July 2009

New York City streets are heating up this summer with some serious streetball action at the legendary Rucker Park in Harlem... and Jimmy Jazz, your #1 fashion destination is proud to be a retail partner at this year's Entertainer's Basketball Classic (EBC) tournament!

The EBC is synonymous with Rucker Park and streetball. Every summer thousands flock to the EBC/ Rucker games to watch stunning ankle-brecking and rim shaking dunks from respected streetballer's and promising NBA draft picks. Past celeb spotting's include Jay-Z, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Denzel Washingston, The Game, Snoop Dogg, Ne-Yo, Alicia Keys and a ton of others. NBA stars who have hit the concrete include Los Angeles' Lakers MVP Kobe Bryant and Nate Robinston & Al Harrignton from the New York Knicks.

(Pictured below): Chris Brown running up-and-down the blacktop at Rucker Park this past Monday, July 27th.

For the remainder of the tournament, JimmyJazz.com will be bringing you game highlights and behind-the-scence sideline action before the shows air on "EBC Live At Rucker Park" on MSG, which currently airs every Thursday at 7:00 pm and is hosted by Michael Bivins (New Edition fame) and the the beautiful, Tahiry Jose.

(Pictured below): Tahiry chops it up with rapper/ producer Ron Browz and the voice of New York Angie Martinez (Hot 97). 

Tonight's game features Coach Rahemm Wiggins' (AKA Rah) Sean Bell All-Stars versus Ron Artest's Tru Warriors, lead by Coach Eric Marshall. Co-host Tahiry also takes a moment to interview the wife of the late Sean Bell, Nicole Paultre Bell. Also, make sure to keep your eyes on the 18-year old Lance "Born Ready" Stephenson from Sean Bell All-Stars, the kid is destined to be the next Lebron James (yeah, we said it!!!). The episode also makes us a bit more familiar with a streetball legend with serious on-court swag and the craziest ball handle you will ever see, Molly "The Future" Nesmith. This is a must watch!

(Pictured below): A image of Rucker Park in Harlem, NYC. 

For more info make sure you check out EBCSports.com & JimmyJazz.com!

Photos Sources: BounceMag.com, NYPost.com & MSG.com.

This is not a dream folks! The-Dream’s third album “Love King,” will be his last. He announced his retirement last week for making his own music via Twitter:

“I am engaged and ‘Love King’ IS going to be my last album,”  It is going to be last because everybody is trying to “KILL THE DREAM!” I will still be producing, writing, and featuring on other artists album though.”

I respect the man for focusing more time his fiancée, Christina Milian. You’ve seen them coupled up in numerous pictures and the late Vibe Magazine’s final issue. The duo attempted to re-act Janet Jackson’s infamous Rolling Stone cover but failed tremendously. 

(Pictured below): The-Dream & Christina Milian failed reenactment of Janet Jackson's September 1993 Rolling Stone magazine cover for Vibe magazine's final issue.

(Pictured below): Janet Jackson's original September 1993 Rolling Stone magazine cover. Hands provided by her ex-hubby René Elizondo, Jr.

We’ve heard the full retirement story before. Jay-Z is famous for that. Lupe Fiasco and Sean “Diddy” Combs used that card as well. All three are coming out with their own projects. Maybe this is The-Dream’s way to produce more album sales.    

By. Jonathan White

If you couldn't get enough of Gucci Mane on Mario's "Break Up" or on Mariah Carey's "Obsessed" then head over to our Music Room and listen to some to tracks from the So Icey Entertainment rapper latest Gangsta Grillz mixtape, The Movie Part 2, hosted by non other than, DJ Drama (AKA Mr. Thanksgiving AKA The Ipod King). If that's not enough Gucci Mane La Flair for you, then download the complete mixtape on his official site, Gucci Mane Online.

The Movie Part 2 features appearances by Trey Songz, Mario, Shawty Lo, Snoop Dogg, Oj Da Juiceman, Plies, Nicki Minaj and a few others. Check out the complete tracklist below. 

