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Jahlil Beats Discusses Working with Jay-Z’s Label

Safiyyah — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:23:07 +0000

Jahlil Beats recently signed up with Jay-Z’s label, “Roc Nation” in order to expand his music career, Oct. 2011.

Beats is off to develop new music projects and enhance his music style with the label, especially with his involvement with popular Roc Nation signees such as Willow Smith, Jay Electronic, and J. Cole. Moreover, he is going to work along with Jay-Z in his upcoming albums.

Beats said that working with Jay-Z’s label is, “Just a blessing, and [I am] honestly happy to be here.” He mentioned that he was in a bidding war with around six other labels looking to hire him. He felt that Roc Nation was a name and brand “bigger than life”, so he could not refuse the offer.

Beats showed his enthusiasm in his projects since then, when he said that, “I did like 90% of Jim Jones’s Vampire Life album. I did like 90% of Bow Wow’s Underrated album. I’m working on Fab’s album. I’m working on stuff with Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Willow, Jaden Smith. I got like four joints on Red Café’s album that’s dropping in February. I’m working with Soulja Boy, Tyga. I’m working with so many cats.”

Beats is working his way being a producer and artist at Roc Nation. Beats has worked with popular artists like Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Fabolous, Diddy, Rick Ross, T.I., Sean Garrett, and so much more. Thus, he is building his music career with his audio engineering expertise, becoming Hip-Hop’s rising super producer.

Kanye West Gets Snubbed at Grammys; Beyonce Talks About Fake Pregnancy Rumors

Safiyyah — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:32:36 +0000

A lot of people would agree that Kanye West was snubbed for an Album of the Year Nomination. Not only did Kanye drop one of the most artistic albums of the year “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, but he even collaborated with one of the best rappers of all time, Jay-Z, with “Watch the Throne”. This is what he had to say about his albums getting overlooked.

“Something I figured out earlier today – because you know, everybody came to me last night like, ‘Congratulations!’ because you know I’m leading the Grammy nominations this year. Like we always do it this time,” he said. “But, people focus, they say, ‘You ain’t got Album of the Year or Record of the Year.’ But I figured out, that’s my fault for dropping Watch the Throne and Dark Fantasy the same year. I should have just spaced it out a little bit more. But don’t worry, because me and Hov gon’ keep on making s**t.”

Kanye led the nominees with a total of seven, followed by Adele who got six nominations. Here is the video below:

Remember when Beyonce was rumored as having a fake pregnancy? Well, you know the diva had to come out and say something. In an interview with 20-20’s Katie Couric, she had this to say:

“There are certain things that are so far, that it doesn’t even upset you. My mother, she’s like, ‘Nobody’s talking about my grandbaby! My grandbaby’s not even here yet!’ I’m like, ‘Calm down, Mom. It’s okay. It’s really silly. I’m cool. It’s ridiculous. It’s so over-the-top.”

The R&B singer has been quite busy, even though she’s pregnant, editing her latest concert for a DVD she’ll be releasing called “Live at Roseland: Elements of 4”.

“I learned how to edit for the last DVD…I make all my selects, I sit in the chair…I am an editor as well. I have great editors, thank God. It is a lot of work. Especially when I’m trying to tell stories that are from so many moments of my life.”

Check out the interview below:

Beyonce’s “Fake” Baby Bump and 2,200 sq ft Nursery

Safiyyah — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:16:33 +0000

So is Beyonce really pregnant? Everyone’s been speculating about this topic because of a TV interview she had where we saw her belly become horrifically distorted. It looked as though she were wearing a fake stomach. Then there are the instances in public where her baby bump sometimes looks big and other times a bit small. When compared to Jessica Simpson’s unreported, yet obvious pregnancy, her gut never transforms in size like Bey’s does. And they are said to be due around the same time. Some may say that she is pretending to be pregnant — maybe she can’t have children or doesn’t want to with her own body and has a surrogate, others may say this is publicity and the majority may disregard all of these rumors and believe that she is pregnant.

Well, whatever the real story may be, Beyonce and Jay-Z have been planning out the nursery for their baby. You can actually call this nursery a house, given that its 2,200 sq ft, but they won’t be the first to do drastic arrangements for their baby — Nick Cannon and Mariah Carrey and J-Lo and Marc Anthony also decked out their baby’s pads. There’s been speculation that Bey and Jay will be having a daughter, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Take a look at the video below to see what kindled the fake baby bump debate.

A Beef Sparking Between Jay-Z and Weezy?

Safiyyah — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 01:03:32 +0000

A small spark of beef has been crackling away between Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne, but the two rappers are downplaying it. Jay-Z says that it is the sport of rap music. It all began with Jay-Z making a comment in his track about Baby Money:

“I’m like, ‘Really, half-a-billi?’ N***a, really, you got Baby money/ Keep it real with n****s, n****s ain’t got my lady money.”

Weezy struck back in his song “It’s Good” where he says:

“Talkin’ bout Baby money? I got your baby money/ Kidnap your b***h, get that how-much-you-love-your-lady money.”

