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.
"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.
XXLmag.com has an interview with production duo the Trackmasters, compromised of Jean-Claude Olivier (known as Poke) and Samuel Barnes (Tone).
Tone: It was that feel-good vibe, that block-party vibe, you know. B.I.G. was cool to work with.
Poke: It was the same era as what we were trying to do with bringing the block-party feel back to music. Puff wanted to do that whole feel as well, so it worked because we were in sync. What stood out to me about that record is I never knew how B.I.G. used to write his lyrics until then. I remember playing him the record and he was just sitting there doing nothing. I was like, N**** you doing nothing, you gonna pick up a pen and write? He was like, “Man, that’s not how I do records. Man, I am writing.” (Laughing) So that’s what stood out about making “Juicy.”
In an interview with XXLmag.com, Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie mentioned that he had sampled The Notorious B.I.G. for a new Wais P. record, titled "Pandejos." The title comes from the Biggie sample, which comes from the late rapper's "My Downfall."
You can pick up free downloads of the clean and dirty versions from the Mad Rapper website.
In the clip below, Jay-Z talks about the quality of writing that rappers have produced and mentions how they aren't often thought of as great writers. Among the rappers he names, he mentions The Notorious B.I.G., comparing him to famed filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.
Gasface has a quick video interview with Shyheim, one of the participants of the classic Madison Square Garden freestyle that also featured The Notorious B.I.G., 2Pac, Big Daddy Kane and Scoob Lover.
Starting at the 1:38 mark, Shyheim reflects on the moment. Mister Cee, who recorded the freestyle, shared his thoughts back in March of 2010.
According to Kent, The Notorious B.I.G., who would also become known for composing rhymes in his head, learned the technique from Jay-Z during the making of “Brooklyn’s Finest,” their duet on Jay-Z’s 1996 album, Reasonable Doubt. When Kent brought B.I.G. by Manhattan’s D&D Studios to get on the track, Jay-Z jumped into the booth and redid the song with lyrics that left space for B.I.G.’s verses. Jay then looked at his Brooklyn counterpart. “You ready?” he asked, pushing a pad toward B.I.G. “Your turn.” B.I.G., who had been in the practice of writing out his lyrics up to that point, declined the notebook and opted to record his parts at a later time. “The face on Big was like, ‘What? Are you serious?’” says Kent. “It was a really serious revelation moment.”
This seems to go against what DJ Premier told XXL for their "The Making of 'Ready to Die'" article. The following passage comes from the article's section about the record "Unbelievable."
I was telling him, “Dawg, I don’t know what to give you, because if I do something for you, it’s gotta be bananas.” He said, “Man, I don’t care if you take ‘Impeach The President.’ Take that and do a beat.” I said, “Really, you serious?” He said, “Hell yeah!” I went and got [the Honeydrippers’ breakbeat classic] “Impeach The President,” took the snare and kick and chopped it up, and started playing those little sounds. I wanted [to make] something more hardcore, ’cause he had played me “Warning” and stuff like that. I wanted to make something that was equally as hard or better. And he was like, “Nah, keep playing them little buttons you pushing and change it up and make it do different melodies on the hook and stuff.” He sat there a while and went in there and did the vocals. I never saw him write nothing. He’d be like, Let me get a pen and a pad—and then he wouldn’t write s***. Might scribble little funny objects or something. That was it.
But, later, he warmed to him and his music. By then, however, it was too late for the two to collaborate, as Biggie had passed away, murdered in Los Angeles. In the clip below, an interview with MTV News, Prodigy reflects on this.
