The Hip-Hop Herald: 04.10.08

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 04.10.2008

Koch Records and their questionable business practices, Young Buck OUT of G-Unit, "Don't Mess With Texas" and Diddy's "Biggest Signing Ever"? Plus, who's getting sued this week, news regarding Tha Carter III and the latest Sales Figures!

It's funny, for five years, I haven't ever forgotten my PIN for my EFTPOS account but for the first time the other day, I was actually standing at the ATM with this vague expression on my face trying desperately to remember my number. People behind me meanwhile, were speculating as to which mental ailment I had that was causing me to stand vacantly in front of an ATM, card in hand, and not do anything. I EVENTUALLY remembered the number after a good 5 minutes of walking around.

Anyway, it's a beautiful Thursday morning (AUS time) as I write this, it's FINALLY stopped raining, and we've got news to discuss!

The News

Top Story

Koch Records Re-Using The Same Beats?

Look, I know it's an Independent Label and that cost saving is probably of importance as they don't have the mega budgets of labels like Interscope etc., but putting the EXACT SAME SONG on two albums being released WITHIN A WEEK of each other seems a bit ridiculous to me. You may think, "well "I Wanna F*** You" was on Snoop's and Akon's albums", this is worse as they don't involve the same people.

First up, we have "Real Ni*** Ft. Styles P." by Ray J



Pay close attention to the hook and the beat.

Now, "Go Getta" by AZ…featuring Ray J.



Did you hear that? That's the sound of the exact same hook (with the exception of one line) and the exact same beat being used in two different instances, but with different rappers involved.

According to AZ, " I already had a shouting match with them. And Bob Perry* [was the one that] pulled that off right there. It was disrespectful, because you gotta understand…me and Ray J had that record recorded prior [to "Real Ni***"]."

*Bob Perry is the A&R for Koch Records.

Perry claims:

"Ray J and AZ both record at my studio and Ray J picked the track from J [Waxx Garfield]. So, he starts recording the song. And his vision for the song is he wants to put a rapper on the song. And so he records his part, ‘I'ma go getta, go getta,' and AZ comes thru. He's like, ‘Yo, let me jump on that.' So AZ gets on the song, they got a song and it's done. Two or three days later I see Ray J again, [and] he's like, ‘Bob, I want to switch up the song. I don't like the hook. I want to change the hook and I wanna use a different rapper. I don't wanna use AZ, I wanna use Fabolous.'"

Perry then says he talked to Ray J and said that the song was to be included on AZ's newest album, Undeniable that was released on April 1 (GO BUY IT). Ray J accepted this and said according to Perry: "No sweat, let's just do two versions. I'ma have my version for my album the way that I want it, and AZ can have his version the way he wants it for his album".

Whilst AZ claims he never made aware of the plans for the track, Perry disputes this claim saying:

" I think A tends to hear shit the way he wants to hear it, he got a J. Waxx track and a Ray J hook for free, so... We didn't give him the track for free so we couldn't use it again. We said, ‘Hey, we know you did this, we're cool with you using it, but that doesn't mean that we're not gonna do something else with it.' I don't think it's that serious [of a situation]. I don't know how many people are gonna buy both [Ray J and AZ's albums]. I don't think it's a big news story."

That part in bold is a silly statement to make in itself. No, many people won't BUY both the albums, but I'm willing to bet that a significant number of people will DOWNLOAD both the albums (or buy one and download the other…you get the picture) and will subsequently hear the same song coming at them, but from two different directions.

The most ridiculous thing is that everybody at Koch is downplaying it as some kind of joke. J. Waxx Garfield, the producer of the track said "Yeah, so?" in response to claims that it wasn't a news bit of significance.

This isn't the first instance of questionable business practices going on at Koch either. Jha Jha, former affiliate of The Diplomats made claims roughly a year ago that Perry was involved with unethical operations. Whilst recording hooks for Dipset members, Hell Rell and 40 Cal., at Perry's own studio, he took her away and said " Jha Jha, I got this crazy beat for you…You gotta do something with it"

However, the song never saw the light of day. When Jha Jha enquired about the song, Perry claims that " it's too big to put on a Koch scale. Let me see if I can get you this thing with Capitol.

Whilst the song seemingly never came to fruition, months later, Jha Jha received an email promoting Foxy Brown's new song "When The Lights Go Out" and says that it was the exact same record as hers.

