(AllHipHop News) American rapper Eminem was a big winner at tonight’s (November 7th) European Music Awards, which took place in Madrid, Spain.  Eminem was crowned best Hip-Hop Act during the evening, which also included performances by B.O.B., Dizzee Rascal, Kid Rock, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Shakira, Bon Jovi and others. Eminem, whose hit album Recovery topped the charts for several weeks in the United Kingdom, beat out Lil Wayne, T.I., Snoop Dogg and Kanye West for the top Hip-Hop honor. Although the rap star was not on hand to accept the award, he addressed the crowd via a video statement. “MTV EMAs thank you for this award. I apologize I couldn’t be there, I’m in Brazil doing a show,” Eminem said. “I found this award in my hotel room and I hope it’s mine, Thank you.”Lady Gaga was the evening’s big winner with a total of three awards, including the coveted Best Song Award for her hit single “Bad Romance.”Other winners during the night, which was hosted by Eva Longoria, included Ke$ha, Paramore, Linkin Park and 30 Seconds to Mars, who performed during the EMA pre-show with Chicago rapper Kanye West.

(AllHipHop News) Recently freed rapper Lil Wayne made an appearance during Drake’s concert last night (November 6th) at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Weezy hit the stage during Drake’s performance of the song “Miss Me,” making it the rapper’s first performance since being released from prison on Thursday (November 5th). “I was gone till November, but I didn’t trip cause I know he [Drake] was gonna get them…I’m back,” Weezy told the excited crowd. “It feels good to be back. If you love me like I love you, please make some motherf**king noise. I’m fresh home from my vacation and aint nothing, nothing, nothing like home.”The festivities will continue tonight (November 7th) for Lil Wayne, who will celebrate his freedom at a Miami strip club, after serving eight months on Rikers Island for a gun charge stemming from an arrest in New York in July of 2007. The “Welcome Back Carter” homecoming celebration will take place tonight at King of Diamonds complete with champagne, celebrities and even fireworks.

(AllHipHop News) Bruce Willis is in talks to star opposite 50 Cent in the action movie Set Up, which will be released via the rapper’s Cheetah Vision film company. Willis, who starred in the summer hit movie The Expendables, recently joined talks to star in the flick, which centers around a group of friends who become involved in a deadly diamond heist.According to Variety, Set Up is the first movie to be released under a new $200 million film deal between Randall Emmett and 50’s Cheetah Vision. The announcement of Bruce Willis’ possible involvement comes on the heels of a separate deal between the veteran actor and 50 Cent, who is also producing Willis’ click Catch .44. Set Up is due in theaters in late 2011.

(AllHipHop News) West Coast Hip-Hop veteran/TV star Ice-T is expanding his business portfolio with a strategic partnership with Aiko Importers and Pay Up Management to promote and distribute a new line of liquor named Original Gangster XO Brandy. OG XO Brandy is produced in France and handcrafted in small batches, created with a blend from “exceptional vineyards” to ensure a distinctive flavor.Representatives for Aiko Importers reached out to Ice-T’s manager Mickey Bentson a year ago, who happened to be looking for an alcohol brand Ice-T could really get behind. “Ice-T sat down with me and I told him, ‘you have to see the presentation.’ He loved the taste and the bottle. At the direction of Ice-T, I also told them we didn’t want money, we wanted a partnership,” Ice-T’s manager Mickey Bentson told AllHipHop.com. “Ice decided it would be best to have partnership in the business so we can build other brands. The bottles are great and the liquor is fantastic,” added Bentson, who also owns Pay Up Records, a label that recently inked a major deal with Empire Distribution and signed artist Mr L.O.C. (Bay Area), Devon-P & TJ (UK) and Half Lip (PA). “Coco will end up with her drink as well, and I will end up with mine. We think long term. We are building other brands within this company,” Mickey Bentson told AllHipHop.com.OG XO Brandy, which was founded in 2004 near Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, is currently available in select markets in the United States, including Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. By 2011, OG XO will be will be available in every market in the U.S., with a retail price of $22.99-$42.99. In related Ice-T news, the superstar actor/rapper has been added to the lineup of performers during a concert celebrating the Zulu Nation’s 37th anniversary in Harlem, New York at the Center for Hip-Hop Culture Center at Magic Johnson’s Theater.In addition to rappers like Ice, Sadat X, DJ Tony Touch and the Soul Sonic Force, Bentson is planning to introduce Half Lip, a new rock band on his Pay Up Records imprint. “If you wait long enough, something big will come along and Ice-T waited,” Mickey Bentson said. For more information on OG XO Brandy visit http://www.aikoimporters.com or http://www.payuptheblog.com.

(AllHipHop News) Suge Knight had a brief encounter with Los Angeles County Sheriff yesterday and appealed a legal decision in favor of rapper Kanye West.

Knight, who once ran Death Row Records, was pulled over on the intercection of Sunset Boulevard and La Cienega. The sheriff that approached the former mogul impounded the car and Knight departed the scene by foot.

He conducted an interview before leaving, according to a published report.

A judge has tossed out a $1 million lawsuit Knight filed against Kanye West and now Knight is appealing the decision.

In 2005, Suge was shot at a party that West was hosting and felt that the G.O.O.D. Money rapper was responsible.

The presiding judge disagreed and said that there was no evidence that made West liable.

Knight said that he also lost an earring valued at $135k and paid over $200,000 in medical expenses.

(AllHipHop News) Rapper Lil Wayne will preside over a welcome home party this Saturday in Miami at popular strip club King of Diamonds, but he will not be drinking any alcohol. Lil Wayne was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation and 360 hours of community service for a 2008 arrest, in which border patrol agents found cocaine, ecstasy and a handgun on his tour bus. He appeared in court today (November 5th) in Yuma, Arizona and pled guilty to one count of felony possession of a dangerous drug. The more serious charges of gun possession and drug possession were thrown out. According to the terms of his probation, Lil Wayne has been banned from consuming alcohol for the next three years. The rap star, who was just released from Rikers Island after serving eight months on a separate gun charge, is also banned from associating with any person with a criminal record without prior written approval, or from knowingly associating with any person engaged in criminal activity. Additionally, Lil Wayne, who’s love of marijuana and other narcotics is well documented, cannot possess or use illegal drugs, toxic vapors or controlled substances. Lil Wayne must submit to random drug and alcohol testing.

(AllHipHop News) A former officer convicted in the shooting death of Oscar Grant was sentenced to 2-years in prison Friday afternoon.

Johannes Mehserle, a former officer for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), had already been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the New Year’s Day 2009 killing of the 22-year-old Grant. Grant was unarmed and subdued when Mehserle discharged his weapon on the Bay Area Rapid Transit station platform.

Involuntary manslaughter carries a prison term of up to four years, but the judge gave Mehserle the shortest possible jail sentence.

The jury handed down a gun enhancement charge that could have gotten Mehserle and additional 10 years. The judge threw that out.

The case was also racially charged because Mehserle, who is White, shot Grant, a Black man.

Mehserle testified in court that he thought he unstrapped his taser-not his gun- when Grant was mortally wounded. Mehserle already had Grant face down on the platform when he killed the then 22-year old.

People cried openly at the verdict and Grant’s family members expressed outrage over the judge’s decision.

“I knew what the judge was going to say even before he said it,” Cephus Johnson, an uncle of Grant’s, told sfgate.com. “This whole thing was argued before we got here today.”

With time-served, Mehserle could be out of jail in seven months.

He expressed his own sadness and regret for his actions before the sentence was read.

Mehserle said, “I did not become an officer to take a life, but because it gave me the opportunity to protect and save lives. I pray the public can understand that police officers are also human. I am deeply sorry. I am. … Nothing I can ever do will heal the wound I have created.”

(AllHipHop News) The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer who shot Oscar Grant to death was sentenced to two years in state prison today (November 5th). Los Angeles Judge Robert Perry sentenced Johannes Mehserle to two years for involuntary manslaughter, the shortest term allowed by law. He also threw out a gun charge against Mehserle today, due to lack of evidence. During a trial in July, Mehserle claimed he accidentally killed Grant in January 1st, 2009, when accidentally shot the 22-year-old in the back at Fruitvale Station, by using his service revolver, instead of his taser.Grant’s murder was taped by several witnesses, who used the camera’s on their cellphones to capture the horrific shooting, which occurred while Grant was handcuffed and face down on the train station’s platform. During the sentencing hearing today, Grant’s family members left the court house in anger and tears, including Sophina Mesa, the mother of Grant’s 6-year-old daughter. According to reports, the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI are planning to continue investigating the shooting, to determine if the evidence in the case warrants federal prosecution. “We livin in a country where u kill a cop u get 4EVER,” Oakland rapper Mistah Fab tweeted moments after the verdict. “A Cop kill u he get 2yrs wit probation This is Justice huh?… It’s unfortunate that N this day n age we still subdued to the injustices that our people fought and died for as if they deaths are in vain.”With time served, Mehserle will spend one year, two months and thirteen days behind bars for killing Oscar Grant. “Today we had a gross miscarriage of justice.. Judge Robert Perry threw out the gun enhancement clause.. (10yrs) and then gave Johannes Mehserle 2yrs with credit for 146 days with time served,” Davey D. wrote on his popular blog, DaveyD.com. “Football star Plaxico Burris did more time shooting himself than Mehserle,” Davey D. said. “Michael Vick did more time than Mehserle…shame on Mehserle. The judge and any police officer who sat back and allowed this to take place without speaking out…today was not a good day..It makes you wonder if there even is a such thing as JUSTICE.. Maybe it doesn’t exist. maybe we been hoodwinked and bamboozled.”

