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

Fabolous Names His Wish List

Fabolous revealed who are the two emcees he'd most love to work with at this point in his career. Fab has done more than his fair share of collaborations, but a legendary Queensbridge emcee and a chart-busting rapper from Detroit are at the top of his wish list of future collaborators.

"I haven't worked with Nas yet ever in my career," Fab shared. "I would love to work with him just because, you know, what Nas means to Hip Hop. Just what he's done in his career. I don't know what the song would be about, just wanna work with him and get in the studio and see what comes out."

"I wanna do something with Eminem," he added. "That's another person. I really respect his lyricism, we'll see what a song between us would come to be. It's hard to say, because I kinda worked with everyone."

Fabolous Denies Dating Amber Rose

Fabolous and Amber Rose were rumored to be hot-and-heavy last year, following Rose's breakup with superstar Kanye West and prior to her current relationship with Wiz Khalifa. At one point the rumor mill even alleged that Amber was carrying a Baby Fab. But appearing on Tim Westwood's show, Fab quickly dismissed any notion that the two were anything more than friends.

"Did I ever smush," Fab said, repeating Tim Westwood's question. "Smush? What kind of word is that? Is that like a UK word for [sex]? Uh, OK. No. She's just a friend. [Kanye West to me to Wiz Khalifa?] Nah. I was out of that stepping stone. I got moved out of that equation. I guess it just went from Kanye to Wiz."

Lil Wayne Headlining Summer Jam

Hot 97 has announced that Lil Wayne and Dipset are among the headliners for this year's Summer Jam. The annual show is taking place at East Rutherford, New Jersey’s New Meadowlands Stadium on June 5th and will also feature Wiz Khalifa, Lloyd Banks, Birdman, Young Money and Chris Brown.

Returning from last year's concert are Drake, Fabolous, Waka Flocka Flame and Rick Ross.

Last year’s event featured performers including Drake, Nicki Minaj, T-Pain, Fat Joe and DJ Khaled, Tickets are on sale now for the event.

Fabolous On Album Delays

Fabolous has spoken up about the delays regarding his long-awaited Loso's Way 2 album. The rapper says that he just hasn't been satisfied with the project yet and is obsessing over releasing the best possible album. The rapper acknowledged that he isn't too concerned with deadlines right now.

"The album, we just started on that. I really just got a lot of beats on that, picking beats out or whatever," Fab said. "Then I lock in and attack the beats, like a monster in a cave. [Laughs] I drag the beats back to my cave. [Deadline?] Not really. I usually have deadlines but I don't. They tell you what time you need to do something, and it's like, 'Okay, I work toward that time, but if it's not ready, it's not ready.' But I'm definitely not the type that will just let something not come out. There's a couple [of] albums right now that people have been talking about for a year..."

Amber Rose Dismisses Rumors

Amber Rose isn't taking it anymore.

The model took to Twitter to vent her frustration over the endless ridicule and countless media rumors surrounding her love life. Rose ran down a laundry list of celebrities she's been linked to and denied them all, as well as voiced her displeasure at being labeled.

"Morning Twit Fam, [I] didn't really [woke] up in a good mood today. I'm just so sick of being ridiculed. [People] assuming things without knowing. I'm super nice to everyone I meet. I'm a very caring compassionate person. I don't deserve to be talked about so negatively. I really hate explaining myself that's why I stay so quiet but I will say this..... I was with my ex for 2 years and now I have a new Love. [Two People] that's it. If that makes me a whore then so be it. I have NEVER slept with Fabolous, Drake, Chris Brown, Amare, Lebron, Cassidy etc nor have I ever been a Prostitute."