In this week's Hip-Hop charts, Nelly's twins keep sliding, Talib Kweli, Queen Latifah, Guerrilla Black and Shawnna enter the charts and Mase gets closer to the exit.

Despite two relatively solid singles, Nelly's Suit and Sweat have failed to generate sales that rival the rapper's past LPs. In its third week, Suit drops 25 percent and three spots to number 5 while Sweat falls 37 percent and four positions to number 8 - respectively selling 118,000 units and 80,000 CDs according Nielsen's Soundscan.

Further down the charts, Talib Kweli has managed to hit the Top 20 despite little exposure. Though The Beautiful Struggle's lead single, "I Try" is now MTV buzzworthy, its lack of radio play confines Kwe to the number 14 position with sales of 63,000 copies according to Soundscan.

Two slots behind, Queen Latifah's first singing offering, The Dana Owens Album hits the number 16 spot with 61,000 CDs sold while Guerrilla Black's Guerrilla City lands at number 20 and moves 46,000 according to Soundscan.

While the aforementioned Kweli and Latifah have generated solid sales considering their lack of promotion, Shawnna's Worth The Weight has failed to capitalize on the exposure of the Ludacris-assisted "Shake That sh!t." With numerous spins on BET and New York's Hot 97 among other stations, Disturbin' Tha Peace's first lady debuts at number 43 and sells 45,451 CDs according to the Hits charts.

Meanwhile, LL Cool J gets back on the slopes, Black Eyed Peas sticks and moves and Mase keeps sinking. This week, LL Cool J returns to the downside with a 20 percent decline in his fifth week. With "Headsprung" now gone from countdowns and fading from playlists, Uncle L slips 15 slots to number 26 - selling 40,684 records according to the Hits charts. Fresh off their new T-Mobile International partnership, Black Eyed Peas refuses to cave in. In its 67th week, Elephunk slides nine positions, but leaps 9 percent to find 35,798 purchasers according to the Hits charts. Lastly, Mase's slipping sales are on pace to take him out of the Hits charts by next week. In its sixth week, Welcome Back drops 20 percent and 16 spots to rank at number 46 - selling 25, 522 LPs according to the Hits charts.

Next week, look for De La Soul and I-20 to sneak into the charts.

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Though Eminem's Encore has been safely guarded thus far, reports have surfaced that the LP will be available in a special collector's edition.

The CD will come in a telescoping box and the package will include 25 glossy photo inserts. The set will also feature the album's lyrics, an exclusive Eminem photo and an exclusive free ringtone. As reported previously, Encore is scheduled to contain a bonus disc with cuts that were leaked to the Internet earlier this year.

Eminem's Encore hits stores Nov. 16.

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The Source and Russell Simmons continue to feud. The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network recently pulled out of an event scheduled to take place over the weekend before The Source Awards.

Simmons and The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN) pulled out of speaking duties at Saturday’s (October 9th) "Join the SIPHA: Hip-Hop Voter Education Rally."

"Russell Simmons has been exploiting Hip-Hop for years,” The Source’s Dave Mays and Ray Benzino said in a statement. “We invited, and expected him to participate in the largest annual Hip-Hop weekend of the year, and he bailed from the event because he is afraid of the authenticity and influence of The Source Magazine, and our weekend.

“Russell is further from Hip-Hop, the community and struggle it represents than he has ever been. Russell is a serious threat to the advancement of the black community, and Hip-Hop culture because he exploits the perception in corporate America that he represents the views of the Hip-Hop community when he does not."

Mays and Benzino said Simmons’ call for unity with Eminem after the magazine produced a tape of the rapper using racial slurs against black women, downplayed the seriousness of the issue.

"The true cause of disunity in Hip-Hop is the lack of open dialogue regarding the state of the Hip-Hop music industry, and the role of corporate interests in the destruction of black owned companies and black artists. We invite Russell, Jimmy Iovine, Eminem and Paul Rosenberg to a debate to discuss the future of Hip-Hop and those things that divide us. The Hip-Hop Summit, and Russell Simmons may represent the Hamptons and his rich friends, but they don't represent the Hip-Hop Community.”

Thousands are expected to attend the rally, which takes place at the Miami Arena on October 9th. Minister Louis Farrakhan, Al Sharpton, Ja Rule, Ludacris, Fat Joe and other are expected to speak.

Simmons reply to The Source’s comments and allegations were simple: “God bless them,” the mogul told AllHipHop.com.


(The Source & Benzino are so full of shit. They never cease to amaze me. "Russell is a serious threat to the advancement of the black community, and Hip-Hop culture." Please. . If anybody is a threat to hip hop, it's the muthafuckin' Source - Rob)

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Ed Lover is widely known as a Hip-Hop comedic personality and New York radio host, but he is delving deeper into the music aspect of the rap game.

With his new label, Full Blast, the former host of “YO! MTV Raps” said that he is only concerned with authentic Hip-Hop and even found a flagship artist to represent his movement.

“I’m working with a young lady from Atlanta by the name of Echo so look out for her real soon,” he told AllHipHop.com. “I’m signing real Hip-Hop. If somebody goes commercial, they go commercial, but if you’re not bringing that real Hip-Hop I don’t want anything to deal with it.

