Nas
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/ Getty Images

A Jay-Z album produced entirely by Timbaland?

Certainly a dream scenario for some fans and the artists themselves. Another legendary MC has been thinking about pairing himself with one of the producers he's had combustible chemistry with throughout his career. On July 15, while performing in concert, Nas made a very public appeal to DJ Premier (who was not present) and said the people are waiting for them to make an entire album together.

Premo and Nas first collaborated on Illmatic, and ever since then, the legendary DJ/producer has given his lyrical friend classic tracks. But the two haven't worked together in quite some time — to the dismay of many. Nas is hoping to rectify that, and the Queensbridge great has another production king he'd like to collaborate with as well.

"I want to do an all-Dr. Dre album," he told MTV News. "A whole thing with Dre and a whole thing with Premier, and drop 'em on the same day. That's the real thing. All right, I said it. That's what I really wanna do.

"I'm doing my dream," he continued. "If you could, wouldn't you do it? What else would you do? Every time I do something, it's, 'Oh, he's doing it because this and that.' Since my first album, everybody has an explanation of why. What am I supposed to be doing here? So I wanna drop the Dre album and the Premier album on the same day. That's what I'm thinking."

Now before you go bombarding Nas and his two track-mastering friends with talk of these albums, Nas did say he was dreaming out loud and hasn't had any significant talk with Dre or Premo. But another producer recently caught Nas off-guard and ended up with a beat on Untitled.

"I ain't know," he said of the Game's production skills. The Los Angeles mic arsonist rhymes on "Make the World Go Round" and also produced the track. Cool & Dre also have production credits on the song.

"He just hit me with the track," Nas added. "I was like, 'Oh, that's what's up.' The record was Game's record, so he's like, 'Me, you, I'm going to see Chris Brown. Nas, we gon' make this movie, boom, boom, boom.' It was his record. I guess [it was going to be on] Game's album. It was gonna come out now, but he pushed his sh-- back, so he let me have his sh--. He's a smart n---a like that. I was like, 'What you doing with this record?' He gave it to me. He's got so many bangers [on his album], I guess."

One of the big bangers off of Untitled is the metaphorically supreme "Fried Chicken" with Busta Rhymes. Nas and Busta compare loving women to eating poultry and pork: "Fried chicken, fly vixen/ Give me heart disease/ But need you in my kitchen."

"When I was doing the album, I knew there was certain concepts I had to do," Nas explained. "There were obvious concepts, so many things to touch on, on an album that's supposed to be the N----- album. 'Fried Chicken' was just a no-brainer. So I did the first verse and had it. I knew everybody was busy. I couldn't think of anyone to get on it. I had hit up Common and I hit a few people. Everybody was trying to get back, and I had to turn it in, like, yesterday. Then it just dropped on me — boom! Who's got the science? Who knows all the science on all this sh--? The Godfather, Busta Rhymes. It was just perfect. I hit him [and] said, 'Please turn it around.' He was overseas. He knocked that sh-- out overseas, sent it to me. Done."

Nas is getting ready to head out on the road to headline the Rock the Bells Tour. A Tribe Called Quest and Talib Kweli are among the artists appearing on various dates on the tour.

• Nas
• Dr. Dre
• DJ Premier

DJ Premier
Photo: Getty Images/Steven Henry

NEW YORK — One of hip-hop's greatest producers says he's come up with some classic material not just for the rap community, but for pop and R&B fans as well — and it's coming from Christina Aguilera.

Gang Starr's DJ Premier — who's worked with everyone from Notorious B.I.G. to Common, from Jay-Z to D'Angelo, from Nas to the LOX over his two-decade career — has been locked in the studio with Christina for months and he says watch out: The girl's singing better than ever.

"She's mad cool, man," Premo said last week. "She really represents true music and true singing. She can belt out notes. She has true lungs."

Premo's and Christina's first collaboration, "Ain't No Other Man," is already out, and finds both singer and producer trying out something new: soul.

"It' a jump off," he said. "So far, so good. We do it for the money and the sales but we don't focus on that: We focus on 'Can you feel it?' If you can't feel it, it ain't real. Bottom line! You should be able to judge for yourself if it's real, not 'cause it's crammed down your throat on radio. She took a risk and did a whole new style. I appreciate what she's doing, giving me a chance to rock."

Premo said there's a lot more soul to come on Aguilera's forthcoming album, Back to Basics, which is due in August.

