(AllHipHop News) Wyclef Jean was desperately looking for Jean “Jimmy O” Jimmy Alexandre, but sadly the Haitian rapper was slain in the massive 7.0 earthquake that has devastated Haiti.

Wyclef told CNN, “I urge everyone who’s listening right now that knows how great this kid is in Haiti — I need y’all to verify this information. It would be a terrible loss for us.”

Jimmy O, 35, was a member of Wyclef’s Yele Haiti Foundation.

The rapper died as he drove to Port-au-Prince to work on a mixtape. His body was crushed by rubble disrupted by the quake.

The body was discovered on Friday (January 15) and verified by a passport on his lifeless body.

Jimmy O was very important to the local rap scene as he helped to mentor rappers and contributed charitable work through Wyclef’s Yele Haiti Foundation.

Jimmy O was a married father of three children.

“His loss will be tremendous in Haiti,” said Agent Robert Dominique to CNN.

The Yele Haiti Foundation has raised a total of $2 million as of Friday and the money will be allocated to emergency relief, food and other vital help for the people of Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas.

(AllHipHop News) Brooklyn rapper Talib Kweli will head to Dublin, Ireland at the end of the month in support of his upcoming album Revolutions Per Minute. Kweli will perform at the Tripod on Harcourt St with opening acts Messiah J. & The Expert, Brian Deady and Choice Cut DJ’s. Kweli is expected to perform material from his lengthy catalog in addition to new tracks from Revolutions Per Minute. The event takes place Saturday, January 30th. Doors open at 7:30PM.

An aspiring rapper who was briefly featured on I Love New York 2 will go on trial for murdering a 28-year-old San Francisco man in 2007. Prosecutors accuse Jamal “Milliown” Trulove of gunning down Seu Kuka in the Sunnydale projects in the city. Prosecutors said Trulove filmed his appearance on I Love New York 2 just weeks before he murdered Kuka. Trulove was booted from the show during the first episode because of an altercation with another contestant in the house. He is charged with murder and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Lydia Harris, a reported co-Founder of rap label Death Row Records with ex-husband Michael “Harry-O” Harris, has launched a Stop The Violence 2010 Initiative to help New Orleans’ youth. Harris, who is CEO of Lady Boss Ent., has partnered with college professor and motivational speaker Khalil Osiris, who did a stint in jail. The initiative aims to reverse the violence in the communities in New Orleans using “highly trained street violence interrupters and community outreach staff, public education campaigns and community mobilization.” “In order to make collective and positive change on the streets of New Orleans today, we need everyone to exert their individual voting power holding their candidates accountable and true to their platform,” Harris said in a statement. “We need everyone’s voice to be heard. We need their voice to be heard by getting out there taking care of our communities.” Harris and Osiris will appear at Montrel’s Bistro on January 31 to promote the Stop The Violence initiative.

(AllHipHop News) Brothers Cornel and Clifton West will be in Atlanta this Sunday (January 17) to host Sweet Tea Ethics, an event aimed at exploring the concepts of manhood, black love, mending generation conflicts, and the transformative power of Hip-Hop.

The dialogue hopes to challenge the black community to look critically at why there is deep division between elders and the Hip-Hop community, and why many hold a “clichéd view” leadership and formal education.

The free event was organized by producer and award-winning journalist, counselor and producer Edward M. Garnes, Jr who will also serve as moderator.

Garnes is the founder of From Afros To Shelltoes, a community program focused on using the arts to “bridge generation gaps between youth, elders, and Hip-Hop heads.”

Clifton West has been a mentor to Garnes, and co-founded BMWMB (Black Men Who Mean Business) with Mike Dailey to give the musical backbone to his brother Cornel’s Hip-Hop albums.

“The event is all about brothers sharing a journey of courage, testament of faith, renaissance of hope and a message of love; unduly granted by a lifetime of grace,” Clifton West told AllHiphop.com. “We are excited about our collaboration with From Afros To Shelltoes.”

Phonte of Little Brother/Foreign Exchange praised Garnes’ community efforts, framing them as a voice for late 20s Hip-Hop fans who are starting to feel displaced in the culture.

 “There is no movement that epitomizes the thoughts, dreams, and disillusionment of my generation better than From Afros to Shelltoes (F.A.T.S). For every young Black person that’s closer to 30 than 25, too grown for 106 & Park, but still too young for the Tom Joyner crowd, F.A.T.S is our leading voice,” Phonte stated. “With their exciting mix of wit, insight, and just plain old ‘real talk,’ F.A.T.S gives voice to a generation that wants to build on the future, while learning from the mistakes of the past. If my kids are reading about From Afros to Shelltoes in their history books in 20 years, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Stic.man of Dead Prez has worked with Garnes, and lauded his ability to symbolically unite past traditions with today’s climate.

“Sweet Tea Ethics is as culturally profound as the Japanese tea ceremonies because it goes back to traditions of how we were raised in the south,” he explained. “Ed Garnes’ writing, teaching, and community work with From Afros To Shelltoes is very relevant, very Hip-Hop, and a very important bridge from our past to today’s sensibilities. His brilliance is committed to the values of our people in the most warm and accessible manner.”

