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— Shaheem Reid, Joseph Patel and Rashaun Hall, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes
Artist: DJ Envy
Mixtape: The Boy Is Back in Town
Representing: Queens, New York
411: The boys are back in town, indeed. Fresh off our hiatus (hi, hatas), Mixtape Monday drops its first new edition of 2005. This week's selection is by DJ Envy, who's bringing us a gang of hip-hop and R&B. The homie even has an all-R&B CD out called Down and Dirty R&B, but we're focusing on the rap-heavy The Boy Is Back in Town.
Joints To Check For
- "Envy Me" by Game and 50 Cent. "Hate it or love it, the underdog's on top," 50 sings on the chorus. He and Game prove that the tag-team expertise they showed on "How We Do" was no one-shot deal. Both trade verses showing they're more than guns and grams. "Coming up, I was confused; my momma kissing a girl," 50 raps. "Confusion occurs coming up in a cold world/ Daddy ain't around, probably out committing felonies/ My favorite rapper used to sing, 'Check, check out my melody.' " Game brings his own heat, saying, "I ain't have 50 [cents] when my grandmamma died/ Now I'm going back to Cali with my Jacob on/ See how time flies/ ... Sitting in the Range thinking how they spend $30 million on airplanes/ When it's kids starving, Pac is gone, and Brenda's still throwing babies in the garbage."
- "Still Waiting" by the Young Gunz. Thank goodness, here are some rappers showing growth. Chris and Neef seem like they're not going to stop flowing, steadily unloading over this simplified track with freestyle raps. Believe it or not, Neef discards his laid-back persona and shows plenty of personality.
- "Change Gon Come" by Beanie Sigel. Unfortunately, Envy only has a snippet of the record, but we had a chance to hear the whole thing and it's definitely one of Beans' best. It actually has the feel of a hip-hop musical, with Beans laying out the story of a rich hustler and his wife and the need for them to have a better life. "I got my truth from the older heads/ You went to church and went a different route/ You got your truth from out the bishop's mouth/ I drunk the juice that turned Bishop out."
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
- DJ Mo Fire - Dollamentary Da Deuce
- Gilla House's BC4 Straight Outta Lo-Cash: Ill at Will Mixtape Vol. 2
- Team Invasion's Hood Rules Apply #2
- DJ Rukiz's Nolia Soldier: The Best of Lil' Wayne
- DJ Rukiz's Nolia Soldier Pt. 2: The Best of Juvenile
- DJ Impact's Best of Jodeci: The Original R&B Gangstas
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar
- Game - "Dreams"
- Red Cafe - "Rap Chicks"
- Fat Joe - "Safe to Say"
- Skillz - "The Rap Up 2004"
- Beanie Sigel - "Change Gon Come"
- Garcia, Heckler & Pitbull - "Let Me Hear Ya Say"
- St. Laz and Pottersfield - Sumtin U Said
Celebrity Favs
Nelly has another hit on his hands with Tim McGraw called "Over and Over," but Nells has love for another country singer, too: the original Pimpin' Ken himself, Kenny Rogers. "I think my favorite country song of all time is [the one that goes,] 'You gotta know when to fold them/ Know when to hold them,' " he says. "It was 'The Gambler,' man. Every time I'm gambling, I sing that to myself. I think that's the first one that got me into [listening to country]. I appreciate all good music, period. I know Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Garth Brooks — obviously, Tim and Faith and stuff like that. Ever since I found out that Lionel Richie wrote a lot of Kenny Rogers' hits, we all kind of listened to it."
The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground
One of the hottest records in the streets right now is Cassidy's "I'm a Hustler." The single is getting so much burn that his label, J Records, is looking to push up the release of his Personality Change album, possibly to February. Not bad for a single that started out as a white label for Swizz Beatz's Full Surface imprint. "We first did the song on some mixtape stuff, so I just spazzed out and spat like 50 or 60 bars," Cassidy said of the single, which samples a Jay-Z verse. "It was too long, so after I left, Swizz broke it in half and made two versions for the mixtapes. People were feeling it so hard we had to go back in and spit three 16s for the radio and the clubs." The chorus of the song uses a sample from "Dirt Off Your Soldier," in which Jay-Z says, "I'm a hustler." So, is sampling Hova's verses the new MO for Swizz, who also produced the Jay-inspired "Bring 'Em Out" for T.I.? "We were just being creative," said Swizz. "It started out as a freestyle because we had these Jay-Z a cappellas from The Black Album. I'm a DJ first, so when I had these a cappellas, I was like, 'Let's go.' We knocked ['I'm a Hustler'] out six months before I did 'Bring 'Em Out.' " ...
