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Hip-hop lost a rap icon when Heavy D died Tuesday afternoon (November 8) at age 44, and the music industry is clearly mourning the loss. A string of stars, including Usher, Timbaland and Nicki Minaj, have shared their memories of the late MC on Twitter.

Usher offered his sympathy to the family of the Jamaican-born rap heavyweight, tweeting, "This is too heavy, I can't believe it. HEAVY D was just here. Truly gone too soon. My heart and support goes out to his family. R.I.P HEAVY."

Mega-producer Timbaland couldn't even process the announcement, writing, "I'm at a loss for words rip heavy d."

After re-tweeting the late-MC's last message ("BE INSPIRED"), hip-hop's Harajuku Barbie also weighed in on the news. "We'll never forget you babe! #hiphopelite #RIPHeavyD," Nicki wrote.

From one raptress to the next, Missy Elliott shared her thoughts: "U will be missed Heavy D so many laughs we've shared but your Music is Timeless and will Always be Around 4ever Love u Heav..."

Ciara described the MC as "a really nice man. Sending my condolences to him and his family!"

DJ Drama and Nick Cannon reflected on the icon's impact. "Heavy D 'Who's The Man' was one of my 1st pieces of vinyl when I first started djayin," DJ Drama wrote. "Def 1 of the first 5 records I spent $ on. RIP."

Cannon said he had "just talked" to Heavy D, adding, "He was just encouraging me about life."

"RIP TO A REAL HIP HOP LEGEND HEAVY D!" Nas chimed in.

Juelz Santana recalled the rapper/actor's recent BET Hip Hop Awards performance. "RIP Heavy D. He was a Hip Hop Legend," he shared. "Crazy how sh-- happens. I was late 2 da BET Awards & Heavy D's Performance was 1 of da only 2 I got 2 see. Blessed 4 dat opportunity. RIP."

Boyz II Men, who shared the '90s spotlight with the MC, sent condolences to his family, writing, "UGH...heavy d..always cool as hell with us..just a sick feeling....praying for his little daughter and family."

Source: MTV

Associated Press coverage

 Heavy D performance at 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards

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Meek Mill made sure his remix to "I'm A Boss" had plenty of star power.

The Philadelphia spitta lined up Swizz Beatz, T.I., Lil Wayne, Birdman and his MMG CEO all on the same track.

How does it stack up to the original version?

Mobb Deep come back to "Conquer" the rap landscape with the latest release off of their upcoming Black Cocaine EP.

The EP will be available on Black Friday, November 25th.

Pre-order your copy from iTunes HERE

We've just learned that rapper Heavy D has died.


TMZ is reporting that the 44-year old was found unconscious in a hallway of his Beverly Hills home this morning. When paramedics arrived he was awake and talking. He was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.


Heavy D rose to prominence in the late 80's and early 90's with hits like "The Overweight Lover's in the House", "Now That We Found Love" and many more.


He performed a medley of hits at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards just last month.


Rest in peace to a hip hop legend.

Heavy D BET Hip Hop Awards Medley

"Now That We Found Love"

"Blue Funk"

"The Overweight Lovers In The House"

Heavy D's last interview with Tim Westwood

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The Roots release the second video off of their upcoming album, undun.

Video directed, shot & edited by Clifton Bell

undun is an existential re-telling of the short life of one Redford Stephens (1974-1999). Through the use of emotives and Redford's internal dialogues the album seeks to illustrate the intersection of free will and prescribed destiny as it plays out 'on the corner'. Utilizing a reverse narrative arc, the album begins as the listener finds Redford disoriented--postmortem--and attempting to make sense of his former life. As he moves through its pivotal moments he begins to deconstruct all that has led to his (and our own) coming undun.

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Young Jeezy's TM103: Hustlerz Ambition drops December 20th. Check out the behind the scenes pictures of the Snowman and T.I. on the set of the latest TM103 single "F.A.M.E."

The video is being directed by Lance Drake and will premier next week.

Shouts to Rap-Up for the pics.

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Celebrities and fans worldwide are speaking out on the the conviction of Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray.

Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of the King of Pop.

Showbiz 411 caught up with 50 Cent to get his opinion on the verdict.

"I think justice was served," Fif said. "I understand the process of when an artist becomes really successful. Michael Jackson is probably the epitome of that lifestyle. I can see people following a regimen of doing what Mike says to do, but they should still follow medical standards and practices."

