Chamillionaire
Rapper Chamillionaire has shot down rumours he's hanging up his microphone, insisting reports he's retiring from music have been greatly exaggerated.
The Ridin' hitmaker, real name Hakeem Seriki, sparked claims he was quitting hip-hop after revealing he had abandoned plans to release his latest album Venom, but he is adamant he is not heading for an early retirement, explaining he decided to scrap the tracks for Venom because he wanted a fresh new sound.
However, Chamillionaire admits he is stepping back from one aspect of his career - the mixtape circuit. He says, "Several days ago, I did a live broadcast from my site, Chamillionaire.com, to let fans know where I am right now and what my intentions are musically for the future. Instead of clearing things up, the broadcast unintentionally spawned rumors of my retirement from music. Since then, I have been bombarded with emails and phone calls regarding my so-called retirement and the reasons behind me not dropping the promised Venom album.
"It was definitely not my intention to mislead anyone into thinking that I plan to completely retire from music. I love making music and will continue to do so. What I am retiring is the Mixtape Messiah part of my career. This means no more jacking beats and no more underground mixtapes.
"Even though I don't plan on releasing any of the original material that I had wanted to call Venom, I will definitely be releasing a third Chamillionaire album with Universal. I am confident that my true fans will have plenty of fresh, new music to be as excited about as I am and I look forward to supplying their demand for new music."
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison