By: Hot Gossip Gal Can someone please explain to me what person in their right mind would brand top quality champagne with a name like Ace of Spades. This is the new bubbly that Jay is endorsing after publicly breaking up with Cristal last year. But Ace of Spades just doesn’t sound in the same league as Cristal or Bollinger or Moet and Chandon But Jay is loving it.

By: Hot Gossip Gal Why oh why does he just have to keep going back for more? He probably has another four hundred bar opus in store for us about Vida Guerra. There is another joint in circulation called They Love It coming back at the video gal after her attack on him during an interview at K Day in LA. I did however notice that his joint Body Bags has been pulled off his myspace page again…Perhaps the powers that be at I/G/AM are mad at their roster beefing again.

By: Rizoh When you thought you heard it all, the feud between 50 Cent and Cam’ron takes yet another interesting spin. Just a day after 50 Cent revealed that his new album will be titled Curtis, Cam announced on Hot 97 FM that his own album will named Courtesy Curtis. “He’s losing the battle and he can’t go to sleep,” Cam told DJ Envy on air. “When he was on Angie Martinez, he said he’s got bags under his eyes. Well, he must got a month and a half of bags under his eyes. It must be drooping down to his knees, because he really lost and he can’t take it.” Cam said that he hopes to release his new album in the first week of July.

By: Rizoh Rev Run, one-third of the seminal rap group Run-DMC, recently told G4TV that he’s working with rock-rapper Kid Rock on a full length LP titled Running with the Kid. ”Me and Kid Rock are collaborating on making an album called Running With The Kid, sort of like what Clapton and BB King did with Riding with the King,” said Rev Run. “We sort of have them same styles in a way; at least we dress the same. He’s a big Run-DMC fan and I grew to understand and like his music.” Run added that he plans to head out to Detroit in the coming weeks to jumpstart the recording process. Run recently appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, where he discussed how his family’s faith helped them cope with the loss of their baby daughter.

