Hip Hop News Snippets(19-06-06)

Queen Latifah On 'Life Support' :
Queen Latifah will star in the HBO original movie Life Support.Based on a true story, "Life Support" follows Ana Willis (Queen Latifah), an HIV-positive former addict who has become a wife and mother and is committed to educating people in the black community on how to protect them and not become infected with AIDS.

Mos Def Set To Star In 'Little Scarlet' :
Mos Def has been cast alongside acclaimed actor Jeffrey Wright in an upcoming adaptation of Walter Mosley’s popular novel “Little Scarlet.” In “Little Scarlett,” white cops hire private investigator Rawlins (Jeffrey Wright) in the wake of the racially-charged riots to investigate the murder of a Black woman, and his trigger-happy friend Mouse (Mos Def) comes to his aide.


Eminem To Play A Bounty Hunter In New Flick :
Eminem has agreed to appear in a new film as a bounty hunter, according to reports.
The rap star is understood to have agreed to appear in a movie adaptation of an old TV series.
Have Gun - Will Travel was originally broadcast in the 1950's and followed the antics of a gunfighter-for-hire.Apparently the programme will be updated for the 21st century and will see Eminem adopting the role of bounty hunter, perhaps in his hope city of Detroit.
There are also suggestions that Eminem, who has expressed a desire to pursue new projects in recent months, will score the soundtrack for the movie.

DMX Confirms Belly Sequel:
DMX recently confirmed that the sequel to Belly is in the works.Titled Beast , the sequel will follow on directly from the 1998 Hype Williams directed cult classic and will also feature Nas who co-wrote and co-starred in the original.

The Roots to Drop Game Theory August 29:
Philly group The Roots return after a two year hiatus to release their new album, Game Theory filled with 14 tracks that express their views on the state of the world. The album is due August 29.“There was too much going on that we couldn’t just sit back and not speak on it,” says lyricist Black Thought. Drummer ?uestlove describes the album as ”very mature, serious and very dark.”The band addresses everything from their uneasiness about society on, “It Don’t Feel Right,” to troops at war on “False Media” and government monitoring on “New World.” The band also honors their fallen friend and producer James Yancey a/k/a J-Dilla whose death from kidney failure in February devastated the Hip-Hop world. All tracks are wrapped around hard hitting beats and murky grooves deploying samples from Sly Stone, the Ohio Players and the Jackson 5 among others.

Busta Rhymes' Big Bang Expected To Top Charts:
Busta Rhymes new album The Big Bang hit stores on June 14 and after two days on the shelves, reports stated the rapper's 7th solo album is on pace to debut at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart next week. The album, which critics are hailing as Rhymes' best work to date is on pace to sell over 250,000 copies during its first week on the shelves. The Big Bang features collaborations with Raekwon, Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry, Q-Tip, Missy Elliott and musical icons Stevie Wonder and the late Rick James. Busta has attributed the album's success to the creative freedom has was afforded on his new label, Aftermath/Interscope Records.

Common working on new album:
Rapper Common is presently working on the follow-up to his critically acclaimed album, BE, and the rapper says it's coming soon. "Finding Forever is out at the end of September. We're workin' on it daily. Production [comes from] from Kanye West, obviously [he's] producing' a lot of it. Kareem Riggins and J Dilla. It's special. We just tryin' to grow with the music," Common told AllHipHop.com. The Chicago rapper also stated that he's starring in a new film called Smoking Acres, which will be out January, 2007

And so is Rakim:
Legendary Hip-Hop wordsmith Rakim said that his third solo album The Seventh Seal would hit stores before the end of the summer during Mark Ecko's Save the Rhino's concert recently held in New York. The album will be released on his own label, after a much hyped collaboration with Hip-Hop super-producer Dr. Dre never saw the light of day. According to Rakim the album will feature several guest appearances, including a cameo appearance by Queens rapper Nas.

More to come later....