Metal Lungies

We just got this… This is their off their 1st post 9th Wonder album Get Back, which drops 9.25.07 via ABB Records. The beat is produced by Illmind.

Grab it here, as well as the instrumental.

In hip-hop when you are called a biter it usually means you are biting someones style. Well this doesn’t seem to be the case when Suge Knight is involved. He physically bit Kevin Connolly (who plays Eric Murphy on HBO’s Entourage) at a post ESPY’s party while they were “horsing” around. Maybe this is just his way of showing that he isn’t going soft. Where is Mills Lane when you need him?

You already know Havoc stays grinding in the studio. Well now he is dropping his own solo project, The Kush through Nature Sounds on 9.13.07. It will serve as a prequel to his “official” solo project on a major label ala Prodigy’s Return of the Mac from earlier this year. Speaking of which do you think a Havoc solo will be better than surprisingly solid Return of the Mac? We think maybe, but Alchemist brought his A-game on there, which will be hard to top.

1.) NY For Life (produced by Havoc)

2.) I’m The Boss (produced by Havoc)

3.) By My Side f/40 Glocc (produced by Havoc)
4.) One Less Nigga (produced by Havoc)
5.) Ride Out f/Nyce (produced by Havoc)
6.) Balling Out f/Un Pachino (produced by Havoc)

7.) What’s Poppin Tonite (produced by Havoc)
8.) Class By Myself f/Nitti (produced by Havoc)

9.) Set Me Free f/Prodigy & Nyce (produced by Havoc)

10.) Be There (produced by Havoc)

11.) Hit Me Up f/Un Pacihno (produced by Havoc)

12.) Get Off My Dick (produced by Havoc)

To be signed to Aftermath, no matter what, you got to be nice on the mic. Joell Ortiz is nice on the mic any time, place, or day. We caught up with the Brooklyn MC to talk about his recent KOCH project, The Brick (Bodega Chronicles), what to expect in the future with Aftermath, and most importantly his karaoke game. Oh yeah, perfectly fitting in with our recent DJ Premier beat drop, find out what Joell’s favorite Primo beat is. Read (no ctrl+f allowed)!

MetalLungies: What’s going on, man?

Joell Ortiz: I’m chilling, man. You chilling today, you good?

ML: Yeah, yeah, I’m good.

JO: All right.

ML: The first thing I want to ask you is, for those that don’t know, for those that have been sleeping, tell them, who is Joell Ortiz?

JO: Man, Joell Ortiz is a Puerto Rican dude from in front of a corner store in Brooklyn that just been grinding and doing everything it takes to be a rapper, from dropping his first twelve inch on Rawkus Records in 1999, being Source Unsigned Hype, XXL Chairman’s Choice because of his shows, and being Live ’05 freestyle battle winner. I’ve done songs with Kool G Rap, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, the OGs co-sign me.. I rapped live on Stretch Armstrong’s show in ’98 as a kid, so I’ve pretty much been in rap for the last ten years.

ML: All right, all right. When did you start rhyming, and when did you decide to make a career out of it?

JO: I started rhyming about 1991 as a kid, when I first came out my project building and seen what a cipher looked like, and how much love you got to make two words rhyme at the end of a sentence, that’s when I first started rhyming. I made it serious in about ’97 when my boy Dennis put me in the studio and I listened to myself over a beat and that was pretty much it for me, I said this is what I’m gonna do.

ML: All right, how old were you then?

JO: I was 17.

ML: 17, all right. You were fortunate enough to perform with the late Big Pun, right?

JO: Yes.

ML: Talk about that experience?

JO: The performance I did with Pun was a different performance and incredible because I was alive and he wasn’t. His wife called my management and wanted me to perform at his memorial and I actually rocked with his urn on stage. So he was on stage with me and that’s one thing I’ll always remember in my career, that’s one of the events that I’ll always remember and it’s an incredible feeling when you get that phone call from a pioneer’s wife because he’s a pioneer to me, and a legend, so that lets me know that I’m doing something right and I’m repping the Latino community in an ill way.

