Each day Complex scours the music blogs for 5 fresh songs that you should listen to in our 5 O’Clock Shuffle post. Instead of going crazy trying to keep up with your RSS feeds everyday, just head over to Complex.com to stay up-to-date on important leaks and releases.

Everyone has different musical tastes, but we’re pretty sure we’ve covered them all with today’s Shuffle playlist. Lupe brings the lyricism. Mariah gets a few Southern rappers to help her out. Akon applies his pop formula to a NYC tribute. And there’s more to look forward to from a couple lesser known artists. The mix is all over the place, but satisfying nonetheless. Press play after the jump…

SONG: “Fire”
ARTIST: Lupe Fiasco
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• The rapper sometimes known as Percival Fats goes in over a slick Jimi Hendrix sample. Some say this is his response to not making MTV’s Hottest MCs list.

SONG: “Enjoy The Sun”
ARTIST: Theophilus London
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• ‘09 has been a big year for this Brooklyn kid and he’s looking to keep the momentum going with this leak. His signature ambient flow and general trippy-ness is intact. Check out the music video if you’re feeling it.

SONG: “H.A.T.E.U. (Remix)”
ARTIST: Mariah Carey f/ Big Boi, Gucci Mane, & OJ Da Juiceman
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• Nick Cannon’s wifey can’t stay away from the rap remixes, can she? Despite (or maybe because of) her latest album’s disappointing sales, there’s supposedly a remix album on the way. It’s safe to assume this will be on there.

SONG: “Burnt Sierra”
ARTIST: Walls
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• Don’t listen for lyrics because you won’t find any here, but that doesn’t make the record any less effective. Zone out material and nothing else.

SONG: “New York City”
ARTIST: Akon
DOWNLOAD: [LINK]
• NYC anthems usually have some type of grime factor attached, but not this one. Akon sticks to his pop formula, turns on the Auto-Tune, and sings his heart out for the Big Apple. Weird, but honestly, not that bad either.

Visit Complex.com every day at 5 PM for your daily “5 O’Clock Shuffle“ playlist.

But more on that later! Hip-hop (and R&B) is as full of self-mythologizing bluster as the next genre (you ain’t no killa, Kenny Chesney!), but sometimes we’re amazed at what people try to get away with..which is why we rounded up the biggest fibbers in the biznass. Dear bad liars: try to stay away from polygraphs in the future…

Bo$$
THE LIE: Arguably the first female gangster rapper, Bo$$ talked nonstop about slangin’ in Compton, being a certifiable G-ass killa who was also paradoxically dead broke, and assorted other street tales that were so familiar to the early-’90s West Coast movement. Then came the Wall Street Journal reporter who in 1994 published a story exposing Lichelle Laws’ middle-class upbringing in Detroit–including two deacon parents who constantly sent money to her in L.A.
THE VERDICT: Guilty of affected gangsterism in the first degree! But at the time, she was the biggest Bo$$ that we’d heard thus far.

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AKON
THE LIE: The singer’s entire backstory, as he repeatedly discussed in interviews, revolved around leading a car-theft ring and serving more than four years in prison, including a three-year bid in Georgia. Of course, after The Smoking Gun started looking into things, they planted their gumshoe square in his ass. The reality? That Akon had landed in jail once, for a single stolen car, and served a matter of months before charges were dropped.
THE VERDICT: Might want to rename that record label, potna. In the meantime, can we borrow one of your wives?

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STEVE AUSTIN THE BIONIQ MC
THE LIE: The Dallas-area rapper, who hit the charts with 2007’s “Bussa Move,” claimed in his press release that he’d been in the Marines for four years. After the Marine Corp Times looked into it, they found no record of big homie serving in any military branch.
THE VERDICT: Why would a rapper bother to lie about being a Marine? Guilty, but laaaaaaaaaame!

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LIL KIM
THE LIE: After the infamous 2001 shootout between her crew and Capone’s outside the Hot 97 studios in NYC, the Queen Bee repeatedly told authorities that her manager D-Roc wasn’t involved (and that she didn’t even know her bodyguard C-Gutta).
THE VERDICT: Guilty of federal perjury! Off to the bing went Kimberly Jones for a year and a day. This is the thanks she gets for being loyal to her crew? It’s enough to make someone want to…dance!

