The Hip-Hop Herald 01.07.10: Call Me Mr. Flintstone!

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 01.07.2010

This week, DJ Premier reveals his Top 20 albums of 2009, Shawty Redd turns himself in for murder, Elton John discusses helping Eminem, Lil Wayne is set to play Jesus, Crooked I airs out Benzino and Bow Wow makes a complete ass of himself! All this and more inside.

The reason I didn't get a column up on Saturday was that I eventually succumbed to more severe food poisoning after continuing to eat the leftovers that in retrospect, should have been thrown out well before I got to them. Still, it was a bit of a wakeup call in that although I might be able to do the washing and ironing and drive myself places, I still can't cook for shit.

So when the family leaves me for a MONTH in April…well let's just say I'm making an open call for anybody wanting to grab anything of mine in my Will because I may not see May.

In positive news, I popped into the stores on Wednesday just to look around, and found Bayonetta on the shelves a day early. The guy I was talking to said he made the call to put it out early and they'd already sold most of their copies. Sucks to be anyone coming in tomorrow I guess…then again I'm going in tomorrow to possibly pick up Darksiders to play sometime in the next few weeks.

Seriously, the PS3 is dominating my life at the moment, and I couldn't be happier hahaha.

The News

Top Story

DJ Premier's Top 20 Of 2009



In an annual tradition, DJ Premier has released his list of the top 20 albums of 2009. If you have read any of his lists in the past, they're always really interesting and often include some seriously left-field inclusions. Not necessarily because they're bad as such, but because you just wouldn't imagine Premier listening to them.

According to DJ Premier, he based his list solely on "dope beats, dope rhymes, scratching and cutting, creativity, uniqueness, originality and overall packaging of the product's integrity."

Blaq Poet's Tha Blaqprint was number one on DJ Premier's list, while Raekwon's Only Built For Cuban Linx II placed at number two on the list. On a side note, Tha Blaqprint was entirely produced by DJ Premier, save two songs which might be why it's Number 1 as opposed to 2. Not saying it's a bad album by any means, and I haven't listened to it to be honest, but on a personal level, I can't see anything topping Raekwon from last year.

"I don't care if you sold a million copies, that does not make it dope," DJ Premier stated on his blog. "This is how I got famous in my career, so the rules still apply. I went through more than 60 LP's released in ‘09 on major and indie labels over and over to get it as close as I possibly could to being satisfied with the list."

More people need to realize that sales DO NOT EQUATE SKILL. It can HELP sure, (although these days it doesn't always), but SALES DO NOT EQUATE SKILL.

Honorable mentions included The Alchemist's Chemical Warfare and Beanie Sigel's Broad Street Bully album.

DJ Premier's Top 20 albums of 2009 are listed below:

1. Blaq Poet - Tha Blaqprint
2. Raekwon - Only Built For Cuban Linx II
3. OC and AG - Oasis
4. A&E - Arts and Entertainment
5. Obie Trice - Special Reserve

This kind of crept up on us; it's a mixtape of old pre-Shady days Obie verses with production from Moss. From what I've heard, it's quite good, although as with all pre-deal tracks, it's fairly different from his studio work.

6. Royce Da 5'9 - Street Hop

No surprise here as this is another album Premier had a hand in making. I'm a bit surprised it isn't higher than the Obie album.

7. Marco Polo & Torae - Double Barrel
8. Statik Selektah - Pre Game EP

I had no idea this was released actually.

9. Jay-Z - Blueprint 3
10. Slaughterhouse - Slaughterhouse

Given Premier's affinity for hip-hop in the same vein as this, this was always going to make his list I think.

11. Canibus & Keith Murray - Undergods

On the other hand, I didn't think this one had actually been released yet. Must find it now…

12. Diamond District – In the Ruff
13. Saigon & Statik Selektah - All In A Day's Work

Another one I'll have to check soon. Statik Selektah has been really impressive this year; I can't wait for his album to drop.

14. KRS-One & Buckshot - Survival Skillz
15. Ghostface Killah - Ghostdini: Wizard of Poetry

I'm glad to see Premo appreciated this. I've read some comments from people who wrote it off as lame R&B tracks when I feel it's the complete opposite. If you're looking for a bit of hip-hop that's got a solid R&B influence that works, this is it.