J. Waxx says of Jha though,

"Jha Jha, I don't wanna say it like this, but she's a liar," he asserts. "She didn't write the chorus [to the song], that's my artist Kira that did the chorus. That was Kira's song at first, [a song] called ‘Roller coaster.' She wrote the chorus. All Bob did was have Jha Jha reference it. She's talking about that was her record, that's a lie."

The Jha Jha story goes on but back to the main matter at hand.

AZ angrily attacked Perry stating:

"He's been disrespectful from day one, there's been a lot of mix-ups with a lot of people's music that comes in and out of [Perry's] studio. I think his care level for the game is zero. He don't give a f***, all he wanna do is get records out, sell records. He don't give a f*** how artists look."

Perry countered this argument by saying that a track called "The Hardest" was on both AZ's album, and Styles P.'s album Ghost Sessions. What you have to realize though, is that Styles' album WASN'T an album, it was actually a mixtape, and one not even released by Koch at that. You also have to realize that you're talking about the ONE song, not two different, yet the same songs.

Anyway, time to wrap this bit up I think.

Bye, Bye Buck

Stop me if you've heard this before, but 50 Cent is kicking somebody out of G-Unit. After months of speculation that things weren't totally kosher in the G-Unit camp, particularly regarding Young Buck, 50 Cent, called Hot97 to clear up misconceptions regarding the lawsuit between him and his ex and then publicly denounced Young Buck as a member of the G-Unit group.

"You can look at it and see that's Game all the way. I was giving him a chance, giving him the benefit of the doubt [to remain with the group]. You can take this as an official notice right here – pretty much you can say: Young Buck is no longer in the group G-Unit, but signed to G-Unit as a solo artist"

To clear up any confusion, it means that he is not a member of the G-Unit rap group, but is still signed to the G-Unit label. The situation is quite similar to that of The Game who remained on the G-Unit label for a few months after his removal from the group, before negotiating the release from his contract.

Before we go any further, whilst I do not doubt the credibility of the source I am using as the basis of this report (HipHopDX), I DO doubt the credibility of Hot97 and Miss Jones in particular. Her and Wendy Williams have been a plague on the hip-hop world for some time now. You may remember that Wendy Williams came out on the radio and announced (without any sense of sympathy) that Method Man's wife was suffering from cancer, something even her own family members didn't know about yet, back in 2006.

Back to the news at hand though, if Young Buck is indeed out of the G-Unit group, I can't imagine it will be long before he decides to leave the label altogether. I honestly can't see any of his subsequent releases on the G-Unit label receiving much promotion and unless he can secure a release from his contract, he'll be forced to fulfill his contractual obligations to the label. Sadly, much like Game's situation, the G-Unit label will own the rights to the material from his first two albums as well as the G-Unit group album, Beg For Mercy meaning that 50 is still going to get paid as a result of people buying Buck's albums, despite him not being in the group anymore.

What does this mean for Buck? Well, the man has been slowly solidifying his own roster for his Cashville Records label for some time now. According to Wikipedia, currently signed to the label are:

- 615 (A group involving Hi-C, Lil Murda & Young Buck)
- C-Bo
- The Outlawz (Yes, the ones related to 2Pac)

He's also working on a new album, set to be called Product Of The South which is looking at a Summer release this year. Buck is going to use this album to promote the artists on his new label as well as (ironically) move away from the G-Unit sound from his early work. Young Buck fans, don't fear. He may be down, but he's not out.


Better start repping the 615 HARD Buck

Score 1 For The Bad Guy

50 Cent has been involved in a lawsuit regarding his ex and her partner. The two along with 50's son, Marquise Jackson, have been living in a house in Long Island, which was specifically bought so that his son could receive a good education due to the proximity of schools. 50's ex, Shaniqua Tompkins, had been asking for $50,000 a month in child support payments, which, upon review requested by 50, the judge ruled that this was indeed too much, and reduced the monthly support payments to $6,700. This money was to go towards Marquise's education, as well as to cover expenses for Shaniqua to find a job, and new residency for her and their son.

50 made claims that this has not been happening and won an eviction case against Tompkins last Saturday. Tompkins now has until the end of the school year to leave the house and in a further twist of fate, she has to PAY $9,000 in legal fees to 50.

Whilst it's not right for anybody to mooch off the benefit of others (no matter how rich they are), I only hope that 50 does the right thing by his son who is currently only 10 years old.

Before moving onto other topics, 50 joked "she's doing worse than Fat Joe right now". That 50, always with the parting shots.

"Don't Mess With Texas"

First, he cleans up his lyrics, now he's aiming on cleaning up Texas. Chamillionaire is going to be heavily involved with a new anti-litter campaign promoted by Todd Oldham who launched the "Rock The Bag" program last month.

