Bun B will soon be trading his Source Magazine 5 mics for the professor podium as he recently confirmed in an interview with NPR that he will be teaching a “Religion & Hip-Hop Culture” Course at Rice University starting in the Spring of 2011. Excerpts from the interview include:

How did you first become involved in this?
I was guest lecturer for the hip hop and religion class in fall ’09 and I got to talking with Dr. Anthony Penn, the teacher of the class and head of religious studies at Rice. We found out that we shared a lot of the same ideas and it occurred to us — well him primarily — that me being an addition to this course in a teaching aspect could be an opportunity to create something very new and very real in higher education.

What’s the course going to include?
We’ll be reflecting on the nature and content of hip hop as a religious experience. As well as religious expression. We’ll discuss the history of rap music and find the different parallels and correlations between religion and hip hop. People will be surprised at how many instances there are. Just the Five-Percent Nations presence in hip hop alone during the late ’80s and early ’90s — we could teach for days just on that. And other different things — we have Jewish rappers now.

You can be sure Rice students will be waiting in line to enroll in this class.

Looks like someone swallowed the bitter juice. As we reported months before A-Team hit theaters, The Game had auditioned for the role of BA Baracus and was actually a front-runner for the role until Rampage Jackson stepped in. Rampage eventually got the role over The Game and the rest is history…or is it? Looks like Game is still a bit bitter as he recently stated the following:

“He couldn’t f*** with me. No disrespect to Rampage, but my dude Rashad Evans whupped that a**,” Game said. “When he had that UFC fight against Rashad Evans and he lost, I felt like that was me [winning]. ‘Don’t you know n****? I play Mr. T (A-Team character ‘B.A. Baracus’) better than you! I pity the fool!’ I went in there [the audition] and I killed the Mr. T role on my screen test.”

Rampage was quick with the rebuttal and stated in a recent World Star Hip Hop video, “”He totally disrespected me and stuff. So I told The Game: ‘Look here Game, we could have an act off where you play the role of B.A.; then we can have a rap off where you rap and I rap; then let’s get in the cage and have a sparring match, let’s see who’ll win.’ I told the Game that and he shut up talking. No response, it’s like crickets for real.”

The feud has now spilled over to the Twitter world where Game continues to bash Rampage as a fighter and an actor. Someone should just educate the Game that Mr. T is an actor who plays BA Baracus and not the actual role he was trying out for. Via: BallerStatus

Looks like Bow Wow might actually be making good on his promise to the world to return to Hollywood and be a major acting force. He landed the lead role in the upcoming comedy Lottery Ticket (see video) and now is confirmed to star in Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family. Movie centers on the life of Miss Shirley, a single mother, who has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. With the help of Madea, she assembles her grown children (one being Bow Wow) for one final reunion. Big Happy Family is set for an April 22, 2011 release date.

Although Recovery is still going strong, it wasn’t enough to hold off Avenge Sevenfold as they knocked off Eminem from the #1 spot.  Recovery was #1 for five straight weeks and almost had a sixth straight week but coming up short a mere 4K units. According to Billboard, the album sold 159K this past week vs. Avenge Sevenfold’s Nightmare which moved 163K.  Still strong sales for Eminem though and his single “Love the Way You Lie” is the #1 most downloaded single in the nation.

Cube wants his fans to know you can add a little color into your life with some Kool-Aid. Let’s see if Kool-Aid sales go up in the West Coast. Check the new vid.

Rumors of Wyclef’s run for President of Haiti have been circling for the past couple of weeks but the Associate Press now confirms it’s true. A Fugee running for president. Looks like all the good will that Wyclef has done with his Yele Haiti relief campaign has resonated with the people. Regardless if he wins or not, it’s refreshing to see a hip-hop artist using his fame for good. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up like AH-NOLD and California. Pras for VP t-shirts on sale soon.

Yea you remember the song! Back in 92…”They Want EFX” was the joint. Flash forward 18 years and it looks like Skoob and Dre of Das-EFX are struggling to keep their career going as they have resorted to finding a manager through…the New York CRAIGSLIST. Maybe Paperboy will respond.

As mentioned last week, Common landed his first re-occurring TV role in the upcoming AMC period-drama “Hell on Wheels.” The role is a bit controversial as Common plays a a newly freed slave who comes west seeking work on the railroad. The rapper-actor finally spoke about his role for the first time.

“The writing of the show was such quality and the character had so much depth to it. This is one of the best characters I’ve come across regarding reading any script in my life,” Common revealed to Beats, Boxing and Mayhem. “To play a freed slave to represent that time was a challenge to me as an actor. Whether it’s TV or not I just want to be a part of quality things. And being on AMC the season doesn’t last as long so I’ll still be able to do films and tour. That made it even a better situation.”

“Common brings a layered intensity to a very complex role,” said AMC programming representative Joel Stillerman. “This part required someone who can transcend the stereotypes of the period and bring the character to life in a truly unique way, and he brings that.”

The show is set to begin production in August in Alberta, Canada. No official air date has been announced yet. If the show does get picked up by AMC after the pilot episode, it would be Common’s first regularly appearing role in a TV show.