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| Posted: 10 Nov 2008 04:59 AM PST Plus: Lloyd Banks brings Halloween to November; is Corey Gunz the next member of G-Unit?
Representing: The G-Unit Mixtape: Halloween Havoc 411: There's a lot of things Lloyd Banks wants to be the king of, but he doesn't want to be known as the best in one hip-hop category.
"I don't want people to talk about me and say, 'Lloyd Banks can dance his ass off!' " the Punch Line King joked, sitting in 50 Cent's office in the Manhattan G-Unit headquarters. Of course, Banks wants to be heralded for his lyricism — killing bars, if you will. After a hiatus from solo mixtapes preceding his Rotten Apple run, the former Mixtape Artist of the Year has a renewed commitment to the circuit. Yeah, 50 had Banks and Tony Yayo churning out verses on three Unit mixtapes earlier this year, but Banks says he's going it alone for the next few months with his own street-CD series. "I figured I'd give them both quality and quantity," he said. "I'll do it at a pace as nobody has ever before. "I was testing the waters," he continued, talking about his technique of releasing a freestyle every other day in anticipation of last month's Return of the P.L.K. mixtape with DJ Whoo Kid. "I wanted to do something new. Instead of giving them a whole tape, I wanted to give it to them broken up. A freestyle Monday, Wednesday, then Friday. Let the weekend chill, hit them back again Monday. I did that for about four weeks until people said, 'When's the tape coming?' I knew what I was doing. I was working at such a fast pace, I wanted to judge what I should do next from their reaction." Banks said he heard nothing but love from the fans but had a mixed reaction from the bloggers.
"I was like, 'OK, you're not hearing nothing else until Halloween,' " he explained. "I finished the tape on October 27, because I was flying back and forth. I was actually in Chile when the tape came out. It went through Whoo Kid, and it came out the right way. I'm on automatic pilot right now. I'm gonna just drill you until you understand. Nobody is gonna step up to this plate. This is how I spar. I just feel like at the rate I'm putting this stuff out, there's no way they're gonna be able to deny me in '09." Banks has been keeping his ears tuned into the underground circuit as always. He listed Charles Hamilton, Joe Budden and Philadelphia's Reed Dollar, Gillie da Kid and Young Chris as cats on his radar. He also wants to work with Jadakiss and Fabolous. More than 100 songs for his third solo album have been recorded, but there's no timetable for the release. He has to figure out his contractual situation. 50's deal is up with Interscope, and the Unit will go with him, wherever he ends up. Yayo, however, owes the 'Scope one more album. "When all this corny stuff is out of here, they're gonna respect me for staying who I am," Banks noted about the hip-hop climate. "Not compromising me or my music to blend in with the times. I wanna make the times." Joints To Check For "Party and Bullsh--." "That's the first time I heard Biggie," Banks said about using the instrumental from the throwback Notorious B.I.G. jam. "That's why I did it. I had my little radio, and I'd be missing school because of Stretch & Bobbito's [radio show on] WKCR. Listening to them, I used to hear that record. That's back when Jay-Z was freestyling with Big L. Rest in peace. That always stuck in my head. I sat and thought about it [when making this tape]. I was like, 'Let me bring it back with this.' That's my tribute to B.I.G. My all-time favorite. That's why I started the tape off with that." "Shine Through." "The J-Rock record 'All My Life,' I did that over," Banks said. "I saw the video, heard the song. I said, 'I like this right here.' I'm not biased towards anybody. If I like the music, I'll put my twist to it. It was something I did for me. My grandmother just passed of cancer. I was kinda dealing with that since my pops passed. It was one thing after the next. When she finally passed, it was hard for me. I wanted to find a way to express myself through the music. That's what I did, as well as pay tribute to the homies that are gone. I'm 26 years old now. But when I got my deal, me and my homies was running wild. Unfortunately, I was the only one who could rap. I didn't really have the finances to hold up my whole crew at that point when I'm 19 years old. I lost a lot of friends, as well as family. I wanted to dedicate that to them. That record means a lot to me." "Beneath Me." "How you gonna put me in a category that came on the train when it was moving?" Banks says about a line in the song, in which he implores people to not compare him to two of his former G-Unit mates. Game caught the train in L.A. Buck caught the train in Cashville. "That's smacking me [in the face] for everything I did," he said about his loyalty and long tenure with the Unit. "I worked hard at this. I had to get from a point when they was calling me 50 on mixtapes." Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week » Crooked I - The Block Obama 2 'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar » Common - "Changes" The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground We had a chance to chop it up with 50 Cent a couple of times last week. First, in Queens at the opening of his community garden, then we sat for quite some time in his Manhattan office. There should be no doubting Fif right now. He thinks he can smash the game and promises those Eminem verses he has on Before I Self Destruct are going to hit you harder than a bulldozer. The duo have a record called "Norman Bates Motel," and you can guess what's going on in the song from its title: pure anarchy. Sha Money XL and Tony Yayo tipped us off to another record that might even surpass that one. It's an untitled (as in, nobody wants to say the name of the song right now) Dr. Dre joint that Fif snatched from Em's hard drive.
