Chris Lighty, a hip-hop mogul who helped the likes of Sean “Diddy” Combs, 50 Cent and Mariah Carey attain not only hit records, but also lucrative careers outside music, was found dead in his New York City apartment Thursday in an apparent suicide. He was 44. He was found at his home in the Bronx with a gunshot to the head and was pronounced dead there, police said. No note was recovered, but a 9 mm handgun was found and there was no sign of forced entry, said Paul Browne, New York police spokesman. The shooting appears to be self-inflicted, authorities said.

As Billboard magazine honors music’s top selling acts Sunday night, an absent Eminem ties Justin Bieber for the top honors.

Unless you’re counting host Ken Jeong’s decision to dress as Flavor Flav and then crawl under Nas’ legs, Eminem offered the biggest Hip Hop presence at Sunday night’s Billboard Music Awards. It should be noted that Em didn’t actually attend the mostly Pop affair, which was dominated by the likes of Justin Bieber, Beyonce and Britney Spears.

Eminem tied Bieber for the most awards at six wins. Out of 46 award categories, Shady took home nods for Top Artist, Top Male Artist, Top Rap Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album [Recovery], Top Rap Album and Top Rap Song [“Love The Way You Lie” ].

While the selection process by the National Acacemy of Recording Arts and Sciences has recently come under fire for their more subjective methods used for selecting Grammy Award winners, Billboard stated, “all finalists and winners were determined by a combination of chart performances.” The eligibility period for nominations ran from February 28, 2010 through March 1, 2011. The amount of their respective awards reflected the strength of Eminem and Bieber’s current sales. To date, Em’s Recovery has sold over 3.8 million copies, while Bieber’s My World 2.0 has moved over 2.7 million units.

Notable performers Sunday night were Cee-Lo Green, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and Lil Wayne, and Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, who both featured Britney Spears as a guest performer.

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Ludacris recently sat down with AllHipHop.com to discuss the progress of his upcoming eighth album, Ludaversal.

The rapper, born Chris Bridges, has been busy pursuing an acting career with roles in upcoming movies like “Breakaway” and “Fast Five” co-starring Vin Diesel, which is due in theaters this Friday (April 29th).

According to Ludacris, his busy schedule and his acting career have not interfered with his ability to make a hit album.

“When you hear the album you’ll know,” Ludacris told AllHipHop.com. “People can expect me to take it to a level they know I’m capable of. If anybody has doubts, I have no problem continuing to prove myself. And I have no problem slapping the ones who’re sleeping to make them wake up. It’s about consistency.”

Over the years, Ludacris has collaborated with a wide variety of artists, from singers like Enrique Iglesias, Fergie and Mary J. Blige to rappers like Lil Wayne, Nas and Jay-Z

During his 11-year career, Luda has sold almost 20 million records worldwide.

The rapper attributed his success to his ability to make cameo appearances on hit records, while maintaining his Hip-Hop roots as a lyricist.


Ludacris said he always had the “perfect balance between always staying true to the Hip Hop lyricists’ roots” and never limited himself to working with one particular type of artist.

“Who else is able to do those and still get on the ‘Welcome to My Hood (Remix)’ and kill shit – period? That’s what I think I’ve been able to consistently do,” Ludacris told AllHipHop.com.

Ludacris album Ludaversal is due in stores in early 2012.

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Posted: Friday – April 16, 2010

Young Money princess Nicki Minaj has recently been garnering a lot of press lately.

As previously reported, Nicki recently found herself making headlines after firing her longtime manager and Waka Flocka Flame’s mother, Debra Antney. After the departure, executives and fans alike were expecting a big announcement and it seems that is what we have got.

According to the rumor mill, Nicki has reportedly hired Bad Boy mogul Sean Diddy Combs as her new manager. Although the announcement has yet to be made via either of the celebrities Twitter pages, many are speculating that the news is actually true.

A source close to the entrepreneur/rapper has confirmed that Diddy is not only co-managing Lil Wayne protégé Nicki Minaj but also Rick Ross.

This wouldn’t be a far stretch for Diddy who has helped launch the careers of everyone from Mary J Blige, Jodeci, Lil Kim, Ma$e and his most recent venture with Dirty Money.

There is no word yet from Minaj’s camp regarding the rumors. Minaj’s highly-anticipated debut album is said to be coming in the fall of 2010 via

Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown.

We hope this collaboration is true, regardless of what anyone has to say about Diddy, he definitely is a hit maker. We will keep you posted as this story develops.

