Chamillionaire leaves Universal Records

Jimmy Iovine

After multiple hiccups regarding his record label, and amid very public disputes, Chamillionaire has finally been granted his release from Universal Records. Chamillionaire has a mega-hit earlier this decade with "Ridin' Dirty," the disputes led to his follow album Venom being delayed over and over again. "It got to the point where I just refused to put out a project if it wasn't going to be right. I decided to pause - I went cold. I knew if I did that I had a better chance of getting off [the label]," he says. "I was fighting against this company and it was just an abusive relationship. It wasn't beneficial for either of us."

http://www.thesource.com/blog/post/40368/Chamillionaire-Leaves-Universal-Records?thesource-prod=odtjotok3hqj32el0nv4lv8pa0

All I can say is thank god he's finally off Universal. It wasn't doing anything for him. His last official album was released in 2007. He should have put out 2 since then but disputes with Universal put a stop to that.

He's probably the only rapper or artist in the game that would walk away from a 50-50 deal with a major. I have to applaud him but it's a huge risk that he's taking.

I think he's the most innovative and forward thinking rapper in the game today. He went live on Ustream there a few minutes ago and said that he's launching a new project called Playlist Poison. The laptop shut down so I didn't catch the whole thing properly but part of the project is that there will be a countdown timer on his website. When that reaches 0 then he will release some free material. He also wants people to send him their best tracks and instrumentals and he will pick the best 5 and rap a verse over them. Since he's not signed to a major they can basically do what they want with it.

Another thing he's doing is inviting aspiring DJs to send him their best beats and if he likes one then he will use that in a song and sort out a deal with the beat-owner. I think this is an incredible idea and one that's sure to give a great opportunity to struggling artists out there. If anyone's looking for the email it's koopabeats@gmail.com. All this is inspiring me to pick up a mic over the next few months and see if I have a chance :P.

It's refreshing to see someone fight against the major labels. For too long they've been ****ing with musicians in all genres and causing naive up-coming artists to end up in severe debt. Please God he makes it and shows others what can be done if you have the drive to succeed as independent.

Just as I'm writing this he's dropped two new tracks; "When Ya On" feat. Nipsey Hussle and "Pass Out (Remix)". He goes hard on both tracks. Great to hear some new music from him, seems like it's been forever.

We had that thread on Gucci Mane the other day and he's a joke compared to Chamillionaire. This is a guy that is trying to juggle a new kid, dealing with his mum's cancer and now starting off from scratch in the music business again. Gucci's biggest concern is getting a **** tattoo and getting locked up for a year. What's the point in that at all. Anyone can do that. The rappers these days should try and do something new and inventive with their talents. Kanye brought out that idea of GOOD Friday and it was a hit. More innovativeness like that would be appreciated I think. Hopefully I'm not the only one who thinks like this.

This post has gone way off topic since when I first started so I suppose I'm trying to say that rappers should be more like Chamillionaire and willing to take a risk for the sake of their music, their fans, their brand name and their dependents and not just sit on a record deal releasing nothing.

Balls I've an exam tomorrow may go to bed and get a few hours sleep. Peace

Zero-Cool

Thank you Jimmy! Cham and Tech N9ne are the only rappers I can depend on now-a-days for proper tunes. I would look more forward to Koopa's new mixtape before Detox! His mixtapes are just class and stay in my car for weeks. His albums don't come across well tho and I always thought it was the label sticking their nose in. Delighted to hear he has new tunes out. Thank you Jimmy, thank you very much!!!!!!

Jimmy Iovine

Haha you're welcome. Wasn't expecting anyone to really reply to this thread tbh. For some reason Chamillionaire always gets looked over by other people. Good to see there's at least one Cham fan out there

I'd definitely agree about having more interest in his mixtapes than Detox. Most people, unfortuunately, don't hear them and then judge him on his albums which were good but not on the level of the Mixtape Messiah series. Also tbh I thought Ultimate Victory was better than both Graduation and Curtis when it came out but it crashed big time. The track "Ultimate Victory" is one of my favourite of all time.

