Nelly vs. Rick Ross
versus
tue 10/21/2008
| name | Cornell Haynes, Jr. | William Leonard Roberts II. |
| hometown | St. Louis, Missouri. | Miami, Florida. |
| birthdate | November 2, 1974. | January 28, 1976. |
| what's in a name | Short for his real name, Cornell. | Inspired by infamous drug dealer "Freeway" Ricky Ross. |
| before going solo | Member of the St. Lunatics in the mid-'90s. | Member of the Carol City Cartel in the mid-'90s. |
| the look | Sunglasses and shiny gold teeth. | Sunglasses and a thick beard. |
| style | Hip hop. | Hip hop. |
| boasts about | Bedding beautiful women. | Being a drug kingpin. |
| breakthrough track | Ride Wit Me. | Hustlin'. |
| platinum debut | Country Grammar. | Port Of Miami. |
| killer collab | For My featuring Lil Wayne. | Luxury Tax featuring Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy and Trick Daddy. |
| beef | KRS-One. | Plies. |
| once worked | For UPS and McDonald's. | As a prison guard. |
| in his own words | "[W]ill I ever sell 10,000,000 records again? To be honest, I don't think so. [laughs] Would I like to? Hell yes." - Nelly | "I may not be a role model, but I most definitely could be motivation for a lot of people in the hoods." - Rick Ross |
| most recent release | Brass Knuckles. | Trilla. |
| the critics | All Music: "Nelly's locale certainly informs his rapping style, which is as much country as urban, and his dialect as well, which is as much Southern drawl as Midwestern twang." | Rolling Stone: "Rick Ross has one supreme asset: the thundering basso-profundo voice that threatened to puncture a million sub-woofers when his drug-kingpin anthem 'Hustlin' went massive back in 2006." |
| webprops | 227,666 friends on official MySpace. | 375,796 friends on official MySpace. |
| best video moment | Trying to get his girl back in My Place. | Ridin' in style in Here I Am ft. Nelly. |
DJ Laz
as seen on myspace
mon 9/22/2008
Lazaro Mendez, better known as DJ Laz, has been reppin' Miami for as long as he's been behind a mic: "I take a lot of pride in where I'm from, so whenever anybody from here does something big, to me it's like,'that's right I'm from Miami.'"
The Cuban-American DJ has been a staple on the "Morning Pimp Show" on popular South Florida radio station Power 96.5 for the last 20 years. In the early '90s, "DJ Laz" was one of the first jocks to mix Latin rhythms with the Miami Bass popularized by 2 Live Crew. Calling his style Latin Bass, DJ Laz pumped out regional hits like Mami El Negro and Journey Into Bass in the mid 90s. By the end of the decade, he had transitioned to a style he describes as "merengue swing," which adds live instrumentation. "You gotta evolve with the times," says the husky Mendez.
Also known as"The Pimp With The Limp," Mendez has remixed tracks for artists like Gloria Estefan, Will Smith and hometown heroes 2 Live Crew. His latest album, Category 6, is currently gaining momentum on the strength of Move Shake Drop (Remix), a Benny Benassi-meets-Luke Campbell club jam featuring Flo Rida, Casely and Pitbull. The album, DJ Laz's eleventh, also includes appearances by T-Pain and Rick Ross. Mendez, who began DJing when he was 15 years old, says there's still room for him to grow: "With this album, I feel that I have evolved. [I'm] not just Laz who makes Spanish and bootie records. We got a lil bit of everything."
See: myspace.com/djlaz965
white tee tri
daily dos
wed 9/3/2008
(image by ++Frank++ via flickr)
Listen to Birdman, Rick Ross, T-Pain and Glasses Malone rap about life in the fast lane in a new track, “Sun Come Up.”
nobody rides for free
daily dos
sun 6/29/2008
(image by drini via flickr)
Rick Ross denies he's getting married to Foxy Brown: "I'm married to the money."
on the money
daily dos
tue 6/24/2008
(image by Sérgio Savaman Savarese via flickr)
Miami rapper Rick Ross and New York rapper Foxy Brown are reportedly engaged.
Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Fat Joe and Danity Kane.
the music press
tue 3/18/2008
- Snoop Dogg returns with his tenth album, the genre-hopping Ego Trippin'. According to The New York Times, the album finds Snoop "obsessed with defining just who, or what, he is" including a "party-ready high roller, a street-toughened gangster, an insatiable lothario and a nurturing husband and father.” Rolling Stone digs the diversity but admits the album "grows weaker as it drifts away from head-spinning collages into generic slow jamz."
- Miami rapper Rick Ross is back with his sophomore effort, Trilla. The Boston Globe accuses Ross of "recycling most of his much-lauded debut" but can't get enough of his “booming voice-of-God flow and his aura of authority." The Village Voice backhands him with: "Ross understands something many infinitely better rappers do not: his limits," adding "[t]here's something almost admirable in how unapologetic he is about his lyrical ineptitude."
- Nuyorican rapper Fat Joe delivers The Elephant in the Room, his eighth album. “While Joe will never get the respect that Jay-Z gets for some reason," laments webzine Six Shot, "this album takes him one step closer to solidifying his spot as a consistent artist and a legend in the game.” UGO.com underscores the “multitude of talented producers only serves to highlight the absence of anything exciting going on with Fat Joe.”
- Diddy-backed pop quintet Danity Kane drops Welcome to the Dollhouse, an album filled with "mid and uptempo pop tracks produced by the likes of Danjahandz, Bryan-Michael Cox and Mario Winans,” according to Billboard.com. Blog That Hot Ish is convinced "DK is where Diddy's money is at!" while Think 2 Twice gobbles up the "musical platter full of influences from '80s-'90s pop and R&B to hip-hop and modern day dance tunes."
Flo Rida
whodat
fri 2/15/2008
If you're wondering what kind of an effect the 2 Live Crew has on young people, just ask Tramar Dillar, aka Flo Rida.
At age 15, Dillar was hanging out with the legendary rap group behind such infamous hits as Me So Horny and Do Wah Diddy. Now 24, the muscular MC has had the number one song in the country for the last two months. The booty-shaking club anthem Low is Flo Rida's debut single and features fellow Floridian T-Pain along with thumps and claps reminiscent of 2 Live Crew's greatest jams – minus the explicit lyrics.
A multi-sport athlete who has also tried his hand at acting, Flo Rida started rapping in his teens as a member of Carol City hip hop trio Groundhoggz. In 2001, he partnered with 2 Live Crew’s Fresh Kid Ice to perform locally but was unable to woo any labels. In search of a break, Flo Rida flew out to Los Angeles to record demos for Jodeci’s DeVante, who later hooked him up with Public Enemy hypeman – and reality TV star – Flava Flav.
After a disappointing three years on the West Coast, Flo Rida returned to the Sunshine State without a deal. Several mixtape appearances and a guest spot on B*tch I'm from Dade County from DJ Khaled’s most recent release, We the Best, reversed his fortune. In 2006, Flo Rida inked a deal with indie Poe Boy Entertainment, home of Miami standout Rick Ross.
A sign that there's more to come: Flo Rida's Low is featured on the Step Up 2 the Streets soundtrack along with tracks by Akon, Enrique Iglesias, Missy Elliot and Plies. His debut album, Mail On Sunday, will be released in March and includes collaborations with Trey Songz, Jazze Pha and Rick Ross. And while Flo Rida’s latest single, the Timbaland-produced Elevator, may not match the success of Low, it's another sure-fire dance floor dazzler.
luces and abuses
daily dos
tue 1/15/2008
(image by Fabbio via flickr)
The rap beef of the week: Cuban Link disses former Terror Squad compatriot Fat Joe. He also has words for Rick Ross and DJ Khaled.
dos caras, un camino
daily dos
mon 12/10/2007
Rick Ross does his best Notorious B.I.G. impression as he runs from the police in a new video, "Speedin." (via The Fader)
┼♥┼ яosαяio ┼.. Says:
