Jim Jones Appointed Vice President of Urban A&R at Koch Records

New York, NY – If you might recall, at one point in time, Cam’ron was one of the most important artists under Koch Records as he brought his whole Diplomat imprint to the independent label sometime in 2005. Recently, the founder of Dipset, has been absent in the rap game as we haven’t heard much from him after the whole beef with 50 Cent subsided. Apparently, sometime over the weekend news hit media outlets that the ‘Ballin’’ originator, Jim Jones, was appointed Vice President of Urban A&R at Koch. This came as no surprise as rumors circulated sometime in 2008 of his departure from the dipset camp after business and friendship fallouts between him and Cam. He has since introduced his Byrd Gang crew to the music industry.

Jones released this statement to the media about his new position at Koch Records:

“It feels good to know that the hard work has been recognized by the same people that have helped me get to this point in my career. They recognize that I’m not only an artist but a person that can smell talent and be able to mold a superstar.”

The Byrd Gang founder’s relationship began with Koch sometime in 2004 with the release of his debut ‘On My Way to Church.’ That record at peaked at number 18 on the Billboards and spawned two hit singles. It has since catapulted Jones to Hip-Hop success and every now and then his once in a while hit record catches the audience’s attention. His most recent is the club banger with Ron Browz and Juelz Santana, ‘Pop Champagne.’ Jones has released two other albums since then and is currently working on his fourth studio LP, ‘Pray IV Reign’ which is looking for a February release date.

On the real though, Jones’ last album, ‘Hustler’s P.O.M.E.’ was certified gold and was a commercial success, his career has sky-rocketed past his labelmate Cam’ron. I’m actually interested in seeing what he includes in his next album as we all know he has never had a problem expressing his beef amongst other major rappers in the game. There is speculation that he will be releasing a track entitled ‘Jackin’ Swagga from Us’ which will be directed at Jay and Kanye. Let’s wait and see if those rumors are true.

50 Cent Releases Diss Track ‘Play This on the Radio’

New York, NY – It never fails when 50 Cent is at the helm, especially when it comes down to expressing his views on other rappers or even throwing his weight around. The G-Unit leader has been known to take shots at different people depending on the situation or just for the pure fact of satisfying his niche. He claims that he’s single-handedly responsible for destroying the careers of Ja Rule and Cam’ron. Even in the beginning of 2009, his attributes continue on. In his most recent track entitled ‘Play This on the Radio,’ he deliberately takes shots at Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and even Oprah Winfrey. 50 has been recently bragging all over the place that he dares Lil Wayne to return with a response. If you’ve been following the history between these two, 50 began throwing jabs at Wayne back in 2007 after he was named the number one hottest MC by MTV News as 50 came in at number eight. Since then, Wayne has returned light jabs back at Fif on certain verses on certain tracks.

Over the weekend, 50 called into DJ Whoo Kid’s satellite radio show and discussed the track and the reason behind it.

“When he said it, I don’t know if it was old or new material, but because he didn’t say anything [to clarify the timing of the song], I take it that he meant for it to be out there right now. When that hit the street and you don’t hear him say, ‘That was old.’ Em don’t got time for you, period. I will mop the streets with your ass.”

This is the verse that he was referring to that Lil Wayne added to the track ‘Louisianimal.’ That track eventually landed on an Empire mixtape back in November.

“All about a dollar fuck two quarters/ Bitch, I’ll pour syrup in that vitamin water/ I hope you die ugly, and tonight will be gorgeous.”

50 omits on radio that if Wayne responds, he will literally let loose on him and not let go for a while.

“If he says something back, I’m gonna drop the bomb on his ass. It’s gonna be hard for me to get off him. He’s a talented artist, but if you put him in a space when we’re in direct competition, my consistency will break his neck.

At press time, Wayne has yet to respond, but when that happens, you’ll be the first to know. Keep posted to 24hourhiphop.com for updated news.

If controversy isn’t working on his behalf then why the hell is he continuing to release diss records? Honestly, it’s getting tired. For the past three years all we hear from this artist is how he has dislike for this and that artist. I admit that he caused a ripple effect with Ja and Cam, but as far as Wayne and Ye, their credibility has gone far beyond his by a long shot. Either way, we await to hear a response from both of them, as I’m quite sure it shouldn’t be too long.

Lil Wayne to Release Rock Album

After going platinum on his ‘Tha Carter III within the first week, it seems as if the rap phenomenon, Lil Wayne, feels confident that he can conquer almost anything. Sometime last year, he told media outlets that he wanted to venture away from rap for a while and try different things. As we are all aware, he has worked closely with the Gym Class Heroes, especially with Travis McCoy and most recently he featured on a track with Kanye West on his latest LP, ‘808s & Heartbreak.’ So besides playing guitar and dabbling with auto-tune, Wayne feels like there other options are out there for him to try his talents at.

He mentioned doing an R&B album sometime in the near future, well apparently he now has his plans set on doing a Rock album. Canadian rap artist, Drake, recently told muchmusic.com about Wayne’s future plans in venturing into Rock.

These were his comments:

“Wayne’s coming out with a new album, it’s a rock album, a complete rock album. I have a song on there. It’s something different in just that whole 808’s and Hearbreaks, just throwing individuals off.”

Wayne once told Blender magazine that his favorite band growing up was Nirvana and most recently he was the first Hip-Hop artist to ever perform or even appear at the Country Music Awards. He performed alongside Kid Rock on his ‘All Summer Long,’ however not as a rapper, but as a guitarist alongside the band. I guess those guitar lessons came in handy.

At press time, Weezy is currently working on yet his seventh studio LP, ‘Tha Carter III: The Rebirth.’ Reports are stating that this album will include new material, especially the Milli Remixes that were talked about for the original ‘Carter III,’ but never surfaced. Universal is looking for a middle 2009 release, let’s wait and see that happens for that timeframe.

I’m quite interested to see where Wayne takes this Rock idea. Maybe with the help from Kid Rock, Gym Class Heroes, and other major rock artists this sudden venture might go further than we anticipate. Question is, who will he have feature on the album with besides Travis and Kid Rock. It would actually be kind of a switch to see Wayne on stage as the rhythm guitarist. Let’s see which other band members he includes in this project with him.

Check the video of Lil Wayne as a guitarist at the 2008 Country Music Awards with Kid Rock: