Eve Speaks On Women In Hip Hop

Ever so often, Eve pops up to remind everyone that she's still breathing. The Philly-born femcee spoke recently about the lack of female emcees in hip hop and who some of her favorite current artists right now. Still no word on if/when she will return to recording.

"People ask me [about females in rap] all the time. It’s weird. I don’t know where all the females are," she says. "By the way, I meet females all the time that tell me, “Yeah, I’m an MC,” and I’m always like, “Good luck, God bless. Make it happen. We need more females.”

"I still have people on my list who I’ve been wanting to work with forever like OutKast," she added. "Andre 3000, I think is amazing. Adele is amazing. Drake is dope, as far as hip-hop goes. So there’s a lot of different people, but nobody I’m loving at the top of my list right now, though."

Jadakiss Has No Beef With Jay-Z

Rapper Jadakiss wants no parts of the simmering feud between Lil Wayne and Jay-Z. Although Kiss appears on Weezy's "It's Good" track--the same song where Lil Wayne fires verbal shots at Jay; Jadakiss is staying neutral.

"Yall hating ass c**ksuckers better chill..they only sent me a track wit NO verses and I recorded that verse 3 months ago! #leavemeoutofit," Jada tweeted. "When I DISS n***as or have a problem Wit ANY RAPPER I SAY THere NAMES without hesitation and YALL know this already!"

The song was leaked yesterday (August 24) and is said to be a track from Wayne's upcoming album, Tha Carter IV.

J. Cole Supports Singing Rappers

Rapper J. Cole shared his perspective on emcees who also dabble in vocalizing. Cole says people should be more open to rappers singing and vice versa, because its just another step in hip hop's ongoing evolution.

"I think it's dope [that some rappers sing and some singers rap]. Why not?," he said. "Who says Drake can't sing if he wants to sing? Who said Chris Brown can't rap if he wants to rap? It's just adding another facet to your style. It's just evolution man. The sad truth is, if some of our legends from the past came out now, people would think they were boring. You've just got to find a balance."

"I don't even think they take themselves seriously - they just want to come on," he added. " If I could sing, I would sing just like Chris Brown. Someone like Trey Songz, I feel like he genuinely loves rapping and that's fine. Some singers may not be your favorite rapper, but maybe they don't give a f**k and their rapping helps them express something they can't by singing."

Trey Songz Wants Album With Drake?

Trey Songz recently revealed who he would like to record a Watch the Throne-style collaborative album with. The R&B star said Canadian rapper Drake would be his ideal choice--but admitted that he wouldn't want to do a joint project just for the sake of doing one.

“When thinking along the lines of that, Drake is the first person that comes to mind that I am that musically comfortable with in that space,” he said. “He is a friend of mine as well, and I think we can pull something off like that could sound very authentic.”

“I mean, you got to look at (Kanye and Jay-Z) and see how long it took them to do it, you know?" he added. "So it has to be organic in whatever way it happens. It can’t be a business decision and you can’t look at it in a way of making it lucrative. I think it has to be something that you are definitely going into for music’s sake. It has to be something real, because if it’s not authentic you can hear it.”

Lil Wayne Ft. Drake & Rick Ross – She Will (Remix

If you don’t use it, Rozay will. There were rumors circulating that Ricky was going to have a verse on “She Will” and he did. For whatever reason, it didn’t make the cut forTha Carter IV. DJ Scream throws it out for the people to love. This is way better than the original. I like having Rick Ross’ verse instead of what we have on the original. August 29, C4.

Update: There was some minor tags in Rick Ross’ verse but for the people who needed the complete tagless, it’s now below.

Down Load Link Lil Wayne Ft. Drake & Rick Ross – She Will (Remix) (Untagged)

Drake Confirms "Take Care" Release Date

Drake has confirmed that his upcoming sophomore album, Take Care will drop October 24th. The rapper's manager Cortez Bryant praised Drake's artistry and work ethic.

“Very few artists are able to release such a strong body of work so early in their careers,” says co-manager Cortez Bryant. “Drake tells an entire story with Take Care and fans are going to be able to see how far he has come.”

Drake's debut Thank Me Later opened at #1 on the Top 200,and sold nearly 450,000 copies in its first week.

J. Cole Announces Tour

J. Cole is planning to tour across the U.S., Canada and Europe in support of his upcoming debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story. The album drops September 27th and the tour begins August 23rd in Vancouver and ends in Paris in December.

This will be Cole's first headlining tour after being a featured artist on tours with stars like Rihanna and Drake.

The tour will make stops in Toronto (Sept. 3rd), Los Angeles (Sept. 22), Atlanta (Oct. 2), Chicago (Oct. 9), New York (Oct. 25), London (Nov. 4) and several other major venues.

Serena Addresses Drake Rumors

Tennis superstar Serena Williams has been linked to rapper Drake for a little over a week now after the two were spotted getting 'friendly' on a court together. Williams was recently asked about the rumors surrounding the two of them and she gave a pretty standard--if somewhat irritated--response.

"Oh, man. Really?" she replied when asked about the dating gossip. "We're really close friends. Can't be too close to a friend nowadays, I guess."

