Lil Wayne

Photo: MTV News

Now that Lil Wayne has struck a plea deal that’s expected to send him to prison for up to a year, what’s next for the Cash Money Records lyricist?

He’s due back in a Manhattan courtroom on December 15 by request of the judge for a status update. At that hearing, the rapper’s formal sentencing date will be set for sometime in February 2010 — he will be sentenced to one year in prison as a part of his deal, where he pleaded guilty to attempted gun possession, a class “D” felony in New York.

In the courtroom on Thursday (October 22), Wayne admitted to possession of a .40-caliber semi-automatic weapon. “Yes,” he told the judge when asked if he was in possession of the firearm. The rapper added the word “dominion” after his affirmation, meaning he didn’t fully possess the gun, but rather it was within his radius and available for use.

“Possession is defined as actual possession or dominion or control. … we said it was dominion and control,” the lead prosecutor on the case, Joan Illuzzi-Orbon, told MTV News.

The difference between actual possession and dominion or attempted possession isn’t much in New York. In 2006, the state legislature passed a resolution that increased the minimum jail sentence for attempted possession to equal that of actual possession. So whether someone plans to use the gun or if they’re simply carrying it, the punishment is the same in Empire State, where officials have instituted some of the country’s harshest gun laws.

“Basically, the old law required someone to have a loaded weapon and intend to use it [before] the mandatory minimum would kick in,” Attorney Scott Leemon explained to MTV News. “And basically, what they did is they took that out of the law. So the mere possession of a loaded weapon in New York State is a felony.

“That’s why you should not have a gun in New York,” he advised.

In other states, gun laws vary and could theoretically be more lenient in a similar situation to that of Lil Wayne.

The MC had long denied he had actual possession of the gun, which is registered in the state of Mississippi to Cortez Bryant, his manager. The gun wasn’t even found on him by police, but rather in a bag on his tour bus next to him. But because of the nature of New York’s laws, ultimately, he was held accountable.

During the night in question in July 2007, when Wayne was headlining his first solo show in New York, the rapper lashed out at police, who he felt were overly aggressive.

“I just went through the worst f—-in’ feelin ever with y’all police,” he said from the stage after being searched and what he felt was harassed. “This may be one of the only times you see me because of how they treated me.”

Other artists on the bill that night, from Juelz Santana to Ja Rule, endured similar harsh conditions at the Beacon Theatre, as the combination of aggressive security inside and police presence outside created what DJ Khaled described as suffocating conditions.

“Leaving the Beacon was weird for me,” Khaled told MTV News. “I felt like [police] was just watching everybody. It didn’t feel right. Everybody was backstage, undercovers, I heard Ja Rule got pulled over. And nobody was doing anything wrong. That’s why I didn’t really understand it. Me, I didn’t leave from backstage. I left with the crowd. When I was leaving, I was hearing all this stuff about people getting pulled over. I feel hip-hop is a target for no reason right now.”

Ja Rule was also pulled over that night by New York Police Department officers and faces similar charges to Lil Wayne. His case, however, is still pending. Wayne’s attorney, Stacey Richman, has also been retained by the Queens rapper. A different judge, though, is presiding in Ja Rule’s case.

While Lil Wayne has court dates and jail time in his future, the rapper is also prepping the release of a lot of new music.

A new mixtape, No Ceiling, is due online soon. And he’s putting the final touches on his rock-leaning album Rebirth as well as an album by his Young Money collective. Both albums are slated for release in December on Universal/Motown.

Those projects should safely carry Lil Wayne into the new year and releases by protégés Drake and Nicki Minaj will keep Lil Wayne buzzing long after he begins his prison term.

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Paramore at the Ulalume Music Festival

Photo: MTV News

COLUMBIA, Maryland — This was definitely the first time Paramore played a show for the Super Mario Brothers. Or a zombie skateboarder and his wife. Or a yeti.

Of course, they made mention of this fact during their crackling headlining set at Friday night’s (October 23) Ulalume Music Festival — it’s named after a particulary gloomy Edgar Allan Poe poem — an evening of big-ticket performances and creative costumery held at the very spooky (for this night, at least) Merriweather Post Pavillion deep in the woods of suburban Maryland.

