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Lil Wayne Preps Mixtape And Tha Carter IV; Juelz Santana Plans Skull Gang Takeover: Mixtape Monday

Posted by Master
September 15, 2008

Plus: Young Jeezy leans toward ‘Swagger Like Us’ remix; Fall Out Boy and friends make first tape.
By Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes





Lil Wayne

Photo: Universal

Artist: Juelz Santana

Representing: Harlem

Mixtape: Juelz Santana Presents Skull Gang Takeover: The New Movement to Move Wit

411: There’s never been so much commotion over somebody not getting robbed. Last week, rumors that Juelz Santana had been relieved of his jewels on a London mini-tour surfaced online. Santana promptly posted a 14-minute video blog, demonstrating that all his diamonds were right where they belonged — in his possession. Can we get to the music now?

His album doesn’t drop until next year, but Santana is releasing two mixtapes in the interim (that’s just for starters). One is going to introduce his new crew; the other will focus mostly on him.

“It’s gonna be strategically put together,” he said of the solo joint, The Regan Era. “You gonna hear the difference, but [there are] similarities to what I’ve always been doing. Just as much as I always change with the time, I never lose what I’ve had. Never lose what I built or who I am. You gonna get what you need at this time: a better, greater Juelz Santana. I know people been waiting, so I apologize to all my fans and all the DJs. Say no more: It’s on.

Enter the Skull Gang.

“A couple of the artists been with me since day one,” Santana noted, running down the roster. “Shout-out to my man Unkasa. He’s just talented all around the board. My man Rabbi, he’s from Richmond, VA. I knew him for years since I was in the [street] game doing all the wrong things. My man Deniro, my man Toad. My Man John Depp, he’s from Queens. We on ‘em. You see what I got right now. My man Heavy Metal from the Bronx. It’s not just a confined movement. It’s not a Harlem thing. I represent Harlem to the fullest. Unkasa is from Harlem. Then, like I said, I got it spread out.

“I already got the momentum of just being me,” he continued about the start of his new movement (he’s still a good-standing member of the Diplomats). “They know what I’m capable of. I give it up. Just beware, man.”

Santana’s third album, Born to Lose, Built to Win (The Rise of the Skull Gang), is slated for 2009.

Joints To Check For

» “What U Reppin!!” “It brands the name. It brands the movement,” Santana said. “We did a joint over the Wayne and T-Pain ['Got Money'] joint. It feels like our song. It’s one of the joints we did a video for. John Depp is doing the hook. I got my homegirl Star on there — the first lady of Skull Gang.

» “Relax.” “The Skull Gang mixtape is based on classic music,” Santana detailed. “That’s what we try to make now, and that’s what we touched on when we tried to pick beats. We ran across the Tribe Called Quest joint ['Electric Relaxation'] and just tore it down. We got at the ladies. I’m a ladies’ man, so I did my thing. It added another vibe to the mixtape.”

» “Take Over Music Business.” “We did this one joint over the Busta beat,” Santana said. “It was the ‘Throw the water on them’ ['Don't Touch Me'] beat, but we took the old chorus. The ‘Here we go, yo/ Here we go, yo!’ [from Tribe's] ‘The Scenario.’ We did Skull Gang taking over your radio. Pretty much, we just spazzed out on there, displaying lyrical talent. That beat was crazy, wild. It had that old feeling. The whole basis of that Skull Gang mixtape was bringing back that sound that wasn’t around. Captivating elements of stuff that was old. It was a new-school beat that gave it that old-school feeling.”

Don’t Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week

» DJ Hevehitta and DJ Unexpected - Blue Magic
» DJ Ghost, DJ Decko and G-Unit - Modern Day Marvels
» DJ Scope - Street Certified 32.5
» DJ Whiteowl and Jadakiss - The Kiss of Death
» Greg Street and Rosco - Check Dig the Mixtape

‘Hood’s Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar

» Jonathan Davis and Slipknot - “Got Money” (Skee Mix)
» O’Neal McKnight - “Time Don’t Pass Me By”
» Jadakiss (featuring Jay-Z) - “Who Runs This”

» Kanye West - “Love Lockdown”

» Lil’ Kim - “Shook Hands”

» Ludacris (featuring Floyd Mayweather) - “Undisputed”

» Nelly (featuring Gucci Mane and R. Kelly) - “U Can Get It”

Firestarter: Street Science

This fall, when the kids are going back to their various institutions of learning, showing a flair for style isn’t just about their outfits. The swagger is seeping all the way down to their supplies. Trapper Keepers? Peace out. The Street Science Foundation wants in as the new supplier for young lads and ladies, with hip-hop-themed notebooks, folders and other items to use in the classroom. Look for the lines Beat Street, Droppin Jewels, the Blue Print, Prints & Patterns and Camo. Five percent of the profits go back into inner-city public schools. Industry key players — including producer/rapper Swizz Beatz, record-spinner DJ Enuff and newcomers newcomers Kidz in the Hall — are also working in conjunction with the company, appearing in a series of public-service announcements promoting the importance of staying in school.

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground

Kanye West, hold your head. Don’t let ‘em drive you crazy, homie. Kanye said it himself: Young Jeezy probably should have been on “Swagger Like Us (S.L.U.)” with Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, T.I. and, of course ‘Ye himself. It looks like the Snowman will officially be getting his shot soon: There are talks of him jumping on the remix.

“I think I’m gonna do that,” Young said last week. “I hollered at Tip about it at the VMAs. I said, ‘Let me get that instrumental.’ Make sure y’all listen to my verse real carefully.”

Jeezy’s The Recession debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, and the Snowman said he’s stumped as to what to put out next. Some are calling for “My President,” others are yelling for “Who Dat.” Young said when he goes to the club, the picture doesn’t get any clearer — DJs are playing all or most of the album.

“Man, I was in the club the other night, and I went to the DJ booth to check out the DJ,” Jeezy said last week. “Nobody was there. He had left the booth and just put in my album and pressed play. He was just letting the CD rock.”

One joint that stays in constant rotation up here in the secret location of Mixtape Monday headquarters is the Don Cannon-produced “Circulate.”

“I was in New York when Don sent me that sample,” Jeezy recalled. “He sent me the sample. I just wanted to kind of go to that ’70s feel of clubbin’, but you still got the pain and passion in the music. If you listen to the whole album, it’s like a ‘we shall overcome’ type of album. Like we really got to stick together on this one and get through it. That’s what the whole recession is about. ‘The dollar circulate’ is in the back of my mind. We all know it’s messed up, but when it starts back circulating, I’m thinking about what I can get. I’m thinking, ‘When it gets back right, I’mma do this, I’mma do that.’ ” …

Fall Out Boy got thrown out of the ‘hood during the video for “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race,” but Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz and the rest of the gang are slowly coming back. They hooked up with New England’s musical head-thumper Clinton Sparks for their very first mixtape.

“The name of the mixtape is Welcome to the New Administration,” Wentz said, with Stump sandwiched in between him and Sparks in an L.A. studio. ” … “We watched how people said, ‘You shouldn’t do mixtapes, and you shouldn’t be oversaturated in your music, showing people stuff before it comes out.’ Then you see Lil Wayne bust that notion completely out the window. So we were big fans of Clinton, big fans of the Kanye mixtape, and wanted to work together. He and Travis [McCoy] from Gym Class [Heroes] knew each other, and that’s how we kinda got together. I let him get familiar.

“We’ve had this idea for a while since we got into mixtapes,” he added. “No one ever understood what we meant: ‘So it’s gonna be a compilation?’ ”

“I thought it was awesome,” Sparks said. “You wouldn’t expect Fall Out Boy to do a mixtape. So when they sent a bunch of music from them and Panic [at the Disco] and the Academy Is … . I had one night to put it together — thanks, guys. I thought, ‘How am I gonna do this in the traditional way I would put together a mixtape?’ I literally sat down with some hot tea for six hours and thought, ‘How am I gonna make this cool?’ I called Ludacris, who got involved with the mixtape as well. He did the intro and set it off. He’s a fan as well. Fifteen minutes later, he sent over an intro.”

“That’s probably the biggest part of the mixtape,” laughed Stump, who said he’s bought mixtapes exclusively for the past year. “That’s my favorite part. It was crazy trying to put together a mixtape while you were trying to put together an album.”

New Administration has mostly unreleased material from FOB and their friends, such as Gym Class Heroes and Cobra Starship. They even perform a play on Katy Perry’s biggest hit called “I Kissed a Boy.”

“Everybody was waiting for the song to happen, and it did,” Pete said. “Gabe [Saporta] told me it was based on a true story. I don’t really know, but if you listen to the lyrics, it’s really gnarly. Clinton wasn’t sure about putting it on the mixtape.”

“It’s brutally hilarious,” Patrick chimed in.

Stump is also partial to a record they jacked from Gym Class Heroes. “There’s a song on the upcoming Gym Class Heroes album called ‘Catch Me If You Can,” the singer/producer said. “I loved the hook. It evolved. Pete had some lyrics that fit with it. We have two versions of it. It’s basically a Fall Out Boy remix of an upcoming Gym Class Heroes song.”

“It’s a ‘premix,’ ” Pete added. “It came out before the real song came out.” …

He feels big right now — not in weight, but in status. Lil Wayne is still the goliath of the mixtape game, but he hasn’t actually released an official street CD since he dropped the two-disc classic The Drought in 2007. Earlier in the year, an upset Wayne made some disparaging comments about the mixtape circuit that infuriated some DJs, but Wayne clarified himself, saying he was only singling out a few people who he claimed violated him and leaked his records. Obviously, the DJs are still on Weezy’s side: They’re playing records from Tha Carter III like their lives depended on it.

