fall into place. It’s the total opposite, even though you signed on the dotted line and your name is now connected with Diddy and Bad Boy [Records] and you wear that brand, you can’t just sit back, I had to work harder when that deal came about. Diddy has earned and created a lot of what he has on his own and I look at that as inspiration. Of course if I need something that is there or things given, of course I am going to take them, but as I always say, no one will work harder for you than you.
"Get Er Done," the new single from rapper GP, features Day26. The song was produced by Fred "Blaze the Champ" Crawford. Listen below. The music video is coming soon.
Earlier this week, we learned that The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" would be sampled for Omarion's new single, "Let's Talk" featuring Rick Ross. You can listen to a snippet in the behind the scenes video from the music video shoot below.
Machine Gun Kelly is among the long list of acts set to appear on this year's iteration of the Warped Tour. They caution that not all acts will appear on all dates, but you can buy tickets on their website.
Machine Gun Kelly is currently in the middle of the Hostile Takeover tour with Tech N9ne and, last night, he performed in Seattle. The same venue is hosting a second show tonight, but Machine Gun Kelly was not able to take the stage, due to an altercation with security the previous night.
"There was an altercation between the venue security and our team last night, as a result, I'm banned from the show tonight," he wroteon Twitterin a series of messages. "I apologize to all the Seattle fans that are affected. This really sucks... I'm only human, I still have some growing up to do. Thanks to everyone who understands and still rides for the kid. Stay laced."
On Wednesday, Rick Ross and Maybach Music Group held a press release to announce a series of album releases dates, as well as the signing of Omarion. Diddy appeared to praise Ross, begging at the 11:14 mark in the video below. Warning: His comments are for adult audiences only.
During an appearance on New York radio station HOT 97 today, Diddy announced that Funkmaster Flex had joined the Ciroc Boyz, as the latest DJ to be officially affiliated with the vodka brand.
During today's Maybach Music Group press conference, Rick Ross officially announced the signing of singer Omarion and premiered the trailer for the music video for "Let's Talk," the first single that he will release. The song features a sample of The Notorious B.I.G.'s vocals from "Big Poppa."
During today's Maybach Music Group press conference, French Montana announced the first single for his upcoming "Excuse My French" album will feature Rick Ross, Drake and Lil' Wayne. I believe that he said that the title was "Pop That."
Akon has released a music video for "Hurt Somebody" featuring French Montana. He's also released the single for digital purchase. Check out the video and single cover below.
