‘It’s just nutty to think that people can’t use their celebrity for good,’ Simmons says. By Rob Markman Russell Simmons Photo: MTV News So what if Russell Simmons is rich? The hip-hop mogul doesn’t believe that takes away from his support of the Occupy movement in the least bit. For the Def Jam co-founder, it doesn’t matter if he is part of the 1 percent — ultimately all he wants is to be part of the solution. “I can’t show solidarity with the people that are suffering?” Rush asked MTV News rhetorically. “I just don’t want to have corporations control our government, I want a better democracy. I’m part of the 100 percent. If they’re suffering, I’m suffering with them.” Russell, who has spent much of his career fighting social injustice, wrote a blog on his Global Grind website in September asking the U.S. government to raise his taxes in an effort to reverse the effects of the economic recession. “For far too long in this country we have allowed the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer,” he wrote. Simmons has since been a chief supporter of New York’s Occupy Wall Street movement, which began in September. Rush, who is worth more than $340 million, will not let his bank account or celebrity keep him from doing what he feels is right. “Muhammad Ali, didn’t he help build the Nation of Islam? Did he help stop the war in Vietnam? Did Harry Belafonte and those guys help Dr. Martin Luther King?” the mogul questioned. On October 10, Simmons brought the very famous Kanye West out to Zuccotti Park and has since rolled down to the demonstration with Katy Perry and her comic husband Russell Brand. Tom Morello , David Banner and Talib Kweli have all visited and lent their support. Some have questioned the celebrity motive behind the Occupy movement, but Rush feels anyone who helps raise awareness is helping the cause. “It’s just nutty to think that people can’t use their celebrity for good and that they can’t show up to help people who are suffering,” he said. “I show up, that’s what I do, I add voice to the voiceless, that’s what I do. That’s what rap does. So I don’t see why that’s a conflict. I let people talk but I do have an answer for them, it’s nutty. It’s disingenuous half the time when the media says these things.” Related Videos Inside Occupy Wall Street
With collabos between Lil Wayne and Joe Jonas, Taylor Swift and T.I., the lines separating music genres are increasingly becoming blurred. By Jocelyn Vena Justin Bieber Photo: FilmMagic In a modern music landscape where genre is pretty much nonexistent, the lines are becoming even further blurred. That’s why music lovers barely flinched when news broke that Justin Bieber will work with Kanye West and his “homey” Drake on his next album . However, more than a decade ago, major mainstream artists like Britney Spears or even *NSYNC (whose very own Justin Timberlake later went on to work with hip-hoppers) would never have thought about hooking up with rappers like Eminem, for instance. In fact, they were the punch line to many of Em’s finest rhymes during the “TRL” era. Today, pop stars and rap stars are unapologetically sharing their love for one another. Lil Wayne, who recently worked with artists including Joe Jonas and Jennifer Lopez, seems to be one of the guys leading the charge. In addition to appearing on tracks with pop stars, Demi Lovato’s and Bieber’s covers of his track “How to Love” have made headlines. So, what is it about Weezy? “I just loved the way that Lil Wayne took a risk doing the song ‘How to Love,’ ” Lovato explained. “And when I really listened to it, it’s such a great song.” That enthusiasm for his work, according to Vibe Music Editor John Kennedy, has a lot to do with Weezy “the man” as well as Weezy “the artist.” “Wayne appeals to the pop world because he’s obviously got a tremendous following and is a talented artist, but he’s a character outside of the music. His image off-wax is just as prominent as his rhymes on record,” he explained. “So when you get Wayne on a record, it’s more than just a hot 16, you’re getting a rebel to society: the sagging denims, tats all over, diamond grills. It just adds rock star flavor with hip-hop appeal.” “On an artistic level, he just seems like an exciting guy to be around who is also willing to try just about everything, so I imagine pop stars can basically say, ‘Hey, can you do this weird thing?’ and he’d say yes,” Entertainment Weekly staff writer Kyle Anderson added about Wayne’s appeal. “From a more business standpoint, working with Wayne not only means chart and radio recognition but also instant cool. He has a cachet that hasn’t faded yet.” But Wayne is hardly the only guy in the game defying the laws of hip-hop and pop. Country superstar Taylor Swift has certainly done her part, appearing in concert with guys like T.I. and B.o.B. “I’m a huge hip-hop fan, and it’s been so amazing to have so many incredible artists come out and to get to sing the hooks on their songs that I’ve been blasting in my car for the last couple years,” she explained. “It’s been awesome. I couldn’t have asked for more amazing special guests on this tour, and we’re not finished yet.” But it’s not just the pop stars singing the praises of rappers and hoping to get some street cred. Rappers are clamoring to hook up with their pop counterparts too, picking up where artists like Mariah Carey/O.D.B. and Christina Aguilera/Redman left off. And recently, Aguilera’s former pop rival, Spears, jumped on the trend when she toured with Nicki Minaj . When MTV News caught up with Minaj backstage on the Femme Fatale Tour, she said that the crossover success has been intriguing and surprising. “I’m always surprised,” she said. “I don’t really expect them to know all the records, but I guess it just kind of transcends all genres of music at this point.” As the genre-bending continues, it seems that the pairings are likely to get more and more unexpected. “I met Justin [Bieber] back in February. He’s a cool kid and sh–,” Tyler, the Creator said of his desire to work with the teen star. “When I got in there, he was talkin’ about the ‘Yonkers’ video and sh–. It was weird, because I was sitting here starstruck, like, ‘Oh, f—, it’s Bieber. He’s asking me questions.’ I’m like, ‘Shut the f— up so I can talk to you.’ ” What do you think of the pop/ hip-hop crossover? Tell us in the comments. Related Photos A Very Bieber Christmas
What can be said about The Roots that hasn’t already been said? Everyone knows they are the go to band for rappers wanting to experiment with live instrumentation. Need we remind you of their performances with Jay-Z for his Unplugged show in 2001 and his Fade to Black concert film? The Philadelphia bred hip-hop musicians are posted behind Hov. Though many know the drummer, Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson , for his wild afro, some might not know dude has a serious record collection. Some might even venture to say he’s drifting into hoarding territory. The Urban Daily spoke with Questo yesterday where we discussed his support for Occupy Wall Street, the new Roots album, and why Black Thought should sing more often. TUD: I’m excited to do this interview because if there was any musician’s music collection I would want to raid, it would be yours. I feel like you have every record known to man. Your apartment must be full of records. QL: My library is just so overwhelming that a lot of people would love to raid my music collection. I have some property in Philadelphia and one of the main criteria for moving out of that house was I was always running out of space. Plus, when Q-Tip had a fire back in ’97, that scared me. I thought about getting another house for my records. One of the setbacks of having an apartment in Manhattan is I’m far away from my record collection. A little bit at a time I’m sneaking records to my apartment and I find myself getting back into dangerous territory. That’s not really dangerous territory. It’s just a lot. You don’t know me, bro. Guests that are frequent are like, “Okay, this used to be where the dining room table was.” Now, it’s become a turntable station. See, that sounds like a good time to me. I love places like that. Yeah, I love it too. That’s not sexy when your girl comes over though. That’s true. I hear The Roots are working on an exclusive track for the upcoming Captain Morgan ‘Life Love and Loot’ campaign. How did you guys link up? They approached us about doing music for the campaign and the thing was having been familiar with the visual campaign, the challenge was to make the song match the visual. When you think of pirates and the sea, the normal Roots backdrop of music isn’t necessarily what comes to mind. They told us we could take the liberty to make a song we wanted. The Roots wanted to make sure we stepped out of our comfort zone to fit the spirit of the campaign. The real challenge was having to make this song with only three instruments-a guitar, tuba, and a drum. Did you guys come up with the track jam session style, like a lot of your records are known for? Absolutely. We prepared for three days. We tried seven or eight different sketches of the song. Once we came up with the sketches, we played them for our Captain Morgan liaison and he decided he liked one over the others. Then, we went into the studio and fleshed it out. It took about eight takes to get it right. Was is it a conscious decision to have Black Thought sing instead of rap on this song? It wasn’t in the beginning, but because of the nature of the song, just to yell out the lyrics didn’t feel natural. Since he is a singer as well…it’s kind of hard for me to coax him to sing. I don’t know why he’s shy about it, but Black Thought sings as good as he raps. That’s always been a head scratcher for me as to why he won’t get his male Lauryn Hill on. I told him it would sound much more natural with him singing it as opposed to him rhyming it. He did both and the singing does have better energy than him not