50 Cent is in Indianapolis for the super bowl and he brought the crew with him. During his stop at radio station Hot 96.3, Governor, Kidd Kidd, Paris and Tony Yayo were all in the building.
50 talked about his recent $500,000 bet on the New York Giants which he won when they beat the San Franciso 49ers.
"That was on one of those nights. I lost a few times before I made that bet. I was trying to get back. I'ma tell you the truth," he said laughing.
He also spoke about Birdman being willing to bet $5 million dollars on the New England Patriots to win the championship.
"Well he said he got $5 million for anyone that [wants to bet]. That's just showing how much he believes they're gonna win that's all," 50 said.
DJ Wrekk 1 then moved onto the rest of the crew to see what projects were coming up.
Paris said her mixtape is dropping on Valentine's Day. Tony Yayo is in the lab working on his next project and Kidd Kidd revealed that the music video for "Shooting Guns" off of The Big 10 mixtape is on the way.
50 ended the show by talking about why he set up Street King and SMS Audio as outlets to feed children in need based on the purchase of each item.
Exactly nine years ago today—on February 4th, 2003—approximately 400,000 people made their way to a record shop (Apple’s iTunes Music Store wouldn’t open its digital doors for another two months) and laid down their hard-earned ducats for 50 Cent’s major label debut, Get Rich or Die Tryin’.
By the end of that week, the Jamaica, Queens native would move over 872,000 units, entering at the top of the Billboard Albums chart. By the end of 2003, the RIAA reported six million sales of the album that earned five Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist and Best Rap Album. It was kind of like a big deal.
This was due in large part to the fact that 50 Cent himself had become such a huge deal. Nearly a decade after the deaths of two of hip hop’s biggest and best, 50 was presented as a hybrid of Biggie and Pac. Like the Notorious one, he started selling drugs at a young age on the streets of NYC. He took to rapping, seeing it as a way to turn his misery into monetary gain. The late, great Jam Master Jay taught him how to count bars, craft choruses, and make a song.
Like Tupac Amaru, 50 had no qualms about saying exactly what was on his mind regardless of who it might offend. An early hit was the beef-baiting “How to Rob” which, as the title suggests, had 50 detailing how he would relieve famous rappers—Jay-Z, DMX, Puffy and others—of their belongings. Also like Pac he was marked for death.
In 2000, as he sat in the back seat of a car in front of his grandmother’s house, he was shot nine times at close range. His story was mythical and marketable, and it ushered in a new hyper-gangster era of rap, where just talking about past wars wasn’t enough. You had to have the battle scars the prove it. As Jimmy told Nucky in the first season ofBoardwalk Empire, it was no longer enough to be a “halfway gangster”.
The rest of the legend is well known: Soon after his witty and brazen independent album Guess Who’s Back? fell into Eminem’s hands, Fif was signed to a $1 million deal with Shady/Aftermath. This process of making yourself hot in the streets with self-produced mixtapes that led to major label deals would become the blueprint that all new rappers would follow.
Get Rich or Die Tryin’, was the perfect storm. Like many other rap classics, it was created in a blur—seven songs in five days with Dr. Dre producing four, Eminem doing two, and the rest handled by a variety of relatively known but highly effective beatsmiths. The impeccable production served as the perfect backdrop for 50’s harrowing hood tales. Like 50’s flow, the production was region-less. There was no boom-bap or carefully chopped soul samples put on a dusty loop.
It sounded like no other New York rap album—or any other rap album for that matter. When 50 calmly says, “God’s on your side? Shit, I’m a-ight with that, ‘cause we gon’ reload them clips and come right back,” on “Heat,” before matter-of-factly adding, “Don’t think you safe ‘cause you moved out the hood, ‘cause your momma’s still around, dog, and that ain’t good,” the gunshot snares and funeral-service organs, make it all seem like a movie. Only it wasn’t.
The most remarkable thing about Get Rich was the light 50 shined on himself and his hood. He wasn’t rapping from the viewpoint of an observer; he was the protagonist of each tale. His rhymes, drenched in anger and anguish, were ones that dudes still clawing their way out of the gutter could relate to. Just as he had years earlier on “Ghetto Quran,” 50 gave the listeners access to a world most people only read about or saw on the nightly news.
