Snoop Dogg
Photo: Jeffrey Mayer/ Getty Images

Celebrity Favorites

"Everyday is the same thang, I creep in/ It's like 'True Blood,' I sink my teeth in/ I gotta have it."

Vampire Bill, look out — fellow bloodsucker Eric Northman may not be the only fanged man in Bon Temps, Louisiana, that has his eyes on your beloved Sookie Stackhouse. Snoop Dogg says he wants to swoop into town and cause some havoc.

"You know I'm down with it," Snoop said of name-checking the popular HBO series on his new single, "Gangsta Luv." "I love that show. I wish I could be on it. I'd be a hell of a vampire, don't you think? So what's happenin'? 'True Blood,' get at me — Snoop Dogg wants to be a vampire."

We can see it now: The Dogg facing off in a fight to the death with Lafayette in a season finale.

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From the Underground

We still call him Killer Kill when we see him! Mike Bigga (a.k.a. Killer Mike) told us recently he definitely jumped at the chance to get on the record "Street Cred" with Gucci Mane and Drake. But don't think he got sheepish for one second rapping alongside two of the guys that made this year's Hottest MCs in the Game list. Mike has got down with the elite from the beginning of his career, from Outkast to T.I. (Mike is signed to Grand Hustle) and now with Gucc and Drizzy.

"Gucci called me. He said, 'I wanna get you on a song.' It's me, him and Drake — go figure. I love it.

"Everybody is different on 'Swagger Like Us,' everybody is different on 'Forever,' " he added about the variety of styles you get on "Street Cred." "I'm murderville a track. I'm going spazzmatic. You know what I'm doing. I'm rapping like my jugular is popping out my throat. That's what I do. I'm like, [look out for] that and a song with me and Tip that No I.D. produced."

Mike, who released the Underground Atlanta compilation in late August, says 2010 is going to be his year, especially with a solo album coming out on Grand Hustle.

"I think next year I'mma make sure the sleepers ain't sleeping," he added. "I'm here. I appreciate the artists who have recognized it — from Gucci to Tip, to Dro to Kuntry — that have helped me put the mashed down and just let them know I'm finnin' to have my hand pressed firmly against the game's neck next year."

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

• Mixtape Daily: David Banner, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, RZA, Nipsey Hussle And More

• Snoop Dogg
• Killer Mike
• Gucci Mane
• Drake

The Game
Photo: MTV News

The Overdose: A Mixtape Daily Exclusive

Your boys are back at it. Hiatus is done. Today we had to put Firestarter on the back burner to bring you this testimonial from none other than the Game. Big Hurricane sat down with us in the lab where he's recording his R.E.D. Album. And, in addition to speaking about the project, he wanted to tell us and the entire world that there's no more 50 Cent beef. He's said it before, no doubt, but this time the Compton rhyme beast says he's dead serious — unless he changes his mind. Game compared his beef with Fif and the G-Unit to an airplane. (Is that private or commercial? Just kidding.)

"I just got off that plane," Game said of the well-documented rift. "I didn't even get my baggage out the baggage claim."

The MC says he wants to "apologize to 50 as a man." He also wants to apologize to the fans, Dr. Dre, Eminem and the head of Interscope, Jimmy Iovine.

"Jimmy always says, 'Man, I told you guys not to break up the Beatles,' " Game said. "He says he told John Lennon the same thing a long time ago. But I was young, man. I was dumb. I did a lot of dumb things. I felt me and 50 clashed. I'm not gonna dis 50. I'm not gonna go back on the plane. He had his side, I had my side. I did what I felt was necessary for me and my career to have longevity and survive in hip-hop and music to be around when I'm Quincy Jones' age — not just be Quincy Jones' age, but be a Quincy Jones. Now, four albums in, I can honestly say from Banks to Buck to Dre to Yayo to whoever, if it would have kept going, endless paper. Millions of albums sold — because we were great together. Me and 50's chemistry was like how Method Man was to Redman when they get in. You know when Method Man gets with Redman, it's going down."

True, the Unit, when they were a five-man squad (that's with Game and Buck), were absolutely unstoppable. We're still rocking that All Eyez on Us G-Unit Radio Part 5 mixtape.

