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Fire Starters: Hip-Hop Greeting Cards by John Nunez
John Nunez is definitely one of the most well-respected and well-known photographers in the hip-hop community. In the 10 years he's been on his grind, Johnny has worked everywhere from major events to intimate settings. He's flicked it up for the likes of Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Nas and Kelis, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Michael Jordan, ODB and LeBron James. In 2000, he sold his first set of holiday greeting cards, exclusively made for people like Kelis and Nore. Now he's back after a long hiatus and is again selling his cards. This time he took photos of people like the Dip Set, Akon, Fat Joe and Paul Wall. You can purchase the cards at (800) 206-0613.
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— by Shaheem Reid and Jayson Rodriguez, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes
Artist: Chamillionaire
Representing: The Lone Star State
Mixtape: Mixtape Messiah 2
411: Chamillionaire travels to Europe almost as often as a suburban New Yorker goes to Harlem or Brooklyn. They love him over there, and Cham is trying to strike while he's hot. So instead of staying at home and recording his new album, Cham is on tour ... and recording his new album. The Ultimate Victory is due March 27.
"The label is asking the same question," he answered when asked how he's finding time to record his sophomore major-label effort amid the tour. "But I've recorded part of the album in London. ... [You can find] a studio everywhere on the planet. You don't have to be in Houston."
Cham has proven his point by not only recording a bulk of The Ultimate Victory, but also tracking his next street CD, Mixtape Messiah 2. You remember that the first one came out almost three years ago? Well, Cham apologizes to the fans for taking so long — but he's been well, you know, busy going platinum with his major-label debut, The Sound of Revenge; winning VMAs and BET Hip-Hop Awards; and guest-appearing on songs with people like Ciara and Tupac. (Cham's also been busy with his Chamillitary label, to which he just signed San Antonio rapper MC Famous — formerly Lil' Ken.)
"They can't blame it on the mind, they have to blame it on the grind," Cham said. "When you have your own company and you're having success, it's a lot that gets thrown on your plate. I respect the whole mixtape circuit — I'll never turn away from it. But all the things that were coming up in my life were taking me away from it. I just figured out a way I could still feed the audience and do what I'm doing."
Although Cham fully expects bootleggers to be selling his mixtape to a mom-and-pop store or on the street near you, he's releasing it for free via his Web site, Chamillionaire.com, on Christmas Eve morning.
"I could make a million dollars off that mixtape, but I'mma give it to them for free," Cham said. "I know the fans will appreciate it when it drops. ... The fans have been waiting for a while. I want the fans just to have it. I'm not saying I'm always gonna do that, but this time, yeah."
You know how we do around these parts. No way in the world we're going to holla at Chamillionaire and not have him give his mixtape a preview. Keep reading.
Joints To Check For:
- "Answering Machine Part 2." "I did the 'Answering Machine' interlude on the first mixtape," he said. "So many people responded to it and were putting it on their actual answering machines. 'Part 2' is basically [saying,] 'I got answering-machine messages from people.' People leave messages on my phone and be talking crazy to me. I have a lot of them and I save them even if I don't call the people back."
- "Untitled Freestyle." "I [run] into some fans and they say, 'You don't rap like how you used to rap,' " he said. " 'You used to give them all the punch lines and everything.' I know over the years I graduated and grew into [a more diverse] type of artists. I kind of took it back a little bit and gave them some of the witty punch lines. When it comes to making songs, sometimes it's not all what it's about. I'm just going back to the mixtape roots where you be like, 'I can't believe he said that!'
"I kind of accept that criticism," he added about people saying they want to hear more punch lines from him. "I'm not mad at them for saying that. I understand. 'Turn It Up' is definitely different from the mixtape stuff. Some of the stuff I did on the mixtape may have lyrically surpassed the stuff I did on [The Sound of Revenge]. I know that. But it wasn't about that at first. I had to get in there first. I didn't want to lose people. Back in the day people used to say me and Paul Wall used to only talk about ballin' and materialistic stuff. Then when we started changing, then they wanted to complain again. It's all about proving people wrong. I know where I can go lyrically. I want to show people a little bit."
- "Hip-Hop Is Dead" freestyle. "A lot of people are waiting for me to put out a mixtape with new beats, but that would be considered an album," Cham explained. "I can't have people taking them records and doing too much with them. It's supposed to be in the streets. I'm jacking every [beat] that's hot and rippin' it. [With] the mixtapes, I voice my opinion to the streets. It's a lot of freestyles on there. No dissin'. I tried to show them creativity."
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
- Willie the Kid with DJ Drama and Big Mike - Divide and Conquer
- Saigon with Clinton Sparks and DJ Kay Slay - Get Familiar: The Return of the Yardfather
- Papoose with DJ Kay Slay - Streetsweepers: The Fourth Quarter Assassin
- Hell Rell - New Gun in Town
- DJ Vlad - DJ Vlad Presents: Girlz of Brazil
Click here for more of Mixtape Monday ...
