Azealia Banks Hit Rock Bottom

Azealia Banks is cocky as you-know-what. But the hip hop upstart says that before recording her breakout single "212," she was in a downward spiral professionally and personally. Which is why she decided to come out swinging.

“Nobody was listening to my music. I had been dropped from [the English record label] XL," she says. "My manager dropped me. My boyfriend left me. I was starting to accept that my career was never gonna happen. So the song was just me, like, ‘F**k y’all. Y’all not gonna help me? I’m gonna get it myself.’”

Banks went on to become a YouTube sensation and then inked a deal with Interscope. Guess she got the last laugh.

Lil Wayne, Rihanna Lead Billboard Finalists

Superstars Lil Wayne and Rihanna lead the finalists for the this year's Billboard Music Awards. The 2012 show will be taking place on May 20th at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, and both artists are well-represented amongst nominees.

Rihanna is a finalist in 13 of the 22 artist categories this year, with Lil Wayne as a finalist in 10 categories.

Billboard reports that the awards finalists will “reflect Billboard's chart rankings based on key fan interactions with music, including album sales and downloads, track downloads, radio airplay and touring as well as streaming and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Vevo, Youtube, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music.”

Azealia Banks Scoffs At Haters

Azealia Banks pops up in this month's issue of ELLE magazine and the spunky hip hop upstart explains her single "212" and dismisses those that claim she 'only' became famous because of YouTube buzz. Banks has become somewhat notorious for being outspoken.

She seems to relish that reputation.

“’212’ is arrogant,” says Azealia, of her hit “212″ video, “and fashion is arrogant. Selling beauty means convincing people that you have something they want,” she explains.

And as far as those critics? She couldn't care less.

“People say, ‘You just got famous on YouTube.’” Azealia added. “I’m like, ‘So? You didn’t get famous anywhere.’”

Swizz Beatz, Megaupload In Legal Battle

Hip hop superproducer Swizz Beatz has been revealed as the acting CEO of Megaupload. The news hit the Web amidst news of many websites blacking out in protest against the controversial SOPA/PIPA legislation. Swizz and the popular filre sharing site are in the midst of a major lawsuit against Universal Music Group.

Megaupload has come under fire in the past for music and video piracy.

Nonetheless, Swizz enlisted several notable artists for a YouTube video that supported the controversial site, only for Universal Music Group to issue a lawsuit for the video to be taken down. Swizz and Megaupload responded with a counter-suit.

Donald Trump Praises Mac Miller

Former presidential also-ran Donald Trump is singing the praises of rapper Mac Miller. Miller's song "Donald Trump" has passed the 20 million views mark on YouTube, and "The Donald" has nothing but positive things to say about the emcee.

“A lot of people are calling me about the Mac Miller rap song," Trump says. "Now, it’s named ‘Donald Trump.’ Maybe you should pay me a lot of money, but it just did over 20 million people, tuning into Mac Miller. So in one way, I’m proud of him. I haven’t actually seen the language, it’s a little hard to understand on the song itself. Probably, it’s not the cleanest language you’ve ever heard, but this kid is the new Eminem."

"Everybody says he’s fantastic," Trump added. "Let’s see what it is. But the ‘Donald Trump’ song just hit over 20 million, that’s not so bad. I’m very proud of him.”

Lil Wayne, Eminem Hit the Record Books

Lil Wayne and Eminem have gotten into the Guinness World Records. It was announced that, to coincide with Social Media Day, the two rappers have both reached historic numbers in terms of online fan-dom.

Lil Wayne's Facebook page has the Most "Likes" on a Facebook Item, Weezy's fans posted 668,198 comments, in response to a challenge posted on February 15, 2011 to break the record set by Oreo cookies. Wayne's fans posted over a half-a-million comments in less than 24 hours.

Eminem's official page has 42.5 million "Likes," alongside major brands like Facebook itself, YouTube.com, Zynga and pop artist, Lady Gaga.

"There's still a world of possibility in the social media space for new records as services emerge and existing ones increase their penetration," Barrett told AllHipHop.com in a statement. "There are a few landmark figures which will surely be passed in the next few years, who will be the first Twitter user to amass 100 million followers? Which Facebook page will be the first to reach 100 million likes? Whoever it is, you can be sure that Guinness World Records will be there to recognise all of these milestone achievements."

Kreayshawn On the N-Word

YouTube sensation generated controversy recently over tweeting the n-word while quoting DMX lyrics. The backlash has prompted the rap novelty to explain her position on the use of the word among white rappers and rap fans.

"I never said it in any of my music," Kreayshawn says. "Ever. [You heard it in my music video?] It might have been my sister, V-Nasty 'cause she says it all the time. That's just because she grew up all different. Like, she goes in and out of jail for armed robbery all the time. Like, her mom calls her that. So that's her stuff. Personally, I don't say it in my music. It's not my place but you know, that's her."

"If I'm freestyling and I said it, that's just for that point in time. Any songs I'm writing I don't use it," Kreayshawn continued. "In Oakland, Asian people will call Mexicans that. A Mexican will call a black dude that. A white person will call an Asian that. Everyone calls each other that. I feel like that word is used in the low-income community more than anything. I can see if I was some rich crazy trick and I was just saying this because it's hip-hop. I was raised around this. Me and my sisters were all raised around this. People call me that. But personally I'm not flaunting it around."

Eminem Hits 1 Billion Mark

Eminem Reaches 1 Billion Mark On YouTube

Rapper Eminem is making history after becoming the third artist and the first rapper to reach 1 billion views on YouTube.

The Detroit spitter has 28 official videos on the popular video sharing site, amassing the ridiculous total.

According the social media tracking site famecount.com, pop stars Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga were the first artists to reach the billion views mark.

Em sits at #5 this week on Billboard's Social 50, behind Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Shakir.

The Social 50 is a popularity list based on a formula that uses the artists' weekly addition of friends, fans and followers on sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

It also calculates songs played from the particular artist on those sites and others such as YouTube.com andiLike.com.