Hip-hop icon LL Cool J is finally back. The legendary rapper has released his first new album in 11 years. Not only that, but LL has aggressively promoted the album by doing interviews and podcast appearances. It feels like the New York spitter has more passion harnessed into The FORCE than he did his previous effort, Exit 13. He certainly has more guest features. The FORCE has a staggering lineup of artists from multiple eras of hip-hop. It’s a testament to LL Cool J’s reputation that he could take a decade off, then come back and secure features from the likes of Nas, Snoop Dogg and Eminem.
LL previously dropped the lead single “Saturday Night Special,” featuring Rick Ross and Fat Joe, which remains a standout track, alongside to “Murdergram Deux,” featuring Eminem, which about the have a music video too.
“I just filmed a video of me and Eminem for Murdegram Deux, which is Murdergram part two. And one of the things, there’s a mural in it, and on the mural it says ‘death to the ego.’ Murdergram Deux, death to the ego. Cause it’s really about MCing of it all. It’s not about the ego, it’s not about who’s got money, nothing wrong with money, I like it a lot, who’s got business success, it’s not about any of that, death to the ego! It’s about rhyming, skills, bars, beats.” said LL Cool J during a recent interview.
Then he continued: “It’s pure hip-hop. Pure hip-hop and Em is a fan of pure hip-hop, as am I. So, us working together on that record, it was dope. And the fact that me and him have that song on vinyl, it’s just so dope. But it comes from, like you said, death to the ego, the mural is amazing, it’s dope and I think the video was a lot of fun. You know, hip-hop, baby!”
This week, hip-hop icon LL Cool J will release The FORCE album, his first project in 11 years. Fellow Queens rap legend Q-Tip serves as the album’s executive producer, and it’s got guest features from heavy-spitters like Nas, Busta Rhymes, and Snoop Dogg. LL already dropped the lead single titled “Saturday Night Special,” with Rick Ross and Fat Joe. Few days ago, the Eminem collaboration arrived.
Eminem has always been a huge, vocal LL Cool J fan, and their new song “Murdergram Deux” is their first-ever collaboration. Slim Shady co-produced “Murdergram Deux” with Q-Tip, and the song is explicitly positioned as a sequel to “Murdergram,” the fast-rap workout that appeared as a deep cut on LL’s classic 1990 album Mama Said Knock You Out. On the new song, LL and Eminem take turns displaying athletic rap feats over the nervously jittery beat. At the very end of the song, Eminem quotes LL’s old song “Going Back To Cali.”
During a recent interview, LL confirmed that they already shot a music video too: “I just filmed a video of me and Eminem for Murdegram Deux, which is Murdergram part two. And one of the things, there’s a mural in it, and on the mural it says ‘death to the ego.’ Murdergram Deux, death to the ego. Cause it’s really about MCing of it all. It’s not about the ego, it’s not about who’s got money, nothing wrong with money, I like it a lot, who’s got business success, it’s not about any of that, death to the ego! It’s about rhyming, skills, bars, beats.” said LL Cool J.
Then he continued: “It’s pure hip-hop. Pure hip-hop and Em is a fan of pure hip-hop, as am I. So, us working together on that record, it was dope. And the fact that me and him have that song on vinyl, it’s just so dope. But it comes from, like you said, death to the ego, the mural is amazing, it’s dope and I think the video was a lot of fun. You know, hip-hop, baby!”
Later in the interview, LL confirmed that they didn’t record the song in Detroit in Eminem’s studio: “Me and Em actually did a song in Dr. Dre’s studio in LA. We went to Dre’s studio. Shout out to my man Dre, that’s my man.” You can watch the interview below:
Tony Yayo has recently sat down with DJ VLAD for an interview where the two talked about many things, including Dr. Dre saying Eminem is the greatest rapper of all time.
“Eminem is in my top 5. I don’t give a f–k what anybody says. I love lyrics and he has lyrics. And I like numbers too. Numbers don’t lie. They say “I don’t listen Eminem in the car,” well, somebody do! He’s one of the GOATs.” said Tony Yayo.
Then he continued: “I agree to Dr. Dre saying Eminem is the best MC ever. Let’s go back to what Eminem and G-Unit did as a rap label. We had a dream team. In the hip-hop world, he’s the biggest artist in the worldwide.”