ML: I know I was reading the journal that you ran last year and you mentioned that you scrapped half of your album, right?

JO: Yes.

ML: So how many changes overall has The Brick gone through? Talk about those changes.

JO: Well, The Brick’s pretty much been through the wringer, so when new things happen and you get excited and you get new opportunities to meet new producers and new artists, new work is done, and you start beating other records, you understand?

ML: Yeah.

JO: So from beating other records to leaking some just to keep the buzz going and keep your name in people’s mouths, there’s usually a big change for the album, so you’re not gonna really hear too much that you heard, it’s gonna be a whole bunch of different things but it’s going to always remain one thing and that’s hip hop, so if you haven’t pressed the rewind button in the last five years, if you’ve haven’t been excited like I haven’t been excited, this is your excitement.

ML: You ran that journal, you have probably one of the best looking MySpaces I’ve seen, how big does the Internet play in your career?

JO: The Internet was huge in my career. Just from basically people logging on to see who I was, that was huge, but in different other ways it dominated the reason why I am who I am because it let me get one-on-ones with my fans, you know what I’m saying? I have to know who I’m targeting, who’s responding to me the strongest, and I also got a chance to let people know who I am as a person by working through the journals and telling them how my day-to-day was on the grind to try and be successful and try and have a career in rap. So it’s one thing when you hear somebody in music, but when you can read something they write, you feel like you know them better, so outside of just regular promotion it gave me a chance to get a one-on-one with your average Joe like I am, ’cause that’s all I am, I’m just your average fan with a deal. So it makes them feel like I’m no better than them, like I’m one of them.

ML: Do you check your MySpace daily?

JO: I check my MySpace here and there when I get a chance to. Every time I check it I got a load of friend requests, and I got a lot of comments on my page and it’s usually positive so I feel blessed right now and I encourage people to keep hitting me ’cause I do read it.

ML: All right, all right. I know you’re signed to Aftermath, so you’ve probably been getting dozens and dozens of questions regarding that, but how is The Brick different from the project you’re working on for Aftermath?

JO: There’s actually no difference, but the difference is that The Brick doesn’t have Dre and Aftermath will. I don’t change my format of making songs, they’ll always have that feeling. I like hard beats and I like to be an MC over them and Dre’s pretty much going to give me free realm with that. I’m happy that I’m over there because he doesn’t try to switch anyone, he just takes what you do, your art and puts it on a bigger platform, a bigger stage. So nothing’s going to change outside of production, and the phone calls that Aftermath make that Koch can’t get me in bigger places and stuff like that. But as far as the music, there won’t be a big change. I’ll always sound the way I sound.

ML: But you can expect the same high quality.

JO: Of course.

ML: All right.

JO: Of course, it’s gonna be up there.

ML: When I first heard you, you were killing a bunch of Premier beats. What is your favourite beat to ever freestyle over?

JO: *Laughs* Wow that’s ill. Well, to ever freestyle over! You wanna know something!

ML: Share.

JO: My favourite beat to ever freestyle over is a beat that I’ve never got a chance to freestyle over that I’ve always wanted to. It’s the Premier ‘Boom’ with Royce Da 5’9”.

ML: Mm-hm.

JO: I love that beat. L-O-V-E love that beat and never got a chance to get to it. That’s my word, I’m gonna get to it, I’m gonna destroy that.

ML: Right. We can expect that soon?

JO: You know what? I’m gonna do that beat. You can expect that soon. I’m gonna do that, I’m gonna put that on the Internet.

ML: All right. You heard it here first!

