The Hip-Hop Herald 01.28.10: The Perfect Record Is Still Not Complete

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 01.28.2010

This week Dr. Dre talks about the Detox delays, Rick Ross' new single leaks, T-Pain announces new dance competition, Trina wants to adopt, Nate Dogg is recovering, the Black Eyed Peas suffer denial and Kurupt wants a HRSMN reunion!

It turns out my continuous headaches are tension headaches which can typically keep occurring for up to 14 days. So basically, I'm not in the best of health at the moment unfortunately. Anyway, on with the news.

Thanks all for the Birthday messages last week too. I have had quite a few good days, usually quite doped up on a couple of different pain killers.

The News

Top Story

Dr. Dre Talks Delays



Eight years in the making and fans are still awaiting the release of possibly the most anticipated album of Dre's career. Holdups as continuous as each calendar day, Dre does not expect to drop Detox before 2011.

"I got some shit coming, believe me," he tells The Guardian this weekend at Best Buy while promoting his Beats By Dre high end headphones. "I'm just trying to be a creator in among all this shit that's going on," he added.

Chairman of Interscope Records, Jimmy Iovine, who also happens to be Dr. Dre's retail partner, explained their thinking behind Beats. "Three years ago we were talking about the deals that acts do," Iovine recalls. "We said, 'We gotta do something about sound.' We went from analogue to digital and the digital revolution all went terribly wrong. So we said, 'Screw the sneakers, let's get into headphones and speakers'", he continued.

That's kind of good because I think when artists get involved in ventures within their own sphere of influence and knowledge; the end product has a better chance of succeeding. Like if Dre had instead decided to fund a travel agency, it would be like, "well that's nice, but WHY?". Did the digital revolution go terribly wrong though like Iovine says? I mean sure, piracy is at an all time high at the beginning of each New Year, sales are dropping and every man and his dog seem to have an iPod of MP3 player of some sort which has essentially helped Apple when it was looking like Microsoft was going to dominate forever.

But we also got…well I can't think of much right now so I'll let you guys throw things at me if you can think of anything.

Oh FLAC. I started getting into FLAC the other day and even got Rockbox on my iPod (please nobody tell me now that Rockbox is terrible and going to kill it). Although it's like, 45mb for an individual song, supposedly the quality is much, much better. I haven't exactly tried it out yet though.

"I just want to get my music out and make sure that it's heard in the right way. That's all I give a f*** about," Dre said in regards to when Detox was dropping. "I have to go out to clubs now [to prepare for Detox's release]. You need to understand what people are listening to."

When asked if Dre had yet created the perfect record for Detox, he replied, "I don't think I've done that record yet. I'll know what it is when it comes; I know exactly what it is in my head, but I haven't done it yet. It's close."

You don't REALLY need to go to clubs, just follow a bunch of Top 40 teenagers around and they'll play the same damn songs over and over again on their MP3 players or in their cars and you'll find out exactly what's popular. Then Dre can change the entire record because HOPEFULLY he realizes that most of what's on the radio etc. these days isn't exactly quality.

Rick Ross' Next Single Leaks



Rick Ross fans were treated to a glimpse of his upcoming album Teflon Don on January 21, as the debut single "Mafia Music II" was leaked to the Internet.

The new track features Ross rhyming over a beat produced by The Olympiks and features Chrisette Michelle.

Teflon Don is Rick Ross's follow-up album to his 2008 release Deeper Than Rap.

"And those that are from Miami that know that was Ross' original rap name, Teflon Don. Trust me, we are making some crazy music man. We gonna make them anthems that have the club going crazy," producer DJ Khaled stated.

Deeper Than Rap sold 150,000 copies upon its release in April of 2009 and debuted at number one on Billboard's Top 200 charts.

I still don't see why everyone loved that record so much and the funny thing is, the people who were saying I didn't know shit about it etc. or that I was hating couldn't provide me with a single reason, whether valid or shortsighted, as to why I should like the album. Everyone simply said it was ‘banging' or ‘a Classic' because yeah, that REALLY helps convince me otherwise.

