Chris Brown is getting back to the music. After making headlines this year for his February assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna, Brown made serious movement in his musical comeback on Tuesday (October 27) with the premiere of his "I Can Transform Ya" video and a headlining performance at Power 105.1's Powerhouse '09 concert.

Incidentally, the New York radio station hosted a comeback show for R. Kelly when he was facing legal woes back in 2003. Much like Kelly six years ago, the Powerhouse fans embraced Brown with cheers and singing of their own.

Read more at MTV.com

Wyclef Jean, the Grammy Award-winning rapper and producer who had devoted much of his recent efforts to humanitarian help for his native Haiti, is set to return to hip hop next month with the release of "From The Hut To The Projects To The Mansion." The 13-track E.P., featuring all new material produced by DJ Drama, comes out Nov. 10 on Carnival House via Megaforce/Sony Music.

"From the Hut..." features guest spots from other musicians and rappers, including Eve, Timbaland, Maino and Cyndi Lauper, among others. The 13-tracks are strung together in a continuous mix with a narrative arc, telling the story of Toussaint St. Jean, a persona suggested to Wyclef by his friend and collaborator T.I. The character of Toussaint is loosely based on an 18th-century Haitian revolutionary hero, Toussaint L'Ouverture.

Read more at Billboard.com

Nas and Kelis reunited recently during fashion week in New York, and if the pictures were any indication, the estranged couple appeared to have reconciled. But according to reports, Kelis is still moving forward with filing for divorce from her husband and the father of her newborn son.

Nas, for his part, has kept relatively quite on the matter, but that might not be the case for much longer. The Queens rapper spoke with MTV UK and said he's "scared" of putting together his next solo project because he's "a little nervous to tell you the truth."

Read more on MTV.com

Gospel Music Channel features the best and brightest in Christian/Gospel Music in addition to uplifting family entertainment. Now, Gospel Music Channel and Integrity Music are giving one rising new talent the chance to shine with the Indie Spotlight Contest. This artist will also receive $5000 in gear from Fender. Are you an inspirational artist who just needs the oppprtunity to share your talent with the world? Then enter today for your cance to step into the spotlight!

Check it out here at Indie.GospelMusicChannel.com

Jay-Z remains in the No. 1 slot on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with his new album "The Blueprint 3" shifting 298,000 copies (down 37%) in its second week. The set bowed atop the list last week with 476,000.

Traditionally, No. 1-debuting albums that start with monster sales weeks have a steeper second-week decline. Jay-Z's drop, however, was fairly soft, in part because last week was the album's first proper week of availability. Though "The Blueprint 3" had its Sept. 11 release pushed up to Sept. 8, many retailers reportedly didn't have the album until later that week. Jay-Z also performed on the premiere of NBC's "Jay Leno Show," and the residual buzz from his MTV Video Music Awards performance likely bled into sales.

Read more at Billboard.com

Kanye West's interruption of Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video during the Video Music Awards on Sunday night has certainly had a lot of people talking this week — and 50 Cent weighed in during an interview with MuchMusic.

"That was interesting," said 50, who has crashed some awards-show stages himself in the past. "When you're nominated for the first time ... what you saw from me in 2004 was the Grammys. When I went up, Evanescence won Best New Artist and it was like, I'd sold 12 million records. That's the largest debuting hip-hop album today and I was overlooked and I still don't have a Grammy. It's been 13 nominations. It's because I wrote [about] the harsh realities, [so] I've been overlooked, completely. So when you got an artist there for the first time and you go and you wanna tell them, 'Well, you know, Beyonce is great.' There's nobody that's confused in that actual area. But Taylor Swift is great and is new."

Read more at MTV.com

R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo is suiting up with Ramon Rodriguez, Taylor Handley and Cory Hardrict for "Battle: Los Angeles," a sci-fi war movie.

Jadin Gould, Bryce Cass and Joey King also have joined the cast, which includes Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan and Michael Pena.

Read more at Billboard.com

Rapper Jay-Z held a news conference today (August 31) to formally announce the "Answer The Call" charity concert that will take place at Madison Square Garden on September 11to raise money New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.

"This all came about September 10th, 2001. I was in Los Angeles shooting a video. The album was to come out the next day. On that day, I got a phone call and a friend of mine said, 'turn the TV on.' I turned the TV on and I saw the World Trade Center on fire," Jay-Z said.

Read more at Billboard.com

 The PacSun - PacTour Battle of the Bands has kicked off!

Here are the details:
 
Enter your band for the chance to perform LIVE at PACTOUR 2009 with SAOSIN, POS, INNERPARTYSYSTEM and EYEALASKA! 

35 bands will get a piece of that amazing cake.  One lucky son-of-a-band will take the whole thing and snag an opportunity to play LIVE on Fuel TV.  You can stuff your face with that kind of grand prize!

And Fans there is something for you too. Music without fans is like a tree falling in the forest yada yada, something something, so when you, the fan, vote for your favorite battling band, we’ll take a tally.  VOTE THE MOST and a $500 PacSun gift card is yours!

Bands -make sure you upload a performance video and fill out your profile information for a chance to compete. Once you have completed your profile, spread the word. Tell all your friends and fans to vote for you and to vote often. The best way to be seen and heard by the industry is to prove the fans love you. Every day counts so don't waste any time! Click HERE to get started.

