Gloria “Glory” Velez. Most likely you’ve seen the face, body and the sensual portray in videos and print media, but she promises she is much more than a sexy image. The 24-year-old started in the seedy music industry 10 years ago in a variety of dancing contests in Florida that eventually lead to big budget videos like Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin,” 112’s “Anywhere,” Ja-Rule’s, “Holla-Holla”, and even Sisqo’s “Thong Song.” Furthermore the model’s allure has been raised in photo shoot’s by XXL, The Source and King Magazine and her own beauty. AllHipHop.com even featured the beauty in our latest mixtape, True Grit 2, in both site and sound. Nowadays, the model has turn rap mistress with the inception of her debut, The American Dream. Last year, Glo signed with platinum-plus producer Ty Fyffe’s company, TyBu Entertainment, and then Rodney Jerkins’ Darkchild Label. Now “the sexiest emcee ever” plans to deliver ear candy how she has provided eye candy for years. The American Dream,her first rap set, is slated to drop later this year. To see the interview, click here. AllHipHop.com: Why don’t you just give a quick overview of your history and how you got into the game. Glory: When I was 14 years old I used to club hop – teenage club hop in Fort Lauradale Florida. They had competitions like body contests and a couple of artist bass artists wanted me to dance on tour with them. So I started touring with them on weekends and holidays and stuff. People started saying to me I would love for you to be in this video. So the first video I’ve ever did was “Lobster & Shrimp”, with Jay Z. AllHipHop: You were down with Luke for a little while, right? Glory: Yeah we were cool, we were friends and then when I hit 19, I danced for him – I went on tour with him. I wasn’t his bag-of-trick girls. He have a bag-of- trick girls that would do wild sh*t. I was dancer so we actually danced. I did do a girl on girl show with one girl, but there nothing wrong with that. That was it and then we fell out, then he put that video out – get over it [Luke] it was Cancun 1999 and we are in the year 2003. I never sign a release or anything but he put it out any way. AllHipHop: Did you sue him? Glory: No I didn’t sue him because in court money fights money and I didn’t have money at the time. But he really tried to bribe on me and try to mess up my career but it helped my career because I got much more fans. AllHipHop: So you kinda new in the game – more new than not new? Glory: Yeah more new – like in the beginning I was singing – I put myself in the studio like 20 years old, and then I was working with this girl and then she was rapping she said you sing fast and you got that flavor you should do some bass rap, and I wasn’t too keen on it but I loved the music but I didn’t want to rap bass. AllHipHop: What made you go to rap music in this form – its not bass music? Glory: No. no. I have more a little bit of Mid West more Down South, a little bit of East Coast, a little bit of everything; I don’t think I sound like anybody, as you will hear. I love hip-hop, I think it is so open now for a female rapper to come and take it you it. AllHipHop: So being a model and in the videos, did that weigh in to getting you put on faster or anything? Glory: No, I think it was harder, cause they think you got a pretty face they think you can dance everybody want to be in the music business or acting. So I think you got to prove yourself more. They think you are a ditsy blonde or you have a pretty face or you have no talent so I had to put myself in the door. Nobody was like, “Let me sign you lets make this money” until I bumped into Ty Fyf. AllHipHop: How do you deal with people seeing you as a video hoe or a ditsy blond? Glory: It’s acting, a lot of it is not real. People think a video girl is up on a guy, but it’s acting. We really are getting paid to do that and it’s not like after the cut we are like “Oh Yes! We want to go home with you!” No, it’s “cut” I’m ready to get out and leave. Some girls do dip-n-dap, but not all. In the beginning bothered me, now it doesn’t because I know who I am what I did and what I didn’t do. Also, it helps, cause you get seen a lot. AllHipHop: How do you feel being a sex symbol? Glory: I like that. I think I’m sexy you got to be confident with yourself. I love the pictures that were out and little provocative. Some sexy and cute. It varies. AllHipHop: As far as getting into the rap game, what angle are you coming from? Glory: I want a little bit of it all, the Playboy bunny sexy but also I want to give a message not just talking about sex. Sex sells, but talk about important stuff too. People have think that I’m just some wild crazy girl ….no that’s not true, but if you want to fantasize and you want to buy my record do it. But I am more deeper than that. AllHipHop: Now you have a DVD on the way, right? Glory: It’s called “Glo’s Doing The Damn Thing”. So I have cameras following me all around – different states, partying, the home life, studio life, just everything about Gloria – photo shoots. Everything like “Girls Gone Wild.” […]