1. Intro

2. Pressure ft. Woo Da Kid

3. Burr

4. Beat it Up Ft. Trey Songz

5. Hottest Rapper ft. Waka Flacka

6. Gucci Ft Shawnna, Nicki Minaj

7. Overboard Ft Oj Da Juiceman, Rock City, La The Darkman

8. BreakUp Ft Mario, Sean Garrett

9. Alot

10. Awesome Ft Snoop Dogg

11. Superhero Ft JMoney, Waka Flacka, Shawnna

12. Leading Lady

13. Mr.T

Do you think Gucci is the hottest rapper at the moment? Can he take over the ATL while TI is on vacation? Feel free to comment. 

We recently had a chance to speak with the hottest production duo in the game, Tha Bizness. Although our conversation with Dow Jones and Henny was brief (poor phone connection), the cousins from the left coast (Seattle, WA to be exact), who have banged out beats behind the boards for 50 Cent, Drake, R. Kelly, Young Jeezy, Snoop Dogg Ne-Yo and most recently the #1 song in the country, “Every Girl” by the leaders of the new school, Young Money (Lil’ Wayne, Drake, Jae Millz, Gudda Gudda and Mack Maine) gave JimmyJazz.com insight on the production game, their take on auto-tune, what they have coming up in the future and much more. Read our interview and then turn on the radio to listen to some of their joints! 

Jimmyjazz.com: Congrats on everything, especially for getting “Every Girl” (Young Money) on iTunes.

Dow Jones (Tha Bizness): Shit, it only took Universal [Records] 4 months to get that thing on there.

JimmyJazz.com: By the way, how old is that beat?

Dow Jones (Tha Bizness): We were working on some stuff for R. Kelly’s new album, cause we did the “Hair Braider” joint for him early on last year when he was going through his whole court case thing. So he wanted to get some more stuff for the new album, so it was actually a track we were working for R. Kelly, but Wayne [Lil’ Wayne] ended up taking. 

Young Money - Every Girl [Official Music Video]

JimmyJazz.com: That’s a big record overall…

Dow Jones (Tha Bizness): It’s a good look. We knew it was going to be a good look in the summer time … and then with the whole Drake (“Best I Ever Had”) song movement… everything just kind of collided all at once. So it’s a big thing, especially that being like his [Drake] first song… first official song to the world with Wayne [Lil’ Wayne], so that was kind of crazy, too. 

(Pictured below): Tha Bizness with Drake.

JimmyJazz.com: Since the release of “Every Girl”, what has the momentum been like for Tha Bizness? 

Dow Jones (Tha Bizness): For us, it’s kind of hard because we’re so focused on the next song that it’s hard to appreciate what’s going on now. Even with Jeezy’s [Young Jeezy] “My President” record, I don’t think (at least for me) I was able to feel the moment. Like I know with Henny (other half of Tha Bizness) he was able to be in DC for the inauguration, so he got to experience it in a different way, but for me, it’s really hard to sync it in. We’re not really the type to stand and look at ourselves in the mirror and pat ourselves in the back every time something goes good. We’ve been waiting for these opportunities for 10 years. So it’s kind of like we appreciate and enjoy the success and enjoy the people saying it’s a great record [“Every Girl”], and I like hearing it, but… it’s kind of hard seeing where we at. There’s so many people coming to us know like “ You made it, your this & that now… “ To us it’s like, “Ya’ll only heard 10 songs in the market place, ya’ll haven’t heard 2% of all the stuff we got coming or that we are doing. It’s good at the same time, but I don’t think we can really appreciate what’s going on probably till later, and I’m not mad at that. That’s what keeps us focused and staying on the grind. I think that’s the difference between people that want to be great and people who just want to be in this game just to be known and people to accept them. We want to let our music speck for us, rather than just doing a whole bunch of rah rah stuff. That’s why even for us right now, you don’t see us doing too many heavy interviews cause we know so much of this stuff is coming that we rather let everybody watch us move step by step, then just tell everybody “we the dopest and all this other shit” where it’s kind of like, we really still have to show and prove more than what we have, even though we know what we are capable of. We let the public ride the wave with us. 

JimmyJazz.com: You have records with Jeezy but then you guys also work with indie artist at the same time. Who are some of the indie artists you are currently working with and trying to groom? 