"She described to me what she wanted out of the album," he said. "I'm good at tailoring my music to the description somebody wants. Jay-Z used to do that, like, 'I got a record called this, I want it to do this, then I want it to break down and do this and do this,' then I would bring him exactly what he described. She did the same thing. She gave me CDs of joints to listen to, like Al Green and Aretha Franklin. She wanted to shape the style around what I do. I'm from that era and I respect music, and it's always good to work with somebody else who respects music."

Another leading lady Premier will be working with soon is Amerie. She's currently in the lab constructing her next album. "She's funky, got a new style that's dope," Premier said. "I like all her harmonies, and she writes her own stuff."

However, hip-hop fans will be most excited to hear the producer's take on records he's made for Nas' upcoming LP, Hip-Hop is Dead ... The N (see "Nas Says Hip-Hop Is Dead — New Album Due In September").

"Oh yeah," Premier said. "It's on and poppin'. We're just cutting tracks, cutting tracks, cutting tracks. Whatever works, we keep. Whatever don't work, we don't keep. That's always been our formula. It's real fun with Nas. Just like a day hanging out, but a good joint comes out of it. We ain't never did a dud. Every one's been a banger."

Premier says that fans will be pleased at the level of Nas' focus.

"Nas knows what he has to do," Premier explained. "He knows it's a lot of, 'He's older,' or '[Can he still] do it?' or 'That's not my generation.' He knows what he gotta do. I told him, 'If you don't know, let me know. I'll make sure you stay guided,' 'cause I really am a fan of his and I wanna buy a Nas album.

"We always switch up the formula," Premier added. "Guru [Premier's MCing partner in Gang Starr] used to say we update our formula. Nas played me some joints that Salaam Remi [produced]. Tight! He's flowing like crazy. That inspired me to go in there and really hammer something out. I don't like nobody to outdo me on tracks — I'm inspired by other people that do hot tracks. If it's banging, I give it up. I don't care if Mickey Mouse did it."

• DJ Premier
• Christina Aguilera
• Amerie
• Nas

Christina Aguilera
Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

Sure, Christina Aguilera got married, collaborated with old hands Herbie Hancock and Andrea Bocelli and made an album she's called "retro," but the former Xtina still has a dirty side.

In fact, she's got a track on that new record with Nas called "Still Dirrty."

"It's part two of the one she did on the last album, but the beat is totally different," said DJ Premier, who produced several of the songs. "It's more jazz-sampled with these horn blasts."

Aside from previewing a few tracks on "TRL" recently, Aguilera has yet to say much about her new record, but according to its primary producers, fans should expect music that takes an innovative approach to honoring past eras.

"DJ Premier's half is very hip-hop with old samples, and then when my half of the album kicks in, all I can say is, just have a glass of wine and enjoy the ride," said Linda Perry, another producer on the disc. "It's a very mature, very risky album [of] old-school jazzy blues. You're gonna think that these songs were recorded and written back in 1940."

"It's called Back to Basics, and that's exactly what it sounds like, the whole album," Premier added.

Nas is the only guest on the record, according to Premier, but Outkast's Big Boi is recording a verse for the remix to the first single, "Ain't No Other Man." Aguilera is shooting a video for the song this weekend.

"It's pretty much about how her husband has stolen her from looking at anybody else, 'cause he's the one who did it for her," said Premier, who produced the track with Charles Roane. "And the record's real sassy, like an old Aretha [Franklin] 'Respect' kind of attitude. It's real raw and has breakbeats in it and everything, but it's chopped up and totally tailored to what she was trying to do [by] collaborating with me."

On Wednesday, Aguilera told Premier she was sore from learning the crazy choreography for the clip.

"The song is real, real fast, which is definitely different for me, 'cause I don't do real fast tempo," Premier said. "This thing is like 130 beats per minute, but it still sounds like hip-hop/ Christina."

Aguilera worked with Perry on 2002's Stripped but turned to Premier for the first time after hearing his jazz-influenced work with Gang Starr.

"I was surprised I got that call 'cause of our differences in the audiences we hit, but I'm always up for challenges and trying something new," Premier said. "She described what her album is about and then she sent me some CDs of what type of stuff's been inspiring her to make the record, and it happened to be a lot of stuff that I grew up on in the early '70s, 'cause I'm 40. Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Marvin Gaye, Esther Williams, all kinds of different things. Once I saw that's the vibe she wanted, I still had to make it sound like the way my beats thump and stuff but still give her the atmosphere she's trying to bring out on the singing side."

Premier used live instrumentation on some tracks and sampled old jazz records on others. On one tune, he sampled voice messages from fans left through Aguilera's Web site with one of her own classics.

"I had 'Genie in a Bottle' a cappella on vinyl, and I was scratching that, trying some things, and Christina walked in and was like, 'Yo, that's hot,' so we laid that down," Premier said. "That turned into a whole song called 'Thank You,' and I think it's the last song on the album."

