August 2006 Archives

SOHH... let's talk about this Mike Jones movie, "The American Dream."

Chamillionaire performs at the VMAs kickoff concert

As you probably know by now, the Video Music Awards will be televised live on MTV tomorrow night (August 31st). Proudly representing Houston at this year's VMAs -- Beyonce and Chamillionaire.

That's it.

So, the streets have been fiendin' for some Z-Ro info lately. As you know, he was reportedly locked up and slapped with a four-year sentence. Amidst widespread speculation about his release, I tracked down Ro's cousin Trae to find out what the real deal is.

I* finally learned how to do the snap dance.

Chamillionaire revealed the title of his new album at the 6th Annual DUB Custom Auto Show & Concert that went dooowwwn at Houston's Reliant Park yesterday (August 27). For some reason, I expected Cham and Paul Wall to kiss and make up a la Jay-Z and Nas at 2005's Powerhouse concert. Was it meant to happen?

Word on the street is that Jay-Z and Beyonce plan on spending $3 million on a lavish wedding slated for November.

SOHH... Whatever happened to your favorite rapper's favorite H-Town crew, the Geto Boys? Houston hip-hop sure as hell needs some GB in its life right now. And I ain't talking 'bout that cut-and-paste piece of crap they dropped last year.

After listening to Scarface's "No Snitching" spiel on songs like "Snitch Nigga," "I Never Snitch," and "The G Code," it's almost unthinkable to even view 'Face as a snitch himself. But, Lil' Troy recently confirmed what one of my boys disclosed to me a couple years ago: Scarface is a snitch.

I don't know about you, but I'm really getting sick and tired of hearing everybody rhyme about their teef. Sh*t is so appalling it defies any level of tolerance in my book.

Swagger? Check. Heart? Check. Flow? Check. Southern drawl? Check. Check. Check.
Dope rhymes? Dope rhymes?

I find it ironic that Lil' Flip had to deal with label bullying in the first place. No matter what you think of his rap skills (if we can call it that) Flipper was the first among his peers to taste national success.

LeToya fell out of the Top 10 this week, but her self-titled debut still moved an impressive 43,879 units, which puts her at 274,299 after three weeks on the chart. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for your favorite pimp.

Just when I thought we would never hear about Beyonce's "Ring the Alarm" again, they go and make a music video for it. Thankfully, the video is fun to watch.

Please do what the song title says, for this is a tragic tune indeed. What's up with all the sirens and warped noises anyway?

Word on the street is that Chamillionaire will be featured on 50 Cent's next album. This is a good look for Cham, but I'm trying to make sense of it all, seeing as 50 has a history of turning his back on the South.

There's something leery about any artist who goes by Big Tuck, and claims to be the pioneer of a new sound known as "scrunk" (that's Screw + Crunk for the slow). Still, I haven't heard enough from this guy to actually form a decisive opinion on the direction of his music. However, he's made it into my good book (for now) for doing something positive and inspiring recently.

The bad news is that LeToya is no longer No. 1. (What, you thought she was gonna rule the charts forever?) The good news, however, is that she's still hanging around in the top 5, having moved 65,000 units this week. Hey, what about Trae?

from the rap game, that is.

First, Z-Ro gave us the bad news that he's leaving the game because of the industry's (read: Rap-A-Lot's) shady-minded business nature, now Scarface (aka Brad Jordan) has confirmed what we already knew. I think you should be worried, really worried that Scarface--the only 'King of the South' (sorry, Tip)--is leaving this rap game for good.

You know, I almost bought it. The hype. The indispensible buzz. The street team on every music blog and message board telling folks that LeToya's CD is the best thing since YouTube. Like you, I almost bought it. The "Oh please, please, please buy my album" masqueraded as a reality show on BET. The "Oh this is hardwork...real hardwork" in a stance reminiscent of George Bush during his famous election debate with John Kerry. 165,000 opening week sales and a No.1 spot? Not too bad as a reward for all that hardwork, but, let's not forget the prime focus here: the music itself. Is LeToya the album really as alluring as LeToya the artist?

Cue the monkeys. The music industry has lost its goddamn mind.

Lil' Flip, on the other hand, has found a new home. No, he won't be shoulder leanin' alongside Young Dro at Atlantic. He's been moved to that other label that always seems to jinx rappers and their sales, unless you're armed with the tact and cleverness* of Mike Jones.

While Chamillonaire's monstrous hit, "Ridin,'" is still making rounds and spinning major airplay down here, the Koopa himself seems to be having a hard time in Europe.

What'd I tell y'all? This LeToya Luckett chick has the most support out of all the up and comers this year. So, I'm barely surprised that she debuted on No.1 this week.

Quiet as kept, Pimp C and Bun B of UGK are two of the smartest and most diplomatic rappers of their time. Maybe that's why they've lasted so long in the game. They seem to be the only ones with the understanding that truce > beef.

You can't say LeToya Luckett without also mentioning Beyoncé these days. Apparently, some LeToya faithfuls suggested that Beyoncé felt so threatened by homegirl's extremely-hyped debut that she decided to put her new album, B'Day, on pre-sale. As expected, Beyoncé and her mana-dad (that's manager/dad for the slow) Mathew Knowles have now responded to those rumors with all the usual press release phrases: