When it comes to being a controversial figure in hip hop, Boosie Badazz has no problem taking that title. However, with as many questionable remarks as the Lousiana rapper has, he’s still a respected artist in the industry. HipHopDX recently spoke with Yella Beezy about Boosie and how he paid for a feature from many years ago only to later receive a free verse from the rapper for his track “That’s On Me.”

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“When Boosie first got out, I think it had to be like, 2014 I think, when Boosie got out? 2014, 2015. Man, we was in the streets so we had the money for it. He chose us for the verse, but we never even tried to shoot the video… Me and my partner had went in first and then the next thing you know, sh*t, three to four years later, he was playing a song on his page and he was like, ‘Man, y’all tell Yella Beezy I need to get on this song right here. I need to get on the remix!'”

Boosie Badazz loved the jam, or as Beezy said, “he was vibin’ to it, singing the song word-for-word.” He added, “Same with T.I. [He] was like, ‘This is one of my favorite songs right now.’ So, we ended up getting in contact.” Yella Beezy has worked with the likes of Chris Brown, Lil Baby, Too $hort, Kevin Gates, and more, but when asked about who his favorite feature was, he could only share his gratitude to everyone who has supported him along the way. He also revealed that both T.I. & 2 Chainz gave him verses for free. Watch Beezy’s clip below.

A collaboration between Royce Da 5’9″ and T-Pain almost materialized prior to their “First of the Month” link, but the “Buy U a Drank” crooner wasn’t having it. We hear about artists sending each other ideas and music all of the time, but not everyone is comfortable with sharing stories of being rejected. Royce Da 5’9″ told HipHopDX that back in the day he got curved by T-Pain after asking for the singer to hop on a song with him.

“I can’t remember exactly when it was, pinpoint it, I mean, exactly which album it was, but it was a song that I had that Kay Gee from Naughty By Nature produced. I can’t remember if it was a hook there or if it was… but we reached out and we sent it to him and I just remember getting the word back that he declined.”

“Looking at that in retrospect, I think I respect that more than getting spun,” Royce added. “You know what I mean? On that level as an artist, you take everything personal. That’s one of the things I learned; don’t take everything so personal. It’s not that f*ckin’ serious. So, really, you just kinda hurt in a way ’cause when you’re a fan of somebody the way I’m a fan of T-Pain, you want him to wanna work with you. So when they don’t want to, or when they don’t have time or something like that, you take it like, ‘You on his album. You made time for his album.'”

The two did eventually link on “First of the Month” with Chavis Chandler from Royce Da 5’9″‘s Book of Ryan. “He made sure he knocked it out in a timely fashion and let me know don’t take things so personal.” Royce added that T-Pain is “a hard dude to not like. If you don’t like T-Pain, there’s something seriously f*cking wrong with you. I love that guy.”

Watch the clip in full below and see what Royce had to say about T-Pain buying the “F*ck T-Pain” website.

The history between Lupe Fiasco and Joe Budden is riddled with scathing words and heated exchanges, but when Lupe joked that he would take over the podcast host's vacant Slaughterhouse spot, hip hop fans were divided. Many who are hoping for another Slaughterhouse project seemed eager to entertain such a possibility, while others couldn't see anyone taking Budden's place. Royce Da 5'9" was recently questioned about Lupe's suggestion, and we'll let you guess what side he's on.

Once upon a time, Joyner Lucas and Logic were at odds. Then, last May the pair surprised fans by released their collaborative track, “ISIS.” While there wasn’t much said about how the two rappers ended up squashing their beef, Logic hinted that Royce Da 5’9″ had something to do with it when he rapped: “Yeah, uh, far from the minimum / Killin’ ’em with no Ritalin, and 5’9″ was the middleman to get ’em in the same room / Now we on the same tune, and we still the gang-dum / The illest of lyricists on the same sh*t.” In a chat with HipHopDX, Royce detailed what went down and how he was able to help mend the relationship between the two emcees.

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“Well, I had a long conversation with Logic about it back when it was happening,” said Royce. “And I had a long conversation with Joyner about it. I had two separate conversations with them but I had conversations with them in a way where I was giving my opinion but I was also listening [and] understanding each of their sides and just throwing a little bit of my opinion, but just making sure I put something on their brains to take with them. That’s all I did.”

“And then, after time progressed, one thing led to another,” he added. “Joyner came to me and he said that he wanted to get on the phone with Logic because some things that I told him back in the day resonated. It just lined up. And now he understands, so it was just like, ‘Man, you think he’ll get on the phone with me?’ I’m like, ‘Absolutely!'”

Royce recalled previously telling Joyner that “Logic is not like that,” referring to him as an artist who doesn’t have a reputation of wanting to beef with other rappers. “He’s not that kind of person. He’s not into what you’re trying to do right now,” Royce said he told Lucas. He added that he believed Joyner felt bad about the situation because Lucas was “maturing” and beginning to “understand that you don’t have to do certain things… It’s better to just kinda be chill. Don’t force things.” 

Logic agreed to speak with Joyner Lucas and after the two were able to talk out their differences, they ended up collaborating on “ISIS.” Check out Royce talking about being the mediator between the two artists below.

One can’t count the number of highlights from Dr. Dre‘s career. The rap mogul is one of the most revered and respected musicians in hip hop, and while there have been plenty of monumental moments throughout his reign, his discovery and development of Eminem stands out among fans. It was decades ago that Dre and Em joined forces, and what emerged were hit songs, world tours, coveted awards, and street accolades. Rapper Royce Da 5’9″ recently reflected on what it was like recording with Dre back in those early days and he shared some wisdom delivered by the Aftermath founder.

“There was a door that we went to, I believe we went down some stairs to get in the studio room,” Royce recalled. “It was just like a studio in a building. Like, rather it had been in a house or in a building, it looked like we were in a huge studio in a building… After we had been coming back and recording there a couple days, he actually showed us the house.”

Royce added, “We went through another door and went up some stairs and now we’re in his kitchen. That was my first time being in a mansion. So, we lookin’ around, he’s showing us different rooms and then we think that’s the whole house and then it’s like, ‘Alright, come down here.’ Then we go down another long hallway and now we’re on a whole ‘nother side.” The house tour of all the rooms seemed like a never-ending process. 

“The whole time, I just remember him going, ‘Now remember, money is easy to make, but it’s hard to keep,'” Royce said. Dre would take them from room-to-room occasionally interrupting his own train of thought to remind his guests that “money is easy to make, but hard to keep.” A line similar to that ended up on Kendrick Lamar‘s track “Wesley’s Theory” from To Pimp a Butterfly in a recorded message from Dre where the mogul says:

Yo, what’s up? It’s Dre
Remember the first time you came out to the house?
You said you wanted a spot like mine
But remember, anybody can get it
The hard part is keepin’ it, motherfu*ker

Check out Royce Da 5’9″ share his story in full below, including Eminem receiving permission to put his feet on the superproducer’s table.

It’s been eight months since Soulja Boy has been on Instagram and now that he’s back he’s got an entirely different look. After being convicted of falsifying community service documentation and being released five months early from prison– Soulja Boy has been able to maintain his sobriety, found himself on the bill of a major headlining tour, and sparking a playful beef with YouTuber/vlogger Jake Paul. Now, that it’s almost been a year since he’s publicly showed his face, Soulja Boy upgraded his aesthetic drastically. 

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Soulja Boy’s self-imposed break from social media came when he realized he needed to make several severe life changes. One of which included kicking out multiple former crew members out his San Fernando Valley. HipHopDX got the opportunity to speak with Soulja Boy’s manager, Miami Mike, in a recent interview, where he spoke on his client’s recent cerebral development stating:

“He hasn’t had a break since he was 12 or 13. And he just turned … his birthday just came … and he hasn’t had a break in over 15 years. So that’s why I wasn’t sweating him. He’s been turning down shows these past couple months, and I said I’m going to let him take his break because he really needed it. People want to know why he isn’t on Instagram? Well, I say because he’s on a break. He needed it.”

Now, Big Draco is back sporting a full head of lengthy twist and glowing more than ever. While Soulja Boy is still struggling with some legal grievances, his maturation has been enjoyable for the culture to witness. With another Breakfast Club interview in the works in the near future, we’ll most likely be seeing a lot more of Soulja in the near future. 

Check out Soulja Boy’s new look in the Instagram post provided below. 

