Rap Radar

The Neptunes supply the beat for this new track off Ludacris’ Battle Of The Sexes. No 8, but IDK about dis 1. Need another listen. BRB.

Rihanna celebrated her 22nd birthday on Saturday and topped off her party with a dance from a midget stripper. Hey, big things come in small packages.

TMZ

On location of “Our Dreams”, Tical gives his take on the Wu-Massacre artwork. The cover was illustrated by Chris Bachalo with art direction and graphic design by Alex Haldi.

Cee-Lo, Big Gipp, Khujo, and T-Mo put on for their city Saturday night at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. “Watch For The Hook” up top. And if you couldn’t make the concert, practically the entire set is after the jump.

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Snoop hooks up with his biggest fan for this new track off More Malice. The album drops March 23 and will contain Snoop’s mini movie, Malice N Wonderland. Score!

Complex

Run for cover! Pharell’s definetly making his rounds as of late. Last week, he was in the studio with Asher Roth. Now, he and Chad are back in the lab with Jay-Z. For those keeping score, the production duo have appeared on the last five Hov albums. Only time will tell if Jigga’s next album’s blinged by that Neptune sound.

2009 sure was eventful for Charles Hamilton. In this week’s installment of The Real, Chuck recalls his past troubles and rationalizes why he should be featured on this year’s XXL Freshmen 10 cover or The Source‘s Unsigned Hype column. Sorry, but opportunity comes once in a lifetime.

As we near the home stretch to the unveiling of the XXL Freshman 10 cover, Big Sean gets the opportunity to spit his game. Only four remain.

Last week: J.Cole

Fab checked into a funeral home with 1515 and previewed a few tracks from his long-awaited mixtape, There Is No Competition 2. Below, he gives a break down of three tracks.

“The Wake.” “This intro, I wanted to set the tone. ‘The Wake’ is, of course, before ‘the funeral,’ ” Fab explained. “It starts off a little mellow, then it gets more aggressive and sets the tone for the tape. Probably me going 30, 40 bars. It’s me metaphorically talking about killing the game, the death of the competition. Then at the end, it picks up and gets more aggressive. You gotta hear it, man. The beat is done by this kid named Info. He has a lot of the original beats on the mixtape. He’s a guy who’s been sending me joints for a minute.”

“Suicide 2.“: “[I did this one] just because it was one of the classics from There Is No Competition, the first one. Being this one is The Funeral Service, no matter how you die, homicide or suicide, you still need a funeral. We came across the Swizz and Shyne ['Shyne'] beat. I put Paul Cain and Freck Billionaire on it.”

“I’m Raw”: “This one is just me going ba-noodles for 48 bars,” Loso explained. “Metaphor overload but in different ranges and different topics. It’s definitely gonna be a hot pullback joint. It’s one of those that’s gonna slow you down for a second and make you say ‘What did he just say?’ I don’t mean to toot my horn, but beep, beep, beep.”

Who needs cable when Yardie’s around? In case you missed last night’s episode of the HBO series, How To Make It In America, don’t fret, here’s a rip of last night’s airing.

Last Week: Episode 1