Nas sits down with the Life.Files to discuss politics, movies, the evolution of the internet and Gurus Passing. Take a look.

After various reports surfaced from concerts Lupe was performing that he announced a new mixtape was coming, many were sceptical. He later confirmed it via his We Are Lasers twitter account and also briefly spoke with MTV News at the red carpet for Diddy’s birthday.

“The last six months, it’s been like, ‘I gotta really, really go out there and show that I’m nicer than all of them,’ ” Lupe said. “It’s like, ‘All right, so be it. If it takes three more albums to do it, then so be it.’ That’s what I got left with Atlantic. Three more after Lasers. I’m already done with two. The mixtape is coming Thanksgiving. It’ll be another mixtape after that and an album after that. It’s really to get that status and lock it in and [and have people] be like, ‘Look at this positive dude, the underdog. The positive one who came and murdered all these dudes. And he’s there, and he’s good.’ “

Keep reading for the rest of the article.

Via MTV News

Lupe said he isn’t concerned about what he has to do — he’s going to prove he’s the best.

“I’m finnin’ to house every single mode and arena I can get into,” Fiasco promised. “If y’all had somewhere where it’s live performances, I’m finnin to have the best live performances. If it’s mixtapes, I’m finnin’ to have the best mixtapes. If it’s albums again, it’s gonna be the best verse. If it’s the best dressed, I’m going hard as well.”

Lupe said the yet-untitled mixtape will be him going in over other MCs’ beats. “I got four days to figure it out,” he said about the title. “I’ve been dabbling with some names. I don’t know yet.”

Concerning the production, Lupe said he’s not going to let any original production go.

“Why waste it?” he said. “I still got my plan. I’m not finnin’ to diverge off my plan and my career and how I wanna roll my music out.”

HipHopOfficial follows the singer, songwriter, and producer Mike Posner around while he talks about performing shows and how his career has developed in just a year and a half.  Part two after the jump.

Gucci Mane sits down with Miss Info to talk about his new track “My Own Worst Enemy” and about Young Jeezy. In other news, just minutes ago, Gucci was just sentenced to 12 months in prison for a probation violation.

J. Cole sits down with Hardknock TV to talk about the situation with Beanie Sigel and Jay-Z, the interview where he was compared to Drake, and the influence of mixtapes on someones career.

Jay-Z sits down with Time Magazine about working with Kanye on The Blueprint 3 and about joining Eminem on the Renegade version of the recently released video game DJ Hero. He also compares being a real DJ and to playing the game.

Talking to MTV at the Ulalume Festival this past week Kid Cudi discuss his next album which will be a collaboration album with various artists. He also mentions he would like to get Green Day and Kings of Leon on board for the album. MTV noted that Cudi would like to have the album out by “summertime at the latest”. Keep reading for the full MTV story.

Via MTV News
Kid Cudi went from mixtape phenom to the upper echelons of the Billboard albums chart in little over a year, so it’s no surprise he wants to keep the ball rolling. What is a surprise is who he wants to keep it rolling with.

We already know he’s hard at work on projects with rapper Chip Tha Ripper and Brooklyn electro duo Ratatat, but backstage at this past weekend’s Ulalume Music Festival in Columbia, Maryland, he revealed details of another album, a compilation disc he’s dubbed Cudder. And he’s aiming extra high on this one.

“Cudder is basically an album of me working with artists that have inspired me or artists that have helped me grow and people who I’ve always admired,” Cudi said. “So far, we’ve got Snoop, Travis Barker — trying to get Green Day onboard, hopefully, Kings of Leon, hopefully. I’m really trying to do all the collabs that I couldn’t do for the [Man on the Moon] album, and then some, because the album was so themed that I had to strip a lot of features. We’re going to have the Clipse on this compilation, Robin Thicke, hopefully we’re going to get in the studio, I just did a record for his upcoming album; it’s amazing.”

Cudi said he’s aiming to have Cudder out by “summertime at the latest,” and while the idea of him working with, say, Billie Joe Armstrong might seem a bit odd, he points to Moon tracks like “Pursuit of Happiness” (his collaboration with Ratatat and MGMT) as proof that he can pull it off and as a possible preview of how the song might turn out.

“On the Ratatat song, you can hear Ratatat and you can hear me; we don’t compromise each other. That’s the same thing I want to do with anybody I work with. … I don’t want it to be, like, a Green Day song with me rapping over it,” he said. “What I want to do is, have the triangle effect. Have Green Day involved and have them co-produce with someone like a Ratatat or my producers, do like a joint thing, and then we all create from the ground up. That way, it’s like a fusion of each sound and each inspiration.”

David Banner and 9th Wonder are putting out an album called Death Of A Pop Star. He’s says that they will give it away for free.

Some members of the hip-hop community have recently been vocal about their anti-violence stance in the wake of the murder of Derrion Albert. David Banner has been particularly active on the matter of youth violence and attempted to organize a rally in Chicago — which was ultimately postponed — for the video of the remix of his song, “Something’s Wrong.”

Banner recently told us that the song wasn’t dedicated specifically to Albert, but it was a part of a new album he’s working on with producer 9th Wonder.

“Me and 9th Wonder are really good friends, and we really got tired of people complaining about the fact that there’s no good music. And we started making this album called Death of a Pop Star,” Banner said.

The album, about the death of young people’s music and how it had all been reduced to downloads, was made to prove to everybody that there is still good music being made. And it will cost you nothing.

“We’re going to give the album away for free,” Banner offered.

The Mississippi native also said that he and 9th would be setting up a Web site where you can send donations for the album. Half of the proceeds from those donations will go to a yet-to-be-named nonprofit organization. Banner emphasized the fact that “Something’s Wrong” is about a much broader problem than Chicago’s recent tragedy.

“What I want people to know is that if you listen to the first version of the song, I wasn’t just talking about Chicago — I was talking about things that were happening in America, period.”

The Press Play Show’s own Christopher Truth talks with Mike Posner and Big Sean after their show. They talk about doing school and music, and their label situations.