With releases from Ghostface and Freeway and upcoming projects from Old Dirty Bastard, Chris Landry's Sure Shot Recordings is quickly changing the complexion of the mixtape scene- making him a player to watch for 2004.

Before making noise with Sure Shot, the Boston native worked at Profile Records and later with Funk Master Flex' Franchise before landing at Landspeed.

"I was the general manager at Landspeed Records. And that went under about a year ago. Actually, Sure Shot has been around since 95. We put out 12 inches," Landry told SOHH.com "Since Lanspeed went under my mission was to put an album out every month and we have succeeded doing that this year."

Indeed, Sure Shot has been putting massive work since the year began with 10 releases. In addition to putting out projects from buzzing upstarts like Saigon and Consequence, the label recently released projects from Ghostface and Freeway's respective crews.

"We got really great talent...we put out albums, but we also put out what we call official mixtape albums, which is an outlet for artists that are already established to either put out their side projects or groups that they are a part of like Ghostface's Theodore Unit and Consequence," Landry explained. "Same with Saigon, but before they put out official albums they wanted to put out something for the streets."

As Lanspeed was going under, the blueprint of Landry's next venture was falling in place. Now artists are increasingly dropping mixtapes and promoting them like LP's.

"Over the last several years, the mixtape has been a big part of Hip-Hop culture being that what's hot on the streets is hot on the mixtapes. And with Lanspeed we started putting Mobb Deep, The Murda Mixtape, which ended up selling a couple of hundred thousands," Landry revealed. "When Mobb comes out on a major label, they'll sell 400,000 thousand plus, but when they do an indie and we do it as a mixtape and sell a couple of hundred thousands everybody can still get cake and it doesn't look like they took a l (loss) because they only sold 200,000."

While mixtapes are usually heavily bootlegged and prevent artists and DJ's to profit from their work, Sure Shot's marketing tactics allow the artists to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

"We take the mixtape game to a different level. We packaging it in real jewel cases with the bar code and international distribution and we do marketing and promotion so we treat it like a real album."

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Roughly 6 years after her last release, Queen Latifah is prepping her 5th album, The Dana Owens Album for late September.

Instead of focusing on rap, the LP, titled after Queen's birth name, will feature Latifah singing Jazz, Soul and Pop classics. The set's first two singles are scheduled to premiere on AOL this week. The first cut showcases Latifah's cover of the Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin" and the second is a big band arrangement of Leonard Father/Bill Moore Jr.'s "Baby Get Lost" formerly recorded by Blues legend B.B. King and Billie Holliday.

In related news, Latifah is presently in negotiations to appear in ABC's tentatively titled, "The Muppet's Wizard Of Oz." Ashanti has also been tapped for the project.

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Fresh off cameos with Talib Kweli and The Roots, Jean Grae is scheduled to drop her second Babygrande/Koch release, This Week in late September.

Roughly a year after The Bootleg Of The Bootleg EP, Jean now returns with a full length LP. After being pushed back two weeks, the album is now ready to drop with production from 9th Wonder and Midi Mafia. In addition to cameos with the aforementioned artists, Grae's buzz has been intensifying courtesy of appearances on several mixtapes and guest spots on LP's, including label mate Sharky. Furthermore, Grae has been touring consistently all year.

Jean Grae's This Week hits stores September 21 on Babygrande/Koch Records.

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North Carolina Hip-Hop group Little Brother has officially inked a long term exclusive recording contract with Atlantic Records, via a production deal with ABB Records.

Little Brother, which consists of group members Phonte, Big Pooh and 9th Wonder, signed with ABB in 2002. In 2003 the label dropped their critically acclaimed full length debut, The Listening.

"Little Brother is the latest ABB artist to step up to the plate in terms of major label interest," ABB Records President Beni B said. "It's good to know that their musical vision, together with ABB's efforts, created a solid first impression. ABB looks forward to working with the great Atlantic team to help Little Brother further develop their incredible talent, grow their musical visions, and impact people's lives with their music."

Atlantic is building a formidable Hip-Hop roster under the watchful eye of Co-Chairman/COO Craig Kallman, who has overseen the signings of Chicago’s Bumpy Johnson, Juvenile and more recently, DJ Quik.

Kallman called Little Brother “one of the most creative and refreshing groups on the underground urban music scene.”

“With two gifted MCs and a genius producer, they tell down-to-earth, authentic stories laid over brilliant soundscapes,” Kallman said. “With their roots in the music of classic Native Tongues artists, Little Brother is taking hip-hop music into the future with an inspired musical vision and a truly organic chemistry. ABB has proved to be a terrific incubator of new talent, and I am thrilled that we were able to join forces with them to bring Little Brother into the Atlantic family.”

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With the first single from his new record, Xzibit is almost certainly guaranteeing himself a coveted television appearance this fall. The song is called "Saturday Night Live." Produced by Jelly Roll (Snoop Dogg, Jadakiss) and featuring Krondon from Xzibit protégés Strong Arm Steady, the tune isn't an ode to Lorne Michaels but it should still liven up the show's crowd.

"It's a real feel-good track," X said recently. "It's what you play on your way to the club and what you play when you get into the club and what you play after you're leaving the club on the way to the house."

"Saturday Night Live" will be featured on Xzibit's fifth album, Weapons of Mass Destruction, due October 26 on Sony Urban Records.

"I'm executive-producing this record and it's 15 banging tracks," X said. "We've got a lot of good production on there. I've got my team on there, Strong Arm Steady. And Busta Rhymes got down on there. It's a really strong album and I'm very, very excited about putting it out."

Xzibit is shooting the video for "Saturday Night Live" in a few weeks, although that's all he's saying about the clip.

"I'm not gonna spoil it before it's done, because all video treatments look kinda the same, but it's gonna be nice," he said. "We gonna present the West Coast in a very new manner. We haven't been out in the forefront in a long time, so it's just time to have some fun with it and show how we do it on the West Side."

Since the release of 2002's Man Vs. Machine, Xzibit's profile has widened significantly thanks to his car-remake show, "Pimp My Ride." Earlier this year he appeared on "CSI: Miami," and he's currently shooting "XXX 2: The State of the Union" with Ice Cube and Samuel L. Jackson.

"It's the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me," X said of the movie. "I play Zeke, I'm one of Ice Cube's homeboys/ weapons specialists, so you should see me get my chops up. It's going really well."

Queen Latifah's The Dana Owens Album hits stores on September 28.