S. Samuel
G-Unit's Tony Yayo has explained why a move to E1 Music [formerly Koch Records] is out of the question for himself and how 50 Cent will always be his first option for releasing new music.
According to Yayo, the G-Unit leader could provide him a better deal than E1.
“Would I consider signing with Koch? No,” he revealed in an interview. “Because I know 50 would structure a better deal than Koch would give me. So I would just stay over here, you know, G-Unit’s a good label. I mean, we got our own people that work for us, so I feel like even on the T.O.S. (Terminate On Site) album, I felt like we was independent on that album, like Interscope didn’t give us the push that we need like iTunes and other places.” (BET)
50 initially sparked a short-lived rap beef with Dipset leader Cam’ron after calling out E1 in a radio interview three years ago.
On February 1, 2007, Cam’ron and [Curtis] Jackson had a live argument on “The Angie Martinez Show” on Hot 97 radio. Jackson commented that Koch Entertainment was a “graveyard”, meaning major record labels would not work with their artists. Cam’ron then ridiculed the record sales of G-Unit members Lloyd Banks and Mobb Deep by stating that Jim Jones outsold their albums despite being signed to an independent label and that his group, The Diplomats, had a distribution deal from several labels. (Wikipedia)
In addition to E1, Yayo recently blasted the past efforts of his ex-label, Interscope Records.
“I feel like Interscope was trying to blackball me,” Yayo explained in an interview. “But to each’s own, man, like, when T.O.S. came out, I felt like it was a classic album, T.O.S., but I felt like, a lot of stuff I was starting to learn about the [rap] game, like, why wasn’t our album up two weeks ahead of time on iTunes? You know what I’m saying? It feels like there’s always something messed up, I felt the office up here, G-Unit, was doing more work than Interscope. That’s why I feel like I was getting blackballed.” (True Stories Radio)
According to Yayo, 50 Cent will be releasing his upcoming solo project.
“Everybody all knows, me and [Lloyd] Banks are not on Interscope anymore,” Yayo explained in an interview. “We’re not on a major anymore. Me and Banks are dropping two albums in the summer independently, through a deal that 50 [Cent] is conjuring up for us. It feels good to know that I have no red tape put on anything…If I had to deal with Interscope, I’d have to deal with the label and they’d have to sign off. Now I can do what I want. It’s exciting to work with new guys. Some of these kids shooting video are [teenagers]. It’s new energy. A lot of these labels need new energy – people who are willing to bust they butt, go in and do what they’ve got to do.” (Hip Hop DX)
Check out a recent Tony Yayo interview down below:
