During a 2012 interview with WGCI’s “The Morning Riot”, Kendrick Lamar revealed seeing Tupac and Dr. Dre shoot the music video for ‘California Love’ in Compton inspired the then 7-year-old K. Dot to pursue a career in hip-hop.
The music video for Tupac and Dr Dre‘s collaboration ‘California Love’ was shot near Kendrick Lamar’s house.
“I was in Compton and they were shooting the first version of it,” he said. “They stopped right in front of the middle of the street. My pops had seen them and came back to the house and got me. My father went to the house to get me and put me on his shoulders to watch them shoot.” Kendrick Lamar said.
Kendrick also tells the story to the Recording Academy
“I was about eight years old, they was shooting a video in my neighborhood in compton. My father see them, went two blocks down and got me, by the time he got me everybody was out there it was pandemonium, he put me on his shoulders and there they was, Dr Dre and Tupac right there…”
“I think it was a white bentley… that moment right there, whether I knew it or not, branched me off to what i’m doing now, it was already designed in destiny. 15 years later i meet Dr Dre and i explained that story to him and he remembered that same exact moment and he remember them kids that was out there and i said Dre, I was one of them kids that was there, it’s a crazy feeling.” Kendrick Lamar says.
Jay Z and Busta Rhymes both attended Brooklyn’s George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School and they’ve battled each other in the cafeteria. DMX and Notorious B.I.G are also famous alumni and they all attended school around the same time, Busta Rhymes and Biggie were born a day apart and Jay Z was two and half years older.
Over the years, Jay and Busta Rhymes have often reminisced about their teenage rapping rivalry during interviews. In a 2015 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Z mentioned that he once rap battled Busta in the lunch room. When Kimmel asked who won, Jay Z modestly shrugged and mouthed the word, “me.”
Busta Rhymes has actually spoken on this a few years back on MTV, and gave a more in-depth recap than Jay of how it happened.
“One day, somebody came up to me and was like, ’Yo, Hov is in the cafeteria.’ They weren’t calling him Hov at the time; they were calling him Jay. ’Do you want to step to him on some rhyme sh–?’ So I go. At the time, when we were rhyming, it was speed rap. That was the thing to do. I knew how to freak it, and he knew how to freak it. And at the time, he was so ill, ’cause of the people he was with at the time, Jaz-O and them, it was their thing [that style]. He kind of got the best of the situation. I got to give it up. He was so ill and his arsenal was so long that he had more than what I did. I spit my one rap, and my tank was empty real fast. He came with two or three after that, and I was like, ’Here we go.’ But I gave it my best.”
“That was probably the fist time that I lost a battle that mattered. Jay-Z always exemplified greatness as an MC. He was a scientist with it.”
In a different interview with Fuse
“I didn’t know Biggie rhymed in school ’cause in school we was cuttin’ a lot of class and we was smokin’ a lot of weed and bullshittin’,”
“I knew Jay Z was rhyming ’cause me and Jay Z battled in school, speed rapping. He had finessed the speed rapping phenomenally at that time and I was new with the speed rapping, but losing that battle to Jay in speed rapping is what made me one of the most dangerous speed rappers today … Jay know he can’t see me in no speed rapping today.”
T-Pain and Joey Badass have revealed that Post Malone‘s smash hit ‘rockstar’ originally featured both of them. In a now deleted tweet, Joey Badass confirmed that not only was he featured on the song, he also helped write it, making it his first #1 record.
In an interview with Billboard, Post Malone confirmed Joey Badass was in the studio during the recording of ‘Rockstar’ but he didn’t mention his contributions to the record.
“I was in New York, and we were at Quad Studios. Some kid came in, and I guess he was in the session next door and he was like, ‘Hey? Can I play you some beats?’ I’m like, ‘I guess so.’ You know, I’m a nice guy, I like music. I’ll listen to your beats. He played the beat and it was incredible. His name is Tank. He’s a really young guy, and a really talented producer,” Post Malone explained. “So we did that, and Joey Badass was in there. We were just vibing on it and the melody was sick. We just cut like a little scratch vocal and we took it back to LA. I finished my part and sent it off to [21] Savage—and there it is.”
Tyler, The Creator & Playboi Carti‘s first official collaboration ‘EARFQUAKE’ has been the breakout song from Tyler, The Creator’s latest album, IGOR, but Tyler didn’t originally make the song for himself. During a full performance of the album in Los Angeles, Tyler told his fans he wrote ‘EARFQUAKE’ with Justin Bieber in mind. When Justin Bieber passed on the record, Tyler pitched it to Rihanna, who turned the song down as well.
Tyler told the crowd, “I made it in 2017. I wrote it for Bieber. He didn’t take it, So I hit Rihanna’s people up like, ‘Hey, I got this song. I would love for her to sing the hook. I think it’ll be big.’ I just want to write pop songs, honestly. I didn’t hear back from them, so I left my [reference] vocals in.”
This isn’t the first time Tyler has admitted to writing for another artist. In September 2017, Tyler said he was saving his Flower Boy record, ‘See You Again,’ for ZAYN.
fun fact: i wrote 'see you again' for zayn but that bitch flaked on studio time twice, so i kept the ref for myself, worked out actually
6 years ago today, J. Cole released his second studio album ‘Born Sinner’. On the night ‘Born Sinner’ released, Drake and J. Cole took a late night trip to Best Buy in New York to physical copies. They took every copy of Born Sinner and a copy of French Montana’s album. Drake also bought a copy of The Weeknd’s ‘Trilogy’, and his own ‘Take Care’. Drake spent a total of $888.
If you call yourself a J. Cole fan, here are 11 facts (and more) you didn’t know about Jermaine Lamarr Cole AkA J. Cole AkA Moo Dee.
11. J. Cole attended St. Johns University on an academic scholarship, he graduated from St. Johns University in 2007 with a 3.8 GPA and Magna Cum Laude Honors. J. Cole majored in communications but he didn’t receive his diploma until 2015 due to an overdue library book.
10. While attending St. Johns university, J. Cole was a walk-on for the St. Johns Men’s Basketball team however, J. Cole never showed up when he was called back by the team, he chose to focus on music instead. J. Cole did partake in student life at college. During his senior year, he became the president of the pan-African student coalition, Haraya.
9. J. Cole is half german and he was born in Frankfurt, Germany on a US military base. His mother Kay relocated him and his brother to an army base in North Carolina when he was just eight months old.
8.J. Cole’s first rap name was “Blaza” he then switched it to “The Therapist.” He started rapping at the age of 12 but didn’t take rapping seriously until he was 15 when he linked up with a local North Carolina rap group Bomm Sheltuh.
7.J. Cole started producing his own music in his room at the age of 15 with the help of his mother who bought him a $1,300 ASR-X beat machine for Christmas. Cole agreed to buy his own clothes for the next year, skip out on getting a birthday present, and had to pay his own way to basketball camp the next summer.
6.From the 5th to 12th grade, J. Cole played the violin. He was the first chair violinist at his high school Terry Sandford Orchestra. J. Cole is also a skilled guitar player.
5.J. Cole briefly held jobs as an ad salesman at a newspaper company and a bill collector he has admitted that he struggled working both roles. J. Cole also worked at a skating rink in Fayetteville, where he had to dress up as a kangaroo mascot to entertain the customers.
4.Not only did J. Cole attend Dave Chappelle’s movie Block Party, he sat in the front row. The taping took place in Brooklyn, New York and J. Cole had won tickets to the event.
3. Jay Z delayed J. Cole’s debut studio album “Cole World” so he himself can feature on it. J. Cole had submitted the album and it was already being mastered until Jay Z was inspired enough to hop on “Mr. Nice Watch.” .. When J. Cole first met Jay Z, his first thought was “Damn, I’m taller than Jay-Z.” Cole is only an inch taller than Jay Z who is 6’2.
2.J. Cole credits Canibus’ first album, Can-I-Bus, for changing his perspective on rap music and his approach to songwriting. Canibus ended up dissing Cole on “J Clone” only to apologize later. Cole’s influences include Nas, Tupac, Jay Z and Eminem, who have all helped him develop a love for storytelling in his lyrics.
1.Despite sampling Kanye West‘s “The New Workout Plan” on his single “Work Out,” J. Cole has admitted that he isn’t a fan of the original song by Kanye. J. Cole’s favorite Kanye West album is “The College Dropout” but he says he usually skips “The New Workout Plan”. J. Cole also attended Kanye West’s first SOB’s show in NYC in 2004. J. Cole would later play SOBs himself in 2010.
If you call yourself a Playboi Carti fan, here are 11 facts (and some) you didn’t know about Jordan Carter AkA Playboi Carti, $ir Cartier & Cash Carti.
11.Playboi Carti’s first rap name was $ir Cartier. In 2011, Playboi Carti released music under the moniker ‘$ir Cartier.’ A lot of his early work has been deleted from the Internet.
10.Playboi Carti released his first mixtape ‘Young Mi$fit’ under $ir Cartier in 2012 when he was just 16. The mixtape had nine songs including a couple skits.
9.Playboi Carti made his first song ‘Cry’ on Garage Band. He was a member of the art collective Awful Records, where most of his earliest works were produced by Atlanta producer Ethereal, who helped him start a following.
