Pics: Sexy Pics of Nicki Minaj

Shoes by Alexander McQueen, and dress by Balmain. Nicki Minaj shared this sexy pictures of herself on Instagram last night.

What Are Your Thoughts on the Lil Wayne and Baby Beef?

Asides from the fact that they had money issues, no one really knows what triggered the whole Lil Wayne and Baby beef. Wayne is currently on a "Fuck Cash Money" stint, and it is still shocking to me cos of how close he and Baby were. I mean, the man practically adopted Wayne when he signed him to Cash Money at 13 years old. Wayne is meant to be like the heir to the throne. So, what happened to make family members disagree to the point where they can't patch things up?















Just last month, I cut of the oldest friend I have on this earth, so I know no friendship lasts forever; but still, this whole war in the Cash Money empire baffles me. Wayne practically grew up in Cash Money studios, and when everyone left after the fall of the label (around the early 2000s), Baby kept investing his time and money in Wayne. And eventually, Wayne turned around and made millions for the company...virtually carrying the company on his back. And even going on to sign Nicki Minaj, Drake, and Tyga to his Young Money imprint, which raised Cash Money to new heights in the music industry. So, why would money come between this father and son?






Well, on second thought, what could come between father and son if not money, or a woman. We know the first element is there, but some people are making some allegations that Wayne got pissed with Baby when Young Thug came into the picture. People are painting a picture of Young Thug being Baby's new lover...assuming Wayne and Baby were gay lovers. Of course, all that's just rumor anyway.

Right now, I just wonder how they handle business side of things. Lil Wayne is meant to have dropped his Tha Carter 5 album since last year, but because of the whole internal beef thing, the label has put that on hold. And worse, they are planning to release Young Thug's new album, titled Carter 6. Hmm! This is definitely a swipe at Wayne. They are trying to hurt his legacy with this move. Not fair, if you ask me.












I wonder what will happen to the artists under Young Money...Tyga, Nicki, Drake, and the likes...will they go with Wayne when he eventually leaves Cash Money, or will they be held down at Cash Money, contractually? Hmm!

Sexy Pics of Nicki Minaj

It's a pity Nicki Minaj had to split from her long time boyfriend. I'm sure the guy would be looking away from pics like this that remind him of what he is missing. Check out these sexy pics Nicki shared online recently.

Birdman Addresses Drake and Tyga Beef

Tyga and Drake are YMCMB...Which means they are both signed to Lil Wayne's Young Money label, which is under Cash Money Records. So, it is shocking that Tyga has been dissing Drake in interviews and on songs lately. YMCMB boss, Baby, A.K.A Birdman spoke on the whole charade yesterday, during his interview on New York's Hot 97 Radio Show.






During the course of the interview, he got asked what he thinks of the whole Tyga and Drake rift, and he said...




“Tyga know where he stand in this game compared to Drake. Numbers don’t lie. Let’s just keep it 1,000. I got all the love and respect for Tyga. That’s been my little bro... My intake is—I’m family orientated, either you’re in or you’re out. If you out, you’re an outcast to me. If you’re in, we family. It’s on you to choose your side, man. To me, it ain’t no 'on and off' switch with me. You with us or you ain’t, you know? You gotta choose your side. But it’s always respect for Tyga. I got nothing but respect for 
Tyga.”

First Week Sales Prediction of 'Young Money: Rise Of An Empire' Album

The new album from Young Money titled 'Young Money: Rise Of An Empire' is dropping in a couple of days (March 11th to be precise), and I want to attempt to predict what it would sell in its first week out. The first compilation from the crew (We Are Young Money) sold 142k first week when it dropped in 2009; this one has less buzz, and since compilations have never been known to do very well commercially, I predict it would sell between 80-100k first week.

New Music- Moment (Lil Wayne)

The Young Money crew are dropping their second compilation album (Young Money: Rise Of An Empire) next week Tuesday (March 11th), and Lil Wayne's contribution to the album, Moment just hit the internet. Listen and download the song below.













 

Download here- Lil Wayne (Moment)

Young Money: Rise Of A Empire Tracklist

Young Money, which is a Lil Wayne's record label under the Cash Money umbrella, also stands for the name of a rap clique...the clique consist of the artists signed to the label. Young Money includes, Lil Wayne himself, Nicki Minaj, Lil Twist, Drake, Mack Maine, Cory Gunz, Tyga, Jae Millz, and a host of other artists. They dropped their first album, We Are Young Money in 2009, and the album, as well as the lead singles (Every Girl & Bedrock) did pretty good commercially. They are about to drop a new album next month titled 'Young Money: Rise Of An Empire', and the tracklist just hit the Internet. The album is scheduled to be released on March 11, and would also serve as a springboard for the release of Lil Wayne's Tha Carter 5 album, which is set to drop before the end of the year.

Two singles off the album has already been released...We Alright (which features Euro, Birdman and Lil Wayne), and the controversial Nicki Minaj track, Lookin Ass Nigga. Also, the Drake track that was a left over song (Trophies) from his 'Nothing Was The Same' album recording appears to have made it to the album as well. Below is the full tracklist of the 'Young Money: Rise Of An Empire' album-

1. "We Alright" — Euro f. Birdman & Lil Wayne
2. "Trophies" — Drake
3. "Bang" — Lil Twist f. Euro & Cory Gunz
4. "Senile" — Tyga f. Nicki Minaj & Lil Wayne
5. "Induction Speech" — Euro
6. "One Time" — Lil Twist f. Tyga & YG
7. "Hittin Like" — Shanell f. Chanel West Coast
8. "Lookin’ Ass" — Nicki Minaj
9. "Fresher Than Ever" — Gudda Gudda f. Jae Millz, Flow, Mack Maine & Birdman
10. "Back It Up" — Lil Twist f. Tyga
11. "Moment" — Lil Wayne
12. "You Already Know" — PJ Morton f. Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda & Jae Millz

Young Money Set to Drop New Album

Yea, just when you think Lil Wayne has disappeared off the scene, he finds a way to come back to center-stage. There is a new Young Money album on the way. As with the last one (We Are Young Money), it will feature the whole team- Lil Wayne, Drake, Tyga, Mack Maine, Jae Millz, Nicki Minaj, Lil Twist, and the list goes on. The last album from the group was released in 2009, and it has sold over 500,000 copies to date. This new album is titled 'Young Money; Rise of an Empire.' The album is scheduled to drop on March 11.

This album should not be confused as a YMCMB album...YMCMB, which stands for Young Money Cash Money Billionaires is a combination of both Young Money (Lil Wayne's label), and Cash Money (the parent company run by Baby and his brother- Slim)






Below is what Lil Wayne had to say about the album.




"There's nothing like it when the whole family gets together in the studio. YMCMB is stronger than ever, and everybody was truly on fire. We're all blessed to be a part of this incredible Empire as it continues to thrive. I can't wait for what's next. Keep watching." (Statement)

Gudda Gudda Speaks On The YMCMB Roaster

Gudda Gudda is Lil Wayne's very close friend, and one of the first acts signed to Wayne's Young Money label. Young Money is under Cash Money, and together they make up the acronym, YMCMB (Young Money Cash Money Billionaires). Gudda has been behind the scene for the last 15 years with the team, and in a recent interview, he spoke on the large roaster of artists signed to the label (s).







“Me being one of the people who was around before all this happened just to see what its grown into, its crazy just to think back to what it started from and now to have all these people on the label people that I use to listen to when I was growing up. Just to be able to work with these people now, stand next to these people…that s**t is amazing to me. Just to see where we came, how far we came. To have Busta Rhymes , Mystikal…having all these people down with the camp is a good thing to me.”





Although Gudda Gudda doesn't have a rap album out, he was on the group We Are Young Money (2009) album, and has a series of mixtapes out there. In the interview, he also spoke on how he became a rapper.

“I met Wayne Like 15 years ago. At that point I wasn’t even a rapper we were just partners,” Gudda Gudda explained. “It got to the point where we started hanging together everyday and i’d go on the road with him. We were sitting down brainstorming one day, and he came up with Young Money Records. From there he started looking for artists, we found a couple from the city. As we started recording, he said ‘Gudda why don’t you rap?’ I told him rapping wasn’t my thing, but he said ‘nah blood you’ve got to rap , you’ve been through alot you’ve got a story to tell.’”

