The State has taken Radric Davis for another 12 months, but Gucci Mane’s legacy still lives in the spirit of the people! Unfortunately we’ll never really to understand Gucci’s personal perspective on his forthcoming LP, “The State Vs Radric Davis” since the obvious occurred last week. However, before the legal system snatched Mr. Davis for another 12, he wrapped production on “The State Vs Radric Davis.”

To be completely honest, I can’t say I was anticipating the release of the project once I heard it was hitting a retail store in December. But with the onslaught of material that’s been surfacing in Gucci’s favor (guest appearances, remixes and mixtape offerings), I became intrigued.

And to be completely honest x2, I was never a TRUE Gucci Mane fan. I couldn’t recite a lick of a line from his debut project, “Trap House.” I really didn’t care for “Freaky Gurl” from his sophomore independent release, “Hard To Kill” (unless I was in the club of course lol).

But again, with the flurry of material circulating, I was inching to hear what Radric had to offer. Luckily, a GOOD friend of mine who’s handling the project decided it would be ok for me to preview some “The State Vs. Radric Davis” earlier this evening.

Understand from jump- this is not an official review of the project, more like a “Ok, here’s what I heard and here’s what you should expect.” ENJOY!

“Heavy” |Prod. by Shawty Redd|
An eerie piano melody is the sole driver to this brash 808 thumping street offering. There’s no particular aim to “Heavy” expect the fact that everything he’s involved in is “Heavy”. Mid day radio won’t run this, but late night mix shows will have a field day pulling it back for replay. Gucci spits, “My ego getting tooo big, it’s too heavy.”

“Gingerbread Man” ft. OJ Da Juice man | Prod. By Mannie Fresh |
Its every trappers dream anthem. The two southern gentlemen hop on Mannie’s militant sounds cape and stick to the game plan. Looking for a manuscript on trapping, keep “Gingerbread Man” on repeat, you’ll get it sooner or later. Ok!

“Stupid Wild” ft. Cam’ron and Lil Wayne  | Prod By Bangladesh |
A droopy synth guides the listener through the “Stupid Wild” characteristics of Mr. Davis (Gucci Mane), Mr. Carter (Lil Wayne)  and Mr. Giles (Cam’ron). Of course Gucci is stupid with it as he raps, “Stupid wild, super stupid wild, homey that’s my style.”

“Sex In Crazy Places” ft. Nicki Minaj, Trina and Bobby V | Prod.By Fatboi |
Potential second single status, this freaky group opus might be a bit much for the young ears at 106 n Park, but radio will swallow this whole (get your mind out the gutter). Trina and Nicki trade explicit’s regarding their favorite places to wrestle (place ur mind back in the gutter) while Gucci dishes out his wish list of public places he wishes to christen. Oh, and I strongly suggest you stay away from Six Flags Great Adventure when Gucci gets out of jail. See the lyric below lol. “I wanna take u to six flags and do you on the roller coaster.”

“All About The Money” ft. Rick Ross  | Prod. By Drumma Boy |
An ode to flossing- point blank period. Ross brags about what the money brings him and Gucci brags about how he obtained his profits- of course he adds a splash of materialistic name drops throughout. Pointy kick drums and firm horns/synths peg this as an easy top down selection

“Bad, Bad, Bad” ft. Keyshia Cole | Prod. By Fatboi |
Keyshia’s rhetoric suggests she’s tired of living in a dysfunctional relationship while Gucci pleads and searches for a reasons she should stay. A slow but attractive instrumental supplied by Gucci’s right hand beat constructor, Fatboi, keeps things at an interesting pace. Hello Billboard Top 100.

In total, from what I heard, I think I’m starting to conform to the ways of Radric Davis. Maybe it’s his 12 months of incarceration that has me feeling sorry for the Georgia native. Or maybe it’s his consistent streak of radio tunage has me standing on couches at your local night club. Whatever it is, Gucci’s got the game on lock. Now if only we can find a way to unlock him from The State’s death grip, it’d be a win win situation.

Sincerely

Low “Keep ya head up, Gucci” Key

During an extensive interview with XXL’s, Matt Barone Fif reveals his sentiments towards Gucci’s success, Drake, Kid Cudi and Wale. What’s interesting about this is Fif compares the likes of Drake, Cudi and Wale’s success to the relevancy of Q-Tip and Andre 3000 when Fif first came around to the hip-hop scene.