16. M.O.P. - Foundation
17. 50 Cent - Before I Self Destruct

And here's the WTF entry for the year!

18. Method Man & Redman - Blackout 2
19. La Coka Nostra - A Brand You Can Trust

This really was a surprisingly entertaining album. I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to be quite enjoyable. Definitely worth a listen if you're a fan of any of the artists involved.

20. DJ JS-1 - No Sell Out

Funnily enough, reading comments on the list, SO MANY PEOPLE were writing Premier off as a nobody because it didn't include Rick Ross, PLIES, Eminem or GUCCI MANE. Seriously, Gucci Mane and Plies? Rick Ross? Was the Deeper Than Rap I listened to different to the one everyone else did? Because that album really wasn't that impressive. I gave it a 6 when I reviewed it, in retrospect, if I was going to give it any more, it wouldn't get higher than a 6.5.

Shawty Redd Turns Himself In For Murder

Shawty Redd has turned himself in to authorities during the early morning hours of Friday January 1 after shooting a man in his home in Hampton, Georgia.
Shawty Redd was at his home with an unspecified number of people during the early morning hours of New Year's Day.

At some point during the evening, an argument between Shawty Redd and another man got physical. Redd then retrieved a firearm from somewhere in his home, and shortly thereafter, an unnamed man was shot and killed.

Shawty Redd then drove himself to the Henry County Police Department and surrendered. He is currently being held pending his arraignment early Saturday morning January 2.

A detective with the Henry County police department confirmed that only one gun was found in the shooting - the one used to kill Damon Martin, of Detroit - and that no weapons were drawn on Redd.

The detective also confirmed that Shawty Redd was the only other person in the house with the man at the time of the shooting.

Shawty Redd is currently being held without bond on first-degree murder.

According to reports, the producer is cooperating with detectives. A bond hearing is slated for January 12.

You may know Shawty Redd best for his work on "Sexual Eruption" with Snoop.

Eminem Working With Elton John



Appearing on the BBC Radio's The Danny Baker Show, Elton John revealed his current efforts to help Eminem, who had a history of drug abuse. According to John, the Detroit lyricist is doing a great job of kicking his habit.

"I've been helping Eminem over the last 18 months and he's doing brilliantly," Elton John told Danny Baker. "I'm there if people want my help. If people ask for help you tell them where to go but there's no point advising people if they don't want to do it."

John's relationship with Eminem goes back to the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards on February 21, 2001.

The pair united on stage for the first time to perform the Eminem's hit "Stan" in a move to show the rapper/actor had no hate for the gay and lesbian community.

At the time, Eminem was criticized by the LGBT for what they deemed to be anti-gay and violent lyrics in songs from his Grammy Award winning sophomore album, The Marshall Mathers LP.

No stranger to his own struggle with substance abuse, John recounted how he turned down help from concerned friends. Before giving up his habit, the musician was embroiled in a constant struggle with alcohol and cocaine. In 1975, John suffered a drug overdose in Los Angeles.

The revelation of John's helping of Eminem comes months after the rapper confessed to Vibe last year that he suffered from severe drug addiction. According to Eminem, his problem led him to take as many as 20 Vicodin, Ambien and Valium in a day. Currently sober, Eminem is enjoying a wave of success from his latest album Relapse.

As someone who has worked in a pharmacy, it's amazing he's still alive. More than three or four Valiums in a day is enough to cause problems, let alone combined with all the other drugs.

Rebirth Delayed Again



Lil Wayne's often delayed album Rebirth has been given another release date, according to Wal-Mart's website.

Rebirth's release date has been pushed back at least six times over the past two years, with the last reported date being February 1.

Lil Wayne is due to start his one-year prison sentence for a gun possession charge in New York on February 9 2010.

In related news, Lil Wayne landed at #26 on Pollstar's list of Top 50 grossing tours of 2009, topping artists like Beyonce, Toby Keith and Kiss, by raking in a total of $32.1 million dollars.

Rock group U2 topped the list with $123 million earned, followed by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band which earned a total of $94 million.

This is a surprise to be honest. When an album leaks really early, usually there's an announcement that a whole new record is going to be made for the new release date, like Lupe's Food & Liquor album. In this case though, there hasn't been such an announcement. I can't seriously see Wayne or Birdman thinking it would be a good idea, from a financial standpoint, to release the same album everyone has in six months time.

Either way, it'll be interesting to see what happens. "Knockout" from Rebirth is a guilty pleasure of mine. Much like "Bedrock" still is. Man that song just gets more hilarious each time I hear it.

In other news, Lil Wayne is pairing up with T-Pain for "Freakniks", an impending cartoon (OF DOOM) special set to air on Adult Swim. Weezy will be playing the role of Jesus and is rumored to be featured in a parody music video titled "Ghetto Commandments."

"Basically it was a Black Spring Break that went down in Atlanta and got shut down back in '98 or '99. So the show is going to resurrect that, and it's going to be starring T-Pain and Lil Wayne and all these other artists like David Banner and some other dudes," said Adult Swim creative director Jake Escobedo about the show. "It's all drawn, and T-Pain plays the ghost of spring break, the Spirit of Freaknik. He brings this party back to Atlanta and the artists have done all this music for it, and it's amazing," he added.

Why does this sound like it's going to be terribly bad in that you can't finish watching it, or terribly terrible-good in that it's so amazingly bad, that it does a complete revolution of the terrible circle and comes back to remotely entertaining-somewhat good. Hmm tangent.

Outside of playing the ghost of spring break, T-Pain is working on his fourth studio album, Revolver.

"Freaknik" is set to air on March 21.

Someone please check this out and tell me where it lands in the terrible circle for future reference. I may want to download it at some point.

Timbaland Talks Relationship With Jay-Z



Ever since the Timbaland-produced tracks from The Blueprint 3 leaked, people have been speculating about whether the two had problems, but the producer himself has a conspiracy theory about the leaks.

Everyone has a conspiracy theory about everything these days.

"There's no beef between us," Tim expressed to us not too long ago, admitting that the two had a serious talk about the premature release of songs the two collaborated on, most notably a record called "Rumors" that also featured Keri Hilson.

"Me and Jay is kinda weird," Timbaland said recently in New York, when asked when he and Jay would work together again. "Musically, I take friendship very serious. Me and Jay, sometimes people think we have falling-outs. We don't have falling-outs; it's that we don't communicate at the proper time. I take friendship very seriously. I wanna tell him how I might feel about a situation. The last time we talked, he understood how I felt. He saw my point with the Keri stuff being leaked out and everything. I had nothing to do with that. I would never do that to him. Nothing against his wishes. It bothered me so bad; I went on hiatus for a minute, because I would never disrespect his wishes. Like, 'I'm trying to do this with my album, please don't let that song get out or no leakage.'... Four months later, the song is leaked. I felt so bad, because I would never want my friend to feel like we had some miscommunications."

Timbaland explained that someone hacked into his engineer's e-mail and stole the files of Blueprint 3 songs "Venus vs. Mars" and "Off That," the first to be leaked from the album. He said they hadn't determined a destination for "Rumors," though they thought it wasn't right for Blueprint 3 or for Shock Value II. They decided to leave it in the vault, but it somehow made its way onto the Internet last fall. Timbaland says the leak was a blatant attempt by an unknown mastermind trying to damage their relationship.

"I felt like, 'What in the world? Who is trying to sabotage our friendship?'" Timbaland recalled. "That bothers me. I respect my friends, because I don't got a lot of them, and he's one of my friends in the music industry. I felt like, 'I'll remove myself. If people wanna play us against each other, I'll bow out.' We talk about personal stuff. I don't want him to feel like he can't talk to me about certain things. We both said to [each other] one day, we know we don't need each other musically, but we are friends. I'm like, 'I hope you realize that. But I want you to realize that me and you are like Dre and Snoop.' Sometimes I don't think he understands that. When we get together, we do make magic."

GET A ROOM!

Ok, seriously now, but how many times do you hear about people's emails being hacked? It's absurd that in this age of technological advancement, SOMEONE couldn't manage to carry the files around on a USB or passport drive. Can we learn by example in this new decade? Email isn't the safest method of communication so unless you have a very strict password system, don't use it!

Crooked I Tells Benzino To Calm Down



Recently, Benzino put out a video diss of a track directed towards Royce Da 5'9". Wasting little time, Crooked I has now released his reaction to the feud in video form.

"You're talking too much, homie. You're doing too much. There's only a couple ways to get out of a beef. You might as well squash this shit," he says in the video.

He also sheds light on what may have started the beef.

"I know you was mad because [Slaughterhouse] didn't do the mother****** interview with your magazine. But, that was some other shit. You know what that was about. You shouldn't have even spoke on it or caught feelings, n****. If you're a real gangster, you don't catch feelings over that shit. You're thinking with your emotions right now."

Has anyone, ANYONE ever remotely considered Benzino's crazy ass to be a real gangster?

Reacting to guns in Benzino's video, he says there was no need for that.

"Calm down, homie. It's not about all that bullshit...I got love for Boston. Don't go there, man. You went too far showing mother****** pistols and all that type of shit. That shit's not gangster. That shit is called incriminating yourself. That shit is not gangster."

AND YET! Easily half of the rappers involved in either crack-rap, gangsta rap or rap involving any kind of illegal activities or items manages to incriminate themselves at one time or another. It really isn't gangster, it's called brainless. If you're going to do it, go the whole nine yards and do it N.W.A. style and get yourself a cease and desist letter from the government. THAT is gangster.

Adding a warning of sorts, he also calls for an end to the feud.

"If you respect me, n****, you will stop all that. If you don't respect me, it's going to go where it gotta go...My n**** Nickel, that's my n**** and I'm not going to let no n**** talk foul about my n****, ever.

It's not going to be pretty, homie. It's goin' to be ugly...It's not worth it...You know me. I know you...F*** that shit. Don't let the internet get you caught up in some shit. You don't have no problem with Slaughterhouse, n****. Slaughterhouse ain't ever did nothing to you. You have no problems with Slaughterhouse. Do you. We'll do us. That's it."

Well…Slaughterhouse DID refuse to do the interview with his magazine and I think everyone can understand why they wouldn't, but I don't think Crooked is right by saying they haven't done anything to him. A Slaughterhouse interview would have been a big boost for the magazine.

Adding more about the origin of the feud, he brings up the interview again.

"You already know the politics behind the reason why the Slaughterhouse interview didn't go down on your mother****** magazine. You know all that, dog. Just keep that shit like it's supposed to be...You know what I'm talking about homie."

I agree though. It's nothing to catch feelings over, I'm sure hundreds of magazines across the world have been turned down for interviews by hundreds of artists across the world for stupider reasons. At least the Slaughterhouse guys, well Royce in particular, have a significant reason for not wanting to do the interview.

Bow Wow Is An Idiot



As the festivities of the new year ensued, Bow Wow found time to Tweet. While that may not have made the news, the content of his Tweets became more controversial. During his posts, presumably made while driving, he admitted to driving under the influence, adding that his face was numb and that he shouldn't have been driving.

As always, I'm leaving them exactly as gathered, terrible grammar and all.

"Face numb," he posted. "im whippin the lambo. Tispy as f***. Just left @livmiami."

Ugh. TISPY ha!

Moments later, he continued his posting, naming Chris Brown, who may have been with him at the time.

"Im f***** up!!! Ohhhh damn. Y i drive the lambo. Chris [Brown] might have to drive after next spot."

UGH. Y I DO DIS? Y I DRIVE DURRRRRR

GAHHHHHHHHH

However, since then, the post has been taken off of Bow Wow's Twitter page. He has also added an apology.

"Apologize for that tweet. it was stupid and immature. not a way i want to kick my #2010 year off. i got too much good stuff lined up. my bad."

IDIOT!!

IDIOT!!

GAHHHHHH

ARRGGGGHGHHHHHHHH

DAMMIT MY BRAIN IS HURTING!

Alfamega's Children Attacked



In an exclusive interview with AllHipHop.com, Alfamega shared the details regarding the attack on his two children that took place on Christmas Eve at Atlanta's Club Crucial, which is owned by T.I.

