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Popularity: 30% [?]

Rap Sheet: Kanye Gets Fingered By Comedians

Throw your hands up: Comedian duo Barats and Beret put the “Daft Hands” video to shame with their Kanye West’s “Stronger” rendition.

Green lighted: Complex caught up with DJ Green Lantern to discuss Murda, squashing beef with 50, and why Hip Hop’s been disappointing lately.

Facing the music: The Black Crowes weren’t the only ones to get shafted by Maxim and get a review of their album without it even getting listened to. Nas’ N*gg*r LP also suffered a similar fate, but he ain’t sweating it, “That kind of stuff doesn’t reach my radar or effect anybody around me. I don’t know what a music rating from Maxim is . . . I don’t know what it even means really.”

On the house: Miss Info hit Smirnoff’s signature remixer event and has some vids of Qtip, Common, and KRS One performing.

Win-win: This past Monday was the Hip Hop Summit Action Network awards dinner at Capitale. Pharrell gave Snoop the best introduction, “The next time they start attacking a legend, even if it’s because he smokes, I say, ‘So what?’ Willie Nelson smokes a lot of pot, and people only talk about the good he does, like Farm Aid. When they come down on Snoop [for drugs], remind everyone about all the positive things he does.”

Popularity: 21% [?]

Rap Sheet: Observer Gives DJ Kool Herc A Bad Name

• Mistaken identity: Despite what many blogs reported yesterday, DJ Kool Herc ain’t suing Jay-Z for $5 billion over slave reparations and the defilement of downtown Brooklyn for a new stadium. However, someone with the same real name as Herc, a one Clive Campbell is.

• Do-gooder: See rap ain’t all evil. Young Jeezy announced a winner of his “MakeYour Dreams Come True” contest. The contest—coinciding with the release of his album—will give a 13 year-old with cerebral palsy a special wheelchair-accessible van and treat the whole fam to diner at Justin’s in Atlanta.

• Liquidity: Despite Dr. Dre’s forthcoming album being called “Detox,” the Hip Hop producer-mogul is getting into the beverage game with Drinks American Holdings Inc. There’s a cognac in the words followed by a new vodka.

• Courting: Lil Wanye does a concert in NJ, then goes to court in NYC, pleads not guilty for his weapons charges. He even asked concertgoers for some luck, “I would love for you to put me in your prayers tonight; I got court in the morning.”

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Rap Sheet: Luda At Concert ‘Methinks the Ladies Doth Protest Too Much’

Smiling protester / Photo: Mike Plaza

• Stop bitching: Ludacris hit Cal State Long Beach for a concert this past weekend and was surprised at the low turnout of protesters. He goes on to explain why there’s nothing wrong with him having hos in different area codes, “I feel like even in the song ‘Ho,’ I kind of desexualize the word. I said men are ho’s also. So when people try to pinpoint or think when I say the word ‘ho’ or the word ‘bitches’ it’s always referring to women or trying to degrade women, it’s not about that. Hip Hop is a coded language, so it’s not for everybody to understand.”

• Musical misogyny?: Scientists ask whether Hip Hop makes men abusive assholes toward women. Conclusion: it does if you’re already an abusive asshole towards women, kinda. [via]

• Painful: The New York Times hit the Winter Fest 2008 Hip Hop concert. Despite T-Pain’s amazing ability to sell ring tones, he’s not such a great performer according to the Gray Lady. Snoop, Fabolous, Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes, Juelz Santana and other also hit stage with the Dips’ Jim Jones making a surprise appearance.

• Acting up: Diddy, ahem, we mean Sean Combs stars in TV movie “A Raisin in the Sun” on ABC tonight. Break a leg!

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Rap Sheet: Lil Wayne Goes Back to School

Lil Wayne at McMain high school / Photo: Michael Democker for The Times Picayune

• Teacher’s pet: Weezy made a surprise stop at his former stomping grounds Eleanor McMain Secondary School in New Orleans. He thanked students for designing a party invite and then politely declined an invitation to go to the prom. Check the uneventful video here. Oh, and he also announced that Tha Carter III will finally be released in April.

• Lunar: Although we like to think Page Six does their best to get the story right, it’s very hard to believe this Damon Dash got scared of the Moon story.

• Roots: Check out this interview with ?uestlove. He talks about sampling, being hard on Puffy back in the day, and how good the new N.E.R.D record was that he previewed, “Like, I think Pharrell got something in his soul that’s just saying, “I can’t rely on just my good looks and fashion sense. Muhfuckas are tryna count me out, and I got to not just come back, but really kick their ass.” I mean, the four or five songs I heard, it’s like, this dude is coming back like he got a score to settle.

• Sour taste?: Here’s at least 8 reasons why Flavor Flav is starting to lose all respect.

