Almost on cue, Lupe Fiasco’s much delayed third album Lasers leaked yesterday (March 1). Plenty of Lupe fans praised the album, saying they would support the project by purchasing it on March 8 when it is due in stores; a robust amount of people who downloaded the leak were not as impressed.

Fiasco acknowledged some of this backlash in a series of tweets today. The first read, “I never thought lasers would inspire so much negativity. Reading the comments and reactions is crushing.”

In the next message, Fiasco gave praise to the fans that helped get the album off of the Atlantic Records shelf. “To all the Lupe fans who protested and petitioned you did a GREAT thing. Don't let people belittle what u achieved,” he tweeted. Read More...

Tags ,

This Thursday, March 3, at 4:00PM ET, MTV RapFix Live! will be sitting down with Lil Kim. Sway Calloway will be conducting a one on one interview with the Queen Bee, who has been lobbying shots at rhyme vixen on the rise Nicki Minaj.

Lil Kim should have plenty to talk about. A couple of weeks ago she announced that her new mixtape, Black Friday, was available for sale and provided a PayPal account to purchase the album. However, instead of a download link (note: originally the project was thought to be free) buyers were notified that the albums would be mailed. However, despite claims that she sold over 113,000 copies of the mixtape, no one seems to have received it yet. Read More...

Tags , , , , ,

Picture this, Oscar winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow mixing her singing chops with the rhymes of Jay-Z. Sounds about as far fetched as Paltrow singing with…Cee-Lo Green.

Well, being that Cee-Lo and Paltrow performed a joint rendition of the former’s hit “F--k You” at the Grammy Awards a few weeks ago (the actress sang her own version of the song on Fox’s Glee), why not rock with Hov? Gwyneth flexed her vocal chords yesterday at last night's Academy Awards and we thought it would be interesting to consider which songs from the Brooklyn MC and mogul’s catalog could get a “Paltrow Remix.” Read More...

Tags , , , , , ,

Saigon finally released his album The Greatest Story Never Told and about 11,000 people purchased the long delayed project in its first week in stores. The album is a good seven years in the making after being originally recorded for Atlantic Records with multiple delays almost shelving the project completely. The Greatest Story Never Told’s first week numbers (good enough for #58 on the Soundscan charts) may seem modest by major label standards, but are outstanding since the album was released via independent label Suburban Noize Records. Read More...

Tags , , , , , , , , ,

Thankfully, the wait for Dr. Dre’s video for “I Need a Doctor” was nowhere near as long the wait for Detox. MTV RapFix Life debuted the video for the second single from Dre’s almost mythical third album today (February 24). Considering how delayed Detox has been, any news that involves the approach of an actual release date caused the Tweets to go nuts. Read More...

Tags , , , ,

Even Beyoncé gets bad press, but is it deserved? Yesterday (February 23), photos of the R&B starlet, and Jay-Z’s wife, were revealed of her cover shoot for French fashion magazine L’Officiel Paris. A slight furor has arisen over the images because the fair complexioned singer’s skin was darkened, causing critics to say the look is akin to blackface.

According to L’Officiel Paris, the make up and clothing she donned for the photo shoot was a nod to the music of Fela Kuti (and the magazine’s 90th anniversary). Allegedly, Beyoncé was so moved by Kuti’s music after watching Broadway musical Fela!—Jay-Z is one of its co-producers—that she will be incorporating the late African musicians sounds in her next project. Read More...

Tags , ,

XXL Magazine’s 4th annual Freshman cover leaked yesterday and on cue it had the Internet going nuts. Rather than the usual 10 artists, this year’s crop of hip-hop up and comers numbered 11; Meek Mill, Big K.R.I.T., CyHi Da Prince, Lil Twist, Yelawolf, Fred the Godson, Mac Miller, YG, Lil B, Kendrick Lamar and Diggy Simmons.

“Honestly, I was initially surprised by XXL's selections,” says Andrew Barber of Fake Shore Drive. “There were a handful of artists that I thought would make the cut, that were nowhere to be found i.e. Chip Tha Ripper, Vado and Danny Brown. However, there is some serious talent on here, so I'm excited to see what becomes of the Freshmen over the course of the year. It's been a gift for some and equally a curse for others.” Read More...

Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rihanna closed out her weekend with a bang, performing a medley of her hits and bringing out Drake and Kanye West to perform during halftime of the 2011 NBA All-Star Game.

With a string orchestra providing music, Rihanna came out on stage singing her hit song “Umbrella.” The Bajan beauty then stripped out of the suit jacket she was wearing into a more revealing outfit to sing “Only Girl (In The World).” Dancers then hit the stage as she transitioned into another hit, this time “Rude Boy.” Soon after, Drake slipped onto the stage to perform his verse on Rihanna’s “What’s My Name?,” and was then followed by even more dancers. Read More...

Tags , ,

With NBA All-Star Weekend in full effect, hip hop’s favorite drummer, Travis Barker, was busy shooting a new video.

MTV News was in Hollywood, CA on set with the Blink-182 drummer, frequent hip-hop remixer and collaborator, Travis Barker’s video for “Can The Drummer Get Some.” The song features the Game, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Swizz Beatz and is the lead single for Give the Drummer Some, due in stores March 15, 2011. Read More...

Tags , , , , , , , , ,

Drake is going to get animated, literally.

The Toronto rapper is going to be featured in the cartoon “The LeBrons,” set to debut in March. The LeBrons is a web-based animated series that will revolve around the four characters made famous in a Nike ad campaign for two time NBA MVP and current Miami Heat player LeBron James. All four characters—the kid, the athlete, the businessman and the elder—are based on James. “I think everyone is going to have an opportunity to relate to them,” said James in a promotional clip for the show." Read More...

Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

About

RapFix is MTV News’ hub for breaking hip-hop stories, features, exclusive behind-the-scenes content and everything in between. The conversation begins on the blog and continues on our weekly show “RapFix Live,” hosted by Sway Calloway.

Follow us on Twitter:
@MTVRapFix

Like us on Facebook:
Facebook.com/RapFix

Watch full episodes of “RapFix Live”:
RapFixLive.MTV.com

Managing Editor
Nadeska Alexis

SPONSORS
AD:
©2013 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. MTV and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.