Rapper Dolla Shot Dead at LA Mall

Cops questioning 2 persons of interest in rapper's LA slaying

(NEWSER) - Los Angeles police have charged 23-year-old Aubrey Louis Berry with the murder of Roderick Anthony Burton II, better known as up-and-coming rapper Dolla, E! reports. Berry is being held on $1 million bail. Police have questioned two other persons of interest as well, a man and a woman, but neither has been charged. More»

Sources believe Atlanta dispute followed rapper to LA

(NEWSER) - Dolla's shooting in a Los Angeles mall yesterday may have been the result of a fight at a strip club in the rapper's hometown of Atlanta the week before, police sources tell the Los Angeles Times. Accused killer Aubrey Louis Berry, an events promoter, had a row with the 21-year-old rapper at a club frequented by the hip-hop community. More»

Hip-hop artist does an awful lot of entertaining TV cameos

(NEWSER) - In anticipation of Snoop Dogg’s cameo on tonight’s episode of Brothers, the Huffington Post runs down the hip-hop artist’s best—that is to say, Snoop Doggiest—TV guest moments to date:

• The Martha Stewart Show: “Oh, you want me to take the skizin off it.”
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: “I stay ready so I ain't gotta get ready.”

Common says hip-hop turning more positive

(NEWSER) - Thanks to President Obama, today’s rap focuses less on drugs, bling, and violence, and the “conscious rapper” is on the rise—at least according to Common. “I don't find as much gangsta talk,” the rapper/actor tells CNN. “You see the whole chain-shining-and-rim era is gone. That's like super-played out. Just to have that, I think, is part of the Obama effect.” More»

Rap's up-and-coming name follows in the footsteps of Kanye West, Andre 3000

(NEWSER) - The premise of Kanye West protégé Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of the Day is that he’s “not on the same planet as other rappers. The truth is that he’s not in the same genre,” writes Julian Benbow for the Boston Globe. The debut album “is a lot of things. It’s spacey, adventurous, and ridiculously intriguing if only because it’s so different. But it’s not rap”—more like “experimental and emotional hip-hop.” Elsewhere: More»