October 17, 2008

Ne-Yo Kills Potential Beef With Yung Berg: 'That Ain't My Lane'

By Shaheem Reid (MTV.com)

Ne-Yo is still Ne-Yo. He's not Game, he's not 50 Cent - he doesn't want a battle record on his stat sheet. On Wednesday, the singer insisted there will be no back-and-forth with Yung Berg.

In case you're just tuning in, Ne-Yo appeared on the LA morning radio show Big Boy's Neighborhood a few days ago, and Big asked him what person he would want to slap with three fingers. Ne-Yo said Yung Berg, for not being creative and for biting T-Pain and Lil Wayne by using the Auto-Tune effect on his song "The Business."

Berg responded to the comment soon after with a video blog, in which he questioned Ne-Yo's sexuality and even referred to the hitmaker as "Miss Independent." Berg also said Ne-Yo's girlfriend wanted him.

On Wednesday night at Gotham Hall in Manhattan - before Ne-Yo's big Hennessy Artistry party and concert, which featured Fabolous and Leona Lewis performing for Usher, Aubrey O'Day, Ludacris, Brooke Shields and New York Knicks Stephon Marbury and Nate Robinson - the singer said he didn't see Berg's response but laughed off the situation.

"Response for what?" he said about going back at Berg. "That ain't my lane, dude. I don't beef. I don't do that. That ain't my thing. I don't do dis records. I don't do beef. I don't do any of that blogs talking about cats. I don't do that. That ain't my thing. I'm a grown man. I got money to make.

"I can't work with people that's doing this for the fame element or the money element," he continued. "I think that's what's destroying music. You got cats out here that are copycatting and doing stuff that's popular. You know, doing it because that's what's in right now, whatever the case may be - but basically what you're doing is killing music. You're killing the creative element of what this is, which was the basis of this whole thing, which is self-expression."

Expect a lot more to be coming in for Ne-Yo - his next big writing assignment is the new Usher album, and Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson are still on tap.