50 CENT has recently invited Million Dollaz Worth of Gamedown to Shreveport for Humor and Harmony Festival. Gillie shut down the celebrity basketball game, while Wallo watched from the bench. After the game, the guys linked up with 50 to sit down and talk. The trio chopped it up in the kitchen of a pop up Sei Less. They talked about 50’s come up, what did to further his career despite being black balled, and how he broke into Hollywood.
At one point of the interview, 50 Cent talked about first time meeting Eminem and signing a deal with Shady Records: “It was wild. It felt like…Remember that show Punk’d on MTV? I thought they had cameras and it was going to come out and said ‘you’ve been punk’d’. I was in California, he flew me to LA. I was so bugged out from the experience that I had my vest on. The lawyer that I had with me that took me to him, I get there and he’s like ‘let me hug you. Yo, this is going to be the biggest s–t.’ He’s so excited that it made me question whether what was happening was right cause it felt so good that it couldn’t be right.”
Then he continued: “When I left that meeting, I didn’t want him to feel like he bought a problem so I wouldn’t say anything about Ja Rule. When I met him, the first night I met, it was, he had event, it was The Marshall Mathers LP just came out and first week he sold 1.7 million records and he was so excited about me, I’m looking like ‘you serious?!’ And by the time I got back and I would never say anything about Ja until the first time I said something about him, Ja made a mistake and said something about Hailie. When he said something about Hailie, they thought they made some sort of connection when they were getting high. And Em was like, ‘what the f–k made him think like this.’ It was a Friday. Him didn’t record that Friday. I recorded that Friday, that Saturday, that Sunday. He came back, I had a full CD “Automatic Gunfire.” The whole mixtape was done Monday morning. He was listening like ‘yo, when did y’all get the chance to..’ All this s–t was this weekend. I was dying to do that. I just didn’t want him to feel like he bought a problem because I know he didn’t understand the severity of who I am in this. Consequences is you dead, nig-a. There’s nothing else to talk about. He was listening to the material and that s–t was hot.”
“I got 1 million dollar in cash for my first deal. The only person that pointed out that million dollars was no money was Dame Dash. He said ‘after you get watch, chain, look out for the homies and do this and that, it’s nothing.’ And I was like ‘ni-ga, I’m from 134th street, million dollars is a lot of money. I think I hit the lottery.'” 50 Cent added. You can watch the interview below:
Big Sean has returned with a new album, titled Better Me Than You. The Detroit rapper’s sixth solo studio album features NASAAN, DJ Premier, The Alchemist, Gunna, Bryson Tiller, Kodak Black, Charlie Wilson, Eryn Allen Kane, Larry June, Cash Cobain, Ellie Goulding, Syd, Teyana Taylor and Thundercat. It marks his first solo studio project in 4 years, since 2020’s Detroit 2 album, which has since been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
To celebrate the release, Big Sean has also unleashed a music video for the song titled “Who You Are (Superstar).” The video clip stars Amine, Dylan Patel, Jazz Cartier, Mark Phillips, and Taye Diggs. On Friday, August 30th, a conversation with Big Sean at the Grammy Museum brings the rapper to the Clive Davis Theater to discuss the new release, his creative process, and much more.
Eminem, who has recently collaborated with Big Sean on “Tobey” alongside Detroit youngster BabyTron from The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace) album, showed support to Sean Don’s latest project by posting the link of “Better Me Than You” on his Instagram story with the caption: “Big Sean album out now! Check it out!”
Check the screenshot of the Eminem’s Instagram story and Big Sean’s new album below:
After receiving 6 traditional nomination at the 2024 MTV VMAs, Eminem get two more social nominations: VMAs Most Iconic Performance and Song Of Summer.
Eminem’s legendary performance of “The Real Slim Shady” and “The Way I Am” from the 2000 show is nominated for VMAs Most Iconic Performance. Em began the performance outside Radio City Music Hall and continued as he strode into the theater followed by a hundred Eminem lookalikes. Em is the only male artist that is nominated in this category. Another nomination comes for “Houdini” for Song of Summer.