Following a sold-out summer tour, Maxwell will hit the road again this fall in support of his hit comeback album, "BLACKsummers'night." The Live Nation-produced trek, which upgrades from theaters to larger-capacity arenas, begins at Toronto's Air Canada Centre Sept. 25 and continues through Oct. 26 in San Francisco. Additional dates are expected to be announced soon.

Common and Chrisette Michele will support the fall dates for Maxwell, whose summer tour featured Michele and Irish R&B singer Laura Izibor as the openers. Tickets go on sale Aug. 14 at livenation.com.

Read more at Billboard.com

Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has broken his shoulder after falling off the stage during a concert on the veteran rock band's ill-starred summer tour, an insider said on Thursday.

Tyler, 61, also received stitches in his head and back following Wednesday's mishap in South Dakota, according to a Twitter message sent by Billie Perry, the wife of Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry.

Read more at Billboard.com

The Samsung at&t Summer Krush tour is one of the hottest music tours of the summer. The tour's Los Angeles Grand Finale promises to be a concert event like no other — and your band could be the Opening Act! Your band has the chance to perform live at the finale of Samsung at&t Summer Krush to an audience of THOUSANDS live in Hollywood and be broadcast on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

To sign up, Click Here!

The Beastie Boys' Adam "MCA" Yauch has been diagnosed with cancer and will undergo surgery, he announced in a video posting on the group's website this morning. The band has canceled its summer tour plans and delayed the release of its forthcoming album, "Hot Sauce Committee Part 1," in order to allow time for his recovery.

Read more at Billboard.com

"The Seventh Seal," the long-anticipated album by rap legend Rakim, is slated for release in the fall, Billboard has learned exclusively. The project's first single, "Holy Are You," will drop July 28.

The album is being released on Rakim's Ra Records label in a joint venture with Tuscan Villa Entertainment, headed by industry veterans Ron Kyle and Lennie Petze. In turn, Tuscan Villa is entered in a joint venture pact with SMC Recordings whose principals are Ralph Tashjian and Will Bronson.

Read more at Billboard.com

Nas and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley entered the studio early this year with a plan to do "an EP based on Africa," according to Marley. As previously reported, it's turned into a full length album, "Distant Relatives," which the duo has been previewing during their headlining run on this year's Rock The Bells tour though no release date or label has been determined yet.

"Once we started working on the music," Marley tells Billboard.com, "it was Nas who said to me, 'Yo, we should just make this a full album.' He really liked the energy, I guess."

Read more at Billboard.com.

As previously reported, Jay-Z has inked a distribution deal with Sony for his Roc Nation label, the Brooklyn-born rapper confirmed to Billboard last week.

"Sony is Roc Nation. That's where Roc Nation's going through," Jay-Z told Billboard.com on Friday (June 29).

As for the deal he recently signed with Atlantic, he clarifies that it is a one-off situation for his upcoming album, "Blueprint 3," slated for a September 11th release.

Read more at Billboard.com.

Music publisher EverGreen, which owns the catalogs of 2 Live Crew, Third Eye Blind, MC Hammer, Tupac Shakur and others, has signed a deal with WIDEawake, the Canada-based development company that acquired the assets of Death Row Records earlier this year, to be the worldwide administrative company of the legendary rap label. As part of a long-term arrangement, EverGreen will administer and handle licensing for all of the compositions and master recordings in the Death Row catalog, as well as the processing of all mechanical and performance royalties in the catalog.

Rad more at Billboard.com.

Beyonce will perform at the Black Entertainment TV Awards.

Show organizers say the pop star will attend the ceremony, as will her husband, Jay-Z.

The two join a performance lineup that includes Kanye West, Maxwell, Young Jeezy, Ne-Yo and Soulja Boy.

Read more at Billboard.com.

We can thank Wendy's "Frosty Posse" for Jay-Z's "D.O.A." (a.k.a. "Death of Auto-Tune") song. Well, maybe they're not 100 percent responsible, but the Jiggaman said that hearing the use of Auto-Tune in a commercial for the fast-food chain is one of the things that inspired him to bring forth the song.

"I just think in hip-hop, when a trend becomes a gimmick, it's time to move on," Jay said in an interview with Chicago radio station WGCI on Tuesday. "I saw a Wendy's commercial and they're using Auto-Tune. They're joking on it. It's like, OK, enough of that ... It was a trend, it was cool in the beginning. Some people made great music with it, now it's time to move on."

Read more at MTV.com.

An Arizona judge on Monday sentenced rapper DMX to probation for allegedly throwing a food tray at a detention officer inside a Phoenix jail.

The rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, will spend 18 months on supervised probation for the jailhouse altercation under the ruling by Judge Robert Gottsfield in Maricopa County Superior Court. He also must attend counseling.

Read more at Billboard.com.

It may just be a few seconds of music, but Dr. Dre fans will remember the new Dr Pepper ad as the spot where they heard the first officially released beats from the much-delayed "Detox." The L.A.-based hip-hop producer appears in the latest installment of an ad campaign entitled "Trust Me, I'm A Doctor," and teases a song titled "Shit Popped Off," referenced by T.I., from the long-awaited album, currently slated for a late 2009 release on Aftermath/Interscope. The commercial will begin airing on Monday, June 1.

Read more at Billboard.com.

