Video: LL Cool J Calls Jay-Z A Glorified President w/ Conflict of Interest

[RealTalkNY]

http://realtalkny.rawkus.com/2007/10/topic/artists/jay-z/ll-cool-j-comments-on-jay-z-running-def-jam-the-new-album-exit-13/

[Spliff Star]

c/s

[206PiMp]

damn, LL droppin knowledge..

said he turned down jays current position 10 years ago cause he felt he wasnt ready.

[RealTalkNY]

I wonder what Jay-Z got to say about this.

[Raphael]

No doubt there is a conflict of interest... but I don't think all the botox in LA can save LL's career.

[Young Pistola]

that's why

N1gger > American Gangster

[TheY2DreProblem]

Yeah LL is right on this one.

[The_GameO7™]

Why is LL still mad?

The Roots dropped their best album in years since Jay came on board with Game Theory. Nas had his biggest week sales with HHID in years. Method Man dropped his best album in years with 4:21, rather than the wack Tical Prequel and Judgement Day. Redmans album sucked, thats why it flopped.No one is checking for LL anymore. Do you really wanna buy an album full of love songs, which are DIRECTED towards women FOR women?

If you do, you = a PHAGGIT.

[obarth]

No doubt there is a conflict of interests to be in control of the careers of your competitors. But part of me wonders if LL is talking up now after realizing Jay didn't send any sublimes his way on AG. I thought this was squashed weeks ago?

[checkman]

i didn't see the clip cuz i'm at work,but LL needs to make a hit,b4 talkin sh1t

he dropped that queens song with gunit and g rap,and still no buzz,song is dope though

[highgrade]

i think the point is that even if ur putting out great music, so much of the publicity/hype/attention is on Jay that it may not make the same kind of numbers that it deserves.

[Monoblock]

I think LL has a valid point but it still wont help his career and I thought this whole situation was dropped weeks ago. Now he's starting to sound like a whiny female.

[MAD PSYCHE]

make better music or shut the fvck up

[gator_king]

Rappers (and artists period) are critical of label heads and executives in this industry all of the time. Just because his boss was once a great rapper, then that means L.L. has to bite his tongue? :dry:L.L. is a legend and he has a right to pop off at the "suits" that control his projects if he wants too. If Nas was going at Tommy Mottala I dont think people would tell him to just shut up and make a hit record.

[N*IT*2*WIN*IT]

I wonder what Jay-Z got to say about this.
nothin

[RealTalkNY]

It's like a NBA player being the coach of the team.

[hiphop's savior]

make better music or shut the fvck up
This is the problem, people are making great music over there, people arent buying it and they're not getting as much promo as jay

[Tetris v2.0]

It's like a NBA player being the coach of the team.
Thats basically it. I dont see anything wrong with LL's criticism. Jay can drop albums too if he wants, but damn, a lot of artists on DJ arent even getting a music video!

[boojitede]

make better music or shut the fvck up

[gotti capone]

a rapper as big as LL shouldnt have to depend on label heads to push his album. he knows the game like the back of his hand. he should know how to market his on product to the ppl.

[gator_king]

It's like a NBA player being the coach of the team.
Good analogy. Or even better its like a NBA GM being a player on the team. (Jordan with the Wizards) Maybe someone like a Juelz could be Rip Hamilton but the legend with an ego is holding him back. If I was a NY rap artist I wouldnt sign with Def Jam because Jay has never been good at letting his home team get any shine. His biggest artists have been from Chicago and Philly and he stays riding hard for his Southern artists. Maybe he owes L.L. and Meth a hot 16 instead of giving it to Jeezy or Ross who dont really need it because their fanbase could care less about Jay..

[K-train]

Good analogy. Or even better its like a NBA GM being a player on the team. (Jordan with the Wizards) Maybe someone like a Juelz could be Rip Hamilton but the legend with an ego is holding him back. If I was a NY rap artist I wouldnt sign with Def Jam because Jay has never been good at letting his home team get any shine. His biggest artists have been from Chicago and Philly and he stays riding hard for his Southern artists. Maybe he owes L.L. and Meth a hot 16 instead of giving it to Jeezy or Ross who dont really need it because their fanbase could care less about Jay..


You stupid *****!