singing and that’s what we went with. Will the Captain Morgan track be available for download? Yes. It will be available for download on the Captain Morgan USA Facebook page. People can also see the making of it there. They can see some clips and photos of us recording it and jamming out. When you heard about the whole ‘Life Love and Loot’ campaign, what did you take away from it? What did it mean to you? We decided that the campaign is pretty much our thing. I guess that would make us pirates too. [laughs] We had to put ourselves in that position and define it for ourselves. If anything, we’ve been pirates too. We’re always on the road, always working to survive, and loving what we do. We’re also running a business. That’s what so many people tend to forget because we’re having so much fun doing what we do. We run a very tight business as well. But usually when we are given a set of perimeters, we just put ourselves in that position and see how it applies to us. The Roots have a new album, undun, coming out soon. Does the sound d of this Captain Morgan track reflect the sound you’re working with on the album? Nah. We finished our record at 4:30 this morning. It’s being mastered right now. We actually did this track at the same time we recorded our album and one of the advantages of doing this track was it provided us a relief because the sound of the album is very somber and serious. There really wasn’t a high adrenaline moment on the album. Doing this on the side kind of scratched that itch for us. Besides being on Jimmy Fallon, the new album, and the song for the ‘Life Love and Loot’ campaign, what are you guys doing to stay busy? That’s a big list you just gave right there. [laughs] I heard it myself and was like, “Whoa! When am I going to sleep?!” We’re really trying to focus on the album. Fallon is everyday so there’s no escaping that, but our priority is with the new album, undun . The Roots have worked with a very wide range of artists. Who haven’t you worked with that you want to work with? I’ll be honest with you. As far as the studio is concerned, John Legend and D’Angelo are the two artists under the age of 50 I enjoy working with. I enjoy working with Erykah Badu whenever she wants to collaborate. As of late, I’ve been having a ball doing these soul records. As soon as Al Green gives us the word, we’ll probably work on his next record. We just did Betty Wright’s record. Her album comes out in December also. It sounds incredible. The Roots have always been more of a politically conscious band. What are your thoughts on the whole Occupy Wall Street movement? Yeah, I’ve been down there a few times to support them. It’s taken 99% of the people long enough to finally wake up and see the power that they hold in their hands. A lot of people think revolution and change will be the next man’s fight. They want to hang back and see what happens and it doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to get your hands and knees inside the mud. You have to be apart of the change you want to see. We’ll see what happens because this is just the beginning. Related Posts: ?uestlove Says He’s Back In The Studio With D’Angelo Top 10 Lauryn Hill Songs Lauryn Hill Has Butchered [ORIGINAL] D’Angelo, Raphael Saadiq, ?uestlove & Ali Shaheed Muhammad “Lady” [THROWBACK]
I hate Katy Perry…almost as much as I hate when I hear guys say she’s hot…. She’s a dumpy, chubby, bottom feeding cunt with a good scam going cuz her songs cater to 12 year old girls who don’t know better… She’s chubby, has a shitty ass, and she can’t dance, leading me to think she also can’t fuck, explaining why she married that fag Russell Brand, cuz all he needs is a third party to insert things in his tight pants wearing ass… Here she is in concert, I refuse to post the video. She’s that bad…and not in a bad dancing erotica kind of way…but in a “I hate that this lie has tricked the world” kind of way….She needs to be stopped…she may be the devil…
Band’s latest album ‘keeps changing sounds,’ frontman Chris Martin tells MTV News. By James Montgomery, with reporting by Gil Kaufman Coldplay’s Chris Martin Photo: John Shearer/ Getty Images It may be their best, biggest and boldest album yet, but Coldplay ‘s Chris Martin knows which adjective he would use to describe the band’s brand-new Mylo Xyloto : “It’s definitely a schizophrenic album … it keeps changing sounds,” he said. “That’s why we called it such a strange thing, Mylo Xyloto. Because we felt like so many people have already made up their minds about us, both good and bad, that we can sort of start again from scratch and try and reflect all the music we listen to and we love.” That sentiment is readily apparent throughout Xyloto, an album full of walloping electronics, soaring choruses and quiet, tender ballads. In a lot of ways, it plays very much like the band’s personal iPod, packing anthems like current single “Paradise” alongside artfully minimal instrumentals and hushed acoustic numbers like “U.F.O.” Even Rihanna shows up, lending her vocals to the track “Princess of China.” And that shuffling schizophrenia is due as much to the band’s taste as it is the ethos of frequent collaborator Brian Eno, a man who practically lives to break down boundaries. “Working with Brian, he was very much of the opinion that you should just be free to follow whatever you feel sounds best,” Martin said, “without worrying about having to talk about it in interviews and everything and explain it.” And, given all that, it’s somewhat fitting that Mylo Xyloto actually began life as a far different animal: a quiet, acoustic-based album. But as their songs began to grow, Coldplay quickly realized that their self-imposed parameters couldn’t contain their ambitions, so they scrapped them and started from scratch. And, not surprisingly, the end result is a record that defies convention — and, of course, definition too. “Very early on in the process of recording this record, we were playing a lot of acoustic instruments and we had it in our mind that we might try to record a small-sounding, intimate, reflective record,” drummer Will Champion explained. “And [a song like ‘Paradise’] came about, and it dawned on us that we couldn’t play it in that acoustic style. So we thought, ‘OK, we’ll finish this one and then we’ll do another record,’ and the realization came very quickly that we can’t really focus on more than one thing at once. “So we decided to put everything in one basket, and some of those songs from the acoustic thing survived — the song ‘Charlie Brown’ was originally in that format and ‘Us Against the World,’ ” he continued. “And I think putting all our eggs in one basket allowed us to kind of free everything up and allow the songs to dictate where they want to go.” What do you think of Mylo Xyloto ? Coldplay’s best yet? Tell us on Facebook! Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Coldplay Related Photos Coldplay Rocks New York’s Rockefeller Center Related Artists Coldplay
Band’s latest album ‘keeps changing sounds,’ frontman Chris Martin tells MTV News. By James Montgomery, with reporting by Gil Kaufman Coldplay’s Chris Martin Photo: John Shearer/ Getty Images It may be their best, biggest and boldest album yet, but Coldplay ‘s Chris Martin knows which adjective he would use to describe the band’s brand-new Mylo Xyloto : “It’s definitely a schizophrenic album … it keeps changing sounds,” he said. “That’s why we called it such a strange thing, Mylo Xyloto. Because we felt like so many people have already made up their minds about us, both good and bad, that we can sort of start again from scratch and try and reflect all the music we listen to and we love.” That sentiment is readily apparent throughout Xyloto, an album full of walloping electronics, soaring choruses and quiet, tender ballads. In a lot of ways, it plays very much like the band’s personal iPod, packing anthems like current single “Paradise” alongside artfully minimal instrumentals and hushed acoustic numbers like “U.F.O.” Even Rihanna shows up, lending her vocals to the track “Princess of China.” And that shuffling schizophrenia is due as much to the band’s taste as it is the ethos of frequent collaborator Brian Eno, a man who practically lives to break down boundaries. “Working with Brian, he was very much of the opinion that you should just be free to follow whatever you feel sounds best,” Martin said, “without worrying about having to talk about it in interviews and everything and explain it.” And, given all that, it’s somewhat fitting that Mylo Xyloto actually began life as a far different animal: a quiet, acoustic-based album. But as their songs began to grow, Coldplay quickly realized that their self-imposed parameters couldn’t contain their ambitions, so they scrapped them and started from scratch. And, not surprisingly, the end result is a record that defies convention — and, of course, definition too. “Very early on in the process of recording this record, we were playing a lot of acoustic instruments and we had it in our mind that we might try to record a small-sounding, intimate, reflective record,” drummer Will Champion explained. “And [a song like ‘Paradise’] came about, and it dawned on us that we couldn’t play it in that acoustic style. So we thought, ‘OK, we’ll finish this one and then we’ll do another record,’ and the realization came very quickly that we can’t really focus on more than one thing at once. “So we decided to put everything in one basket, and some of those songs from the acoustic thing survived — the song ‘Charlie Brown’ was originally in that format and ‘Us Against the World,’ ” he continued. “And I think putting all our eggs in one basket allowed us to kind of free everything up and allow the songs to dictate where they want to go.” What do you think of Mylo Xyloto ? Coldplay’s best yet? Tell us on Facebook! Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Coldplay Related Photos Coldplay Rocks New York’s Rockefeller Center Related Artists Coldplay
