Jay-Z Taking his Time with Blueprint 3

For the third installment in Jay-Z's Blueprint album trilogy, Jigga's made it clear he's taking his time to create a product he and the world can be proud of. According to transworldnews.com: The Blueprint 3, Jay-Z's third studio album since ending his retirement in 2004, was scheduled for a December 2 release date. However, the album's only single "Jockin' Jay-Z (Dope Boy Fresh)," which was released two months ago, has yet to have a video and there has been little news about the album since. The only confirmed information about the album is that Kanye West will be heavily involved with the project's production. There were many rumors that West would be the album's sole producer. However, there have been subsequent reports that Pharrell and possibly Timbaland will also be featured on the album's production. The Blueprint album is set to feature the original T.I./Jay-Z/Kanye West/Lil Wayne track "Swagga Like Us", as well as a remixed version featuring Nas, Andre 3000, Young Jeezy and Jay-Z. Most production for the new album will come from Rocafella alum Kanye West. The album also marks Jay-Z's final album under Def Jam contract, before he moves to recording for Roc Nation under the new Live Nation record label. Other noteworthy records coming soon are Kanye West's "808's & Heartbreak" and Ludacris' "Theater of the Mind" on November 25th. 50 Cent plans to release "...Before I Self Destruct" on December 9th, and there's rumors of a new Eminem album called "Relapse" possibly for December 23.

Hi-Tek, Wu-Tang & Luda Music

Some new flavor to check out around the internet from the likes of Ludacris, producer Hi-Tek and the infamous Wu-Tang Clan. Ludacris has a new track on his Myspace featuring Rick Ross and UGK called "Down in the Dirty" which you can hear streaming there. There's also Hi-Tek's site which has a preview track from the upcoming Hi-Teknology 3 album. The track is "Piano" featuring Raekwon and Ghostface Killa. Then there's a few mixtape style albums you can download for free, and legally. First up is Wu-Tang Clan's 8 Diagram Mixtape, which is like a prelude to their December 11th album, 8 Diagrams. Then there's the mixtape, "Bishop Lamont and Black Milk's 'Caltroit'" available for free download as well. Enjoy!

TI Leads BET Hip Hop Awards

The King of the South, T.I. is leading all nominees for 2007's BET Hip Hop Awards. T.I. has 9 nominations including best collaboration, best live performance, CD of the year and lyricist of the year. According to Billboard.com: "Other artists with multiple nods include Lil' Wayne nad Kanye West with seven, Common with five, Jay-Z with four, Ludacris and 50 Cent with three and Diddy and UGK with two. Meanwhile, KRS-One will be honored with the "I Am Hip Hop" Icon Award during the ceremony. Nelly, Lil' Wayne, West and Common are scheduled to perform at the event, to be held Oct. 13 at the Civic Center in Atlanta. Comedian Katt Williams will host the show, which will air four days later on BET." Album of the Year nominees: "Finding Forever" - Common "Hip Hop Is Dead" - Nas "Kingdom Come" - Jay-Z "Release Therapy" - Ludacris "T.I. vs T.I.P." - T.I. If I were the judge, Common wins this one hands down, but alot of people have been positive about the Ludacris release too. Should be interesting to see who wins it. Check out BET.com's Hip Hop Awards section for all the details. ---------------- Now playing: Kanye West - Good Life (ft. T-Pain) via FoxyTunes

Luda Wins a Grammy; Common Quips at Kanye

Congratulations to Ludacris on winning a Grammy for Best Rap Album for his 2006 album "Release Therapy". While not my favorite rap album of 2006 by far, Ludacris puts in work and deserves an award. I believe both Lupe Fiasco & The Roots put out better albums overall in 2006, but like a friend reminded me the judges look at more commercial offerings first. Then why nominate the others? TI was also commercial and I put his album a slight notch ahead of Luda, in terms of what I was feelin in 06'. On the flipside it was great seeing Common & Kanye present the award. Kanye remarked to Common that even though he told Common he voted for him to win the Grammy last year for the smash album "Be", Kanye really voted for himself. Common quipped back, "thats good because we're all tired of you whining about not winning". Great writing, either Kanye thought that up, or there's some ballsy writers who got to him. Overall the Grammy's show was disappointing to me. Best album in my mind was "St Elsewhere" by Gnarls Barkley (Im no fan of the Dixie Chicks), and possibly Justin Timberlake's as well. Speaking of Timberlake, did anyone else find his performance on stage with a camcorder in hand a little strange? I understand stylish and cutting edge, but making a Blair Witch project documentary on stage is a bit off..anyhow, congrats to all the winners and look forward to 2008 when most likely Kanye and Common will be vying for Grammy's, maybe even for album of the year..

Top 5 Rapper Turned Actors?

Seeing that Will Smith has a new movie coming out, "The Pursuit of Happyness", it's a good time to examine some rapper turned actor roles floating around... 1)Will Smith as Ali - Top actor easily, he was even nominated for the best actor grammy award, showing that Smith has great acting range. He's done other successful roles including "Men in Black" (1 and 2), "Independence Day" and "I, Robot". He got his start as himself on the hit TV show "Fresh Prince of Bel Air", which still airs on reruns on TV Land now and is still one of the funnier sitcoms around. 2)Ludacris in "Hustle N Flow" & "Crash" - Ludacris is showing that he can be a very promising actor. His performances in the aforementioned movies were both solid. He hasn't had many roles above the gangsta, hustler or criminal type character yet, so we aren't too sure what he's got. He also hosted SNL recently. Despite the show's recent downhill sketches, Luda held his own. 3)Ice T as Detective Tutuolo on Law and Order: SVU - Ice plays a rather straight role here; the tough-guy detective with street sense. He doesnt really show a ton of dynamic range, but he's been successful for many seasons now in this role and hasn't been "kicked off", so he can't be all that bad. Many love Ice as the hard-nosed street style cop in "New Jack City" as well. Ice has been mostly doing episodes of SVU lately, aside from his "reality project" on VH1. 4)2PAC - Would probably be up at the 2 spot if his life hadn't been cut so short. He's been in great roles in Poetic Justice, Above the Rim, Grid Lock'd and several others. RIP to a true legend in rap and entertainment. 5)Ice Cube & Eminem - tie - Cube hasn't exactly had a hugely successful role yet. "XXX" was a letdown in terms of cheesy, unbelievable special efx and the overall plot and revenue made. "Are We There Yet?" I have not seen and don't plan to, so I won't comment. Cube was in the hugely successful movie "Barbershop" so he does show promise as an actor, so keep an eye out for better roles in the future. Slim Shady received rave reviews off this performance, his only one so far. It should be interesting to see if he gives more in the future, or if this was his "1 shot". I wouldn't be surprised to see him doing more acting and even directing/producing in the future. So can Will Smith turns in another solid performance in his latest film, opening, December 15, 2006 in theaters. He is also the most mainstream rapper of the list (in terms of household name/popularity, etc), but to leave him out of a valid discussion of the roots of hip-hop and especially its comedic side would be to ignore one part of hip-hop completely.

Luda to Host SNL

Looks like Ludacris will be pulling double duty on the November 18 edition of Saturday Night Live. Lately the show has lacked the comedic hilarity of past years. Not sure that Ludacris will be able to give it much, but will be interesting to see. It was good to see recent cameos on the show by prime time players like Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Dan Akroyd, Steve Martin and Martin Short. Makes you wish Tracy Morgan had never left the show. SNL with Ludacris will air Saturday November 18 at 11:30PM EST.