[Reaction] Ja Rule & DMX end their beef

When two Hip Hop rivals decide to end a feud, the moment becomes captured, and is remembered for a long time. When Jay-Z and Nas ended their feud, many people whitnessed a moment of Hip Hop history which they would never have thought they would have seen. With Nas seeming to be the harder of the two rappers, following diss records such as 'Ether', it was Jay-Z that signed Nas to Def Jam, leading many people to perceive that Jay had come out on top, which I strongly disagree. But not all feuding is kept on the records, as Ja will tell you.

Ja Rule has been no stranger to a little bit of beefing. In the early 2000's, he was engaged in a bitter feud with is local rival, and upcoming MC, 50 Cent, and despite Ja seeming to brush this off at first, as being a jealous 'kid' from the area trying to catch a little fame, we all know how much further 50 would go ahead, and despite fake police papers leaked onto the internet trying to label 50 a snitch, many people will look at this feud as the downfall in Ja Rule's career.

So where did the Ja Rule/DMX feud come from? To me, this seems to stem from jealousy. DMX thought that Ja was using the same style of rapping, as DMX was once embraced as the 'rough voice' rapper until Ja started having number 1 records.

So despite DMX firing a couple of diss records towards the Queens rapper, it seemed pretty much dead in the street, until 'The Chicago Incident', which is still a mystery to everyone, with only little facts to enlighten us to what actually occured at the airport when the two entourages met, apart from DMX claiming he saved Ja's life.

The beef was apparently squashed back in 2006, when mutual friend, Irv Gotti arranged a meeting between the two rappers in a jail, where DMX was currently serving time (DMX has had so many felonies, that it is actually impossible for me to find out what he was doing time for in this instance), however, DMX said he would only end the beef if he could 'have five minutes alone in a cell with Ja' so he could 'sort it out like grown men'.

And after the tension had died down, a track was leaked onto the internet from Ja Rule (later included in the leaked album, 'The Mirror', which I reviewed a few weeks back) called 'Judas'. Ja raps:

"Dear Judas what's the deal homie?
How you feeling theese days n***a,
I'm little lonely, no D, no Y, no E, no Kiss, no Styles, no Ruff, no Rydas, doubble lost findes,
We grown men n***a, I tried to put it behind us, but n***as always restate weakness and kindness, so it gets to violence..."

Ironically, the song also takes subliminal shots towards former label mate, and collaborator, Ashanti, with whom Ja performed with last night at the same awards show that he ended the feud with DMX. Eminem was also expected to appear, which would have added another twist in the night, as Ja and Em had a famous feud when Ja Rule dissed the Detroit MC in retaliation associating himself and for signing his enemy 50 Cent, to his Shady Aftermath label. Eminem and DMX had collaborated with another Shady Aftermath artist at the time, Obie Trice, and made a diss record titled 'Go To Sleep', to which DMX had said:

" Easy going with the same one that started the fight,
He be knowing how dog get, when dog gone bite,
Tried to show him the dog shit, it's dog for life."

So with the DMX/Ja Rule beef now put to sleep, and a 'ceasefire' between Ja and Eminem - it just leaves a couple of more questions. Will this lead to Ja calling it quits and squashing the beef with 50? And speaking of 50, was this a publicity stunt, similar to that when 50 and The Game had apparently ended their beef infront of the cameras, only for it to continue rumbling on? I think the answer to both of these questions is 'no'.

DMX has been in enough trouble, and has said in the past, that he wants to sort himself out, and I cant see personal issues such as this stand in his way. And finally, Ja Rule and 50 Cent have been sworn enemies for pretty much their careers - it was Ja Rule that accused 50 Cent of snitching and sending his man to jail, and is believed that the man who infamously shot 50 Cent nine times, was an associate of Murder Inc and Ja Rule, and lets not forget the incident where Ja Rule's entourage stormed a recording studio where 50 was, leading to him getting stabbed by a Ja Rule associate, Black Child. This kind of beef is perminant, and will never be resolved.

But in the mean time, it has gone quiet, and I think the two have decided there was better things to do than diss each other - focus on their own.