During his Shawn Carter Foundations’ Making the Ordinary Extraordinary fundraiser, Jay-Z told MTV:

“That’s sport, that’s Rap music. Nothing is going to change but the participants. I don’t even see why that’s news.”

Then in an interview with Lil’ Wayne, he talks of being an innovator.

“We was reminiscing on the life of Steve Jobs,” began Wayne. “An..innovator of many things. A very influential man. Most of our lives…I don’t know a person that hasn’t been influenced in some sort of way by this man. We lost that man…I think a lot too soon. Obviously too soon because I’m quite sure that there’s a bunch of people who don’t know who I’m talking about. And that’s when you’ve lost someone too soon.”

You can see more of the interview in the video below.

WEEZY F BABY PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT from DERICK G on Vimeo.

The Diplomats Talk About Jay-Z; Dipset’s Best Buy Theater Performance in NYC

Safiyyah — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:07:39 +0000

Megastars and newcomers always seem to have beefs. Cam’ron and the Dipset crew vs. Jay-Z in this latest interview with The Diplomats. They go into talking about how Cam had Jigga erased off of the “Oh Boy” song, where he is dissing Nas.

“We walked into the studio, and Jay said, ‘I got a surprise for y’all,’” explained Juelz Santana. “[At this point] we was wondering why he didn’t want to jump on records that he could’ve jumped on already. So ‘Oh Boy’ is already out of this world, gettin’ probably like ten thousand spins.”

“Cam made [Guru] erase the verse…to the point where Cam told Guru, ‘You better erase that, I don’t ever want to hear that,” said Juelz Santana.

Cam’ron spoke up about the friction between Jigga man and himself, “That’s been going on with me and him forever. My first album ever, he comes in to see the Sony studio, he comes in like, ‘Yo, lemme talk to you for a minute?’” Cam continued, mimicking Jay. “‘I wanted to tell you, I didn’t know you was that nice.’ …I said, ‘I appreciate it, maybe we can do something for my album.’ He said, ‘I’m not here to lobby for a spot on your album.’”

The Diplomats also recently had a performance at the Best Buy Theater in New York City. Some of the songs that were performed include “Mic Check”, “Murda Murda”, “Down and Out”, “Speakin’ in Tongues”, “Walk it Out” and “Baby Girl”, among others. They also did a rendition of a single they released last year “Salute”. You can see the performance in the video below.

Jadakiss and Kendrick Lamar Debate the Winner of Old Rap Battle Between Nas and Jay-Z

Safiyyah — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:49:37 +0000

How could we ever forget the battle between two of the biggest rap artists of our generation, between Nas and Jay-Z? Well, the debate between who won the 2003 battle still goes on between the opposing views of Jadakiss and Kendrick Lamar. Everyone has their views on who won, but who can dare say that “Ether” by Nas wasn’t a hot track?

The argument may never truly be done on whether Jay-Z or Nas won the rap battle, but here is what Jadakiss had to say.

“I didn’t really like the ‘Takeover’ beat,” admitted Jadakiss. “But the words—you know what the words are! It’s like the Declaration of Independence on the battle tip. What he’s saying is crazy. I like the laaaaayyyyymmmmme part. It was heavy, but Nas’ ‘Ether’ sits on the mantle when it comes to battle songs.”

He then added an “A-Plus grade” for the song Ether.

On the other end, Kendrick Lamar had this to say, “Truthfully, I felt like everybody wanted to go against Jay-Z because Nas was the underdog. But I was riding with Jay because he was saying more facts. ‘Ether’ was powerful, but I always thought Jay had the upper hand.”

It seems this will be a lifelong battle that will not end unless the two of them have a rematch that gives one or the other the title. Who do you think won the rap battle between Nas and Jay-Z?

Lupe Fiasco Declares Himself King of Rap in Freestyle at UIC

Safiyyah — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 23:26:53 +0000

There’s been a lot of buzz around Lupe declaring himself the best rapper, over Drake, Lil’ Wayne and even Kanye and Jay-Z. Some could agree, depending on their style (commercial or streets). Then there are others who would heavily disagree. This was said during a freestyle he performed at a gig at UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago). Here is a sneak peak of what he had to say:

“When you’re done Watching The Throne, turn around and watch me, when you’re done with the Carter 4 come back to me for more, when you’re done with that Drake, no, I ain’t trying to hate but I’m back up on my grind and I’m about to skaaaaate on these niggas,” he rapped. “Put it on your blog and your tumblrs on your twitters that Lupe said that he’s the best, n***a!”

Lupe Fiasco recently released his Lasers album, which has been doing great in sales. We’ll just have to wait and see how well he continues to do to see if he really reigns supreme in the rap game. He recently announced the dates for his Generation Laser tour. Take a look at this video of Lupe Fiasco’s freestyle gig:

Lupe Fiasco Freestyle at UIC

Jay-Z and Beyonce Expecting their First Child

Safiyyah — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:24:41 +0000

If you missed the VMAs, you missed a very exciting performance by a pregnant Beyonce (yes, I said pregnant). We’ve been waiting for this day to arrive since Jay-Z and Beyonce got together. Now, it’s finally official. And if you didnn’t get to see the revealing of her baby bump on stage (and the reaction of Jigga and Kanye), then you can check it out below. Twitter received a record high of tweets at that moment (10:35 pm on Sunday) with 8,868 tweets per second.

