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Vibe Article Helps Dilla’s Family Earn Dough-Nuts
dilla mom-rapradar.com

J Dilla’s mom, Maureen Yancey tells HipHopDX how Vibe‘s recent feature was beneficial in her fight for unpaid royalties.

“The sad saga of artists being sued for using Dilla beats and profits earned by the estate not trickling down to Dilla’s two daughters and mother was for the first time fully documented for the world to see in the February 2009 issue of VIBE magazine in an article penned by Kelley Louise Carter entitled Dollars To Donuts.  

‘Oh, it’s in a much better place thanks to the VIBE article,’ a very relieved-sounding Maureen Yancey (b.k.a. James ‘J Dilla’ Yancey’s mother, a.k.a. ‘Ma Dukes’) …That was a groundbreaking point for us. I think because of the viewer audience for that magazine, it made all the difference in the world.'”

Crunk Print Aint Dead!

RR Exclusive: Jeremih Says It’s Deeper Than R&B
jeremih-rapradar.com

Interview: Tracy Garraud

Call 21-year-old Jeremih an R&B singer and he’ll smack you with a smirk. The Chicago native only recently discovered his talents as a vocalist and by recently we mean less than a year ago. While his cousin Willie got his man-band on auditioning for Day 26, Jeremih was busy experimenting with engineering science, instrumentation—and what do you know—rapping. But after transferring to Kanye’s drop-out school, Columbia College, Jeremih solidified his passion in music and when Chi-town caught on, everyday started feeling like a birthday. Currently perfecting his Def Jam debut, Jeremih talks to Rap Radar about the current era of R&B, how he created a radio monster and who’s birthday cake he’d like to taste.

RR: Congrats on the single reaching #1 on iTunes for R&B. That’s a real good look.
Yeah, thank you, thank you. It’s crazy to see how things are going right now.

Yeah, you’re receiving plenty of love super early…
Man, this has only been a matter of months. I wrote the song and recorded it in September of ‘08 and it was October 31st when they first played it in Chicago.

I heard that you just went in to the radio station and asked them to play it?
Well in Chicago they offer a power hour of local talent. They played it back to back like it was a new R. Kelly track. And they were still mispronouncing my name, but I didn’t care (laughs). Then my manager, Louis, gave it to the Hot Boyz from Power 92, who said that by that night their lines were just filled with calls talking about who’s this new “Birthday Sex” dude and from that day on it was more of a reaction record because people would call in every day and be like it’s my birthday.

Ha! Did you have that in mind when you were writing the song…that it could work every day?

I mean some people like it, for it’s sexiness, for it’s words, for it’s content, but some people like it for just it’s composition, for it sounding just like a good ass song. I didn’t think about it when I was writing it, but you’re right, it’s a birthday every day.

How does your mother feel about you having a song called “Birthday Sex?”
(laughs) She sings it now. At the end of the day she knows…

…You’re a grown ass man.
Yeah, and who doesn’t love to have sex? I mean that’s how she had me (laughs). But I managed to write the song, have the title, and have the radio play it, so that means a lot and that it really wasn’t that vulgar. It wasn’t on some, “let me put my dick in you.” I was able to write it more with metaphors and that’s how I write period.