It was a concert held in honor of Halloween (it’s set to be broadcast October 30 on mtvU), which explained the kids dressed up in all manner of ghoulish finery (and more than a few Baltimore Ravens jerseys), and was certainly why the grounds of MPP were covered in stringy cobwebs and flooded with ominous fog.

There was a fake cemetery on site, and a haunted house (OK, it was called the “Clown Asylum”) too. Not to mention haystacks, lots and lots of haystacks (haunted ones!). Throw in a bill loaded with rock mainstays (Paramore, AFI, Chester Bennington’s Dead By Sunrise side project) and hotly tipped hip-hop acts (Kid Cudi and Asher Roth, though Ash pulled out at the last minute due to complications from dental surgery), and you had the makings of a pretty raucous party, the kind every zombie would die (again) to attend.

Cudi got the festivities started with a delightfully ambling set that showcased songs from his recent Man on the Moon and his strengths as a stony, self-effacing showman.

Dressed like a well-connected lumberjack (red-and-white flannel, Billionaire Boys Club custom T-shirt), he bobbed and weaved through hits like the Lady Gaga sampling “Make Her Say,” his breakout “Day ‘N’ Nite” and next single, the thick-as-molasses “Pursuit of Happiness.” The costumed crowd ate it up and Cudi egged them on, pacing the stage and striking decidedly rock-star poses before exiting with a humble, “Goodbye. Thank you.”

Bennington’s Dead By Sunrise followed, peppering the night with rock that was equal parts pummel and pastoral. Their set’s highest point, “Crawl Back In” — the first single off the band’s just-released Out Of Ashes album — was a little bit of both, mixing grungy chords and Bennington’s near-patented yowl with some seriously precise drums and an ethereal backbeat.

There was a costume contest next (big ups to Eddie the Yeti, who took home the $2,500 first prize!), then it was time for AFI to take the audience on a ride, a task they were more than up for.

Energized by their new Crash Love album, they flailed and wailed with a fury that belied the fact that they’ve been at it for some 18 years now, with frontman Davey Havok flying around the stage, guitarist Jade Puget pulling outrageous solos out of his axe and bassist Hunter Bergan spinning and strutting like he owned the joint.

Songs like “Death of Seasons” and “Beautiful Thieves” were swelled to massive proportions, the former ending with Havok — dressed in skintight black T-shirt and silver pants, hair swept back in dramatic pompadour — collapsed atop a row of speakers, the latter wrapping with him striding out into the audience, held aloft by their outstreched arms. New single “Medicate” featured snarling riffs and one those epic, fret-melting Puget solos. And the set-closing combo of “Miss Murder” and “Silver and Cold” was a masterclass in loud/soft tecnhique, getting quiet with piano lines and electric chirps before roaring back with ferocious guitars and huge, crowd-approved choruses.

And, like we said, Paramore closed things out, with a fiery set that served notice that they’ve (not-so-) quietly become of the best live acts in the country.

New songs like “Ignorance,” “Careful” and “Looking Up” bounced and bristled with energy, driven by the lock-step rhythm section of Zac Farro and Jeremy Davis, the spiky interplay of guitarists Josh Farro and Taylor York, and frontwoman Hayley Williams’ vocal acrobatics. They breathed new life into older stuff, too, intro-ing “Misery Business” with a soft-jazz instrumental and muscular guitar lines, and conducting the crowd with frantic arm waves on “That’s What You Get.”

“Decode” was a roller-coaster ride (Williams sang the heck out of it), “Where the Lines Overlap” was bouyed by Josh and Williams’ two-part harmonies and set-closer (and next single) “Brick By Boring Brick” had the ghosts and gals singing along loudly. It was all pretty spooky. Spooky good.

And then it was over, and the costumed kids emptied out of the Pavillion. To most, it didn’t matter that the temperature had dropped and a steady rain had begun to fall — bouyed by an evening of excellent music, they simply partied on in their ponchos. Ghouls just wanna have fun, after all.

For more from the “New Moon” cast and to see an exclusive clip from the film, check out MTV’s “Ulalume: Howling at New Moon” on Friday, October 30 at 9 p.m. ET — and check MTV.com at 10 p.m. to see the clip exclusively online!

