CHICAGO, IL — On Wednesday, January 20, The Oprah Winfrey Show dedicates a live hour to last week's catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. Joining forces with some of the biggest names in entertainment, the episode will highlight personal stories in order to more clearly put a human face on this incomprehensible tragedy and incredible suffering. One of Haiti's biggest champions, Grammy-winning singer Wyclef Jean, shares a firsthand account of what he found when he traveled back to his native land just days ago.

 During a recent interview with Allure Magazine, Beyonce announced plans to dead her alter persona, whom fans have come to know as Sasha Fierce.



The R&B diva stated that it doesn't mean that fans won't see her perform in the energetic fashion that Fierce trademarked, but rather is a sign of her growth as an artist. Beyonce doesn't have to flip a switch anymore because the two personalities have become one.

Joe Jackson, father of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is heading to the French Riviera to be honored for the Jackson Family Foundation. The exclusive celebrity event is to take place Saturday, May 22, during the Cannes International Film Festival.

The release of Tha Carter IV has been delayed by Lil Wayne’s jail sentence, but one producer assures it will be worth the wait when it does come. “Carter IV gonna change your life,” Dow Jones, one-half of hitmaking duo Tha Bizness, tells Rap-Up TV. “It’s something that you ain’t never seen before. We thought Carter III  was incredible and he took it a couple steps up.”

In hosting his first annual Ovo (October's Very Own) Festival, Drake pulled out all the stops with a guest list featuring many of Rap's VIPs.



Jay-Z, Eminem, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy, Bun B and Fabolous joined the Toronto rapper in his hometown for the show, which none of the concertgoers were likely to ever forget.

Rap artists in the US are toning down the colour of their rides, opting to go with a matte black paint job rather than the usual flashy colours.



According to Forbes Magazine, the head of Los Angeles luxury car "pimper" Platinum Motorsports, George Keshishyan, said matte black paint jobs are the order of the day, as rappers now prefer to travel incognito.

 ATLANTA (CBS/AP) The probation officer of multi-platinum selling hip-hop artist T.I. has asked the rapper to return to his hometown of Atlanta, according to Don Samuel, one of T.I.'s attorneys.

The summer is gone. 2010’s summer was one of the most creative and epic music wise. We’ve seen Rick Ross and Young Jeezy almost create a civil war for Def Jam. 50 Cent finally joined Twitter and has nothing but nice things to say about the industry. That was a joke if you didn’t catch on. Gucci Mane released numerous tapes. The list can go on for days. 

The stars descended on Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre this past Sunday for the MTV Video Music Awards, but there's one artist who wasn't so pleased that her invite never came in the mail. Keyshia Cole, who recently gave birth to her first son, took to her Twitter account during the ceremony on Sunday night to address fans as to why she suspects MTV decided to exclude her from the event.

Kanye West has never been afraid to extend his shine to some of the most creative people in music, fashion, art, design, film, athletics and literature. In fact, he loves all mediums of art to such an extent that fans have picked up some great recommendations from Ye's extensive catalogue of favorites  (aka his blog) at any given moment. Last Wednesday, he took to Twitter to name his list of the coolest creative people in the world.

50 Cent has had a go at it with more than a few of his fellow rappers, from his scathing beef with Ja Rule to his venomous war of words with Fat Joe.

Eminem might have been snubbed at the Grammys, but when it comes to social networking, he's part of an elite group of artists to reach the top in viewership.



The 'Recovery' hitmaker is expected to join Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber as the only artists to achieve one billion views on YouTube.

The long-standing beef between 50 Cent and Ja Rule, continues to be in full effect. Ja, who recently pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges, became the brunt of more 50 Cent jokes, after a fan posted a comment about the situation on 50's Twitter page to which he responded with laughter.



"Don't nobody care about you fool," 50 tweeted about Ja.

After taking over the Billboard Top 200 last Wednesday (April 6), hip-hop seemed to have lost its presence in the upper echelon of the album charts this week. The only two rap discs to make it in that category were Wiz Khalifa and Jim Jones.

At the first-ever O Music Awards on Thursday night, Chiddy Bang performed but didn't take home one of the newfangled cube awards, aimed at honoring online music accomplishments. However, Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege himself (pictured) was actually the night's biggest winner, having won a much more impressive prize.

Two years after he joined Jay-Z's Roc Nation imprint, J. Cole has finally put the finishing touches on his debut album. The North Carolina-born rapper revealed the news to fans -- who he acknowledged had been very patient in waiting for the release -- via his Twitter page yesterday. "All singles done. Album ridiculous. Title Perfect. Music incredible," he wrote. "Thank you for your patience. Let's change the game."

Jonas Bevacqua was a college dropout and a DJ who had moved back into his parents' home when he met up with Robert Wright and created a street clothing company that resonated in Southern California and the nation. According to the Associated Press, Bevacqua and Wright "sketched out some of their earliest fashion ideas in his bedroom." The two went on to found Lifted Resesarch Group (LRG), a popular street clothing brand, in 1999, and the line enjoyed a rapid rise "as a major fashion force."