Dow Jones (Tha Bizness): There’s a whole bunch. Of coarse we have our own artist, Mistah Fab. We have a label deal with Atlantic [Records] under Fab’s own company. Then we have the Parker Brothers from Seattle, our hometown. As far as artists, not even independent, but just artists who are trying to get their buzz going right now, especially back on the west coast. Like Jay Rock, who’s on Warner Brothers, Glasses Malone that’s on Cash Money.  There’s an artist from the Bay who’s called The Jacka, who just released his new album [“Tear Gas”], it was able to be on Billboard’s Top 200. Then another artist, who I’ve personally really become good friends with over the years and really feel that if he gets the right songs he could be major, and that’s Miltchy Slick from San Diego, who is also part of Kweli’s [Talib] group, Strong Arm Steady. Bad Lucc from Watts, California who is incredible…. we did a couple joints with him that are crazy.  We just branching out. Our main thing is trying to take it back to letting music be music. If you listen to any of our beats you can tell that our beats have a groove. Whether it be a Jeezy [Young Jeezy] joint, a 50 Cent “Follow My Lead” joint or even the Young Money “Every Girl”… joint they all have that groove to it. 

Henny (Tha Bizness): I mean when it comes to dealing with any type of artist we just try to give each specific artist the type of music that will always fit them. Whether if it’s a Mistah Fab or the Parker Brothers, it’s always about giving them a sound that will go ahead and take them to the next level. 

(Pictured below): Henny from Tha Bizzness

Dow Jones (Tha Bizness): Especially in this day and age, no matter who the artist is, everybody is one song away.  So it’s kind of like… if we use a formula to work good with Wayne [Lil’ Wayne] we can use the same formula to work good with anybody.  I just think it’s staying diverse, letting music be music. We can go do an R&B song with a R. Kelly, we can go and do a pop song with the Black Eyed Peas or the Paradiso Girls and we can go mess with a Killer Mike and Young Jeezy and Oj Da Juiceman on some street shit. It’s just having everything across the board. We also did a couple joints with Norman Brown, who’s probably the most critically acclaimed Jazz Guitarist of our era. We trying to hit things everybody else ain’t hitting. Now and days everybody is trying to run the same race, we’re trying to run it a little different. Sort of like Catalan, we trying to do all the events instead of trying to be the fastest sprinter. 

JimmyJazz.com: You guys are from Seattle, home of grunge music. It’s also known for being a rainy state and has the highest suicide rate in the country.  Where did you guys get your inspiration? 

Henny (Tha Bizness): Coming from Seattle is crazy. We only got Top 40 radio, We didn’t have a lot of underground stations, we didn’t have a lot of the music from the Bay area that would trickle down to Seattle. We only had BET for half a day, from like 5pm to midnight, it wasn’t even everyday.  So the types of things we are influence by a lot of it had to do with just commercialism that stuck with us.

Dow Jones (Tha Bizness): Like Henny was just saying, it was just so limited. The only real rap show we had was Rap Attack, every Sunday. You’ll get 3 hours of just raw music. But that was just a small college station at the time, so it wasn’t something that was super overly advertised, it was almost in a way pirate radio that Nasty Nes was doing when he was getting everything going with Sir Mix A Lot. Our main thing, like Henny was touching on, music is life and life is music so all the places that we been, whether it be up and down the west coast, from Seattle to San Diego, to Henny being in college in Atlanta, we’ve been able to be around and see a brighter spectrum of things. You can listen to Atlanta music, but when you go there and really get to see how the 808’s are and how everything is, it gives you a different perspective. Like a lot of times [short pause] we’ll meet southern producers that grew up on west coast beats, but it just doesn’t have that sound. There’s just a certain authenticity to each region, that unless your there and be able to live it and observe it, it will be close, but it won’t be the same. That’s just our whole palate; we’re open to new things. It’s ok to be different and try new shit. You may not like everything, but that perspective of being able to see life through somebody else’s eyes can let you look at something somewhere. We got the whole Ying & Yang personality; we may look at the same thing two different ways, even though we’re working on the same project. But it’s that difference that can open up a conversation, to open up new ideas or being able to see it from a different side. At the end of the day it makes what we do better. The more options that are out there, the more you get, the better answers you can give back out. 

