Shawty Lo

50 Cent Is A 'Marketing Genius,' Shawty Lo Says

14 Jul 2011 14:21:15 EDT

Atlanta rapper confirms on MTV News' 'RapFix Live' that he signed a $10 million deal with Fif's G-Unit.
By Alvin Blanco, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Shawty Lo is already a boss in his own right, thanks to his D4L Records, but now he has partnered with 50 Cent's G-Unit brand and label. The Atlanta trap star visited MTV News' "RapFix Live" on Wednesday and revealed more details about his and 50's venture, which is worth a reported $10 million.

"Basically, 50 is like my major behind me," Shawty said. "I still kept my label, D4L, I just joined forces with G-Unit, so it's D4L/G-Unit. 50 got more outlets to take me to more places. I could've signed with a lot of labels, but I feel like 50 is a marketing genius and we have similar lifestyles coming up, and I feel like he knows what it's going to take to get me where I need to be."

Shawty Lo was in discussions with other labels, but "RapFix" host Sway Calloway asked the "Dey Know" rapper what the conversation was like when he sat down with 50 Cent to discuss their future business plans.

"It was fun. We ate, we kicked it," Shawty said. "The meeting, it was a seven-hour meeting. I had seven meetings on the table, but when me and 50 sat down, it was like a seven-hour meeting. It was very crazy, man. We had one break, and it was just thought of the minds, man. That's where I took my talents to, G-Unit."

A big reason Shawty Lo decided to partner with G-Unit was his disdain for 360 deals. In these deals, instead of just profits from record sales, labels also claim a percentage of an artist's proceeds from merchandise and touring.

"That was my main reason to go do the deal with 50 is because I hate the 360 situation," Lo said. "I signed a 50/50 deal with 50. It was for a very large amount of money. But the money, it ain't for me to flex and spend it; it's for me to run a label down in the South. Instead of the artists having to fly all the way up to New York or fly to the West Coast to get a deal, I'm based in the South, so they can come and see me."

It was reported that the D4L/G-Unit deal was worth even more than what a "large amount" suggests, which Shawty Lo confirmed: "Yes, it's a $10 million deal."

What do you think of Shawty teaming up with Fif? Let us know in the comments!

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Shawty Lo's New Mixtape A Love Letter To His 'Hood

27 Jun 2011 19:23:33 EDT

B.H.F. (Bankhead Forever) shows 'I'm still in the streets,' G-Unit signee tells Mixtape Daily.
By Rob Markman

Mixtape Daily Main Pick

Mixtape: B.H.F. (Bankhead Forever)

Headliner: Shawty Lo

Representing: Atlanta

Real Spit: Things have changed. In June 2009, Bankhead, Atlanta, rapper Shawty Lo saw his native Bowen Homes housing project torn down in a citywide effort to remove all of the city's public housing. To pay homage to his home, the newly signed G-Unit rapper released B.H.F. (Bankhead Forever).

"They changed the name of my street to Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, and they tore my projects down, Bowen Homes, which is in Bankhead," Shawty Lo told MTV News. "But I'm still in the streets. Even though they done did this and they done did that, it's still B.H.F.: Bankhead Forever. B.H.F. could mean 'Bowen Home Family,' but it's just letting the streets know we'll never die."

The 18-track mixtape, hosted by DJ Greg Street, starts out with an intro by 50 Cent then goes straight into a string of trap-house anthems like "I Know," "Heavy Weight" and "Attention" featuring Tity Boi. Lo, most known for his 2008 single "Dey Know," has been unapologetically street throughout his entire career, and despite his new record deal with 50 Cent, it doesn't look like he will be switching up anytime soon. For the non-believers, B.H.F. is the proof. "The streets getting the same Shawty Lo, the same street, 'cause I ain't gonna change; it's gonna be me," he said.

Joints to Check For
» "I Know": "The intro to my mixtape. It's a statement song."

» "Cake": "A hot song produced by my boy Zaytoven. I worked on that track, put two hot verses. It's featuring my boy Future."

» "Pocahontas," featuring Wale and Twista: "I'm good friends with both of those artists. When I did the record, I felt like it was a good look, and they sent their verses. The song's perfect. The streets ate it up when I first presented it to them."

» "Haters," featuring Tony Yayo, Roscoe Dash and 50 Cent: "That's a great record. My man Tony Yayo, we've been friends for a minute. When I went to New York, we bumped into each other in the club. We hooked up and did the record maybe three months ago, and it was unbelievable. It's a big record."

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50 Cent's G-Unit Deal 'The Best Situation' For Shawty Lo

22 Jun 2011 18:13:39 EDT

'Another label could've offered me five times what 50 offered me,' Lo tells MTV News of his decision to sign with G-Unit.
By Rob Markman

50 Cent continues to make news. Last week, Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo confirmed to AllHipHop.com that he and his D4L record label are officially signed to G-Unit. And on Wednesday (June 22), Fif took to Twitter to expound on the details of the deal. Apparently, the partnership is a 50/50 spilt.

