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L.E.P Bogus Boys Say They Were 'Always Fans Of La Roux': Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards

Posted 12/13/10 8:19 pm EST by in Mixtape Daily

By D.L. Chandler, with reporting by Jayson Rodriguez

Pop group La Roux and two rappers from Chicago? The combination's not as far-fetched as you might think.

Gritty Chicago rap duo Mooney and Count aka the L.E.P Bogus Boys — fresh from having their DJ Drama-hosted mixtape Don’t Feed The Killaz, Vol 3 placed on the MTV News Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards' Top 10 Mixtapes of 2010 list — recently talked about working with buzzing electro-pop twosome La Roux on their fresh track and video "Goin’ In For The Kill."

"Well first shout out to Mega[man] who actually produced the record for us," Mooney said. "We was, always you know, a fan of La Roux, you know, we heard it. He sent it over … soon as we heard it, instantly bam, we came up with some verses for it."

Mooney also shared their visual creative process and how Hollywood films played a part in influencing the song's intense bank robbing theme. Read More...

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Big K.R.I.T. Says K.R.I.T. Wuz Here Was Almost His Swan Song: Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards

Posted 12/13/10 6:55 pm EST by in Mixtape Daily

By D.L. Chandler, with reporting by Jayson Rodriguez

Big K.R.I.T.’s critically-acclaimed debut mixtape K.R.I.T. Wuz Here was almost his last release. The soulful Mississippi rapper-producer spoke about what could've been for MTV News' Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards' Top 10 Mixtapes of 2010 list. RapFix is celebrating the awards with behind-the-scenes interviews featuring North Carolina's J.Cole, Mississippi's Big K.R.I.T. and Illinois' L.E.P Bogus Boys on the making of their award-winning projects.

"K.R.I.T. Wuz Here was almost my last hurrah, it was like the last project I was gonna put out and I was like 'Man I’m goin’ back to Mississippi," the Island Def Jam signee said. "Because it’s hard to survive, you know, independently making music and I was totally selling beats and that’s how I was making my money. It was just me giving my all, man and that’s why it was so many songs on it."

K.R.I.T. also explained briefly what drove the direction of his LP. Read More...

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Ja Rule And 50 Cent Trade Barbs On Twitter: Fans React

Posted 12/13/10 6:23 pm EST by in Music News

Is it just us, or is 2010 the year of rappers heading to — and leaving — jail?

On Monday (December 13), Queens MC Ja Rule joined a select group, including Lil Wayne, T.I. and The Geto Boys' Willie D, headed to a correctional facility. Rule reached a plea deal with prosecutors in a Manhattan courtroom that will see the rapper serve two years in prison. The charges stem from a gun bust in July 2007, when both Ja and Lil Wayne were arrested separately following a concert performance.

The Murder Inc. star pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a class D felony in the second degree.

Of course, as soon as the news hit, Ja's arch enemy and fellow Queens MC 50 Cent began heckling the Murder Inc rapper.

"Damn da homie Jah Rule gotta do two years," 50 Cent tweeted. "Tell him I said don't worry I got him when he come home. Lol ... Jah came out the court room yelling who the f--- canceled Christmas. Lol."

Ja Rule responded to the G-Unit general with his own 140 characters in kind. Read More...

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J.Cole Aims To Produce More In 2011: Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards

Posted 12/13/10 5:56 pm EST by in Mixtape Daily

By Vanessa Denis, with reporting by Jayson Rodriguez

J. Cole doesn't plan on stopping his grind with recent release of his third mixtape, Friday Night Lights. With New Year's Ever just weeks away and the Roc Nation MC is already looking towards his 2011 resolutions.

"In 2011, after I release the album and the rest of the singles, I’m sure I’m gonna promote, promo on the album, promo on the run and then tour the album," J.Cole said. "I’ll probably be touring the album for a large part of the year."

The album Cole is referring to is his as-yet-untitled debut, which will be his first major label effort. But the MC has his eye on more than just earning accolades for his lyrics.

