Eminem has decided that since he has been gone for while he might as well come back hard and make 2009 his year.  His first project, ‘Relapse’, will hit stores May 19th.  Eminem told MTV.com

“A lot of people were expecting Relapse to drop last year. I was one of them. Then Dre and I went back in the studio in September for a few days, and that turned into six months. We were on such a roll; we wound up with a ton of new music produced by Dre. Putting outRelapse 2 will let everyone get all of the best stuff.”

This will be a huge year for the Dre, Eminem, 50 cent team.  Relapse 1 and 2 coming out this year, Dr. Dre’s De Tox and 50 Cent ‘Before I Self Destruct. 

Also Eminem will be dropping Relapse the same day that Lil Wayne’s rock project, ‘Rebirth’ and also Busta Rhymes’ ‘B.O.M.B.’ are scheduled to come out.

I think we were all expecting this ‘Deeper Than Rap’ has been pushed back to April 21st.  Originally it was scheduled to drop March 24th.  And during a MTV.com interview Rick Ross let it be known that he is planning a mini-tour that will include a stop in 50 cent stomping ground Queens

“We got something coming up real soon. We’re having a big concert in New York City. The money I make will go to underprivileged kids — some of the orphans. I’m starting in Queens, then I’m going to the Bronx, then I’m going to Brooklyn, then I’m stopping in Harlem, then I’m going to 305 Miami. Real people do real things.”

Well lets hope that this mini-tour doesn’t turn into anything crazy cause Ross going into Queens and with this beef going the way its going there is a high probability that someone is going to do something foolish.

Last week Rick Ross told everyone that he plans to outsell 50 Cent with his new album Deeper than Rap.  He told MTV.com

“All this is a platform for me to show people how talented I am. How much better of a lyricist I am. So if 50 sold 10 million, my next album should sell 12.” 

50 Cent recently laughed this off to MTV.com

“I thought that was the funniest thing he could come up with. Why is there a Rick Ross and 50 Cent beef? It was just bad timing. It was publicity for his part why he jumped out there, but bad timing and no plan. He’s gonna get mauled. People are gonna look at it like, ‘Wow, that was like a Mike Tyson one-minute-and-thirty-second knockout. You didn’t make it past your second week’s sales.’ 

“When people get more publicity than they usually get — from an artist’s standpoint — and it has nothing to do with their music, what usually happens is you make the public totally aware of you. Which is good until the release date, and you see no one has bought your record. The public is totally aware you’re trash and your material’s not generating any interest. That’s when you do the damage to yourself, because you don’t want more publicity than your actual music is commanding.”

“It never gets worse than this. You get a guy that was a correctional officer come out and base his entire career on writing material from a drug dealer’s perspective. When he loses this battle, he can’t even go back to his day job because the correctional officers are upset that you wanted to portray that message. He’s gonna work at the pizza shop when I’m done with him.”

Just like the Chris Brown and Rihanna story, this needs to go away. Now

Last weekend in the ongoing beef between 50 cent and Rick Ross.  50 cent brought up the Chris Brown Rihanna incident in his cartoon from his Officer Ricky Series titled Welcome to Death Row.  But in an interview with MTV.com 50 has decided to steer clear from the whole incident after seeing the photos of Rihanna hit the incident.

“I thought that was something you could use for humor, like any other comedian would utilize current events to put into their actual presentation, being humorous a little bit. I put reference to the incident in a ‘Pimpin’ Curly’ skit a little bit. From the perspective of the character, I mentioned it.”

“After I saw the photograph, that wasn’t funny anymore. I didn’t have any information on it. You’re just going on what the public actually had. It shifts the whole thing. Even if you’re saying you’re in a dysfunctional relationship, I understand that. There’s a point when you’re already past a woman fighting you back. You look at the picture, and it’s obviously past that point. There’s some issues there that definitely gotta be addressed. Not to take any shots at Chris or Rihanna or take sides in any way, but it’s really not cool. It’s not funny anymore, so there will definitely be no more reference to that from me in any way.”

Like everyone else when those photos got loose the whole Chris Brown Rihanna relationship got extremely real.  And it would be smart for any celebrity to stay as far away from this thing as possible until it is all resolved.

Here is the 50 cent cartoon…

While 50 cent may be killing Rick Ross in their current beef battle. There is one guy that he always has to take a back seat to.  Slim Shady himself.  Since Eminem’s album is almost done ‘Relapse’ 50 cent is being asked to hold off releasing his new album, ‘Before I Self Destruct’.