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Lil Wayne performs at New York’s Beacon Theatre in July, 2007

Photo: MTV News

July 22, 2007 was shaping up to be a memorable night for hip-hop. Lil Wayne‘s career was on fire: The underground buzz that exploded with the #1 debut of Tha Carter III the following year was on full boil. He was about to take the stage at New York’s Beacon Theatre for his first headlining gig in the city that spawned hip-hop. A NYC appearance for Weezy was a rare event, but for those who’d been following the 25-year-old’s musical career for years, the Beacon show felt like a coronation.

Wayne was gigantic throughout the South via his guest appearances and mixtapes, but he hadn’t yet had the chance to see how much the Big Apple fans loved him up close. A sold-out Beacon roared as Wayne, taking the stage in a vintage Run-DMC T-shirt (which, as is almost always the case during his shows, would soon be removed) electrified the crowd with underground bangers and hits like “Hustler Musik.” The crowd knew the night would be unforgettable.

However, it would be unforgettable for reasons nobody anticipated: Wayne was arrested after the show, and that arrest saw him pleading guilty to attempted gun possession earlier this week — a plea that, under New York’s tough gun laws, is likely to get him a year-long prison sentence.

Outside the theater before the show, it was like an awards-show red carpet. Rappers Juelz Santana and Jim Jones from the Diplomats stood around waiting to get in, while Ja Rule and Irv Gotti chilled in Maybachs. Kanye West was said to be on his way to the venue, as was DJ Khaled.

The welcoming committee for the rappers, however, was not so glamorous. Police refused to let the Diplomats wait in the backstage area before they performed with Wayne. Mounted police rode up to the rappers and their entourages and almost physically ushered them down the block. Wayne himself had to go through a metal detector and be patted down by police before entering the building for his own headlining show.

Santana and Jim Jones fumed in a parking lot while they waited for wristbands to gain admission. “Somebody tell Jim Jones he’s not getting in under any circumstances,” one policeman was heard saying.

Jones eventually wound up leaving while Juelz stayed, later taking the stage as a surprise guest. But the excitement of many of the performers who were there to support Weezy was dampened by the actions of the security team at the venue.
“Going into the show, I felt like I was going to prison,” DJ Khaled told MTV News this week.

Video footage shows Wayne with a visible look of disgust on his face while getting frisked by police. Cash Money’s Birdman also had a rough time entering. Wayne threatened to leave, but didn’t want to disappoint his fans. He said during the concert that the Big Apple wouldn’t be getting too many more of his shows (although he has performed New York-area gigs twice since then).

“I just went through the worst f—-in’ feelin ever with y’all police,” he said from the stage with a look that mixed disappointment and disgust. “This may be one of the only times you see me because of how they treated me.”

Eventually, Wayne’s anger would cool down and his energy would be channeled into igniting the stage. Besides hitting the crowd with his own records, Wayne treated them to a surprise guest spot from West, who came out to a deafening roar for “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” Other guests, including Santana, Khaled and Ja Rule, were also well received.

“My take? Lil Wayne brought me out on that show,” Khaled recalled to MTV News this week. “He let me open and he brought me out on ‘We Taking Over.’ The show was amazing, the fans were amazing, they went crazy. I went crazy because it was Wayne and Kanye. And Wayne was ripping it down, doing freestyles. I don’t think Wayne performed that many times in New York, so that’s special, too. I was a fan behind the scenes, seeing the best MC in the world.”

The crowd’s reaction was ecstatic, and the show would garner acclaim from critics in reviews the next day.

However, shortly after the show, Wayne’s tour bus was pulled over just blocks from the theater. Police claim to have smelled marijuana emanating from the bus as it left the venue and arrested him at approximately 11:30 p.m.

The bus was pulled over and when authorities entered and walked to Wayne’s room in the back, they claimed to have seen him throw a Louis Vuitton bag with the .40 caliber gun to the floor — a claim Wayne’s lawyer would deny.

“He [Wayne] was in the bus in his boxer shorts with a number of other people,” his lawyer, Stacey Richman told MTV News. “Unless his boxer shorts had a pocket for this gun, I don’t understand how he had it on him.”

Just an hour before Wayne’s bus was stopped, Ja Rule had his Maybach pulled over for speeding and was arrested as well when police found a .40-caliber handgun in his car during a search. (Rule declined to comment on the incident for this story; Richman is also representing Ja in his case, which is still working its way through the legal system.)

