(Def Jam)

“Hold You Down,” by Jadakiss and Emmany, is a little splash of 1995, of 2001, of moments when hip-hop was really giving in to R&B, letting go of its stiff shoulders and mean mug. “Never mind them side chicks and they issues/that ain’t nothing but bad luck that they wish you,” Jadakiss raps, his tough-guy growl put in the service of fealty. Back in the day a song like “Hold You Down,” produced by J Buttah — lush but propulsive, and with attitude — would have been a national smash, but now it sounds like a regional footnote, an antiquated New York style, a historical re-enactment.

It’s a song out of time, and extremely happily so, but that’s not the mood throughout the preposterously titled “I Love You (A Dedication to My Fans): The Mixtape,” the new Jadakiss EP being passed off as something like a mixtape, though released on a major label.

Maybe it’s contractual obligation, or maybe it’s the rush to monetize “Hold You Down,” which has slowly been growing in popularity for a couple of months. Whichever the case, “I Love You” is slapdash by every measure, except Jadakiss’s rhymes. The beats may change around him, but he remains a stoic, rapping about drug dealing and women’s footwear with equal sincerity.

His rhymes land square and hard, with dry wit: “Leave Potsie alone and come home to the Fonz/Gold medal feel so much better than the bronze.”

The solo songs here are breezy and efficient — three verses in about three minutes, mostly. But the rest feels cobbled together. There’s a remix of “Inkredible,” which was released last year by the Houston rapper Trae; the earnest “Lil Bruh,” which samples N.E.R.D. heavily; and “Toast,” on which Fred the Godson takes Jadakiss’s flat affect and raises him, brilliantly. The album closes on a sharp left turn, with the sad “Gone Too Long,” about jail time driving a couple apart.

It all could pass for a mixtape if Jadakiss himself hadn’t already redefined what that could mean. In 2004 he released “The Champ Is Here,” one of the first artist-focused mixtapes to equal or better his albums, setting the stage for a generation of rappers to make complete artistic statements without waiting for major-label money. As “I Love You” shows, it’s hard to go back.

-JON CARAMANICA

I LOVE YOU (A Dedication To My Fans) The Mixtape Available Everywhere Now!

Click here to Download Jadakiss' New Album "I Love You: The Mixtape" on iTunes
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I LOVE YOU (A Dedication To My Fans) The Mixtape In Stores May 24th!

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As one of the few remaing MCs to find success after leaving Bad Boy Records, Jadakiss and The Lox have established themselves as East Coast close-out hitters of hardcore rap. With a new mixtape dedicated to the fans ready to hit retailers on May. 24, we made a stop to Kiss' studio to get an update on how the Yonkers-bred rapper is staying relevant

I noticed your new mixtape drops just a few days before your birthday, what you do you have planned this year?

I have an annual birthday bash in Miami that I do every year, so I’m a be promoting heavy down there. Maybe get on some getaway-type of shit and throw a few more birthday parties and shows in the mix. You want to get me a present? Buy the mixtape! That's how I'm promoting it. That's your present to me. Just get this mixtape. You'll love it [ahhaaaaa].

You plan to leak anything on your website?

Yeah, definitely in the next day or two.

When you came in the game artists didn’t have to drop a new song online everyday. How do you feel about the climate of rap now?

Times have changed. You almost have to put your whole shit out for them to buy it. You see that with Kanye, with everybody. You got to leak shit—that's the new shit. If they like it, they'll buy it anyway. But that's what it is now. You have to do that because so much shit is coming out every day, you'll get swept under the rug before you know it. You have to stay in their ears, on their computer screens, in their iPods, iPads, MacBooks. You got to be there and the only way to be there is to let it out. You have to be in it to win it.

I guess you’ve been making some trips to the Apple store then…

If you can't beat them join them. I was naïve to that shit for a while, but then I had to go to the Apple store and spend $15,000 to get ieverything.

So do you help do a lot of your viral marketing yourself now?

Nah, I got a staff. I do shit though. My son use my shit. They can use whatever. Whatever I can use. One of these has to be on deck at all times [points to macbook].

You're definitely getting your Twitter game up.

I'm trying to get to a million followers, and then I'm going to ask everybody for a dollar. Think it'll work? At least I'm going to get a couple hundred thousand. All I need is a dollar from everybody [ahaaa]

50 kind of did something like that; he told his followers to buy stock in his headphones line and he cashed in on it.

See, don't worry I got some shit up my sleeve.

When I spoke to you two or three years ago, we were talking about transitioning to Hollywood, if not being in movies, maybe some of the writing. Has there been any movement there?

I just did a little part in a movie in Philly over the last month, called Must Be The Music written and directed by Charles "Roc" Dutton. Black Thought is in it, Snoop from "The Wire," Kat from "The Bad Girls Club," one of the Atlanta Housewives. It should be a pretty good movie.

Source: http://vibe.com/content/v-exclusive-jadakiss-talks-stepping-his-online-game-movie-roles-wanting-get-down-w-disney-an

I LOVE YOU (A Dedication To My Fans) The Mixtape In Stores May 24th!

Click here to Pre-order "I Love You (A Dedication To My Fans) The Mixtape on Amazon.

Click here to purchase THE LAST KISS on iTunes now!

Text JADAKISS to 30103 for Jadakiss updates on your mobile.