As hip-hop plows forward burrowing into history, more and more rappers are frozen in time or completely forgotten. Rap lyricist extraordinaire Chino XL isn’t about to be one of them. The rapper is readying Poison Pen, his next album slated for a fourth quarter release. But, in the interim period between albums Chino has turned to acting as a new career. The rapper has been in a number of films like “Playa’s Ball,” “Vatos.” “Barrio Wars,” “Osirus” and the now infamous “Crime Partners,” which is a subject of a federal investigation against Murder Inc. Now Chi makes his major feature film debut in the Rob Reiner flick “Alex and Emma” a movie that hits theaters June 20. AllHipHop.com talked to the budding thespian and got the lowdown on his movie career and what’s hip-hop got to do with it. AllHipHop.com: So what’s up Chi, how have you been? Chino XL: I’ve been good man, maintaining, knocking these movies out AllHipHop: Word. So what’s up with the whole Hollywood thing man? CXL: People have started calling me to do all types of movies. So I did one, I did another, and I did another and was like, “You know what Chi? This ain’t that hard at all.” So at that point I went and got a new manager, and agent and began doing my thing. I’m working on a few films now with one hitting called “Alex and Emma” directed by Rob Reiner and a couple straight to video flicks. AllHipHop: So what do movie producers and agents think about your other career with music? CXL: Well the thing is, I don’t use my rapping gig to get acting jobs. Most people in the movie industry initially have no idea about the music thing, and when they find out I do rhyme, they are pleasantly surprised. Not to disrespect, but to most movie industry cats, rappers don’t translate well over the screen. I think the reason being is that we are so accustomed to writing our own words, that when it comes time to act out somebody else’s words written for you, it becomes hard. I’ve learned so much in so little time about technique and I have become quite effective at adlibbing when I do my scenes. AllHipHop: So is acting going to be your new permanent hustle? CXL: Well it started out as a hustle, just something to pay my bills. But it has turned into something I can’t really control. I cant just stop acting for 4 months to go make an album, because based on my work thus far, my name is on breakdowns and there are people constantly calling my agent showing interest. It’s real man. AllHipHop: So what are some of the differences between the movie industry and the music industry? CXL: Man to be honest, movie money is so good. The people treat you treat you better, respect your ideas, the whole nine. Its so different having everything secure with the jobs you take in acting. When setting up a show in rap, it’s like what state am I gonna be in, what town, who’s the promoter, is he gonna pay me, etc, etc. With acting I have an agent who negotiates my money, and everything is set in stone with money in my pocket before I even step on a set. There are just not as many games being played either. Like right now we could call Robert Deniro’s agent, leave a message and he will call us right back. Not saying he gonna give you what you want, but he will show the decency and call you right back just like you was Al Pachino’s agent or something. People seem to be much more respectful. AllHipHop: So is acting hard for you, are you getting a grasp of it? CXL: It’s pretty easy for me. Because I have such a vast archive of rhymes in my head, there is no situation I will be in in a movie that I haven’t thought of in a lyric. I don’t play any parts that don’t reflect my music in some way. At first it was difficult because like with rhyming, I’m extremely confident in my abilities because I work very hard on my craft. When I step in a cipher, ni**as best rhymes wont save them cause they know what I’m about. But with the acting I felt like I was disrespecting the art form cause I couldn’t really rip it ya know? But with time it is something I have become much better at. Like now, I wont let an actor sh*t on me in a scene. I have too many verbals for me to back down. There is no fear and no line a writer can write that can shake me. Unless Kool G Rap wrote a script, there is nothing I could be shook by. Acting is really fun though. AllHipHop: So what’s’ cracking with Chino XL, the lyricist? CXL: Oh, I got Poison Pen coming real soon. And man let me tell you, straight up, I can’t believe some of the stuff that I’ve been writing. Dog I’m serious, it has been absolutely phenomenal. I’m not tying to gas ni**as, or pat my own back, but y’all just wait. I have a whole new control and method of madness when it comes to the lyrics. You’ll see very soon. AllHipHop: So just because your acting, I take it your still going hard with your rhyming career right? CXL: Listen dog, I could never stop rhyming. I would have loved to sell 10 million records on my own without bending over backwards for industry cats but I just had to fall back for a sec had to use the movie thing as a platform for another creative outlet But when it comes to my rhymes, I refuse to do it any other way than I do it. Whenever I write something I feel is not me, I just literally feel like […]

While the loss of perhaps the two biggest and brightest stars in hip-hop still resonates throughout the collective ears of hip-hop today, many of us still scratching our heads in awe. We all wonder: How could two of the most high profile murders in history go unsolved? It’s known the Feds were following them both. How could either be murdered in such high profile situations, with so many people around, yet no one has been brought to justice? The answer can be found in a documentary that came out of left field. Despite the flashy commercials hyping "Biggie & Tupac," the film documentary is far from that. It is filled substance. Information that, according to sources, could very well put the alleged perpetrators behind bars, much to certain peoples chagrin. Meet Nick Bloomfield. AllHipHop.com: Can you give a little bit of your background? Nick Broomfield: I am a journalist, but I guess I know a lot of people. I was going to do a film with Princess Diana at one point. I have been interested in lots of different kinds of stories. I was brought into this story when I was living in Los Angeles. AllHipHop.com: What got you so involved with Biggie and Tupac in particular? N: I liked Tupac’s music, I was a lot more aware of him than Biggie and I always wanted to do something about the LAPD, and also being aware that this is the richest country in the world and yet so many people are living under the poverty line. I read a newspaper article the other day saying ¼ of all the kids living in Harlem suffer from asthma and there is an enormous amount of deaths from asthma. Asthma is something that is easily curable, but in LA your always reading about people dying from bad water, or there are no medical facilities, bad schools and so on. This is like a big issue and I guess it’s the same thing in many American cities. I wanted to do something that involved that kind of situation as well so it was a portrait of a political situation in America. First I thought being English or being white would be a real negative factor, but I thought I could also bring something to it too as an outsider. As I started working on it I found that once people realized I was serious and that I was really interested and working hard at it they were really helpful. AllHipHop.com: Did you employ a certain kind of interview technique? N: I employed a couple of private detectives. Some of these police were arresting drug dealers and stealing drugs from the evidence locker and then getting other drug dealers to sell it for them. This has been going on for a number of years, so some of these guys were quite wealthy. They were supposed to invest some of the money into properties under various aliases. We were trying to find some of the properties. The thing is the LAPD has really not tried to get to the bottom of the story because it’s an embarrassment to the police force when their officers are involved. Justice somehow stops when other members of the police force are involved or it reflects badly on them ’cause they stop investigating. That’s why we hired the private detectives, ’cause we thought maybe we could come up with info that would embarrass the LAPD to get to the bottom of all this. I think we still got enough out there. I know that the case is moving forward and it has been reopened. There is a pretty successful lawsuit happening against the LAPD from the Christopher Wallace estate. A lot of the info that we got we gave to them and I’m optimistic that there will be developments. One of the things I have been trying to get people to do is see the DVD now that it’s in stores and to actually email the LAPD police chief William Bratton on LAPD online. Ask him why there hasn’t been any arrests? Why haven’t these murders ‘t been solved in 5 years, particularly when a couple of people are named in the DVD? I think police chiefs are influenced by public pressure; they don’t like being embarrassed or things reflecting badly on them. AllHipHop.com: What was your approach to doing the film? N: When you make these films if you remain very positive and determined, move a little forward everyday then you’ll get it made. I think everybody that we saw was at least 50 phone calls or more, you have to be very patient. A lot of the people you had to win their trust and their belief that it was worth there while taking part in the film and that it wasn’t going to be some stupid piece that they would expose themselves for unnecessarily. We read every single interview done by the police and read every interview with every single witness on the Biggie Smalls murder. So there’s a lot of information in there around David Mack, the people working with him, his gang members, his girlfriends, it’s all in the book. I found it unbelievable that Suge Knight said "I’m not going to talk to you." Death Row said "you’re not going to talk to him" and the president still said "if you want you can still come," so we’re actually walking around Suge’s prison yard asking other prisoners where Suge is. It was like a dream, not a particularly good dream, but a dream. Then we walked into the cellblock, there he was right across the room. He was shocked, he was sweating, worried like "how did they get in here?" We didn’t look like a professional crew, it was a ragged bunch. I think he did the interview through shock more than anything else. AllHipHop.com: There DVD suggests that there is so much evidence towards Suge Knight being behind the Murders of both Biggie and […]

One of the most interesting and intense interviews, I’ve ever conducted was with Tupac Shakur.. He had just hit it big with the movie "Juice" and everyone was wondering was he just acting or putting forth his real life persona in the movie. Although I had known him for a couple of years it was hard for me to tell. He had a loaded gun on him as we spoke. If I recall it was a .38….Pac explains in this interview his then recent encounter with the Oakland Police Department which resulted in him getting beat. Pac was out on bail after serving part of a 3 year prison sentence in upstate NY. He’s has signed with Death Row Records and released his album, All Eyes On Me. This early interview in March of 1996 lends some incredible insight to how he was before all the trouble. Enjoy..Davey D. Davey D: Give a little bit of background on yourself. What got you into hip hop? 2Pac: I’m from the Bronx, NY. I moved to Baltimore where I spent some high school years and then I came to Oaktown. As for hip hop-all my travels through these cities seemed to be the common denominator. Davey D: You lived In Marin City for a little while. How was your connection with hip hop able to be maintained while living there? Was there a thriving hip hop scene in Marin City? 2Pac: Not really..You were just given truth to the music. Being in Marin City was like a small town so it taught me to be more straight foward with my style. Instead of of being so metaphorical with the rhyme, I was encouraged to go straight at it and hit it dead on and not waste time trying to cover things…In Marin City it seemed like things were real country. Everything was straight forward. Poverty was straight forward. There was no way to say I’m poor, but to say ‘I’m poor’… Davey D: How did you hook up with Digital Underground? 2Pac: I caught the ‘D-Flow Shuttle’ while I was in Marin City. I’m referring to the album ‘Sons Of The P’ It was the way out of here. It was the way to escape out of the ghetto. It was the way to success. I haven’t gotten off since… Basically I bumped into this kid named Greg Jacobs aka Shock G and he hooked me up with Digital Underground… Davey D: What’s the concept behind your album 2Pacalypse Now’? 2Pac: The concept is the young Black male. Everybody’s been talkin’ about it but now it’s not important. It’s like we just skipped over it.. It’s no longer a fad to be down for the young Black male. Everybody wants to go past. Like the gangster stuff, it just got exploited. This was just like back in the days with the movies. Everybody did their little gunshots and their hand grenades and blew up stuff and moved on. Now everybody’s doing rap songs with the singing in it.. I’m still down for the young Black male. I’m gonna stay until things get better. So it’s all about addressing the problems that we face in everyday society. Davey D: What are those problems? 2Pac: Police brutality, poverty, unemployment, insufficient education, disunity and violence, black on black crime, teenage pregnancy, crack addiction. Do you want me to go on? Davey D: How do you address these problems? Are you pointing them out or are you offering solutions? 2Pac: I do both. In some situations I show us having the power and in some situations I show how it’s more apt to happen with the police or power structure having the ultimate power. I show both ways. I show how it really happens and I show how I wish it would happen Davey D: You refer to yourself as the ‘Rebel of the Underground’ Why so? 2Pac: Cause, if Digital Underground wasn’t diverse enough with enough crazy things in it, I’m even that crazier. I’m the rebel totally going against the grain…I always want to do the extreme. I want to get as many people looking as possible. For example I would’ve never done the song ‘Kiss U Back’ that way. Davey D: Can talk about your recent encounter with police brutality at the hands of the Oakland PD? 2Pac: For everyone who doesn’t know, I… an innocent young black male was walking down the streets of Oakland minding my own business and the police department saw fit for me to be trained or snapped back into my place. So they asked for my I-D and sweated me about my name because my name is Tupac. My final words to them was ‘f— y’all’ . Next thing I know I was in a choke hold passing out with cuffs on headed for jail for resisting arrest. We’re currently letting the law do its job by taking it through the court system. We had to file a claim. We’re in the midst of having a ten million dollar law suit against OPD. If I win and get the money then the Oakland Police department is going to buy a boys home, me a house, my family a house and a ‘Stop Police Brutality Center’. Davey D: Let’s talk about the movie ‘Juice’. How did you get involved? 2Pac: Money B had an audition for the movie. Sleuth [road manager] suggested I also come along. I went in cold turkey, read, God was with me…The movie is about 4 kids and their coming of age.It’s not a hip hop movie. It’s a real good movie that happens to have hip hop in it. If it was made in the 60s it would’ve depicted whatever was ‘down’ in the 60s…My character is Roland Bishop, a psychotic, insecure very violent, very short tempered individual. Davey D: What’s the message you hope is gotten out of the movie? 2Pac: You never know what’s going on in somebody’s mind. There are […]