"Where amazing happens" doesn't just take place on the NBA courts — it also happens in Kanye West's studio. The Grammy winner says Jay-Z's long-percolating Blueprint 3 will be well worth the long wait the MC's fans have been enduring.

Read more at MTV.com.

When the smoke cleared, Monet Monico emerged victorious in the Spring 2009 FameCast Finals! She is the proud new owner of $20,000 cash and the title of FameCast Fenom.

Check out her winning video "Wait For Me" and a special thank you video on her Backstage.

On the eve of reporting to prison, T.I. (born Clifford Harris Jr.) bid farewell to his hometown fans on Sunday night at the Philips Arena in Atlanta.

The rapper is set to turn himself in at noon on Tuesday (May 26) to begin serving his sentence for a year and a day at the minimum security Forrest City federal prison in Arkansas, after pleading guilty to federal weapons charges for trying to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers from undercover federal agents in 2007.

Read more at MTV.com.

Alchemist has reached the top. He's backing Eminem as Slim Shady's DJ during the Detroit legend's recent promo run.

"We did a bunch of shows in Europe. It was incredible, amazing," Alchemist told MTV News earlier this week as he was pulling up to "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," where Eminem was performing.

"Crazy dope," Al, also an acclaimed producer, gushed of Em's run on the road. "Rolling with Em is the best. Another level. All the years being with Mobb [Alchemist was Mobb Deep's former show DJ], then being with Em, seeing the next level of what it is, it reminds me of when Mobb was on the road with 50.

Read more at MTV.com.

It was short and sweet but decidedly victorious as Eminem brought his "Relapse" back home with a special free concert in Detroit.

Marking the release of his first new studio album in five years, the rapper blitzed through eight songs in 35 minutes at the Sound Board theater in the  MotorCity Hotel Casino, delivering seven tracks from "Relapse" (including the singles "We Made You" and "Crack a Bottle" and a medley of "Hello" and "Insane") and an encore of his 2002 hit "Lose Yourself" for which he brought the other members of his group, D12 on stage.

Read more at Billboard.com.

A lot of different emotions come across in the video footage from Maino's concert on Saturday in Long Island, New York: Pain, strength, depression ... It's Maino the man, onstage at his most human. While performing his current single "All of the Above," the Brooklyn MC gets overcome with emotion and tells the crowd of the turmoil he's facing outside of music: His best friend, "80" — whose real name he declined to reveal — was recently shot in the back by police and is paralyzed. He might never walk again.

Read more at MTV.com.

Rick Ross says he had to stretch the truth to get his record label on board to have staff and a film crew travel to Medellin, Colombia — a place with a violent history — recently to shoot his video for "All I Really Want."

"To be honest, everybody thought about their safety," Ross said of Def Jam and others' initial reaction to his idea of having Gil Green shoot the video in the hometown of the late, notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar.

See more at MTV.com.

OK, now the lane is clear for 50 Cent to do his thing.

Fif has delayed his Before I Self Destruct LP a few times over the past year, but now, with Eminem's Relapse project in the can, G-Unit's human epicenter has been able to get more of Dr. Dre's attention and beats.

See more at MTV.com.

De La Soul are releasing their first new music in five years on April 28 as part of the NIKE+ campaign. The 45 minute long track, which will be released in partnership with Apple, was written specifically for runners, but can be enjoyed by active and sedentary music fans alike.

Read more at Billboard.com.

With all the hoopla surrounding the release of Eminem's first solo album since 2004, it seems like everyone is forgetting about Slim Shady.

Well, Em's evil rhyme persona blasts his way back on the Detroit lyricist's "3 A.M.," a track from the upcoming Relapse that leaked online Thursday night (April 23).

Read more at MTV.com.

CONDITIONS out of Richmond, Virginia, won the 2009 Ernie Ball Rockstar Taste of Chaos Battle of the Bands Grand Prize!

The band has earned a weeks worth of dates on the Ernie Ball Stage on this Summer's warped tour along with a custom Hurley apparel pacakge, and a years supply of Rockstar Energy Drink.

Check out more about the band on their profile.

Rick Ross is high on life. The reviews of his Deeper Than Rap album are in, they're positive, and the Miami slang sultan is all smiles. While in his hometown yesterday, he elaborated on a comment he made to DJ Envy last week in New York during an interview on Envy's satellite radio show. Ross said he was done with 50 Cent and may turn his focus to Eminem.

SEe more at MTV.com.

How has Biggie inspired you?  Submit your video, audio, graphic or written tribute to hip hop legend Biggie Smalls at www.notorioustribute.com and compete for a chance to Live B-I-G in N-Y-C.  One winner will receive an all expense paid trip to New York City.  Fans can also enter to win a copy of Notorious, out now on DVD.  For more information check out www.notorioustribute.com.

Queensbridge rapper Nas and reggae artist/producer Damian “Jr Gong” Marley announced yesterday (April 8) they are in the studio prepping their collaborative effort, “Distant Relatives,” slated for a late June release.  The two first join forces on a track titled “Road To Zion” on Marley’s 2005 “Welcome to Jamrock.”

Read more at Billboard.com.

Atlanta may just be the hottest city in hip-hop right now. T.I., Young Jeezy and Ludacris all stand on top as kings of the game right now. Love him or hate him, ATL transplant Soulja Boy has already tapped into the young-listener market like no other, and his "Turn My Swag On" is probably the biggest rap record in the clubs right now. The veteran Gucci Mane is now out of jail and has the streets screaming for him. Read more at MTV.com.