Odd Future MC dreams of crafting a ’90s-R&B-style beat for JB. By Rob Markman Justin Bieber Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage Justin Bieber fan. “I met Justin back in February. He’s a cool kid and sh–,” Tyler told MTV News. “When I got in there, he was talkin’ about the ‘Yonkers’ video and sh–. It was weird, because I was sitting here starstruck, like, ‘Oh, f—, it’s Bieber. He’s asking me questions.’ I’m like, ‘Shut the f— up so I can talk to you. ‘ ” The outspoken rapper/producer may not have been able to get a word in edgewise, but he isn’t deterred: He still has dreams of crafting a track for the Biebs. So is the OFWGKTA terror going pop? Not exactly. “I just want to make ’90s R&B, like break beats, hard drums with pretty chords and sh–,” Tyler said of the type of track he’d make for Justin. “I really want to do that. Like, I be listening to Brandy or the first three Mary J. [Blige] albums and sh– and Faith [Evans] and Zhan
Demi Lovato, Kelly Clarkson, Pitbull and others will also hit the stage for the annual holiday concert at Madison Square Garden. By Christina Garibaldi Lady Gaga Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images It’s time to get in the holiday spirit! On Friday (October 21), radio station Z100, with the help of pop star Demi Lovato , announced the lineup for their 2011 Jingle Ball concert. All you Little Monsters better mark your calendars, because Mother Monster herself, Lady Gaga , will be headlining the big event. The holiday concert will take place on Friday, December 9, at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Lovato, who is also hitting the stage at Jingle Ball, helped announce the lineup at the official kickoff party at the A
‘It’s looking really great,’ she tells The Hollywood Reporter of 2012 album. By James Montgomery Taylor Swift Photo: Big Machine Records Taylor Swift ‘s Speak Now was released just one year ago, but, from the sound of things, work on the follow-up is already well under way. Last week, Swift told MTV News that she’s “been writing so much for the new record,” adding that she’s “already excited about it,” even though the album won’t see the light of day until 2012. And, in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she revealed even more about the new disc and the songs she’s already penned. “I’ve written 25 songs so far, so it’s coming along really well,” Swift said in the interview. “I’ve been writing a lot, and I like to take two years to make a record. We’re at the end of year one, and I still have a year left to go write. “It’s looking really great,” she added. Whenever the new album is released, it’ll have some lofty company to keep: Swift’s Speak Now opened at #1 on the Billboard albums chart, breaking the 1 million mark in first-week sales. And her previous effort, 2008’s Fearless, also bowed at #1 and has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide. Of course, writing songs isn’t the only project on Swift’s plate at the moment. She just launched her first-ever fragrance, Wonderstruck , which, as she explained to us, she hopes will “help play a role in creating some … memories.” She also continues to chug along on her Speak Now Tour , which crisscrosses the continent before coming to a close at the end of November with a pair of sold-out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden. What are you expecting from Taylor’s next album? Let us know in the comments! Related Videos MTV First: Taylor Swift Related Artists Taylor Swift
Nowadays, it’s not just mashed up music. It’s mashed up people. Everybody hangs out with each other now. Black kids are skateboarding and white kids are rapping. – Clinton Sparks “Get Familiar!” If you claim to be a hip-hop mixtape fan that calling card is embedded in your mental Rol0dex right next to your Two-Way pager alerts. However, Boston born DJ/producer/ television correspondent and now artist Clinton Sparks has transcended the mixtape game to become a global brand. In the years since he got his nephew to record that near ubiquitous drop he has produced songs for Akon , Pitbull, Ludacris, Tyrese, Beyonce, T-Pain, Rick Ross, Diddy and Leighton Meester. This week Sparks has put on his artist hat with his group Ughmerica, a campy, pop, anti-establishment group that has just released their first single and video “No Swag” on Karmaloop.com. “The music that I’m about to roll out is nothing like anything you’ve heard from me,” Sparks told TheUrbandaily.com. “The Clinton Sparks solo project and Ughmerica is very pop/rock with hip-hop influences. You’ll be able to tell I’m a hip-hop guy, but it’s pop/rock music. The cool thing about it is that all of my friends who are in successful bands say I sound like I’m supposed to be doing the pop/rock kind of music. They don’t think I sound like a hip-hop guy trying to do it. It sounds organic.” So it only seemed appropriate to take a few minutes to “re-familiarize” ourselves with Clinton Sparks and get