It took almost 30 days, but hip-hop mogul Jay-Z has finally responded to a comment made by Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher. The English rocker criticized Jay's headlining gig at the UK's Glastonbury festival saying, "I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong." Jigga released a statement in which he urges the rocker to "respect" hip hop. "We don't play guitars, Noel, but hip-hop has put in its work like any other form of music. This headline show is just a natural progression. Rap music is still evolving. We just have to respect each other's genre of music and move forward." the rap star said.

Jay went on to express his excitement about playing the festival because of the stir caused by Gallagher's comments. "I've never ever had a show that's caused this much of a stir so I'm really looking forward to it. I've never been involved in anything this controversial," the rapper admitted. "What's the big deal about doing a show? I guess it's heritage and people hold that dear to their heart and see it one way but that's how the world is. The world has to change. It just can't be one thing -- and that's the beautiful thing. That's why people feel so passionate about an event."

The Game sounds off on his new track '911 Is a Joke (Cop Killa),' which borrows it's title from Public Enemy's 1990 hit. Taking a cue from fellow West Coast acts N.W.A., who released the controversial track 'F--- Tha Police' as a form of protest against racial profiling and police brutality in 1988, and Ice T's 'Cop Killer,' the Game is sounding off in response to the acquittal of three New York police officers who shot and killed 23-year-old Sean Bell hours before his wedding day.

"911 Is A Joke" is also slated to appear on the rapper's upcoming album, 'L.A.X (Los Angeles Times),' which is due in stores on July 8.

Listen to '911 is a Joke (Cop Killa)'

Looks like Jay-Z is officially taking a side in the LeBron James vs. DeShawn Stevenson feud. The rap star has actually recorded a diss track, dubbed 'Blow the Whistle,' directed at Stevenson in response to a comment that James is "overrated." In case you missed it, the feud between the Cleveland Cavaliers starting forward was sparked when Wizards forward Stevenson called James "overrated." James was quoted as saying that commenting on Stevenson's remark would be like "Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy."

Unfortunately for Stevenson, Jay-Z decided he wasn't too big to respond to the Washington forward. Hova defends his buddy James with the line, "Who the f---'s overrated? If anything they underpaid him." Stevenson doesn't seem to be phased by the track, although he's a little peeved that it was debuted at D.C. hot spot Love. "Everybody on our team, we're boycotting Love," Stevenson said in an interview. "We're not going no more. But I appreciate Jay-Z for giving me the shout out."

Listen to Jay-Z's 'Blow the Whistle'

There's a chance Mariah Carey will be looking for a new backup singer soon. While performing her No. 1 hit 'Touch My Body' on Good Morning America, the R&B diva turned around and scolded a backup singer, singing "Stop singing my part ... now baby ..." Carey's response to the backup singer's flub was the least of her problems.



As Mimi stood at the top of the steps of the elaborate stage in the center of Times Square in New York the back-up track of the song started a little bit too early. In true diva fashion, Mimi managed to shake off the backing track slipup while improvising in her skintight, hot pink dress. "A little creative. I try to bring something new to the moment every time," Carey said after the performance.

After years of criticizing Beyonce for her fondness of fur, PETA has made peace with the R&B diva. The animal rights group has had an ongoing tift with the singer and even confronted Beyonce at an eBay auction in 2006. But, after some review, the organization noticed that Beyonce hadn't donned one dead furry creature all winter, which motivated the group to send the recently married singer a wedding gift.

According to a recent blog entry on PETA's website, Senior VP Lisa Lange sent newlyweds Beyonce and Jay-Z a designer faux fur throw along with a note: "From all of us at PETA, we wish you much happiness in your life together. Please accept this faux-fur throw with many good wishes and a hope from us that together, you'll be a fur-free couple!"

It's a good thing PETA played nice. Red paint splashed across a wedding dress is never a good look.

Young Buck, who was recently ousted from G-Unit , isn't letting his beef with 50 Cent keep him down. The Cashville rapper decided he'd take his frustrations out in the studio. The rapper kicks off the track, proclaiming "It's two sides to every story," before launching into lyrics that express some of the issues Buck had with his former crew.

Listen to 'It's Not Okay.'

50 Cent and G-Unit member Tony Yayo have been slapped with a civil lawsuit for the alleged 2006 assault on the 14-year-old son of the Game's manager and Czar entertainment head, Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond.

According to the New York Daily News, Cynthia Reed, the mother of the teen, is seeking unspecified damages for the assault, which is said to have been prompted by a sweatshirt. "It's hard to believe that a 14-year-old boy walking on E. 25th St. at 6 in the evening was attacked by four adult males just because of the shirt he was wearing," Richard Reich, the attorney representing the teen told the paper.

Yayo, whose real name is Marvin Bernard, plead guilty to harassment charges in February and was ordered to perform 10 days of community service for his role in the assault. Bernard's co-defendant Lawal Fletcher was sentenced to nine months in prison after admitting to slapping the teen.

50 Cent was not present for the assault, but Reed claims the rap star was responsible for the actions of his cronies. The rapper's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, dismissed the suit, saying Reed is looking for "a quick payday."

"You can take this as official notice," 50 Cent told New York radio station Hot 97's morning-show hosts, Miss Jones and DJ Envy before announcing that Young Buck is no longer a member of G-Unit crew, but still on the record label as a solo artist.

"I think you have to give them something to blow it out of proportion," 50 said when asked how he felt about Buck's recent comments regarding his status with the crew. "Buck did that. I think that what he was saying, in order to validate himself as a man, he feels he has to go against what I'm doing, similar to some of the things we've seen from Game."

Buck, who'd been M.I.A. on G-Unit mixtapes, spoke out about his diminishing role in the group in a recent interview with XXL magazine. "It's an understanding that we have as a crew," the Nashville rapper told the magazine. "Not just with 50, but as a family. Everybody has had they situations, but everybody handles that s--- a little different. 'Cause we all individual men. For me, it's just about gettin' s--- off my chest and airing the s--- out. But as far as being disloyal to my n-----, it's far from that."

In what seems like a strange, not to mention arbitrary, move, Snoop Dogg made some scathing remarks regarding presidential candidate Barack Obama and the senator's campaign in a recent interview with the Guardian. Snoop claims Obama has received funding from the white supremacy group Ku Klux Klan.

"The KKK gave Obama money," the rapper tells the Guardian. "They was one of his biggest supporters." While there's no actual evidence to support Snoop's claim, the rap star seems to be sticking to his personal theory. "Why wouldn't they be? The media won't tell you that. They don't want you to know that. They just want you to know that this n----- befriended this other n----- who be threatening your values. But we all know all presidents lie to get into f---ing office. That's they job," the Doggfather rants.

Meanwhile, the rapper was singing a different tune when he sat down with Larry King to weigh in on the election, while promoting his family oriented reality series, 'Snoop Dogg's Fatherhood.' "I just want to see somebody win that's in the best interest for America," Snoop told King in February. "Whether it be a black man [Barack Obama] or a woman [Hillary Clinton] -- either one is a great move for America, because we need change."

After 15 years of marriage, Bobby Brown is tossing his ex-wife, R&B diva Whitney Houston, under the bus in his upcoming autobiography, 'Bobby Brown: The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But,' due in stores next month.

"I never used cocaine until after I met Whitney. Before then, I had experimented with other drugs, but marijuana was my drug of choice," Brown writes in the book. "At one point in my life, I used drugs uncontrollably. I was using everything I could get my hands on, from cocaine to heroin, weed and cooked cocaine."

Brown's claim that Houston -- who vehemently denied drug use and proclaimed that "crack is wack" in a 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer -- introduced him to cocaine is definitely not a shocking affirmation, but it's definitely an indication that there's no chance the pair will be reconciling any time in the near future.

I don't often use the phrase: Oh, no he didn't! But sometimes a situation warrants such a response. After an ongoing child support battle with the mother of his son, 50 Cent is scheduled to appear before a judge and request that ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins and their 10-year-old Marquise Jackson be removed from the rapper's Long Island, New York, home.

In February, a judge reduced 50's monthly child support payment from $25,000 to $6,700. Tompkins, her daughter from another relationship and Marquise were allowed to remain in the 50's home (for which the rapper fits the bill) while using some of the monthly support to find another residence. The rapper claims Tompkins has yet to make any attempt to move out of his home.

Tompkins' attorneys claim their client cannot (and should not) be evicted because she's not an actual tenant because she never signed a lease agreement or paid rent. The rapper has yet to release a statement regarding the matter.

After promising to launch an internal investigation, the Los Angeles Times has since apologized and acknowledged that it unknowingly used forged FBI documents to create a report that linked hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs to the 1994 New York shooting of the late Tupac Shakur.

Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Chuck Philips, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin and Executive Editor Russ Stanton released statements yesterday after the Smoking Gun posted a report claiming the Times was "duped" by federal inmate, James Sabatino.

"In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job," Philips said in a statement Wednesday. "I'm sorry." Duvoisin added: "We should not have let ourselves be fooled. That we were is as much my fault as Chuck's. I deeply regret that we let our readers down."

Following a recent report on thesmokinggun.com -- which claims a federal inmate may have "duped" the Los Angeles Times, causing the paper to run a report that connected hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs to the 1994 attack on Tupac Shakur -- the Times has admitted that it will launch an internal investigation surrounding last week's article.

The Smoking Gun alleges that former Combs associate, James Sabatino, who's currently serving time in a federal prison for fraud, forged documents that Times reporter Chuck Phillips used for the article. The website describes Sabatino as a "rap devotee," who's "long sought to insinuate himself, after the fact, in a series of important hip-hop events."

Times editor Russ Stanton released a statement regarding the Smoking Gun's assertions. "Questions have been raised about the authenticity of documents that we relied on for a story on the assault of Tupac Shakur in New York," Stanton said. "We are taking this very seriously and have begun our own investigation."

The family of the late Bob Marley are in a music licensing battle that could force one of the two upcoming biopics to proceed -- if they so choose -- without any of the reggae legend's hit songs. Marley's estate is refusing to give the Weinstein Co. -- the company behind the film adaptation of Rita Marley's book 'No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley' -- rights to license the music because the icon's catalog is already being used in the upcoming Martin Scorsese documentary.

"When I sold the film rights to my book," Rita Marley told the Hollywood Reporter of the snafu. "The contract did not include any rights to use my husband's music."

Unfortunately for Rita, who's taken on the role of executive producer for the Weinstein project, the majority of the family seems to be backing the Scorsese film. "All our efforts and support are currently directed toward the documentary," the film's executive producer, and oldest son of Rita and Bob, Ziggy Marley said. "We believe that this project is the best way to represent our father's life from his perspective, and any other film project pertaining to our father will be empty without his music to support it."

According to a recent Los Angeles Times report, Sean "Diddy" Combs is being linked, yet again, to the 1994 shooting of his former rival, the late Tupac Shakur. Tupac spent years claiming that Combs and Brooklyn, New York-bred rap star Notorious B.I.G. were responsible for the attack, which took place in the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in New York on November 30, 1994. Combs vehemently denied allegations of his involvement, which B.I.G. played with the notion on the memorable diss track, 'Who Shot Ya?'

According to Times reporter Chuck Phillips, the late B.I.G. -- real name Christopher Wallace -- and Combs were not involved in the actual planning of the ambush but were aware that Tupac was to be attacked. The newly discovered information claims Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond -- the Game's manager and head of Czar Entertainment -- and promoter James Sabatino were directly involved.

Combs continues to deny allegations that he was involved in the shooting. "This story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false. Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it happened," Combs said in a statement. "It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story."