The two are definitely excited about their new addition to the family, and the 29-year-old singer’s 30-year plan is actually falling into place.

“I feel like a woman. I feel like I’m very aware of who I am. I feel great and I feel like 30 is the ideal age [to start a family], because you’re mature enough to know who you are and to have your boundaries and your standards, and not be afraid, too polite — but you’re young enough to be a young woman,” she said. “I’m so looking forward to it. I always said I’d have a baby at 30. But I also said I’m going to retire at 30. … Only God knows.”
Then Beyonce went on talking about her husband Jay.

“Jay and I have kind of made a decision that we want to be known for our music and not our relationships or scandals. But he is amazing,” she said. “I definitely had a very natural friendship and connection with him. We’ve been together for a very long time and I’m very happy. Love is the foundation of everything, everything I do. My music is inspired by love — from my family, my husband, my sister.”

Having a little boy would be perfect so that her sister Solange’s son would have a playmate, but the two don’t care about what they have. So far, there’s no word on the sex Beyonce and Jay-Z’s baby.

Mobb Deep’s Prodigy Discusses the Illuminati and Jay-Z in Interview with Alex Jones

Safiyyah — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:51:00 +0000

If you’ve been around YouTube, you couldn’t help but to come across videos about the Illuminati government conspiracies. If you haven’t then you can just type in that word and plenty will pop up. One would think that only the crazies are talking of this, but it has caught the attention of various celebs, including Mobb Deep’s Prodigy. You may have heard him speak of the Illuminati in his lyrics, saying “"Illuminati want my mind, soul and my body." In an interview with Alex Jones, he discusses his views on the Illuminati and Jay-Z.


To me, it’s definitely not a joke. There’s a lot of real stuff going on out here, in this world. Secret societies are real. It’s definitely really obvious that they’re at work and it’s at play in the music industry, in the food industry, politics, everywhere you turn, it’s everywhere. You just gotta read the signs, the writing on the wall. It’s right in front of your face. Once people just learn about it and do a little research about it all, they’ll be like, ‘Yeah, I understand what’s going on.’" 
"This plan that they got into effect for hundreds of years or whatever, I think it’s so embedded in people’s brains now. They got people so brainwashed in this world that they don’t even really care anymore about people like Alex Jones, people like Prodigy. They're like, 'Go ahead, tell these people what you want. We got these people so brainwashed, there's nothing you could do about it.'"
Then he discusses his beliefs of the brainwashed urban society.
"In the Hip Hop community," he added, "In the urban communities, where I come from, they have us so brainwashed with fashion, jewelery and sex, that we don't even care to think about what's going on. A lot of the people I'm around, I look at them sometimes and all they're concerned about is, what I just said, fashion, jewelry and sex, all stuff that's materialistic and it's not going to do nothing for their souls or their lives." 

Prodigy stated that he got to the point that after slipping up here and there, he made it a priority to stop wearing jewelry and doing certain things as a way to make a statement. Then he went on to talk about Hov.
"Jay-Z is just one example and one of the biggest examples of artists in the music industry, because he's so popular and so big...He knows what time it is, he just doesn't promote it. From the looks of things, it looks like he has chosen sides. He's chosen a side and the side he chose is money, power and he doesn't really care to spread the information that might save some body's soul."



Game Squashes Rumors of His Beef with Jay-Z and Big Sean
Safiyyah — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 20:23:46 +0000
There has been some speculation about beef between rapper Game and Jay-Z, but Game has since squashed that, saying that his choice in lyrics talking about Hov is all fun-and-games (if you listen to “Uncle Otis”, his freestyle). 
“He didn’t do nothing. Every now and then, I take a couple shots at Hov. Most of the time, he’ll respond indirectly or subliminally, but that’s cool man. He catch it when I say it, and I catch it when he say it,” he said. “It’s just Hip Hop, I wish everybody would stop taking it so personally. Especially these days, I’m 31. I ain’t really like… Beef ain’t beef no more. I been doing that. So it ain’t nothing new.” 

Game has also been rumored to have had beef with Big Sean, but that too isn’t true he says.
“I definitely didn’t take a stab at Big Sean. I just told him they don’t have wontons on the menu at Benihana’s. That’s not a stab, that’s just helping the younger generation out. It wasn’t a shot. It was just me looking out. He a good dude. Keep making that music, my guy.”
It seems like everyone is waiting for the next big beef between rappers, but who really wants to go down that road again? When beef rises too quickly and heatedly, only can lead to three things, death, fighting and prison time. It’s a good thing that Game and other rappers are growing up and learning to turn their cheek to slick remarks.