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Fire Starter: Yola Da Great
For last year's "A Great Day in Atlanta" photo, we didn't only have superstars such as Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris, there were also a few unknowns in there. Lo and behold, some of those unknowns — including Yung Joc and Yola Da Great — turned out to be working on something. Eighteen-year-old Yola has one of the biggest records in Atlanta right now with "Ain't Gon Let Up." He just signed to Atlantic Records — and after the massive show of love he got at the recent Ozone Awards, some exec at Atlantic is looking like a genius for grabbing him.
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— by Shaheem Reid with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes
DJ: Dirty Harry
Representing: Queens, New York
Mixtape: Unforgiven
411: DJ Dirty Harry needs to be making that production money — he puts in the work in the studio. On his new joint, you really have to sit back, listen and recognize all the effort that goes into creating his tracks. Here, the Queens DJ explains how he devised a few of the songs.
Joints To Check For:
- "Unforgiven Intro" by Rap Figures. "The CD starts with the infamous style/concept that I originated with my one of my first mixtapes [Linden Style '94]," Harry explained. "This concept is called Rap Figures, and I have used this concept ever since. Rap Figures is a combination of rappers from different tracks that share a similar theme on a crazy track. In this case I added the drums from Jay-Z's 'Where I'm From' to magnify an already hot track. Method Man, Nas, Fat Joe and Cam'ron all share brief verses on their street vision. The results equal heat for the blocks."
- "Get You Some" by Dr. Dre, Lloyd Banks and Slim Thug. "I took ['Get You Some'] from Busta Rhymes' new album and imagined giving it a Down South feel by adding Slim Thug," Harry said. "After I did that, I thought the track could use more Dirty Harry engineering and figured I could add Lloyd Banks' voice to emulate Q-Tip's hook in the original track. Also, knowing that Dr. Dre's voice complements his own produced tracks — and that I am one of the few people still believing there is a Detox album coming in the near future — I had to add him to the track."
- "Something New" by the Diplomats. Harry breaks the production of this one down: "When I first heard the original track with Cam'ron and Hell Rell, I imagined putting Juelz Santana on the song to make it a summer banger. I needed to take vocals from Santana for the hook of the song that replicated what was being said in the lyrics. For this concept to actually work, I had to take two Juelz Santana songs and strip parts of his lyrics. The song sounds like an actual remix."
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
- DJ Kay Slay Presents Dre Robinson: The Mass' Jewel
- DJ Whoo Kid and Obie Trice - Bar Shots
- Shogun - Push Play
- Bizone - South Florida: The New Phenomenon
- Kochece, Hevehitta and DJ Unexpected - Don't Mess With Texas
- Young Mase - Detroit Takeover
- Paysoz - The Last of a Dying Breed
- Jay Classik - Awready V.2
Click here for more of Mixtape Monday ...
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar
- Akon featuring Styles P. - "Blown Away"
- Outkast featuring Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg - "Hollywood Divorce"
- Method Man featuring Raekwon and the RZA - "Presidential MC"
Celebrity Faves
Pharrell Williams loves what he's doing in the studio, from producing the Clipse's whole Hell Hath No Fury to doing Lupe Fiasco's "I Gotcha" and Ludacris' "Money Maker." "Lupe's a star," Skateboard P predicted recently in L.A. "He's on his way, and you'll see him. The Clipse's album is local drug-dealer talk. ... It's like an episode from the modern-day urban 'Godfather.' Shiny lyrics, beats that don't necessarily feel nostalgic from the golden era of hip-hop, but it's definitely made of classic material; 'Money Maker is absolutely a problem in the strip clubs."
The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground
The Diplomats say "Killa Season" is not over. Cam'ron is already filming scenes for the movie "Killa Season 2," which is set to pick up right where the first movie left off. Cam is also in the studio working on a soundtrack to go with the film. A song from the LP — a track titled "Weekend Girl" — is already out, and the camp says a video will be filmed soon. Cam is trying to get the 'hood flick and its accompanying soundtrack out by December. ...
Elsewhere in the Dip universe, Jim Jones has finalized the name of his next LP — it's called Bright Lights, Big City and will be out this fall. Around October, look for the new Duke Da God Presents LP. This time, Duke is presenting Hell Rell and J.R. Writer, who are teaming up to make music for the project. Rell's For the Hell of It solo LP is still coming down the pike, but it's been pushed to early next year. ...
As for Juelz Santana, he's on tour with Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Lil Wayne. And there is still no final word on whether the Santana/ Wayne I Can't Feel My Face project is going to be an official album or a street album, but according to the Dip camp, it's leaning toward the latter. ...