Teflon Don is due in stores in 2010.

And I'm not going to buy it!

T-Pain Hosts Dance Contest



In preparation for his new album Revolver, T-Pain is seeking 3 undiscovered dancers for an upcoming world tour. The contest, named "Blood, Sweat, and Dance," officially launched on Thursday January 21 at www.dancejam.com. Through the site, contestants can upload their best dance video to be reviewed by T-Pain himself.

Each hopeful must dance for 1 minute to Omarion's "I Get It In," and for an additional 30 seconds showcase another talent outside of dancing.

HAHAHA "I am now going to juggle these chainsaws…OH MY GOD MY ARM! MY ARMMMM!!" I'd pay to see something like that. Definitely not someone losing an arm to a chainsaw because I'm a bit queasy with that kind of thing.

"I wanted to find some fresh dancers for my upcoming tour, but not through the usual channels," T-Pain said in a statement. "This time I wanted to do an open call for anyone and everyone to submit videos and Dancejam.com was the obvious choice to partner up with," said T-Pain.

The contest runs until February 16, with the singer selecting one male and two female dance winners on February 22.

Hey this could well be the launching pad for the next K-Fed!

In addition to the T-Pain contest, Dancejam.com has verified a partnership/merger with the LA-based content distribution, production, and marketing company Skee.TV, (www.skeetv.com) and media publisher Grind Networks. Through the deal, Skee.TV duties will be site management, day to day operations, content, and creative direction of dancejam.com.

"We are excited to bring the DanceJam community another opportunity to launch a professional dance career and live the dream," stated DJ Skee.

Grind Networks founder Greg Morrow echoed Skee's words, and expects dancejam.com to grow its Hip-Hop presence that began through the site's earlier affiliation with MC Hammer.

HAMMER? HAMMER IS BACK! Don't lie, you'd mark out a little if Hammer popped up on a T-Pain video and started dancing.

"We have found a great partner in DJ Skee and his team at Skee.tv to take DanceJam.com to the next level" said Morrow.

Dancers can upload their videos and fans can vote at http://dancejam.com/contests/tpain.

Hey give it a go someone, and if you win, give me a shout out somewhere! Hahaha

Trina Looking To Adopt Child



Trina is looking to get involved with the effort to aid the millions of people in Haiti who were impacted by a devastating 7.0 earthquake on January 12 that has killed at least 200,000 people. Currently she is seeking to contribute more than money and/or other relief by adopting a child from Haiti.

"I would like to contribute on a higher level for more personal reasons in addition to being ready to raise/nurture a child; by being involved on a day to day bases," Trina said.

According to Trina, she had been considering adopting a child from the impoverished island nation, which has been bombarded with a series of natural disasters since.

Whilst I appreciate her desire to help and I always think its great when people are willing to do something different to help, would you really want someone who once sang "B R Right" raising a child?

Thousands of children lost their parents during natural disasters that have included flooding, hurricanes and now the massive earthquake. Additionally, a series of aftershocks, including a 6.1 tremor, hampered rescue efforts last week and injured and killed more people.

"The tragic and untimely list of events that have happened in Haiti even before the recent earthquake have made me realized how blessed I am as an individual and I want to share that with a child that is a victim in this disturbing time," Trina stated.

Trina, who is planning to release a new album titled Amazin' this year, believes that she is at a point in her career where she is mature enough to handle the responsibilities of motherhood, in addition to juggling her famed rap career.

Well, to be honest, her last album DID have a lot more mature tracks on it as opposed to the stupid sex-rap tracks she'd previously littered her albums with so maybe she is getting past that. Oh wait, she did a track with Gucci (GUCCI!) Mane called "Sex In Crazy Places" and if you haven't listened to that track yet, try not to, it will kill some brain cells.