"It is what KRS-One was with Scott La Rock," Game added, describing his time with 50. "When you take Ralph Tresvant from New Edition and Bobby Brown goes this way, you might get a Bell Biv DeVoe, but you won't get no 'Candy Girl.' You won't get no 'Mr. Telephone Man.' You ain't gonna get no 'Hate It or Love It,' you won't get 'How We Do.' As a family, we had it. If we never [broke] up, I think Detox would have been out and we all would have been selling millions from Banks to Buck, Tony Yayo. I'm gonna apologize for my role."

Just a few weeks ago, 50 told us he has no desire to entertain the Game. Maybe Dre or Iovine can get these guys together again?

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground

50 Cent says he wants to bring hardcore rap back to the forefront, and we know the sentiments Jay-Z expressed in "D.O.A." Killer Mike says he's not impressed. He's been keeping it street.

"I don't wanna hear none of that bullsh-- from none of the n---as," Mike said. "I dropped I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II last year. If you wanna hear hardcore hip-hop, go to the store, go get I Pledge Allegiance to the Grind II. You can listen from the first Biggie sample to the last song on the album, 'Good-Bye,' it's hardcore hip-hop. I don't wanna hear that bullsh--, these n---as who got millions of dollars talking about bringing sh-- back. They ain't bringing sh-- back. It's here — you looking at it.

"Buy me," he continued. "When that Killer Mike drops, hardcore hip-hop will be back for the second, third time. You know, the same guy that said 'rap is dead' three years before Nas said it. I'm here. F--- with me. Jay dropped 'D.O.A.' and everybody went crazy. And I love Jay. A week before that, I dropped 'Man Up.' Go listen to that song and go listen to 'D.O.A.' "

Killer Kill, who recently struck a partnership with T.I. and Grand Hustle Entertainment, is dropping a compilation of all the ATL underground MCs this summer.

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

• Mixtape Daily Video: Game, Michael Jackson, Killer Mike

• Game
• Killer Mike
• 50 Cent

Lupe Fiasco
Photo: Atlantic

Artist: Killer Mike

Representing: Atlanta

Mixtape: I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II

411: Ladies and ghetto-men, Killack Obama. "If you have a boss, and you don't like your boss," Killer Mike began, "fire your boss, and be a boss! If you don't have an idea, lay down, develop a dream, wake up, have a vision, get to the money. Feed your immediate family; provide jobs in your community. Do something instead of doing nothing. I do not pledge my allegiance to dope. I do not pledge my allegiance to some funky job. I do not pledge my allegiance to waiting on the government to feed me. I pledge my allegiance to getting rich independently.

"You have people out there who work all their life and people who hustle all their life," he continued. "If you take 50 percent of work and 50 percent of hustle and marry those things, you got something unstoppable. You got a hustler's spirit, but you have the skill and determination to work a 9-to-5 every day. Or if you treat your hustle like a 9-to-5, you will never fall. 'Grind' means to get rich independently."

Killer Mike is on his own now. Clearly, his days as Outkast's protégé are long gone. All it took was one shelved album (Ghetto Extraordinary) and a physical altercation (in 2006).

"I don't know why the album never came out," he said of his would-be sophomore LP for Big Boi's Purple Ribbon label. "I don't know what happened between Purple Ribbon and Sony. I just know around that time, I got tired of sitting on the shelf. I got up, dusted myself off and got right back in action. I think it's tough for a lot of artists not to be complacent. It's easy to be complacent when you're eating, but when you're starving, it's not hard to get motivated. I got to the point where nobody around there was eating. I had to go somewhere and eat."

Mike is not only cooking his own meals now, but he's taking the orders and serving up the plates with his Grind Time Official records, an independent label with distribution through SMC/Fontana.

"Doing this has made me a lot more sympathetic to what Big Boi was going through," he said of running the show as a CEO and artist. "It can be suffocating, overwhelming. You have to find a certain peace within yourself and dedicate a part of yourself to the music and the business. My goal is not to run my company. My goal is to be an artist that does great things [with] my company and set a certain vision for my company. But I want somebody that's qualified to run my company to run my company. That's just a wise move."

After this LP, Mike said to expect the third in his Pledge series soon, followed by an album he has been working on under the tutelage of No I.D., DJ Toomp, L-Rock and record executive Kyambo "Hip-Hop" Joshua.