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ROXANNE SHANTÉ
THE LIE: The first lady of the Juice Crew claimed that she had made Warner Music pay her way through college and graduate school on her way to getting a Ph.D. Problem was, as Slate has just uncovered, that a) she wasn’t signed to Warner Music (they just distributed her Cold Chillin’ records), b) she only attended her undergraduate college for three months, and c) that despite the claims, she doesn’t possess any college degree, undergraduate, Ph. D., or otherwise.
THE VERDICT: Looks like UTFO’s homegirl The Real Roxanne was actually the real Roxanne. We’ll lay off, though; she’s an icon, and any education is better than no education at all. Hear that, you bum-ass rappers who like to brag about not reading?

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RICK ROSS
THE LIE: Where to begin…Okay, maybe that he was a coke kingpin, that he knew Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, and that he had never been a corrections officer–despite irrefutable evidence. BAWSE!
THE VERDICT: Guilty! Now for your sentence: having your label buy tens of thousands of copies of all your albums in order to inflate your first-week sales. *Sad trombone sound*

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The NYC-born, Minnesota-raised DJ got his first break as a teenager when Stretch Armstrong introduced him to Steve Rifkind. The SRC owner liked young Skee’s ideas, and eventually brought him on as a consultant. Since then, Skee has helped launch the careers of Akon and The Game. Recently we got a chance to chat with Skee for another round of The Complex 7 in which he professed his love for Jordans and discussed how he put Chris Cornell on to Twitter. To read Skee’s answers and hear a snippet from his new tape, see below…


Snippet from The Demo Tape by DJ Drama, DJ Skee & R. Kelly

Interview by Jaeki Cho

#1: WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER ONE DEAL-BREAKER FOR A POTENTIAL GIRLFRIEND?

DJ Skee says: Girls who are around for the wrong intentions. Especially in L.A. it’s tough because they are so many actors and singers. And their looks matter. I might sound superficial, but I’m just being real.

#2: WHAT’S THE WORST WAY YOU’VE BROKEN UP WITH SOMEONE?

DJ Skee says: I could be a jerk sometimes. I just turn my phone off and be an asshole.

#3: WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

DJ Skee says: I’m not going to lie. I’m sensitive. I don’t recall what it was, but I know it wasn’t a romantic comedy. [Laughs.] I was probably watching a rerun of Forrest Gump. That’s real, man. When Bubba dies? Man…

#4: IF YOU HAD A WEEK-LONG HOLIDAY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

DJ Skee says: I’m dreaming someday when I could literally leave my phone home and just go to an island with a dope-ass spa in a nice hotel. Hang out, get on the beach all day and get a massage. Just do nothing and get your mind right.

#5. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SNEAKER OF ALL TIME?

DJ Skee says: Air Jordan XI. The first shoe I ever got was the Air Jordan X. Those were all right; I just got them to say that I have a pair of Jordans. But when the XIs came out? Those shut the game down. Shoes are like wine—some age well, some don’t. But Jordan XI is a classic. It actually looks better over time. So I literally have a hundred pairs of Jordan XIs in my room in various colors. And as a kid I had a Jordan XI in black and white, but couldn’t get the red and black. So when they retro’d those, I bought literally like 40 pairs.

#6: WHAT’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING PIECE OF CLOTHING YOU’VE EVER WORN?

DJ Skee says: I really can’t remember this one. [Laughs.]

#7: WHAT HAS TO BE IN YOUR FRIDGE AT ALL TIMES?

DJ Skee says: Well, I don’t drink liquor and I don’t even drink soda. So all I have is water and juice.

BONUS QUESTIONS:

Complex: What’s the latest mixtape that you are coming out with?

DJ Skee: I got one with Chris Cornell. It’s kind of like a mash-up with hip-hop, rock and soul. The new album that Timbaland produced for [Chris Cornell] got some backlash. I mean Chris Cornell from Soundgarden has one of the greatest voices in rock history, but rap fans just aren’t familiar with him. People just don’t open their ears. This mixtape is going to have all the old and new rock and hip-hop mash ups just to show that, “Yo, good music is good music.”

Complex: How did you get to work with Chris Cornell?

