Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that Lil Wayne is hot hot hot right now. And of course, hot hot hot = crazy lucrative.

Not only has the 2008-2009 Lil Wayne tour earn the title of highest grossing hip-hop tour this year, it is also the highest grossing  rap tour that Billboard has ever tracked.

After a grand total of 78 shows both in arenas and amphitheaters around North America brought in somewhere in the vicinity of 804,000 fans,  the Lil Wayne tour grossed an estimated $42 million. That’s over $7 million more than the second highest grossing hip hop tour ever recorded, which was the 2008 Jay-Z tour with Mary J. Blige. However, that tour consisted of only 28 shows (and a little over 310,000 fans).

Lil Wayne tour producer and business manager Shawn Gee says one of the reasons he feels the tour was so successful is that they concentrated on bringing in a variety of artists to appear on the bill with Lil Wayne. “We wanted to make sure we put together a package and over delivered to the consumer,” he told Billboard.

Although no future touring plans have been made for Wayne just yet, Gee says that they are fully intending to prove that Lil Wayne can be a record breaking force in the arena headlining game once again.

If it weren’t for the unfortunate fact that a 16 year old boy by the name of Steve Thomas was killed, it would otherwise be pretty comical that an artist by the name of “C-Murder” would be convicted of murder in the 2nd degree.

Born Corey Miller, C-Murder (age 38) enjoyed moderate success as a rapper. He was even once engaged to a popular R+B singer by the name of Monica.

However, in 2002 Miller’s life took a turn for the worse after he beat and eventually shot and killed young Steve Thomas outside of a Louisiana nightclub. According to Thomas’ father, his son Steve was a huge fan of the artist that ended up taking his life.

As a result of the 2nd degree murder conviction, Mr. Murder is now facing a sentence of life imprisonment.

Seems like forever ago that we heard rumors that Eminem was dating pop diva Mariah Carey…because it was forever ago. However, for whatever reason, Eminem recently revisited that past and decided to record a supremely controversial diss both towards Mariah and her current husband, Nick Cannon.

This is technically the third time Eminem has attacked Mariah in one of his songs. The first time was a subtle reference in the song “Superman” from “The Eminem Show” (2002). In that song, Eminem was dissing women in general, specifically the gold digging type that he has to deal with as part of being a musician of such celebrity status.

(From “Superman”):

“What you tryin’ to be, my new wife?
What you Mariah? Fly through twice”

On his most recent album, “Relapse”, Eminem dissed Mariah in a more focused and brash style on the track “Bagpipes from Baghdad”, where he rapped in detail about their sordid relationship and Carey’s alleged alcoholism. He also addressed Nick Cannon briefly with the line “Nick Cannon, you prick, I wish you luck with the fuckin’ whore”.

Obviously Carey and hubby Nick where less than pleased with the track. I don’t know if they ever contacted Eminem or made any public statements about the original diss, but for whatever reason, Eminem felt like he had more to say on the issue.

On this new diss, “The Warning”, that has just hit the internet (and is spreading like wildfire as we speak), Eminem opens with a statement: “Only reason I dissed you in the first place? Was ’cause you denied seeing me”, almost as a disclaimer for the content of the song.

This time, Eminem even went as far as to include Carey’s recorded voice from voicemail messages she left him years ago.

Check it out for yourself:

Eminem’s new album, “Relapse”, has gotten drastically varied reviews from hip hop fans. Some die hard Eminem fans claim it is his best work yet. Others, however, were left feeling disappointed after the new album fell short of their expectations.

One such person on the latter side of the fence is controversial YouTube personality, Todd Wentworth. Known mainly for his Mixed Martial Arts prediction videos and social commentary on promiscuous women as part of his “Hoebusters” series, commenting on hip hop was a bit of a departure.

In this video response to Eminem’s video for the single “We Made You”,  Todd angered thousands of Eminem fans by harshly criticizing the new single and even going as far as to call it “marshmallow league”. Apparently angered by the negative reaction to his video, Todd Wentworth has just responded with a diss directed at both Marshal Mathers and his fans that had the audacity to leave negative comments on his video. Who know that Todd could rap? Check it out:

Now that the lines between mainstream and internet entertainers are being blurred, could it be possible that we might ever hear a response from Slim Shady himself? It certainly would be entertaining. Honestly, if you ask me, I think the two would probably get along pretty well in real life.

I’m all about pirating music, but not so much about bootlegging. The difference between the two, in case you need clarification, is that pirating is done for the sake of sharing music for free, while bootlegging is done in the name of profit.

Well, a small label by the name of Canadian Money Entertainment decided to go ahead and  release an album containing unreleased tracks by popular hip hop artist Drake. Using IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance), the label was able to secure digital distribution for the illegitmate album entitled “The Girls Love Drake”, which subsequently caused it to go on sale on iTunes as well as Rhapsody and Amazon.