Battle rap may not be as prevalent in hip hop as it once was, but the art is alive and well. There aren’t many mainstream artists who step into a battle rap ring these days, but there are some who still have hopes of going toe-to-lyrical-toe with their opponents. Many moons ago, Jadakiss and 50 Cent were two rappers at odds and The Lox emcee even dropped a few bars targeting Fif. There was a point when Jadakiss offered to battle rap 50 Cent at Madison Square Garden with a winning pot of one million dollars, but the Power mogul respectfully declined.

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While they’ve reconciled their differences in recent years, Jadakiss told HipHopDX that he knows he would have taken home the top prize if the battle would have unfolded. “It’s just something I thought of,” Jadakiss said. “Battling is therapeutic for hip hop, but you can’t take it serious. I mean, you gotta take it serious because when you preparing your material for your opponent, when it affects your heart or when you let it get too personal, that’s when it’s gonna take away from your vigorous strike. So, you gotta have fun with it use ways to use it to your advantage.”

“I felt like that was a walk in the park for me,” he added about the potential face-to-face battle with him and 50 Cent. “An easy payday. You asking Floyd to fight somebody that had two fights. Not that same comparison saying Fif only had two fights, but lyrically I thought—especially in the zone that I was in at that time, it was like I hope one of these promoters or one of these fight guys call me and say, ‘Yo, we got the money. We need you to come do the weigh-in and sign.’ Gotta throw it out there.” Watch his clip below.

Prior to being known as The Lox, the New York hip hop group went by The Warlocks. Sheek Louch, Styles P, and Jadakiss endured a name change at the hands of Sean “Diddy” Combs when he inked a deal with them in 1995, and they were happy to adjust because it was during a time when Bad Boy Records was in its prime. 

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However, years later, The Lox members were ready to leave Bad Boy because their more hardcore rap style wasn’t blending well with the label’s creative direction. They did their best to legally be released from their contract, but Jadakiss reveals what led to Diddy finally letting the rappers move on with their careers with Bad Boy in their rearview.

Jadakiss took a trip down memory lane with HipHopDX and revisited some 1990s moments. “[Diddy] just changed our name and just walked out the room,” Jadakiss said with a smile. “At that time he was like MJ in his prime so it was like, everything he said was golden so we was young hungry whippersnappers coming from Yonkers. He knew a lot about marketing and said Warlocks wasn’t marketable and Lox was more marketable.”

Then, he shared how The Lox managed to break ties with the label. “It was probably after the argument with Diddy,” Jadakiss revealed. “When Styles threw the chair at Puff. I ain’t sure, but that was probably the last straw for that. Prior to that we was…conversations amongst the group and things of that nature, but after that little incident happened, I think that’s when we decided to part ways.”

Watch the rapper’s full clip below and listen to how his friend was responsible for giving him his rap moniker.

Longevity in any career is admirable, but to have a lengthy, successful career in rap is a blessing for many artists. We’ve watched as rappers have rotated in and out of the hip hop limelight in our social media-driven culture as many artists catch waves and eventually fall off. Jadakiss has been a well-respected emcee for decades, and The Lox rapper caught up with HipHopDX to reflect on what it’s like to be involved in the industry for this long.

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“To have a career as a rapper is a beautiful thing,” Jadakiss said. “You can pull out the Great Wall of China list, probably longer than that, of dudes who have hit songs and had special moments in rap, but the career part, it might not be that long. It might just be the white picket fence. Dudes who had a lengthy, healthy, sturdy, career. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Jadakiss added that he recognizes that many artists have “moments,” but he likes the direction where hip hop is headed in. “We just gotta get to the next stage of what it’s gonna be. Get the authenticity back up. Lyricism, along with some of this new digital stuff that’s going on. It’s coming, though. It’s taking a little slow, cardio ain’t really there for it, but it’s coming.”

He continued, “There’s a lotta dudes that can rap, really rap. [YBN] Cordae, Russ, Drake, J Cole… a lot of these dudes is super nice. A lot of ’em. I like Young Thug. A lotta people might think I don’t like Thug. I listen to Thug more than I listen to a lot of them. You gotta listen to the music and absorb it. Some people are seeing him on a centerfold or something and just automatically judge him. You gotta listen. He’s saying some incredible sh*t.”

Jadakiss also noted that hip hop is the only genre of music that gets broken down into factions like West Coast, East Coast, Down South, etc. The rapper said that’s not done with country, R&B, or pop. “It’s not West Coast Pop,” he said. “They trying to figure out a way to put everybody against each other ’cause it’s growing fast.” Watch his clip below.