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With his deal with Tech N9ne's Strange Music in place, Jay Rock is ready to release his debut album 'Follow Me Home' July 29.

Here's some new visuals from the Watts native.

Eminem continues his hot streak as he becomes the first artist artist ever to sell one million digital copies of an album in the U.S.

Just weeks after Bad Meets Evil's 'Hell : The Sequel' made it's debut at number 1, Slim's 'Recovery' album passes the digital platinum mark. The album was also the best selling album of 2010 and won a Grammy for Best Rap Album.

“Recovery selling one million digital albums is an incredible achievement by an incredible artist,” said Interscope Records’ Vice Chairman Steve Berman. “I have had the pleasure of working with Eminem throughout the course of his career, and I’m delighted to be a part of yet another milestone on his amazing journey.”

Eminem's longtime manager Paul Rosenberg was just as pleased.

"We are thrilled to congratulate Eminem on the history-making digital sales success of Recovery," he said. "Over the years we've made a concerted effort to engage Em's online fan base so this achievement is especially rewarding. Eminem made an amazing album with Recovery and the fans responded in record numbers."

Gucci Mane wasted no time getting back into the swing of things following his release from Fulton County jail yesterday.

AllHipHop reports Gucci partied last night at Club Onyx, an Atlanta strip joint. The 1017 Brick Squad CEO also dropped a new mixtape “Writings on the Wall 2.”

Gucci had been locked up since April  following numerous probation violations stemming from a 2005 aggravated assault case. Most recently Gucci was accused of pushing a woman out of his moving car after she refused to have sex for money with him. His attorney Ashutosh Joshi told MTV yesterday that his client's probation from that 2005 case would be completed once he was released.

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Bow Wow takes viewers on an in depth trip into his world in the upcoming documentary 'Who Is Shad Moss?'

Check out the first of three trailers that will be released.

Twitter was the stage again for another rap beef. This time Shady Records artist Ca$his and CTE's Freddie Gibbs squared off.

This actually started back in July of last year when Gibbs dissed Ca$his in an interview with Complex. Gibbs said he felt a certain way about Eminem not wanting to meet with him when he was shopping for a deal.

"I guess it was disappointing because I saw he signed n*ggas like Ca$his and I was like, man, get the f*ck outta here. These busters can't hold a candle to me," Gibbs said at the time.

Today Ca$his dissed the rapper back, starting a war of words.

"jeezy is the man... But @FreddieGibbs is horrible. Sounds like a wack ja rule tryna be twista, all while being constipated," he wrote.

"@TheRealCashis N*gga suck my d*ck," Gibbs replied. "get off twitter and find a job so you can feed them 15 kids. U wanna see me come see me I'm out here."

From there it was pretty much Ca$his going in, while Gibbs chose to remain silent.

"@FreddieGibbs come c u? B*tch if u get touched, holice will b at my door... Uz a ho... U want rap beef. So rap beef it is... Fraud," Ca$his tweeted. "and keep my kids out ur voca, or this is big n pac 2011... I never spoke on ur seed. I'll end u b*tch, dont speak on my babies. ima make jeezy treat u like a f*cking leper," he continued. "i see u shut the f*ck up about my kids doe... Now its back to rap.... Ima call u bettygibbs from now on ok :)."

We'll keep an eye on this one, it could get interesting.

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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Prosecutors proved Casey Anthony was a liar, but convinced the jury of little else. The government failed to establish how 2-year-old Caylee Anthony died and they couldn't find her mother's DNA on the duct tape they said was used to suffocate her. There was conflicting testimony on whether the putrid smell inside the family's car was a decomposing body or simply trash, and it was never quite clear why chloroform was so important.

The lack of evidence and the doubt raised by the defense — that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family's pool — was enough to win an acquittal. After a trial of a month and a half, the jury took less than 11 hours to find Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse.

Caylee Anthony

She was convicted only of four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators who were looking into the June 2008 disappearance of Caylee. She lied about being employed at Universal Studios. She lied about leaving Caylee with a baby-sitter, then again when she recounted to investigators that she had told two imaginary people that Caylee was missing. She also lied about receiving a phone call from Caylee the day before she was reported missing.

Lead defense attorney Jose Baez was criticized by many legal pundits for his strategy and loosely throwing around allegations of molestation and incest. Baez suggested early on that Casey's father, George Anthony, helped cover up the drowning and sexually abused his daughter, accusations the father vehemently denied. Baez also claimed Casey's brother might be Caylee's father and that a meter reader who discovered the girl's remains may have moved them, more allegations that weren't substantiated.

George Anthony

 
Ultimately, though, the burden of proof wasn't on Baez.

 
"I don't think it was Baez' great lawyering that won the case," said Richard Rosenbaum, a Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney who closely followed the trial but wasn't involved in the case. "I think it goes back to the prosecution and the weaknesses in their case."

Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney for Miami and now a defense attorney, said Baez had to offer an alternative to the prosecution's theory of how Caylee was killed, though he was less impressed with the molestation accusations.

"The biggest questions were the 'how' and the 'why,'" Coffey said. "Even the state acknowledged they weren't exactly sure of how Caylee was killed. That was a candid acknowledgement, but Baez seized on that."

Jose Baez

Orlando's chief prosecutor said his attorneys were disappointed with the verdict but they presented every piece of evidence that existed.

"This is a dry-bones case. Very, very difficult to prove," said Orange County State Attorney Lawson Lamar. "The delay in recovering little Caylee's remains worked to our considerable disadvantage."

Shortly after Lamar's news conference, one of the lead prosecutors on the case, Jeff Ashton, announced he would retire at the end of the week following 30 years as a prosecutor. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said Ashton and Lamar had previously discussed his retirement.

The six-month gap between when Casey was reported missing and when her remains were found in December 2008 affected the amount of scientific evidence investigators could glean from the pieces of bones, some as small as a pebble. And prosecutors didn't have any evidence that put Casey at the scene where the remains were found.

There was also confusion on why chloroform was so important. Chloroform is a chemical compound that can be used to knock someone unconscious and also is found in human decomposition, but prosecutors never made clear exactly what its role it played in Caylee's death.

Prosecutors said Casey searched for the term "chloroform" on the family's computer, though when her mother, Cindy, took the stand late in the trial, she said she searched for it. Later, job records indicated that Cindy might have been at work when the searches were made.

Then there was the smell test. After prosecutors presented an expert witness who said that a carpet stain taken from the family's car trunk had a smell consistent with a decomposing body, the defense called the expert's former colleague who testified to the opposite.

Baez addressed his naysayers during a press conference.

 
"This case has brought on new challenges for all of us. Challenges in the criminal justice system, challenges in the media, and I think we should all take this as an opportunity to learn and to realize that you cannot convict someone until they have had their day in court," he said.

Yale Galanter, who has represented O.J. Simpson in a number of cases since 2000, said he was not surprised by the verdict.

"The issue is there was absolutely no evidence linking her to the death. None," said the Miami lawyer. "So what the defense did was brilliant, they brought up the drowning, they brought up the sexual molestation, and it really got the jury to focus away from the bad behavior of the mom."

Associated Press

Verdict Being Read

Why Was America Fascinated By This Trial?

Many Spectators Unhappy With Verdict

Video And Pics After The Jump

Esther Baxter is trying to make the transition from being a video vixen/model to serious actress and shake off her recent break up with Joe Budden in the process.

The beautiful 26-year old talks to King Magazine those subjects and other things that are going on in her world currently. Check out an excerpt from the interview below as wel as some new pics of Esther.

Are you afraid you’ll be typecast in Hollywood?
No not at all, I’m not afraid of that. A few of the roles I’ve been offered had nothing to do with my looks.

Is there any role you won’t do?
I pretty much have the same standards as I did modeling. As long as it’s anything that’s not crazy and raunchy, I want roles that actually show that I can act. We’ve actually passed on quite a few projects because they weren’t going in the direction that we are planning for my career.

That rules out acting like the sex scene in Monster Ball, huh?
[Laughs] That’s not in the plans.

Scoff all you want but it won Halle Berry an Oscar.
It worked for her and that was some crazy acting, for real.

You recently moved to Los Angeles to be in the mix of everything, correct?
I am a Californian. My manager has been trying to get me to move out there for about two years now. It was such a big move that I postponed it. But knowing I needed to move here I decided to go ‘head and do it.

Why the hesitation?
Because I’m recently…single and that was pretty much what was holding me back. Now that I’m single, I’ve decided I’m going to focus on me and my career and my child.

Unfortunately, there’s been more focus on your recent public split with rapper Joe Budden. He does have a track record when it comes to being associated with video models. Did you know this going into your relationship?
With me, I had no idea who he was, what he did, or any of his music.

Seriously? You didn’t know about his hit record, “Pump It Up”?
No, I thought Swizz Beatz did that song.

Ouch.
I didn’t know anything about his past. And I judged him by who he was and who he presented himself to me.

To catch the rest of the interview, as well as the Esther Baxter cover and photo spread pick up Sep/Oct issue when it hits newsstands July 17.

Nicki Minaj's family suffered a tragic loss yesterday.

TMZ is reporting that Minaj's cousin, 27-Year old Nicholas Telemaque, was killed in Brooklyn, New York around 2:40 a.m. July 4th from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso.

Nicki tweeted about the tragedy and included photos of her cousin.

Nicholas Telemaque

Police say they have made no arrests so far.

