Game Facing Lawsuit

Rapper Game is facing a lawsuit filed by producer Infamous over a mixtape beat. Infamous claims that he offered the track to Game in 2010 for the rap star to determine whether or not he wanted to use it on a project. The producer didn't hear word from Game, allegedly, but the song surfaced on his "Skate On" track from the "California Republic" mixtape.

Infamous has said that he attempted to reach Game, but reportedly the Compton rapper never responded.

The suit comes on the heels of another suit filed by superproducer RZA last year against Game over the song "Heartbreak." Infamous is looking for $100,000 in compensation.

Eminem Explains Bond WIth 50 Cent

Eminem has a tremendous amount of respect for his longtime associate 50 Cent. Em spoke at-length about 50's drive to succeed and revealed that he's seen that spark in his friend and collaborator the entire time that they've been recording together. "Ever since we started making music with Fif, it was kind of like a mutual respect thing and we became friends outside of the music," Em said of their bond. "If you put the music aside, we can just talk about [anything], you know what I'm saying?" he continued. "50 is very big on the business aspect in his career. I would consider him a smart businessman. Not saying that I'm not, but I don't get into as much of the technical aspect in the business sense. Like, I have no idea what's going on. Ever. I don't even know where I'm at right now."

Eminem has a tremendous amount of respect for his longtime associate 50 Cent. Em spoke at-length about 50's drive to succeed and revealed that he's seen that spark in his friend and collaborator the entire time that they've been recording together.

"Ever since we started making music with Fif, it was kind of like a mutual respect thing and we became friends outside of the music," Em said of their bond.

"If you put the music aside, we can just talk about [anything], you know what I'm saying?" he continued. "50 is very big on the business aspect in his career. I would consider him a smart businessman. Not saying that I'm not, but I don't get into as much of the technical aspect in the business sense. Like, I have no idea what's going on. Ever. I don't even know where I'm at right now."

50 Cent Resolves Label Issues

50 Cent's long-running issues with his label, Interscope Records, seem to have subsided at least for the moment. The rapper talked about his delayed forthcoming album and revealed that he no longer has any grievances with the company. He blamed their past differences on the pending end of their contract together.

"They're in full support of me now. We cleared up the audit issues," he said in an interview with MTV. "That's always an issue, when you get to the final album or the final requirement you end up going through the books with everything that you've done."

"Once those things are resolved, everyone is ready to get back to work, and that's where we're at," he added.

Chief Keef Signs With Interscope

Just prior to taking the stage at Atlanta's Birthday Bash, rapper Chief Keef inked a record deal with Interscope Records. The teenage rapper from Chicago had been wooed heavily by several hip hop labels, most notably Cash Money Records and T.I.'s Grand Hustle imprint, but ultimately decided to go with Jimmy Iovine's label.

"I've been talkin' to a lot of labels, but I just noticed that Interscope got people like 50, Eminem," Keef told RapFix about the decision.

Keef was also reportedly given his own label deal for his GBE imprint and was given a multi-movie film deal with Interscope's motion picture division. The rapper also was reportedly guaranteed his own Beats By Dre signature headphone line.

Jadakiss Wants More Holograms?

The aftermath of the 2Pac hologram performance at Coachella a few weeks ago has left all of hip hop talking about holograms. While many have criticized the idea of dead rappers taking the stage, rapper Jadakiss seems to love the notion. In fact, Kiss says that there are other deceased hip hop figures that should be brought back to the stage via technology.

"It cost a lot, so I think Diddy with his connection to Interscope and Jimmy, I still think he got the resources to do a Big joint whenever he goes out to do a big tour; that'll be cool," Jadakiss said. "I think it was good for the 'Pac lovers and for these young cats that ain't really get the chance to see him or understand him. But I think if they gonna do it, we should try to do Big L, Pun -- let's do all of the fallen soldiers of hip-hop and let the people get a chance to see 'em at one of these big venues."

Game Reveals Album Title

Rapper Game has revealed the title of his next album. The West Coast rhymer told XXLMag that his follow up to 2011s The R.E.D. Album will be called F.I.V.E.: Fear Is Victory’s Evolution.

