A Toronto courthouse was abuzz on Monday as Ja Rule appeared to face assault charges, but the rapper's lack of street buzz in the US has his new album release on pause.

Rule turned himself in to Toronto police to face charges of assault bodily harm on Monday morning. According to police, the charges stem from an incident that took place in a Toronto nightclub in early June.

Jeffrey "Ja Rule" Atkins made a brief appearance and was release on $7500 bail. He will return to court on Aug. 30th.

Rule has had a few run-ins with the law lately. Earlier this month, he was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession and driving with a suspended license. The drug charge was dropped the same day.

In related news, Ja Rule's R. Kelly-assisted single has failed to match the success of his past hits. The new album, first scheduled to drop on August 17th, has been taken off release date lists seemingly due to the lack of buzz.

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After four albums with the now defunct Loud Records, Mobb Deep has made a new home with Jive Records. In this exclusive SOHH.com interview, Havoc and Prodigy speak on the album's setbacks and critics.

With "Got It Twisted" burning the airwaves, the M-O-B-B has once again provided heads with a summer banger. Yet, despite the magnitude of the record, the duo's 6th LP was pushed back from its initial June release date.

"The reason why it got pushed back was for our own benefit because we wanted the song to have momentum everywhere so we wanted to make sure everywhere was poppin. It might have been big in New York, but not necessarily everywhere," Havoc told SOHH.com. "We shootin' a new video next week for the new single, a song called 'Real Gangstas' with Lil Jon."

While the Queens duo has handled the bulk of their production in the past, they reached out to several producers to add flavor to this LP. Ironically, Kanye West, who produced Jay-Z's lyrical assault on the rap tandem, "The Takeover," is among the album's producers. The Mobb asserts the diss track didn't prevent them from seeking Kanye's sound.

"Nah, that ain't even come into our minds," Prodigy offered in between bites in the Jive Records' conference room. "We just thought he had some hot beats. We wanted some of that fire."

Shortly after Loud folded, reports surfaced that Mobb Deep was being courted by several labels including Shady Records. Prodigy dismisses the reports as rumors and takes on those who've pigeon-holed them as simply gun-talking emcees.

"I think they're not listening. They're just scratching the surface. We get a little deeper in our albums," P explained. Havoc adds, "Most of the critics... that's their personal opinion. We got a strong fan base so they can't stop us."

Despite pounding out hit-after-hit for Mobb Deep, Havoc has always been one of the game's most slept on producers. Presently, he is enjoying much success courtesy of his work on Jadakiss' "Why." Now after years of in-house production, he's ready to branch out.

"I definitely want to branch out. I was thinking about that the other day. And P encourages me. I felt like that for a long time, but I've always been involved with Mobb Deep," Havoc shared. "But I definitely wanna branch out and do some production for other artists cause it's a good feeling and I like the music. Right now I'm working on a couple of tracks with some other artists."

Mobb Deep's Amerikka's Nightmare, featuring guest spots from Nate Dogg and production from Red Spyda, Lil Jon and Alchemist is in stores August 10th.

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West Coast staple MC Eiht has just signed a deal with Native Records/Ryko and is prepping a new release through the label this fall.

After a brief hiatus, MC Eiht returns with his 7th solo LP, Veteran's Day featuring production from Tha Chill, who previously worked with Snoop Dogg, 213, The Outlawz and MC Ren. With his upcoming release, MC Eiht joins reputed emcees such as The Beatnuts and Ice-T who have both inked deals with labels through Ryko distribution in the past year

MC Eiht's Veterans' Day hits store this fall on Native Records

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Jay-Z, Outkast, Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West and Missy Elliot were all nominated for multiple awards at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards.

The awards show is being held in Miami, Florida, the first time the event has been held in a city outside of New York or Los Angeles.

Jay-Z led the pack with a total of six nominations for his video “99 Problems.” Outkast, Usher, Beyonce and No Doubt earned five nominations each, Kanye West earned four for “All Falls Down,” Black Eyed Peas scored three nominations and Missy Elliot earned two.

D-12, 50 Cent, Ludacris, Nelly, Twista and Chingy were also nominated for awards. It was also announced that Kanye West and Usher have been added today to perform during the annual awards ceremony.

"We've brought in the heavy hitters," said Van Toffler, President, MTV & MTV2. "These artists put on incredible live shows, which combined with the heat of Miami, some surprise collaborations, and a stage like no other seen on television will make for an unforgettable night."

The 2004 MTV Video Music Awards take place at Miami’s American Airlines Arena on August 29 and will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. EST.

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A group of protesters that included Hip-Hop legend Africa Bambaataa boycotted the Kool Mixx DJ Championship in Chicago on Saturday (July 24).

The majority of states that make up the United States of America have filed lawsuits against Brown & Williamson, makers of the Kool brand of cigarettes.

Attorney Generals in various states including Illinois claim that Brown & Williamson violated a 1998 billion dollar settlement agreement between the U.S. and cigarette makers to stop targeting potential underage smokers.

"Your body is your first temple, your first mosque, your first church," Bambaataa said in front of the Vic Theatre. "We've got to respect what goes in our bodies."

The competition has gone on for six years, but this is the first year that the Kool cigarettes came in packages featuring brown-skinned people.

That bolsters claims that Brown & Williamson are marketing the cigarettes to African-American and Hispanic youth.

Brown & Williamson said the packaging was a mistake and discontinued the line.