"I did a song produced by Dr. Dre," 50 said. "I got the production from Detroit, because Dre was working with Em right before I got out there. I just missed him. I went through Em's computer and found what I needed. Yes, I did. I got me the record I needed. I was like, 'Wait till they hear this.' I wrote it; Em heard it. He was like, 'You gotta keep that for yourself. This is too crazy.' First, I think he was gonna take it from me, then he was like, 'He gotta use that for himself.' " As far as the G-Unit goes, you already heard about Lloyd Banks' next album, Yayo is dropping sometime next year, and don't forget: Young Buck told us on the set of Young Jeezy's "Who Dat" video that he was personally talking to people about being bought out of his G-Unit contract. What does the G-Unit General have to say about that? "Those offers aren't real offers," 50 scoffed. "I would be the one to receive the offers, not him. It's just people making conversation with him in the street. But if they actually had interest, I'd be the first person they'd contact. And I haven't been contacted by anybody." 50 is looking for some new talent ("I'll just look until I find somebody who I'm passionate enough to go all the way with," he said). Might that be the stylistically deadly Corey Gunz? He's young, lyrical and doesn't have a label. "Corey, I met with his father," 50 said of possibly bringing the Gunner into the Unit. "They have a great relationship with Shaq. It was a long time ago. We sat down, he came to my office, and we talked about it. I told him I wished him the best of luck. He did a song with Tony Yayo recently on the S.O.D. mixtape, and since then, [the streets] been saying I've signed him."
"I didn't hear about that," Corey said about doing business with the Unit. "I know Yayo and them are definitely family. There's some Corey Gunz things under construction. I'm working with After Platinum — that's my family outta Arizona. We're really grinding and trying to find the right situation. But Yayo is definitely my family. Working with him is crazy. Shout-out to the whole G-Unit. Banks is my man. 50 already knows what it is. That's my people. G-Unit is already family." Regardless of who Corey signs with, he wants to release his album toward the middle or end of next year. "God Forgives, I Don't will definitely be coming out in the summer," Gunz said. "If not the summer, then the fall. I'm taking my time critiquing it every step. It's gonna be a classic." ... Just like T.I. couldn't fit all the superstar MCs on "Swagger Like Us," he couldn't manage to find space on Paper Trail for all the records he liked. There just wasn't room. " 'It's All G' — that was one I really liked," Tip said of some highlights that didn't make the cut. "The one with Fall Out Boy: 'Out in the Cold.' The one with The-Dream: 'Like I Do.' 'Let My Beat Pound' — there's a few of them." The King said there's a possibility that all or some of those records will appear on his Paper Trail follow-up. "I'm starting on my next project," he revealed. "I just gotta figure out what I'm gonna call it." Tip has loved his new music since going back to the method of writing lyrics down, as opposed to composing verses in his head. Still, he's not sure which technique he'll use on the new opus. "I'mma figure that out, man," Tip told. "I might use a little of both. I might use the Paper Trail method." ... Back to Young Buck. He may still be bound to the G-Unit, but he said he's ready to put all his prior beef out the window — and maybe even do some collaborations with these people.