Joints To Check For:

» "God in the Building." "I feel the people on the bottom are closer to God," Mike sermonizes. "When I say the people on the bottom, I mean the people who are working every day, standing on the corner, people who are grinding. It's a famous story in the Bible where priests send Jesus his disciples. In your case, it would be like the police sending your homeboys over to you, and they saying 'Why is he over there with the hustlers and thieves and lowlifes?' To me, rappers, athletes, D-Boys with some consciousness, we are Jesuses of our day. It's our job to bring some light in the midst of the dark. ... When I walk in the building, when I walk in the club, when I walk in my kids nursery, the doctors' office ... everybody better wake up like God is in the building."

» "Two Sides." "If you're watching Atlanta on TV, you might think it's all about swagger. I'm from that real Atlanta, fresh off MLK [Boulevard]. If you don't know what it is, after you listen to this, you will know what it is. One time for all the A-town cats putting it down for real. Everybody who's lying, I know you lying. They know you lying. One time for [Shawty Lo], one time for Tip, one time for Jeezy, one time for Luda and everybody who's been holding Atlanta down the right way. Lot of love for [Gorilla] Zo, Boyz in the Hood. Must be two sides, 'cause either you on the right side or the wrong side. Are you from Atlanta or black Hollywood? I'm from Atlanta."

» "Alphabet Boys." "A lot of times, when you hear records about 'I was hustling' or doing this and that, you hear exciting stories, but they really don't make sense after you finish listening to them. I tell you stories with a moral to them. In 'Alphabet Boys,' I tell you how not to go to jail. In the first verse, I'm talking about what to do when them old heads get out of jail, and they want to get up under you and talk about what the price is. In the third verse, I'm talking about them girls that's dancing and working for the feds. I'm just saying, when you listen to my music, please believe it's a real message in there. And the message, it might just keep your black ass out of jail."

Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week

» DJ L-Gee and Notorious B.I.G. - Americas Favorite Rapper (Dead or Alive)
» September 7th and Crooked I - Hip Hop Weekly Mixtape 3
» K.A.R. and Suge White (Hosted by Fat Joe) - Gay Unit
» DJ Warrior and DJ Envy - Cali Untouchable Radio 17 (Strong Arm Ready, Klak Klak Edition)
» DJ Dolla Sign - Terminator - The Curtis Jackson Chronicles

'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar

» The Game - "N---a With a Attitude"
» Jim Jones (featuring Juelz Santana) - "Splash"
» Keith Murray - "Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful"
» Young Buck - "It's Not OK"
» Usher (featuring T.I. and Young Jeezy) - "Love in This Club"

Fire Starter: Soul Diggaz

K-Mack, Bless and Corte Ellis of the Soul Diggaz have been around for a minute, earning their stripes under the wing of Missy Elliott while producing hits such as Keyshia Cole's "Let It Go" and the music for the Gap commercial with Ms. Misdemeanor and Madonna. Now, their name is in request mode across the industry, especially when it comes to the Atlantic Records roster — they're producing for Plies and worked with Donnie Klang and Diddy on "Take You There." They are in the midst of getting a deal to release their own album featuring artists under their umbrella. Also, the team has recently finalized a joint venture with Timbaland to put out newcomer Izza Kizza.

Celebrity Faves

Ashanti definitely has a hot joint — all the ladies are singing "The Way I Love You." And just like many others, the Long Island native loved "Yo! MTV Raps," even though she was just 7 years old when it debuted 20 years ago. (Go to Yo.MTV.com to check out highlights from the best episodes of the groundbreaking show.)

"Some of my favorite memories from 'Yo! MTV Raps' would have to be Fab 5 Freddy with his hat and his glasses," she recalled. "He always kept it very classy and sassy and 'hood, all at the same time. Some of my favorite female rappers from the 'Yo!' era ... YoYo, definitely. Salt-N-Pepa. I think Salt-N-Pepa, definitely are always gonna be relevant, 'cause they were the first ...They were sexy and still kinda approachable. Not raunchy, and they just kept it real from the early stages. Everyone had the Salt-N-Pepa haircut. I was too young for it, but a lot of my cousins were rockin' it. 'Push It' was phenomenal. Still is. Still rocks in the club!"