"Announcement: I have a vision for the music business I worked on this idea for some time now its called 50's new 50/50," Fif tweeted. "@thatsshawtylo Is the first to sign the deal. He is the head of his own label D4L record and is now being powered by G-unit. We provide a over head."

Next, 50 wrote: "For @thatsshawtylo co. After recouping promo a recording cost which is fairly low he splits all income from records 50/50 no 360."

Shawty Lo confirmed to MTV News early Wednesday (June 22) that the G-Unit General's tweets were all accurate. "That's basically right. He told you what it is," L-O said.

Lo, who is most known for his 2008 single "Dey Know," released his debut solo album Units in the City with Asylum Records, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. When it was time to re-sign with the label, the rapper was fearful that he would end up with a dreaded 360 deal, where the label has financial stake in not only record sales, but touring and merchandising as well.

"I'm just not a believer in a 360 deal. I feel like I can make my own money before I let a label come in a give me a 360 deal," he said. "You don't have to give me a whole lot of upfront money to do a 360. I don't need that."

Instead, the trap rapper felt more comfortable doing business with someone he could relate to.

"I just felt like 50 would be the best situation for me, man, because my life story came from where my life story came from: turning a negative into a positive," he explained. "It feels like it's familiar with 50's life. That's why I ran with him. Another label could've offered me five times what 50 offered me. I just feel like 50 was the perfect opportunity for me."

Now, he is looking forward to building his D4L Records label, which first came to fame in 2005, when the group D4L (Down 4 Life) released the #1 single "Laffy Taffy."

"My vision for the label is straight to the top," Shawty Lo said confidently. "I'm working very hard to get my label to where I need to be. To be a big label in the South, all I needed was somebody behind me who could believe in me, who could relate to what I done been through, and I think 50 is the person to do it."

What do you think of 50 signing Lo? Let us know in the comments!

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Shawty Lo Keeps ATL Projects Alive With Mixtape, Film, Book

20 Sep 2010 06:52:15 EDT

'It's about my life when I was coming up in Bankhead, when I didn't have nothing,' he tells Mixtape Daily.
By Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes and FLX Smith

Monday's Main Pick

Street King: Shawty Lo

Holding It Down For: Bankhead

Mixtape: Bowen Homes Carlos

Real Spit: Shawty Lo will continue to salute his projects until the day he goes to that upper room. With his projects torn down by the city of Atlanta, Lo keeps the memory alive on his new mixtape, Bowen Homes Carlos.

"It's the good, the bad and the ugly," Shawty said about the Bowen projects being demolished. "Good thing is, there was a lot of murders going on in Bowen Homes. The crime rate was high. It's bad for the people who lived there and are unfortunate and do not have anything. There were no extra bills. Zero rent. Now they gotta get out there and try to make it. It's getting harder and harder these days."

Lo's BH movement is more than music. He's coming out with a documentary, a fragrance and a writing project.

"What makes this mixtape special, I got a DVD that comes with it. It's called 'Bowen Homes Carlos' also. So it's a visual that comes with this mix CD. I got a new cologne, Lo Seduction. It's for the fellas, but it could go unisex. I got the book 'BHC.' It's about my life when I was coming up in Bankhead, when I didn't have nothing, when I was unfortunate. My mother was on drugs, my daddy was elsewhere. I was raised by my grandmother. When she passed to cancer, that put me in the streets. I turned a negative into a positive. There's only one judge, and that's the man above. It feels good to be here. I must've done something right."

Joints to Check For

» "Birds." "Me, my man Gucci Mane and the Birdman are on that song," Lo said. "Two bosses with another boss. I really can't talk about birds on MTV. I'll just say pigeons, falcons, chickens. everything. Birds."

» "Tunnel Vision." "M.O.N.E.Y.!" the Atlanta native explained about what the song is about. "Money, man. M.O.N.E.Y. is all I see. I'm focused, man. Look at my eyes. Money. Mine is all I see."

» "Say Yeah" (featuring Snoop Dogg). "That track was brought to me by my homie CJ. When I did it, it sounded like a West Coast feel. So I got Uncle Snoop. He blessed me with a verse."

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Shawty Lo Calls Off Engagement, Drops New Mixtape

18 Aug 2010 08:38:05 EDT

'I want a whole new look on everything I got going,' he tells Mixtape Daily.
By Shaheem Reid

Don't Sleep: Necessary Notables

Mixtape: Bowen Homes Carlos

Headliner: Shawty Lo

Key Cameos: "The Kitchen" (featuring Yo Gotti), "WTF" (featuring Lil Wayne) and "Say Yeah" (featuring Snoop Dogg)

Essential Info: Shawty Lo is cleaning house. He phoned in Tuesday to discuss the changes he's made in his life. First is his label: It will no longer be called D4L Records.

