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— By Shaheem Reid
Artist: DJ Clue
Mixtape: The Cherry Lounge
Representing: Sutphin Boulevard, Rockaway Boulevard, Corona, the 40 PJs, Jamaica Ave., Shadyville, St. Albans, Astoria, Flushing, the Bridge ... you get the picture. It's a Queens thing.
The 411: Why has Clue named a mixtape after a nightclub? Well, he and Timbaland just opened up the spot last week in Harlem. When DJs say "For Promotional Use," they aren't lying. Nas serves as the host.
Joints To Check For:
- "Bridging the Gap" by Nas featuring Olu Dara. God's Son raps about being proud to be jazz musician Olu's son as he tries to merge "street hop" with the blues. The family performs over a sick sampling of Muddy Waters' "Howling Wolf." "Born in the game/ Discovered my father's music like Prince searching through boxes of Purple Rain/ But my Minneapolis was the Bridge/ Home of the Superkids/ Some are well known, some are doing bids."
- "Desert Storm" by Fabolous, Joe Budden, Stack Bundles, the A-Team and Paul Cain. Clue, Duro and Skane Dollar, the heads of Desert Storm Records, let the wolves out as their squad of artists raps over Tony Sunshine's "Oh My God" remix instrumental. Just when you think you have a favorite verse, someone else comes along with more fire. Budden might have the wittiest punch line, referencing both Mister Softee and Rick James.
- "Grown Man Business" by Xzibit. "This is grown man business, let your hustle come out," X to the Z proclaims over Dr. Dre's track. X says he's cracked the hustlers' code and declares he's been reborn with a slow-flow sneer.
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
- DJ Mello's F--- U Pay Me, Vol. 2
- DJ Exclusive's The Recognizable Name
- DJ Wreck's Back on My Grind
- Whoo Kid and Lloyd Banks' Cashing In: Mo Money in the Bank Part 3
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar
- Game - "Higher"
- Slim Thug featuring Pharrell Williams - "I Ain't Heard of That"
- The Alchemist featuring Mobb Deep - "It's a Crave"
- Eminem - "Just Lose It"
- Jim Jones featuring Cam'ron and Juelz Santana - "Jamaican Joint"
Celebrity Favs
Producer 7 Aurelius, who recently popped up producing and singing on the LL Cool J single "Hush," is feeling one of Timbo's peeps. "I like John Doe," 7 said. "John Doe is hot. I like his chemistry with Timbaland, they have a great chemistry. I was actually gonna sign John."
The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground
OK, so last week 50 Cent made his feelings clear about Nas and Shyne (see "Mixtape Monday: 50 Cent Goes After Nas And Shyne On Big Mike's Latest"); now the streets want to know if Fat Joe is the next MC going at a peer. The big rumor on the streets is that Joe's new scorcher, "Victim," is aimed at Jay-Z. Especially since some mixtape DJs have "dissing Jay-Z" or "going at you know who" next to the title of the song on their track listings. Joe cleared things up last week on the set of the Terror Squad's "Take Me Home" video in Malibu, California. " 'Victim' has got nothing to do with Jay-Z. I heard [people] say I was dissing 50. They said I was dissing everybody. I'm talking to everybody, whoever feels it's at them, then it's at them. I'm just making that real grimy hip-hop. I got my foot on the rappers' necks right now, I'm just trying to squeeze the air out of them. I'm trying to be crowned. I feel like I been crowned but I want the people to crown me. I ain't going at [Jay] or nobody else." ...
Meeting Idris Elba is a straight bug-out. He's been in videos by Fat Joe and most recently Angie Stone, but he's best known as kingpin Russell "Stringer" Bell on HBO's "The Wire." So imagine how ill it is to holla at him for the first time and discover that he has a thick British accent and he's a DJ. "I've been collecting records since I was like 10," said Elba, who grew up in London. The actor, whose DJ name is Big Dris, began spinning around the age of 14. "I started out with my uncle," he remembered. "He had a sound system called Sound International back in London. He basically did weddings. I was the speaker boy. ... By the time I was 15, me and my men from around the way started our own little sound that was called the Social Affair Sound [and] we started doing local parties." Dris, who began putting it down behind the turntables in clubs by the time he was 19, has been living part-time in NYC for the last six years and actually started earning his living by spinning in the East Village and Alphabet City before landing a guest appearance on "Law and Order" in 2001. His stint on "The Wire" began in 2002. Dris said things are going to get ugly this season for his character, but in real life, Elba is straight. He's already put out a series of street CDs called Foot Fetish, and he's linking up with other DJs to put out collaborations. "I consider myself a blend DJ more than anything," he said. "Like my mixtapes, the way I want to see them grow, I basically want to see if I can get my mixtapes to showcase new talent. I can't compete with the big boys on getting the freestyles and all that, because I don't have the connects yet. Eventually, I'd like to get the new freestyles, but at the same time, I want to see the new cats that's coming up." ...
A couple of weeks ago, we heard from a members of Tapemasters Inc. about the faction's rift. Now, member Spliff has weighed in on the fallout via a statement to MTV: "If you want the truth, say no more," Spliff said. "The reason I split up with my partners is because I was doing all of the Tapemasters Inc. tapes up to and including The Mixtape Wonder of the World, getting 95 percent of the music for all of them, all of the hosts, all of the sponsors, all of the publicity, generating most of the sales. A partnership can only exist when people contribute equally." ...
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Photo: MTV News
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