As the world (well… most of ya’ll) await the follow up to Eminem’s 6th studio album, Marshall plans to semi-cure the fix with a re-release of Relapse (Relapse: Refill). Dropping on December 22nd as a double disc with seven new songs. Shouts to RapUp on the info.

Come down to Fifth Element tomorrow (11/17) and get your holiday greeting card photo taken with Slug, Murs and Aesop Rock in celebration of the release of FELT 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez which drops tomorrow! Everyone who comes through will also be entered to win a limited edition Felt, Munny set (shown above)!

Hit the jump for some more details and a video of the setup that went down…

11.17.09
Special Holiday Meet & Greet with Felt
Fifth Element
2411 Hennepin Ave S
Minneapolis, MN
612.377.0044
Free!
Line up starts @ 5:30PM in front of Fifth Element
Doors: 6:00PM

We’re not gonna let the cat out of the bag on this one but this won’t be your average meet & greet. The only way you’re gonna find out is by coming down yourself and telling the Felt boys what you want for for the holidays.

Can’t make it to the meet & greet? No problem! You can catch all the action streaming live on Rhymesayers.com , Myspace & Ustream. Coverage begins at 5:45PM CST.

That’s right. On December 15th Obie will be making his return with his first official LP since his split with Shady Records.

With a very strong fanbase, a strong presence on commercial radio and having sold in excess of 1.5 million albums to date (including the certified Platinum Cheers), Special Reserve is a departure from Obie’s typical sound, as a wide range of gritty audio mosaics are provided by MoSS, as he continues to not only raise his profile, but the bar he’s set from his previous work with Raekwon, Ghostface, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, AZ, Slum Village, Havoc, Kool G Rap, KRS-One/Buckshot etc. MoSS is also the first producer signed to the legendary DJ Premier’s “Works of Mart” production company.

Hit the jump for the tracklist…

01 Welcome
02 Got Hungry
03 You’ve Been Slain
04 On & On
05 I Am
06 4 Stories
07 Roughnecks f. Deuce Wonder
08 Cool Cat
09 What You Want
10 Jack My Dick
11 Dope, Jobs, Homeless [Bonus]

After months of delays and push backs, Rebirth finally has an official release date via Universal.

“Yes, the album is still rock,” he said. “I play guitar on 80 percent of the songs, and there’s a lot of rock influences and rock beats. I also have Travis Barker on the album. But I don’t want people to think I’m trying to do something I can’t do. Don’t think you’re going to put on the album and hear me screaming and singing. When I said I was doing a rock album, it was about doing a freedom thing,” he continued. “This album isn’t hip-hop. When I do my Carter albums, I know I’ve got to rap, I know I’ve got to spit. I know the words I’ve got to say and the subjects I’ve got to talk about. I also know the things I shouldn’t say, the things I shouldn’t talk about. There’s none of those limits on this album. I say what I want, how I want. That’s what this album is: a freedom album.”

“I had to add new cuts, because a lot of things leaked, making people think they had an idea of what I was doing with Rebirth and what it would sound like,” he said. “And I hated that, because I never want anybody to think they know what I’m doing until I present it. So what I did was make it totally different. I flipped it.” – MTV

In addition to Drake, members of Fall Out Boy and Lenny Kravitz are also slated to make guest appearances. What are ya’ll thoughts on this project? Is it something you truly think Weezy can pull off?

MTV just reported that Jay and Alicia went and reworked their NY anthem. Part 2 will feature a new verse from Hov and will be features on Ms. Keys’ upcoming album Element of Freedom. No Lil Mama. UPDATE: There’s been a few rumors flying out the web about a possible tour between these two, but nothing was concrete… until now. Looks like Jeezy will be opening up for Hov in the 2010 North American Tour. Hit the jump for cities and dates…

