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As time goes on and more hip-hop talent is discovered across the country and given their chance to shine, city after city slowly gets put on the musical map.

Next week is Phoenix’s turn; a first for the city, and they have every intention of showing their appreciation to the native son responsible — DTP / Def Jam signee Willy Northpole.

As the rapper prepares his debut album, Tha Connect, in stores Tuesday (June 23), he is honored as an official “Friend of the City” by Councilman Michael E. Johnson (District at a ceremony on Monday (June 22) in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona.

Willy’s musical career though is not the only thing of note that has made him a citizen for Phoenix to be proud of. He routinely spends time talking to and performing for children all over the city and is a regular at charitable functions, aimed at giving back to his community.

As anyone who has seen Willy’s video for his single, “Hood Dreamer,” will know, the rapper remembers clearly where he came from and wants people to know that as much as he loves his city, it is not all golf courses and sunny retirement destinations.

With the odds stacked up against him, Willy Northpole made it out and has been given his chance to show the nation why it was that he caught the attention of DTP CEO, Ludacris.

The honor gives Willy and Phoenix its time to shine.

Part of what made 50 Cent popular at the start of his career was his grind. By mixing catchy hooks with street flair, he also flooded the mixtapes with new material at a pace that was almost hard to keep up with. After a few albums, he says he still has that energy and hunger.

“The guy that’s trying to get a record deal right now, he should be writing with very strong passion,” 50 told MTV.”Right now, he’s in competition with 50 Cent, and I’m writing like I need a record deal. It’s tough for him.”

His hunger was meant to be shown through War Angel LP, a recent mixtape he dropped. He is presently expected to drop two more mixtapes, the first of which will be titled Sincerely Southside 2. That is slated to to drop next week and the mixtape that will follow in August will be a full G-Unit tape.”I can write at that pace and achieve what I want,” 50 added. “You won’t say there’s a lack of quality in [War Angel]. That’s why I called it an LP instead of a mixtape. They need to hear that.”

He says that fans who have War Angel LP can expect the hardest release of his to date.

“As a full body of work, this is probably one of the hardest CDs. ‘Cause I always had something commercial. On 50 Cent is the Future, I had the Raphael Saadiq ‘You Should Be Here.’ I had the ‘Luv U Better’ [beat] from LL Cool J’s album. It was more of ‘She’s after my cheddar’ from my perspective. It was a record that was working commercially at the time. At this point, I wanted to do something that was commercial-free, a whole CD.”