The program involved the use of specially designed litter bags and will be given out as the "Rock The Bag" tour travels through 28 stops in 16 different cities. With the campaign mainly targeting people under the age of 25, they are trying to make litter prevention "as appealing as possible".

Whilst I won't question their motives, I will question that last part, not because I don't think it will work, but rather I really want to see HOW it will work. Exactly how appealing can litter prevention be? I'm genuinely interested to see how they involve Chamillionaire too beyond appearances in the marketing for the "Don't Mess With Texas" campaign.

Regardless, the intentions are good as they have decided to specifically target outdoor events where there is usually a lot of litter left over from patrons after the event.

Child Support Isn't Fun

Not if you're MC Breed anyway. On April 3, MC Breed was apprehended in his hometown of Flint, Michigan for warrants of approximately $220,000 in unpaid child support. He was due to appear in concert with Lil Wayne but was caught after he made a statement in The Flint Journal that he would be signing autographs at a Music Planet store on the following Thursday (April 4).

Sadly, this isn't the first time he has been arrested on charges relating to child support. Breed only recently served 8 months in jail as part of a parole violation stemming from unpaid child support and it looks like he'll be heading right back in again.

Diddy's "Biggest Signing Ever"?

No that's not some kind of pun involving Biggie, although I WAS trying to think of one…

Diddy proclaimed that he had signed his most valuable artist ever on April 3 at the Blender Theatre in Manhattan.

"I've been blessed with artists like Jodeci, Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige in the past, but this artist right here—you've just got to see it to believe it. I don't know if you ever felt the Holy Ghost, but that's the only feeling you're to feel tonight"

Hyping the crowd up even further, Diddy finally revealed who his newest signing was.

"This is possibly the most important signing of my career. I thank God for blessing me with an artist like Janelle Monae. Now, are y'all ready to go to church"

You may have heard of Monae from her appearances on the Got Purp? Vol. 2 by Purple Ribbon All-Stars and the Idlewild album by Outkast ("Call The Law" in particular) but if you haven't, head on over here and give two of her solo tracks a listen. She really does have an impressive voice and whilst it may not be "unique" as such, it has a definite old school, soul feel to it and with the Bad Boy promotion machine behind her, I can see her doing well in today's musical landscape.

Kanye Set To Headline Tour

Kanye West has joined the list of performers for this year's Lollapalooza festival which will take place from August 1-3 in Chicago. Also currently slated for appearance are Gnarls Barkley, Nine Inch Nails, Mark Ronson, Love And Rockets and Lupe Fiasco. Tickets are currently priced at $190-$205.

Kanye also gave some details on the upcoming Glow In The Dark tour, set to begin in Washington on April 16.

"I'm sure a lot of people expect some neon, lower east side, post everybody dressing like the 80's stuff or maybe the light up jacket from the Grammies, perhaps the robot girl and light spectacle they saw on YouTube from the European run," the rapper said in a recent blog posting. "None of the above! [It's] an entirely new designed set."

The tour will also feature Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D. and will visit Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York before finishing in Calgary.

Bobby Creekwater Coming With EP

Bobby Creekwater, known mainly for his few songs on The Re-Up album in 2006 is finally coming with an official release. The EP titled Second Hand Smoke will be produced by The Alchemist and will be available for free download on both of their websites soon.

Creekwater's debut album, A Brilliant Mistake is set for a Summer release this year and will be executively produced by Eminem featuring production from Mr. Porter, Don Cannon and of course, The Alchemist.

If you're looking for some material in the meantime, I suggest checking out the Back To Briefcase mixtape as it gave you a good sampling of what Creekwater is capable of. There is also another mixtape, Anthem 2 Da Streetz II available but I haven't listened to it yet.


For those wondering what he looks like...

It's Where The Money's At

With declining record sales, 50 Cent mentioned a couple of months back that rappers should be turning to other avenues for revenue, particularly concerts and associated merchandise.

Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige shouldn't be having any problems as their Heart Of The City tour has already made more than $9 million in sales. Live Nation is currently predicting that the tour will accrue close to $33 million in total.

This is coming off the back of rumors that Jay-Z and Beyonce were married last week (nobody has actually verbally confirmed it yet) and the $150 million deal that Jay-Z signed with Live Nation which will include ventures such as touring, recording and sponsorships.

In terms of the most SUCCESSFUL rapper alive, there aren't many that can hold a candle next to Jay's career. Think about it, he's been rapping for more than 12 years now, owns nightclubs, alcoholic beverages, spent time as head of one of the original hip-hop labels, owns a damn successful hip-hop label and with this $150 million deal, it's hard to argue otherwise. The quote I used last week as the title for my 37th Chamber article, "I'm not a businessman, I'm a BUSINESS MAN!" is actually a Jay-Z line and pretty much sums up what he's achieved to this point in his life.

Eminem's Mom Sued

Eminem's mother, Debbie Nelson is currently being sued over a book called "My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem: Setting The Record Straight On My Life As Eminem's Mother" (long-ass title isn't it?), funnily enough, NOT by Eminem.

Neal Alpert and the Rachel Erin Corporation are suing Nelson for breach of contract. In November 2005, Nelson entered a contract that agreed to let Alpert act as her exclusive agent for various radio, book and TV appearances in return for 25% of the gross profit returns. The aforementioned book however, appears to have been produced behind Alpert's back, with Nelson claiming she entered into a new contract, with a different agent in July 2006.

The book, which was initially released in Great Britain (and has since sold more than 100,000 copies) has not yielded any commissions for Alpert of the Corporation. Interestingly, the book claims that Eminem created his entire image in order to sell records.

Nelson says:

"After his first album Infinite flopped, he reinvented himself as white trailer trash with a crazy welfare mom, I was shocked when I first heard the lyrics - but he constantly reassured me it was all a big joke. I went along with it for Marshall's sake.".

That's quite a claim and I wouldn't mind reading the book myself. If Nelson was as heavily involved with drugs as Eminem claims, I suppose you'd really have to take everything with a grain of salt but it would still be a damn interesting read. The book goes on sale later this week in the United States.

Sales Figures

Day26, after a strong debut last week, drop to number four with just under 51,000 copies of their self-titled debut album sold. Fellow Bad Boy band Danity Kane also performed well, selling 46,000 copies this week, placing their total around 370,000.

Trina's album performed admirably, securing the number six spot on the Billboard Top 200 with just under 47,000 copies sold (she actually outsold Fat Joe's first week by around 600 copies…but don't tell 50 that) whilst fellow Miami native Rick Ross' sophomore album moves another 41,000 copies this week, bringing his total to just over 382,000.

Further down the charts, Flo Rida's debut album, Mail On Sunday, hasn't been carried by "Low" as I expected it would and is losing momentum coming in at number 15 on the charts with just under 28,000 sold.

Suffering from an early album leak, Gnarls Barkley, despite glowing reviews manages to move only 23,000 this week, bringing their total to just over 83,000. Only just ahead at number 21 is Snoop Dogg with 23,600 sold this week, bringing his total to under 250,000. I never thought I'd see the day when Snoop Dogg had trouble going Gold.

Much further down the charts, we have the now infamous AZ album, Undeniable bringing in just over 5,500 copies which may come as a disappointment to many, but taking into consideration the nil promotion and today's sales trends, I think he's done alright.

Quickies

50 Cent is set to star in an upcoming drama entitled Spectacular Regret. I listen to "Amusement Park" and regret there wasn't a 10 bullet to take out his whole tongue.

Lil Wayne's highly anticipated Tha Carter III has been pushed back from a May release date to some time in June. The cover art has been released, although these things can change easily.


It's hard to tell, but I'd say he's drawing some Biggie inspiration with this one

After a Plies show back in 2006 that left 5 people injured as a result of a shooting, the plaintiffs are filing a suit for $10 million in damages. Plies' attorney said " He does not have legal liability. It is not an entertainer's job to provide security for a club where the entertainer is performing". I too think they're barking up the wrong bush tree as Plies seriously can't have anywhere NEAR $10 million in assets at all.

Cynthia Reed, mother of James Rosemond (son of Jimmy Rosemond, CEO of Czar Entertainment) is suing 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, Lowell Fletcher, G-Unit Records, Interscope Records, Shady Records, Universal Music Group, Violator Records, Violator Management, Chris Lighty and Santa. Well maybe not Santa but everybody else is in trouble for the attack on James last year which was seemingly resolved back in February after Yayo and his associate Lowell Fletcher were acquitted of all charges.

The Los Angeles Times have retracted a story they published on March 17 claiming that Diddy and Biggie knew of the attack on 2Pac at a recording studio in 1994 in advance. I have an idea, let's SUE THEM!

Before We Go…

What a week! I finally got back to work and Uni and life seems to be returning to normal. Of course, it will all get turned upside down when the Wii actually gets here and I start dedicating all my time to Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3.

Until next week fellow hip-hop lovers.