Premier was only slated to do one or two tracks but ended up with five on the album, plus the intro. Perry also has several tracks, and Kwame, Mark Ronson and Big Tank, who does the music for "The Boondocks" cartoon, each contribute as well.

"She played me the stuff Linda Perry did, and everything was dope, totally opposite from what my music is, but when you put it all in the right sequence, it works," Premier said. "Her album is really, really well-rounded. She totally put it together right. And she was directing the whole thing. She knew what she wanted."

Perry, who has also been working with Courtney Love (see "Linda Perry Wants To Save 'Queen Of Rock And Roll' Courtney Love"), said Aguilera's marriage has matured her for the better (see "Christina Aguilera Marries Jordan Bratman").

"She's got a lot of wonderful things to say," Perry said. "It was really easy to be a part of the record, because she was so clear with her vision of the record and the ideas that she came with. All I did was sit and listen to her ideas and came up with a way to record it."

Christina has called the album gritty and raw (see "Christina Aguilera Finishing 'Raw' LP, Waiting For Perfect Film Role"), but Perry said fans of her angelic voice need not worry.

"People thought she could sing before — well, you haven't heard anything yet," Perry said. "But it's definitely a risky record. It's not Stripped at all. ... She's completely in a different space."

Perry has one mix left but said the album is otherwise done. Aguilera's spokesperson said to expect a late summer/ early fall release.

• Christina Aguilera: "Dirrty" Girl To Married Woman

• Christina Aguilera
• Herbie Hancock
• Andrea Bocelli
• DJ Premier
• Linda Perry

Fat Joe on stage at Justo's sixth annual Mixtape Awards
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — Imagine going to the Academy Awards and instead of presenter George Clooney simply reading from an envelope and announcing the Best Actress winner, he asks the audience, "Of the nominees, which chick do you think could lay the smackdown on anybody in here?"

That may seem a little thuggish for Tinseltown's finest but for the tastemakers of the hip-hop community, mixtape DJs, it's all a part of their show. Mixtape kings such as DJ Clue and DJ Kay Slay as well as MCs ranging from Mobb Deep and the Wu-Tang Clan to Craig Mack and Sweet Tee flooded New York's Apollo Theater Tuesday night for the sixth annual Mixtape Awards.

"Who's the only DJ that will come onstage right now and smack the sh-- out of anybody on this stage?" Fat Joe, flanked by a dozen of his crew, asked the audience as he presented the Best Mixtape DJ award to DJ Kay Slay, who beat out DJ Clue and DJ Envy.

Although Clue did get the nod for Best Commercial Mixtape and Best Hip-Hop Mixtape, it was clearly not his night. An undercurrent of boos and disparaging banter filled the auditorium whenever his name was mentioned. Maybe he didn't take too kindly to being dissed, or maybe he had a late-night studio session with his protégé Fabolous, but the question mark man did not go onstage to accept any awards.

"They thought he wasn't there, [that] he [wasn't] showing up," awards show organizer Justo Faison offered as a theory for the jeers. Plus, "When you're one of the top guys and you got videos and you eating, people got a little hate," he added. "He's the one who's catching it now."

Slay, the only other multiple award winner, had plenty to say when he hit the stage for his three acceptance speeches. The Harlem DJ, who also won Best Personality on a Mixtape and Best Freestyle on a Mixtape, told the crowd that it should "Salute ni--as when they come up here. This ain't amateur night at the Apollo."

It seemed like everyone wanted to make an impact with the mic, from pioneer DJ Kool Herc schooling all the DJs about paying their dues and making sure they don't undercharge to spin at parties and clubs, to famed producer DJ Premier taking time out to acknowledge that Nas did a fantastic job dissing Jay-Z on "Ether" ("Nas did his thing, he ate him"). Even those who weren't onstage spoke their minds. Whatever was on the minds of the audience members was yelled aloud, from shoutouts to heckles.

Although the winners were announced Tuesday night, no one actually took any awards home — the platinum plaques never made their way into the Apollo. Due to the large turnout, the doors were closed once the show began around 9 p.m. and nobody else was let in, including celebrities like the LOX.