[checkman]

a rapper as big as LL shouldnt have to depend on label heads to push his album. he knows the game like the back of his hand. he should know how to market his on product to the ppl.

[K-train]

silly nicca

[kurupt_u]

It's like a NBA player being the coach of the team.

It wasnt anything wrong when Bill Russell was a player coach. i respect LL. he was one of the first rappers that I liked and listened to when he came out. he been in the game too long to be crying over what Jay-Z doing. if anything he should have opted out of his contract like A-Rod and started his own label and pushed himself. or he should have signed on with another label that he thought would give him a better chance when he could have. dont blame Jay-Z for your lack of interest in today's one hit wonder market.....1

[hypestyle]

he still didn't say when the album is coming out..

WHEN?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!

[K-train]

he still didn't say when the album is coming out..
WHEN?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!


SHUT UP

[hiphop3000]

Good analogy. Or even better its like a NBA GM being a player on the team. (Jordan with the Wizards) Maybe someone like a Juelz could be Rip Hamilton but the legend with an ego is holding him back. If I was a NY rap artist I wouldnt sign with Def Jam because Jay has never been good at letting his home team get any shine. His biggest artists have been from Chicago and Philly and he stays riding hard for his Southern artists. Maybe he owes L.L. and Meth a hot 16 instead of giving it to Jeezy or Ross who dont really need it because their fanbase could care less about Jay..
i certainly dont understand this conflict of interest that you/him are talking about,but what i can smell is haterade!!!if an album on defjam does well,then he stands to benefit.he is holding back Juelz??how??are you juelz??
The most basic thing thats required from the defjam management is profits.if they feel that they wont get any reasonable return on any project then they have the right to not waste any more money.The only thing that you(yes,hi hater) is worried abiut are some things that have nothimg to do with business at all.Why should he "give meth a 16" and not rick ross or jeezy???-that has nothing to do with him being a good president is it??

[RandyBodek]

even if you are a jay-z loyalist, how can you dispute anything LL just said? he's 100% on point. thats an intelligent dude right now.

[hiphop3000]

damn, LL droppin knowledge..
said he turned down jays current position 10 years ago cause he felt he wasnt ready.
i also turned down steve jobs position 3 years ago because i felt that i wasnt "ready":dry:

[Endiphrint]

You all acting as if LL is some new upcoming emcee or something. It is awkward that Jay is the boss, and also an artist, but this is also a business. Meth aint gonna sell, neither is Redman. Roots wont sell, neither will Nas. All of those mentioned sell ok considering their longevity, but for Def Jam to put major cash and marketing behind them would be foolish. Nas might be the only one who seems to make a buzz for himself via a little controversy. The others are fortunate that people still remember them. With that said, if kids today dont know or respect the aforementioned emcees, than why would anyone expect kids to have interest in LL who was around 10 years prior to Meth, Nas, and Red. Now that's considering the marketing aspect of it. Lets consider the music.

Quit kidding yourselves, there aint nobody on Sohh that is anticipating a LL Cool J record. Dont knowbody want to hear the millionth version of "I need Love". I dont want to see his sweaty chest, dont want to see him licking his lips in a video to a mediocre at best song. Very few artists from his time got better after years progressed. Maybe KRS1, or Masta Ace. Ice Cube is still good, maybe just a little bit more mature. LL on the other hand......I'll pass. Considering that, Jay is actually doing us all a favor. We need to send thank you emails to Def Jam for Jay not allowing that bullchit music airtime.

[IntelliSense]

Um, How long was Jay president before he resumed recording? How many albums were put out in that timespan? How many of those didn't do well? When Jay originally took the job he was officially "retired" and was focusing his efforts on being label Prez. He wasn't competing with any of the artists on his label, yet some of them were still not getting major push or sellling major units. so what was the reason then?

[Diggy_Dat_Niggy]

Why is LL still mad?
The Roots dropped their best album in years since Jay came on board with Game Theory.

Defjam didnt even promote this album, it dropped out of no where

[RandyBodek]

i wonder how Jay-Z feels about Nas sellin them 700,000+ units even tho they tried to do him dirty with the promotion. If the market was how it should be that HHID album would be at about 1.4 million by now, with NO hit singles and minimum label support. meth, red, roots, all the other dudes who flopped over there, yeah def jam deserves a lot of the blame but another reason for why these guys aint sellin is because they just aint hot, period. nas sold records because his name is still hot, even without the good label push he's gonna sell. LL is absolutely right but still, you wanna get hot? make hot songs, get the people talkin, etc..... the label cant just make the people buy ya sh*t, all they can do is fan the flame that you create for yourself.

