The Hip-Hop Herald: 10.02.08

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 10.02.2008

Lots of Jay-Z news, including 50 Cent's opinion on why he's famous, Gem Archer of Oasis has more words after hearing "Jockin' Jay-Z" as well as his new label. Plus, 808s And Heartbreak has a new release date. Busta Rhymes finds a new label home and details on new albums from Ludacris, Eminem, and Jay-Z's Blueprint 3!

Turns out I was meant to be at a friend's house to help them move out. Ah well, I wasn't TOO late, I mean, I loaded some stuff into the cars and…bubble wrapped some things. Mainly popped the bubbles actually, they got the unnaturally large bubbles that sounded like a gun when you pop them in quick succession.

Once maturity kicked in though, we were off and hit a snag once we got a flat tire about 2 minutes into the journey. Independence is put off for yet another day until we can get a replacement tire.

In other news…well I have no more news. HIP-HOP!

The News

Top Story

50 Cent Opens His Mouth & More Jay-Z News



That's an interesting picture. You've got Nelly, Diddy, a guy that could possibly be RZA in the top left and a dude with diarrhea in the middle!

50 said it was Jay's marriage to Beyonce - and not his own music - that made him the international star he is today, according to PR-Inside.com.

"I'm a big fan of Jay-Z, but outside of the States and Hip Hop circles, no one really knew who he was until he married Beyonce'," said 50 in the interview.

Because Reasonable Doubt, "Hard Knock Life", The Blueprint and (as much as I don't like to acknowledge it) "03 Bonnie & Clyde" are completely insignificant. Come on, if my parents know who Jay-Z is, (not in great detail, they refer to him as "the guy who used the Annie song") then there's significant evidence that he's known outside hip-hop circles and the U.S.

50 also said that reports of Jay-Z's total estimated worth of $1 billion are inaccurate:

"I don't believe he's worth that much! It's all been exaggerated. I'm comfortable. I don't want for anything so I'm not in a race."

But if we were to argue that Jay wasn't as well known outside the hip-hop world, it's because Jay doesn't respond to or throw jabs at every rapper to come out, the milkman, your local priest, the neighbor's dog walker, the creators of Family Guy…

Jay said it best, "I'm about a dollar, who the f*** is 50 Cent?".

Jay-Z Named In Lawsuit

Jay will need that money though as he and Iconix Brand Group, owner of Rocawear Clothing, are being sued in federal court on copyright infringement charges. The case was filed last Thursday (September 18) in Georgia Northern District Court by I Will Not Lose, LLC, a company claiming that Iconix Brand Group and Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, adopted the exact same "I Will Not Lose" trademark.

Last March, Jay-Z sold the rights for Rocawear to Iconix Brand Group for $204 million. Despite this, Carter is also named in the suit as it is believed by the plaintiff that he continues to oversee the product development, licensing, and marketing of Rocawear. Last year, Rocawear launched an international "I Will Not Lose Campaign," (www.iwillnotlose.org) where stars such as Chris Brown and Ciara gave accounts of how they overcame personal challenges before reciting the trademarked phrase "I Will Not Lose." It also included Sean Bell's widow as part of the campaign, which cause some minor controversy.

I Will Not Lose, LLC (www.iwillnotlose.net) CEO Reggie Tucker alleges in the lawsuit that his company trademarked the brand first and were subsequently ignored throughout 2007 after attempts were made to settle the matter out of court. The plaintiff is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages for the dilution of their trademark.

StarRoc Label Coming To Fruition

Jay-Z has officially announced his new partnership with StarGate, the Norwegian production duo responsible for singles by Ne-Yo, Rihanna, Beyonce, Cher, Lionel Richie and others. The global partnership establishes the StarRoc label, which has been rumored for weeks, as well as a new publishing company, StarRoc Music Publishing.

It becomes the first partnership for Roc Nation, Jay-Z's official venture with concert and global distribution giant Live Nation.

"Stargate were like a secret weapon," said Jay-Z of his new business partners. "We had great success with Rihanna and Ne-Yo. In only 2 years, they've generated 10 singles in the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and 3 of those singles hit the # 1 position. This has been a rewarding partnership and it was time to take the creative venture to the next level."

