No question, one of the hottest rappers repping New York right now is Vado. Straight out of Harlem, he talks about how he became affiliated with Cam'Ron and the origin of the slang "slime".
"When I was locked up, I'd tell a n*gga like what up slime? He like 'you a funny n*gga'. N*ggas know it's all love though. I been meaning to explain to the world what "slime" is. Slime stand for Street Life Intelligence and Money Is Everything, bottom line. So I say sliiiiime, slimettes, slime screw, slime commitee."
It seems as if Vado just emerged from out of nowhere. His buzz has picked up speed since getting down with Cam'Ron's U.N. But Vado explains that he was grinding way before that, putting in work with Young Money artist, Jae Millz.
"Shout out to Jae Millz, that's like my brother, my slime partner. You know, regular sh*t, we grew up together. So I came in with him, he was doing his thing. Automatically he came to me, he was on mad cyphers killin' it. We was battling n*ggas on that sh*t. So that was kinda like my breakthrough as far as showing people I could spit."
"As far as my association with U.N./Dipset, it's just a big round table. Cam definitely broght me out at Summer Jam, he didn't have to do that. That n*gga believe in me and that's one thing he know talent. He let me do me in the booth. He don't tell me how to rap, format, nothing, he just let me go off."
Be on the lookout for Vado's 'Slime Flu' mixtape coming soon.
Key Collaborations: "Bodega Stories" (featuring the LOX); "With Me" (featuring Nas); and "The Corner" (featuring Avery Storm)
Essential Info: N.O.R.E. says he's grown volumes since his debut, 1997's The War Report, but he couldn't stray too far from his roots on the sequel, released Tuesday (July 13).
"We ain't make something for the radio and we didn't make something for the clubs. We just really made something for the streets," Nore explained to Mixtape Daily.
"Originally, when we made The War Report, I didn't know that Manhattan existed. I didn't know that there was a Brazil. I never been to a Brazil when I made War Report. I might have never been to Brooklyn — I was Queens-ed out! Every verse I wrote, when I wrote for War Report, it was for my 'hood or for Queens. It really was for nothing else, because I never saw nothing else. That's why when you hear that [first album], you be like, 'This dude needs to travel.' It's like, wow, 'Lefrak, Lefrak, Iraq' all over it.
"You can't knock me because I never went anywhere," Nore continued. "The worst people in the 'hood are the people who never go anywhere. Those are the most miserable people because they don't plan on never going nowhere. That's who that kid was [on that album]. That kid you hear spitting on The War Report, he never went nowhere. The furthest he went was to Jamaica — and I mean Queens, not the island. I wasn't crossing these bridges."
While making the new LP, Nore was cognizant that he couldn't be the same rough-around-the-edges teenager again.
"So when I went back and did it this time, I said, 'I have to be cautious. I can't act like that. I done seen the world,' " he remembered.
Asked which War Report 2 cuts he holds in the highest regard, N.O. started with the album's lead record.
"My favorite joint is 'Pain' and 'Brother From Another,' " the LeFrak, Queens, veteran said. " 'Pain' is just like, you know when you get on the Scream Machine [at Six Flags Great Adventure], and there's a certain feel you get in your stomach, 'cause you know, for guys, our ba--s come up. Your ba--s twitter. When I hear 'Pain,' that's that feeling I get over there. It's a certain feeling like, 'Holy sh--. It's about to drop.' "
"Nah, 'Pain' is ill," Nore's partner for 20 years, Capone, offers up. "The first time I heard 'Pain,' I got goose bumps. That song, if you close your eyes and turn off all the lights, you might get scared listening to that joint. We got a joint called 'The Oath.' When you think of an oath, you think of pricked fingers. When you hear this record, you gonna definitely feel like you took an oath. Like you down with us, like you took an oath to be down with C-N-N."
" 'My Attribute' is a great performance record. It's uptempo, has energy. 'Hood Pride' will be a great performance record," Nore added.
With the release of War Report 2, the friendship between these two Queens natives comes full circle. Their bond stood the test of time, and the duo still has many years ahead of them.
