Since the label has started inviting refugees from other labels to join its roster, we decided to suggest some other artists in need of a career boost who could benefit from getting down with Cash Money. Check out the fake album covers and details behind our proposed projects below…

ARTIST: LL Cool J
CASH MONEY DEBUT: Baby Said Knock You Out
THE PITCH: After failing to go gold for the first time in his career with 2008’s Exit 13, Uncle L is a free agent in need of some serious career counseling. Who better to get him back into fighting shape than Birdman? Please, call it a comeback!
STANDOUT TRACKS: “Purple Syrup In a Styrofoam Cup Getting Drunk By Weezy,” “Tuesday & Thursday (Time To Take My Heart Pills),” “Jingling, Baby” (f/ Birdman’s Balls)

ARTIST: The Game
CASH MONEY DEBUT: 1,000,000 Degreez
THE PITCH: First Juvenile put Cash Money on the map with his album 400 Degreez. Then Weezy threw a subliminal at him with 500 Degreez. Then Juvenile responded with 600 Degreez. And now The Game ups the ante (as he always does), rehashing and name-dropping everything his labelmates did before he joined the team, with even more degreez. A million of ’em!
STANDOUT TRACKS: “I Feel Like Dying, Too!”, “I’m So Whodi,” “One More Blood,” “Slim’s Advocate,” “I Am The Hot Boyz”

CLICK NEXT FOR THREE MORE FUTURE CASH MONEY CLASSICS!

We interviewed Kenzo earlier this year when he released the project online, so click here to get some background on City of God’s Son. More info on the listening session below…

For the first time this unique new form of sound and video art will be exhibited for the public on Wednesday, July 29th and Thursday, July 30th at 511 West 25th Street, on the 9th floor. Each night will feature back-to-back screenings/listening sessions starting at 8:00pm, followed by a Q&A with director Kenzo Digital. There will be a rooftop party & reception throughout the night. The event is sponsored by Nam June Paiks Studios, Creative Commons, Kenzo Digital Media, and Parimachari. For more information on the project please visit www.CityofGodSon.com

RELATED: City Of God’s Son Reimagines NYC Hip-Hop (Interview/Video)

Besides Dr. Dre’s Detox, there’s nothing more elusive in the world of hip-hop than the collaboration album. Rappers (not named Plies) have a hard enough time putting out one album, yet they keep promising to collaborate with other high-profile MCs on duet albums. 99% of the time, it ain’t happenin’.

But what about a reggae artist? It was reported today that Nas is going to record an album with Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley about “the 'hood and Africa.” Whether or not this is a good idea is beside the point, because the album probably won’t come out. In fact, this isn’t the first time Nas has promised to collaborate with another artist for a full-length LP. Check out our history of Nas’ ill-fated collaboration albums…

COLLABORATOR: AZ
• POTENTIAL ALBUM TITLE: Life’s Still A Bitch (We Didn’t Die!)
• CHANCE OF ACTUAL RELEASE: 0%
Ever since AZ wrecked shop as the sole guest rapper on Nas’ Illmatic, there’s been talk of a collaborative project between the two. As the years went on, however, it seems AZ was the only one trying to make this happen,voicing his desire to work with the Nasty one anywhere he could: radio interviews, magazine interviews, live shows. Dude, maybe he’s just not that into you.

CLICK NEXT TO SEE NAS’s ALBUMS WITH JAY-Z, RAKIM, DJ PREMIER AND MORE!

