A softer, more gentle kind of rap beef...

After a nearly-year-long hiatus, we decided it was about time to hit you once again with some of that smart, stinging, sarcastic hip-hop commentary that all six of our readers love so much (we might even give you our last three picks from that Top 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums EVER MADE list if you’re lucky). However, we felt the need to come back with something strong, and the shocking news of Snoop Dogg being arrested for marijuana possession or the sun rising this morning just didn’t seem sufficient. Lucky for us, a lyrical double goose down pillow fight erupted between Common and Drake. Let’s get to it.

Ashley Judd is a...

Ashley Judd just released a new book. Who cares, right? Well, in that book, she condemned the YouthAIDS organization for including Hip-Hop performers such as Snoop Dogg and Diddy in their AIDS fundraising and awareness campaigns, calling Hip-Hop “rape culture” and “the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny,” and stating her belief that the “social construction of gender… is the root cause of poverty and suffering around the world.” Because this is a Hip-Hop blog, we will forgo our much bigger point of contention that the cultural classifications of gender, while undeniably a huge problem, is a distant second to that of race with respect to poverty and suffering in the world. Instead, we will focus on the seemingly endless scapegoating of Hip-Hop music in the fight for gender equality.

An Open Letter to Lupe Fiasco...

Dear Lupe,

How are you? How’s your deen? How’s your pet robot? Does it still have an outbreak of hoes on its toes? Gross.

So, your new album, Lasers, sold over 200,000 units in its first week of release (those are Nikki Minaj numbers!), debuted at the number 1 spot on the US Billboard 200 chart, and has held down the number 1 spot on the Rap Album chart for 3 weeks now. The single, “Show Goes On” has been certified Gold and is currently at number 9 on the Billboard Rap chart and climbing. These are huge numbers for you, record-breaking numbers in most cases, and while we are happy for you, we just wanted to make sure that you don’t make the mistake of believing that the album’s performance means that it is actually good. It’s not.

Kanye's new album this summer, Detox in 2002...

On Sunday, in between his usual ridiculous tweets thanking Julius Caesar for his haircut, explaining why he wouldn’t be successful doing stand-up comedy, and commenting on the Bears and Packers game, Kanye West casually made some exciting (possibly alcohol induced) announcements regarding his multiple upcoming releases. Apparently, a video for “All of the Lights” will drop in a week, Watch the Throne, his collaborative album with Jay-Z, will drop in 2 months, and, most surprisingly of all, an entirely new Yeezy solo album will be dropping this summer. We know ‘Ye is a machine when he gets into work mode, but this seems a bit overzealous. We will, therefore, believe it when we see it.

Gucci Mane's stupid face

Gucci Mane just got out of jail, and he is in no hurry to go back. So when he was arrested in November for driving the same way he raps (terribly), he knew he needed to do something bold to avoid more prison time. After watching half of a Law & Order rerun, he decided a plea of insanity would be his best hope and Gucci promptly started getting his crazy on! He checked himself into a mental health facility and entered a plea of incompetency but his legal team warned him that it may not be enough and that Gucci should build up a stronger crazy case before his hearing later this month. So Gucci, being the ingenious individual that he is, decided to go get a huge ice cream cone tattooed on his face (which was his second choice, but this was already taken). Gucci is no fool, though. He saw Game get a similarly ridiculous butterfly tattoo on his face only to receive so much ridicule that he eventually had it covered up by an “LA” and then a star tattoo. Therefore, Gucci decided to make the ice cream cone tougher looking by having lightning bolts shoot out of it.

Sidebar: does anyone else think of Tyrone Biggums when they look at Gucci Mane’s lips?

A new definition of "reunion"

After more than 10 long years, the prayers of rap fans every have finally been answered. We are not talking about the release of a new Fugees album or even Detox. We are speaking, of course, of the long-awaited Harlem World reunion. Since Ma$e presented The Movement in 1999, listeners have been aching for more music from the group (everyone forgot about their appearance on “From Scratch” from Ma$e’s second album, Double Up, almost as quickly as they forgot Ma$e had a second album). Thankfully, the time has come, and Ma$e, Loon, Blinky Blink, Baby Stace, Huddy Combs, Cardan, and Meeno are coming together once again, but there is a catch: Ma$e, Loon, Blinky Blink, Baby Stace, and Huddy Combs will be not be participating in any way. In other news, Marlon Jackson had a Jackson 5 reunion in the shower this morning.