"I am in the financial position to adopt; therefore I am taking it into deep consideration at this time," Trina revealed. "I have always admired other individuals for adopting children, not so much for their celebrity status, but more so because of the nurturing and invaluable change and joy it will bring to a child's life."

The rapper stated that she also has family members from Haiti, which would make the adoption of a child a logical choice.

"The fact that I am considering adopting a child from Haiti is even more significant to me seeing that a great deal of adopted children that come into the United States are from ‘larger countries' such as China, Russia and Africa," Trina said.

Good luck to her, in all sincerity, just drop the sex-rap act or your kid is going to grow up embarrassed.

Nate Dogg Recovering From Stroke



Nate Dogg is recovering from a stroke and doing well in therapy, according to childhood friend and longtime collaborator, Warren G. Nate Dogg has suffered two strokes since January of 2008.

The strokes left the singer partially paralyzed and he was also using an assisted breathing tube, to make breathing easier.

"He's in therapy getting himself together, that's all I can tell people," Warren G. told HardKnock.tv. "I see him any and every time I want to. It's hard when you have somebody that got two strokes, usually the person don't make it. But he's strong. He's getting good therapy and he's pulling out of it."

According to Warren G., Nate Dogg was relearning to use basic human functions and that he "can lift his head up."

"It's hard when you first have a stroke, you got to learn everything over again", Warren G. stated. "It's like you're a baby again. You gotta learn everything."

No jokes here, this seriously sucks. I loved Nate Dogg when I was growing up on hip-hop, and I still love the dude now. I'm praying he makes a recovery and can live as comfortable as possible from now on.

Black Eyed Peas Get DENIED!



I usually don't post Black Eyed Peas related stuff (due to popular demand) unless it's something hilarious involving them. These are two such occasions.

The Black Eyed Peas were disappointed at France's NRJ Awards in Cannes, after being announced as Best International Group. The award was announced by choreographer Kamel Quali, who mistakenly declared the group winners, until minutes later, when he returned and admitted the error.

German band Tokio Hotel was then given the award for Best International Group, leaving audience members and fans a bit confused.

First off, how can you make a mistake like that? Don't you have an envelope that you open and it has the winner's name on it? Because seriously, ‘Black Eyed Peas' and ‘Tokio Hotel' not only LOOK the same, but they SOUND the same too!

The same thing happened to Katy Perry at the 2009 Awards. She was awarded Best International Song honors, when the real winner was Rihanna.

Do they have chimpanzees manning the award winner envelopes? I want a chimpanzee…

In related news, will.I.am and The Black Eyed Peas have announced the "I.am Hope For Haiti Contest," which urges fans to go out and fundraise for Haiti.

He can't resist some self-pimping in the title can he?

The top 10 fans that raise funds for the cause will be invited to attend a charity event with will.I.am in San Jose, California on April 1. The top 3 fundraisers will each receive two free tickets the Black Eyed Peas concert the following day, also in San Jose.

The contest closes on February 12. For more information or to donate visit: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/posts/376481

In other news, a copyright lawsuit against The Black Eyed Peas was filed in a Chicago court on January 26 by a group of Chicago songwriters, who claim the group stole the song "Boom Boom Pow." The lawsuit was filed by plaintiffs Ebony Latrice "Phoenix Phenom" Batts and Manfred Mohr.

The pair claims the Black Eyed Peas stole their song "Boom Dynamite" and used it as the basis for "Boom Boom Pow," a Grammy-nominated #1 single, taken from their Platinum album The E.N.D..

The songwriters claim they submitted the track to Interscope Records. One year later, the songwriters were shocked to hear "Boom Boom Pow" which they claim is strikingly similar to their own.

"My clients submitted their copyrighted song ‘Boom Dynamite' to Interscope Records after Interscope had shown interest in some of their music, and the Black Eyed Peas later copied the song when they wrote "Boom Boom Pow,"" the songwriters attorney Ira Gould said. "A simple listening of the two songs will tell you that the songs are substantially similar, and that the hooks of the two songs are virtually identical in rhythm and lyrics."

