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Download Now! The Miami-based DJ/producer DJ Khaled — a Palestinian-American born Khaled Khaled — is a member of Fat Joe's Terror Squad and released Listennn: The Album on Koch in June 2006. He utilized his connections to snare the likes of Beanie Sigel, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Paul Wall, Young Jeezy, Slim Thug, Trick Daddy, and Clipse for guest appearances. Many were back for his 2007 effort We the Best and in 2008 for We Global. The thematic Victory followed in 2010. Follow @TheRealDJKhaled on twitter! VIDEO: http://youtu.be/4yFta5GBNHU http://www.djkhaled.org/ http://www.myspace.com/djkhaled

Download Now! A game-changing artist and an impervious celebrity, Lil Wayne began as his career as a near-novelty — a preteen delivering hardcore hip-hop — but through years of maturation and reinventing the mixtape game, he developed into a million-selling rapper with a massive body of work, one so inventive and cunning that it makes his famous claim of being the "best rapper alive" worth considering. Born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. and raised in the infamous New Orleans neighborhood of Hollygrove, he was a straight-A student but never felt his true intelligence was expressed through any kind of report card. He found music was the best way to express himself, and after taking the name Gangsta D he began writing rhymes. Combining a strong work ethic with aggressive self-promotion, the 11-year-old convinced the Cash Money label to take him on, even if it was just of odd jobs around the office. A year later, in-house producer Mannie Fresh partnered him with the 14-year-old B.G. and dubbed the duo the B.G.'z. Although only B.G.'s name appeared on the cover, the 1995 album True Story has since been accepted as the B.G.'z debut album both by fans and the Cash Money label. The 1997 album Chopper City was supposed to be the follow-up, but when Wayne accidentally shot himself in the chest with a .44, it became a solo B.G. release.That same year, he officially took the moniker Lil Wayne, dropping the "D" from his first name in order to separate himself from an absent father. He joined B.G., Juvenile, and Young Turk for another Fresh project, the teen hardcore rap group the Hot Boys, who released their debut album, Get It How U Live!, in 1997. Two years later, Cash Money would sign a distribution deal with the major-label Universal. Mainstream distribution would help that year's Hot Boys album Guerrilla Warfare to reach the number one spot on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 1998, Lil Wayne would appear on Juvenile's hit single "Back That Thing Up," or "Back That Azz Up" as it appeared on Juvie's album 400 Degreez. Wayne would launch his solo career a year later with the album Tha Block Is Hot, featuring the hit single title track. It went double platinum but the rapper was still unknown to Middle America, since his hardcore rhymes and the rough Cash Money sound had not yet crossed over. His second album, Lights Out (2000), failed to match the success of its predecessor but it did go gold, and with an appearance on the Big Tymers' hit single "#1 Stunna," his audience was certainly growing. While Fresh was primarily responsible for launching his career, Wayne was now much closer to Fresh's fellow Big Tymer and Cash Money CEO Birdman. When Juvenile left the label, Wayne — or "Birdman Jr." as he was calling himself — showed his allegiance to his CEO by releasing an album with a title much hotter than Juvie's breakthrough effort. 500 Degreez landed in 2002 and while it went gold, rumors began flying about Cash Money's financial troubles and possible demise. The rest of the Hot Boys had defected and Wayne's planned 2003 album was scrapped, coming out instead as an underground mixtape called Da Drought.Wayne became enamored with the mixtape world after Da Drought drew so much attention from the hip-hop press. He used these underground releases to drum up anticipation for his next official album, the breakthrough effort Tha Carter. Released in 2004, the album seemed familiar on one hand with Mannie Fresh's production, but the Wayne on the cover was a dreadlocked surprise, and the rhymes he laid on the tracks showed significant growth. His marketing skills had become sharper, too, and it was no mistake that the album's hit single, "Go DJ," mentioned hip-hop's greatest tastemakers right in the title. It reached number five on the singles chart, and with a guest shot on Destiny's Child's number three single, "Soldier," Wayne had officially crossed over. On the flip side, his street cred was supported by a slew of mixtapes released in 2005, including the popular titles Dedication with DJ Drama and Tha Suffix with DJ Khaled. Cash Money's future was no longer in doubt and traditional music business rules no longer seemed to apply, as tracks would be leaked onto the Internet and various DJs' mixtapes. "Get Something" was another bold move, as a Universal-funded video was made without the track ever seeing official release.With his alternative marketing scheme working in overdrive, the 2005 landing of Tha Carter II was a major event, selling over a quarter-million copies