The return of your IDOL

FOX FT GRAFH & PRINZ - HOW WE GET DOWN
http://www.zshare.net/audio/200176092e5d66/

May 24, 2007, 3:10 PM ET


Mariel Concepcion, N.Y.

It's been six years since she's dropped an album, but with the release of a new album and mixtape on the horizon, rapper Foxy Brown is primed for a comeback. The as-yet-untitled mixtape will hit the streets in June, followed Sept. 6 by the album "Black Roses," which will be released on Brown's new label of the same name.

"No disrespect to anyone, but gear up baby, because when I come, it's over," Brown tells Billboard.com in an exclusive interview. "This album is going to be a lyrical testimony of everything I've gone through and survived the last couple of years. It's just incredible."

Though Brown declined to reveal details, she did disclose she plans on collaborating with Jay-Z, Spragga Benz, Baby Cham and a few other unexpected acts. "I'm a huge fan of Amy Winehouse and Bjork," she confesses about two of the people she hopes to work with for the project.

According to Brown, who recently recovered from hearing loss and has been in and out of court following a dispute with a nail salon worker for the past year, "Black Roses," named after a Barrington Levy song by the same name, is a testament to the hardships she's faced in the music industry.

"I feel like I've had to fight that much harder than [Lil'] Kim and Lauryn [Hill] and Missy [Elliott]. But God took away my hearing for a reason -- to trip me down and build me back up and come back into this business right," Brown says.

"Barrington told me he was inspired to write 'Black Roses' when he went to Africa and there, in a garden, amongst a thousand beautiful flowers, he saw one black rose that was withered and broken, and how tourists would fly in from all over the world to take pictures of it," she continues. "I have to save some lives, and that's what 'Black Roses' is officially for. That's why the title is so perfect."

In addition, Brown recently inked a management deal with Black Hand Entertainment and plans on signing a few West Indian acts to her new label.