Sarcasm noted, Serena.

Big Sean Has No Beef With Drake

Just a few days after Drake downplayed any hostility between he and Big Sean, Sean himself has reiterated that there is no problem between the two young stars. Drake gave Sean a shoutout during a recent show and Sean says that the two are cool.

"Drake is my homie, he just shouted me out a few days ago," Sean said. “As far as that flow thing goes, he just borrowed an element of a flow that I made up in '09 on [my mixtape] 'Uknow Big Sean.' That same cadence I used, he used on the song 'Forever.'"

But Sean said Drake gave credit.

"But he admitted [it,]" Sean added. "He was like, 'Yo I got that style from Big Sean.'"

Introducing the King of Hip-Hop

Now more than three decades old as a recorded medium, hip-hop is deeply embedded in popular culture – to the point where its stars seem not only larger than life but also, as Rick Ross once put it, "deeper than rap." But even as they sell out arenas and top the pop charts, rappers still court the respect and esteem of their hip-hop peers. The title King of Hip-Hop still means something.

In that spirit, just as we did in June with the Queen of Pop, we've crunched a pile of data to try to determine who is the current King of Hip-Hop.

We're not looking for the all-time greatest, although many of our contenders would vie for that crown. Some of them have only been recording a couple of years; others have been in the game since the 1990s. But that's what makes hip-hop exciting – it's plausible for someone who was watching cartoons when Jay-Z dropped his debut album to emerge as a contender for the title.

As with our Queen of Pop tally, in naming the King of Hip-Hop we focused on the very recent past: from 2009 through the first seven months of 2011. We ranked 20 solo rappers (no groups – sorry, Beasties) who have dropped an album during that time. We looked at album sales, rankings on the R&B/hip-hop and rap charts, YouTube views, social media, concert grosses, industry awards and critics' ratings. In alphabetical order, our contenders are: Big Boi, B.o.B, Diddy, Drake, Eminem, Fabolous, Lupe Fiasco, Gucci Mane, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj, Pitbull, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, T.I., Waka Flocka Flame, Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa.

All of our contenders are men except for Minaj, who reappears from our Queen of Pop survey. We like to think of "King" as a gender-neutral term, and the fact is that Minaj has earned the right to compete in this arena. It would feel strange to leave her out – as a rapper, she's had a world-beating couple of years, with a chart-topping album, block-rocking singles and a slew of killer guest appearances. Frankly, she deserves to be called a hip-hop king just for her giant-killing appearance on West's hit "Monster," in which she crushed West and fellow guests Rick Ross and Jay-Z with one blow.

Fans of the rappers, and the acts themselves, take these sorts of rankings pretty seriously. (We learned that firsthand in the comments section of Queens of Pop.) We stand by our data, but of course we know that no King of Hip-Hop index can capture swagger or flow – if it could, the all-time title might go to Q-Tip or Rakim. As you'll see, it turned out to be a fairly exciting contest. Our top overall contenders were pretty evenly matched, with five different rappers leading at least one tally each.

Let's start with the tally that comes with the biggest bragging rights: album sales.

9 pages of FACTS By ---> Rolling Stone

Drake & Serena Dating?

Young Money rapper Drake may be getting his serve on with a certain big-bootied tennis superstar. The Toronto-born star has been spending time with Serena Williams on the court. But according to the rumor mill--they've been doing more than working on their backhand.

Drake tweeted to Serena last week, "I Can’t Wait To Put It On You And Make You Sweat… during our match this weekend.”

Drake was later spotted cheering for Serena as she competed for the 2011 Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto. Sounds like something's going on. Serenas already shown that she has a thing for light-skinned, nice-guy rappers.

Sup, Common...

Birdman On "Watch the Throne:"

Birdman shared his thoughts on Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne album. The Cash Money founder says that the album reflects an older perspective in hip hop, and he still believes that hip hop is a younger man's game.

He also alluded to Lil Wayne and Drake doing something similar.

"It's older versus younger," Baby said in an interview. "I listened to a few songs [off Watch The Throne] and it feels like an older feel to me. I think with Drake and Wayne, they young. They young cats. You got 23 and 28. Then you got Jay-Z and them, who are older and really on their way out the game. Then you got Wayne and Drake and them, who are still youthful [...] So, it's two different types of music all the way across the board. But what they're doing is great -- I think it's great for the game, great for the business, great for retail as a whole. I just think when Wayne and Drake get together is going to be something real special also because we more youthful."

"Tha Carter IV" Track Listing Revealed

Lil Wayne is releasing more details about his highly-anticipated Tha Carter IV album. The project's track list has finally hit the web, and features several notables, including Rick Ross, John Legend and Jadakiss.

Underground star Tech N9ne also appears on the album.