Although Alfamega did not reveal what caused the violent altercation he did explain that his daughter was stabbed multiple times and when her brother attempted to intervene he was also beaten, resulting in a broken jaw.

"I had a talk with Tip's uncle Derrick, who co-owns Club Crucial," Alfamega told AllHipHop.com. "I was like ‘my daughter got stabbed up there dog and my son got his jaw fractured. He ‘was like huh? I didn't know that.' They didn't know, they people they got into it with didn't know they were my children. I was told that my children wasn't in the wrong. The girls and the dudes attacked her and stabbed her and basically my son jumped in cause they were attacking his sister and somebody hit him from the blindside."

Although Alfamega's daughter did suffer from a collapsed lung and several stab wounds she has already been released from the hospital.

"…At the end of the day, it's all about what I want to do. And I don't want no street retaliation of violence. It's a new year. And all in a nutshell they didn't know. I would look at it different if they knew they was my children. And I don't wish that upon nobodies children," said Alfamega.

Back in May of last year, Alfamega was dropped from Grand Hustle after it was revealed the he had served as an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

It is unclear if any criminal charges will be made as a result of the attack.

That's insane! How old are they though, because why are children at a club? Seriously though, how can anyone stab a little girl and still sleep at night? I doubt even at the highest point of their beef, Jay and Nas wouldn't have dreamed of involving kids (if they had any at the time…did they have any during that time? I don't think they did).

Game Talks R.E.D. Album



Game has recently taken to Twitter as a way to promote his upcoming R.E.D. Album. Most noticeably, the outspoken Compton emcee has professed a new friendship for Pharrell Williams; Game even went so far as to tattoo the logo of Williams' and Chad Hugo's Star Trak label on his forearm. In a recent interview with Reuters, Game addressed how his new friendship has impacted his upcoming album.

"It was the most hood album I had until Pharrell came in and took over," Game said of the R.E.D. Album, which is scheduled for a February 16 release date. "Don't get me wrong--this album is still hood. I would describe it as the beauty of the sky meets the gangster of the streets. It's just got a bit more color to it."

Ok that's a little strange, but I'm a bit disappointed that Pharrell is probably going to have so much input with the album. I think Pharrell's got his niche, and he can occasionally pull some stellar beats out of his brain, but more often than not, he jumps on the beat, kills the track with a god-awful hook, and makes what SHOULD be a street album, into some kind of fairy-floss coated sugar pill album.

In addition to Williams, the album is expected to contain beats from DJ Khalil, Cool and Dre and Dr. Dre. When addressing his volatile nature toward addressing beef--most notably the one with 50 Cent that got him ousted from G-Unit--Game said that he's "been too wild for [Dre] at times" and understood why the legend distanced himself from him on his two previous albums.

As far as the Star Trak tattoo, Game said he's still 100% behind his own Black Wall Street label, but there's a method to his madness.

"I'm riding for Star Trak too," Game added. "I hold dear anything that helps elevate me and my life and my career and helps me take care of my family. I'll be in debt to him forever for what he's done for me. I appreciate him and I would never go to such extremes as to get a tattoo if it didn't deserve it."

Sales Figures

Alicia Keys sold 80,000 copies of Element Of Freedom giving her a total now of 779,000. Mary J Blige had another strong week with 62,000 copies of Stronger (With Every Tear) for a total of 394,000.

The Young Money compilation is plodding along with 43,000 copies sold now placing the album at 186,000. Relapse sold 41,000 copies which puts Eminem's latest album at 1,735,000.

Further down the charts, Jay-Z sold 25,000 copies of Blueprint 3 for a total now of 1,515,000. Gucci Mane's album sold 18,000 copies for a total of 191,000. 50 Cent's album is beginning to really lose momentum now with 15,000 copies putting Before I Self Destruct at 349,000. It will most likely go Gold, but not for a while by the looks of it.

Rounding out this week's numbers are Snoop Dogg with Malice N Wonderland selling 14,000 copies for a total of 147,000 and Wale's Attention: Deficit selling 3,700 copies for a total of 64,000.

The Signoff

Hmm time to go play Bayonetta. Catch you Saturday!