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground

'Nuff respect to Lupe Fiasco. Usually, we take his word as bond, but when he starts talking about his next album being his career finale, that's something we refuse to believe. Maybe it's just denial that one of the most promising young superstars (pun intended) would retire before he even reached his prime. Recently he told MTV Base that he was 85 percent sure his next LP would be his last full-length solo set.

"I don't want to say I'm 100 percent sure, like, 'Yeah, this is it.' But 85 percent," he revealed. "That 15 percent is the X factor. That could be bills. Like, 'Lupe, you got to pay the bills.' 'Oh, man, I got to put out another album.' "

Fiasco says that the wear and tear of the music industry has taken its toll on him, physically and mentally. But he insists that he hasn't lost the passion for making music, just for the business of putting it out.

"There's all types and parts of the music business," he said. "There's the studio, record-store music business, and then there's the performing music business. I love the performing, I could perform forever. I'll be on stage until I'm 90 doing 'Kick, Push' and all that stuff if I can. But it's the whole process of it that wears you down. I actually got sick right before the Grammys. Never got a chance to go to the Grammys. I was running so hard doing music, and then when I got to the pivotal moment where you get the accolades for it, I found myself in the hospital and the doctor telling me I can't even go. I had a long conversation with the doctor, and he doesn't know me from Adam. He just came in and said, 'This is your life. This is how hard you're going. What happens when there's nothing there, and you drop down again?'

"When I came in, I was like, 'Yeah, I want to be a rapper, and I want to make three albums,' " he added. "But we'll see. It's amazing. I'm going to go away with a bang. Ahh, so good. I don't want to give too much away, because it's later. We're still just into The Cool project and still got more stuff to come out of this, but I am thinking on it. I'm already building it out, starting now, because it's massive. ... I'm treating it like I'm filming 'Lord of the Rings.' ... They had to film [that trilogy] over four to five years. It's going to take me about two years to put [my last album] together right. I'm 85 percent sure that my next album, LUPN, will be the end-all."

This is where we insert a big Flavor Flav "Wowwwwww!" Hopefully, he'll stick around a little longer. Besides, there's still the matter of the super group Child Rebel Soldiers, or CRS. It's comprised of Lupe, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West.

"Pharrell came up with the idea — 'Let's do a group, Child Rebel Soldiers,' " he recalled. "So, I did a song. Took Thom Yorke's 'Eraser,' cut it up, put 'Us Placers' on it, because I was going to do a mixtape called Us Placers and remake Thom Yorke's album [The Eraser] and Radiohead's stuff. I sent the record out, and it was initially supposed to have Kanye, and I wanted [U.K. artist] the Streets [on there]. The Streets, I got no response. He asked me to do the song for one of his artists. Then Kanye jumped on it and was like, 'I'm going to send it to P.' Then P sent it back, and it was like, 'This is the first song right here. Let's do it.' That was, like, a year and a half ago, and the whole time we've been figuring out what to do."

Since all three will be on 'Ye's Glow in the Dark tour, Lupe promised we could expect to see that performance soon.

"We don't know if there's going to be an album from CRS, what CRS are going to be," he said. "All we know is we're going to debut a piece of CRS on the Kanye tour. You have to come see it." ...

Hit me one time! Word to the JBs, Fabolous has a band. Before he left last week for a college tour with OneRepublic, Loso told us it was time for his stage performance to evolve.

"I thought it was something that needed to be done," he explained at SIR studios in Manhattan. (Coincidently, Missy Elliott was in the room across the hall, rehearsing for her upcoming tour with Busta Rhymes.) "I got a taste of [being backed by a band] when I did this [show] called 'Stripped.' I got a little bit of feel of it. I thought it was a dope thing to do. I even seen it previously on '[MTV's] Unplugged.' With certain artists coming up and doing their joints with a band behind them, I always wanted to do it, but I was waiting for the right experience. This tour came up. It's a college tour, and it's with another band, a pop act. They definitely will be using a band, so I thought it was a good time to bring it out."

F.A.B.O. joked that when choosing the members of his group, the Fab Five, he looked for more than just talent with instruments.

"I made them walk to Junior's for cheesecake," he smiled, referring to Diddy's notorious "Making the Band" mission. "They came back with cheesecake, and I said, 'OK, you can make the band.' "

When it comes to bands that he listens to just for enjoyment, the Brooklyn native's choices vary. You didn't think he just pumped Red Cafe and Joe Budden all day did you?

"The Rolling Stones, of course the Stones," he listed. "The Eagles, Maroon 5. I even like the one we going out with, OneRepublic. Although they're fairly new, I like the few joints I heard. I like Evanescence.

Fab's Five consist of Finesse on strings, Miles on keyboard, DJ 45, Rain Man on drums and T. Nasty on guitar. Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Diddy and whoever else has started doing shows with live instrumentation, watch your back. Fab wants to battle.

"Who want it?" he laughed. "Who want it with me?" ... For other artists featured in Mixtape Monday, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.

• Mixtape Monday Video: Lupe Fiasco, Fabolous & More

• Lupe Fiasco
• Fabolous
• Killer Mike
• Slim Thug

• Lupe Fiasco
• Fabolous
• Killer Mike

T.I. in "ATL"
Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

When it comes to music, T.I. is so confident that he calls himself the King of the South. When it comes to making films, he realizes it's a whole different ballgame. He still has to prove himself and admits he doesn't know how good he is just yet.

In a few weeks Tip makes his feature-film debut in the Chris Robinson-directed "ATL," which is poised to be a sleeper hit for the spring. The cast alone — which includes Hotlanta hip-hop luminaries like Big Boi, Killer Mike, Bone Crusher, Jazze Pha, DJ Drama and T Mo Goodie — should put plenty of people in seats, and the engaging story revolves around a group of friends struggling to break out of the ghetto.

The film hits theaters on March 31, three days after T.I.'s new LP, King, lands in stores (see "New T.I. Songs Leak — Swizz Beatz Calls Track With Tip 'A Whole 'Nuther Level' ").

The coming-of-age flick revolves around five friends who frequent a roller rink called Cascades. That place is based on Atlanta's legendary Jellybeans rink, where Outkast, Goodie Mob, TLC's T-Boz, hitmakers Dallas Austin and Jermaine Dupri and others hung out back in the '80s. The film was produced by Austin, T-Boz and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment.

On Tuesday night in New York, T.I. previewed "ATL" for a small crowd. Suffice it to say the film is much more than another variation on Bow Wow's "Roll Bounce." The picture, which is based in part on Austin's life, captures the essence of Atlanta's culture, from the authenticity of the language to the clothes.

One aspect of the city's culture, anyway. "My coming-of-age would have been a whole 'nother movie," T.I. said last summer on the set of the film (during a day that found him and fellow cast members like singer/actor Jason Weaver learning how to maneuver gracefully on skates). "My coming-of-age would have been on some 'Boyz N the Hood' sh--. I went to the skating rink just to pick up girls and kick it — it was an early club scene to me. It wasn't as symbolic for me as it was for some other people."

In the movie, T.I. plays a Mechanicsville, Georgia, high school senior named Rashad, who is so focused on trying to raise his younger brother, Jellybean (played by Evan Ross Naess, son of singer Diana Ross), that he pushes his own dreams of becoming a cartoonist to the back burner in the hope of getting his sibling out of the 'hood. He finds escape in going to Cascades every Sunday and stunting on the skates with his crew, the Ones.

"It's got a lot of grown-man situations," T.I. said of his role. "We get to watch how he handles them and how he finds sense in all the madness."

T.I. has a natural onscreen presence, delivering the same kind of ruminating-yet-cool swagger that he does in song, and his unpolished, genuine delivery recalls Ice Cube in "Boyz N the Hood." And being a native of ATL definitely didn't hurt. "There's a world of difference" between making records and films, he said. "You make the record when you feel like it: Whenever the inspiration hits you, you go into the studio and record. Making a movie is on their time, when they say it's time to do this or that."

"He's so cool," Tip's love interest in the movie, Lauren London (probably best known for Pharrell's "Frontin' " video), said of her co-star. "He's so genuine and real. It's been such a pleasure working with him."

"ATL" also deals with social class in the black community, and takes a decidedly dark turn when Big Boi's character, drug dealer Marcus, is introduced into the mix. Big, whose real name — Antwan Andre Patton — appears in the credits (T.I. is credited as Tip Harris), is a visually gravitating scene-stealer who can be hilarious one minute, dauntingly callous the next. And during one scene in particular, he had some members of Tuesday night's audience covering their eyes.

