Posts Tagged ‘Lil Wayne’

true_fiction, 20. August 2010, 18:13

wow, everything but the two white walls set up in this is atrocious. the edit is embarrassing. the cinematography is sloppy as fuck. and why is this 6 minutes long?
awful.
Yeah but what do you expect? Drake and co thought Mandler’s last Drake video was “pure art”.

I think it’s the effects that destroyed it for me. Cheap as. Wouldn’t have been so bad without them (esp the petrol bomb faces).
I guess lil wayne’s still in prison then.

videos.antville.org [expanded by feedex.net]

While most 17-year-olds are enjoying the last days of summer before school begins, Lil Twist is busy cementing himself in a very adult-dominated rap world.

But the Dallas teen (ne: Christopher L. Moore) undoubtedly has the best teacher any fresh-faced rookie could wish for: Lil Wayne, who gave him his first break – not easily, of course – and has taken the young'un under his tattooed wing.

"I opened up for Wayne in Tyler [an hour away from Dallas]. … I begged his manager [Cortez Bryant], which is my manager now," Twist recalled. "I begged him, and he put me on the stage and I ripped it."

The chance encounter led to an on-the-spot signing with Wayne’s Young Money imprint, the same camp responsible for Drake and Nicki Minaj.

During a break from promoting his first single, "Little Secret," featuring Bow Wow, off of his upcoming debut album, "Don’t Get It Twisted," we caught up with rap’s youngest star. Here are five things you need to know about Lil Twist:

5) He’s the [temporary] voice of Lil Wayne. Before Weezy headed to Rikers Island, he wanted a way to communicate with his fans so Twist taught him Ustream and set up his Twitter. Twist takes the reins of both Wayne’s WeezyThanxYou.com and the @liltunechi Twitter page and posts messages that Wayne dictates to him, including gratitude to the fans who write him while he's in prison.

"That’s my brother. He really took me in. Anything he needs me to do, it’s done. He told me one day to set him up with Twitter, and I did. He started going hard tweeting every day, Ustreaming every day," Twist said. "Then he went in and he still gives me that call from jail with shout-outs to people, and I’ll write it on his Twitter and keep him updated. I look at it like, if I don’t do it, my big brother’s gonna knock me out."

4) His BFF is a certain teen sensation. Although Twist is lucky to call Wayne, Drake and Minaj (who refers to Twist as her 'lamb chop') family, he spends a fair amount of time with his bestie: Justin Bieber. Once Twist met the precocious pop star in Atlanta through a mutual friend, the two were inseparable, and they plan on collaborating together frequently.

"We got cool, started hanging out and going on vacations. We went to the Bahamas together on my birthday, and that’s where he shot the video for 'Never Let You Go.' We haven’t done the song for my album, but we been working on our mixtape. We’re going to come out with a mixtape together called 'Best of Both Worlds,' and it’s going to be the best of young rap and the best of young pop," he said.

3) His album boasts a dream team of superstars. Twist is still working on his debut album, but he already has guest appearances in the can. The album is going to feature the entire Young Money stable, including Wayne, Drake, Minaj, as well as Bieber, Sean Paul, Sean Kingston and Raheem Devaughn – but Twist still isn't satisfied.

"I have so many records with other people on them, [but] I don’t have too many records alone, so that’s why I’m still working on the album," he said. "If I wasn’t still working on it, the whole album would have somebody on the song."

2) Prove your allegiance to #TeamTwist by joining Twitter. Twist is a social media aficionado and is just shy of an impressive 300,000 followers that crave all things Twist (his Twitter background is a collage of his fans' avatars). Case in point: Before this interview, we asked his fans to submit questions. Although he couldn’t answer them all, we threw some at him and here are his responses:

@NADIA141414 wanted to know what’s it like being a young rapper? "It’s fun but … there is a lot of hard work that comes with it."

@ for3v3r_96 asked what was the secret behind his mohawk? "[Laughs] There’s no secret. I just woke up one day and told my mom I wanted a mohawk and she was with it, so we went to the barber shop and got it."

@KeiarraDraper asked – and so did dozens of other users – what kind of girls does he like? "Girls with good personality, smart, can’t be crazy, gotta be nice. Sense of humor."

@TeamLilTwistLDN was curious when the album would be released and what would he being doing now if he wasn't in Young Money? “I don’t have a set date yet, but we’re looking forward to the end of this year. If I wasn’t with Young Money, I’d probably still be in public school, getting ready to go to college.”

1)  Weezy's wisdom has paid off. In a rap world dominated by veterans like Eminem, Jay-Z and, of course, Weezy, it’s tough for a rookie to step up to plate, let alone a teenager. But Twist can clearly hold his own. Need convincing? Check out the video below.

– Gerrick D. Kennedy

twitter.com/GerrickKennedy

Photo credit: Picture Group

Pop & Hiss

Incoming search terms:

• lil twist\s brother making fun of nicki minaj / ustream
• music

All hail returning royalty. For the third time in the last four years, Jay-Z has been anointed hip-hop's "Cash King" by Forbes; he is rap’s highest-earning star with a bullet, according to the magazine’s annual ranking.

Having taken in million in the last 12 months, Hovi Baby easily bested a who’s who of hip-hop rainmakers that includes Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Timbaland and Dr. Dre — not to mention the only person to have financially outperformed Jay-Z in recent memory, 50 Cent, who took the Forbes list’s top spot in 2008 with a 0-million annual income. The Queens beefmaster was downgraded to No. 14 this year, though, having checked in with a comparatively paltry million.

And the list’s No. 2 wasn’t even close. Just million, Sean “Diddy” Combs? Really?

But if there is a takeaway from this year’s Cash King crop, it’s that business as usual in the rap world means leveraging one’s creativity into a mode of undisguised commerciality that’s created an abiding business model for the music industry.

Hip-hop’s heavy hitters seem to realize that to make it in today’s troubled economy – marked by a tumble in both the concert business and recorded music sales — brand-building is as important as mike control. The most notable among them – ahem, Jay-Z, you can raise your hand here — have parlayed their personal charisma and marketing ingenuity to become one-man conglomerates.

To wit: The biggest share of Jigga Man’s -million take is thanks in large part to his million-dollars-per-stage-show rate on his "Blueprint 3" world tour. But in addition, Jay-Z sees healthy revenues from his investments in the 40/40 nightclub chain, the New Jersey Nets and the successful Broadway musical “Fela!”

Diddy, meanwhile, has taken to referring to himself of late as “Ciroc Obama” for his lucrative deal with Diageo, the company that owns Ciroc Vodka. The hip-hop impresario takes in considerably less money, however, from his musical endeavors (like his indifferently received June CD “Last Train to Paris”) than he does his Sean John clothing line, roles in such films as “Get Him to the Greek” and Diddybeats ear buds.

Hot-lanta rapper Ludacris (the No. 6 Cash King this year with million), meanwhile, reaps income from his deals with Tag Body Spray and Trojan Magnum condoms as well as his partnership deal for an alcoholic beverage called Conjure Cognac.

One of the list’s youngest entrants, 23-year old Toronto MC Drake, boasts endorsement deals with the likes of Sprite and Virgin America. And rapper-singer-producer Pharrell Williams has partly staked his fortune with luxury brands and high-end streetwear. He designs sunglasses for Louis Vuitton and oversees two boutique labels – Ice Cream and Billionaire Boys Club – in addition to non-hip-hop ventures, such as scoring the animated movie “Despicable Me” with Oscar-winner Hans Zimmer.

Contrast that to No. 14 on the list, Eminem. To be sure, he's an emminent MC with multi-platinum album sales who has helped change the cultural landscape. But Forbes calls him “a relative pauper” because of his lack of outside business ventures and decision not to tour.

As Ice-T pointed out in 1987, rhyme pays. Turns out brand-building pays a whole lot more.

–Chris Lee

Photo: Ludacris. Credit: Jeff Christensen / Associated Press 
 
 

Pop & Hiss

Did You Hear?

:: Glam rock legend David Bowie says that report that he’s involved in the production of Lady Gaga’s next album is “untrue and a hoax.” Um, anyone want to help us start a rumor that he’s working with Adam Lambert? [DavidBowie.com via Billboard]

:: Joaquin Phoenix’s hip-hop career? Real. At least, real enough to be the subject of a documentary that is actually being released. See the surreal trailer for “I’m Still Here”. [Just Jared]

:: Ever wonder how Deadmau5 earned his nom de guerre? Warning: its a little gruesome, but you might as well hear it now — and study his essential tracks — before he DJs at the MTV Video Music Awards. [MTV]

:: Lil Wayne sent another letter from his summer residence on Rikers Island, letting us know he’s working out regularly and spending time honing his skills at the card game UNO. And you thought he was just spitting new verses. [Rap Radar]

After the jump, check out which stars will be lighting up the tube tonight.

Music On TV Today:
:: Late Show with David Letterman (CBS) — Interpol (repeat)
:: Last Call With Carson Daly (NBC) — She & Him (repeat)
:: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (NBC) — Sheryl Crow (repeat)

Music News, Reviews, and Gossip on Idolator.com [expanded by feedex.net]

Ever since Kanye West looped Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," the hip-hop zeitgeist has tilted toward techno. Skinny-jeaned stars Wiz Khalifa and Kid Cudi have rapped over Alice Deejay and Robert Miles, while Power 106 keeps house DJ David Guetta in heavy rotation.

Admirably, Eminem has always ignored evanescent trends. Despite an over-reliance on gross-out gags and tired pop culture riffs, his last album, "Relapse," further plumbed the weird depths of his psyche. Yet on his sixth album, "Recovery," he ushers in the "Night at the Roxbury" era, sampling Haddaway's "What Is Love," the Eurodance ballad mocked in the "Saturday Night Live" skits and spinoff movie. The song ("No Love") isn't as awful as it is illustrative of the pitfalls facing Marshall Mathers. In its quest for six-digit download numbers, the industry has reduced Eminem, Lil Wayne and highly gifted producer Just Blaze to plundering grooves for the silk-shirt and silver-suited set.

"Recovery" is thwarted by similarly ill-fitting decisions. Beats from his longtime collaborators the Bass Brothers and Dr. Dre are largely nonexistent save for the latter's co-production on "So Bad." In their stead are anthemic, hackneyed hooks and big-budget producers du jour (Boi-1Da, Jim Jonsin, DJ Khalil) at their most monochromatic and monotonous. Cameos from Pink ("Won't Back Down") and Rihanna ("Love the Way You Lie") further exacerbate the disconnect from the qualities that made Eminem a star: wariness of cultural cliché, knack for storytelling and conflict, and a caustic wit. Thematically, Eminem eschews the offbeat for the inspirational, with the 12-step single "Not Afraid" serving as a manifesto for his newfound sobriety. The central salvation is Mather's enduring virtuosity. Throughout "Recovery," he weaves dazzling internal patterns and clever word play.

But ultimately, until Eminem is able to restore the memory of what got him to the top in the first place, full recovery is impossible.

– Jeff Weiss

Eminem
"Recovery"
Interscope/Aftermath
Two and a half stars (out of four)

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