BTDubb: Kanye may or may not be self-absorbed...

Just in case those who subscribe to the "Kanye West is a self-centered douche bag" school of thought were running low on fuel for their hate, Kanye has taken it upon himself to refill their tanks once again.

Today is World AIDS Day, and in observance, several big-time celebrities including Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, and Justin Timberlake and even some shitty ones have "sacrificed their digital life" to raise money to fight AIDS, vowing not to post any new tweets until $1 million has been raised for Alicia Keys' AIDS charity. Coincidentally, today is also the day that Kanye West, after over two tweetless weeks (except for a couple on Thanksgiving), decided to START tweeting again. Its probably just a coincidence, though.

Suuuure, it's the labels fault you suck...

While it has been well established by industry rule number 4,080 that record company people are, in fact, shady, that doesn’t mean they are to blame for everything. Let's face it, a record company's top priority is to make money, and they base most of the decisions they make upon that fact. So while artists may have a legitimate beef with their label for giving them pennies on the dollar for sales, or for withholding publishing rights, or for countless other money-grabbing tactics, it is pretty bold to claim that a major record company is responsible for actually preventing sales. If there is some money to be made, why wouldn't they try to make it? Former pop sensation Nelly, however, is certain that the greedy folks at his record label (Universal Motown) are simply not interested in making money from his latest release, 5.0.

The 4th Best Hip-Hop Album EVER MADE

In our last installment, Ethan paid tribute to OutKast's out-of-this-world third album while Scott sang the praises of 50 Cent's commercial rap masterpiece. Here, we each share our picks for the 4th best hip-hop album ever made.

Poor Game... you gonna get drunk and cry in a song about it?

Game's history of popping off and recanting is well documented. He has taken shots, subliminal and not-so-subliminal, at Jay-Z, who apparently couldn’t care less (“is there an ant biting the shoestrings of my S Dots?”), and Game then took them back. He beefed with Suge Knight briefly, and then deaded it (probably due to his crippling fear of being dangled over balconies). He went at Joe Budden, who did respond pretty harshly, and Game then appeared on Joe’s next album. He even went on Change of Heart and badmouthed his girlfriend the entire episode, then wanted to stay together in the end (she didn't). Game is not even too proud to beg for forgiveness when he really didn’t do anything to wrong that person, demonstrated by the title track from Doctor’s Advocate. Well, someone better remove the Belvedere and Banana Snapple from his hand and call Busta Rhymes to interpret Game’s unintelligible sobbing, because this man is down on his knees yet again pleading to be taken back.

Incredibly smart decision of the day: Diddy writing his own lyrics

Mr. Sean "Puff 'P. Diddy' Daddy" Combs and Officer Ricky "Rauwwsss" Ross recently announced via YouTube video that they would be ripping off Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Watch The Throne" album idea with their own upcoming "Bugatti Boyz" project. Before we are able to get too worried, though, Puffy assures us that they will only make us suffer through an EP, rather than a full-length album. The surprising announcement, however, was that Puff, famous for spitting ghostwritten verses, will actually be writing his own lyrics this time… well, half of them, anyway.

BTDubb: Calm down with the weekly leaks!

Timbaland recently announced via Twitter that he would be jumping on the bandwagon of leaking new music weekly. Crooked I started doing his thing on a weekly basis over 3 years ago with his Hip Hop Weekly series, but the trend did not really pick up steam until Kanye West kicked off his G.O.O.D. Friday series in August. Since then, several artists have followed suit, including RZA with Wu Wednesdays, Lloyd Banks with Blue Friday, Joe Budden with Mood Muzik Monday, and Swizz Beatz swizzing up Budden's day with Monster Monday (or Miserable Monday, as we have renamed it). Timbaland decided he would be taking on "Timbo Thursday" and then, before releasing a single track, promptly announced that he would be postponing it.

