RIP Isaac Hayes

This marks a sad day in Soul music.

RIP to the ultra legendary, legendary music pioneer!

Your music and legacy will live on!

I Run NY

Damn! Who would have ever thought...



Just one of the reasons why Jay-Z is the most influential artist in Hip Hop right alongside Pac.


aug7video-2 from Azi Paybarah on Vimeo.

LMAO at Bloom knowing Jay's discogs. You nerds need to step ya rap game up!

Listing LAX

01. State of Emergency (Feat. Ice Cube) (Produced By Jonathan “J.R.” Rothem)
02. Bulletproof Diaries (Feat. Raekwon) (Produced By Jelly Roll)
03. Cali Sunshine (Feat. Bilal) (Produced By Nottz)
04. Game’s Pain (Feat. Keysha Cole) (Produced By Knobody)
05. My Life (Feat. Lil’ Wayne) (Produced By Cool & Dre)
06. Angel (Feat. Common) (Produced By Kanye West)
07. Camera Phone (Feat. Ne-Yo) (Produced By Cool & Dre)
08. A Thug And A Gentleman (Feat. Ne-Yo) (Produced By Jonathan “J.R.” Rothem)
09. Us Live (Feat. Chrisette Michelle) (Produced By Scott Storch)
10. Put Ya Hands Up (Feat. Busta Rhymes) (Produced By Scott Storch)
11. Dope Boys (Feat. Travis Barker) (Produced By 1500 or Nothin’)
12. Touchdown (Feat. Raheem DeVaughn) (Produced By Nottz)
13. Ya Heard (Feat. Ludacris) (Produced By Nottz)
14. Nice (Produced By Irv Gotti)
15. House Of Pain (Produced By DJ Toomp)
16. Letter To The King (Produced By Hi-Tek)

Damn that's a lot of guest appearances. In fact, the first solo track doesn't come in until track 14.

Plus Game ft. Gangsta rapper Common? This album looks very very interesting to say the least.

Marketing

Peace to MTV, VH1, Apple, and Sirius for holding us down as far as advertising and things of that nature. We're working hand in hand as partners. So you can always follow the links to their site and see what's good with them, browse around, whatever. They have a lot to offer as far merchandise, DVDs, CDs, and bargain deals.
Note: I don't plan to go extreme with the advertising on the blog, because I know it's a bitch and cuts down on bandwidth/loading times. Not only that, but I also like to keep a close tight knit community with the readers of this blog. So the most ads you'll ever see is what I like to call the Hightop and Sideburns. Plus, you will never see Text Link Ads in the middle of my posts! I HATE THAT WITH A PASSION!



They've seen the vision, do you? If anyone is interested in advertising on this blog email me at amedproductions@yahoo.com for further information and rates.

Keep 'em Plugged,

A.

Joell Blogs...

Anyone who has followed Joell Ortiz's career as a fan knows that JO has had some of the most comprehensive blogs around even before the one he recently started up independently.

He talks about a wide range of subject matter from his "dropped" situation, to cameo appearances, and day to day talk.

Shout out to Mr. Ortiz. You know we holding you down on the Blog Steam Roll.

Timbaland Stomped

Jay shoots Timbo down quicker than Cheney with a rifle.

“You know I love Timbaland, he is like a brother to me, but until the music is done it’s premature,” Jay said. “I’m a person that works off music. If Timbaland makes 10 great tracks then he produces the album, if Kanye West makes 10 great tracks then he produces the album; if he makes three, I’ll take three. I let the music dictate the direction.”

To say the least, I am still very intrigued about which way he'll venture with his RocNation debut album. Read the rest of the article here.

MP4 Update

Just finished uploading Jay-Z's Vol. 2...Hardknock Life videography. You can also check out and download all of his other videos here. I'm still in the process of uploading all his other albums.

Next up: Vol. 3...Life and Times of S. Carter

Oh and this so happens to be the blog's 400th post. Salute!

187

That's right! Your boy Nas sold 187,000 copies in first week sales.

Damn my estimate was right on. I called it 200k.

Sure he did double that with Hip Hop is Dead but you have to realize that was in '06. It's a different market now.

Winter Detox

So Dre's $350 headset (Beats by Dr. Dre - corny ass name) is going on sale this Friday huh.

To say the least, I'm somewhat interested in what it has to offer, but they have give us more specs if they want me to shell out that much.

Oh yea...and Dre has given a timetable for Detox's release this winter...

RIGHT!!! We all remember when the first single was supposed to drop last December. In fact, here's my post about it! LOL

Here's the full story on USA Today!

Super Corny

I just finished up reading about how Rick Ross was "exposed" for being a correctional officer and whatnot. And I did a pretty good job from refraining to post anything about it. Because

1) That shit is corny as hell.

2) A brother gotta make a living right?

But then he came back in the studio and made a response record. That's cool and all but when you start airing out bloggers that shit is mad cheesy. It's not just Rick Ross neither, it's a lot of artists dedicating songs to bloggers either praising or bashing them to the extent where some are doing whole mixtapes for blogs and shit. Lame...

All I'm saying is, that shit is corny son! I would never breath the name of any blogger on wax, nonetheless these hardbody Canadians who've never witnessed a breakdance move in person.

Some bloggers think they're God, it's not even funny yo. Actually, it's pretty sad if you ask me. Am I blogger? Yes. But I'm not your average suck your dick for a click blogger. In the words of Lil Wayne, "Get off the computer and go do something."

Air Yeezy

Now these....I love 'em.

Nas' New Kicks

Fila Italia Highs. Not bad yo....

SMH

Can Someone please tell me what exactly is wrong with Islam? What does this have anything to do with jihad or terrorism...? None of us complain about the dozens of biblical ads hovering the underground system. This is a sad, sad day for all Muslims. This is just proof of the injustice and discrimination tagged with being a Muslim in America. Now I really really want to start a rally or something - it's getting ridiculous to the point where you don't even want to be here no more.

Allah board!

An Islamic group plans to blitz 1,000 subway cars with advertisements this September in a campaign being promoted by a Brooklyn imam whom federal officials have linked to a plot to blow up city landmarks.

The group says its mission is to explain the true nature of Islam to non-Muslims who believe the religion is bent on acts of violence - but Siraj Wahhaj, the inflammatory imam who appears in a promotional YouTube video for the project, has defended convicted bomb-plotters and called the FBI and CIA the "real terrorists."

US Attorney Mary Jo White even named Wahhaj one of 170 unindicted co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the thwarted plan to blow up a slew of buildings.

"In time, this so-called democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing, and the only thing that will remain will be Islam," Wahhaj said in one of his sermons.

The stark, black-and-white ads of the Subway Project promote Islam with the goals of clearing up long-held misconceptions about the faith and reaching out to those interested in becoming Muslim, according to the Islamic Circle of North America, the group behind the campaign.

Timed to run during the month of Ramadan, the ads come in pairs, reading "Q: Prophet Muhammad?" or "Q: Islam?" and the corresponding answer is always "A: You deserve to know."

Those interested in knowing more are directed to call (877) WHY-ISLAM or to visit whyislam.org, which provide literature that teaches and proselytizes about the faith.

The group insists it is not looking to transform subway cars into the "G-had train."

"Anyone who looks at this ad objectively can see that it is not preaching anything," Azeem Khan, the group's assistant secretary general, told The Post. "There is a lot of Islamaphobia out there. We provide people with a chance to speak with an actual Muslim who is informed."

Wahhaj, imam of Al-Taqwa mosque, is a former member of the Nation of Islam and was the first Muslim to give an invocation at the House of Representatives.

Formal charges were never filed against him by White, although he did serve as a character witness for the defense in the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, "the blind sheik" who is now serving a life sentence for his role in plotting the 1993 WTC bombings.

In the promotional video for the Subway Project, Wahhaj is the first to speak.

"Every day in this city, some 4.9 million people ride the subways - that is a lot of people," he says. "Imagine them seeing the word Islam. Imagine them seeing the word Muhammad."

The MTA confirmed that the group has signed a contract for the ad campaign but would not comment further.

You can bombard his email with spam at

jeremy.olshan@nypost.com

Jeremy Olshan will be condemned by God in any religious form.

Getting Storched

or torched in this case....

I was reading an intriguing article about Scott Storch and his empire and amazingly enough, it notes that he hasn't had a top 10 hit in over 3 years. Then again, who has? Not even Dre matches that - which goes to show you how valued Storch is in the music industry.

It's crazy - the man has put out so many top hit records, that people won't accept anything short of that.

And I'm still boasting about getting placements on a couple of retail albums. That's Nothing! LOL

Untitled In Stores Now!

I got my copy last week.

This album is super-b. It gets better with every listen. Nas really brought it on this LP.

Buy Nas' Untitled on iTunes Now!

Moving Music....

...the traditional way. Here's an interesting article I came across looking into the Street Corner hustle.

It's a good read for those interested in marketing their music. And it's good to see that people still have the passion and are not afraid to sell their music face to face and not IP to IP.

I can't complain about the internet communities over saturating the music industry because there is talent out there. But at the same token, I miss the days when I would listen to demo tapes outside of Fulton Mall. There's just not much of them anymore.

And by the way, the most I ever paid for an album was 5 flat. 10 is outrageous. LOL

Nas' Album Signing

Sitdown w/Jean Grae

Damn she looking fiiiine in that pic....

Hormones aside, here's that

Jean Grae Interview

Nas Shows Love to the Fans

He held a live video chat today at 4 PM answering a lot of ya'll questions and shouted out everyone by name. I don't know if anyone was able to record it as it was streaming live but here's a rundown of what happened.

Recap:

- Addresses people who still think the album is too controversial - "Get Over It" Well said...

- Sampling issues is the reason why Be A Nigger Too wasn't on the final cut of the album.

- Addresses collabo deals with Premier and Large Pro. Quoted as saying with genuine enthusiasm "I'd love to work with them again."

- Addresses the absence of MF Doom on the album as "He's a weird dude." He meant it in a good way though, don't get it twisted....

- Confirms a Lost Tapes 2 is definitely in the works. Surprise Surprise.

- Is quoted as saying "Yah Trick Yah, I love that shit" - He had to be sarcastic with that one yo LMAO.

- Describes the thought process of when he first heard the beat to Fried Chicken and how Common was originally intended to be the artist on board. Both parties agreed to do the record, but conflicting schedules kept it from happening. Damn...

- He's holding a RARE album signing at Virgin in NYC on July 15th. I'm there!!

- Shouted out everyone including the homeground - Long Island City! 11101 Stand Up!

Now someone get me a job as journalist.

Sly Fox Video Poster

He's shooting a video for this? I can't wait....

Check out the pictures from the set featuring Jay Smooth.

I wonder if it's going to be taken down off of Youtube and Myspace, knowing that it is owned by the corporate monster.

ALSO: Big thanks to Nas' for placing me on his Blogroll on his website! Ya go cop the album in stores next week. I'm getting my copy today suckers.