Billboard sat down with the God MC and he explains his top album of the decade.
Bonus
Alicia Keys gives her song of the decade
Posts Tagged Billboard
By Gail Mitchell
When Billboard caught up with Lil Wayne, real name TK, it was a couple of days after he had finished a set of shows in London, Paris and Amsterdam, and a week before he pled guilty to attempted weapon possession for an incident. Having barnstormed his way through 68 stateside shows during his top-grossing I Am Music and America¹s Most Wanted tours in 2008 and 2009, he deserved a few days off. Instead, the Miami-based rapper was busy completing his free “No Ceilings” mixtape, a big thank you to fans for coming out and showing me love every single night of the tours. Several leaks from the Halloween release feature Wayne rapping over beats from Jay-Z¹s “Run This Town” and Fabolous¹ “Throw It in the Bag.” Slated for release just after the mixtape, on Nov. 23, is the “Mr. Carter” EP, exclusive to Best Buy. While his Universal Motown publicist didn¹t respond to several requests for comment, another source at the label says that Wayne¹s legal issues, the rapper faces a one-year sentence in February‹will not impede the often-delayed album¹s Dec. 15 release. But one question looms: Can Lil Wayne keep it moving when it comes to maintaining his sales and touring success?
How has touring helped shape your success thus far?
It¹s played a big part in my career. I¹ve been on the road since I was about 14. Since then there¹s never been one city that I¹ve been stable in for six months. Honestly, touring is just another part of my day. The stage comes at 9 p.m. OK, I eat at 12 [laughs]. It¹s natural for me, not a preparation. And I thank God for that every day. Whether it¹s a club or arena, I perform my ass off. I go out there and give it my all every single night. I would die onstage. Some people like to just go out there and have their song played with five people onstage, and you don¹t even know who four of them are. You¹ve got to go out there and perform. Once that works, people will come. And as long as people keep screaming when I step out there, I¹ll keep giving them me.
Do you have a sense of withdrawal when you¹re not on the road?
As soon as you start to develop that sense of withdrawal, you get a call from your manager [in Wayne¹s case, Cortez Bryant] telling you that you¹ve got 60 nights coming up somewhere so you¹ll be all right [laughs]. Honestly, the way my schedule is, my days‹even when I¹m not on tour‹are still full. I¹m in the studio every single night. There¹s really never a moment for me to actually sit and breathe and even notice if I¹m having withdrawal symptoms because I have to keep it moving. I just turned 27 on Sept. 27, so
I¹m not in a rush to take any downtime. Speaking of keeping it moving, ³Rebirth² is finally coming.
Given earlier leaks from the project, did you make many changes to the final version.
As of now ³Rebirth² is coming out as a double disc with a [disc of songs] by Young Money. I had to add new cuts because a lot of things leaked, making people think they had an idea of what I was doing with ³Rebirth² and what it would sound like. And I hated that because I never want anybody to think they know what I¹m doing until I present it. So what I did was make it
Does the album still lean toward rock?
Yes, the album is still rock. I play guitar on 80% of the songs and there¹s a lot of rock influences and rock beats. I also have Travis Barker on the album. But I don¹t want people to think I¹m trying to do something I can¹t do. Don¹t think you¹re going to put on the album and hear me screaming and singing . . . Don¹t worry about that [laughs]. When people hear me say rock, they may get a little scared like, ³Oh, God. What is he going to do?² When I said I was doing a rock album, it was about doing a freedom thing. This album isn¹t hip-hop. When I do my ³Carter² albums, I know I¹ve got to rap, I know I¹ve got to spit‹I know the words I¹ve got to say and the subjects I¹ve got to talk about. I also know the things I shouldn¹t say, the things I shouldn¹t talk about. There¹s none of those limits on this album. I say what I want, how I want. That¹s what this album is: a freedom album. And rock is the avenue that gives you that freedom.
I¹m just having fun, that¹s all. Trust me: People will like these songs. It¹s my job to make them love them, but I know for a fact they¹ll like them.
It’s official, Jay Sean’s brand new single has gone to the top of the Billboard Top 100.
Ever since the singer from West London released his single “Down” Stateside, it has soared through the charts.
The Black Eyed Peas had held the number one spot for 26 straight weeks with their two singles ”Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling.
According to Billboard, “The track also climbs to the top of Hot 100 Airplay with a total of 115 million listener impressions and rises 5-3 on Hot Digital Songs, where is has moved 1.5 million downloads since its release.”
On his twitter account, Jay said,
We did it. Today is definately the biggest moment of my career. I’m number 1 in USA Billboard charts!!! I’m beyond words. Thanku!!!!!!!!
Congrats to Jay and his whole team.
Related
Jay Sean’s Interview With The Hip Hop Chronicle UK
Jay-Z has pushed up the release of his latest album “Blueprint 3″.
According to Billboard, date changes on Amazon.com, Rhapsody.com and WEA’s distribution Web site indicate that the album will drop on Sept. 8th and not the originally date (Sept. 11th).
As of yet, there hasnt been any confirmation from Jay-Z or Roc Nation representatives.
On a brighter note, Jay-Z could have his first UK number 1 tomorrow with his single “Run This Town”.
Rakim - Holy Are You
Jul 16
Rakim’s new album ”Seventh Seal” drops on the 28th September.
Bonus
Rakim Interview In Billboard
Pharrell Williams shares his only advice for aspiring artists. . He speaks on being competitive and diverse, the saturated industry, and education.
Listen on as Rest In Beats’ hangs out at the 2009 Billboard/AdWeek Music & Advertising Conference in NYC.
Drake is to set to sue a Canadian record label after a fake album appeared on iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody.
Canadian Money Entertainment took songs from Drake’s most recent mixtape, So Far Gone as well as others tracks and put together an album they dubbed The Girls Love Drake. It was released May 28th to iTunes, Rhapsody and Amazon.
But Drake’s management didnt authorise the release. In fact they are currently trying to clear sample’s on the “So Far Gone” mixtape, so that they can sell it in stores themselves.
It was lucky that the fake album was spotted. If it hadn’t, the phoney album would have landed the #1 spot on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart.
Al Branch, the artist’s manager sent a cease-and-desist order notice to iTunes. He spoke to Billboard.com saying,
“This is a straight bootleg, a scandal. iTunes’ position is that they are a store and they stock everything. They have a waiver, and as long as people sign it and are responsible for the product they submit, then they go for it.”
Peter Greenwood, the founder of Canadian Money Entertainment, said the release was just to get more exposure for the Toronto native,
“‘The Girls Love Drake’ was just a combination of new and old songs that we had been promoting on the underground scene for the last six months, and so we wanted to get more exposure for it on the Net,” he said. “Breaking him in the States along with other Toronto artists has always been our goal. Drake is our hometown hero.”
Related
Melanie Fiona - Me & Drake Were In A Group Together (Exclusive)
Rick Ross Tops U.S. Charts
Apr 29
Rick Ross scored his third number 1 on the Billboard 200 with his new album ‘Deeper Than Rap’. The rapper moved 158,000 in the first week of sales. Ross’ last effort ‘Trilla’ top the charts selling 198,000 units.
Ross bumps the “Hannah Montana: the Movie” soundtrack (Walt Disney) out of the top slot, as the Miley Cyrus-enhanced set slips to No. 2 with 104,000.
Bonus
Billboard Article On Rick Ross, Beef And Sales
(Click on pictures to enlarge)
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