the week of its release. "Fireman" and "Shooter" with Robin Thicke were released as singles, while the album — which for the first time featured no Mannie Fresh productions — went platinum. It also introduced his Young Money posse, with appearances from Curren$y and Nicki Minaj, and initially came with a bonus disc featuring Wayne's greatest hits screwed and chopped by Swishahouse DJ Michael "5000" Watts. A year later he collaborated with Birdman for the Like Father, Like Son album, featuring the hit single "Stuntin' Like My Daddy." His mixtapes were still flooding the underground, including the stunning Dedication 2, which came with an iconic image of the rapper on the cover plus the much talked-about track "Georgia...Bush," a venomous response to President George W. Bush's handling of the Katrina disaster. With no official follow-up to Tha Carter II in sight, numerous collaborative tracks kept the rapper in the mainstream with "Gimme That" by Chris Brown, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe, and "Duffle Bag Boy" by Playaz Circle becoming three of the biggest hits.Tha Carter III was promised for 2007 but didn't arrive until a year later, setting off Wayne's infamous reputation of delayed releases. Part of the problem became unauthorized leaks of the album's tracks, something combated by the official, downloadable EP The Leak released that same year. Preceded by the number one hit "Lollipop," Tha Carter III arrived in May of 2008, selling more than a million copies in its first week of release. An appearance on Saturday Night Live and four Grammy awards — including Best Rap Album — spoke to Wayne's mainstream acceptance. He also performed at that year's Country Music Awards with Kid Rock, but rather than rap, he played guitar. The guitar playing was part of Wayne's new involvement with rock music, including his help in signing Kevin Rudolf to Cash Money plus an appearance on Rudolf's massive hit "Let It Rock." His planned rock album was previewed with the 2009 single "Prom Queen," but when the album failed to meet its promised April release, the music press began to portray the rapper as the king of missed street dates. Unconcerned, Wayne forged ahead with his Young Money crew, releasing the underground mixtape Young Money Is the Army, Better Yet the Navy, the aboveground single "Every Girl," plus the official album We Are Young Money that same year. His rock album, Rebirth, would finally appear in early 2010, which coincided with Wayne being sentenced to a nine-month prison term for criminal possession of a weapon. The rapper may have been behind bars on Riker’s Island, but that didn’t stop his ten-song EP I Am Not a Human Being from seeing the light of day in September that same year. Follow @LilTuneChi on twitter! VIDEO: http://www.lilwayne-online.com/ http://www.myspace.com/lilwayne http://www.facebook.com/LilWayne

Download Now! Cherish it - because again, not only is it from Monica, the Grammy Award winning singer and actress who's sold more than 10 million copies of her previous three albums, but it is what she declares "a real representation of who I am and what my life is like now. It reflects the last 11 years inside and outside of the industry. It allows people to know me. Finally."Let’s start with her foundation.Remember, she is from the A - Born, raised and never lived anywhere else but Atlanta.So the Jermaine Dupri-produced first single "Everytime Tha Beat Drop" should really come as no surprise." 'Beat Drop', for me, is a real good representation of where I'm from," Monica says of the call to the dancefloor she crafted with Atlanta's snap music pioneers, Dem Franchize Boyz. "Plus I really liked having a record that kids can enjoy. My music has always had a message. I guess it's been just a personality thing - I've always been extremely mature for my age. Always been kind of deep. But sometimes that goes right over the kids' heads. And we all just want to dance and have fun. This is what I live. What I dance to. What I listen to when I'm in my car. So I thought, 'Why wouldn't I sing over it?' "On this foundation, Monica has built quite the reputation for brutal honesty — from “Don’t Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)” to “First Night” to “Knock Knock” and “U Should’ve Known Better.”“My audience respects my honesty,” she reminds us. “They trust that what comes out of my mouth truly comes from my heart.”And falling right in the disc changer with those singles is "Sideline Ho."In the Underdogs-produced dagger, she asks: "Ain't you tired of spending all the holidays alone?"And then comes back and digs deeper with: "It don't matter if he spends the night, his home's somewhere else...If you don't make his breakfast, you's a 'Sideline Ho!'"Myself, Damon [Thomas], Harvey [Mason Jr.] and Tank came up with that. I was telling Tank about a situation where an ex of mine blatantly, openly cheated - as if people didn't know who his girlfriend was! And just the sound of her name would make my flesh crawl. So he was like, 'Well what did you call her?' I said, 'She has no name. She has no importance.' And Tank walked back into the room and said, 'The name of this song is 'Sideline Ho.'"Why Her," also produced by Monica's longtime