By Allen Spector

NEW YORK — Here's a concert lineup you don't see often: Sheryl Crow with special guests Lupe Fiasco and Hawaiian ukulele player Paula Fuga. But that was the bill at Terminal 5 for Tuesday night's Joyful Revolution, a benefit for the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization to help victims of domestic violence founded by "Law & Order: SVU" star Mariska Hargitay.

The usually bare-bones concert venue was transformed into a fancy catering hall, and instead of hipster T-shirts and sneakers, this time the crowd was clad in "joyful" attire, as in cocktail dresses and suits. The evening honored "L&O" creator Dick Wolf, and the entire cast of "SVU" was there to support their boss, including Ice-T, Stephanie March and Chris Meloni. "Dick Wolf is the man. We all work for him," Ice-T told us.

While everyone was posing for pictures and mingling during the cocktail party, I went up to Lupe Fiasco and asked him if he'd do a back-flip onstage, like I saw him do at Lollapalooza last year. He said he would try, but with all the amps and mics, he never got the chance. Read more...

By Kathleen Newman-Bremang

Justin Timberlake better watch his back when he climbs Mount Kilimanjaro with fellow musicians Lupe Fiasco and Kenna. If Timberlake doesn't make it back down the massive mountain, we'll know who to blame. Fiasco jokingly warned the New York Daily News that [If things go bad out there], everybody's dying!

"I'll go psychopath, freak out and murder everyone for the sake of none of us suffering!" he said. "It would be like the ending of a Stephen King movie by the time the rescue helicopter comes."

Calm down JT fans, Fiasco hasn't gone completely insane. The rapper promised that he only has Timberlake's best interests in mind.

"I wouldn't euthanize Justin unless he was really suffering," he laughed.

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By Steven Roberts

Lupe Fiasco is really upset. He's not quite typing-in-all-caps upset, but he is putting three exclamation points at the end of his sentences on his blog. He is so upset that he decided to postpone the release of his third — and reportedly final — album, LUPE.N.D, indefinitely.

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The sad news about Travis Barker and DJ AM has inspired us to look back on their recent performances as the VMA house band — collaborations that featured Lupe Fiasco, Katy Perry, LL Cool J and The Ting Tings.

We've dug into our archives to give you guys the full songs that you didn't see during the broadcast. Watch the guys grooving along with Kid Cudi, Fiasco and the others, and if you look closely, you can see AM rapping to himself during LL's performance.

Watch the full videos after the jump.
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The list of artists playing shows in and around Minneapolis/St. Paul during next month's Republican National Convention (September 1-4) keeps growing.

We already told you that Rage Against the Machine will play the Target Center in Minneapolis on September 3 and that Rage guitarist Tom Morello will hook up with Steve Earle for a show in St. Paul on September 1.

Now comes word that the Morello/Earle gig in support of the Service Employees International Union's Labor Day Festival will also feature Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, Billy Bragg and Earle's wife, singer Allison Moorer, as well as a possible appearance by former Democratic presidential hopeful Senator John Edwards. The "Take Back Labor Day" Festival will take place from noon to 7 p.m. at Harriet Island Regional Park, and organizers have hinted that other "special guests" will also be on hand.

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By Jordan Upmalis

Lupe Fiasco had plenty to talk about this week on the set of the video shoot for the remix of N.E.R.D.'s "Everyone Nose" — except on the topic of what he was actually there for.

"What are you talking about?" he asked quite seriously, while standing outside of the studio. "What remix? Remix to what? 'Everyone Nose,' that's the N.E.R.D. record. ... It's a remix? Who's on it?"

It's OK. Lupe has a lot on his plate. Fresh from playing shows in London, he's spent much of the year on the road with Kanye's Glow in the Dark Tour (which he described as real good). "I was kickin' it with N.E.R.D., Rihanna, Chris Brown and Kanye. It was love."

He also recently received a gold plaque for his second album, The Cool. But Fiasco isn't just a one-trick pony. He had much to discuss about expanding his empire — musically and otherwise.

So what's on Lupe's agenda?
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· We kind of thought Taco Bell's name-change offer for 50 Cent was a joke, but apparently the rapper didn't think it was so funny. He's mad ... that his team didn't get a chance to review the offer before the taco chain went public, and he's now considering litigation. That's ... gangsta?

· In other 50 Cent litigation news, the rapper plans to file a defamation suit against his 11-year-old son's mother, Shaniqua Tompkins, for claiming that he was behind the mysterious fire that burned down the $4 million home she was living in.

· Panic at the Disco, Lupe Fiasco, Wyclef Jean, Death Cab for Cutie and Erykah Badu have joined the list of performers for this year's Voodoo Experience in New Orleans.

· After several years of minor activity and major drama, D'Angelo is finally at work on his first album since 2000. He's already collaborated with Raphael Saadiq and plans to hook up with John Mayer soon.

· OK, so Queens of the Stone Age singer Josh Homme may have gone a bit off the rails last week when he verbally lashed a fan for pelting him with a shoe. But if this is his apology, whoa, we'd hate to see him in confession!

Ever since we posted asking for you to vote on the hottest MCs right now, we've been flooded with comments. And y'all are intense! Every rapper on the list has been picked apart with fire, and you’ve battled it out for a couple not even in our lineup.

Some of you had major issues with our 2007 Hottest MC Lil Wayne, saying the man’s all hype and waiting for the proof of his talent on the much-delayed Tha Carter III. Fresh said Weezy’s just “getting bigger and bigger over hype alone. His a cappella freestyles are horrible, and that for me is letdown…He’ll [be] no.1 next year if his album’s dope.”

There were a lot of shout-outs to the Game, with Chris Hasso writing in, “Once Game’s L.A.X. album drops, it will be right up there with Tha Carter 3.” And Mario said, “Only 3 albums deep, and he’s the best lyrical West Coast rapper ever.”

And plenty of people pushed for Lupe Fiasco and Black Thought as MCs known for lyrics that go beyond girls and game. As Prophet J put it, “Lupe talks about real life s*** and explains it with more passion than anybody I’ve heard.” While Checkitout backed up Black Thought: “This guy has been spitting lyrical prowess under your nose for 20 years now!! Give him his just!!” And Josh got critical about the “hottest” MCs as being “hot for the dollars, not for the cause.”

Even more folks were riled up about Soulja Boy being in the poll. “He doesn’t even rap, just mutters 3 lines in a song,” Taf wrote. And Eye said, “I’m disgusted in the committee even considering Soulja Boy an MC -- that’s like saying MC Brains, Hammer or Luke are MCs just because they make hip-hop music, no! It doesn’t work that way!” But NV stepped in: “The boy is dumb popular with the kids, and we were all there a while ago…We have to consider him because he is fire in the South.”

Whoever you’re rooting for, remember to tune in to see the MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust go at it tonight, May 16, at 10 p.m. ET on MTV, when MTV News Presents the second edition of “The Hottest MCs in the Game.”

And if you haven’t voted yet, head to our poll, after the jump. Read more...

· T.I. wants people to get out and vote.

· Lupe Fiasco, Spoon, Tom Petty, and John Mayer will play the Mile High fest.

· Morrissey will be performing on "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" -- next Monday and Tuesday. We feel loved and loveless at the same time.

· We’ve heard of bands getting their equipment stolen after shows, but getting pulled over and jacked by fake Italian policemen? Good one!