We’ve heard those words before,”I’m going into retirement”, from sooo many different hip hop artists, such as Jay-Z, Master P, Eminem and so forth. But for some reason, they just can’t leave the game alone. They all come back one or two years later with a debut album. Jay-Z is by far the worst, if you ask me. He has retired like 4 times, but just keeps coming back. I don’t and won’t believe it anymore if he says it again. Now, it just seems like a big publicity stunt to get people to buy their CDs because it’s the last time they will hear from them.

Now, Lil Wayne is claiming that he will retire, but no time soon. His retirement plan says that he will stay in the game no longer than 8 more years.Wayne claims that he always said that he wouldn’t rap anymore after the age 35. Ha, he says that now. A lot of people agree that rappers and hip hoppers shouldn’t be old and should retire to allow new game to come into the industry. But Jay-Z being an old head, of course, doesn’t agree. He says that it shouldn’t be made easy for the youngsters coming into the hip hop game. If they want to be on top, they’re going to have to work hard for it. Heck, it wasn’t made easy for Jay. Back then, there wasn’t as much competition as there is now, even if a lot of them are low-level rappers. People like these stars because they make good club bangers. After Lil Wayne retires, he’s looking to own a basketball team.

So it seems hip hop artistLil Wayne has been quite busy producing these past two years — no not music…babies! With all of the rumors and speculation surrounding Lil Wayne’s and Nivea’s hook-up, it has been recently confirmed that the two are now expecting a baby. This will be Lil Wayne’s fourth child and Nivea’s first. Come to find out, she is so far along that they already know that it will be a Lil Wayne jr. Yes, a lil boy is on the way, how glorious. But this boy won’t get the blessing of being the first, he is actually the third son of Lil Wayne in a little over a year. And Nivea makes the fourth baby momma. Wow…hasn’t someone been busy? With all of this counting, you could easily get thrown off track. Okay, let’s try this.

Lil Wayne’s first son was born last October in Cincinattti and then in September of ‘09, his second son came from the actress Lauren London and now Nivea is having his third son. He has a daughter, Reginae, from an older relationship with his ex-wife Antonia “Toya” Carter. When Lil Wayne was asked if Nivea was pregnant with his child, his response was “Yessir”. Then one reporter stated, “Two women pregnant at the same time. Congratulations.” Lil Wayne replied “Three.” No, he doesn’t have three women prego at the same time, what he actually meant was that it would be son number three. Hopefully all goes well and he takes care of his children and be a bit more responsible. Marry one of these women at least!

After three years of secret dating, Ashanti and Nelly are rumored to have broken up. Neither of the two have confirmed or denied the rumor. The N.Y. Daily News reports that the two allegedly broke up because of a disagreement about their future. Supposedly, pop princess Ashanti was ready to settle down (of course) and hip hop rapper Nelly still wanted to play the field a bit longer. There have also been reports that Nelly was hanging around model-actress Melyssa Ford in Miami and spending time with Melody Thornton, lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, in Las Vegas. So there is speculation that the two women could have played a role in the breakup.

Rumors of Ashanti and Nelly dating began in 2003 and wasn’t confirmed until 2008. The two have been dating on the low for three years and when Nelly came out to confirm that they were dating, he stated that they were in a “serious” relationship. I don’t know about everyone else, but it seems like he used the wrong word to describe their relationship. After all, serious in today’s world means there’s a marriage in the future. There was supposed talk about an engagement and wedding some time ago…wonder what happened. Well within the next couple of days or weeks, we may get a confirmation and, if we’re lucky, an explanation about the breakup.

Other breakups that have been reported are Omarion and Young Money Records and Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush. More to come on those topics.

The rumors about Michael Jackson and Christian Audigier collaborating together have been confirmed. You may be familiar with Christian Audigier as the designer behind the Ed Hardy brand. You can also find some items from the Christian Audigier jewelry line. Ed Hardy jewelry, along with his clothes and shoes, are quite popular. Well, apparently, the two were working on a few projects together, including a clothing line. I would have liked to see what crazy combination they could have come up with. What took Mike so long anyway? You’d think he would’ve been one of the first people to begin a line of clothes. Hopefully the two were close to the completion of the design, so that Audigier can still release a limited edition of the brand. Supposedly, Audigier will bring it out after all and it will be sold at a boutique called Kitson in Hollywood, California. Can you imagine the prices?

Christian Audigier and Michael Jackson

The two were also supposed to come out with other merchandise designs. There are other rumors that Christian Audigier will be leasing the Holmby Hills Mansion where Michael Jackson was living. Hubert Guez, CEO of Ed Hardy, is the owner of the property and will be renting it out to him for $100,000 a month (roughly $1.2 million a year…wow). Michael Jackson and Audigier seemed to be quite close; they were seen together at Mike’s 50th birthday bash and were seen together in February. Christian has shown a great deal of sadness over the King of Pop’s death.

