Rapper Fabolous will embark on a 13 city tour, giving free performances at Boys & Girls Clubs, seeking to inspire young children to pursue their dreams. “There’s millions of kids that want to do what I do,” Fabolous told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “[Rapping] became a profession. That’s why I feel it’s a street dream. I want to do my part to inspire the next generation of kids coming up to find a dream of their own and make it happen.” Fab us currently preparing to release his sophomore set, Street Dreams, which will be in stores March 4. The album features Lil Mo, P. Diddy, Jagged Edge, Ashanti, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliott, Jadakiss and more. The rapper also recently shot a Sean John print and outdoor advertising campaign; and a TV commercial for Nextel’s “Boost Mobile” service. Here are the markets and dates for the Boys & Girls Club tour: 2/24 Cleveland, OH 2/25 Detroit, MI 2/26 Chicago, IL 3/1 Oakland, CA 3/2 Hollywood, CA 3/5 Brooklyn, NY 3/6 Boston, MA 3/7 Philadelphia, PA 3/8 Annapolis, MD & Washington, DC 3/12 Dallas, TX 3/13 Houston, TX

DMX will star opposite David Arquette in "Never," a movie based on the 1974 book "Never Die Alone," by author Donald Goines. The crime drama centers a gangster, who in the original rendition was known as King David, a cocaine dealer. The book focused on King David’s exploits in the underworld. King David is murdered, but leaves a diary to a writer named Paul Pawlowski, who is seeking to solve David’s murder. The original telling is based on a true story. The movie, which will be told in a series of flashbacks, is being produced by DMX’s Bloodline Films. Ernest Dickerson, known for his ground breaking cinematography with Spike Lee, will direct the movie. Dickerson also directed 1992’s "Juice," which starred Tupac Shakur and 2001’s "Bones," which starred Snoop Dogg. Shooting for "Never" will start next week in Los Angeles.

MC Hammer may be on the verge of another comeback after publicly playing out his personal trials and tribulations. After starring in “The Surreal Life,” alongside of Emmanuel “Webster” Lewis, the pop rappers has now signed on for a WB sitcom. The WB has signed Hammer to star in the series, which will be based on his life. No more details have been issued, but insiders state that the rapper was well received by test audiences that watched “The Surreal Life.”

While Pepsi decided to agree to most of the HHSAN (Hip-Hop Summit Action Network) demands, Russell Simmons has other plans to combat the bias the hip-hop community has faced from conservatives like Bill O’Reilly of “The O’Reilly Factor.” Simmons said that he has begun the purchase of an unnamed soft drink company, although he didn’t offer additional details. “I hope people don’t misunderstand this but I might as well say it – my first response when Pepsi dropped Ludacris and I got calls from civil rights leaders saying, “What do we do” – My first response was what it was my whole life. I bought a beverage company,” Simmons said. “The first thing I did then was go to Ludacris and I’ve been negotiating for sometime [for him] to be the spokesperson that company. So, Ludacris said he’s not interested in doing ads [for Pepsi],” he explained. “Its not that they won’t let him back on the air – he was offered additional commercials as part of the original settlement. It didn’t make sense for him.” “I think he wants to own a piece of what we are developing and that’s what he’s going to be doing.” On Feb. 13, Pepsi Cola averted the looming hip-hop boycott as they faxed Russell Simmons a document that explained that the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, The Ludacris Foundation and the soft drink company would funnel millions in to charity efforts. According to Simmons, the documents appeared about 20 minutes before the press conference. “It’s a million dollars a year for three years, but the details of the partnership are not for everyone,” Simmons stated. “I can tell you its at least a million dollars [per year and] I’m expecting it to be a lot more.” On Feb. 12, Bill O’Reilly suggested that that Pepsi was not going to fulfill the original verbal agreement with the HHSAN by posting statement from the soft drink company. However, the statement proved to be either severely flawed or completely fraudulent because Pepsi settled quickly. Simmons stated, “O’Reilly didn’t have a signed agreement when he used their statement. That’s statement from last night was proven not to be true because here is our signed agreement with Pepsi, The Ludacris Foundation and the Hip-Hop Summit [Action Netowork].”