More than two years later, Wayne’s arrested would condemn him to a prison sentence (of which he is expected to serve eight to 10 months). On Thursday, Wayne entered a guilty plea to a class “D” violent felony of attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Arguing all along that the gun did not belong to him — it was legally registered in Mississippi to the rapper’s manager, Cortez Bryant — and that it was not in his possession when police boarded the bus, Wayne’s plea specified that the gun was within his “dominion or control,” which means that it was available to him for use, but was not being brandished in a threatening manner.

This week, performers talked with MTV News about the tough security around the show and how the atmosphere affected them, and Wayne.

“Leaving the Beacon was weird for me,” Khaled said. “I felt like [police] was just watching everybody. It didn’t feel right. Everybody was backstage, undercovers, I heard Ja Rule got pulled over. And nobody was doing anything wrong. That’s why I didn’t really understand it. Me, I didn’t leave from backstage. I left with the crowd. When I was leaving, I was hearing all this stuff about people getting pulled over. I feel hip-hop is a target for no reason right now.”

“I remember that day, a couple of people got arrested, I got pulled over,” Santana told MTV News this week. “They followed me uptown. You can’t just go and try get n—as for no reason. Say a n—a did have a gun. We’re on defense. By the time somebody tries to [do something to me] and [the police] get to me, I’m just explaining the story. That’s the position we in. C’mon. The people that’s trying to get us are looking out to see when the police aren’t there,” he said.

Wayne took the stage that night hoping to show fans and fellow MCs in the birthplace of hip-hop how he’d earned the self-anointed title of “the greatest rapper alive.” And, onstage, he did. But now facing up to a year in prison, Wayne also proved that fame, money and adulation are no shield from the law, no matter what your skills on the mic.

“I think it speaks of him that he’s an individual with a strong constitution that he took that responsibility,” Richman said on Thursday after Wayne’s plea.

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Kanye West

Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/ Getty Images

After a couple of rough months that found him getting massive flack for interrupting Taylor Swift at the VMAs and canceling his tour with Lady Gaga,
Kanye West got some very good news on Friday. Though he was not present for the ruling, West caught a break when a Los Angeles court commissioner dismissed all three misdemeanor charges against the rapper in connection with a scuffle with paparazzi
at the Los Angeles International Airport in September 2008.

Court commissioner Mark Zuckman dismissed misdemeanor charges of battery, grand theft and vandalism against West and tour manager Don Crowley. West was arrested on suspicion of vandalism and Crowley on suspicion of vandalism and battery on September 12, 2008, when they allegedly confronted TMZ photographers and smashed their equipment; West and Crowley, 33, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could have sent West to jail for up to two years and six months and Crowley for up to five years.

City prosecutors opposed the dismissal, arguing that both West, 32, and Crowley had exhibited “felonious intent” in allegedly breaking the expensive camera gear. As part of the dismissal, West and Crowley were ordered to complete 50 hours of community service — West’s attorney said he will work perform his service with the American Red Cross.

People magazine reported that the hearing also revealed that West — who has a history of indignant public outbursts at awards shows — voluntarily received court-approved anger management counseling following the airport scuffle, completing 12 one-hour sessions, which attorney Blair Berk did not disclose until Friday’s court session. Berk also noted that an undisclosed civil settlement had been reached with the photographers last month, with the photogs providing a note to the court that they were satisfied with the payments.

“Kanye took the charges very seriously [and] responded appropriately by getting counseling to figure out why this happened,” Berk told MTV News on Friday after the dismissal. “And the court appropriately agreed to dismiss all charges … this was the outcome that was appropriate given the facts of this case.” Berk noted that because of the dismissal, the incident will not show up on West’s permanent record.

According to TMZ, Berk delivered a “blistering attack” on the paparazzi before leaving court. Saying her clients were “remorseful” for the incident, Berk reportedly said they had been “overcharged” in the case, a suggestion Deputy L.A. City Attorney Felton Newell disputed by saying they had acted with “reckless disregard” and that a video of the incident shows they had “an intent to commit a felony.” The L.A. district attorney’s office had considered filing felony charges against the men, but ultimately declined.

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Lil Wayne

Photo: Newscom

Lil Wayne has been the hardest working man in rap for the past two years and it looks like we’ll have even more official offerings from him soon. Regardless of the eight to 10 months of jail time he’s expected to serve sometime in 2010, he seems to have more than enough music ready to keep fans happy in the meantime.