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Posted: Wednesday – September 9, 2009

Rapper 50 Cent has set off speculation that a name change could be coming after the release of his fourth major album, Before I Self Destruct. 50 sent a cryptic message on his Twitter.com page, stating “50 Cent is a person I created, soon it will be time to destroy him and become somebody else.” 50 Cent took his name from Kelvin “50 Cent” Martin, a notorious “stick-up kid” who hailed from Brooklyn, New York and was the subject of the documentary Infamous Times: The Original 50 Cent. In related news, 50 Cent’s book The 50th Law with author Robert Greene, landed in stores yesterday (September 8).

Fabolous recently took to Twitter.com, where he fired off a series of Tweets attacking superstar producer T-Pain. Fabolous mistakenly replied to a Tweet sent from a phony T-Pain Twitter account that stated “f**k Jay-Z and Fabolous too.” In addition to defending his own honor, Fabolous took up for fellow Brooklynite Jay-Z, who was dissed by T-Pain just days earlier in Las Vegas. Yesterday, a trending topic on the site was the “hash tag” “#tpainbetter.” That was followed by a number of insults, including #tpain better not meet me in Brooklyn” and..#tpainbetter audition to be a California Raisin….“He’s done. stop singin in the fan… that aint talent we can all do that.” When Fabolous found out the Tweet was from a fake account he stated: “thats jus a taste of what u’ll get if u f**k wit me via twitter, Back to my Twitter chillin.” T-Pain has yet to respond to Fabolous’ rant.

Lil’ Wayne’s 2008-2009 North American tour schedule grossed over $42 million dollars, making it the most lucrative Hip-Hop tour ever tracked by industry trade magazine, Billboard. Lil Wayne headlined 78 arena’s or amphitheater concerts from December 2008 to September 2009, drawing over 804,000 fans. Wayne’s $42 million topped Jay-Z’s 2008 tour with Mary J. Blige, which raked in $34.6 million off of 28 shows.

Rapper Speech DeBelle beat out 11 acts to win the esteemed Mercury Prize for her album Speech Therapy. The rapper, who hails from south London, won the Mercury Prize for releasing what critics felt was the best album in the past year. In addition to added exposure as a new artist, Speech DeBelle won £20,000. “I feel so good. It feels better than I imagined. My family’s here. My friends are here. I’m from south London – I don’t get emotional – I’m emotional. This proves if you believe in something and you think you can do it, you can achieve it,” Speech DeBelle said.

Source: Allhiphop.com

Posted: Friday – July 3, 2009

Veteran rapper/actor Busta Rhymes is going beyond the borders of the United States to give fans a lively dose of hip-hop with his upcoming tour of Canada.

The outing, which kicks off July 16 at the Ottawa Blues Fest in Ottawa, ON, will be in support of Rhymes’ latest album Back On My B.S.

The release, which features the T-Pain-assisted hit “Hustler’s Anthem,” includes appearances from Lil Wayne, Jadakiss, Ron Browz , Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Akon and Jamie Foxx as well as production from DJ Scratch, Jelly Roll, Cool and Dre, the Neptunes and Mr. Porter.

In addition to Rhymes, fans will also be treated to opening sets from Juno and MMVA award-winning rapper Belly and Toronto-based rhymesayer Peter Jackson.

Belly, who is currently enjoying the success of his latest single “Hot Girl” and featured appearance on Danny Fernandes’ “Private Dancer,” will appear on Western Canada tour dates.

The outing’s August shows (Aug. 10-21) will be supported by Jackson, who is garnering a buzz from his debut single, “Come on Over.”

The Canadian tour is the latest achievement for Rhymes.

The Grammy nominated entertainer is noted for his work in films such as Shaft, Higher Learning, Finding Forrester and The Rugrats Movie. Rhymes also has a catalog of hits, including tracks like “Whoo Hah!! Got You All In Check”, “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”, “Break Ya Neck”, “Make It Clap, “I Love My Chick,” “Arab Money” and others.

The following is a list of dates for Busta Rhymes’ Canadian tour:

July 16 Ottawa, ON Ottawa Blues Fest
Aug 10 Kelowna, BC Level Nightclub
Aug 11 Medicine Hat, AB Cypress Centre
Aug 12 Calgary, AB Flames Central
Aug 13 Edmonton, AB Edmonton Events Centre
Aug 14 Saskatoon, SK Ryly’s
Aug 15 Regina, SK Evraz Place
Aug 17 Winnipeg, MB (venue TBC)
Aug 19 Toronto, ON The Phoenix
Aug 20 Montreal, QC Metropolis
Aug 21 Barrie, ON The Roxx Nightclub

Source: Allhiphop.com