Miami's Big "Boss" Rick Ross is back at it again. His 2006 debut release 'Port of Miami' was embraced by hip hop's finest, including his former boss, Jay-Z, and topped the charts, thanks to collaborations with Jigga and Young Jeezy on the album's hit single 'Hustlin.' But Ross isn't letting the success of his first effort keep him off his grind. The rapper returned to the studio last year and recorded his sophomore album, 'Trilla,' due in stores on March 11.

"The actual title, I drew from Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' album. You know down south we use the term Trill, that's like true and real put together," Ross tells the BoomBox.

Ross also gains inspiration from his desire to make sure Miami continues to contribute to hip-hop. "It just feels good being part of the building process putting Miami back on the map. The way it needs to be," Ross proclaims. "Miami was doing big things with Luke Skywalker ... of course that was when I was elementary school."

"It's the album I've wanted to make all of my life," eclectic songstress Erykah Badu tells the BoomBox when asked about her "comeback" album, 'New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War),' which hits stores February 26.

It's been almost five years since Badu released her third album, 'Worldwide Underground,' and the singer admittedly took some time off to nurse her kids instead of her career. "I had a daughter in 2004, but I put out 'Worldwide Underground' in 2003 and I took the time to nurture her ... breastfeeding and mothering and caring for her. And she had an older brother who was six at the time, who also needed mommy's care, love and attention, " Badu explains in a sweet, reflective tone.

The singer also confesses to being a traveling artist, which kept her out of the studio but in front of her fans where she feels at home. "I am a recording artist by career, but I am a performing artist, that's where we make our money. So I got to work," the singer proclaims. "I do most of my creating live, onstage."

Badu's latest creation will truly please her faithful following, who've waited a few years to see what this spiritual talent has to offer in the midst of today's here-today, gone-tomorrow acts. After a few title changes and some creative tweaking, Badu is finally ready to deliver. "My working title was 'Kahbah' ... usually the songs have a different working title than when they do when the album is completed," Badu explains. "[When] the album came to a completion, everything that I was talking about seemed like a testimony to where we are and where we were and people who live in the society [who] breathe every day, walk, think and act as we are, and that's what it's about."

John Legend's new live album, 'Live From Philadelphia,' which debuted at No. 7 on the charts, has added significance for the singer-songwriter, who credits the city for giving him a shot early on.

"I went to college there and a lot of my early writing and recording I did there, so I definitely have a special connection to Philly," Legend tells PopEater. "I remember when I put my band together I was playing in some of the clubs in Philly early on."

The album, which is available exclusively at Target, was recorded at the Tower Theater, a place the singer used to frequent. "It's a theater where I've actually seen shows as a fan when I was in school, so that was kind of a full-circle moment knowing that I had seen Lauryn Hill play there when I was in college, knowing that I had seen Chris Rock do stand up, or that I had seen Beck there," he recalls. "It was cool going back to that venue and being the headliner after going to see people I really liked in the past."

The album also finds Legend delving into his fandom with covers of songs from the likes of the Beatles and Sly Stone. As to what he was looking for in his songs selected, Legend says, "We did a medley with 'I Can Change' into a Beatles song called 'I Want You.' So we did a few things like that. For me the goal was to introduce a fresh element into the show and have a few surprises."

The five-time Grammy winner plans on adding a new element to the usual, humdrum experience of flying when he treats 50-60 lucky sweepstakes winners to a 30-minute performance during a Grammys-bound flight set to depart from New York to Los Angeles on February 7.

Jermaine Dupri calls his new autobiography, 'Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul.' It may be an apt title, at least for today's very tame and media-controlled music industry, because one thing that's clear when talking with Dupri is he doesn't hold back his opinion. From his long history of collaborations with the likes of Jay-Z, Usher and Mariah Carey, to his views on what's lacking with today's stars, why Britney isn't crazy and his supposed beef with Justin Timberlake (there isn't one), Dupri is full of insight and opinions.

Are you a big reader in general?

I'm so much part of the Generation X-box, right, and I believe I understand why this generation doesn't really read as much as they do, and I understand what they read. They read car magazines, Vibe, The Source, a lot of online stuff that's going on with the people they like. They don't really read what the older generation wants them to read; they read what they want to read.

Do you find you're getting people who don't normally read interested in this book?

I think the exciting part for me is that I'm going to show an older person that don't really understand what's going on in today's world what you have to write in order for these kids to read, basically. When I talked to the publisher, I told her that was one of the important things about me doing my book, 'cause they wanted me to change the title. They thought 'Young, Rich, And Dangerous' was too long. [But] not only is this the X-box generation, it's the bling-ling generation, too, which they have to see titles to excite them to pick the book up. It can't just be "Jermaine Dupri, the music mogul, blah, blah." That sounds too corporate for them.

"It was just like a vision, a dream; something we thought we could make come to reality because we knew we had the talent. At least that's where my heart lied ...that's where my feeling was that we could take something, and make it into something," Birdman tells AOL Music of Cash Money Records' humble beginnings.

"I used to make them all just come into the studio every day," he continues. "We were doing the independent thing; I had other acts before them. And I just formed a group called the Hot Boys. They were so young they couldn't even go in clubs. We used to sneak them in with us ... one thing led to another."

It's been more than 16 years since Birdman -- a.k.a. Bryan "Baby" Williams -- teamed up with his brother Ronald to create the record label, which was once home to the Hot Boys, which included former rap stars Juvenile and B.G. Now the label is held together by Williams and Lil Wayne, who's been called one of the hardest-working emcees in the game. And, according to Birdman, the label has survived because it's been able to thrive as a business while they treat one another like family. But with every family there's family drama, and the departure of Juvenile and B.G. changed the dynamic -- and the lineup -- of Cash Money.