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno You may have heard about them in passing, you might have even heard a song or two, or maybe you never heard of them at all. That’s something Bonafide and Coffee, together known as Grits, are hoping to change. For over 12 years and through 10 albums Grits have been making creative, positive and fresh boom-bap hip-hop, but it hasn’t been reaching the audiences that they ultimately hoped for. The hindrance? The label of gospel rap. The duo has oft been associated with the gospel rap scene because of the Christian overtones in their music as well as being signed to a well-known Christian music label, Gotee Records. For some time now, Coffee and Bonafide have been trying to shed the “gospel rap” label and show that they are more versatile than what people may think. With their new album, Redemption, they’re proving that in more ways than one. We caught up with Grits to talk about the new album, their decision to leave Gotee Records and why they don’t like being called gospel rappers. Why did you name the album “Redemption”? Coffee: Redemption stands for freedom. That’s what it means, to be free from something and that’s we’re bringing to the game. It’s just songs of life, songs of something new and something that the game has definitely been missing; more positivity. It’s not negativity looking like positivity or acting like it, but definitely just positive stuff. It’s freedom from this slavery of propaganda of the hood and what rap has become. How is this project different from your Dichotomy albums? Bonafide: Progressive man, it’s the next step up. Every record we try to outdo what we did last time; lyrically, musically, the whole nine. We try to bring that total package and it’s just an evolution from Dichotomy A and Dichotomy B. A surprise guest on the album is Canibus, how did you connect with him? Coffee: We actually connected with him through one of the producers that we worked with. He was working with him on some stuff, he was working with him in L.A. And he was like, ‘man, what would think if I gave Canibus a call and see if he’d be down to get on this joint with ya’ll?’, and we were like ‘sure’. So basically he gave him a call, worked it out and everything was cool. He was real cool as far as working with us, there weren’t any problems or anything. Was he familiar with your music? Coffee: Not real familiar, but he was just as familiar as anyone else. I don’t think Canibus really familiarizes himself with anybody’s music anyway. I don’t know if you know him or ever talked to him, he has just that kin of personality. He just does his thing and he doesn’t study anybody else, even when he’s working with you. Compared to past releases which were real underground hip-hop sounding, lately you guys have been embracing the southern sound more. Was that a progression or just something you felt you needed to have in your sound? Bonafide: Nah, it’s just our environment man. We grew up around that. Coffee: We are from the South, don’t forget. We are Southern. Even in our earlier albums, we’ve paid homage to the South. We had “Tennessee Boys”, had that country swang. And that’s what we’re still trying to be. We’re not trying to be hoppin’ on the trends or this and that. We try to move wisely and stay relevant but at the same time man we have to stay true to who we are and what are goals are and what are missions are and helping make this music evolve and getting it to where it needs to get. Every so often, you guys make it known that you don’t like to labeled gospel rappers. Why is that? Coffee: Because we’re not. Period. So in your opinion, what is a gospel rapper? Coffee: You tell me? Is there a chart for that? That’s like asking was Rakim a 5% rapper? Do they capitalize on the fact that Lupe Fiasco is a Muslim? No, it’s just hip-hop. He talks about what he talks about and being real to who he is and to himself, that’s the essence of hip-hop right there. So why should we take on a title because people feel comfortable with saying that? They used to say Goodie Mob was gospel rap, they said Outkast was gospel rap one time. Even Andre said that in a verse. In taking that title, you have to justify everything that comes along with that title. And there’s so many things out there that categorize themselves as that and at the same time, most rappers who take on that title of gospel rapper, they don’t even take on the title of being hip-hop. They’re like, ‘I’m a gospel rapper, I ain’t no hip-hop’. But hip-hop is who you are, that made you open the door for you to do what you even do. That’s what you are, you do hip-hop. How it touches people and how it reaches people, that’s up to them. Each song is like a truth and it touches different people in different ways, so it’s hard to categorize it, except for leaving it as what it is. Some Christian hip-hop heads get offended when you make that statement, ‘I’m not a gospel rapper.’ Coffee: I mean, we’ve sat in meetings with people where they told us, ‘yeah, you’re CD sat on our desk for months because they told me it was gospel rap.’ Then they opened it and listened to it and were like, ‘man this ain’t gospel rap, this is hot! Yeah, we need to talk about God, and that’s good, we need to talk about that more, but this is hot, why did they tell me that?’ When you got industry executives telling you that, you have to start thinking about where am I trying to go? What am I trying to do with the music? How do I want to get there? I need to make sure I’m doing it the right way. Do you believe God? Yes, I do. Coffee: Then you’re a gospel journalist right? No, you’re just a journalist. So when you paint the picture like that for people, they go ‘Now I see…” You just do what you do for integrity and let your faith be your strength for whatever your job is. So this is your last album for Gotee Records, who you’ve been with for over a decade, what’s next? Bonafide: We’re going independent, man. Coffee: We have 5E Entertainment and the first artist that we’re putting out besides ourselves is IZ, short for Izrael, he’s out of DuVault County, Jacksonville, which is where I’m originally from. His stuff is more hardcore street stuff because that’s where… he came out of that. That’s where he’s going to reach out to people on a whole other level. It’s almost like having Grits, but street, or more street specific, I should say. We’re actually going to drop an EP coming up soon, and a mixtape series and we’re pushing for the album to be out by the summer. So why not stick it out with Gotee instead of going indie? Coffee: Well, our contract is up. The distribution system is not a good system for us or anyone else on EMI. As you can tell, that’s why Jermaine Dupri is not there anymore. So if the big dog is leaving, why am I staying? How are you feeling about hip-hop in general, creatively nowadays? Coffee: I think now it depends on what you’re in it for. It’s definitely open for opportunity right now, but right now I think there’s a good opportunity for those of us who came up in the golden era of hip-hop with A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. I think it’s definitely a god time for us to make it go full circle. I believe we’re kind of done with the D-Boy and the gangsta thing. It’s like old now. Anybody who’s coming out like that now, it’s like Jay-Z said, we don’t believe you, you need more people. It’s like where were you six years ago? Seven years ago? That is dying down and I just think the game is ready for something new. It’s kind of a gift and a curse situation right now, it’s bad because it’s being looked at negatively but it’s good because it gives others an opportunity to step up and really make a name for it and not just a genre or a culture, but for a whole generation. Are you guys still in tune with the Christian hip-hop scene or are you more focused on breaking through to the secular scene? Bonafide: We tap into it. We are the Christian hip-hop scene, if there is a scene. There are a few other groups who got recognition and their name out there, and you can name them on four or five fingers. It’s really not scene, because to have a scene you got to have a support system and when there’s not a support system, there’s not much happening. And it’s not a thing where we just want to be mainstream or we want to be this and that, what we want is a place where we can do our music and not worry about a title or label hindering us or freaking somebody out or confusing people. Just listen to the music, if you don’t walk away from our music knowing who we are and what we’re about then there’s something wrong with you. We in no way shun Christianity, that’s who we are, but it’s just not what we’re selling. We’re selling hip-hop, art, we’re artists. But if it blesses somebody and touches somebody and impacts a life or two along the way, that’s great! We want to be role models, we don’t run from that. That’s why we’re responsible with our lyrics. You guys have been recording music for a long time, have you ever just got tired of the industry or bored with the music? Bonafide: Yeah, you get frustrated with the politics of it. But I don’t feel like there was ever really a time I wanted to stop because I lost the love for it. If anything, you gets frustrated with the label and label heads, the gatekeepers who have the power control each and every move you make. That’s been the most frustrating part, but we’re still here trying to grind it out. There’s an honest and a truth and a deep passion for what we do. And we’re not in it just for ourselves, obviously, or we would have stopped a long time ago. We know there a necessity, there’s a need for us out there in the marketplace and we want to be able to fulfill that need while we out there. It don’t make sense to me that people who grew up on Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, Grandmaster Flash and all the old school but won’t even touch hip-hop because of what’s being played on the radio today. That’s foolishness to me, that it has to be like that. We want to be that group where they say, “Hey, don’t shun it all together, there’s something for the intelligent folks.” I’m bold enough to say we’re the only ones right now to offer some true, healthy music with integrity to guide the young generation. So the business side is mostly the frustrating side? Coffee: It’s always that man, it’s always that. Especially what we do, because what we do is not popular. It’s not the “profitable” thing to do. And you just got to love what you’re doing if it’s not considered profitable. Although we know what we’ve done has been profitable for many people. It’s been profitable for us and definitely Gotee and them and they can never tell you different. We’re the only group that was left on label that’s been there since the label started from a production team. So it’s definitely been profitable for them because if it wasn’t, they would have dropped us a long time ago. It’s been 12 years, so obviously something there was working. But yeah man, that’s just the way it goes, just business frustrates you sometimes. But you know business changes and makes us come up with better marketing schemes.