(Pictured below): Dow Jones from Tha Bizzness

JimmyJazz.com: Recently, Jay-Z came out with a record going against auto-tune, “D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)”, What’s your perspective on artist and producers who limit themselves to just one thing? For instance, auto-tune.

Henny (Tha Bizness): Everything in life, when it comes down to doing anything, you have people who start out doing something that becomes their personality, that becomes something they do. And then you have a lot of people who just imitate and try to create that same type of brand that same type of success. So with auto-tune, people have been using it for years. Whether it was just a way to help correct vocals, or it was a way to try something different. You got staple people, like T-Pain, who branded that. He’s synonymous with that sound. But when other people just try it, it’s a fad. Somebody like T-Pain, he’s been able sing, he’s been able to rap and produce. You can’t take anything away from his talent. He started a niche in the game and he killed it, to the point where everybody else wanted to try it. So I don’t think it’s going to hurt him [T-Pain], when Jay-Z came out with “D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)”. 

Dow Jones (Tha Bizness): It’s just a part of life.  When I was thinking about the whole thing, it kind of reminded me of the Slam Dunk Contest. Back in the day when we were seeing the first dunks of a certain kind, it was amazing. But then after the past couple of years everybody was talking about “let’s just stop doing the dunk contest, cause it’s boring nobody does anything new….” But then you get those few cats, like Lebron [James], Nate Robinson or Dwight Howard that can come through and do something that we haven’t seen before that makes it cool again. So to each his own, there’s always going to be somebody that copies a fad. That’s what makes things popular. There wouldn’t be a chain of Target stores or even markets if people didn’t want to get the same stuff.  That’s just a natural part of life. Some people overuse certain things, but so it is.  But at the same time we’re paying the people that are innovators in what there doing and the first to do something. Everybody else is just following the trend, you can’t be mad at them for that. Everybody wants’ to put it out there like that’s [auto-tune] killing music. That’s not killing music, bad songs are killing music. If people were making good songs, it didn’t matter if it was a goat doing auto-tune. If it sounded good, people would fuck with it.

When it comes to wrist wear, Flud and Casio GShock always come to mind as some of the hottest brands. But, Swatch watches is about to let the competition know what time is it! The Swiss brand recently launch their highly publicized CreArt collection, which features limited edition time pieces by popular artists, including the world renown, Billy the Artist, who's collection has been roc' by singer/ songwriter Mario, former Cheetah Girl, Adrienne Bailon and a few others.

(Pictured Below): J Records Recording Artist, Mario waves his Swatch watch from side-to-side. 

(Pictured Below): The beautiful Latina Adrienne Bailon stunting hard in the club with her Billy the Artist/ CreArt Watches.

Get a bit more familiar with the Swatch's CreArt collection and also read Billy's interview over at Streetlevel.com.

Earlier this week, the JimmyJazz.com crew had the privilege of attending the re-launch of Creative Recreation's showroom here in NYC. To celebrate the newly designed showroom, the Creative Recreation team gave attendees a sneak peek of their upcoming Spring 2010 footwear line for men, women and kids. Check out some of the pics below!

Creative Recreation footwear will soon be available at JimmyJazz.com. In the meantime, browse through our mens, women's, boys, and girls footwear selections at JimmyJazz.com.

Def Jam Records is gearing up to release a fleet of limited edition kicks with adidas to commemorate their 25th year anniversary. Collabo's include Redman, Method Man, Ghostface and Young Jeezy. The special collection is anticipated to drop this Fall/ Winter as part of the adidas originals Fall/ Winter campaign. Below are pics of the adidas original forum X Jeezy collabo. 

The adidas original Forum is a clash between black and lime green. On the shoe tongue is Jeezy face with signature.

Overall, the collaboration seems dope. But let's not forget about the trio from Hollis who did it first.

Shop for adidas for Men, Womens, Girls, and Boys at JimmyJazz.com

For more info on the campaign visit The Shoe Game and/or Island Sneaker Politics.

