The nominees for the "Best Hip Hop Artist" (and album) are
Nominations for Song Of The Year are
Kid Cudi-Day 'N' Night
Eminem -Must Be the Ganja
Methodman & Redman -Dis Iz 4 All My Smokers
Asher Roth-Blunt Cruisin
In a couple of weeks, the G-Unit will be heading overseas for an international tour. Tony Yayo is hoping at least Slim Shady will be on the road with them.
Yayo said"I'm not sure if Eminem is gonna be a part of the bill," Yayo said recently in New York. "I know 50 wants to go out and do the U.S. tour. It would be an honor if Em came out. Shout to Em, the whole D12, everybody out there.
"My best experience was AMT3[Ney York] with 50 and Eminem," Yayo added. "They was killing each other on the tour, it was crazy. That was an ill tour. Em comes out, Fif comes out, D12, Proof was still alive — rest in peace to Proof. That's one of the best hype men ever."
He threw another name in the mix. "You know what? I would love to see Eminem, Dre and 50 do a big tour, so I could make millions of dollars," he said. "I'll be a stagehand and work in the back. I wouldn't even care. I know I'll make a million dollars lifting stuff. It's an honor to be in their presence."
"With guys like Em and Dre and Fif, these guys got busy schedules," the Queens native said. "Em is working on another album. Fif got about 15 movies; he's working on another movie right now called 'The Gun.' Dre — come on, man, you see them Dr. Dre headphones selling like hot cakes everywhere you go. Those guys are busy guys. I feel blessed I could say that I know Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent. A lot of artists beg to do a song with Eminem, beg to do a song with 50 Cent, beg to do a song with Dre — I've experienced all those worlds."
According to multiple reports, Eminem will join Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga and even Barbra Streisand (not to mention about 100 other stars) to record a new 2010 version of "We Are The World." The remake of the 1985 charity song for Africa will be used this time for the people of Haiti.
Producer RedOne, who is responsible for such hits as Akon's "Freedom" and Lady GaGa's "Fame Monster," will produce the new song which reportedly also feature Celine Dion, Fergie, Wyclef and Enrique Iglesias. "I'm so delighted and so happy to get a dream call from Quincy Jones and Randy Phillips and Lionel Richie," RedOne says. "I know that Lionel Richie has been asked like 150-something times to redo 'We Are the World' and he said no to everything until this Haiti thing happened."
Former G-Unit member Young Buck was recently in Detroit where he took time to diss his former camp and it's leader, 50 Cent. During the concert (that took place over the weekend), Buck first told the crowd about himself. "I'm a real life n*gga," Buck told Detroit fans. "For real. I wanna clear this sh*t up real quick because I see a lot of real n*ggas in here, you understand me. Let me tell you something. I don't f*ck with that n*gga 50 Cent for real. F*ck that n*gga."
Buck then brought up home-town hero, Eminem. "For real though, look, I got a lot of love for Eminem, that's my n*gga. You understand that? You understand me? Eminem don't even agree with the bullsh*t 50 Cent is doing with me. You understand me -- don't worry about Buck, I'm good with or without some b*tch a** n*gga named 50 motherf*cking Cent...F*ck you, f*ck the contract, I'm in Detroit, I'm in Eminem's hometown...A lot of these n*ggas can't come to Detroit, this is a no fly zone...I promise you, you will not see Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, none of them b*tch a** n*ggas out here without some motherf*cking security..."
It looks like the planned March release for Drake's hotly anticipated official debut LP, Thank Me Later, may not happen. It's already February and the 23-year old said he's still recording his opus.
"Not yet," Drake said Sunday night at the red carpet of the Grammy Awards, when asked if he was done recording. "I got a couple more things."
One of those things has the potential to be a blockbuster: Drizzy and Eminem may have a follow-up to "Forever," which the pair performed with Lil Wayne and drummer Travis Barker at the Grammys.
"Me and Em talked about something today," Drake revealed. "We might need that to happen."
As for the official first single from the album, the Young Money franchise player is ruminating on it.
"I'm gonna figure that out this week and it should be coming in a week or two," he said. "It's all coming soon. I won't take too long."
Besides performing "Forever" with Slim Shady and Lil Wayne, Drake was nominated for two Grammys, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Solo Performance, both for "Best I Ever Had." (He lost out to Jay-Z in both categories.)
"That song is a real honest song," he said. "It connected with a lot of women — my moms likes it. For it to be Grammy-nominated is an honor, man. It's always good when the words in your music are something that you live by and you get to hear it every day on the radio and you're not ashamed of it.
"It's all moments I need to cherish and observe," he said, summing up the evening.
"I think it's a great night for hip-hop," Drake said at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (January 31). "Just that medium being acknowledged at all."
The 23-year-old Canadian, himself acknowledged with two nominations, also had a great night — he got to close the show with the first-ever live performance of "Forever," joining Lil Wayne and Eminem on the Grammy stage. And while Drake is certainly used to rocking stages with his Young Money boss Weezy, he got some surprising encouragement from Slim Shady during rehearsals.
"Em gave me probably one of the best speeches ... not really a speech, but ... he gave me that reassurance," Drake said on the red carpet. "He was like, 'Man, anytime you need to look over at me, don't get nervous. Just look over at me, man, and I'll give it back to you. Everything will be all right. Don't be nervous.' For him to say that to me — I feel like that was an important moment. It was nice."
One glaring omission from "Forever," though, was the appearance of Kanye West. The Louis Vuitton Don is apparently back in the lab.
"I think 'Ye's in a good creative space right now," Drizzy said of his absence. "I think he's trying to create that next album the world needs. I know he's working very hard somewhere."
During the medley, Lil Wayne and Eminem also performed "Drop the World" from Wayne's Rebirth album, in stores Tuesday.
Eminem won 2 gramies for: Best Rap Album ( Relapse) and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Crack a Bottle"), along with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent.
