6th Sense/Wildabeast Freestyle

Hot and not cuz I used to manage 6th.

BREAKING NEWS

The L.A. Times and N.Y. Times both reported this morning that Remy "Remy Ma" Smith was involved in the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur at Quad Studios. She allegedly purchased the weapon used in the assault, a semi-automatic handgun imported from Brazil, from Clifford "T.I." Harris. A N.Y. Times reporter was on the scene during the near-fatal shooting and has pictures to prove it, but was scared to come out until now, for fear that Remy Ma would send Rocko's street team after him and break his camera. More on this shocking news as it develops...

Remix Magazine Feature - Trackmasters...and Frequency

Well I guess it's official now....I am part of the newly re-formed Trackmasters. Check out the full article in the April '08 issue of Remix magazine.

-Freq

Pots & Pans

I saw these kids perform last night at Faces in the Crowd. Shout out to Reality, Chalant, Clap Cognac & Gilat, Riggs, etc.

All I have to say is that Big L is from (and died on) 139 and Lenox. These kids are repping 137 and Lenox...This is the next movement.

Yes We Can

I know I'm a little late on this, but I just watched the Obama "race" speech on youtube this morning, and I have to admit, my eyes welled up a number of times during the video. Maybe he won't make a great president, maybe he's too young or too unexperienced, maybe he hasn't quite fleshed out his universal health care proposal, maybe he's not ready to lead on Day 1 (as Hillary insinuates), maybe he's not the person you want picking up the red phone at 3 a.m. (again, as Hillary insinuates), maybe he's being naive about fighting the special interests in Washington, maybe he has a funny name, but, damn it if he doesn't inspire the hell out of me.

I honestly believe that that's what this country needs right now. A great inspirer. Someone who will talk honestly to us. Someone who will attempt to repair our image abroad. Someone who will bring us together. I really love his whole post-partisian approach and the fact that he hardly mud-slings, and when he does, he does it with grace. I just hope he doesn't get Spitzered. And I'm not saying that I fear that he'll get caught with a hooker. Obama pulling a Spitzer would be like him up and invading Iran for no reason. But I have faith (yeah I said it) and he already has my vote. I might actually go write a check now. It's funny, I learned last week that my mom is a huge Hillary supporter and my (step) father voted for her in the primary. But after that speach, he vowed to switch sides (yes!). Now we have to work on my brother, who is one of the few black (figure that out) men still out there who has pledged his vote for Hillary. If John Lewis can change, so can you. Yes you can!

If you haven't already, you need to watch this video. Do yourself a favor, and set aside 37 minutes. I'll tell you this much, I have a case of undiagnosed adult ADD (I refuse to believe it's a real condition - eveyone has a short attention span), and I sat there capitvated, listening to every word. I usually tune people out after about 2-3 minutes...But this speech...Man...Just listen.

[In Funk Master Flex voice] Hillary ya finished!

New Blog on HHNLive: By the time I get to AZ

OK - so here's my overdue attempt to try to write a blog about Sha Money's One Stop Shop producer conference that took place in Phoenix, Arizona about 2 weeks ago. Sorry for the delay - I know Roccet posted a photo blog about this last week, but hopefully my blog will serve as some sort of color commentary to the extent you guys give a damn!

Truth be told, I'm hoping I can actually remember what happened out there in enough detail to make this post interesting. It's not like I was drunk all weekend or anything like that, I've just been really busy since I got back and might forget some interesting parts of the story.

Originally, I was going to write a blog a couple of days ago about Phoenix, but I wound up getting side-tracked and writing a blog about the Snoop Dogg "VH1 Storytellers" taping that Frequency and I went to last week on my own site, http://still-legal.blogspot.com. And then I was going to write it this morning (i.e. March 20 - sometimes HHN takes a couple of days to post!), but I had to do some last minute NCAA research to fill out my brackets. I got UNC over UCLA in one and UNC over Texas in the other. I really wanted to pick Cornell to go all the way, but I'm more interested in trying to make some side cash.

So, here we are. Let's start on Friday, when I was scheduled to originally leave New York from JFK. (Read more)

Wait...THIS guy strayed?!?!!

I hope I don't offend any blind readers.

Oh wait...nevermind.

But seriously...WTF?! What chance does the rest of our visually gifted male population have when a blind dude is getting poons outside of his marriage?! I mean, he's BLIND for god's sake!

For those who don't know, David Patterson is New York State's newly appointed governor-by-default (and if you don't know what happened to the first guy, kindly go back to that rock you live under). On Monday, with wife in tow, he held a press conference to publicly admit that he has had a number of extramarital affairs in years past. This was, I suppose, in order to keep any career-annihilating dirt from creeping up on him later on down the road. If wife Michelle didn't seem quite as angry (or suicidal) as Spitzer's wife Silda, it's because apparently she's done her fair share of dirt as well. Oh yes, folks...seems she's been quite generous with the poons herself over the years. Now two wrongs don't make a right, but they sure as hell make things even! And isn't that what marriage is all about anyway...the 50/50? I'd say so, and I'm guessing they would too.

Now their marital woes is nobody's business but their own, and I respect that.

I'm not judging. Really I'm not.

But it does beg the question: how in the HELL does a blind dude get so much extramarital poons?! Like, really?! As a proprietor of testosterone, I can tell you that my primal urges to rub crotches with the opposite sex come primarily from looking at a chick and thinking, "wow, that top really brings out her eyes knockers!" Or "holy shit, if that dress were any shorter, it'd be a bra!" A few other thoughts might roll through my mind, but you get the picture. Point being, when it comes to lusting after women, sight is of the utmost importance.

I've thought, as I'm sure most people have, about what it'd be like to be blind. More specifically, how much it would suck sacks. And usually, the regular stuff comes to mind. You know...can't see the sun shining, can't see the blue skies, yadda yadda yadda. But for some reason, I never stopped to think, until now, how I'd never enjoy the simple pleasure of watching an exceptional piece of ass badonkadonking down the street, or have that feeling of your shitty day just blow away in that breeze that just lifted some hot girls skirt. That's priceless stuff right there! Call me a perv if you want (women!), but it really is something that only those of us plagued (read: blessed) with the effects of testosterone can understand.

So seeing as how, along with the sun, moon, and stars, hot women are a gift from the heavens only to be enjoyed by those blessed with sight, it goes to figure that, if you're blind, then you're chances of being tempted by a woman's looks awesome rack should be slim to none. I mean, you can only "see" with your hands, right? And it's not like you can go around grabbing random boobage, lest you get slapped with a serious harassment suit (not to mention literally getting slapped!). So how is it that this guy Patterson couldn't keep from bangin' chicks that weren't his wife?! I just don't see it. Unless he and said woman are having a convo about ideas on allocating state funds, when all of a sudden..."Whoa, she put my hand on her boob! Score!"...I don't see where the temptation kicks in.

Maybe I'm being too superficial. Perhaps looks don't matter to him. Not because he's above that sorta thing, but because...well...you know. But then somebody tell me how Bill Clinton, with his 20/20 vision, was only able to pull these chicks:



And the blind dude bagged this broad:



I mean, she ain't no pageant winner or anything, but for being one birthday short of 50, and looking no older than 30, she runs circles around Monica and Paula.

My answer? Dude's a pimp! (Pronounced: PEE-ump).

At any rate, I don't know how the rest of us are supposed to ignore the temptation of forbidden fruits when even dudes that can't see the tree are pickin' apples left and right. I mean, I've never cheated on a girl before ('cause I'm perfect like that), but I certainly look, because, well, I have eyes dammit!

That's what I always tell my girl.

I'ma have to find a new argument.

Tourney Time

Spent the morning figuring out which teams Cornell will beat on its way to a national championship. Go BIG RED.

In the meantime, check Peter Rosenberg's newest video about Duke below. Other NYC showcase hosts may hate on him (you know who you are!), but I think he's funny (and I went to law school with his brother):

I'm so cool

Frequency and I went to the VH1 Storytellers taping for Snoop Dogg last week. Unfortunately, VH1 didn't let us take pictures or video during the performance, but it was definitely one for the ages. Doug E. Fresh came out to do "Lodi Dodi;" Too Short and Mistah F.A.B. did "Life of the Party;" Daz & Kurupt came out for a Dogg Pound reunion (surprised they didn't do "NY, NY" - that woulda been ganksta); Teddy Riley was on the keys; Quik was on the drum machine; Battlecat and Jam were on the (4) wheels; Terrace Martin was on sax...Good shit.

Shout out to Ted Chung and Shvona, who ironically went to high school with Shanna.

Iron Solomon (do yourself a favor and "youtube" him - this dude is ill) was in the house, as was John Brown. I tried to convince Iron to battle John Brown, but he was afraid of embarrising Mr. Second Place in the White Rapper Show. No disrespect to Tha King of Tha Burbs, I actually thought he had skills on the show, but his whole "Ghetto Revival" shtick has probably hindered his career if anything. I do hear he has a modeling agency though...That's what's up. Halleleujah Hollaback.

In any event, it was good meeting Terrace (who played piano on the Frequency joint on "Ego Trippin'") and DJ Quik (who mixed the record), although I must admit it was a little weird when Terrace told Frequency that he met his other manager. WTF?? Awkward.

It was also good to get up with Snoop and Co. while they were in New York, especially since we completely missed the album release party on Monday. I won't blow anyone's spot. Let's just say that we were still in Arizona on Monday (more on Arizona soon - I promise!).

Terrace wound up telling us that they'd be at the hotel bar in a couple of hours, so me and Freq grabbed some food and headed over. In the interest of full disclosure, Frequency didn't want to go because we couldn't get in touch with Terrace after we left the VH1 shoot, and he didn't want to bum rush the show. You know me - I was like f' it - he told us to come through. When we got to the hotel, the bar was filled with older white politican-types in tuxedos. We actually caught Quik out the corner of our eye in the lobby, but at that point, I agreed with Frequency that we'd probably look like idiots chasing him down to see if he wanted to chill, so we bounced.

It kinda reminded me of the time that me and Cinsere went to the hotel where Destiny's Child was staying at back around the time that "Survivor" dropped. You see, Destiny's Child had been on Letterman earlier that day and I wound up catching them getting out of their limo down the block after the show. Ironically, I had met them all a couple of weeks before when I snuck into an autograph signing they were having at FYE (I was wearing a suit for work and just walked right in with the press (plus I had my old CBS ID when I was an intern at WCBS-FM just in case)). So when I saw them getting out of the limo, I said what's up and Kelly remembered me. She started talking to me and whatnot, and I was like, "yeah, yeah, whatever, so, um, Beyonce, what's up" (lol). Beyonce pretty much ignored me and then their bodyguards were like, ok, time for you to go, but I was not to be deterred.

Later that night, I gathered my accomplice (Sincere) and I was determined to find Beyonce. If I wasn't gonna get a date with her, I at least was gonna freestyle for her or play her some beats (this is back when I still wanted to be a rapper or producer - well, I guess I still want to be a rapper or producer, I just don't do either anymore, I live vicariously through my clients). After asking the front desk for Ms. Knowles' room and roaming the hotel for like an hour, we couldn't find them and gave up. However, at one point, we were talking about them in the elevator, and some older dude was like "Oh, they're staying here? I'm a huge fan of there's." It turned out to be Matthew Knowles. D'oh.

I also learned that night that hotel bars tend to be swarming with hookers. For all I know, a 15-year old "Kristen" might've been in the house that night getting her start. And you all wonder where R. Kelly meets these girls...In any event, there were no hookers at the hotel bar where Snoop was staying, or maybe there were, which would explain why there were so many politician-types in the building. But, as for Snoop, he don't love them hoes.

I leave you with Morris Day and The Time's video for "Cool." Snoop performed a 20-minute rendition of this song to close his set for VH1, but it probably won't air because Prince wouldn't give TV clearance for it. It was awesome.



Oh, and Snoop's management wound up inviting us out to his "One Life To Live" shoot the following day. I missed it, but Frequency wound up getting up with Snoop to play Rock, Paper, Scissor. The game ended in a tie.

Chi-Town's own ILL Nature vid "This Ain't A Game"

Ok this is the best I can do for you...

