Lil Wayne

By Souleo. With her raw lyrics that cut to the core of human emotion, high energy live shows and curvaceous body Shanell may look like the type of woman who will bite your head off for daring to ask the wrong question, but such is not the case. Young Money Entertainment's resident pop/rock/R&B singer-songwriter is actually quite a warm girl at heart with a dream of opening an arts school, a no longer secret Hollywood crush and a thang for herself as revealed in this edition of The Questions.

Stop the hype: The word swag. I hate that word.

I can't get enough of: Apple martinis.

If I were the opposite sex: I'd be infatuated with Shanell.

I dance in my underwear to: Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

Five years from now: I want a school that is like the TV show "Fame."

If I could change one thing: The fact that you can download music for free.

You'd be surprised to know: I have a crush on Johnny Depp.

When I'm in bed at night: I'm never alone. I always have my dog, Six with me. Ok, that sounds weird.

For more information please visit:

http://www.myspace.com/snlent

Check out Shanell's single, "Play in My Band," ft. Lil' Wayne here:

It's really hard for artist in hip-hop to keep the faith alive, especially during a recession and when music sales are at a all-time low. It can be challenging to stay motivated or create a circle of loyal team players that can help you elevate in such a volatile industry. One rapper that comes to mind is the self-proclamied "King of Memphis, Yo Gotti. Gotti, who is now 10 years deep in the game, had a bit of a tug of war with his recent label situation at TVT Records, which was well publicized within the hip-hop community. The talented and well-respected rapper (including in the streets) is no longer with the now bankrupt TVT label, and is set to hit mainstream with his J Records debut, Live from the Kitchen, early this year. JimmyJazz.com had a few minutes to touch base with his current situation and got more details about his forthcoming release.

There's no arguing, Yo Gotti is keeping the faith alive in hip-hop. Someone must have sent him an angel.

JimmyJazz.com: What label are you currently signed with? Cash Money or J Records? I think some fans may be confused.

Yo Gotti: I got a artist All Star, that I put out throughout Cash Money/ Universal. But in between that, Slim and Baby always took me in like family and gave me the game. They even helped me when I was signed to TVT. That's why a lot of people thought that I was signed with Cash Money cause you would see me around rolling with them.

JimmyJazz.com: What would you say is the biggest difference leaving TVT and joining a major [J Records]? Would you say that you still have that independent grind or do you feel you can focus on different things, now that you have a bigger machine behind you.

Yo Gotti: Like you said, I'm always going to have that independent drive. But the difference now is that you have a team of people that work with you in getting there. You can sit back just because your on a major label, it's more about team work. You take it to a certain point and give it to them and they take it to the next point. But I always think, no matter who you signed with, it always has to start with you. You got to create the buzz and get hot enough to let them go do what they can do with it.

Yo Gotti gets deep with his current and past label situation on "Send Me An Angel" and tours the J Records offices in New York City.

JimmyJazz.com: Your debut album, From Da Dope Game 2 Da Rap Game, dropped back in 2000. What's going to separate your first album to your upcoming release, Live from the Kitchen?

Yo Gotti: I've seen a lot more. Done a lot more. Learned a lot more. Even when it comes down to the music and how I record and how to pick a beat. The subject matter is pretty much the same, because I still live the same life. We just putting it in with big production... better quality shit.

JimmyJazz.com: Who are some of the producers and artists fans can expect on Live from the Kitchen?

Yo Gotti: We worked with Cool & Dre, J.U.S.T.U.S League, Drumma Boy, Toomp, Jim Jonsin, Hot Rod [our in-house producer who did "5 Star Chick" track], a whole bunch of producers, man. As far as artists, we just got Rick Ross and Lil' Wayne on there.

JimmyJazz.com: Your hometown, Memphis, is a hotbed for top notch producers. Juicy J (Three 6 Mafia), DJ Squeaky, Jazze Pha, Drumma Boy, just to name a few. Have you ever considered stepping away from the booth and behind the boards?

Yo Gotti: I tell some producers how some tracks should go. But I don't know how to use the hardware. But you never know. One day shit might just come to me. But right now, I'm just fucking with that mic.

JimmyJazz.com: To date, you've had collaborations with just about ever key artists in the game. Your featured on Gucci Mane's "Ridiculous" remix, your featured on the the Clipse's Til' The Casket Drops album on "Showing Out" and several others. Who's someone you would like to collaborate with that you have yet to have the opportunity to hook up with?

Yo Gotti: [Short pause] I had this one track I was trying to get Tip [T.I.] on right before he went to jail. I say him right now, because I think this certain track really fit him.

JimmyJazz.com: Pertaining to southern hip-hop, what's your opinion on a bunch of southern artist from the south being locked up and going to jail? Do you think that's going to put a void or motivate other artist to gain and come up?

Yo Gotti: All artists, no matter what coast you from, south, east... you can be put in the same situation. They just ran into a little bump. They gotta deal with it and get back out and take care of business. They real people. Anybody can run into those situations.

JimmyJazz.com: Do you have any ventures on the side? Special collaborations, movies, etc.?