 “Right now I’m on the train and the Em choo choo car goes first. See what happens is I think that people forget that I’m actually Eminem’s artist because I’ve had so much success on my own and I moved away from it. But if you can look back, the very first interview I did . . . we were on the set of ‘In Da Club’, it was myself, Eminem and Dr. Dre.”

“I said my goal was to fit in with Eminem and Dr. Dre. I didn’t mean to fit in under Eminem and Dr. Dre. I meant to fit in as an equal party. And that’s what I achieved over this time period. So because Dre is mixing Em’s album, Em will be completed entirely before we get a chance to finish up the pieces me and Dre did together.”

I am interested to see what Eminem new album does with his new album.  And will his album being released before 50 cent hurt or help 50 cent’s album.  There isn’t much buzz going on about 50 cent’s album right now.

T.I. Schools High School Students

T.I. continued his court-ordered community service requirements today. TIP appeared in a Georgia Supreme Court today to talk with a group of high school students about their future and more importantly staying out of trouble. The Altanta rapper advised the students, half of which were already serving sentences as juveniles, to stay in school.

This appearance is part of TIP’s 1000 hours of community service he was sentenced to last year as part of his plea deal for the felony gun charges he faced. Next month, once his community service is finished, T.I. will serve one year in prison. As we previously reported, T.I. has been documenting his efforts in a MTV series called “T.I.’s Road To Redemption,” which airs every Tuesday.

Kanye West Joins Rick Ross For Maybach Music Part 2

Kanye West will now join the 50 Cent and Rick Ross beef, kind of. Yeezy will be appearing on Rick Ross’s upcoming song “Maybach Music Part 2,” the follow up to his infamous song that started the beef with 50. Yesterday Kanye appeared on 106&&Park with KiD CuDi and gave everyone a preview of the song by rapping his verse. 

In related news, Kanye West will return to Saturday Night Live tomorrow. Just two months after his first apperance, Kanye will make his 2nd stop where he will perform “Love Lockdown” and “Heartless,” off his album, 808 & Heartbreak. Huge Laurie will serve as host of this week’s show, which airs TONIGHT at 11:30 PM on NBC.

Rick Ross Says He Will Shatter Everyone

Rick Ross says that his new release will “shatter” the competition. “I’mma say this, on Deeper Than Rap, there is a ‘Maybach Music, Pt. 2,’ and it is special,” Ross said in an interview. “I gotta shout out Weezy…Mary J. Blige, she’s the voice of that R&B hip-hop sound…It was just a pleasure for her to get in the studio and lace me with a classic” 

Ricky’s new album “Deeper Then Rap” will feature guest spots from Lil Wayne, Mary J Blige, Avery Storm and more on songs like ‘Magnificent’, ‘Mafia Music’, ‘On Top of the World’, ‘Cigar Music’, ‘Usual Suspects’, ‘Maybach Music, Pt. 2′ and more.”

As previously reported, Ross recently fired back at 50 Cent by releasing another diss song.  Ross even shot a video for his previous diss in which he goes to 50’s home town (New York) to ask “where’s he at”.

Pimpin Curly Is Back – New 50 Cent Video

50 Cent continued his Pimp parody show by releasing the third episode of “Pimpin Curly” . The new episode shows ‘Pimpin Curly’ introducing everyone to his brother, “Earl” who 50 also plays. “Earl” says “Violence isn’t the answer to everything. You better stop it, I’m not scared of you.”  Pimpin then proceeds to interact with the many women he has his pimp hand on . 

In related news, 50’s “Pimpin” series caught the attention of Kenneth “Pimpin’ Ken” Ivy who says the G-Unit leader was mocking him “Motherf*ckers talkin’ that motherf*ckin’ sh*t behind my back, hold on, let me take another motherf*ckin’ hit…Motherf*ckin’ Pimpin’ Ken, you said, crown me don’t down me. I wanna be just like you when I grow up…You straight motherf*ckin’ paid. As a matter of fact, G-Unot! Get the f*ck outta my face.”

In 50 Cent news, the CD-Quality version of “Do What It Do”  has hit the internet. The new song, rumored to be on “Before I Self Destruct” features R Kelly.

