S. Samuel
West Coast producer Dr. Dre has stepped out to talk about the current state of hip-hop and which artists have been falling under his radar as of late.
Although he co-signs Roc Nation’s J. Cole, Dre has admitted to being a Young Money fan.
“It’s aight,” Dre said about the state of hip-hop. “There are a lot of artists that I like, I love Wayne, I love Drake, I love the new artist J. Cole. There’s some new brothers coming out on my record, Slim the Mobster, he’s out of South Central. I think it could be better and hopefully I can do my part to assist in that.” (Rap-Up)
Fellow rap producer DJ Premier recently said he felt J. Cole and Drake were taking hip-hop back to its essential form.
“[Drake] brought lyricism back,” he said of the Toronto-native. “For a 22-year-old man, he brought lyricism back. When [Gang Starr‘s] Step In The Arena came out, I was 22-years-old. And I just thought about it, I was like, ‘D*mn, I was a youngster.’ I wasn’t 30, 31. I was 22 and coming with heat. And that’s why I like that he’s bringing stuff back….J. Cole, I like that he’s bringing lyrics back. Everything doesn’t have to be super, over-lyrical, but we do pride ourselves on cats that can spit, because [rap music] was always a competition about who got the dopest rhymes.” (XXL Mag)
In the spring, lyrical rap veteran Nas gave props to Drake and J. Cole.
“We love them, all of them,” Nas said referring to rap newcomers. “Jay Electronica, J. Cole, Drake, Nicki Minaj, everybody. We love them. They’re extended family right there. I think J. Cole is fire. I think Drake is fire too. Those are the next ones up, we just have to see have to see what they do, get to the plate and hold that bat up and knock it out the park.” (Rap-Up)
Describing the non-stop efforts of Young Money, the company’s president Mack Maine recently revealed his daily grind heading Lil Wayne’s business.
“I’m just gonna give you an example of today. I talked to Pharrell, tryna to negotiate for Tyga‘s album. He has four tracks on Tyga’s album, so I have to make sure he gets paid for that. Tyga sent me his track listing today, so I’m sitting back trying to figure out in my head an estimated number like, “Is he gonna be over budget,” basically. He has four tracks from Pharrell, one from Banner, a few features, so I’m calculating numbers in my head to see where he’s at with that. Also, I’m on the phone tryna to schedule the events for Wayne’s coming home party in Miami. We weren’t gonna do one in Vegas, because we had a promoter guyand at the last minute he dropped the ball on it. Now a new offer came in for Vegas, so I’m trying to see what we’re gonna do with that. I’ve been on conference call with Baby all day, texting back and forth, emailing trying to get that together. I wake up expecting the unexpected. I never know what tomorrow will consist of in total. I know I have a few things I have to handle, but I can get a call at any moment about anything. I’m also trying to finalize the Young Money debit cards.” (XXL Mag)
Check out a recent interview with Young Money’s Drake below:
