06.24.05 - Roc Family Rocks A JFK Look
Jay-Z, Kanye, Foxy, LeBron James and others revisit Camelot for magazine cover.Peedi Crakk is wearing a suit like Tom Brokaw's, he's got an ultra-proper inflection in his voice reminiscent of Ted Koppel's, and he's holding an MTV News microphone with all the on-camera swagger of Tavis Smiley. Ron Burgundy's got nothing on him.

"We got this shot where it's me and Jay, it's like the famous shot where Kennedy is talking to his brother. That feels like 'Damn, I'm right here.' " — Kanye West

"We're live on MTV News at the XXL photo shoot. This is your anchorman Peedi Crakk, Crakk Daddy, signing on," he says in a deep monotone as Kanye West walks in.

"Yeah, what up, Kanyeezee live!" he continues, not breaking his faux-newsman character. "Kanyeezee, ladies and gentlemen!"

Peedi and Kanye join Foxy Brown, Memphis Bleek, DJ Clue, the Young Gunz, NBA All-Star LeBron James, 17-year-old singer Teairra Mari, and the head of the family — Jay-Z — for an XXL cover shoot at a studio in New York's Chelsea Piers.

"It's the whole Roc family and a presidential theme, that's why I'm looking classy and classic," Teairra Mari, the young lady Jay has dubbed "The Princess of the Roc," said of the shoot's concept as she stood in a mock Oval Office wearing a black veil, white blouse and black skirt. "It's a very '60s-ish vibe, it's JFK and the whole cabinet. It's great."

"It's the first time we're taking the Roc's new generation — it's sort of a re-launching of the Roc," says Jay-Z, dressed in a swank blue suit. "I just wanted to show the artists, and show the reach with LeBron James."

Jay says James' inclusion in the shoot is just a show of solidarity between chums and nothing more — especially not a business relationship.

"It's absolutely no Def Jam Sports or anything like that," Jay says, quashing a rumor that he might be managing LeBron. "No tampering going on; just a good friend of mine. He's been a friend since before he was in the NBA. If you look back on the tapes, I'm there at the McDonald's High School [All-American] games, supporting him. We're just friends, we have no business dealings at all. I can't do it because I have an interest: I sit on the board of the [New Jersey] Nets. It's a conflict."

Jay also clarified that LeBron will not be signing to the Roc as a rapper or, for that matter, rhyming at all: The superstar is sticking to the court. "I want him to be the greatest," Jay says. "My job is to keep him focused, not to take him outside of his arena."

The side of the studio where Jay and company are getting dressed is hectic but loose. Freeway is walking around wearing a dress shirt, tie and his boxers; stylists are frantically scurrying over to the Gunnerz for last-minute tie changes; Kanye is playing Common's new video for LeBron on his laptop; and Memphis Bleek is searching for a cool hat to rock. Meanwhile, on the Oval Office set on the other side of the studio, you can see various members taking flicks while songs from Kanye's forthcoming Late Registration and Foxy Brown's Black Roses play at full volume.

From the way Jay raps along and bobs his head to the music, it's obvious Mr. Prez gives his approval.

"Kanye is his own institution," Hova says. "He knows what he wants and he has pretty good taste. Like, when it comes to singles, he'll come and we'll discuss what should be next, but as far as music-making — if I hear something I might say, 'You should add a little bit of choir right there' — but as far as music goes, that's what he does. That's his strong point. So I just leave him alone. He does the whole thing."

No one at the Roc, with the exception of Jay himself, has gotten busier lately than Kanye West, who will be featured on the front cover of the mag along with Jay, LeBron and Foxy (the rest of the crew has been relegated to the interior of the gatefold cover).

"Ever since I got my [Roc] chain, I felt like I was in the game," Kanye says before diving into lunch. "We got this shot where it's me and Jay, it's like the famous shot where Kennedy is talking to his brother. That feels like, 'Damn, I'm right here. This is Jay, I'm right next to him.' It's an incredible feeling. It's overwhelming. I got this song, the first song on the album, that says, 'I think I died in the accident, 'cause this must be heaven.'

"Sometime I wonder, 'Damn, am I still on earth?' " West continues. " 'Is this real life I'm living?' I can make things happen. I want a video like this and it happens. I want my artists to be successful — John Legend goes platinum, Common is a success."

Shooting the cover of XXL with her entire musical family was surreal experience for Teairra as well.

