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    SOHH Gyant is Looking For You!!
    Tuesday. 12.12.06 8:39 am
    Yo, I'm doing my best to make this Atlanta spot pop with excitement, but I need your help. I believe we got a lot of talented people in the "A," more so here than any other place. I want to expose my city's great talent – and ultimately you! If you got some skills and are trying to maximize your exposure then you need to holla at me.
    I'm launching "Sohh Atlanta's Own" – a great way to showcase my kats with those insane lyrical/vocal skills. Don't play yourself; Sohh is one of the biggest leading hip-hop websites on the planet. The biggest acts in the world come here to see what we say, what we're doing, and who got the skills to take the game to the next level.
    Every Friday, starting December 8th (I've granted a one week extention), I will post the hottest talents who submit me their music in MP3 format. Make ya move, and when you get to the top you can make sure to send me a check.
    [email protected]

    **SEND BIOS! I NEED TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE SO I CAN PUT YOU ON, RIGHT??**

    Hio-hop quote of the day.

    Hip-hop artists need to grow to use it like that, not just to get some paper.
    --Doug E. Fresh

    Love you all like Black and Milds....

    Peace!

    --Sohh Gyant

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    Euricka: Patient Survivor Part 1
    Tuesday. 8.29.06 11:33 am
    By Chris Richburg xml As one of the most devastating storms to ever hit the country, Hurricane Katrina changed the lives of thousands of New Orleans residents, who relocated to various areas to start new lives from scratch. For R&B songstress Euricka, Katrina became a giant obstacle on the way to releasing her new album The Takeover. The singer currently lives in Houston, Texas with her family while finding new life on the Echo Vista Records roster. Now, as the nation marks the one-year anniversary of the storm, Euricka shares her experience battling Katrina and FEMA, facing a hostile military, reconnecting with family and fans and finally getting the chance introduce herself to the masses. AllHipHop Alternatives: How has life changed for you and your family since the hurricane? Euricka: I’ve learned to do without and not to take everything so serious. And all that bling-bling stuff and all that, I’ve learned to just know that that sure ain’t got nothing to do with life. Nothing. Because when you get everything taken away from you in a blink of an eye, you start really appreciating the little things, like the birds chirping in the morning and knowing that your lights are on and knowing that you can take a bath. Knowing that you have running water to flush your toilet. You know that kind of stuff, that little stuff. That stuff people take for granted. AHHA: It’s been a little more than a year since Katrina hit New Orleans, have you gone back to see what was done and if things can be fixed? Euricka: Yeah. We’ve been back so many times. And there’s like this car pool that sends people from New Orleans back and forth for $90 each way. So we do that when we can. But right now, we’re back in Houston because we have no way of staying in the houses that we were in in New Orleans because they’re all demolished. And we’re just, right now, just going back and forth with FEMA with finances with getting our home completed and renovated. So it’s the same story that everybody else has and it’s sad, but we dealing with it. AHHA: Describe the amount of damage that was caused to your home. Euricka: It’s about 15 of us living together. So all together all of our homes were underwater, but where I live, in these apartments on the lake, I was on the third floor. So I was spared from water coming in my apartment, but the roof caved in where I was and I was the one that stayed in the area where I lived. Everybody else went to a hotel like around the French Quarter area. Yeah, I was the knucklehead [laughs] so I got trapped for like a week. And eventually, I got enough nerve to just leave the house because I had ran out of stuff to eat. I was afraid that the vandals were going to come by because they were raping people and killing people and all that kind of mess. So I thought it was best for me to leave the house. And my family was afraid for me so they, you know, encouraged me to leave because they were already in Houston here. And I got a boat ride from literally swimming to the area where the boats met you because they wouldn’t come to you. So when I got to the area, from the water to the boat area, they eventually took us to the bridge, where they dropped us off at. AHHA: You were one of many people who was stranded waiting for help, but when help arrived they passed you over saying rescuing folks ‘was not their first priority." How did that, as well as the false promises of rescue make you feel? Euricka: I really felt like I was stuck. I was so scared. I can’t believe the military won’t help us. They told us we had to swim in the water and get to the rescue boats from there. They would not take us themselves. You had to swim to the boats. If anybody can vouch for this who was in New Orleans stuck there like I was, you had to swim to wherever the rescue boats were. They weren’t coming to you. And I think another reason why they couldn’t necessarily come to you (was) because the power lines and stuff . The water was so high, they didn’t know if they were gonna go over dead bodies or if they were going over cars or whatever and it would have ruined the boats. So we had to swim in that infested water with the bodies and all of that, the fecal matter or whatever because afterwards a lot of ladies and a lot people who were in that water they got like this kind of fungus on their legs. And I was telling my sister weeks after I had got rescued. I’m like ‘I got these ringworms or something on my legs. I wonder where that was from because I wasn’t playing in no dirt or nothing.’ And my sister said ‘Girl, you got that stuff everybody get who was walking in that water.’ I said ‘Lord, have mercy.’ So I went to the doctor and from there I had to get treated for months for that. And FEMA has not paid me yet. I spent so much money getting treated for that. FEMA hasn’t given me nothing. I’ve been practically living off of my momma and them from what FEMA been giving them. AHHA: Is the fungus gone now? Euricka: Oh yea. Honey, I’ve got beautiful legs. [Laughs] I just put up the money and my family put up the money themselves. That’s fine because it was like a little fungus. And a lot of women will vouch for this and a lot of people that waded in that water that they got this fungus. It was treatable, but FEMA not paying for nothing. That’s what I wanted to say for that. Medical expenses, FEMA not even paying for anything you went through with that. They still giving you the runaround with getting your money for that. So I just threw my hands up. My sister was asking me yesterday, ‘Euricka, you really need to find a way to get your money from FEMA.’ I’m like ‘I’m not going to worry about it. I hope this album sells tremendously, you know what I’m saying. Because I can’t keep running behind FEMA and stressing myself out. It’s ridiculous. AHHA: How long was it before you were finally rescued? Euricka: It took me about four days to realize that nobody was going to rescue me. So by then the fifth day I walked in the water and I got to the boat. The [people on the] boat gave me a can of vienna sausages. I shared that with me and my dog. From there, they dropped us off on the bridge. And from there it was 20 hours. So I’d say five days, six days I was in New Orleans before I got to Baton Rouge, where a friend of ours picked me up and drove me to Houston to reunite with my family. AHHA: How did you survive during all this time before you got rescued? Euricka: Honey, some things I’m going to leave to keep in the book. That’s all I’m going to say. Some things I’m leaving for the book because it was horrible. Like I said, I didn’t have running water. I couldn’t use the toilet, you understand. It was survival of the fittest. And some things you had no other way to do but the way you had to do it. AHHA: What were some of the things you saw while you were stranded? Euricka: What really stuck out in my mind was when we all got together at the bridge, a lot of people started seeing people they knew. And me being a singer from New Orleans, a lot of people knew me already. And they were like ‘Euricka. Euricka. Oh, that’s Euricka.’ And I’m like ‘Yea, girl that’s me. I got stuck too.’ [Laughs] And one of my fans...the girl didn’t have no shoes on her feet...The water had came in so fast she was saying that she didn’t have time to get no shoes or nothing’. The water just crashed into her house. And it was an apartment. She was on the third floor, she told me...And what stuck out in my mind is that she didn’t have no shoes and guess what else? You could tell she was in shock She had said she had witnessed her cousin drowning right next to her. They were all swimming together and the cousin drowned. And this girl was just so happy to see somebody she knew to tell her story. I’m not saying she was happy, but you know how you’re just talking and getting everything out. And she hadn’t even realized it. It hadn’t even stuck to her yet that her cousin was dead. She had just witnessed a death, a drowning. And obviously she had seen other bodies in the water like everybody else getting out of the places, I saw the Army people when we were getting on of the buses and stuff, it was like we were prisoners. They had bazookas in our faces and at us screaming real loud. And I understand that you know when you’re in the Army you’re used to screaming at people and stuff like that, but it was too much. At first I thought ‘maybe we did do something wrong. Maybe it was our fault’ because they were screaming and had guns in our faces. I’m talking about children. People holding their two-year-olds in their arms and they got guns pointed at us. You had the dogs, the bomb dogs and all of that. And they didn’t have no ambulances there. They didn’t have no water for us, no food. We were just on this bridge, sitting there waiting on buses for like 20 hours. Nothing. No FEMA was there. No Red Cross. No nobody. And this was four or five days later. AHHA: Looking back on it, did you expect the rescuers to react to you that? Euricka: When I was in my house by myself, I’m thinking ‘Okay, It’s time for me to be rescued. I need to go where these people are rescuing people.’ People are telling me word of mouth, people on the street and people are riding and over are saying ‘Go this way. They got food. They got supplies. They got everything.’ When I get there, I wished I would have stayed home, do you understand what I’m saying. I’m thinking that I’m going to gloryland. I’m going to the promised land, where they got food, where they got water. They didn’t have nothing! I’m sitting in the hot sun on the bridge and then in the dark with cockroaches crawling on me with no lights. New Orleans the city was pitch black at night. You couldn’t see nothing but the lights from the buses when they came. And then all we heard was the helicopters. And them helicopters was close by and that was scary too because all you heard was that helicopter every 10 minutes dropping off more people. It was like ‘Why are they bringing all these people here and they don’t have no food, no water, no nothing?' It was like chaos. It was like the end of the world. AHHA: What drove to carry on and survive? Euricka: What I want to say is you know what stuck with me and what made me say I’m going to make it out of this? When I finally got to Houston, I got with my family. And we didn’t have nothing. I mean the house was empty because somebody put us in an empty house. It was a real estate person. He said we could just live in that house for right now. It was empty. And the first thing we needed was water. I was like ‘We ain’t got no water here.’ And I’ve always been the type of person that wanted to help my family out. So what I did was I walked to the church and all I did, I begged them with tears in my eyes. I said ‘All I want is some water for my family.’ And those people was so nice. They gave us air mattresses. Pillows. Blankets. Used clothes. We didn’t even have no clothes. We didn’t have nothing to wear. I had the shoes I had on my feet in the water. I was wearing raggedy shoes. Nothing. And I was happy too. People was giving us their used underwear to wear. Do you hear me? And I was happy to have that. People was giving us their used pots and pans. Honey, I didn’t have no attitude. I took it and and we cooked with it and ate with them. And then I had to deal with looking at my family, all of us. All of us was going through something. It was almost like we were all zombies, walking around. You know when you’re in shock?...It was almost surreal. We was looking around the house like ‘What just happened to us? Did something just happen to us?’ Do you understand? Oh my God For Christmas, I stayed in my room and I just cried... And for Christmas we had three poinsettias by the chimney. The three poinsettias and we had our presents around the poinsettias. We had about four presents, four gifts. And we had Christmas in that house, in that empty house which is still empty, you hear me. You know what’s the most blessings. I got a record deal, honey. I’m so happy. I’m so happy to have a record deal. You just don’t know. I know some people be out here doing everything to mess up their deal. Partying and buying Cristal and all that, but I’m just that believed in me enough to give me a deal. ALLHIPHOP.COM

