He has also said that he has written songs for Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Corbin Bleu, and Enrique Iglesias for their upcoming albums. Smith also has stated that he will write songs for Craig David, Usher, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, Leona Lewis, and he recently confirmed that he has been contacted by producer will.i.am to work on Michael Jackson's upcoming album. ...Movi album country rapper concert festival or Actress pop actor rock singer Blues CD or DVD single radio tv.

The genial 70-year-old star of TV's The Cosby Show is set to release his first hip-hop album, Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency, next month.

No, he doesn't rap.

"I wouldn't know how to fix my mouth to say some of the words," he admitted in an interview Monday.

But he did invite MCs such as Supanova Slom, Jace the Great and Brother Hahz to contribute songs that reflect some of Cosby's own values.

"The value of an education. The value of respecting one's self and … giving [listeners] a chance to raise their self-esteem and confidence," said Cosby, who has been criticized because of his views about what African-Americans should do to improve their lot in life.

His 2007 book Come on, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors was a controversial call for African-Americans to shed self-destructive behaviours.

Cosby has also been critical of hip-hop music as profane and degrading.

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Rapper T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, leaves an Atlanta courthouse  after pleading guilty to weapons charges. Photo by: John Bazemore

Under the plea agreement, however, he will carry out community service, with sentencing to follow next year.

US Attorney David Nahmias said that if the star spends 1,000 hours working with young people, he will receive a lighter sentence of one year in prison, a $100,000 fine, three years under supervised release and further community service.

If he fails to keep his end of the bargain, he faces a much longer sentence, Nahmias warned.

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A gay hip hop opera that opened in an Alberta gay bar and toured the fringe festival circuit in Canada is headed for the cradle of rap, New York City.

Nathan Cuckow, left, and Chris Craddock, as Feminem and T-Bag, are stars of the gay hip hop opera Bash'd.

Bash'd, performed by Edmonton actors Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow, will open in an off-Broadway run this June.

The three-month New York run comes after a U.S. debut at the NY International Fringe Festival in 2007 and a GLAAD Media Award for best musical.

"You know there's stuff that you hope, to take a show to New York City and get as much exposure as possible," Cuckow told CBC News.

"Our experience this summer when we did the Fringe, was that [Americans] were taken by the political aspect of the show and very moved by it," he said.

Cuckow says Bash'd, which centres on a gay couple and a gay-bashing during the debate on same-sex marriage in Canada, has a political message at its heart.

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The concerts in Bradford and Birmingham have been axed, causing the star to lose thousands of pounds in performance fees, because the lyrics of his songs are considered homophobic.

In Germany, Bounty Killer’s performance in Essen was also cancelled and further concert dates in the country are now in doubt.

It is part of a Europe-wide campaign by the group to halt his ‘Deadly Alliance’ tour of the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland.

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Well, actually it's a murse - a man purse. Produced by Louis Vuitton, these little things are quite popular amongst men - mostly metrosexuals (???)

Source: Bossip

Nickson Mberam has carried a machete and been ready to kill. "In this situation," says the dreadlocked Kenyan hip-hop artist, "you turn into somebody you're not." Rapper Richy Rich agrees. "We've been through chaos," he says. "We've felt anger and guilt. I've looted, I've stolen food - because I had nothing to eat."

At least 1,000 people have been killed in Kenya and 300,000 left homeless in the violence that erupted after the disputed election victory of Mwai Kibaki in December 2007. A fragile power-sharing deal between he and opposition leader Raila Odinga may have been brokered last week by Kofi Annan, but Mberam and Rich have witnessed, and continue to witness, horrific violence in the Nairobi slum that is their home. Now they're taking action.

Along with other hip-hop artists - including 23-year-old Tim Mwaura, who mops floors by day in a fast-food restaurant, and performs fast-flowing poetry by night in the Kenyan capital's ghetto clubs - they have formed the Hip Hop Parliament, a collective determined to denounce, through rap, the violence engulfing their communities.

At the centre of this is what they call "conscious hip-hop". Roje Otieno, Hip Hop Parliament member and presenter on Nairobi's Ghetto Radio, defines the term: "We don't play traditional drums like our fathers, nor do we depend on western culture. We don't care what your tribe is: our hip-hop is about love." When Annan arrived in Kenya, the Hip Hop Parliament presented him with a written declaration of peace. "We're not MPs," explains rapper Judge Franklin Milan, "but MCs, members of the community."

The violence has been depicted as tribal in origin. Kibaki depends on the support of the Kikuyu, the country's largest ethnic group, while Odinga is of the Luo tribe. But these rappers insist they grew up unaware of the differences between them. "I didn't know he was Kikuyu," says Otieno, a Luo, gesturing towards Mwaura. "We're paying the price for what happened at independence." The Republic of Kenya was formed in 1964 with Jomo Kenyatta as president; a Kikuyu, he redistributed land that belonged to other tribes. "Our parents lived in different parts of Kenya but came to Nairobi, where we grew up," adds Otieno. "It was only later, when our parents told us to marry according to our tribe, that we realised it mattered to them. Today, we are the victims of the situation."

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He sings in a number of styles, including R&B, soul, pop and occasionally rock. His most famous releases include "Ich kenne nichts", "20,000 Meilen", "Souls on Fire" and "Sie sieht mich nicht", which was featured on the German release of the film soundtrack for Asterix. Naidoo's popularity has massively increased since he joined groups like S hne Mannheims, and Brothers Keepers and the charity project Zeichen der Zeit in the early 2000s.

Ich kenne nichts (das so schön ist wie du) (i've never seen) 
in English and German with intro by rapper RZA

  I'd be waiting

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Alexander Melamid’s portraits of (from left) Kanye West, 50 Cent and Russell Simmons are in “Holy Hip-Hop!” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

Yet in 2004 their partnership abruptly ended. While Mr. Komar continued to show his work in galleries, the gregarious Mr. Melamid seemed to go underground. Some wondered if he had given up on making art.

It turns out that Mr. Melamid has been hard at work, as was clear on a recent afternoon in his cavernous studio in Chelsea. Propped against the walls were some impressively monumental oil portraits of cardinals, monks, priests and nuns, curious subjects for someone who often describes himself as “an old Jew from Russia.”

“I am repenting for my sins,” he proclaimed theatrically in heavily accented English. “I am born-again artist.”

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Over the years, hip hop bling has grown to offer over 1400 products. The site is known for innovation and new trends. Often times you’ll find the latest trends at this site, then copied by all the other hip hop jewelry websites on the internet. Many years ago, hip hop bling custom created the first mass produced spinner pendant, and it was based off of the lowenhart LD1 rim with a spinner piece on top. At the time, no one carried anything like it so the product took off. About a year later, spinners were all over the place and even in the mainstream such as 50 cent’s G-unit spinner.

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