Joe Budden Dropped

Oh boy... who didn't see this coming?

Rapper Joe Budden is no longer signed to Def Jam Records after being heralded as one of its most promising acts in the early 2000’s.

The rapper said he was pleased to be leaving the label and looked forward to the next steps in his career.

"I'm just happy we were finally able to cut all ties. I feel like I have all the talent in the world, but for some reason was never able to showcase it there,” Budden told AllHipHop.com. “I'm looking forward to whatever God has in store for me, and Joe Budden fans should know - today is a beautiful day."

While Budden’s self-titled 2003 album sold over 500,000 copies, he never released another album on the label. He also scored a hit record with “Pump It Up,” which was used in an NBA Campaign. In 2005, Def jam held a listening session for Budden's second release, The Growth, but the album never materialized.

Even without a second album in the market, Budden stayed relevant by releasing several popular mixtapes via the internet and the streets, most notably Mood Muzik 1 & 2.

Def Jam president Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter recently told AllHipHop.com that he wasn’t exactly sure how to release Budden as an artist.

“If you just want to throw an album out there then next week, [fine]… [Then] you’re recording [songs] about how we didn’t support it. We could do that,” Jay-Z said. “We could do that tomorrow. I don’t think that what he wants. I don’t think that what he needs. Maybe…I don’t know.”

Urban legends and gossipers speculated that a 2003 lyrical sparring session might have led Jay-Z, who eventually became Def Jam’s president, to harbor resentment against the younger rapper.

When Joe Budden’s “Pump It Up,” began to gain popularity in 2003, Jay-Z recorded his own version of the song, which began to get significant radio play. Shortly, Budden recorded a verse and added it on to Jay-Z’s. In each’s verse, it seemed like they were sending subtle lyrical jabs at each other.

Jay-Z insisted that notion was completely false and backed up his statement with present examples.

“That [lyrical sparring match] had never influenced my decisions. You see Beanie has a record with R. Kelly (one of his adversaries). Juelz Santana has put and album out. I’m way too big of a person to [do that]. I would never block anyone’s blessing, because of anything personal. If I didn’t want to deal with him, there’s other people there,” Jay-Z said. “I mean, why do we have a problem, I freestyled on his record. He probably made his career off of freestyling over other people’s records. If I start freestyling over other people’s records…Lord forbid.”

Joe Budden has yet to reveal his next move, but the third installment of the Mood Muzik series has been highly anticipated, especially on the internet. [x]

I doubt we're ever going to get a 2nd album from Mr. Budden. While he has kept himself busy by working on remixes and freestyles here and there, he will not get anywhere with no record label behind him. It's been what, 6-7 years since he dropped his first album? Kid is talented though.

Tribute to Missy Elliott -> VH1 Hip Hop Honors

Hot performance by Tweet, Keyshia Cole, Eve and Ciara.

What's wrong with this picture?

Is this what it's come to? And then we wonder why we never get ahead.

I don't have time for this shit...

I almost got myself into an altercation a couple of days ago, which could've resulted in me loosing my job, getting kicked out of school and last but not least, gotten seriously fucked up.

I arrive at school after a long day of work with only thing on my mind: sleep. As I am getting ready to knock the fuck out, I receive a phone call from a semi-close friend of mine, Jaz. The conversation lasts not even 10 seconds but I heard enough to know that she was in trouble. Sounded like she was arguing with someone and it was getting violent. I ran down the stairs and ran to her building to make sure she was alright and to see who had put their hands on her.

I see her in front of her room, retelling the story to a whole bunch of random people. "He pushed me, I don't let nobody push me. Why the fuck he touch me for? We were drinking and he just went nuts. He scratched me." I had heard enough. Obviously someone had put their hands on her. "Where is this kid at Jaz?" One of the random folks standing there told me that the guy was in front of the building smoking a cig and that his name was Shawn.

So I made my way to the front of the building, and saw about 13 people smoking cigs. Iight, cool. "Who the fuck here is Shawn?" No one answered. By this point everyone was outside trying to see what the fuck was happening. Jaz kept telling me it was OK, that it wasn't worth it. "Yo Jaz who is it?"

So, I'm just standing there and I see her ask someone for a cig. There's a group of 3 there. She smokes the cig and then comes back to me. "Santo, don't do nothing. Don't worry about it. I'll handle it on my own." So, the group of guys go inside and it then hit me that Shawn was one of the three that went in. I asked her if it was him and Jaz tells me "It's him." Before she could say "him" I ran inside the building and chased his ass down. He made it inside the elevator right before I got to him. I had a group of like 3 guys with me, who I didn't even know but they were down for whatever. I went up the stairs and looked for him in the four floors, but I did not see Shawn anywhere.

Jaz was pushing and screaming at me telling me not to do anything. "You fucking idiot, Jaz. How the fuck you gonna call me over here and tell me not to do anything. Fuck you. How you gonna let some guy hit you and act like it's ok. You don't know the guy and you acting like shit is normal. How did you not call the cops? Why didn't you and your friends do something besides stand there like idiots? Huh?"

After looking for him I gave up and sat outside. She smoked another cig and retold the story at least 4 times to a whole bunch of people. I don't know why, but it hit me. "What the fuck am I doing? Why am I overreacting if this bitch is just sitting there telling the story like it's a movie or some shit." The guy walked out and I had the only urge to just go up to him and punch him. But I didn't. I felt like it wasn't worth it. I felt like... she wasn't worth it.

I simply walked away. I went to my room and went to bed. The next day, I woke up and went by her room to check up on her and guess who she was hanging out with all nonchalantly? Ha. Sometimes I ask myself, why do I even bother. I don't have time for this shit, I really don't.

Tweet is back!

"Love, Tweet" is the 3rd studio album from R&B artist Tweet. The album title suggests it is going to be a letter to her fans.

She is signed to Umbrella Recordings. The first single is "My Dear" featuring T.I., which you can download here [x]. The album is scheduled to drop early next year.

I loved her first album "Southern Hummingbird." Classic record in my opinion. Her second album was disappointing and not to mention, a flop. Let's see what happens this time around. What do you guys think of the new single?

Keyshia Cole's New Video

"Should've Let You Go"




I'm feeling this joint though I can't help but notice how much this sounds like Mary J. Blige's "Enough Crying." One thing is to look up to somebody and another thing is to emulate them.

Chicago Bans Sexually Suggestive Dancing @ School Dances

Fliers announcing this month’s Evanston Township High School homecoming dance carry the warning: “salacious or inappropriate dancing” — often called “juking” — is outlawed.

As the homecoming dance season approaches, Chicago-area schools are wrestling with how to stomp out sexually suggestive dancing, or juking, especially one version in which a girl grinds into a boy, her back to his front.

During a meeting with student council members, kids insisted, “This is how we dance. Weren’t you young once?” Romain recalled. “I said to them, ‘If I asked you to dance at homecoming, would you expect me to juke with you?’ They said, ‘No, that’s different.’ I said, ‘Well, this is different, too. We’re not in someone’s basement.’” [x]

What do you guys think? Should sexually suggestive dancing be banned from school dances? Hm...