YMCMB consist of Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda, Tyga, Cory Gunz, Mack Maine, Busta Rhymes, Mystical, Bow Wow, Kevin Rudolf, and the list goes on and on...

Which Rap Crew Runs 2012

Time flies, i can't believe we are already in the 2nd quarter of 2012. Anyway, i decided to write on the rap crew that would run 2012. For a while now, it has been YMCMB...Young Money Cash Money Billionaires. I think it is a miracle that they are were they are today. I guess that's the result of perseverance and believe in your dreams. In the late 90s, Cash Money Records had a buzz with Juvinile's 400 Degrees album going 4 times platinum in the U.S and the Hot Boyz (Lil Wayne, Young Turk, B.G, and of cos Juvinile) were also very successful, as a group and individual artists during this time. Wayne was the youngest in the crew, and now he is the biggest name on the label.




Early 00s saw the old Cash Money crew becoming shaky; till one by one, the artists left. Wayne stuck around cos basically, Brian "Baby" Williams, the co founder of the label adopted him. In case you don't know, Lil Wayne signed with Cash Money in 1995 when he was 13 years old. Wayne stuck around, and gradually started building his buzz from the first Carter album, to countless features/guest appearances, to Carter 2, to his peak with Carter 3 (2008). The fact that he has managed to stay at the peak since 2008 definitely has to do with the saying- "You Reap What You Sow". All those years when his albums weren't selling as much as he most have wanted, the fact that he didn't quit paid off. If you have passion for something and keep at it everyday, you will eventually become great.




Personally, i prefer the wayne from the first two carter albums, but, what the hell, i guess a majority of people prefer wayne with the retarded flow. Anyway, Cash Money got so big, and then branched out to Young Money. Wayne headed Young Money and signed Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda, and the rest of the pack in 2009. And from then on till now, they have been unstoppable. Last year (2011), YMCMB crew had the two highest selling albums of the year- Lil Wayne's Carter 4 (2,000,000) and Drake's Take Care (1.500,000 at the time). This is 2012, and Drake's album is still selling, right now at a total of 1.630,000, heading for that double platinum status. I think the only other artists that come close to the commercial success of the YMCMB crew are Eminem and Jay-Z...and yea, Kanye West. But still, Jay-Z wasn't able to go double platinum with his Blueprint 3 album in 2009. It has stalled at 1,909,000 copies sold total. Eminem is another story entirely, with his 2010 album, Recovery currently at 4 million copies sold. But, Eminem doesn't have a crew as successful as he is.




Jay-Z is Roc Nation, but he is also aligned with Kanye West and his G.O.O.D Music label. Pusha T, Big Sean, J.Cole, 2 Chainz, Jay Electronica are the combination's of rappers on both G.O.O.D Music and Roc Nation; although they are great rappers, they still can't go headlong against YMCMB. Big Sean's debut album didn't go platinum; Jay Electronica is yet to drop an official debut album, J.Cole recently went Gold with his Cole World album, but i doubt he will go plat. Jay-Z and Kanye West recently went plat with their collabo album, Watch The Throne, which is now at a total of 1.4 million copies sold. Both artists can sell as much individually, if not more, but they don't have a team as strong as they are.




The highest selling rappers in the game for now are Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, and maybe T.I. These are the artist that can sell a million copies on an album at present. Look at the least, and you'd see that there are three artist on the YMCMB Roster. Lil Wayne's Carter 4 was released in 2011, and is now at a total of 2,100,000; Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday (2010) album has sold 1.7 million copies till date; Drake's Take Care album is at a total of 1,630,000 copies sold, and still selling 15k copies a week presently. Please note that all these numbers are just from their domestic sales; sales in the U.S alone.




YMCMB are so huge right now that rappers from other labels are aligning with them. Rick Ross's MMG (consisting of Meek Mill, Wale, Pill, and himself) align with YMCMB consistently. Even Nas has been featured on two of their artists albums- Tyga's Careless World, and Nicki's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. They recently signed a Busta Rhymes to the label on some partnership thing, and Mystikal was signed fully to Cash Money records last year. There is even talks of The Game heading over there after completing his 5th album with Interscope this year.




