Carter Maness
Eminem’s 2002 Album, ‘The Eminem Show,’ Goes Diamond
If you've been following the music industry over the last decade, you already know that earning a platinum record (one million sold) takes a perfect combination of hits, hype and marketing. Going diamond, which is selling 10 million, is nearly unthinkable outside of legacy artists such as Michael Jackson...
DJ J-Love Faces Up to 10 Years in Prison for 30+ Charges
J-Love, a DJ, producer and rapper mostly known for being at the helm and hosting numerous Nas mixtapes, is facing a very steep road ahead. The mixtape maker is currently facing anywhere from five to ten years in prison on multiple charges that include attempted murder and many counts of possessing weapons with intent for use...
Jay-Z Auctions Off Courtside Knicks Tickets
As big of a star as Jay-Z is, he's a notoriously private celebrity, so a new charity auction might be a lucky fan's only way to get close to one of hip-hop's most famous. Jay has partnered with a fancy auction site called Charity Buzz to auction-off two tickets to sit next to him courtside at an upcoming New York Knicks match at Madison Square Garden...
Rap Almanac Generates Reports on Trends and Slang
True rap nerds are about to rejoice over this one. Developer Tahir Hemphill has just built and introduced a sophisticated search tool called The Hip-Hop Word Count (HHWC), which houses a database of over 40,000 rap song lyrics from 1979 to the present day...
Nicki Minaj Pregnancy Rumors Captivate Internet
We're sure that when the online rabble-rousers at MediaTakeOut.com posted some "conclusive evidence" that Nicki Minaj is pregnant, they meant it all in good fun. Well, Minaj's vocal online fanbase isn't taking the site's tabloid report so casually...
Bow Wow Wants the Same Recognition as Jay-Z & Eminem
Over the past year, Bow Wow's biggest hits have been through the media rather than on the radio. The emotional artist has been using his Twitter account and various interviews to vent against people that have wronged him, while also revealing suicidal thoughts and even making a few select threats at those who he feels have slandered his image...
Shyne Drops ‘King David,’ Announces First Post-Prison LP ‘Gangland’
Since his release from prison in 2009, former Bad Boy rapper Shyne has traveled a unique path. He was deported from the U.S., recorded a few freestyles in Belize and then went over to Israel to reinvent himself as a Jewish MC with a message about incorporating religion into life...
Washington D.C.-Based DMV Awards Erupt in Violence
The DMV Awards, an annual celebration of hip-hop, go-go and other related music popular in the Washington DC-area, brought disaster in its latest incarnation. The Saturday night celebration and ceremony, held at a hotel in the Crystal City section of Arlington County, erupted into violence that caused at least six injuries with multiple hospitalizations...
Two Men Stabbed at Lloyd Banks Concert
Beamer, Benz, Bentley or a knifing? A weekend Lloyd Banks show went about as poorly as possible when a Buffalo, N.Y. crowd got more than a little rowdy and a melee broke out that culminated with two men in the hospital with multiple stab wounds...
Mobb Deep’s Prodigy Finishes Three-Year Prison Term
Prodigy, real name Albert Johnson, of the group Mobb Deep was released from prison today after serving a three-year sentence for a guilty plea to weapons charges. The rapper had been living out his sentence at Mid-State Correctional Facility in New York after admitting guilt on October 8, 2007...