Already confirmed on Wayne’s plate is the Young Money All-Stars album. That LP features Weezy as well his team of artists including Drake, Mack Maine, Nicky Minaj, Gudda Gudda and a slew of others. So far the single “Every Girl” has been released, as well as another record named “Bed Rock,” featuring Lloyd. Another Young Money track, “Thinking of You,” recently hit the Net, but there’s been no word from Wayne’s record company if that track is on the album.

Wayne has said that his plan is to possibly release the Young Money LP and his solo record Rebirth as a double LP sometime in December. Confirmed collaborators on the latter include producers Cool & Dre, with rumors abounding that Weezy placed a call to Avril Lavigne asking her to join him in the studio.

Then there is the continuation of his Tha Carter series. Tha Carter IV is in production, however, Wayne recently told U.K. radio host Tim Westwood there was no release date for that album as of yet, but he wants to make sure the project gets special attention. Production team Da Bizness (Young Money’s “Every Girl”) just finished up some tracks.

Wayne should be dropping his No Ceilings mixtape any day now.

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Lil Wayne

Photo: Sarah A. Friedman/Contour by Getty Images

On Friday (October 23), Cash Money Records CEOs Ronald “Slim” Williams and Bryan “Baby” Williams spoke out for the first time since their franchise artist Lil Wayne plead guilty to gun possession Thursday in New York City. Not surprisingly, the two record executives declared their unwavering support of Wayne. He’s been with the brothers for more than 15 years now, and they consider him not just an act on the roster, but family. In fact, both Baby and Slim appeared alongside Wayne in court on Thursday.

“The Cash Money family will continue to support our artist and friend Lil Wayne in his current court case,” the Williams brothers said in a joint statement. “We have worked with Wayne since he was a teenager, and have seen him grow into one of the world’s most successful hip-hop artists, with a work ethic that is second to none. Wayne has our love and commitment during this difficult time. We always have and always will stand behind him.”

Wayne is due for sentencing in February of 2010. At that time he is expected to be sentenced to a year in prison, and will probably serve eight to 10 months, assuming good behavior.

The incident took place in July 2007, when police pulled over Wayne’s tour bus at around 11:30 p.m. on the night of his show at New York’s Beacon Theatre. They arrested the rapper for criminal possession of a weapon and another man on the bus for criminal possession of marijuana. Even before his show that night, Wayne made repeated comments from the stage about being hassled by police and threatened not to perform in New York again.

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Lil Wayne’s mugshot from his January 23, 2008 arrest in Arizona

Photo: AP Photo/ Yuma County Sheriff’s Office

Even with his guilty plea to gun charges in New York on Thursday — which brought an expected sentence of one year in prison — Lil Wayne‘s legal troubles are not quite over.

The rapper (born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr.), 27, still faces a number of drug and gun charges in Arizona, where he was arrested in January 2008 by DEA agents. Earlier this month, a trial date was set for that case, according to the Yuma Sun newspaper, which reported that attorneys agreed on March 30 as the start date.

The Arizona charges stem from a January 2008 arrest when Wayne’s tour bus was stopped by border patrol officers on Interstate 8 — which has a number of checkpoints due to its use by drug traffickers and illegal aliens. During a search of the bus, occupied by seven other passengers and a driver, the border patrol and police canines found drugs, over $22,000 in cash and three firearms. One of the guns, a .40-caliber pistol, was registered to Wayne in Florida, where he has a concealed carry permit, and the other two weapons were legally registered to members of Wayne’s camp.

The authorities also discovered nearly 4 ounces of marijuana, more than an ounce of cocaine, 41 grams of ecstasy and various drug paraphernalia. The DEA was called in to investigate and subsequently arrested Wayne and two other men. Several days later, Wayne was charged with one count each of felony possession of a narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia; he has plead not guilty to all the charges.

Wayne’s Arizona-based attorney has not returned repeated calls for comment, and a spokesperson for the Yuma County District Attorney’s office declined to discuss the case. The Sun reported that before setting the March trial date, Yuma County Superior Court Judge Mark Wayne Reeves asked the attorneys how long they thought the trial would last.

