Jae Millz addressed rumors of a reported robbery on the set of Drake’s “The Best I Ever Had” video. Millz asserted to HipHopDX that while there was an attempt made to steal his jewelry, it was unsuccessful and he remains in possession of said personal belongings.
“I did not get robbed,” said Millz. “I don’t even care if you put the audio of what I’m saying right now on the Internet, I don’t give a fuck. This is Jae Millz on HipHopDX.com making it official right now. I’m going to let y’all know right now, all these rumors about a nigga cough up his jewels or a nigga came up off of his items or something like that at my man Drake’s video shoot…in Brooklyn, New York [aren’t true]."
The Harlem rapper did confirm that there was an attempted robbery though. "Shit happened, the niggas tried to pull a fast move on me, ain’t nothing happened, though. I ain’t come up off of nothing. I’m still shining, I’ve still got what I came to the video shoot with. When you see the video, you’re going to see what I came to the video shoot with, so I don’t really got to talk about it. I’m not up here trying to sound crazy [and] talk like it can’t happen. Shit happens. Remember it just didn’t happen.”
In 2008, Millz announced he had signed a joint-venture deal with Lil Wayne’s [click to read] newly founded Young Money Entertainment. Speaking with DX, the rapper admitted that since signing that deal, Millz says that things have only gotten better for him.
“It definitely [does feel like it’s gone from good to better],” said Millz. “If everybody doesn’t know, [Young Money]’s got one of the biggest songs in the country right now ['Every Girl']. If you don’t believe me, you can go on Billboard. Shout out to Drake, Drake’s got the number one song in the country right now ['Best I Ever Had'], so that’s definitely a good situation. It’s all Young Money. But it definitely went from a good situation to a better situation. Wayne just came off of the I Am Music Tour, so we did that. We were out there for about half a year. It was a good situation…that was my first time being on a tour, traveling in tour buses, selling out arenas and all of that, so I really got a chance to see a lot. [We’re] recording the Young Money compilation. We’re just about to finish that up. [We’ve got] 'Every Girl,' and just seeing how the song took off, it’s a good situation.”
Signing with Young Money not only afforded Jae Millz the opportunity to work with one of the top emcees in the game, but it also gave him the chance to venture into previously uncharted musical territory: working within a group. Millz notes that the transition from strictly solo work to making music with Young Money was foreign at first, but that after awhile, the group bonded together and became more like a family than a group of artists.
“At first, I’m not going to lie, [working in the Young Money group] was kind of awkward,” admitted the Harlem emcee. “It was kind of awkward going from the, ‘Oh, I’m Jae Millz, and I’ve got this album coming out,’ you know, you’re really like a solo artist. You’re like a one-man band in a way. [In Young Money], you’ve got Lil Chucky, he’s 13, you’ve got Lil Twist, he’s 16, you’ve got Nicki Minaj [click to read], you’ve got Drake, you’ve got Mack Maine, you’ve got Gudda Gudda, you’ve got T-Streets, you’ve got Tyga, and at the end of all that, you’ve got Lil Wayne and the newest edition of Omarion. It’s a lot of different personalities, different characters you’re dealing with, but [Wayne] did right thing taking us all on tour. He took us all on tour with him, and we kind of got a chance to become family. We’re really like a big family.”
He later added, “It’s like some people that you know are going to spit some shit, you know you’re going to spit some shit, it’s just going to come out crazy, like if I can’t come up with a hook, I know Wayne’s got one. If Wayne ain’t got one, I know Nicki or Mack got one. If I’m stuck on a bar or something, [it’s like] ‘Yo Gudda, how do you think this sounds?’ [Wayne] does the same thing with us. When Wayne’s recording, he might be like...he’s not certain of what he’s saying, He ain’t going to go to too many people, but he’s going to go to his people. He’ll definitely come to us [to spit] his verse…before he goes in the booth just to get our okay, not that it really matters. That’s the communication. It ain’t a secretive thing, like ‘Y’all are going to hear my verse when I go in the booth.’ We’re working, so it’s a good atmosphere. I like recording more with them than I do by myself.”
In addition to the musical liberties the label offers, Young Money Entertainment as a business venture is “an eye-opener” for the Harlem rapper. He explains that while other record labels turn making music into work, Young Money ensures that the process is more organic and creative. He also describes how unlike other artists who start labels, Lil Wayne’s motivations stem from musical intrigue and not monetary gain.
“Me and Wayne were on the same label as solo artists, so I got a chance to see what the business was like before I got down with Young Money,” explained Millz. “Before he even thought about starting Young Money, [Wayne] got a chance to see what the business was like…[and] those days are over. The A&R days, an the person executive producing your album on the label, those days are over. You don’t see A&Rs in the studio. You don’t see executive producers and all of that in the studio anymore. You barely see a producer and an artist in the studio [together]. They send you the beat, you do it…niggas are doing too much of this sending the record to the artist and the artist sending it back…that’s why it’s getting to the point where at Young Money, we’re doing our own music. Lil Twist just did a song for me called I Feel Me.' Wayne’s doing songs on the Young Money album and he did the majority of The Rebirth album. He makes beats. He knows how to play drums and play the guitar…the piano and keyboard and all that…so we don’t need to go to producers for beats. We just do it because it makes better music.”