50 Cent on Gucci’s, Wale, Kid Cudi and Drake’s Success..

“We’re gonna get people from different walks of life and that’s because the art form is expanding. Like, you got a Gucci Mane at the same time you’re getting a Drake. And he’s obviously a rich kid who aint been exposed to…what? That’s Drake’s part. And then you got Gucci Mane, who’s from the South and he’s been exposed to it all. We have Jeezy….it’s cool to see people actually have their own identity. The same thing that they would be upset with me for is what they accept from Drake. The Kid Cudis, too. Wale. These people are necessary. They were there when I fell in love with hip-hop, but they were Q-Tip, they were Andre 3000.”

Applaud that man, seriously. Fif finally giving respect where respect is due. If you can find out where my secret newsstand is in Times Square, I’m sure you’ll enjoy Fif’s commentary on Dr. Dre, ThisIs50.com, Soulja Boy, “Before I Self Destruct”, and  the infamous “ThisIs50 Fest.”

50 Cent on Chelsea Lately | 50 Cent on Funkmaster Flex

Sincerely

Low “Curtis Jackson…..sighs” Key

Before he hit the big house, my blogging sister, Miss Info sat down with the Georgia native for an exclusive tell all interview discussing topics ranging from his career, his come up, his beefs and everything in between. Part one can be found over here.

Well a preview to the second clip (Hello JoeyIe and Aura) has landed in my lap and a couple new revelations have been discovered. 1.) Gucci and Usher have recorded three records together and 2.) He was the original A-Town representative to contribute on Usher’s sensual “Love In This Club” not Young Jeezy.

Of course, label politics will take hold of any situation regarding features and such, but how Gucci found out he was officially removed from the record is a heart breaker. Not cool, Polow (producer of Usher’s “Love In This Club”. Anyway, check out the clip below.

Oh and here’s the official track listing to Gucci’s, “The State Vs Radric Davis” which hits retail December 8. ENJOY!

Sincerely

Low “Damn, I wonder if they’ll ever release Gucci’s version of “Love In This Club” Key

Gucci Mane Talks Working With Usher For The 3rd Time from LowKey on Vimeo.

Don’t get me wrong, the spirit of competition is the driving force behind hip-hop today, but to flip flop on your competitor, well that’s just a serious case of being bipolar. Mr. Taylor recently  sat down with the big homie Joe La Puma to talk logistics about his new project, The Red Album, Interscope Records and Fiddy Cent, among other things.

When asked about his feelings towards Jay and Fif’s mini quarrel, Game responded, “Jay-Z will f*ck 50 up in a battle! It would be so fast and over with. 50 is funny, but Jay is witty. Jay-Z is not to be toyed with. If he fuckin’ responds, if he feels like you’re really pissing him off and he responds, he’s gonna f*ck you up! He would fuck me up, I’m just glad he didn’t fu*kin’ respond, so I didn’t have to go dig in my fuckin’ bag and try to f*ck him up. I definitely think that Jay-Z didn’t come at me like he came at any other rappers because I definitely would have been more disrespectful and once you start a beef with me you better be ready to go the whole motherfu*kin’ 12 rounds because I will try to chew your fu*kin’ ear off like Mike Tyson. I’ll do it and I think he knew that—I’m disrespectful. So Jay, he did the right thing and just kinda let it die down and I let it die down ’cause it wasn’t anything really. It was fuckin’ fun and I really admire Jay’s career. I just really don’t care too much for the man himself.”

Hmmm, you don’t care for the man himself, but have concern to vouche for him in a battle? I. Just. Don’t. Get. It. Now before some of you visitors summon the “LowKey’s a hater” brigade to my office, I like Game. I respect this man’s talent and the effort he puts forth.

However, the back and forth rhetoric is just TIRED. The constant “look at me” attention seeking tricks have grown on me like FUNGUS. Translation: IT SUCKZ!

THOUGHTS????

Sincerely

Low “I swear if he disses/praises Jay one more time lol” Key

Well today, the powers that be over here at Dot Com’s (BET.com) headquarters slid me an nice excerpt from Fif’s sit down segment with Angie Martinez (the show is broken down into three segments. Harry Allen, Stephen A. Smith and Angie Martinez).

Angie, with her FINE self, probed Curtis about what prior hip hop cuts he wished he recorded. His selections impressed and intrigued me to how he would actually sound on the two tracks named. Martinez then asked if there were any present cuts he would snatch, but this time around his response surprised the sh*t outta me lol.