Sometimes when artists are promoting their material they can get caught up in the moment and say things they might regret later. It's good to be confident, but there's a fine line between that and being arrogant.

That could be the case with Berkeley rapper Lil B, who has gotten lots of attention recently for deciding to name his new album 'I'm Gay.' Now he's comparing the album with some of the greats.

In a recent interview with Vibe, Lil B said that 'I'm Gay' will stand the test of time like some of 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G.'s work.

"I'm Gay is going to be one of the most classic albums to ever touch down in hiphop. Once you hear the music and see the measures I'm going through for the people, it'll be one of the Tupacs, the Biggie Smalls, the Lil Waynes, the DMXs, the Black Robs, the Beanie Sigels, the Jay-Zs, the Commons, the Kanye Wests, The Lupe Fiascos. It's just goin' to be real hard, the real love, the real struggle, the real pain. It's goin' to be somethin' that uplifts people. Let me be the human sacrifice for the people. If I got to be the person that helps the world get better, let that be. If I gota go through pain so the next generation can be free and happy...let that be."

The album was released June 29, and is now being given away as a free download.

What do you think of Lil B's comments?"

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With everybody from Rosario Dawson to Slim Thug planking it was just a matter of time before it invaded every hood.

Check out youtubers FiyahAndy performing a series of "hood planks."

Superstar singer Rihanna is a woman that knows what she wants in a man and doesn't plan on settling for less. When it comes to relationships she tells Cosmopolitan she can play the same games men can.

"Men are like hunters; they like the chase. So you have to keep ’em guessing. Actually, I’m like that too. I get bored quickly. So if someone can make me laugh, that’s the best," she said.

In the past Rihanna has been linked romantically to entertainers Chris Brown, Drake and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Matt Kemp.

What do they all have in common? They are used to being in the public eye.

Rihanna says finding a man outside of the industry would be hard to do.

"It can definitely be intimidating to guys to date someone in this industry. And it’s really hard to find a guy who doesn’t care about that stuff."

There are a few things that a man can do to get the Barbadian beauty's attention, other than the whips and chains she sings about in "S&M."

"I’m turned on to a guy by different things. It could be the way he looks. It could be his intelligence. It’s really a spontaneous thing," she explained. 

The singer also talked about the aftermath of the physical assault she suffered at the hands of Chris Brown two years ago.

"It was a very aggressive and defensive time, and that allowed me to start not giving a sh*t. I walked around with a very f*ck-you attitude. I’ve always been good at masking my emotions. Anytime I didn’t want to deal with how I felt, I’d put up my guard. But I’ve started not doing that."

To read the rest of the interview pick up the July copy of Cosmopolitan.

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Sasha DelValle is best known for playing the role of 50 Cent's sheisty girlfriend Princess in the movie 'Before I Self Destruct.' She's also been a featured model in Show Magazine, XXL and King.

Check out her latest shoot for Dynasty Series below.

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Kevin "K-Mac" McCall, best known for producing and rapping on Chris Brown's "Deuces" is starting to make a name for himself as an entertainer as well. In addition to being a rapper McCall is also a singer and songwriter signed to Brown's "Chris Brown Entertainment." His debut mixtape "Un-Invited Guest" recently dropped showing his immense potential.

Check out the Edward Tran directed visuals for "F*ck You Pay Me," which appears on the tape.

Trae Tha Truth releases a track featuring an all-star cast from his upcoming album 'Street King' which hits stores July 12.

File this one under wishful thinking.

Chris Brown is back on top in the eyes of most fans, but he still might have a lot of convincing to do if he wants to get Jay-Z's approval for a desired collaboration with Beyonce.

SingersRoom is reporting that Breezy would like to duet with the "Halo" singer.

“I really wanna do a song wit Beyonce!!!” Brown reportedly wrote on twitter “Imagine the dancing! CraZzzzzzy.”

Jay-Z and Beyonce are very close to Rihanna. And were said to be very upset when Brown physically assaulted her two years ago.

There were rumors that Hov had blackballed Chris from being able to perform a Michael Jackson tribute at the 2009 BET Awards.

Jay flatly denied it: "That's the silliest rumor I ever heard," Jay told Tim Westwood at the time.

Would you like to see a Beyonce and Chris Brown collaboration?

Police in Springfield, Ohio have arrested a man they say raped his own son, infecting him with HIV.

According to the Cincinnati.com, 29-year old Lenny Love Jr. admitted to authorities that he raped the 6-month old infant knowing he was infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

He was arrested on Friday and charged with two counts of rape, one count of felonious assault and one count of possession of marijuana.

He is set to be arraigned on Monday.

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With a September 27 release date locked in for his debut album 'Cole World: The Sideline Story.' J. Cole sat down with Soul Culture TV to talk about that, his new single "Work Out" and more.