The New York-based StarRoc will focus on finding new talent and developing artist through strategically planned global partnerships that include music distribution, publishing, touring and merchandising.

With the help of Roc Nation and Artist Nation, the company will manage artists' diverse rights, expand their fan bases, and provide a direct connection through the marketing and global distribution methods.

Oasis Can't Quit Jay-Z

A member of the rock group Oasis still has critical comments for Jay-Z, the rapper/mogul whom the group engaged in a brief war of words with over the summer. In June, the band's front man Noel Gallagher threw the first verbal salvo, criticizing the rapper's artistic merit and choice to headline the high profile, traditionally rock-centered UK Glastonbury festival.

Jay responded by calling Gallagher's comments "ignorant" and indicative of the old guard mindset of wanting to keep obsolete, traditional music barriers in place.

In light-hearted acknowledgment of his detractors, Jay interpolated the group's hit single "Wonderwall" to start his memorable Glastonbury closing set.

Oasis bassist Gem Archer has dubbed the Brooklyn native immature for what he feels was a cheap shot on Jay's new single "Jockin Jay-Z."

"It's like eight year old girls in the schoolyard, running off and writing ditties like that, grow up!"

Archer also disparaged the battle tradition in Hip-Hop culture, characterizing all rappers as overly aggressive and lovers of controversy.

"But rappers love a ruck, it's what they do. They set out to have a fight and it's there in their lyrics. They love biffo."

Don't you love the generalization and stereotyping of rappers and YET AGAIN hip-hop as a whole?

Blueprint 3 Release Date

Jay-Z announced last week that his upcoming Blueprint 3 album will have a December 2 release date. He's also planning a "Swagga Like Us" sequel with verses from Young Jeezy, Nas and Andre 3000 rumored to be included.

Kanye Moves Release Date To November

A second showdown between Kanye West and 50 Cent will not take place as Kanye's album, originally set to hit stores in December, the same month 50 Cent was set to release, Before I Self Destruct has been moved to November.

West cited a desire for fans to hear his forthcoming album, 808s And Heartbreak "as soon as possible" as the reason for moving the release date up to November.

"I changed my album to November something cause I finished the album and I felt like it...I want y'all to hear it as soon as possible," Kanye wrote in his blog.

This new release date eliminates the possibility of Kanye squaring off against 50 Cent in a battle for the most first week album sales of their respective releases. Although Kanye has not locked in a specific November release date for 808s And Heartbreak, Before I Self Destruct is scheduled to arrive in stores on Dec. 9. That could change in itself though, as 50 might be looking for the sales war to revitalize interest in the project.

Busta Rhymes Signs With Universal Motown

Busta Rhymes has signed a new deal with Universal Motown, and is readying an album for a December release. The album, known most recently by the title Blessed, has now reverted to the original title Back on My Bullshit or B.O.M.B., according to Billboard.com.

Reports surfaced as early as July on ThisIs50.com saying that Busta Rhymes would be leaving Aftermath / Interscope, though it had never been confirmed.

Busta confirmed the split this past weekend on New York's Hot 97 radio station, saying:

"Me and (Dr.) Dre are still good, even though I'm not in business with Aftermath or Interscope. I just want the world to know it's official"

The new single for B.O.M.B. is "Arab Money".

In other Busta news, a judge in the British High Court has ordered the immediate release of Busta Rhymes from his detention by UK immigrant officials. Busta was barred from entering the country earlier today because of his previous criminal record and accusations that his work permit was not valid. According to the judge, the rapper's work permit was in order and there were no grounds to detain him.

Busta is scheduled to participate in a charity concert for 5,000 young volunteers at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday along with Ludacris, who was added to the bill as backup.

Jesus Kanye Walks

Los Angeles county prosecutors revealed that they have chosen not to file felony charges against Kanye West for breaking a paparazzo's camera during an altercation early September. As reported earlier, Kanye confronted a paparazzo that was taking pictures of him at the LAX airport on September 11th and broke the paparazzo's camera.