the scoop on how he plans to kill “Swag.” TUD: What’s behind the name, Ughmerica? You might get Herman Cain and the Tea Party coming after you. Clinton Sparks: Basically, there’s so many meanings. We’ve been trying to come up with a concise meaning, like one or two lines, and it’s kind of difficult. It just represents an idea or a feeling. Ughmerica represents people who like to be original and walk their own path. Also, it represents people who don’t conform to what society deems as cool. That’s why the first single is called “No Swag.” To me, people who yell, “Swag!” all the time are carbon copies of the next person. Having swag is being a trendsetter. I don’t really subscribe to some of the lifestyle things people are doing. When you look at me as a DJ I never really fit in. You had DJ Kay Slay , Whoo Kid and Green Lantern , who I’m friends with, and then you had an Afro Jack and A-Trak , but I’m friends with all them, but I didn’t fit in there either. I was always just Clinton Sparks. 99% of us have no swag. And that’s ok! Because there are more “uncool” than cool in the world. We out rule the f*cking cool. And who determines what’s cool? Why is it when you play an instrument in school they look at you like you’re a nerd, THAT’s cool. Most of the losers that you call “losers” make half of the sh*t that you use. The other thing about Ughmerica too is that we live in an awesome country to have freedom to do whatever you want to do. When you see people disrespecting it…everything from racism, to bullying to polluting you just want to go “ugh..merica.” I was homeless, bro. I lived in the woods in my car and I now I travel the world and make good money. This is a great country. I’ve traveled to other countries and seen the difference, it’s so disheartening. But I don’t want to get too political with the name. TUD: Malcolm Gladwell wrote in Outliers that one of the habits of successful people is spending at least 10,000 hours on your craft. Do you think you’ve spent that amount of time to your work? CS: [laughs] Yes! I don’t know how many days that equals to, but for 10 years of my life I’ve spent 10 to 15 hours in my studio working. Dude, like half of my life working. I would work and work until I couldn’t stand anymore. I’d sleep for a couple of hours and go right back into the studio. I don’t hang out, drink, chase ass, or do drugs. I just work, bro. I genuinely love doing that. TUD: I’ve been meaning to ask someone who’s been in the business a long time what the difference is between mixtapes and albums. I harmlessly tweeted about how some of the best albums of 2011 have been mixtapes. I got a few co-signs but quite a few angry responses as well. What is your take on that? CS: There are different levels of mixtapes. There is the old cliche format of a rapper just taking beats out and rapping over them. That kind of mixtape would be upsetting to those who take the time to produce original music and compare it to the cliche format. Mixtapes have become so much more and have evolved to become legitimate projects. Dude, the mixtape I did with The Clipse, We Got It For Cheap Vol 2 , was on Rolling Stone’ s top 50 Albums of the Year and it was a mixtape. It was all over other people’s beats. So they’re whatever you want to call them. I don’t even entertain people who get upset over stuff like that. It’s not that serious. TUD: You’ve been really busy since the last time we connected, which was around 2006-2007. If you were coming out now how would your marketing strategy be different in 2011 as opposed to when you first came out? CS: I mean everything is the internet. So it’s so much easier right now. Literally, all you have to do is keep blitzing the internet with content. Before, it was a lot of groundwork. You had to meet people, shake hands, getting in touch with people on the phone. Now with Twitter and Facebook, [you can] build a connection. For instance, I haven’t seen radio personality, Angela Yee , in a while, but I feel like I have because I know what’s going on with her because she’s on my timeline. It’s so easy to make a decent video now. But it could get saturated just like the mixtape game did. It’s starting to happen now. There’s a huge wave of young college MCs and artists that are self sufficient. Inevitably that’s gonna get played out and we’ll see what happens next. As far as me coming out now, my strategy would be to blitz the Internet with great product, get cool with the heads of the most important blogs, and see what other people are doing and do it better. TUD: The Twitter spam is getting out of hand though. CS: Bro, I can’t even tell you. I swear I get like a half a dozen people sending messages like, “Please make my dream come true and follow me. I love you from Brazil.” I’ll sit there and wonder if they’re a real person because there’s so much spamming going on. If they’re a real person, I want to follow them because I think it’s cool hat they have so much love for me. But you never know. TUD: Given