By: Hot Gossip Gal Bobby and Whitney have had their divorce, signed sealed and delivered. Whitney is supposed to have shed a tear in court when the divorce was finalized. Why was she crying though? She chilling with a porn star and got full custody of her daughter and is supposed to be recording with Clive Davis for an album which no matter what people say, will go platinum…life has to be good for Whitney.

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno It’s been a couple of years since we got a new album from Royce Da 5’9”, but he’s returning with a new mixtape album next week. The Bar Exam drops on April 15 and will feature production from DJ Premier, Bink!, Carlos “Six July” Broady, J. Cardim, DC, and Statik Selektah. Royce has been locked up since September for violating his parole and getting charged with a DUI. He was sentenced to one year in prison but in January he was granted work release Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Apparently Royce has been recording like crazy and when he’s released later this year word is he’ll be entertaining deals from Diddy’s Bad Boy records and Nas’ Jones Experience label through Def Jam. DJ Premier will also executive produce Royce next full length album, Street Hop, scheduled to drop this summer.

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno It seems like the whole Mobb Deep joining up with G-Unit didn’t really bring the desired results so the crew is back to hustling the way they know how. Prodigy and Havoc’s Infamous Films have announced that they will produce H.N.I.C., a film that will star and be executive produced Prodigy. Although plot details have yet to be revealed, it’s described “as a genre-bending story.” The movie will also star Hassan Johnson (HBO’s The Wire), J.D. Williams (HBO’s The Wire), Davetta Sherwood (The Young and The Restless) and Rick Gonzalez (Coach Carter). Prodigy also produced the flicks Murda Muzik and A Talent For Trouble. He’s currently promoting his mixtape with Alchemist, “Return of the Mac.” Prodigy also plans to release H.N.I.C. 2, the follow-up to his 2000 debut solo album, H.N.I.C., later this year.

By: Hot Gossip Gal You take your kid shopping for her 9th birthday in Vegas of all places and then have her shrouded in black like some chick in Baghdad so paparazzi and people can’t see her? What world is this dude living in seriously?

By: Rizoh An aspiring model recently found out that getting all up in 50 Cent’s face is the quickest way to take an impromptu bath. I’ll explain. While making a guest appearance on Tyra Banks’ “America’s Next Top Model” show, 50 Cent repeatedly told an unnamed model to “go away.” That didn’t solve the problem, so 50, in all his glory, pushed the wannabe model into a swimming pool. The incident was caught on camera as Tyra Banks’ film crew shot footage of the models mingling with celebrities. Watch it below:

By: Rizoh Fans of MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” can now sport some of the coolest automobiles with the arrival of Virtual Pimp My Ride ( http://www.virtualpimpmyride.mtv.com/). Inspired by the Southern California car culture of Van Nuys, California, Virtual Pimp My Ride (VPMR) debuts along with the season premiere of MTV’s "Pimp My Ride" at 9PM ET/PT. With the help of host Xzibit and the car customization team at Galpin Auto Sports, MTV also announced the kick-off of the “Virtual Pimp My Ride Car Show-Off Contest.” Part of the prize package is a new, pimp’d out car—a real one, that is. Head on over to virtualpimpmyride.mtv.com to start purchase starter vehicles and begin customizing everything from paint job and hoods, to tricked out tires and rims. Virtual Pimp My Ride debuts tonight, the same night as the on-air premiere of the new season of "Pimp My Ride" at 9PM ET/PT. An in-world premiere party will take place at 9:30 PM ET complete with special cast appearances. Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee that the chicks you pick up at the virtual party will materialize into real life models.

