Celebrities, Rap | featured news

It's official: Nicki Minaj did not endorse Mitt Romney in a recent rap. The flamboyant rapper confirmed Monday on Twitter that she was taking literary license when she referenced the Republican nominee for president. Some took her words to mean she was backing President Barack Obama's opponent. Not Obama, though, who told radio station WPYO-FM in Orlando, Fla., that he didn't think it was a Romney plug, adding: "She likes to play different characters."

In her tweet, Minaj thanked Obama for understanding "my creative humor and sarcasm," then noted: "the smart ones always do ... (asterisk)sends love & support."

An agent for Heavy D says the 44-year-old rapper has died. Andrew Weitz of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment confirmed the rapper's death in an email Tuesday, without giving a cause of death or saying where he died.

Sources tell TMZ, the CEO of NOHO (that anti-hangover drink) wants to acquire all rights to the unreleased Tupac track playing in the background of the tape -- while the rapper gets it on -- and he's willing to pay $1,000,000 for the privilege.

Federal officials say the rapper TI has been released from an Atlanta halfway house after spending about 10 months in federal prison on a probation violation.

Singer Nate Dogg, whose near monotone crooning anchored some of rap's most seminal songs and helped define the sound of West coast hip-hop, has died at age 41.

According to his friend and producer Solar, it was the love of the fans that helped keep rapper Guru going.

Phoenix came out on stage before 2 a.m., smoking a cigarette and wearing a disheveled dark suit, sneakers and his scraggly long hair and beard.