Sha Money XL, Def Jam VP of A&R, has announced the signing of Mississippi native Big K.R.I.T. to the Def Jam family. The artist has gained buzz both as an artist and producer from Mississippi since his first release back in 2005. Check the video of Big K.R.I.T. signing the papers. Via: AHH

Lil Kim was interviewed on the Ed Lover show this morning and Ed asked her point blank “…the rumor about you signing to Roc Nation. Is that a go?” Even after asking her twice, Kim was able to skirt out of directly answering the question with the generic “I can’t really speak on it now.” So it’s neither a confirmation or a denial that Lil Kim is signing to Jay-Z’s label at this point. And that’s a fact. Listen to the audio interview over at RR.

This years Rock the Bells Festival looks to be the best ever and quite possibly one of the strongest hip-hop concerts of all time. Wu-Tang performing the entire “Enter the 36 Chambers” album, ATCQ performing “Midnight Marauders” and Snoop performing the entire “Doggystyle” album.

Rumors are running around that Brandy has just inked a deal with Island Def Jam Records. The long-time artist has struggled moving units these days especially after her 2008 flop Human under Sony sold less than 200K units. But you can’t deny her past track record as one of the all-time selling female R&B artists having sold 25 million units worldwide total to date. Hopefully Def Jam can turn her career around to more than just a reality show.

Mos Def has just signed on to join the cast of HBO’s newest comedy “Enlightened” which also co-stars Laura Dern. This will be the first full-time regular role for Mos Def in TV as he plays one of the main characters in the show. According to DHD, the comedy centers around Dern as a self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening and decides to live an enlightened life, which creates havoc at home and work. Mos Def will play her new boss when she returns to work.

Mighty Mos has been slowly transitioning to more and more TV work having most recently appeared in “House.” No word yet when HBO plans to premiere the first episode of “Enlightened” but it looks like HBO has a nice formula going on hiring rappers to their new shows. Kid Cudi was recently signed on for a second season of HBO’s “How to Make it in America.”

Snoop has really been keeping his end of the bargain on his partnership deal with adidas which included multiple television (see latest) and online ads as well as in-store and public appearances such as walking down Times Square with Darth Vader and Storm Troopers (see pics). The latest marketing stunt with adidas and Snoop will be a live chat with the where fans will get the chance to interact with the Doggfather.

The chat will take place on Tuesday, June 29th at 4 pm CET, 10 am EST and 7 am PST. For more details head over to the official adidas Facebook page. Via: Hypebeast

Here is a new red band trailer for Predators that was originally released for international. In this case, red band meaning more violence and swearing. It’s pretty awesome with some quick glances of the predator dogs and falcons.

Converse and Kid Cudi have agreed on terms for a promotional partnership that will have the emcee at the forefront of the shoe manufacturer’s Summer 2010 campaign called “Three Artists. One Song.” The nucleus of this initiative is a brand new, all original track featuring Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Kid Cudi that will be released this July and available to music fans globally via free download at converse.com and authorized Converse websites around the world.

In addition to collaborating on the track, each of the artists also participated in the creation of the music video, which will be released later this summer. Cudi will also be featured in digital content for Converse in the coming weeks. Cudi most recently landed a television commercial (see TV ad) with Vitamin Water and has been renewed to star in a second season of HBO’s “How To Make it in America.”