MTV also announced a “bonus week” of voting across general categories, now closing Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. ET. Fans vote for their favorites across 15 gender-neutral categories, including video of the year, by visiting MTV’s website. 24 hours of fan voting for VMSs Most Iconic Performance that celebrates some of the most memorable VMAs performances from the history of the show begins Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 11 a.m. ET on @MTV Instagram Story (one round, tap to vote); concludes Sept. 11 @ 11 a.m. ET. Fan voting for all-round favorite summer 2024 hit will launch Friday, Sept. 6 at 11 a.m. ET on @MTV Instagram Story (three rounds bracket-style face-off, final round tap to vote); closes Sept. 10 at 11 a.m. ET.
With nominations in these four social categories added in, Taylor Swift maintains her lead as the year’s top nominee (12), followed closely by Post Malone (11), Eminem (8), Ariana Grande, Megan Thee Stallion, Sabrina Carpenter and SZA (7 each).
The 2024 MTV VMAs are set to air live on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 8 p.m. ET/PT from New York’s UBS Arena. Megan Thee Stallion is set to host the show. Katy Perry will receive the Video Vanguard Award and also perform. The 2024 show will be held just three days shy of the 40th anniversary of the inaugural VMAs at Radio City Music Hall. Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Camila Cabello, GloRilla and Rauw Alejandro were the first artists slated to perform at the awards; they were announced on Aug. 12. Benson Boone, Halsey, Lenny Kravitz and LISA were added to the lineup on Aug. 21. Shawn Mendes, Anitta, Karol G and LL Cool J were added on Aug. 27.
If Eminem wins one award, he will break out of tie with Peter Gabriel as the man with the most VMAs in history. The Rap God also extends his record for most ‘Video of the Year’ nominations in #VMAs history (8). He has yet to receive the Michael Jackson Vanguard Award. Check out all the 8 nominations that Eminem is nominated for at 2024 MTV VMAs below:
Taylor Swift once again dominates MTV Video Music Awards nominations list by getting 10 nods, including eight for her Post Malone collaboration “Fortnight” and its video. Post Malone got one extra nomination (Best Collaboration, for “I Had Some Help,” with Morgan Wallen), putting him in second overall, followed by Eminem, Ariana Grande and first-time nominee Sabrina Carpenter, who got 6 nods each. Close behind them are Megan Thee Stallion and SZA, with five each, and Blackpink’s Lisa, Olivia Rodrigo, and Teddy Swims with four nominations for 2024 MTV VMAs.
Eminem is one of the most nominated artist in the history of the MTV VMAs. The Detroit legend has been nominated for 66 times and won 13 awards, including 6 is now pending. The first win came in 1999 in “Best New Artist in a Video” category for “My Name Is” music video. The last nominations was in 2022 when his joint with Snoop Dogg, “From The D 2 The LBC” was nominated in Best Hip-Hop category but lost to Nicki Minaj’s “Do We Have a Problem?” featuring Lil Baby.
The 2024 VMAs return to New York live on the East Coast from UBS Arena on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The show will be held just four days shy of the 40th anniversary of the inaugural VMAs at Radio City Music Hall, where Madonna stole the show.
If Eminem wins one award, he will break out of tie with Peter Gabriel as the man with the most VMAs in history. The Rap God also extends his record for most ‘Video of the Year’ nominations in #VMAs history (8). He has yet to receive the Michael Jackson Vanguard Award… Check out the list of nominations for 2024 MTV VMAs below.
VMAs Most Iconic Performance
Beyoncé – “Love on Top” (2011)
Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Missy Elliott – “Like a Virgin” & “Hollywood” (2003)
Eminem – “The Real Slim Shady” & “The Way I Am” (2000)
Katy Perry – “Roar” (2013)
Lady Gaga – “Paparazzi” (2009)
Madonna – “Like a Virgin” (1984)
Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me” (2009)
Song Of Summer
Ariana Grande – “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)” – Republic Records
Benson Boone – “Beautiful Things” – Night Street Records, Inc. / Warner Records
Billie Eilish – “Birds of a Feather” – Darkroom / Interscope Records
Chappell Roan – “Good Luck, Babe!” – Amusement Records / Island Records, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
LL Cool J and Eminem‘s collaboration called “Murdergram Deux” has finally been officially released after an unfinished version previously surfaced on the internet.