"That's my brand, that's where I started from," he said of D4L. "But I'm officially switching my label to 2610: BHF. 'BHF' meaning Bowens Home family. 2610 is [the address] where we started from, D4L."

Lo said the name D4L had a stigma to it that some didn't take as seriously as he wanted.

"I just want a fresh look," he said. "I feel like I got a whole new movement. And I feel the D4L got a curse on it. People think it's the dancing, the snap [music]. I just wanna get a whole new look. I had a 10-year relationship and everything. I want a whole new look on everything I got going."

That decade-long relationship to his love Ecreia Perez was highlighted by an engagement earlier this summer. But one month after he popped the question, Lo said he broke things off.

"Things happen. I can't point no fingers," Lo said. "We were separated, the engagement lasted probably a month. It was a 10-year relationship, I love her still, but it's time to move on. It's over. I'm finnin' to move on. I got everything new going for me."

Shawty won't say exactly what led to their breakup, other than alluding to the fact that Perez disappointed him. "Something happened that I found out," he said. "Me, being a man, you just can't deal with certain stuff, put up with certain stuff. So, you know, it's better for us to separate. I can't talk about it. That my daughter's mother. I got much respect for her. ... [But] yeah, I'm single right now."

On Tuesday, Shawty put out his Gangsta Grillz mixtape, Bowen Homes Carlos.

"It's crazy, man," he said. "It's probably my biggest mixtape. I worked so hard on it. My projects, Bowen Homes, was tore down.

" 'Tunnel Vision' is crazy," he added about the tape. "That's one song I leaked by mistake, and it caught. 'Tunnel Vision' means I'm focused now. This is all I see, and I'm going forward. I just released another video on 'Tunnel Vision.' There was one that was released by Jordan Towers, it wasn't official, but I appreciate him for doing that. 'Dey Say Where You Been,' that's with me and Stuntman. It's been out for a minute, but I had to put it out on my mixtape, because everywhere I go, they ask about Stuntman. 'Amazing,' that's gonna be the crossover record. I kinda did the Auto-Tune thing, the T-Pain thing on there. If you listen to the first verse, I'm kinda talking about what happened in my relationship. But I'm amazing. Shawty L.O. is amazing. Bowen Homes Carlos is here, believe that."

Outside of his music, Shawty is releasing a cologne in about a month called Lo Seduction: "It's a very nice smell for the men. It's been something I've been working on for a little over a year now. It took 13 different smells to get it where I wanted it to be. It can go unisex."

Other Heat This Week

» Gucci Mane and DJ Holiday - Jewelry Selection
» DJ Perajok - G.O.O.D. Ass Mixtape
» Young Jeezy and DJ Scream - 1,000 Grams
» Tity Boi - Trap-A-Velli 2: The Residue
» Wale - More About Nothing
» Remo Da Rapstar and DJ Scream - Sweet 16
» Masspike Miles - Superfly

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Shawty Lo Calls Marriage Proposal Video Leak 'All Good'

25 Jun 2010 15:34:39 EDT

'I didn't know that many paparazzi was gonna be there,' the Atlanta MC jokes to MTV News of friends posting clip online.
By Shaheem Reid

Shawty Lo puts the "L-O" in L-O-V-E.

The Atlanta fan favorite recently popped the question to his girlfriend of more than a decade, Ecreia Perez. To his surprise, video footage of his proposal was shot by one of the couple's friends and posted on the Internet.

"Believe it or not, I didn't know that many paparazzi was gonna be there," he laughed over the weekend in ATL. "But it ain't no secret. It's a beautiful thing. I'm very shy. That's my longtime lady. We been together for 10 years so I felt like it was time. It was all good. I had a rooftop pool party for her birthday in Buckhead."

Lo confessed that before he pulled out the ring, he had to have a few gulps of liquid courage. "I was too nervous," he explained. "I really don't drink. I took eight to nine shots of Patrón. Just let it all go man."

Shawty didn't say exactly when he'd be walking down the aisle, but he insisted it wouldn't be a long-drawn-out engagement.

"In a theater near you very soon," he said when we asked whether a date had been set for the nuptials. "It's gonna be quick. It won't be too long."

Lo's next album I Am Carlos is currently on hold, but he recently dropped a new single, "Say Yeah."

" 'Say Yeah,' It's a crazy single. I did it with me and Snoop Dogg; produced by my man CJ. 'Say Yeah,' got the Stevie Wonder sample 'everybody say yeah,' " Lo said, ID'ing the early Motown hit "Fingertips." "I'm coming back with my most favorite ad lib, 'yeaaahhh,' behind it; came with the mean lyrics behind it. It's what the streets been waiting on all around the world. I got my new DVD and mixtape I'm about to drop. [Both are called] Bowen Homes Carlos. It's gonna be [about] everything I been through."