"I really want to focus on features and a large part of production — that’s gonna be my thing for 2011," the North Carolina MC said. "I feel like this mixtape opened some eyes up a little bit but this album is gonna open ‘em up even more on production level." Read More...

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Ja Rule Protests Gun Violence In The Face Of Weapons Charges

Posted 12/13/10 5:17 pm EST by in Music News

By Hillary Crosley, with reporting by Rahman Dukes

Ja Rule himself called the events on Monday (December 13) — where he was sentenced to two years in jail — a "minor setback to a major comeback" via Twitter. Let's hope so.

In 2009, MTV News spoke to the Murder Inc MC during a rally, somewhat ironically now, against gun violence where he joined forces with T.I., Reverend Al Sharpton and his National Action Network following the tragic fatal shooting of 17-year-old Corey Squire.

"I think it's important for a voice like myself or a T.I. who actually have gun issues to be the ones to speak out guns and putting the guns down and gang violence," Ja Rule said. "I think we're the perfect voices to be talking about this, not to say that other voices aren't. Kids relate a little more when they know you've already been done that road and you know what they're going through and you can relate to them."

Ja Rule pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, a class D felony in the second degree and was sentenced to two years in jail. The charges stem from a gun bust in July 2007, when both Ja and Lil Wayne were arrested separately following a concert performance. Similarly, T.I. reported to a federal prison in Arkansas on November 1 for violating his parole, stemming from gun charges for which he'd already served one year away. Read More...

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Ghostface And Sheek Louch's Wu-Block + 9 More Rap Crews Who Should Collaborate

Posted 12/13/10 4:21 pm EST by in Music News

By Chris Yuscavage

Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothin' to $&%^ with!

Neither is D-Block, a collection of MCs that includes Jadakiss — one the MC who graced the MTV News Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards — Styles P and Sheek Louch. Which is why we're so excited to hear about the Wu-Block project that Sheek and Wu's Ghostface Killah are reportedly prepping. After touring the country for the last two months and working together extensively, Sheek and Ghost want to headline an album that brings together members of the Wu-Tang Clan and D-Block on the same project.

If it goes down as planned, it'd be a power play for New York City hip-hop and a sign that unity in hip-hop can be much more powerful than beef. With that in mind, RapFix thought up a list of a few more artists that should take a similar approach and bring together different rap factions in the future. Please: Don't wake us while we're dreaming!

Eminem (Shady Records) x T.I. (Grand Hustle)
The Group Name: Shady Hustle
The Result: Em and Tip have already put together a nice little discography together by recording "Touchdown" for the T.I. vs. T.I.P. album and "All She Wrote" for T.I.'s new No Mercy album. Em's also worked with Tip's cohort B.o.B on a few projects. That chemistry could very easily carry over onto a full-length project featuring different artists from both of their labels, don't you think? Plus, 14 or 15 songs featuring Slim Shady and the King of the South is never a bad thing. Read More...

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Big K.R.I.T. Credits British Singer Adele With 'Hometown Hero': Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards

Posted 12/13/10 1:19 pm EST by in Mixtape Daily

By D.L. Chandler, with reporting by Jayson Rodriguez

Meridian, Mississippi MC/producer Big K.R.I.T. has become one of the most compelling rap acts of 2010 — and the MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust justly placed the 24 year-old rapper alongside some other notable names in the Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards' Top 10 Mixtapes of 2010 list. RapFix is celebrating the awards with behind-the-scenes interviews featuring North Carolina's J.Cole, Mississippi's Big K.R.I.T. and Illinois' L.E.P Bogus Boys on the making of their award-winning projects.

Big K.R.I.T. — which stands for King Remembered In Time — released the critically-acclaimed K.R.I.T. Wuz Here, as a free download mixtape initially. The project was so well-received that the syrupy-voiced K.R.I.T. eventually inked a deal with Island Def Jam, prompting his new label to make the freebie an actual release. On one of the album’s strongest tracks "Hometown Hero," K.R.I.T. shared with MTV News the background on how the song was created, using British vocalist Adele’s "Hometown Glory" as source material.