After searching the net for a decent fast loading url, i realized that since youtube deleted it from it's site, the only options that remained was the extremely slow loading sites like youku etc. so insstead of posting one or all of those videos, i'll just give a link.

"But Pro, A link to what??" you might ask, seeing that i've completely left that part out.

"oh yea , my bad ... it's only a link to the GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME."

But The 1st Rule is that i cannot talk about it. and the second rule is i cannot talk about it. and another rule is that you cannot ask questions. so there you have it lol.

This Link will take you to a very fast loading site which will enable you to cycle thru all 8 parts rather quickly and it gives easy instructions on going to fullscreen.

the main reason i decided to post this was to try and go straight to the conversation in the bar, but this is an extra treat. I say that bcuz if you have'nt seen THIS you ain't seen SHIT.

Ashley Youmans a/k/a "Kristen"

Only one question: This girl was (is?) a high priced hooker?



And for the record, I went to her myspace page when the Times broke the story around 5 p.m. and she had 70,000 hits. As of 10 p.m., she had 1.2 million. Wow. I need that type of press.

BTW Kristen, Ashley, Alexandra (or whatever your name is), if you're reading, and you still want to be a pop star, let me be yo manager.

Quick update: as of 10:15 p.m., she had 1.5 million hits.

13 hours later (11:15 a.m. on March 13): 4.9 million hits. Um, wow.

Client #9

Back from Arizona. More on that to follow. Shout out to Sha Money XL and Ex-Governor Spitzer.

Oh yeah, new Snoop LP, Ego Trippin', in stores now, featuring "One Chance (Make It Good)" produced by Frequency!


In the meantime, check out my new post on HHNLive.com...

So I was reading a post by Noz today over at another site (which I won't promote out of respect for the good folks over here at HNNLive.com), which essentially was about the new Erykah Badu and Gnarles Barkley albums. I was actually thinking of writing a post about Ms. Badu over here, like I did at my own site (http://still-legal.blogspot.com - shameless plug), but then I got inspired by the parenthetical that Noz wrote underneath some Queen Latifah picture from, presumably, some corny movie she did. (read more)

March 9th

Freshman year of college. A Sunday morning like any other. Or at least it started off that way. I was, of course, sleeping dumb late, feeling the effects of what your average college freshman gets into on a Saturday night. The phone rings. I'm thinking something along the lines of "who the fuck is this, calling me at...10:46, Sunday morning?!" - or whatever time it was. Who cares?! I just knew it was still before noon, and whoever was calling me had better have a damn good reason.

It was my then-girlfriend.

She told me Biggie was dead.

My attitude quickly dissipated, giving way to incredulity. I ran to the student lounge and turned to MTV. Surely my girl was buggin'! She must've heard some bullshit rumor or something, right? Right!? But no. There it was on the screen. Dude was gone. Just like that.

He was only around long enough to give us two (classic!) albums. He didn't leave behind very many unused recordings. Yet somehow - and I know this may sound like clichéd sentimentality - his presence has remained so strong in hip hop's collective psyche, that one can hardly believe it's been 11 years since his untimely departure.

As a small tribute, rather than some "greatest hits" type deal ('cause who doesn't already have those?), I put up some of his rarer or lesser known gems and collabos that you're not gonna find at your local record Itunes store, plus this video of him back in his unsigned days, ripping some poor bastard a new one. Haha.

Biggie Smalls is the illest. R.I.P.

Baduism

You think she read my blog? I haven't checked my BlackPlanet (yup, I was on BlackPlaent) page in a looooooooooooooong time.

You've received a Friend Invite.

Today March 5, 2008

Hi diplomat85,

ErykahBadu has invited you to become a friend on BlackPlanet. Check out ErykahBadu's profile and accept or decline the invite.

ErykahBadu

Thank God for that Figghhhttttt

VS.

At least for Papoose, who hasn't had very much in the way of buzz lately.

Wait, Freq's not working with him, is he?

