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Archives for October 2010

Diddy's New Adviser

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Dang.  Drake advising Diddy now.

“To be honest, a lot of cats were busy. I can respect that. But Drake took the time to stop what he was doing and he was the hottest one in the game. He came to my house for two days, we went to Canada for three days. [Drake] gave me advice for records when I needed somebody else, a fresh ear and he went above and beyond. I appreciate him for that. This is a big record for us because of that and because of the way he treated me and we didn’t really know each other. He treated me with so much respect, so much love. And he’s one of my favorite MCs, period, so working with him was dope.”

The Last Train To Paris releases December 14th.

Blu Thought Lupe was Bilal

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Here is a recent interview Vibe captured with Blu:

Why did you decide to drop the GodLee Barnes LP as one long un-mastered song?

I started to really enjoy releasing songs on MySpace. I did that for about a year, and then it went to releasing short projects. I dropped a couple instrumental projects and the Her Favorite Colour mixtape online. Then Twitter started popping. With the GodLee Barnes LP, I just felt the raw energy of it because that was the original way I recorded it. That old school cassette feel felt right. I may release an official version of that in the future

Will you ever drop an official mixtape with a DJ?

We’re still wrapping mixing the record and getting our campaign together. There might be a mixtape coming. I’ve been talking to some real DJs about doing my first official mixtape. I definitely want to out my foot in that arena⎯show them how I would do it. You’ll definitely hear some random singles from me very soon.

You really seem to keep a low profile.

I definitely have this aura where I like to keep it low-key. I’ve always felt like an underground artist, and it was pretty easy to keep it that way in a sense because that’s where I was established and my comfort zone is. But with the Internet, I’m able to keep my presence without any major radio or TV play.

How did you get down with Lupe’s supergroup, All City Chess Club?

I talked to Lupe on the phone about the crew. He’s the head honcho with All City Chess Club. He really just gave me call on the random one day [laughs]. For some reason, I thought it was Bilal. But we chopped it up for a while. And a little while later he shot me the “I’m Beaming (Remix)” to get on there. I’m still waiting and wanting to lay some verses with them. I’m definitely down with recording an album.

Nicki Minaj vs. Eminem

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Saw this on Rap Radar, it’s official. Eminem continues a strong 2010 as he is slated to do a track on Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pink Friday’ album. Now, you know how I feel about Nicki Minaj. I think she’s dope and can really, really spit. I think her image is controlled by the label but take all that off and she goes. Hard. We all know Em. I herald Em as the best doing it right now and probably in a long time to come. To hear how she holds her own against Em will be interesting to see. Nicki has introduced a new “character” called Roman Zolanski. Don’t ask. That said, this could go as expected where it is just a playful song and no real spitting like ‘Renegade’ from Jay-Z’s The Blueprint album. And that would be fine. A slight disappointment, but fine nevertheless. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Here is the tracklist for Pink Friday:

01 I’m The Best
02 Roman’s Revenge f. Eminem
03 Did It On ‘Em
04 Right Thru Me
05 Fly
06 Save Me
07 Moment 4 Life
08 Here I Am
09 Dear Old Nicki
10 Your Love
11 Blow Ya Mind (Deluxe Edition Bonus)

Nicki speaks on Em jumping on the track.