“The meaning behind that is like—me as a rapper, you as a journalist, Kobe as a basketball player—you gotta be afraid to do something, or have those butterflies in your stomach,” he said. “We all get that feeling. Before you did your first interview, you probably was like, ‘Damn, I don’t want to ask the wrong questions. I want to do this right.’ Me, before I wrote my first rap, or the first time I was in the booth. Fear. But then fear is victory’s evolution. After a while, you become a dope journalist, I become a dope rapper, Kobe is Kobe. You achieve and you pass over that fear. Now it ain’t fear; it’s just victory. It’s victory of all.”

Game also discussed tensions with his label, Interscope.

“Jimmy Iovine is, sh*t, probably weeks out from opening the budget for my fifth album,” he continued. “And then once I do this F.I.V.E. album, it might be a wrap. We’ll see. I know somebody going to give me some millions before I do anything. I see myself getting a lot of money to carry out the remaining time in my career. It don’t really matter where it’s at—it’s just the imprint on the back of the album

Iggy Azalea On Joining Interscope:

Newcomer Iggy Azalea explained exactly why she chose to join Interscope Records. The Australian femcee shared in a recent interview just what it was that led to her joining Jimmy Iovine's label--and she says it wasn't as simple as her following her management company.

"I thought it was the best route for me, so that's why I ended up signing [with Interscope]," she explained. "It didn't have to do with my management being Interscope. If anything, it made me question [signing the deal] more because having management and [my] label be the same company can get tricky...to me, Interscope is kind of like a family and I know so many people at the label so well. I think when you're making a commitment that's that big and...for that length of time...you really want to know the people and I didn't feel so hesitant to work with them because I felt like I had such a long relationship with them prior to that...I've had an outside relationship with that label for a long time, almost two years."

50 Cent Hints At Shelving Album

Rapper 50 Cent has been forced to delay his album repeatedly over the past several years. There have been reports that the project was shelved, then revisited--all amid ongoing tensions between the one-time hitmaker and his record label, Interscope. 50's frustrations have been well-documented, but his latest statements are leading many to believe that the album may never see the light of day.

When a fan asked the star about his long-delayed album, 50 responded, "I may have to fall back."

There is now rampant speculation that the untitled album has been shelved and that 50 Cent currently has no intention of releasing the project.

50 Cent Apologizes To Interscope

50 Cent and his label, Interscope Records, may be on the verge of making amends. There has been a tremendous amount of acrimony between the two parties, with 50 Cent publicly voicing his disdain for the label via his Twitter account. But, it seems that 50 has had a slight change of heart. The rapper tweeted that he was wrong for blasting the label publicly and he wants to remain cordial with labelhead Jimmy Iovine.

"Discovered a computer glitch leaked my song. Sorry to team at interscope for over reacting!" he wrote. "I put a lot in to this project but I don't care if it ever comes out. Jimmy iovine has been like a mentor for me. I just want to stay friends."

50 has voiced displeasure with album leaks and lack of promotion for his material over the past year.

50 Cent 'Disgusted' By Labels

Rap superstar 50 Cent is growing more and more frustrated with his label situation as time goes on. The rapper has been embroiled in a well-publicized feud with Interscope Records over his upcoming album. 50 aired his grievances once again via Twitter, revealing that he is completely turned-off by industry politics.

"My next album is great its shame the hardest people to work with were suppose to be on the same team with me. SK," he tweeted December 31st. "I'm not doing any press for this album. I worked really hard on it my music speaks for it self. I may put out another mix tape for fun. SK"

"Music was so much fun for me now the people and politics involved disgust me," 50 added. "I'm putting out a song tonight FT EM at 12:00 PM happy new year"

50 Cent Spazzes On Interscope?

Just a day after 50 Cent proclaimed that he was going to drop his upcoming album when he wanted, his label Interscope released artwork for a single that Fif says he never approved. He hopped on Twitter and revealed just how deep his frustration with Interscope runs.