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Iggy Azalea is well on her way to becoming a household name in the United States.

Having moved from her native Australia six years to pursue her music aspiration, Iggy gained lots of attention with her "Pu$$y" music video.

The blonde beauty is back again with visuals for "My World." The track appears on her new mixtape. Ignorant Art.

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Courtney Stodden proved to the world that her breasts are real, now we just need to see that birth certificate.

As we previously reported, Dr. Drew Pinsky brought in a doctor on his Lifechangers show to perform an ultrasound test on the 17-year old to find out whether or not she had implants. The results of the test were revealed yesterday (November 7).

After a few nervous moments when a circular object appeared to show Courtney had implants, further examination proved that her breasts are 100% natural.

Courtney gained national notoriety when she married 51-year old actor Doug Hutchison when she was just 16-years old.

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Much has been made of the feud between 50 Cent and Officer Ricky. Most have categorized their rivalry as being beef, but the G-Unit boss sees it differently, choosing to instead categorize it as battling.

In a recent interview with MTV, Fif reiterated that he doesn't wish death on the Miami rapper, but does question the motivation behind him starting the rivalry to begin with.

"When you look back at that entire scenario you say, 'what was the motivation of it, like where did it start?' He says it started because I looked at him the wrong way. That just means he wanted to compete, he wanted to move up, he wanted to create an awareness for himself... and he did it," 50 said. "This is why they changed the terminology from battling to beefing. Battling was always a part of the culture. They didn't do that until the 2Pac and Biggie situations. That's when it became taboo to actually mention an artist's name."

Peep the latest music from up and coming Philadelphia rapper Asaad. This track was produced by Nascent & QB.

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Papoose continues to support his latest mixtape, King of New York, by launching an all out viral video campaign.

Check out Pap's latest Doggie Diamonds directed visuals for "Dare Devil" below.

King of New York is available now. You can download it for free from DatPiff.

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It's been a minute since we've heard from the Funk Doctor, but he's back. Still chiefing on big blunts and working on a film production company with Method Man, Redman let Montreality know what else he's been up to lately.

Back in July Method Man announced that he and Red were working on the movie How High 2. While there is still a new Red and Meth movie coming, it's unlikely it will be titled How High 2.

"Red and Meth is opening their own production company," Redman said. "We wanna call it Blunt Brothers Cinema. We're working on the name for it. We're having a little bit of a problem solidifying the name, but we're trying to a a movie under our own company now. How High 2, the company Universal owns that name. They own the characters in the movie. So that means we can't take How High to another company and use them characters," he explained. "So what we're gonna do is work on shooting our own movie. It will be marijuana related, and we're gonna do it. We're gonna move to Cheech and Chong stages."

Redman went on to confirm that he is working on Muddy Waters 2, and that he and Meth are going to dropping a single in 2012 for their Blackout 3 project.

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Amber Rose has a lot on her plate as of late. She is designing a winter coat collection for Members Only,is working on two new films and a lot more.


"I have two movies that are gonna come out," she told BET. "One is Just Add Water, which is a sci-fi thriller, where I play a top security to all the Androids on a spaceship. Then the 2nd movie is Gang of Roses, where I play a bounty hunter that is after all the girls who have been robbing banks. And I'm also a butch lesbian. It was actually a really hard role because I'm naturally very feminine in my mannerisms. So I just hung out with Wiz and the boys... studying how they move, how they sit. I literally walked around the house all day talking like a guy. Just to really execute the part."


Amber has been logging time in the recording studio as well.

"I'm also working on new music. I'm doing club, house music... upbeat," she said. "My inspirations are Missy, Pitbull, Fergie—I love the sound of her voice. "I'm in the studio like every single day. It doesn't matter if I work 18 hours I'm going to the studio. I'm really taking this seriously. I always wrote music, but it was always something very personal for me. But I brought my music to Wiz [Khalifa] one day and showed him everything and he was blown away. He was like, ‘Baby, you have to do this. Like, you have to. I know you’re quiet, I know you’re shy, but you know when I’m in the studio, It's like Sasha Fierce. I just turn into a whole different person. It’s really cool. You guys are going to really enjoy it. I actually might just drop a song soon and just put it out there so you can see what it’s like."


You can also catch Amber on BET's Master of the Mix show every Saturday at 12 a.m. where she will serve as a judge alongside Kid Capri and Vikter Duplaix.

Check out the full interview below, as well as pictures from the Master of the Mix season 2 premier held last Thursday.