We debuted our World Wide Wednesday column by featuring the hottest 9 Iranian women. [LINK]

Nigo spoke about his love life and Nike criticism. [LINK]

The minivan is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, we looked back at the auto's greatest moments. [LINK]

And From The Complex Network:
Nah Right: Ludacris ft. Nas and Jay-Z “I do it for Hip-Hop”. [LINK]

Bastardly: We never get tired of Scarlett's Twos. [LINK]

KicksOnFire: Air Jordan Ol' School, style. [LINK]

Das Gamer: Check out Call of Duty, World At War. [LINK]

On Smash: Peep the Sony UX Micro PC. [LINK]

Nice Kicks: The Good, The Bad, The Fugly [LINK]

OK, we kid'Nas’s participation in the Nobody Wa s Thirsty project has nothing to do with rap. The charity was created by Australian denim brand Nobody, in collaboration with Hollywood’s Ivan Kane’s Cafe Wa s and charity: water. Each Nobody T-shirt sells for $60, which is enough to supply two people with clean drinking water for up to 20 years. Check the charity web site this Friday for info on buying the T-shirt. To spread awareness, Nobody enlisted photographer Mick Rock to shoot celebrities wearing the Nobody Wa s Thirsty T-shirt. For images of Victoria’s Secret model Selita Ebanks and a couple other philanthropic hotties rocking the shirt, read on…

SELITA EBANKS

LEVEN RAMBIN

DAMIEN FAHEY & GRASIE MERCEDES

So, “Team Blackout,” huh? Yeah, the group is a little cheesy and it features JoJo Simmons'son of Reverend Run, star of Run’s House'but c’mon, who can get mad at wholesome rap for the kids? We were totally fine with letting them live…until our inbox was bombarded with emails promoting the group’s Lights Out album, which dropped last Tuesday. Noooooooooope!!!(c) Jim Jones. Time for a lil’ kufi-smacking.

Like Jigga said'men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t. Sadly, Team Blackout didn’t even make the Billboard Top 200 album chart, so we had to hit our homey with Soundscan access to get us the first-week sales. The numbers? 210 units. As in: Two. Hundred. Ten. And that includes copies bought by the Simmons clan. Fuck, we could pull three rugrats off the street and move more units! Still, Team Blackout is hardly the first act to exploit family credentials en route to a failed rap career. We present the top 5 worst cases of rap nepotism below…

ARTIST: FLATLINERZ
RAP RELATION: Redrum, nephew of Russell Simmons

Horrorcore? If you think this shit is scary, don’t go near any peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

ARTIST: RAMPAGE
RAP RELATION: Cousin of Busta Rhymes

Spliff Starr’s armpit hair has more personality.

ARTIST: HARLEM WORLD
RAP RELATION: Baby Stase and Blinky Blink, twin sister and brother of Mase

What is this, the RingDing Bros. Circus? FOH.

ARTIST: BRAVEHEARTS
RAP RELATION: Jungle, Nas’s brother

They’ve had their moments, but two albums’ worth? That’s a negative, boss.

ARTIST: LIL E
RAP RELATION: Son of Eazy-E

Well, we tried to find an official music video from this dude on YouTube. We really tried.

True Story, Mickey Factz went in during this freestyle for pseudo-reality star Jen The Pen. [Nah Right]

Check out this first look at Nas's Fila sneakers. [Nice Kicks]

John Mayer can officially be considered a Hypebeast after these KAWS collaborative guitar picks. [SlamxHype]

It's safe to say this dude didn't help out his case. [Double Viking]

Nas gets an Alife shirt just in time for his album to drop. [Nah Right]

Check the coolest backpacks for back to school. [Daily Drop]

This little kid takes the Halo obsession to a whole ‘nother level. [Double Viking]

But after all the drama, the newly Untitled album is finally hitting stores on Tuesday. With the controversey finally laid to rest, we talked to Esco about the brightly-colored fashion shoot he did with Complex that had bloggers catching feelings, his new deal with Fila, rap's recession, and who he thinks saved hip-hop…

Interview by Joe La Puma

Complex: You recently did a fashion shoot with us where you wore a lot of bright colors. There was a lot of shit talking about it on the Internet, saying that you were dressed like Kanye. Why do you think they made such a big deal about it?

Nas: The whole point was to just have fun. That's not how I dress, but for a magazine spread, it's out there to be fun. You know, Kanye has fun with his style, and it's just me having fun with his style. It's like borrowing Rick Ross's chain, and taking off my shirt for a shoot. You know what I mean?

