This was back in April. Nice little performance though. Me in the background getting sick on the wheelz of steel! Video after the jump (more…)

Click HERE to read Jeff Weiss’s full article about the mixtape usage of a sample and the lawsuit that followed
Excerpt:
Dan Weisman, the manager of Washington, D.C.–based rapper Wale, whose Seinfeld-themed Mixtape About Nothingraised the bar for the genre upon its release earlier this year, thinks the case is more about a missed opportunity for Urband & Lazar. The company owned the rights to a song that saw a sudden and meteoric rise, but didn’t properly capitalize on it. Swanepoel’s “Once” was eventually released this May by Urband and Lazar’s label, U&L Records, but the window of opportunity had passed.

“I don’t think the song itself did anything for Wayne’s career other than to add to his vast, uncleared mixtape catalog,” says Weisman. “On Da Draught 3,he used the Prince sample from ‘Diamonds and Pearls,’ and who knows how much it filtered down? But Prince didn’t sue — and he’s the most aggressive copyright enforcer there is. A girl like Karma, who most people hadn’t heard of prior, shouldn’t have freaked out but rather thanked her lucky stars that the most popular rapper in the world wanted to sample her.” Weisman adds that the publishers missed the chance to turn Swanepoel into a 2007 version of Dido, who jump-started her career on the back of Eminem’s “Stan.”

I’ve had this for a few weeks but didn’t know if I was allowed to leak and then all of a sudden it’s everywhere, I hate it when that happens.

Click HERE to download

At 3:29…not mad at the song or the video, kinda hot

Making Of Dope Boyz Remix – Don Cannon from Decatur Dan on Vimeo.
Didn’t really get much from watching this video but everyone else posted it

Check out the story HERE

For once I’m not posting Wale press right? LOL. Not gonna lie; I’m pretty excited about this. I’ve worked very hard for 2.5 years building up Wale and his brand and haven’t done much self-promoting along the way, so when I get a little recognition here and there, it feels good. URB was one of the first magazines to really fuck with Wale and almost a year later, it seems like they had a crystal ball; putting Wale and Justice on their 150th cover took some balls! It was my job (and Wale’s) to make them feel good about their decision. I will never forget driving from Vegas to LA the morning after the VMA’s to get Wale to the photoshoot on time and meeting Xavier and Gaspard (dudes from Justice) at Smashbox Studios in Culver City and them being so genuinely excited about Wale’s music (”other than Will Smith,” Xavier said, “Wale is the only rapper we want to work with.”) Anyway, so URB did this piece on music managers in their Power Issue, a few of whom I am friends with and somehow I ended up first on the list (yes! not that it means anything). So along with Corey Smyth (Talib Kweli), Gee Roberson (Kanye, Wayne), Ian Montone (MIA, White Stripes, Shins, Raconteurs, Vampire Weekend) and a few other managers I’m not familiar with, here I am mentioned because of Wale and Paper Route Recordz. Awesome! It’s really an honor to be mentioned amongst people I look up to, especially someone like Ian who has been somewhat of a mentor to me for the past year. Thanks URB!


And in case you can’t read what it says:
Certainly something of a newcomer, Weisman has quickly put DC’s Wale on the map (and URB’s 150th cover). He works on building the brand and not just setting up gigs, though he does that too (Elitaste note: with the help of Jesse K at Nue Agency). Alabama’s Paper Route Recordz is up next.