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    Jamie Foxx: From Booty Call to Getting Much Booty - The Journey of Jamie
    Thursday. 8.31.06 10:19 pm
    t’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Jamie Foxx in the years since winning the Oscar for his portrayal of the legendary Ray Charles. From the immense failure of Stealth to the meager $25 million opening weekend for Miami Vice, director Michael Mann’s slick re-imagining of his classic TV series, Foxx has seen his fair share of bumps in the Hollywood road, but the former In Living Color funnyman seemed to maintain his trademark sense of humor and winning smile during our recent interview. You’ve had a fairly broad and varied film career, from the Booty Call era... I still don't understand why we got overlooked at the Oscars! ...to films like Ray. Could you talk about that arc? It's been a great ride. If you look at In Living Color, you see the training ground. Those guys were doing things-- I laugh even harder now-- and they were doing things that weren't just jokes in your face, but real characters. We were trying to make them more than one-dimensional, so it was a great training ground, being under Keenan (Ivory Wayans) and Damon and Jim Carrey and all of those cats. So now I’m happy that I had that background and those tools. You do Ray Charles or Stevie Wonder, knock off the funny and actually DO the character, then let it play out like it's played out. It really makes you feel good on the inside for whatever's coming next, knowing you're going to be able to get into it and try to make it happen for you. Have you ever had moments where you thought you'd quit? Oh yeah, man. I moved to Vegas right after In Living Color. I couldn't get any work, and it was like if you lived in L.A., you've got to have your shine on. I remember seeing this girl at the Comedy Store, and this is when I knew it was time for me to get out. This girl was walking towards me, and I was like, “Oh yeah, she's probably been watching the show!” She says hi. I say hey. She says, “Do you know where Chris Tucker is?” I said no, and she looked back and said, “You look so familiar.” And I was like, oh man, my shine is gone! I had gotten so into myself because I thought everybody was watching the show. I remember going up on stage and doing rich jokes in front of these folks from the hood. “Yeah man, I just got that Range Rover. Anybody else? My house went into Escrow. Anybody? Man, it's crazy when your house go on escrow!” It was like, “What are you talking about?!” I walk off stage, and I'm outside the club talking to somebody when I hear the doors open and [makes sound of audience’s roar]. “Who is that? What are they laughing about?” I walked in, and it was Chris Tucker, and he was killing ‘em. I sat down and I said, “That's what I need to do– go back and find what it is that I do,” because I’d lost it. So I moved to Vegas, and found out the WB was looking for shows. So we went there and did The Jamie Foxx Show, and I got a brand new start. I said, “I don't want to ever slip like that again.” Years went by and I'm in the Laugh Factory, and they bring out Chris Tucker. He had a suit on and he was telling rich jokes. “I wonder if you girls really love me for me, or for my money.” I went to him and said, “I see what's happening. You've gotta go back and get it!” And I challenged him, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac. I said, “Don't lose that, because once you do, it's hard to get it back.” Continued on page 2 » How have perceptions changed in the industry since you've won the Oscar? I don't know if it's necessarily that the perception has changed. But what you have to do every day is kill that Oscar beast and go out and try to take two or three steps back and not be the ugly person that, I guess, it could turn you into. The way I've done that is just kept telling jokes about it. If you feel like you’ve won the Oscar and you're at the top of your game, you're at the top of the mountain. Then you come off the elevator and there's a brother going, “Hey Jamie, man, congratulations on that Grammy, dog! I mean, you did your thing, dog! Hey, what song was that they acknowledged you for?" (Laughter) It lets you know that everybody ain't feelin' it. So you bring it back down and you use the Oscar for those things that you really wanted. Now they're offering great roles, and what's great is we create [opportunities] on the dribble. Are you more selective in the roles you take? Yeah, that's what I mean. It's like when they talk about the Oscar Curse. When I say create off the dribble, that's a person in basketball that has to come off the screen and shoot it, meaning that somebody's got to set up the shot for him. With us, we create off the dribble: We do standup comedy, so we can go to our left; we do music, so we can go to our right; we can write