Rihanna Turns 21 & Issues Statement

Rihanna has finally ventured out into the public eye. Yesterday the pop singer was spotted on her way to the airport wearing dark sunglasses and keeping her head down. Today is Rihanna’s 21st birthday.

In related news, Rihanna’s representatives released the following statement… “At the request of the authorities, Rihanna is not commenting about the incident involving Chris Brown. She wants to assure her fans that she remains strong, is doing well, and deeply appreciates the outpouring of support she has received during this difficult time.“

Lil Wayne Teams With Eli Manning

Lil Wayne will continue his sports coverage as he will be featured on the upcoming “Rock & Jocks Big Game Special” this weekend. Weezy will appear along side Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning to show never-before-seen footage of the last Super Bowl weekend in Tampa, Florida.

Other people featured on the special include NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks, ESPN Anchor Kenny Mayne, pop legend MC Hammer, “Entourage” star Kevin Dillon, and more. Live performances from LL Cool J, Wyclef Jean, Rihanna, Fall Out Boy and Life House will be featured. Check out the special on Saturday Feb 21, 2009 at 1030pm.

In related news, Lil Wayne has continued to show his skills when it comes to sports and television. Recently the Grammy-Award winning raper appeared on ESPN’s “Around The Horn”. Weezy talks about everything from A-Rod, Ben Roethlisberger, the Pistons & Heat, fights in the NHL and even dancing with the stars

50 Spills His Blood On The Sand

50 Cent will follow up his first video game (Bulletproof) with the release of his new THQ backed video game, “Blood On The Sand.” 50 says he helped with the game “I was really involved with the process of making this actual game. Early on, we went and sat down. They showed me stills of where they can actually make the environment look that way and I had my own ideas and input,” 50 Cent revealed.

The new game will feature a huge soundtrack as 50 says “You got hit music from the Curtis album, which was my last album. And that’s with me and Justin Timberlake, me and Robin Thicke, me and Mary J. Blige, me and Akon, me and Dr. Dre, me and Eminem,” 50 Cent’s Blood on the Sand is due in stores on Feb. 24.

Soulja Boy Looks To Ringtone After Album Flop

Soulja Boy’s new album is not selling but Soulja Boy says that’s ok. The crack dat rapper says if he doesn’t make the money from album sales, he will with ringtones “I got the number one ringtone in the country right now…I love those ringtones. If the album doesn’t work out, the ringtones will. And that’s the thing about the game that I got on lock…”

Soulja Boy admitted to the low sales saying “It really was [disappointing],” but SB says the numbers are going up “My album is turning around now, like, usually, after you have an album that doesn’t do so well, it usually just straight declines, you know what I’m saying? But not mine, my album sales are going up as my single ‘Kiss Me Through The Phone‘ is risen up.” After more than two months in stores, Soulja Boy’s latest album has only sold 135,000 copies.

Nas Is Having A Son, Talks New Album

Nas took to his blog to let everyone have a little update on his life. The Queensbridge MC first announced the sex of his baby with wife Kelis’ saying “I’m sure that y’all heard K is expecting. The internet seems to be more excited than I am. It’s crazy! I got too much to think about, and I didn’t wanna leave all my fans out the loop. But I wanted to let ya’ll know from me personally that I’m having my first SON!!!!!”

Nas continued by talking about his upcoming project with Reggae singer Damian “Junior Gong” Marley saying “I been celebrating life ya’ll,” he shared. “Also I want you all to know that the Nas and Damian Marley album is coming in the next few months. It’s something we have been secretly working on. Tour this summer too!”

Chris Breaks Silence, Issues Statement

After weeks of silence, Chris Brown has now issued a statement about the alleged attack of girlfriend Rihanna. Chris says “Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired. I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God’s help, to emerging a better person.”

Chris Brown goes on to clear up all the speculation about what exactlty went down saying “Much of what has been speculated or reported on blogs and/or reported in the media is wrong. While I would like to be able to talk about this more, until the legal issues are resolved, this is all I can say except that I have not written any messages or made any posts to Facebook, on blogs or any place else. Those posts or writings under my name are frauds.”

The statement from Brown never refers to Rihanna directly and recently Chris’s dad said “He’s reflecting on this situation. He’s very remorseful. He’s very concerned about the situation he wants to make sure that (Rihanna is) okay.”

