Dogg Pound alum Warren G has amassed a career worth of hits and enough big-name affiliations to consider him legendary. In recent years, the West Coast OG has kept busy and is relevant to a whole, new audience via reality TV, product endorsements, and recording new music.
You may not realize, however, that Warren G’s production skills are still in heavy demand, too. Turn on the radio lately, and you’ve heard his “signature stank” thrown all over the Young Jeezy single, “Leave You Alone”, featuring the current King of Winning R&B Hooks, Ne-Yo.
Check out a video below of Warren G discussing his production duties on “Leave You Alone” from Jeezy’s TM103 album:
AllHipHop.com just caught up with Warren G in California. Keep an eye out for our feature with him in the next few days!
(AllHipHop News) New York up radio station Hot 97 has announced the first round of performers for its annual Summer Jam concert.
Pusha T, Kendrick Lamar, School Boy Q and Big Krit have been confirmed as artists for the Festival Village Stage, during Summer Jam.
The artists are part of the pre-show events taking place for Summer Jam, which is expected to draw over 50,000 people.
More artists will be announced over the next several months leading up to Summer Jam, which will take place June 3 at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey.
Tickets for Summer Jam tickets range from $45-$200.
(AllHipHop News) Earlier today (April 5), Compton rapper Game released his new 24-track, album-worthy mixtape, California Republic.
The DJ Skee-presented project is the pair’s seventh collaboration, which includes projects like Brake Lights, The Red Room and last year’s double-disc mixtape, Purp and Patron, as well as its sequel, Purp and Patron:The Hangover.Purp and Patron, downloaded over one million times within three days of its release.
After releasing a number of the mixtape songs over the past few days, Game still provided fans with a hefty gathering of artists, such as Rick Ross, Meek Mill, 2 Chainz, French Montana, Fabolous, Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Lupe Fiasco, Snoop Dogg, Drake, Lyfe Jennings, Shyne, Nipsey Hussle, and a slew of emerging MCs from the West Coast.
The production on California Republic is handled by Tre Beats, Just Blaze, Cool & Dre, Tyler, the Creator, Lex Luger, Infamous, The Neptunes, Boi 1-da, Mars, and many more.
California Republic came out a little over a week after Game spoke with Billboard about his inevitable departure from Interscope and the inspiration behind the project’s title. “People come here [California] to do music,” Game said. “A lot of stars are in and out of town for countless awards and what not and everybody appreciates the California sun and everything under it. From the good green, the women, ya know, just our lifestyle. That’s pretty much what it’s about.”
Earlier in March, he informed people that they could “expect my mixtape to do what it always does, which is consist of a lot of good music and be a lot better than most artists’ albums.”
Game also has his new, fifth studio album, F.I.V.E., ondeck for a release later this year.
(AllHipHop News) Queensbridge rapper Nas was the star of the hour for Def Jam’s industry-wide conference call held today (April 5) to announce upcoming music and label ventures. The label’s younger roster was also represented via Mississippi rapper/producer Big K.R.I.T., Atlanta’s 2 Chainz, and YG from Los Angeles.
Big K.R.I.T. shared that his new single “I Got This Here” from the acclaimed mixtape, 4Eva and a Day, will be released next week. “I’m excited for people to see the visual. It’s one of them records, it’s a lot of energy, man. I appreciate the love people already showing me for the record,” he said.
On June 5, Big K.R.I.T. will debut his long-awaited Def Jam release, Live From the Underground, a project which boasts guest appearances from Melanie Fiona, Bun B, 2 Chainz and others, and even Blues legend, BB King. “I’m excited for people to hear it. There’s a lot more music, a lot more live instrumentation, singing,” Big K.R.I.T. exclaimed. “You know, I couldn’t use as many samples as I wanted; it’s a more retail project, so I had to be a little more creative with ideas and create music that sounds like something.”
2 Chainz, the self-professed “humble” MC who the Def Jam team noted travels with a personal chef on the road, has created a buzz for himself over the past few months leading up to the recording of his debut Def Jam album. First, he notes that he is set to release new music with his labelmates Kanye West and Big Sean, with whom he surprised the crowd by bringing them out recently at the South By Southwest Music Festival.
“Tomorrow is Good Friday, and me and the crew (Creeeeew!) are gonna be dropping the first single off that compilation, off that group album. It’s called “Mercy”; it’s featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, myself, and of course, Kanye-to-the. I’m excited about it.
“It seems like God is working so many things, so here’s another look that I just didn’t even anticipate. I’ve done a lot of work with ‘Ye for like a year now. It’s one of those songs I told him over the phone, ‘I don’t remember.’ [laughter] That’s a good thing. It’s jammin’.”
Regarding his long-term industry outlook, 2 Chainz said, “I like to call myself an artist because I’ve been out for some while now, but I expect to put out material that will be successful, not just in the eyes of me and the people within my circle. Me, myself, I feel like I’m one of the new artists who can potentially do numbers anytime, when people don’t always sell albums at first.
“Also, I feel like I’m a person that can change people’s lives around me for the better in the next five years, because I’ve been around change. There’s good change, there may be bad change, so I’m just taking the bitter with the sweet and learning a lot from it,” 2 Chainz added.
YG is set to showcase his acting chops during tomorrow’s (April 6) debut of the Mario Van Peebles-directed We The Party. His mixtape Just Re’d Up has been well received in recent months, and he noted that he just completed shooting on the video for “I’m A Thug” with Meek Mill. The West Coast artist also has tracks with Nipsey Hussle and 2 Chainz, and the forthcoming “How To Make It In America” with Rostrum Records’ Mac Miller.
Among the other tidbits Def Jam shared on the industry call:
– “Mercy” will drop tomorrow (April 6) with Kanye West featuring Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz
– Their big push is currently for Kanye West’s single “Theraflu” featuring DJ Khaled and DJ Ferris
– Rick Ross’ “Stay Schemin’” single is currently the #1 most added record in urban music
– New Def Jam artist Verse Simmons’ “Bad Motherf*cker” featuring Snoop Dogg is an upcoming release
– The label is still promoting “No Church In the Wild” featuring Frank Ocean and The-Dream, the latest single off seven-month old Watch The Throne
– Rihanna and Chris Brown’s “Cake” is climbing the R&B charts, and Frank Ocean’s “Thinking About You” is a current favorite on the R&B front
– The G.O.O.D. Music compilation album is slated for Summer 2012
– “Rhythm DJs Listening” is one to watch for
-Young Jeezy’s “Leave Me Alone” featuring Ne-Yo and “Rock” from singer/producer The-Dream are both climbing the charts
– The industry shouldn’t overlook Justin Bieber’s single “Girlfriend”, described by the label as “a record that’s for everybody”
Def Jam has plans to release projects from Nas, Big K.R.I.T., 2 Chainz, and YG through Summer 2012.
(AllHipHop News) Def Jam Recordings held an industry-wide conference call this evening (April 5) to announce their upcoming lineup of spring music releases.
Rapper Nas called in for the conference that linked more than 400 journalists, bloggers, DJs, and radio program directors with news from some of the label’s artist roster.
Also included on the live call were rappers YG, Big K.R.I.T., and 2 Chainz, who updated callers on their latest ventures and music.
Nas reported on his forthcoming single entitled “The Don”, soon to serve as the lead single from his upcoming summer album, Life Is Good.
His portion of the call started with a sneak sample of the West Indian-inspired, lyric heavy song – one he later found out was produced by Heavy D after the Mount Vernon’s rapper/producer’s passing last fall.
“The Don” will also be spotlighted as part of the music selected for the 2012 NFL Draft.
“Salaam sent me a track – no, he played it over the phone – and when he played it, I heard Supercat’s voice in it. I like Supercat, I’ve always liked Supercat, so I kinda had an idea of what I wanted to do with it,” said Nas during the call. “When Heav died, Salaam called me, he said, ‘Yo man, you know who gave me that beat?’ I’m thinking since Heav just died, it gotta be by Heav. So, I’m like, ‘Who?’ and he’s like, ‘Heav.’ I’m like, ‘Wow.’ So it just took on a whole new level.”
The Queensbridge rapper was more vocal than typical on the call, answering participant questions on everything from Hip-Hop’s responsibility on speaking out about Trayvon Martin to thoughts on the historic label he is currently signed to.
“Trayvon Martin is a conversation we’re having everyday since the beginning of America,” Nas noted. “So, it’s amazing that this young man, his life has become something to pull us all together to protest this sickness of racism. It’s just sad that someone this young had to come to that kind of cowardice, you know what I’m saying.
“Hip-Hop having a responsibility? Of course. Hip-Hop has many responsibilities, and does Hip-Hop as a whole? No. There’s too much going on for Hip-Hop as a whole to focus on one thing. But, yeah, why not? Yeah.Trayvon was Hip-Hop, he’s one of us so, of course, we have a responsibility to do something. Something. You know what I mean?” he added.
On other fronts, Nas also spoke about his featured appearance on “Champion” from the recently-released Nicki Minaj album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
“You know, Nicki’s the sh*t. I love how she works,” Nas said. “Just listening to her music, I can kinda get a vibe on how she works. It sounds like a lot of hard work, and I love her music. I was just down, I was just down to do it.”
About the new album, Life Is Good, and its reported references to his past work, he said, “There’s a couple of records; there’s another ‘Black Girl Lost’. We trying to place the album sequencing right now, and the album songlist is coming soon. So, hopefully that cut will be on the piece when it’s slated for its position, ‘cause there’s some other records that just feel kinda better in the lineup. If it doesn’t come out on the album, I’m gonna put it out anyway.”
When asked about his feelings toward Def Jam, an imprint he has vocally spoken out against in the past, Nas said, “I definitely am very serious about this Def Jam label and what I thought about Def Jam just coming up. They did the unthinkable. They put out Beastie Boys, they put out Public Enemy, and the list goes on. Just having a record out on Def Jam is me crossing things off the list, you know what I’m saying, things I want to do, things I want to accomplish, things I want to conquer. That’s one of the things that’s always been on my list, and I gotta tell you, every label that I’ve been at, there’s always been the bad side. You know, nothing’s perfect in anything you do in life, especially when it comes to music and the music business.”
In the long stretches between his albums, Nas said he depends on his DJ friends to push his music at the street level to compete against the latest industry trends.
“As far as mixtapes, I don’t do those… Do what you do and may God be with you. I do what I do.
“It’s been a long time since I dropped a solo album…I don’t think it’s Escobar season this year. It’s Nasty Nas season. All my dons, raise a glass, Nasty Nas season has begun.”
Nas’ Life Is Good is due out on Def Jam in Summer 2012.