Sixth annual Mixtape Award winners:

• Best Mixtape DJ - DJ Kay Slay
• Best Artist on a Mixtape - Jadakiss
• Best Freestyle on a Mixtape - DJ Kay Slay
• Best Commercial Mixtape - DJ Clue
• Turntable Assassin - J-Love
• Best R&B Mixtape - DJ Famous
• Best Female Mixtape DJ - Lazy K
• Best Personality on a Mixtape - DJ Kay Slay
• Best Hip-hop Mixtape - DJ Clue
• Best Mixtape Producer - Ron G.
• Best Reggae Mixtape - Bobby Konders
• Best Blends - Bobby Blends
• Pink House Award - DJ Screw
• Brucie Bee/Starchild Award - DJ S&S
• Best DJ Mixtape Duo - Tony Touch and Doo-Wop

• DJ Kayslay
• DJ Clue
• Craig Mack
• Fat Joe
• Fabolous

Dilated Peoples
Photo: Block

Dilated Peoples have finished recording their second album with a who's-who of underground hip-hop producers, including DJ Premier, ?uestlove and the Alchemist.

Expansion Team, due October 23, also features some guest MCs, including the Roots' Black Thought on "Hard Hitters" and Tha Liks on "Heavy Rotation," according to the group's label publicist.

The hip-hop trio of Rakaa, Evidence and Babu will release "Worst Comes to Worst" as the first single from the album.

Dilated Peoples' follow-up to 2000's The Platform was produced by Evidence and Babu, along with their special guests. DJ Premier (Gang Starr, Limp Bizkit) produced "Clockwork," ?uestlove (the Roots, D'Angelo) produced "War" and the Alchemist (Big Punisher, Everlast) produced "Worst Comes to Worst," "Panic" and "Live on Stage."

Other guest producers include Joey Chavez (Aceyalone), Juju (Beatnuts) and Da Beatminerz (Bahamadia).

The California group will promote Expansion Team on a European tour with Linkin Park set to begin September 11 in Hamburg, Germany, followed by a headlining tour of North America in October. Dates will be announced soon.

Meanwhile, fans can catch the trio at the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle on August 31 (see "Mos Def, Black Crowes, Ween To Play Bumbershoot Fest") and the Street Scene festival in San Diego on September 7 (see "Outkast, Offspring, P.O.D., More To Play San Diego's Street Scene").

• Dilated Peoples
• The Roots
• DJ Premier
• The Alchemist

Xzibit
Photo: Loud

New York turntablist crew the X-ecutioners have a good excuse for taking more than four years to record their new album. It is Built From Scratch. Acclaimed vinyl manipulators Total Eclipse, Sinista, Roc Raida and Rob Swift also took the time to recruit a stellar lineup of guest musicians, which includes Linkin Park, Xzibit, Dan the Automator and the late Big Punisher.

The X-ecutioners' track with Xzibit will be the album's first single, while the Linkin Park collaboration is scheduled to be the second. Track titles have not been confirmed.

DJ Premier, Pharoahe Monch, the Beat Junkies, Kool G Rap, Inspectah Deck, the Tom Tom Club, beatboxer Kenny Muhammed and hardcore rappers M.O.P. also make appearances on the album, due September 25 on Loud Records.

Built From Scratch is the follow-up to 1997's X-pressions, one of the first turntablist albums.

The cover of the new record will be a replication of Public Enemy's classic Yo! Bum Rush the Show, which features Chuck D and the gang in a basement room huddling around a turntable and mixer.

The X-ecutioners' version of the cover will feature the four members of the group along with hip-hop innovator Kool Herc, scratch inventor Grand Wizard Theodore and Grandmaster DXT, who, as Grandmaster DST, popularized record scratching on Herbie Hancock's "Rockit."

• The X-Ecutioners
• Linkin Park
• Xzibit
• DJ Premier
• Pharoahe Monch

Devin's <I>The Dude</I>
Photo: Virgin

Although you wouldn't know it by his lustful tale of sex binges on Dr. Dre's "F--- You," there's more to Devin than getting high and bedroom carousing — or so he's out to prove with his second LP, Just Trying to Live. "I'm a little nervous 'cause the last album (The Dude) didn't do too well as far as the sales went," said Devin, who sang three songs off of Scarface's 1998 LP, My Homies, including "F--- Faces." "The listeners were telling me it was good, but we didn't get the exposure." Devin's hoping that the 6 million people who bought Dre's last album and the tens of thousands who attended the Up in Smoke tour will still remember his Southern twang when he displays his musical maturation with a new album.

The MC, who sings just as much as he raps, has just about finished recording the 14 cuts he selected for the disc but said he still hasn't found the right one for a first single. When the album drops later this year, expect to hear the humorous "R&B" (short for "Reefer and Beer"), in which Devin voices both sides of a role play between him and a hillbilly.

"Here's my version of R&B," Devin said. "It could mean a lot of things, like, 'Rednecks and Blacks, unite.' It would have barely made the album if was up to me, but everybody loves it." On "Somewhere," Devin sings, "I need to go somewhere, get the f--- away from here." The midtempo ditty showcases the Dude telling of domestic bliss turned hellish as his mate chases him with a butcher knife.

Helping the Houston native in the studio are the Odd Squad (whom Devin debuted with in 1994 on the album Fadanuf Fa Erybody) and UGK's Bun B, who have already laid down vocals. Nas and Goodie Mob's Cee-Lo are set to soon follow suit.

DJ Premier has promised to deliver a track, while Dre's right-hand producer, Mel-Man, has been in the studio with Devin 12 hours a day for the past week. Dre himself is scheduled to hit the boards this week for the track "Yo-Ho." Devin said it's a good possibility that he and Dre will hook up again for the soundtrack to the movie "The Wash" as well as the Doc's next solo LP.

• Devin
• Nas
• Dr. Dre
• Goodie Mob
• DJ Premier

Cam'ron
Photo: Epic

Add DJ Kay Slay to the list of turntable kings, like DJ Clue and Funkmaster Flex, who are putting out star-studded compilations on major labels.

With the ink barely dry on his Violator Records contract, Slay said he's ready to begin work on his debut, The Street Sweeper Vol. 1, next month.

"It's some long-awaited sh--," the Harlem native said. "[Head of Violator A&R] Eric Nicks had stepped to me a year and change ago and said they think I'm gonna be the next cat to rise in the music game DJ-wise. When they got situated [with their new partnership with Sony Music], they was gonna come back to me. They kept their word." Although the album's plans are in the early stages, Slay says he's going to have a track featuring several up-and-coming artists called "New Jack City." He's also invited members of the Violator camp — like Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes and Noreaga — as well as the Lox, Black Rob, Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, Too $hort and Ludacris to rhyme on the LP. The DJ will provide the beats for some of the songs and has reached out to his friends DJ Premier, Ty Fyfe and Rockwilder to lay tracks as well.

And while pairing the hottest rappers and producers on a compilation is far from an original formula, Slay insists that his album will stand out from his peers' offerings.

"Unlike the Clue album, I'm not gonna talk over it," Slay said, referring to Clue's habit of giving shout outs while playing records. "I want the people to enjoy just the song. Its going to be something like how Flex's album was, but I'm trying to make the songs hotter. I got some ideas, some different concepts I don't see that none of these [other DJs] have really grasped yet. My album is going to be totally different." Change is something Slay embraces. He says the segue from the freewheeling world of street mix tapes and CDs to the more structured domain of record company releases is going to be more of a help than a hindrance.

"Being that I'm an open-minded brother, I don't think it's gonna be a problem. When I make a mix tape, I might make a mistake that nobody else picks up. On an album, any mistakes I might be making, somebody's gonna be there to correct it." Slay's roots go back to 1978, when the self-proclaimed drama king was a 12-year-old drama prince learning the ropes of scratching and cutting.

"It was all so simple then — it was all about the music" Slay said. "Now it's about the business and staying hot. At the same time you're trying to stay hot, you gotta be looking at what you gonna do next to stay ahead of the game." Kay jumped out the game in the mid-'80s to go "the other direction" with his life because he felt there was more cash to be made elsewhere. After seeing the large contracts that record companies were shelling out to the elite mix masters in the '90s, Slay decided to step back into music a few years ago, building his reputation and using the streets as a conduit to getting his own deal.

He encountered his fair share of haters upon his return. "A lot of cats had the conception that I was a new DJ and they was going to bully Kay Slay" he said, laughing.

Slay puts out between one and three mix CDs or tapes a month, most of them double LPs, and they've become some of the most popular of their genre over the past couple of years. Slay often blasts back at fellow DJs on his releases, sometimes including real phone arguments between him and his foes.

"I had to lay my street game down. That was my plan, anyway — if them cats don't let me in, I'm'a have to throw some streetness in this music." Slay said his record deal will have an impact on his street product, but probably not until after the album drops.

"It can't go down the way it used to," said Slay, who insists his street CDs and tapes are solely for promotional purposes, not profit. "They should be looking forward to getting an exclusive Kay Slay joint here and there, but not as frequently."

• DJ Clue
• Funkmaster Flex
• DJ Premier
• DJ Kayslay

Nas, whose record "I Am" is still riding high on the "Billboard" album chart, owes a considerable part of his current success to his producer, DJ Premier.

• Run-D.M.C.
• Beastie Boys
• DJ Premier

Common, KRS-One, More At Smirnoff Signature Mix Series Launch

• Common
• Q-Tip
• DJ Premier
• Just Blaze
• KRS-One