Kanye was then be arrested on charges of felony vandalism. According to The Associated Press, the prosecutors have forwarded the case to city attorneys who will decide whether to charge Kanye with a misdemeanor. Their decision will be known next week.

Kanye Renames Foundation

The Dr. Donda West Foundation is teaming up with the Live to Give Campaign for the Give Back Concert (November 4), a benefit Hip-Hop concert in Washington, D.C. focused on community empowerment. This year, Kanye West renamed his philanthropic organization in honor of his mother, who passed away unexpectedly from cosmetic surgery complications in November 2007.

The organization's inaugural initiative was "Loop Dreams," a program which utilized music production to help motivate students to stay in school and complete graduation. Washington Wizard's Antawn Jamison will kick off the event with a meet and greet and voter registration drive for pre-sale ticket purchasers.

The two surprise concert performers are scheduled to be revealed on October 10 and 20. So far the organization has hinted that the first performer had his first two albums debut at #1 on Billboards Top 200 Chart, and the second has won a Grammy, four BET awards, and a Teen Choice award. All ticket proceeds will go to select charities. Pre-sale tickets are on sale until October 9 through www.livetogiveback.org or by phone [phone].

Pre-sale purchasers will get to meet Antawn Jamison at a private meet and greet at the D.C. ESPN Zone, while the first 200 will attend a pre-concert meet and greet with the performers.

That's an interesting hook. It'd be fascinating to see the pre-sale figures, given people are essentially buying them without knowing who they're even going to see.

Theater Of The Mind In Less Than 3 Weeks!



Ludacris and T.I. squashed their beef and may be ready to schedule a tour itinerary soon too. With Luda's Theater Of The Mind coming soon, expect to hear more from him in the coming months. Recently, he unveiled a few new tracks for fans and still had some surprises.

"We had been talking under the radar for a long time," he told an audience of fans at a listening session recently. "We were just trying to figure out the right opportunity to surprise everybody." (In regards to the "On Top Of The World" collaboration)

"With that being said, we live in Atlanta, and Atlanta is small as hell, compared to New York and we've got the same circle of friends. It was never really beef between me and him. We felt, with everything going on in the business, there was no better time to make it happen."

According to reports, a tour may be in the works, but no details have been set in stone as of yet. Billboard also reports two videos have been finished for the album. "What Them Girls Like", a track featuring Chris Brown and Sean Garrett is set to be and another video, "Undisputed" featuring Floyd Mayweather is set to be released as well. Both videos are already done.

The Game is set to be on "Call Up The Homies" and Lil Wayne is featured on a song titled, "Last of a Dying Breed" while T-Pain is a guest on a track titled "One More Drink."

Producers are also being released with DJ Premier ("MVP") and 9th Wonder ("Do The Right Thing") confirmed thus far as well as Clinton Sparks ("Call Up The Homies") and DJ Toomp ("Wish You Would").

Theater of the Mind is set to drop October 21.

Ludacris rocking beats by DJ Premier and 9th Wonder…what do you guys think?

The Empack For 2009

According to Sha Money XL, Eminem's long-rumored return will amount in an album titled The Empack. Sha Money made the revelation by way of a recent post on his website ShaMoneyMotivation.com, so take that as you will.

Sha Money sent out a warning to rappers, that "2009 will not be your year," the effort will come as part of a triad of releases, along with 50 Cent's Before I Self-Destruct and Dr. Dre's Detox (Oh really?).

Game's Free Of Charges

The Game was in court on September 30, for criminal battery charges stemming from a fight at a family funeral in July. According to TMZ, a judge agreed to dismiss Game's charges - provided he does 36 anger management meetings by February 2009. If the rapper should fail to complete the classes, he could face jail time.

Game's not the kind of guy I'd want to piss off. If he's threatening to climb through Dr. Dre's home windows demanding beats, who knows what he'd do to us if we started pushing him.

Lucky Canadians…

Royce Da 5'9", Obie Trice and D12 have joined forces to launch a coast-to-coast tour of Canada. The 13-date collaboration between the trio artists will launch November 7 in St. John at Ozone Nightclub and wrap up in Castlegar, BC at Element Nightclub on November 29.

