Rap Radar

Weezy weekend continues with this new clip featuring Young Money’s Shanell. Run nigga, run.

It’s been six years since The Dirty Dozen released their last album, D12 World. Back in June, Eminem said on Rap City, “We’re going to get back in the studio soon”.  Now, Bizarre tells Rap-Up that the crew have returned to the lab and are aiming to release their third project later this year.

“Of course Eminem will be on [the album]. He’s part of the group! We’re just really getting started on it. It should be due out before the year’s over. “We’re just trying to make good music. [The album is] definitely going to be more serious than any other D12 album that’s come out.”

Ludacris and Rick Ross split the June/July 2010 issue of The Source. MTV has an excerpt from Ross’ feature where he speaks on his Southern roots.

“I always felt in touch with my black side riding by cotton fields at 5, 6 years old, seeing big mills of cotton balls,” Ross revealed.

“I was always in touch with slavery, when I could recognize a palm tree at the same age,” added the rapper, who was raised in Florida. “I always respected my culture, my people. Growing up in the streets of Miami, I saw different ways to escape a lot of conditions that I knew was around the corner in Mississippi. It always made me see the world from so many different aspects. I saw the fast life of Miami, but I also saw the slow countryside of a small, country town with a small population. I heard the struggles.”

Complex, Vitamin Water, and Don Cannon have linked up to bring us The Choice Is Yours. It’s a three track mixtape featuring some of your underground favs. Click the image above for the remaining the two songs.

With the Memorial Day Weekend officially under way, Puff and The Stay Puft Man were at Club Play last night in Miami and recited their verses from Waka Flocka’s “O Let’s Do It (Remix)”. Yeeeeah!

30mn

Earlier today, Kanye’s new song “Power” leaked online. The track’s co-producer, Symbolyc One, spoke to MTV on how the track came to fruition.

“The way it came together, I work with Rhymefest,” S1 told MTV News about the song, referring to another Chicago MC. “I did like four joints on his album. And one day, out the blue, I got a text from Rhymefest that said, ‘Kanye is loving your stuff, he said he’s about to change your life.’ Two days later, I got an e-mail that said my flight to Hawaii [where West recorded much of the album] leaves in three hours! So I was on a flight, and it just happened like that. I went down and stayed for like two weeks, banged out some joints.

Statik Selektah’s the man behind the beat and he let this one rip during his Showoff Radio show on Shade 45 last night. The song is from the soundtrack of Styles P’s novel, Invincible. Don’t be a sellout and click play, okay.

Update: CDQ

T.I. recently denied rumors that he didn’t want his fiance Tiny to do her BET reality show Tiny & Toya. In fact, he tells Access Hollywood that he watched it in prison, but was reluctant because it made him home sick.

Previously: T.I. Taught Class In Prison

He may have gotten on some people’s bad side, but he will certainly be missed. RIP to YN’s lil man.

Rap-Up caught up with 50 Cent and discussed his weight loss for the upcoming movie, Things Fall Apart. Fif says he’ll back to his normal physique in no time.

For those who still can’t believe it, can you confirm the authenticity of those photos?
Yeah, they’re absolutely real. I shot the first half of the film for eight days and then I left for my international tour, and I spent that time training to lose weight. I had a week and a half after coming back to really intensely train to get down to 160 for the last half of the film project, Things Fall Apart. It’s myself, Mario Van Peebles, Lynn Whitfield, and Ray Liotta starring in the project. It’s directed by Mario Van Peebles.

We barely recognized you.
Yeah, it was a lot for me to actually get there. After the second week, it was crazy. They say it takes 30 days to make a habit, but man… I was on the Internet and I was looking at Christian Bale, while The Machinist was out, he almost killed himself. I was feeling like maybe I’m overdoing it and I’m dropping 54 pounds, but I was in such a good physical state prior to me deciding to go down on the weight.

What motivated you?
I just trained to get as big as I physically could be for the first half. It felt like I had a lot of muscle on me still and I was trying to lose as much as possible to be authentic to what I saw in my experience, because my motivation for the project was my best friend, Charles Pringle. He lived across the street from me; he actually died of cancer. It’s a serious topic. One out of eight people in the world die of cancer. It tops HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria together. If you’re not actually gonna die of cancer, chances are someone you’re active with in your life is.

Have you put on weight since then?
Right now I weigh 198 pounds. I’m trying to get back to 200 and then I’ll start weight training again to get my body back together.

So will your fans still be able to recognize you onstage?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll never go out looking crazy like I just smoked something [laughs]. I’m trying to get myself back together immediately.