Most of us are used to hearing the typical struggle and battles of the average emcee these days. What if I said the next big thing has 13 years of classical piano training, along with a further 7 years of Jazz kit drumming? Its not gonna happen right? Well let me introduce Lushlife.

Has the time finally arrived? Dr. Dre slapped an October release date for his highly anticipated album Detox, which has being pushed back for the past few years!

To celebrate the release of his third album, The Hear After, in stores August 30th on Penalty Records, J-Live has announced a remix contest, allowing up and coming producers to take a shot at producing for the legendary Brooklyn lyricist.

After a decade long camaraderie, Los Angeles based artists Defari of Likwit Crew notoriety (home to The Liks, King Tee, Xzibit) and DJ Babu of Dilated Peoples and Beat Junkies fame have teamed to release their self-titled debut, The LJs, on March 22nd 2005 via ABB Records.

Eminem and rap magazine XXL announced a deal today which will release a special edition of the magazine called "XXL Presents Shade 45".