“Enough with the beef, enough with the bull crap gangsta posturing because they’re all a bunch of punks,” he continued. "Forget all the yelling on records, go in the street. Meet them on 52 and 5th and fight.”

Ed, who works the morning show on Power 105.1 in New York, said that he was relatively disgusted with the overall state of modern Hip-Hop music.

“The bad thing about Hip-Hop is the vicious Catch 22. What me and [Dr.] Dre did with “Yo! MTV Raps” [the culture went] from watching your local video show to going worldwide. It then became feasible and people started making money,” he continued. “The more money it made, the more watered down it became. A&R’s hardly know what they’re doing.”

With the eventual return of the Star & Bucwild, Ed Lover said that he welcomed the controversial shock jocks to Power 105, a subsidiary of Clear Channel.

Happily, he said, “I think it’s a good thing if [Star] comes back I’m bouncing to the 2-6 [time slot], so that opens me up to a new audience. We always have a respect for each other despite the verbal bantering we had going on. I still have the No. 1 urban morning show..”

Finally, Ed said that he had a new alcohol called Intrigue coming out in the near future, following other Hip-Hoppers like Dame Dash, Cam’ron and Lil’ Flip.

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The rapper Beanie Sigel, known for grimy depictions of thug life has worked overtime to complete his third album, "The B-Coming," so it can be released in December. He's finished all his scenes in the sequel to the 2002 gangsta flick "State Property," which he starred in. And he's spent the last few days filming multiple music videos, even though they might not air for months.

Sigel isn't dying but his life will change dramatically on Friday, when he's expected to be sentenced in a Philadelphia courtroom to about three years in prison on federal drug and weapons charges. And that won't end his legal troubles he still faces a January retrial on an attempted murder charge.

"(I'm) just settin' things up just in case I gotta go away, for my family make sure everybody live comfortably, and maintains livin' how they maintain living now," Sigel, born Dwight Grant, said cooly during an interview at his Roc-A-Fella record label offices. "I gotta do that. Gotta plan and strategize."

"You can't never prepare yourself for it," Sigel said of his potential sentence. "You can set things up for other people who depend on you. But for yourself, you can't prepare yourself to go to jail, because you never know how it's going to be."

Although he may not be prepared for prison, Sigel has sold more than a million records glamorizing a criminal lifestyle. Like many of his peers, the majority of his raps depict drug slinging, gun toting, killing and torturing enemies, outwitting police, and worse on one recent mixtape, he even raps about raping a pregnant woman.

While dozens of rappers from Jay-Z to P. Diddy have run afoul of the law, only about a half-dozen hip-hoppers with Sigel's star power have done prison time. Still, Sigel insists that the life he portrays only represents how he grew up a poor child of Philadelphia, surrounded by drugs and crime and does not reflect the way he lives today.

"I may rap about a certain thing ... (but) that's not me. I'm an entertainer, so I'm playing a role. That person that you see in 'State Property' the movie, or you hear on one of those songs that's what I do to make money, that's my job," said Sigel. "Just like any actor. Like I said before, you've got the Terminator who's the governor. He kills up everybody in his movies."

But Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't have the rap sheet to go along with the image. Police say Sigel's been getting into trouble since he was a teen, and in 1996 he received probation after pleading guilty to drug possession with intent to deliver.

Two critically and commercially successful albums 1999's "The Truth and 2001's "The Reason" made him a certified rap star. But in 2001, he was arrested for assault twice.

His most serious problems began last year, when in three separate instances he was charged with assault, drug and weapons offenses and then attempted murder for a shooting that left a man seriously injured. The attempted murder trial ended in a mistrial this spring.

Sigel pleaded guilty earlier this year to drugs and weapons charges; in the interview, he declined to discuss why. However, he proclaimed he's innocent of attempted murder, and repeatedly said he was being persecuted because he's a rich black rapper.

"We control a situation that generates billions of dollars for ourself, and we dominate in this. Yeah we've been targeted," he says of rappers. "If you're successful at something, somebody's gonna want a piece of it, and if they can't get a piece of it, they're gonna wanna destroy it."

Damon Dash, who co-founded the Roc-A-Fella label with Jay-Z, agreed.

"They're going to use his lyrical content ... to back up what their suspicions are. I definitely believe he's a victim of perception," he said.

Cathie Abookire, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia district attorney, denied that: "Beanie Sigel is going on trial for an attempted murder. That is why he was he was arrested, that is why he was charged, and that is why he's going to trial."

Sigel didn't help his image by promoting his State Property clothing line with boasts that the jeans had special pockets for hiding weapons. Sigel now says that was a publicity stunt.

"Controversy sells. We ain't never made no jeans that could hold no weapons ... it was just something to draw attention," he said, smiling.

Sigel has maintained his wide smile throughout his troubles. However, he said he worries about the fate of his five children, his mother and the people who have come to depend on him.

Dash said he'll be helping take care of business and supporting his friend while he's behind bars: "He'll definitely come home to something. I'll definitely keep him in the public eye as much as possible."

And Sigel said he's not going to worry.

"People plan but God's the best of the planners. Whatever plan they got for me, it ain't gonna be nothin' compared to what God's got for me."