chamillionaire: southern comfort for the haters

CHAMILLIONAIRE be on the grind yall. Every single day, he is hustling. Not just every other day (which I suspect Rick Ross probably takes off on Sundays so he can take it to the church)...and a hustle like him is hard to find. Very hard to find.

Seriously though...Explain to me why Mr. Hakeem Seriki dominates over every other up-and-coming rapper in the game today. With the rate that Chamillionaire appears on random pop songs, all signs say that he should soon become the new Nelly. That's not a compliment. Come on though, this guy is appearing on songs as often as Ne-Yo or Akon. It should be annoying by now.

The difference separating King Koopa from the rest of them crackheads is that he doesn't do shit half way. When collaborating with TRL friendly artists such as Ciara or Frankie J, people tend to throw out trite lines like, "she's a model, ooh, she look like a coke bottle". I'm not going to hate because the fact that they pull that off is a clear indication of major swagger. With all this talk about the south murdering the game, it's nice to see a Houston native who actually thinks before he opens up his mouth and lays down the rhymes. This is his aim. He's not only doing it, he's trying to. He wants to prove to you and the entire world that the south can turn out quality lyricists with their own style of rhyme. That deserves some serious respect, because I totally am getting to a point where I can't tell the difference between D4L or Dem Franchize Boys, Yung Joc or Young Dro. It's fun, but that's not skills. And Paul Wall isn't doing it for me either...

And he didn't "come up overnight b". Chamillionaire and Paul Wall, who were childhood friends, got their big break nearly ten years ago freestyling on a mixtape for Michael 5000 Watts of Houston's 97.9 The Box. This led to a string of mixtapes, creating an extreme buzz. This success allowed them to record their first group album, Get Ya Mind Correct, which sold 100,000 copies independently and was nominated as The Source's Indie Album of the Year. Eventually the two parted their ways, and Paul Wall allegedly jumped Chamillionaire's brother at a club.

With the beginning aside, let's get to where he is now. After all the drama he had getting paid nearly nothing for the mixtapes he appeared on, he stated, "I had already been through money problems with Swishahouse and Paid in Full and I swore that I wasn’t gonna work for anybody else but me. The best way I could make sure that I received the money I was owed was if I was the person that was in control." So he got in control. He teamed up with a DJ and dropped mixtape after mixtape, refusing to work with anyone who screwed him over in the the past. Now that he established himself, he was ready for the big leagues, and he didn't play around at all. His debut solo album boasts production from top dollar producers Scott Storch, Mannie Fresh, The Beat Bullies, and Cool and Dre. It includes appearances by Killer Mike, Lil Wayne, Bun B, and Scarface. Moreso, it's been out for nearly a year and it's still selling copies!

This is undeniably due to the success of the single "Ridin" which rich white kids are totally obsessed with. The song was number one for two weeks on the US Billboard charts, and it's not about shaking your ass or doing your thing. It's about racial profiling. Even if your ears bleed from the months of radio DJs playing it out, how can you not respect that? The song was so well-received that 9 or more additional versions were recorded-- Three US (south, west coast, east coast/NYC), Croatia, UK, Brazil, Germany, France, and Australia. That's BUSINESS right there. On top of his rap game, Chamillionaire also sells cars and will soon be dropping his brother's album. I'm not even kidding.

DOWNLOAD: CHAMILLIONAIRE f/ OLLI BANJO- Ridin' (German remix)
DOWNLOAD: CHAMILLIONAIRE f/ BABY DOOKS & BIZZO (Croatian remix)

BUY The Sound of Revenge, BUY Step Up soundtrack

BLOGGER NOTE: Did I totally just get linked off of the VIBE.com blog??? Yes.

BLOGWATCH: Beauty wrote a review of Beyonce's new video "Ring the Alarm". All I have to say is that I love the choreography in this one. Bigstereo has Diplo's mix of the Teddybears' "Cobrastyle". Fluo kids posted a new remix of the Scissor Sisters single...and a collaboration between the Basement Jaxx and Robyn. For the uneducated on the glory of Robyn's latest album, YES...that is the same chick from "Show Me Love" and "Do You Know (What It Takes)"