Well, Wayne’s mixtape hiatus is over, he told us personally during the VMAs.

“Tha Carter IV is nice,” he said about his next in-store LP, “but you need to be looking for Dedication 3. Me and DJ Drama are going back at it. Gangsta Grillz. I’m showcasing my whole clique — the Young Money family. And three months after that, I got 30 more [songs], and we’re gonna give them away for free — as I always do — on my Web site.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re sorry to have kept you so hungry, but sometimes it’s better that way,” Drama wrote via e-mail, trumpeting the project in grand fashion. “This is not a mixtape, this is an event. Four brands promise to go down in history and combine again: Wayne, Drama, Gangsta Grillz, Dedication 3. Nuff said.”

Wayne’s comeback to the circuit was fueled by the new talent he has under his wing.

“My artists,” he explained. “They need to be heard in a proper way. They all could have put out mixtapes, which they all have, but I know what it means when Wayne says, ‘I’m gonna put out a mixtape.’ I know how people perceive it and how people go for it. That’s what it’s for.” …

For the next seven days, it’s ATL Week on MTV Jams. Big ups to all the homies down bottom. We can’t wait to get back and head right to Gladys Knight’s restaurant! In any event, we’re going to give you a sneak peek of our next segment with Gucci Mane and DJ “Dram Cruise” Drama! You’ll get it full blast next week. It might be the last you see of Gucci for a while. Last week, he was ordered to start serving a year in prison for a probation violation. Peace.

For other artists featured in Mixtape Monday, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.

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An Autographed Portrait of Britney Spears Given Away to Charity

Posted by Master
September 13, 2008


The autographed painting of her is put on eBay, with a starting bid of $10,000, to benefit the L.A.-based Promises Foundation.

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Jonas Brothers Say Russell Brand ‘Needs A Hug,’ Meeting Britney Spears Was ‘Incredible’

Posted by Master
September 11, 2008

Brothers talk about VMAs at British ‘Camp Rock’ premiere.
By Jocelyn Vena


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The Jonas Brothers and Britney Spears backstage at the Video Music Awards


Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage.com

Still on a European promotional tour in support of “Camp Rock”, the Jonas Brothers have opened up once again about the comments Russell Brand made about their purity rings at the VMAs on Sunday.

Speaking to MTV News in the U.K. in Wednesday, Nick Jonas, 15, said, “I don’t know if there is really a positive” to come out of Brand’s comments, adding, “He was kind of running out of material after a little while.”

The boys, who said earlier that they had no hard feelings over the British comic’s comments, expressed even more affection for him. “I’d give him a hug,” Joe said. “I think he needs a hug!”

Also on Wednesday, Jordin Sparks talked about her comments at the VMAs in defense of the Brothers’ promise rings.

(The flap over Brand’s comments actually inspired an abstinence-group leader to send Sarah Palin’s daughter a purity ring, which he said would be delivered by Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s daughter Meghan.)

The boys also talked about how jazzed they were to meet first-time VMA winner Britney Spears.

“We met a lot of people there,” Joe said. “We met Britney Spears and she was incredible!”

On Sunday, before the guys hit the VMAs, they told UsMagazine.com that their goal for the night was to meet Brit, who turned out to be the night’s big winner. “We really hope we get to meet her,” Kevin told the site following their rehearsal of their new single, “Lovebug.” “That would be an honor,” Kevin added. “I wanna meet her,” Nick said. “She was the first CD I ever bought, so it would be cool,” Joe revealed. “You want to pull for Britney and hope for the best,” Kevin added.

Although the guys didn’t win any awards, they were true to their word.

“It was an honor to lose to her, as well,” Kevin told MTV News U.K.

At the “Camp Rock” London premiere, the brothers were joined on the red carpet by co-star Demi Lovato; they all performed live after the screening.

“We’re so excited to be here in London to celebrate the European premiere of ‘Camp Rock,’ Joe told The Press Association. “The reaction from our U.K. fans has been incredible and we are so appreciative.”

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Daddy Yankee Defends His Decision To Back John McCain

Posted by Master
September 11, 2008

Reggaetón artist won’t accept Fat Joe’s challenge to a political debate.
By Chris Harris


src="http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/bands/d/daddy_yankee/maccain_08252008/281x211.jpg"/>



Senator John McCain and Daddy Yankee


Photo: Laura Segall/ Getty Images

Daddy Yankee has gone on the defensive after his endorsement of Republican presidential nominee John McCain prompted Fat Joe to dub him “a sellout.”

“A man does not sell out when he backs his ideals,” the Latin Grammy-winning reggaetón artist told the New York Post from his home in Puerto Rico.

Yankee’s unwavering support of the Arizona senator shocked several in the hip-hop community, but that doesn’t mean Yankee is about to stop backing the man he feels is best suited for the gig.

“I don’t care who I piss off,” Yankee told the Post, while promoting the movie he produced and stars in, “Talento del Barrio.” “This is about my ideals, not about making friends. Senator McCain is the kind of man whose promises you can actually believe in.”

Yankee met McCain in 2006, when both were included in Time magazine’s list of 100 People Who Shaped Our World. He said he hit it off with McCain and recently visited Washington, D.C., to meet with the senator.

“I like his stance on immigration reform, that he works across party lines to help immigrants, that he agreed to take a look and help the dire situation of aid to the veterans of Puerto Rico,” Yankee said. “It’s not fair that Boricua soldiers die and fight in wars and don’t get the same benefits as those on the mainland. I like that el senador agreed to take a serious look and help those kinds of issues affecting us on the island.”

When asked if he ever considered Democratic nominee Barack Obama for the nation’s highest office, Yankee said “never — not for a minute.” He also tiptoed around Fat Joe’s challenge to a debate, saying, “Look, I’m not a politician. I am a man with ideals, and I think that el Senador McCain is the best candidate. I asked el senador point-blank about whether or not he will seriously help Puerto Rico and our veterans here, and he said, ‘Yes. You endorse me, and I will do it.’ I believe he will back up his word.”

As a Puerto Rican resident, Daddy Yankee can’t vote for president, but he urged other Latinos to participate in the election. “There are 18.1 million Latinos who are eligible,” he said. “Let your voices be heard.”

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Britney Spears’ Collaborators Promise New Album Will Be Her Real Comeback

Posted by Master
September 11, 2008

Sean Garrett and Keri Hilson say they’re pushing the pop star, musically and lyrically.
By Jennifer Vineyard


src="http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/bands/s/spears_britney/news_091008/281x211.jpg"/>



Britney Spears


Photo: Kevin Mazur/Wire Images

If Britney Spears‘ performance at last year’s VMAs was a bad omen for her subsequent release of Blackout, it stands to reason that Brit’s new album may be as promising as her successful appearance at the 2008 VMAs. And the producers of her new work in progress assure us that’s the case.

“You always want to give her something she can feel intrigued by, because she’s done so much,” songwriter and producer Sean Garrett told MTV News. “She’s had some incredible albums. She’s been through so much, so you want to do things that will raise her eyebrows as well as her fans’, so we’re going to work really hard to give her something exceptionally special.”

The singer has been popping in and out of recording sessions in Los Angeles and Las Vegas all summer, and she’s been lining up a steady stream of collaborators for the new album, including Rodney Jerkins, Nate “Danjahandz” Hills, Keri Hilson and even Lil Jon.

Getting Spears’ music back in the clubs is a priority, Garrett said, but he’s also working on giving her songs with a longer shelf life than your average dance track.

“This time, we’re going to try some different sounds,” he said. “We’re really trying to push the sound limits. We’re definitely going to make sure it’s hot, you know, great songs that fans will go crazy over, but I’m not just [aiming to] ’stay in the clubs.’ If it’s a ballad, a midtempo, fusing techno with hip-hop or whatever it is, what matters is that it has some sounds we’ve never heard before.”

While Garrett wants to push Spears sonically, Hilson said she wants to push the singer lyrically and get some more meaningful songs on the album.

“Of course, everybody’s giving her party smashes, and I’ve heard some of them, and they’re great,” Hilson said. “But I think we can dig a little deeper this time. I want it to feel a little more real and organic. That’s where I want to go with her.”

Hilson is due to sit down with Spears in the next week to get on the same page. “We need to figure it out,” she said. “Sit down, have a conversation, and see what she’s feeling at the moment, and take a bird’s-eye view of that.”

Beyond that, Hilson doesn’t want to overplan her writing sessions with Spears. “Songwriting is one of the most unorthodox things in the world,” she said. “Songs come from all sorts of different ways, places and times.”

Garrett, meanwhile, is going to play his cards close to his chest for this project. “What’s smart to do is not to tell anybody too much about it while it’s happening,” he said. “Don’t tell anybody. Everything is so predictable these days, because the information is right there and no one is keeping secrets anymore. Remember how Michael Jackson used to be mysterious? That’s what superstars should do.”

And though Brit’s collaborators won’t spill the details, they will express confidence that we’ll like what we hear, once we hear it.

“I’m sure it’ll be great,” Hilson said. “She’s very focused.”

“It’ll be her real comeback,” Garrett said. “At the end of the day, it’s about the music, and this is incredible music.”

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