Ice Cube Announces Ninth Album, Aims to Resurrect West Coast

The West Coast is officially back. If the forthcoming release of Snoop Dogg’s More Malice and Game’s R.E.D. Album weren’t enough, now L.A.’s own Ice Cube is returning to the scene with his ninth studio album.


The rapper-turned-actor has announced the title, I Am the West, and tentative release date for his first musical project since 2008’s Raw Footage. In a blog entry dated Wednesday (Feb. 24), Cube also laments about the current state of radio and thanks the West Coast MCs who have kept the genre alive.

I AM THE WEST…is the name of my new record. After completing about 65% of my music, this is the perfect title. This shit is cocky, no apologies, West Coast gangsta shit. I can’t help it. That’s what I do. June seems too tight for a release, but July is very doable. We’ll see how things go. Now that I have my title, I can work on the concept of my photoshoot and artwork. I want to provide early merch before the drop date.

For 7 or 8 years now the West Coast has been trying to do music that appeals to the South and Mid-West. The words, “too West Coast” would be heard throughout the industry whenever our music was played. Even by our own dj’s. Left coast MC’s were now trying to change their sound to cater to all the followers. We lost our way. Thank God for b-boys like Snoop, The Game & WC for keeping the West alive, but we were all guilty of over reaching. No more. At least not from me. I do it how I feel it; not how I think it should be done. Radio fucked us up. I hate the politics at radio. I don’t know who to pay to get my shit played. Having a hot song is not enough. Ridiculous.

I AM THE WEST. It’s coming….

Keep It Gangsta
Ice Cube

Monica Calls Missy Elliott Album ‘Crazy’

You may have been asking yourself, when is Missy Elliott dropping an album? We wanted to know the same thing, so we spoke with her good friend Monica.


The R&B singer, whose single “Everything to Me” was produced by Missy, didn’t have the release date we were looking for, but she did offer a glimpse at what Misdemeanor’s got cooking. “She’s working really hard on it,” Monica tells Rap-Up.com. “She’s got some crazy music on there, some stuff I was trying to steal for my record.” However, she still managed to get away with a few goods. “I got a couple of things that she let me take, but she’s working really hard on [her album].”

One thing’s for certain. Missy’s handprint is all over Mo’s new album Still Standing. “Missy is big on my album. She’s been big on the last three,” she explains. “I think I realized that she and I had this chemistry when she called me and told me to fly to Miami tonight for a real good reason. And when I walked in the studio, she was playing ‘So Gone.’ She doesn’t even tell me anything, she just knows.”

Missy Elliott’s last album The Cookbook was released in 2005. She resurfaced in 2008 with “Best, Best,” but her seventh studio effort, tentatively titled Block Party, has yet to see the light of day.

Shanell Goes Back to the ’80s with Aubrey O’Day

Memphis Bleeks Calls Jay-Z His Biggest Critic, "Jay Is The Type Of Person, It's Never Right"

Former Roc-A-Fella artist Memphis Bleek has called Jay-Z his biggest critic in the rap game and explained how his ex-labelmate pushes him to make better records.

According to Bleek, Jay will always have the final word on whether his efforts are quality or not.

"Jay. Because he my biggest critic," Bleek said in an interview. "Jay is the type of person, it's never right. I don't care how much I can sit in my house, record 20 thousand records and I can say 'this one is the record!' Ain't nothing no body can tell me that's gonna change my mind. And soon as I get to the office, he be like that's bulls**t. You for real thinking that's crazy? And I be looking at him like "Am I bugging? Or is it you?" He's my biggest critic. I'm tryna always get his approval and make the boss happy. And it's never gonna happen I see (laughs) I definitely gotta come from the street first."
Last December, Bleek explained why he turned down an opportunity to join Hov's Roc Nation.