"Adele was introduced to me by a guitarist named Mike Hartnett that plays for a band called Rehab,"
K.R.I.T. said. "We was just riding around and he was like, 'Man have you heard this soul singer Adele?' and I was like 'Nah!' and we just rode to the whole CD and it got to 'Hometown Glory' and I was like 'Man I have to sample that!' " Read More...

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J.Cole Says Picking Songs For Friday Night Lights Was A 'Fight': Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards

Posted 12/13/10 12:22 pm EST by in Mixtape Daily

By Vanessa Denis, with reporting by Jayson Rodriguez

On November 12, J.Cole, born Jermaine Cole, released his highly-anticipated mixtape Friday Night Lights and garnered significant attention on sites like DatPiff, where he's nabbed over 120,000 downloads to-date on that site alone. MTV News chatted with the MC about Friday, which earned him a slot on the Mixtape Daily Year-End Awards for one of Top 10 Mixtapes of 2010. RapFix is celebrating the awards with behind-the-scenes interviews featuring North Carolina's J.Cole, Mississippi's Big K.R.I.T. and Illinois' L.E.P Bogus Boys on the making of their award-winning projects.

"I’m tryna make the best project I can make," J.Cole said. "Like, pick the best songs and some of those were songs where I really had to bite the bullet and sacrifice and say ‘OK, this won’t go on my album.' "

The sacrifice worked in his favor because the 22-track project included a significant amount of depth as well as diversity.

" 'Enchanted' for instance, I had to fight myself to put that out, because I knew it would make the tape better because that’s an album song," he said. Read More...

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Raekwon Hints At Eminem, Nas Collaborations On Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang LP

Posted 12/13/10 11:30 am EST by in Music News

Wu-Tang veteran MC Raekwon recently released "Butter Knives," a teaser track for his forthcoming LP, Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang, tentatively slated for March 2011. But don’t worry Wu fans, the Chef says he’s got plenty coming up in the meantime, including an official single and maybe even collaborations with two of hip-hop’s best.

"I can’t give you all that information right now," Raekwon said, with a laugh, at rumors spouting that Eminem and Nas may appear on Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang. "You already know, overall it’s a very very colorful album, it still has that grittiness of course. But at the same time it has a glossy feel to it and overall people are going to enjoy it."

Though "Butter Knives" hit the web first, the MC says the track was just a warm-up.

"The first one was a frisbee just to get ya’ll excited and the next one will be the throw down," Raekwon said. "At the end of the day it’ll be great things in a couple of weeks, but I want to keep it under my hat."

As for the LP, which the MC says that he’s already completed, the Chef says it’s a mixture of two worlds. Read More...

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Fabolous, J.Cole And More MTV News' Mixtape Daily Year-End Songs

Posted 12/13/10 7:15 am EST by in Mixtape Daily

By Hillary Crosley, with additional reporting by Jayson Rodriguez, Rahman Dukes, Steven Roberts and Richard Sancho

This year, RapFix screamed "Big Meech" while going "Hard In Da Paint" and grooving to "Kid Frankie" as we drove a "Beamer, Benz or Bentley" — OK, maybe not that last part but — frankly, we couldn't have been happier.

Now, after careful consideration, a bit of arguing and a lot of shrewd choices, the MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust presents our Mixtape Daily Year-End Award for the top mixtapes of the year and the standout cuts from each project. Enjoy!

Lloyd Banks' V5

» "Rather Be Me." "My record is gonna sound like that. How it's put together from top to bottom and ends like a movie," the Punch Line King said. "That's the route I wanna take my album. 'Rather Be Me,' is a deep record. It's one of the joints. I didn't let nobody hear it when I was recording it. I was in the zone. It felt like a movie to me. It's crazy, because a lot of people think I'm talking to somebody in particular, but it's not. It's talking to anybody that's a coward. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. When you hear the little funny things like, 'Banks doesn't want to be G-Unit.' N---a, I am G-Unit. This [tattoo] been right here on my hand. Before anybody was signed, it was me, Tony Yayo and 50 Cent. To take that away from me is like taking away my legacy, to a certain extent. We worked too hard for somebody to tell me to drop my G-Unit." Read More...

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