A 24-year old Compton man was shot last night (2/28) in the lobby of New York City radio station Hot 97; while 50 Cent and G-Unit visited FunkMaster Flex's show. Specualtions rise as the identity of the victim and the shooter are still unknown.

The victim was shot in the hip and was taken to St. Vincent's hospital in Tribeca. Intially identified as a security guard for 50 Cent, the victim is now believed to be affiliated with Game. On the Black Wall Street website, Game's brother Big Fase made the following posting:

"Them hoe ass ni99az security shot my lil homie. Its all bad @ the radio station." In a second post, Big Fase wrote, "He got shot 3times. He is ok. It wasn't 50 Cent security, it was one of his ni99az though. I'm holding 50 Cent responsible."

Det. Camacho told SOHH.com, "A group of men were hanging around the building, but weren't allowed to enter. Another group of guys exited the building and a dispute started; multiple shots were fired and one man was struck in the leg."

Shots were also fired outside Violator Management offices -the company that manages 50 Cent. No one was injured and no arrests have been made in either of the shootings.

50 Cent and his entourage were at the station that evening on the Funkmaster Flex show airing out his beef with rivals Fat Joe, Jadakiss and newly ousted G-Unit member, The Game.

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Atlanta rapper T.I., whose latest album Urban Legend reached platinum status last week, has joined Nelly's major-city tour, which commences from the end of March through May. Fabolous and Fat Joe have been confirmed as opening acts, while Nelly is reportedly in the midst of scheduling tour dates and lining up venues across the country.

Mya is said to be collaborating with Aftermath rapper/producer Dr. Dre for her upcoming album Control Freak. "['My Love Is Like Whoa'] was a moment and I don't need to revisit that again," Mya told TV Guide. "That's how I felt then and that's what I said, and now I can leave it alone. But this album is really sassy. The lyrics will be more...interpretable, versus so straightforward and blunt."

Continuing their award-winning streaks, Usher and Alicia Keys cleaned up at the Soul Train Awards. Both singers won two individual awards and shared an award for best R&B-soul single by a group or duo for their collaboration "My Boo." Usher notched awards for best male R&B-soul single for "Confessions Part II," best R&B-soul album by a male artist for his multi-platinum "Confessions," and best R&B-soul or rap music video for his work with rappers Ludacris and Lil Jon for "Yeah!" Jay-Z also won for best R&B-soul or rap music video for "99 Problems." The Soul Train Awards were held at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, CA.

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It’s no secret that Nas and 50 Cent aren’t the best of buddies and now with 50’s verbal jabs at Nas and his new bride, Kelis, the Queensbridge emcee may be ready for another “Ether”.

I need a good opponent to go after, then it's all good," Nas said with a smile on Friday in New York to MTV. "The game is looking terrible. It's a lot of guys out here, 'CB4' gangstas, making the rap game look bad. Fourteen-year-olds might be believing in these guys, and a lot of these guys that are here are walking train wrecks and they're miserable. I pray for the upliftment of hip-hop, so I'm working on this next album, NASDAQ Dow Jones, coming to y'all real soon."

The issues may have started awhile back. When Nas rocked the infamous Central Park show, many may have noted that he sent a few unkind words towards the G-Unit.

"I wanna thank every one of y'all for coming out and representing that real street New York shit. Not that fake shit, not that 50 Cent."

It should be noted that Nas stated that 50 had taken shot at Nas before this had ever occurred. But 50 had this to say about Nas…

"I understand that Nas ... he's watched his window of opportunity open and close in front of him and now he's a little bitter."

We’ll see where this one goes.


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Bay Area songstress Goapele blew onto the scene a lttle over 2 years ago with her 14 track critically acclaimed album Even Closer. She has claimed fans such as Prince, Rosario Dawson, Rodney Jerkins, Magic Johnson, Kanye West, President Gerald Ford and Talib Kweli to name a few and now is preparing her next dish for the people. Change It All will be Goapele's next foray in the neo soul movement.

Goapele brings a well-needed enigmatic presence to a mundane industry that is devoid of innovative magic and fascination, but thick with semblance. Her signature of throaty moans and nostalgic lyrical poetry evoke all things old yet somehow manages to be refreshingly new. Her radio smash "Closer" was featured virtually everywhere. From radio to TV shows to movies, the songstress has made a name for herself.

From being noted as the Bay Area's "Best Kept Secret" (via the Source) to being heralded by virtually every publication, Goapele is poised to make a splash. Her album features production from the likes of Bedrock, Jeff Bhasker, Linda Perry, Sa Ra Creative Partners and Mike Tiger (The Coup, Martin Luther) many of whom contributed to making Even Closer a success.

Be on the lookout for Change It All this spring/summer

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Many fans thought that Common went off of the deep end with his last album Electric Circus and his relationship with Erykah Badu. Now, three years later, the artist formally known as Sense is telling everyone that he is “back”.

Common is busy at work putting the finishing touches on his latest and, according to Common himself, his “best work ever” with BE. The album will be produced in its entirety by Jay Dee and Chi-town’s own Kanye West.

"The fact that people are coming up to me and saying this music really means something, I'm geeked about it," Common said last week. The video for BE's lead cut, the recently released "Corners," which Kanye West produced, was shot in Chicago by Kanye himself.

"The song is about me talking about how the corner means so much to black life, to life, to city life. The soul of the city is on the corner," Common explained. "The corner represents a lot. I talked about that from a Chicago perspective."

"He is considered to be one of the top 10 greatest MC's of all time, which he is and you will see with ['Corners']," boasted Kanye a few days before the Grammys in L.A. "He has the Last Poets on [the song], who are just historical. I just feel honored to have a chance to work with them. Their voices, they just re-ignited the struggle all the way from the black power movement to today. I think it is really time to hear something like that on the radio." ...

Look for Common’s first single “Corners” to hit MTV and BET real soon and his album BE to hit shelves May 24th. He will also be joining Kanye West and John Legend on the GOOD Music tour coming soon.

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