New Video: "Wit Me" - T.I. featuring Lil Wayne

The self-proclaimed king of the south, T.I. recently enlisted the help of Lil Wayne to drop this brand new video for the single "Wit Me". Video Directed by Philly FlyBoy. Track comes courtesy of T.I.'s Grand Hustle label via Empire Distribution.

Cop this track on iTunes.

Connect: @Tip | @LilTunechi | empiredistribution.com/

Pleasure P Drops "How To Fuck" Remixing Lil Wayne's "How To Love"

If you ever listen to hip hop radio, then you've no doubt heard Lil Wayne's single "How To Love". Well fuck all that, 'cause here comes Marcus 'Pleasure P' Cooper with a remix of his own, entitled "How To Fuck". Ladies, this one's for you.

Download "How To Fuck" - Pleasure P

Follow Pleasure P on Twitter.

B.O.B. Talks New Collaboration With Lil Wayne BootlegKev Interview

B.O.B. caught up with Bootleg Kev for this video interview. In this clip, Bobby Ray talks "Smoke Clouds", the new upcoming album which features a track with Lil Weezy.

Lil Wayne Exclusive Interview With Nardwuar

Nardwuar will never die! Dude is the king of the interview. After his indepth interview with rap artist Drake, Nardwuar managed to score another great interview with Lil Wayne.
In this in depth interview, Weezy takes it back to the early days and shares personal information about his life and career in the rap music business.

Lil Wayne Prevented From Conducting Music Business While Serving Sentence

As a superstar in the music industry, every move you make is being watched and scrutinized by somebody if not everybody. These days living a careless lifestyle can have serious effects on your legitimate businesses. There's always unfortunate consequences when brushing with the wrong side of the law (trust!). In this case, Lil Wayne will face drawbacks of his own.

While serving his sentence, the rap artist-entrepreneur will be prevented from signing autographs for music fans, among other rumored restrictions. If these reports are at all accurate, this is terrible timing given the recent success attained by this artist.

Wouldn't it make sense to use your "not-so-free" time to conduct your business? Should performers , authors and/or people in the entertainment industry be allowed a "pass" to keep their affairs in order for when they're sentence is over? What do you think?

With Weezy's level of popularity, this should have no ill-effect as at this point in the game he currently has the 'midas touch'.

Lil Wayne's Beast-Like Grind In The Rap Music Business Is Rivavled By Few

Yea, it's true.
Lil Wayne is definitely one of the hardest working individuals in the rap music business, joining the ranks of such artists as T.I., Jay-Z, Eminem, among many other's who deserve more credit than this blog could even give.

Whether or not you like the music that is released by Lil Wayne and the Cash Money/Young Money empire, you have to respect the hustle and drive behind this record company and it's roster of talented artists.

Last weekend, in a span of 48 hours the rap artist recorded footage for 9 different music videos in which he is featured. That's two days worth of video production and filming, for nine different projects. Such a tedious amount of work, this would require an incredible amount of patience and focus for any rap artist to accomplish.

Not surprisingly it is Mr. Carter who pulls off this stunt, similar to that of the strategy which hip hop mogul T.I. used before serving a jail sentence. Lil Wayne is also about to serve time, which is sure to increase exposure in the publicity department, only adding to the hype surrounding this rapper.

Wayne is found every where these days and its no surprise that his work ethic has developed to an almost super human type pace. Unfortunately, the rap superstar is being forced to take time for re-assessing personal and business goals.

Love this old track, keep killing 'em Wayne, get that money!

Lil Wayne's Rebirth Leaks Due To Pre-Orders and Uncertain Release Date

By now, it's not really news. After months of uncertainty regarding the release date of Lil Wayne's newest studio album, the inevitable finally happened. The album leaked ! I haven't checked it out just yet, but with a string of interesting features and Weezy's decision to step outside of the box with this one has me interested enough.

Apparently though, pre-orders from online retail outlets such as Amazon are a probable cause for the leaks. I doubt that the self pro-claimed "best rapper alive" will be missing out on much royalties due to the leaks. Considering the level of success attained from Lil Wayne's last album, "The Carter III" which also leaked well in advanced of it's official release.

