HipHop Report

[MajaFiggaz_Early!]

Following last Eminem's diss tracks aimed at Benzino, The Source co-owner has come back with another track called "Die Another Day", where, among other things, he calls D12 and Obie "house niggas," chastises other rappers who battle each other ("The so-called kings steady going at each other/ Doing songs with the devil while they fighting with their brother"), compares Em to racist figures ("You're the rap David Duke, you're the rap Hitler ... I'm the rap Malcolm [X], the rap Martin [Luther King]") and even has a few words for Em's daughter.

"Wordplay, it's all wordplay," Benzino said about whether he really wants to get physically violent with Eminem. "I'm from the machine, I don't want to bring any harm to Marshall Mathers. At the same time, my message got across. I feel Eminem came at me personally. I think he feels that nobody should go at him." Benzino plans to release a mixtape filled with more disses and has recorded an official album called "Redemption", which will drop in January.

Taking a cue from Eminem, Nas has bumped up the release of his album to counter bootlegging. "God's Son" will now hit stores December 13, four days before the scheduled and traditional Tuesday release date. "God's Son is my most personal album and I poured my heart and spirit into it," Nas said. "It's important to me that the fans hear my album the way I intended. When you buy a bootleg or pirate a download off the Net, you don't get the real thing. The sound sucks, the sequencing is wrong, you're probably missing some tracks and you don't even get the artwork and CD bonuses."

While DMX is in the studio finishing his fifth solo LP, "It's Not A Game", the soundtrack to his "Cradle 2 the Grave" is moving closer to completion. The movie "Cradle 2 the Grave," which stars DMX and Jet Li, hits US cinemas on February 28, preceded by the soundtrack on February 11. The soundtrack's first single, "X Gon' Give It to Ya," produced by newcomer Shatek, has already hit mixtapes. X has also contributed the title track and a song called "Right or Wrong" to the OST. Clipse, Big Tymers, Fat Joe, Puffy and Mario Winans, Carl Thomas, Bazarre Royale and 50 Cent and his G-Unit crew appear on the album as well.

50 is also among the guests appearing on "It's Not A Game" along with the likes of Cam'ron, who features X on the Diplomats' "What's Really Good." PK, Kanye West, No ID, DJ Envy and Dame Grease are among the producers X enlisted to provide beats for "It's Not A Game", the first release on his Bloodline imprint.

Dre from Outkast had a special interest in the box office outcome of "8 Mile," and not just because he and Big Boi have a song in the movie. Dre will star in the drama "Love Hater," which takes its name from the solo album and first single Dre will release next summer. Dre will play an upper-class musical prodigy on the run with a lower-class eccentric. The couple is forced to flee when the woman's racist brother is involved in an accidental shooting. Before "Love Hater" hits the screen, Dre will appear in a smaller role in "Hollywood Homicide" alongside Josh Hartnett, Harrison Ford, Master P and Kurupt.

For the second year in a row, DJ Kay Slay, a.k.a. the Drama King, was dubbed the mixtape king. Unfortunately for Slay and the spectators at the seventh annual Mixtape Awards, a backstage scuffle forced the show to end before he could be presented with the honour. While Easy Mo Bee, with the legendary Chuck Chillout in tow, was reading the list of nominees for Best Artist on a Mixtape, a fracas began backstage. DJ Kay Slay was being interviewed and he was asking who Pudgee P was (Best Mixtape Personality winner)? One of Pudgee's crew overheard this a fists started flying. You could see a few bodies popping out from behind a curtain, one of which was DJ Kay Slay's. He started getting into a boxing-style fighting stance when somebody broke up the fray.

Not only was their altercation over, but so was the Mixtape Awards. Slay promptly came to a podium on the stage and announced that it was time to go home. "This is over, goodnight. Everybody have a nice night!" he exclaimed in a huff and walked off the stage. Moments later one of hip-hop's founding fathers, Kool Herc, took the mic and gave a diatribe on the dissension in the ranks of DJs. "We all brothers," Herc said of the feuding, which has been publicly brewing for months, most notably among the two biggest spinners, Slay and DJ Clue. "Y'all need to stop that bullshit, man. Clue and Kay Slay need to stop that shit. [Jam Master] Jay's not even here and y'all showing that same nigga shit. Kay Slay, you're my man, but leave that penny-ante shit alone. If Clue was about anything, his ass would be here and this would be televised on MTV." (Clue, who boycotted the event, has publicly denounced the awards and said he asked that his name be taken off the ballots because of what he claims to be a "bogus voting process and flagrant exploitation of the labels to get a check out of the situation.") Kay Slay then returned to the mic to give his side of what happened. "I ain't letting no fucking punk from nowhere talk no shit to me," Kay explained. "Fuck 'The Drama King,' my name is Keith. Respect comes first and I don't give a fuck where a nigga disrespect me, if he disrespect me right there he gets the shit beat out of him right there." "You won't be a lesser man if you handle it another way rather than letting the shit go on," Herc pleaded with Kay. "Sometimes you're hot, you can't say what you want to say. That's all, young man. You absorb it and handle it another time. That's all, just hold onto it. Brother, we gotta work this out. It's uncalled for."

Among the awards that were presented during the show were Best Graphics, given to J-Love; Best DJ Producer, which went to Ron G, who beat out Clue; and Best Radio Mixtape DJ, which was handed to Enuff.

Eminem has recorded two diss cuts aimed at Benzino. They can be heard the forthcoming Kay Slay mixtape, "Shady Times - Invasion". On "The Sauce" and "Nail In The Coffin", Em basically destroys all of Benzino's credibility, referencing/criticizing the Source's mic-rating system and puts Benzino on blast for exploiting his own child so Benzino can eat off him. Most rappers are scared to say anything bad about The Source, Em gives the magazine a big middle finger and lets them know he has the number to XXL and accuses the Source of being jealous because of XXL's rapid road to success.

[DR. P]

50 is also among the guests appearing on "It's Not A Game" along with the likes of Cam'ron

If I recall correctly, didn't the ROC have beef with DMX when he was with the Ruff Ryders Maja? This combo is indeed perplexing given the fact that in Beanie's diss to Jadakiss, he even say's something about leaving Jay-Z to handle "Tommy Buns" the character I believe played by DMX in the Movie "Belly". Does this suggest that the ROC is recruiting X? I'll stay tunded. But as always thanks for the 411 maja.

Best,

P

[MajaFiggaz_Early!]

I belive the beef with X and Jay has been squashed as is the RR/DBlock, Roc-A-Fella Beef.

On thinng that gets me is the bef 50 Has with Jay. Jay was gonna sign 50 then dissed him hence the following track "How to Rob" by 50 dissing the whole rap/r&b world. ad the Jay's "Im about a dollar what the fuck is 50 Cent"

Now that the Roc sign Cam, I am wondering if 50 has beef with him also.

[MajaFiggaz_Early!]

Instead of cluttering the board with a bunch of reports i'll just extend this one for anyone who wants to be caught up on the latest happenings in the hiphop world...

Dec. 19th

Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Warren G will finally release a collaborative album under the name of 213 in November next year.

Jermaine Dupri owes millions to the federal government and a seizure of his property, including a portion of his prized car collection, has already taken place. Federal agents recently staged a raid at two of the hip-hop producer's Atlanta residences, carting away furniture, computers and cars, according to a report from CBS Atlanta, which cited an unidentified source close to the seizure. JD owes $2,541,865 according to the IRS.[/b]