Dr. Dre x Hewlett-Packard. Dre and HP teamed up awhile ago for their limited edition “Beats” HP Envy laptop and apparently the top dogs at HP liked working with him so much that Dre is now a major part of HP’s new $40 million ad campaign called “Let’s Do Amazing.” This is the first ad campaign for the company in more than five years. Check out the Dr. Dre ad here and the campaign intro w/ Dre after the jump. Props to SureBeatsWork for the find.
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Jay-Z x New Jersey Nets. Brooklyn here we come. Jay-Z is set to take part in the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Nets’ new arena at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, New York. According to AHH, Jay-Z, who owns a percentage of the team, will be joined by developer Bruce Ratner, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson to break ground on the construction for the construction of the Barclays Center, an 18,000-seat arena.

The Nets will begin playing at the new Barclay’s Center in 2012 so hopefully by then John Wall will be putting up some major numbers for them. Anything is better than the NBA worst 7-57 record they have going now.

E-40 x Clash of the Titans. This is one combination we never would have thought of. E-40 is teaming up with Warner Brothers’ upcoming movie Clash of the Titans by taking part in an online contest to see if you can spit his rhymes better than him. Go to http://www.ibeatyou.com/user/E40Music which is inspired by the movie to see if you can best the best of the Yay Area. Clash of the Titans hits theaters April 2nd.

Russell Simmons x GlobalGrind. Russell Simmons has been really focusing on his GlobalGrind site the past year or so and the hard work has been paying off as traffic has been steadily increasing each month. Now they are going into the digital short arena kicking things off with the 8 week series “Hustles with Russells” featuring Affion Crockett as Simmons’ double. Check the teaser trailer.

The long awaited trailer to the NBA endorsed romantic comedy Just Wright is finally here. Movie stars Common in his first leading role and Queen Latifah. This definitely looks like it could be a sleeper hit with cross-over appeal (no pun intended). Movie hits theaters May 14th. If this does well, you can be sure this won’t be Common’s last leading role. Via: Rap Radar

Malice is coming….promo vid for the upcoming More Malice deluxe album from Snoop which also includes the Malice in Wonderland mini-movie. Album hits stores March 23rd.

It’s kind of like when the Uncanny X-Men turned the duties over to the new school X-Men. It was bound to happen. Basically stating that The Wu-Tang Clan is more of a brand and less of a group, Wu-Tang Management is holding an MC competition to find “The Next 9 Generals” to form a new Wu-Tang group. U-God and Rifkind are in on it but I really wonder how the rest of the clan feels.

The competition looks for rappers between the ages of 18-33 who exemplify the Wu-Tang spirit through lyrics. Online applicants are asked to rhyme over two Wu-Tang instrumentals (“Protect Ya Neck” and “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing ta F*ck Wit”) to show their lyrical abilities. Full details at WuCompetition.com. Wu-Management will also be touring major cities holding auditions for the new members. Check the teaser trailer of what is now to come…

As part of the Haiti relief efforts Lupe teams up with Kenna and Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda for “Resurrection.” Check the video after the jump.

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