Rick Ross Celebrates His Birthday!

Rick Ross threw an all white birthday party for himself in Miami on board the Princess Lady yesterday. He also gave out gift bags that contained stacks of cash ranging from $1,000 to $10,000. DJ Khaled got the one with 10 stacks!

50 has His Own Dietary Supplements line on The Way

50 recently did an interview with New York Daily News, where he says that he will have a line of dietary supplements. "Right now, I'm interested in dietary supplements," 50 told the New York Daily News. "I'll be coming up with something very soon. I can’t tell you...I’d be blowing the big launch party!" 50 already have G-Unit Clothing, RGX Pure 50 deodorant and Vitamin Water brands.

Grammy Nominated Rapper LIL Wayne Speaks with Katie Couric About Childhood and the Music Game!

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Lupe Honored

Congrats to Lupe Fiasco, he was recently recognized with the USA Networks first ever “Character Approved Awards” for his positive messages and social commentary in his music. Lupe was the only musician of any musical genre to receive one of the first awards. Architects, fashion designers, chefs and artists made up the other winners.

Russell Simmons Global Grind press conference

Russell and LL Cool J
Angie Martinez and The Dream

Dr. Chavis and Kevin Liles

Mary J Blige

Angela and Vanessa Simmons

Tocarra

Christina Milian

-Russell also named himself Editor in Chief of the site

Pepa's New book

Pepa talks about her abusive marriage to Treach and more

FABOLOUS was Denied!

Page Six is reporting that while Fabolous was eating out with several friends in Atlanta he tried to pick up the tab for more than 20, only to have five of his credit cards declined. As source stated that "By the fifth credit card, the entourage member designated to take care of his tab goes outside,". "only to start a fight with the outside bouncer. He tripped and fell, hitting his head on the concrete and started bleeding. The manager called an ambulance. But as soon as the entourage member also saw the police, he began running away, blood oozing down his face."

Fabolous and along with others stayed and ordered champagne but paid cash, the Post reported.

Lil Wayne will Perform For Facebook Members

Lil Wayne will perform his new single "Prom Queen" for the first time tonight during a concert in San Diego, which will be streamed live tonight (Jan. 28) on AT&T’s FREEdom of Choice and Mobile Music Facebook pages at 9:40 p.m. PST.

Jeezy Repsonds To Bill O'Reilly

After Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller made comments on the video of Jay-Z performing the “My President” Remix alongside Young Jeezy in Washington, D.C. Young Jeezy has responded to XXLMAG.

“Damn right! I ain’t never ran, nah mean? At the end of the day, you’re dealing with cats who think that we as young black men don’t know what it is we do. We entrepreneurs, we came from nothing. If you gotta mispronounce my name to try to be funny and you got a Harvard or whatever education you got, then you’re really showing how ignorant you are. If you didn’t hear what the fuck I said, it’s all good, but you didn’t hear all these people crying in New Orleans. You ain’t know bout the [Oscar] Grant kid that got killed in Oakland, you ain’t speaking on that. You ain’t talking about these ladies out here killing these babies, you worried about what I said.”

Flavor Flav to Host New Horror-Humor Series

According to the Hollywood reporter, Flavor Flav sealed deal with TriStar Media, where the rapper-turned reality star will develop their BET movie "Nite Tales" into an anthology television series. The series originated with the BET movie that aired on Halloween and is set for DVD release Feb. 3.

Grammy's Welcomes "Swagger Like Us"

It has just been reported that Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, T.I. and Kanye West have been added to the performance lineup for the 51st annual Grammy Awards, to be held Feb. 8 at Los Angeles' Staples Center. They will all perform their single "Swagga Like Us," while T.I. will also take the stage with Justin Timberlake to rock their current duet, "Dead and Gone."

Prom Queen by Lil' Wayne

KANYE WEST DEBUTS LV SNEAKERS DURING PARIS FASHION WEEK

Kanye and Designer Marc Jacobs

Former Bad Boy Rapper Writes Tell All Book about Diddy

According to ThisIs50.com,former Bad Boy rapper Mark Curry is releasing a tell-all book about his time at Bad Boy. In the book, titled Dancing With the Devil, Curry speaks on Diddy stealing artists' shine and charge them strange fees.