movies, so we can go around our backs. You know, we can shoot the three. So we use it as our tool and try not to bastardize it, because sometimes I've used it for the wrong things. Speaking of which, how is your pickup with the ladies since the Oscars? It's changed drastically. I bought a Lamborghini, too. It's crazy. I think it's a different type of women [you attract] when you win an Oscar. All the young ladies in the club, I ain't messing with you right now. I got this over here– the 35 and over women with their own companies. They break down everything: “You know, that night I was soooo touched.” I say, “Girl, I'm gonna touch you again!” I'll never forget the joke I told Will Smith... "I'm making love to this girl right after I won the Oscar. She said, 'Oh, Jamie!' I said, 'No, no, no– that's not my name!' 'Oh, Academy Award Winner Jamie Foxx!'" So I'll tell you, if you ain't got [an Oscar], get you one. So what attracted you to the idea of doing Miami Vice? The hotness of this idea. When I talked to Michael Mann, and just learned about who Michael Mann was, I made a couple rookie mistakes, saying, "Why don't you do Miami Vice? You did it as a television show. We could get Jay-Z [to do the music], and we could do this and that..." He was like, "Get out of here!" But after enough of me going up to him and saying, "Look, I really think that this is a great opportunity for you to take a commercial hit– a franchise– and bring the real film capability that Michael Mann has together," he agreed. So now we're all protected, in the sense of we're doing a big-time summer movie, but it's still held together by the Michael Mann way of thinking. Continued on page 3 » Do you think the film will make people forget the iconic imagery of the TV show? How challenging was it for you to step into another actor’s shoes? Not everybody is thinking about the TV series, because I don't think people are actually remembering every single episode. This is a different thing, and I don't think they're going to be comparing the two. I always view things like this: What do I want to see when I'm in the movie theater? I'm not quite as deep as Michael Mann is, in that sense. I've got my popcorn, I'm sitting there thinking, "What would be hot to see right now? A car, two guys in Miami, Jay-Z on the soundtrack and something is going down." Not everybody is relating back to what they saw [in the ‘80s]. They know what happened years ago, but they're ready to see what the new thing is. I believe this movie is high risk, high return because you do go away from what you think Miami Vice is. It's like watching the dunk contest today: You can't go in and do the Dr. J dunk anymore, because you're kinda past that. But if you're wearing Dr. J's jersey and you bounce it off the backboard from the back, and then you dunk it, you've got the spirit of Dr. J and yet you changed it. Did that do it for you? [Laughs] Can you talk about your next movie, Dreamgirls? At first I wasn't going to do it. They didn't know what was going on. Then I found out that Eddie Murphy was doing it, Beyonce was on it... I said, “Come on, man, I've got to GET THAT! I don't care if you pay a dollar, I need to be in that!” Because it's going to be outstanding. You were so great as Ray Charles. Would you ever do more musical biopics, like maybe Marvin Gaye or Rick James? I always thought the Marvin Gaye story was incredible. I mean, if you know anything about his story, there's some things about his life that will blow your mind. Not even his music, just him as a man, there's some things that would make you go, “What?!” So whoever tells this story, you know it's going to be great. Do you think you could pull it off? Could I pull it off? I'm sure that I could give a good crack at it. But I think the Mike Tyson story is the most interesting thing to me that you don't know. The stuff that I found out about him would blow your mind. Mike Tyson gives you phrases that, if you listen to it, will blow your mind. They said, “How do you feel?” and he said (imitating Tyson's voice), “I'm more happy now that I don't have any money... I don't have to worry about anything. I'm just here.” I don't know if you saw the interview, but he was teaching a kid how to box. He stopped and said, “I'm so glad I don't have any more money. Nobody has to do me wrong. Nobody has to [fuck] me over.” To me, that's where you go. Do the story about THAT! About how he feels now, after he looks back on what all happened. A reporter once asked him, ”Why are things so crazy for you, Mike?” And [Tyson] says: “You give a kid who's 19 years old $60 million and see how crazy it'd be for him!” Are you trying to do a film based on that? No, but sometimes you just kind of put things out there in the air and hopefully they catch on. That's what I did with Miami Vice– just threw it out there. hiphopdx.com----source

