WALE mix-tape dropping 2morrow!!!!!

With Wale’s new mixtape Back To The Feature set for release tomorrow (June 19), XXLMag.com chopped it up with the DC MC about the delay, as well as the collabo-heavy focus on the follow-up to his critically acclaimed Mixtape About Nothing.

“I kinda treat my mixtapes like albums in that I don’t rush ‘em out,” the XXL Freshman alumnus said in regards to the year-long wait for his latest tape.” “You don’t wanna oversaturate, for one. Two, at the same time, I’m working on my debut album, Attention Deficit—I put a lot of energy towards that—as well as a really intricate road show. So a lot of those things were happening and I had just signed my deal—I announced ‘Back To The Feature’ before I signed with Interscope.”

The tape features guest spots from a laundry list of lyricists, such as Bun B, Beanie Sigel, Young Chris, Talib Kweli, Royce Da 5’9, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, and Jean Grae. Some include Roc Nation and Allido affiliates but some collabos seemed to come out of left field. “In hip-hop, it’s like artists have a secret world—it’s like a club,” he explained. “There’s a lot of people that don’t like each other and they don’t make it public and it’s not no nobody’s business. There’s a lot of people who are cool with each other who don’t make it public because there’s no need.”

Yet, the rapper didn’t consider any of the high-profile collabos for his upcoming debut studio album. “We knew exactly what it was,” he said. “It ain’t overly thought out like The Mixtape About Nothing. It’s competitive—everybody’s trying to spit. We’re not going at each other or nothing. I texted Royce like, ‘Yo, send me this, but don’t kill me on this joint.’ So I know if I’ma do a record with Royce, I gotta come with it. Or when Joe Budden was in the studio with me, he was like, ‘Yeah, you had me, but I dropped this line so I might’ve got you.’”

“It’s just competition—it’s just what makes hip-hop good,” he continued. “And I think a lot of that went out the window. It ain’t nothing DJs can play in the club. It’s something the DJ wants to go home from the club and want to listen to in his whip just to hear good ol’-fashioned hip-hop music—a little bit of boom-bap, you know.”

Back To The Feature hits the web tomorrow (Friday), with a Twitter listening session hosted by the rapper @Wale. - Devin Chanda


(Courtesy of xxlmag.com)

Kanye West Directing video for Drake's "Best I ever had"

Toronto rookie of the year, Drake continues to keep his buzz going as he was recently in Brooklyn filming the video for his hit single, “Best I Ever Had.”

An inside source confirmed with XXLMag.com that Drizzy’s self-described biggest musical influence, Kanye West, is directing the clip. And the all-star cast doesn’t end there. Among cameos from mentor Lil Wayne, Common, Fabolous, Trey Songz and his Young Money crew mates, the video may also have an appearance from Jay-Z. Apparently Hov -who as previously reported, has already recorded material with the aspiring rapper - was on set during the shoot.

The video will have a Degrassi theme according to the inside source. Drake starred on the popular N series before pursuing his career in music. A rough draft for the video is expected to be finished in two weeks. – Elan Mancini

KOBE... THE GREAT?

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Where does Kobe Bryant rate among the modern superstar NBA champions? Here is a good place to start:

Michael Jordan -- 6 championships
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -- 6
Magic Johnson -- 5
Kobe Bryant -- 4
Tim Duncan -- 4
Shaquille O'Neal -- 4

Bryant may now be viewed as being on the same tier as Shaq, who was the dominant force in basketball and MVP of the Finals during all three of their championships together with the Lakers from 2000 through '02. The tension that ultimately divided them was created by both of them, but one of the obvious issues was mired in Bryant's ambition to fulfill himself. He wanted to become more than Shaq's "sidekick," as he referred to himself disparagingly in Phil Jackson's book on their final season together.

"From the standpoint of responding to the challenge," Bryant said Sunday, "from people saying I couldn't do it without him, [winning the title] feels good because you prove people wrong." But he chooses to focus more on what they accomplished, as opposed to the additional titles they might have won.

"I think people can look at the special teams that we had together," Bryant said after being named Finals MVP following the Lakers' Game 5 victory against the Magic. "It's probably the first 'dynamic duo' that had two alpha males on one team. We managed to make it work for three championships. For me, it's about the years that we had, but also enjoying the ones to come."

