Hip Hop News Snippets

Since this is the first..a lot of shit i'm posting here is kinda old but needs to be posted as it's significant anywayz....

Nas to put out new album in September:
Nas' September release, titled Hip-Hop is Dead, will be the first of two albums jointly marketed by Def Jam and Nas' previous label, Columbia. Nas and Def Jam president Jay-Z announced they'd deaded their beef at Jay-Z's "I Declare War" concert last October and in January the two furthered their relationship when Nas joined the Def Jam roster. With their partnership solidified Jay-Z has even raised the possibility that he might make a guest appearance on the new Nas release. Hip Hop is Dead will be Nas' follow-up to 2004's Streets Disciple which sold some 694,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan. Billboard.com has also reported that Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am is also scheduled to record with Nas for the new project.

And the Roots as well!:
In related news, The Roots are also preparing their new Def Jam debut Game Theory, which is scheduled to be released late Summer 2006. Their first single "Don't Feel Right" dropped earlier this month.

Method Man Gets Ready for 5th Album:
Method Man will make his comeback this summer with his fifth album, "4:21." The album drops July 18 and the lead single is "Say," which samples Lauryn Hill's cover of Bob Marley's "So Much Things To Say" from "MTV Unplugged."Guests include Fat Joe and Styles P as well as production from Wu-Tang Clan colleague RZA, Scott Storch and Dr. Dre.

Eminem back on mixtape scene:
DJ Whoo Kid has finished work on a new Shady Records mixtape . It's called "The Re-Up" and marks the return of Eminem. "Em's sh*t is gonna be ridiculous," Whoo Kid boasted last week. The return of the Emster and the whole Shady going hard. Everybody is on point. Obie , Stat Quo, all their artists. It's gonna be more of a hungry Shady, back to the grind. Plus me and Alchemist are putting it together, so it will be ridiculous." Besides freestyling off familiar beats, Alchemist gave the Shady squad some new tracks to rhyme over. "It's about what we pick to be on the mixtape," Whoo Kid added. "It will be extra songs I'll bootleg on something else later. But the fact that Em is coming back, I'm just happy to be a part of that."

Ice Cube lashes out at Oprah:
Ice Cube is the latest rapper to step up the offensive against unlikely beef recipient Oprah Winfrey, crying foul over the talk show hostess' alleged refusal to book hip-hop acts on her influential chatfest. The Are We There Yet? star followed in the footsteps of fellow rappers turned critics Ludacris and 50 Cent, telling FHM magazine that Stedman's better half has unfairly kept the arbiters of thug life off her airwaves. "I've been involved in three projects pitched to her, but I've never been asked to participate," the 36-year-old told the magazine in its July issue. "For Barbershop she had Cedric the Entertainer and Eve on, but I wasn't invited. Maybe she's got a problem with hip-hop. "She's had damn rapists, child molesters and lying authors on her show. And if I'm not a rags-to-riches story for her, who is?" Ice Cube's public denouncement of Winfrey—or at least her booking agents—is just the latest lashing out directed at the daytime queen. In an interview with the AP last month, 50 Cent voiced complaints that the Tony-bound 52-year-old took issue with rappers and thus rarely invited them on her show. "I think she caters to older white women," the "In Da Club" rapper said. "Oprah's audience is my audience's parents. So, I could care less about Oprah or her show." Of course, that could be because disagreeing with the queen of suburban housewives only ups Fiddy's street cred. "I'm actually better off having friction with her," he told the AP. If that's the case, he was likely less than pleased to receive a recent endorsement from Winfrey, who made a surprise appearance on New York hip-hop radio station earlier this month to talk to DJ Ed Lover about her reported lack of support for rap acts. "I listen to some hip-hop," the media queen said. "You know, I've been accused of not liking hip-hop, and that's just not true. I got a little 50 on my iPod. I really do. Love 'In Da Club'...Love that, and you know, love Jay-Z, love Kanye, love Mary J." Reports of a biased brouhaha first picked up steam in April, when Ludacris, born Chris Bridges, spoke out to GQ magazine about his treatment on the show last fall, when he was promoting the Oscar-winning Crash. "She edited out a lot of my comments while keeping her own in," he told the lad's mag. "Of course, it's her show, but we were doing a show on racial discrimination, and she gave me a hard time as a rapper when I came on there as an actor. "I don't see why people like Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, who I am huge fans of, it's OK for them to go on Oprah. They speak the same language as I do, but they do it through comedy, so I guess that's acceptable."

LL Cool J to be honoured by ASCAP:
Hip-Hop legend LL Cool J will be honored at the 19th Annual Rhythm & Soul Music Awards, presented by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). The ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards are being held on June 26 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. This year's event, which is by invitation only, will recognize the songwriters and publishers of the most performed ASCAP songs on the 2005 R&B, hip-hop and rap charts. The evening will also include performances by several award-winning artists. LL Cool J, whose real name is James Todd Smith, will receive the ASCAP Golden Note Award, an honor given to songwriters and composers who have achieved extraordinary milestones. The Golden Note has been previously awarded to Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Jay-Z, Quincy Jones, Tom Petty, Jose Feliciano, Mark Snow and Stevie Wonder among others. Since 1985 when Def Jam made his album Radio their first release, LL has dropped nine platinum or better selling albums and eight gold singles. His albums Bigger and Deffer, Walking With a Panther, 14 Shots to the Dome, G.O.A.T. and 10 have been the source of such #1 hit singles as "I Need Love," "I'm That Type of Guy," "How I'm Comin'," and "Luv U Better." His 12th and latest album "Todd Smith" was recently certified gold. LL has already scored two Grammy Awards for singles "Mama Said Knock You Out" and the Boyz II Men duet "Hey Lover" as well as several MTV Video Music Awards, a NAACP Image Award and the Quincy Jones Award for Outstanding Career Achievements during the Soul Train Music Awards. "LL Cool J is one of the most important figures in the history of hip-hop. He has weathered all the trends in the rap world and is as commercially viable today as he was when he started out in 1985," ASCAP President and Chairman Marilyn Bergman said via statement. "We are very pleased to honor LL Cool J by adding his name to the very elite group of our Golden Note-winning songwriters and composers." The 2006 ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Music Awards will also feature a special presentation to ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year and "Top" awards will be presented for Publisher of the Year, Soundtrack of the Year, Reggae Artist of the Year, Ringtone of the Year, R&B/Hip-Hop Song, Rap Song and Gospel Song. As SOHH previously reported, ASCAP recently honored 50 Cent and Jermaine Dupri at ASCAP's Pop Music Awards. 50 won Songwriter of the Year and Dupri won Song of the Year for co-writing and producing the Mariah Carey song "We Belong Together."

Raekwon might be down with Aftermath:
We already knew that Raekwon and Busta Rhymes (and also Dr. Dre) worked very closely on Raekwon's 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx 2' album but according to WuTangCorp.com, it looks like The Chef has inked a deal with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment."Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II" will be a co-production between Aftermath and Wu-Tang. Whether this is the Wu Music Group or Wu-Tang Productions is not known yet.

More to come later.....