After the overwhelming success of 'Vendetta', Def Jam is once again partnering with Electronic Arts to launch the new Def Jam Fight For NY video game.

The game centers around the main character, D-Mob, a gangsta who has just escaped incarceration. When he hits the streets, he realizes that a newcomer by the name of Crow has taken over as the ruler of New York's underground circuit. The object of the game is ultimately to take Crow down.

Unlike Vendetta, Fight For NY's characters aren't limited to Def Jam artists. Game users will run into over 65 of Hip-Hop's hottest stars through the course of the game's Story Mode including the likes of Ludacris (watch video: hi | lo), Lil Kim, Busta Rhymes, Method Man, Redman, Flava Flav, Snoop Dogg and many more. Players will also be able to create their own characters and personalize them with tattoos, bling-bling from Jacob the Jeweler and gear ranging from Phat Farm and Rocawear to Sean John.

Def Jam Fight For NY is scheduled to hit stores in September for Playstation 2, Xbox and Nintendo Game Cube.

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De La Soul has just inked an indie record deal and is preparing to release their new LP in late September.

De La's 7th LP, entitled The Grind Date will be released through the trio's own AOI records in conjunction with Sanctuary Urban Records Group. The Grind Date marks the group's first effort since leaving Tommy Boy Records after a 12 year relationship

"To get to the point of releasing this new album it's been a grind, but as a group we have never stopped working," Maseo said in a statement. "Over the past three years we have been busy traveling the world, taking hip-hop to places like Prague, Ireland and Poland, as well as continuing to play in the mainstays such as London and the U.S."

The Grind Date features a variety of guest appearances including Ghostface, Common, Carl Thomas, Sean Paul and film director Spike Lee. To promote the LP, De La will be hitting the road for five dates in September and October.

De La Soul's The Grind Date featuring production from Jay Dee and Mike West hits stores on September 28th.

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Contrabandit.com has teamed with an organization called Slam Bush and the League of Independent Voters PAC to create a national MC battle and poetry series created to allow the Hip-Hop generation to take a stand against President Bush and help oust him from office.

Starting in August, contestants in Slam Bush will compete in regional battles held in key swing states across the country.

The winners will move on to the finals in September in Miami, with the aim of taking home the grand prize of $5,000.

Chuck D., Wordsworth, Joshua "Fahiym" Ratcliffe and Medusa will serve as the judges of the contest.

The final battle that takes place is will coincide with the presidential debate that is slated to take place in late September.

"Slam Bush is an opportunity for the Hip-Hop generation to use its own voice to stand up against George W. Bush," organizer Rob "biko" Baker told AllHipHop.com in a statement. "For years Hip-Hop has been an informal political voice, now it's time to show we can make change at the polls."

For more information on how to participate and/or organize an event visit www.slambush.net or contact Robert "biko" Baker at 213-925-1545/biko@contrabandit.com.

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In an interview with Hot 97’s Morning Show staff, Mase, Jim Jones and Cam’ron engaged in a heated debate, with the two Dip Set members questioning Mase’s authenticity.

On air, Mase recalled the cause of his split with Cam’ron, with whom he once rapped with. The incident started when Mase claimed he offered to split a $50,000 fee for appearing in Cam’s 1998 hit song “Horse-n-Carriage,” instead of him doing the song for free.

Diplomat CEO Jimmy Jones called the show enraged.

“I will do it to you duke," Jones said. "I don't like you. You shouldn't have came out your mouth. I'll put some dentures in your mouth. Go back down south with your congregation. Tell the truth. For you to sit there and lie...you are a reverend.”

Jones also charged that Mase left the game due to pressures from individuals in Harlem who extorted him.

Mase eventually gathered himself and denied the charges that he was forced out of Harlem. Mase explained that he had already purchased land in Atlanta, Georgia and was planning to move.

Continuing, he stated, in his slow tone, that after a close friend was stabbed, he headed down south and that it had nothing to do with unsavory characters forcing him to leave.

“People grow up, I don’t have time for that,” Mase said. “[During commercial break] I was praying for Jimmy, I love them dudes. It’s just sad when people don’t understand.”

Angry like Jones, Cam’ron called in shortly afterwards, questioning Mase’s motives for returning to the rap game.

“I’m just not into the lies I'm into the truth and that’s it. The only thing you did was took me to counseling, you broke out on everybody and left. That’s what you do, you did it before and you’re gonna do it again,” Cam stated on air.

“I’m not a chump like that. [Mase], tell them how you called me and asked me to do an album last week,” Cam told Mase. “[Diplomats are] gonna make $150 million off the liquor. There aint no money in this rap game. I just do the music because I am nice. I wish you the best, but tell the truth.”

Cam'ron even called Mase a fraud and said that he had a tape of one of Mase’s sermons, where he said rap music “is the devil.”

“You’re a reverend lying. I was there," Cam said. "You said rap is the devil at your speeches in church. I got it on tape…and [now] you’re rapping [again],” he said. “The reverend is up there lying. I wish you the best of luck, stop lying.”

Mase rebutted, calling the rappers thin-skinned. Mase did admit to Cam'ron's accusations surrounding his statements about rap but said, “When I think about how the people need what I have to say [I changed my view]. It’s just like money. The same money that buys marijuana, buys bibles. Rap is not really of the devil, it’s what people say in it.

“I cannot not express the truth because they’re sensitive,” Mase said. “I don’t have any problems with them. Even in the bible when a person knows that you come to say something powerful, they try to discredit your name. One word from God can wipe out years of wrongdoing.”

Mase, who said that he was going on the road with Usher to promote his new album, closed his appearance on the Hot 97 show with a prayer: “In the name of the Heavenly Father, I thank you today for forgiving me for all my wrong doing and shortcomings. I thank you for dying on the cross for all of my sins. I am healed, I am delivered and I am rich. Amen.”

