Cool & Dre and Battlerap.com
It's been a long-known fact that the streets are the determining factor of what's the next hottest thing. The beauty of the hip hop heads in the industry is the fact that they never lose touch with that instinct. That's exactly what Battlerap and Loud.com have done. Battlerap is a contest in which raw talent can purchase beats from the biggest producers in the game and lay their own vocals over the track. The producers involved include Cool & Dre, SPKilla, Green Lantern and Zukhan Bey, whom will choose the winner and grant them a contract with SRC and $100,000 in cash. This contest is revolutionizing the way in which the hottest acts are discovered. I had the chance to speak to Cool, from Cool & Dre and he made it clear that Battlerap was necessary. "It's gonna change music. In 2 to 3 years, it'll be the new way to discover new music!" says Cool.
Cool is one-half of the hit-making duo, Cool & Dre. Based in Miami, the team has managed to put other U.S regions on the map. In a business where artists are usually pigeon-holed way too often, Cool & Dre broke those shackles by producing street anthems for New Yorkers with "New York", anthems for the underdogs on either side of the continent with "Hate It or Love It", and even songs for the ladies with "Who's Gonna Ride?" for Cristina Milian. Talk about being diverse! They don't go into the studio with that on their mind. They go into the studio to make great music. "Basically, we just make great records," says Cool. And the mission is accomplished every time.
But it seems like the super producers won't stop there. The next time you hear Cool & Dre might not be on the latest hip hop track but maybe the newest Rock song... or on a major film score. These are all tentative plans for the team, but their more immediate plans include the solo project from Dre, where Dre debuts his rhymes and Cool produces the tracks. Any solo projects in the works for Cool? "Nah, not me. I'm behind the boards. I'm living through Dre!" he laughs.
Even with all his success, Cool is still partially blind to that fact. "When did Cool & Dre feel like they finally made it?" I ask. Cool laughs for a few seconds and yells out "Yesterday!" Of course he was kidding. But he makes it clear that such ideas don't really stir their minds. What can I say, the guy is humble. He continues though, "...But when you got Mariah Carey on your phone asking for a hit, then..." He laughs and doesn't finish the sentence; but you get the point. (Mixtapekings.com)
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