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar
- Nas (featuring the Game and Marsha from Floetry) - "Hustlers"
- Nas - "Where Are They Now"
- Diddy (featuring Jadakiss, Nas and Cee-Lo) - "Everything I Love" remix
- Project Pat (featuring Beanie Sigel) - "Purple"
- Lil Wayne - "Cry Out"
Celebrity Faves
Sing it, Diddy! That's one you don't hear too often, but Sean Combs' "Last Night," on which he sings, is heating up the airwaves. The song's co-star, Keyshia Cole, says she knew the track was hot almost as soon as it was done.
"I actually loved the record the first time I heard it," Cole said. "I recorded a couple of songs with Puff [for his Press Play album], but that's the one that actually made it. I loved it."
The powerful singer also gives props to Young Jeezy. She appears on "Dreamin'," from his new album, The Inspiration. "Man, it was off the chain," she said about working with the Snowman.
Cole is also working on her own new album. Of her guests, she said, "Hopefully I'm getting Nas. I got Anthony Hamilton."
The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground
Snoop Dogg says he's going to keep trying to unify the West Coast. He's hoping to take all the heavyweights on tour with him next year.
"Ice Cube had a great run this year," he began. "Too Short was strong. E-40 put the hyphy movement down, Game did big things and I coming right behind him doing gigantic things. We just all need to figure out how to come together and keep it moving worldwide, as opposed to us going out with him, him and him. Let's go out with us and let the world know we move as a unit."
Snoop also frowned upon the recent beef between the Game and Ras Kass, who recently came to blows in an L.A. club.
"To me that's a minor situation," Snoop said. "No disrespect, but Ras Kass is minor right now. I understand he's trying to get back in the game, but it's gotta be another route. Let's not try to get into it with the man that's on top right now. That's my view of it. Ras Kass is a lyricist, he's got lyrics, he's known for making songs — he don't have to dis Game. At the same time, Game don't have to dis him, because you already in the game, you already known. People gonna buy your records anyway.
"I can't really get involved, but at the same time, they already know how I feel about the situation," Snoop added. "I don't like it, approve of it or take anybody's side. I just feel like they should let it go and make hit records and figure how to get past that. If I don't like you, I don't have to say anything about you, I can just walk away from you. It's a lot of rappers in the West that don't like me, but they gotta respect my hand because I show respect rather than disrespect."
Snoop says he has personally expressed his views to Game but has not talked to Ras.
"We gonna end all of that," Snoop said in true Doggfather fashion. "Ras Kass, if you listening or seeing this, we need to figure out a way to get a understanding. Game already got a understanding. He's gonna do what I say, because that's my little homeboy and we on the same page. [Ras,] I ain't never talk to you about it, so I'm reaching out to you, little homie. Let's figure out a way to get this thing together and over with. You only cutting your money in half. 'Cause don't nobody buy your records right now. So let's make it to where they will buy your records, not off of dissin', but from making good music." ...
Fifteen-year-old Julito McCullum plays the baby daddy to Keke Palmer of "Akeelah and the Bee" in Ludacris' video for "Runaway Love," but of course he's most known for his performance as Mr. Grew-Up-a-Screw-Up himself, Namond Brice, in "The Wire." This year's season has been a tough one for his baby thug character, but McCullum says Namond will evolve before it's all said and done.
"It's easy for me," he says about acting in the gritty street drama. "It's not really acting because I live the life anyway. So when I go and do this, it's regular. My character, everybody knows he's the class clown, that bad kid. I think he wants everybody to know even though you're that bad clown, things can change around. You don't always have to be bad."
McCullum says when "The Wire" returns in 2007, the show will be going out with a bang in a big way. "Next season, it's the last season, so we're coming even harder," he hinted. "It's some real stuff going on." ...
T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records is releasing a compilation on December 19 called In Da Streets Vol. 4. And although you'll hear the likes of Grand Hustle staples like Young Dro and Big Kuntry, Tip says underground Atlanta MC Yola Da Great won't be joining his imprint's roster. Talk of the union made its way in the press and streets earlier this year.
"Me and Yola couldn't find appropriate ways to work together, so we had to agree to disagree on a lot of things," the King of the South said recently in Atlanta. "I wish him the best though." ...
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Janet Jackson and Jermaine Dupri
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When you have Janet Jackson waiting at home for you and close to every major recording artist wanting to get you in the studio, you might not exactly be rushing to go sit behind a desk in some office. But Jermaine Dupri, who recently left his high-ranking executive position at Virgin Records, is alluding that we might not have seen the last of him as a boardroom boss.
"Y'all gonna have to wait," he said not too long ago in Atlanta. "But it's gonna be one of the biggest moves y'all ever seen. I believe in making moves that change the world and do things to inspire other young people to do the same." ...
David Banner was recognized with a Visionary Award last week in his hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, by the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. Banner received the honor for the leadership he displayed after last year's Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. The rapper/producer spearheaded the Heal the Hood relief effort, helping to organize benefit concerts in Atlanta and New York to raise funds for victims' families. Although his being honored was met with skepticism by local media, which have criticized his song lyrics, Banner passionately addressed the complaints in his acceptance speech. "My album dropped the Tuesday after Hurricane Katrina," Banner told MTV News a few days after the event. "I lost millions of dollars, then turned around and gave millions of dollars." Now that's called putting your money where your mouth is.
For other artists featured in Mixtape Mondays, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.
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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