The tour is the first major outing featuring the three acts, who once clashed violently on the streets of Detroit, a well-known feud which was chronicled in an episode of the Beef series.

It's heartening to see them together, what with the whole Royce – D12 issue now resolved, and Obie off Shady / Aftermath and all. Just come out to Australia once in a while ok?

Canadian tour dates are listed below:

Nov-7 St. John, NB Ozone Nightclub
Nov-8 Fredericton, NB University of NB
Nov-9 Halifax, NS The Marquee
Nov-14 Oshawa, ON The Big Sexy
Nov-15 Thunder Bay, ON C2 Nightclub
Nov-18 Winnipeg, MB Pyramid Cabaret
Nov-21 Medicine Hat, AB Jax Ultra Lounge
Nov-24 Lethbridge, AB Suede Nightclub
Nov-25 Calgary, AB Coyotes
Nov-26 Grand Prairie, AB Rock City
Nov-27 Ft. McMurray, AB Cowboys
Nov-28 Penticton, BC Element Nightclub
Nov-29 Castlegar, BC Element Nightclub

Termanology Touring With Redman & Method Man

Termanology will be joining Method Man and Redman on their upcoming "Still High" tour. The tour will kick off in Providence, RI on October 10th and will wrap up in Hartford, CT on November 29th.

Termanology released his debut album titled Politics As Usual on September 30. The album features appearances from Prodigy, Sheek Louch, Freeway, Lil Fame and Bun B.

Rap City To Be Replaced

According to BET.com's Sound Off blog, Rap City and its two decades of Hip-Hop history will be hanging its close sign up. Serving as a platform for well-established rappers and newcomers alike, Rap City made its debut in 1989 with host Chris Thomas (known as "The Mayor"), quickly becoming a must-watch for Hip-Hop heads. By 1999, the show changed its name to Rap City: Tha Basement, and with new host Big Tigger, further supplanted itself as a major music source that lasted well into the next decade, with various hosts latching on to bring it new flavor.

However, recent times haven't looked so great for the BET mainstay. After losing financial sponsorship this year and with ratings slowly decreasing, Rap City became a question mark that wasn't leading to any significant answers. In turn, BET has decided to replace the show in an effort to bring ratings back to a comfortable position.

The show taking its place, The Deal l, has been described as a multi-faceted hour-long segment. Hosted by DJ Diamond Kutz, The Deal will begin its tenure on November 10th, following the official finale of Rap City.

Along with artist drop-ins and Hip Hop commentary, one of the main proponents of The Deal will feature a similar scheme to Vh1's Pop Up Video, which aired from 1996 to 2002. As BET puts it, The Deal will play "the latest and great videos that include pop-up information, facts and quirky tidbits on the artist and/or the song itself," a description closely resembling Pop Up Video's "info nuggets."

Rap City's most symbolic segment, "the booth," will also continue its presence on The Deal.

Sales Figures

Ne-Yo comes in at Number 3 this week, having sold 82,600 copies of Year Of The Gentleman. Joe and Young Jeezy round out the Top 10 hip-hop releases this week with 54,100 and 40,400 copies sold and granting them the Number 8 and 9 spots respectively.

Lil Wayne finally drops out of the Top 10, but is still selling strongly with 35,500 copies sold this week, bringing the total for Tha Carter III to 2,448,600. Game meanwhile continues his trek to Gold with 29,200 copies of L.A.X. sold this week which brings his total to 447,800.

Nelly comes in at Number 19 having sold only 25,500 copies of Brass Knuckles this week with a total of 109,500. DJ Khaled sold 18,000 copies of We Global bringing him in at Number 28. Further down the list at Number 41 is Raphael Saadiq with 12,200 copies of The Way I See It. Z-Ro debuts this week at Number 48 selling 10,500 copies of Crack.

Next week there's T.I., Termanology, Murs, Large Professor and T.I.'s label mate, Big Kuntry to come. Can T.I. take out Number 1?

Before We Go…

I think I'm going to get Madden 09 sometime next week. I really should play some of the other games I've bought before I do…

Catch you next week!