Besides, Wayne has been in the rap music business long enough to successfully draw from other revenue sources such as creative licensing deals. Aside from just his own music, the artist-entrepreneur has built up a talented roster of young hip hop recording artists with his Young Money imprint.

Check out this pretty sikk joint with Eminem called "Drop The World"

Bow Wow Signs With Cash Money, Breaks News Through Twitter

Bow Wow recently announced that he has signed a new record deal with Cash Money, joining the likes of LiL Wayne and the Young Money Entertainment camp, which features newest hip hop golden boy Drake, female emcee Nicki Minaj as well as many other young music talents. The young star continues to put himself out, marketing through many means, from his short-lived "beef" with Soulja Boy Tell Em, to his many roles on TV and in film, this young entrepreneur obviously knows enough to have survived this long in the entertainment business this long.

Bow Wow, still fresh at 22, has most recently made several appearances playing the role of "Charlie", the character of a young comedtic tv writer/actor on the HBO hit show Entourage. His role lasted a noticeable number of episodes, spanning through 2 seasons before his character inevitably was written out of the show. The young and talented rap artist/actor is positive he's making the right decision, to sign with a label that is absolutely hot in the music industry right now, boasting an impressive roster of upcoming rap music stars on top of the obvious LiL Wayne co-sign.

The rap artist/actor broke the news to fans about signing his new deal through his Twitter page. "BOW WOW SIGNS WITH CASH MONEY", he announced. It is interesting how many artists in the hip hop community are capitalizing on the social phenomenon of Twitter, posting updates and breaking news directly to their fans.

What do you think ? I've never been a big Bow Wow fan, but I can appreciate the man on an entrepreneurial level, and recognizing that he has a good eye/ear for whats hot right now. This is a great move for Bow Wow, but is it smart for Cash Money ? Pennies for your thoughts people, leave 'em !

Major Labels Battle to Sign Rap Artist 'Drake', Relase of Fake Album Spawns Lawsuit

Canadian rap artist Drake has been gaining a lot of hype as well as major label attention recently. The emcee born out of Toronto, is affiliated with the likes of LiL Wayne's Young Money label. Drake's biggest tracks to date are "Best I Ever Had" and "Ransom feat. LiL Wayne" from his "So Far Gone" mix tape, which continues to keep Drake relevant until his album drops.

Currently, there is much talk of the "bidding war" between three major labels to sign the young emcee. Universal Motown and Atlantic Records both have expressed high interest, while Warner Music Group is rumoured to be making an offer as well. Still unsigned, though the hip hop artist has legal issues that he needs to work out, still.

It was recently discovered that Drake had an album up for sale on iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody. Unfortunately this was a fraudulent release that was not sanctioned by Drake or his current label (Young Money/Cash Money). The rap artist has decided to file suit against Canadian Money Entertainment, the creators of this fake album entitled "The Girls Love Drake". This was released in late May through the digital distribution network, the Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA).

Mean while Drake says he's happy where he's at running his label October's Very Own with Young Money/Cash Money. The rap artist is only interested in signing with the "right" major label that will help him realize the creative vision for the marketing of his music.

What do you think about Drake ? Talented or over-hyped ? Check him out on MySpace. Personally, before passing judgement I need to peep more Drake joints to see what the dude is really all about. I think he's alright though still, it's always good to see a Toronto boy make moves and get some attention.

Also peep this article from the Digital Music News, it was an interesting piece.
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/051609drake

Rap Music Leaks Continue, Market Demands High

Here we go, again...

New school rapper Asher Roth has been making some noise lately. His featured single "I Love College" is slowly falling from 12th to the 18th spot on the Billboard Hot 100 music charts, but the new album, "Asleep In The Bread Aisle", continues to receive hype and praise. Asher Roth's album has leaked before it's scheduled released on April 21st. *sound the horns* The Internet strikes again.

Earlier this week the new upcoming album "Deeper Then Rap" by artist Rick Ross surfaced and spread across the Internet. Officially this album is supposed to drop on April 21st (same day as the Asher Roth release). Obviously somebody somewhere got there hands on it and decided to share it with the world. To be honest, I don't know how pissed off Rick Ross, or Asher Roth will get over these album leaks.

