It’s 2011, January 2nd. I’ve got grey hair now, according to Karen. I’m about to get on the plane in about three hours and head to Europe. I’ve only been to London and Paris before, but this time I’m going all over Europe on tour with Drake. It’s a blessing for me to be even able to do this.

At this point in my career, it’s really just one single that came out last year and I already have such a strong fanbase. Before I go any further, I want to thank ALL the fans for the continued support – all the OG fans and all the new ones too. We still have a lot more special things in store. We really haven’t gotten started yet. With that said, I’m really grateful for last year because it was an incredible learning experience. My entire 2010 was just like training – a training exercise for what I think 2011 is going to be.

I learned so much from just putting out a single, touring the radio world and doing radio promo and just really learning that world. It helped me as an artist too because it helped me figure out how to reach the masses more. Just putting that single out and going to all these different radio stations from the super urban ones to the super pop ones and then just TV and video. Then shooting my first official video and the BET Awards, BET Hip Hop Awards, it was just so many things I did last year that I feel were like teasers for what this year is going to be. I want to thank the label – from Roc Nation to Columbia – and my management – which is ByStorm – and my whole Dreamville team.

I told myself a long time ago I wasn’t going to put out another mixtape before the album. That’s one thing I’m learning: you never know anything in this game. Read rest of story…

2009 was my biggest year yet , I re connected with CTE And Young Jeezy . I was a very influential part of getting The Olympicks signed to Maybach Music. I started receiving critical acclaim for a lot  of the the past grunt work I had put in the previous years. Trappin Aint Dead with Jeezy was very well received(XXL TOP 9 OF 2009) . It was the mixtape that kind of took me out the chitling circuit of mixtape dj’s. Press went up 110% regarding articles and interviews on yours truly. I brought along my DJ team, The Cartel,  and watching them progress rapidly in 2009 was even bigger than any of my individual accolades. I got my network on a lot in 2009, building and starting new relationships. Connected with Birdman was a pretty big deal, the man has accomplished a lot from coming from nothing. The Cash Money experience truly motivated me that I can make a bigger impact behind the scene instead in the limelight. Me and Birdman worked on the oft-delayed Bigger than Life Project which now is the title to next album. I believe my A&R ear ( for new hungry producers) gave Birdman some new ammo to work with.

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Karen finally caught up with a nigga. I was supposed to write this three months ago, but I’ve been so busy. Let me give you an example of how my day has been:

-I had to go to the studio on Thursday, so I got there around 5
-I get home around 5 in the morning
-Then I had to catch a 9 a.m. flight only to have a show in Georgia at 11 p.m. which ended at 1:30.
-So I  drive back to Atlanta. Get to the A at 3:30 to catch at 6 a.m. flight to Upstate N.Y.
-I then ride to Long Island and do a show there.

That’s the type of schedule it is right now. The type of chaos I’m pretty much going through, which, please don’t mistake me, I’m forever grateful for all of it. But it is somewhat overwhelming when you go from a nigga that was doing beats in his bedroom, to try and write songs and you kind of looking for things to do. It’s hectic but its all for the best and all of this work is going to lead to something that will pay off in the end. Read rest of story…

 

Tha Bizness In Our Own Words…. Hey hey whats up world we got a whole lot of things going on in our lives right now, we just added a new addition to Tha Bizness family, Henny just had a newborn son before xmas & Dow Is The Godfather so its a big change in both of our lives… This past year has been really good for us from seeing our homie Drake take over the game & our Young Money “Every Girl” joint taking over the radio!! We have been blessed to continue to put out good music even in a time when less albums are coming out we have been able to grow our business and relationships.  We got a chance to end the year off strong with a smash “Take My Time” ft. Tank on Chris Brown’s new album Graffiti!!  Read rest of story…

I think its time to get out of the mixtape game. These days its not even possible to drop a cd without getting a phone call from an artist or label asking why did you put this out or where did you get that from. Where is the excitement of releasing a new record from your favorite artist when I got to worry and hear about lawsuits coming down or RIAA raids for playing an exclusive record.

If I decided to call it quits with “The Empire”, I wonder if I will be remembered? Some people credit me with the whole Lil Wayne explosion with my Drought Is Over series. I think that’s what  branded me the most. Read rest of story…

2009 was a very interesting year for me as a producer. I got to do a lot of observing behind the scenes and watch a lot of my peers turn into superstars or on the verge to be as such. It was very interesting to see Drake have the year he had after all the hard work he put into himself. It was a long time coming. My partner Hit-Boy was tapped to work on the soundtrack for Lebron James “More than a Game” movie soundtrack in which he produced “Stronger” along with Polow Da Don, which was written by Chris Brown & Ester Dean, for Mary J. Blige. I can honestly say this was the slowest year I’ve personally had in my time as a producer. We didn’t place too many tracks this year but we got them in at the last moment it seemed. Through my homie KY of the Young Money camp I got Surf Club 2 joints on the “We Are Young Money” album released  last December and what I hope to be the song of the year “Drop The World” by Lil Wayne Featuring Eminem produced by me and Hit-Boy. I was also surprised by VIBE mag when they hit me regarding a interview for “pardon the introduction” which was a great look. Read rest of story…

 

My career is something special. I’ve seen the worst and been exposed to the best. The good thing is I think I have learned a lot. Life is about taking things you learn and becoming better. I continue to try to do that to this day.

 It started with the Roc. I was a big part of hip hop history. I realize it more and more everyday. I love them dudes. I really wish we could still be doing it, but there is so many things that would have to go right in order for that to happen. So where does that leave me? Honestly, I felt lost at first. But as I studied the game I realized that the more I don’t have the more creative I can be with my career. I have a solid team around me that continues to teach me the value of my leverage as an artist. Artist usually think, I don’t have a deal, distribution, pub deal or whatever is a bad thing. Well that depends. For somebody like myself it’s an opportunity because I have a strong customer base so it gives me a real chance to cut out the middle man. So that’s what I’m doing now. Putting together my solo deal myself. People respect that more. I know a lot of people man that truly want to see me win. I hate asking anybody for anything. Hate it. I rather let my work speak for itself. Everybody always asking me why I don’t ask Jay, Bron,  or any of my boys for help. My answer is simple. I rather have them call me when they like what I doing rather than me asking for help. Read rest of story…

Nov 10th of last year my album dropped, with the critical acclaim I knew I would receive, it was hard to come to grips with the under shipped results. After a lot of soul searching , I realized that somethings are out of my control. I used my “break”, as a means of re evaluating my career, and public perception of “wale” the artist.

As soon as I got home I took it upon myself to lay out the next couple months, without roc nation, allido or Interscope driving the car. Not because I doubt their advise, but because I think ALL artist should drive the car in their career sometimes. Having said that, I partnered up with some of my friends from back home and have been workin hard to build my empire “the board of administration” is a company we run. Essentially its what I believe is the missing piece in artist-label  relationship. The missing art of “artist development”. For fear of turning this into a “shameless plus”, ill just say…checkout for “the board”.

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So I have been selectively quiet in recent times, much to the (insert emotion here) of many. I can take this time now to be oblivious, or obvious when speaking about the time we’ve spent apart. I think I’ll write this like a 5th grade summer report.

I spent time growing up.

Blog entries were once my form of purging. Verbally, I’m a polemic white girl, and my emotions come out with every “create post” click. After a while, Eric Schmidt didn’t seem so deserving to get frequent updates on how I feel (the Google CEO, who also runs Blogger), despite the fact that my thousands of readers, do. Twitter isn’t exactly deserving of second-by-second updates either. Yeah world, it is as simple as, everything you need to know about me is in the music. Read rest of story…