Big Boi is bouncing on the sidewalk. He is pumped.

The 34-year-old Atlanta rapper and half of the duo OutKast, has for the first time come to South by Southwest, the annual music conference and festival. In an interview on a downtown Austin street, he basks in the sun, enjoys a smoke and occasionally stops traffic as fans jump out of their cars for handshake or a cell phone photo.

Keep reading at Billboard.com.

Does Rick Ross have dimples under his signature woolly beard? The Boss has been smiling ear to ear for about a year now. Last year around this time, he released his second consecutive #1 LP, Trilla, notifying the rap world that it was no fluke he received accolades on his first go-round, Port of Miami.

Read more at MTV.com.

DJ Infamous, congratulations. You are officially big-time. Last night, the jock had a coronation of sorts. The party at ATL hot spot the Velvet Room — Hotlanta's place to be on Sunday nights — was billed as DJ Infamous' fourth-anniversary party to celebrate his stint on radio station V-103. Instead, it felt like a declaration to his city that he really is a big deal.

Young Jeezy, Fonzworth Bentley, Fat Joe, Diamond D, DJ Khaled, DJ Drama, DJ Don Cannon, Jim Jones, Rich Boy, porn star Mr. Marcus, producer Ron Browz, singer Trey Songz and Playaz Circle were among those who attended. And Inf got most of his star-studded guest lineup to perform. Read more at MTV.com.

Chris Brown has lost endorsement deals and some radio play due to the scandal surrounding his alleged altercation with girlfriend Rihanna on the eve of last month's Grammys. But according to Flo Rida, despite some reports, the publicity surrounding the alleged domestic dispute is not the reason he dropped a Brown collabo from his upcoming album, R.O.O.T.S.

Read more at MTV.com.

 Congrats to Young Fame! He fought hard and ended up on top of the February Hip Hop Finals. Look for him again this May when he takes on 17 other finalists for a shot at $20,000.

Check out his winning video "Morgan State Home Coming" and more on his BackStage.

FameCast Rock Artists, The Midway State, are up for 2 Juno Awards (Candian Music Awards). They are nominated for Pop Album of the Year for their latest album, "Holes". And singer Nathan Ferraro, is nominated for Songwriter of the Year for his work on such tracks as "Never Again", "Change For You", and "Unaware".

Check out the tracks for "Unaware" and "Change For You" and the video for "Never Again" on their BackStage.

Apparently Interscope Records' three-headed monster has changed the order of its lineup again. While promoting his video game "Blood in the Sand," 50 Cent told the media his Before I Self Destruct album isn't coming out before Eminem's Relapse.

Read more at MTV.com.

R&B singer T-Pain has canceled a concert in the South American nation of Guyana after receiving what a promoter calls "credible death and kidnapping threats." Read the rest of the story at Billboard.com.

Congratulations to Kingsfall! The rockers from Dallas won the December Rock Stage, and came back this month to take on some stiff competition in the Winter Finals. It was a close one, but they came out on top with the title of Winter 2009 FameCast Fenom and $20,000!

Check out Kingsfalls's winning video, great audios, and tour dates on their profile page.

Two big moves on the Billboard Hot 100 give Atlantic Records ownership of the top two positions. As reported yesterday, a 58-1 rush puts "Right Round" by Flo Rida on top, while a 9-2 jump pushes "Dead and Gone" by T.I. featuring Justin Timberlake into second place. Read more at Billboard.com.

Another Jay-Z song leaked online last month — that's OK, just make some more. Kanye West says he's just a handful of records away from finishing Jay's The Blueprint 3, again."I finished his album and he released four songs that were potentially gonna be on the album," West said last week on Sway and King Tech's "Wake Up Show." See more at MTV.com.

Make Rock History winners The Last Vegas are officially on the road with Mötley Crüe. Make sure to check out their Tour Blog, Video updates, and everything else you need to know about The Last Vegas on their profile. You can get tour dates from MakeRockHistory.com. Make sure to catch the show when they swing through your town!

Prosecutors say they don't expect charges will be filed against singer Chris Brown this week in an alleged domestic violence case.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office requested that police provide more information about an incident in which Brown reportedly hurt his longtime girlfriend, fellow singer Rihanna. Read the rest at Billboard.com.

The rap triumvirate of Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent will soar 78-1 on The Billboard Hot 100 to be posted tomorrow morning (Feb. 12) with "Crack a Bottle,” which sets a Nielsen SoundScan record for opening week download sales (418,000). Read more at Billboard.com.

Check out who made the Winter Finals Top 10! Don't forget to vote daily. YOU decide who makes the Top 5 to compete for $20,000!

Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne and Al Green packed in the majority of R&B and Hip Hop Grammy Awards during the coveted awards' pre-telecast Sunday.

In an unprecedented move, the Grammy Awards gave out 100 of its 110 awards during a pre-telecast Sunday, including 7 of 8 R&B/Soul Awards and 4 of 5 Rap/Hip Hop Awards. See more at SingersRoom.com.

FameCast Fenom Suzanna Choffel (Pop, Dec. 2007) has achieved a huge coup in the highly competitive Austin music scene - a cover story and four-page feature in this week's Austin Chronicle.  Writer Margaret Moser points to Suzanna's leadership of the "now generation of Austin songwriters," citing her FameCast win as an example of her successful DIY tactics.  This is a great trend story and learning opportunity for all FameCast artists. Check it out here!

The Last Vegas's Guitar Center On-Stage victory has already taken them on a wild ride, and they haven't even hit the road with Mötley Crüe yet!  Twelve hours after the Crüe announced this Chicago band as the contest winner, they were in the studio recording their first single for Eleven Seven Music.  See MakeRockHistory.com to hear their stories. The single, "I'm Bad," just debuted on AOL Music and iTunes.  Check it out here, read the official press release below, and stay tuned for new about the Last Vegas's video blog for Mötley Crüe's upcoming Saints of Los Angeles tour.  You can buy tickets at Motley.com.

Congratulations to Cinder Road, the Fall FameCast Fenom and winner of $20,000!  This cash prize is a fitting reward for the unstoppable Baltimore rockers, since they beat more than 20,000 independent artists across all stages to claim the top spot. Cinder Road's fall victory comes on the heels of an incredible summer touring with KISS in Europe and with the Vans Warped Tour in the U.S.  The band says they are putting their well-deserved earnings toward fuel and touring costs as they earn even more loyal fans worldwide. When asked how other bands can emulate their success, the members said, "promote, promote, promote."  Cinder Road provides a textbook example of how bands can build their fan base in today's industry - just visit them Backstage to see them in action.  

Enter Ernie Ball Presents Play Mayercraft 2 for your chance to rock the open seas to Cabo San Lucas!  As a FameCast artist, your profile can be automatically transferred to compete for this amazing opportunity.  Just head to the Play Mayercraft site and select "Artists Enter Here."  Upload the MP3 of your choice, and then get out the vote from now until Jan. 30, 2009.  The top 200 vote earners willl be reviewed by a judging panel, and the winner gets an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles, where they'll board the Mayercraft Carrier 2 to play on the bill with John Mayer, O.A.R. and Guster during a four-day, four-night musical cruise to Cabo San Lucas.  The prize package also includes an Ernie Ball Music Man endorsement, a year's supply of Rockstar Energy Drink, a $500 Guitar Center gift card and a Hurley wardrobe.

Fans lined up around the Whisky A-Go-Go in Hollywood last night for a chance to see Rock History in the making, and the Guitar Center On-Stage finalists did not disappoint!  The Spittin’ Cobras, Lorene Drive, The Dirty Pearls, Waterstreet, The Last Vegas and The Heroine each tore up the stage in front of a capacity crowd  and all four members of Mötley Crüe.  In the end, there could only be one winner, and Vince Neil announced to the crowd that the Crüe had chosen The Last Vegas to Make Rock History!

The Last Vegas are now the winners of The Greatest Prize in Rock: the opening slot on Motley Crue's 2009 "Saints Of Los Angeles" U.S. tour, $25,000 cash, $20,000 in exclusive new gear from Gibson Guitars, management from Tenth Street Entertainment and a recording deal from Eleven Seven Music.

FameCast is proud to have powered this life-changing campaign!  Check out photos and videos of the event here.

The November Top 25 Country artists have been announced.  Remember to show your favorites the love with a daily vote, and check back Saturday, Nov. 15 at midnight EDT to see who made the Top 10. And speaking of Top 10, Mikey J is still in the running toward the $20,000 grand prize in the FameCast Finals.  Check him out and vote for your top pick here today!

Congratulations to Mikey J, winner of FameCast's October Hip Hop competition.  This rising Michigan rhymer will battle the August, September and October winners from ALL stages in the Fall FameCast Finals, which start on Nov. 1.  Will he win the $20,000 prize to help fund his first studio album?  Stay tuned!

The Fall FameCast Finals start Saturday, Nov. 1.  Eighteen artists (monthly stage winners from August, September and October) will battle it out for our biggest prize ever - $20,000 and the title of FameCast Fenom.

Here's the official schedule.  Also, remember that a new monthly contest also begins Nov. 1 (November, December and January winners will compete in February for the Winter FameCast Finals).  Support your favorite artists in all contest with your daily vote.  Good luck to all!

Nov. 1-7: Open Voting for Top 10

Nov. 8-14: Top 10 Round – Voting for Top 5

Nov. 15-21: Top 5 Round – Voting for Fenom

Nov. 22: Fenom announced

Dec. 1: December monthly contest begins

For the first time in his nearly three-decade career, comedy maestro "Weird Al" Yankovic is releasing his parody of a current No. 1 single -- evidently just days after he thought of it.  More at Billboard.com.

His latest album, "Tha Carter III," has only been out since May, but Lil Wayne is already recording its follow-up. According to his blog on ESPN.com, the rapper is in the studio working on "Tha Carter IV" as well as a new mixtape.  More at Billboard.com.

Maybe Kanye West wasn't joking about his plans to release his fourth album by the end of the year after all. Stereogum is reporting that 808's & Heartbreak will hit stores Dec. 16, just in time for Christmas. West has not confirmed the news, as of yet. Read more at Paste.com.

As momentum builds for the Oct. 6 airing of VH1's Hip Hop Honors, the network has announced the tentative roster of this year's performers.  Read more at HipHopDX.com.

For 15 volumes, Dusty Fingers has become a franchise associated with exposing classic breakbeat records in Funk, Soul and Rock genres to rare groove enthusiasts and Hip Hop producers. Read more at HipHopDX.com.

After the tremendous success of Kanye West's Graduation, fans have been patiently waiting the arrival of his next brainchild. Well wait no more. Multiple blogs, including Nahright  and respected DJ Semtex's official blog have begun reporting that Ye's next venture will be out before year's end. Read more at www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.7642/title.kanye-west-to-release-4th-album-in-december

Congratulations to Jendor, FameCast's August Rock Winner!  Jendor's rhymes are flowing toward all kinds of wins these days.  He just won mtvU's "The Freshman" contest, and now he'll be in the November issue of SPIN.   Look for this Bay Area MC back on stage at FameCast.com for the November Finals.  He'll battle the September and October Hip Hop winners, along with 15 monthly winners from other FameCast stages, for $20,000 and the title of FameCast Fenom.

Many props to our other outstanding August Top 5 Hip Hop competitors - BugsyLane, The Producer, FlossGenius and The WDB.  Keep those beats comin', y'all!

After a reported $24 million sale in late June, and old employees willing to submit new work, it seems that Global Music Group is no longer the new owner of Death Row Records.  More at HipHopDX.com.

Over the weekend The Cool Kids became the first Hip Hop act signed to the Mountain Dew backed Green Label Sound imprint.  More at HipHopDX.com.

From HipHopDX.com:

As both Big Boi and Cee-Lo have told HipHopDX in recent months, Goodie Mob is reuniting after years of the group disbanding and recording in factions.

Last evening, August 19th, all four original members joined together for an on-stage performance at The Tabernacle, in a concert gathering for Nelly. The group performed classic singles "Black Ice" and "They Don't Dance No' Mo'," before a packed and overwhelmed crowd.

Read more here.

From HipHopDX.com:

After Michael Phelps revealed last week that Lil Wayne's "I'm Me" from The Leak EP before reaching, literally, for gold medals, NBC's Today Show did a profile "iPod Investigation" with a number of olympians this morning.

Phelps further revealed that he might be the highest profile Def Jam supporter, revealing that Young Jeezy and Jay-Z join Lil Wayne among his favorite artists.

Jamaican track star Dwight Thomas added that since hearing of Phelps' success, he has begun listening to "I'm Me" as well.

Mary Wineberg, the United States' 400 Meter specialist stated that she's an avid Beyonce fan, citing B'Day album as the soundtrack to her one hour warm-up.

Other athletes cited Garth Brooks and Shania Twain in their iPods.

From Vibe.com:

Like the passing of James Brown, Curtis Mayfield or Ray Charles, it is hard to fully grasp the enormity of what has been lost with this weekend's death of Isaac Hayes. The baritone giant will forever be linked with Shaft, for better or for worse, but as critically and commercially important that was in Hayes' long career, it is just one tiny fragment of his overall contributions to R&B and soul music. Hayes was much more than a singer; he was a composer, a writer, an arranger and producer, as multi-talented as any R&B figure, including contemporaries such as Stevie Wonder or Smokey Robinson.

Read more here.

From HipHopDX.com:

With music channels such as BET and MTV showing more reality shows and less music videos, Def Jam is thinking about taking its artists to the movies. The label experimented with the concept in July by placing Rihanna's single "Disturbia" in theaters as a preview to promote her album Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded. Now Jeff Straughn, Def Jam's VP of strategic marketing, has ideas of getting artists like Rick Ross and Young Jeezy on the big screen too.

Read here for more

We're down to the Top 25 artists for August's competition. 

Who will make the Top 10?  Check out the lineup and cast your vote today. 

Can't choose a favorite yet?  That's O.K.  Throw your support behind a couple of contestants if you'd like - but remember, you can only vote for each artist once per day. 

We'll reveal who you sent to the Top 10 on August 14.  Until then...happy viewing, all!

From HipHopDX.com:

It's a slow time in Hip Hop with minimal movement on the charts week. Lil Wayne remains in the #5 spot with a total of 2,075,960 units sold. Congrats to Wayne for achieving double platinum status in only 8 weeks! Tha Carter 3 was beat out by Sugarland, Miley Cyrus, the Mama Mia soundtrack, and Kid Rock, respectively. Nas' Untitled album drops two spots to #10 with 41,000 copies sold this week. Rihanna's still riding the waves of success with her re-release of Good Girl Gone Bad landing the #12 spot with sales now totaling over 1.5 million. Usher's Here I Stand grabs the #24 spot with 18,200 copies sold this week. Rounding out the top 5 for Hip Hop and R&B is Plies at #29. Definition of Real sold 15,600 copies this week.

Read more here.

Take a look around at the new FameCast, home of career-making music contests that reward artists who have the two things needed in today's music industry: talent and business savvy (aka "hustle"). 

We'll be rolling out our brand new monthly contests and $20,000 FameCast Finals starting on Aug. 1.  In the meantime, you can read how the new contests work, see the sweet new prize lineup, check out the artists already competing in August, find out what a Buzz Factor is, and upload your own video so that you don't miss out on all the action starting in August!

