Meebo

Thursday 31 May 2012

On set of Kendrick Lamar and Dre’s ‘The Recipe’ video

What’s “The Recipe” for the perfect summertime video? Women, weed, and weather. Kendrick Lamar mixed up the three ingredients while shooting the video for the first single off his upcoming debut on Wednesday.
The Compton rapper performed alongside a pool full of bikini-clad babes at a mansion in Malibu, and was joined by his mentor and collaborator Dr. Dre, who knows a thing or two about throwing a West Coast party.
Kendrick’s fellow Black Hippies ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul also stopped by the set. Check out more photos below.




Dr. Dre
The Recipe


ScHoolboy Q and Ab-SoulKendrick Lamar

source - http://www.rap-up.com/2012/05/30/on-set-of-kendrick-lamar-and-dr-dres-the-recipe-video/

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Swizz Beatz talks working on Detox

Swizz Beatz is constantly working. But whether it’s newer ventures like being a pitchman for Reebok or dabbling into art, Swizzy hasn’t forgot about the music.

During a recent interview, Swizz Beatz recently revealed that he shared some studio time with Dr. Dre for the legendary producer’s notoriously-anticipated album, Detox, and is also working on bringing DMX back into the fold.

As previous accounts from rappers and producers have already indicated, Swizzy says that Dre is sitting on a plethora of hot records.

“I done heard 10 Detox worth of smashes,” Swizz told Bootleg Kev about getting in the studio and working with Dre about two to two and a half months ago. “Just put yourself in Dre’s shoes. When you a perfectionist and when you set the bar so high and when people are expecting so much of you and from you, you don’t want to feel that at any type of way and you don’t want the pressure of that, especially when you already won the title.


“Even with Beats by Dre success and all that, he still loves music,” he added. “He’s one of the most consistent, even if he hasn’t put out records every year.”

source - http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2012/05/swizz-beatz-talks-working-on-dr-dres-detox-album-collaborating-with-dmx/

Tuesday 22 May 2012

Why Dre and Ice Cube Succeeded and NWA Did Not

The unforgettable, yet unforgivable impact of America’s first gangsta rap group is the stuff of legend.  NWA is responsible for prophetic songs like “F*ck the Police,” which told the world about LAPD brutality before the Rodney King incident, but they are also responsible for injecting hip-hop with a dose of toxic violence from which it has yet to recover (I’ve written about that problem too).

But putting the social impact to the side for a second, I was asked to give my thoughts on NWA this week for a BET documentary on the impact of Hip-Hop on Black culture.  One thing that came to mind is the way Dr. Dre and Ice Cube were able to climb out of the war zone that was Compton and Death Row Records to become captains of the industry, while many of their homeboys simply perished. In that regard, their success makes for a case study that would be a fit for any business school in the country.
Here are some things that made Dre and Cube different from the rest:

1)      The ability to see the bigger picture: 
The easiest way to stay broke and powerless is to think small and to be short-sighted.   In fact, visionaries are regularly able to exploit the short-sightedness of those who have no discipline.  While other members of the group were thinking about spitting rhymes, getting women, and buying yet another gold medallion, Ice Cube’s mind was able to visualize multi-million dollar franchises.  I would much rather be a dumb person who thinks big than a brilliant person who thinks small.  This can make all the difference.

 2)      Education and a desire to understand how business works: 
Ice Cube and Dr. Dre succeeded not just because of formal education, but because they became educated on the industry within which they operated.   Far too many singers, dancers, rappers and athletes think that all they have to do is worry about their craft, and end up putting themselves into dead end financial situations.  A good example would be the singer Fantasia, who never learned to read and ended up signing a contract that made her into a high-paid slave.

3)      Why be a King When You can Be a King Maker? 
The Black community never ceases to have plenty of talent for the stage, but even the most talented among us are accustomed to waiting by the phone for some white-owned corporation to give us an opportunity. At the end of the day, your entire reality and everything you can or cannot be is managed by forces beyond your control.  Your well-being, success or failure is entirely contingent upon a world that someone else has created for you, effectively making them into a corporate version of God.

Ice Cube and Dr. Dre weren’t just satisfied with being kings. Instead, they chose to become King Makers, giving them greater and more lasting power than any king can possess Ice Cube has launched entire careers with his “Friday,” “Barbershop” and “Are We There Yet?” franchises.  Dr. Dre has been the engineer of Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and a host of other powerful artists.  Even Diddy (or Puffy or Puff Daddy, whatever his name is now) remains in power, even though he hasn’t made good music since Biggie was alive.  A king makes money by working.  A King-Maker gets money when other people are working.  That’s what it truly means to be a boss.

4)      Enough discipline to delay gratification: 
 Ice Cube often tells the story about how Jerry Heller, the white guy in charge, put $80,000 checks in front of each member of NWA, next to contracts for them to sign.  The contract was basically a deal with the devil, locking Heller in for all of the group’s upside potential, while helping him to evade the downside.  Even in the year 2012, you can get a lot of folks to sign away their grandkids for $80,000, so you can only imagine how much money this was in the 1980s.  The only person who walked away from the contract was Ice Cube.  To this day, he’s the one with the biggest bank account and the highest net worth.  Artists may rap about booty, bling, weed and all of the trappings of negative Hip-Hop culture, but those with real and lasting power don’t get high on their own supply when it comes to that nonsense.

