Lil Wayne is done with Twitter

Twitter has revolutionized the entertainment world from top to bottom, but it has had trouble with one of the biggest stars. Celebrities from every genre have used Twitter to update their fans. Hip hop artists, much like the other celebrities have taken to Twitter to post their latest news. But, the rapper that makes the most news has been the one missing the most. That person is Lil Wayne.

But, with his upcoming prison sentence, it appeared that Lil Wayne would finally get into the Twitter game. Only a few days ago, he created his Twitter account. The hip hop community was buzzing because their biggest star was now going to personally update fans. While all of that is great, the only problem is the fact that Lil Wayne never stays still.

Living up to his title of unpredictable, Lil Wayne has put an end to his Twitter account. It has barely even been a week and he is already done.

Memphis Bleek denies Damon Dash reconciliation

When footage of Memphis Bleek shaking hands with Damon Dash, his former boss at Roc-A-Fella Records, hit the internet, the hip hop media went crazy. After all of the harsh things said about each other, it appeared that they had put everything behind them. Things are not always as they seem as Bleek stated that the footage was old.

Because Memphis Bleek has been wrapping up his new album, he has not been able to make his rounds. Once he is done with the album, Bleek plans to address a lot of his rumors. But, he did take a break from recording to sit down with AllHipHop.com. Among the things that they talked about was his relationship with Damon Dash.

In 2008, Memphis Bleek was promoting his new album and he was asked about Damon Dash and he had nothing nice to say about him. But, when he was asked about the photo of him and Dash shaking hands, Bleek said the footage was from around 2008. He did not speak on his current relationship with Dame Dash, but he has denied any reconciliation. Also, the partnership that was allued to by Hip Hop Vibe will not be happening.

Currently, Memphis Bleek is pushing his new single, “Still Ill,” off of his fifth studio album, The Process, which will be released on March 23, 2010.

Lloyd Banks teams up with Juelz Santana

For the past few weeks, Lloyd Banks has been hyping his return to the hip hop game. With all of the controversy surrounding G-Unit, Banks has already told 50 Cent to relax because he is taking control. A few years ago, it appeared that Banks would do this, but his buzz fizzled. 50 Cent revealed that this was mainly due to a lack of promotion from Interscope Records.

Now, Lloyd Banks, along with the rest of the G-Unit crew is off of Interscope. 50 Cent said that the crew will operate with an independent record label for a little while. This is probably to market themselves to another major label because 50 Cent has stated that he would never work for an independent label. But, with Lloyd Banks, he just needs an avenue to put out music, major or independent, he honestly does not care.

Recently, Lloyd Banks said that he had recorded a hot song with someone that people just would not believe. Once he made that statement, speculation began about Game and Young Buck possibly returning to the crew. However, statements from 50 Cent have proved that those days are in the past. While it has been made clear that 50 Cent is done with Game and Young Buck, he has shown interest in working with Dipset.

The feud that he had was only with Cam’ron and Lloyd Banks chose to stay neutral in the feud. But, he still felt that no one would guess that he would work with Juelz Santana because of the past feud. Before the end of this year, Lloyd Banks wants to release his third studio album. He has announced that his secret collaborator is Juelz Santana and that their collaboration is going to be crazy. It can be assumed that their collaboration will be the first single off of Banks’ upcoming album.

On the Rise: Nipsey Hussle

For the past six years, Nipsey Hussle has been around. Recently, he appeared on “Upside Down” with Snoop Dogg on Malice n Wonderland. Never in his career has he been given a chance to shine, because of this he plans to take it. Nipsey is now in his seventh year and it is the start to a new decade. With all of the numbers lining up, Nipsey Hussle plans to take the rap game by storm.

His appearance on the Snoop Dogg album has introduced the Crenshaw, California rapper to an entirely different audience. As the head of his own label, Cinematic, Nipsey Hussle plans to release his debut album, South Central State of Mind, before the end of this year. He already has a distribution deal in place with Epic Records. This summer, they plan to go ahead and make a serious push for Nipsey Hussle.