Cam’ron has accused the NBA of stopping him from performing with Mariah Carey during the NBA All-Star game tribute to Michael Jordan on Feb. 9. Cam said the league agreed he’d rap during the set but reneged claiming they were “staying away from rap.” Cam said that Carey had fought to get the rapper a spot during the tribute, but the NBA reneged, blaming a lawsuit against Cam’s former label, Untertainment. Cam said that the league’s commissioner, David Stern, never intended to let him perform. “They told her yes until the last two days,” Cam’ron told AllHipHop.com. “Then they brought up when Untertainment [used] the [NBA logo] for S.D.E. album. They said they sued Cam’ron when I had the gun in the NBA logo. It was really Untertainment and they were like, ‘we don’t care, its Cam’ron.’” During the 1999 promotion of his S.D.E. album, Untertainment/Epic released an advertisement, which was a play on the NBA’s trademarked logo by adding a gun to the silhouetted hand of Jerry West player. Eventually, the NBA filed a civil suit, forcing Cam and Untertainment to yank the ads. The NBA, which relies heavily on hip-hop in various marketing campaigns and commercials told Cam and crew that they were actually trying to stay away from rap. “The NBA said that they don’t do any rap so they didn’t let me perform,” Cam continued. “I mean they act like they are such an elite group of people- no disrespect because I have friends in the NBA. Its like realistically, they got people that beat they wives up, get caught with guns, smoking weed – all types of stuff – and then they say they [don’t use] rap.” Jimmy Jones, co-CEO of Diplomat Records said he was angry as well. “David Stern, you get the third finger from the left or the right,” Jones said. “We’re starting the ‘F**k David Stern Campaign.’” “The only reason they said ‘Yeah’ is because Mariah Carey insisted. They were trying to tell her, ‘No, we don’t do rap. We are staying away from rap.’ To deprive me of the tribute to Michael Jordan, such a prestigious event at the All-star game, I felt like it was a miscarriage of justice,” Cam concluded. The NBA was not available for comments at press time.

Last night on Fox’s "The Bill O’Reilly Show," representatives for Pepsi implied that they would not be donating money to Ludacris’ foundation, as they verbally agreed to earlier this week to avert a boycott of their company. Russell Simmons, head of the Hip-Hop Action Network and President Minister Ben Muhammad said that Pepsi had been dragging their heels in drafting the formal paper work with the terms that each party agreed to. "It appears, although not officially, that Pepsi may be trying to backstep on its commitment," Muhammad told AllHipHop.com. "Currently, the officials at Pepsi claim they will have something for us today." Simmons said that he is giving Pepsi until noon today (Feb. 13) to produce paper work with terms of Pepsi’s commitment. A press conference to announce the results is scheduled around 2:00 PM. Pepsi issued a statement yesterday, saying: "We’ve come to an agreement where the common ground is young people. We’re working together on a multiyear, multi-city effort that will encourage kids to express their creativity in the visual and performing arts." "What they said on Bill O’Reilly last night was at variance from what they committed to Russell. We not going to be played that way."

50 Cent’s debut album Get Rich Or Die Trying will claim the number one position on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart this week. The album moved over 872,000 units in the four days between its release last Thursday (Feb 6) and the closing of the chart. “The people that might wish I do bad are shocked,” 50 Cent told AllHipHop.com in an interview. “I’m already doing better than people would expect me to do.” After moving over moving such units of his Get Rich, the Queens rapper has shattered a record for the most albums sold for a debut artist. Snoop Dogg previously held the record with Doggystyle (802,0000), but 50 broke the record even with a truncated sales period, according to MTV.com. In comparison, the rapper’s debut has sold more than most first week sales than all of his peers, save Eminem. 50’s achievement has eclipsed hefty debuts by Jay-Z, DMX, Nelly and Puff Daddy despite being a commercial upstart. The 26-year-old’s first album, Power of the Dollar, was shelved by Columbia Records and eventually fell victim to bootlegging. And, even though Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP moved 1.76 million its first week, it was the Detroit rapper’s second album. Despite his street promotion, bootlegging has not seemingly adversely affected Get Rich as it easily assumes the number one slot from the Dixie Chicks.