The song if from from LL’s upcoming The FORCE (an acronym for Frequencies of Real Creative Energy) fourteenth studio album. The track sees the two Gods of Rap trade fast-paced bars over a manic Q-Tip beat with Slim Shady also providing additional production.
The two GOATS use the song to showcase their lyrical abilities with LL spitting: “Do you remember first time you heard the legend in leather? / The career ender with the road-killer stuck to his fender / I’m on another bender, drunk off the power that make a coward surrender as I devour contenders.”
Eminem also offers up some of his trademark wordplay: “I can’t understand a single word you’re saying / I think you have syrup brain, ’bout to finish you like polyurethane / All that molly probably sure to drain your spinal fluid from your vertebrae.”
Last month, Eminem released his chart-topping, 12th solo studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce), which includes a song “Temporary,” featuring Skylar Grey, produced by Skylar Grey and Eminem themselves.
“Temporary” is a song made for Hailie (Eminem’s only biological daughter) for her to listen to after Eminem dies. In this heartfelt track, Eminem reflects on his fears of not being able to communicate his feelings to Hailie once he’s gone. He recalls their close relationship, his struggles, and the guidance he wants to leave behind. Eminem emphasizes the importance of staying strong through tough times and assures Hailie that heartbreak is temporary. The song includes personal and candid moments, such as a childhood recording of Hailie, adding a layer of authenticity and intimacy. Throughout the song, Eminem balances expressing his deep love and concern for his daughter with his signature raw and unfiltered lyrical style.
Last week, Hailie shared her reaction to the song during the latest episode of her Just A Little Shady podcast, saying: “I audibly sobbed, I think for both songs [Somebody Save Me and Temporary], but especially ‘Temporary. I feel like my parents did such a good job, growing up, where I didn’t realize how bad things were. But now, as an adult, in hindsight, it’s so scary to think about and I think that’s why I get emotional so much.”
Yesterday, one of the fans shared his hand tattoo of “TEMPORARY” with backwards E merged to M, like an Eminem logo. Skylar Grey reshared the photo on her Instagram Story with the caption: “First tattoo I’ve seen of this title…What an honor! It looks so good!” Check out the screenshot of t he story below:
Eminem once again meets fans through Make A Wish Foundation. He met a young boy named Stanly and his family yesterday.
“thank you to Make-A-Wish and Eminem for granting Stanley’s wish yesterday. It was the most unforgettable and special experience ever. Words cannot express the gratitude I have, along with Stanley’s dad for the opportunity to make this happen!” her mother tweeted.
Stanly was named after Eminem’s iconic 2000 single “Stan,” featuring Dido, from his classic, The Marshall Mathers LP album.
In this song, Eminem corresponds with a crazed fan who becomes increasingly unhinged as the story progresses. This is one of his most well-received singles and was listed at #15 on VH1’s Top 100 Hip Hop Songs of All Time.
Em intended for this song to be a message to fans who had written him disturbing letters indicating that they had taken The Slim Shady LP’s violent lyrics seriously. Another reason Em wrote this was to “make the critics who were saying things about [him] feel stupid.” His aim was to disprove those who felt he lacked talent and relied on shock value.
This song has cemented itself in history, with “Stan” being entered into the Oxford Dictionary as an informal noun. It is generally considered to be a portmanteau of “stalker” and “fan,” but Oxford defines the term as: An overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity.
thank you to Make-A-Wish and Eminem for granting Stanley’s wish yesterday. It was the most unforgettable and special experience ever. Words cannot express the gratitude I have, along with Stanley’s dad for the opportunity to make this happen! ❤️@MakeAWishMI@Eminem@MakeAWishpic.twitter.com/PT49Wlg8s7
Multi-platinum rapper, singer, songwriter, and voice actor Krizz Kaliko, who is a long-time collaborator with fellow hometown native Tech N9ne and was signed to Strange Music, has recently reacted to Eminem‘s “Fuel” song, featuring JID, produced by Denaun, from his 12th solo studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace).
“As soon as I hear Em come on it’s like, I ain’t saying… JID is hard! I want to do a song with him, but for some reason when Em come on, his voice sound like the song just goes up a notch. That’s what happened in ‘Speedom.’ I know I did my thing in ‘Speedom’ but when he comes on the song man…I don’t know…” said Krizz Kaliko as soon as Eminem started his verse.