JO: *Laughs*

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After over a month of rumors, speculation, and allegation, Atlanta Falcons’ QB Michael “Ron ‘Ookie’ Mexico” Vick — that’s right, now his nickname has a nickname — has been indicted for his role in a dogfighting ring that’s stretched throughout much of the eastern United States. The Smoking Gun has the court documents available for reading, because, well, that’s what they do. The most gruesome of details includes Vick’s alleged involvement in the execution of dogs, by methods such as hanging, drowning, and electrocution, on the Virginia property that he claimed to have never been at. Hopefully, Vick performs better in court than he does in the pocket.

When asked for a comment on Vick’s situation, ML’s legal analyst (who shall remain anonymous, in part because he hasn’t actually been informed of his position as ML’s legal analyst), had this to say:

“He’ll do more time than Paris Hilton.”

Hopefully, he won’t cry as much.

You gotta love the wordplay on the title yo! From the man that brought you gems like this (before Killa Season was even a thought in cinema greatness):

Comes Black Supaman:

We might have our 2007 equivalent of Killa Season in terms of Hip-Hop watching entertainment. Only it looks like Percy Miller doesn’t take his role as serious as Cameron Giles does in his project. There is also a smaller camp of potential cameos (Dipset > No Limit; in terms of how deep the roll these days, Dipset & friends can fill up 3 1/2 tour buses these days (with cam & jim on separate buses of course)). But there is hope, maybe there is smuggled footage of C-Murder locked up beautifully edited into the film.

First, as if dissing somebody based on their looks and fashion sense isn’t foolish enough, Cam’ron had this to say in the opening of his Jay-Z diss record, “You Gotta Love It”:

You talkin’ ’bout you a 80’s baby — you 37 years old, you was born in 1968. And I open the Daily News — how’s the king of New York rocking sandals with jeans? Open toe sandals, with chancletas, with jeans on. How’s the king of New York rocking sandals with jeans, and he 42 years old?

Then, in this recent interview, Hell Rell had this to say (and there’s a Part 2, if you’re really interested):

To sum it up, around the 0:31 mark, Rell, in response to people saying that he no longer has a deal, says that he’s been signed to Diplomat Records since 2002. Then, around the 0:59 mark, he says that he’s been signed to Diplomat Records since 2004, which, I guess, is technically true, but then again, why short-change yourself?

I’d say that DipSet has somewhat of a reputation of being trendsetters, but I’m hoping that this isn’t the new shit — to blatantly contradict a statement that you made mere seconds earlier.

And, by the way, as he mentions in the interview, Hell Rell’s solo debut For The Hell Of It drops on June 28th. So, be sure to check for it when it hits stores on September 11th.

(… to echo Lethal’s sentiments from yesterday, we’re obviously pretty big Wu heads ’round these parts.)

In a recent 50 Cent interview with Spin Magazine (a great read, by the way), Tony Yayo, the talking head of 50’s “peanut gallery,” claimed that Ghostface Killah did not write his highly-praised sophomore album, 2000’s Supreme Clientele. The topic came up of hip hop artists that, though widely recognized for their artistic qualities, are not big sellers, and interviewer Charles Aaron brought up Supreme Clientele (which actually sold a solid 700,000+ copies) as an example. Yayo, in between using his blasphemous mouth to finish twisting up a blunt, chimed in with the following:

“He didn’t even write that album, man… That kid from Far Rockaway — Superb — he wrote that record.”

Not to question Yayo’s credibility (that is, if he has any), but there’s only 2 people whose opinions matter as to this claim — Superb, and Ghostface himself. Superb had already spoken on it (props to Nah Right for the link, and here’s a transcript, too), and his claims are in line with Yayo’s, that he, and not Ghost, wrote Supreme Clientele. Ghost hasn’t commented on it, but I’d guess that he’d disagree with Superb — I doubt highly that Ghost would come out and say, “Yea, Yayo’s right, I didn’t write that album. Sorry, everyone!” Personally, I have a hard time buying Yayo’s, and Superb’s, claims… and it’s not just because of my Ghostface-fan bias.

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A serious opponent to EA Sports’ Madden juggernaut?