Similar promises have been made for the past few years. However, this time, Nipsey Hussle has a buzz that is undeniable. He has never had this type of buzz surrounding his mic skills. In an effort to capitalize off of his popularity, Epic Records hopes to finally promote their rising star in the proper way.

Rah Digga prepares First Album after Flipmode

Late in 2007, Rah Digga announced that she had left Flipmode Records and the Flipmode Squad, where she had been for her entire career. In 1995, Rah was getting her first foot into the door, while Busta Rhymes was establishing a label deal with Elektra Records. A chance meeting led to Rah Digga signing to both Elektra Records and Busta Rhymes’ Flipmode Records.

Every move that Busta Rhymes made, Rah Digga was right behind him with the rest of the Flipmode clan. In 2000, she released her debut album, Dirty Harriett. The album did not receive much promotion, but it sold moderately well. While she did not catapult into superstardom, she did become a force in the female rap game.

After four years of doing music with Busta Rhymes on his albums, soundtracks, and guest appearances, Rah Digga prepared to release her second album, Everything Is A Story. The album boasted the most-successful single of her career with “Party and Bullsh*t.” Despite the success of the single, the album was pushed back from its 2003 release date and eventually went unreleased.

Even after her album was shelved, Rah Digga stayed with Flipmode Records. However, the final straw was when Busta Rhymes decided to sign with Aftermath Entertainment. Aftermath, itself is a sub-label of Interscope Records. By default, it will come in second to the artists signed directly to Interscope. With Flipmode now being a sub-label of Aftermath, it would be quite difficult for Rah Digga to get an album out.

In 2007, Rah Digga left Flipmode Records and was rumored to have signed with Murder Inc. Records. On the label, she was said to have worked with Vanessa Carlton, Ashley Joi, Ja Rule and Irv Gotti on her second album. These rumors were never confirmed or denied by either party, but three years have passed since that time. Now, apparently off of Murder Inc., Rah Digga is preparing for her second album, The Big Ten.

It will be released later this year, ten years after the release of her last album.

Busta Rhymes is ready to Expand Flipmode Records

Much like other rappers in the game, Busta Rhymes not only raps, but he operates a record label on the side. At one point, that was unheard of, but now every rapper seems to have their own venture. Busta Rhymes is no different, but what separates him from the likes of Jay-Z is the fact that he never built a crew around him.

This is not to the fault of Busta Rhymes because he never had the success of Jay-Z. He has made some notable hits and sold records, but he was never able to take the time and sign other artists to the label. The fact that Jay-Z would do platinum, at worst, made him a top priority at Def Jam. But, the fact that Busta would do platinum, at best, made him just another artist on the label. He realized this when he moved his label away from J Records and over to Aftermath/Interscope.

It is safe to say that Busta Rhymes learned his lesson. He was able to get off of Interscope Records and release his album, Back On My B.S. The album was a moderate success and his label, Universal Motown, said that they were behind Busta Rhymes 100%. They are willing to give him the freedom to take time off and sign artists to Flipmode/Universal. Not only will these artists have deals, but they will also have secure release dates.

With this freedom, Busta Rhymes plans to take out some insurance on his own waning rap career. He hopes to sign new artists to the label and build another star so that he can slide into the executive role easier. Busta Rhymes is set to release The Chemo later this year.

50 Cent sued over Sex Tape

50 Cent has managed to make headlines again. Just as it appeared that all talk of the rap mogul had died down, the talk has only restarted. However, this time, it has nothing to do with his label situation. Instead, this is a bit of bad news for the G-Unit general. His feud with Rick Ross refuses to go away and a lawsuit is the result of their friction.

The lawsuit is not coming from Rick Ross’ camp, instead, from a random woman. Last year, during the height of 50 Cent’s feud with Rick Ross, 50 did a show called “Pimpin’ Curly.” He used this character to frequently diss his primary rival. At one point, 50 had his character participate in a sex tape that also featured one of Rick Ross’ baby mothers.

