Artist: Ice Cube
Representing: The W
Independent Album: Raw Footage
411: "The merely rapper wHO wanna fistfight the president." Ice Cube is still militant and down for whatever. His bravado is turned up to 10, and his ego has him feeling as sure-footed as always. Still, Cube wants to show his fans the power of street knowledge. It's all there in his new LP Raw Footage.
"People await over the old heads � fundamentally, the fans who are over 25," Cube aforementioned of the folks he's trying to reach with the August 19 going. "People look over them, I don't. That's my wheelhouse. My true fans are believably 10 years younger than me, 10 years older than me. That world doesn't buy a lot of records now, but it's my job to get them to check for what I'm doing.
"It Takes a Nation." "I wanna take it plunk for to the real hip-hop," Cube said. "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy is one of the records I treasure, I love. I cherished to turn over that and put the emphasis more on us and our community, on what we're doing to hold us back. I also wanted to talk about what's going on in the world and how I feel around it and what I'm ready to do. It's not a game. People playing rap music like it's a plot. Let's flummox back to talking about what people going through so we can clear some of these issues."
"Why Me?" (featuring Musiq Soulchild). "It's the perspective of a dupe," Cube said. "[He's] fundamentally asking his shooter, 'Why me? Why you clean me out of all this?' It goes to random violence. People kill people they don't know. I wanted somebody soulful on the soak to pee-pee you actually feel what you trying to say. Musiq, I'm a fan of his. I like his voice, I like his vibration. He invariably keeps that soul in it. He was a perfect pick. 'Why Me?' is gonna be the next video recording. I haven't done a song wish this rather since 'Dead Homiez,' which was on my Kill at Will album. I'm looking frontward to people hearing this song. It's one of the strongest songs on the album."
"I Got My Locs On" (featuring Young Jeezy). "We've established a good relationship with Jeezy because he's also in a flick I wrote called 'Janky Promoters,' " the West Coast legend explained. "Me and Mike Epps play 2 shady rap [concert] promoters. We bring Jeezy to town and don't have enough money to pay him. We kinda got close doing the flick. [Jeezy] was like, 'Yo, I want you to do a record on my album.' I was like, 'I desire you to do a record on mine.' We exchanged songs and concepts, and made it happen. We got a heater on my album called 'I Got My Locs On.' We made it happen."
Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week
� Jadakiss, Sheek Louch and Styles P - 3 Kings
� DJ OnPoint and Vic Damone - T.O.S.
� HipHopGiant - Hoodstrumentals (Queensbridge Edition)
� DJ Whoo Kid and Remo Da Rapstar - Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself
� DJ Omen and Nas - No Apologies (The Most Dangerous MC, Vol. 1)
'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar
� The Game (featuring Nas) - "Letter to the King"
� Lloyd (featuring Yung Joc) - "I'm Wit It" remix
� Ace Hood (featuring Brisco) - "Can't See Y'All"
� Jay-Z - "Jockin' Jay-Z (Dope Boy Fresh)"
� Young Jeezy - "Vacation"
� T.I. (featuring The-Dream) - "Like I Do"
� Cassidy featuring Cory Gunz - "Body Bags"
Mixtape Monday Faves
Jeezy gets respect in all cities, and last-place week at the Ozone Awards, it was Houston's turn to show him love. He performed with special guests Slim Thug and Bun B, and while Bun was onstage, Jeezy dropped a few new bars addressing his past controversy with former UGK doorknocker Pimp C.
declared that rap music was dead � only God's Son and Jeezy are pretty much in accord correct now. In recent weeks, they've partied together, discussed life and politics, and now, recorded their first gear collaboration. Nas guests on the Snowman's September 2 LP, The Recession, appearing on "My President Is Black."
"Nas is on that joint, by the way," Mr. 17.5 told us during the Ozone Awards. "Murdered it. Esco went in! Esco is a cool n---a, though. I can't even front. He's a thorough na. He went in on the record. I don't know what you're gonna think of it. ... I can't even begin to tell you what he said. I'm just telling you, Esco went in."
While publicly singing activists Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson that their days of leading the black community are over, the Queens master of rhyme anoints Jeezy and himself as two of the new leaders.
"I'm always in the 'hood, I'm always in the community," Jeezy explained. "I'mma say this and be frank: A lot of cats come up from the 'hood ranks, and everybody wanna repp the 'hood. Everybody wanna say they did this and that. ... When Nas repped me, I feel a way. I'm a cat from Georgia. He's from New York City, so if he tush respect my gangsta, I definitely stool respect his and anybody around him. That's wherefore I respect New York so much and Chi-Town. Detroit, same thing, they respect my gangsta." ...
Game's video for "My Life" aired on "FNMTV" on Friday night. In the video, he makes a huge statement about the genre of music he loves so much. The Compton native wears a T-shirt that reads "Hip-Hop Broke My Heart."
"The hip-hop that I'm used to was the hip-hop that 'Express Yourself' came out of, and 'Fight the Power,' " he explained last week in Houston on his way to a radio station. "When KRS was large. When 'The Bridge Is Over' was big. When it was a dis song, only it wasn't a beef cattle song. When the nature of hip-hop was beautiful. No matter what the face of it was that day, the upshot was always dope, man. From the Spice 1s to the Kool G Raps, that's what I miss. When hip-hop evolved and changed and got thrown in a bucket of Kool-Aid, somebody threw too a great deal sugar in it. Now it tastes a small funny. That's why I say hip-hop broke my heart. When I got in, I thought it would save itself long enough to at least let me see the hip-hop I was used to, the hip-hop I fell in love with. But it didn't do that. Hip-hop left the job for me to continue on and still pay court to the way of old. Me and hip-hop be beefing sometimes, but no topic what face hip-hop makes, I'm gonna evolve with it."
"My Life" features Young Buck in a cameo appearance as a stealer, and Lil Wayne � who sings the hook � pops up in performance scenes.
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