Feb 22 Houston, TX (Toyota Center)
Feb 23 Dallas, TX (American Airlines Center)
Feb 25 New Orleans, LA (New Orleans Arena)
Feb 27 Atlanta, GA (Philips Arena)
Feb 28 Greensboro, NC (Greensboro Coliseum Complex)
Mar 03 Washington, DC (Verizon Center)
Mar 07 Norfolk, VA (Scope Arena)
Mar 11 Boston, MA (TD Garden)
Mar 16 Pittsburgh, PA (Mellon Arena)
Mar 19 St. Louis, MO (Scottrade Center)
Mar 20 Indianapolis, IN (Conseco Fieldhouse)
Mar 22 Denver, CO (Pepsi Center)
Mar 24 San Jose, CA (HP Pavilion)
Mar 26 Los Angeles, CA (Staples Center)

*More cities and dates to be announced soon.

Tickets go on sale November 13th at LiveNation.

Just take a second and look at the title. Now get ready to be ecstatic (and I’m not talking about Mos’ latest album). These three artists are teaming up for a collaboration album (and are already 6 tracks deep).

“Just chillin’” with Dame Dash may have just spawned a rap supergroup project. On Wednesday, at Dash’s new facility (art gallery, TV studio, music studio and more), DD172, critically acclaimed underground lyricist Curren$y told MTV News that he, Jay Electronica and Mos Def have combined forces to start recording an entire album together.

“That’s ridiculous!” Curren$y said. “Jay Electronica is from my city, he’s from New Orleans. I never met homie until I stepped foot in this building. He came here to meet Mos. And Mos, I had only known him for 24 hours prior to that. But genuine people could recognize [each other], it was like, ‘Let’s go.’ ”

Curren$y said Mos came up with the name of “Center Edge Territory” for the trio. When asked exactly what the moniker means, Curren$y would only comment emphatically, “Everything! That’s everything!

Hit the jump for more…

“We all know the game is in turmoil. We know the machine messed it up,” he added, explaining why they will be putting their music out independently instead of with a major label. “We know we don’t even need to play that game, especially with access to all of this sh–. We are our own machine.”

So far, Center Edge Territory have recorded six records together, but they have no concrete plans as to when the full-length album will drop.

“The funny thing, it came from just chilling,” Dash said. “If you’re gonna be here [at DD172], there’s no hanging out.

“There’s no reason to be here unless you have the ability to work or you’re working,” Dash explained of the space Mos nicknamed of the “24-Hour Karate School.” “This is like an office where you work in a different way.”

Dash is putting out BlakRoc by the Black Keys (featuring collaborations with Mos Def, Jim Jones, Q-Tip, Ludacris, RZA and others) on November 27. Meanwhile, Curren$y just completed an album with a group he formed called the Muscle Car Chronicles, which includes Thomas Pridgen from the Mars Volta and newcomer Sean O’Connell.

PREVIOUS: Jay Electronica’s Secret Show (HD Footage)

Gucci Mane attempted it, Soulja Boy took an overall L, now it’s Jayceon’s turn. Paint the Town R.E.D. w/ Nu Jerzey Devil, R.E.D. October w/ DJ Drama, Redprint w/ DJ Haze and the Red Tape w/ DJ Kris Stylez.

And of course it’s featuring Gucci Mane. Who else right? Smh…

DubCNN has exclusive news on Game’s fourth studio album The R.E.D. Album. First off, note that the correct reference to his name is now Game, it is no longer The Game. As for the album, the release date is currently set for December 8, but there is a chance that it may slip by one week. You can expect the first street single from the album as early as next week. The track is called Crazy and features Gucci Mane with production by Timbaland. The first mainstream single from the album will be serviced next week also. It is entitled L.A. Girl and features Chris Brown. The track was produced by Pharrell.

Other guest appearances on the album include Akon, Diddy, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross and Beanie Sigel. The rest of the production was handled by Akon, Pollow da Don, Cool & Dre and DJ Khalil.

Thoughts?

For the fans of Gucci Mane out there, I advise you be around a computer tomorrow (October 17th) at 10:17pm as he’s partnering up with DJ Drama, DJ Scream & DJ Holiday for a three-part mixtape.

