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Fire Starter: Mavado
Jamaican-born Mavado is putting the streets under his thumb right now. The "Gangster for Life" brought his name back to the forefront of the rude-boy reggae mix, and "Dying" has shown off his pensive side. Mavado is winning not just with his hard-core clashing, but with rough melodies.
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Mixtape Monday: T-Pain Kicks It With Kanye; Remy Ma Takes To The Cross; Yung Joc Explains His Pak Man Alter Ego
— by Shaheem Reid and Jayson Rodriguez, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes
Artist: Remy Ma
Representing: The Bronx
Mixtape And DVD: Shesus Khryst
411: The Queen of NY has even more controversy on her hands this week. Remy Ma, who is awaiting trial on attempted-murder charges, just released the mixtape/DVD Shesus Khryst. The cover depicts Rem hanging from a cross topless with a loincloth covering her private parts. Although she's been doing shows and appearing at parties since her arrest a few weeks ago, the former Terror Squad member has been on interview silence, so she can't explain. But we did speak to DJ Superstar Jay, who put the project together with Rem. He defended her choice of title and artwork and also explained a couple of the tracks. As for her problems with the law, Jay said, "A lot of people be like, 'Is this a publicity stunt?' Attempted murder ain't no publicity stunt. We did this mixtape before she got in trouble."
Joints To Check For:
- "Shesus Khryst." "The tape was originally supposed to be called The Last B---h Standing," Jay explained. "She's talking about how everything is going on in the industry and how females get treated in the industry. Then in one of her songs, she said, 'This is the BX savior, Shesus Khrist.' I asked, 'Where did you get that from?' She said she's the female savior and she was talking about all the things she was going through, like the Terror Squad and Fat Joe not helping her out on her album. Now she's on no label. Everybody is getting it twisted and thinks she's going with the propaganda of Christ. She's talking abut how females are getting crucified in the industry. She's a prime example. Her album was a classic — she spits crazy hard — but it didn't do the numbers it's supposed to do. She feels that people done stabbed her, jabbed her, not supported her.
"The video is graphic," he added. "She even got scared when she seen herself on the cross. We did it on a beach location. The police came and was like, 'I heard a lady is on a cross.' We had to shoot it real quick. The song was crazy. The beat arrangement. ... That was actually the last song we did for the mixtape. She got in the car and wrote the rhyme in 15 minutes and spit it right in front of me. 'If Jay is Jay-Hova and Nas is God's Son ... ' "
- "We Takin' Over" (featuring Lazy K, Jacki-O, Lil' Mo and Trina). "Pretty much all the females in the industry are going through the same thing," Jay said. "Before — in like '96, '97, 2000 — females were more respected. You had Lil' Kim, Foxy, Eve. They were selling the same amount of records as the males. Now you got the new females coming up, even Lil' Mo didn't get the respect she deserved. I think that whole lineup is talented, but Jacki-O doesn't get her due. Even Lazy K doesn't get her due ... I think they just came together and really said, 'We takin' over.' They did the female version of DJ Khaled's song."
- "Remy Time." "That was a beat from a track Jim Jones used called 'Reppin Time,' " Jay said. "Remy writes off of passion. As soon as she feels something, she writes it. When I listen to the mixtape, she's spittin' harder than the guys that are out."
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
- DJ Blazita – New York New York We're Back
- DJ L, Dread and Suss One – Gully Sin'Tin
- Hurricane Chris – Louisi-Animal (Hosted by Don Cannon)
- Meddafore – Bang This
- Suge White – Rhythm and Backshots (R.I.P. Edition)
- DJ L + Swizz Beatz – One Man Band Man
- Twizted Mind – The Problem
- Young Mase – Detroit Takeover Vol. 3
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar
- Kanye West – "Big Brother"
- Lil Eazy-E (featuring Timbaland) – "I Got That"
- Uncle Murda (featuring Wyclef and Mavado) – "Informer"
- Yung Joc (featuring Diddy) – "Hell Yeah"
Celebrity Faves
Rey Mysterio Jr. made a butt-kicking return to the ring on Sunday during WWE's "SummerSlam." He exacted revenge on the man who put him out of action for eight months, Chavo Guerrero. Rey, who has more than 250 signature masks and matching outfits (he loves to put Louis Vuitton in there), listened to a lot of music while he was laid up. He's a huge rap fan.