"I coulda went to Roc Nation, but then what am I getting out of that?," Bleek asked in an interview. "Another $150,000 check advance, then I come out [and] sell 300,000 probably, somebody makes two or three million, and I gotta mess with the fact that they gon' say yo you bricked out? Like that's the industry. And that's [with a label run by] my homie. Now if [it's] somebody else, [they] might not even get a 150 [thousand dollar] advance, they probably go get 30. And plus I'd rather be on my own, fam. I been in the game, like you said a decade now, I know what to do; I know what not to do. It's time for me to have my own record [label]. I got a lot of n*ggas behind me that's ready to get they shot. And me being behind Jay, they ain't gonna never get they shot."
Last year, Bleek confirmed no longer being under contract with Def Jam.

"[The album] is called The Process," Bleek revealed in an interview. "Same album I was working on when everybody was under the Def Jam structure. But once Jay moved and did the Roc Nation thing, I hollered at him and told him I wanted to create my own umbrella to be a branch off Roc Nation...I don't want to be under Jay-Z's shadow forever. I feel like I'm gonna get criticized for that forever. So, yeah. It's one reason I want to do the Get Low thing. People will respect me more if I can show them I know how to walk on my own two. But I still got the big homie. He's setting up meetings with every distribution company for me. I'm just trying to see what's the best fit."
Bleek previously spoke on his label status and why he parted ways with Def Jam.

"Jay's the kindest n*gga that walk the face of this earth and everything ain't money," Bleek said in an interview. "N*gga gave everybody he knew that he came up with rhyming with opportunity, that's all you can ask for...You know Hov broke bread...I left Def Jam...I had options to put out another album on Def Jam but then I had a meeting with him and he made it real clear to me, 'Why do that, you got the opportunity right now to run your own company. I'ma get you the distribution deal for Get Low Records, you sign your artists, drop your albums under Get Low and I'ma still executive produce.'"
Check out a recent Memphis Bleek intervew below:

Kanye West Launches New Blog W/ Semi-Nude Amber Rose

Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West has finally launched his new website, www.kanyewest.com, with a post of his model girlfriend, Amber Rose.

Launched on Wednesday, the blog continues Ye's journey into the world of art.

For someone so obsessed with design aesthetics, Kanye West's website looked like a failed HTML for Dummies experiment for years. But no longer! The new internet home of Kanye West is now live-- and it's a marked improvement over the old one. The first two posts are of his (kinda disappointing) new "Coldest Winter" video and a (kinda amazing) picture of his girlfriend Amber Rose recreating the classic body-bending photo of Grace Jones originally shot by Jean-Paul Goude. Promising!

The new website has already become the subject of criticism due to his visual usage of Rose.

Pimpin' ain't supposed to be easy but Kanye West sure makes it look that way... The rapper just launched his new website and he continues to follow the Ice-T business model for generating public interest. Pop the hood for yet another look at Amber's backs. Entry #1 on the blog was his new "Coldest Winter" video... but it shouldn't be hard to figure out his very next post. The baroque style frame on the blog was larger but we didn't want to rob you of your view of Amber. Guess he'll stay on this ho train until we get tired of looking at Amber. And there doesn't seem to be an end in sight for that!
Ye hinted at the new site launch earlier this month.

"I've been working really hard on this new blog," Ye wrote in a KanyeUniversecity blog posting on Tuesday (February 9), "and I'm really excited about it. It should be up this week!"
Yeezy gave fans the inside scoop of a new site launching after an initial posting last month.

"Sorry for the slow posting," Ye wrote on his current blog Sunday (January 10) evening. "I've been working on a whole new blog for the past few months now. It's very close to completion."
Check out some recent Kanye West footage below:

Diddy Stands By Rick Ross Co-Sign, "We've Just Been Doing Little Things Together"

Rap mogul Diddy recently spoke on his recent work with Rick Ross, an emcee he says reminds him of the late Notorious B.I.G.

Diddy said fans should not expect a large partnership with Ross.

