A3C Indy Hip Hop Festival

The A3C Independent Hip Hop Festival is set to jump off from 3/30-4/1 at The Loft in Atlanta, GA. Fans in attendance will be treated to live performances by over 35 underground performances including Asamov, OneBeLo, Ohmega Watts, Arcane, and The Perceptionists. There will also be a AC3 pre-party on 3/30 at The Loft where fans can meet-and-greet the performing artists. For more information log onto: arcthefinger.com.

Hip Hop Film Fest in the Dirty South

The 2nd annual ATL Hip Hop Filmfest is set to bring the top hip-hop directors to the spotlight, and to discover the next up-and-coming talent in the world of film. Featured this year is a wide range of films such as Beef III (QD3 Entertainment), One Love 2: True Ballin' (hosted by Bobbito), Rhyme Spitters (by Luis A. Perez), and much, much more. I caught up with Rahiem Shabazz, executive producer of The Sun Will Rise and he said, "It's a beautiful thing that people are taking notice (of our films). Film festivals are good because you get to rub elbows and people become familiar with your work." The ATL Hip Hop Film Fest is running from 4/28-4/30 in downtown Atlanta and will feature many different events and film screenings. Log onto atlhiphopfilmfest for more info.

7L & Eso Ready New 12inch and Album

With the Army of the Pharoahs LP finally coming out right around the corner and 7L's collabo LP with Main Flow dropping soon after, it's amazing that the duo known as 7L and Esoteric found any time to record together at all. May 23rd brings us a new album from the Beantown beatsmith and the Esoterrorist, entitled A New Dope. The new single 'Play Dumb' is about to hit stores any day now. The 12inch artwork is worth the cost alone, as the shot of the duo dressed in full boxing attire truely is priceless.

Lord Jamar To Release Solo Debut on Babygrande

Brand Nubian's own, Lord Jamar has taken a hiatus from expanding his acting résumé, (catch him on this season’s Sopranos), to deliver fans a concept album entitled The 5% Album. The album features appearances from the GZA, Raekwon, RZA, Lord Jamar’s own son, Young Lord J, and Papa Wu. According to the official press release for “5%”, the album delves into “unparalleled scrutiny of the culturally paradigmatic social movement that affected the development of such artists as Rakim, Nas, The Wu-Tang Clan and more. The 5% Album is a legend’s examination of the past, present, and future of one of hip-hop’s cornerstone ideologies”. Interesting stuff, but will Lord Jamar deliver? Cop the album May 23rd and find out!

Good Hands Records Preps Charon Don

Juju Mob Member and Pittsburgh native, Charon Don is finishing up his album with producer DJ Huggy entitled, The Art Of Life. The album features appearances from Killah Priest, Reef The Lost Cauze, Chief Kamachi and the up and coming fellow Pittsburgh MC Wiz Khalifa. The Art Of Life will be out this summer. In the meantime the track 'Obervers' with Killah Priest can be heard on ArtOfRhyme.com In other news, Charon's Good Hands Records labelmate, producer Kevin Devine, who contributed 'Time Out' and 'Liberated Wax' to Chief Kamachi's Cult Status and 'Situation' to the Juju Mob's Black Candles is putting the finishing touches on his solo project Rap Circus. The album features an all star group of appearances that includes Planet Asia, Krumbsnatcha, Chief Kamachi, Reef The Lost Cauze, State Store, The High and Mighty, Maylay Sparks, Black Ops and more. Check for it this summer.

The Greatest Story Never Told

The highly anticipated debut LP "The Greatest Story Never Told" has been given a release month, Saigon's LP is slated to drop May 2006. Saigon's been paving the way for this album to drop for years, noted by his mixtape hustle. Saigon is signed to Just Blaze's label "Fort Knox Entertainment" and will be the first artist to drop an album on said label. On the album, most of the production will be handled by Just Blaze with additional beats being provided by Scram Jones, Alchemist, etc.

Chingo Bling Not a Fan Favorite at "Dues" Fest

Shape Shifter family members 2Mex and Life Rexall have joined forces to become $martyr. The Money Symbol Martyrs have a new album coming out and Life spoke to DX exclusively about their new album. According to Rexall, the new LP will hit stores April 11. Blueprint from the Rhymesayers crew also spoke to DX about his future endeavors. He let us know the new Soul Position album, Things Go Better With RJ and Al, will drop April 4. He's also about to hit the road soon. Chingo Bling who has made several friends in underground and mainstream Hip-Hop circles, had a rough night at the Paid Dues Fest. During the Houston rapper's set, many of the fans began booing furiously. Some fans even threw water bottles at the rapper who's currently getting radio play for his verse on Nelly's Grillz (Remix).While Bling was not the crowd favor, several of the emcees on the bill supported him.Murs appeared on stage a couple of times to claim Chingo was his favorite emcee of the moment. Blueprint and Life Rexall showed displeasure at a fellow act being booed off the stage. ”I felt that was wack...Got to say, I was impressed by the way Chingo handled it...He was still humble and walking around talking to the people afterwards and showing his appreciation for the fans that were there to see him.” ”I don't know why Chingo Bling got treated like that other than his music doesn’t match the music of everybody else on the bill. They actually threw shit at him” Blueprint said, who also got booed. He was not phased by the fans. ”Personally I don't get affected by haters...If 50 dudes booed me and there's 5000 people in there riding with me then the 50 dudes look like haters who had no idea who I was. They can boo until they're blue in the face, but the amount of people singing along to my songs probably made them even more upset. Let 'em keep hatin'. I'll keep killin' shows and making good music for the open-minded people who actually like my shit. I know for a fact that I made a LOT of new fans that night so I feel pretty good about what I did,” he said.

Kanye Goes Hollywood

Producer turned rapper, Kanye West, is now trying his hand at film making. Like most triple threats, it was only a matter of time before he would complete the creative triangle. The yet untitled New Line Cinema release, which West will appear in and executive produce, aims to show a diverse portrait of the US through the eyes of West and several filmmakers.Featuring old and new music from the Grammy-Award winner, approximately six writers and 10-12 directors will develop short stories - not music videos - that are linked by a central narrative.Broadway veteran George C Wolfe, director of the HBO film Lackawanna Blues, has signed on as executive producer, overseeing the creative process."This project will synthesize Kanye's vision with a fantastic group of filmmakers and create what will be a one-of-a-kind film experience,"said Richard Brown who along with Steve Golin will produce.Between 2004's The College Drop Out and 2005's Late Registration, West has earned six Grammy Awards, the latter selling over 860,000 units in its first week alone.Never one to keep mum, Kanye created media controversy late last year during the Concert for Hurricane Relief, stated on live television that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."Glad to see he's found another way make his point.

Young Jeezy Arrested After Altercation In Miami

Atlanta, Georgia rapper Young Jeezy was arrested Saturday morning and charged with two counts of carrying a concealed firearm without a permit, after the rapper was involved in an altercation on South Beach in Miami, Florida.
Young Jeezy, born Jay Jenkins, and an entourage of men allegedly associated with BMF, were involved in a fight with a group of men around 5:30 am on Saturday (Mar. 11). When a person filming the altercation refused to turn over the video camera, one of the men in the crowd began firing.
Police said Jeezy and a group of men, fled in two SUV's. When officers stopped both vehicles, they found a semiautomatic weapon under the seat of the rapper's Infiniti Qx56, as well as another gun near the arm rest.
Two other men with Young Jeezy were also arrested in connection with the incident. One man was charged with strong armed robbery, the other was arrested on a previous trespassing warrant.
The rapper's attorney said he will fight the charges and denied ownership of any of the weapons that were recovered from the SUV.