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Rap Sheet: Obamage Video

• Barack track: He might not be able to beat King Solomon in a freestyle battle, but Jin still knows how to make relevant tracks like this “Open Letter to Barack Obama.”

• More Obamaness: CNBC interviews Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas about his Obama video that’s garnered more than 13-million page views.

• Ad hoc: Hov’s Rocawear is catching some heat over advertisements featuring the family of Sean Bell, the unarmed man who was shot to death by police in a hail of bullets back in 2006. Detectives are accusing the clothing brand of trying to influence the jury, the brand claims the ads are uplifting.

• Track record: VH1 launched a competition yesterday to find an upcoming producer to help Flavor Flav make a new single. An original audio composition must be submitted by March 13. Head over here for more info.

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Rap Sheet: Stop the Violence 2.0

• The jump off: Check out this “Self Construction” preview featuring host KRS-One, Nelly, The Game, Chamillionare, Busta Rhymes, Dougie Fresh, Fat Joe, and other notables.

• Payback: 50 Cent was ordered to pay an “undisclosed amount” of money to a NY Post photographer who got ruffed up by the rapper’s security guards back in 2003.

• Acting up: Rapper/producer, will.i.am, of Black Eyed Peas fame will play mutant John Wraith in the next installment of the X-Men movie. His character has the power to teleport and like Wolverine, was a test subject of the Weapon X program. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” is set for release in May, 2009.

• Smart music: ?uestlove not only likes to entertain fans, but also educate them too. Especially when he’s behind the turntables, “Usually in my set, I cover about 80 to 90 years’ worth of music, you know. I think it’s important to be all-inclusive. I think it’s important to educate people and give them a sense of history. I don’t want to be [one of] those DJs that just give you what you already know, you know.”

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Rap Sheet: Facing the Music

• Spread the word: When Antonio “L.A.” Reid was asked whether or not Nas’ highly controversial N*gger title will actually be released, the Def Jam co-chair didn’t exactly confirm it. In fact, he made it sound downright questionable, “We’ll have to see,” said Reid.

• Push it: Oh baby, baby. Female rap duo Salt and Pepa are back, kind of. The two have reunited for what should be a pretty entertaining reality-type show detailing how far the two have grown apart, especially with Salt finding God and all.

• Wrong again: We were going to ignore this latest trash about Eminem but what the hell. Hip Hop gossipers who never get a story right, Media Takeout, reported some bullshit about Em becoming a wrestler. Unsurprisingly that and the Slim Fast rumor, were total bullshit. According to the rapper’s publicist, “Eminem has no interest whatsoever in becoming a wrestler. This ’source’ is making stuff up.”

• Dapper Dandy: André 3000 likes short shorts and other odd fashions. So much so that he’s got his own line called Benjamin Bixby. [via]

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Rap Sheet: Prodigy Claims Clean Bill of Health

• Healthy: Prodigy maintains he’s not sick despite reports by his lawyer. And although the judge delayed his incarceration for a 2nd time due to so called medical conditions, the rapper claims he’s fine. Ouch, someone’s getting into trouble.

• Sound off: Common, KRS-One, and Q-Tip are remixing their classic tracks in a new campaign with Smirnoff with the help of some legendary producers, “Just Blaze is remixing Common’s 2000 song “The Light,” DJ Premier will work on KRS-One’s 1988 hit “I’m Still #1,” and Cool & Dre are remaking Q-Tip’s 1999 party track “Vivrant Thing.” They will all then perform live at a launch party for the vodka maker on February 26, and the tracks will be available for download on Smirnoff’s website.

• Innocent: Marvin Bernard aka Tony Yayo has been found innocent of slapping the shit out of Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond’s 16-year-old son.

• Flying colors: Swizzy got down with the Gap and their “Sound of Color” campaign. Basically each artist was assigned a color and they created an original song for it. The mega producer and Kidrobot partner did a song called “Candy Green.”

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Rap Sheet: Prodigy Talks Hip Hop Cops and 50

• Arresting: Although Prodigy was supposed to begin his 3 and 1/2 year prison sentence on weapons charges yesterday, he avoided the slam again due to medical complications and was hospitalized. Luckily, G4 TV was able to score this recent interview with the Mobb Deep rapper. He sheds some more light on how the Hip Hop Cops tried to set him up in a intense effort to get dirt on 50-Cent.

• No show: Kanye might have walked away with four Grammys, but he didn’t make it to his own after party at Opera/Crimson, opting for Entertainment Weekly’s bash at the STK steakhouse and lounge instead.

• Old school: Rolling Stone celebrates 1988 Hip Hop. Laments it as the landmark year for the best album releases. It accounted for such greats as: Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, EPMD’s Strictly Business, N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton and BDP’s By All Means Necessary among others. See who else made the cut.

Popularity: 18% [?]