Drake and Tyga's albums are still selling; Nicki's second album just dropped, and regardless of whether people consider it a flop or not, it is still currently the highest selling rap album on billboard chart. Mystikal's album is dropping soon, Bow Wow is dropping his first Cash Money album soon; Busta is also working on dropping an album this year. From all these, it is clear that YMCMB runs 2012.

What's Your Opinion on Nas Working With Young Money

A lot of people have been lashing out at Nas for working with Young Money members. They believe Nas shouldn't work with rappers that are termed commercial. Nicki Minaj just dropped her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, and one of the outstanding tracks on the album is "Champion", which featuring Drake, Young Jeezy and Nas. Right now, nas has worked with Lil Wayne, Tyga and then Nicki Minaj.




Personally, as a rap enthusiast, and a Nas fan, i don't see anything wrong with it. As long as the songs nas was featured on were rap songs, and he didn't do anything other than "rap" on them, then i don't see anything wrong with that. He definitely couldn't have said no to them for coming up to him for a guest appearance. I am even surprised he didn't have a spot on Drake's album. I can remember Drake saying he was studying nas before he dropped Thank Me Later.



Nas is going to drop his 10th album, Life is Good anytime soon, so, it is for his own good that he gets out there more. As long as he doesn't compromise his legendary status, there is nothing wrong with Nas working with the Young Money crew. There has been a lot of noise on how good nas is as a rapper, isn't it good that the young rap listeners get to listen to Nas's greatness.



But the only problem is that nas is not at his greatness hen he tries to "dumb-down" his lyrics, which is the case with the Nicki feature. But he was gret on the Wayne collabo, and the Tyga guest appearance.

Corry Gunz Speaks On Loaded Gun Arrest

Young Money artist, Cory Gunz has used the social media, Twitter to speak on his recent loaded gun arrest in the Bronx on Saturday. Apparently, the local police had received a tip about some sort of shoot out that was meant to go down or something like that, and they started carrying out searches. They found the loaded gun in his back pack...

"Home," he tweeted January 29th.

"Lock My Body, Kan't Trap My Mind...."

"I apologize to all of my Supporters, Friends and Family. Things Happen, No excuses. My only regret is letting ya'll down... Peace" (Cory Gunz's Twitter)

He also spoke to Daily News about the issue-


"This was a big mistake on my part," he told The Daily News. "I didn't have any intentions of harming anyone or committing a criminal activity. So many young people look up to me and I need to fight though this."
"It's been really hard, really stressful," he continued. "When the smoke finally clears people will understand what was going on."


You can also check out the full official story below-

Rapper Cory Gunz was arrested in the Bronx on Saturday for carrying a loaded firearm. The police detained Gunz yesterday afternoon around 2 p.m. and found the loaded gun in his backpack. Gunz is currently being held in Central Booking in the Bronx. He has no prior criminal record, but New York law mandates a prison sentence of three and a half years for illegal possession of a loaded weapon. (Rolling Stone)


In case you don't know, Cory Gunz is son to the legendary Bronx Rapper- Peter Gunz. I can remember bumping songs from Peter Gunz and his rap partner, Lord Tariq back in the late 90s...i think 98 to be precise. Their chemistry was priceless.

Below is what Senior Gunz had to say about his son's arrest over the weekend.



"It was definitely an illegal search," Peter revealed. Gunz was unable to disclose full details on the incident just yet, but he explained the events leading up to his son's arrest. "I spoke to the arresting officer, and so far, what I'm hearing from him is that they got a phone call at the station saying they should 'look out,'" Gunz said. "According to [the officer], they didn't know he was Cory Gunz. They just saw a bunch of kids following him around. What I will say is that the officer that arrested Cory, actually happened to be a cool dude. After arresting Cory, sitting down with him and talking, he felt bad about the situation." (RapFix)



I hope he gets out of this without going to jail, cos i really see him as the next to blow after Tyga in the YMCMB camp. But word out is that he might have to serve up to three and the half years jail time. Let's just hope things turn out for the best.

Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj Claim The Number 1 & 2 Spots Respectively

Yeah, i think Young Money artists were on their grind all through 2011, and they are getting recognized for their hard work. Billboard.com has crowned Lil Wayne the number one artist in the r&b/hip hop category for the year, and Nicki Minaj follows at second place. I don't think anyone can argue with this. For one, Lil Wayne had the highest selling rap album of the year, and he just cashed in $47 million from his North American Tour. Nicki on the other hand dropped single after single from her Pink Friday debut this year, and they were all smash hits.

You can call Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj label mates, mentor and protégée, or employer and employee. Or you can call them the top two R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of 2011. Lil Wayne claims the No. 1 spot on the Artist ranking thanks to his No. 1 R&B/Hip-Hop Album of the Year, "Tha Carter IV," along with four No. 1s and 24 chart entries on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs during 2011. The Barbie Doll finishes a close second to Wayne among Top Artists as the breakthrough success of her debut set "Pink Friday," a six-week No. 1 on Top R&B Albums, and six top 10s on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, including the No. 1 "Moment 4 Life," featuring Drake, raised her profile to the superstar level this year. She also finished second to Lil Wayne on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums list as "Pink Friday" takes the No. 2 spot behind "Tha Carter IV." (Billboard)

Nicki Minaj also went ahead to claim the crown of the top rap artist...that's billboard's standards though.

Nicki Minaj came second on the poll, largely due to the success of her debut 'Pink Friday', which spent six weeks at the top of the charts and produced a further six Top 10 singles. Minaj was also named the Top Rap artist by Billboard, beating Lil Wayne, Drake and Kanye West. Chris Brown, Miguel and Wiz Khalifa also featured highly in the end-of-year list. (NME)

Well, i can't front, they worked their butts off. And the majority of music listeners of this generation seem to LOVE them, so you got to give it to them. They are the winning team right now. In the last 8 months or so, T-Pain, Busta Rhymes and Mystikal signed deals with Cash Money Records. I think they are going to crush 2012..YMCMB!!!

T-Pain Crosses Over To Young Money

T-Pain, who was the most popular artist on Akon's roaster till he (akon) signed Lady Gaga, has made a move to Young Money Records (Lil Wayne's label). What can i say? I think T-Pain shot himself in the foot with his mouth. I watched a lot of interviews of him when he was very hot, and you could tell that the success had gotten to his head. Even his boss, Akon would always be cool, but he never... I remember one time when he got on an interview, and he was running his mouth on how he could be compared with The Beatles. At the time, he had a couple of number 1 songs, and he thought it would continue that way. In life, you have to keep a level head, and stick more to your work than showing people what you have achieved.

On the "Lighters" track off Eminem and Royce Da 5'9's EP (Hell: The Sequel), royce raps-  I remember when T-Pain ain't wanna work with me My car starts itself, parks itself and Auto-Tunes. That's just an example on how he must have been at his prime. He is a very talented artist, and he is still young...in his mid 20s, so he still has a lot of time on his side.

Read what Akon had to say about the move below-

"That's Pain's business decision," he said with an emphasis on "business." "We've got one more album on Pain, which is the one he's about to release now. After that, Pain is free, man. He's his own man, he's his own entrepreneur and decisions from this point, he has to make on his own. I'm happy for him. Whichever way he goes, that's my little brother, he gets the support from us. That's my brother and it is what it is, you know what I'm sayin'?" 


T-Pain has always been good with hooks, and he always makes them Dj Khaled tracks bangers. They are both cash money/young money affiliated, so they would keep on making the bangers.

Baby (Birdman) Wonders What Happened to The Competition

In a recent interview, Cash Money Records C.E.O, Bryan "Baby" Williams wonders where all the competition went. He remembers all the the labels that were around in the 90s, and he can't see them anywhere again. I don't care if you hate him or love him, you have to give it to Baby; he has persevered through the eras...2 decades and he is still waxing strong.

Where is Bad Boy Records? Where is No Limit? Death Row? Ruff Ryderz? So So Def? Where is G-Unit? None of them can stand in this era, no matter how much they have tried. Cash Money/Young Money has Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj,Jay Shawn what more can Baby ask for?

