Off Da Glass

If you missed Triple C’s album release party at Primal night club in Atlanta last night (10.30.2009), click the video and catch all the action.

New one from Killen’s finest.

This song really makes New York actually look cool again. {Southerner’s quip} Anyone else think Jay-Z’s little head nod look kinda T.I.-ish?

Props Gyant

This is the full version to the song that plays in the trailer they leaked a couple days ago. Streets R Us drops this Saturdaday. Release party this Sunday.

Spotted at DGB

I don’t know if this is a publicity stunt to try and bring back New York hip hop, but no one saw this one coming!

Ozonemag.com caught up to Young Money President Mack Maine and Producers Tha Bizness @ Patchwerk Studios in Atlanta. Find out what’s going on at the Young Money camp, the new releases and all their new artist.

“Big Money” is the official first single off Game’s The R.E.D. Album. I guess we can expect a lot of new music from Game between now and when the album comes out on December 8th.

Game – “Big Money” (prod. Cool N Dre)

Game – “Better Days” (Jim Jonsin)

Party, party, party, Wayne, Baby and Jada are getting wasted. The State Vs. Radric Davis drops December 8th.

Lil Scrappy’s new album Tha Grustle hits stores December 15th.

Previously: Lil Scrappy TV “Art Of Tha Grustle: Vol. 3″

Did yall know The Game changed his name to Game? I just thought you all might want to know something like that. The R.E.D. Album drops December 8th.

Luda performed this song at the BET Hip Hop Awards. This is the new single  from Cris & Shawnna’s Battle of the Sexes album.

I stole this from NMC, so props to them.

If You Missed It: Patiently Waiting – J. Cole

Jacksonville, Florida artist Bree D’val, now residing in The Music Capital of Atlanta,
is making a splash on the music scene. Check out her new video Lil Buddy also peep her ozone gallery!

MacBoney has been pretty active lately. Hopefully he keeps it up.

Spotted at DGB

Olis Williams pictured behind Too $hort [click to enlarge]

Today, The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) will honor Olis Simmons with its 17th Annual California Peace Prize at a ceremony at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco. Simmons is being recognized for her trailblazing efforts to prevent violence and promote peace in Oakland that have become a model regionally and nationally.. Simmons and two other honorees will each receive a cash award of $25,000.

“The honorees are representative of thousands of unsung heroes who work with youth to prevent violence in communities throughout California,” said Gary L. Yates, TCWF president and CEO. “This year’s honorees also show that perseverance through hardship can help build essential leadership that makes our state healthier and safer.”

Simmons, the Founder and Executive Director of Youth UpRising – Oakland’s premier youth development center and community transformation hub located in East Oakland – has devoted her entire career to developing systems and programs that foster community wellness through youth leadership and development.

YU, a 25,000 square foot, state of the art facility, provides opportunities that often don’t exist for the hardest to reach young people (ages 13 to 24) from local low-income communities. The young people served by YU are more often than not falling through the cracks and frequently the victims and perpetrators of violence, the leading cause of death for young people in Oakland. A public-private partnership, YU, offers critical access to health and wellness, anchored by a school-linked health clinic and integrated mental health services; art and expression, featuring dance, music, graphic arts and film production; and career, pipeline preparation and job placement.

“The best prevention is investing in young people, in their education and sense of possibility,” according to Simmons. “Preventing the loss of hope…. ultimately saves us lives and money and builds a workforce that’s able to compete in the global economy.” Simmons continues, “In our ongoing partnerships with law enforcement, even the police recognize the importance of prevention and institutions like YU admitting we can not arrest our way out of the problem.”

The California Wellness Foundation is a private, independent foundation, created in 1992, with a mission to improve the health of the people of California by making grants for health promotion, wellness education and disease prevention.

Since its founding, TCWF has awarded grants totaling more than $719 million. It is one of the state’s largest private foundations.

Freddie Gibbs is in the next Patiently Waiting issue of Ozone.

Props to Yours Truly and spotted at TSS

Pill’s “Better Recognize” show is after the jump.

Trick Daddy and Dunk Ryder’s artist Ice Berg will be featured in an upcoming issue of OZONE. Watch for him.

Produced by Smif-N-Gunz.

Follow them on Twitter: @SparkDawgMusic @PapaDuck1 @SmifNGunz

Custom Cars & Cycles is in stores now.

First single off DJ Khaled’s new album Victory, coming in 2010. Produced by the Runners.

Grand Hustle’s Baby Boy makes a guest appearance at El Mariachi for HOT 107.9 / Arrogant Music / Konvict Music’s Open Mic Mondays in Atlanta. His new Hit Single, “Stuntin’ featuring Yung L.A. is catching on quick.