"For me, it's like Nore said, our friendship is always gonna get tested," 'Pone explained. "Everybody knows at one point, our friendship got tested. That was publicly noticeable. But we came back stronger. A lot of people, their friendship gets tested. ... When you have a brother and you get older, y'all not always gonna live together for the rest of your life: You move out the house, he goes one way, you go the other way. But y'all still brothers."
Kelis is moving on from the drama of the last year.
With her divorce from rapper Nas behind her, a new label home and new album, the singer feels like she has a new lease on life.
Because of the bitterness of the divorce, some people might expect her to pass on any anger she still feels towards Nas to their young son Knight, but Kelis insists that's not the case.
"He'll [Knight] never read anywhere that I said anything negative about his father," she says. "It doesn't matter whether it's true or not. He's not gonna see that because at the end of the day he needs to know that he did come from love. My opinion of him [Nas] is irrelevant because whoever he was with me is not who he's gonna be with him and that's like you know, childish."
Horrific: Agnes Bermudez lies on the ground on fire as her boyfriend William Salazar is turned into a human fireball in a New York street. She is accused of dousing him in carpet cleaner and setting it alight
This is the horrific moment a couple became human fireballs as they were engulfed in flames in a New York street.
William Salazar, 32, is pictured with his clothes alight as he desperately tried to put out the fire. He died four days later in hospital from 50 per cent burns.
On the floor, his 50-year-old lover Agnes Bermudez lies screaming in pain as flames roar along her body.
Murder charges:The couple are both in flames as Mr Salazar makes a run for a shop in a bid to find water to douse the fire
The terrifying images, captured on CCTV cameras, show Mr Salazar desperately running into a shop, where he opens a fridge door in a desperate search for water.
The shopkeeper and his assistant lurch out the way of his flaming body and grab gallon-sized jugs to throw over both of them, sending smoke pouring into the air.
But the blaze had caught hold of their apartment block in the Queens area of New York, and three people died in the ensuing fire.
The shocking video was shown to a jury at the trial of Bermudez, who was horribly disfigured in the blaze.
She is charged with four counts of murder for allegedly dousing Mr Salazar in carpet cleaning solution and igniting him, killing him and three of his upstairs neighbours in the June 2008 fire.
A third-floor tenant, Flor Sandoval, 48, tried to get out and hung from her window screaming, 'Help Me! Help me! Catch me in your arms,' as the flames inched closer to her.
Fireball: Shop workers look on in horror as Mr Salazar runs into a convenience store next door to his apartment building looking for water to put out the flames
Alight: A shop worker runs to grab some water and move out of the way as Mr Salazar turns and heads back out of the store
Horrendous: Mr Salazar screams in pain as he runs outside. He was followed by deli owner Mohammed Almatari and good Samaritan George Zugajewicz who throw water over him
Onlookers on the ground shouted up to her to hold on because help was minutes away but she lost her grip and fell to her death.
Also killed was Sandoval's husband, Heriberto Garcia, 57, and their 20-year-old son, Felipe Garcia Sandoval.
As Mr Salazar was being treated for his injuries he told a friend at the scene that it was Bermudez who attacked him, a court in New York was told.
'Agnes is crazy. She threw that s*** on me and the whole place went on fire,' he is said to have told Sebastian Castro.
The jury was told that Mr Salazar and his ex-girlfriend had a drunken brawl the weekend before the incident.
Raul Palacios, Mr Salazar's flatmate, said he had punched Bermudez in the face in a row over a laptop computer,
Mr Palacios said: 'He jumped on her. He was mad. He was drunk.'
He also claimed that Bermudez attacked Mr Salazar in a nightclub because he was dancing with another girl.
'She started to yell at him, "You are nothing. You owe me everything." She gave him a slap,' Mr Palacios said
. Grim: Mr Almatari pours water over him, as Bermudez lies on the ground still burning
Firemen surround Bermudez after the flames have been doused. Slazar can be seen second left. He died four days later in New York Hospital's Burn Center having suffered 50per cent burns to his body
The court was also told that Salazar's roommate, José Chacon, told police he'd heard the couple arguing before the inferno and that he had screamed: 'Kill me, Kill me!' before the fire broke out.
