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Hittman Wants Out
Written By: Incognito on 1/19/01
There has been much confusion on Hittman's situation
with Dr. Dre and Aftermath Entertainment for some time.
Is he, or isn't he down with the label anymore?
Will we ever hear his album? Or will he fade away
like most of Dre's artist have in the past? Most
recently, we have been hearing that Hittman is off of
Dre's label officially. Though now things have
been cleared up by a reliable source, Aftermath's one
time A&R for 3 years, DJ Ben Baller who met Dr.
Dre in 1994, and eventually landed a job with Dre and
Aftermath.
"Legally, Hittman
is still signed with Aftermath and we've been trying
for the last year and a half to get this album out,
or his release from The Math" says Hittman's exclusive
DJ, Ben Baller. From this, Hittman is now trying
to part ways with the label, and release his album as
soon as possible. Though with yet another delay,
we may have to wait even longer than the summertime
for a Hittman album, which is when he wanted to release
this album.
We haven't heard
any work from Dre and Hitt together since 1999, where
Hittman had a major part of Dre's comeback album, "Dr.
Dre 2001." Now in 2002, we haven't heard anything
new from Hittman, it seemed that Dre was done working
with him, but we still heard these rumors saying he
is still down with Dre. Hittman wanting to depart
from Aftermath is not a bad thing at all, if you think
about it for a second. "If Dre signs off on Hittman's
release, then yes, Dre will (still) be an executive
producer as well as majority producer on the Hittman
LP." Ben Baller and Hittman hope they can get
Hitt''s contract release granted. "Every single
major record label has offered major money to get Hitt's
record from Sony to MCA to Rawkus to Virgin to Warner
Bros. to Universal to Capital to J Records to Arista.
These labels were very raw about their offers, some
wanted to sign Hitt at first appearence." Still,
nothing will change, the album will still be the same
as intended for Aftermath release, just on a different
label. We will still get to hear the Dr. Dre and
Mel-Man production that was meant for the label in the
first place. "He did most of the production (Dr.
Dre) on Hitt's album; there might even be a little Aftermath
imprint on the CD." Ben Baller is confident that
wherever Hitt goes with his album, that he will find
success, "There is no doubt in my mind that if we drop
on another label like Sony or Universal that we will
smash! Dre has given us word that he will be behind
the Hittman album 10000000%."
I'm sure even if
Hittman leaves Aftermath, he and Dre will still continue
to make music together. "Hitt just did a song
with Dre last week and is still writing songs for the
"Detox" record. Dr. Dre will always work with
Hitt no matter what the situation." Dre is still
very much behind his protege, as he feels he owes him
for the work he has done and is doing for "Detox."
Ben Baller shows his respect by saying Dre made everything
possible in the beginning, "No way could we make it
without the help of Dr. Dre."
Hittman may find
a new home for his music, but that doesn't mean Dre
and him have to stop working together just because they
are on different labels. "There is no beef between
any of us. It is all love and sometimes the politics
fuck shit up on the business end." - Incognito
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