"Jadakiss, for one," he said. "He's out here. Jim Jones, we all good. I got music with everybody. Even with the Game situation. I'm looking to collaborating with those who wanna collaborate with me. At this point, I didn't have a conversation with Fat Joe. I seen [DJ] Khaled. We ain't had no conversations, but I'm right here, they right there. It's a respect thing. I don't carry no situations that was there with G-Unit at this point. That was dead weight." Buck has a mixtape out now called Cashville: The Takeover and another one "cooking up." "I'm trying to take that title Lil Wayne has when it comes to the mixtapes," he said. "We showing up." For other artists featured in Mixtape Monday, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Hudson Family Murder Suspect Told Girlfriend He Was Involved: Report Posted: 10 Nov 2008 06:09 AM PST William Balfour faces a parole hearing on Monday.
The only person police have identified as a suspect in the murders of Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew, William Balfour, 27, faces a parole hearing on Monday (November 10) that will determine whether police will continue to hold him in the case or set him free as they continue their investigation. The review by the Illinois Prisoner Review Board comes on the day that the Chicago Tribune is reporting that, according to unnamed law-enforcement sources, Balfour acknowledged being at the Hudson's Englewood, Chicago, home on the morning that Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, and brother, Jason Hudson, were shot to death inside the house. Hudson's nephew, Julian King, was abducted from the home and his body was discovered three days later in the back of Jason Hudson's SUV. The paper also reported, citing unnamed sources, that Balfour's current girlfriend told police that Balfour told her he had been involved in the killings of Donerson and Hudson. Balfour was on parole for a 1999 attempted-murder conviction when his name was linked to the October 24 murders of his estranged wife's brother, mother and 7-year-old son. While Balfour hasn't been charged, his parole was revoked because he was tagged as a "person of interest" in the case. Balfour, who is married to Hudson's sister, Julia Hudson, has been housed at the Stateville Correctional Center since October 26. The review board is scheduled to take up his case on Monday morning. According to the Tribune, if the board finds probable cause to believe that Balfour has committed a crime, or violated his parole in some way, he'll be held for further hearings. If the board finds no evidence of his tie to the crime, Balfour will be set free. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Tokio Hotel Deny They're Collaborating With Miley Cyrus, Keep Tattoos Hidden Posted: 10 Nov 2008 05:00 AM PST 'You can't see it, because I think I have to be naked,' frontman Bill Kaulitz laughs about his new ink.
When they're not being immortalized in wax or plowing through mountains of Halloween candy, Tokio Hotel are actually busy doing the kinds of things normal bands do: touring, getting tattoos and — most importantly — recording new music. "We are in the studio, writing songs, and everyone says, 'Oh, that is cool, it sounds good,' but you really want to ... see the fans' reactions," frontman Bill Kaulitz said. "It's hard, because we really want to play the new songs. ... I want to sing them. It's hard to do 'Monsoon' again and again and again. I'm so nervous about the new record, and I want to see all the faces when we play the first song from the new record onstage."
Kaulitz said Tokio Hotel have been working on the follow-up to their massive Scream album in Germany, with the same production team that helmed their worldwide breakout, but the songs they've written and recorded are already veering into uncharted territory. "We really wanted to try something new. So I think there are a lot of different and new sounds," he explained. "Some songs are very different. We listen to one song and think, 'Maybe we should try different sounds with the vocals and the guitars.' It's a different side of Tokio Hotel." But no matter how different things may get, Tokio Hotel promise that anything you've read about the album is probably wrong — especially rumors of a cameo by none other than Miley Cyrus. Of course, that doesn't mean the guys aren't opposed to the occasional superstar collaboration. "Nothing has been fixed in yet. We are thinking about some artists, and they are really surprising artists yet, but it's not fixed in yet," Kaulitz laughed. "We met Miley Cyrus at the VMAs, but that [rumor] is not true. We never thought about that. I think a big dream would be to do something with Aerosmith or someone like that." Kaulitz said there is no definite timetable for finishing the new record, nor would he come forward with any potential titles for songs, but he did hint at the band getting back on the road sometime early next year to premiere some new songs, so ... infer from that what you will. "I am really looking forward to the next tour. ... It will be good to go play for the fans, because they inspire us. I want to see their faces," he said. "And I hope we get the chance to play Warped Tour. That would be really nice." Oh, yeah, and earlier, we mentioned a tattoo. Well, as we're sure you're aware, Kaulitz recently got a new one ... somewhere on his side. But he wouldn't get into specifics about it, because, well — "It's German words, a lot of German words," he laughed. "You can't see it, because I think I have to be naked." Somewhere, an army of Tokio Hotel fans gently weep. Related Artists |
| Frank Iero Says My Chemical Romance Fans Will Be 'Bummed Out' By Leathermouth Posted: 10 Nov 2008 05:00 AM PST Guitarist describes side project as 'just dirty rock and roll.'
