By Rahman Dukes

It would go down as one of hip-hop's darkest hours: March 9, 1997, marked the untimely death of arguably the greatest rapper to ever grip the microphone: the Notorious B.I.G.

Big had been out in Los Angeles celebrating the release of his highly anticipated sophomore album, Life After Death, and was leaving Vibe magazine's Soul Train Awards afterparty, when he was ambushed by gunfire while sitting in the passenger seat of a Chevrolet Suburban. Read more...

"Dumb rappers need teachin'." MCs, you can learn a thing or two from Notorious B.I.G.

Back in 1995, after he had dropped one of the top 10 greatest hip-hop LPs ever (Ready to Die), after he was considered the best rapper in the game, after all the money, a string of commercially successful hits, he just wanted to be "hard."

Big had his eyes on the prize, but still, he wasn't trying pander to any audience or water himself down. He was trying to do him! That's something I see less and less nowadays from MCs. It feels like a lot of guys want to jump on whatever bandwagon has the hottest pipes at the moment.

Take it from Frank White: The only way to be bigger is to ride your own course.

By Rahman Dukes

There's a spine-tingling moment in "Notorious" when Biggie and Puff Daddy are surrounded by an auditorium full of angry Tupac fans during a performance at an Atlanta college. At the height of what had become a bicoastal rap war led by the two kings of hip-hop, B.I.G. and Tupac, Biggie Smalls had had enough of the heckling and decided to react.

"Who shot ya?" Big rapped. "Separate the weak from the ob-so-lete/ Hard to creep from Brooklyn streets/ It's on, n---a, f--- all that bickering and beef."

"Who Shot Ya" would become one of the greatest hip-hop records to date — and one of the most misunderstood. The song's interpretation played a role in the demise of the MCs' relationship. Read more...

By Rya Backer

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but we're kind of in tough economic times.

Unfortunately, that's about as far as my knowledge of money extends (no, Dad, I'm not proud of that), but you can't say I'm not proactive. See, in an effort to learn why we're all going to be working until we're 80, I've made a habit of watching/ nursing an obsession with Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" on CNBC. OK, so maybe I don't watch it for the stock tips as much I just enjoy watching the host — what with his sound-effects board, those squishy bulls that line his desk and whose heads he bites off, and his "boo-yahs." And, ideally, if I watch enough of the show, I'll gain worlds of financial literacy strictly through osmosis.

Read more...

· Powerhouse Canadian rockers Nickelback are the latest act to sign a mega-deal with promotions giant Live Nation for their recording, touring and merchandising rights. Though the deal was not as rich as recent ones inked by Madonna, U2 and Jay-Z, it was reportedly worth $50-$70 million. 

· Kanye West's management team is reportedly trying to get the keyboard-thrashing, blog-bashing rapper to attend anger-management classes for his own good — and to help him score some lucrative endorsement deals.
  
· New York rapper William Troy McCune is suing the producers of the 2007 documentary "Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life" for $5 million, alleging that they included footage of him battling Biggie without his permission.

· Rap trio Onyx are prepping a comeback with a pair of albums. The first disc, Cold Case Files: Unsolved Murders, due August 19, features lost studio sessions from the group's most recent albums and cameos from Method Man and late group member X-1. It will be followed in 2009 by the group's new studio album Black Rock.
 
· Bruce Springsteen will release a live digital EP, Magic Tour Highlights, on July 15 that will feature four songs and four videos, including late E Street Band keyboardist Danny Federici's final performance with the group. Guests on the tracks include Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello and Byrds legend Roger McGuinn.

· It's no secret that Spike Lee loves the rock musical "Passing Strange." He even wrote a glowing open letter a few months back, urging folks to "go see 'Passing Strange' and tell them Spike sent you." Now, the director has scheduled a press conference on Wednesday, in which he'll unveil plans to shoot the stage production, concert-film style, for a movie that will most likely air on cable.