"I can't believe that, this time just last year, I was looking at these people on TV," Mari, whose debut single, "Make Her Feel Good," has become a hit, marveled. "Now I'm here, and they're embracing me. It feels great."

"We're making history," says Peedi — who, since the shoot, has changed his name to Peedi Peedi — as he stands with Freeway, who is now fully dressed in a black suit, hat and shades ("I just got fresh to death," Free smiles). "This is the front cover, the new Roc-A-Fella family. Jay is controlling the whole set. We're here representing, promoting. I feel like a hip-hop hero."

The Roc issue of XXL is on some newsstands now, but hits nationally next week.

— Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Sway Calloway

Source: www.mtv.com
For some behind the scenes Pictures Click Here.

~>In Additional News, "Feenin' for it" by Teairra Mari will feature Foxy Brown. Teairra Mari's Debut album is due in stores next month.

06.15.05 - Sizzla N Foxy climb Charts
Sizzla Kalonji and Foxy Brown's combination single Come Fly With Me has taken off on the Billboard R&B Singles chart. This week the track zooms from number 77 to land at 60. Source: JamaicaObserver.com

06.08.05- Jay-Z Jumps On 3 Tracks...
NEW YORK — For just about a decade, Jay-Z and Foxy Brown have been known as one of rap's highest-profile Bonnie and Clyde pairings. But this year, the dynamic has changed just a little. Instead of being two friends signed to the same label, Foxy is now an artist on Jay's Roc-A-Fella label.

So how does President Carter handle working with Foxy now?

"Same way," he insisted recently. "One way. Whatever [my opinion] is, I voice it; if I don't like it or if I love it. The same way.

"I'm rough, I'm tough, but fair," he added with a chuckle.

Brown's Black Roses is almost done (see "Foxy Brown Planning Comeback With Help From Jay-Z, Shyne"), and its star says she's welcomed every bit of input from Jay.

"He's the cherry on the top," she said. "He'll come in at the end and say, 'This needs to be tweaked here. You need to say this like this.' Or 'You need more cadence.' "

"It's coming along just as I've imagined it," Jay said of the album. "We're going through it, we're having our clashes, it's all perfect. The music is coming out amazing, though."

So amazing that Hova has been inspired to rap on least three songs with Fox. Even she's surprised by that.

"Jay wants to jump on every record," she smiled. "I'll come in the studio and I'll hear a verse [already recorded], like, 'Where did that come from?' But I love that. Jay is in a class by himself and doesn't easily get on people's records. For him to want to be such a part of my music means I'm doing a great job. There's definitely a 'Bonnie and Clyde' [part] four, five and six on my album.

"Nobody can touch the project without Jay's approval," she continued. "I told him the other day I'm still humbled in his presence. I'm honored to be around him because I learned from him something new every day. It takes a strong person to humble me. I've worked very hard. I believe in people that are genuinely for you and not just have hidden agendas. Jay is genuinely for Foxy. Our relationship supersedes music. We've been friends since I was a little girl."

Unlike the last regime that ran Def Jam, Foxy said, Jay-Z has encouraged her to pursue her heritage and explore her love of Caribbean music.

"The last album, Broken Silence, I did the reggae and hip-hop," she recalled. "My parents are Trinidadian, and that's my culture. I wanted to incorporate dancehall, reggae and soca into hip-hop. The powers that be at Def Jam weren't having it. I said, 'Screw y'all, I'm doing it anyway.' I did ['Oh Yeah']. [For this album] Jay said, 'You're the only one that can do that, let's stick with that.' "

Fox's first single is called "Come Fly With Me" and features dancehall legend Sizzla.

"I wanted to go to the left," Brown said. "Everybody expected a radio-friendly record, or a pop record, or a gutter record. ['Come Fly With Me'], it's rock, dancehall, hip-hop — you can't classify this record. Sizzla is one of my best friends, and he's the hottest artist in Jamaica right now. My brother did the beat. When I first heard the beat, I didn't understand it because there were so many things going on. And Sizzla just started 'Come flyyy with me.' I was like, 'That's it. Go in the studio, go do it.' I came with 'Nana got a new drop top. Come ride with me.' "

Black Roses is due August 23.

05.23.05 - Entertainment Weekly Says...
Foxy's follow up to Broken Silence flirts with a reggae-rap hybrid, complete with an island flavored cameo by Sizzla on the CD's first single, "Come Fly With Me."
In addition to beats by Swiss Beats, Kanye West, and her brother Gavin Marchand, she's bringing a very big gun out of retirement for a guest rap : Jay- Z (that's Mr. Label President to you.) Most likely to make you forget about her nail salon brawl.

05.11.05 - Foxy On Angie's Show! New Joint! Foxy Brown and Jay-Z were up in the building today to give Angie, Foxy’s new single. The Single is called "Come Fly with Me' featuring Sizzla. The Single is Blazin hott, the version we have is the Hip Hop version. There is also a Dance Hall version on the way.

The Album is dropping July 26th! It’s about time baby, and this date is from the mouth of Jay-Z. So I think it’s pretty official.

Foxy also spoke briefly and the situation with that chick from Miami. She also spoke about the Trial and what really went down at the Nail Salon, she mentioned something about how they wanted her to be part of Kim's trial, but it didn't happen.

I was lucky enough to get on the phone with Fox for a minute before my phone got disconnected. We spoke briefly, she actually remembered me SURPRISE, she told me there is a female Rapper on the album. Not sure which one! Like i said I got cut off before she could tell me. I think it’s Lauryn Hill. But we’ll find out July 26th!

Aight, that’s enough talking, time for Business. Click on the links below to stream the Real Audio. Please save the files to your computer so you don't Kill my bandwidth. Thanx, Holla Back!
|Part I| |Part II| |Part III|
To listen to the New Banga Click Here.
For the Lyrics Click Here.

Here are a Few pictures from the Million Man March Press Conferance.

5.06.05- Foxy Nixes Prosecution Plea Offer

The attire? Head-to-heels Chanel. The car? A shiny silver Bentley. The luncheon menu? One hot dog a la "cart" — eaten in the Bentley, ideally without getting the sauerkraut on the Chanel.

At Manhattan Criminal Court, there are defendants, and then there's assault suspect Foxy Brown, whose rap-star glamour incongruously graced the grimy granite building in lower Manhattan yesterday.

Brown, 25, tottered in on her high heels to turn down a plea deal that offered her no jail, no probation and no community service. The catch was, she'd have to admit she pummeled two Chelsea nail-salon workers with her fists and cellphone last August, in a fight over payment for a $20 manicure.

No go, said the allegedly scrappin' rapper. The Park Slope, Brooklyn-raised Brown — given name Inga Marchand — said she'd rather go to trial than plead guilty to something she didn't do.

"I'm confident in the justice system," she explained. "I'm confident I will be exonerated."

Most defendants would have jumped at the deal. Then again, most defendants aren't trailed around the courthouse by reporters whose combined wardrobes couldn't match the price tag on just one black-and-white stiletto.

And most defendants don't go on to perform raps outside court — on the Centre Street sidewalk — as the TV cameras roll. That's before grabbing oneself a hot dog and shimmying into one's chauffeured, $200,000 Bentley, which comes as a gift from Jay-Z.

"I wanted this to be a surprise," Brown told her defense lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, about the following rap lyrics, which she said she'd penned in his honor. "You're about to be in the No. 1 rap song!"

Then she rapped, "If you ain't caught me with the nina, I ain't guilty — that's why I hired Tacopina."

"Nina" is street slang for a 9 mm gun.

"I love this guy," she said of Tacopina, who delighted in the praise — and the free advertising. Then she plugged her upcoming album "Black Rose," and displayed her perfect pink fingernails for the cameras.

"I really have a crazy thing for manicures, pedicures," she gushed. "I love getting pampered. I'm such a girly-girl."

As for the dust-up at Bloomie Nails on West 23rd Street, Brown has insisted the two salon workers were trying to soak her — and not just her feet — by making her pay for a manicure-pedicure package even though they'd run out of time to do the manicure. She says the fight never got physical. But cops counter that the salon workers were left black and blue from the fracas.

Brown is due back in court July 28.

Source: NY Post.

For the Articles from the NY Papers, click Here.

5.02.05- Foxy Calls Jacki-O 'Poe Little Liar'

Just last week, rumors began spreading that Foxy was involved in a cat fight with Miami rapper Jacki-O. Days later, Jacki and Big D of the Unusual Suspects claimed the Chyna Doll had been knocked down. advertisement

"Words were exchanged and the next thing you know Jacki-O knocked her out. Jacki hit her so fast they [the bodyguards] couldn't break it up," Big D told SOHH.com after mentioning that they were set to record a track with Brooklyn rapper Gravy.