VIBE initially reported yesterday the passing of LRG, Co-Founder Jonas Bevacqua (34) this past Tuesday. The celebrated tastemaker was found dead in his home in Laguna Beach, California with little clues as to what happened.

Jay-Z's manager is confident that Hov and Kanye's record won't suffer the same fate as so many others.



Despite the fact that virtually no album goes un-leaked these days, one manager believes that his camp has discovered a way to keep one of the most highly-anticipated Hip Hop albums from getting to the masses ahead of time.



John Meneilly, Jay-Z's manager, believes that Jay and Kanye West's album, Watch The Throne, is on lock down. “It is not going to leak,” tweeted Meneilly.

The Cons talks about how his feud with Kanye West was settled and why his feud with Q-Tip continues.



After declaring war on Kanye West and his cousin Q-Tip, Consequence has announced that one of these feuds has come to an end. During a recent appearance on MTV's Rap Fix, Cons shared that he and Kanye exchanged a few words before settling their dispute. However, Cons has not been able to settle his differences with Q-Tip as of yet. 

Joey Crack is gearing up for the release of his first mixtape, which will have a "street" sound.

Mary J. Blige recently shared some details with XXL about recording with Rick Ross for his upcoming God Forgives, I Don’t album which is expected to be released in December. The song was done in Marvin Gaye’s studio in LA.

“I did a crazy, crazy record with Rick. Rick is fly. He picks the best beats man. That guy is amazing with that.

50 Cent is fed up. Enraged with the response that his Street King energy drink campaign to feed one million hungry children per week has gotten, 50 took to Facebook to lash out at the public.



“The world is so fucked up,” Fif posted on his Facebook page. “People don’t seem to care anymore. People seem to have distanced themselves from other people’s problems, they have been programmed not to care!”



And 50 was just getting started.

2 Chainz is making quite a splash as a solo artist these days. The former Duffle Bag Boyz member has a new track heating up the charts, and artists are reaching out left and right for collabs. His most recent collab is with rap royalty Jadakiss, and it seemed to take fellow emcee Joe Budden by surprise. Joe had previously asked about Chainz single on Twitter a while back, making fun of the line when he talks about sexing women in a casket because he’s “killing these h*es”.

Jim Jones recently spoke to MissInfo about rumours of an altercation that he was involved in on Monday.

He told MissInfo that while he was alone in Harlem three men stepped to him, "the first guy, I beat the shit out of him, then the second guy jumped in with a metal pipe. I was so amped up I didn't even feel him hitting me with it.I was still putting a beating on the first guy, but when the third guy pulled out a gun, I got out of there. I left. Anyone with a brain would do the same."

Fat Joe spoke to Vlad TV on homosexuality in the hip-hop industry, saying that he thinks a "Gay Mafia" controls the industry.

Rosa Acosta believes in turning the other cheek….maybe when she’s posing for a Men’s magazine, cause forgiveness doesn’t seem to be in the cards for Wale. The two who were aboard the Heineken tour earlier this summer, got into a feud via Twitter. Since then, Ralph has issued an apology to the vixen, but according to this recent interview it seems too late to apologize, word to One Republic. God Forgives, Rosa Don’t.

Outspoken, Gary, Indiana/CTE rapper Freddie Gibbs has weighed in on Fat Joe’s recent comments about closeted gay rappers in the hip-hop industry.



When asked about his thoughts on Fat Joe’s comments and his views on gay rappers and artists, Gibbs admitted that he probably would not work with them.

Juicy J's new mixtape "Blue Dream & Lean" is out now, and AllHipHop spoke to him about it, about him joining Taylor Gang & the possibility of a new Three Six Mafia album. Here's what he had to say on it.

On Taylor Gang:

“Yea man it’s going down, that’s it, it’s real, it’s done, I’m in. That’s my brother, we going on the road and we gonna impact.”

Yesterday for some reason 50 Cent decided to vent on Twitter, and some of the tweets were kinda depressing...he doesn't think he's going to live much longer according to one of them.

“I’ll be honest I don’t think I’m gonna live much longer,” 50 tweeted, “That’s why I started my street king movement. I want to mean more in other people’s lives.”

Rick Ross is bringing out the big guns.

Shortly after releasing his mixtape Rich Forever, Rick Ross has gone back to working on his fifth studio album God Forgives, I Don't. But now, Ross revealed on Twitter, he's recording with hitmaker Timbaland.

Recently,Timbo has produced for the likes of Lil Wayne, Drake, and T.I., but he has yet to record with Ross.

Serving two years for gun possession, Ja Rule found a new posse behind bars — a couple of cons he calls “Hevey D” and “Koz.”



The Queens-raised rap star says disgraced pol Alan Hevesi and corporate greed poster-boy Dennis Kozlowski took him under their wings.



From Kozlowski, he got stock tips. From Hevesi, he heard about the perennial impasse in Albany. They watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert together.

 TMZ reports that Jim Jones was involved in a brawl last night,  which resulted in his arrest. It reportedly took five cops and some mace to subdue him. Read the details below.