"Puff has an annoying habit of inserting himself into the songs and videos of all the artists on his label and its common knowledge that many Bad Boy acts resented him for this," writes Curry. "Asked about his practice in the July 1995 issue of a magazine aimed at black teenagers, Puff said: 'I like performing with my artists. I like talking on the records and I like being in the videos. It protects my interests in terms of what I’m going to do in the future. Say if a company tries to remove me. It's going to be hard to remove me and still have my acts and [have] the same level of intensity and the same flavour and feeling'."

"Puff charged the artists for his appearance on their records and videos, usually without [them] realizing it until they receive their royalty statements," wrote the rapper, who was known for his appearance on the hit "Bad Boy for Life." "That’s when they discovered that their large sums of money had gone to fees which were doubled, tripled and even quadrupled because of Puff's 'special appearances.' He charged artists, for example, for having his Bentley in his videos-which he insisted upon- then took tax credit for business use of a car."

-Dancing With the Devil is slated for a February release.

David Banner Will Travel in Support of The Troops

David Banner has signed on for the next USO Tour in the Persian Gulf, to take place between February and March. Banner will spend a week visiting several military posts along with artists James Taylor, Kelly Price and Gary Sinese and the Lt. Dan Band.

Jackie-O Covers SMOOTH “Black History Issue”

-Is this what BLACK HISTORY means? Sad..

Andre “3000″ Clothing Line Makes GQ’s “Best New Designers Of 2009″ List

I wonder what it takes to be on this list? Is Andre's line selling?

50's New Production Company

According to reporst 50 Cent’s new movie production company, Cheetah Vision, got eight scripts at the Sundance Film Festival last week. "They are all different types of movies that I bought the rights to and we're developing projects. You will see different things from me in the future," said 50. The compnay's first project will put 50 on the big screen with Nicolas Cage. 50 made his directorial debut recently with the DVD movie "Before I Self-Destruct" which was released free with his album.

“Notorious” Debuts At #4 With $24M Opening Weekend!

“Notorious,” which is based on the life of late rapper Christopher Wallace opened in it's first week raking in $24 Million. According to reports, the movie made more money per theater than any film reporting grosses.

LIVE COVERAGE OF THE INAUGURATION

Click The picture to check out LIVE COVERAGE OF THE INAUGURATION

Martin Luther King, Jr.

(January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)
Celebrate the DREAM!

Run DMC Inducted Into Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame

Run DMC, Bobby Womack and others will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. In 2007, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first Hip Hop group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This year's induction ceremony will take place on April 4 in Cleveland, Ohio

Jeezy Will Debut New Song at Inauguration Celebration

Young Jeezy according to reports will debut a new track during a Jan. 18 performance at Washington D.C. night club Love to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama. The track was created exclusively for the event's sponsor, Belvedere Vodka, as part of a new deal between the rapper and the liquor brand. The evening will be hosted by Akon and feature a separate performance by rapper T.I. The event takes place from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Grammies 2009 Lil Wayne Promotional Art Work

The 2009 Grammy Awards are on the way. The artwork so far says to me that this may be a great show this year.They are presenting Music Makes Us campaign to celebrate the power of music. The artwork feature portraits of five Grammy nominees. Rihanna, Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz, Lil Wayne, and Radiohead front man Thom Yorke were asked to name at least 15 songs that inspired them. These songs’ names were eventually morphed into their portraits.

Jim Jones New Album Cover

-HOTT!!

Nas & Kelis Are PREGNANT!

A very close source to Nas ans Kelis has confirmed to US Weekly that Kelis is pregnant with their first child together. No word on the due date, but Kelis is supposedly in her first trimester. Congrats!

Dmx Interview from Arizona Jail!! Must see

LIl wayne is Working On A Rock Album!

Word has gotten out about Lil Wayne’s new music venture. If you didn't know Wayne is recording a new rock album. Apparently Wayne was inspired to record something brand new after guesting on Kanye West’s new album 808s and Heartbreak..

