Archive for April, 2011

Last night, Pittsburgh MC Wiz Khalifa graced the stage at the 2011 Bamboozle festival, electrifying the audience. Shortly before gracing the stage Wiz cleared up a few rumors regarding the most recently talked about music festival, Coachella, where it was reported the new MC stepped to Kanye West following his performance after he threw a few subliminals at Wiz’s current boo, Amber Rose.

“I did my set and we hung around for a bit, but we weren’t even there when fam was onstage,” Wiz said. “Somebody made that up. I think they just wanted it to be that type of situation or they wanted to see something go down. It’s fun to talk about it and make jokes about, but in all reality, that didn’t even exist.”

A few days ago Amber similarly brushed off the reports as “rumors.”

“Was there a confrontation at Coachella?,” Amber questioned via Twitter. “Rumors are crazy and people want things to happen and make it their real life and I guess that’s all I can really say about that.”

Wiz said he did hear Kanye’s lyrics though. He thought it was a low moment, that many people who look up to West may have been turned off by his lyrical alteration. He harbors no ill will, however.

“It is what it is, and I’m doing my business and she’s doing her business and he’s doing his business and that’s what it is. I’m all about positivity and I’m going to keep it that way.”

Wiz kept things moving, co-headlining Bamboozle Friday night along with 30 Seconds to Mars. Wiz is currently on the College Consciousness Tour with fellow Steel City native Mac Miller, and he plans to head out with the Motor City’s own Big Sean next month for the Rolling Papers tour. But he’s happy to perform wherever his fans — or soon-to-be-fans — may be.

“I think my crowd, they kind of just go everywhere and wherever I’m at. I kind of just entertain them as well as make new fans. Some of the people that come to my shows, they just know me for one or two songs, so even the people that don’t know me at all at shows like Bamboozle, I get to make them new fans.”

Tags Amber Rose, Bamoboozle Festival, Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa

Eminem and Royce are ready to bring their lyrical wordplay to the masses. For this weeks “Behind The Beats” edition of Mixtape Daily, we go inside the upcoming EP Bad Meets Evil with a few of Hip-Hop’s most celebrated producers.

Eminem is looking to thrill hip-hop fans once again. Earlier this week, it was announced that Shady Records will release a joint EP featuring Em himself and fellow Detroit lyricist Royce Da 5’9″, under the group moniker Bad Meets Evil. But a href=”http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663032/eminem-royce-da-5-9-bad-meets-evil-mixtape-daily.jhtml”>fans aren’t the only ones excited about the upcoming project.

Producers Denaun Porter, Mobb Deep’s Havoc, DJ Khalil and Bangladesh have all been tapped to provide beats for the project and seem to be pretty pumped for the final product, which is set to drop June 14.

“The album is dope. That’s all I can tell you about it,” said Porter when Mixtape Daily caught up with him at his Detroit studio. (Big Mixtape shout-out to photographer Patrick Daly.) The idea for a Bad Meets Evil EP first came about while Porter and Royce were working on Royce’s solo album.

“We had one song and it turned into, ‘Yo, what do you think about getting Em on this record?’ ” Denuan recalled. Soon, Royce and Em were bouncing ideas back and forth, and more producers were eventually brought into the fold.

Havoc, who also worked on Eminem’s Recovery, submitted a number of tracks to the Shady camp, but initially had no idea what Em and Royce were cooking up. “A couple of months ago I got hit up and they told me that they’re using another track for some future project,” he said. “So I found out along with everybody else what it was actually for, because they like to keep things top-secret.”

West Coast beatsmith DJ Khalil has been a longtime fan of the Bad Meets Evil duo and has fond memories of buying Em and Royce’s first collaborative 1999 single, “Nothin’ to Do.” “I remember buying the 12-inch back in the day when I was DJ’in’,” he said. “It’s like a classic; I still have the vinyl.”

Bangladesh, like Havoc, didn’t learn that he was going to be on the EP until recently. “I ain’t know that [Eminem] even had this beat, I didn’t even know he liked the beat. I ain’t know I was gonna be on this EP until probably like two weeks ago.”

The producers couldn’t say much in terms of song detail, but Bangladesh did confirm that his track has a vocal sample in the hook, while Havoc said his beat has an eerie feel and sounds like, “You’re going down a dark hall with a whole bunch of monks just screamin’ at you.”

Denuan, an original member of D12 and a longtime friend and collaborator of both Em and Royce, is perhaps the most thrilled about the upcoming Bad Meets Evil project. “I was happy to see it because I thought the songs that they did back in the day was dope.”

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

Tags Bad Meets Evil, Denaun Porter, Dj Khalil, Eminem, Havoc, Mobb Deep, Royce Da 5’9