This is huge for New York City and hopefully big for hip-hop as a whole: Diddy is close to signing another super lyricist from Brooklyn and going in with Akon on the project. On Wednesday (April 29), Diddy released a vlog on his P.TwittyTV YouTube channel announcing that Red Cafe is just about officially on Bad Boy.
"I know the word is bubbling in the streets," Diddy said in the video. "We're in final negotiations with Shakedown [Records] for Red Cafe, for him to be on Bad Boy, also associated Akon and Konvict music. The ink's not dry but we feel comfortable enough to drop this new remix, the 'Hottest in the Hood' remix."
Red's been signed to Akon's Konvict for quite some time, and recently Diddy got in on the action. All three were in Atlanta over the weekend at the Core DJs retreat, where they debuted the remix, which features Rick Ross, Jadakiss, Fabolous, OJ Da Juiceman and Diddy.
PD and Red are immediately planning to put material out. A new Red mixtape with Diddy's heavy involvement is coming soon.
"The new mixtape is on the way," Red told MTV News recently. "This new mixtape is gonna be so tough. It's hosted by Diddy; it's gonna be crazy. Something special. You gonna have freestyles on there, original records on there you never heard. ... Every record on here is brand new. Everything was designed totally for this tape. The people are gonna soak this up crazy. Puff is gonna be on there doing what he do, screaming and hollering and banging for the project, because he's married to it. He likes what we're doing. He said 'I wanna be a part of it. I like what you're doing. I'm gonna host your joint for you.'"
Red is hoping to drop his album later this year as well. Between his street album and the official label release, he's worked with Ross, Jada, OJ Da Juiceman, Fabolous, Maino, T-Pain, G-Unit and, of course, Akon.
"The album, I definitely gotta take care of the streets," said Red, a veteran in the rap game. "My core, they've been riding with me for however long, but my core wants to see me take it to the next level. I wanna deliver those next-level records to make sure we stay in the penthouse, not the lobby. I think they wanna see that growth. You spoon-feed them, you don't wanna jump all the way out the there. They might be a little afraid of that. I try to find a nice medium."
Red has rapped along the best of the best throughout his career, but he's never been able to get the right backing to put out the album his following has wanted. Diddy says Red has nothing to worry about anymore.
"I'm like a bully," Diddy said on his video blog. "Y'all know what time it's gonna be when that ink dries. We're gonna go crazy. Nobody does it like us. We're gonna have a good time."