Sweet Tea Ethics will be this Sunday (January 17) at Camp Creek Market Place’s Barnes and Nobles, located at 3685 Market Place Boulevard in East Point, GA.

The event is free and commences at 5PM.

(AllHipHop News) Bun B, the UGK rapper, will host a rap concert deemed “Houston For Haiti” in an effort to raise funds for the devastated people of Haiti.

“Houston For Haiti” will occur at Warehouse Live in Houston on Monday with a ticket price of $20. All the proceeds will go to http://www.care.org/index.asp?.

The likes of Slim Thug, Trae The Truth, ESG, Lil O, Candi Redd, Just Brittany, Corey Mo, The Party Boyz and others are confirmed to perform.

Local athletes like Vince Young of the Tennesse Titans are expected to appear as well.

Bun B has been an outspoken staple in the Texas rap scene and has been at the forefront of many productive movements.

“We all need to get involved,” Bun B said in a statement. “Race, color or creed, we are all Haitians right now, and we need to help our brothers and sisters.”

(AllHipHop News) A number of influential hip-hop artists will join New York Governor David Patterson today (January 15), to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

Rap mogul Russell Simmons, Hip-Hop pioneer Eric B. of Eric B. and Rakim, Salt of female of rap’s most successful girl group Salt-N-Pepa and the real Avon Barksdale will appear in Queens with activist Erica Ford and Gov. Patterson to launch “Peace Week.”

The Governor and the celebrity rappers will use their influence to call for peace and unity in the streets and amongst the youth.

“We lost to many to senseless violence. Martin Luther King called for non-violence and peace,” Life Camp/Peace Week Founder Erica Ford told AllHipHop.com. “[It’s] time to ‘Bury Da Beefs’ and live at least a week of it in his [MLK’s] memory.”

“Peace Week” launches today (January 15) and ends January 22 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, a civil rights activist who encouraged non-violent protest as a means to bring forth social change.

Various events will take place in different boroughs throughout the week, including a celebration for MLK at Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and a “Teen Peace Party” in Jamaica, Queens.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is being celebrated across the world today (January 15).

(AllHipHop News)Snoop Dogg’s goal of uniting the West Coast rap scene is one step closer to fruition, as the rapper has announced Cypress Hill as his first singing, since taking over as Creative Chairman of Priority Records.

Cypress Hill (B-Real, Sen Dog and Eric BoBo) recorded for Columbia/Sony the majority of their career.

Today (January 15), the group announced a worldwide exclusive deal with Priority/EMI and will release Rise Up, their first studio album of all new material, in six years.

“My role as Creative Chairman of Priority Records has put me in the driver’s seat to help revive the most important west coast Hip-Hop label,” Snoop told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “As such, I’m excited to announce my first signing as Cypress Hill. Cypress Hill is undeniably one of the most important Hip-Hop groups in music history, not only are they incredibly talented and the first Latino Hip-Hop group to go platinum, they are also from the west coast-so this signing is the perfect marriage.”

Although the group hasn’t released an album in six years, they remained active in the recording studio.

Rise Up was recorded over the past three years at B-Real’s Los Angeles based recording studio, The Temple.

“We took a little break after the last record to work on individual projects,” B-Real stated. “Both Sen Dog and I wanted to put out our own solo records, which we had been working on for some time. And though we were doing other things, we each kept ideas in mind for Cypress Hill and would go into the studio periodically to record. It was great to work at our own pace and without a deadline hanging over us. We’d get together at my studio and record whenever we felt that burst of creativity. It was an amazing way to work and resulted in what I think is our best record yet.”

The self-titled lead single from Rise Up features Rage Against The Machine/Street Sweeper Social Club group member Tom Morello, who also appears on a track titled “Shut ‘Em Down.”

“It was great to work with my longtime friends and comrades Cypress Hill on these two monster rock tracks,” said Morello. “Cypress are back with a vengeance!”

Cypress Hill’s Rise Up is the follow-up to the group’s 2004 album Till Death Do Us Part.

Rise Up is due in stores April 6.

(AllHipHop News) Activist/Hip-Hip artist Wyclef has committed to helping his brethren in Haiti, even clearing bodies of the nation’s desolate streets.

The rapper said that the scene in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, an “apocalypse” and that more are soon to die without sufficient aid.

“The count is not 100,000 there’s at least, has to be four to five hundred thousand people that is about to die,” he told the Associated Press.

On Thursday, the rapper spent the entire day moving bodies and said that chaos is near, unless there is emergency and governmental intervention.

Though his Yele Haiti charity, he has helped to raise $1 million from supporters texting monetary support in $5 increments. But, Wyclef said that he wants to do more.

“We have to raise a million dollars a day. In four or five days, this whole country is going to be in chaos. We are calling for a state of emergency,” he said.

He desperately requested that President Barack Obama and other global powers impose a state of emergency and increase aid to those in need of basic water and food.