Has the Birdman Jr. flown the coop? That's been a big source of chatter in the rumor mill, but Cash Money wants to squash it now. According to Lil' Wayne's camp, the rumor is totally false, but they do admit that Weezey has been approached by a few label execs about jumping ship. Still under contract to Cash Money, Wayne (who's in the new Baby video for "Shyne On") is going to begin recording his next album this spring. Meanwhile, Baby's Fast Money is due March 15, and newest Cash Money member Lil' Mo is dropping her Syndicated: The Lil' Mo Hour in April. Mo's most prized due date is in February, though: She's eight months pregnant with her second child. ...
50 Cent, a.k.a. Ferrari F50, works just about as fast as the luxury car rolls down an empty highway. He recorded about 20 freestyles exclusively for his DJ, Whoo Kid, and this week about 12 of them will hit the mixtape circuit via the mixtape 2050 (Before the Massacre). "The second batch will come right before his album or after his album drops [in March]," Whoo Kid said. "The freestyles are all new. Nothing old. We was in the studio for two days straight, dirty as f---. Nobody left, nobody took a shower, just straight freestyles." Among his freestyles is a remake of Notorious B.I.G.'s "My Downfall" on which he raps, "The flow is CPR, I bring Biggie back to life." Also included in the mix is his official first single, "Candy Shop," which features Olivia. What we won't hear, Whoo Kid said, is the much-talked-about "Piggy Bank" record on which 50 disses Fat Joe, Jadakiss and Ja Rule for throwing subliminal jabs at him. "He's addressing people like crazy on the new [mixtape], but 'Piggy Bank' we're gonna save for the next one," he said. "Right now he's highly unpredictable, and I don't know what he's gonna do. This guy is crazy. He's out for everybody's head right now. He's definitely gonna sell his units again. The 10 million mark will be right back. The album [St. Valentine's Day Massacre] is ridiculous. I don't think anybody is gonna be messing with him. He's gonna knock off some heads." Whoo Kid has a gaggle of other releases coming soon, including a new Tony Yayo mixtape, The Wire, with the cast of the HBO drama of the same name, The Murda Mixtape with DJ Spinbad, and The Red Album with Red Spyda. ...
How hard is DJ Mick Boogie's grip on the Midwest? Fresh off his latest mixtape, The Commissioner, hosted by Jadakiss, Mick Boogie's been hired by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to be the team's resident DJ. He'll rock in-house for home games this year, including the playoffs if necessary. "As a DJ, you couldn't ask for a better situation," Mick Boogie said. "I think the Cavs are the most exciting team in the league right now, with LeBron and our fans." It gets better, though: Mick will also be doing music for lebronjames.com, producing special interludes and dropping exclusives for the site. Like a boss! ...
It seems the bigger Mike Jones and Swishahouse get, the more they find themselves at odds with their former folks. The latest castoff is Magnificent, a.k.a. Magno, who last year hooked up with Jones for the sizzling 1st Round Draft Picks CD. Magno just released a new tape (mixed by DJ Statik) called The New Print. It's not a surprise that Magno is one funny dude, and we gotta give it up to anyone who drops a reference to Topanga from the TV show "Boy Meets World." What is surprising, though, is that Magno doesn't address the Mike Jones friction until the second-to-last song, "Before I Move On." And rather than take shots at Mike Jones, Magno deals straight from the heart, using the song to reminisce about how they both came up together and wonder how it all went wrong. King Koopa, a.k.a. Chamillionaire, another former Swishahouse compatriot, isn't so kind on his new mixtape, What It Dew. But then again, Koopa and Mike haven't liked each other in a while.
For more on the role of mixtapes in the music industry, check out the feature "Mixtapes: The Other Music Industry."
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Photo: MTV News
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