Meanwhile, Foxy recently called in to a Miami morning show to clear up what she claims is a fabricated story. [Listen below]

"This story has been the most erroneous story I ever heard in my entire life. I'm actually sitting back. I told Russell [Simmons] and Jay-Z, I'm awaiting a check from that independent label because I've given this girl the most promotion she's ever received," Fox detailed during the phoner. "Had we been talking about a reputable artist like Lauryn Hill, Trina or Lil Kim, you know somebody who has sold…. we're talking about a person who has never sold one record in their life. I'm almost ashamed to have to address this."

During the brief interview, Fox also clarified that she was never slated to record with Jacki-O. Though she admits to telling the poe little rich girl that "she needs to show respect," Fox denied that the encounter turned physical despite. She also abstained from referring to Jacki by name throughout the entire interview.

"It was absolutely no Foxy getting hit. Again, I emerged from that studio looking like I was going to the runway. I was about to go pick my homegirl [Trina] up and I got a call to stop by the studio to say hello to friends from Brooklyn," Fox explained. "Keep in mind, Foxy Brown was never in the studio to record with this girl. I've never met her. I've been begged from her manager for three years to record with this girl and I've said no every time. So I think that's where the animosity started because I wouldn't record with her. The whole bottom line of this whole story is jealousy."

Fox also took the opportunity to promote her upcoming album, Black Roses and announced that she was no longer doing an MTV reality show.

"I was approached by MTV to do a show. They thought my life was so interesting. They're like, ‘Foxy, you're the most controversial female rapper. You're the one that survived through 10 years without the plastic surgery,'" Fox revealed. "They filmed me for about six weeks, but then of course the big boss Jay came in and was like, ‘I don't like the idea of reality.' So, we're trying to pass, but we're gonna work on something else cause MTV and I have a great relationship."

Black Roses is scheduled to hit stores in July.

Foxy Brown Denies Altercation
Def Jam rapper Foxy Brown has broken her silence regarding an alleged brawl with Miami lyricist Jacki O. Brown has completely countered Jacki O's assertion that there was a physical fight between the two artists.

Reports of the confrontation between the two, female rappers at Circle House Studios in Miami surfaced last week.

Jacki O, a native of the city, confirmed that an altercation took place last week in a press release. Brown claimed the opposite in a recent interview.

"There were never any blows thrown," Brown said on 99 Jamz's Morning Show in Miami.

Sources close to the situation told AllHipHop.com that Brooklyn rapper Gravy was in the studio with Jacki O recording a song titled "Ménage" and invited Brown to the studio with hopes of landing her on the track.

Brown appeared on 99 Jamz's Big Lip Bandit Morning Show and gave her side of the story to Big Lip Bandit and Supa Cindy.

"This story is the most erroneous story I've heard in my entire life. I am waiting for a check from that independent label because I have given that girl the most promotions she's ever received, ever. Had we been talking about a reputable artist like Lauryn Hill, or Lil' Kim or Trina or someone...We are talking about someone who has never sold a record in their life."

Brown said that she was in Miami and was en route to pick up another female rapper, Trina for an evening at popular nightclub Cro Bar.

"Trina is my girl. I was going to pick her up," Brown said. "I got a call to stop by the studio to say hello to friends from Brooklyn [Gravy]. Foxy Brown was not in the studio to record with this girl. I never met her."

Foxy explained that the entire incident is rooted in animosity, because for three years, she has refused requests to record with Jacki O.

"I walk in the studio, jealousy took its course and that was that," Brown said. "There were words exchanged and me being the bigger person and being the lady that I am. I did say that she needs to have some respect."

In the course of the alleged battle, sources stated that Circle House suffered almost $8,000 worth of damage to studio equipment.

Reports suggested that Brown's $9,000 Fendi bag was stolen, but Brown refuted the allegations.

Brown clarified, "I had the $9,000 Fendi bag when I left that studio."

During the interview, Brown revealed that she had intentions on moving to Miami, Florida and would continue with her previous plans, despite the incident with Jacki-O.

"I was talking with my girl Trina, and it's like what is wrong with this girl? You're killing yourself in the business baby, we have been in this for 10 years. We are veterans. You're going up against people who are rough and endure and have survived through everything."

Foxy Speaking about the Album and Jacki O.

Foxy Phones in...