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— by Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes and Sway Calloway
DVD: "All Access: The Real Talk Issue"
Representing: Too many spots to name
411: The street DVD magazine pops up with the latest installment. There's some beautiful around-the-way honeys, live footage of rising Atlanta R&B singers and a bunch of trash talking.
Joints To Check For
- Wyclef and Cassidy segments. Clef looks to be exhausted as he just hit a New York studio from his native Haiti, where he was playing diplomat with some official killers who decapitate people and shoot off rocket launchers. In the name of hip-hop, Clef still manages to let off a freestyle. Cassidy, in a separate part of the DVD, is as brash as "Macho Man" Randy Savage, discussing how he used to beat some well-known rappers in past battles and stating that he's ready for an MC that's on the level of, say, a Lloyd Banks or Game to step up and challenge him for some money.
- Jay-Z segment. "AA" goes back in the files and pulls up a throwback interview with Hov from 1995. Call Jay Nastradamus ... err, Nostradamus, because a whole year before the release of Reasonable Doubt, he foresaw that he would be a force in rap and later retire to still run the game from behind a desk. You gotta check the performance from 1997, with Jay performing on what looks like a table in front of a crowd at a party.
- Wu-Tang Clan segment. This interview was shot on November 12 — sadly, the last time Wu-Tang performed as a group and one night before ODB passed away. Method Man admonishes Ol' Dirty onstage for being absent, and backstage, Tical vents about the crowd's lack of energy. Not everyone saw the night from his perspective: RZA tells the camera he could have performed for at least another hour.
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
- DJ Rondevu's Dangerous Minded Volume Two
- DJ KG's Mo' Money Mo' Problems
- DJ Famous' Piggy Bank 2K5
- DJ Kay Slay's Let the Games Begin: Keep It Lyrical
- King Smij's Beanie Sigel Behind Gates
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar - "Ryder Music" by 50 Cent
- "The System" by Mobb Deep
- "One Shot Deal" remix by Beanie Sigel featuring Redman
- "Set It Off" by the Young Gunz
Celebrity Favs
"I'm tired," "Pimp My Ride" host Xzibit laughed about people on the street always asking him to fix their cars. "People come to me like I have tools in my pocket and I'm supposed to fix their car right then and there."
X, who'll appear in the upcoming "XXX: State of the Union" with Ice Cube and Samuel Jackson and "Derailed" with Jennifer Aniston and the RZA, says everybody should have his favorite ride of all time, a 1964 Chevy Impala. It's perfect.
"Ragtop, all chrome carriage," he said with a smile. "Two to the front, one to the back. Dump! Right, left."
The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground
The Game is back on U.S. soil, done with his European tour, and you can guess that if he hasn't already, he'll be going to the studio and recording a few choice words about his situation with the Roc-A-Fella family — or at least some of the members of the Roc crew.
As we all know, Game never holds his tongue when it comes to beef, but he says that there's one quarrel he's not getting involved in: 50 Cent's brouhaha in the aftermath of "Piggy Bank" 's release (see "50 Cent's LP Pushed Up, Harsh 'Facts' Sound Like Disses On Leaked 'Piggy Bank' ").
"I'm not getting in that," Game said a few weeks ago, before going on tour. "Jadakiss is a good friend of mine, and I've had a chance to meet and talk with Fat Joe on several occasions, and I think that they're perfectly good dudes. Jadakiss is a real good friend of mine, and one thing I will not do is fight my friends, man. I could call Jada right now on the chirp. I talk to him on a daily basis; he asks me how my son is doing. I call him to check on Styles and Sheek. Jada is a good dude, man."
So what do you do when your friend and the man who you have your career tied to might potentially go to war?
"The easiest way to balance that is go back to being me and just step aside and let grown men do what grown men do, make their own decisions," he determined. "I'm not jumping into the middle of that."
Somebody who Game says he would have no problem tussling with is Mya — if he ever got the singer in his bedroom. Well, his wish of getting close to the sexy star actually came true right before he went overseas. Not that way, you pervs! Game filmed the video for "Dreams" — the same song where he openly broaches the subject of his lust — and Mya shot a cameo spot.
"A part of his fantasy," Mya described her role in the video recently in L.A. "He's having fantasies the entire video. The cover of King magazine is obviously in his song. He's a labelmate of mine and said 'I would like for you to come down to the video and be a part of my fantasy.' I'm in it for a brief moment, but you don't know it's me until I look up."
So what does Mya think about Game telling the world he wants to knock her boots?
"I'm flattered if guys want to sleep with me," she smiled. "I'm fine. Whatever. Doing and thinking are two different things. I'm fine to be whatever you need me to be in your dreams. Outside of that, in reality it's a different story. I demand respect and people know what's up when they meet me. I don't disrespect myself so I don't get disrespected."
If you think Ludacris' only reason to smile these days is looking at Mini-Me in an afro wig (see "Ludacris Goes For The Gold — Member, That Is — In New Clip"), don't play yourself. His records are continuing to sell and he just finished a new joint venture for Disturbing Tha Peace with Def Jam.
"Shout out to L.A. Reid and Jay-Z," Cris smiled recently in Los Angeles. "Everything is going good."
The first project from the new DTP/ Def Jam deal will be singer Bobby Valentino's solo debut, Gimme a Chance. Bobby V already has a hit record in L.A. called "Slow Down," which is doing anything but. The song is growing across the country and has quickly become a mixtape favorite on R&B discs.
"I seen this girl from the back. She was looking extra hot, and when I went to the studio, I had to write a song about her — because I only seen her from the back, 'slow down,' " Bobby V. said of the inspiration for the track produced by Tim and Bob. Valentino used to be part of the group Mista, who had a hit record, "Blackberry Molasses," in 1996. Last year, one of Cris' partners, Poon Daddy, came across his demo and brought him to DTP.
"When I tell you I haven't heard a R&B record like this in a long time ... I'm not just telling you that because he's my artist," Cris mused. "I guarantee you, people will not be disappointed."
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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