Behind The Beats: Lex Luger [Video]

Super-producer Lex Luger sits down w/ MTV Mixtape Daily for this candid interview for their “Behind the Beats” piece as he speaks about his evolution as a beatsmith, where he discusses his start on the drums, before moving onto his PS2, followed by some work on the PC via Cakewalk, then experimenting on a MPC, and Fruity Loops. He explains that at one point it wasn’t all peaches and cream, as he couldn’t catch a break in the beginning, placement wise. He mentions when he started out as a producer he would send out his beats to many artists, some including Waka Flocka and Juicy J, and no one would give a rat’s ass about his material, mostly because he wasn’t popular and didn’t “have a name.” Last but not least, he tells a story of how he heard Waka’s “Hard In The Paint” for the first time on the radio in Atl.

Young Money Rapper Drake Lands New Role

Young Money rap artist Drake has already conquered TV and the music charts in the past few years, and now the former Degrassi: Next Generation actor will supposedly return back to his former profession as he has landed a (unknown) role in the upcoming indie financial thriller, “Arbitrage,” The Wrap reports. The Canadian bred actor-turned-hip-hop-star will be joined by veteran scene-stealer Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, and Eva Green, who will both play the main character’s wife and mistress in the flick directed by Nicholas Jarecki.

Synopsis for the flick:

A hedge fund magnate who is in over his head and desperate to complete the sale of his shady trading empire to a major bank before his fraud is revealed. However, an unexpected, bloody error forces him to turn to the most unlikely corner for help in protecting him from rivals who want to bring him down.

VEVO’s Ask:Reply: Keyshia Cole [Video]

Keyshia Cole is the next artist to be featured on VEVO’s Ask:Reply segment. Find out who the singer’s favorite hip-hop collaborator was, what she feels has been her biggest accomplishment thus far, which artist she would love to record with, how her friendship with 2Pac influenced her career, and balancing motherhood & promoting the new album Calling All Hearts. In other news, Keysh made headlines earlier this week when she announced the firing of her long-time manager Manny Halley via Twitter. Though she didn’t specifically state the reason for the boot,  many folks have speculated that the move was brought on due to the low-sales for her current project, which at press time has sold a disappointing 181, 300 copies since its’ release on December 21st.

Lupe Fiasco Interview with ONE News (New Zealand) [Video]

Lupe touches on the BDO Festival and his dislike for working on the main stage, the sound of Lasers as well as its recently released album cover and a cut off the album billed ‘All Black Everything’, which he says is one of his personal masterpieces.

Lil Wayne Covers Rolling Stone (February)

Weezy returns to the cover of Rolling Stone. Peep some excerpts from the issue which hits newsstands on January 21st. Behind the scenes after the jump.

— When Wayne sat court-side at a recent Miami Heat/New Orleans Hornets game he was upset that Lebron James and Dwayne Wade never came over to talk to him. “Them niggas never speak to a nigga,” he says. “They don’t chuck me the deuce or nothing. Nigga spent all that money on them fucking tickets … Come holla at me. We sit right by them little bitch-ass niggas. At least come ask me why I’m not rooting for you.”

— He spent his final month in jail in solitary after he was caught with an iPod charger in his cell. It could have been worse: He also had a watch with an MP3 player on it, but another inmate took the rap. “He was a solid nigga,” says Wayne. “Shout-out to Charles…Solitary was the worst. No TV. No radio. No commissary. Basically you’re in there 23 hours a day.” The only upside was he had a window where he could watch cars go by. “I used to sit at that motherfucker all day,” he says.

Eminem x Slaughterhouse Cover XXL (March)

Goes on sale February 8th.

A few more excerpts below and Marshall speaking of the latest additions:

With the new Shady in tow, Eminem may be ushering in a return to wordplay in hip-hop, something that hip-hop heads have been missing from the genre for quite some time. “It just feels good to put lyricism in the forefront again, in my eyes,” Joell Ortiz says in the article. “Some of my heroes, when I came up rhymin’, were Biggie Smalls, Big L—rest in peace to all these—Big Pun. Dudes who were passionate about the way they put words together, the message they sent when they rhymed, and just bein’ ill with the pen. And I feel like this group, and Yelawolf and Em, are dudes who stand for that. And it’s good to see the pure form gettin’ shine again.”

Em talks Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse:

“I saw the video to ‘Pop the Trunk,’ and I was like, ‘Yo, this is fuckin’ dope,’ Em says. “I took the CD home that I had already had and started listening to the shit, and I was like, ‘Fuck, he can spit.’”

“Slaughterhouse, it’s kinda phase two of Shady, The new generation of Shady Records.”

Link: Eminem Talks Shady 2.0 in XXL’s March 2011 Issue [Cover Revealed]

2011 Coachella Line-Up (Nas, Damian Marley, Kanye West, Cee-Lo Green, Erykah Badu & Lil B Among Acts)

Late last night, the Coachella announced the line-up for their 12th annual (three-day) festival (April 15-17th). Nas and Damian Marley, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, the Strokes, Animal Collective, PJ Harvey, the National, Bright Eyes, Robyn, Ariel Pink, Interpol, Cut Copy, Crystal Castles, Lauryn Hill, Sleigh Bells, Cee-Lo, Lightning Bolt, Duran Duran, Erykah Badu, the Black Keys, Titus Andronicus, Best Coast, the Kills, the New Pornographers, Lil B, HEALTH, OFF!, Odd Future, and the Chemical Brothers are all among the gang of acts hitting the stage at Empire Polo Field in California. You can also click the poster above, just in case I missed any of the artists. Tickets will officially go on sale January 21st at 10:00 AM (Pacific Time) via Ticketmaster.com. Spotted at Pitchfork.