Of course, the tape was doctored, but it was said to really feature one of Ross’ baby mothers. Apparently, this is not the case as a lady named Lastonia Leviston is suing 50 Cent. She is suing him because 50 Cent has unlawfully distributed her sex tape across the internet. Leviston is said to be suffering from emotional distress. Her face can be identified in the tape, but the face of her partner is blurred out.

Lastonia Leviston has filed the lawsuit, but no one from 50 Cent’s legal team has responded as of yet.

Fabolous compares his Mixtape to an Album

Throughout his career, there has been a lot of doubt surrounding Fabolous. The hype that he had at the beginning of his career has fallen off. That much is true, but Fab has made history. He has become the first rapper in mixtape history to have his mixtape pushed back more than five times.

The frequent push-backs of his mixtape have been compared to the push-backs of an album. When he had just begun working on the mixtape, Fabolous bragged that mixtapes are popular because they are not pushed-back like albums often are. The result of his bragging has been his mixtape delayed for two months.

Unlike with albums, Fabolous has a legitimate excuse for each delay of his new mixtape, There Is No Competition, Pt. 2: The Funeral Service. The first push-back came because DJ Drama took some time off. When Drama was back and ready to work, the Haiti earthquake happened and Fabolous did not feel right talking about a funeral during that time. Two weeks ago, Fab promised that the mixtape would definitely be coming, but then he pushed it back to include Jadakiss.

The delay with Jadakiss led to Nicki Minaj also dropping verses on the mixtapes. With all of the collaborations and the stellar production work, Fab has boasted that this mixtape could very well be an album. He said the work that he has put on this mixtape could make it a very good album. On top of everything else, it could very well end up being the best mixtape in history.

Shyne breaks ground on New Album

Last fall, Shyne was released from prison after serving eight years. Upon his release, he had hoped to return to making music. While he has done that, he was sidetracked when he was deported. Despite being removed from the United States, there are a lot of American record labels that want his services.

After the success of Shyne’s last album, Godfather Buried Alive, from behind bars, hip hop learned just how marketable he could be. The album came as a release on Def Jam. He left Bad Boy during the time when a lot of Diddy’s artists were trying to bolt for Def Jam.

The deal that Shyne had in place with Def Jam was a one-album deal. So, after the release of the album, he had no label. Because he had worked with Irv Gotti for the bulk of that album, people assumed that he would sign there once he was released. But, Shyne has also proved to be good friends with many other artists, including Busta Rhymes and Game. Both of those rappers have labels.

While Busta Rhymes said that he went to Belize in support of Shyne, he owns his own label, Flipmode Records, which has yet to produce a star outside of himself. A bidding war did ensue between many rap labels, but recently it was revealed that Def Jam won out. Many tried to write this off as a rumor, but L.A. Reid confirmed this himself. Now that everything is confirmed, Shyne is ready to work on his next album.

Later this year, Shyne plans to release his first album in six years. The album does not have a title, but he wants to release it late in the year.

Ice Cube returns with “I Am The West” album

For the past decade, Ice Cube has become known more for his acting and producing skills than his rap skills. After a six-year hiatus, Cube return with an album in 2006. Ever since then, he has promised to drop an album every other year, at least. It has been two years since the release of Raw Footage.

Ice Cube does not currently have a distribution deal in place for the album. Still, he has plans of featuring the likes of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Game on the album. After his appearance on Game’s last album, LAX, he is more than willing to return the favor.

This new album will be Ice Cube’s claim to the throne. The title, I Am The West, tells it all. While there is not a set release date for the album, or a secure distribution deal, Ice Cube hopes to deliver the album during the summer, in July. The album will come as another release on his longtime label, Lench Mob. He has already released the first single, “Drink Tha Kool Aid,” to radio.