Hopefully this new approach will attract a lot of attention for him. We could be seeing new music every few weeks now which wasn't happening in the past. It's very rare that I become totally obsessed I suppose you could say with an artist to the point where I listen to him everyday for nearly 5 years but Cham is like that I think. It'll be good to hear some new music now. The only album that I'm awaiting with any other kind of enthusiasm is J Cole's debut which could be a game changer I think. Detox will be a flop I reckon and there's no one out there that's really interesting me that much these days. Back in the day I'd be clinging onto every bit of info hoping for an Eminem album, but unless he's touring I've not much interest.

Few friends were in America for the summer there. Would love to have been there. First thing I'd be doing would be hopping on a bus straight to Houston to one the Chamillionaire and Paul Wall concerts. Pity he might never come over this direction but if he does I'll definitely be there.

If you're on Twitter and you aren't following Cham then shame on you. Go to http://twitter.com/CHAMILLIONAIRE if you want some top class tweets. Fair funny seeing him rile up other NBA fans when there are games on and Kobe's playing

Shapey Fiend

Chamillionaire is definitely a talent I've missed. He had a great run of mixtapes for a while there. There have been a lot of victims of this kind of thing in the last decade. Big Boi and Curren$y are another two that come to mind they both got held up for years. Which is kind of ridiculous considering Big Boi was coming off the back of one of the best selling hip hop records of all time. Why the hell wouldn't you capitalise on that quickly?

Being independent is the way to go. No meddling. Plus many rappers can knock out hours of material a year so being confined to the traditional major model of having an album every couple of years isn't good. Likes of James Brown used have something out every 3 months.

I wouldn't pat him on the back so much for giving away some tracks, doing free collabos and crowd sourcing beats though. That's been the established model for tons of independent artists for years now. Kanye and Chamillionaire are only catching the tail of the trend. Gucci who you lambast in your post took it to an absolute extreme. As I said in the other topic he did 180+ guest verses in 2009 alone. Most of them for free or at cut down prices. I know lots of people here think he's rubbish but they weren't dead simple ones either. He usually does pretty complicated adlibs. Hard to bang those out without some talent/effort. If he's in a mental hospital now I'd say it's due to exhaustion.

Jimmy Iovine

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

Chamillionaire is definitely a talent I've missed. He had a great run of mixtapes for a while there. There have been a lot of victims of this kind of thing in the last decade. Big Boi and Curren$y are another two that come to mind they both got held up for years. Which is kind of ridiculous considering Big Boi was coming off the back of one of the best selling hip hop records of all time. Why the hell wouldn't you capitalise on that quickly?

Being independent is the way to go. No meddling. Plus many rappers can knock out hours of material a year so being confined to the traditional major model of having an album every couple of years isn't good. Likes of James Brown used have something out every 3 months.

I wouldn't pat him on the back so much for giving away some tracks, doing free collabos and crowd sourcing beats though. That's been the established model for tons of independent artists for years now. Kanye and Chamillionaire are only catching the tail of the trend. Gucci who you lambast in your post took it to an absolute extreme. As I said in the other topic he did 180+ guest verses in 2009 alone. Most of them for free or at cut down prices. I know lots of people here think he's rubbish but they weren't dead simple ones either. He usually does pretty complicated adlibs. Hard to bang those out without some talent/effort. If he's in a mental hospital now I'd say it's due to exhaustion.

Yea that whole thing with Big Boi and Jive was a disgrace. Imagine telling someone of his talent to do a cover of "Lollipop", I think it was, so they'd sell a few. I think Cham was told to do a song with someone from Gossip Girl ffs. At least he had the respect not to even though chances are it'd have sold a lot.

Yea I lambasted him alright but it was 5 in the morning and I was on a bit of a roll with the post so I didn't really think properly. No doubt he's a talent with some things he puts out and the effort he puts in but Gucci's not my style of rapper. Just doesn't do anything for me. I'd prefer to hear Chamillionaire jacking beats than most things from Gucci but that's just the way I am. As I said on the other thread I'll listen out for more stuff and then I'll get a proper idea of him.

The point I was trying to make about the crowd-sourcing beats and all that was that I think it's a great initiative to get fans to feel a part of the creative process. Nowadays fans feel less a part of the industry because every artist from Eminem to Jessie J are protected 24/7. Only news you'll hear about an album is maybe a month before it's due. The fan then goes and buys it and then hears a few interviews on tele and a concert or two and that's it for another couple of years until another album comes along.

What Cham should be applauded for is trying to reach out to the normal fan and make them feel a part of the music industry and his career. I know it's not revolutionary but it'll hopefully get him back on the map and create a buzz for him cause he deserves it more than most rappers out there. Some of his mixtapes were better than other rappers albums. Moving to independent is a great move as you said. I could really see his albums becoming great with more effort put into them. Some of the Mixtape Messiahs he recorded in 2 two days apparently. Exciting times ahead hopefully

Jimmy Iovine

Just thought I'd post this. It's Pitchfork's review of Sound of Revenge and sums up everything I think.

The first thing you need to know about Chamillionaire is that he's one of the greatest rappers on the planet, sly and quick-tongued with perfect timing and better punchlines than first-album Eminem, and he has a sticky-sweet deadpan singing voice that nails hooks like Nate Dogg. In 2003, he and Paul Wall released Get Ya Mind Correct, one of the best Southern rap albums ever. Everything that everyone ever says about 3 Feet High and Rising is even more true about Get Ya Mind Correct: smartass dorks tossing goofy-sharp jokes back and forth, bringing a sense of play to a genre not known for it and sidestepping their lack of hardness by making light of it, even celebrating it. Paul's clumsy charm makes him a valuable foil, but it's all Chamillionaire, crooning the hooks and wrapping his irresistible liquid flow around sunburst Houston-synth beats, getting in all the best lines: "They said rap was a waste of knowledge, 'Take ya ass to college'/ Now they broke asses call us, try to ask for dollars."

A lot has happened since 2003. Soon after Cham and Paul split from each other and began quietly feuding, the rap world discovered Houston, and Cham signed a solo deal with Universal. When you're one of the greatest rappers in the world, you're going to be facing some pressure when you're releasing the first solo album of your career. And even if your sense of humor is your primary strength, you might decide that you want to be taken seriously.

Get Ya Mind Correct was great partly because it followed no formats and pandered to no audiences; it's mostly just about cars. But on The Sound of Revenge, Cham makes a common mistake: He tries to be all things to all people, making songs for every rap audience. He touches all the bases: love-rap ("Grown and Sexy"), club-rap ("Peepin' Me"), street-rap ("No Snitching"). The fill-in-the-blanks approach kept Cham's fellow Houston MC Bun B's solo debut Trill from being the classic it should've been, and it has the same effect here. Cham smothers his sense of humor and only gives rare glimpses of his personality. It's all solid, but it's never transcendent. On "Southern Takeover", Killer Mike becomes possibly the first rapper ever to outshine Cham on a track; that wouldn't have happened two years ago.

But it's always a joy to hear Cham's effortlessly slippery flow even when he's not playing to his strengths. And a few tracks on the album show that Cham is at least maturing in the right direction. On "Rain", a gorgeous piano-laced, Scarface-assisted soul track, Cham gets inspirational: "Tired of being poor, trying to leave the rats/ Walk out to see that three of your tires would be on flat/ And that one tire left's a sign of hope/ That helps you keep on grinding when you're kinda broke." If Cham can give us an entire album as powerful as "Rain" next time, he'll have another classic on the level of Get Ya Mind Correct.

— Tom Breihan, December 4, 2005

With no major executives to answer to I'm hoping for an absolute classic. Rain is an amazing track and anything near that would be great. Here's to hoping

Shapey Fiend

I'll always have fond memories of driving round rural Wexford many years ago in a knackered yellow Lite Ace with no tax and no insurance, wheel spinning up hills cos the tyres were bare, and having Riding Dirty coming on the radio. Gangstuh.