Jay-Z is now being taught in high school History classes across this great nation. Ok maybe not literally, but Jay’s face is now oddly on the cover of the text book “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” which is used in classes and has absolutley nothing to do with Jay-Z. In fact the book is about a Nigerian who goes through a series of quests “rooted in the cultural, spiritual, economic, religious and political customs” of his culture. NOW I see how it’s related to Jay-Z. Do I see a lawsuit coming? Via: Bossip

Jim Jones does deserve the credit for taking hip-hop to Broadway with his stage play Hip-Hop Monologues: Inside the Life and Mind of Jim Jones (view video clips), rather than own up to the fact he might like stage plays, Jones is instead just saying he is doing it as a potential revenue stream and hopes other rappers follow in his footsteps. Jim Jones recently told the Associated Press:

“Even though when I get on camera you think that (I’m) a crafty individual, but I’m all about the money and whatever it takes for me to get that money, I’m going to master that. I should hope I’ve created a new lane for rappers who are woody enough to complete a task like this to go into a whole other form of revenue.“

If there is money to be made then we should expect a Danity Kayne Broadway production produced by Diddy anytime soon. Followed by a Pimpin Curly musical with 50 Cent.

Snoop Dogg x Madame Tussauds. Snoop is getting his entire body waxed…literally. The D-O-Double-G will be the next hip-hop star (Biggie and Pac before him) to be featured in Madame Tussauds famed Wax Museum. These pics show the processes that the wax Snoop has to go through. I’m gonna have nightmares. Not to be blasphemous, but for some reason this pic reminds me of what Snoop would look like as Jesus.

K’Naan x The NFL. I applaud the NFL’s marketing team for hooking with K’Naan on this NFL Draft TV ad. This is just days after the NBA launched their playoffs campaign around Kanye Wests “Amazin.” Now we just need to see what song the MLB is going to pick up next. Via: OnSmash

You might remember Corey “C-Murder” Miller’s plea a couple of weeks ago to donate $1000 to his name so that he could defend himself in his recent murder case. Well now Corey and team are taking a different approach to hopefully soften the blow of his upcoming sentence…to create a PSA campaign against the exact same thing you were charged for. Hey it worked for T.I.

My favorite part of this interview is when the press says “What would you say when people might question your message since you are facing murder charges?” Reply? Corey is shut down before opening his mouth as his lawyer steps in. Fantastic.

Kanye West x The NBA. The NBA and Kanye West worked out a nice deal which will give his current single “Amazin” major air time and exposure as it is the official NBA song for the Playoffs. “Amazin” will be used in the majority of the NBA’s playoff TV ads. Here is the current one running as a Playoffs preview. Via: NahRight

Diddy x Get Him to the Greek. Diddy has just landed himself a very nice role in the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall spin-off called Get Him to the Greek. The Judd Apatow produced movie follows a record label intern named Aaron (Jonah Hill) who is assigned the job of transporting a crazy rock star named Aldous Snow (Russell Brand, reprising his role from Sarah Marshall) from London to a concert at Los Angeles’ famed Greek Theater.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Diddy has secured the role of Sergio, the record label exec who signed Aldous Snow….and the only Black man in history named Sergio. Seriously though, it’s good that Diddy isn’t trying to stretch too far on this one. The movie and the plot look interesting. I hear Diddy’s role is asking him to be over-the-top loud and ego driven. Shouldn’t be a stretch. Let’s go people!!!

Talib Kweli x Blokhedz. With the help of Gatorade’s Mission G online grassroots campaign, the graphic novel turned animated hip-hop cartoon “Blokhedz” is now getting some major exposure. Gatorade will be pushing a new episode of “Blokhedz” every month on their official site with Talib Kweli as the voice of the main character YoungBlak who uses the power of hip-hop to fight evil. Nice to see Talib doing something like this. Check out the premiere episode here called “Thinking of a Master Plan.” I’m diggin what I’m seeing so far.