By: Hot Gossip Gal Well dare I say it was only a matter of time. They did say that their reality show ‘Welcome to HollyHood’ keeps it maybe a little too real. Well one of their crew peed on the lawn of their neighbor which happens to be Jenifer Love Hewitt and folks were not happy, especially as it was caught on camera. Anyhow the neighborhood watch people obviously got a little peed off them selves with Three 6 and told them to go find another HollyHood to reside. Now the Tennessee boys are living large in Bel Air.

By: Quibian Salazar-Moreno Despite his continuous legal problems and the quick coming and going of his last album, Hollywood is still calling on DMX to star in its films. The Dark Man just finished up Marble City, an action flick where an ex-con is released from prison and makes it his mission to get revenge on the man who framed him. The film also stars Ving Rhames, Vivica Fox and Tom Sizemore. There’s no word on a release date but the film is in post-production. Another flick DMX released finished filming a flick called Father of Lies which also stars Vivica Fox and Clifton Powell. The low-budget film takes place in Louisiana with Fox playing the wife of a deacon (Powell) with drama bound to go down. DMX also just signed on to star in Daddy Cool, based on the Donald Goines novel where a hitman goes on a search for his runaway daughter. He also signed up for two more films, Bishop and Death Toll, due out next year. Is he giving up the rap game? Apparently he doesn’t have any love for the west coast. In a February interview with the Ventura County Star that recently surfaced, he said the difference between west coast hip-hop and east coast hip-hop is talent. “You know, there’s talented rappers everywhere, and one West Coast rapper who I like and respect is Game, because to me, he has a New York style,” X told the newspaper. “But I don’t like a lot of West Coast rappers. West Coast rap is too laid back, too focused on marijuana with all the blunts and lowriders. There’s nothing honest. There’s no trouble in it, you know? There’s no hardship in it. Everyone in L.A. that raps has a lowrider and a fat blunt. Back here in New York, we’re still walkin’ and still smokin’ dirt, you know? There’s no hardship in their rap, there’s nothin’ to make you say, ‘I can relate to that.’”

By Quibian Salazar-Moreno El-P’s new album, I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead, hasn’t even been out a month and is already getting nods for the best album of the year. He’s parlayed that critical acclaim to upcoming appearances on Jimmy Kimmel on May 22 and Conan O’Brien on June 11. But before he heads to New York and Los Angeles for those appearances he’ll be taking on the rest of the U.S. El-P’s will launch his nationwide tour on May 1 in Cambridge, Massachusetts a few days after doing a set at the Coachella Music Festival on April 27. The tour will run until June 8 ending at Club 9:30 in Washington D.C. Here’s El Producto’s current tour itinerary: Fri 4/27/07 – Coachella Music Festival – Indio, CA Tue 5/1/07 – Middle East Underground – Cambridge, MA Wed 5/2/07 - Le National – Montreal, QC Thu 5/3/07 – The Opera House – Toronto, ON Fri 5/4/07 - Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH Sat 5/5/07 – Little Brothers – Columbus, OH Sun 5/6/07 – Magic Stick – Detroit, MI Mon 5/7/07 – Top Cat’s – Cincinnati, OH Tues 5/8/07 – Abbey Pub – Chicago, IL Thurs 5/10/07 – Granada – Lawrence, KS Fri 5/11/07 – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO Sat 5/12/07 – The Depot – Salt Lake City, UT Mon 5/14/07 – Neumo’s – Seattle, WA Tue 5/15/07 – Richards on Richards – Vancouver, BC Wed 5/16/07 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR Fri 5/18/07 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA Mon 5/21/07 – El Rey Theater – Los Angeles, CA Wed 5/23/07 – The Clubhouse – Tempe, AZ Thurs 5/24/07 – Sunshine Theater, – Albuquerque, NM Sun 5/27/07 – Emo’s – Austin, TX Mon 5/28/07 – Numbers Night Club – Houston, TX Wed 5/30/07 – The Parish / House of Blues – New Orleans, LA Sat 6/2/07 – Common Grounds – Gainesville, FL Thu 6/707 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC Fri 6/8/07 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC

By: Hot Gossip Gal Not that there is even a baby. But Diddy openly denied being father to Aubrey from Danity Kane’s imaginary baby. There had been a rumor home girl was pregnant and then when very suspect pics appeared on the net of her buying a pregnancy test in Boston showed up..well the joke was on all those who posted them. Eddie Murphy is probably handing over his DNA sample right now as ex gf Scary Spice had her baby yesterday, another girl for the former Spice Girl. And Usher may be sitting in the DNA chair as the baby his finance Tameka is carrying, may not be a Raymond afterall. Its being whispered that the child is actually he ex husbands who fathered her other three kids. Now is that giving Momma Usher just a lil too much ammunition to fire at her nemesis?