After six years, Lumidee is back with another possible smash hit. She’s known most for her single in 2003, “Never Leave You”, and will now be rapping a few bars in the song “Kandi”, sung by Arash Labaf. The video is taking place in Havana, Cuba — this is Labaf’s third video shot here. It may seem strange to some that a New Yorker is walking the streets of Havana, especially if their familiar with the politics involved. It seems as those Cuba has forever had a barrier regarding Americans passing its borders, but since Obama has been negotiating with the president of Cuba about lowering the restrictions, things are seeming to be a bit more lenient. So far it looks like things are working out pretty well. Especially when you see rappers and singers filming their videos in its streets.

At first, when Lumidee heard that the film would take place in Havana, she was a bit panicky. She wasn’t sure how it would be or what to expect, but she came to find out that Cubans are pretty happy and laid back. In this particular video, Labaf plays himself and three other goofballs trying to captivate the same girl, or should I say eye ‘Kandi’. You will find scenes shot of the beach on the east side of Havana. Twenty-four year old Lumidee, born as Lumiana DeRosa Cedeno, is Puerto Rican by blood and born in Spanish Harlem. She’s married to her manager, who also came along with her on the Cuban trip.

As you may have already heard, the legend Michael Jackson has passed away on June 25, 2009. It’s still a bit shocking to think of it because he really seemed like Peter Pan, a lost boy who never grew old. Now, that he has come and gone, many are holding memorials to honor the legendary MJ. Ever since he was nine years old, he’s been enlightening our ears with beautiful music. He is known best for songs like “ABC, 123″, “Thiller”, “Beat it” and “Smooth Criminal” (my fave).

I can only imagine what the Jacksons are going through right now and even worse, Michael’s three children. His will was read shortly after his death (which excludes his ex-wife) and he asked that either his mom or Diana Ross to raise his children. There was a bit of a mystery surrounding his death because just hours before the 9-11 call, his doctor had left his residence. He was said to be fine, but soon began complaining he wasn’t feeling well. The doctor was questioned and checked out, but came out clean. No foul play was suspected.

Michael Jackson was known to abuse pain killers, which could have lead to his untimely demise. Catherine Jackson, Mike’s mom, may not be able to raise MJ’s children because of her old age and condition, so MJ’s ex-wife volunteered — but we’ll see how that works out. It doesn’t seem like Mike liked her very much, so much not to even include her in his will.

If you missed the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival over the past weekend (June 20th), you missed a good time filled with various performances from many top artists. Besides the hip hop entertainment, there was lots of family fun. People of all ages showed up for the event even though their were off-and-on rain showers throughout the day. Starting off the show was Smif-N-Wessun with hit songs, like “Sound Bwoy Bureill”, “I Love You (Remix)” and “Bucktown”. Also performing were Buckshot, singing “How Many MCs”, followed by Brand Nubian with “Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down”, “Slow Down” and “All for One”; then J. Period even got on stage with the group to perform “Brooklyn Dodgers 2″.

Showing up as a surprise guest, Black Thought performed his own rendition of “Brooklyn Go Hard”. DJing the event, DJ Premiere, spun off popular hits like “Dwyck” and “Nas is Like”. Even Styles P and Sheek Louch (from the Lox) showed up, rapping hot verses from “Locked Up”, “We Gone Make It” and Sheek’s “Mighty D Block”. No, the whole event wasn’t based on old hip hop songs because Dead Prez came out with some tracks from their new CD, “Pulse of the People” — including “It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop”, which wrapped up the show. Their album was released on June 23rd. Closing the night of hip hop festivities was Pharoahe Monch with “Oh No” and “Simon Says”.

Overall, the event was great for couples, families and children that hold a special place in their heart and ears for hip hop.

There’s always been hype about the hip hop industry and how many of the rap artists that enter into the game come out hard and then go soft. One of the first rappers to do that was Ja-Rule. He rapped about women, money and cars with hardcore lyrics while rockin’ a bandana and hip hop jewelry; but a couple albums later, he had a love Jones. Many of the songs he released there after were love songs featuring singers like Lil’ Mo and Ashanti. A lot of his fans didn’t like the new Ja and he eventually fell off. Even other rappers took notice of the bad boy gone soft and started beef — remember when 50 Cents came out with that controversial hit?

Well, Ja Rule isn’t the only one that has “fallen off track”, but there’s a new buster in town. Kanye West is best known for his ill lyrics and old school approach, but his new album is definitely different than his hardcore self. Many fans are mad about his new R & B, techno-beat feel. You may have already heard a few of them, like “Love Lockdown” and “Coldest Winter”. Some congratulate his attempt to sample new waters while others are mad about another good rapper gone bad.

His new album has a more R & B sound and those that have heard it — well, some are a bit disappointed. There are a lot of heart broken songs on there, but it doesn’t really seem to be talking about a girl of interest. Some folks have speculated that he could be making this album for his late mother…who knows?

What do you think?

the game album LAX

KingIce.com is a huge fan of The Game. This page is created in support of his latest album, LAX. Click on the album cover page to visit the official website of The Game.

Our favorite songs are LAX Files, My Life with Lil Wayne, and Let Us Live with Chrisette Michele.

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