[Review] New Boyz - Skinny Jeans & A Mic

Ahhhhhhhh Sorry, I dont have time for this one.

[Review] Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N' Cheek

Artist: Dizzee Rascal
Album: Tongue N' Cheek
Label: Dirtee Skank
Release Date: 21st September 2009
Guests: Armand Van Helden, Chrome & Calvin Harris
Producers: Armand Van Helden, Calvin Harris, Shy FX, Cage, Footsie, Dizzee Rascal, Tiesto, Aaron Lacrate

When So Solid Crew's '21 Seconds' reached number 1 in the UK singles chart, I was firmly under the illusion that UK Hip Hop and Grime was to be a force to be reckoned with. As a nation, the UK has a strong Rock and Indie scene, a strong dance scene, and a relativly strong urban scene, despite most of it coming from overseas. However, we seemed to lack in the Hip Hop department, and that was the reason I was disappointed when So Solid Crew could not maintain a strong hold on mainstream success.

However, Eight years on, and our urban scene still only consists of a hand full of mainstream rappers, although I must admit, I can say for sure, it is on the increase.

Dizzee Rascal first came to my attention around 2002, long before any of the studio albums and chart success, when he was a young boy from Bow, in East London making a name for himself on the mixtapes and pirate radio stations. I knew he had potential to make good music, but I lacked confidence is the mainstream radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Galexy, and Metro taking a risk by playing tracks from a Grime artist. Grime is still considered to be an underground only genre of music, and this was long before the days of 1Xtra.

However, Dizzee was able to deliver, much due to the buzz created on the underground scene. Songs such as 'I Luv U' and 'Flex' have become well accepted on the UK music scene, and not just with the urban fans. This became so much so, that Dizzee was even featured on a charity single 'Do They Know Its Christmas'.

But four albums into his career, Dizzee has cemented his place at the top of the UK scene, and with hot new artists such as Tinchy Stryder, Master Shortee, and Wretch 32, to add to a growing list of mainstream UK rappers such as Kano, Wiley, Skepta, Scorcha and Bashy, it is now becoming a question of when the UK Hip Hop scene can grow into America.

With a two year break from his last album, Dizzee is now ready to go at the charts again, but with a new style - dance. 'Dance Wiv Me' became in instant club success thanks to a collaboration with DJ Calvin Harris, and that was soon followed by 'Bonkers' - an unlikely catchy tune made huge thanks to Armand Van Helden. And with Wiley also making dance tracks, such as 'Wearing My Rolex', I was wondering what direction the UK Hip Hop scene was travelling in.

There was also a point when I was worried the new album was going to become a CD of dance songs, written specially for a new breed of fans - the clubbers. I was wondering if I would ever hear Dizzee spit over a grime beat, or I'd hear another 'Sirens'. But I was happily corrected when I first skipped through the album. I tried the 'five second rule' for each of the songs (as you do) before going back and listening to the album in full, and it became clear to me, that the man I once qued a couple of hours to buy a ticket for to see live was still the same man rapping on the new CD.

The CD opened with 'Bonkers', which I soon skipped to track two, a song called 'Road Rage' which instantly became attatched to my taste, and has since become my favourite song on the album. It is a certain classic with the car fanatics, as it deals with general road user frustrations. Track four, 'Freaky Freaky' is another great song, depicting explicit sex ventures the stereotypical young male from East London may encounter.

In fact, by the end of the album, I was genuinly enjoying it. 'Holiday' became an annoyance to me, as I thought it would only appeal to holidayers on Islands in the Med, but I was soon absorbed into it, and out of the three singles from the CD, that one became my favourite.

There is also an additional CD called 'Foot N' Mouth' which has interviews, promos, and other tracks from artists on Dizzee's 'Dirtee Skank' records. Since I saw the Newham Generals live when they supported Dizzee, I made sure these were soon uploaded onto my iPod.

So overall, I would say this is a great album, but far from Dizzee's best. For me, it would have to go a long way to top the last album, 'Maths + English'. For me, that was Dizzee at his peak, and I am not sure whether he has it to be able to go one better. Songs like 'Flex' , 'P***yhole' and 'Sirens' are classics, and are much better than the dance tracks he is producing for the radio and clubs these days, but dont get me wrong, this is still a good buy.