Suge Knight’s hearing to see if he should be sent back to prison for associating with known gang members was postponed Tuesday by California state officials. The official reason for the delay on the decision to revoke Knight’s parole to send him back to prison was delayed because the Califorina Board of Prison Terms wanted to review whether or not Knight was allowed to have legal representation at his hearing. "We wanted to be comfortable that we were on solid ground with whatever decision we made," Bill Sessa, the panel’s liaison said. Sessa said that a new hearing date would be issued within a few weeks. Sessa added that lawyers are typically barred from parole revocation hearings, which are made on a case-by-case basis. Knight’s attorney David Z. Chesnoff said that Knight was being treated unfair. "Since the day this guy got back on the streets, a double standard has been applied to him with respect to his parole conditions. They treat him like he’s Public Enemy No. 1," Chesnoff told the Los Angeles Times. "I met personally with the parole people on Suge’s behalf and they told me they understood there would be circumstances, based on the kind of rap music genre that he was involved in, where he might come into contact with people that they think have gang affiliations," Chesnoff continued. Knight has been locked up since December 23, after being arrested and confronted with various evidence showing that he had associated with various gang members, something his parole stipulated he was prohibited from doing. "I told parole that if I had to stop dealing with people from the ‘hood, I might as well shut my business down," Knight said from his jail cell in December. "I can’t just turn my back on the people I came up with. Rap comes from the same place that I did — the ghetto."

While Canibus has received acclaim on the internet and praise from die-hard fans, those accolades have not necessarily translated into offline success as well. Nevertheless, the reclusive rappers said that he has all he needs to fuel his steadfast march forward, which started with Mic Club: The Curriculum. “Fan support and internet reviews make it all worth while. I feel Mic Club was a testament to hip hop and feedback from the bottom up somewhat reflected that,” he said. “On an independent level, word of mouth and passionate fans are what it is about, and I am very thankful and appreciative to have experienced that with this LP.” While his set only garnered 2.5 mics of 5 in The Source, he said that it wasn’t a concern of his, acknowledging the lyric-heavy, alternative nature of his music. "As for The Source, it is an opinion and probably a fair one in a more commercial element of hip-hop," Canibus continued. " The Curriculum does not fall into that category in my eyes. We are all content with overall feedback,” he said. “As for the rating, it would be an issue if that’s how each person who copped [the album] felt, b ut it seems that the rating was more about Canibus than Mic Club. Mic Club speaks for itself.” Not resting, Canibus said that he has already prepared for the summer with more of his brand of heat and it will offer much of what listeners have grown accustomed to. “The next official worldwide release will be Rip The Jacker Meets The Enemy of Mankind dropping summer 2003 on Babygrande distributed through Koch, he said. “It’s an album lyrically potent and is produced by Stoupe of Jedi Mind Tricks. The single should drop Spring ’03 and additional information will be available at Babygrande.com, Micclub.net and MP3.com/Canibus ”

Former Roc-A-Fella rapper Amil is working on material for her second album, which will be released independently with national distribution. She said that she has finished the majority of her untitled 13-song album. "I aint talking about money, cars or killing n*ggas on this joint," Amil told AllHipHop.com. "This album is just realer [than the last CD]." The album will be released through indie production company, Bell Ringers. The Bell Ringers consist of former producers from Murder Inc. While Amil is no longer backed by a major, she said that she happy with her current independent status. "I’m basically in control of the creative side of it all so I can truly say I have the most control of my project," Amil continued. "I can never see myself working for a label that’s telling me which direction to go in. I feel artist need to be themselves that’s what makes them an artist." Amil said that the untitled album would drop nationwide sometime in 2003.

The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and soft drink giant Pepsi have come to a verbal agreement, averting Tuesday’s (Feb. 11) boycott at the 11th hour. Pepsi, the Ludacris Foundation and Russell Simmons’ Rush Arts have agreed to a multi-year, multi-million dollar partnership to support the arts in communities at risk. "We hope Pepsi’s investment inspires other companies to invest more in grassroots programs as opposed to some bureaucracies who aren’t always effective," Simmons told AllHipHop.com. Simmons non-profit organization, Rush Arts as well as Ludacris’ nonprofit will help designate the recipients of the settlement. "We really hope that this starts the trend that big corporations support cost effective programs in our communities. We hope that it signals a new day of corporate involvement." Simmons said that the boycott was not about Ludacris, but about the treatment that the hip-hop culture received from big corporations. "Ludacris doesn’t want the commercials back on the air," Simmons continued. "People don’t understand why this was so important. It’s about respect for the hip-hop culture."