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    Khia: Who's Really The Baddest Bitch?
    Thursday. 8.31.06 10:28 pm
    Four years after her worldwide smash, the explicit "My Neck, My Back (Lick It)", Khia returns to the rap game with her sophomore LP, Gangstress. Since her last outing in the hip hop industry, rumors have been abound as to the Philly rapper’s whereabouts – some had her locked up in jail, others dead. But, as HHDX found out, the mother of two is well and truly alive, and has been keeping herself busy on tour across the globe and in the studio, working on her latest album. Still going strong on the indie route, Khia spoke to HHDX about music, porn and being the Queen of the South… Don't forget to check Khia's diss track towards Trina! Click Here! What have you been up to since Thug Misses? Why did it take you so long to come out with another album? I’ve been on the road, touring. Just as big as it was here in the States, Thug Misses was huge overseas, in Japan, Africa, Greece and Brazil… So I do a lot of touring overseas, in the UK and Europe. It’s definitely been all work and all love just to be able to tour and be able to have a song that has stuck and had the impact that "My Neck, My Back (Lick It)" and the album Thug Misses did. The fans [have been] overwhelming, so I guess I really have been busy. I’m just able to get back and really get in the studio to get everything prepared for the new album, so I’ve been working hard, and that’s a good thing. Now, Gangstress is like my baby, and I’m excited about it! You don’t have any features on your new LP, was there any reason for this? No, I don’t do features; I didn’t do features on my first album, and I don’t feel I need them. You know, I think a lot of artists piggy back off of features and you get an album and it’s full of features… I just don’t feel that I need that on my album. I like to showcase my talent on my own and I just really think that hip hop has gone feature crazy, and I don’t agree with that. Your new single, "Snatch Da Kat Back", is kind of a ladies’ anthem again, like "My Neck, My Back" was… Yeah, again! Well, I just felt that every woman in the world has wanted to snatch her cat back from somebody, and I chose that single because I knew a lot of women would be able to relate. It’s definitely a ‘respect me’ track for the ladies, you know, it’s like if a guy’s not respecting you, messing with other women, or just not treating you right, then you just gotta snatch ya cat back! It is another anthem and you know, the guys gotta straighten up for the ladies! Continued on page 2 » You worked with Janet Jackson on "So Excited" for her album. How did that come about? I’m a fan of Janet, but her camp called me, and they wanted me to do the song that’s gonna be on her album, so I’m not promoting it with mine, but it was definitely a pleasure working with her. I’m a huge fan of hers, and I had no problems doing the track; I know everyone’s gonna love it. I’m praying it’s the second single! You’ve got a book coming out at Christmas called Gangsta Love – what made you turn into an author? Well I’m a creative writer, that’s what I do. I write plays and scripts, and I write all of my own music, so it’s definitely a hobby for me; I love writing stories and books and plays, and Gangsta Love is kinda my life story. If you’re a fan, it definitely shows where my music comes from and how I deal with relationships and just gangster stuff really. I was using the mug shots for my album cover, so you know, I think people will definitely be able to relate to my book. It’s straight through hood life, but it’s a love story too; you’re gonna enjoy it. You’ve criticized other female rappers before for using ghostwriters write their lyrics. How do you feel about that now? That’s a good question, because I’m kinda against artists who do that. A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, you don’t respect other female artists’, but I’m like, it’s because a lot of female artists out don’t write all their songs themselves – you can tell that they have ghostwriters; other females can’t relate ‘cos it’s too hardcore, for a man it’s pleasing to the ears. I’ve been in this industry; I know what goes on. As an artist, a writer and song composer, I’m kinda against it, especially when you act like you write your own stuff when you know that you don’t. I’m against that; I’m not respecting them with that crap and their style and their deliverance. It’s just totally different when you know that they’re writing their stuff and there’s a creativity that you can identify with them. A lot of female artists out there, they don’t have their own identity. The image you have at the moment has been described as ‘porn for hip hop’ – is that kind of an alter ego for yourself? Hmm… it’s not really like porn… Just everything I talk about is real, and is from life experiences. I think talking about relationships and sex and guys is something women can kinda relate to, and my music is sexually explicit, but it’s just me being real, raw and uncut. People have come up to me and said, ‘You’re like the porn of hip hop; we love "My Neck, My Back", it’s so graphic, so real!’ It’s not just my music, anything that I rap or write about is real because it’s me. I wouldn’t really call it porn, it’s just female aggression in the topics that I’m talking about, whether it’s jealousy, lies or sex, you know, those are just some of the things women go through. Sex is a key issue when talking about men, but it’s definitely not just that. Continued on page 3 » Due to your image, you’ve been treated quite harshly by the media. What do you have to say to these critics? I’m not real good with all of this industry stuff. I’m just real and hands on with my business. I’m independent, so definitely, I don’t have people who go any pay for radio and pay for four or five videos and pay for me to be on the cover of every magazine. Those artists who have that are still not really selling records so to me, being independent and selling 800,000 copies my first time, doing my own writing, in control of my own projects, my own masters, publishing, copyright… A lot of artists don’t have this much control over their project and they want the fame and the TV time and the exposure, but they’re broke and they’re not in control of the situation. I’m independent and handle my business, manage myself, do all of my own touring, booking, promotion… everything is coming through me, so I’m really happy with that. I don’t care being labeled a one hit wonder, ‘cos "My Neck, My Back" is a classic and I’m not really concerned with the TV or the videos or being in the spotlight. I’m on the road touring and my fanbase is solid, so I’m definitely making my money selling independently and not having the big budget stuff means I don’t owe anybody. You call yourself the Queen of the South – do you see any competition from anyone else? No, never! I call myself the Queen of the South because I am an independent female artist and I came out by myself. A lot of female artists out there came out piggybacking off a man’s label; they’re always the first lady of this, the first lady of that. You have Trina with Slip-N-Slide, Lil’ Kim with Biggie, and Foxy/Jay-Z, Remy/Fat Joe… Every single female has come out under a label and used that as a crutch. They had ghostwriters, they had the men to kind of introduce them; I never had that. I came out by myself, I didn’t have a major label, and I didn’t have a guy to say this is Khia, the first lady of… So I call myself the Queen because I moved mountains by myself; I’ve carried the weight, and I might not have the promotion, but I’m making things happen by myself. I call that a Queen move, and my accomplishments are a Queen status, so I’m claiming to be the Queen of the South because it is what it is! Is there anyone else in the rap game that you admire? I just love Cee-Lo, Cee-Lo Green. I just love Cee-Lo to death, and he’s so talented and so underrated here in the United States. I love Andre 3000< and a lot of the guys! Lil’ Wayne, T.I., E-40, you know, I’m a huge fan of B.G. and Cash Money and No Limit, but no females…! Continued on page 4 » I just think that because they don’t have their own identities, I can’t relate to them. Either they’re too hard, or they’re carrying guns, or I’ma suck your dick and I’ma do this and do that, I’m gonna hold it down for you… It’s just like, you ain’t doing that out here girl, I can’t relate to all that. It’s fake and just not real for me; I’m not reppin’ that and I’m just not a fan of that kinda music. How do your kids feel about their mum being a rap star? Oh, they love it! My babies are teenagers, 14 and 15; they’re big. They come on the road with me sometimes and they just really excited for me, seeing mommy’s dreams come true. To see me on TV, they really appreciate the drive and the struggle that I had, so for it to be unfolding in front of their eyes, it’s just a blessing for them to see that experience. They happy for me, they’re like my biggest fans! Where do you see yourself in five years? I wanna do some acting, some real, hood stuff. I’m hoping I can maybe bring one of my books to life. I definitely wanna write some scripts and do some movies and producing, so I’m just tryna do my music and write my books. I’m just trying to keep it real and get deals through my writing. Finally, do you have a message for your fans? Oh, it’s all about the fans for me! Much love to my fans, and if it wasn’t for my fans, I wouldn’t be here. The Gangstress album is dedicated to them; it’s more of what they asked for and it’s just for them. hiphopdx.com----source