In an affidavit accompanying a lawsuit filed against Brown & Williamson in Baltimore, Maryland, a professor at the University of Southern California labeled Brown & Williamson’s Kool campaign effective marketing to a select group of people.

“Hip-Hop is one of the music genres most preferred by the youth culture, and the popularity of this genre declines as the age group increases," Kamins said. "As a result, linking one's marketing strategy to Hip-Hop is an extremely effective approach if a company wishes to sell its product to youth."

Another professor, Richard Daynard of Northeastern University, labeled Brown & Williamson “particularly reckless.”

A spokesman for Brown & Williamson defended the marketing campaign, claiming Hip-Hop was popular in the 25-34 demographic. The spokesman also said magazine advertisements are only included in publications sent to adult subscribers.

"When we say it is brand merchandise, they say it is not,” Marlene Trestmen, special assistant to Baltimore’s attorney general relating to tobacco issues told the Baltimore Sun. "When we say it is youth-targeting, they say they did not. To have any certainty in the state of Maryland, we were really left with no choice but to proceed with this enforcement action."

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Cash Money has further bolstered their R&B repertoire with the signing of R&B songstress Lil’ Mo.

Sighting a lack of support from her former label, the defunct Elektra Records, the New York native said she intends to refocus her musical career.

Lil Mo’ joins the legendary Teena Marie as another leg to the R&B component of the largely Hip-Hop label and according to unnamed sources, may release the first single “Hot Girls,” which features rapper Fabolous.

Her Cash Money debut is tentatively titled Syndicated: The Lil’ Mo Hour is scheduled for an early 2005 release.

The 27-year-old R&B veteran is best known for her two gold selling albums, “Based On A True Story,” and the highly touted “Meet The Girl Next Door.”

She has also lent her vocal talents to a plethora of popular artists, such as Keith Sweat, BLACKStreet, Missy Elliot, Next, and Joe Budden

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Hip-Hop music has been meshed with almost every musical genre. Country music star Tim McGraw is breaking ground and incorporating the art form into his live stage show.

McGraw’s 2004 tour is being hailed as a milestone event due to the inclusion of an African-American rapper named Cowboy Troy, who rhymes during McGraw’s set.

Troy, who is 6’5 and 260 pounds, performs with McGraw on the song “She’s My Kind of Rain” complete in cowboy hat, boots jeans and a large belt buckle.

“CTB” is no stranger to rapping. He started his career in 1989 and honed his rhyming skills in bars around the Dallas, Texas area before heading for the bright lights of Country music capital, Nashville, Tennessee.

He has released three independent albums, Hick-Hop Hysteria (2001), Beginner's Luck (2002) and Vintage (2003).

“One day in the future, people might point to the current Tim McGraw tour as the start of something big,” music critic Jim Harrington wrote. “I'm not talking about McGraw's career. That's already plenty big enough. I mean the mainstreaming of a new musical trend: hip-hop country. In five years, if not sooner, when rap mingles as easily with country as it now does with rock, scholars will see McGraw's 2004 tour as a milestone event.”

And despite purists’ objections to the mixing of the two art forms, the crowd that attended McGraw’s show at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California embraced the concept.

“I'm a country girl and my husband is more rap and rock,” Brianne Critchley told the Alameda Times Star. “But I really liked it.”

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Dame Dash has the money, now he's got the time, too. The Roc-A-Fella boss is launching a collection of luxury watches called Tiret New York. Prices for the bejeweled timepieces will range from $18,000 to $175,000.

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Shyne has a new dis record called "For the Record" that targets 50 Cent.

With lyrics that sound like they were recorded over the phone, Shyne raps about reuniting 50 Cent with his deceased mother, implicates 50 as a snitch and exposes a purported attempt by the captain of the G-Unit to ink Shyne to his label. The song starts with an interlude of Sha Money XL, 50's right-hand man and producer, offering the imprisoned MC a deal.

"Cause jail only made me a much more ruthless n---a, And the bitch n---a knew this, That's why he tried to sign me to G-Unit." On Wednesday, in an exclusive interview with MTV News at Clinton Correctional Facility, Shyne spoke for the first time about his problems with the hulking rapper from Queens, New York.

"You hear me, he's a kid to me," Shyne said of 50. "He's like a little dude. In here we call them 'my little homies.' "

"For the Record" is retaliation for a freestyle 50 did last year on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 New York radio show. In a lyrical tirade, 50 went off on Shyne and Lil' Kim, among others, rapping, "I heard Irv trying to sign Shyne, so I don't got no love for him / Tell him 50 said he's soft, he won't shoot up the club again."

"I was just falling back, then I got word he said something he wasn't supposed to say," Shyne explained. "It's one thing if he would have said it and stood by it; 'That's what I said, you have a problem, whatever!' But he said it and at the same time he was trying to sign me to G-Unit Records. There's an interlude where Sha Money is calling me, 'Yo, 50 wants you to sign to G-unit.' He's reaching out to all my sets [in the street] trying to sign me to G-Unit. [50] used to rap about me before he got big. He tried to do a song with me, so he knows who I be."

Shyne went on to say there could not be real beef between him and 50 because he thought 50 was "a joke" and he did not take him seriously. According to the Brooklyn, New York, rhyme slinger, even if 50 responds, "For the Record" is the last he'll speak on him. A spokesperson for 50 had no comment.

"For the Record" will be featured on Shyne's second LP, Godfather Buried Alive, which is due August 10. Source: MTV