“Gucci wants to flood the streets, takeover,” DJ Holiday said. “The mixtape is called The Cold War, and it’ll be a three-part series, [subtitled] Guccimerica, Great Brrritain and BurrRussia. They’re droppin’ Saturday at 10:17 p.m.”

So why all the 10-17 references? According to Holiday, it’s the name of the apartment building where Gucci grew up and the name of his new label. Holiday has the DJ duties for BurrRussia, while Scream is commandeering Great Brrritain and Drama is handling Guccimerica.

“All the covers will coincide with each other and go together like a puzzle,” Holiday added. “Eventually, we’ll put out one big CD with 30 songs.”

Gucci has 10 new songs on each mixtape of the series, Holiday explained. And it seems like Gucci’s time in the studio does not stop. He just dropped a mixtape with DJ Drama called The Burrprint (The Movie 3-D) with all-new material last weekend. Shawty Lo also revealed that around Halloween, he and Gucci are putting out a mixtape called Fright Night.

Now this would be pretty dope, if it were an artist I actually listened to.

MEKA: Two years ago, this site started on the foundation of two things: a platform for the two of us to put potential viewers on to the music we liked, and a voice for the Left Coast that wasn’t heard previously. I, however, also had another motive for the site: desperation.

Two weeks prior to the site’s debut, I had lost my job of two years in commercial production due to the impending writer’s strike that forced studios to trim the fat in order to save money. It was the first time in nearly seven years that I didn’t have a job and to be honest I was scared out of my mind, as no amount of college training had prepared me for unemployment. So in between scrambling for a job and freelancing like gangbusters to keep my lights on, I only started doing one daily post on the site: Meka’s Soul Mix Show, just to keep at the very least my sanity in check.

Eventually I landed another job, but by then I had slowly begun to put more input into the site that the ideal of “working my way up the professional ladder to success” wasn’t as all it’s cracked up to be. Eventually I left from that job, deciding to throw my energy and faith into something that, while was starting to catch on with the masses, I was unsure what it would do for me and my career. Seems that I’ve made the right choice, as not only was I hired to head the new media department at a digital marketing agency, I was able to accomplish a life’s goal of mine by moving to New York, thanks in part to this site.

Long story short, if there is anything to take from my long-winded diatribe it’s that you should never lose focus on your goals and dreams if you’re really passionate about it. I’d like to give props to everyone who’s ever been instrumental in this site’s growth, and I thank you all for lining my pockets sticking around with us for so long.

SHAKE: I guess my “story” is a bit in reverse as I started 2dbz with a full time gig at the slave ship some of you know as HipHopDX; and now I’m unemployed with only my free lance design work (ArtByShake.com /plug) keeping me a float. The past few months have really tested my strength and faith in this site as I’ve dedicated a lot (some say too much) of my time to making it one of the best sites on the internets. And doing it with little to no (financial) return. Regardless… the site was never birthed to make myself and Mek millionaires (although, it would be nice haha) so it’s running just as we imagined. Well… not exactly. I never thought something we started just 2 years ago would blossom to a place where over 400k different people visit a month. That’s pretty intense and I thank you all for being a part of this.

I will say this… even without the cashflow, the rewards of (co-)running 2DopeBoyz have been fantastic. As a fan of music since my mind (and my one good ear) could comprehend what I was listening to I’ve always been a “taker”. Sure I pay for albums still and go to shows when folks decide Vegas is a good place to stop. But I’ve never had a chance to “give back” to the artist. Now-a-days I’m more instrumental in the success of artists that have made songs that have got me through the darkest times of my life as well as guided me to the the brightest. I now find myself having artists I’ve been a listening to for years reaching out and showing genuine appreciation of me helping promote their projects, etc. It’s a surreal experience every time and I’m thankful for it each day. I’ve built a lot of great relationships (and gained absurd amounts of haters) along the way. And I’m sure these times will continue for years to come. Let’s get it!