Props to Greenhitz

Kentucky based group, Nappy Roots, has always been known for creating upbeat songs for the tired masses. The group encourages education, positive thinking and upward mobility, and with the upcoming release of their new album The Pursuit of Nappiness, their new label Nappy Roots Entertainment, and their artists A. Leon Craft and Washington Projects, the group is looking into other possibilities on both sides of the music industry. OZONE spoke with Fishscales and Skinny DeVille about solo projects, showing hometown love, and paying homage to Louisville legend Muhammad Ali.

(Continued)

There was a long gap between the group’s 2003 release Wooden Leather and your 2008 release The Humdinger. Why was there such a long hiatus?

Skinny DeVille: The Humdinger took about three years to make because of the deals that we were shopping for, trying to find the right position. That was really a process.

What have you been working on since The Humdinger?

Skinny Deville: This past summer we’ve been working on a bunch of individual projects and just said, “Let’s give the fans one more Nappy Roots album before we start doing individual solos and duos.” This album will be a little bit different from The HumDinger because it’s more fast paced, it’s more inspirational. Not like gospel rap but more like, “It ain’t as bad as I though it was”-inspirational. Let me get up and throw on some clothes and shoes and go out there and have a great day. That type, inspirational.

With all this talk about solo projects, what about the group?

Fishscales: I think it’s healthy for the group because way back in ‘97 when we met up, we came together as solo artists to form Nappy Roots the group. So you know, it’s always been a dream for members of the group to just do their own thing. We’re together as a group but we’re also individuals within the group because if you listen to a verse from Skinny and so on. So I think it’s healthy for us to establish the difference between each member and we don’t mind that. Like when people come up and say, “Yo, Big V is favorite. I love Big V’s flow.” That’s good for us. We just gotta create that identity and I thinks it helps the group live longer.

Tell us about your upcoming solo projects.

Skinny: After we finish The Pursuit of Nappiness album, we’ll get knee-deep into 40 Akers and Big V has a project coming, Vito Banga, B Stille has The Distillery. You’ll get the street angle with V. You’ll get the lyrical [with B. Stille]. He’s the wordsmith of the group. Scales and myself, we’re like the Southern conscious side of Nappy Roots. When we’re not organized as Voltron, we can still hit our targets effectively.

What’s the signature style of Nappy Roots?

Skinny: I mean, we’re known for smoking weed, having a good time, but within all that we do have music that has a message and morals to it. I think all music should. If you listen to something and you can’t get nothing out of it, then it just kind of is what it is, just a club record. But if you can take music outside of the clubs and you can take it into your everyday life, not just in your car, not just when your cleaning the house but you can live and say “You know, I feel the same way he did.”

How did Nappy Roots Entertainment come about?

Skinny: We got a deal through Fontana which has distribution through Universal [the parent company]. We went round and round trying to get a record deal. Then we were like, “We need to go independent.”‘ The deal that we got was long-awaited and much anticipated. Our entertainment group allows us to release projects as solo artists and duos that maybe Atlantic wasn’t interested in putting out at the time. It also allows us to sign up-and-coming talent or established artists who are in the game but just need that one shot. Distribution is the main part of the game. If you ain’t got distribution, you ain’t talking bout nothing.

Scales: The game’s changed. An artist just needs distribution. Basically, if you have distribution you can go to Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Verizon to put money behind the record, that’s where the business is going.

What are your current dealings with the Muhammed’s Ali Center out in Louisville?

Skinny: We’re working on a program with the Ali Center that will start off as a summer activity then lead into an afterschool activities. We’ll get the kids to focus on the entertainment industry being, you know music. With the music being cut from school programs, these kids need something else to do and talk about. Besides being a drug dealer, hooper or a rapper, there are other things in music that you can be a part of. We’ll probably end up going between the Kentucky Center of the Arts and the Ali Center. Start a mentor program . We want to let them know that other than rapping , they can be producers, or music managers, music attorneys or accountants. There are all types of lanes to be in while realizing what you want to be. It’s our way of giving back. It’s a place where we can convene and have students that want to be successful in the spirit of Muhammad Ali.

—Interview by Nadine Graham

Charlotte, NC rapper Bettie Grind will be featured in an upcoming issue of OZONE, so be on the lookout for that.

He gets joined on stage with fellow future Patiently Waiting alums Freddie Gibbs and Spree Wilson.

Spotted at CMONGOOD

Sounds like Lupe got exposed to Travis Porter when he was in Atlanta last week performing at Morehouse’s Homecoming concert.

Spotted at FSD

Triple C’s album Custom Cars & Cycles is available in stores and online today.

“Gangsta Shit” featuring The Game leaked the other day, and we never posted it, so check that out before you go pick the album up.