Complex: Were you comfortable in those ensembles?

Nas: Yeah, I mean I don't dress that way. I like clothes, I like fashion, I like that people like fashion. And Kanye is definitely a fashionable dude. He has his own way to express himself with clothes that stand out from everybody. So I thought it would be cool, not to make fun of it but just to have fun, and go in that zone for just that spread. I always do what I do, so I just wanted to change it up a little bit. Get people talking shit, so it's cool.

Complex: Last week it was reported you inked a deal with Fila, and you also signed with 310 Footwear like a year ago'two relatively small brands when compared to Nike and Adidas. Why do you think these types of companies are targeting you?

Nas: I don't think they are targeting me; it's just certain places I land at certain times. I don't do like, trillion-dollar brands. Cause there's too much control on their part. Fila has just been a brand amongst the dudes with paper, so I mean, in '86, '87, it's been that brand. It was the Gucci; it was that top of the line. It was the uniform for major players back in '87, '88, '89. It has been going for a long time so I felt like if I got with them, and we brought that back out, that would be a dream come true to me to be apart of that.

Complex: How in-tuned are you with the Internet. Do you read blogs?

Nas: No, I never do.

Complex: Never?

Nas: I don't have to because I'm in the world. Everybody tells me what is there and what's said.

Complex: Okay. How do you think being in an economic recession will affect the next generation of rappers? Will there be the same focus on material wealth?

Nas: In the Great Depression in the '30s, the numbers racking in the black community helped the Italian mafia survive and they thought it was just pennies. The penny business in Chicago, Ed Jones, cats like that, created a huge enterprise that paved the way for street guys to maintain, to open up clubs and pay Duke Ellington so he can buy outfits and cars and fly all over the world.

Complex: Right

Nas: They made it happen in the '30s. They made it happen in the '40s. And it was worse times than now. That's the recipe of a hustler, hard times. There will be fewer artists able to get their glow on and shit. That's how it'll be I think. And overall, the ice got out of control. There are so many people wearing fake necklaces, fake watches. And watch brands that are really just all about hood flashing. It's hard for me when I want to wear a classy watch with diamonds on it. We need a break from the diamonds now, maybe. Because everyone is taking it to the next level. Too much of anything is going to get played out anyway. You may not even need to have all those materialistic things in a year.

Complex: Kanye says that you are the greatest rapper of all time. How does it make you feel when people call Lil' Wayne the best rapper alive?

Nas: Oh man, good. I only feel weird when you're saying that about me. I think Kanye West saved rap. I think Lil' Wayne is showing there is a future for all kinds of artists to continue doing this. You know, I love it.

Complex: Who in the game still excites you?

Nas: Kanye, OutKast, Eminem.

Complex: Is this your last album?

Nas: This is definitely not my last album. I'm going to do this shit until I'm 70, until I can't fucking talk.

Complex: How many more albums do you have on Def Jam?

Nas: That, I don't know.

Complex: Given your strong fan base, would you ever think of going the independent route?

Nas: Oh, hell yeah. That's like, you know, a no-brainer. That's what my wife thought; she was trying to get off her label forever. She got out and she's doing her own thing. That's exactly what I been thinking about a lot too.

Complex: Looking back at the whole album title debacle, would you have just named it something else if you could do it over again?

Nas: No, it's all good man. It's what it's all about. Getting people talking, getting people thinking. Rap dudes are serious dudes'most of us, man. And when it comes to the voice we got, knowing we got this outlet to reach mad people, that's what I'm here for. At least in 2008, right here, it's about being a part of a conversation to point out the hypocrites.

Complex: Would you ever think of making your next title something controversial?

Nas: Nah, no. It has to be real, has to be me. I think the Hip Hop Is Dead and the N*gger album, they were for that time. And it's moving on now. I mean, I don't even know what is controversial anymore because I can think of a next title for my next album, and it may mean a lot to me. People may think it’s a controversial title, but it's really what I'm feeling. I'm not going to make the title less controversial because it's going to offend people.