While the prosecuting attorney predicted two weeks, Wayne’s counsel, James Tilson, said that due to Wayne’s notoriety and the expected intense media coverage of the case, it could take as long as three weeks. At the most recent court hearing on October 1, Tilson’s co-counsel, Natman Schaye, said the defense still had some witness interviews to conduct, including a Border Patrol agent who was handling the dog that alerted officials to the presence of the drugs.

Wayne’s lawyers have reportedly claimed that the dogs used in the bust were not properly trained, making the drugs seized in the raid inadmissible as evidence. The rapper is scheduled to be formally sentenced in the New York case in February and begin his expected eight-month prison bid a short time after that.

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Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo

Photo: MTV News

As if you didn’t already have enough good reasons to watch Weezer‘s brand-new “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To” video — The spooky doppelgängers! The wanton violence! The girl who was in “Kindergarten Cop”! — well, we’ve got another one for you: Hot Weezer-on-Weezer reproduction.

That’s right, “I Want You To” features the guys in Weezer makin’ babies, presumably with each other, since the video is set in a town — called Weezerville — where every man, woman and child is a member of the band. Confused? Turned on? Both? Here’s director Marc Webb to explain.

“The idea of the video is really simple: It’s a town that’s made up of clones of Weezer. There are multiple versions of Brian and Patrick and Scott and Rivers,” Webb told MTV News last month on the set of the video in Piru, California. “We shot with a bunch of little kids too [because] we’re going to replace their heads with the band members of Weezer. They’re going to be the little versions of them, because the spawn here all look like their parents. I don’t know how they reproduce. … That’ll be for the sequel. They just split in half. It’s amazing.”

OK, so it’s not exactly Slash Fiction, but it’s close. But speaking of slash, there is plenty of bloodshed — not to mention the occasional vehicular assault — in “I Want You To,” and, once again, it’s the guys in Weezer who are doing it all … for love.

“We’re all in Weezerville, doing our daily routines, then one day, this beautiful young woman comes out of nowhere, enters Weezerville, heads start turning, accidents start happening,” frontman Rivers Cuomo explained. “Scott Shriner gets hit by an arrow, Pat Wilson gets run over by a car — I happen to be behind the wheel — Brian Bell gets his arm chopped off by a chainsaw, because we’re all flustered when we see this girl, we lose our focus, our concentration. … Next thing you know, accidents start happening.”

And the cause of all that chaos? Actress Odette Yustman, who filled MTV News in on just what happens at the conclusion of the clip. And here’s a hint: There’s even more violence involved.

“I’m the femme fatale of the video. I come in and I disturb the peace and distract everybody,” she said. “Towards the end, they realize I’m not the nice girl I seem to be, so they kick me out of town. And I have to leave. Forcefully.”

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Lil Wayne in police custody in New York in 2007

Photo: Ada County Sheriff’s Office

Lil Wayne is just the latest hip-hop star to have his career put on pause because of a stint behind bars.

At Wayne’s formal sentencing next February, the Cash Money Records lyricist is expected to be sentenced to one year in prison for attempted gun possession. The case stems from a July 2007 arrest that occurred just as the gifted rapper was ascending to his current status as one of the biggest music draws in the world.

The jail time will likely come while Wayne is still in promotional mode for two new projects, his rock-flavored Rebirth album and the Young Money compilation, slated to hit shelves and computers this December. (A source at the rapper’s label told MTV News his legal troubles would not impede the release of future projects.) Experts say Wayne could maintain his career momentum … if he follows the examples of previous success stories.

	Musicians Survive Career-Threatening Prison Sentences

Lil Wayne’s counterpart in Southern rap royalty, T.I., confronted a similar situation just last year. Tip’s Paper Trail album was released in September 2008, only months after the Atlanta star struck a plea deal for illegally attempting to buy firearms. Two of T.I.’s songs, “Whatever You Like” and “Live Your Life,” were still huge radio hits when he began his sentence in May.

But since T.I.’s been behind bars, he’s managed to win a MTV Video Music Award and a BET Hip-Hop Award, and came out with two new music videos from his since-cancelled Paper Trail re-release. Tip has arguably been as successful away as he was while free. He could even be the most successful jailed rap star ever.

Tupac certainly could have made a case for that not-so-privileged title. In death, the controversial rap star has been a cash cow, but while he was locked up, ‘Pac also achieved something most free stars haven’t been able to achieve: a #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart. His 1995 album Me Against the World debuted at the top of the charts while 2Pac was imprisoned for sexual assault.