Master P, Silkk The Shocker Sentenced To Community Service

Mogul Master P and his brother, rapper Silkk the Shocker, were sentenced to community service, stemming from a 2005 incident in which police found loaded firearms in their rental car. Percy "Master P" Miller pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of carrying an unloaded, unregistered weapon. A plea of no contest means that Master P neither admits nor disputes the charges, that will still stand. Vyshonne "Silkk the Shocker" Miller pleaded guilty to a felony charge of carrying an unregistered and loaded firearm. Both men were ordered to perform 40 hours of community service and fined $700 apiece. Silkk was also sentenced to three years supervised probation. Master P and Silk were arrested in February of 2005 after officers on the campus of UCLA noticed the guns in the rapper's Chrysler 300M. "Black man with gun, white cop panic. I'm a businessman. If the cops stopped panicking for one minute, they would've realized that the guns were registered, and that is legal in America," Master P told AllHipHop.com shortly after his arrest. "It's a different way of life for a person of color with money than it is for others with money."

Lil Kim's Reality Show Scores Highest Debut In Bet History

Lil' Kim's new reality series Lil' Kim: Countdown To Lockdown, which premiered March 9 on BET, was the most-watched series debut in thenetwork's 25-year history.
According to figures released by BET, 1.9 million viewers tuned in nationwide. The series chronicles the last 14 days of Lil' Kim's freedom before she entered prison on a perjury conviction.
The Brooklyn rapper was sentenced to 366 days in prison in July of 2005, for lying to a grand jury about her knowledge of a shoot-out in front of Hot 97's New York offices.
During the show, which airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m., Lil' Kim makes her final public appearances with cameras in tow.
"When we showed the first episode of Lil' Kim to test audiences, we got the highest scores in the history of the company," said Reginald Hudlin, BET's president of entertainment. "So when it became the biggest series debut in the history of the network, I wasn't surprised."
The series was produced by Lil' Kim's Queen Bee Productions and Edmonds Entertainment, which also produced BET's reality series College Park.
"As powerful as the first episode is, the series finale is even better," Hudlin continued. "I'm pleased and relieved that my first new series on BET has become a 'must see' for so many people. I'm grateful to Edmonds Entertainment for delivering another great show for the network, and to the entire team at BET for fantastic work in every department."
The next episode is scheduled to air March 23 at 9:00 pm EST.

DJ Vlad Launches New Show On Russell Simmons' Def On Demand

DJ Vlad, best known for his Rap Phenomenon mixtapes and Hot in Here DVDs, is now heading into television with DJ Vlad Presents, a new show on Russell Simmons' DoD (Def on Demand) Channel. The pilot episodes include features and interviews with DJ Vlad and Young Jeezy, Paul Wall, Mike Jones, Master P, Luke, Pitbull and Jackie-O. DoD, pegged as the first on-demand video channel devoted to the lifestyle of urban culture, is a free service distributed through Comcast's On Demand feature. The channel features exclusive content, from new videos to biographies and interviews with artists like 50 Cent, Nas, Damon Dash and others. Named as one of the "Top 10 DJ's of 2004" by MTV, DJ Vlad recently released Hot In Here: Sex/Drugs/Hip-Hop, a sensational DVD that boasts appearances by colorful personalities like Fat Joe, Fabolous, The Ying Yang Twins and adult stars Carmen Hayes and Mr. Marcus. DJ Vlad Presents is scheduled to begin airing this spring.

Kenneth 'Supreme' McGriff Charged With Another Attempted Murder

Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff has been hit with a new attempted-murder charge, as the government prepares for their upcoming trial against the convicted Queens, New York, drug lord.
McGriff is accused of conspiring to murder a woman identified only as "Jane Doe" after he learned she was pregnant with his unborn child.
Prosecutors, who motioned to move McGriff's impending trial to May 1, claim that he and associates attempted to murder the woman around June 1994, in New York.
"The charge is related to an incident in which Supreme is alleged to have attempted to murder a woman who was pregnant with his child because she refused to have an abortion," writer Ethan Brown told AllHipHop.com. "The dark outlook for Supreme--he is also charged with two murders--just got darker."
Brown is the author of Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler, which details the relationship between the streets of Queens and the Hip-Hop industry.
McGriff has also been charged with murdering aspiring Queens rapper Eric "E Money Bags" Smith and an associate of E Money Bags named Troy Singleton.
50 Cent and The Inc.'s star artist Ja Rule were involved in several violent altercations before 50 Cent was shot in Queens in May 2000. The government plans to introduce into the trial evidence linking McGriff to the shooting.
Prosecutors unsuccessfully attempted to combine McGriff's trial with the federal money laundering trial of The Inc.'s Irv and Christopher Lorenzo. In December 2005, a jury acquitted the brothers of all charges.

Juvenile Debuts At #1 On Billboard's Top 200

New Orleans rapper Juvenile achieved his first No. 1 album this week, with Reality Check debuting atop the Billboard 200 album chart.
The album, which sold more than 174,000 copies in its initial week of release, also took the top spot on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart.
Reality Check features the single "Rodeo," as well as collaborations with Fat Joe, Ludacris, Bun B, Paul Wall and Mike Jones, among others.
Songs on the New Orleans resident's album accused President Bush of failing to act before and after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city. The rapper lost his property and possessions in the late 2004 disaster.
A scandal erupted in Feb. 2005, after the Associated Press unearthed a videotape emerged swing Bush's top advisors warning him the levees could be topped.
"The levee was breached, but not by water," Juvenile told AllHipHop.com in a recent interview. "It was breached by military, by military firearms..the water was backing up in the wrong areas: the tourist areas. And they knew it, and it was backing up in areas where some strong people was politically. Now you got [wealthy real estate barons] down there, buying up all the property - now it’s a big business venture. If you didn’t pay your taxes on your property - and half of the people weren’t able to pay taxes, you know - a lot of people lost their money for real."
The album is Juvenile's seventh and his first on Atlantic. The rapper signed with Atlantic in 2004 after a falling out with his longtime label Cash Money.
Juvenile's previous chart peak was 2001's Project English, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Bubba Sparxxx Responds To 'Booty' Controversy

Rapper Bubba Sparxxx has responded to the growing controversy surrounding his new video and single, "Ms. New Booty."
A videoclip for "Ms. New Booty," which features The Ying Yang Twins, recently premiered on BET's 106th & Park countdown show and quickly entered into the Top 10.
The song was produced by Mr. Collipark, the hit producer who has crafted hits for Lil' Jon, The Ying Yang Twins, Young Jeezy, David Banner and others is currently #5 on Billboard's Hot Rap Tracks single's chart.
The video features Bubba Sparxxx as a Home TV spokesman and door-to-door salesman "for a miracle new product" that enhances a woman's "booty."
"Ms. New Booty to me, is about a woman who exudes confidence and does her thing with a swagger that's unique to her and only her," Sparxxx explained to AllHipHop.com. "You take a woman, she's a flower waiting to bloom. Sometimes you meet a woman, a woman that maybe most people don't see her beauty. You know with some adjustments you can bring her beauty out."
Sparxxx explanation comes amidst criticism of the song and an accompanying website that was being marketed, www.msnewbooty.com.
The site allowed 18-and-up fans of the song to enter into a seven-week contest seeking to award "Ms. New Booty" with a part in a new Bubba Sparxxx video.
The site, which is currently down, allowed users to upload pictures to a "Booty Gallery" for viewers, who could vote for "Ms. New Booty," as well as access Sparxxx's official site.
A widely read statement titled Radio: The New Child Predator by Paul Porter and Lisa Fagers of IndustryEars.com was circulated, criticizing the video.
IndustryEars bills itself as "consortium of entertainment and broadcast industry professionals, dedicated to promoting justice in the media."
The statement labeled the song and the marketing of the website as "another conduit to sex, pornography and misogyny aimed at children."
"The government fails to arrest or acknowledge these corporate child predators," Porter and Fagin wrote. "The Federal Communications Commission states, 'It is illegal to broadcast sexually explicit content between 6am -10pm daily.' Meanwhile the 'Ms. New Booty' contest is promoted on radio between the most listened to times for 12-17 year olds (6pm-10pm). The internet has pornographic websites, now radio stations that target the youngest demographic help and direct children straight to them."
Porter and Fagin urged those offended by the video to contact FCC commissioner Kevin Martin and voice their dismay.
"Ms. New Booty" is taken from Sparxxx's upcoming New South/Purple Ribbon/Virgin album, The Charm, scheduled to drop on April 4, 2006.
The album features production by Timbaland, Organized Noize Productions, Purple Ribbon label head and OutKast member Big Boi, Heatmakers, Mr. DJ & Slimm Jim, Basement Beat and Mr. Collipark.
So So Def CEO and Virgin's President of Urban, Jermaine Dupri, weighed in on the song.
"People are just really overreacting," Dupri told AllHipHop.com. "It's just feel good music. We at Virgin are in no way promoting sex or whatever these media outlets continue to print."
Sparxxx agreed with Dupri's assessment.
"It's for the clubs. It's for females to feel good about. It's for men to feel good about. There's nothing negative going on about it. I'm a little hurt that anyone could take offense to this song. It's all about that new chick that's been hurt and making her the best she can be. You put the word 'booty' on there and every body says it's disrespect."