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    ALLHIPHOP FEATURE: Crunchy Black: Crunch Time
    Saturday. 9.2.06 9:02 pm
    F or Darnell Carlton, March 5, 2006 was supposed to be the payoff for over 15 years of loyalty and dedication. But, as Three-6-Mafia took home the Academy Award for Best Original Song, their performance marked one of the final times the man more commonly known as Crunchy Black would perform with the group. When remaining members Juicy J and DJ Paul resurfaced weeks later on HOT 97’s Summer Jam stage stating that their Oscar statue had replaced Crunchy Black, it merely confirmed the rumors that Memphis’ favorite rap collective was now a two-man operation.

    Breakups are usually ugly, and the rap game hardly an exception. Despite claims from both sides that there is no bad blood, accusations of underhanded business practices have left a cloud of controversy surrounding Crunchy’s rationale for leaving the group at the zenith of their popularity.

    While lines such as, “N***a I don’t rap anyway, N***a I rob,” have never caused anyone to label Crunchy Black a lyrical assassin, very few people would question his brutal honesty. After years of quietly playing the background and hitting fans with the occasional verse and his trademark “Gangsta' Walk,” Crunchy Black sounds off on his newfound solo status.

    AllHipHop.com: Most of us know how you got the nickname Crunchy Black, but who gave it to you?

    Crunchy Black: Where I'm from, Scudderfield, which is in North Memphis, me and another dude used to run together. Both of us were dark as hell, and back then, in the projects, you didn’t really call people on the phone. We’d just stand outside each other’s houses and holler for the person we wanted. Me and the other dude’s nicknames were both “Black,” so when someone was standing outside yelling, “Black,” we never knew which one of us it was for and we’d both be standing at our door. One day he said, “God damn it, we gonna' stop all this right here. We’re both black as hell, but your ass is crunchy, so I’mma call you Crunchy Black.” After that, people in the hood would holler out, “Crunchy Black,” and it just kind of stuck.

    AllHipHop.com: What were you listening to back then?

    Crunchy Black: We mostly jammed off of DJ Paul and Juicy J. Back then, they were just DJs and weren’t really rappers. They were actually the two crunkest DJs in Memphis. Whenever they used to get a job to do a party or something, we would just listen to whatever Paul and J had, then there this other DJ named Squeaky. He was jammin’ too.

    AllHipHop.com: When we think of the Memphis rap scene today songs like “Triggerman,” “Armed Robbery” and, of course, “Tear Da' Club Up” come to mind. What was it like to be around when those classics were being made?

    Crunchy Black: Ahh yeah, “Triggerman.” [8Ball] and [MJG], them some good boys. All that was a fun time.

    AllHipHop.com: You’ve become famous for “Gangsta Walking,” can you explain how that happened?

    Crunchy Black: Basically, back in them days that we were talking about, we used to all go to this club called Studio G, the G stood for gangster, so that pretty much tells you what kind of spot it was. Later it changed to The Plush Club, I heard that it might be getting shut down. But anyway, everybody would come up there at midnight to hear Paul, J and Squeaky, and the club wouldn’t shut down until after three in the morning. Paul and J would let their beats run for a whole hour, I’m talkin’ about s**t that’s loud with a whole bunch of bass and noise in it. Even when the song started to go off, they’d either bring it back or mix it in with another cut.

    So during that time, everybody is getting buck, getting crunk. We used to have this thing called, “Last Man Standing.” That’s where you’d try to invent a new dance, even if the s**t was bad. This one dude was doing it, but he was f**kin’ it up. We all knew that he was doing it wrong, but he just kept on dancing. So, I really didn’t invent the “Gangsta’ Walk,” but I was so tough that I became the champ at that s**t.

    AllHipHop.com: Would you say that winning the Oscar last year was your highest point?

    Crunchy Black: Yeah, but there was a lot that led up to that point. People were always buying our s**t, but when you get that award it exposes you to a whole different set of people so you can sell more records. Paul and Juicy are smart like a motherf**ker, so throughout this whole time dealing with Sony they were doing the right deals.

    I think they outsmarted Sony, because it got to a point where they didn’t really need the label and they threatened to leave. That was the whole thing behind Most Known Unknown, ‘cause they was going Gold or still getting good paper no matter how many records we sold based off how the deal was. Now with this record, you see three videos and n***as on 106 & Park, ‘cause [Sony] wanna' put them out there and see how much they can get.

    AllHipHop.com: That’s some pretty high praise for your former group members, so it doesn’t seem like a beef thing. What led to you leaving the group?

    Crunchy Black: Part of it was that, besides Project Pat, I felt like I was the only real n***a. If you look at Most Known Unknown, that really was most of my s**t. I had made an album called From Me To You: 1 The Hard Way, and they used some of that material for this new album. It’s my ideas, but I’m one whose verses are getting cut on “Stay Fly” and “Poppin’ My Collar.” For me to be down with them n***as for 15, 16 years and be a real n***a, I felt that I deserved better than that. And when I say that, I don’t want people to think that it’s beef or no s**t like that.

    A lot of other people had left the group because they didn’t feel like they were getting taken care of as far as the money was concerned. I was tired of my [solo] album getting ignored, so really I was gonna leave before this album even came out, but I stayed for one more year. When it came time to get the record ready, Paul and J come telling me that I need to pay $50,000 for an entertainment lawyer, so I gave them the $50,000. When we get there to have the meeting with the lawyer, everybody’s telling me I have to wait outside.

    AllHipHop.com: So all that time your money wasn’t being handled correctly?

    Crunchy Black: Yeah, but I’m a real n***a so I just have to charge that one to the game. You can take my songs and each get $150,000 off of it, but I can’t see no royalties? When I got home, I hired my own lawyer and he told me that for $50,000 he’d represent me for life! To look over a contract is only about $75 and for an entertainment lawyer, [$2,000] is really too much to be paying, let alone [$50,000] -you feel what I’m saying?