The Boss and Chairman Combs have been hanging tight a lot lately. They're on the "Angels" remix together, they jumped on Waka Flocka Flame's "O Let's Do It" as well. Ross even posted footage of himself on a jet that was "lent out" by Diddy as he flew from Las Vegas. The ultimate Diddy co-sign had to be on the set of the "Angels" remix video, when Puff compared Rick to the Notorious B.I.G. "We've just been doing little things together," Diddy explained. "If it organically grows into something, that's cool. But it's not no master plan for something else bigger than that."
Last month, Diddy described how Ross' rap delivery reminded him of his late Bad Boy artist.

"Oh y'all ain't hear the second verse," Diddy said about Ross' 'Angels' collaboration. "Yo, y'all gonna peep that when we world premiere that. I don't know, I guess him and Biggie locked up in the room, even my man Hen Roc even said that. For my man Hen Roc to say that and co-sign it like 'Yo, my man right there sounding like our homie.' That right there is something special. That's a mean co-sign, that's a mean co-sign. I don't know what was going on in the studio, the spirits were connecting but it's official. It ain't bootleg, it ain't got no preservatives in it."
The "Boss" later responded to Diddy's comparison of himself to B.I.G.

"Yeah, that's big," Ross told DJ Envy referring to the co-sign. "That's most definitely big, but I want New York City, I'll never get it twisted, the magic that Notorious B.I.G. created could never be duplicated. That most definitely was my mentor, that's who music I wrote to the most. Hearing that come from Diddy himself is big and it's inspiration to keep making hot music."
Ross recently spoke with SOHH about making his best music to date in 2010.

"Honestly, n*ggas can talk sh*t but it's hard to really make predictions other than lord willing we'll be still here, you know what I"m saying," Ross told SOHH. "N*ggas here, free, alive, other than that, we just gonna make the best music we gonna make. And I feel it's gonna compete with the best music that's being made right now."

Check out Rick Ross speaking with SOHH below:

Waka Flocka Flame Gives Gunman A Pass, "I Ain't Worried About You"

Rapper Waka Flocka Flame is no longer focusing on the gunman who nearly took his life during a shooting last month.

From Flocka's perspective, his profile within rap has only grown since the near-death attack.

"I ain't worried about you. I appreciate you too," Flame addressed the gunman, looking directly into MTV News' camera. "You got me sacked up real big. I got a stupid house off you, cars off you. I appreciate you, man. That's on them folks. Let them folks do they job. It is what it is. Y'all done said enough. I did enough. What, I'mma keep flippin' the story? I don't know, bruh. Let them live their life, I'mma live my life. That's right there [behind me]. They sitting right there. They probably not even sitting this close. I'm giving them too much. I ain't even worried about them. That's so behind me right now."
Flocka recently said the hitman was too nervous to kill him.

"I really can't breathe that good but I'll break it all down right now," Waka said in an interview. "All I know is somebody was sent to kill me but he was so scared he let me get out the car -- he hit me in my arm -- trust me, he could have did his job. That's the word out to him and his people. And I'm straight though, I just broke one of my ribs -- I'll be out there. Shout-out to everybody that's been hating on me..."
Associate DJ Holiday previously discussed the shooting and Flocka's injuries.

"He's actually responding better," Holiday revealed. "He got shot in the arm and the other one hit him in the shoulder and it moved around and hit him [near his] lung...so he has a hard time breathing and moving. The bullet is lodged on the right side of his chest up under his arm -- and that's where the most trauma was. He's a tough dude [and] he make jokes about it."
The attack reportedly took place at an Atlanta gas station.

Gucci Mane understudy and author behind the smash hit "O Let's Do It," Waka Flocka, was reportedly injured in a shooting earlier today. While stopping at a gas station off Old National Highway in Atlanta, Flocka was approached by unknown men at gunpoint and was told to hand over his chain. After refusing to give up his jewelry, the suspects fired shots in the direction of Waka Flocka hitting him twice. More details to come. UPDATE: Label confirmed exclusively to KarenCivil.com these accounts are true.
Check out Waka Flocka Flame speaking on the shooting down below: