I have been asked to publish more excerpts from the book, so here it is… I just put out another release on the wire today so here’s a little taste of a part of the politics that went on behind the scenes. Thanks to everyone who has reached out on myspace and facebook to say how the book has affected them personally. I am currently working on the proposal for the next project which I’m not spilling the beans on just yet.
From pages 172 -173 (the back story to this)
If you ask me, though, we were doing pretty good for a magazine that was blacklisted from the label that controlled most of the genre’s artists. The drama between the Source and Interscope was dying down a little, and we were tapping into the South to help beef up our content.
I got another call to Dave’s office one night to revisit the conversation that we had left off about the exposes that Ray had instructed us to do. Ray was addicted to them now, and it was probably because they had injected me with so much evil that I was doing a good job of executing Ray’s stories the way he liked. But this time, given the latest victim he wanted to attack, I knew it would be a problem.
“We’re putting 50 Cent on the cover,” he said as soon as I walked through the door.
“We are?” I was confused because we had been planning a Ludacris cover that month. I knew 50 wasn’t going to grant us an interview, so I automatically figured this was going to be one of Ray’s specialties. But because I was the one who really knew 50, I felt as though anything that was printed in the magazine would be assumed by him as coming from me. Knowing the information that 50 had on me, I didn’t want to keep the war between us going because he had a bigger platform than I did, and I couldn’t risk losing.
…
“We need to explain just how fucked-up what he is doing to rap music is.” Ray was huffing and puffing as he talked. He was clearly aggravated with 50′s success, criticizing 50′s influence on hip-hop….He had appeared on the cover of our competitor XXL, and that issue was the first ever to outsell the Source. He had taken a stance against the Source because of his loyalty to Eminem. He was on the other side of the fence, and I was forced to pick sides.
I can’t remember the last time I was actually anxious to see a hip hop video. Kudos to T.I. for actually puttin’ out a record that was sayin’ something.
Okay, so Baby is being sued for $275k, TMZ.com reports. A promoter says he paid Birdman $275k to have Lil’ Wayne perform, and that never happened. So where did this money go?
So various websites (including tmz.com) are reporting that Jay-Z dropped his price to host parties in the UK from 45,000 to 15K!! The economy seems to be hittin’ everybody hard these days, because apparently he still couldn’t get any clubs to foot the bill. So any parties that he hits out there, he will have to hit for free.
This is no newsflash to anyone who has two eyes and can see clearly the corrections officer in the photo that Rick Ross once denied (okay, so maybe not an outright denial, but a definite answer of the it-wasn’t-me sorts) was him. But he recently said the following in a recent interview with Don Diva magazine.
“Yes. It’s me…I never tried to hide my past. I put my name inside my cds. My company has my SS#. I could’ve put a company name… I done been up and I done been down and that’s what makes me what I am. I never ratted on a nigga. I never prosecuted a nigga. I never locked up a nigga, that’s first and foremost. I always felt that me being the nigga that I am, I never owed a nigga an explanation… When I’m making my music and I’m talking about blow, it’s because I did it. When I say that I’m rich off cocaine, it’s because i did it. Those are the street principals that apply.”
A few months ago, I would have loved this. I’m so over it now.
(boooooo…I missed this…slick rick one of my 5 favs of all time)
Last night, I attempted to bully my way into the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors show, which I have always advocated is one of the best hip-hop shows that we get to see each year. Last year I had extra tickets when I saw Tribe. It was a great show. This year, friends to the blog–Naughty By Nature–were being honored, so I just KNEW I was going to be able to get a ticket and sit down and watch the show. Well, getting in was easy (but that’s only for a slickster like me who knows how to finnagle my way into anything), but staying was a lot harder. Here’s how it went down:
I arrived at the venue super early. Artists were actually asked to be there at 2 (2!!!), so I came at 5:30 and was slipped an artist’s talent pass to sneak my way in first. But when I got in, even that wouldn’t admit me to the mezzanine level where you could sit down, and since I had heels on, I wasn’t about to stand and wait for the show to start, and then stand and wait during the show. Standing is for those who are getting paid to be there. I’m gonna find me a ticket! On my way out, I bumped into Planet Asia, who was there with Cypress Hill, another group getting honored. I think the theme was like the early 90s. Cool, I thought, my favorite time (thinking in my head of a piece I wrote in the 150th issue of the Source on the year 1994 being the second best year in hip-hop).