What bothered me, a little bit not a lot, about this clip is when Angie asked specifically asked if there were any present hip hop cuts he would snatch, his stubborn ego wouldn’t allow him to answer the inquiry. For some reason, answering the aforementioned suggests his admission to the question is a sign of weakness. Whatever, Fif. Check out the video, below!

“Food For Thought: Conversations With 50 Cent” airs tonight on BET at 7:30pm

Sincerely

Low “It’s ok to show your soft side, Fif” Key

Exclusive Preview “Food For Thought: Conversations With 50 Cent” from LowKey on Vimeo.

Sincerely

Low “Weezy is alllll about the music” Key

Lil Wayne’s “The Carter” Documentary Exclusive Clip from LowKey on Vimeo.

It’s come to the point where both parties need to move the eff on. For the fan’s sake, of course, I’d love to see Cam, Jimmy, Juelz and Freaky Zeakey reunite on 125^th and Lenox filming a video for “Dipset Anthem Pt.3”, but in this day and age of ego’s…IT’S NOT HAPPENING.

In a recent interview with “MaybachTV” (sounds like something William Ross put together) the interviewer, who I hold solely responsible for the reoccurring nonsense of “Is Dipset still alive”, inquired about the happenings of The Diplomats. With a cocky swag (that’s that Harlem sh*), Cam responded (insert Cam quote here)

Seeing how I was once an avid fan of the Harlem foursome, I saw this cannon balling on our foreheads way before it occurred. From Jimmy to becoming a commodity to the hip-hop community to Juelz getting pushed around Def Jam like a 3 year old in his push kart due to Cam’s sneaky contractual ways, things were bound for disaster. Hell, they were even conducting separate interviews about each other. You didn’t see it coming?

So now that this is out in the open, what will the rest of the Dipset tribe have to say about Cam’s rhetoric? Will they still plug away at Dipset positivity? Will they snap back at Cam with mean words? Or, will they turn the other cheek and continue on with their “splashy” ways???? Go ahead; let me know what you guys think!

Sincerely

Low “I wonder what Dame has to say about this” Key

Cam’ron talks the end of The Diplomats

On Tuesday afternoon, Columbia Records held an exclusive screening for Beyonce’s new DVD, “I Am…Yours: An Intimate Performance At The Wynn In Las Vegas.” “I Am…Yours”, which hits retail next Monday (November 23) not only showcases Beyonce’s intimate Vegas performance in it’s entirety, but highlights Beyonce’s off stage work ethic as well.

Pulling off what seemed like to be the impossible, Team Beyonce effortlessly strut through a seven day regiment of preparing for one of, if not the most, intimate concerts of her career.

Yvette Noel-Schure, Beyonce’s publicist since the days of Destiny Child, formally introduced the lucky “I Am….Yours” viewers to the DVD stating, “Everything you know about Beyonce as a hellified performer, you will see in this DVD.” Since I witnessed Mrs. Carter tear the Superdome to shreds back in July during the Essence Music Festival, I had a good feeling of what was in store for the next two hours (yes, the DVD is two hours give or take a couple minutes).

The performance commenced with Beyonce entering through the back of the performance hall greeting each fan individually while singing “Hello”. I see what she did there- clever, “B.” No lie, you would’ve thought each person who was greeted by Beyonce either saw Jesus, received a new car from Oprah, or tasted or Coldstone’s Ice Cream for the first time (I remember that like it was yesterday. Sighssss).

“Hello Las Vegas,” Beyonce shouted from the middle of the stage. We’re going to start off nice and easy with an acoustic set and then we’re going to have a good ol time.” The Houston native commenced with the heavenly sounds of “Halo.” Beyonce’s constant glances and dedicated interaction with the audience displayed a different type of showmanship and appreciation for her fans.

Clearly, Beyonce found her groove. “I love this part because ya’ll get to sing to me,” asserted Beyonce. “Ladies and gentlemen, I want ya’ll to sing ‘Irreplaceable’ with me. Right now, this is your opportunity to think of someone in your mind and give them a piece of your mind.” I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again, you will NOT sing “Irreplaceable” to me at ANY concert, lol. Some of ya’ll females get courageous when Beyonce’s vocals are in the atmosphere.

I know I’m probably going to get crucified for this admission, but hearing Beyonce sing “Resentment” sends the ultimate “chill” through my body. So when she decided to perform the cut for the first time, I couldn’t help but perk up and pay attention. “I’ve never performed this song before,” she admitted. “I’m doing this especially for Encore.”