Bryant's achievement is unique. Not only has he won his titles in different eras seven years apart, but he also has grown into an entirely different player while developing leadership skills that seemed beyond him when he played with O'Neal.

Then there is the matter of Bryant's supporting cast. Jordan had Scottie Pippen for all six of his championships, and Magic was paired with Jabbar for all five titles with the Lakers. Duncan won with different rosters in San Antonio -- with David Robinson for the first and with Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili for the latter three. And, of course, Shaq won as the inside complement to Dwyane Wade, who was MVP of the 2006 Finals with Miami.

The argument can be made that Bryant won this championship without a Hall of Fame teammate. Maybe Pau Gasol will earn that kind of standing eventually, but it was one short year ago -- following the Lakers' 39-point thrashing in Game 6 of the Finals at Boston -- that Los Angeles was denigrated for having no strong second star to complement Bryant.

Gasol became an All-Star for the Lakers while playing alongside Bryant for a full season, and he turned in a highly effective Finals defensively against Dwight Howard while managing 18.6 points on just 12 shots per game. The Lakers may win more titles as Gasol continues to grow into his new role and Andrew Bynum matures, the health of his knees permitting. At the moment, however, Bryant's victory is an example of how he has made the most of what he has around him.

"It was annoying," Bryant said of the incessant reminders that he hadn't -- and maybe couldn't -- win a championship without Shaq. "It was like Chinese water torture -- just keep dropping a drop of water on your temple. I would cringe every time.

"I was just like, It's a challenge I'm just going to have to accept because there's no way I'm going to argue it. You can rationalize it until you're blue in the face, but it's not going anywhere until you do something about it. I think we as a team answered the call because they understood the challenge that I had, and we all embraced it."

Bryant appeared to recognize his place in the game last summer during the Olympics, when his peers deferred to his leadership. He established the daily mood of the team -- whether this was to be a day of relaxation or of all business -- and the rest of the team followed his lead. When they needed scoring at the end of the gold medal game against Spain, it was Bryant who made the big plays down the stretch.

In a strange way -- strange for a player with multiple rings, an MVP award and hundreds of millions in earnings -- the Olympics supplied the positive feedback he had long sought but rarely received. In his early years with the Lakers, he grated against his secondary role on the team, and even when he tried to "play the right way," the results were mixed and he was criticized as often as not for his decision-making. But last summer in Beijing he turned the corner, and the years of adapting to Phil Jackson's teachings paid off all at once.

"He's grown up," said L.A. guard Derek Fisher, who was a fellow Lakers rookie with Bryant 13 years ago. "He's doing everything that we could ever ask him to do in terms of leading the team and performance on the court, during the games, in practice and trying to be the type of guy that guys will follow, as opposed to just dominating performances by himself and then expecting everyone to catch up to him. He's really done an unbelievable job getting everybody to believe and buy into what we were trying to do this year.''

Bryant's leadership became obvious in February, when Bynum suffered a potentially season-ending knee injury during a difficult Eastern trip that included games at Boston and Cleveland. Bryant took it upon himself to drive the Lakers to wins against the Celtics and Cavaliers while also throwing in a Madison Square Garden-record 61 points against the Knicks. Clearly he was not going to allow the injury to Bynum dissuade his team from its mission.

All of these leadership achievements have raised him to peer status with the best players of the last 30 years. While this was not a dominant Lakers team, the upside of young teammates such as Bynum and Trevor Ariza (as well as the continued improvement of Gasol, who proved reliable in the post against the stronger Howard) gives Bryant hope of winning a fifth title -- which would equal the achievement of his childhood idol, Magic Johnson, and leave him one ring short of Jordan's six. For a former league MVP who will enter next season at age 31, those goals may remain within reach.

Mos Def interview Snippet from XXL.com

I fucks with Dante... but he says some off the wall shit at times!...

XXL: How do you feel about Obama being in office? Do you feel like he has the potential to change?
Mos Def: We still gotta see. I mean, I’m glad. In a world where image is everything, in a country where image is everything, it’s nice that the perceived boss looks like people in my family. That’s got very positive effect. Very positive effect. But we’ll see. I’ll watch. I’m watching. I’m just watching.

Where were you when he got elected?
I was in Stockholm with Nas and De La [Soul], we were at work.

You guys were together?
Yeah, it was a weird moment ’cause… it was fresh. We were eating McDonalds. It was like this weird super American moment. We were like in this real swanked out club in Sweden. It was after the show and Nas was there and De La was there. We was hungry and didn’t have no food so we went out to McDonalds and brought it back. Some African people there, they started crying.