50’s New Cartoon – Rick Ross Arrests Chris Brown

50 Cent continues to bash Rick Ross as a new episode of his Saturday morning “Officer Ricky” cartoon hit the net titled “Everybody Hates Chris”. In the new cartoon, 50 shows Rick Ross at the scene of last week’s domestic dispute between Chris Brown and Rihanna “Even though he has huge rap dreams, Officer Ricky still takes his career as a police officer very seriously as he chases down Chris Brown, the latest in his quest to lock up all of the music industry,” the episodes description reads.

The cartoon shows Ricky as a police officer showing up the the fight between Chris Brown and Rihanna, who are shown as characters in the Street Fighter game. The video then shows DJ Khaled viewing the latest “Pimpin Curly” video 50 released. DJ Khaled then gets beat around even by Osama Bin Ladin and ends with 50 Cent in jail with Chris Brown.

Lil Wayne Shoots “Every Girl”

Fresh off his Grammy Award wins and historic performances, Lil Wayne is currently shooting the video for “Every Girl” the first single from Young Money’s group album. Check out pictures of Weezy F. Baby on the set for the video with his Young Money artists below.

Black Eyed Peas Plan The E.N.D.

After four years without an album, The Black Eyed Peas are coming back. The new album from the Peas will be titled “The E.N.D.” and will hit stores on June 9th. Standing for “The Energy Never Dies,” the new album will be boosted by its first single “Boom Boom Pow.”

will.i.am says he wanted to focus on bringing fans to the dance floor with the new album saying “We wanted to make a record that would make people dance.” The Black Eyed Peas, made up of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, TabooFergie, had their last album, “Monkey Business,” go nine times platinum.

Jeezy Invites Bill O’Reilly To His Neighborhood

Young Jeezy is planning to release another mixtape, this one titled “The Black House: Thug Mansion.” Jeezy says “The streets called me, the ‘hood looking for me. I gotta bounce back, baby.” After Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller called him and Jigga racist for their song “My President,” Jeezy is inviting Bill to come to his hood for an interview saying “I got white friends. It’s nothing like that. I’m a taxpayer, I got a right to voice my opinion at any point in time. I don’t think he really understands my struggle.”

In related news, Young Jeezy recently released his new song “That Ain’t It (Uhh Uhh)” . Bill O’Reilly also continues to prove to everyone how big of a hypocrite he really is and The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart took time to point it out.

Chris Brown Hires Mel Gibson’s Savior

Chris Brown continues to take steps to clear his name. Brown recently hired crisis management expert, Alan Nierob, to help with his current situation after the alleged assault of Rihanna. Alex Nierob is known for helping out celebrities in trouble. Nierob was the publicist who helped save Mel Gibson’s career after he went on his infamous anti-Semitic tirade. Gibson was pulled over by the cops and proceeded to tell the police officer “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.”

As we previously reported, Chris Brown recently released a statement after weeks of silence. The statement read “Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired. I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God’s help, to emerging a better person. Much of what has been speculated or reported on blogs and/or reported in the media is wrong. While I would like to be able to talk about this more, until the legal issues are resolved, this is all I can say except that I have not written any messages or made any posts to Facebook, on blogs or any place else. Those posts or writing under my name are frauds.”

Diddy Actin’ and Sangin’

Diddy is really taking his acting craft really seriously.  We saw him on last weeks episode of CSI: Miami where he played a defense lawyer and we always see him actin a fool on MTB4.  I guess he likes acting a fool so much that he decided to test his comedy chops:

 Diddy told late night talk show host Craig Ferguson, “I just signed on to do a comedy, as a matter of fact. I can’t announce who it’s with, but it’s with some definitely comedy heavy hitters.”

Also on last week’s premiere episode of “Making the Band 4,” Diddy announced that his new album will be titled Last Train to Paris. The project is on track for a September release.

“T-Pain gave me permission to use the vocoder, the Auto-Tune, and he showed me various tricks that nobody knows but him and myself.” 

 

50 Cent and Rick Ross Take Beef Too Far Then Bring It Back

The ’80s classic film Scarface starring Al Pacino provided a blueprint for would-be drug kingpins and one the main character’s mantra was to keep women and children out of whatever violence and criminal behavior was afoot. Both 50 Cent and Rick Ross violated the cardinal rule but both men were then big enough to do the right thing.

50 Cent released a video titled, “I Wanna Tell You What A Psychic Told Me,” of himself and/or his associates in a Florida retail store owned by DJ Khaled’s mother. The video suggests that the woman may be in danger and is a warning to Ross and DJ Khaled that he knows where Khaled’s mother lives and works.