B plopped on the steps which were 2 feet from several audience members as if she were explaining the logistics of the damage her significant other had caused. Her mannerisms could lead you to believe she was just lied to before she stepped onstage. “Thank you so much,” B whispered at the conclusion of “Resentment.”

Beyonce’s set took an interesting turn as she began to trek down memory lane as to how she ended up at the very spot she was standing in. “I wanna do something a lil different tonight. I want to share my story with you,” Beyonce said with a smile. By the age of five, I knew I wanted to be a singer. The Jackson 5 played a huge inspiration in my life. When we formed Destiny’s Child at the age of 9, The Jackson 5’s, “I Wanna Be Where You Are” was the first song we memorized and performed.”

She then went on to explain a brief short story on how Papa Knowles yanked the plug on their dreams during a live audition because of lack of preparation. “Beyonce, did you go swimming the night before? I hear a lot of snot in your nose,” Papa Knowles inquired. He then yanked the girls off the stage and said, “I’m sorry you guys flew all the way out here tonight, but these girls are not ready.” Sheeeesh, talk about dedication. “I was mortified,” Beyonce said with a chuckle.

That story introduced us to the journey of Destiny’s Child. I’ll let you guy’s savior that moment when you watch the special next week. And I can assure you, the story on how “Independent Woman” came about will definitely be a shocker.

I cursed myself for missing the intro to this quote, but the latter gives you enough to digest of what it started out as. “Finally, one day I found love,” a blushing Beyonce said. “We recorded our first song together called, “Bonnie & Clyde”. Oh, Young Hova makes TWO appearances in the DVD. No I’m not telling you where and when, you’ll just have to wait and see.

After paying homage to D.C. and their extensive catalogue, Beyonce then launched into a brigade of solo material. To be fair, it wasn’t that much, her stage show just made it seem like it was a lot. She recounted the days of her first solo album and how the critics and even her label still needed proof that she was solo star status.

B said of presenting Columbia Records with “Dangerously in Love” for the first time, “After playing the entire album for my record label, they told me I didn’t have one hit on my album. I guess they were kind of right; I had five.”

Mrs. Carter ended her set with energetic renditions of “Get Me Bodied” and “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On it)”. Again, the female army in attendance thought it would be “cute” to wave their ring fingers in the face of their male companions. Even the married ones had the audacity to commit such a travesty. Actions such as those cause for me to walk out the stadium mumbling explicits lol. I. WILL. NOT. STAND. FOR. IT! (I love you, Beyonce lol).

“It took me everything to get me to this point right now,” Beyonce revealed to the crowd as confetti fell from the ceiling. “That’s why I am yours.”

Beyonce’s on her way to becoming one of the greatest entertainers of our generation. Think I’m lying, wait until Monday, you’ll see.

“I…Am Yours:  Intimate Performance At The Wynn Las Vegas” will air Thanksgiving night (November 26) at 9pm on ABC. The DVD will be available for purchase next Monday.

Sincerely

Low “Beyonce, Whew…god damn!” Key

But of course, shortly after I was convinced otherwise. “Video Phone”, which was slated to be released several weeks prior on MTV, somehow slithered its way on to the internets late Monday evening and has caused an uproar in online community.

Personally, and this is just my pretty brown eyed opinion, I’m starting to believe Beyonce is a robot that was sent from the galaxies above to gyrate in ways humans could never fathom. Seriously, how in the hell does she maneuver in such a way? Oh, Lady Gaga did well too.

Anyway, “Video Phone” can be seen below. And the review for Beyonce’s thanksgiving special, which airs Thanksgiving night at 9pm, can be found here later today. Toodles lol.

Quick question before I leave- where are the actual “video phones?” Don’t worry, I’ll wait……

Sincerely

Low “Shawn Carter wins” Key

Beyonce ft. Lady Gaga- Video Phone (Extended Remix)

I commanded my friend to cut the music so I could devote full attention. Boy am I glad I did so. Directed by Syndrome (Think T-Pain’s first 3 singles from “Thr33 Ringz”), the effects were perfectly placed throughout the clip. And a SPECIAL kudos to whoever gave the green light to Alicia’s purple jump suit towards the latter of the visual.

As long as I’m alive, Alicia will never have to sleep with a broken heart. EVER. Damn you Kaseem Dean………DAMN YOU TO HELL!

Sidebar: I send a serious side eye to J Records for not making this the first single from Alicia’s “The Element Of Freedom” LP.

Sincerely

Low “Whewwwwwwwwww this song gives me the chills” Key

Alicia Keys-  Sleeping With A Broken Heart