Songwriting legend Burt Bacharach and Dr. Dre, arguable hip-hop’s most prolific producer, are working together on an upcoming project which will reportedly feature a variety of music styles. "Dr. Dre gave me these drum beats and told me to do what I like," Bacharach told told U.K.’s Sun newspaper. "These won’t be like usual songs. These are like compositions, which is very interesting to me." he told The Sun. Burt Bacharach has written songs for everyone from Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis to Neil Diamond and Dionne Warwick and has penned some of the most memorable pop songs in history, including "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," "Walk On By," "A House Is Not A Home," and many others.

Rapper DMX recently revealed that his next album would be his last and final due to what he deems a fake recording industry plagued with payola. "The soundtrack ["Cradle To The Grave"] is the next joint that’s coming out," DMX told AllHipHop.com. "I’m on there, it’s some hot joints on there. It’s more people but, I can’t remember. My next album is not a game and that’s also my last album." While DMX said that he was retiring from rapping, he would continue in the music business as the head of his Bloodline Records imprint. "A person can walk up to you and feel like they know you," DMX continued. "You pretty much bared your soul to them and for somebody to call it a game it’s like you taking away from what it really is." DMX said that he is finishing his next album and is writing almost four to five songs per day. "Cradle To The Grave" hits theaters February 28

50 Cent’s Shady/Aftermath Interscope release, Get Rich Or Die Trying is predicted to go gold in the first week and claim the number one position on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart this week. The album was released five days before it’s scheduled February 11 date to combat bootlegging and Internet piracy. "The people that might wish I do bad are shocked," 50 Cent told AllHipHop.com. "I’m already doing better than people would expect me to do. So, I’m on cloud nine. I can only do better because of my space right now.” 50 also said that his current situation on Eminem’s Shady imprint is much more lucrative than the deal he had when he was on Columbia. "My deal with Columbia wasn’t a good deal. It was for $250,000," 50 continued. "I got $65,000 in advance, $50,000 went to Jam Master Jay, $10,000 went to the lawyers that negotiated that deal and that negotiated the release. I was left with $5,000. I was still selling crack." The days of grinding in the streets for drug money are long gone for the rapper. Interscope shipped 1 million units of Get Rich Or Die Trying and added an additional 400,000 shortly after the release to cover the strong demand. The indie album that he released, Guess Who’s Back? also racked up almost 20k sales last week. Industry analysts said that the album could sell as much as 750,000 units for the week and when it debuts on the Billboard chart next week, it will take the number one spot from the Dixie Chicks. 50 is currently touring to support the album. Here are few upcoming dates: 2/13/2003 Rhode Island College Providence, RI United States 2/15/2003 Old Dominion College Baltimore, MD United States 2/16/2003 Baltimore Arena Baltimore, MD United States

Big Pun’s widow, Liza Rios, will announce the establishment of the Big Pun Foundation, today at a press conference in the Bronx, to mark the 3 year anniversary of the rappers passing. Pun passed away three years ago today (Feb. 7). “My husband wanted his success to serve as an inspiration for youth in urban communities. He sought to set up a refuge for those in need of resources and mentors to foster their dreams. To fulfill his wish we have created this foundation in his memory,” Mrs. Rios told AllHipHop.com in a statement. The not-for-profit organization seeks to improve the quality of life for inner city communities by implementing social development initiatives and resources for youth, adolescents and victims of domestic violence. Programs and incentives offered at the Foundation will include workshops, community outreach efforts, conferences and special events. Serving as the Foundation’s President, Mrs. Rios cites her diverse life experience as Pun’s partner/personal assistant, wife, and mother as well as being a victim of abuse to support the Foundation’s efforts. Other administrators and board members include, Executive Director, A. Rebecca Scott, former Loud Records executive; Chairman, Renaldo Sierra, former NYSE assistant trader and board member, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Assemblyman of the 75th Assembly District of Bronx County who stated, “Pun was the Tito Puente of hip hop, establishing credibility for Latinos in a non-traditional music genre while maintaining commitment to his community.” Among the first to support the Big Pun Foundation with a charitable gift are Carver Entertainment Group, the organizers of the Big Pun Tribute Tour pledging to donate a portion of the proceeds. Confirmed tour dates for the Big Pun Tribute Tour will be announced shortly.