Nah Right

The dude who sucker punched Dre at the Vibe Awards (and then went and got himself stabbed by Young Buck) last year pleaded guilty to the charges and got hit with a bullet. He was probably worried about who was gonna pay his legal fees now that Suge’s assets are frozen. Not that Suge had anything to do with that incident, we all know what boyscout he is. Here’s what he had to say about it in the new XXL:

 "I seen dude hit Dre three or four times. Not cool. Slapped him right in front of his wife. That was a site to see." 

Yesterday marked the 9th anniversary of Tupac’s death and the Feds look like they’re finally getting off they’re ass. They’ve reopened the case of Pac’s ‘94 shooting in NY that he survived and most believe set off the now infamous beef between him and Biggie. The shooting at Quad studios in Times Square was never solved but most people in the hood have they’re own theories of who was behind it. Pac had his own theories and he let us know in the second verse of Against All Odds:

I heard he was light skined, stocky with a haitian accent
Jewelry, fast cars and he’s known for flashing (what’s his name)
Listen while I take you back and lace this rap
A real live tale, about a snitch named Haitian Jack
Knew he was working for the feds, same crime different trail
niggas picture what he said, and did I mention
Promised a payback, Jimmy Henchmen, in due time
I knew you bitch niggaz was listening, The World is Mine
Set me up, wet me up, niggaz stuck me up
Heard the guns bust, but you tricks never shut me up
Touch one of mine on everything I own
I’ll destroy everything you touch, play the game nigga
All out warfare, eye For eye
Last words to a bitch nigga, why you lie?
Now you gotta watch your back nigga, watch your front
Here we come gunshots to Tut, now you stuck

You can read what happened that day here and there’s also an interview with Pac from Vibe where he tells the story in his own words.  This report at AHH states that Jimmy Henchmen is a major focus of the reopened investigation although he denies any involvement to this day. He supposedley told AHH that he welcomes any investigation because it will prove his innocence, and he even offered to finance it himself. I hear that. This has potential to get good because the Feds whole reason for reopening the case is because they suspect a connection with Pac’s murder. Between this and the Biggie trial, who knows, we may finally solve the two biggest murders in Hip Hop.

UPDATE: Pics of the Tupac statue in Atlanta that was unveiled yesterday

Pic 1  Pic 2 Pic 3

Too bad it looks nothing like him.  

Last week the media reported that R&B star Usher thouhgt Kanye’s Bush statement came at an inappropriate time. The Hip Hop community quickly rushed to Kanye’s defense and the shit talk about Usher began almost immediatley. In a statement issued by one of Ursh’s spokespeople, he denied the reports and said he supports Kanye and his statement:

“Contrary to false media reports, I support the personal opinions made by my friend Kanye West. If it wasn’t for his comments, there would not be an open dialogue about the underserved people in the Gulf Region” 

See now this is exactly why I didn’t air Usher out when I first read this. I had a feeling this was part of the media’s plot to pit us against each other, or at the very least to paint a picture of Kanye that suggests that his peers don’t support him. In addtion to the Usher incident, the media also reported that ‘Ye was "roundly booed" at the NFL Kick off game in Boston last week. Even though this sounds more likely, especially in racist ass Boston, SOHH is now reporting that witnesses who were at the game say that there were a few boo’s but they could hardly be heard over the overwhelming applause. Take that mainstream media.  Stop hating on my boy. On another note, do you know how hard it is to find a picture of Usher that isn’t homo’d out? Goddamn, somebody tell that kid to leave his shirt on.

The big Jay-Z related news this week is that he’s trying sign The Roots to a new label called Def Jam Left he’s about to launch. I remember hearing about this a while ago and it seemed like it was too good to be true, but now it looks like it may actually happen.  The idea behind the new imprint is to sign more underground artists to smaller money deals than they would get with a major label, allowing them to focus on the material and not their Soundscan numbers.

People like throwing around the phrase "This could save Hip Hop", but I honestly think a label like this could. The biggest problem in Hip Hop these days is the limits placed on artists by the need to put out music that is ‘radio friendly’.  I can think of so many albums by dope artists that sucked and you just know that the material was watered down by the label execs to appeal to radio and pop music fans. By eliminating the pressure to perform on the charts you allow artists to make the music they want to make, and I really think that’s what alot of fans, not all of them though, want to hear. 

It’s gotten so bad that even fans are caught up in the sales game. I’ve actually had arguments with people where they say an album is wack because it didn’t sell! Then when you tell them, "Yeah but the music is dope", they don’t want to hear it because it flopped on the charts. Seriously, what the fuck does the amount of units moved have to do with the dopeness of an album? And who’s to blame for this attitude? If you ask me it’s the artists themselves. All you hear in songs nowadays is rappers talking about how many cd’s they moved or how many times platinum they went, which then gets into the brains of the fans and they start to use that as a standard to measure the artists work. 

I can’t blame it entirely on rappers though, because it’s also the nature of hip hop. For instance, how many aspiring rappers do you know personally? How about D.J.’s or producers? Chances are you know a few. Hip hop is a major part of our culture and a big employer of our generation, and so we kind of look at it as the family business.  And like any business, success is measured by the amount of money earned, so therefore if you can’t sell, your a failure.  It’s a shame because you don’t hear rock music fans talking about how many units that new Coldplay record moved or how many times platinum the damn Maroon 5 cd went. There’s nothing wrong with eating off the industry, it’s just too bad we can’t always seperate the money from the music.

(Oh I almost forgot…In the same article, Jay basically admits he’s gonna come back and do another album.)

