Thursday, January 20, 2011

Exclusive: Chamillionaire Talks 'Venom,' Explains Departure From Universal

(AllHipHop News) Rapper Chamillionaire sat down with AllHipHop.com and further explained his recent revelation that he has split with Universal Records, which was once home to the Grammy Award winning rapper and his label Chamillitary Records.

The rapper's third album Venom was delayed several times throughout 2010, due to creative differences between Chamillionaire and Universal, his recording home for the past six years.

"The reason why I haven't released any music for a while is because I was trying to get off of Universal," Chamillionaire explained to AllHipHop.com. "For a while I felt like I was fighting against the machine that was supposed to be supporting me."

According to Chamillionaire, Universal reps wanted him to record more "Pop" friendly records and pressured him to recreate his 2005 hit "Ridin' Dirty" with Krayzie Bone, which earned the pair a Grammy Award.

Instead of compromising the vision for his music, the tech-savvy artist refused to release his highly third album Venom during his dispute with the label.

As a result of his parting with Universal, Venom has been permanently shelved, along with all of the material Chamillionaire recorded during his deal with Universal.

"I left under the terms that I couldn't put out Venom or anything recorded while I was there," Chamillionaire revealed to AllHipHop.com.

While fans may be disappointed, the freedom clears the way for Chamillionaire to release more material, more in tune with his personal goals for his own music.

"I just wanted to be able to get back control so I can release content how and when I want to," Chamillionaire told AllHipHop.com. "These labels spend more time complaining about 'rap music' that isn't pop enough than actually supporting a brand and a vision."

Chamillionaire is working on a new series titled Playlist Poison. Via All Hip Hop