Video: The Roots catch a beatdown in the Netherlands.

-Good to see that Raekwon agrees with me on Jay’s new album.

-Young RD put his pen to work and emerged with the best review of Hell Hath No Fury I’ve seen so far.

-50 Cent is almost ready to Self Destruct. I wonder if he’ll be brave enough to respond to Hov’s subliminal on “30 Something.”

-H-Town’s finest King Koopa plays hip-hop Santa.

-Winter Movie Preview:Yawn. I think I’ll go see ‘Blood Diamonds’ at the $1 dollar movie.

-Ludacris meets with the man who could be your next president.

-Twisted Black sentenced to life in prison for drug conspiracy. Damn.

-Akon must be a very happy artist right now.

-Stones Throw sends The Fader a press release for J Dilla’s Ruff Draft EP without the actual CD.

-UMG CEO Doug Morris throws himself a pity party, as Idolator puts it.
Funny, the same folks were suing YouTube on a daily basis, now they have a YouTube account. Industry people are shady.

Yeah, I know I’m late and everything, but this happens to be one of my favorite songs on Release Therapy.

The best part of the whole Access Granted thing was Jungle plugging his little album that will probably do K-Fed numbers if it ever sees the light of day.

Bonus: (Audio) Clips of Nas’ Power 92 Interview:
-On Jay-Z
-On Carmen’s book
-On Mobb Deep signing to G-Unit

Let’s play “name that song” with the Tru3 Magic track list. If you look at the cover art long enough you’ll see the entire list. I’ll post a hi-res version of the cover after all the tunes have been correctly identified.

Play time is over, here’s the full track list for Mos Def’s Tru3 Magic:

1.)”Tru3 Magic”
2.)”Undeniable”
3.)”U R the One”
4.)”Thug Is A Drug”
5.)”Crime & Medicine”
6.)”A Ha”
7.)”Dollar Day” (surprise, surprise)
8.)”Napoleon Dynamite”
9.)”There Is A Way”
10.)”Sun, Moon, Stars”
11.)”Murder of A Teenage Life”
12.)”Fake Bonanza”
13.)”Perfect Timing”
14.)”Lifetime”

Tru3 Magic is slated for December 19. A copy of that other 12/19 rap release that looked like it wasn’t coming out anytime this decade landed on my desk yesterday. Talk about “unapologetic hip-hop” sans a gazillion references to cocaina.

Nas feat. The Game - QB True G (Produced by Dr. Dre)( Clean) (Dirty)
More evidence that Hip-Hop Is Dead is our last hope left for an exceptional rap album this quarter.

UPDATE: Contrary to earlier reports, “Hustlers” (aka QB True G’s) will be on the final version of Hip-Hop Is Dead. A Def Jam insider confirmed this to me earlier today. According to my source, the track was renamed after Marsha Ambrosius was brought in to deliver the chorus.

-Kanye West does not care about bi-racial people.

-Seeing as 50 Cent has taken a break from rap, Irv Gotti is going to try and resurrect The Inc with the help of Vanessa Carlton and Ja Rule.

-Is Little Brother breaking up?

-LL Cool J comes close to saying “F*ck Jay-Z”

-Gaddafi is way more ‘gangsta’ than Curtis. (I’m playing, of course…)

-Carmen says Nas wanted a threesome with Kelis.

-The indomitable Ian puts together a Hip-Hop is Dead special.

-Young Jeezy does something positive for the youth, possibly to compensate for all the cocaine rap lyrics.

The “official” track list for Hip-Hop Is Dead has changed for the upteenth time. I have no complaints this time, except that “QB True G’s,” the Dr Dre-produced collaboration with Game has mysteriously disappeared (is Fiddy really that powerful?) A few other tracks from the old list and the listening session were also x’d out and replaced with new joints.

Here we go again.

Nas - Hip-Hop is Dead Track List
1.)”Money Over Bullsh*t”
2.)”You Can’t Kill Me”
3.)”Carry On Tradition”
4.)”Where Are They Now”
5.)”Hip Hop Is Dead”
6.)”Who Killed It?”
7.)”Black Republican”
8.)”Not Going Back”
9.)”Still Dreaming”
10.)”Hold Down The Block”
11.)”Blunt Ashes”
12.)”Let There Be Light”
13.)”Play On Playa”
14.)”Can’t Forget About You”
15.)”Hustlers”
16.)”Hope”

I love Bun to death (no Mark Foley), but this story doesn’t add up. Someone help me out here:

HHNLive: What’s up with this whole “F*ck BET” campaign appearing on your Myspace page?
Bun B: I wasn’t controlling that page at all up until 2 months ago. I have some control of it now but it’s some kid that runs it. The campaign wasn’t started by me. People think it’s actually Bun B running the page but it’s not. I’ve heard that sometimes the kid pretends to be me.

Bun went on to say “I’m a songwriter and I do my job and I’m not knockin’ anyone for doing there’s but these Internet sites need to fact check before they print bullshit…gotta be very careful and fact check”.

HHNLive: What are your thoughts on Hip-Hop coverage online?

Bun: I love the blogs…it’s people just tryin’ to get their message out…just gotta get the facts right. (Full story: HHNLive.com)

Update: Some of you may have noticed that I pulled this story minutes after it was published. I had to. Out of the respect I have for Bun B and UGK. After receiving several emails from “reliable sources” I realized that there was plenty BS involved and someone must have been lying somewhere.

Anyhow, Bun B spoke to Eskay earlier today and denounced the anti-BET comments. More importantly, he has no recollection of the much-talked about interview with HHNLive.com.

(Image © Rizoh)

NYOIL - “What up My Wigger?”

-Video: 2Pac ft. Ashanti & T.I. - “Pac’s Life” All the people ‘Pac would shoot to death when he returns from Cuba.

-Video: Jay-Z performs “Show Me What You Got” at the AMAs

-I would hate to be an employee at Sony Urban right about now.

-Guess who’s responsible for Michael Richards’ racist rant?

-Sean Price is a “Black Republican”.

-The Smoking Section interviews the Clipse.

-On a related note, Hell Hath No Fury gets a glowing review on OhWord.com

I caught this on Vh1 yesterday (my first time ever seeing a WWE show). I’m aware that artists have ’speech therapists’ and whatnot that tell them what to say in interviews, but Game might be smarter than most people assume. Watch how he threads around Wendy Williams’ bait when Dre’s name comes up.

Now, you know this is a lie, but it’s still hilarious: “Ron Artest sold more albums than Lloyd Banks.”

Bonus Videos:
Jim Jones - Hustler’s P.O.M.E. DVD
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4