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Foxy Brown’s ‘Ill Na Na 2: The Fever’ Leaks + She Threatens to Sue
Foxy Brown is not a happy camper right now. It’s been nearly two decades since the highly publicized debacle over her then unreleased fourth studio album, Ill Na Na 2: The Fever, under the joint venture of Def Jam and Bad Boy Records in 2003. The 41 year old Brooklyn rapper at the time was not seeing eye to eye with both labels, and in turn, the project was leaked by someone within her camp.
She went on to release the lead single, “I Need a Man” featuring The Letter M, which was produced by then popular Murder Inc producer, 7 Aurelius, but failed to chart properly due to lack of promotion on behalf of the label. Rumor has it a music video was shot, but was never released or saw the light of day. The album would’ve been the follow up to her Gold-selling critically acclaimed third studio album, Broken Silence, released in 2001.
Fast forward to February 2020, some unknown user leaked the shelved album again to all streaming platforms without consent or permission, and Foxy got word and is threatening to take legal action.
“Whoever the f**k uploaded my old unreleased Fever album to iTunes gettin’ the fck sued!’” Foxy wrote in a since-deleted Instagram Story post.
Brown did an exclusive heartfelt interview with popular media maven, and then-radio personality Wendy Williams to express her differences with her label executives Lyor Cohen (Def Jam at the time) and “Sean “Diddy” Combs, which resulted in the album being shelved. Unfortunately, the entire project was leaked shortly after and she severed ties with her team. Despite the album being leaked, it was a solid body of work lyrically and had a few bangers. You can tell some records were unfinished and weren’t mastered yet, but songs like “Magnetic” (produced by Pharrell), “Open Book” and “Rap’s Bible” were definitely stand-out cuts and reminds us why fans fell in love with her in the first place, while songs like “Black Girl Lost (All My Life)” and “Memory Lane” depicts her introspective story-telling ability.
Needless to say, the project entered into the Top 30 Hip Hop charts on iTunes even without any promotion. The leak comes from a copyright owner who goes by the name, “On The Low” and may be facing some penalties if she does in fact take legal action.
In better news, Foxy Brown will be performing at the nostalgic Lovers & Friends festival in Carson, CA for the two-day event on both May 8 & 9. Other performers include headliners Ms. Lauryn Hill, Usher, TLC, as well as Megan the Stallion, 112, Brandy, Monica, Dru Hill, and Lil’ Kim to name a few. Tickets are officially sold out.
Update: Lovers & Friends festival was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and there’s still no official word on if the promoters will reinstate the event. We will keep you posted if plans change.