"One of my homies is Baby Bash. We're real close," Rey told Mixtape Monday. "I listen to T.I., T-Pain. My son Dominic loves T.I. and T-Pain, everybody I listen to. I like Tupac, Biggie, a little bit of everything. I'm a big fan. My ringtone right now is [T-Pain's] 'Bartender.' I like Lil Wayne too. I can go on and on. But that's what I bump in my ride all the time."
The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground
Sha Money XL might not make a lot of headlines like the artists on G-Unit's roster, but the label's former president definitely makes money like them. And since he parted ways with 50 Cent and company earlier this year — at least in an official capacity because he still manages Lloyd Banks and Young Buck — the Queens, New York, native has expanded his firm, Money Management Group. Its new clients include Tha Bizness, the production duo behind Fif's leaked track "Follow My Lead" featuring Robin Thicke.
"They're a part of my secret weapon I call 'Seattle's Best,' " Sha told Mixtape Monday last week. "Out in Seattle there's a lot of talent people don't even know. I got Jake One, Tha Bizness and Vitamin D. Three producers, they're like my favorite."
Sha said he's spent a lot of time in the Emerald City recently on business. He's in talks with Microsoft to both adapt his "Traxxpad" video game to Xbox and hopefully have the software giant come on board as a sponsor at his next producers' conference. But the multiplatinum producer also said business at home has kept him plenty busy as of late.
Two weeks ago, Sha revealed that G-Unit — the group, not the company — came together and talked in-house business until the wee hours of the morning. The results, as we heard recently from 50's tracks "I'm on Some Sh--" and "Southside," which both feature Banks and Tony Yayo, is that G-Unit are back.
"The whole squad [was there]," Sha Money said. "G-Unit is back. Every beef is squashed."
Sha explained that his departure from G-Unit was a mutual decision between him and Fif at the time, but leading up to the decision, there was plenty of tension between the two. Sha said he was working his hardest to push albums by Banks and to set up 50's Curtis — this was back when the album was titled Before I Self Destruct, which is now the name of his anticipated February 4 follow-up — but he said he felt handcuffed by Interscope's inability to move things forward. But he said 50, who hasn't replaced Sha as president and is instead handling all the duties himself, is now experiencing the same frustrations.
"There is no replacement," Sha said. "There's 50 Cent. 50 Cent is the president and CEO of G-Unit. He's not gonna replace anyone. He has to fix things himself now, outside of [his manager] Chris Lighty, and Chris Lighty has a lot of responsibilities with Diddy and his other clients. There's a lot of pressure. 50's under a lot of pressure. But he's really killing it. He's doing what he got to do. It's frustrating and I tried to tell him that's the frustration I used to have. I'm one man, Interscope has 500 people. Some things you just can't fix. People in L.A. are real Zen. [New Yorkers are] more aggressive. And Fif is really aggressive. He wants to see results now. The same things I tried to conquer before I brought [them] to him, I was knocking down walls myself. 'Cause you don't want it to be like always going to Daddy. But it was the same thing that happened with Banks, so he's experiencing it a year later. Last year, I was mad. But eights months later, I'm good."
Sha said to expect more big things to come from G-Unit, including a group album featuring Fif, Banks, Buck and Yayo. In the meantime, Sha is in Las Vegas with Buck prepping the launch of the Cashville rapper's new clothing and watch line, the David Brown Collection.
"I was doing a lot [before], Fif was right," Sha said. "So I had to downsize, and we back to the basics. I just need tunnel vision right now. Buck is a brand on his own, so he's a lot [of work]. ... [We all had] too many things going on. That was the problem, until 50 said, 'We back.' No more extra sh-- when it's time to get to the work. So now everybody is back." ...
When Yung Joc talks about his hustle game being tight, you better listen. The boy is stacking that paper. Big paper. He ranked on the Forbes list of top-paid rappers — a great feat for anybody, but especially for somebody who made the list with just a debut album under his belt.