Before beginning their sentences, both T.I. and 2Pac wrote some of their most challenging tracks. Tip’s “No Matter What” addresses the inner strength the rapper called upon to maintain his composure despite his uncertain fate. And ‘Pac’s “Me Against the World” title track is one of the more powerful true-to-life tunes detailing a rapper’s life.

Former Roc-A-Fella rapper Beanie Sigel recorded some of the best music of his career while he was facing jail time on federal weapons charges in 2005. The B. Coming was a hard-earned collection of tracks that focused on paranoia (“Feel It in the Air”), remorse (“I Can’t Go on This Way”), and the looming threat of losing his freedom (“One Shot Deal”). The album stands as a testament to the Philadelphia MC’s ability to blend vivid rhymes with the dark reality of his life at the time.

Mobb Deep’s Prodigy is another MC who entered prison during high period in his career. The New York rhymer resurrected his career with 2007′s Return of the Mac, but a gun rap in Manhattan sent him away in 2008 for three and a half years. Since then, he’s maintained a mild presence through blogs and his Web site.

Perhaps the most infamous of these examples is that of former Diddy protégé Shyne. The rising rapper was arrested and charged for his involvement in the Club New York case in December 1999, before he even released his self-titled debut album in 2000. By the time he released his second album, Godfather Buried Alive, in 2004, Shyne was already serving his 10-year sentence. The rapper has been away for so long, however, that it’s hard to speculate what his career would have looked like had he been a free man. But fans are still salivating for his release from federal detainment — he finished his sentence but could be facing deportation to Belize — and wondering if the Brooklyn MC still has it.

With or without a looming jail sentence, Lil Wayne already works at a frenetic pace. He records daily, and it’s almost impossible to estimate how many tracks he has on standby. Faced with a sentence that will likely see him in prison for eight to 10 months, Wayne could potentially put his foot on the gas and flood the reserves.

His next immediate project is the No Ceilings mixtape slated to arrive around Halloween. Combined with Rebirth, the Young Money album and albums by Birdman, Drake and Nicki Minaj, fans may be in for a feast of Weezy, even if he won’t be around to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

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Tokio Hotel

Photo: MTV News

As we’ve already pointed out, behind all the makeup and beyond the millions of albums sold, Tokio Hotel are just your average bunch of twenty-something guys. Which means that a large portion of their time is spent discussing the finer points of super-sexy celebs like Megan Fox.

And Jessica Alba. And Beyoncé. And Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. And, well, you get the idea. Tokio Hotel love talking about the ladies (except for bassist Georg Listing, who makes it a point of saying he has a girlfriend).

“He’s on the phone [with her], like, the whole day, he’s Skyping. He’s boring right now, because he has a girlfriend,” frontman Bill Kaulitz laughed.

“He’s boring! You can’t go in the strip club with Georg!” guitarist Tom Kaulitz added.

Listing just smiled. You get the feeling he’s gotten used to this by now. But the rest of the guys are more than willing to talk about their ideal girls, most of whom seem to have one thing in common: They’re all famous.

“I think it has to be a mixture. Maybe the Olsen twins? I like both. I like Megan Fox as well,” Bill said of his dream girl. “I really believe in love at first sight though. I don’t know. I don’t have ‘famous girls’ that I like. But the Olsen twins are cute, and Megan Fox is cute — they look good, but I don’t know Jessica Alba and the Olsen twins, so …”

“And Beyoncé and Jessica Alba too,” interrupted Tom, who is definitely the extroverted ladies man of the group. The way he talks, it would appear that females take up about 75 percent of his time.

But Bill is the opposite. Though he’s the lead singer of an internationally famous rock act (and a sex symbol in his own right), he’s not looking for a quick fling. He’s after something much deeper.

” I’ve never had a girl just for one night in my hotel room,” he said, adding that the last time he had a girlfriend, he was 13 or 14 years old. “It’s something I miss. I really want to have a soul mate. But, it’s like, I don’t want a girl for one night. I want true love, because I don’t have so much time, and I want to spend my time with the right girl.”

Then, like clockwork, Tom chimes in again. He’s more than willing to hook up with a celeb or two (or perhaps one of TH’s adoring fans). He’s looking for something a little more … immediate.

“I just need to love for one night,” he laughed.

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