Did you cry?
Nah, I was just like, “okay.”

I was balling. I guess nobody knows—you don’t know why you’re crying?


Emotions, yeah yeah yeah.

This is who you believe

Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Music Fest!!!!

Big tour this summer, Soulja Boy, Young Jeezy, Drake, and LiL Wayne. Here are some of the details, courtesy of MTVnews.com



As we reported earlier this month, Lil Wayne is going back on the road this summer, and he'll be joined by Young Jeezy, Soulja Boy Tell'em and Drake. The outing was officially announced on Monday morning (June 15) and dubbed Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Music Festival. The tour starts July 27 at the Toyota Pavilion at Scranton, Pennsylvania, and ends on August 23 in Dallas.



According to the tour's reps, Weezy will headline, after Jeezy, Soulja Boy and Drake go on in front of him. All parties are currently working on new LPs. Lil Wayne's Rebirth is due in August, while Jeezy's Thug Motivation 103, Soulja Boy's The DeAndre Way and Drake's Thank Me Later do not have dates yet; Drake has not even signed with a label yet.

Over the weekend, Drake talked with MTV News about the tour. "It's definitely moving along well," he said. "I think it will be an exciting night for each city that we go to. You got two young guys [and] two guys that have been killing the game for a minute, so I think it will be a dope tour."

»7/27 Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion
»7/29 Saratoga, NY @ Performing Arts Center
»7/30 Pittsburgh, PA @ Post Gazette Pavilion
»7/31 Philadelphia @ Susquehanna Bank Center
»8/1 Wantagh, NY @ Jones Beach Theater
»8/2 Virginia Beach @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
»8/4 Toronto @ Molson Amphitheater
»8/5 Montreal @ Bell Centre
»8/6 Cleveland @ Blossom Pavilion
»8/7 Washington, D.C. @ Nissan Pavilion
»8/8 Raleigh, NC @ Walnut Creek Amphitheater
»8/9 Atlanta @ Lakewood Amphitheater
»8/8 Raleigh, NC @ Walnut Creek Amphitheater
»8/12 Phoenix @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
»8/13 Los Angeles @ TBD
»8/14 Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
»8/15 Concord, CA @ Sleep Train Pavilion
»8/17 Vancouver @ GM Place
»8/18 Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
»8/20 Denver @ Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
»8/22 Houston @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
»8/23 Dallas @ Superpages.com Center

"I GOT NEXT" YounG FRee

When I first thought of doing a blog site on music, fashion, entertainment, etc... I thought what would make this site more unique than all of the other hip-hop sites in this world? I am a frequent visitor on these other hip-hop sites in this world, and I never see anything on artists on the "Come up". I listen to mainstream music,and I listen to a lot of Indie artists waiting on their next big break! So why not give these artists some "Love", and let you get a chance to know who they are!!! so, here is our first annual "I GOT NEXT" featuring North Carolina Hip-Hop artist YounG FRee. (Pictured above...Editors note- "I dig the Che shirt...)

MindLess Souls- Where does the name come from? There are so many artists with the "young" attached to their name...

Young Free- Well, Thank you for the opportunity(laughs). The Free comes from my middle name, my Grand-parents raised me, and they were in the Nation Of Islam when I was coming up. So Free, was short for Farid, which is a very common Islamic/Arabic name, and it means unique. A lot of my cousins would call me "FREED" or "Free", and Free sounds so much cooler to me. My family still calls me Freed, go figure. The Young is from being compared to Jay-Z a lot early on. I was a Stan, that I will admit. I used to listen to Hov shit every single day, and get the ad-libs down, the breathing techniques, everything. And Jay would say Young alot, and my friends would always call me young, because they knew how much I liked Jay, and I combined the two.

Mindless Souls- I've Heard several songs from you since we first met. And though you are from the South, your music is definitely not.... Southern. Explain?

