Chamillionaire - Mixtape Messiah 2 News/Preview

411: Chamillionaire travels to Europe almost as often as a suburban New Yorker goes to Harlem or Brooklyn. They love him over there, and Cham is trying to strike while he's hot. So instead of staying at home and recording his new album, Cham is on tour ... and recording his new album. The Ultimate Victory is due March 27.

"The label is asking the same question," he answered when asked how he's finding time to record his sophomore major-label effort amid the tour. "But I've recorded part of the album in London. ... It's a studio everywhere on the planet. You don't have to be in Houston."

Cham has proven his point by not only recording a bulk of The Ultimate Victory, but also tracking his next street CD, Mixtape Messiah 2. You remember that the first one came out almost three years ago? Well, Cham apologizes to the fans for taking so long — but he's been well, you know, busy going platinum with his major-label debut, The Sound of Revenge; winning VMAs and BET Hip-Hop Awards; and guest-appearing on songs with people like Ciara and Tupac. (Cham's also been busy with his Chamillitary label, to which he just signed San Antonio rapper MC Famous — formerly Lil' Ken.)

"They can't blame it on the mind, they have to blame it on the grind," Cham said. "When you have your own company and you're having success, it's a lot that gets thrown on your plate. I respect the whole mixtape circuit — I'll never turn away from it. But all the things that were coming up in my life were taking me away from it. I just figured out a way I could still feed the audience and do what I'm doing."

Although Cham fully expects bootleggers to be selling his mixtape to a mom-and-pop store or on the street near you, he's releasing it for free via his Web site, Chamillionaire.com, on Christmas Eve morning.

"I could make a million dollars off that mixtape, but I'mma give it to them for free," Cham said. "I know the fans will appreciate it when it drops. ... The fans have been waiting for a while. I want the fans just to have it. I'm not saying I'm always gonna do that, but this time, yeah."

You know how we do around these parts. No way in the world we're going to holla at Chamillionaire and not have him give his mixtape a preview. Keep reading.

Joints To Check For:

"Answering Machine Part 2." "I did the 'Answering Machine' interlude on the first mixtape," he said. "So many people responded to it and were putting it on their actual answering machines. 'Part 2' is basically [saying,] 'I got answering-machine messages from people.' People leave messages on my phone and be talking crazy to me. I have a lot of them and I save them even if I don't call the people back."


"Untitled Freestyle." "I [run] into some fans and they say, 'You don't rap like how you used to rap,' " he said. " 'You used to give them all the punch lines and everything.' I know over the years I graduated and grew into more types of artists. I kind of took it back a little bit and gave them some of the witty punch lines. When it comes to making songs, sometimes it's not all what it's about. I'm just going back to the mixtape roots where you be like, 'I can't believe he said that.'

"I kind of accept that criticism," he added about people saying they want to hear more punch lines from him. "I'm not mad at them for saying that. I understand. 'Turn It Up' is definitely different from the mixtape stuff. Some of the stuff I did on the mixtape may have lyrically surpassed the stuff I did on [The Sound of Revenge]. I know that. But it wasn't about that at first. I had to get in there first. I didn't want to lose people. Back in the day people used to say me and Paul Wall used to only talk about ballin' and materialistic stuff. Then when we started changing, then they wanted to complain again. It's all about proving people wrong. I know where I can go lyrically. I want to show people a little bit."


"Hip-Hop Is Dead" freestyle. "A lot of people are waiting for me to put out a mixtape with new beats, but that would be considered an album," Cham explained. "I can't have people taking them records and doing too much with them. It's supposed to be in the streets. I'm jacking every [beat] that's hot and rippin' it. [With] the mixtapes, I voice my opinion to the streets. It's a lot of freestyles on there. No dissin'. I tried to show them creativity."

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Chea, If you heard MM 1, you awwready know it's goin' down. It's gunna be available on his new website on Christmas Eve.

EVERYONE should pick this up... If you're still sleepin' on Cham, it's time to wake up.

Comin out in less than 7 hours!