5)      Good ole fashioned ambition: 
Ambition and high expectations can mean everything when it comes to success in life.  If you aim for nothing, you get nothing.  If you do nothing, then you’ll always be nothing.  It was the ability to squeeze the trigger and go for their dreams that led Cube and Dre to a different reality than the rest of NWA.  By stepping away from their situations and getting off the corporate plantation, both Dre and Cube have built empires that will benefit their families for many generations to come.  Having all the talent in the world means nothing if you are afraid to take a chance.

source - http://newsone.com/2016744/dr-dre-ice-cube-hip-hop/

Tuesday 15 May 2012

New DMX feat Snoop Dogg - 'Shit Dont Change' Prod by Dr Dre

The beat is same as Snoop Dogg feat Akon/Nate Dogg - 'Boss' life'


Thursday 10 May 2012

Raekwon would have loved to sign to Dr Dre, but was too risky

It took at least four years for Raekwon to finally drop Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Part II. The sequel to the Chef's critically acclaimed classic debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (aka "The Purple Tape"), at one point was going to be delivered via Dr. Dre's Aftermath Records. Fortunately for us (think: Detox), although Rae maintains that he is still the best of friends with the good doctor, the Wu-Tang rapper wasn't too keen on signing on the dotted line if he wasn't going to get the attention he felt he deserved.

"I don't ever want to jump into anything with anybody," Raekwon told Hip-Hop Wired. "We always said that if nothing don't come out of it, we still have our relationship as peers. That meant a lot but I didn't really sign to anything because I wanted to be with a family that I felt really, really cared.  It had to be more than just the paper. It had to be the belief…that big brother support. Whether it was a political perspective or whether it's you and me in the studio. I felt like, Yo, I earned that. It just didn't tag out like that and that's when I started to say, You know what, I want to create a new way to do what I like to do."

Instead, Rae dropped OB4C2, which was a critical success, via his own Ice H20 Records in late 2009. Now the Wu-Tang rap icon keeps a spot in Atlanta, has an office in Canada, has recruited artists like JD Era into the Ice H2O fold and keeps dropping heat (i.e last year's Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang and the recent Unexpected Victory mixtape). Keeping Wu-Tang money all up in the family has its benefits.

source - http://hiphopwired.com/2012/05/10/exclusive-raekwon-would-have-loved-to-sign-to-dr-dre-but-it-was-too-risky-video/

Raven Sorvino reflects on being courted by Dre

If you’re only a casual follower of Hip Hop, female emcees typically fall into two categories—the dolled up, sex kitten types like Nicki Minaj and the somewhat obscure types like Rah Digga and Bahamadia. Nevermind the fact that even the term “female emcee” is somewhat of a misnomer. After all, it’s not as if women and men don’t essentially perform the same functions as Rap artists. It’s easy and accurate to point at the lack of females in the industry that are truly in positions powerful enough to greenlight a project from someone with two X chromosomes to add some much needed diversity. But how many artists—male or female—are willing to take their careers into their own hands instead of waiting for a major label to do all the heavy lifting.

Self-described “paper girl” Raven Sorvino is in the midst of a run that has seen her perform, oversee and independently distribute her own material via Language Artz. You can find her at the same showcases and events performing alongside her major label counterparts with the large, recoupable cash advances. But when it’s time for another project she doesn’t answer to the stereotypical A&R GZA described as “a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar.” Along the way, Raven has earned nods of approval from Diddy, Dr. Dre and a steadily growing fan base. True power knows no gender lines.


Go See The Doctor: “[The experience with Dr. Dre] made me want to work harder. That probably just wasn’t my time, and I’m thankful that they were even interested in me enough to have the opportunity. Dre was calling my house, and he cared enough to keep in contact with me personally—not having his assistant or someone else make the call. And he’d tell me, ‘The contracts are getting worked on. Don’t worry; everything’s going through.’ We recently ran into him not too long ago, and he remembered me off top. And this is years later. So maybe one day something will happen with Raven Sorvino and Dr. Dre. When it didn’t materialize, I was never mad or angry like, ‘Ahhh, I don’t like these people anymore!’  It just wasn’t the right time, and I just needed to develop my skills more. To even have that opportunity was a good moment in my life. And when we saw him recently, Picaso was with me. He kinda liked Picaso’s name, and he was real cool. So that was dope…we had our little moment.”

source/full article  - http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/dxnext/id.242/title.raven-sorvino-reflects-on-being-courted-by-dr-dre-and-her-growth-as-an-emcee

Sean Garrett works with Dre for Detox

In addition to Brandy, Sean Garrett has been in the studio working on new music for megastars including Dr. Dre, Kelly Rowland, and Justin Bieber. During his interview with Rap-Up TV, he shared his respect for Dre and his contributions to Detox.

“He got a lot of stuff. You just be hoping and praying that you make the album,” said Garrett. “We did a lot of great work, so I’m pretty sure that hopefully I’ll at least have one on there.” source - http://www.rap-up.com/2012/05/09/sean-garrett-collaborates-with-dr-dre-kelly-rowland-justin-bieber/