Hold up. Before all of that, I should probably introduce myself first. Cinsere here, at your service...hip hop connaisseur and all around know-it-all. Now some of you may be thinking to yourself, "Hmmm...Cinsere. Sounds familiar. Where do I know him from?" Allow me to jog your memory. I'm sure you know me from that one time I was on Josh's college radio show way the fuck up in Ithaca, NY, like ten years ago (shout out to The Doctor), and I was talking about how dope it was that Big Pun's Capital Punishment had gone platinum on the strength of just ill rhymes and dope beats. If not (though really, how could you not?), then you might know me as that random dude occasionally tagging along hanging out with Josh and Frequency at industry events. That is, unless your name is Eternia, in which case you wouldn't know who the hell I am, since we've been introduced like five times, yet you never seem to remember me. Not that I care. Because I don't. Really. No, really. Anyway...you probably just know the name Sincere from Nas's character in the movie Belly, since that's where I got it from. I just switched the "s" and the "c" around, because I'm clever like that.

Back to the program. It seems that in the latest story written into World Hip Hop Federation, Fat Joe and Papoose are now mortal enemies. Well, maybe not mortal, seeing as how nobody got shot. But apparently, according to 50 Cent's website who broke the story, and later confirmed by both parties, Joe and Pap shot the five at some hotel somewhere down in North Carolina. The two of them were in town for a show they were doing together, along with a lineup of other acts. Oddly enough, Cassidy, who was also on the bill, seemed to play as a referee of sorts, since it happened in his room yet he was not involved in any way. Word on the streets (read: internets) is that Cass asked Papoose to come to his room, and shortly after Pap arrived, Joe shows up with his goons to confront him about...um...something. That something is a bit unclear, but speculation is that it stems from Papoose being on 50 Cent's radio show while 50 was talking his patented shit about Joe. Pap may or may not have laughed. I don't know. If anybody heard the show, holla in the comments. In any event, it seems Joe took offense, and deemed it necessary to confront Papoose about comments made by somebody who was not Papoose. Go figure. From here on out, it's strictly hearsay. According to Pap, it was 1 (him) versus 10 (Joe and 9 other dudes, but I'd say that's more like 12. Joe's a big dude.). But as Joe would have you believe, it was a very even and fair 4 on 4. Pap says he put in "work" on Joe's chin (though he didn't specify which chin). Joe says Pap got "pounded out" (um...pause?), and that one of Pap's dudes ended up in the hospital. I say, dudes should go the Floyd Mayweather route and actually get paid for such well scripted drama.

In the end, I don't believe either one of them. If you could ask the fly on the wall, he'd probably tell you it was a staring contest. Not to take anything away from either of them, of course, but something tells me it just wasn't that deep, and once word got out, they both had to spin it in their respective favor. And it becomes a win/win anyway. Joe gets free pub for that new album he's dropping, and Papoose...well...he's got the streets buzzin' again.

Being humble is so 2007. Trust Me. (c) Erykah Badu

I have a confession to make.

I love Erykah Badu.

I don't even know why.

There's just something about her.

I don't even know her music that well. I've never bought any of her albums. I own her first album, but I only have it because I found it abandoned in a computer lab at school many years back and took it. I don't think I ever even listened to it. That "Tyrone" song was hot as was "Bag Lady," but since then, I can't even tell you what she's done.

This is what I know:

- She did a new album with production from Madlib and 9th (sounds cool to me, but where was Frequency? Oh yeah, apparently she has a production team with ?uestlove called Frequency (which I learned last month courtesty of...Frequency (guess which one?). I think I'll buy it, even though I was hoping for a free copy when I was up at Universal last week (they had none!).

- She used to date Andre 3000, Common, and (get this) the D.O.C. Yup! She has a 3 year old kid with him.

- She moved to NY 11 years ago from Dallas into a rent controlled apartment in BK. She still lives there.

- Steven Hill (of BET) says "[Y]ou can't look Erykah Badu directly in the eye. She will suck you in, and you just want to follow her. . . ." I think he's right.

- ?uestlove says "Everyone she met fell in love with her within five minutes." I think he's probably right.

- The quote that is the title of this blog is really from Erykah Badu and it is so true. Word to Snoop Dogg's Ego Trippin' album. Coincidence? I think not. You only got one chance to make it good. A little cryptic, I know, but it makes sense. Think about it! Seriously.

- I love Jill Scott too. I think I'm a closet neo-soul freak.