From Gorilla vs Bear:

Finally saw The Wackness this weekend, and while it was only a slightly above average film with a couple of really solid performances -- namely, Olivia Thirlby and Josh Peck -- it was definitely elevated by the classic hip-hop soundtrack, and it ultimately ended up resonating with me because of the basic premise and era (seventeen-year-old kid comes of age in the summer of '94, says "dope" a lot). Anyway, here's the official movie soundtrack mixtape, featuring the likes of Nas, Biggie, Tribe, Wu-Tang, and more, mixed by the great D-Nice. Recommended for anyone that grew up on early to mid-'90s East Coast hip-hop:

Full post and track listing at Gorilla vs Bear.

The world definitely seems to belong to Nasty Nas lately thanks to the hype, controversy and critical praise of his ninth LP Untitled.

According to Billboard.com, the Queensbridge MC is looking to debut #1 on the Billboard charts this week and has sold approximately 113,000 units as of Friday (July 18) - better than the majority of first week sales in hip hop this year. It is looking to have sales about 200,000 copies this week.

Nas' last number one album was the December 2006 release Hip-Hop Is Dead, which sold 354,000 copies during Christmas week.

T.I. is back with a highly anticipated new LP, Paper Trail. With the new LP dropping in early September, T.I. recently spoke on what people can expect from the album and how intense the making of the LP was. After going through his fair share of tribulations and run ins with the law, T.I. sat down to make what he calls "me at my best."

“I just want everyone to know that it’s coming out and that I’m going to answer a lot of questions in the music," he said via press release. "It’s intense and insightful; it’s gonna shake up the game and it’s me at my best.”

“No Matter What,” is already out and has garnered some buzz and acclaim for its personal nature. That track is seen as a "street record" and even though it has a video to go along with it, is not considered to be this album's first official single. For that, T.I. turned to "Whatever You Like." Swizz Beatz, DJ Toomp and Drumma Boy all add to the instrumentation of the album.

That's not all. Fans may recall T.I. had a promising acting career before he was arrested. He starred alongside Denzel Washington in the critically acclaimed and commercially successful American Gangster and has acted as a star in other films such as ATL. Now, he will be in a new film, titled Bone Deep.

According to the Internet Movie Database, Bone Deep is a film about bank robbers scheduled to be out in 2009 that already features Matt Dillon and Chris Brown. Aside from this role, expect to see T.I. hit the silver screen as he will have a cameo appearance on Entourage and he will have his very own MTV reality show that is said to be "inspirational" according to his release. It will be focusing on his life on parole.

T.I.'s Paper Trail is scheduled to drop September 9.

From HipHopDX.com

After chart-topping success from the Static Major-assisted "Lollipop" in spring, the subsequent Kanye West-spotted remix in summer and "A Millie" in between, Lil Wayne has confirmed his next single. The Deezle-produced "Mrs. Officer" will hit airwaves this week from the platinum-selling Carter III album.

“Working on this album was a great experience. The chemistry that I have with Wayne is incredible,” said Deezle. “It’s creative, exciting and fast moving. I can throw an idea to him and get it thrown back to me not only as a great concept, but as a finished idea. This happens in just minutes. I thank him for believing in me.”

The song features former Disturbing Tha Peace crooner Bobby Valentino. Although billed as the third single from Tha Carter III, it is to be noted that both "3Peat," "Got Money" and "Mr. Carter" have surfaced on the charts with significant rotations.

From HipHopDX.com

Kim Osorio was the Editor-In-Chief of The Source magazine during what can be considered the most controversial era in the magazine’s history. During her five year tenure at the magazine (2 ½ as Editor-In-Chief) from 2000-2005, Osorio was caught in the midst of the Mays/Benzino era. Since leaving her post in 2005, Osorio went on to file a lawsuit against the magazine alleging sexual harassment, gender discrimination, defamation, retalitory discharge, and maintaining a hostile work environment. After the eight day trial, Osorio was awarded a $7.5 million judgment.

That era will forever be known as the one that nearly buried the magazine in its entirety. There has been much that has been said about those trying times from many different sources, but nobody knows better than Osorio herself.

On September 9th, Osorio will release her book entitled Straight from the Source: An Expose from the Former Editor in Chief of the Hip-Hop Bible. The book will document the highly questionable era from Osorio’s never heard from before perspective.

“People see women writing memoirs and immediately criticize them for wanting to tell their story. I am a writer, first, so telling stories has always been my life,” Osorio explained to HipHopDX.com. “I just decided, after everything I had gone through, that it was time to tell my own, especially since others have tried to tell it for me. I figured if people were going to speculate, then I may as well get it out there, and tell it the way it should be told."

The book is sure to blow the doors off of everything that happened behind the scenes at The Source and shed some light on what Osorio dealt with during her five years at the magazine.

How about $20,000 and your band featured in SPIN to fuel those big dreams of yours?

Announcing FameCast’s new MONTHLY MUSIC CONTESTS and $20,000 FINALS!  Arriving in August, these contests will reward artists with talent and business know-how across six new music stages & communities: Rock, Country, Hip Hop, Pop, Latino and Christian.

CLICK HERE to get more details and to find out how you can get in on the action!

Congrats to Justin Ancheta, winner of two 3-day passes to the 2008 Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, Aug. 1-3!  To view Justin's winning video, click here.  Justin, we hope you have a blast seeing your favs Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, NIN and FameCast’s own Sofia Talvik!

Congrats to all of the winners in June!  See below for who took home prizes.