She allegedly replied: 'I'm going to kill you. I already know about the girl. You think I'm stupid? You're going to pay for this!'
Bermudez appeared in court wearing a black suit but the skin around her neck and face was badly scarred by the burns.
In his opening statement her lawyer, David McGruder, claimed that Salazar had set her client on fire, not the other way round.
He asked State Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter to block the release of the video of the incident - claiming that the material was 'inflammatory.'
01 – French Montana-Intro
02 – French Montana-Whatcha Know About It Feat Corte El
03 – French Montana-Day Dreamin
04 – French Montana-In My Life
05 – French Montana-My Brother Skit
06 – French Montana-Maybach Music Feat Jay-Z
07 – French Montana-Money Money Money
09 – French Montana-I M On It Feat Wiz Khalifa Big Sean
10 – French Montana-Ny Minute Remix Feat Jadakiss Nicki
11 – French Montana-She Love It Feat Masspike Miles
12 – French Montana-Rocsi Reynolds Skit
13 – French Montana-We Don T Wanna Feat Max B
14 – French Montana-Buy The Whole Thing Feat Oj Da Juic
15 – French Montana-In The Paint Feat Waka Flocka
16 – French Montana-Bad Habits Feat Bun B
17 – French Montana-Juuuu Heard
Fabolous just dropped his long awaited, highly anticipated Gangsta Grillz mixtape with DJ Drama last night (March 4).
'There Is No Competetion 2: The Funeral' finds Loso in tip top lyrical shape. He gets help on the tape from his Street Family crew, Freck Billionaire, Paul Cain, Kobe & Red Cafe. As well as Nicki Minaj, Cam'Ron, Vado, Willie The Kid and La The Darkman.
Los sits down with RealTalkNY to discuss his inspiration for the tape and why it took so long for the tape to surface.
He also explains why Joe Budden didn't make the mixtape.
1. (00:03:18) Styles P & Sheek Louch - Give it up
2. (00:01:27) Styles P and Sheek Louch - I wanna rock
3. (00:03:23) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Everybody
4. (00:01:24) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Silva or lead
5. (00:03:25) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Dirty game (rmx) feat. Prodigy,Cormega
6. (00:02:23) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Drop
7. (00:01:29) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Hoodie season
8. (00:01:26) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Catalina freestyle
9. (00:01:06) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Sane
10. (00:02:10) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Hate is the new love feat. Uncle Murder
11. (00:01:36) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Try sleeping with a broken heart
12. (00:02:23) Styles P and Sheek Louch - I know u missed me
13. (00:01:16) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Throw it in the bag
14. (00:01:24) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Donnie
15. (00:01:41) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Warm it up
16. (00:02:54) Styles P and Sheek Louch - This is d block feat. Bully
17. (00:03:32) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Nasty girl feat. Red cafe
18. (00:02:51) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Get bizzy
19. (00:04:39) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Euphoria feat. Jadakiss
20. (00:04:01) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Send a kite
21. (00:02:54) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Whatever u want feat. Jadakiss
22. (00:01:31) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Hustlers flow
23. (00:02:28) Styles P and Sheek Louch - Dirty feat. Bully
24. (00:03:28) Styles P and Sheek Louch - More than rap
25. (00:02:32) Styles P and Sheek Louch - D block radio
It's NBA All Star Weekend so we get a chance to see basketball's best in a variety of skills contests.
The two most popular ones besides the actual All Star game itself are the three point shooting and dunk contests.
Over the years we have seen Hall Of Fame players like Larry Bird and Michael Jordon dominate these events. Last night we might not have had any players of that caliber. But we did see some pretty good competition as New York Knicks player Nate Robinson showed us size isn't everything as he became the first player ever to claim three dunk competitions.
Video After The JumpAkon'slatest artist French Montana links up with the newest members of his Coke Boys team T-Bird and Duly better known as Skyy High for these latest visuals.
Be on the lookout for their combo mixtape 'Theater Seats' coming sooner than than you think!
Follow Me @Twitter.com/ChasinMoPaperRead more…
}