Young Free- I don't know. I'm not really into Southern hip-hop to tell you the truth. I mean, I rocked with the Southern shit when it first popped off, wit No-Limit, and Cash Money, OutKast, and all of the other Southern Pioneers. But as far as modern Southern Hip-hop, I can't relate to it. I don't feel like i'm not Soutern, I just don't speak on the same shit they do. I don't do the trap music, or any of that. I respect they grind, and they movement, but it's not what I do, so therefore I can't relate. I did see your post, about the new issue of XXL ( Editors Note: I did a post a few weeks back, where I said Hip-Hop was officially dead with XXL putting Oj Da Juiceman, GUCCI Mane, Soulja Boy, and Shawty Lo on it's cover. I still stand by that!) and I see why people would feel that way. Outside of a few artists, southern music is missing the substance. If you look at acts like Little Brother, they bring that, but not to the proper acclaim. I think I aim to have the substance, but at the same time do the kind of music that can be played on the radio. I don't want to be just another lyrical underground artist. I think I don't sound southern from what I came up on. I listened to a lot of East Coast Music, and it has stuck with me.

Mindless Souls- What makes you different than any other rappers trying to make it into the music industry?

Young Free- I think you just answered it. I don't consider myself a rapper, in any way, shape, or form. I feel like I am an artist, that happens to do hip-hop and rap. I write melodies, and hooks, and bridges to go along with those melodies and hooks. I hope for my music to be able to speak for itself at some point of my career. I want to do good Music. I want to definitive Music.

Mindless Souls- Put on for your city? (Laughs)

Young Free- Not at all. Put on for myself! (laugh) I mean, I love Raleigh North Carolina, but the atmosphere here is at an all-time low. The energy is gone! These people act as if they know nothing about good music anymore, I think the melting pot that we were onced acclaimed for has gone away. I hope to restore it at some point.

Mindless Souls- WOW...

Young Free- I'm just being honest fam. There are so many talented artist where I live. We deserve the opportunity to share our music with the world.

Mindless Souls- Do you have any projects coming out?

Young Free- I do. Young Revolution inc has a mix-tape coming out titled "Paid Progrtamming". It's our whole babel, as well as some guest spots from some local artists I rock with. I am also releasing "The Best things in Life are...FRee" will be out in October.

Mindless Souls- Well we dig your music, your movement, and we hope you have a properous future in the music industry.

Young Free- Thank you, and likewise with your site. I really dig this shit a lot.

You can hear Young Free's Music at www.myspace.com/youngfree, follow him on twitter at www.twitter.com/youngrevolution, and you can visit his blog site at www.youngrevolutioninc.blogspot.com.

KanYe West to tour with Lady GaGa

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jun 10 2009 12:58 PM EDT

Kanye West To Tour With Lady GagaMC announces co-headlining tour on 'The View,' also talks 'American Idol.'
By Jocelyn Vena
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Kanye West appeared on ABC's "The View" Wednesday (June 10) and took the opportunity to announce his forthcoming co-headlining tour with disco queen Lady Gaga.

Although he kept the details of the tour light, he spoke excitedly about it. He has said he's a Gaga fan and recently reworked her hit "Poker Face" into "I Make Her Say," a collaboration with up-and-coming MC Kid Cudi.

"She's talented and so incredible that she's not an opening act," he said of the tour. "We're doing it together, with no opening act."

A rep for West had not provided further details to MTV News at press time, but more information is expected soon.

On the show, West also talked about Kris Allen's unexpected cover of Kanye's "Heartless" on "American Idol" earlier this year. West confessed that other artists sing the song better than he does.

"Everybody who sings the song, sings better than me," he joked to the hosts of "The View." "The Fray are one of my favorite rock bands, they covered it [too] and that song got played on 'American Idol' twice."

West credits his ability to write strong melodies as the reason artists like Allen and the Fray are able to make his songs work for them.

"I always felt like I made melodies that were [like] country or Broadway melodies."



I saw KanYe in NYC for the "Glow in the dark" tour last year... And I'll definitely see him and Lady GaGa this year.

Mos Def says he is the "Best rapper Alive"

Mos Def recently clarified the lyrical battle challenge he issued to Lil Wayne and Jay-Z and questioned Jigga's "Greatest Rapper Alive" title. Speaking with radio personality Angie Martinez, Mos addressed a recent video which landed online showing him calling out various rap stars.

"My response was to me seeing an article where [Jay-Z] was referred to, with trade marks following it, as the 'Greatest Rapper Alive,'" Mos explained in an interview. "Now that don't have nothin' to do with me, but if you saying that, that's a trade claim...If you saying that, you saying you better than Slick Rick, whose still very alive and well? You saying you better than Rakim? You saying you better than Black Thought? People making that claim have never been in a position to defend that in an open forumn. I'm not talking about making a diss record or trying to go in on somebody's girl...When people start coming out and making claims they're gonna have to defend, like, who have you had to defend them against? It's certainly been with people not on your level." (The Angie Martinez Show)
The footage, which appeared online in April, showed Mos with a small entourage in Detroit.