8.Playboi Carti signed his record deal before he released an official full length mixtape or album. Playboi Carti is signed to A$AP Rocky’s AWGE record label and interscope records. Playboi Carti and A$AP Rocky met at a house party during SXSW.
7.Playboi Carti skipped his high school classes regularly to work on his music or work his job at H&M. Playboi Carti grew up in Riverdale, Georgia and went to North Springs Charter High School in Sandy Springs which former alumni T.I. and Ciara also attended.
6.Playboi Carti used to play ball growing up, Carti started playing basketball when he was a kid and he wanted to make it to the NBA. Playboi Carti was playing point guard in high school, he quit basketball after he got into a fight with his high school coach. He idolized Vince Carter, Tracy Mcgrady and Michael Jordan. Ball was life for Playboi Carti, now music is life.
5.Playboi Carti’s influences are Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne and Shawty Lo. He grew up listening to all of his influences and Young Jeezy, Lil Jon, Curren$y, Michael Jackson and Prince.
4.Playboi Carti has worked with Frank Ocean. Frank Ocean and Playboi Carti have an unreleased song together. As a big Frank Ocean fan, Playboi Carti plays Frank Ocean’s music when girls come over to impress them. He likes to play the second part of Frank’s song “Nights”.
3.Playboi Carti doesn’t want any face tattoos, he wants to act and model so he wants to keep his face clean for the future.
2.Playboi Carti shopped in thrift stores in his youth, something that has had an effect on his fashion and music style.
1.Playboi Carti plans on starting his own fashion brand in the future, right now he’s focused on music but when he starts his brand he wants to really focus on it. Some of his favorite brands are Raf Simons and Balmain. He considers Kanye West to be his fashion inspiration.
If you call yourself a Lil Uzi Vert fan, here are 11 interesting facts you might not know about Symere Woods, AKA Lil Uzi Vert or Lil Uzi.
11.Lil Uzi Vert’s biggest inspiration is Marilyn Manson. When he was younger he discovered Marilyn Manson after watching an episode of MTV’s celebrity death match which featured a match between Marilyn and singer Ricky Martin. Uzi immediately became a fan and listened to Marilyn Manson on repeat . Lil Uzi Vert has a Marilyn Manson chain which cost him a $220,000 dollars. The chain and pendant combined has more than 16,000 diamonds and 155 carats. Uzi is such a big fan of Marilyn Manson that he says he will die for him. Let’s hope not, we still want a lot of music from Lil Uzi Vert.
10.Lil Uzi Vert’s first and only job was as a stock boy for a grocery store called Bottom Dollar Food in Philadelphia. Lil Uzi Vert worked part-time for four days before quitting. After his mother found out he quit the job and wanted to rap she kicked him out of the house and he went to live with his grandmother. A couple months after Lil Uzi Vert quit, Bottom Dollar Food went out of business.
9.Lil Uzi’s main purpose for his face tats were so he wouldn’t get hired for a job again. The first face tattoo he got was the word “Faith” tattooed on his forehead. He did it so nobody would hire him and he can focus on his rap career. Lil Uzi now has over a dozen face tats.
8.Lil Uzi Vert has a number of Adinkra symbols from the Asante tribe of West Africa tattooed on his face even though he has no ancestral connection with the tribe.
7.Lil Uzi Vert got his stage name after a guy approached him and told him he rapped fast like a little machine gun, from that moment on he was Lil Uzi. The Vert stands for vertical because that’s the way he wanted to go in the industry. Straight up.
6.Lil Uzi Vert’s grandmother gave him his first rap CD. The CD was by the Ying Yang twins who Lil Uzi Vert grew up listening to, alongside Mike Jones, and later Pennsylvania natives Wiz Khalifa and Meek Mill.
5. Lil Uzi Vert played the trumpet in high school, he played it to stay out of trouble and the first song he learned on it was hot cross buns.
4.Lil Uzi Vert is very into anime, he thought anime was weird at first but feel in love with it after watching adult swim and learning about it more with his then girlfriend Brittany Byrd.
3.Lil Uzi Vert’s first car ever was a grey Lamborghini with a burgundy soft top. Lil Uzi Vert now owns over six different luxury cars which included a Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Audi, Lamborghini and more.
2.Lil Uzi Vert is a Katy Perry fan and he says he wants to collaborate with her in the future. I’m sure Lil Uzi Vert and Katy Perry fans are interested to hear how that collaboration would sound.
1.Lil Uzi Vert considers his grandmother his best friend. Lil Uzi Vert says his grandmother has been a big support of his and she knew he had the potential to make great music from the start. Lil Uzi Vert has also bought her a nice house in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
