S. Samuel
Atlanta artists Young Jeezy, Polow Da Don and more have been exposed over unpaid studio bills due to local recording engineers totaling into the thousands.
According to reports, a slew of hip-hop stars have been dodging hefty bills.
According to a Gwinnett County court judgment provided by recording engineer Tony Terrebonne, mega hit producer Polow Da Don owes more than $20,000 in unpaid studio services and attorneys fees. Terrebonne said he has stopped working for Polow because he was owed $50,000 at one point. “It’s a lot of hard work, I’ll be up for three days straight and I won’t get paid for it. It’s insane,” said Terrebonne who moved in with his parents and sold his car. “You’re listening to music that hasn’t been paid for,” said Josh Butler, recording engineer and owner of 11th Street Studio in Atlanta. Past due invoices provided by 11th Street Studio showed rapper Young Jeezy owed Butler more than $20,000. Invoices and judgments show singer and producer Phalon Alexander –better known as Jazze Pha— owes more than $135,000 to four studios including Jim Zumpano‘s Zac Recording. (CBS Atlanta)
While a Polow Da Don rep claimed the matter is being handled privately, some artists have since made payments following CBS Atlanta‘s investigative report.
After CBS Atlanta began asking about the unpaid bills, some recording engineers received payment. Butler received $20,000 from YJ Entertainment, Young Jeezy’s company. Zumpano received about $2,000 from TSG Financial Management on Peachtree Street in Atlanta. TSG represents Jazze Pha. The other producers, singers and managers would not explain why the payments were not made until CBS Atlanta inquired. (CBS Atlanta)
Outside of fines, Jeezy is currently focused on completing his long-awaited Thug Motivation 103 album, according to contributing producer Don Cannon.
“I’m trying to finish up Jeezy’s [Thug Motivation 103] project right now, I’m in New York City,” Cannon said in an interview. “The pressure with the new Jeezy record, at first, I did, and the reason I’m telling you this is because every time we’ve came bigger, better and stronger with each record…With this album, you kind of have to come up with a new concept. The concept of this album is ‘Thug Motivation 103’, it’s a new class to motivating people on the streets to — get their money and live how they want to live. You just always gotta think what’s better than what’s going on right now. This record that me and Jeezy have has to be either just an outright club smash or a conceptual record to where people feel it and it goes with the time period, 2011 and where the hip-hop game is going.” (Set Free Minute)
Along with Cannon, Jeezy also recruited Lil Wayne for a “Motivation”-al appearance.
After a few false starts, Young Jeezy is gearing back up for his fourth album Thug Motivation 103. The “Snowman” has recruited Lil Wayne for the latest offering from the oft-delayed LP. The Lil Lody-produced “Ballin'” features a hard-hitting beat and rhymes from Weezy. “You think you ballin’ ’cause you got a blog/ You know these hoes love to see me ball,” raps Jeezy. The street single is set to premiere Tuesday, April 12, at 1:03 p.m. on USDA2day.com. Travis Barker recently told Rap-Up.com that he and Drumma Boy had worked on “an epic, Braveheart-sounding intro” for TM103. (Rap-Up)
Check out some recent Young Jeezy footage below:
