Lil Wayne Becomes Voice of Gatorade

Mega rap star Lil' Wayne has been chosen as one of the voice-overs for the newly designed Gatorade beverage.

In a new commercial for the popular sports drink, Weezy is heard narrating a description of what "g" represents, as popular sports figures like Dwayne Wade, Serena Williams and Bill Russell glare into the camera.

"[G's] the emblem of a warrior, it's the swagger of an athlete, a champion and dynasty," Weezy says in the commercial. "It's gifted, golden, genuine and glorious. It is a lower-case god. It's the goat. Ha-ha. The greatest of all time."

As the 60-second video continues to scroll past other public figures, including the Yankee's Derek Jeter holding a bat and Muhammad Ali facing off with his fists, Weezy wraps up the meaning of "G." "What's G," he asks. "It is the heart, hustle and soul of the game. That's G."

Aiming for a new look, Gatorade's parent company, PepsiCo, is using the new "G" campaign as an opportunity to create new packaging and rename line extensions.

"For Gatorade," the company wrote in a statement, "G represents the heart, hustle and soul of athleticism and will become a badge of pride for anyone who sweats."

Renamed line extensions include Gatorade Fierce becoming Bring It and X-Factor receiving the newly amped name Be Tough.

In related news, Weezy's Tha Carter III sold the most overall albums of 2008 with around 2.88 million units sold.

According to Billboard, the rapper's latest project outsold efforts from mega acts including Coldplay, which sold 2.15 million, and Kid Rock with over 2 million.

However, this is the first time a best selling album of the year has moved less than 3 million albums since the start of Nielsen SoundScan began recording scanned units.

Hip Hop Sampled Jazz Legend Freddie Hubbard Passes Away

After suffering a heart attack one month ago, famed Jazz horn player Freddie Hubbard passed away just before the new year in Sherman Oaks, California. On December 29, the 70 year-old was surrounded by loved ones at the city's hospital as he passed away.

Hubbard recorded in over four decades, for CTI, Columbia and Atlantic Records. Work from the trumpeter has been sampled by Hip Hop groups including Pete Rock & CL Smooth [click to read], A Tribe Called Quest [click to read], Souls of Mischief and early Blackalicious [click to read] hit "Swan Lake."

A tribute show is said to be planned in New York this February.




Story at Hip Hop DX

New Dr. Dre Track Leaks

Dr. Dre Raps On Leaked Remix Of Kardinal Offishall's 'Set It Off'DJ Skee premieres the new track on his radio show Monday night.

Check Out Full Article @ MTV

UK Producer Endemic Readies Debut With Sean Price

2009 is set to be a big year for US releases but UK producer Endemic hopes to hold his own against the heavyweights with his debut album Terminal Illness.

With guest appearances that include Sean Price, Hell Razah, Planet Asia and Killah Priest [click to read], Endemic is attempting to capture the mid-'90s New York sound that he loved to listen to growing up.

"My album isn't necessarily what you expect of when you think UK Hip Hop," said the Nottingham producer.


Check Out Full Article @ Hip-Hop DX

Bun B., Timbaland Assisting Ginuwine On New Album

As he prepares his long delayed return to the R&B world, singer Ginuwine has enlisted the help of two Hip-Hop heavyweights, one a long-time collaborator.

The singer, who rose to superstardom in the late 90s following the success of his debut single “Pony,” is currently in the studio with producer Timbaland working on his sixth studio album, Asylum Records revealed today.

The New Beginning will be Ginuwine’s first since in four years.

Check Out Full Article @ All Hip-Hop

Common Calls Universal Mind Control His New Child

Yesterday, the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune may not have been so enthusiastic about Common's eighth and latest studio release Universal Mind Control. However, the biggest critic for Common can only be himself.

Serving as a rebuttal, Common gave his own assessment of the new album in a video blog from his website Thinkcommon.com today. "I wanna review this album," Common starts off. "After listening to this album extensively and really assessing it and just listening to the songs and seeing how I really thought about it, I would say I'd have to give this album an A-plus. A 10, really an 11 on a scale of 1 to 10. Five stars if I was Rolling Stone, XXL if I was XXL [magazine]."


Check Out Full Article @ Hip-Hop DX

Shawty Redd Reacts To "Sensual Seduction" Grammy Nom

After years producing primarily for Young Jeezy as well as Pastor Troy and 8Ball & MJG, Atlanta producer Shawty Redd was honored this year from the Grammy's with his work earlier this year with Snoop Dogg.

Redd was nominated for "Rap Song of The Year" for "Sensual Seduction," a hit from the beginning of this year on Snoop's Ego Trippin'. On the album, the song was titled "Sexual Eruption," a title change was made for the radio single.


Check Out Full Article @ Hip-Hop DX

Grandmaster Flash Enlists Snoop, Q-Tip, Busta for New Album

Pioneer Hip-Hop turntablist Grandmaster Flash is set to kick off 2009 with a brand new studio album entitled The Bridge: Concept Of a Culture.

Backed by Strut Records and Flash’s very own Adrenaline City Entertainment, the LP marks the DJ's first major label release of all original material since 1988’s On the Strength, the last album that featured the original Furious Five lineup.