“Everything he says, dude, it ain’t just wordplay. I hope y’all know that. Something about him, he’s not just doing wordplay, it’s all like riddles and rhymes and rhyme schemes and he’s actually telling you a story in the middle of that just two bar segment. Eminem is absolutely forever. His mind is still supper sharp. I don’t care what y’all say. Eminem is forever, man. Putting rhymes in my head like alphabet soup!” said Kaliko as he continued listening to the verse.
“You didn’t let no words with K’s or C’s go. What the rest of us gonna rhyme with, dawg?! I still do rap music, what the rest of us going to rhyme with when you done took all the K’s and C’s music, dude? C’mon dawg! And I’m a chopper. I need those two, three, four syllable words, man, to do doubles and triples. Eminem ain’t leaving nothing else to eat. He eating it all. Just as far as creativity goes, some of his stuff is godly. This whole thing is classic. I can’t wait to do anything song with you but if you rapping like that now I got to come even harder. I gotta go even harder if we do anything together again. DAMN!” Krizz Kaliko added. You can watch the entire reaction video below:
Last month, DJ Quik and Jason Martin, also known as Problem, joined N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN on Drink Champs for an legendary conversation about West Coast Hip-Hop. The legendary duo share stories about working with Jay-Z and Tupac, and give insight into Compton’s music scene. They also dive into topics like the recent Kendrick Lamar versus Drake beef, the importance of owning masters, and the historic Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring Dr. Dre. Quik and Problem reflect on gang culture’s influence on hip-hop while emphasizing the current unity in LA’s music scene.
At one point of the interview, DJ Quik recalled a funny incident that happened during the “Encore” studio session with Eminem and Dr. Dre. “I helped with a lot of records to Dr. Dre. I’m on ‘My Dad’s Gone Crazy.’ I was in the studio when he was doing Smoke Choke Me, Spank Me. That’s my drums on Eminem’s ‘My Dad’s Gone Crazy.'” – said DJ Quik
Then he continued: “When I gave Dre them sounds and left, Dre just put them all at work so he would be like ‘Quik, you busy?’ I’m like ‘Nah, what’s up?!’ I’ll go to the studio and he’d be like, even the booth and s–t, that nig-a be like, ‘bum-nunu-bum-nunu, now I’mma do this thing.’ I’m getting chills just outside the studio, I was like ‘what the f–k is that?!’ And he was like ‘them your drums, you get?’ I’m like, ‘bro, I’m still getting chill.’ The way them sounded they were unreal. I should have stopped drinking just to be more present.”
“F–king watching Eminem mixing Encore and s–t. And this stripper b–ch knocked me over his equipment and s–t. We both go falling and Eminem was like ‘DRE! get your man Dre!’ I’m like ‘EM! It’s not me! It’s that her, fat a-s Puerto Rican.” DJ Quik added.
Then he talked about the drums he made for 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Tryin’: “In Da Club and If I Can’t. Then I gave Dre the drum sound of ‘If I Can’t’ he was [impressed]. I do sound design, that’s really my s–t. Dre is like Quincy Jones. These motherf–kers only want to hear something they have never heard before. You got to impress them. You gotta go do some s–t they never heard before and then they let you in and party and bi–ches jump on you, weed comes out, the liquor, the money, the check…” You can watch the interview below:
Big Sean continues to show support to Eminem as he always does. Slim Shady has recently released the music video of “Somebody Save Me,” featuring Jelly Roll, the third single from his 12th solo studio album, The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace).
Eminem posted a short clip of the video on Instagram with the caption: “This is my song from me to you…” #SomebodySaveMe video OUT NOW! Link in bio.” Under the comment section, his brother Nathan Kane Mathers commented: “Nailed it Beautifully done Big Bro! We love you.”
Big Sean also commented: “Let’s go” with fire emojis. In the previous post, Jelly Roll commented: “Absolutely unbelievable.” Em’s daughter also recently talked about “Somebody Save Me,” “Temporary” and “Mockingbird” in the latest episode of her Just A Little Shady podcast, which you can check out here.