Incidentally, Mase and Jim Jones will release albums on the same day, August 24.


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Almost two weeks after Robert Smith alleged that he and Brandy never actually married, the singer has announced her engagement to NBA star Quentin Richardson.

The singer, 25, and the Chicago-born baller (who is in the process of leaving the Los Angeles Clippers for the Phoenix Suns), 24, got engaged on Tuesday, according to People. Richardson proposed during a private party at the Century Club in Los Angeles with the couple's friends and families in attendance.

Richardson reportedly asked for Brandy's hand by adorning it with an 11-and-a-half-carat diamond ring valued at $1 million and designed by jeweler Jason Arasheben, who completed the ring just 30 minutes before the proposal.

No date for the wedding was announced.

In a June interview with MTV, Brandy spoke of her relationship with Richardson. "It's definitely going well," she said. "We're taking it day by day because we're both young and I've been through a crazy experience."

The singer also said that if she were to get engaged again, she would not keep it a secret. "I promise you, I'm gonna call [my next marriage] my first marriage, because it'll be the first time that I'll ever get a chance to walk down the aisle and have bridesmaids and my mom crying and my dad giving me away, and just really being in love with somebody. I promise you, it will not be a secret because it'll be real."

Robert Smith recently told two New York radio stations that he and Brandy were never legally wed, but simply kept up appearances to maintain the singer's image, since she was pregnant with their child

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The power of Kabbalah abandoned poor Kimora Lee Simmons this week. The bothersome wife of music titan Russell Simmons was arrested early Monday morning for pot possession and assorted vehicular infractions following a traffic stop in Saddle River, New Jersey. As seen in the below police booking photo, Mrs. Simmons, 29, was wearing a Kabbalah red string bracelet to ward off assorted evil eyes when officers pulled over her Mercedes SL-600 (suggested retail price, w/o extras: $128,220). The flimsy string did not keep Kimora out of cuffs, especially since she repeatedly ignored police directions to pull over her ride (she finally stopped the Benz in front of her Saddle River estate). Russell Simmons, who has claimed that his wife may have been the victim of racial profiling, said her rough treatment by cops left Kimora with bruised wrists.

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Anthony Anderson, the appearing in every movie from "Kangaroo Jack" to "Barbershop" to "Harold & Kumaar Go to White Castle" was charged today with the aggravated rape of a woman who police say was assaulted after being lured into a production trailer on a Memphis movie set. According to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, Anderson, 33, and Wayne Witherspoon, 42, attacked the woman, a movie extra, yesterday afternoon. The woman told cops that Witherspoon forcibly removed her clothes once she was inside the trailer. She told investigators that Anderson, who was already in the trailer at the time, joined the assault, according to a graphic criminal complaint. The woman told cops that Anderson and Witherspoon "both assaulted her with their hands and took pictures of her while she was nude." A witness told officers that he heard the woman screaming and managed to unlock the trailer's door. At that point, the naked woman ran from the vehicle, which was parked on the grounds of the Shelby County Corrections Center, where scenes from director John Singleton's "Hustle & Flow" were being shot. Anderson and Witherspoon were released tonight from the Shelby County Jail after each posted $20,000 bond. The actor is starring in Singleton's flick, a movie about a fledgling rapper.

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Lil' Kim pleaded not guilty again Wednesday to lying about what she witnessed at a New York radio-station shootout three years ago.

Ditto her entourage, who have been named as defendants in the indictment. Taking the stand to proclaim their innocence today were Kim's assistant, Monique Dopwell, business associate Damien Butler and Kim's business manager, Hillary Weston, a last-minute addition to the case.

A bodyguard who allegedly accompanied La Bella Mafia's leading lady to the offices of Hot 97 had already pleaded guilty to firing a machine gun during the confrontation and faces more than 13 years in federal prison.

(Kim and her crew had already entered their not-guilty pleas earlier this year, but the addition of Weston to the case required that everyone reenter their pleas.)

The whole thing stinks of celebrity bashing, according to the Queen Bee's lawyer, Mel Sachs. "Kim has been unfairly accused and unjustly charged, she was wrongfully targeted and singled out because of who she is in the music industry," he told E! Online.

The charges against the rapper (real name Kimberly Jones) stem from a grand-jury investigation into a Feb. 25, 2001, shootout between Kim's posse, Junior MAFIA, and the rival rap entourage of Capone-N-Noreaga outside Manhattan's WQHT building.

No one was killed in the crossfire, but one man was seriously injured after taking a bullet in the back.

When authorities questioned Kim about the incident, she allegedly fudged the details about who was involved and what she witnessed. (It was probably not the smartest move since prosecutors claim to have a videotape of the Notorious K.I.M. witnessing the gun battle, then darting into a limousine with some of the alleged shooters.)

She was subsequently charged with one count of conspiracy, three counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years on the obstruction count and 35 years maximum on all the other charges.

Kim could be in good company. On Tuesday, her business manager, Weston, was added to the defendant's list. Weston was indicted on charges that she ignored subpoenas to turn over documents from Kim's company, Queen Bee Entertainment.

Weston is also accused of altering, destroying and mutilating Queen Bee's records requested by the grand jury as part of their investigation.

Maybe the shredder shorted out because investigators went on to seize 22 boxes of documents and photos during a search of the 28-year-old rapper's headquarters.

A November trial date was originally scheduled to give prosecutors time to go over the material seized at Queen Bee's offices--it may not have been enough. On Wednesday, over prosecution protests, U.S. District Court Judge Gerard Lynch reset the trial for Feb. 28 to give the defense more time to prepare.