C-Murder Coming Home Today, Speaks On Overturned Murder Conviction

Corey "C-Murder" Miller will officially be a free man in the next 24 hours, as the rapper will be released from prison today (Mar. 16).
Miller has been incarcerated since 2002. He is currently being held in the Concordia Parish Jail in Ferriday, Louisiana, where he has been held since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans.
The rapper will be home sometime today after going through processing.
"Its been a long road but the truth finally came out. I can't wait to go home, see my people and be up in the studio to finish up my album and focus on my label", C-Murder said in a statement released to AllHipHop.com through his managers Barbara Pescosolido and Lupe Ceballos.
Miller was convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of 16-year-old Steven Thomas. Thomas was shot in the chest after an argument inside of the Platinum Club in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana in January 2002.
The rapper was convicted in Sept. of 2003 and sentenced to a mandatory life sentence. He appealed the case in 2004, after discovering prosecutors had expunged the criminal records of some of their witnesses and withheld evidence from Miller's defense team.
In 2004, the original trial judge, Judge Martha Sassone ordered a new trial for Miller in light of the new evidence.
Prosecutors appealed Sassone's ruling and in March of 2005, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeal struck down Sassone's ruling and upheld Miller's second-degree murder conviction.
Miller appealed the ruling in Feb. 2006 and on Mar. 10, the Louisiana Supreme Court overturned Miller's murder conviction and ordered a new trial. It is now up to prosecutors to decide if they want to take Miller to trial again.
The rapper's bond was set at $500,000 yesterday (Mar. 15), despite a prosecutor's protest that Miller is a "danger to the community."
Miller was originally held on $2 million bond in 2002, but it was revoked, after it was learned that Miller bribed two Jefferson Parish prison officers to smuggle in a cell phone into prison, which prosecutors said Miller used to intimidate potential witnesses.
"I still think Mr. Miller is an imminent danger to the community," prosecutor Roger Jordan told Judge Sassone during yesterday's hearing. "Witnesses fear this defendant. They were afraid to come to court in the last trial."
Once released, Miller could be held in Baton Rouge, where he faces two counts of attempted second-degree murder in a separate case, which is slated to go to trial May 30.
The charges stem from an incident shortly before Miller was charged with killing Thomas, in which Miller fired a gun at a nightclub owner and security guard, after he was told he would be searched entering a nightclub in New Orleans.