JimmyJazz.com recently had the opportunity to chop it up with one of Chicago's most promising acts, GLC (Gangsta L. Crisis). Although GLC is known for lacing a Grammy award winning verse on Kanye's 2004 debut release The College Dropout ("Spaceship") and put the world on to his baller genetics on Ye's sophomore set Late Registration ("Drive Slow"), the Southside GLC is no stranger to the grind. Through well-received mixtapes and leaked tracks from his highly anticipated forthcoming album, Love, Life and Loyalty, GLC is going to put the world on to his ‘Chi State of Mind'.

Aside from music, GLC revealed news about his upcoming sneaker release with Supra, his relationship with the late Dr. Donda West (Kanye's Mom) and even spoke to us about his old retail days at Chicago's premium urban fashion retailer, The Lark, which ironically is now a Jimmy Jazz location. Don't sleep! Read up and get familiar with GLC.

JimmyJazz.com: First and foremost, congrats on the Grammy and just having this amazing buzz. It's definitely an honor talking to you right now.

GLC: Man, thanks a million. Hey, I ma tell you something, it's an honor to be honored. I definitely appreciate you as well.

JimmyJazz.com: And specking of honor, that's a dope record as well...

GLC: (Laughs) Oh "Honor Me"?

JimmyJazz.com: Yeah, your flow on that record is amazing.

GLC: (Laughs) Thanks, man... I appreciate that shit. I'm feeling it right now, dog. I've been working like crazy- pounding shit out.

JimmyJazz.com: So is the album dropping this summer, Love, Life & Loyalty?

GLC: You know the politics and bullshit of this game... I could drop tomorrow, if I say drop tomorrow. But the only thing is, I really want to build my buzz. So the people could be like, "Awww shit, when that GLC coming out?" I need everyone in America and everyone across the globe saying that shit before I drop. I don't wanna be one of these dudes coming out selling 6K records.

JimmyJazz.com: I definitely feel you on that, especially if it's good music.

JimmyJazz.com: So obviously, you're from Chicago. When you picked up the phone, you called me ‘Joe', which is a word part of Chicago slang. You have a song, "Chi State of Mind", for those who have never heard that record, can you just interpret what it's like having a Chicago state of mind?

GLC: With that mentality (short pause) it's sort of like give all, take all. It's like you give your all, you go real hard... you trying to get what you trying to get. Sometimes you may not make it over the hump, so at the end of the day if you got to get you some springs, you gotta hit someone to get them springs, you gotta go purchase them... or what ever you have to do to get them springs on your shoes so you can make it over that hump, you gonna do it. It's just like... man, we can make it any where. It's a hustler's mentality, it's a playa's mentality, it's a macking mentality, it's a pimping mentality and it's also scholastic as well. Because at the end of the day, you got a lot of bright people coming out of the Chi, as well as a lot of hustler's. And at the end of the day, if you can apply that hustler mentality to the corporate America field, you could make it anywhere. Like Chicago has the coldest winter's and the hottest summer's. We survive that shit. If you could make it out of there with like over 168 day covered in gloom and shit, you could make it anywhere in the world, you know what I'm saying?

JimmyJazz.com: Specking of having a hustlers mentality... what was your hustle breaking into the hip-hip scene? How does a GLC hook up with a Kanye West?

GLC: I meet a young, inspiring Producer/ Rapper back in 93'. We were little kids and shit. I meet him through a mutual friend of mine. He was like my man makes beats and you rap... ya'll should get up. We got up, heard the beats, he heard the raps. We were on the same page and we just continued to develop ever since then. And that was a blessing, cause Kanye and I had the same dreams, we had the same goals. We both wanted to be somebody. We definitely wanted our music to be heard, more so than anything else. So it could help elevate our pimping, you know what I'm saying? Man, that's basically what it was and this is what it is today.

JimmyJazz.com: You were involved with Kanye on his debut, College Drop Out, and you received a Grammy award for "Spaceship"....

GLC: Yes sir.

JimmyJazz.com: You were also involved on his sophomore release, Late Registration...

GLC: Yes sir.

JimmyJazz.com: What kind of role has Kanye played on your upcoming release, Love, Life & Loyalty?

