Ali Vegas
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| Ali Vegas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Ollie Williams | |
| Born | Februray of 1983 | |
| Origin | South Ozone Park, Queens, New York | |
| Genre(s) | Hip hop | |
| Years active | 1999–Present | |
| Label(s) | Trackmasters Entertainment/Columbia Records (1999-2000)
Casablanca Records/Universal Music Group(2003-2005) Rich Soil Entertainment/Council Recordings (2005-Present) |
|
| Associated acts |
Domination (rapper) Lamar Odom |
|
Ali Vegas is an underground rap artist from South Jamaica, Queens, New York. He is a close childhood friend of NBA Player Lamar Odom (Odom often affectionately calls Vegas his "cousin"; however, they are not related). He is currently signed to Odom's label Rich Soil.
Contents |
[edit] Basic Info
Vegas is heavily shadowed with the comparison of him sounding like fellow Queens rapper Nas, AZ (rapper) and most recently Jay-Z.
He announced he is changing his name to "Hebrew 12:15" in honour of Odom's son, Jayden, who died at the age of 7 months in late June 2006. Jayden was born on December 15th, 2005. This album will feature production by DJ Premier, Shatek, Cookin Soul and Kanye West, who produced the record "The AV Theme" , which samples the SpongeBob SquarePants (character) theme song.
Vegas is also the co-owner of Rich Soil Entertainment, which he shares with Lamar Odom and is the owner of Council Recordings, home to the likes of underground favorites such as R.A.P., TRL, ImSoHood, and a long list of others.
[edit] Beef With DJ Clue And Fabolous
Ali Vegas has shared many beefs display on the mixtape circuit, mainly the one with DJ Clue and Fabolous. The beef with DJ Clue started after Clue tried to signed Vegas to Desert Storm Records but Vegas refused since he would have to drop after Fabolous, a rapper who Veg felt was not lyrically better than him. Problems arose after a freestyle on a DJ Absolut mixtape which showcased Vegas, Shells, Lady Luck (rapper) and Team Arliss rapper Trav, who at the time was feuding with Joe Budden (an affiliate of DJ Clue's camp). Feeling like he was taking sides with Trav, Clue appeared on Hot 97 and asked for Vegas to apologize or he would not play any more records from the young aspiring artist. Vegas responded with a record, noticeably known as, "The Apology", airing out DJ Clue, Fabolous and Duro, an engineer and co-owner of Desert Storm. The record picked up an heavy following due to the support from the likes of DJ Kool Kid, Wendy Williams (radio host), and DJ Kay Slay. Even though a response from Fab's lil brother Paul Cain was released, there was only subliminal responses back to Vegas from the Desert Storm camp. The beef was ultimately ended.
[edit] Beef With Stack Bundles
Ali Vegas found himself back in beef with another rapper from the Desert Storm camp, Stack Bundles. Though there are many stories of why this beef started, Vegas claims it started over an ex-girlfriend of his, who happens to be the, at the time, girlfriend of the former Desert Storm signee/newly added member of Byrd Gang from Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, in which Vegas claims Stack was mad because of her steadily calling him while being in a relationship with Bundles. Also, another part of their beef is because of the locations where the rappers are from, which are somewhat rivals, but Stack claims he has nothing but love for "Southside", the nickname for Vegas' neighborhood. At this point, the beef never hit wax but a studio session with Lamar Odom and Eyes Low proved to add fuel. Vegas claims Bundles, already mad about the girlfriend situation, tried to get at him in a freestyle session, but was quickly shut down by the "Prince of New York", one of the many nicknames Vegas uses. Vegas does a freestyle with neighboring friend/rapper Vic Damone, who ate the time was beefing with Bundles over who created the "Squad Up" term (Gun Squad= Vic's former crew and Riot Squad= Stacks crew), throws a light jab at Stack Bundles:
"Them southside gunners is back/Ain't no silencers on em, so ain't no more mumbling raps/Told Vic don't go to war unless you got your money right/He said look Veg, nigga, all my bundles is stacked, Ha"
Enraged by this, Stack dropped a freestyle over Ludacris "Blow It Out Your Ass" targeting the two rappers and even showcased the freestyle on Smack DVD. Seeing that he knows the history of Stack Bundles, Vegas dropped the damaging exposal record called "Rayquan aka Stack Bundles" featuring Pete Promise, a member of R.A.P. and one of Vegas' proteges. From the "get go", Vegas spears no time and exposes Stack Bundles' history of being a background dancer in the 702 video of the song "Where My Girls At" with the instrumental blazing as he speaks then lets Promise finish the job. After this record is released, the beef quietly dies out.