Share your well wishes with the newly engaged couple in the comments!

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Gucci Mane Welcomed Back By Shawty Lo And DJ Holiday At Atlanta Jail

12 May 2010 18:31:16 EDT

'It's about friendship and being a man and holding your man down,' Holiday tells MTV News.
By Shaheem Reid

ATLANTA — When Gucci Mane was minutes away from ending his six-month bid behind bars, two of his close friends and musical collaborators — Shawty Lo and DJ Holiday — were there.

"We waiting for my boy Gucci to come out of jail," Shawty said with a big grin on his face. "We at the Fulton County Jail, right off of Bankhead. It's a beautiful day. I got my boy DJ Holiday with me, first on sight. It's about to go down, man."

"MTV, I told you we was gonna be here, baby," Holiday said.

"It feels good to be here," Lo continued. "It's finnin' to be a very long summer. So MTV, y'all stay tuned. MTV, let's get it."

Lo and Gucci's friendship is based on many things, but they definitely have run-ins with the law in common. Shawty said he can relate to Gucci's struggles in music and with the police.

"Basically, me and Gucci, when my career started and Gucci's career started, we was in the struggle. We was blackballed," Lo said. "So me and Gucci, we feel like we're brothers from a different mother. Just to be here, man, it feels good to be here. I been arrested 28 times, and I been convicted four times, so I know how it feels. The hip-hop police got it in [for us]. But at the end of the day, I'm here, thick or thin."

Holiday said that his and Lo's support is genuine and not for publicity.

"I ain't about getting that look. We're brothers," the ATL mixtape king said. Holiday is also signed to Gucci's label, 1017 Brick Squad. "We family. It's bigger than that rap stuff. We had to be here. Lo had to be here. I had to be here. I ain't about that. It's about friendship and being a man and holding your man down. So if you got anybody down right now, make sure you the first person they see [when they get out] if you really holding them down."

Lo said he's looking forward to more of his MC friends to come home as well.

"We waiting on Weezy and Boosie too," Shawty said. "Let's get it."

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Shawty Lo Shoots 'Crazy' Video For 'WTF' With Lil Wayne

29 Jan 2010 15:33:00 EST

'Everybody came out and supported,' Lo says of the video shoot.
By Shaheem Reid

Much like his friend Rick Ross, Shawty Lo is thinking ahead. On Thursday, Ross announced a record called "Sweet Life" with John Legend as a future single. The song has not been released yet, but Ross and Legend already filmed the video. The same goes for Lo. He and Lil Wayne have a song called "WTF" coming soon, but the visual for the track is done.

"It's just what it stands for: 'What the F,' man," Lo said about the song. "It's crazy, man. It's a record me and Weezy did at the beginning of the month. We decided we might as well shoot the video for it. It's a good look. Everybody wants the song, but I'mma release it [NBA] All-Star Weekend. It's just basically street. 'What the F.' Our style of music. Nice beat, crazy lyrics."

Lo and Wayne shot the video on Tuesday. "It was crazy. Everybody came out and supported," Shawty said of the shoot. "We started 6 in the a.m. and didn't finish until 6 the next morning. We had a club performance, we had the rooftop performance and an inside-studio performance. Like, three, four good scenes. It's gonna be a good video. ... We got a lot of good footage."

Wayne and Lo's relationship goes back all the way to 2005, when Lo recorded his first song, "I'm Da Man"; Wayne and Rick Ross guest-starred on the track.

"Wayne is unbelievable. He's the hardest-working artist I know," Lo said. "He don't need a pencil. He goes off the top. Wayne is unbelievable. He came and blessed me with the video. I was gonna go to Miami, fly down there. But he came and we shot it in Atlanta, so it was a great look."

With Wayne's impending jail time on a weapons-possession charge next month, the Fireman has been working overtime to shoot videos for a myriad of records. There are two new Young Money clips in the can. This weekend, Wayne and Eminem film the video for "Drop the World," and the Shawty Lo video has been filmed.

"It means everything to me," Lo said. "It means a lot to have him on there, period. But to have one of the last videos before he goes in, we made history. A lot of people called and reached out, like, 'Lo, how you pull that off?' But real street cats recognize each other. He recognize real. I know he's real. We made it happen."

Before the Wayne video, Lo has a clip for the song "Atlanta, GA" coming soon. It guest-stars Ludacris and The-Dream. They also show love to Gucci Mane, who's on the song but couldn't make the video because he's in jail.

"Wait till you see how we did the Gucci Mane part," Shawty said. "You gonna think he was there."

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