February 2013

Juelz Santana is grinding hard. His God Will’n mixtape is already out and he’s currently working on his upcoming mixtape All We Got Is Us as well his comeback album Born To Lose, Built To Win. In his latest vlog, he hits the studio with DJ Khaled and Lil Wayne in Miami to work on new music. The song that Lil Wayne (executive producer of the album) and Juelz Raps on sounds OFFICIAL!!

Posted by : Mista Bless

Today marks the 10th anniversary of one of Hip-Hop’s greatest and highest selling albums — 50 Cent’s Get Rich Die Ttyin’. The album officially released (it hit stores a couple of days early due to high demand) on February 6th, 2002 and changed the genre forever. The impact was so high that the album is now considered a certified “classic” by both fans and critics and has sold in excess of 8 million copies to this day.

Complex reached out to some of 50′s peers and fans from the music world to take their thoughts on the album’s impact where exactly they were when it arrived in stores.

Pusha T:

“.. And it made me have a whole other outlook, because I’m like, ‘Damn, I can love this and I can like this and I do see the greatness in it without it being what I strive for.’ 50 Cent made me look at music and writing differently.”

Funk Flex:

“I remember being in the club and the vinyl was still popping then and you could play six or seven records off that album and send the club into a frenzy.”

Prodigy:

“It was a good time for Queens. 50 had just dropped. He was really heating up. It was just crazy. He was a friend of a friend, so it felt good to see him be successful like that and get his shine.

Bun B:

“Personally, I was just happy to see this guy persevere through everything. 50 was always a cocky guy. He always didn’t give a damn what anybody thought about what he said and he just rode that out.”

DJ Drama:

“You know, what 50 did, what Kanye did, what Jay-Z did, what Drake did, what Jeezy did, those were those moments when it’s just that one artist and he is hip-hop for that moment. Clearly when Get Rich or Die Tryin’ came out there’s no argument anywhere, about anything. It was Fif’s world, period.”

stic.man of dead prez:

“50’s presence and his inspiration at that time was infectious, in terms of the culture, in terms of the community, in terms of the hood, in terms of hip-hop. Like him or not like him, 50 Cent has a master plan of marketing his brand and using his life to draw attention to what he was about.

Juicy J:

“I was a fan. I love Get Rich or Die Tryin’. That was one of my favorite albums. It’s a classic. I was really, really listening to that album. Then he had the G-Unit thing going on and Young Buck was a friend of mine. I been knowing Young Buck forever. So I was happy for Young Buck as well, because he’d been rapping so long and he finally got his big break in G-Unit. I think it’s a blessing for people coming from the street to do something that they love and actually make a living off it and feed their families and stuff. That’s very important. It’s important to work together.”

Tech N9ne:

“50 probably ain’t gotta do shit no more [to make money]. To still see him doing music, it lets you know that that shit is inside you because he ain’t gotta do it, ever again. To see him keep doing it, it lets me know that when I think about retiring, [I can’t]. When I hear a dope beat it makes me want to fucking go. I can’t stop. That’s all I can think of when I see 50 still doing his thing. It must be in his blood, he don’t wanna let it go. He ain’t gotta do it, especially if he bought Mike Tysons house with one song.”

Sha Money XL:

“I never wanted to be an engineer but we didn’t have any money to pay anybody. Even when we got the check, he was still a cheap bastard, and he didn’t even want to have to hire an engineer. So I had to engineer the record too, at an all-in fee. But it was a get rich fee. That fee made me a millionaire at 26. So I thank 50 Cent for that, because I got rich and I didn’t die trying.”

Mike WiLL Made It:

“I bought the album. I remember when me and my mom were riding around, we used to bump that shit. My mom used to know the words to all the 50 Cent songs, we used to bump ‘Many Men’ so much.”

Posted by : Mista Bless

Swizz Beatz has announced that he has become an equity investor and is also a board member of San Francisco based Monster Inc. The headphones and audio gear company split from Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s Beats Electronics at end of 2012 when Beats decided to manufacture, design and market their line on their own. Monster unveiled some of the endorsers at the CES in January which included singer/drummer Sheila E, actor Nick Cannon, rapper Xzibit and boxer Sugar Ray Leonard.

Says Monster’s chief executive Noel Lee:

“Swizz will advise us on our creative direction, product design and our marketing. We’ll be looking to him to tell us what’s next. He’s the real deal. He doesn’t get involved in something unless he believes in it.”

Swizz:

“Monster has always been a go-to name for music electronics as well as a big part of music culture. The company has literally been changing the way people listen to music for over 30 years. They built an empire, and my job will be to push the envelope–turn the lights of the castle up really bright and help Monster take its next big step forward.”

Posted by : Mista Bless

Fast & Furious 6 (alternatively known as Fast Six) is an upcoming action film written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin. It is the sixth installment in the Fast and the Furious film series. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster will star.

Fast & Furious 6 was in development by February 2010 as the first film in the series to move away from the underground car-racing theme of the series’ previous films which was considered to have placed a barrier on audience numbers. Pre-production had begun by April 2011, and principal photography began in London, England in July 2012. Filming locations also include the Canary Islands, Scotland, Liverpool, England and Los Angeles. The film is scheduled for release on May 24, 2013.

Posted by : Mista Bless