Rapper Ja Rule has taken his career international. The Queens, New York rapper is currently on a tour of Europe. Ja Rule is currently in Moscow, Russia, where he is touring. While there, Ja Rule shot a video for the David Guetta produced-track “I’m Here” by Russian star Maria. Ja Rule is currently working on a new album titled Rule York, through his own label, MPire Music Group. On the acting side, Ja Rule was in Garfield, New Jersey in October shooting a scene for the upcoming crime thriller, Goat.The DEA is cracking down on the popular illegal concoction known as Sizzurp or that “Purple Drank.” According to an investigative report by KTLA, the Feds are concerned with the glamorization of the drink in Hip-Hop songs. Despite the death of artists like Pimp C., DJ Screw and Fat Pat, Sizzurp continues to be name checked in songs. The latest comes courtesy of Far East Movement, on their #1 single “Like a G6.” “Anytime a substance that can be so dangerous is popularized through music or our culture, it becomes something that we need to be very worried about,” Los Angeles DEA spokesperson Sarah Pullen said. Detroit rapper Trick Trick is among the local celebrities, media personalities and community leaders who will gather next week to record a Public Service Announcement aimed at improving the city’s image. In addition to Trick Trick, Detroit’s Mayor David Bing, baseball icon Willie Horton, Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee, radio icon Dick Purtan, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, local composer Jill Jack, Redwing coach Mike Babcock and others will appear in the “I’m a Believer” PSA’s. On Monday (November 8th), the group will gather at WXYZ TV Channel 7 to shoot their part in the PSA, which aims to encourage residents of Southeastern Michigan to change their local communities. “Until now, there have been dozens of campaigns designed to make people feel proud that they’re from Detroit, but none have succeeded in connecting all of them together in a compelling way,” said Paige Curtis of The Curtis Group, whose team created radio, TV and outdoor advertising. “We might not have the money to do everything we need to do to change Southeast Michigan, but we do have the manpower. And if we all do something, we can do anything.”

(AllHipHop News) Dipset member Freekey Zekey has become the official Hip-Hop spokesman for Persevere Our Legacy to help educate rap fans about bone marrow awareness. Freekey Zekey, born Ezekial Jiles, became involved with Preserve Our Legacy in October, when he hosted a bone marrow drive for LJ Jones, who at 10-years-old, is the only child in the United States suffering from Hypereosinophilic Syndrome, which is normally only found in adults. “I am honored that I can make a difference in so many people’s lives, not just children but men and women of all ages,” Freekey Zekey told AllHipHop.com in  a statement. “I encourage everyone that is in my position to influence, mold and shape thoughts to take a proactive approach to bringing this subject to the attention of millions.Preserve Our Legacy was founded by Brett and Shana Melius, after they met a 2-year-old named Jaden Hilton, who was battling Leukemia. He eventually lost his battle in 2007 because a matching donor could not be found. The result was legislation known as Jaden’s Law, a bill which designated $2 million dollars to raise the awareness about the need for bone marrow donors. Freekey Zekey’s involvement comes on the heels of the death of Shannon Tavarez, the 11-year-old star of The Lion King on Broadway, who died on November 1st, from Leukemia.”Shannon Tavarez was only 11-years-old when she was taken, only 11 and at the height of her career. Her death and others won’t go in vain. ‘We will preserve your legacy’,” Freekey Zekey said. During his partnership with Preserve Our Legacy, Freekey Zekey will star in a series of Public Service Announcements. This month, Freekey Zekey will assemble a variety of celebrities who will help register donors during November, which is bone marrow month.