Complex: It was recently reported that you scrapped your reality show because you felt you and Kelis were too boring. What has to happen for you guys to revisit that idea?

Nas: [Laughs] Well, I don't think she's boring. I think I was too boring to watch at home. I feel like when you watch the reality guys, they got people who were amazing people like 30 years ago. It doesn't give you the same effect with us. I grew up a Hulk Hogan fan and to look inside his home is just amazing to me. I mean, cause I'm a grown man, 27 years later. We're only in the middle of it.

Rosenberg went in real late, playing a bunch of old Nas joints. [Nah Right]

Clae's strong again, this fall. [Nice Kicks]

Have your chick glowing in the L.E.D dress. [Like Cool]

These are some crazy chicks. [DoubleViking]

Produced by Atlanta hitmaker Polow Da Don, the song definitely brings back that big glossy feel of “If I Ruled The World.” The new self-titled Nas album ain’t out until July 1, so listen to the official single below.

Nas “Hero” (produced by Polow Da Don)

from Nas (2008)

Nas and Green Lantern push the envelope with their new mixtape covers. [Nah Right]

Check out the Top 10 Tailgating schools, featuring hot college chicks. [Asylum]

Dr. Phil couldn't help this fatty problem child. [Double Viking]

The Douchebag party never happened at Seattle University. [TastyBooze]

The new ladies of 90210 gave the O.G ones a run for their money. [LINK]

Soccer players have the hottest wives, we conducted a trophy wife showdown. [LINK]

Spike Lee talked about his 1 of 1 Spizikes and working with MJ. [LINK]

And From The Complex Network:
Nah Right: Nas reneged on his album title, then dropped two new tracks. [LINK]

Nice Kicks: A first look at the Air Jordan 7 Olympics. [LINK]

On Smash: Find out who made MTV's hottest MC's honorable mentions list. [LINK]

SlamxHype: The Rejuven8 is dropping in a slew of summer colors. [LINK]

Bastardly: Megan Good's sunglasses are top-notch. [LINK]

Good news for Nas, Al Sharpton is riding with your new album title. [Nah Right]

Nintendo DS got hooked up in summer-friendly colors. Flossy! [CtoTheJL]

These dudes knocked each other the F out. [Double Viking]

This doohickey allows you to re-cover your can of coke. [DVICE]

Nas sits down with On Smash. [On Smash]

LED shower heads? Dope. [Baller House]

Watching porn in front of “Jesus” is not a good idea. [Double Viking]

Huf x Vans satin Sk8-Hi's are coming. [CtotheJL]

“Me and Nas did a record together, and it’s huge…Remember when Diddy and Nas did a record together called ‘Hate Me Now’? In 2008, it’s Nas and Khaled…I told Nas if he wants to use that for his first single, we can go and do that and make history.”

Watch two quick clips of Nas’ performance after the jump.

[ICEDOTCOM]

Nas is no stranger to controversy, turning the Hip Hop world upside down with the name of his last album, Hip Hop Is Dead. Well that should pale in comparison to his new N*gger album'despite Def Jam’s claim to the contrary. Over a week ago (and about a thousand blog posts later), Esco hit the red carpet at the Grammys rocking a red fitted ‘Queens’ cap and t-shirt bearing the controversial title. CNN’s entertainment reporter Brooke Anderson did her best to avoid any uncomfortableness, that was until around 01:01 when Nas explained quite frankly, that “No longer are black people just n*ggers today, it’s also me and you.” After a brief awkward pause, she regained her composure and continued along her line of questioning about the album.

• 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]

?uestlove and model Jessica White give the stone face.

DJ Premier schools Doug E. Fresh on the secrets to his recent success with lady marmalade ' Christina Aguilera.

The cake was delicious. We mean the real one with the candles.

Tracy Morgan (right) will soon be the funniest man on the planet, once the NBC sitcom Thirty Rock premieres.