MTV 'Hottest MCs In The Game': The 2008 Edition Is Coming On Friday, May 16: 5-11-08

The MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trusts' standards are as high as a satellite when determining the top 10 "Hottest MCs in the Game." The stars don't have to align for one of your favorite spitters to wind up on the controversial list — however, true MCs have to capitalize on their moments with movements.

You must have the powerful poetics to not only make the world recite your prose in times of glee at the club, but your words also have to grab hearts. Food for thought isn't good enough. A hot MC is expected to chef up a lyrical buffet. Talk about power: If you can sway the minions with not only what you rhyme about, but how stylistically you deliver your bars, then you're speaking volumes.

Last year, thousands and thousands of people were roused and riled by the Brain Trust's list. Heaven knows, everyone was extremely vocal about the 2007 list, in which Lil Wayne was crowned #1. Fans still stop members of the Brain Trust out in public. The e-mails continue to roll in and the artists' reactions are forever time-stamped.
"I remember catching the 'Hottest MCs' show," Rick Ross said. "I was impressed with that old-school cipher feel. Everybody popped off, and everybody did their thing. I think I seen a couple different ones. I appreciate MTV repping that real cipher feel — that's that real hip-hop feel, that real New York feel, that real feeling ... I'm still a fan of just good music, on the corner, people doing what they doing right now. 'Hottest MCs' — it's the hottest show out."
Not everyone shares Ross' sentiments.
"To the people of 2007 for leaving me off the list: F--- y'all," Snoop Dogg said after an MTV News interview in February. He was joking ... a little bit.

50 Cent, who made the list, was probably the artist most vocally displeased with his placement. "[Wayne's] #1 and I'm #8? And I got a CD going on sale. F--- MTV," 50 said last year during an interview on Sirius Satellite Radio.
"You guys put out a [Hottest MCs list] when my record [Curtis] was coming out," 50 told MTV News a few weeks ago. "Hands down, when you look at the stats and who generates the most interest and who's moving the most CDs, I was supposed to be one of the top guys, if not the top guy. But they was saying he's #1, because we want people to like Lil Wayne, whoever is making the decisions inside the room. Sure, people were feeling him, but those were his performances on someone else's record." (That very issue will be addressed in the new "Hottest MCs.")

And Lupe Fiasco was so hurt by not even getting an honorable mention that he told us he doesn't even want to be considered for the new list.
"I was looking like, 'Yo, I ain't make the top 10, I could understand that, because I was, like, in between albums," said Fiasco, who admitted that our 2007 top 10 was "dead on." "Then I wasn't on the 'Honorable Mention' list. Then there's was a ['Future Shock Four' below] that list, and I wasn't on that either. Hold on, hold on — nothing? F---!
The 2008 version of "Hottest MCs in the Game" airs Friday, May 16, on MTV at 10 p.m — and you can also hit MTVNews.com

source - MTVNews.com

DMX arrested on animal cruelty, drug charges: 5-9-08

Rapper DMX was arrested Friday on drug and animal cruelty charges after attempting to barricade himself inside his Arizona home, sheriff's deputies said.

DMX, 37, whose real name is Earl Simmons, faces seven misdemeanor animal cruelty charges and four felony drug possession charges, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

He was apprehended at his home in Cave Creek, Arizona. A news release from the office also said deputies were serving a search warrant at the Mayo Clinic in nearby Scottsdale, Arizona, involving possible fraud charges involving the rapper.

According to sheriff's deputies, five pit bull mix puppies were taken from the rapper's home by an animal control unit and will be taken to to a jail where they will be cared for by female inmates.

In August, deputies raided DMX's home and seized 12 pit bulls and pit bull mixes after receiving a report that the animals were being abused. No arrests were made at the time; authorities said that some of the dogs had apparently not been fed or watered but that there was no evidence of dogfighting.

The carcasses of three dogs were found partially buried on the property in August, and one of the dogs may have been burned, the sheriff's office said.

"A guy like this DMX character, with all his money and fame, has no excuse for not providing proper care for his animals," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Friday.

In August, the rapper's lawyer, Murray Richman, said his client had been on tour and had a caretaker was watching his dogs. He said the caretaker had fed and watered the dogs but not brought them in from Arizona's summer heat.

He said DMX was upset about the treatment of the dogs, which he sometimes features in his music videos.

After a search warrant was served about 3 a.m. Friday, officials said, deputies found weapons and drugs, leading to the drug charges.

They said the rapper -- who rose to fame in the 1990s with a string of platinum records and movie appearances -- attempted to barricade himself in his bedroom but eventually came out, offered no further resistance and was booked into jail.

County Attorney Andrew Thomas said the rapper's celebrity status will not change how he'll approach the case.

"We are handling this case as we would any other incident of alleged animal cruelty," Thomas said.

Friday's arrest is one of many brushes with the law DMX has had.

On Wednesday, he was arrested on charges of racing on a highway after speed cameras on a Phoenix-area freeway caught him going 114 mph, CNN affiliate KPHO reported. He was booked on charges of racing on a highway, reckless driving, two counts of endangerment and three counts of criminal speed and driving on a suspended license.

DMX faced a 1999 animal cruelty charge in Teaneck, New Jersey, that was dismissed after the performer agreed to accept responsibility and record public service announcements for an animal rights group.

The August raid came the same week that former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick pleaded guilty to bankrolling and running a dogfighting ring in Virginia.

Source - http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/...5/09/dmx.dogs/