News

Brooklyn rapper Lil Kim has shared thoughts on the deaths of the late Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, and why people should consider the possibility that the killings were a conspiracy.


Kim believes the power behind B.I.G. and Tupac's music posed a threat to government officials.

The-Dream is one of the great contemporary pop songwriters, so his fans took his impending solo retirement talk with a good deal of sadness. It looks like that break has come to pass, though. The-Dream has announced that he's heard his fanbase loud and clear and he's preparing to release another album of R&B manifestos in August.


He announced the news on the red carpet for the premiere of Justin Bieber's 3D documentary 'Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.' "Everybody's calling for an album now, so I should have one out by August," he said, breaking the news.

Two-and-a-half months after his epic '6 Foot 7 Foot' single dropped, Lil Wayne is finally debuting his music video for the Bangladesh-produced banger on Thursday (March 3) at 7:54 PM EST on MTV.


The song is Wayne's first single since his release from Rikers Island prison in November, and the typically hyper-productive rapper has been keeping a uncharacteristically low profile since, only popping up on a handful of remixes and leaking a mixtape verse here and there.

After years of perfecting their debut album 'Last Train to Paris,' Diddy and his Dirty Money ladies are getting right back at it with some brand new music. The crew has just announced that they have a mixtape dropping next week on Valentine's Day.


Entitled 'LoveLOVE Vs. HateLOVE,' the news was, of course, broken by none other than Diddy via his well-oiled Twitter account. "LoveLOVE vs HateLOVE," he wrote. "The Dirty Money Valentine's mixtape coming Feb 14!!!!"

Waka Flocka Flame surrendered to Georgia police on Monday (Jan. 3) to face charges after a raid of his home last month. According to TMZ, he was booked by the Henry County Police Department on a slew of charges including possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of firearm by convicted felon, violation of probation for driving on a suspended license, and possession of the prescription drug hydrocodone.

Ja Rule pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, but the New York rapper will not be going behind bars anytime soon. XXLMag.com just got off the phone with his lawyer, Stacey Richman, who says she managed to work out a deal with the district attorney to keep him free until he finishes some prior business agreements.

The 2011 Grammy nominees were announced at a Los Angeles concert Wednesday night that was broadcast live on CBS. Two-time Grammy winner LL Cool J hosted the hour-long program that included performances from Bruno Mars, B.O.B., Justin Bieber and Train.


This year, artists must have released a project between Sept. 1, 2009, through Sept. 30, 2010, to be eligible for an award. While that leaves out albums from Kanye West, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, many others are in the running. The main event takes place on Feb. 13, 2011 in Los Angeles and will air live on CBS at 8PM ET/PT.

With his debut project, Crash Landing dropping Exclusively on HotNewHipHop on November 15th - 23 year old Los Angeles Rapper Kid Ink is here with HNHH for an exclusive interview.

 
SD: It’s almost showtime, Ink. Are you nervous in any sense?

Kid Cudi is gearing up to drop his second album of epic genre experimentation on October 26. The record, entitled 'Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager,' has already been previewed through initial singles like the Plain Pat-produced 'REVOFEV,' the brooding 'Mojo So Dope' and the more upbeat Kanye West  number 'Erase Me.' Over the weekend, fans got two more previews of new tracks entitled 'Mr. Rager' and 'Wylin' Cause I'm Young.'

Signing to any label doesn't make you the hottest artist or prove that you're working hard. It just means you can catch the eyes of executives. The question is how do you capitalize off your signing to make sure you'll eventually drop an album? Bei Maejor had the right answer. Aside from his production, Bei is signed to Jive and recently dropped his Upside Down free album. Twelve records spanning features from big names (T-Pain, Keri Hilson, Trey Songz, etc.) as well as matching production, mostly by himself, Maejor succeeded in doing what he set out to do.