"Man interscope put out the single art saying its coming out on the 31st but its not coming out. I'm not putting my album out till we are all on the same page," he tweeted. "These people are gonna make kill one of them. Now madonna's single is called GIRLS GONE WILD. This is some bull sh*t #SK"

"This is nuts to me. I try to do everything I can to keep my cool you know what? If they don't care I don't care I'm putting out a video now," Fiddy continued. "in 15 min new 50cent f*ck it. Making music makes me feel good. I'm going to write while I'm mad. I always come up with something good #SK"

Beats By Dre Working With EA Sports

Gaming giant EA Sports has released a new version of its popular FIFA 2012 soccer game. The release comes less than a month after EA Sports released the 2012 edition of its ever-popular Madden NFL series, and the new game features geared towards delivering "real-world physicality," precision dribbling, and heightened intelligence for gamers.

Additionally, EA has created a VIP kit that includes Beats By Dr. Dre headphones. The special kit has gone out to several celebrities, including Lil Wayne, Drake, Kobe Bryant, Chad Ochocinco and Wiz Khalifa.

Fans can register to win one of the VIP kits at the EA Insider Facebook page.

50 Cent Talks Final Interscope Album

50 Cent discussed his ongoing grievances with his label Interscope. The rapper is still focused on his upcoming fifth album; but he further emphasizes that this will be his final release with the label. He is frustrated with the way they've handled his career lately.

"It’s actually my final requirement. My fifth album and the final requirement for Interscope," 50 said. "I had some difficulties with the actual system,” he said. “There are people there that are afraid to lose their job; they’ve seen other people get fired. I think they’re afraid to make some decisions that need to be made right away, they just sit and look. […] We’ve had some conversations communicated to develop plans for different things and it’s not actually executed in the time plan that we’ve created. And I get frustrated and I start doing things, like I put the record out."

50 Cent says he's doing things his way from here on out.

"I condition my core audience to hear me a lot, because I perform at least two albums worth of material before I actually release the album. And when they don’t hear aggressive content, they turn their nose up at material, unless it’s already worked on radio,” he continued. "It doesn’t actually mean that I don’t like the company because all the success I’ve had in my career has been with Interscope records. It’s just a frustration at different points - like I had a song just go out and it was in their position, they were moving around to actually make the music video for it and then they go ‘ok, I don’t want that song no more’ because it’s been presented in the wrong way to the public. […] Then people go 'I don’t like this, I like this, I don’t know!’ - there’s no event to it. It’s not difficult when you’ve recorded 40 songs, it’s like so what? If you only have one song, you should just go jump off the song. Go get it."

Dr. Dre Selling 51% of Beats Electronics

Legendary hip hop producer Dr. Dre and his company Beats Electronics are selling a 51% stake of the company to HTC, a Taiwanese telephone manufacturer, for $300 million dollars. Beats specializes in making headphones, customized for a number of pop stars, and is a joint venture between Dre, Interscope Records and Jimmy Iovine.

HTC wants to improve the sound quality on its products--which led to the acquiring of a percentage of Beats.

“This will give us opportunity to innovate,” HTC Chief Executive Officer Peter Chou said. “When Jimmy and Dre started this, they had a very specific vision of what Beats would be,” added Beats Electronics president Luke Williams. “It wasn't about headphones, it was about fixing the degradation of sound.”

Game On His Future

Game may still be under contract to Aftermath/Interscope, but the Compton-based rapper is talking louder and louder about what he's going to do once he's fulfilled his current contract. Game owes his label two more records (including the soon-to-be-released R.E.D. Album--but he's definitely looking to the future.

He said as much during a recent trip to "106 & Park."

"You know Interscope/Aftermath, that's my label and I'ma hold it down for them forever," Game said. "I've been there for four albums, and I've got one more album before I'm a free agent. We're gonna try and turn that one around real quick, then I'll make the executive decision on what I'll do with the rest of my career. I might get into acting, I might go over to Cash Money. You never know."

50 Cent Could Leave Interscope

50 Cent's relationship with his label, Interscope, appears to be growing more and more tenuous by the day. Following the rapper's vocal complaints about the label regarding his forthcoming project--now pushed back to November--50 told MTV that he hasn't decided if he will return to the label once his current five-album deal is done.

"I don't know," 50 told MTV News. "It will all be clear in the negotiations following me turning this actual album in. And, of course, the performance and how they actually treat the work will determine whether you still want to stay in that position or not...It's not like you're gonna be able to make a project bigger than the actual project is, but if the songs are right and you have full support and you feel that support, why would you want to go anywhere else? If not, if you don't have that support, why would you want to sign to another system? In the financial state that I'm in, you just do it yourself."