DJ Skee: His camp actually hit me up. He is just a super cool, workaholic dude. We just premiered [Chris Cornell’s] video “Long Gone” that we directed. I was the first person who really got him on Twitter. Now he has like 300,000 followers in a month. He didn’t know what it was and he didn’t know how to reply back to people with certain stuff. So I just took a day out, went to his house, showed him how to use it through BlackBerry and showed him how to upload pictures. He is addicted to it now. Even at KIIS-FM, I was in a meeting and I was like, “Twitter’s the next thing.” And everyone was like, “What is Twitter?” Now everybody’s on it.

One thing’s for sure, it helps to have a major label backing the effort, which Universal did in 2006 when they released Tami Chynn’s debut Out Of Many One. While the rhythms were catchy and sexy to match Tami’s drop-dead-gorgeous looks, they catered to the raw, traditional riddim format of dancehall tracks. But for her sophomore follow-up, she’s going pop under the guidance of Akon and with the support of Steve Rifkin’s SRC label. Last week, Complex chopped it up with Tami about her new album Prima Donna, cat-calling in ATL, and becoming fodder for Jamaican tabloids…

Interview by Richard “DJ Treats” Dryden

Complex: So tell me how you ended up on SRC.

Tami Chynn: You want the real story or the fake one?

Complex: I want the real story.

Tami Chynn: [Laughs] I was originally signed to Cherry at Universal.

Complex: Cherry/Universal? I've never heard of that label.

Tami Chynn: It's actually on the West Coast. I actually released an album in Japan under that label. When it came down to my new album I wanted to work with Akon. And I moved over to the SRC side of the label, and Akon is also signed to SRC.

Complex: So it was your decision to go to SRC?

Tami Chynn: No, it was kind of like a joint decision between leaving Cherry at the time. Universal had split and it went to Rhythm Republic, Motown records, and it seemed like a good fit for me to be. I wanted to do the album with Akon. Especially with Doug Morris and Steve Rifkin who suggested that union, and it worked.

Complex: So what have you been doing since the last time we spoke?

Tami Chynn: Well basically, like I said, I released an album in Japan. You know there was a demand for it and I said, “Well I could either sit on this album or let it go and have it do something good.” The album actually did quite good over there, and then it came time for me to do the new album. We did one song, and we met up maybe six months after that and did the album with Red One in two and a half weeks.

Complex: What was your approach to this one in comparison to your first?

Tami Chynn: I really took the opportunity with this album to introduce myself. People hear Jamaica and they think reggae, and I'm not supposed to look like this, you know. There's some songs that have a dancehall feeling in there, but I'm going to do pop that's infiltrated with '80s.

Complex: The title is Prima Donna'what's the inspiration behind that title? Or are you just a fan of Madonna?

Tami Chynn: I'm really trying to change the vibe of a prima donna. People hear prima donna and they think diva. I really feel like I'm here to tell young girls and women all across the scale like, It’s okay to be confident. There's a fine line between confidence and cockiness but it's okay to be who you are. Like, it's actually okay'problems and all!

Hit “NEXT” to hear how Tami feels about dressing for men, and being a prima donna.

While a few other rap and R&B artists have been dabbling in country sounds lately (see: Nelly’s duet with Tim McGraw and Snoop Dogg’s Johnny Cash-esque “My Medicine”), none of them are exactly Jackie Robinson-ing the game. In truth, black artists have occasionally popped up in the lily-white country world for decades. Before he moves to Nashville, 'Kon might want to check out these 5 well-known black country singers, after the jump.

1. Charley Pride
This Mississippi native is the Godfather of Black Country, releasing 36 #1 hits on the Country charts from the '60s through the '80s.

Charley Pride “Just Between You And Me (Live)” (1967)

2. Ray Charles
Best known for his innovations in soul music, Ray also played a big role in making country mainstream with his classic 1962 genre-bending album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.

Ray Charles “You Don’t Know Me” (1963)

3. Stoney Edwards
This Oklahoma-bred Capitol Records singer had multiple big hits on the country charts throughout the '70s, most notably “She’s My Rock.”


Stoney Edwards “She’s My Rock” (1972)

4. Cowboy Troy
With his self-proclaimed “hick-hop” style, this affiliate of popular duo Big & Rich had some minor hits of his own and even co-hosted USA’s reality competition Nashville Star.

Cowboy Troy f/ Big & Rich “I Play Chicken With The Train” (2005)

5. Rissi Palmer
One of country’s few ladies of color, Rissi turned down a deal with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis to follow her country girl dreams. Her self-titled debut started turning heads late last year.

Rissi Palmer “Country Girl” (2007)