• May weekly video winners featured in SPIN:  THE ALLIANCE, Feeding 5000, Ginger Leigh, Kayla Rummell, Gina Chavez, Liz Menezes, BioZero, CYSSERO, Honore', Ghanzarya, Mad Mark Wirtz, JENDOR
• May weekly audio winners featured on FC playlist:  Jinou, Gadget White, Ryan Pugal, Kayla Rummell, Chris Vaughn 1, Gina Chavez, Danilo Taddei, Iz-Ra-El ; GodZ Prince, logic & freshcity, J. Cabrera, Soundscape Soul, Lily Vasquez, Dodging Cathrine, Dalton
• $1,000 – Awarded to Rock artist Feeding 5000, who received the most votes across all video stages for their video, "This Song"
• $500 – Awarded to Electronic artist Danilo Taddei, who received the most votes across all audio stages for his song, "Dark Scarlet Cloud (A Strange Kind Of)"
• $50 Ticketmaster gift card – Awarded to Barry Morgan, Sonja, DJ C Roc and Honeybunchkins for being the "Best Raters" of the month
• $50 iTunes gift card – Awarded to Azlee56 and Ina Sams for being the top two "Most Active Fans" of the month

For more info on their winnings, see the Prizes and Winners pages.

You knew them way back when....and now they're in SPIN!  Grab your copy of the July 2008 issue of SPIN magazine and flip to page 18 to see the May FameCast winners in all their rock star glory.  You can also flip through a digital version of the magazine here. 

Just think... when Coldplay fans around the world (and you know how many that is) read the Editor's Letter about the band, they won't be able to help but notice the faces of these emerging FameCast artists!

Look Inside >>  July 2008

After topping the FameCast Hip Hop weekly contests for 10 consecutive weeks for his video "Pave the Way," JENDOR's genius has now been noticed by MTV.  The "Pave the Way" video is airing all this week on MTV2 Sucker Free and is a Freshman 5 contender on mtvU....and it sounds like he's already pegged as a favorite of the bunch.  We agree!  See for yourself here.  Get more info on JENDOR here.

We're giving away two 3-day passes to the 2008 Lollapalooza festival to one lucky FameCast fan or artist.  This is your chance to be front and center for headliners Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, NIN and FameCast’s own Sofia Talvik. 

All you have to do is create a video less than 3 minutes long telling us why you want to go to Lollapalooza.  It doesn't have to be professionally done – creativity is what counts here.  Submissions are due by July 4th.  The winner will be chosen July 11th and the festival will be held Aug. 1-3 in Chicago (please note airfare and accommodations are not included). 

**To submit:  Simply upload your video to your BackStage profile and title it,"Send Me to Lollapalooza".  Fans, to upload a video you will need to upgrade your account for free here.  

GOOD LUCK!

Congrats to the monthly big winners in May!  See below for who took home prizes.

• $1,000 – Awarded to Rock artist Feeding 5000, who received the most votes across all video stages for their video, "This Song"
• $500 – Awarded to Country artist Kayla Rummell, who received the most votes across all audio stages for her song, "So Am I"
• $50 Ticketmaster gift cards – Awarded to Don L, Aaron Johnson, Les Paul, Christian Phoenix and Azlee56 for creating the favorite playlists of the month

For more info on their winnings, see the Prizes & Opps page.

Chosen by the FameCast community, the May video winners were featured on FameCast TV and will be featured in the July issue of SPIN magazine. Audio winners receive a free FameCast Premium subscription to sell their music online and were featured on the official FameCast Playlist.

May weekly winners: Feeding 5000, THE ALLIANCE, Jinou, Dodging Cathrine, Dalton, Matt Wagemann, Ginger Leigh, Kayla Rummell, Soundscape Soul, Gina Chavez, Lily Vasquez, Liz Menezes, BioZero, logic & freshcity, JENDOR, Comai83, Honore', J. Cabrera, Ghanzarya, Mad Mark Wirtz, Andrew Martinez, Rustie Blue, Hollywood Classic and Brother Lew.

Want in on the action? We're giving away these & more prizes again in June. Click here for how YOU can be a weekly winner.

See the April FameCast winners in the May 31st issue of Billboard magazine, out now! Be sure to grab your copy and check out the back cover. Go here to order your copy online. Congrats to all of the artists!

Congrats to our first bunch of monthly big winners!

$1,000 – Kayla Rummell
$500 – Rustie Blue
Universal A&R review – Matt Wagemann and Heliphino
$50 iTunes gift card – Azlee56, Ina Sams, Debilyn, Groupies one&two and Lala T Da

For more info on their winnings, see the Prizes & Opps page.

The Austin City Limits lineup came out today and playing alongside the Foo Fighters, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Beck, Manu Chao, John Fogerty, David Byrne and more will be FameCast artist Autamata! The Irish electroacoustic band was hand-picked from the FameCast site by ACL organizers to play the Sept. 26-28 festival in Austin, TX. For more on Autamata, go here. For more on how to see them and the rest of the killer lineup at the Austin City Limits Festival festival, go here.

The Lollapalooza lineup came out today and the FameCast artist that made the bill opening up for Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West and Wilco is Sofia Talvik! Sofia will be coming all the way from Stockholm, Sweden to play this prestigious concert event in Chicago this summer, and we are really excited to hook her up with such a tremendous opportunity. For more on Sofia, go here. For more on how to see her and the rest of the killer lineup at the Lollapalooza festival, go here.