Update on Nas and Wu-Tang

[Meho]

C. Webb is no fluke. After producing "Blunt Ashes" on last year's Hip Hop Is Dead, he got with Nas again for the new record "Surviving the Times" from Esco's upcoming Greatest Hits. Vibing with his good friend Chris Webber helped spur on Nas to make his December LP, Nigger.

"One of the n---as that got me started on this album was Chris Webber," Nas told us last week. "He's got a studio, and most of the time I call him, he don't answer the phone because he's in the studio. He's in the studio more than me, and it's been like that forever. His brother is an incredible artist as well. People don't know."

Another tireless producer, Jermaine Dupri, says he is excited about producing the majority of Nas' new album.

"He lives in Atlanta, but I think he wants to record in New York again," JD said.

A while back, Nas told JD he wanted to get on the radio a little bit more, but as he has gotten deeper into the new project, Nas has abandoned that idea.

"I haven't spoken to him about what we gonna do as far as his mind is on his album," Dupri said. "I'mma see what he feels and go with the flow.

"You can sell records without having a big pop single," he added. "Like 'Money Ain't a Thing.' It was a tremendous record, a classic, but it never went #1. Kanye West's 'Can't Tell Me Nothing' wasn't a major Billboard success, but it felt like #1 in my heart."

Dupri revealed he might use some sampling for Nas because he loves "Surviving the Times" so much. JD used to sample heavily until all those clearances started tapping at his pockets.

"That new record is hip-hop! The samples in it — I wanna do records like that," he said. "I got a million ideas to go with that type of sh--. The Nas thing would be really creative for me, to come up with records that got that feel and vibe and a slight possibility of being on the radio. Like the record I did with Jay on American Gangster, it had a little bit of radio, but it's a story/club record."

"When you look at n---as like JD, I worked him on one of his biggest albums, Life in 1472," responded Nas, who has done a bulk of the record already with Salaam Remi. "I was on the first song on there, me and him. I love JD. He's one of the n---as that made me want to move to Atlanta six years ago. I definitely wanna get it in with him. But n---a better hurry because me and Salam might finish the album.

"Jermaine better hurry up and get in the studio and start dancing around to these beats and make this happen," he laughed. "Let's get it poppin'. I got two weeks to be done."

Nas wants to drop his first single for Nigger two or three days after November 6, which is the day his greatest-hits LP and Jay-Z's American Gangster drop. Nas appears on Hov's set via the track "Success."

"The record with Jay, that's a crazy joint," he said. "Homeboy is laser-sharp with his sh--. And he's got a crazy album. I'm really proud of him. It made me proud. Yeah, I'm on the joint. I'm on there." ...

The Wu-Tang Clan's Abbot was in New York last week helping to promote his "American Gangster" movie. That's right: Common and T.I. were advertised more heavily, but the RZA plays a pretty substantial part in the flick. He's part of the po-po team lead by Russell Crowe. He did his thing, too.

OK, enough of that — we'll get to RZA's Hollywood endeavors next time. But if you love the Wu like we do, you most definitely were disappointed by the latest airing of family business. Last week Ghostface Killah told us he's hotter than leftover Chinese food straight out of the microwave.

Why? He alleges that he isn't getting his fair share of the cake from the Clan's stint on the recent Rock the Bells summer tour. In addition, the Clan's 8 Diagrams LP was pushed back from a tentative fall release date to December 4, the same day as Ghost's solo effort, The Big Dough Rehab. He pointed the finger at the Clan's "hierarchy," and we all know who that is.

"The blame can't fall on me like that," RZA said about the dueling release dates. "Wu-Tang Clan is a bunch of brothers working on one common cause. ... We planned to put that record out in September, then October, and it kept getting pushed because it's just a lot of work, yo. ... I wasn't really conscious [Ghost] was dropping an album on December 4th, but yesterday we moved our [group] record from the 4th to the 11th. We gave that spot to Ghostface ... because of how he felt. ... I had to make that call. [SRC label head] Steve Rifkind also, he was getting bashed up by Ghost [in the Mixtape Monday interview]. So ... we moved.

"We didn't have him move, we moved," RZA continued. "I think that shows the kind of bigger men we could be. Ghost is my brother, love him to death. But we're in this business, and it's hard to kind of discern what's right and what's wrong. ... But I will say that, when it comes to a Wu-Tang Clan album, I plan on making it a 60-, 90-day type of schedule. ... It turned out to be a 200-day schedule ... and I didn't want to wait until next year [to put out 8 Diagrams].

"But Ghostface, we moved it to the 11th. You got that 4th. Do your thing right then, double up [the] next week, make mad cream this year, family."

Mixtape Monday extra: Check out RZA's special message to Ghostface.

[Mackin]

Not A Big Fan of Wu-Tang Clan..
Lookin forward to that JD + Nas Concept.

[thisoneguy360]

Not A Big Fan of Wu-Tang Clan..

 

[cyence]

Not A Big Fan of Wu-Tang Clan..

 

lol
also lol @ looking forward to ANY collabo involving Jermaine Dupri

[Mackin]

Not A Big Fan of Wu-Tang Clan..

 

Not A Big Fan of Wu-Tang Clan..

 

lol
also lol @ looking forward to ANY collabo involving Jermaine Dupri

Wats wit the "LOL"??
I'm not a fan of WU-Tang Clan..it's not like it's "impossible"
C'mon!!
It's no my For-tay1
JD arguably is Dope!!