    AllHipHop.com: Was that when you decided to leave?

    Crunchy Black: Nah, the last straw was that whole time that we touring, I’m having to come out of my pocket and get my own hotel rooms and rent cars and s**t. We had got pulled over ‘cause the n***a that was driving was doing some crazy s**t. Since we were by the border of Mexico the police searched the car, they had the dogs and everything. Now I was sleep this whole time before they searched the car, and I had some weed on me but they never found anything. All of a sudden, when we get to the venue Paul is talking about I almost got us locked up. How? The cop ain’t pull us over because he smelled weed, he pulled us over because the n***a who y’all had driving was f**kin’ up. So after that they come sending one of my boys to tell me that I have to find my own way to the next show; they didn’t even come tell me themselves and we’re supposed to have been tight for 15 years. They’re the ones with the tour bus, and I’m coming out of pocket to get myself to the venue and getting there before them! Sony’s sending them money, but I’m checking myself into the hotel every time and paying for my own room.

    People had left the group ‘cause of their money not being done right and other stuff too, but if it’s only three n***as in the group there’s no excuse not to pay a n***a. So while we were in New York, I called Sony and told them that I was leaving the group. That next day I got on a plane and left. And it ain’t no beef, I’m not about to make a record talking about I want to kill Paul and J or no s**t like that. I don’t appreciate that s**t they did as far as my money and taking my songs, but I learned a lot about the business from them. If you’re a fan of them, stay a fan, don’t jump over on my bandwagon ‘cause of what happened between me and them.

    AllHipHop.com: There were originally quite a few members of Three-6-Mafia. Now that you’re a soloist, do you talk with them?

    Crunchy Black: I’ve got my crew called The Real Hard Hitters. LaChat tried to do some f**k s**t and come out with a crew called The Hard Hitters, but that’s just some copycat s**t. If you look on my website which is www.myspace.com/crunchyblackandtherealhardhitters then you can tell the difference. On our CDs, it looks just like the Tennessee [license plate] and the logo is in the corner.

    I had Gangsta Boo down in the studio at my house one time, but she was rapping some old Three-6 stuff. It ain’t nothing personal, but this is something new so we got to leave all of that old stuff behind. If we’re going to do something you’ve got to come with some new raps and s**t, don’t nobody want to hear that old s**t. And Lord Infamous was just lost, lost in the sauce on them drugs, so I can’t do anything with him.

    All this time I had my real n***as from back home telling me, “Come on Crunchy, open up a studio or something so we don’t have to be out here selling this s**t!” I’m down to help anyone who’s down to help themselves. I told them that once they got their act together we could do something. These are my same three boys who’ve been down with me this whole time, Pharaoh “The Prince of The City,” Explosive and Buck 4 Luck.

    AllHipHop.com: Are you still affiliated with Sony or are you independent?

    Crunchy Black: I’ve been talking with Ruthless Records and Ruff Ryders. I’m leaning toward Ruff Ryders because when I sat down and talked with them, they just kept it real with me. Plus, it makes more sense to go with someone who can get me out to that area where they might not be that familiar with me.

    AllHipHop.com: Any last words?

    Crunchy Black: We’re coming to every city. If you need studio time and you’re trying to do something positive and get some money in your pocket we’re going to see you. When I came home I didn’t know what to do. I just prayed that if God would help me then I’d put this good word out. We’ll help you get that paper, but if you’re on that bulls**t, we can’t do anything for you.

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    Interviews:Lady Sovereign
    Sunday. 9.3.06 11:08 pm
    Make Way For The S-O-V

    06/27/2006 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
    Lyndsey Parker

    She's small, but Lady Sovereign just may be the next big thing in hip-hop. In fact, the 5-foot-1 rapper is already huge in her native England with her first EP, Vertically Challenged, and she set to become a larger-than-life star in America too, thanks to her new U.S. ambassador, Jay-Z, who just signed her to Def Jam.

    However, even though a super-secret a who's-who of American hip-hop has been enlisted to work on Lady Sovereign's American debut, don't think for a minute that she is planning to Americanize her sound. She knows she doesn't really fit in with the current U.S. rap scene, and she doesn't care.

    Yahoo! Music managing editor Lyndsey Parker recently met up with Sov at Austin's South By Southwest music conference, where the pint-size rapper was the toast of the fest. There, they discuss Sov's plan for world domination' having to freestyle in front of Jay-Z, Usher, and L.A. Reid; the pressure of being dubbed the new "Feminem"; and the joys of being short. Here's how it went:


    YAHOO! MUSIC: I think it's really interesting how you got your start on the Internet, posting your music on message boards and such. How did that come about?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: I got started out on the Internet years and years ago, 'cause no one really gave me the time of day outside of the Internet. You know, most MCs were on pirate radio, doing club nights and raves. I didn't get any of that side, so I sort of hustled my way on the Internet--just used to go on a messenger service and record little samples of me MCing, and I'd send it to people I didn't even know. And they would send it to someone else, and then someone else would send it to someone else, and then it would end up on a music forum. It just got everywhere. Then that hype then moved on outside of the Internet, and that's how people kind of found out about me. And it's still, like, my big thing. I control that.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: So how did that lead to the Jay-Z thing and this American record deal and all that?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: The whole American plot, it just came out of nowhere. I mean, again, going back to the Internet, I kind of knew that some Americans were into my stuff. But then came the attention of the industry and press, and this whole American vibe. It's just crazy. So Jay-Z heard about my music and he wanted to fly me out. He flew me out to New York to meet him personally and all that, which was freaky. But, you know, I got on with it.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: Wasn't there some kind of meeting or audition you had to do?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: Yeah, I had to go into his office, and there was a lot of people in there. I mean, Usher was in there for some odd reason! L.A. Reid comes in, and a bunch of other Def Jam people were in there. And Jay-Z just says, "So, let me hear you spit something." Obviously not in that [British] accent, but, you know. So I had to do some lyrics. And I was a bit nervous, 'cause it was a bit corporate. But I done it and got out of there as quick as I could.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: And then they said, "We're signing you," or whatever?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: Yeah, it kind of went from there, really.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: So you're working on your first full-length album now. How is that going? I hear you're working with some big names.