After discovering the bogus release, naturally Drake’s management immediately sent a cease and desist letter that got the tracks removed. Drake manager Al Branch stated that they plan to file a lawsuit against Canadian Money Entertainment.

He is not a monster!

Okay, maybe he delivered a beat down to Rihanna not too long ago, and he supposedly leaked nude pictures of her on the internet, and he also got pretty crazy one time on an episode of Punk’d….

“I ain’t a monster”, Brown told the world via YouTube/Justin.tv. Check out his full cyber address here:

All of this from a young man who is not even old enough to buy himself a beer here in the United States. The 20 year old singer is currently in the studio working on his new album which is due out some time towards the end of this summer.

Ain’t nothin’ gonna break his stride!

You may recall last year when Kanye West was arrested as a result of an altercation with a paparazzo at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Well, this past Friday West officially entered a not guilty plea through his attorney. That’s right, when you’re Kanye West you don’t even have to show up to court!

Among the charges brought against Kanye by the prosecutors were misdemeanor battery, vandalism, and grand theft, due to the fact that Kanye destroyed the man’s camera.

There will be another hearing on July 15th. Whether or not Mr. West himself will grace the courtoom with his presence remains to be seen.

In case you missed the action, here is some footage taken of the incident that occured on September 11th, 2008. Perhaps he should have picked a different day to cause a scene at an international airport…

 He may be many things, but rapper/singer/producer/connoisseur of Hennessy is not a stalker. Well, maybe he is, but at least he’s not actually a convicted stalker. After being accused of threatening as well as stalking his estranged wife, California prosecutors concluded on Wednesday that they should drop the charges against Mr. Dogg, stating that they had not been contacted by his accuser.

This comes after Nate Dogg (whose legal name is Nathaniel Dwayne Hale) had already pleaded guilty in July to two criminal counts of making threats and another misdeameanor count of stalking. There was also a driving on a suspended license charge which originated from a past DUI that he also plead guilty to.

The “stalking” charge was the result of Nate Dogg chasing his wife’s car along the freeway in his own vehicle. The criminal threats allegedly took place over email.

Hopefully Nate Dogg will learn from this close brush with the law and put some positive spin on it by using it as inspiration for his next insanely catchy chorus hook.

Back in the early 90s, in an interview with MTV’s Kurt Loder, Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose mentioned that he would love to tour with Public Enemy. However, both Rose and Public Enemy feared what may happened as a result of combining a crowd of rambunctious rockers and also rabid hip hop fans, likely of contrasting races. Although I think it would have been pretty neat to see that show, they were never able to pull it off.

Well, now it’s 2009 and we’ve got a half-black president. Perhaps we’ve actually made some progress over the past 20 years or so.

Recently, rapper mega star 50 Cent approached pop-punk rock icons Fall Out Boy about doing some shows together. According to lead singer Patrick Stump, they didn’t need much convincing. “He came up with the idea, and we were like, ‘Yeah. Totally”, Stump explained. “We definitely like hip-hop a lot, and I think a lot of people know that at this point.”

It’s true, although bassist Pete Wentz wears makeup and their music is unapologetically poppy, Fall Out Boy has shown an affinity for hip hop. They even had Lil Wayne do a cameo on their last record. They’ve also worked closely with Gym Class Heroes.

What with the way hip hop and rock have fused together in different capacities over the past decade or so, it seems hard to believe that fans of 50 Cent and fans of Fall Out Boy will have any trouble grooving together.

50 Cent, who has a new album coming out in June, will be appearing with Fall Out Boy for 5 gigs starting with a show at the Fillmore in Denver on April 14th. For more info on FOB tour dates, check out their MySpace.

No word yet on who will be opening the Fall Out Boy/50 Cent shows. Don’t count Ricky Martin out just yet.

It’s been a long legal road for rapper TI, who was arrested in 2007 for attempting to buy an arsenal of illegal weapons in Atlanta, Georgia. A newer member of his security team had been working in secret with the police and ultimately assisted them in obtaining the necessary evidence to make an arrest.

In order to avoid a lengthy sentence, TI did a substantial amount of charity work and made public appearances to apologize for his actions. Although he could have faced as much as ten years in prison, along with a $250,000 fine for each charge, the judge took all factors into account and sentenced him to one year and one day in federal prison.

TI, aka Clifford Harris, appeared in good spirits in the courtoom. At one point during the 90 minute sentencing, he stated, “I would like to say thank you to some, and apologize to all.”

He will need to report to prison within the next 30-60 days. Which prison he will specifically be assigned to has not yet been revealed.

TI’s most recent album, “Paper Trail”, has sold nearly two million copies worldwide, boasting two #1 singles on the Billboard charts with one more climbing its way to the top currently.