Carter Maness

Before the epic March 27 NCAA tournament battle between University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina, UNC got an inspirational visit from its former player Michael Jordan. Not to be one-upped, and after a huge victory, Kentucky countered with an inspirational visit from the self-proclaimed "Michael Jordan of recording": Jay-Z...

Mississippi rapper and producer Big K.R.I.T. has had quite a year. Since The BoomBox featured him in our Top Prospect column, K.R.I.T. signed a major label deal with Def Jam, toured with associates Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y and earned significant critical acclaim for his breakout mixtape, 'K...

AP I Getty Images Where has Young Jeezy been? The Atlanta rapper is still hard at work on his long-awaited LP 'TM103,' yet he just dropped a new club burner entitled 'Ballin,' which features rhymes from Lil Wayne and production by Lex Luger...

With hip-hop memoirs becoming big business, Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon has thrown his hat into the ring and announced that he's working on his autobiography. A master storyteller, Raekwon has long been one of the most respected writers in rap and will follow the lead of other MCs such as Jay-Z, Prodigy, Malice and Q-Tip, that have each either recently published books or have one in progress... Re

XXL Magazine is giving aspiring rappers a potentially innovative platform to be heard by industry figures and fans with its first official iPhone app. While the app features six functions like news, trivia and lifestyle trends, the most unique is a feature called "Ready or Not," which allows rappers to record and upload their own 30-second freestyles and get judged by celebrity guests fr

After committing a PR disaster by going ballistic behind the scenes at ABC's 'Good Morning America,' Chris Brown has parted ways with his longtime publicist. The New York Post reports that spokesperson Tammy Brook and Brown split in the midst of the artist's album release week for his new LP, 'F...

A Colorado man was sentenced to life in prison for shooting and killing a man outside of an E-40 concert in 2009. Terry Lamaire Gaines, a 24-year-old, was convicted of shooting a 27-year-old named Michael Allen Davis in a parking lot after the show in Colorado Springs...

Few would disagree that Rihanna is the music industry's finest pop singer from Barbados, but she's taking on a new challenge by going country in an upcoming awards show appearance. The songstress will join Sugarland, a popular country music duo, for a collaborative performance at the 46th incarnation of the Academy of Country Music Awards...

Jill Scott, a neo-soul leader with an immensely powerful voice, is returning to the music world with a brand new album later this year. The three-time Grammy winner has announced that her fourth album, 'The Light of the Sun,' will drop later in 2011, and she's viewing the project as a re-embrace of hip-hop...

Last year, The BoomBox broke the story that RZA would be a no-show during a winter Wu-Tang Clan tour because he had prior obligations. Apparently, a promoter in Louisville, Ky., didn't get the memo. Courthouse News reports that the promoter is now suing the Wu's booking agency for failing to deliver RZA at the Clan's performance in Kentucky on Jan...