"Wayne’s coming out with a new album, it’s a rock album. A complete rock album. I have a song on there. It’s something different, just like 808s & Heartbreak, just throwing individuals off,” MC Drake(good friend of Wayne) told MuchMusic.com."

In Other Wayne News-Wayne also donated some money, via his youth empowerment organization One Family Foundation to officials in charge of Harrell Park, which was destroyed when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. It was used as a trailer site for the local water board in the hurricane’s aftermath, and its heavy equipment left the park’s track and field. Officials can now restore the recreation area.

Kanye West Louis Vuitton Sneaker Line

Kanye West left a post on his University City Blog on Friday, he unveiled a design of many that will be featured as part of his Louis Vuitton Sneaker Line, debuting this Summer.

Jim Jones The new VP of Urban A&R for KOCH Records!

Jim Jones, was appointed the new Vice President of Urban A&R for KOCH Records. According to the announcement from the label Monday. Jones will be responsible for signing and nurturing new talent to KOCH Records' urban roster. Of Course the first release Jones has is the much anticipated debut album from Skull Gang (starring Juelz Santana). The forthcoming album will be released on Feb. 24, 2009.

-Congrats to Jim Jones

ESSENCE: Jermaine Dupri Sets Record Straight on Def Jam Exit

ESSENCE.COM: The blogosphere has been abuzz recently about your exit from Island Def jam Records as president of urban music. Why did you leave the label?

JERMAINE DUPRI: It was a situation where it felt very stagnant to me. As a person who is used to putting out new records and continuing to do that, it just wasn't turning over as being that place to me where I should stick to it and see if it was going to turn around.

ESSENCE.COM: What would you say was your biggest problem with the label?

DUPRI: It wasn't giving me the open door that I thought it was going to. It wasn't aggressive enough and it was a big letdown for me. I thought I was going to a place that understood the times we were in as a music business and how aggressive we needed to be with putting out new projects and records. This is the reason I'm speaking out; not because I'm bitter, but because I owe it to my fans that see me every day on the Internet. I wanted to let them know because they've left a lot of comments on my YouTube saying, "JD, you talk about everything else; why aren't you talking about this [label] situation?"

ESSENCE.COM: There's hearsay that your brief tenure was plagued by meager sales and a lack of new talent which resulted in the label ousting you. Is that true?

DUPRI: Island [Def Jam Records] is going to say what makes them look good. They are not going to tell the truth and say, "He just stopped dealing with us on a daily basis." If you don't put out my records, that's all I have as a person. I'm a record person, so if I give you a record and you don't put it out, then basically you're showing me that it's really no business. I never got a chance to put the records out. I had Johnta Austin, Ninth Ward and Dondria. I read the blogs and I'm thinking, How can they say that I'm not putting out records when anyone who knows my track record knows I'm about making music? My biggest problem is that I'm still the youngest president to have this kind of success. Music is my life. I'm a person who continues to carve out my own way. Instead of watching things happen, I make them happen. If L.A. [Reid] gets fired at Def Jam (he's 20 years older than me) where is he going to go? Many of the people at the label; if their bosses were to fire them today, they don't have anything else to do. Their lives are over. I'm not that dude. Life ain't over for me.

ESSENCE.COM: So do you think it has to do with this struggle between old school versus new school?

DUPRI: I'm dealing with a lot of jealousy and have been since I first came in the business. When you're younger they don't want to listen to you because they know you are keener and people listen to the younger person in the office. In corporate America, this is something that I started feeling a lot. I'm keener as to what is going on in the streets, the Internet and all over the place. In a room full of people, I'll have more answers than anyone else because I'm out there and know what's going on, so people start paying more attention to what you're doing. And that's another thing: the music business thrives on young music, young ideas, newness and freshness. We have a bunch of old guys running all the record companies and they get in these meetings and argue with these young people like myself about what we know and try to make us believe that what we're doing won't work. I don't see them beating the streets to find any of the artists. Matter of fact, I never see these people out anywhere because they are still living off the old times. When you have a 10- to 20-year gap, that's a big difference, and that's a lot of what I'm dealing with. Bow Wow is 21 years old, which means he's 30 years younger than a lot of the chairmen of these labels

(To Read More)

Diddy and Charli Balitmore Got Words For Lil Kim!!