Okay, so knowing that media credentials were being handed out at the hotel around the corner, I made my way up to the 7th floor (or maybe it was the 4th), and proceeded to the wrong room. But lo and behold, it was meant to be, because I ran into KRS-One who was picking up his tickets. Of course, I stopped to talk to him until his peoples regulated us to stop yapping since he had to leave to perform at Madison Square Garden (I think in my head, Hmm…hip hop honors going down here at the Hammerstein…and KRS and Rakim are performing down the block at MSG…Now, i’m conflicted….i should take KRS up on his offer and go to his show.) But while I’m telling KRS-One that he is mentioned in my book, in walks Simone, not his wife, but Monie Love. She says I’m the only one in the world who says her name the way I do (I pronounced it “cimoney”). We start to show each other pictures of the kids, then she shows me where to go to get media passes. I walk up to the desk as if I was on the media list, knowing I’m not. Luckily, a guy walks in and recognizes me. “Kim Osorio,” he says to the one holding the list. “Her pass is in an envelope.” Cool. Now, I get handed a sticker. “Where does this get me?” I ask. “The media room,” they respond. “Can I see the show?” I ask. “Yes, on the screens,” they reply in chorus. Screens? I’m thinking. I want to sway my arms back and forth in true hip-hop hooray fashion. I can’t watch on the screens. I accept the media sticker though. It is all I have. I leave.
Sav Killz (?) decides to give me a CD. Something I don’t want to hold. But I’ll hold it for the love of hip hop.
Now, I’m back at the venue. Time is moving slowly. I’m bored. I tell Planet Asia to let me take a picture of him. He does. But it’s too dark. My good camera phone went dead so i use the backup. Picture comes out shitty.
I still have much of it to waste. So I call Cimoney (she’s gonna kill me for this LOL). “Where are you?” I say. “Come on to the red carpet,” she responds. We sneak by security. I walk with her and her boo. Ironically, Monie is in the middle. I don’t have a red carpet credential. Security asks, “y’all trying to get to the stars?” Monie responds under her breath: “We are the stars.” I agree, at a hip-hop show as such, we should be. Right?
Wrong. Me no allowed on red carpet. Monie proceeds to get drops. I ran into an old co-worker. We are talking about the book. I need to finish this blog and send her a copy. Shameless plug.
So now, there’s an hour left before the show actually starts, and my feet are hurting. People I know (in hip hop) are emailing me asking if I can get them in. Not likely.
Can’t go this way…can’t go that way…you know where i can go? I think, Home! I walk behind the stage and out the back before it even starts. Scarface is standing by the metal detector. “I need a hug,” he says to me. “Do you remember me?” I respond. “Uh…I know you?” he asks. He doesn’t remember me, I figure. I hug him and say…”You came up to play your album years ago.” He looks bedazzled. Probably thinking, oops, wrong girl to get at. Security is not letting him in. He is waiting outside, but he’s supposed to be PERFORMING. Weird. He hollas at another girl walking by.
Juelz going on while I’m going out. He’s doing the tribute to Naughty. At rehearsals the other day, he was practicing O.P.P. He kept uttering the first line “O.P.P. How can I explain it?” over and over. I was thinking, he may not have learned the verses yet. I know all the words to OPP by heart. I’m a lot older than Juelz.
On the way home, we see DJ Premier getting out his car. KRS needed him to deejay the MSG show at the last minute. Premier is around the corner with no plans to be at hip-hop honors, I think. Interesting. Later on, while I’m watching the debate, comfortably in my pajamas, with a glass of chardonnay in hand. I get wind of the fact that Kool Herc is not allowed inside. I overhear a phone conversation right next to me, “Wow, Kool Herc can’t get in. If it weren’t for Kool Herc, we might all be working freestyle music right now.” I laugh. Shame. I’ll catch it on TV. Then comes the question, “Isn’t your book on VH-1 Books?” Precisely.