The complaint also refers to other claims of copyright infringement made against the Black Eyed Peas, and seeks unspecified damages, disgorgement of profits, and punitive damages.

The lawsuit number can be found be referencing: 10-cv-00539.

Well, there goes their claim that they were "3008" and we were all "2000 and late" HA!

Kurupt Looking For Reunion

Kurupt has revealed that he is planning to reunite rap super group The 4 HRSMN, which features Killah Priest, Canibus and Ras Kass. The group have collaborated on each other's albums throughout the years, but a full-length album featuring each member has never been released.

A number of outtakes were released in 2001 on a leaked album titled The Horseman Project.

"Me and M-Eighty [Wu-Tang A&R] is putting this plan together to do this right," Kurupt said. "We gonna rack up Cani, Ras, Priest. We are going to put together one of the best albums you can possibly hear. It's definitely going to be the best Horseman album we've ever done. We're about to bottle it all up and sell it in a drink."

Hahaha IT WILL HAVE BEEN THE ONLY ONE YOU'VE DONE! GAH I've been waiting ages for this! Maybe it was Crooked I's line on the Slaughterhouse album about them being the ‘new Horseman group' that got him inspired to actually get the old group back together.

According to Kurupt, M-Eighty, who is also executive producing Canibus' upcoming Warlab Records album Melatonin Magik, will help the group with their business, something they lacked in the past as a group.

"We never really had that, so I had a long talk with M-Eighty and we are putting that together now," Kurupt continued. "We are putting the structure to it and we are going to give y'all one of these classic, major Hip-Hop albums."

No release date was available for the project at press time.

Best news I've had this week. I was wondering what it would take to get them back into the studio and whatever it was, let's hope they can actually keep the momentum going. Hey who knows, perhaps a Slaughterhouse collaboration could be in the works. Unless they let the whole, Canibus/Eminem thing get in the way.

T.I. Sued For Copyright Infringement



At issue is T.I.'s Grammy Award winning song "What You Know," which Nathan Filby aka Motoe Blizzid, claims T.I. stole. Filby, who is being represented by One LLP, claims the 2006 track sampled portions of a 2004 song he made titled "Reverence".

He's only just heard the track now or what? I know I'm behind on the music I'm meant to be listening to but that's kind of ridiculous.

He claims that the track was delivered to a number of industry insiders before reaching a representative at Relentless Management, a company that reportedly works with T.I. In court documents, One LLP and Filby claimed that the tracks contain the "same harmonic" range and lawyers even presented documents that showed an algorithm that claimed to show the song's similarities scientifically.

According to reports, Filby seeks a trial by jury and all profits derived from the song, which was featured on T.I.'s hit album King.

Geeze that's a hell of a lot of money. The single itself went double Platinum let alone the album which also sold over a million copies.

T.I. is currently in a halfway house after serving almost 8 months in a low security prison, after he was caught purchasing machine guns and silencers in October of 2008.

Soulja Boy Preparing New Artists



Earlier this month, Soulja Boy publicly introduced his 19 year-old Atlanta artist Ja-Bar with the single "Daze".

I've heard this track! It's really not that good!

When asked about releasing his new track Ja-Bar exclaimed, "It feels really good. It feels like I'm on my way to the top right now. It's truly an unexplainable feeling. We plan on dropping the album around March or April. We're still trying to come up with a name for it. I'm not sure what I want to call it yet. "

I have many, many names for it, none of which would be accepted by the artist, Soulja Boy or retail outlets.

By giving Ja-Bar a platform of his own, Soulja Boy is fulfilling the development of his SOD Money Gang. Having toured for over two years with Soulja, Ja-Bar wishes to make the most out of this grand opportunity. Ja-Bar commented, "I've learned that you've got to keep your business real tight in this industry. Everything is treated as a business. You have to be able to keep coming out with good music."

Your mentor is a shining example of that, naturally.