[edit] Where You May Have Seen Him Before From
Some people may remember his face from various TV appearances. First, Vegas was the leading man in the video for 3LW's No More (Baby I'ma Do Right) as he was the boyfriend for Kiely Williams who was unfaithful to her. Secondily, Vegas was on the The Blaze Battle, a freestyle competition held in New York City. Vegas, a heavily favorite to win, lost in the first round to the winner Eyedea. Thirdly, he was featured in an TheTruth.com commercial. Lastly, Vegas on Rap City (TV series) alongside Lamar Odom and Mad Linx and a judge on 106 & Park's Freestyle Friday competition.
[edit] Bad Record Deals
Vegas been through "two bad deals", as he professes on his record "By Your Side". First, Vegas signed to Jean-Claude "Poke" Olivier and Samuel "Tone" Barnes's Trackmasters Entertainment under Columbia Records. The record deal seemed perfect and the album, Generation Gap, was geared up to be released but once The Trackmasters (Olivier and Barnes) lost their distribution deal, Vegas opted out the contract and scratch the whole project. While being hardily noticeable on the scene for 2 to 3 years, Vegas returned to sign with the newly retroed Casablanca Records with Tommy Mottola, who happen to be the same guy who signed Vegas over at there at Sony (with his previous deal with the Trackmasters). Vegas, feeling happy about his new home, hit the lab and constructed the new album, Who Needs A Pen. But as people say karma is a mother, Vegas found himself leaving that label after various delays on releasing his album. Seeing that he had bad experiences with labels, he decided to create his own, Council Recordings and Rich Soil Entertainment.
[edit] Discography
- What Kinda Hose You Like Single - released 2000 on Sony Records
- Theme of New York Single - released 2000 on Sony Records
- Generation Gap (Unreleased Album)
- Whatevers Whatever (Mixtape) Hosted by DJ On Point
- The Best of Ali Vegas & The Council (Mixtape) Hosted by DJ Elbow
- Heir To The Throne (Mixtape) Hosted by DJ On Point
- Rebirth of A Prince (Mixtape/DVD) Hosted by DJ Big Mike
- Million Dollar Baby (Mixtape) Hosted by DJ On Point & Lamar Odom
- The Best of Ali Vegas Volume 1: Freestyle Edition (Mixtape) Hosted by DJ L-Gee
- Old Era Volume 1 1994-1996 (Mixtape)
- The Best of Ali Vegas Volume 2 (Mixtape) Hosted by DJ L-Gee
- Project AV DVD (DVD)
- Wait Till They Get A Load Of Me(Mixtape) Hosted by Superstar Jay
[edit] Also On
- In Too Deep (Original Soundtrack)
[edit] Alias
The Prince of New York
Pony To You Homie
Avion
Bruce
Veg
King Of Queens
[edit] Trivia
- Ali Vegas' government name is Ollie Bruce Williams
- Vegas acted in a straight to dvd movie named Fulgazi.
- He was once managed by Bimmy, some may recongize this name because Bimmy was the same to A&R LL Cool J's G.O.A.T. album.
- Ali Vegas means= A Live Intelligent Very Exclusive Gifted Artistic Scholar
- Just signed an deal for Rich Soil to Asylum Records.
- Had an battle with Shyne and members of Harlem World in front of Mase, Don Pooh, and Trackmasters.