Many fans thought the G-Unit general had taken it too far by bringing DJ Khaled’s mother into it but according to 50 Cent he was only responding to Ross who posted a picture of his son, Marquise Jackson, on his recently launched Thisiscurly.com website on Sunday, February 8th. The caption under Marquise’s picture said, “Lil Monkey.”

50 Cent told Hot 97FM’s Miss Info,

“How come everyone hears the shot, but nobody sees the slap that comes before the shot? You push, I punch, you stab, I shoot!”

Ross denied having anything to do with the thisiscurly.com site but as a temporary truce 50 Cent removed the video from his website and the photo of Marquise has been removed from thisiscurly.com.

Weekend Chrianna Updates

It’s taken almost a week, but Chris Brown has finally spoken out about the incident that landed him in hot water the night before the Grammys. In an official statement, Brown said

“Words cannot begin to express how sorry and saddened I am over what transpired. I am seeking the counseling of my pastor, my mother and other loved ones and I am committed, with God’s help, to emerging a better person. Much of what has been speculated or reported on blogs and/or reported in the media is wrong. While I would like to be able to talk about this more, until the legal issues are resolved, this is all I can say except that I have not written any messages or made any posts to Facebook, on blogs or any place else. Those posts or writing under my name are frauds.”

Meanwhile, Rihanna is back at home with her family in Barbados. Her dad, Ronald Fenty, told People magazine, “There is some bruising. She will be all right. I think so.” So far, Rihanna has not spoken publicly about what may have happened with Brown last week, but her father said, “At some point, she will speak out. I hope she will stand up for women all over the world.” Of Brown, Fenty said, “You think you know somebody, but you really don’t.”

Chris Brown’s camp may be looking for a crisis expert to help rebuild his image. Multiple sources confirm to Entertainment Weekly’s website that nobody has been hired yet, but Alan Nierob, who helpedMel Gibson after the actor’s anti-Semitic ouburst in 2006, and Howard Bragman, who advised Isaiah Washington following his homophobic confrontation with castmate T.R. Knight, have both been recommended to Brown’s reps. Earlier this week, Bragman told EW.com that he thinks it could take Brown years to rehabilitate his image, even though he hasn’t even had a trial — much less been convicted of anything — yet. 

Howard Bragman

“What he is accused of doing is a bad thing — and I’m talking about that in the court of public opinion. The only thing probably worse is murder, rape, and hurting an animal.” Bragman added that Brown is young, talented and likable, which could help him. But, it’s going to take time. He added that Brown has to “strap himself in and be ready for a long ride. It’s not a comfortable ride.”

Tameka Recovering After Cardiac Arrest

Usher’s wife, Tameka Raymond, is still in the hospital and continuing to recover after going into cardiac arrest shortly before undergoing plastic surgery last week. According to the Associated Press, doctors say she “was revived in less than a minute by heart massage.” She was then placed in an induced coma before being taken to the intensive-care unit. Raymond was reportedly going in for liposuction in Sao Paulo, Brazil. There’s no word on when she’ll be released.

Again why would Tameka go to Brazil for what seems to be a routine surgery as liposuction. Stay in the good old United States when you are getting that Baby Fat sucked out.

Denzel and Tom Cruise Teaming it in Spy Thriller

Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise are coming together in the upcoming movie, The Matarese Circle. A rep for MGM confirmed to E! News that the Hollywood heavyweights will star in the spy thriller based on the novel by the same author who wrote Bourne Identity. The two are set to play mortal enemies — Cruise a Russian spy and Washington, an American intelligence officer — who are forced to team up in the wake of a political conspiracy. If the film sees box office success, a franchise could be in the works.

My only problem is we dont know if this will reignite Tom Cruise’s career or hurt Denzel Washington’s.  But hell Jamie Foxx landed an Oscar Nomination when he teamed up with Tom Cruise and I support everything Denzel does anyway. 