The track list is as follows:

1. Intro
2. Blunt Blowin
3. MegaMan
4. 6 Foot 7 Foot (Feat. Cory Gunz)
5. Nightmares Of The Bottom
6. She Will (Feat. Drake)
7. How To Hate (Feat. T-Pain)
8. Interlude (Feat. Tech N9ne)
9. John (Feat. Rick Ross)
10. Abortion
11. So Special (Feat. John Legend)
12. How To Love
13. President Carter
14. Its Good (Feat. Drake & Jadakiss)
15. Outro (Feat. Bun B, Nas, Shyne & Busta Rhymes) 

Drake On Working With The Weeknd

Drake talked a little about working with R&B upstart The Weeknd on Drake's upcoming sophomore album Take Care. Drizzy says that The Weeknd has inspired him to be a better singer and songwriter.

"He’s on my album a lot. We really collaborated a lot on this album,” explained Drake. “Not only did he inspire me to get out there and sing better on stage, but he inspired me writing-wise, music-wise, just to better my product."

"To hear someone with an incredible body of work, it's rare. It's very inspiring," Drake continued. "I'm proud of him. He works really hard. He's just an incredible person, [and] become a really close friend to me."

Drake Misses Nicki Minaj

Drake's sadness fetish has surfaced yet again. The mopey Toronto rapper called out his labelmate Nicki Minaj during a recent concert. The Most Sensitive Emcee of All Time let Nicki know that he still cares about her--but he misses her.

He weally, weally misses her...

“Maybe I should call up Nicki Minaj and tell her how much I love her and how proud of her I am because I feel that ever since we got famous we don’t really talk anymore," Drake told the crowd. "And all I wanna do is hear her voice again for once in my life. Maybe I should and that’s real sh*t too…damn”

Drake Has No Beef With Big Sean

Drake shot down rumors that he had some ill will towards G.O.O.D. Music rapper Big Sean. While speaking in Canada, Drake gave Sean a shout-out and made it clear to the crowd that he and the new(er) kid on the block are perfectly cool with each other.

"I don't know what the f*ck is going on, you know what I am saying. My first show ever I shared the stage with this kid, this dude I have a lot of respect for. I'ma say this right now in front of all my Detroit people man. I'ma let you know Big Sean, you my n*gga man, for real on everything man. If I got to tell you this way, I tell you this way. I don't want to make people make sh*t what it isn't, man that's my n*gga I got the utmost respect for him. I love Detroit."

Kreayshawn Not Dating Drake

Kreayshawn is downplaying rumors that she and fellow rapper Drake have any kind of romantic relationship. The Web has been swarming with speculation that the two have some type of history following Drake's flirtatious call-in to a Kreayshawn radio interview last week.

She says the talk is just that--talk.

"No, that's not my boo thing," Kreay laughingly said in an interview. "We're cute. Like I said, me and him, we're both cute. We could be cute. But, I'm not trying to snatch Rihanna's [boo] or nothing like that. You know, I don't know if the rumors is true, I'm a busy woman anyway...People are already tweeting the 'Drake and Kreayshawn, uh-oh, Rihanna's with him.' I'm like, people can't be friends? Whatever. He cute. I'm cute. I just feel like me and him relate a lot just from coming up quick..."

Drake's Skills Have Improved

Drake's latest single "Headlines" is making noise, but the Young Money rapper says the song is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of quality. Drake says the rest of his upcomingTake Care album will be his best work yet. And his rhymes are stronger this time around.

"By no means is it the best song on my album, it's really just the song for this moment, right now," Drake said about his "Headlines" single. "This is really, in my opinion, my best project...There's a lot of songs on it. Although people encourage me like, 'Oh, do 11, 12 songs,' I think there's going to be probably 18 songs on it. It's very reminiscent of 'So Far Gone' but the production has stepped up like 10 notches. I feel like I've gotten better at rapping, so I'm really excited for people to hear the bars."

Drake Focused On Album--Not Singles

Drake says, creatively, he's never been into recording singles. Despite the fact that the Young Money star routinely releases chart-toppers, Drizzy claims he's more focused on albums and painting a complete picture of himself as an artist. Moreso than just crafting next week's big pop hit.

That seems to be what he's focused on as he's working on his sophomore LP Take Care; crafting a fully-realized album.

"I hate singles," Drake says. "With this album, I want to tell a whole story," he adds. "I don't want people to just hear a piece and judge the album on that."

Drake to Make "Headlines" on First 'Take Care Single

AllThings-Fresh.net

Drake isn't a stranger to headlines. After causing a viral stir with "Dreams Money Can Buy" and "Marvin's Room," the Young Money spitter is finally ready to give us something official.

The first single off his much anticipated sophomore effort Take Care is called "Headlines" and is set to drop sooner than you expect. Frequent collaborators Matthew "Boi-1da" Samuels and Noah "40" Shebib handle the production for this one.

The winners of ASCAP’s 24th Annual Rhythm & Soul Music Awards "Songwriters of the Year" award are responsible for Drizzy's chart-topping hit singles, "Over" and "Miss Me" from his platinum-selling debut album, Thank Me Later.

Earlier this week, Drake called into Green Lantern's Invasion Radio show on SiriusXM's Hip-Hop Nation to tell us that the single was being mixed. Take Care is scheduled for an October 24 release and will feature guest appearances from The Weeknd, with production from Boi-1da, Noah "40" Shebib, T-Minus, and more.