Amazing Music Video of the Day: MC Hammer - "Better Run Run"

MC Hammer… excuse me, King Hammer (he must've landed a job at BK) has inexplicably obtained internet access.  He heard what's been said about him and has had enough. The final straw was a few lines in Jay-Z’s verse on “So Appalled” from Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Friday series in which Jay acknowledges Hammer’s past financial woes and vows not to make the same mistakes. However, Hammer took this statement of fact as a diss and immediately announced that there would be answer.  Over a month later, the answer is here. Hammer released the song and video for “Better Run Run”, making it clear that he has some things he wants Hov, and you, to know. So LISTEN CLOSE! (Seriously, audio levels are very low in the beginning).

Random thoughts of the day: Dr. Dre's frequent procrastination and T.I.'s rare good decision

Dr. Dre just announced that he will be releasing a new iPod dock called Beatbox, which will play songs from your iPod or iPhone crisply and clearly without any interference. The new dock will join his Beats By Dre line of headphones and earbuds in his catalog of products available from Monster. It will also join these products, along with his laptop computer by HP, Aftermath cognac, Dr. Pepper commercials, hanging out with Jimmy Iovine at Red Sox games, and beginning work on his next album, on a list of things he has been doing instead of finishing and releasing Detox. Get your easily distracted ass back to work, Dre!

In other news, T.I. announced that his upcoming album will no longer be titled King Uncaged… good call.

Where Are They Now: Hittman

Recent undercover footage at a Compton bus stop reveals what former Aftermath rapper Hittman is up to these days:

The Art of Selling Out

As part of their "Be The Match" campaign, the National Marrow Donor Program has been running a series of commercials featuring the song "Puppets" by celebrated underground hip-hop group Atmosphere (the commercials also feature Shaq, another hip-hop legend). It reminded us that hip-hop music has been used in commercials since the 80s, and can make for a pretty enjoyable 60 seconds or so. Other times, however, these ads come across as gimmicky, corny, or just plain ridiculous. Check out our list of the best, worst, and silliest hip-hop commercials EVER MADE! Also, who is the biggest sellout in hip-hop?

Is that your hits?!

Jay-Z always seemed to have a fine eye for talent, but he isn't without his missteps. Take his protege, Memphis Bleek, for example.  Bleek has relentlessly sucked at everything aside from reciting the occasional Jay-penned verse, he released four full length albums, each of which went triple Styrofoam, and his best album track was a Jay-Z solo song. When Jay left Roc-A-Fella Records in 2008, he took it as an opportunity to drop Bleek like he was hot (although Bleek has never been hot). We theorize that Def Jam, stuck with Bleek's contract and not wanting him anywhere near a studio, put him in charge of selecting Jay-Z songs for compilations. That is the only explanation the disappointing and puzzling tracklisting recently announced for the upcoming Jay-Z release, The Hits Collection Vol. 1 (see the lineup below).

King Uncaged 2, coming in 2012!

A year ago the King was caged, serving tee-ball numbers for being a convicted felon and trying to equip a small army with illegal weapons and accessories. But T.I. soon saw the error of his ways, did a song with Justin Timberlake, and came out of prison a whole new man whose days of criminal activity were behind him. Or so we thought. 

Yesterday, T.I. was sentenced to another 11 months behind bars after being arrested about a month and a half ago while driving around West Hollywood with his pet pig. While his arrest came as a result of a fluke, unfortunate series of unavoidable events that no one really could have foreseen, let’s see if there are any lessons that can be learned from this regrettable situation.

Amazing Music Video of the Day: Nelly - "Just A Dream"

Remember Nelly?  He was that one bandaged guy from St. Louis who sold a ton of records at the turn of the century.  A common misconception is that he hasn't released anything since his ingeniously titled and moderately successful Sweat and Suit albums in 2004.  A little known industry secret, however, is that he actually released another album in 2008 entitled "Brass Knuckles", apparently named in anticipation of its sales, as it would go on to be certified brass.  How did Nelly go from selling 9 million-plus copies of Country Grammar to 200,000 in just 8 short years?  In our estimation, the answer is simple:  he didn't make enough ridiculous music videos.

BTDubb: Producers make terrible rappers

On their website, XXL is currently counting down the 10 best producers turned rappers, and doing just a terrible job of it.

First of all, producers that try to rap generally suck, so trying to compile a top 10 list is like trying to make a list of the 10 best photos of Amy Winehouse. Secondly, if you must make this list, don't swizz it up! The only lists Swizz Beats should ever be on is a list of annoying sounds (right above being shot in the ear) and a hit list.