MTV To Exploit Rihanna & Chris Brown

MTV is now cashing in on the unfortunate situation with Chris Brown and Rihanna. The reality tv network plans to air “Chris Brown & Rihanna: Love in Trouble” in which MTV News will take an in-depth look at the allegations of domestic violence that Chris Brown faces after an alleged altercation with Rihanna last weekend.NoMusic Television says the show will feature commentary and insight from journalists, industry professionals plus young fans in the studio along with taking a look at the events that took place the night of the alleged altercation. Worried that MTV will forget their reality-tv angel? Don’t be. ” Chris Brown & Rihanna: Love in Trouble” will look at how this incident has touched on issues that face young people in relationships every day and what can be done to avoid them with the “funness” of a relationship expert on hand to spew prewritten generic advice. Watch this great piece of journalism on Monday, February 16, at 6 p.m. ET/PT on MTV

Cam’ron Says Juelz Is Hooked On Syrup

Cam’ron has came out of hiding to talk about everything including his relationship with Juelz Santana. In a new interview with Miss Info, the Dipset lead says

“Juelz started drinking syrup, Robitussin,” Cam’ron said  “He got hooked on it, addicted to it, you go to the studio he got, like, a hundred Hawaiian Punches already pre-mixed with the stuff in it. So I kinda stopped speaking to him like, we already smoked mad weed, we don’t need to be on Robitussin.”

Cam says he even hit up Juelz family saying

“I called his mother about it. I called his closest friends about it. They knew it, knew about it. They was like, ‘Yo Cam it’s not that bad’…I’m like yo, that’s like saying you just smoke a little bit of crack, it ain’t that much crack…So that’s kinda how I shot away from Juelz. It was even a point where Jim [Jones] called me like, ‘What’s going on with you and Juelz’…I said, he’s on drugs.”

50 Cent’s Poem About DJ Khaleds Mom

Rick Ross isn’t the only target 50 Cent has. Yesterday the G-Unit general continued his beef with DJ Khaled by releasing a new video in which he reads a poem titled “I Just Wanna Tell You What A Psychic Told Me” . In the poem 50 says

“I know where your mama house at. Now look, you can see. But I just wanna tell you what a psychic told me” as the video shows a house, continuing “I know where your mama work at, now look at her, asleep. I just wanna tell you what a psychic told me.”

The video then shows footage of a woman asleep at a job with pictures of Khaled on her desk.

Although the video is pretty humorous, 50 did end the new footage with a warning to Khaled. “I’m not the kinda n*gga you should f*ck with, B. I’m special. I have less compassion than the average human.”

Juelz Hits Cam’ron Back “He Was Doing Percocet”

As we previously reported, Cam’ron took a few shots at Juelz Santana in the new issue of XXL. Among other things, Cam’ron says he stopped talking to Juelz Santana because he became addicted to syrup after beign on tour with Lil Wayne. Now it’s time for Juelz to react. Santana says “He just wanted to say something and that was probably the only way he could say something and keep his character up. I was never addicted to syrup. I used to drink it on occasion.”

Juelz says he was suprized by Cam’s statements saying

“I don’t know where that came from. [His comments] were a shocker to me, like, ‘Damn, you would stoop low like that?’ With his stomach situation, he was doing Percocet. It’s not for me to say, ‘Because he was using Percocet, I stopped speaking to Cam.’ You’ll say, ‘I do Percocet because of my stomach.’ But I’ve seen you do Percocet when your stomach is not bothering you. So that’s besides the point.”

Diddy, Russell Simmons Win NAACP Image Awards

Sean “Diddy” Combs and pioneer mogul Russell Simmons were Hip-Hop’s biggest winners at the 2009 NAACP Image Awards.

The taped event was broadcast last night (February 12) from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Combs picked up Best Actor in a Television Movie honors for his work in the well-received, 2008 adaption of Lorraine Hansberry’s timeless play A Raisin in the Sun.

Combining a talented cast of actors in Phylicia Rashad, Sanaa Lathan, Sean Patrick Thomas, and Audra McDonald, the film brought in an audience of 12 million for its initial February 2008 airing.

Simmons took home the coveted Vanguard Award, which is given to those “whose ground breaking work increases understanding and awareness of racial and social issues.”

Through the non-profit Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Simmons utilizes the uniting force of Hip-Hop culture to advocate education, financial literacy, and social empowerment for young people.

“Russell is deserving of this prestigious award because he has used the power of Hip-Hop to reach and inspire our nation’s youth,” stated Clayola Brown, NAACP Image Awards Chairwoman. “Combined with his ongoing commitment to strengthening relations between ethnic communities and his generous charitable spirit, Russell was a natural choice to receive the honor.”

The 40^th annual NAACP Awards was hosted by Halle Berry and Tyler Perry, and also marked the 100^th anniversary of the organization.