Yo Gotti: I'm shooting a independent movie. I was in a movie before ["Video Girl"]. I also just shot a movie with Megan Goode down in Baton Rouge [New Orleans].

JimmyJazz.com: How about fashion?

Yo Gotti: No fashion right now, but we are focusing in on it.

JimmyJazz.com: Any last words before we wrap up?

Yo Gotti: Fans can keep up with me on MySpace.com/YoGotti, Twitter.com/YoGottiKOM and most important in the street. If you see me, come holla at me. No 300 or 400 pound security around us. Just me and my homeboys.

Listen to Yo Gotti's latest mixtape, Cocaine Muzik 4: Gangsta Grill:

Weezy is getting ready to debut his first ever rock album, Rebirth. Although the rapper is best known for dropping 'hot' verses on hip-hop albums, like Tha Carter III and brilliant wordplay on his underground mixtapes, Lil Wayne is hitting a new lane with the Rebirth. The official single from the album is titled "On Fire" and is very reminiscent to the 1980's gangster flick, "Scarface". Lil Wayne also 'goes in' on the electric guitar.

Lil Wayne - "On Fire"

Directed by Chris Robinson

Hip Hop fans and Weezy stans may remember Lil Wayne's obsession with things that are fire from early in his career. A once baggy jean, less tatted-up and Timberland boot wearing Weezy hit the scene with his lead single "Fireman" from his Tha Carter II release. And who could ever forget Wayne's solo debut, Tha Block is Hot?

Lil Wayne - "Fireman"

The Rebirth is scheduled to be released later this year, but for now check out Lil Wayne's Young Money compilation, which features up-and-commers, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Gudda Gudda, Mack Maine, Tyga, and several others.

The countdown is officially on for one of the most anticipated album releases of the year... Young Money's We Are Young Money will hit shelves and web on December 21st. Preview the long-overdue We Are Young Money exclusively on Amazon.com! If you like what you hear, pre-order a copy in our Extra Grabs section.

We Are Young Money features this summer's smash hit, "Every Girl In The World" and the current hit single, "Bed Rock".  Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Jae Millz and our big homie Gudda Gudda drop serious heat and individuality on We Are Young Money. Props to Lil' Wayne for putting all of these guys on one album.

Young Money - "Bed Rock" video

Young Money - We Are Young Money Official Track List:

1. Gooder
2. EveryGirl In The World
3. Ms. Parker
4. Wife B**ter
5. New S***
6. Pass The Dutch
7. Play In My Band
8. F*** Da Bulls***
9. BedRock
10. Girl I Got You
11. Steady Mobbin
12. Roger That
13. She Is Gone
14. Streets Is Watchin'
15. Finale

Gucci Mane is getting ready to release his very much anticipated release, The State vs. Radric Davis, which is scheduled for a December 8th drop date. In preparation for the release, Gucci sat down with popular blogger/ radio host Miss Info to talk about the The State vs. Radric Davis, beef with Young Jeezy and more.

The State vs. Radric Davis features Usher ("Spotlight"), Plies ("Wasted"), OJ Da Juiceman, Mariah Carey, Lil Wayne, and others.

BONUS: Here's Gucci Mane's "Spotlight" featuring Usher.

While on The Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Tour, Gudda Gudda took a moment before hitting the stage at Denver's Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre. Aside from being Lil Wayne's best friend, the New Orleans rapper is well known in the underground for being a fierce lyricist and former member of Lil Flip's Squad Up camp. From mixtapes to a winning verse on "Every Girl" (produced by Tha Bizness), Gudda has come a long way. Read our interview and find out how the New Orleans rapper stays comfortable the tour bus, his upcoming mixtape (Guddaville), how he hooked up with Lil Wayne, and much more!

JimmyJazz.com: What's your favorite part of Young Money Presents: America's Most Wanted Tour?

Gudda Gudda: Just performing every night and going in front of 20-30 thousand people every night. It's really different for me. I started doing underground music, so for me to go out in front of 20,000 people every night, it's a different look for me.

JimmyJazz.com: What's been your favorite state to perform in front of?

Gudda Gudda: Ahhh, I got a couple of them. Los Angeles and anywhere in Texas. And of coarse New Orleans, but we haven't been to New Orleans yet.

JimmyJazz.com: Speaking of New Orleans, a lot of fans know you from your earlier Squad Up movement through Lil Flip. What's been the biggest difference between Lil Flip's Squad Up and Lil Wayne's Young Money?

Gudda Gudda: It's just bigger [Young Money]. Young Money is a whole new wave of fans and everything. It's just a different era. When we were doing the Squad Up mixtapes, that was the grinding mixtape era, This right here [Young Money] is a new era.

JimmyJazz.com: You and Lil Wayne are from the same hometown, New Orleans, LA. How did you guys get linked with one another?

Gudda Gudda: I meet him a while back. He [Lil Wayne] use to hang out with one of my homeboy's that I grew up with. I was around 17 years old and he [Lil Wayne] was probably 15. He was coming out with his first album, and he use to come through my neighborhood all the time with my homeboy. And we use to shoot dice by my house. We ended up gambling one day and ended up being cool from there.

(Pictured below): Gudda Gudda with Lil Wayne. Gudda sports a Polo hat with matching red scarf. 

JimmyJazz.com: While on tour, MTV's Sway interviewed Lil Wanye. In the piece Wayne mentions how he wrote your first verse. If it weren't for that first moment, where would you [Gudda] be at this moment right now?

Gudda Gudda: Probably still gambling, hustling [short pause], where he [Lil Wayne] found me at. Same place he found me at, probably.

JimmyJazz.com: In a recent interview with Lil Wayne fan site, NewLilWayne.com, you mentioned that Jadakiss, Beanie Sigel, and Hov are your favorite artists -all who hail from the northern east. We wanted to know, growing up in the New Orleans, were you influenced by the talent from your hometown? Such as Cash Money and Soulja Slim?

Gudda Gudda: Soulja Slim, defiantly and the whole Cash Money movement [short pause], Outkast, Goodie Mob... Eight Ball & MJG, those are all the main ones.

JimmyJazz.com: Young Money is currently leading the music charts with the hit single, "Every Girl". What's the next single? What will top that momentum?

Gudda Gudda: I really can't speck on it right now, but we got another coming, it's hot. But we gon' keep it going with this one ["Every Girl"]. Might be even bigger.

JimmyJazz.com: As far as Young Money, is there a release date?

Gudda Gudda: We really don't have an official release date, but sometime in November, I believe.

JimmyJazz.com: Recently, Young Money President/ Artist, Mack Maine released a statement on Twitter.com, announcing the release of Omarion from Young Money. Do you care to speck about that?

Gudda Gudda: I mean, I don't care. I really don't have anything to do with that. I ain't tripping about that. Big up to him [Omarion], more power to him, but that ain't none of my business.

JimmyJazz.com: Everyone on Young Money is extremely talented. Nicki Minaj, Drake, Mack Maine, Jay Millz and yourself. What's the overall harmony with the group? Do you guys record together?

Gudda Gudda: Most of the time we go out to Miami and record together. We vibe and just knock joints out. There's no problems, everybody knows where they fit in at... where they don't fit in at. So if a song comes on and I feel I don't need to be on it, I fall back. Likewise for everybody else. Everybody just plays their position.

JimmyJazz.com: You have a strong mixtape following. Do you have any immediate plans to release a tape?

Gudda Gudda: I'm working on a mixtape right now, called Guddaville. I'm in the middle of it right now, just waiting on a few features from a few people. Probably next month it will be ready. The only reason it'll be next month is because I'm on tour right now; if I weren't on tour it would have been ready next week.

JimmyJazz.com: Outside of the Young Money camp, if you could grab some features who would they be?

Gudda Gudda: Gucci Mane, he's making a lot of noise right now. I would not mind working with him. Of coarse [Young] Jeezy. I would love to work with Eminem, of coarse Jadakiss, [Beanie] Siegel. You might hear something from me and Siegel on the tape, you might hear something from me and Gucci [Mane] on the tape. Everything is in the works right now.

JimmyJazz.com: So, on the road... what's the most comfortable thing to wear?

Gudda Gudda: I got every color Polo pajama you could name [short laugh].

JimmyJazz.com: [Laughs].

Gudda Gudda: All colors Polo pajamas you could name. All colors. With the thermal or the Polo tee, slippers. That's how you stay cool on the bus without doing too much. But all Polo [Laughs]. Gotta be Polo underwear, all day.

JimmyJazz.com: Last, where do you get your fashion sense?

Gudda Gudda: I just like different stuff. Some of it I get from home [New Orleans], some of it. A lot of it comes from traveling... being around and being in different cities and different stores and different malls... they got different things out there. I get to see different stuff, that helps me with my fashion.

We all know that lovely model/ actress Lauren London has been walking around preggers, with heavy rumors circulating for months about Lil Wayne being the possible father... but now rumors are laid to rest! Listen to Lil' Wayne on the Big Boyz Neighborhood radio show confirming that he is indeed the daddy. Wayne also talks about his Young Money movement and Drake's forthcoming debut, Thank Me Later. 

Listen to Lil Wayne on Big Boyz Neighborhood HERE. 

Shop for cute baby outfits for boys & girls at our Jimmy Jazz stores and JimmyJazz.com.

Photo Sources: LaurenLondon.Net & MySpace.com/lilwayne.

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.

It's official! New comer & hip-hop's rising star, Aubrey "Drake" Graham has officially signed with Lil Wayne's Young Money Records. According to MTV & All Hip Hop, the deal will work as a joint venture between Young Money and Cash Money, with Universal Republic distributing his music. Stay tuned for his major debut, Thank Me Later. 

In addition to hearing Drake on the radio, you can also see him pose in L-R-G Spring/ Summer '09 Ad Campaign on numorious magazines, such as XXL.

Shop for the latest L-R-G gear for Mens and Boys at JimmyJazz.com.