"Thanks to God first, the fans, I have a wonderful support team: Block Entertainment, the Warner Music Group, Atlantic, Special Ops and media outlets like this one here," Joc said on the humble last week. "It takes more than the average civilians could ever imagine to be a star or a celebrity. It's a lot of hard work, determination and ambition."
Joc's aptly titled Hustlenomics comes out Tuesday. "My hustle is hip-hop," he said. "That's what I'm good with and I have to supply the demand. People want a hit record, I have to give that to them. People want to see a good show, I have to give that to them."
Diddy, Rick Ross, Game, Jim Jones, Snoop Dogg, Young Dro, Bun B and Trick Daddy are among the guest stars on the album, but the Atlanta native said the cameo that will have all the people talking is Pak Man — the little guy from the "Coffee Shop" video and single.
"You got T.I. with T.I. vs. T.I.P. — he had a situation where he wanted to challenge himself," Joc said, explaining a character he created. "My alter ego is Pak Man. I used to watch 'Martin' where Martin had the little guy [Roscoe], I always did that. That was the thing where my mama had company and they would be in there on a Friday night ... I would come in there and do my routine. So I made the record ['Pak Man']. It's one of those records where people listen and ask, 'Who was that?' And they smile all the way through. I notice everybody gravitating towards the song."
Joc, the flagship of Big Block's Block Entertainment, maintains that the gravitational pull of his music will continue to be built on making people party and hitting fans with concepts.
"I grew up listening to cats that people would never guess," he said. "People look at my collection like, 'Yo, you had The Purple Tape [Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx]? What you doing with this?' I love hip-hop. I'm a fan first and foremost. I may not be able to emulate the lyricist part of the lyricism, but I do understand concepts, a good vibe. I never try to be what I ain't. Whatever you hear me say, I did that."
Joc's currently on the Screamfest '07 tour, and for all you fashion fans, he has cut his hair in an old-school Gumby slope. ...
T-Pain's tour bus is bristling with activity these days. Nope, we're not talking about Screamfest '07 groupies: Teddy Pain has been working. His bus has a full studio, and you'll see anybody from E-40 to Da Brat up in there making new material. He's trying to keep in step with the active schedule of the man who signed him: Akon.
"It's not really competitive. It's like we're working together," Pain said. "We try to not be in the same place at the same time. People be like, 'Why I don't never see you and Akon together, y'all not cool?' Nah, that's when you the most cool. ... We spread out everywhere. If he's in California, I'm in New York. People see me and Akon as the same person, so it's basically like Konvict [Muzik] is spread across the country at the same time. We could cover more places spread out. Now every song on the radio is T-Pain or Akon or featuring Akon or featuring T-Pain."
One of Pain's favorite collabos right now is the remix of R. Kelly and Usher's "Same Girl." T plays the woman-in-question's irate husband.
"Just a couple people I hang around," he laughed about who inspired the lyrics to his verse. "It happens all the time. People's wives get caught up. ... They didn't mean to, it just happens. It's real-life situations. Just because it's somebody's wife don't mean they can't get bounced around. I had to put my twist on it."
For the record, Pain said he's definitely not talking about his own spouse. "I'd be in jail," he said with a laugh when asked what he would do if that situation ever happened to him.
Pain's next big guest appearance will be on Kanye West's next single, "Good Life."
"I had to go in the studio six times and redo the hook. Rewrite it and sing it," he said about working with the perfectionist Kanye. Despite all the changes, Pain said it was an honor. "The last time he wasn't even there; he was just like, 'Do something, man.' Even when we did the video, he did something to the song that day." ...
Finally, if you're looking for Ludacris' DTP compilation Strength in Numbers to be in stores Tuesday, forget about it. It's not happening for a long while. The album, which was supposed to feature 'Cris and artists such as Chingy, Shareefa and Bobby Valentino, has been pushed back so the company can concentrate on the release of Playaz Circle's debut album, Supply and Demand. According to Luda's people, Circle's "Duffle Bag Boy" made so much noise, they had to capitalize on the momentum of the song. Unfortunately, DTP just released the video for Chingy's "Celebrity Chick" off the Luda comp.
For other artists featured in Mixtape Mondays, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.
Hungry for more hip-hop coverage? Sink your teeth into our spankin'-new "Hottest MCs in the Game" feature.
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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