ELEPHANT MAN DENIES DIDDY BEATDOWN
DANCEHALL'S ENERGY GOD DID NOT “GET PHYSICAL” WITH RAP MOGUL
Just weeks before the November 6 release of his Bad Boy / V.P. Records debut Let’s Get Physical, controversy swirled around Elephant Man, a veteran of the Jamaican dancehalls who burst into the international market three years ago with high-energy hits like "Pon Di River Pon Di Bank" and "Signal The Plane" and "Jook Gal."
A September 15 report on the gossip website Mediatakeout.com boasted a huge screaming headline: REGGAE STAR ELEPHANT MAN ATTACKS DIDDY!!! Based only on anonymous sources, the story opened with the suggestive lead “Mogul Sean ‘P-Diddy’ Combs has a reputation for ripping off Bad Boy artists. But it looks like he may have tried to rip off the wrong artist.”
Quoting an un-named “insider” at “Bad Boy headquarters” the report described an argument about money leading to Elephant and his entourage running up in Puffy’s office and the Bad Boy Entertainment CEO getting his sunglasses bent and his lip busted. Elephant Man’s publicist soon issued a brief statement dismissing the allegations, but of course Boomshots had to speak with the Energy God directly.
“Don’t follow everything you read on the internet,” says Elephant Man, who reached out by cell phone to vehemently deny the charges reported on the website.
“Okay, the real deal is that’s a rumor,” said Elephant as he stepped off a flight to Toronto in the midst of his North American tour. “That’s just some people player hating, putting up crap on the internet, but they can’t stop what’s about to happen because Elephant Man is straight Bad Boy for life.”
Let’s Get Physical boasts a star-studded lineup with guest appearances by Rihanna (on “Throw Your Hands Up”) Wyclef (on “Five Oh,” which also has a remix featuring Young Joc, Assassin, and Swizz Beatz), Busta Rhymes & Shaggy (on “The Way We Roll”), Mya (on “This Is My Life”) not to mention “Jump” a Swizz Beatz banger that Elephant predicts is “gonna cause chaos in the club” and, last but not least, the album’s sultry title track “Let’s Get Physical” featuring Kat De Luna and Dipset diva Jah Jah. But the latest addition to the long-awaited CD is teen R&B superstar and current VIBE cover boy, Chris Brown.
“We just finished the track with me and Chris,” Elephant revealed exclusively to Boomshots. “It’s called “Feel The Steam”—me and Chris Brown on a dancehall riddim, he’s singing about how he’s gonna make the girls’ body wet. It’s something crazy, like you never heard Chris Brown before. We’re planning to use that one for the second single." The teen sensation known to fans as "C Breez" wants to direct the video himself. "It’s gonna be crazy, trust me," says Elephant. "We got all the girls right now. This is the tighest dancehall album in a long while," Ele adds. "Dancehall needs this right now, trust me. Who else gonna keep up the Billboard status?”
A veteran of rap and R&B collabos with artists ranging from Janet Jackson, Rihanna, and Missy to the Youngbloodz and Twista, Elephant insists that nothing has changed since he became the first dancehall artist to sign with Bad Boy. “To me it’s not different,” he says. “It’s all about what you do and how you do it. I try to marry the hip hop attitude with the dancehall energy.”
Elephant speculates that his success is what inspires the irresponsible intenet propaganda. “You got player haters out there,” he says. “But if they are gonna get up and say something like that, it should be at least nearly like the truth.” First of all, Elephant says he was not even in America when the alleged incident took place. “I was in Jamaica celebrating my birthday,” he states for the record. But even if he were in town, he denies the underlying premise of the story.
“Why is Elephant gonna be having a fight with Puffy when Elephant and Puffy don’t need to be in no money argument?” he asks. “When you’re going through deals, that goes through your lawyer and their lawyer. So it’s just haters man. Trust me. They’re dunce. They’re illiterate. They get up, got nothing to do, so they go on the net and they lie and mix people up and put your fans on the wrong channel all the time. So I’m just clearing the air and letting the fans know it’s just a rumor. Nuttin like that. Never went down. Not gonna go down. Never. Elephant Man and Diddy is very good.”
“What I like about Bad Boy,” he says, “they gave me a big studio at Daddy’s House for myself. If I want to work with any artist I can get them. Promotionally Puffy got it locked. I’ve never had a van with my picture on it before. Plus Puffy knows music. On some tracks you have some likkle melodic thing a gwan, but he let me keep it dancehall.”
Puffy returns the respect: “Elephant Man has the personality, energy, star power, and veteran stage presence that we love,” he has said. “When I saw him ripping down the stage I knew he was the one.”
For years without tears and fears. www.boomshots.com
Posted on September 26, 2007 11:38 PM