7/10

[Review] Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon: The End Of The Day

Artist: Kid Cudi
Album: Man On The Moon: The End Of The Day
Label: GOOD Music
Release Date: September 15th 2009
Guests: Billy Cravens, Ratatat, Common, Kanye West, & MGMT
Producers: Kanye West, Emile, Jeff Bhasker, Dot Da Genius, Crada, Matt Friedman, Free School, Crookers & Plain Pat.

Throughout the next 12 months at awards shows broadcast on BET, MTV or whoever else is deciding to dish out awards these days, Im sure you will hear 'Kid Cudi' mentioned under the catogory of The Best New Comer. In fact, as writing this, I have just seen this year's BET nominations, and I am so far correct.

To a lot of people, this name will conjour up something incorrect. Holiday makers may recognise the name from Ibiza, Malia, Kos, Kavos or Zante last summer, where Kid Cudi was the artist of one of the biggest dance songs that swept across the club scene, spreading to the UK, and eventually onto Radio stations that heard the buzz. From there, Cudi landed on top of the Official Singles chart. Of course, although it was Kid Cudi, it was an Italian DJ duo, known as the Crookers. The duo had sampled the original 'Day N Night' song they had heard while in the US. The outcome was so massive, that it has overshadowed the original.

But the fact of the matter is, that the real sound of Kid Cudi is far from that. If you buy the album, you will not here any dance songs. You will not hear anything that any club DJ will play.

OK, so next you will probably see that Kid Cudi is a protege of Kanye West. "So if he is not interupting award shows, surely Cudi is making Hip Hop tunes for the street, or with catchy autotune hooks, dancing in videos with pretty girls and driving fancy cars" you might ask next? Nope, none of these. Despite being on a label with names such as Kanye, GLC, Consequence and Common, Cudi is far from this too.

The only way to describe the sound of this CD, is to imagine that your asleep. That seems to be the album theme, with the first few tracks sounding very sureal. In fact, it sounded 'too sureal' for me, and had me feeling droopy. The album is split into several sections - End Of The Day, Rise Of The Night Terrors, Taking A Trip, Stuck & A New Beginning. So the album follows the average person's sleep patterns.

Appart from nearly putting me into a sleep pattern, the only songs I will feel like listening to again are 'Day N Night' (the original version) although I've heard this so many times that this might not be the case, 'Soundtrack 2 My Life' and finally, the second single, 'Make Her Say', which features Common and Kanye West. These are the only two songs with any Hip Hop feel. If you like to listen to music while you drive, do not have this CD on, seriosly, it will probably make you fall asleep at the wheel!

If yo work as a session therapist, then this will be the best CD money can buy for you, maybe apart from Natural Wale sounds or Sounds of The Ocean (Natural Wale sounds is not a reference to another new artist).

I must admit, I am very disappointed with the album. I do not mind albums having themes, but I do like it to have a theme which I can listen to and stay active to.

2/10

[Review] Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3

Artist: Jay-Z

Album: The Blueprint 3

Label: Roc Nation/Atlantic

Release: Date: September 11th 2009

Guests: Luke Steele (of Empire of The Sun), Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi, Mr Hudson, Pharrell, J. Cole, Drake, Young Jeezy & Alicia Keys.

Producers: Kanye West, No I.D., Al Shux, The Inkredebles, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, & The Neptunes.

I have often wondered why so many people regard Jay-Z as being the greatest rapper alive. Sure, MTV one said that the title belonged to Lil' Wayne, and I personally believe Eminem cannot be matched for talent, although Fabolous and Cassidy are also as good.

I mean, Jay-Z never seemed to reach out to me in the past, and although my iPod does contain some 'Jigga' music, such as 'Show Me What You Got', 'Prey', and 'Change Clothes' as well as a few more, I never felt the urge to upload entire albums onto that MP3 player. With no disrespect to Jay, I admire his work, especially in the last six or seven years of his career, but I cant help think that without Beyonce being his celebrity girlfriend, with whom the couple collaborated on several occasions, Jay would not have the status he has right now.