[hiphop3000]

You all acting as if LL is some new upcoming emcee or something. It is awkward that Jay is the boss, and also an artist, but this is also a business. Meth aint gonna sell, neither is Redman. Roots wont sell, neither will Nas. All of those mentioned sell ok considering their longevity, but for Def Jam to put major cash and marketing behind them would be foolish. Nas might be the only one who seems to make a buzz for himself via a little controversy. The others are fortunate that people still remember them. With that said, if kids today dont know or respect the aforementioned emcees, than why would anyone expect kids to have interest in LL who was around 10 years prior to Meth, Nas, and Red. Now that's considering the marketing aspect of it. Lets consider the music.
Quit kidding yourselves, there aint nobody on Sohh that is anticipating a LL Cool J record. Dont knowbody want to hear the millionth version of "I need Love". I dont want to see his sweaty chest, dont want to see him licking his lips in a video to a mediocre at best song. Very few artists from his time got better after years progressed. Maybe KRS1, or Masta Ace. Ice Cube is still good, maybe just a little bit more mature. LL on the other hand......I'll pass. Considering that, Jay is actually doing us all a favor. We need to send thank you emails to Def Jam for Jay not allowing that bullchit music airtime.
the funny thing is that none of all these 1 minute ll fans have bought his last album.they dont even watch mtc or bet,listen to radio etc thus making it impossible for them to have seen all the push that he was getting when todd smith was released.
JD:ughhh,u know what this is
JLO: "u got,u got what it takes to make me leave my man"
LL:"its hard to control my self,its hard to conrol myself,u got u got what it takes to make this boy be bad"

[hiphop3000]

i wonder how Jay-Z feels about Nas sellin them 700,000+ units even tho they tried to do him dirty with the promotion. If the market was how it should be that HHID album would be at about 1.4 million by now, with NO hit singles and minimum label support. meth, red, roots, all the other dudes who flopped over there, yeah def jam deserves a lot of the blame, but another reason for why these guys aint sellin is because they just aint hot, period. nas sold records because his name is still hot, even without the good label push he's gonna sell. LL is absolutely right but still, you wanna get hot? make hot songs, get the people talkin, etc..... the label cant just make the people buy ya sh*t, all they can do is fan the flame that you create for yourself.wow,amazing!!!:dry:
episode 100000000 "kids say the sohh things"

[UrusMu]

Why is LL still mad?
The Roots dropped their best album in years since Jay came on board with Game Theory. Nas had his biggest week sales with HHID in years. Method Man dropped his best album in years with 4:21, rather than the wack Tical Prequel and Judgement Day. Redmans album sucked, thats why it flopped.No one is checking for LL anymore. Do you really wanna buy an album full of love songs, which are DIRECTED towards women FOR women?
If you do, you = a PHAGGIT.

Redman already released "red gone wild"?

When?

How many copies did it sell?

[CharlieWayte]

First off,Who could possibly say how much $$$ was put into promoting these albums.I think that the blame should be focused on the promotional staff at Def Jam, because their results have been mixed at best.

Secondly,Would LL be saying this same thing if Jay had taken the job at Warner Bros with his old boss Liles?Jay would still have the attention of the world on him, but would LL be upset if didnt happen at a time when his album flopped?Lets not mention the fact that the video for Control Myself cost like $150k(Hype Williams) and that his second single with Lyfe Jennings was trash(Freeze or some **** like that).So they did put $$$ behind his effort, but you can't push a product the people don't want.

Third,the current Def Jam administration wasn't exactly in love with the the roster they were left with. Think of the artists they've let go and who they've kept. Its 2007, not 1997, albums don't move like that, and no one remembers Method Man or Redman, no one cares about LL outside of a Queen Latifah movie, and The Roots are small time in the grand scheme of music sales.

ALSO,Ghostface did good numbers.So, did Nas.

Finally,if LL wanted out of Def Jam, i'm sure they'd accomodate him the same way they did Budden and DMX.