the breadth of your work,what is your take on music right now? CS: When I was younger and in school, it was very segregated and sectioned off. The Asian kids sat here and the black kids sat at those three tables and things like that. That’s how music was, too. There was hip-hop, pop, rock, grunge, reggae, and R&B music. What you listened to defined what social group you hung out with and what type of person you were. Nowadays, it’s not just mashed up music. It’s mashed up people. Everybody hangs out with each other now. Black kids are skateboarding and white kids are rapping. So there aren’t any boundaries or rules anymore. All the world cares about right now is awesome music. No one cares about the bells and whistles that we used to care about in the TRL days. It’s all about good music. TUD: The group album from Ughmerica is one thing, but you also have a solo album coming. CL: Yes, interestingly enough I just wrapped my solo album. What happened was when I was finishing up the solo album, I was sitting with Patrick Stump, the lead singer of Fall Out Boy, told me, “Your lyrics are so awesome and visual. There’s a tongue in cheek thing going on in your songs. I know this guy, Jacob Casher, who would fit well with your writing.” I reached out to Jacob and I heard he was working with Rivers Cuomo, who is like a god to me. I met him and his boy, Phil. We instantly connected and vibed. We knocked seven records out in four days and decided to put our own project out. TUD: You mentioned earlier that you used to be homeless. When was that? What were the circumstances that mitigated that? CL: I don’t want to get into details, but I was homeless around 1997. I’m a total different person now than when I was younger and I used to get in trouble with the law. I lived in my car for three months in the winter time. There were nights I’d be in my car and I’d swear I wasn’t going to wake up it was so cold. The reason I’m saying that is I hope that inspires someone to say “sh*t, look what he’s doing now.” Man, I don’t want to get too political, but we live in a great country. I wanted to write a book and title it, “How To Be Broke and Never Starve.”What I learned is you can be homeless and never go hungry. I know because I lived it. Made people leave food in the halls of their hotels that they’re not eating. I mean some of the things I did weren’t legit, but [now] I’m traveling all over the world doing what I love to do. TUD: You also said something earlier about maintaining personal relationships. In the digital age that we live in, how important is it to still manage and maintain these personal relationships with artists, producers, and people in the industry? CL: That’s 100% crucial to the business. I love people, first of all. I love getting feedback. I don’t care if you’re a janitor or a label A&R. I love all feedback. I take pride in all maintaining all of my relationships with people. I will randomly hit people with a text just to see how they’re doing. You might not realize it, but that means a lot to people. I always treat everybody with the same amount of respect and that’s gotten me far in business and in life. TUD: How does someone go from doing mixtapes to being an E! News correspondent? CL: Some questions you have to answer make you sound pompous. I’m trying to figure out how to word this without coming off as pompous or sounding full of myself. I’ve always been somebody who’s had the bigger picture in mind. I’m always thinking of the next step and always thinking further than what I’m doing right now. I did mixtapes to get my production off the ground. The first mixtape I did was totally original production. I became a DJ so I could get labels interested in my beats and to get their attention. Being a DJ was never my goal. However, I knew my stuff was hot so I drove from Maine to Atlanta handing out my mixtapes with my name and number on it. I found a list of stores that carried mixtapes through put the country and sent them some too. People heard my stuff and started placing orders. It was that fast and easy. Once I started getting recognized nationally and globally, I got a call from a friend of mine who worked at Arista Records. She told me her boyfriend worked for a magazine and they were having a conference. Her boyfriend wanted me to be a guest on the panel. I was scheduled to do that and Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s manager, hit me and said that Em had a show in Boston on the same night. They wanted to bring me out on stage. I tried to get out of the panel, but my friend’s boyfriend was a big fan of mine. I told Paul I couldn’t be at Em’s show. The day comes and it snows. I wind up driving to New York for this mystery panel. I get there and only 12 people were in the audience. So I did the panel. About two three years later, I get a call from that kid I did the panel for. That kid happened to be Ben Lyons. I don’t know if you know who Ben Lyons is, but he is the movie critic for E! and his dad