Read what Baby had to say about the competition below-

"When I look around, through my years and my time, you know, the game, it was a lot in the field, a lot of people doing it," he says. "And I look around, and it's like, where the f*ck did everybody go? I ain't never understood that, but the game like that sometimes, that muthaf*cka's gon' keep ya or it's gon' leave ya. It's all on you." (XXL Magazine)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT JAE MILLZ OF THE YOUNG MONEY CREW.

Yes, what do you think about jae millz of the young money crew? I knew the guy for a couple of years before he joined YOUNG MONEY, and i always knew he was good. He just had a couple of label problems. I can remember back in 2005 or so when i first saw him in a DVD; i can't remember who compiled the dvd, but there was a part, about 20 minutes ling where he was having a freestyle battle with another rapper; and damn! did he murder the guy or what...Puff was also in the dvd, right behind the guy.

After that, i followed him for a while; his underground tracks and underground feauturings. I was happy when i heard he finally got a deal with Young Money. I wish him all the best.

Below is what he had to say in a recent interview. 

“The whole set up was just right with Young Money becoming a powerhouse. [Lil] Wayne had just sold a million records in the first week [with Tha Carter III] and he had been screaming 'Young Money' all along. He had been shouting it out for the longest so when the label actually came it was when he was at the height of his career. It kind of just made sense and all of the artists just came together. I mean you already knew who I was and you already knew who Gudda Gudda and Mack Maine and when you add Drake and Tyga, we are unstoppable."

LIL WAYNE AND YOUNG MONEY STRATEGY.

LIL WAYNE is doing the best thing he could ever do right now, promoting his group, YOUNG MONEY. This formular has worked for many rappers in the past. It worked for jay-z with the roca-fela rap group (memphis bleek, beenie siegel, amil, young gunz, freeway, and jay himself). It worked for 50 cent with the g-unit group(tony yayo, lloyd banks, young buck, the game, and 50 cent himself.)

The way this formula works is that, it allows the lead member, the rapper that put the rap group together to stay relevant, without dropping albums every now and then. As long as he has a group album out, or any of the members of his rap group have an album out, he can always jump on a song and spit a verse on it. Then he would appear in the video. This way he wouldn't have to burn himself out. This is the best formula for any rapper trying to stay relevant for a long time. And he would also be giving those rappers an opportunity to shine off his success, that way,nobody looses.

I would like to use 50 cents career as an example. He dropped his debut album, "get rich or die trying", in early 2003, he had all the buzz in the world. He dropped like 5 to 6 singles from the album, that means like 5 to 6 videos. Then when he felt he had to move on to the next project, and felt it was not time for a new album, he could not get a rap budget for a new album in the same year, he decided to work on his group, g-unit. The rap group then, consisted of lloyd banks, young buck, and him. Tony yayo was still in jail at the time, although he was on two songs on the album, that had been previously recorded before he went to jail.

This worked in an incredible way, because he still had the buzz as the hottest new rapper, and this was just an extention of it. He dropped it the same year as his first, 2003, towards the end of the year, and the album sold over 3 million copies. Then in 2004, lloyd banks dropped his album, which kept the g-unit flame burning. And in 2005, new comer and new member of the group, the game, dropped his debut album, "the documentary", which further cemented the reign of the g-unit super group. The album spawned 2 mega chart busters, that were collaborations between 50 and game. The group kept waxing strong until the 50 cent game beef started off later that year.

That is that on 50, back to lil wayne and the young money group. As i said, wayne has made the best decision by following this lane. And why i feel he is going to wax stronger with this group is because he has the right elements. "Drake", one of the rappers in the group, is the hottest new rapper out right now. That would keep the group always in the media, and give them enough buzz to stay in everybody's conversation for some time to come. Then you got "jae millz", an incredible rapper, incredible freestyler(in fact, one of the best). I have been following this dude's career for many years now as an unsigned hype. Mac got the swagger, and gudda is just the icing on the cake. I cannot forget "nicki minaj", the sexy first lady. I have not heard her rap, but i know wayne could not have signed her for no reason, because he definately still receives advise from "baby".

I think if wayne concentrates on the young money rap group, and also drake's career, he is going to be in the media eye for at least another 3 years, guaranteed.
I wish him the best, and i hope he is still rocking in 2012.