When I was broke sleeping in the street
He hooked me up with a free beat R.A. The Rugged Man – Lessons
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The Neptunes came to see me at D&D R.A. The Rugged Man – Lessons
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Right before The Neptunes brought out a string of successful albums with Mystikal and Jay-Z, they talked about working with R.A when he was recording at D&D Studios — an opportunity he missed perhaps.
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He’s talking about the early 90s where dozens of high profile labels were trying to persuade R.A to sign with them.
Russell Simmons is one half of the legendary label Def Jam, and Master P is a rapper and owner of No limit Records.
He talks more about it on the track “A Star is Born”.
Tommy Boy, Mercury, Priority wanted me
Russell Simmons, and 9 other record companies
Sending limousines out to pick up my broke ass
Feedin' me steaks, buyin' me hookers, I hope that shit last
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Reference to the influential hip-hop duo E.P.M.D. and their controversial breakup in 1993. Tensions split the group as PMD was robbed in his house by a gang apparently paid by Erick Sermon.
And my handicapped brothers and sisters, and we had no loot R.A. The Rugged Man – A Star Is Born
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He moved back in with his father (pop duke) and siblings.
R.A has talked extensively about his family in his music, the most noteworthy being on “Uncommon Valor”. In a verse where he speaks from the view of his father in Vietnam, he spits:
I escaped the war, came back, but ain’t escape Agent Orange
Two of my kids born handicapped
From the side effects of Agent Orange, his little brother Maxx was born with severe disabilities and died age 10, his sister Dee Ann cannot walk or speak.
R.A still had a great relationship with his father until his death in early 2010.
Keep him in the other room, don't let him see Aaliyah" R.A. The Rugged Man – A Star Is Born
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RnB singer Aaliyah was signed to Jive the same time R.A was. She was pretty much opposite to the style R.A was bringing to the table and she was the kind of artist Jive were signing more and more rather than the hip-hop acts like R.A and he felt sidelined.
Feeding me steaks, buying me hookers, I hope this shit last
I was used to have no cash, I got gassed
White trash, why they wanna sign my ass? R.A. The Rugged Man – A Star Is Born
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Russell Simmons, and nine other record companies R.A. The Rugged Man – A Star Is Born
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In 1991, R.A. caught the attention of a lot of big record companies. Some of the bigger record companies that wanted to sign R.A. were:
Tommy Boy aka. Tommy Boy Entertainment — bought by Warner Bros. but now an Independent again.
Priority Records Owned by EMI — “the home of real Gangsta rap”.
Def-Jam — legendary hip hop label co-founded by Russell Simmons.
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Home Box Office (HBO) boxing is where all the famous fighters matches get played. R.A kinda feels like a lot of his peers got to this level in the rap game but he did not. Popularity-wise only, of course, not quality-wise.
And although those rappers are now popular, they became whack rappers now that they gained some fame. So, basically, they have lost in the hip hop game anyway. Therefore, R.A. compares them to popular boxers who got beaten up in the HBO Boxing Championships: Vitali Klitschko, Sugar Shane, Vernon Forrest and Prince Naseem.
i think hes reffering to Wladimir klitscko the younger brother not Vitali. Vitali has an iron jaw and never really lost a fight, but wladimir got knocked out a few times back in the day.