Jay will headline and curate Budweiser Made in America music festival over Labor Day weekend.

By Rob Markman (@RobMarkman) MTV.com…

via rapindustry.com

CENTRIC, BET Network's signature channel kicks off auditions for its new original series APOLLO LIVE. Inspired by the Apollo's legendary Amateur Night and hosted by comedian/actor Tony Rock, the show will include new, exciting elements such as a judging panel featuring R&B…

Team Hope founder and NJ State Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly has joined with Lenny "The Barber" Hansen, Carefree Nation and MMG Boss Rick Ross to produce a concert taking place on May 11, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. This monumental event will also serve as a campaign rally designed to bring more…

Baton Rouge rapper dodges a life sentence in 2009 murder case.

By Nadeska Alexis (@neweryork) MTV.com…

Former Bad Boy rapper G. Dep was sentenced this morning to 15 years prison for a two-decade old fatal gunpoint mugging -- a cold-case murder that was only solved when he walked into a Harlem precinct two years ago, turning himself in so he could square himself, he has explained, with God.

"The circumstance…

via rapindustry.com

Founders Entertainment is thrilled to announce the addition of Kid Cudi to the 2012 lineup of the Governors Ball Music Festival. Kid Cudi will perform a special late-night closing set on the Saturday date of the festival, immediately following Passion Pit's headline set. This will…

Meek Mill has inked a management deal with Roc Nation. In an interview with Life+Times, the young Philly rapper revealed the situation.

“Yeah, that’s the new deal I put together,” Meek told LifeandTimes about Roc Nation helping to steer his career. “Me coming up in this rap game, I was always an…

Mike Scala, a NY Emcee is running for Congress in New York's 5th Congressional district which covers most of Southeast Queens including Jamaica, all of the Rockaways and parts of Nassau. This district was the hardest hit by the foreclosure crises in the state of New York. "Our primary date is June 26th. We are going…

'I've got a lot of insight into who he was as a human being and as a man and, dare I say it, scholar,' actor tells MTV News.Kara Warner

By Kara Warner (@karawarner) MTV.com…

Outkast rapper will play legendary ax man, according to an online report.

By Kara Warner (@karawarner) MTV.com…

Back in 2007, Jay-Z, Diddy and 50 Cent released “I Get Money (The Forbes 1-2-3 Billionaire Remix).” The song was a celebration of the artists’ inclusion atop the first-ever Forbes Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, now an annual package on the genre’s top-earning artists. It seems fitting that those same three artists…

Grammy award winning rapper/producer David Banner will appear at The LA Riots: Twenty Years Later Conference taking place on April 27 & 28 at Harvard University. The conference brings together leading scholars, activists and artists to look back at –and forward from- the LA Riots. It will combine a…

On Thursday, May 3rd, A$AP Rocky is scheduled to perform at the House Of Blues in Chicago. Chicago's L.E.P. Bogus Boys had been confirmed to perform alongside A$AP Rocky, but have since found out that the Chicago Police Department has intervened and threatened to shut down the entire show if L.E.P. takes the…

'I think it was a great day for hip-hop. It was a great energy for hip-hop,' Rozay says at MMG press conference.

By Nadeska Alexis (@neweryork) , with reporting by Sway Calloway (@realsway)…

by Steven J. Horowitz - hiphopdx.com

RZA supplies the exhibit with his keyboard used on Wu-Tang Clan's "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" and personal photos.

RZA has announced plans to donate rare memorabilia to the Staten Island Music Exhibit, showing at the Snug Harbor…

Q-Tip called into the Cipha Sounds & Rosenberg Show With K Foxx on New York’s Hot 97, giving details on the new deal with G.O.O.D Music.

“I worked with Kanye since [My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy],” Q-Tip continued. “He was like, ‘Yo, you should work on this.’ I came through, went to Hawaii, then we…

Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 this week, moving 253,000 units. Other notables: Drake's Take Care grabbed the #26 slot, selling 17,000 copies (1,669,000 total). Young Jeezy's TM103: Hustlerz Ambition grabbed #48 selling 9,400 copies (552,000 total). Odd Future's ODD FUTURE Tape, Vol. 2 took #63 selling 7,200 units (59,000 total).…

Clear Channel has announced the return of the popular iHeartRadio Music Festival, the biggest live concert event in radio history -- another two-day, star-studded festival, hosted at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 21 and 22, 2012.

The 2011 inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival featured performances and one-of-a-kind collabs from some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Lady Gaga, Jay-Z, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Steven Tyler, The Black Eyed Peas, Kenny Chesney,…