"You really think that Jay and Weezy can beat me," Mos asked in a video. "It will never happen. None of them. Whoever. Listen, n*ggas I like, I love Freeway, but come get the money if you think you can. [Beanie Sigel], I love him....[Andre 3000] ,whatever, I'm taking the money back to Brooklyn. I'm taking the money back to Brooklyn. Jay is the best out. I'm taking the ring and I'm taking the belt right back." (World Star Hip Hop)


I feel where Mos Def is coming from on this. I mean that "Best Rapper Alive" shit is thrown around entirely too much in today's music game. With that said, I will say this, Jay-Z in my opinion(and everyone is entitled to their own), is the best rapper alive! Take that!

What we got going down over here!!!!

Alright... You see all of the posts we have posted! And now it's time to get down and dirty.... in the next week, we will be posting new interviews with major and indie artists making impact in the music industry today! So... grant us your patience, and will satisfy YOU! - Mindless

IRV GOTTI SAYS Em is not on Hov's level

Who is the best? Who would win in a battle? It's a hypothetical conversation that hip-hop fans have every day about their favorite spitters.

We here at MTV News have a great time debating the "Hottest MCs in the Game" (check for that '09 list coming sooner than you think — controversial!), and in October, Vibe magazine put out their list of the Greatest Rappers Alive. More than 920,000 fans voted on tournament brackets, in which different MCs would face each other in dream rap matches.

Irv Gotti came by the MTV offices and spoke to us about the list recently. Although he wasn't as adamant as Joe Budden was about the list being wrong, IG took exception to Eminem ranking in the top spot.



"I got a thing with Eminem," Gotti said. "This has nothing to do with the beef. I don't really feel like I have beef with Eminem. This has no hatred or nothing. This is just my opinion on it. Vibe did a thing, and they had him as the #1 rapper. Sh-- like that kinda pisses me off. You know why? Because let's take Eminem's records. Watch my analogy. Eminem is a great artist, no doubt. He puts words together, he's witty, a smart lyricist, a great lyricist. But how can we say the guy is the best rapper alive? Look at Hov. He makes real records. Every one of Eminem's first singles is some clown sh--. He's clowning. Is that the #1? That's not my #1 rapper, man."

Gotti said he also factored in the battle element in deciding that Jay-Z is better than Em. He said that back in the day, Slim Shady wouldn't have a chance against a young Jay — or DMX and Ja Rule, for that matter.

"No disrespect, you're a great lyricist, but I come from a school — I know they 'battled' in '8 Mile' — but I come from where they battled on the streets with guns out," the head of Murder Inc. said. "They would have put you under pressure. All that 'off the top,' they would have put you under pressure. I been to battles with X, Jay and Ja, that was some real sh--. Homie, you wouldn't been able to survive. These n---as was going with written sh--. In your grill. X [would say,] 'I don't walk, I stalk, living foul.' Saying some sh-- you wouldn't been able to withstand."

Gotti said Em would survive in a cipher with the big dogs.

"You would have been like, 'My name is Em and I eat M&Ms. I eat you.' What?" IG laughed. He said the Detroit legend would have been greeted with three harsh words: " 'Shut the f--- up!' It would have been a 'shut the f--- up' moment off the top. Dame [Dash] would have been like, 'Look at him. He's crunchy! He's wack!' Then I look at the singles he put out. They're all good, but they only work for him. I say take Eminem, and let him say 'Hard Knock Life.' Still hot. Now let's have Jay-Z say the 'We Made You' song. They would laugh him out the f---ing building. ... It would be over."

Irv finished by saying the best rapper alive has to be Jay-Z or Lil Wayne.

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

Oh yeah... BLUEPRINT 3 COMING IN SEPTEMBER!

Jay-Z will release his "Blueprint 3" album on Sept. 11 on Roc Nation with distribution through Atlantic Records, numerous sources have confirmed. A formal announcement is expected Sunday on New York radio station Hot 97 and at the station's massive Summer Jam concert in New Jersey at Giants Stadium.

Sam Crespo, VP of Rap Promotions at Atlantic Records who goes by the twitter name TheCrespo, first confirmed the news in a Twitter posting yesterday afternoon. The post was removed hours later. A MissInfo.tv blog posting also revealed the details but was subsequently removed.

Last week, Hits Daily Double reported that Sean "Diddy" Combs had allegedly spoken with Jay-Z and persuaded him to sign to Warner Music Group, joining former Island Def Jam colleagues Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles. The site also alleged this was a one-off deal just for this recording.
Meanwhile, Billboard.com reported that Roc Nation was going over to Sony through Epic, and sources close to the negotiations are still standing by their version. "Roc Nation will still be coming to Epic. It will still be a distribution deal," a source tells Billboard.com.

Just last month, Jay-Z confirmed his departure from longtime label home Def Jam. His split from the Universal Music Group-owned label reportedly came with a $5 million price tag, but left the rap artist and label executive in control of his future master recordings. Jay-Z's eleven solo records (including the live "Unplugged" album) and collaborations with Linkin Park and R. Kelly have sold more than 29 million units according to Nielsen SoundScan

Vibe.com writer's take on Jay-Z's "Death of Auto-tune"

I HEARD THE RECORD... AND I FEEL HOV ON THIS ONE.... HERE IS THE PIECE
Jay-Z's "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)": What Does It All Mean?
Posted 06/06/2009 at 1:20 AM | 1 comment/s

Jay-Z: "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" (Produced by No I.D. & Kanye West)
from the forthcoming Blueprint 3
(Props to LowKey)




It's hot, but it's bad form. Jay-Z, who carries an enormous amount of influence in some rap circles, and almost none in others (ahem, West Coast), has made a trend record about a trend. His attempt to murder the preponderance of rappers (and singers, too?) using Auto-Tune technology to alter their voices is simultaneously canny and crotchety. It's a dose of cultural criticism. And it's a dive deep down the wormhole of what music should and should not sound like. Dangerous stuff. Made worse by a mildly smug interview he gave to a panting Funkmaster Flew two hours after the song debuted on WQHT-FM Hot 97 tonight. During the interview he absolves T-Pain, Kanye West, and Lil Wayne (with a thoughtful assist to the late Stephen "Static/Major" Garrett) for their use of Auto-Tune under the auspices of "good melody." That bit of politicking is perhaps the worst thing that's come from the song so far. (Jay, it should be noted, jumped on an excellent remix of DJ Khaled's T-Pain-featuring "Go Hard" last year. Pain uses Auto-Tune on the song.)

Whenever the term "Auto-Tune" is raised to any reasonable music fan, the first three names that come up? T-Pain, Kanye, Wayne, who have all had major success with it. But the absolution leaves very few targets out there for Jay to shoot down. Perhaps the biggest is producer Ron Browz, who's had a sort of career reinvention thanks to the technology, recently crafting hits for Busta Rhymes, Jim Jones and lately DJ Webstar, whose "Dancing On Me" is, ironically, a Hot 97 staple these days--it played just four songs after the Jay-Z conniption ended. So Jay-Z took a shot at Ron Browz's piddling career. Tough guy!

It's a strange moment for Jay, who isn't at a crossroads (though many will say he is--no one is better at the pomposity of hype than S. Carter), but he is about to release his first album without Def Jam's help. Jay sounds relieved to finally be released from his contract after nearly 13 years--he says he "bought his album back," perhaps for a cool $5 million. (Doug Morris won.) He once lorded over Def Jam as label president, installing friends and friendlies in power positions, forming bonds and occasionally helping turn kids into pop stars (Rihanna, Ne-Yo) while there. But since he left, his people, for the most part, went with him. So why engender for strangers? Hov has to start anew now with Atlantic for this one off album (and his ex-people, like former Def Jam power players Lyor Cohen, Kevin Liles, Julie Greenwald, Mike Kyser--you get the point--are his people again). And then, we'll see. But to return, after a surprisingly long layoff--his last album was released in November 2007, and that was a rush job--with a song indicting the likes of Ron Browz is perhaps not the game-changer many will tout it.