is the world famous movie critic, Jeffrey Lyons. Ben asked if I would be interested in doing music news for E! entertainment. I said sure and a meeting was set up with Ben’s boss. I flew out to the set, got a mic, we went live. I did that for six weeks before they told me if I got the job. So Ben Lyons is the reason I got to E! News. TUD: You said earlier it all started with you making beats. How are you making these Lady Gaga and these Akon records? CS: Both of those were made in different ways, but I have my home studio. I’m sitting in here working as we speak. I got a call from someone an A&R at Sony who needs records for Mike Posner, Jennifer Hudson, Jordan Sparks, and more. When I get off the phone with you, I’m going to knock some records out so I can be on as many projects as I can. I make beats anywhere-at home, on the plane, the hotel. There’s no one set way. TUD: What are your weapons of choice when creating beats? CS: Well, we use Logic and Reason. Here at my house, I use Pro Tools and my Virus or guitar or my ASR-10. It depends on what kind of music I’m trying to make. If I’m gonna start with a melody I start with Virus or a guitar and I’m going to start with samples or drums I go with my ASR-10. I started making beats with an EPS, though. TUD: I was reading you have a Beyonce record that was almost placed. How long ago was that? CS: That was about three years ago. Actually, she recorded it. I have it. It’s done. It’s a finished record. I got the email from her label telling me congratulations because I made the album. I was excited because I wrote the track too. In the long run, they said it didn’t make the album because it didn’t fit the sequence of it. Something will happen with it one day. I’m not worried. Hopefully, I get so hot they’ll let me release it as a duet. I already have it chopped up as a duet. [laughs] T UD: Do you have any other songs or placements just sitting in the vault that you can’t wait to unleash on the world? CS: What?! I can’t even tell you how many unreleased songs I have that may never see the light of day. I have tracks with Mike Posner, Far East Movement, Brandy, Fabolous, and others that are sitting here doing nothing. Who knows? Maybe 20 years from now I’ll be important enough to put all those songs out on a compilation. You never know. TUD: Your song “Favorite DJ” was a big hit so I have to ask this; Who is your favorite DJ, besides yourself? CS: That’s a tough question because I know the names of DJs who are cracking right now, but I’m not 100% with all of their material. I like DJs who really captivate the crowd. They have to be really involved and energetic. What I mean by that is you have the DJs who use the music to keep the energy crazy and then you have the DJs who use the music as another weapon in their arsenal. If I had to pick , I’d say Atrak is pretty dope. Jazzy Jeff is pretty cool. The first DJ that really impacted me was DJ Chubby Chubb. He was the first DJ I saw, as a kid, get the crowd in the palm of his hand. People were just looking at him and waiting for him to tell them what to do. I made “Favorite DJ” as a tool for DJs to use when they get on the set so it’s THEIR record. No matter who plays that record tonight they’re your favorite DJ. TUD: What are some of your favorite beats you’ve heard this year? CS: I like the sound David Guetta has brought to the world. I love Swedish House Mafia’s sound. Dr. Luke, as a producer, is amazing. I’m a big fan of Weezer and I like a band called All Time Low. TUD: What is it about their respective sounds that attracts you to them? CS: Growing up, I have pop music in my veins. I’m a hip-hop head who loves rock music and bleeds pop music. It’s all in me. When I sit down and start creating, it’s helpful and hurtful because sometimes I’ll have too many ideas in my head and can’t complete one. It’s helps me because I’m able to pull from different influences and fuse them together to make something cool. That’s where my hip-pop rock comes full circle into my music. TUD: So have you abandoned the boom-bap/street sound completely? CS: In case you think I went too dance or too pop I’m gonna play you this record I did. I got some mean shit, bro. This D-Block record “Ugly” has Masspike Miles on the hook. I don’t know if it’ll ever see the light of day. I have another one with Snoop called “Get Familiar.” I got records for days. [ *Plays three songs that produce a scrunch face head nod from the writer* ] TUD: So why are you sitting on these?? CS: I’m sure you heard “Good Music” with Common, Kweli and Consequence record I threw out there. I threw out a record with Too $hort and E-40 a few months ago, “Super Duper Star.” I don’t want to confuse people. If I come out with my album and then put these hip-hop records out it’ll look like I’m just doing the DJ thing and putting all my rap friends on it. RELATED POSTS: Did Bottle Service Turn DJs Into Human iPods? [ORIGINAL] DJ Green Lantern: “There’s A Million DJs That Ain’t Really DJs”