Soulja Boy has many non-musical projects in the works, and some production credits that are sure to surprise. "I did some songs for Kanye [West]. I did some production of Drake's new album [Thank Me Later]. I've been producing for Jamie Foxx, Snoop [Dogg], Gucci [Mane]. I've basically been able to collaborate with just about everybody in the game. My album The DeAndre Way will come out on July 28 so mark your calendars. It's my third album and it's going to be my best and biggest album ever. All of my fans are going to love it. I also have a cartoon still in the works. The episodes are still being completed. It should be released simultaneously with my third album."

One must ask WHY. I could understand that if he was a terrible rapper, but a dope producer you'd want to get him into the studio. But what has he done in terms of production that's been remotely interesting? Is it because he doesn't charge much and you can get a cheap catchy beat for the lead single that way? Or is it because there's some kind of, oh I don't know, magic that makes people want to buy his shit? I can't explain it.

Ja-Bar is gearing up to join Soulja Boy as he embarks on his first major headlining tour. The two are equally excited as Soulja chimes, "I don't know what I have in store yet, it's no telling when it comes to SouljaBoyTellem. I just know that it's my first headlining tour and it's going to be the biggest ever. We're going to do some big venues. I plan on hitting all of the major cities. I'm gonna be three albums deep in the game so I'm gonna have a lot of music to party with. I'm going to bring some great artist out on the road with me. I don't have a name for the tour yet but as soon as I do I'll let the people know."

The F.O.A.D. (F*** Off And Die) tour would be an appropriate name from my point of view although I'm sure others will disagree.

Drake Talks Rivals



In the latest issue of Complex Magazine, Drake describes his somewhat competitive relationship with other newcomers in rap music, addresses the hate aimed towards the Kanye-directed video "Best I Ever Had," and expresses his loyalty towards Lil Wayne and Young Money. The young rapper said that during his initial rise in popularity, he perceived Kid Cudi as one of his biggest rivals.

"When you're coming up, and you're in competition with somebody, it's always hard to have a friendship," he told the magazine. "I think Cudi and I are realizing that we don't threaten each other. It's ended up being one of the greatest industry friendships I have." Drake cited North Carolina native J. Cole as one rapper he may have to watch out for. "I'm at the starting line. Those guys are at home, putting on their tracksuits, getting ready to make their attack. When J. Cole gets it super-right, I think he's gonna have a place as a Nas-type character who really stands for hip-hop, but still makes ill records that everybody f**** with."

Actually those two names are quite probably two of the biggest rivals in terms of raw style. If you consider Drake to be a guy that raps who also sings, then Kid Cudi and J. Cole are also two upcoming names that have a similar style. Lyrically, they are quite different. Drake is of course, a product of the Young Money machine, Kid Cudi is on a level of his own and J. Cole I think is going to be a more streets orientated guy as opposed to Drake's mainstream appeal.

Although the Toronto rapper has expressed confidence in his abilities as an emcee, he admitted that the criticism directed towards his debut video "Best I Ever Had," may not have been totally off-base. "You can do something you believe in and people will still say, 'This shit is terrible!' But I still believe in Kanye's vision. Maybe we didn't do a great job with getting the point across--it was supposed to be a humorous video. When I read the comments, I was like, 'Man, I guess no one wants to laugh anymore.' Everybody wants the fairy tale, you know?"

The hook was kind of stupid for "Best I Ever Had" too, that never helps.

However, the rapper did not give any credence to criticism that he may have made the wrong decision in joining Lil Wayne's Young Money Record Label. "Everyone seems to have a comment for me about Young Money. [They say], ‘F*** Young Money,' or 'Why are you with them?' But what people have to understand is maybe there was a way for me to be successful without Young Money. But we'll never know. My loyalty is to Wayne, and that goes for anybody who genuinely believes in me. We don't have the most personal relationship where we hang out every day or we talk that much, but Wayne's admiration and respect goes without being verbally said. He put his neck out there for me at a very early stage, and those actions tell me everything I need to know about how he feels about me as an artist."

Do you kiss him? Just wondering.

Little Brother Preparing Final Album

With their last release, Getback, coming in 2007, Little Brother members Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh have spent the last few years working on their own individual projects. Now, the critically-acclaimed North Carolina duo will join forces once more to drop their fourth studio album LeftBack.

While this latest release was initially only going to be an EP, Phonte said he felt the fans deserved a full-length album. "I didn't want our last record to be a bunch of second-rate material. I wanted to walk away from Little Brother knowing that I gave our fans all that I had to give, and said everything I wanted to say. With LeftBack, I've done that."

Well you can hardly release a ‘final album' as an EP, there'd be hell to pay. It would be like Shawn Michaels retiring with a 1 minute squash match against ‘Local Jobber No. 34'.

Stepping up their promotional game compared to the past, four official music videos will accompany their newest album, whereas their last several projects only yielded one music video. "Three albums, three mixtapes, one video. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense in this day and age. We have always lacked in the visual department, and I think it will be refreshing to finally offer the people those visuals," said Pooh. An exclusive DVD, filled with previous tour footage, will also be included with the release.

BET certainly didn't help things by declaring they were too intelligent the first time around either.

Production on LeftBack includes cuts from Khrysis, Denaun Porter, Zo!, Symbolyc One, J. Bizness and King Karnov. In terms of features, fans can expect to hear guest appearances from Torae, Jozeemo, and Truck North.

LeftBack will be released on April 20 through Hall Of Justus.

I sort of hope this is one of those retirement albums that ends up being a non-retirement album in a few years when they get the urge to put more music out. Of course if they still decide to do their own thing and have their own careers, but pop up on each other's tracks from time to time, I'm cool with that too.

Lupe Fiasco Talks Child Rebel Soldier



On Monday night, Lupe Fiasco appeared on the DJ Green Lantern's Invasion Radio Show where he discussed details about his third studio album, and the status of Child Rebel Soldier, the Hip Hop group composed of himself, Kanye West, and Pharrell Williams.

I was only wondering a few weeks back what happened to their group.

The Chicago native recently considered retirement due to disillusionment with the industry, leading to the postponement of his third LP, which was previously titled LupE.N.D. Now, Lupe says he's already delivered the album, Lasers, to Atlantic Records.

"I'm actually going in to turn it into the label in the morning [Tuesday]," he told the radio show yesterday. "I was actually supposed to turn it in tonight. And I'm just keeping it crispy with my fans now. I'm not going to be like 'Yeah it'll be out soon!' I'm turning it into the label tomorrow. They're going to go through their processes, see what they need to do, pick whatever singles they want to do. And I'm hoping [the album will come out] before the summer. That's just what it is."

In addition, Lupe assured that the CRS collaboration with Kanye and Pharrell is still in the works, having already recorded four unreleased tracks. "I'm not even going to stray anybody like that. Pharrell hit me the other day and said we need to go back in the studio and do some more songs. I don't know what Kanye's doing, but we'll figure it out."

Ah I can't wait. New Lupe? Yes please.

Sales Figures

Alicia Keys dropped out of the Top 5 this week with the Haiti collaboration album and the Grammy Nominations albums taking out 2 spots in the Top 5. Keys came in with 40,000 this week for a total of 928,000 and on the way to Platinum in probably two-three weeks.

Mary J Blige went Gold this week with 29,000 bringing her total up to 504,000. Young Money's compilation sold 19,000 this week bringing the total for the album up to 251,000. Eminem's Relapse has sold 1,791,000 copies in total with this week's figures of 15,000 landing him at Number 30. One place behind was Jay-Z whose total now sits at 1,563,000.

50 Cent's album is still struggling with 6,200 copies this week putting Before I Self Destruct at a total of 372,000. Finally, RJD2 sold 2,900 copies of The Colossus in its first week of sales.

The Signoff

I think I'm going to sleep again. I'm also looking into trading brains with someone for a week, any takers?