musical associate Jermaine Dupri, is what she calls her post-'Sideline Ho' song. "After the anger of being cheated on, instead of healing and moving forward, we get mired in all of these questions. At that point in my situation I was like, 'What was it? I don't see anything visually any better. I don't know anything any better about her. She's struggling to work on video sets. And I'm in disarray."I don't care what people say, people always look at themselves, ask themselves those kinds of questions once somebody cheats. That's just how love works. It doesn't cut off at the sight of a mistake. We're all like, 'Does he live with her now? Do you think they're going to have kids?' Just vulnerable."Now that's an adjective rarely used to describe Monica in her decade-plus in the business. Not the 24-year-old who was introduced to the world in 1995 on an album titled "Miss Thang." "People assume nothing affects me," she concedes. "And I am extremely strong-natured. I stand with both feet planted firmly and don't bend. But I know now sometimes I need to bend. 'Hell No' (produced by the Grammy-nominated Bryan-Michael Cox) shows that side of me that's a lot more sensitive. And vulnerable."And may we add, adaptable. Not only does the rapper so fast he's in the Guinness Book of World Records appear on "Hell No." But Monica matches Twista - zip for zip."I never thought I would be able to pick up his flow in any shape, form or fashion," she recalls. "But he said the same thing Missy's always saying to me - 'You're a slick talker. You never run out of words.' So he wrote my verse and he rapped it in spaces, in little bite-sized chunks. And I would rap it back, until I learned it. It took about two hours but I'm so glad I did it. It was a good experience, an example of why my mom always taught us not to use the word 'can't.' At 24 I am still learning lessons." But look at how she’s already applied those lessons, and what she’s become thus far: Her loveliness can be heard in one of her fourth CD's vocal standouts: "Get Away." The spare, dramatic force begins: "I started out as a little girl. Singing songs changed my world." And before you know, Monica's sharing her life with you - inside and out:"I give so much of me/When is time for me to receive? "It's not as easy as it seems/And to think, this was my dream." "Jermaine always knows exactly how I feel about things," Monica says. "And I felt this way most when my first love died. Him committing suicide changed my life in a lot of ways. It brought me closer to what I was raised with, which is a Christian family. It brought me closer to God, which is where I need to be. And it made me wish for the first time in my entire life that I was a normal person, with a normal job, who could take time off to grieve. I had to learn to live with my situation in front of the public's eye. But in the recording of this song, I was to myself. In the 11 years I've been in this industry I didn't think such a place existed. And physically I don't think it does. But mentally it's there, in this song." Loving pulses through "Doin' Me Right," her Missy Elliott-produced tribute to a guy who makes seven figures, talks slicker and is an, a-hem, tongue-flicker."That kind of song is a bit different for me," Monica says playfully. "But if you haven't heard, I have a son. And he didn't get here like Jesus. Some things have taken place. And I think the song is a nice way of saying how I certainly feel." "Dozen Roses," however, is exactly how she feels. She's in love. "I be losing my mind every time I look at you," she says in another Missy production, made even dreamier by a sample of Curtis Mayfield’s “The Makings of You.” "You've got style just like a Bentley coupe.... You're just like my rims, you shine." "Like I said, 'Dozen Roses' personifies where I am right now," Monica says. "Who I am right now."And to think, much of The Makings of Monica happened right before our eyes: The three million-selling debut and the hit singles - "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)" and "Before You Walk Out of My Life" - that made her the youngest female artist ever to have two back-to-back No. 1 hits on Billboard's R&B singles chart. (Both of which also topped its Hot 100 pop charts and earned a million in sales.) The million-selling contribution to the 1997 "Space Jam" soundtrack "For You I Will." Then came her 1998 CD "The Boy Is Mine," which not only had three consecutive No. 1 Billboard pop singles (the title track, "Angel of Mine" and "First Night"), but the title track with Brandy spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts, and 8 at No. 1 on the R&B listing. Not to mention the duet earned Monica a Grammy to add to her American Music, Soul Train and Billboard Awards. Then there was her last million-selling CD "After the Storm." All of which she managed while acting in the MTV movie "Love Song," the Miramax movie "Boys and Girls" and most recently, Warner Bros/Overbrook’s "ATL."The Makings of Me is the least Monica could give you for so much support over so many projects.Then again, The Makings of Me is ALL Monica is. Follow @MonicaBrown on twitter! http://www.monica.com/ http://www.myspace.com/monicamusic http://www.facebook.com/monica