DIDDY reportedly said, “I can’t believe this shit. This ain’t even about her. She needs to grow up and stop being a baby.”

Charli Baltimore has more than enough as she explained in a recent interview with Yo! Raps Magazine;

Well Faith says that! She definitely says that you and B.I.G. were in a relationship!

Charli:"Well, I want you to hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak. Kim goes out of her way to say she was B.I.G.'s girl. No, Kim wasn't his girl! Straight up! She wasn't! She benefited from the situation because she became Lil Kim. She has a career and she's grateful to a nigga for helping her in that aspect, but she was never his girl! If you're running around constantly saying it, you would think a person with half a brain would say... that don't sound right! That's like Faith constantly walking around saying Oh! I was B.I.G.'s wife! Like... we know you were his wife. You don't have to say it 100,000 times. So, I don't get into that. This is probably the first time that I ever went into that conversation publicly. It's only because you and I have a vibe. Everybody that was around during that era knows I wasn't some jawn he was dealing with. B.I.G. and I were together. He bought me a car. I mean niggas wasn't doing stuff for no reason. It was no game!..."

".......I remember being at the funeral and Lil Kim fell out on the floor and I was just like "Yo! What the fuck!" Like, Faith was up there singing and she was very composed and very respectful. And here goes Lil Kim on the floor and she starts rolling around on the floor! I was like "What the fuck is going on?" I was in the back, in the cut. I had some black shades on. There was 100,000 bitches there and I don't know what bitches was... Yo! I remember this girl Lil Kim walked up and damn near jumped in the casket!"( To Read More click here)

-Kim you may need more people!!

Kanye's Old EX is a Cast Member of BET's New Series!

BET has announced that they will be premiering “Harlem Heights” in March. The show follows a group of young black professionals who are trying to make it big in New York City. Among the cast members are Brooke Crittendon who’s an employee at MTV and also the ex-girlfriend of a very well know rapper. While on a press tour this past weekend in LA, she was asked to explain her reasoning for being a part of the show in which she replied:

"I was involved with a very famous rapper for a number of years, and I worked in the news and documentary department (at MTV). So a lot of our pop news involved myself. But because I sort of played the background to the person that I was dating, I had to go through people saying things about me or just sort of assuming who I was… I just was like, “I just want to let people know what I really am and what I really do. I’m not just this person’s girlfriend.”

“Part of my personal journey beyond actually wrapping the show is to not mention that person because if I’m trying to get from under the shadow of being that person’s girlfriend, I feel like to constantly drop their name and that association is sort of saying, “Hey, I don’t want you to think I’m just that, but I did used to date this really cool person.” You know what I mean?"

Cast of New BET SHow!

Diddy and Jay @ the Golden Globes

Jay appear with his wife Beyonce, who's trying to gain respect as an upcoming actress.

Diddy was nominated for his role in "A Raisin in The Sun"

Lil Wayne, Wyclef Jean To Take Part In ESPN Event

Lil Wayne and Wyclef Jean will take part in ESPN's Big Weekend event during Super Bowl weekend. Wycelf will be performing for ESPN the Magazine's NEXT party which will be DJed by Samantha Ronson. Wayne's role will be to report from the event's red carpet. Lil Wayne's, partnership with ESPN has seen the rapper blogging for the network's website, as well as appearing on the network itself to debate sports.

Knaye Would Like To Pose Nude!!

In the new issue of Vibe magazine, Kanye West says he would love to have less fans – more like a core of 20,000 devotees rather than a mass of 100,000 fly-by-night bandwagon followers. Kanye also says;


"It's like Björk. If she wanted to pose naked, you'd be like, 'Oh, that's Björk.' But if I wanted to pose naked, people would draw all type of things into it. I definitely feel like, in the next however many years, if I work out for two months, that I'll pose naked. I break every rule and mentality of hip-hop, of black culture, of American culture."