So, about the song. Right. Turns out it's quite good. Chicago production legend and Kanye mentor No I.D. co-produced it--notable because No I.D. produced the two best songs on Jay-Z's last album, 2007's American Gangster in "Success" and "Fallin'." (Also worth noting: He handled Jay's "All Around the World," a full-bodied soul jam from the much-maligned Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse.) "D.O.A." is closest to "Success," just replace the rollicking organ from that song with a clarion-toned clarinet and stabbing electric guitar line that sounds eerily similar to Saigon's failed single, "C'mon Baby," which was produced by longtime Jay producer, Just Blaze and released by, um, Atlantic. The Venn diagrams are always thrashing. The live, clattering snare drums on the song, while impressive, are also awfully similar to "Success." Jay's flow feels, dare I say, a little sloppy. Maybe because his voice hasn't been corrected in any way? I say that not as a takedown--the looseness of the verses, as is customary for Hova, is likely a product of being pre-scripted in his head, never on paper. But because of that it feels less like a cohesive statement than a series of sharp zingers: "This ain't for Z100/Ye told me to kill y'all to keep it 100"; "Get somebody from BMF to talk on this/Get this to a blood, let a crip walk on it" and most tellingly "This is not a no. 1 record." At no point does it ever become clear WHY Auto-Tune needs to die, or is already dead. Is it because singing is feminine? Or because the music is becoming increasingly worse--or worse than that, less melodic? Because it's a gimmick and gimmicks are merely that? Maybe it's not for Jay-Z to say. Surely people across the country who dialed up Hot 97 via the web, or salivating New Yorkers listening terrestrially (myself wholeheartedly included) heard the strains of Young Money's "Every Girl," Drake's "Best I Ever Had," and "Dancing On Me" just minutes (!) after Jay "killed" Auto-Tune. It was a cruel irony for anyone buying the pitch: You can't kill the immortal. Auto-Tune (and various pitch-shifting technologies) have been around for ages. They're not going anywhere because Jay-Z says so.

Rolling Stone Article on DRAKE

This is what Drake-mania looks like up close: It's just after 10 p.m. on a balmy Tuesday night in May and downstairs inside the cramped confines of New York venue SOBs, Drake is receiving what feels like a hero's welcome. Kanye West, Ryan Leslie, Talib Kweli, the Alchemist and Bun B (who'll later join the upstart MC onstage) are all here to acknowledge the much-hyped rapper before his performance, Drake's last before he'll officially begin work on his debut LP, Thank Me Later.

Upstairs it's more of the same. The rap media cognoscenti are all present, as are the executives who have been bidding for Drake's services, including a high-ranking Universal/Motown chief and Warner Music Group Chairman Lyor Cohen. And don't forget the girls. Soon-to-be shrieking girls are lining up just in front of the stage, ready to scream at a moment's notice. It's hard to believe it, but tonight's performance is a part of the New York radio station Hot 97's Who's Next showcase. It's not even a proper Drake concert.

"I'm a new artist, by the way," a cheeky Drake told the packed house when he finally made it onto the stage in designer duds, a striped Commes des Garçons shirt and crimson Nike Air Jordans. "I don't know if you can tell by this show."

Just one month earlier, Drake (born Aubrey Graham), was another buzzed-about rapper on hip-hop blogs, in the class of Asher Roth and Kid Cudi, but not among the newcomers picked for XXL magazine's "Freshman 10" cover last December. His mixtape, So Far Gone, released in February of this year was critically lauded for its mix of melody and deft lyricism. But some derided the work as a knockoff of West's 808s & Heartbreak due to Drake's crooning and female-flavored numbers.

But then the Toronto rapper blitzed through the Big Apple last month — performing at a local college, making a club appearance with Cam'ron and doing interviews on the radio with Power 105's DJ Clue and Hot 97's Angie Martinez. He also freestyled on Funkmaster Flex's show: "I'm in the Aston doing donuts/I will kill the game and never send it my condolensce/ taught to never love the chick and only love the moments/ New York City I can tell the people want it," he furiously spit over the instrumental to Jay-Z's "You, Me, Him, And Her."

"That was probably, to be honest, the first time in a long time I was nervous," Drake says now, recalling the moment. "I don't get nervous for much. But it was like the first time I was like, 'Wow, this is a legendary moment and a legendary opportunity that I'm being given.' It was crazy to be standing in the Hot 97 radio room looking at Flex in the booth. Doing what I seen him do for so many years, for some of the greatest artist to ever be in this business. And to think it was just me there and it was all happening for me, it was definitely ... Surreal is the word."



To say the experience has been surreal only for Drake would be an understatement. Back in 2006, he was better known as a child actor from the N's Degrassi: The Next Generation, where he played hoopster-turned-wheelchair bound teen Jimmy Brooks for seven seasons. But Drake, a high school dropout born to a Jewish mother from Canada and African-American Memphis man, decided to invest his earnings from acting into jumpstarting a music career.

First, he reached out to popular mixtape maestro DJ Smallz, who helped Drake put together his first project, Room For Improvement. Traces of Drake's style were evident back then. He rhymed alongside some unknowns and recruited R&B singer Trey Songz to appear on the collection as well.

"Rappers hit me up all the time and big themselves up and I don't believe half of them," Smallz says. "When he told me he was on a TV show, I didn't really research it. But I listened to the music and I thought it was great. I worked on the tape and thought it was crazy."

The following year, Drake poured even more of his assets into himself as he independently released his second mixtape, Comeback Season. He even financed a video for one of the songs, "Replacement Girl" featuring Trey Songz. The clip received a few plays on BET and briefly landed on the network's flagship show 106 & Park, but ultimately fell short of producing the desired results.

All wasn't lost, however. Comeback Season showcased Drake coming more into his own as an artist, from the braggadocio freestyle over Kanye West's "Barry Bonds" track to swooning intro of "The Presentation." "That was when I was becoming more comfortable and saying, 'OK, we really have something,' " Drake says of the mixtape. "I was just like, let's make it more like an album."

The mixtape, though, was most notable for its final track, "Man of the Year," featuring Lil Wayne. The superstar lyricist got wind of the rising talent when veteran rap impresario J.Prince's nephew urged him to check out Drake's MySpace page. Shortly after Weezy recruited Drizzy into his Young Money fold. Later Wayne's manager (Cortez Bryant) and one of Kanye's West's managers (Gee Roberson) would assume co-managerial duties for Drake.

Under Wayne's tutelage, Drake's rhymes took a steroid-like leap in potency. "Wayne told me to just remember it's about your thoughts, you got to think about what you want to say beforehand," Drake says of Wayne's mentorship. "And then from there, you make it rhyme or you make it connect. But the more important thing is, What's your message, What's your point. And that should be the bare essentials of a line or a verse — what do you really want to say and what do you want to say about yourself?

"I think he gave me that advice truly for me to set myself apart as a rapper," he adds, "because I know Wayne sometimes raps for the sake of being a phenomenal rapper. And other times you'll get a song where he tells a story and gets personal. But when he gave me that advice it was almost like him giving me like a cheat code. Here, I'm gonna give you something; I'm gonna give you a piece and see what you do with it. And So Far Gone is what I did with it."


So Far Gone is the dark and sometimes moody narrative of Drake's journey into adulthood that's been powered by the upbeat "Best I Ever Had," where he not only raps on the track but sings on the song's chorus. The track has landed in regular rotation on Hot 97, Los Angeles' KMEL and Philadelphia's the Beat, among other cities' stations. But it's the collection's triangulation of lady-endearing songs, gutsy displays of lyricism and the usurped hipster sounds of Peter Bjorn & John, Lykke Li and Santigold that have paved the way for Drake's 50 Cent-like ascension from fringe artist to bonafide star.

"It's just one of those moments in time, where the right person comes with the right music to the people," Bun B explains. "Everything is working in his favor. He's obviously very talented, I don't think anyone can dispute that."

As of press time Drake still remains unsigned. Rumors have swirled that he's set to join Lil Wayne at Universal Records. But industry insiders believe he'll eventually land at Atlantic Records where one of his mangers is also an executive.

In any event, in the week since his SOB's performance, the rapper's buzz has again shot up yet another notch. Speculation has run rampant about his relationship with Rihanna after Page 6 reported the pair were spotted kissing at a Manhattan night spot; he's now in London with her working on her next album. He won't confirm who will be working with him on his album, although Wayne will executive produce and Drake has said he hopes Kanye West and Jay-Z would contribute.

For all the drama following Drake around these days, he's decidedly grounded. He jokes that he still has to overcome the three strikes against him — being an actor, light-skinned and Canadian. But his easygoing nature and articulate thoughtfulness conceal a silent confidence that just might hint that this whole mania thing could be a brewing pandemonium.

"I still have people who are finding out about me, who are still going through that process," Drake says. "And they may have to go back and discover a Comeback Season or a So Far Gone. I know the process they have to go through. But I know that eventually they're gonna love it, the music, so that's why I say, Thank Me Later."