When Tupac Shakur exited this physical plane called Earth, he left behind millions of fans. One of the biggest was fellow Immortal Outlaw Fatal Hussein, who is still in the world living Thug Life. Tonight is another one of those nights. A hot summer night in the city where tension is climbing steadily. New Jersey native Fatal and his entourage of wild ass brothers prepare to perform at a small community center in the innermost city of Wilmington, Delaware. Nappy headed children scamper about the streets, up way past their bed time and the teenagers grow up a little bit faster tonight. The crowd outside is fronting on the $10.00 cost of the show and only a few trickle in the heavily guarded doors. Eventually a couple hundred die-hard fans will enter and get rocked aback by Fatal. Seeing Fatal perform is disturbingly similar to watching his old mentor and friend Tupac Shakur thug it out on stage. He sports many of the same tattoos, including the "Thug Life" arched across the stomach. And even though Pac is dead, Thug Life is very alive. Fatal talks at great lengths about Tupac and Kadafi – Pac’s cousin who was also murdered. Kadafi was gunned down in a New Jersey housing project, apparently because he prepared to testify as to who murdered Tupac. Both unsolved deaths still haunt Fatal and it’s evident because it dominates his conversation when interviewed. He is often assailed with criticism from those who say he resembles Pac too much, in sight and sound. But those who say he is a deception are mistaken. They don’t know that he and Kadafi visited Pac two hours everyday while Pac was incarcerated for rape. At times, he even refers to Pac in the present tense, as if he were still alive. And that he often receives word of revenge and death threats from cats that love Biggie Smalls just a little too much. His crew packs heat wherever they go, even to little urban community centers like this. Even though during much of his show he rips some of Pac’s greatest hits, the crowd seems to pretend that it is Tupac Shakur before them. It would seem that the stage is the only place where Fatal is completely comfortable. AllHipHop.Com: What are you giving people? Fatal: I just gave (the people) some s###. I was just letting n##### know. I came home. My man Pac got killed. My man Kadafi got killed. I ain’t get hit. It ain’t like I bounced on Death Row either ’cause I’ll still be on the Row if I felt like rockin’ that. I ain’t feel like rockin’ or rappin’ then. F### rapping. F### rocking. (Getting louder) My n##### died! I went the f### home. When Kadafi died, when Pac died, we left California. Me and Kadafi, we were on some straight Jersey s###. Kadafi died in Jersey so we ain’t never want to go back to Cali. It ain’t like I left the world. I still be chillin’ over there ’cause it was dope over there. It was love. Even when I go back now, s### is still off the hook! All the n##### down with Pac are cool with me. I guess all the people that are enemies with him are enemies with me, but I don’t give a f###. AllHipHop: Being from New Jersey, do you ever have problems on the East Coast? Fatal: N##### playa hated on me one time over some Mic Geronimo b#######. AllHipHop: What do you mean? Fatal: That (song) "Usual Suspects" I guess they felt I stole his show ’cause I said, "One deep from Jersey on the Island doing sticks." So they felt a n#### from Jersey can’t go to Rikers Island, but it ain’t nothing like that, jail is jail. AllHipHop: With all the heat surrounding Tupac, did that affect the last album you dropped? Fatal: Hell, yeah. It affect my album. I don’t know the whole s### on how it affected it. Everybody knows what’s going on, politics is politics. Everybody knows who controls New York, who controls the radio. (Everybody knows) who’s funny, who’s twisted, who’s gay and s###. If I had it like (those in power), I would control it too. Ain’t nothing wrong with that, but I got to show them that Pac’s s### ain’t never gonna die. I gotta be strong. The mainstream to me ain’t really nothing. As long as I got the streets, m############ can’t shut me down ’cause these n##### (points to his crew) gonna be here. Other n##### is losing they job, hiding in Hawaii or staying home. F### that staying home. AllHipHop: In terms of your career, do you feel the whole Tupac situation helped or hindered it? Fatal: (Yelling) Oh, hell no! That’s the best thing that could’ve happened to me in my life. On the real, I don’t care what else happens to me. That’s the best thing that could’ve happened to me because I wouldn’t be able to provide for my kid, if I had one. I was able to come up outta that slump when my n#### died. Pac died. That f##### me up, but if it wasn’t for Kadafi, there would be no (connection between) me and Pac So I’m saying, "F### rap." What the f### is rap? It ain’t got nothing to do with n##### dying. AllHipHop: Does that scare you, the fact that those close to you have been murdered like that? Fatal: Nah. It don’t scare me ’cause I know s### like that happens everyday to m############. I can’t fear it because it will make me more paranoid. As long as I don’t smoke no weed… But it keeps me paranoid. I stay one point when I’m paranoid. AllHipHop: What do you want people to get out of you’re music? Fatal: Really if n##### don’t like it, I don’t give a f###. It ain’t gonna be easy. And that little bit of play I’m getting now is […]