Woman Accused of 23-Year-Old Kidnapping Confesses

Shock and dismay are still reverberating over the news of a woman who was reunited with her birth mother 23 years after she was kidnapped from Harlem Hospital when she was just over two weeks old.

Carlina White, 23, is back with her biological family in the Bronx, after searching the internet when she was unable to find her birth certificate or Social Security card. White also believed that she did not resemble members of her family.

Via Amsterdam News. More below.

KiD CuDi Preps Release For Rock Album & New Mixtape

KiD CuDi made his way back on Twitter earlier tonight, and he wasted no time to drop some great news for his fans. As revealed, he announced that along with his newly titled rock album Wizard, which he first told Complex about, he intends to release a new mixtape called A Man Named Scott, followed by a visual for his Man On The Moon II single “Maniac” thereafter. Cudder says:

pushing for a summer release of the wizard album. i produce and play guitar on everything with my main man @dotdagenius. he’s learnin bass. the maniac film will b released later this year. cage, shia and i really want everything just right, and i need the proper time for scoring. the edit must be epic. wizard is a rock album, no raps, just singing. brand new thing. flavor. dose of dopeness however will be on the wizard album as a bonus jam. bout fuckin time aye. ive been wearin the same jeans for months, and i feel good about that dedication. workin on some jay and ye shit. ima finish up some thangs and then ima chop it up with yall. word :). annnnd officially going ham. oh i forgot the best news ever….. new mixtape “a man named scott”. thats this summah. for all those who fucks with my raps, this is for u since ima be all rocked out with the wizard shit. also its free! yes!

Via DatNewCudi

Beyonce Hits The Studio with Producer/DJ Diplo

Just a few weeks ago, we saw a giddy Beyonce working on what was supposedly new material for her fourth solo album. One half of Major Lazers, producer/DJ extraordinaire Diplo–who is most notably known for his work with M.I.A. and Santigold–amongst others, revealed that he,  his partner in crime Switch, Beyonce and Derek of the indie electro-pop duo Sleigh Bells recently hit the studio in New York City to record some brand new music together.

Via his blog on Mad Decent:

“I like sleigh bells so much. “Me and switch was in studio in nyc tryin to make tracks with derek and beyonce last week after we played her team their album…dunno if we gonna manage to finish but it was good times.”

Diplo becomes yet another big name attached to the project, as Kanye West, S1, Ne-Yo, Jim Jonsin, and Sean Garrett have all been mentioned as rumored collaborators who will contribute to one of the most anticipated LPs of 2011.

Props to Billboard.

Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV Set For April Release; Talks New Collaborations [Rolling Stone Cover Story Scans]

For Lil Wayne’s latest Rolling Stone cover story, in which is also his first post prison interview, the beleaguered Young Money captain sheds some light on his recent bid, speaks on his Tha Carter IV studio sessions, and his dismay for Miami Heat stars Lebron James & Dwayne Wade, which has caused a stir on the internet since the cover story initially surfaced.

He reveals that amongst the collaborations he’ll record in the coming weeks, will be a new cut with Kelly Rowland, Bruno Mars, and even a Young Jeezy record. As of right now, Tha Carter IV is set to drop sometime in April, but might see a earlier release in March if the promo machine can work fast enough.

Behind The Beats: Lex Luger [Video]

Super-producer Lex Luger sits down w/ MTV Mixtape Daily for this candid interview for their “Behind the Beats” piece as he speaks about his evolution as a beatsmith, where he discusses his start on the drums, before moving onto his PS2, followed by some work on the PC via Cakewalk, then experimenting on a MPC, and Fruity Loops. He explains that at one point it wasn’t all peaches and cream, as he couldn’t catch a break in the beginning, placement wise. He mentions when he started out as a producer he would send out his beats to many artists, some including Waka Flocka and Juicy J, and no one would give a rat’s ass about his material, mostly because he wasn’t popular and didn’t “have a name.” Last but not least, he tells a story of how he heard Waka’s “Hard In The Paint” for the first time on the radio in Atl.

Young Money Rapper Drake Lands New Role

Young Money rap artist Drake has already conquered TV and the music charts in the past few years, and now the former Degrassi: Next Generation actor will supposedly return back to his former profession as he has landed a (unknown) role in the upcoming indie financial thriller, “Arbitrage,” The Wrap reports. The Canadian bred actor-turned-hip-hop-star will be joined by veteran scene-stealer Al Pacino, Susan Sarandon, and Eva Green, who will both play the main character’s wife and mistress in the flick directed by Nicholas Jarecki.

Synopsis for the flick:

A hedge fund magnate who is in over his head and desperate to complete the sale of his shady trading empire to a major bank before his fraud is revealed. However, an unexpected, bloody error forces him to turn to the most unlikely corner for help in protecting him from rivals who want to bring him down.

Lil Wayne Covers Rolling Stone (February)

Weezy returns to the cover of Rolling Stone. Peep some excerpts from the issue which hits newsstands on January 21st. Behind the scenes after the jump.

— When Wayne sat court-side at a recent Miami Heat/New Orleans Hornets game he was upset that Lebron James and Dwayne Wade never came over to talk to him. “Them niggas never speak to a nigga,” he says. “They don’t chuck me the deuce or nothing. Nigga spent all that money on them fucking tickets … Come holla at me. We sit right by them little bitch-ass niggas. At least come ask me why I’m not rooting for you.”

— He spent his final month in jail in solitary after he was caught with an iPod charger in his cell. It could have been worse: He also had a watch with an MP3 player on it, but another inmate took the rap. “He was a solid nigga,” says Wayne. “Shout-out to Charles…Solitary was the worst. No TV. No radio. No commissary. Basically you’re in there 23 hours a day.” The only upside was he had a window where he could watch cars go by. “I used to sit at that motherfucker all day,” he says.

2011 Coachella Line-Up (Nas, Damian Marley, Kanye West, Cee-Lo Green, Erykah Badu & Lil B Among Acts)

Late last night, the Coachella announced the line-up for their 12th annual (three-day) festival (April 15-17th). Nas and Damian Marley, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, the Strokes, Animal Collective, PJ Harvey, the National, Bright Eyes, Robyn, Ariel Pink, Interpol, Cut Copy, Crystal Castles, Lauryn Hill, Sleigh Bells, Cee-Lo, Lightning Bolt, Duran Duran, Erykah Badu, the Black Keys, Titus Andronicus, Best Coast, the Kills, the New Pornographers, Lil B, HEALTH, OFF!, Odd Future, and the Chemical Brothers are all among the gang of acts hitting the stage at Empire Polo Field in California. You can also click the poster above, just in case I missed any of the artists. Tickets will officially go on sale January 21st at 10:00 AM (Pacific Time) via Ticketmaster.com. Spotted at Pitchfork.

Raekwon Confirms Nas Appearance On ‘Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang’

With Amazon’s release of the official tracklisting for Raekwon’s Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang album, among the noted features was the guest appearance of one Nasir Jones.  Despite not appearing on the sequel to OB4CL as he did on the classic original, Nas and Raekwon got a chance to chop it up and though the tracks were in the wrong sequence, Nas will indeed appear on Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang:

“I [saw] Nas across seas, we had a show together, and we talked about a lot of things,” Rae explained about how the two linked up. ”We went from A-Z how we felt about things what was goin on at the time, and by the grace of God we was able to get this thing happenin’ again.  That was definitely one of the surprise things that I wanted to alert the fans with, just to let em know that my brother came up to air for me and I know through his busy schedule I guess in the back of his mind he was like ‘Yo I gotta come up for Rae.’

Crooked I’s ‘Million Dollar Story’ To Be Released in March