    LADY SOVEREIGN: I'm still putting finishing touches to my album. You're gonna have to find out who's on there when you buy it. You have to buy it, you see. If you don't buy it, you won't know. Oh, dear!

    YAHOO! MUSIC: Come on, are you working with Missy Elliott? Pharrell? Timbaland? I want to know!

    LADY SOVEREIGN: There's some names on there, some big producers. But vocally, it's all about me. It's my first album--it's mine. So I'm not gonna bring a load of people in. 'cause I just want it to be personal, you know? But you have to wait and see.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: So, without mentioning any names, then, is it tripping you out that these big-name people want to work with you?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: Yeah, it's crazy how all these big people out there in the music scene, who I listen to and really like and respect, want to work with me. It's flattering.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: There's been a lot of talk about how you're going be the first British rapper to be really huge. Why do you think British rap hasn't really broken through in America yet?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: I think it's a lack of money input from the U.K. side of things. Lack of promotion. You know, people don't like to take risks. And I feel that the best music is the ones you take risks with, 'cause if you're putting the same stuff out there on the table and on the radio for people to listen to, it's like, I've heard it before, I want to hear something different. So, you know, when something different does come along, I think people get a bit, like, "Whoa!" That's a shame. But I'm in the position to kind of change things now. So hopefully I can do that.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: Are you feeling any pressure at all?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: A little bit, 'cause America's a big place, and the world is a big place. And I want it all. [laughs] I want it all!

    YAHOO! MUSIC: What do you think of America so far? You've spent some time here now.

    LADY SOVEREIGN: I like America. I've been to New York, Chicago, Boston, L.A., Miami, Austin, a lot of places. Well, not a lot, but to me that's a lot, 'cause, you know, damn! But, yeah, I like it. It's a cool vibe. You know, it's different to London.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: How have the audiences been that you've played to in America?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: Oh, the audiences have been crazy. I mean, I've got my fanbase, my fanatics that come to the shows. I feel like a star out here, you know? Whereas back home, things is nice back there, but out here, I think people are a bit more appreciative.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: This is kind of a weird question, but has there been any concern or any attempts to sort of "Americanize" you--either your image, your sound or whatever, to make you more palatable to whatever they think American audiences want?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: Well, I don't like people telling me what to do. I am my own person, and I'll dress how I want to dress, I'll say what I want to say, I'll do what I want to do. I mean, me being me has got me this far, so I don't see why anyone should try and change me anyway. But it ain't gonna happen. Ain't happening, nope. You can try, but no.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: I think that's really good. But obviously what you're doing is really different from what's going on here, so I just wonder if there's been any concern about where you're gonna fit in, like, what your market is, that sort of kind of corporate speak.

    LADY SOVEREIGN: See, I don't really categorize myself as anything anyway. I'm not, I'm not hip-hop, I'm not grime. I'm not in a box, I'm in a huge container, and I can play about with it. I can do what I want. I don't limit myself.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: I'm sure you've been asked this before, since it's kind of an obvious question. But when you started out, was the fact that you were female, and that you were white, an obstacle? Did you get any flak? Were you discriminated against?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: Yeah, that whole "oh, you, you're white, you're a girl, what are you doing?" That was there a lot in the beginning. Now it's kind of died down. The only people, as far as I'm concerned, that talk about it is media and press. 'Cause that's what I am, you know? But I did get discriminated a bit back in the day. I kind of shook it off, you know, 'cause it shouldn't be an issue anyway. I don't get some people. They're a bit funny in the head, you know.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: It's kind of interesting, 'cause although a lot of black female rappers have done well, there really hasn't been a female Eminem , the "Feminem" that they call you. I know you've been compared to Eminem, and I'm sure you hate that. But why do you think it is that there haven't really been those kind of inroads for white female rappers like there have been for while male rappers?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: I do not know. If you're talented, you're talented, you know? Not that I'm bigging up myself right now, but I mean, if you've got the talent, then it's apparent. Like, "Wow, that sounded good!" If you've got the talent, it's apparent. If you ain't, you haven't really got a chance.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: What do you think of the Eminem comparisons?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: Well, it's cool. It's nice to be compared. But I do I think I'm different, so I don't think it's right that people compare me to that, 'cause people's gonna have expectations of something else. I sound different from that.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: You make a lot of references to your height and call yourself a "midget." What that's all about?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: Oh, I love being short! I am the biggest midget in the game. That's me. I'm not an official midget, but, you know, I could be if I was a few inches smaller.

    YAHOO! MUSIC: What do you like about being short? Don't you hate being called "cute"?

    LADY SOVEREIGN: I used to get the whole, "Oh, you're so cute" thing in high school and all of that. But I don't mind. I just like being short. You see the world from a different perspective. And before anyone else can try and take the mick out of it, it's like, you can't, because I like being short, and I tell people that. So all you tall people out there, ha!

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