All My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero needed was one week — two days, even — to help save one of the most promising bands he's heard in a long while: his new side project, Leathermouth. The way Iero recalled it, Leathermouth formed in a very natural and organic way. A couple of his friends, who had been in other bands, were thinking about starting something. They'd already written and made crude recordings of three songs, which they'd played for Iero in one of their cars one night, not long after My Chemical Romance had returned from touring. "I was like, 'Wow, this is really good,' and from that second, I wanted to be a part of it somehow," Iero told MTV News. "But I had too much sh-- on my hands. So they were like, 'Oh, well, we have this friend who is going to try to sing, and we'll see how it rolls from there.' I was like, 'All right,' because I have a label, and I was thinking maybe down the line, if it works with the vocals, maybe I can sign it and be involved that way." My Chem hit the road again not long after and returned a few months later. Iero checked in on his pals. "I asked, 'Hey, how'd that band go that you guys were working on?' And they said, 'Well, he never wrote any lyrics, so we're not going to do it.' " Iero was stunned. "I said, 'Are you f---ing kidding me? Give me a week. I'll write some lyrics, we'll rent a practice studio and see what happens.' And that's how it went down." Iero, who has been involved with many bands (Pencey Prep, Hybrid, Sector 12, I Am a Graveyard, the Pole Smokin' Five, Give Up the Ghost, Reggie and the Full Effect and a Cure tribute band called Love Cats) but never as a lyricist. So being the face of Leathermouth was going to be a change of pace for him. He wrote all the lyrics in a week. "Two songs on the record, one's called 'Murder Was the Case They Gave Me' ... and the other one's called 'Bodysnatchers Forever,' and it was weird, man. I was sitting in my apartment, playing the songs, and the words kind of came to me, and I was really proud of them too." Iero had never felt the urge to pen prose for any of his bands' songs before, because he said he was "always very fortunate to be in bands with people that I felt were very poetic. I always felt like the voice that I would put across would be through the music end of it. The music end was kind of taken care of [with Leathermouth], so I did the lyrics." Iero said some people think the lyrics — and, in small part, the songs — were inspired by 1980s hardcore. And he doesn't deny it. But he thinks his words were more inspired by film. "I think, more so, it's '80s horror movies, as opposed to any kind of music. Growing up in that time, it's all I watched as a kid, so everything I do is influenced by that in some way. It's weird: The lyrics I wrote are really ... they go through experiences that are going on in the world today, but really through '80s horror-movie imagery. I don't know if that makes sense." Of course it does. But people coming to Leathermouth expecting it'll be My Chem-esque are in for a rude awakening. "I think that people that get into Leathermouth because of my past bands and stuff like that, I think they'll be kind of bummed out, if that's why they're into it," Iero explained. "But it's definitely a lot different, and it's really fun for me, man. It's really cathartic and just a great experience." Iero also shrugged off the suggestion that this new band has a very metal kind of sound. He said Leathermouth is "just dirty rock and roll." Live, "It's just a lot faster." Leathermouth's debut LP will be in stores in January, through Epitaph. Iero said he initially wanted to release the record on his own label but scratched it — with good reason. "With the constant, grueling schedule of My Chem and the other bands on the label, I didn't want it to fail because I didn't have the time to do it," he said. "I have a really hard time promoting myself. I like to do a lot of creative things, but as far as telling people, 'Hey, this is really good — check it out,' I'm not good at. So, I decided, 'Let me just do the record, finish it and give it to a label and just see what happens. Let it fail on its own merit.' Plus, ever since I was a little kid, I've wanted a record out on Epitaph." At some point around the holidays, My Chem, who have been on a bit of a break, will reconvene, and Iero hopes to tour with Leathermouth between stints with Romance — which is obviously his first priority. "We're just trying to get our schedules together so we can get together and write," he said. "We're trying to do something very natural. If we get together and nothing comes out, perfect — who cares? If we get together and a record comes out, you never know." Related Artists |
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