Check Out Full Article @ All Hip-Hop

MC Eiht & Nik Bean Talk Mixtape, Squashing CMW Beef

West coast Hip Hop fans this morning may have noticed "Def Wish V" in HipHopDX's audio section. The MC Eiht track comes from Nik Bean's new mixtape with the Compton legend entitled All Starz & Strapz (Streetz of L.A.)

The latest entry in the "Def Wish" series may have come as a surprise to some. Whereas the series began over 15 years ago in Eiht battling DJ Quik in the highly publicized Compton feud between rival gang members and emcees, the latest edition was turned on longtime collaborator and Comptons Most Wanted member Tha Chill.

Check Out Full Article @ Hip-Hop DX

Sterling Simms Talks Hip Hop, Debut, Soul Renaissance

Listeners first heard Sterling Simms on Jay-Z's "Dig A Hole" from 2006's Kingdom Come album. In the two years since, the 26 year-old Def Jam artist has appeared prominently with rappers, with his Jadakiss-assisted "All I Need" in rotation now.

Check Out Full Article @ Hip-Hop DX

Black Eyed Peas Tap Into New 'Energy'

The Black Eyed Peas are planning more of a "music diary" than a conventional album when the group releases "The END" in March.

Group leader will.i.am tells Billboard.com that "The END" stands for "The Energy Never Dies," which describes his model for a project that will be living and frequently updated throughout its designated cycle.

Check Out Full Article @ Billboard

New Eminem Song 'Number One' -- Apparently Produced By Dr. Dre -- Drops On Mixtape

No official word yet on whether song will appear on either Em's Relapse or Dre's Detox.

Check Out Full Article @ MTV

Juelz Santana Explains Album Delays

Due to label issues and what appears to be at least one internal rift within the Diplomats, Juelz Santana hasn't released a full-length studio album since 2005. His sophomore effort, What the Game's Been Missing!, peaked at number one on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart during the height of Diplomat popularity. Now, with his own Skull Gang crew in tow, and a renegotiated deal with Def Jam, Juelz speaks to HipHopDX about his future plans.

Check Out Full Article @ Hip-Hop DX

'Notorious' Soundtrack Details Revealed

Features Jay-Z, Jadakiss, Faith Evans, Biggie's SonGreatest hits, rare tracks fill out soundtrack to biopic, due in January.

Check Out Full Article @ MTV

Hip Hop Album Sales: The Week Ending 11/30/08

Black Friday fueled the domestic record sales market last week, with millions of Americans flocking to the electronic stores that carry CDs. An exciting week to begin with, Kanye West assumed his pole position with his departure from rapping 808's & Heartbreak. The release significantly under-sold last year's Graduation and sold less first week numbers than Beyonce saw last week with her I Am...Sasha Fierce, despite an extra day of sales (amidst a holiday week).

Check Out Full Article @ Hip-Hop DX

Kanye West-Produced Jay-Z Song Confirmed For Bad Boy's 'Notorious' Soundtrack

There is also talk that the Notorious B.I.G.'s son will appear on a 'One More Chance' remake for the disc.

Check Out Full Article @ MTV

New EPMD Album Set for Dec. 9th

The nine-year album drought of legendary group EPMD comes to a close in two weeks, as the duo will release their long-awaited 7th album We Mean Business.

The LP comes nearly 10 years after Out of Business (1999), then billed as the duo’s final studio album.

Despite that tagline, the album failed to connect with critics and fans, and to date is the only EPMD album not to go gold.

Check Out Full Article @ All Hip-Hop

Mixtape Monday

Kanye West Inspires Lil Wayne; Notorious B.I.G. Performs With Big L. Plus: Chamillionaire drops a new mixtape just two months after his last one.

Check Out Full Article @ MTV

Hip Hop Album Releases for Dec. 2: Akon, Cadillac Records Soundtrack, Scarface

It's super quiet post-Thanksgiving in the land of new releases.

To receive this report separately each week, please visit Weekly Hip Hop Albums and sign up for our free weekly newsletter delivered every Monday with Tuesday's releases.

The following new releases are available from Amazon.

Akon - Freedom
Bloods & Crips: Bangin' On Wax [3 Disc Box Set]
Scarface - Emeritus
Soundtrack - Cadillac Records
Soundtrack - Cadillac Records [2 Disc Deluxe Ed.]
Soundtrack - Cadillac Records [LP]

Check Out Full Article @ Pro Hip-Hop

Alchemist And Oh No Plan Gang Green Album

The current economic downturn has artists rethinking their budgets, while others are seeing their projects delayed until 2009. But, to hear Alchemist tell it, this could be exactly what the game needs.

"With this era in rap, where SoundScan is all horrible, it’s like, 'What’s going on?'" Al tells HipHopDX. "Being able to just do this with Oh No out of thin air makes me feel like we’re past that hump. We didn’t make records with radio in mind; it was just fun and creative. I’m seeing the power, because we don’t have to wait to get commissioned every time."

Check Out Full Article @ Hip-Hop DX