50 Cent's Interscope Frustration

50 Cent has explained his recent grievances with Interscope and the release of his new single, "Outlaw." According to 50, the few months of iciness between himself, Dr. Dre and Interscope head Jimmy Iovine hampered the single's release for months. 50 lashed out Interscope previously via his Twitter page. In a recent interview, He explained why things had gotten bogged down.

"So I had the record I was ready to launch, and we sat down and everybody talked," he said. "What happens is, there are a lot of people involved in my actual launch, because its three parties; it's Shady, then you got Aftermath, then you got Interscope, and then you got me on my end. So by the time we got to go sit down with [Interscope chairman] Jimmy [Iovine], we talked a little bit, and then I ended up having to go see Dre, because we had the little issue, the confusion about the Twitter stuff."

"It's not necessarily Dre or Jimmy [holding up the process]; it's more the guys that they pass the responsibilities onto," he added. "It takes longer for people, because they'll be like, 'OK, we're gonna do this and we're gonna do that,' and the building will start having those conversations, but they're not actually moving at that point."

50 announced that he would also be appearing on Dr. Dre's next single, "The Psycho." The two have ended their dispute over 50's custom headphones--a dispute which many speculated centered on Dre's belief that 50's audio equipment brand would directly conflict with his.

50 Cent Delays Album Again

50 Cent, after days of back-and-forths between himself and his label, Interscope, looks to be delaying his album yet again. The rapper's project has been shelved and/or delayed several times over the past two years, and the latest round of uneasiness between the two parties involved has resulted in the still-untitled LP being pushed back possibly to November 2011.

50 said as much on from his Twitter account this weekend.

"My headphones and my album coming in NOV," 50 tweeted to his fans, responding to a fans question about what he was going to do next. Given the amount of times his album has been delayed already, there is no certainty that this release announcement is official.

Soulja Boy In $1 Million Lawsuit

Soulja Boy is at the center of a million-dollar lawsuit, along with his record label Interscope Records and MySpace Music. The parties are being sued over a canceled concert in Harrisburg, PA. Joseph Brewster of TrinCity Entertainment filed the suit.

The lawsuit alleges that TrinCity booked Soulja Boy for a concert on December 10th, 2010 and paid an advance fee of $16,250. They also reportedly paid another $3,500 for bus transportation to the event and another $8,000 for television and radio commercials to promote the event. According to the lawsuit, reps for Interscope contacted TrinCity and asked the show be canceled, so that Soulja Boy could perform a show in Hawaii the following weekend.

TrinCity says that reps for Interscope and MySpace agreed to pay $10,000 to offset the advertising costs. The money was also supposed to help TrinCity promote Soulja Boy's rescheduled date. But according to the suit, MySpace never reimbursed TrinCity and Interscope paid $5,000, but it was too late to promote the rescheduled show.

The suit also claims Soulja Boy unjustly kept the $16,250 deposit. Brewster and TrinCity want $1,000,000 in damages for breach of contract.

Soulja Boy On Cash Money?

Soulja Boy's last album, DeAndre Way, may have gone glass, but the Atlanta pop-rapper claims that Cash Money CEO Brian "Birdman" Williams wants him on his label. He also revealed that if he could have any guest star on his mixtape, it would be a certain dreadlocked superstar from New Orleans.

"If I could get anybody, I would have probably put Lil Wayne on my mixtape," Soulja said. "Me and Wayne, man. I talk to him, but I'm cool with Birdman. When I'm in Miami, I be with Birdman. He's trying to get me to come over to Cash Money. I'm cool with Birdman. I feel like if I drop my mixtape and get Wayne on it, I'd really have the juice then [Laughs]. It is a possibility. When I was down in Miami for a couple of weeks recording with Sean Kingston, Birdman reached out to me. He said 'come and have a meeting with me' and he told me 'yo man you'd go perfect with everything we got going on. Whatever you want. I want to bring you over to this family, bring you to Cash Money.'"

Why would Birdman want to sign Soulja Boy in 2011? 2006, maybe. 2011? Nah.