Winners win...

Wow, it has been a crazy few days. First off, I gotta give special thanks to everyone who helped my remix of Lil Jon's "I Do" place in the top 20 of all contestants in the Loud Records Producer Remix Contest! There are too many 5G soldiers to name, but you guys rallied for 48 hours straight and it just goes to show that winners win...

WE DID.

So now that we're officially a top 20 finalist, the voting is of course over. The next step is for Lil Jon himself to pick his favorite remix, with the winner being announced on September 30th! I'll keep you up to speed.

The prizes include a featured spot in the music player on his Myspace page (which boasts close to 17 million views) and proper distribution. Not to mention all the fun that comes along with bragging rights! Haha... no, but on the real though, I love hip-hop and the spirit of competition from which the culture was born. So no matter what happens from here, I just want to say thank you so much for the love and support, and that I had an amazing time hitting these other remixers where it hurts. I hope you did too.

My homies the1shanti and "Big Lu" hard at work...

In other news, the ramp up to my album officially begins next week with the debut of my first video blog, the album release date announcement, as well as the unveiling of the first music video in support of Connect The Dots. which features my homie Reef The Lost Cauze.

Speaking of video blogs, my longtime pal the1shanti, "Big Lu" and I were up till the sun made its first appearance this morning editing the first one! It's a behind the scenes glimpse into the making of the music video, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy it when we unleash it via 2dopeboyz.com and more next week.

Official 5G engineer to the stars Dan "The Deacon" Maier has been hard at work in the lab with the1shanti mixing songs for his new band Bonita Applebum!

Bonita Applebum... you GOTTA put me on.

Bonita Applebum is the1shanti and the beautiful and talented Shefali Kumar, and their first single (mixed to perfection by my partner Dan "The Deacon" Maier for 5G Productions) can be previewed and purchased by clicking right HERE.

Support that indie GOODNESS.

To my grandpop... GET WELL SOON and I love you, thanks again to all of you for reading this and for all the dedication, and to the whole music industry: BUCKLE UP AND GET READY FOR THE RIDE OF YOUR LIFE.

One,
J.J.

5G | Twitter | MySpace | Facebook | YouTube | imeem

Lil Jon and I NEED YOUR VOTE!!!!

I’m excited to tell you all about a contest I’ve entered, and to ask for your support! Every so often a hip-hop jam comes along with the energy and power of a freight train, reminding me of why I fell in love with this art in the first place, when I was just a kid. Recently, Lil Jon’s new single “I Do” has been on repeat in my iPod and car stereo for that very reason. My wife LOVES me for it too! Haha…

Just by coincidence, I found out that Loud Records is hosting a Lil Jon “I Do” producer remix contest! Needless to say, I took the acapella and made it my own, mixed to perfection by my partner Dan “The Deacon” Maier. Now I NEED YOU to help me win by voting for my submission before the contest ends at 3:59pm Eastern Time on Friday, August 21st, 2009!

All you have to do to vote is text my submission code which is Loud 1885 to 41411 on your cell phone. You’re only allowed one vote per phone number, so I need EVERYONE’S HELP to win, cool? At the end of the contest, the twenty producers with the most votes will have their remix reviewed by Lil Jon himself, and the winner (aka: me!) will be announced on September 30^th, 2009.

The winning submission receives a spot on Lil Jon’s Myspace music player and gets added as one of his “top friends!” This may not seem like a big deal at first, until you note that Lil Jon’s Myspace page boasts almost 17 MILLIONS VIEWS and that type of exposure would mean a great deal to a producer like me.

So please CLICK HERE to listen to my submission!
And if you like it, text Loud 1885 to 41411 right away!
(Note: please DO NOT listen if you are easily offended by explicit lyrical content, as Lil Jon has a tendency to be pretty vulgar, and I’m just the producer!)

You may also get a feel for just how superior my remix is by listening to other producer submissions by CLICKING HERE.
(Note: but that’s not really important, is it?)

Thank you so much for your time and your support, and I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the results. As my man “Big Lu” would say, LET’S GET IT! Artwork (below) by the great Dre Boogs.

Thanks a millie,
J.J.
5G | Twitter | MySpace | Facebook | YouTube | imeem

Pure grind...

Believe it or not, I'm finally sitting here blogging in one of my new MJ 02 concert shirts from the official merch store! It took a hot minute for the box to arrive, but it's understandable... no one expected for this to be a mail order situation, just as no one expected to lose the icon so soon. Still having a hard time shaking this off...

Thank you for the years of inspiration Mike!

As for other areas of my life though, this has been one of the most exciting time periods on record...

I GOTTA say peace to my homie Tonedeff for putting on one of the greatest artist showcases I've ever attended at Highline Ballroom here in NYC last weekend. It was quite an experience for me to finally feel like my friends and I have carved out our own piece of hip-hop history. My Big Apple heads, remember going to those rap shows at Tramps, and even if it was a KRS show you'd also get to see Fat Joe, Lord Finesse, Kane, etc. because they were all part of the fabric that made up the New York underground scene? Well I got that same warm, fuzzy feeling last Friday night at Tone's QN5 Megashow, only this time I was part of this tight knit group which included opening acts louis logic (obviously a longtime associate of mine) and Poison Pen (I produced for and sequenced his current album The Money Shot IN STORES NOW!!!!) as well as incredible full sets by the artists that make up the QN5 roster, who have mostly all played a part in my career at some point. All this while I watched the show sharing a booth with the next crop. I was even booked for the official afterparty but that's one of those showbiz stories I'll save for my book. Haha. Oh, and I would share pics of this event but there were NO CAMERAS ALLOWED, sorry! You'll just have to join us next year if you still don't know what the fuss is about...

AND KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE!
(NOTE: See G.I. JOE if you haven't already,
it's THE TRUTH.)

This past weekend we also shot our first music video in promotion of my debut album Connect The Dots. (now dropping this fall, exact date will be announced very shortly) for the track Pure Grind featuring my man Reef The Lost Cauze. I don't want to give too much away, as this is one of those "presentation is everything" moments in my timeline, but I will say that you're in for a treat, and me and my team are about to remind the industry how it's done. Here are some exclusive shots from behind the scenes...

Reef (at 5G Studios)
is ready for his close up...


Shooting at the piers in Long Island City, Queens!
L - R: Ethan (camera), Jed (director), Jonny (playback),
Reef (gangsta) and Danny (playboy)


Luis "Big Lu" Valbuena
(executive producer and overlord)

I promise to blog sooner next time... it's been a crazy week of sessions and I actually have to get back to work now... but please follow me on Twitter for more up-to-the-minute accounts of my journey (I'm addicted to that shit!) and do stay tuned because we're just getting warmed up!

There it is baby paw,
J.J.

5G | Twitter | Myspace | Facebook | YouTube | Imeem