In 1988, the movie "Colors" brought to the screen, Hollywood’s depiction of the ravenous violence, that over the previous decade, had overtaken LA streets due to the war between the Crips and Bloods. Even West Coast Hip-Hop music of the day from Ice T’s "6 in the Morning, to NWA’s "Straight Out of Compton," glorified […]

Lyricist Lounge and Image Entertainment will present the "Dirty States of America," a documentary of Southern Hip-Hop, accompanied by a soundtrack of the same name. The film examines several different styles of Hip-Hop, including Crunk, Bounce, Booty and the innovative Screwed style. Scarface, David Banner, 8Ball, Goodie Mob, Lil Jon, Petey Pablo, Trick Daddy and […]

C. DeLores Tucker lost another libel lawsuit yesterday (April 28) after claming two newspapers had falsely reported on her dispute with the estate of Tupac Shakur. Tucker sued Shakur’s estate over the song "How Do You Want It," in which Shakur rhymed Tucker’s last name and called her a "motherf*cker." The 1997 lawsuit claimed that […]

After five days of tense waiting, Roc-A-Fella CEO Dame Dash breathed a sigh of relief when the attempted-murder trial of one of his marquee artists, Beanie Sigel, came to a close in the rapper’s favor. A jury could not reach a verdict regarding Bean’s guilt or innocence and a mistrial was declared. The charges had […]

Rakim was arrested by officers last night as he was about to enter the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan to perform at a very anticipated concert featuring Ghostface, Talib Kweli, Slick Rick and Royce Da 5’9. Plain-clothed officers flashed their badges around 11 p.m. and took the rapper away in an unmarked car. "Rakim was falsely […]

A record label has filed a lawsuit in United States Court, Southern District of New York, alleging that Ludacris and Kanye West took the hook for the hit single "Stand Up" from their single. BMS Entertainment/Heat Music claims they handed a demo of their group I.O.F. (Its Only Family) to Ludacris on four different occasions […]

Irv Gotti is set to be indicted by federal prosecutors in New York for charges involving million dollar tax schemes sources stated. The charges, which will be made public this week, are expected to be the first in a series of charges levied at the CEO of The Inc. (formerly Murder Inc.) and his "childhood […]

A mistrial was declared today in the case of Roc-A-Fella rapper Beanie Sigel. The jury deliberated for a week but was unable to reach a verdict on any of the charges against him. Sigel was facing 20 to 40 years in prison if convicted of shooting a man outside of a bar in 2003. Terrance […]

Marvel Enterprises has inked a deal with AST Sportswear and will produce an urban streetwear line of clothing that features several characters from the Marvel Universe. AST, which makes the Source Clothing and World Wrestling Entertainment lines, will be released to specialty clothing boutiques this month. "Marvel is quite simply one of the premiere entertainment […]

CNET’s Download.com launched a free, legal music downloading service that enables users to download music from participating artists without spending a cent. http://music.download.com went live yesterday on download.com, one of the most visited sites for legal, software downloads. The site is live with basic functionality that allows users to browser, find, download and listen to […]

The IRS is seeking to "shame" people into paying their taxes and are listing delinquent United States citizens on State owned web sites. At least 13 states are using the tactic, which some states are branding an effective tax tool. Georgia’s web site boasts two celebrities, the estate of Tupac Shakur, which owes $85,260 and […]

A Federal Court in Memphis Tennessee has labeled rapper Virgil "Turk" Virgil a flight risk and ordered him to stay behind bars today, on the eve of the release of his latest album, Penitentiary Chances. Turk, who is being held in a maximum security prison in Tennessee, is accused of shooting a police officer while […]

GF Records CEO Bang ‘Em Smurf and protégé Domination (aka Silverback Guerillas) somehow managed to finagle a pair of verses from Tupac Shakur from a source they refused to divulge. Smurf told AllHipHop.com, "The Tupac thing – aw man – that Tupac joint man, we stumbled on that. We got that. I can’t even tell […]

Russell Simmons and Stan Lathan’s Simmons Lathan Media Group (SLMG) announced the details of the "Russell Simmons Presents: Def Filmmakers Screening Series." The series is sponsored by Motorola and Blackfilm.com and will showcase a new urban film every other month at theaters and venues in major cities across the United States. The first film will […]

RZA has signed on to score the music for "Blade: Trinity," the third installment of the "Blade" franchise starring Wesley Snipes. "On Blade: Trinity, we’re actually planning for an 80-piece orchestra. So for me it’s really fulfilling," RZA told Film Stew. RZA said that film scoring was different than Hip-Hop production, due to the emotional […]

Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. will dump a marketing campaign that utilized Hip-Hop to promote their Kool Brand of cigarettes. Critics claimed that the campaign was aimed at luring black youth into smoking the cigarettes and that the campaign violated a legal settlement the tobacco company reached with 46 states. Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe, […]

Rev. Run was denied the status of poet laureate yesterday (April 23) in Queens, New York. The winner was noted Korean-American poet Ishle Yi Park who is ironically, a poet that appears on Def Poetry, which was created by the younger Simmons’ older brother Russell. Yi Park, 26, said that she was honored to be […]

VH1 will honor Hip-Hop’s pioneer’s with a new awards show, "VH1 Hip-Hop Honors." The show is scheduled for October 8. Network president Christina Norman told the Associated Press the event will be annual and was a perfect fit for the network and their new push into pop culture. "The people who grew up listening to […]