If music fans are interested enough to download your music before it even comes out, you have to concentrate on the positive effects and impacts that this has on your career as an artist in the music business. The fact that there is a high enough demand for your music before it's release can significantly benefit the marketing efforts of your music brand.

Rap music albums have been leaking for years. Superstar artists were quick to dismiss the effectiveness of an album leak, in the beginning every one was skeptical. Over the more recent years how ever, professional rap stars have received a huge career boost from an album leak.

LiL Wayne is a classic example, The Carter 3 album leaked and had impressive sales numbers that couldn't be denied. Ever since the rapper's career has been in full swing and he has become a huge hit in pop culture. Who can argue with good results from a "bad" break. Roll with it and make it work for ya !

If leaks persist, maybe the 'roof' needs to be fixed ?

Yet again, another new single leaks before it's release. Really though, is any one surprised anymore ? Eminem's most recent single "Crack a Bottle" from his upcoming album was leaked all over the web before it was even finished ! A rough low-quality mp3 version was made available on a mixtape put together by DJ Big Mike and DJ Neptune.

For more info, feel free to read this brief article from Digital Music News :
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/020409eminem

Obviously, Eminem was not too impressed to say the least, he was pissed. Who wouldn't be ? Artists are always working hard to perfect their tracks, while their fans are always trying to find new songs by their favorite artists online. "Leakers" (people who steal and release new songs before the songs are even done) will always try to supply this demand, as this becomes increasingly problematic for musicians/artists in every genre.

So how do we fix the metaphorical roof, and stop the leaks ? Unfortunately there are no simple solutions to this problem. Keeping new material under wraps until it is ready to be hyped and released has become more difficult with the ease of transferring mp3s. It's just something the music industry has to come to realize and adapt to quickly.

Major labels and other digital media companies are all scrambling to find the next innovative way of trying to turn music down-loaders into digital music consumers. It's just not happening ! For as long as I've been online free music has been one of the best perks of the Internet. Why are people going to start paying for something that they've been getting for free for years.

In my honest opinion, artist's and musicians need to turn this into an advantage. Stop bitching, it sucks that you aren't seeing royalties so turn this into something that can be converted into royalties. Rap artists have been giving away material on mixtapes and downloads for quite some time now.

This worked out great for some artists who used it to leverage more exposure and sales from having their songs leak. Take for instance LiL Wayne and his most recent album which was a huge success in it's first week, after being leaked all over the Internet days in advance.

Rappers, time to step up ya game !

The Future of Rap Music ?

Wha's Poppin' !

Welcome to the first of many blogs to come which will deal with rap music and it's constantly changing future in the music industry. Where are we headed in this crazy digital world ? Physical record sales are plummitting while downloading free music remains the people's extremely popular choice. What will it take for rappers to succeed in the music business today ?

Keep it locked for the insight that will follow on all of my regular posts. :-)

First up on the docket, a hot topic. "Outside of the Box" approaches that may or may not work for previously successful rap artists. Take for example Kanye West's most recent release "808's and Heartbreak". There have been both good and bad reviews, but any way that you slice it, it has been widely received by many.

What about LiL Wayne's upcoming rock album ? (check out this Billboard article: http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/-1003934662.story ). You can also peep the single "Prom Queen" on AllHipHop.com.

Personally, I thought "808's and Heartbreak" was ok, it wasn't good, but it wasn't terrible (I thought a couple of them joints were decent though). "Prom Queen" doesn't do it for, and I'm not entirely sure this album by Wayne will either. However, I do appreciate that these two rap artists are not afraid to step outside the boundaries of their peers and/or audience. You definitely can't hate on that !

Although, I'm really looking forward to this upcoming "Achozen" project between RZA and Shavo Odadijan (Bassist of 'System of a Down'). This sounds like it's going to be a hot product. As a fan of both the RZA and System of a Down, I'm very interested to hear how this turns out. You can read more here: http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2009/01/24/20810631.aspx

Fans, students and professionals alike are all excited about the futue of rap music. I'm sure we all look forward to seeing alot more successful ventures.