New Papoose addressing Katrina. I don’t know how I missed this one. I downloaded this song like 4 days ago and forgot to listen to it. The sad part is I’m that late and I’m still years ahead of you suckers.

Papoose - Mother Nature 

Biggie’s mom, Voletta Wallace will be releasing a book on his life entitiled Biggie: Voletta Wallace Remembers her Son on October 25th. The NY Daily News is reporting that she has some harsh words for Diddy:

"I’m glad my son does not have to witness that the very people that he thought he could ride and die with wouldn’t think twice about using his mother.

"I am glad that he’s not here to see how they have used his image and his name.

"I believe Sean loved my son - after he was dead. I used to tell Christopher all the time not to trust Sean."

She also talks about how she once let Kim use her home for a photoshoot:

She says, "The first picture I saw was Kim wearing my son’s mink coat, holding his chain and wearing his hat. I was in shock.

"I felt violated. I read the entire article and learned that not only was Kim wearing things belonging to my son, but she claimed that the home belonged to her as well.

"This experience helped me draw my own opinions about Kim. And they weren’t good."

This kinda caught me by surprise because I’ve always thought Big’s moms and Puff got along well, although I think I do remember her saying nasty things about Kim in the past. On the other hand, ever since Big died it’s been alot of peoples opinion that Puff was caking off his memory, and who would know better than ma dukes?

I posted this in the Stray Shots section last night, but now that I’ve found out who did the song and some cover art I thought it deserved its own post. The song was written by the group K-OTIX out of Texas and its a remix of Kanye’s Gold Digger going at Bush over his handling of Katrina.

From their website:

Damien Randle
Micah “Big $ Mic” Nickerson

Born and bred in the southern comforts of Houston, Texas, the crew known as K-OTIX speaks in the universal language of music and translates their message to all corners of the world. They have become the picture of self-determination and the entrepreneurial spirit by taking their common love of hip hop and transforming it into a musical force that permeates the hearts and souls of music lovers across the globe.

I had never heard of ‘em, but they sure came correct on this joint:

Five days in this motherfucking attic
I can’t use the cellphone I keep getting static
Dying ’cause they lying instead of telling us the truth (…)
Screwed ’cause they say they’re coming back for us, too
but that was three days ago and I don’t see no rescue(…)

Swam to the store, tryin’ to look for food
Corner store’s kinda flooded so I broke my way through
Got what I could but before I got through
News say the police shot a black man trying to loot

Lyrics stolen from Boing Boing. Cop the song here.

BONUS: New Mos Def - Katrina Clap

Blam! Blam! Watch out for those Stray Shots motherfuckers!

First off, congratulations to Hov on winning GQ’s International Man of the Year Award. Speaking of Hov, remember how he allegedly almost got his chain snatched? Word is Young Jeezy held him down. Oh and him and B are engaged. And Bush nominated him to fill that Supreme Court spot. Alright, that last ones bullshit, but you get the picture.

50 loses his damn mind and states: "I feel like Kanye West is successful because of me." At first when I heard this I thought, okay time to shoot this guy again, but then I realized that I’m playing right into his little plot. Say what you want about Fitty, but he ain’t stupid. That nigga plans out all this shit, and you can bet that he thinks about what he’s gonna say to the media way before it comes out of his mouth. I haven’t figured it out yet, but this is some kinda slick marketing ploy.

Fifth is probably feeling the heat after Kanye moved 900,000 his first week and turned the Yayo album into an afterthought.  

The George Bush doesn’t care about black people Gold digger Remix. I don’t know who this dude is, but this is classic. UPDATE: More here.

After all that good news, Cassidy’s shit is once again blown. He is probably going to be re-arrested on 1st degree murder. 

C-Murder missing after Katrina? (Scroll down) UPDATE: They found him.

Nah Right?

I really wanted to post about this yesterday, but I wanted to read the documents and the news stories first to get some perspective on what exactly went down here. I’m glad I did because I was about to let loose on some 50-is-a-snitch-motherfucker-who-ran-to-the-Feds-cuz
-’Preme-and-them-were-about-to-pop-his-ass shit, but that wouldn’t have been fair. Instead I’m gonna just lay out what happened and let you decide.

I’m getting ahead of myself though, first here’s the story. Yesterday, TheSmokingGun.com released IRS documents that revealed that Murder Inc. employees were following 50 and reporting his whearabouts back to Preme, and also alleged that Preme ordered the now infamous 2000 attack that left 50 with several bullet holes, including one in his mug piece. As we all know, 50 pissed Preme off after mentioning his name, along with several other big time weight pushers on his song Ghetto Qua’ran. The IRS report sugests that the attempted murder of 50 was retaliation for him flapping his lips and naming names in the song.

The report was written by IRS agent Francis Mace and includes text messages sent from Murder Inc. staff to Supreme about 50’s movements and shit he was talking in the hood. They seem to think this was part of a plot to finish what was started with the shooting in 2000. The documents also reveal that 50 cooperated with po-po and even stated that he was fearful for his life and had increased his security because he thought there was a price on his head.

In all fairness I should mention that the officer made it clear that 50 did not cooperate with police in the investigation of his own shooting, and only answered questions about the murder of Jam Master Jay. Police seemed to think at the time that Jay’s murder was ordered because he was fucking with 50. Anyway, here are the documents, read ‘em, and form your own opinion of whats good with your boy.

"There’s a lot of talk in the streets about me
Niggaz know, ain’t nothing sweet about me
Get back to questions, like "50, who shot ya?…
You think it was Preme, Freeze or Tah, Tah?"

-50 Cent, Fuck You, off the album Guess Who’s Back