With heads impatiently waiting to hear 50 Cent's infamous diss track aimed at Fat Joe and Jadakiss, talk spread that FunkMaster Flex of New York's Hot 97 was slated to premiere the track earlier this week. Now word is that Flex wants to stay neutral and opted not to play the song. The cut is scheduled to appear on 50's sophomore CD, The Valentine's Day Massacre which hits stores February 15th, 2005.

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Despite sneaking into 106 & Park's countdown and receiving decent radio play with "Hot 2 Night," New Edition's return LP, One Love failed to match the numbers of their previous efforts. Now, after quickly disappearing from Billboard's 200, the group is apparently looking to leave P. Diddy's Bad Boy Records; citing their lack of promotion for their intended departure. Meanwhile, former member and bad boy in his own rite, Bobby Brown has plans to rejoin NE for some of their upcoming tour dates

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Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Lil Wayne was leaving Cash Money Records to join Island Def Jam under Jay-Z. While he stressed that his move was a golden opportunity and asserted things were still cool with Cash Money, rumors are spreading that the two parties aren't parting on the best terms. Industry insiders are saying that Wayne; like Juvenile, B.G. and Young Turk before him, has left CMR because of monetary conflicts. Sources also say that Wayne has let go of his grudge against Juvenile because he too was bound to shady contractual agreements. Interestingly, Baby, co-founder of CMR, is Wayne's legal guardian. Heads have long believed that Wayne remained at the label because of his preferential treatment by Baby.

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Roughly a year after releasing two commercially successful singles, Cassidy has returned with hard-hitting freestyles and is now buzzing courtesy of the Swizz Beatz-produced "I'm A Hustler." While heads are raving about Swizz's raw production and Cass' solid lyrics, word is now spreading that the Philadelphia rapper takes shots at Jay-Z on an alternate song version. On the cut, which samples Hov's "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," Cass apparently stabs at Hov when spitting, "You made it a hot line/I made it a hot song." Jiggaman first spit those lyrics on "The Takeover" in response to Nas' boast that Jay was paying him for sampling the Queens emcee's "The World Is Yours" on "Dead Presidents" off Jay's Reasonable Doubt debut.

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Rapper Ras Kass has been released from Corcoran State Prison in California, after serving almost 2 yearsfor a third DUI conviction.

The rapper was released on December 21, 2004.

In January of 2003, Ras Kass was supposed to surrender to California authorities to serve a mandatory 9 months for the conviction.

Instead of surrendering, the rapper went on the run to protest what he labeled a “slave” deal with Priority Records.

His flight sparked conversation in Hip-Hop circles of his whereabouts. In May of 2003, he finally surrendered to authorities, after spending 5 months on the run.

Ras Kass’ highly anticipated CD Goldyn Chyld was never released by Priority, as was the case with his anticipated album Van Gogh, which was shelved due to rampant internet bootlegging.

In May, lawyers representing Ras Kass filed a civil complaint in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against Priority Records.

The rapper’s lawsuit alleged that Priority breached their agreement, by distributing two of the four albums Ras Kass recorded over a period of 9 years.

“I want what is fair; all I want is to create great music, have the proper team behind me, and be the artist that I am,” Ras Kass said in a previous statement. “I am prepared to do what it takes in order to be released from this ugly situation.”

Litigation in the case continues.