I for one feel Nas won he feud, and I rate Nas as being a better lyricist. Jay tried to walk in Biggie's shoes and I also felt he was harsh to artists such as Mobb Deep and Joe Budden - maybe Jay was trying to be a little 'too dominant' with his apparent 'King of NYC' status. I also felt that the best rapper alive should not have been 'out-performed' by his three collaborators on 'Swagga Like Us'.

I am not saying that I am not a fan, in fact I have more to credit Jay with than I can knock him for. I have just been skeptical that too much was expected of The Blueprint 3. Afterall, his last album is listed as a favourite by Mr Obama, and was a tenth sraight number 1 in the US. Although not one of my favourite albums Jay has released, it was only intended to be a concept, and was very much different to the rest of his discography.

The Blueprint 3 began its origins a little over a year ago. Despite coming out of retirement in 2003, Jay announced the new album was going to be his best yet, and would be a classic. After a stunning headline performance at the Glastonbury Festival in 2008, Jay was buzzing. New interest from UK fans had developed from what I can only describe as being a performance of a perfectionist, as a red faced Noel Gallagher sat at home, no doubt wishing he had not bitched to a magazine about Jay (afterall, those publicity stunt comments did not really help sell many copies of the next album did it??). The fact that many people thought his performance was just going to be a standard string of hits, maybe some boos, and objects thrown seemed to lower the bar, for a music legend to do his work. Afterall, the UK has suffered in lack of Hip Hop gigs, and now, interest has sparked up, as Jay is now returning with the band, Coldplay, and demand could be no greater.

Within weeks, 'Jockin' Jay-Z', a Kanye West produced track was circulating the internet, and Jay-Z fans buzzed, as once again, a musical assault on Gallagher appeared in verse two, but for some reason, no reply came (maybe he was too busy arguing with his own brother). The commercial Jay-Z was back, despite a sleight hiatus. Two more tracks followed - 'History' which celebrates the victory of Barack Obama in the 2008 US Presedential Elections, and 'Brooklyn', featuring Santagold, a tribute to the late Biggie Smalls, and would later appear in the movie soundtrack. A track featuring T.I., Kanye West and Lil' Wayne was mouth watering for all Hip Hop fans, and despite appearing on T.I.'s 'Paper Trail' album, it was also set to appear on The Blueprint 3, along with new verses from Nas and Andre 3000 from Outkast. However none of these tracks would make the final cut, as I would find to my disappointment several months later.

The album was taking shape behind closed doors, but for some reason, there was no push behind the above records.records. For sure, 'History' had the right ingredients to be a chart success, but perhaps Jay was looking for another sound. Then Timbaland came out, and claimed he was producing the entire album - I was stunned not only to believe that, but also to think Kanye was not going to be working with his mentor. Jay denied this statement, and left me wondering what on earth was going on - after all, why would Timbaland claim this is it was not true?

It also seemed odd that a few weeks before its release date, all three of the Timbaland produced tracks appeared on the internet. They were also rather weak by Timbo's standards and drew in a lot of critisism from fans on the forums and on social netowrking sites such as Twitter. Was there some tension between the two camps? What was going on behind the scenes?

Before all of this though, Jay-Z announced that the first official single from the album was 'D.O.A. (Death of The Autotune)' - another song that prompted rumours to a fallout behind the scenes, this time between Jay and Kanye. Jay was dissing autotune in this record, despite Kanye's recent use of the feature on his last album and other appearances he has made on other records. It made me wonder why Jay was dissing artists for using it, despite Kanye rebirthing his career with it. Funnily enough, it came just weeks after an internet rumour that Kanye had added autotune on a few of the tracks for The Blueprint 3, and Jay had demanded he took it off. Coicedence? There is no smoke without fire these days.

D.O.A. is a street single, perhaps influenced by Nas' outspoken activity in recent years towards the Hip Hop industry. The song became well received within the rap game, and there are several remixes floating around. It sort of reminds me of 'The Takeover' by using a similar style beat, as well as a rather angry sounding Hova.

The next single was set to be 'Off That' featuring the newest buzz in Hip Hop, Drake, and would be produced by Timbaland. Suprisingly, it was not to be the next big single, and in fact, was one of the songs which was leaked to a poor reception from fans. The beat is boring in my eyes, and Drake does not get a chance to shine like he has on previous records, as he merely sings the hook.

Instead, 'Run This Town' dropped featuring Kanye West and Rihanna, her first appearance since her ongoings with Chris Brown. After the song leaked, there was an anticipation over the video which soon followed to a good reception. The song has a good beat, a strong hook, and quite a good verse from Kanye (without the autotune funnily enough) although I felt Jay failed to do anything with it. Both his verses were dull, and meant nothing to the main core audience of the single - radio. The apparent greatest rapper alive wasn't shining, and I felt it was a missed opportunity to create a smash with three of the biggest names in urban music. I was just hoping the album would not disappoint.

However, when I listened through, closely to every track on the CD, I started to realise that Jay had been hiding something. Tracks began to stand out to me, and I began to regret ignoring the hype to the extend I did. Track 5, 'Empire State of Mind' with Alicia Keys has a bouncy beat and a 'good' set of versus, but Alicia sings a classic hook, and the hook alone could make his a future single, and probably a top 10. Track 15 features the UK band, Mr Hudson, fresh of the back of their smash hit, 'Supernova' with Kanye West, and is another amazing song, with a strong feel about it, although I later found out that the beat and hook sang by Mr Hudson are pretty much the same as the original sample - Aplhaville - Young Forever (1984).

Track 7, 'On To The Next One' featuring the trademark upbeat 'banging' beat from Swizz Beatz (sampling the 2007 smash hit 'D.A.N.C.E. by Justice) and for me, this song has the most 'Hip Hop' feel to it, and the only factor from this being a huge hit is the fact Jay swears too much to make a radio edit.

After this, there is an average song with Young Jeezy called 'Real As It Gets', and does not make much of an impact for me, several dull Timbaland tracks which I have removed from my iPod, and song with Pharrell which does not live up to the pair's previous collaborations.

So overall, to say I was not excited to hear this album would be wrong. But I cannot rate the album a top score based on the fact six of the fifteen tracks on the album are constantly on repeat on my iPod. I have now realised what it is about Jay-Z that makes him the 'great' he is - he is only as good as the beats he has. His flow is unique, but cannot turn a dull, monotinous and dry sounding beat into a good song, such as Fabolous, Eminem, Juelz Santana or Cassidy. But when given something explosive, such as 'Empire State of Mind', his level is raised.

I think this album will become a lead contender for album of the year in the commercial world, but I sense that it is not consistant enough to be an all-rounder.

7/10

Urban Legends Radio

Currently only streaming part time, Urban Legends Radio will soon be going 24/7, like a full time radio station, broadcasting to you, the best Hip Hop out there. With an archive of thousands of tracks, ranging from old skool, through to current, there will be a variety of everything.

Bookmark this address - http://robdavies.youstream.fm/ *COMING SOON*

Heres this week's current playlist. If you have any suggestions, please email me. requests@live.co.uk - Playlist updated one a week

Playlist

50 Cent - OK, Your Right

Asher Roth/Keri Hilson - She Dont Want A Man

Beyonce - Sweet Dreams

Birdman/Jay Sean - Written On Her

Black Eyed Peas - Gotta Feelin'

Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway

Cam'ron - Spend The Night

Cassie/Diddy - Must Be Love

Drake/Trey Songz - Successful

Eminem - Beautiful

Flo Rida/Nelly Furtado - Jump

Isreal/Fabolous - Gemini (Remix)

Keri Hilson/Kanye West/Ne-Yo - Knocks You Down

Jay-Z/Kanye West/Rihanna - Run This Town

Jeremih - Birthday Sex

Jeremih/Juelz Santana - Imma Star (Remix)

Jim Jones/Ryan Leslie - Precious

Maino/Lloyd Banks/Swizz Beatz - Million Bucks (Remix)

Mariah Carey/Gucci Mane - Obsessed

Mario/Sean Garrett/Gucci Mane - Break Up

Mary J Blige/Drake - The One

Maxwell - Pretty Wings

Mook N Fair/DJ Webstar - Who's Your Daddy

Mr Hudson/Kanye West - Supernova

Nelly/Diddy - 1000 Stacks

OJ Da Juiceman - Say Aye!

Plies - Becky

The-Dream/Kanye West - Walkin' On The Moon

Vic Demone/Juelz Santana - Drink It Out The Bottle

Whitney Houston/Swizz Beatz - Million Dollar Bill

[Review] Ja Rule - The Mirror

There are some artists that have created the Hip Hop audience that we have today, mainly the mainstream rappers. To bring a few to mind, most of those first became exposed to rap music by hearing music from Eminem, Nelly, 50 Cent, P Diddy, 2Pac, Biggie, and of course Ja Rule.

I remember the late 90's, and early 2000's when a new Ja Rule album meant a couple of top ten hits. These were the days when Ja was often collaborating with the likes of Ashanti, R Kelly, and Jennifer Lopez. However, as 2009 is now upon us, Ja Rule'sstring of hits has seemed to dry up, with now major release in over five years, and no major collaborations. In this time, rap music has changed, in a worldof Auto-tune, Flo Rida and record labels pushing album titles back, and it seems Ja has become victim of board room politics in the last couple of years.

2007 was suppose to be the return of Ja Rule. The Mirror was going to drop in the summer, along with Papoose, Nelly, 50 Cent and much more. By September, only 50 Cent had released an album from this list, with nothing in sight from the others, and a year later, we were gifted by a poorly promoted Nelly album, which many fans will say is below par in comparison to previous releases. Yet, Ja had released a couple of singles - 'Free' which features a new RnB voice, Ashley Joi, 'Uh Oooh' which had vocals from Lil' Wayne (later to have verses from Murder Inc members as well) and finally, 'Body' with Ashley Joi again. All received average ratings, and poor chart positions.

Early 2009, and there was still no official release in sight, but now a song with Robin Thicke had leaked across the internet. Was this a sign that it was on its way? Soon after, a mixtape entitled 'The Atkins Files Vol.1' was released for a free download on his Myspace page. Fans were hoping that this wasn;t a case of Ja Rule releasing all of his material away for free, and had simply given up of having a record label, promotional companies and advertisers trying to work together to get him back up the charts. Looking back now, it was.

By now, much of the album had leaked, although the source was still unkown.

However, at the end of last week, various news sources (MTV included) were reporting the the full album would become available for free download. For me, this was a sad sight, as although I am a huge fan of Ja and could not wait to hear another installment of the Queens rapper's life, it also means that any chance of getting himself back up on BET, MTV, The Hits, TMF and other music video channels, along with regular spins on Hot 97, BBC Radio 1 in the UK now look very unlikely.

The material that has leaked (whether or not this was going to be the official album or not) lacks substance. Ja Rule has failed to deliver any classic material, despite having five years to come up with something. There are no top producers involved with this, and a lot of the beats do not sound like something that a rapper that was once on MTV Cribs would think to be good enough for people to buy.

The track 'Free' actually turns out to be a bonus track, and for me, this is one of the best songs on the album. The other song which stands out for me, is 'Judas' - a bizarre diss towards former collaborator, Ashanti, who has since left The Ink to do her own thing, as well as a verse dissing DMX. There is also a subliminal diss towards 50 Cent, as Ja raps "Up in da club....I'll put that tenth bullethole in the top of your head." Whether or not 50 Cent can be bothered to attack back to someone he feels lost the feud years ago remains unlikely.

So are the glamour years over the Ja Rule? It looks like it. The record label dont want to waste money on a project they do not think will sell, and unfortunatly one of raps biggest stars is the victim. Dedicated Ja Rule fans will claim that Ja will return with something else in the future, but considering the only way to get played today, is to put music for the clubs out, this is something which is nothing but a memory for Ja.

I admire Ja for thinking of his fans first. It seems that they mean more to him than trying to make more money. However, the quality of music itself may disappoint many of them.

3/10