Somebody please send T.I. an MP3 of "Turn Out the Lights," his song with Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z that we reported on last week. Tip says he's never laid ears on it — and he did the record so long ago, he can't remember what it's about.
"It's a song I did with Mary," Tip said on the Los Angeles set of his "Live in the Sky" video. "I think Jay did a verse on there as well. I haven't heard it, but I'm sure it's quite a banger. It's definitely going to be one for the books. I haven't heard it since I did it. It's a song about a man and a woman in some form or fashion. I don't really remember."
And yes, it is the first time that Tip and Jay are on the same track, but "that don't count," T.I. said, since they were not in the studio together. Well hopefully we'll hear a collaboration that does count when the King of the South drops T.I. Vs. T.I.P. next year — if not sooner. ...
He does it, he did it, but don't expect to hear it on his album. Young Jeezy's "I Do This" is getting love on the radio down South, but the Snowman says the record is a track from an upcoming mixtape, not a cut from The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102.
"I leak music. I do that all the time," Jeezy explained while sitting in Atlanta's Patchwork Studios. " 'I Do This' is just a mixtape song that walked off and did its own thing. Normally, when I do mixtapes — I just didn't have the time to finish the one I was working on, I'm about to go and finish it now — I do it so Drama would talk over the songs. That way nobody could put [the tracks] out there like they are singles. You have to buy that mixtape to get the song. But 'I Do This' ran on its own. It's not even on my album." ...
The Game recently filmed a video for his "It's Okay (One Blood)" in L.A. DJ Skee said the shoot was really crazy and sent MTV News some photos from the production. (He also wrote the captions!; take a look at how it went down.) Game will shoot one more video before The Doctor's Advocate drops on November 7, but there's still no word on which song he's filming it for. It was recently confirmed that Game's LP will be issued on Geffen and not Dr. Dre's Aftermath label. ...
Akon has been teaming up with Jeezy, Rick Ross and Styles P. (check their new joint "Blown Away" — so crazy), but he's still concentrating on building up his Konvict music team. Joining T-Pain on Kon's roster — you won't believe it, but it's true — is TLC's Chilli.
It turns out that Chilli has known Akon for years. They were hooked up through former TLC choreographer Divine Stevens, who is A's close friend.
"He's very talented and I remember back in the days when he was trying to get out there, he was just as talented then," Chilli said of Akon. "I don't know, maybe certain people didn't believe in him — but it's mighty funny how you get that one hit and people are like, 'Oh, you're great.' Talent is talent."
Chilli says she's not sure when her album is coming out, but she's just about done working on it.
"I did a few songs, then got with Akon," she explained. "We've been working and came up with some stuff that's been missing from the album, but we have a couple of more songs and we'll be finished. I got a track from T-Pain — it's so crazy. T-Pain is so talented. I love his tracks. ... We were all in the studio working in Florida. He came in and had a track ready in 20 minutes, then had another one in 25 minutes. I chose an uptempo one because I dance."
Chilli said that if Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes were still alive, she would be doing a TLC project right now instead of a solo joint, but explained that her album will have the TLC feel to it. "The fans love TLC as a group. I wanted to make sure to give them something we would do as a group anyway. I don't think I could help myself — it's naturally there."
Along with Akon and T-Pain, T-Boz and Missy Elliott will also be featured on Chilli's LP. ...
While we're on the subject of singing ladies, we thought we'd shout you guys a holla from Beyoncé. This has nothing to do with the streets or mixtapes, but B was gracious enough to answer a question that's been on our minds since we saw the "Deja Vu" video: What's up with that little hand-and-wrist gesture she does at the end of the clip? Our office pool's most popular assumption was that she was making a "J" and a "Z." Here's what she had to say: "Umm, I just thought it," Beyoncé told us recently. "It was not choreographed. It was just something I did. Who knows where that came from? It just felt like something to do at the end."
We can all sleep a little easier tonight. Deep sigh of relief, everyone. ...
We don't hear Eminem rhyme over too many producers' beats, but there just may be a collaboration with hip-hop's track monster, Swizz Beatz, on the horizon.
"He reached out," Swizz said. "I'm just taking it slow. I'm not even going [into the studio] with him. I'm just sending him the tracks. He's in a zone though."
Swizz says the feel of the beats will inspire Em to bring back the old Slim Shady. He shared some other news as well: "I just did a song on [A 2Pac Tribute: Dare 2 Struggle, a various-artists collection commemorating the 10th anniversary of his death]. Oh my God. It's so ridiculous. It's hard. [In other news,] I gave Nas about four joints. I didn't even try to get no singles, I just went hard-body. I'm doing something on Kanye's new album. I'm just grinding right now."
For a full-length feature on the role of mixtapes in the music industry, check out "Mixtapes: The Other Music Industry."
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Photo: MTV News
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