On April 1-4, Newark, NJ’s NJPAC Center will host Alternate Routes, a 4 day festival featuring over 30 Hip-Hop artists.   The event aims to showcase the many multi-faceted artists in the Tri-State area, along with musicians from Canada. In addition to performances, the festival’s lineup includes spoken word artists, exclusive film screenings, emcee battles, […]

VH1 has announced it will revive its popular Behind the Music series, with 10 new episodes being produced, including an episode on rappers MC Lyte Kanye West and Lil Wayne.   The rappers are featured along side a number of popular artists, including Britney Spears, Guns & Roses front man Axl Rose, Julio Iglesias, M.I.A., […]

Cormega will hold celebrate his new album with a listening party and performance for his new album Born & Raised on Wednesday, April 8th.   Legal Hustle Records and Cormega will present an up close and personal sneak preview of his third solo album at S#####s.   Surprise performers are scheduled to appear at the […]

Big Pooh, one half of the critically-acclaimed duo Little Brother, has announced an innovative, 4-version “street” album entitled Delightful Bars.   Originally developed as a mixtape, Pooh began viewing the project as a legit album after several productive studio sessions with producers and guest emcees.   “This is some of my best work to date […]

Rap star Kanye West and his manager were hit with criminal charges stemming from an incident last September in Los Angeles International Airport.   Kanye West and Don Crawley were hit with six misdemeanor charges, including vandalism, battery and grand theft.   The charges stem from an altercation between the rapper and paparazzi in the […]

Rick Ross confidently presented his new album Deeper Than Rap during an exclusive listening session in New York City last night. “I feel like I’m making the best music of my career. I’m stepping out and making it more music,” he said, revealing nine songs of the LP. “Its music. That’s what it is at […]

Andre Harrell to Receive Cultural Excellence Award By: Ismael AbduSalaam Music mogul Andre Harrell will be honored April 1st at Reverend Al Sharpton’s annual National Action Network Keepers of the Dream Awards Dinner.   Harrell is scheduled to be the fourth recipient of the Cultural Excellence Award, which recognizes those who epitomize the principles of […]

A rapper associated with Harlem, New York rap group The Diplomats shot and killed himself during a dramatic stand-off with police in upstate New York yesterday (March 17).   Hackensack, New Jersey police had been searching for 23-year-old Darnell “King Tut” Brittingham, for allegedly stabbing and assaulting a female companion, just 48 hours after he […]

Multi-talented emcee Mos Def will return from a 3 year hiatus with his 4th studio album, The Ecstatic.   Mos debuted two new tracks courtesy of his Myspace page (www.myspace.com/mosdef): the Mr. Flash produced “Life In Marvelous Times,” and “Quiet Dog Bite Hard,” produced by Preservation.”   Both songs are available for download via iTunes […]

Veteran rapper Grand Puba is returning to rap with a clean slate with his fourth solo album, Retroactive.   The forthcoming release is under a new deal with New York City based independent record label Babygrande Records.   Best known as a member of the rap collective Brand Nubian, Grand Puba has carved his own […]

Hip-Hop soul pioneer Mary J. Blige was recently cleared of copyright infringement accusations stemming from her 2001 hit “Family Affair.”   The suit was filed in January by Leonard Jones and James White.   White, who previously managed a rapper named Benevolence, claims to have submitted the artist’s copyright-protected demo to Universal Records in May […]

Accusations of deception and sabotage are at the heart of a new lawsuit filed by the mother of deceased rap legend Tupac Shakur against Morgan Creek.   Afeni Shakur’s Amaru Entertainment has filed a $10 million cross complaint that claims Morgan Creek head James Robinson and other tried to strong-arm a deal for the movie […]

50 Cent has announced plans to tour with rock group Fallout Boy on the group’s Believers Never Die Part Deux tour, which kicks off next month.   The Queens-bred rapper mwill join the tour starting on April 14, when the group plays in Dallas.   Other tour dates in which 50 is scheduled to take […]

Rapper Kid Cudi is ready to exit the music game even before his debut album is released this summer, a direct result of the pressure, rigors and foolishness of the profession. The rapper wrote a comprehensive blog post where he explained his looming exodus. “After the release of my first LP this summer, I am […]

Yesterday (March 13), digital label A.E.G. announced that Tupac Shakur and Boot Camp Clik’s fabled One Nation album would finally see an official release on March 20.   While Hip-Hop fans were surprised, no one was more so than Duck Down CEO Dru Ha, who explained that his organization was never approached about releasing the […]

Former Fugees member Pras Michel is being sued by three homeless people over his 2007 documentary Skid Row.   Michelle Hassan, Wesley Bolden and Terrell Brown claim Michel disguised himself as a homeless man to “star” in the film, which chronicles the rapper’s nine-day experience living in the 50-square-block Skid Row section of downtown Los […]

Rapper/television star Flavor Flav celebrated his 50th birthday last night (March 15) at BB King’s nightclub in New York City with a concert with Public Enemy.   The rapper was joined by Ice-T and Coco, boxing trainer/commentator Emmanuelle Stewart, Grand Master Melle Mel and others like his wife Liz.   As a special request, Ice-T […]

A number of varied artists are coming together to support the 2nd Annual Roots Picnic this June in The Roots’ hometown of Philadelphia.   Public Enemy, Asher Roth, Santigold, The Black Keys, Kid Cudi and The Roots themselves are included in the picnic’s lineup, which will feature a main stage and a second stage to […]

UPDATED: 12:45 PM   Popular Detroit rapper Trick Trick was shot in his hometown of Detroit during a show featuring New York rapper Jim Jones this morning (March 16).   Trick Trick is in a Detroit area hospital, where he is recovering from a single gunshot wound sustained during the melee, reports the Detroit Free […]

Atlanta based rapper Pastor Troy is preparing a new album of material titled Feel Me or Kill Me, the follow up to his 2007 album Tool Muziq.   Troy’s latest album is his third under a deal with San Francisco-based independent label SMC Recordings.   The 12-tracks on Feel Me or Kill Me features production […]