[Green Lantern]

You all acting as if LL is some new upcoming emcee or something. It is awkward that Jay is the boss, and also an artist, but this is also a business. Meth aint gonna sell, neither is Redman. Roots wont sell, neither will Nas. All of those mentioned sell ok considering their longevity, but for Def Jam to put major cash and marketing behind them would be foolish. Nas might be the only one who seems to make a buzz for himself via a little controversy. The others are fortunate that people still remember them. With that said, if kids today dont know or respect the aforementioned emcees, than why would anyone expect kids to have interest in LL who was around 10 years prior to Meth, Nas, and Red. Now that's considering the marketing aspect of it. Lets consider the music.
Quit kidding yourselves, there aint nobody on Sohh that is anticipating a LL Cool J record. Dont knowbody want to hear the millionth version of "I need Love". I dont want to see his sweaty chest, dont want to see him licking his lips in a video to a mediocre at best song. Very few artists from his time got better after years progressed. Maybe KRS1, or Masta Ace. Ice Cube is still good, maybe just a little bit more mature. LL on the other hand......I'll pass.


c/s 100%

Nice to see that some people actually get it...

[gotti capone]

even if you are a jay-z loyalist, how can you dispute anything LL just said? he's 100% on point. thats an intelligent dude right now.


i can completely disagree becuz you an artist like Jim Jones (whom i cant stand as a rapper) know the angles and rules to get ppl to feel his record. Jones doesnt depend on record execs to push his shyt for him. he does the shyt himself.


Kanye is another who come in wiht bright idea after bright idea. and his record sales. Jeezy does the same thing.

and do you notice who doing all the complaing about the game these days??

old ass dusty rappers like LL, Meth, Red and so on and so forth.

they depended on the labels for so long but now we have entered a new age in rap. it's called sefl marketing. eveyr rapper that "does for self" is the rapper that is on top. Mike Jones 1st album did numbers, not becuz he had a catchy song or becuz he is from the South but dude put himself out there. he had T-shirts with his fukkin' phone number on them.


if you mad that you aint selling records becuz you know you "nice" then you need to find a way to get your "niceness" heard.


and LL bytchin' and moaning aint helpin' the situation.

basically in a nutshell...

Fukk LL!! GOAT or No GOAT.

[RealTalkNY]

Well Jay-Z had more promotion then everyone else combined it seemed.

[re'up]

LL needs to shut the fukk up and sit down.

[Nino...J-You-Ice...]

Still mad no one gives a **** about him...

[re'up]

last thing LL did that was good was was 'God' in 'In Too Deep'....HAT IS LIKE A SHARK FAN. I know LL ain't talking bout selling out for money.

[arkane1]

i think the point is that even if ur putting out great music, so much of the publicity/hype/attention is on Jay that it may not make the same kind of numbers that it deserves.


yessir

[AmericanGangst]

Well Jay-Z had more promotion then everyone else combined it seemed.

Hov addressed this in a recent interview...

Budweiser, HP, MNF, Coke all those corporate sponsors paid him to use music of his album KC, all this promotion Hov got was the result of striking deals with major corps, NOT from Def Jam's coffers.

[gator_king]

Good analogy. Or even better its like a NBA GM being a player on the team. (Jordan with the Wizards) Maybe someone like a Juelz could be Rip Hamilton but the legend with an ego is holding him back. If I was a NY rap artist I wouldnt sign with Def Jam because Jay has never been good at letting his home team get any shine. His biggest artists have been from Chicago and Philly and he stays riding hard for his Southern artists. Maybe he owes L.L. and Meth a hot 16 instead of giving it to Jeezy or Ross who dont really need it because their fanbase could care less about Jay..
Yeah I agree shawty trill talk.

[Freshology]

Last time I checked Curtis Jackson was executive producing Exit 13... A dude who has been working on 'Before I Self Destruct' since Last November & then at the begging of '07 devoted even more time to divert his attention to a new project recording new material for 'Curtis'

Curtis even went on to say that he's cutting everyone off and focusing on his project & his project only...

I guess its ok for 50 to do that to you but not Jay?

Why doesn't LL admit that a personal vendetta is the real reason behind all this...

[The Product]

LL is just pissed because his fans
are now chicks that are built like mail
boxes and that shirt off/lip lickin bullshiit aint selling.

jay is handling his shiit.