GLC: Ye [Kanye] has been executing producing. I value his opinion. He [Kanye West] and I don't see eye to eye on a whole lot of shit when it comes to music. Because, as you can listen to our music, our influences are different as hell. So, I listen to him to get that more worldly, more popular culture and just due to the fact that he's a music genius. He adds his genius to my project just by giving me advice and pointers.

JimmyJazz.com: Today, the video and mp3 for "Big Screen" are plastered all over the Internet. The same goes for the "Fight School" mp3. Which of the two is the official single from your project?

GLC: "Fight School". But aside from "Flight School", we got this other record, "Clockin' Lotsa Dollarz" featuring Bun B (of UGK). We gonna fuck the world with this one.

JimmyJazz.com: (Laughs)

GLC: Then we got a record with Manfred Mann, a group that played this record in a movie, Blow Call. The name of the record is "Blinded by the Light". I actually got them to play on the album and sing on shit. So I got a record with Manfred Mann... (Laughs).

JimmyJazz.com: Is there a video for "Blinded by the Light"?

GLC: Yeah, we got a video too. So for "Flight School" everything is moving forward. It's looking wonderful. We just moving strategic. We letting it bubble on the Internet. Like the Internet has definitely been my tool, it's been my catalyst to help me get to this next level.

JimmyJazz.com: Specking of the Internet, I have to put this out there. On your Twitter page you tweeted, "Just chopped it up with the legendary Andre 3K..." What's good with that? Is there a collaboration coming?

GLC: Right now, I really can't speck on it. But I hope so... I pray for it. Cause he was like one of my favorite of all time. I was able to chop it up with him. I was really surprised that the guy knew who I was. He said, "I'm familiar with you, I fuck with your shit..." I was like ... Whoa. That meant a lot to me, coming from him. Just to hear him say that, it's like Wow, thank you. Cause this is one of the guys who influence me to what to do this music thing.

JimmyJazz.com: Going back to the album, who are some of the artists featured on the album?

GLC: Kanye West, T-Pain, Bun-B, Richboy, Twista, Shawnna, Really Doe.... Bump J, who just got picked up Feds in Chicago. All these guys are on my album and the producers are all out of Chicago. So, it's not only something big for GLC, but it's something big for the city. Cause the city embraces me, I wear the city on my sleeve and I carry it on my shoulder. So it's gonna be something big, it's gonna bring more attention and when I was down here playing my music in Atlanta, they was like "Damn, finally somebody that sounds like what we be seeing on WGN.

JimmyJazz.com: What's WGN?

GLC: Meaning the news channel that comes on down here and shows in Chicago news.

JimmyJazz.com: You mentioned that you look to Kanye to get a pop (music) point of view; do you travel a lot to get different views on music?

GLC: I sit back and watch other guys do their thing. As oppose to me talking down on them, I root for them... and I'm inspired by them. But when I get them calls from the crib talking about, "the gas bill gotta get paid (and this and that) and we ran into a jam or my nephew is in jail and shit like that... that inspires me. Because I realize that I have lives to change and shit.

JimmyJazz.com: You're a very interesting dude. Your lyrics and your whole style is very Chicago, but at the same time you hit the hipster/ alternative crowed. Why do you feel your respected outside of hip-hop?

GLC: I believe I'm big outside of hip-hop because they love me, and they respect the real. Real is universal. Right is universal. Either your right or your wrong and everybody look at GLC as being right. There ain't no in between. They embrace my concept, they see I be dressing fresh as hell, they like my shoes.... They see I be pimping (laughs).

JimmyJazz.com: (Laughs).

GLC: So that's universal. If that ain't what you are on and you still like my music, thank you very much. But outside of music, we on two totally different concepts.

JimmyJazz.com: Growing up you worked at a clothing store...

GLC: I worked at 1. It was called The Lark. They did the most highest dollar amount per store in the country out of urban retailers.

JimmyJazz.com: Wow, that's crazy.

GLC: All of our customers were like urban millionaires and thousander's and shit. (Laughs)

JimmyJazz.com: (Laughs).

GLC: (Laughs). These mothafuckas were always getting money. They would come to The Lark. And aside from that, due to the fact that it was near a really nice neighborhood, called Beverly, you'll occasionally get doctors and lawyers... all different kind of people came into the store. It was really good. If you were a hustler, you were in the prime place for your hustle.

JimmyJazz.com: You have your own t-shirt line that you distribute to boutiques in Chicago. You also did some work with L-R-G in the past. Are you doing anything else with fashion?

GLC: I got the t-shirt line. I'm about to do a shoe with this company called Supra. I'm about to do my own GLC sneaker. I have a cartoon I'm working on called "Haterville". I also play the main character in a video game called "Blitz: The League", it came out in the end of last year- "Blitz: The League 2". I got 2 songs in the game and I play the main character. I'm doing short films right now, like directing them and writing them with my partners, Noah Banks, Travis Long and Cousin Bang [who did Cam'ron's shit]. Aside from that, I'm just trying to make a better tomorrow... today.

JimmyJazz.com: You rap about losing your parents, we all know that as fans and you are vocal about it. Kanye lost his mom as well, and he's a close friend of yours. How has it been creative wise, how has it impact your music?

GLC: Man, defiantly. Because when he lost his mom I lost my other mom.

JimmyJazz.com: Sorry to hear that.

GLC: So I had to go through the shit twice. And my old man, he made his transition back when I was eight months. I learned how to walk and stand on my own two and then a few days later my old man died. When I was 12-years old I lost my mom. And then as a grown ass man I had to lose my other mom. But Mrs. West, she was the backbone of this shit. She actually changed my life as well as a few of my other friends. She saved our lives. If it weren't for her allowing us to go out to her crib and record our music and do our thing... we would probably be in jail, getting into mischiefs. Back then we really didn't understand we ain't really understand the concept of making your environment a product of you. But just being a product of your environment, that right there could of brought us down. My gratitude, my heart, my love, my life as well as my loyalty goes out to that women [Mrs. West] as well as my Mom.

JimmyJazz.com: You seem like a real conscious dude, do you have plans of being a mentor or being affiliated with programs that help misfortunate kids?

GLC: Well I am now. I work with this company called Swank Publishing out in Chicago. I go out to the Westside of Chicago and speak to inner-city youths that are in trouble. That need some guidance, aid, and assistance to help them better themselves.

JimmyJazz.com: That's good to hear. You're a real dude.

GLC: Man, I've been through a lot. People always tell me, "You're the realest, Nigga "or "your really real"... or this and that. And I just be like, "Thank you very much. You know how there's a bad women, right? You telling the bad women, how bad she is... sometimes, they be like what? Cause they see the shit everyday. It's just normal to them. So for me to be the way that I' am, it's just an everyday thing. So when someone say "Your really real" or this and that, I be like damn, thanks. But sometimes I be a little shock and shit that people would say that. Because to me it's just the only way to be. It's the way I've always been. And I notice when certain people tend to get a little fame, little bitches, little money and little power... their whole shit could change or disrupt. But to me, I could show you pictures from 10 years ago, where I had money, bitches, and power. There ain't shit new to me. Mothafuckers only act new when to a situation, when a situation is new to them. This shit is not new to me.

JimmyJazz.com: I feel you. People certainly take notice to that. It's unfortunate when money gets involved and how people lose focus.

GLC: Hell yeah. I have seen it all to often. But as I said, I don't let the bullshit worry me. I'm just going to keep going. Because, I owe this to my fans for helping me get to this point to keep going. I can't be like, "well my album ain't out the yet, I don't know what I'm gonna do" or you know how people point the finger and blame towards other people for their misfortunes?

JimmyJazz.com: Yeah.

GLC: I ain't one of those people. I accept everything. I'm a man, so I'm accountable for my acts. Whether it's a plus or a minus, I'm accountable for that shit. And that's what I have to live with.

Jeremih makes an appearance on the Wendy Williams show. The 21-year-old Def Jam R&B artist promotes his self-titled release. His smash single "Birthday Sex" still taking over radio and remains top 10 Billboard Hot 100.

The performance was impressive. Jeremih surprised me. I was expecting two female dancers as he sings in the middle. Instead, Jeremih shows his skills on the piano.

By. Jonathan White