If “Many Men (Wish Death)” had been made by any other rapper, the words, “Homo shot me, three weeks later he got shot down / Now it’s clear I’m here for a real reason, ‘cause he got hit like i got hit, but he ain’t fucking breathing,” would be taken as nothing more than clever storytelling. But on Get Rich everything was taken at face value. Fifty’s currency was realness, and he had it by the boatload.
But there was another side to 50 Cent. A side that that fully understood the mechanics of selling records. 50 wasn’t as unhinged as DMX. He was incredibly focused and measured in his savagery, making him sound even rawer than Jay-Z or Nas, something more akin to Kool G-Rap. Even with his unapologetic lyrics, the songs were tailor-made for radio with sticky choruses and polished production.
The album’s breakout Dr. Dre-produced single, “In Da Club.” was a juggernaut of a record that stayed at the top of theBillboard charts for nine weeks. It transcended rap and became a pop staple. When Ice Cube and Ludacris took Oprah to task for not supporting hip hop, the talk show queen called up Power 105.1 to clear the air, saying that she occasionally listened to “In Da Club” on her iPod.
Even after ridiculing Ja Rule for his thug-love music, 50 wasn’t above dabbling in love and hip hop himself with the album’s third single, the Nate Dogg-assisted “21 Questions”. It was as if Fif did these songs just to show that he could; to show that he could do anything he pleased.
Music, like all things, is cyclical. Trends and tastes ebb and flow. But certain records stand out as landmarks. Get Rich or Die Tryin’ marked the end of slick, flashy ladies-man rappers and cleared a space for new voices like Young Jeezy who saw rapping as a way to turn their misery into monetary gain. But what was once novel eventually becomes commonplace. Looking to replicate 50’s success, copycat killers began popping up pushing unbelievable stories in an attempt to out-gangster one another. After 50's debut, crack rap hit a wall. It was a time for a change, which Kanye and Young Money would soon provide. But for that moment nine years ago, before blogs became tastemakers and the streets made hits, 50 Cent was the only thing that mattered.
Floyd Mayweather Jr's fight with Miguel Cotto won't happen until May 5th, but leave it to Money May and 50 Cent to take advantage of America's biggest sporting event, the Super Bowl to start promoting it.
Floyd and 50 rolled into the packed downtown streets of Indianapolis, Indiana, where the Super Bowl is being held late last night (February 3) in a tour bus with Floyd's name, picture and Twitter handle painted on it's sides according to ThePostGame.com.
The bus would stop at times so 50 and Floyd could interact with fans and sign autographs, which would bring traffic to a standstill.
"Every time it stopped, the traffic would immediately begin to back up because cars couldn’t get around," said Indy resident Gregg Kiesler. "For the most part Mayweather stayed well inside, but a couple of times he leaned out and spoke with the fans. It didn’t take long for the cars to be backed up in every direction and there were times when the roads were packed in every direction and no one could move."
At one point it looked like Floyd was going to toss money into the crowd when he walked to the front of the bus with a huge wad of paper.
"If he goes and does that (throws the money) then we would have to do something about it," one police officer said. "It could create a riot. Already we asked them to move over to the side or to move on at a sensible pace and they pretty much told us to (expletive)."
No money was thrown as Floyd and 50 kept it moving, entertaining fans and hyping the upcoming fight along the way.
It was definitely great publicity for Floyd's fight with Cotto. Mayweather will be moving up from his usual fighting weight of 147 pounds as a welterweight to fight at the junior middleweight limit of 154.
At stake is Cotto's junior middleweight title belt.
"Miguel Cotto is a world-class fighter who can never be taken for granted and continues to prove he is one of the best in boxing," said Mayweather told ESPN earlier in the week. "It will be a challenge for me to compete with him at this weight, but this is the type of test I thrive on and gives me the motivation to train even harder. I have no doubt in my mind that my title belt collection will increase once again and Cotto's reign as champion will come to an end on May 5."
Floyd is 42-0 with 26 knockouts. Cotto is 37-2 with 30 knockouts.
The fight will be held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas on May 5th.
Check out some footage of Floyd's tour bus from last night captured by Martin Rogers of World Football Daily below.
Nipsey Hussle and Blanco have teamed up for a collaborative album entitled Raw that is being produced entirely by Cooking Soul. The first single "L.A. Confidential" features YG.
M.I.A. returns with a new track that sounds like a hit. "Bad Girls" was filmed in Ouarzazate, Morocco by director Romain Gavras, the man behind M.I.A.'s controversial "Born Free" video from a couple of years ago.
"Bad Girls" is slated to appear on M.I.A's upcoming fourth album that will be released this Summer.
In the meantime you can catch M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj tomorrow when they perform their verses from "Give Me All Your Luvin'" as part of Madonna's halftime show.
French Montana brought his Coke Boys team of Chinx Drugz and Cheeze with him to Philadelphia's Power 99 radio station to bless the Cosmic Kev show with a freestyle.
Maino's sophomore album The Day After Tomorrow drops on February 28th. Today we get a preview of what the Brooklyn rapper has to offer this time around via snippets of the entire disc courtesy of 2DopeBoyz
Tracklist:
1. Intro 2. Never Gon’ Stop 3. Make That Money 4. Nino Brown 5. Need A Way Out (Feat. Mista Raja) 6. Unstoppable 7. Gangstas Aint Dead (Feat. Push Montana & Mouse) 8. Cream (Feat. T.I & Meek Mill) 9. Let It Fly (Feat. Roscoe Dash) 10. That Could Be Us (Feat. Robbie Nova) 11. A Dream 12. Heart Stop 13. Heaven For A G 14. Messiah 15. Glad To Be Alive 16. Day After Tomorrow
50 Cent is in Indianapolis this weekend to watch his favorite team, the New York Giants play in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots, but not before he performs in a special concert tonight (February 4th).
The G-Unit boss will take part in the Bud Light Hotel's concert along with Pitbull and Lil Jon. Luckily for fans who want to watch the concert it will be streamed live on omg! from Yahoo.
Yahoo has set up a special page HERE. So grab your favorite beverage and snacks and watch what is sure to be a great show starting at 9:00 p.m. CST/10:00 p.m. EST.
Snoop Dogg is a huge football fan and coach of his own youth league team so it was only right that he was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon yesterday (February 3) while the host is in Indianapolis for Super Bowl week.
If he hadn't become a rapper Snoop definitely could have been a comedian. His advice to the New York Giants and New England Patriots before the big game is to fly the friendly skies.
"You know when the game gets real tight you know a lot of people get nervous and tight, but if you're flying like I'm flying you're gonna be real calm," he joked.
The Doggfather also broke down his youtube news GGN News where he serves as the host Nemo Hoes.
"That was something that I created because I was watching news and I kept seeing the same thing over and over, it was boring. It was like they was bringing bad news and I wanted to bring some hood news--some news that felt good from a different perspective. And I created a character named Nemo Hoes because I was finding nemo, and it just happened," he explained.
Lastly Snoop showed Jimmy his touchdown celebration called the "pee on the tree."
Miguel was a fixture on the Billboard charts in 2011 with "Sure Thing," "Quickie" and "Girls Like You" off of his debut album, All I Want Is You. He also collaborated with Wale on the hit record "Lotus Flower Bomb."
The 25-year old budding superstar is back with a new project Art Dealer Chic, Vol. 1 which is set to drop February 27, 2012.
The first song and video off of the project is "Adorn."
The visual for “Adorn” is the projection of a dream I recently had. I wanted to use simple creative elements in a symbolic way to communicate the intense desire to understand its meaning.
Check out the artwork for the project painted by Miguel himself and video for "Adorn" below.
Lil Kim probably has a few accountants she would like to have words with. TMZ is reporting that the Queen Bee owes Uncle Sam $1,026,862.42 in back taxes.
According to the report Kim failed to pay taxes every year from 2002-2009.
On the positive side of things Kim is expected to put out new music this year, hopefully she will be able to get this situation turned around.
Tracy Morgan has broken his silence and released a statement regarding the ugly fallout between himself and his mother.
As we previously reported, Tracy's mom Alicia Warden alleges she asked her son, who is reportedly worth $18 million dollars for help paying off less than $25,000 she owes on her Youngstown, Ohio home to stop pending foreclosure proceedings. She is 61-years old and lost her job last year. Her unemployment benefits have run out. Foreclosure proceeding will begin later this month if she doesn't come up with the money.
Alicia Warden's home
Alicia says Tracy's accountant called her back and offered a one shot offer from Tracy of $2000, which she turned down out of pride.
Alicia Warden
“I told her, ‘Thank you, but no thank you. I’m not some person in the street,” Warden told the New York Daily News. “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. God don’t like ugly. Karma comes back to you.”
Morgan responded by issuing a statement calling the claims untrue.
"I am saddened that these untrue stories about me have people questioning my commitment to my family," read the statement sent to Ohio CBS affiliate WKBN-TV. "For reasons that are between us I have not seen my mother in 11 years, and outside of a random call here and there have had little to no contact with my sister. We all have personal family issues that we have to deal with in life, but I choose to deal with mine in private and not through the media."
His mother is not backing down from her claims, and says Tracy just isn't telling the truth.
"There's nothing for me to lie about," Warden said. "People are saying that we're airing our dirty laundry, but he's the one who wrote about us first," says Warden, referring to the book Tracy wrote 'I Am the New Black.' "He can't keep telling lies and expect me to be quiet about it. He basically made me look like a prostitute. Everything in his book is a total lie."
Alicia says that if she loses her home she will go live in a shelter.
"If the worst happens then I'm in the streets," she said. "I'm not going to live with anyone. They got their own children and families. So I'll go to a shelter."
Tracy Morgan and his mom in happier times
This is a truly sad situation that doesn't seem to be getting any better.
T.I. was supported by friends, family and celebrities at his Akoo clothing fashion show in Atlanta last night. Keri Hilson, Future, Yelawolf, Kevin Hart, Sara Chapman, Lisa Wu, Tameka Raymond and many more attended the event.
Tip's family was also there in full force. Tiny, his mom Violeta Morgan and his sons Damoni, King and Messiah lent their moral support
Tip's son Domani showed he might be ready to follow in his famous father's footsteps when he grabbed the mic and performed.
Check out pics and video from the event below.
Keri Hilson Sings Happy Birthday to T.I.'s Son Messiah at AKOO
Mannie Fresh is one of the most well known and respected producers in the game. He was responsible for almost all of Cash Money Records early hits. "Bling Bling," "The Block Is Hot," "Go DJ," "Ha," "Back That Azz Up" and countless other songs that put the record label on the map were all produced by Mannie. Now a free agent the New Orleans native might have found a new recording home.
He sat down with HipHopDX recently to talk about his future plans. While he was hesitant to reveal too much, he did mention that he has been in talks with Kanye West G.O.O.D Music label.
DX: Going back to that [tour] clip, you’re seen in there giving a nice little motivational speech to the G.O.O.D. Music fam. So does this mean you’re officially G.O.O.D. Music in-house yourself now?
Mannie Fresh: Well, we working that out. I’m kind of funny about signing with people. Dude, I’ve been through so much. And I’m not saying I think Kanye is a bad person, but I can’t tell you what that is right now. It’s really on me, and what space I’m in. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t do it, but it’s gotta be something that makes sense for me.
DX: Was any sort of formal offer put forward, or any extending of the hand saying “If you want to, come on”?
Mannie Fresh: I can’t really say if [there was]. It’s one of them things where – Let me just put it like this, Kanye is kinda mysterious about the things that he do. And I can’t really let no cats out the bag. I’m sorry to give you an answer like that, but I can’t really say what’s in the works. Y’all just gotta wait to see what happens.
To read the rest of the interview head over to HipHopDX.
Would joining G.O.O.D Music be a good look for Mannie?
Two former Shady Records artists have teamed up to form a new group. Bobby Creekwater and Stat Quo, together known as FUPM release their latest track "Dope Out My Window."
Expect to hear a lot of new music from the two Atlanta spitters in the near future.
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