"I can't really judge [my performance]," Tip said in January during a photo shoot for his forthcoming album. "It's my first time acting so I don't have nothing to judge it on. I'm just waiting for the response."

For more on T.I. and Atlanta's hip-hop scene, take a look at "My Block: Atlanta" and " 'Great Day In Atlanta': A Historic Photo Exposed."

Check out everything we've got on "ATL."

Visit Movies on MTV.com for more from Hollywood, including news, interviews, trailers and more.

• "ATL" Photos

• T.I.
• Big Boi
• Killer Mike
• Bone Crusher
• Jazze Pha

• Ludacris
• Lil Jon
• Jermaine Dupri
• Killer Mike

• Young Jeezy
• Killer Mike
• T.I.
• Ludacris
• Bobby Valentino

• Nas
• 50 Cent
• Killer Mike
• Jadakiss

Killer Mike (file)
Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

Killer Mike wants rappers to take it up a notch. No, not by getting more blinged-out and buying bigger rims, but by focusing less on ego and more on social issues.

The Southern rapper — who has been featured on multiple Outkast albums and lodged his 2003 debut, Monster, in the top 10 — rails against police brutality and conservative black churches on his forthcoming Ghetto Extraordinary.

"In the late '80s/ early '90s, if you didn't have some type of consciousness, no matter who you were, you were considered a sellout," Mike said. "I think that what's happening now is everybody's kind of bought in. Now rap is about one's self and glorification of self."

Instead of inflating his ego, Mike tackles a number of social concerns on his second LP. He said he has "some very deep ideas" on topical tracks like "Shot Down," "Speak Lord" and "Mama Said."

"I actually wrote ['Shot Down'] around the time a young teenage girl was killed in Dallas by the police nine months to a year ago," he said. " 'Shot Down' is about more than police brutality; it's about gun violence also. A young man here in Atlanta was killed at a MARTA station [Atlanta's commuter train]. He got a hold of a firearm, flashed it at another teenager and the other young man shot and killed him."

Mike, who grew up in Adamsville, Georgia, but has since relocated to nearby Atlanta, said, "It's easier to buy a gun here than it is to get a [drivers'] license. This song ['Shot Down'] was just on my heart when I did it, and I couldn't let go of the hook: 'APD will get you shot down/ LAPD will see you shot down/ NYPD will get you shot down/ Come f--- with me, you'll get shot down.' Then I let a few people hear it [and] it was relevant to them. Stories started coming out like, 'Yeah man, the police just did this to me.' "

It's not just gun violence that Mike thinks is ailing contemporary society. He also has choice words for black churches.

"Essentially, the black church has become Republican," he explained. "We've abandoned what is really our salvation-based ministry and we've bought into blessing-based ministry. It's saying that if you act this way, in accordance with God, morally and spiritually, you can get this stuff while you are here."

While Mike has packed Ghetto Extraordinary with social commentary, he said he didn't have to sacrifice beats in order to do it. He did, however, modify his style this time around. While his rhymes have been gruff on past tracks like "AKshon (Yeah!)" and Outkast's "The Whole World," he said he smoothed the flow this time around (see "Outkast Protege Killer Mike Deals With Fame, Calls For 'AKshon' ").

"I decided to just take what's stereotypically Atlanta — Chevys, beautiful girls, big rims, purple haze — and tone my style down and do a new Killer Mike," he said. "Do something that's jamming and not abrasive that people could move to."

Mike said he lifted the beat to the first single, "My Chrome," from rapper/minister Mase.

" 'My Chrome' sounds pretty slick. In fact, I was scared to do the song, and then Mase walked in and he wanted it," he laughed. "I couldn't let Mase have it! Mr. DJ laced the track and Big Boi told me it was crazy, but I wasn't sure. But once I saw how Big Boi and Mase reacted, I was like, 'These guys have sold a lot of records. If they like this, maybe you should put this on your album, Michael.' "

Big Boi is just one of many guest artists featured on the album. Ghetto Extraordinary — which has "more of the player aesthetic that I feel like the South has lost," according to Mike — also hosts Outkast, Juvenile, Jagged Edge, Bun B, Chamillionaire and Scar, a new artist signed to Outkast's Purple Ribbon label (formerly Aquemini).

"Choose Me" features another guest: SL Jones, who is on Mike's independent label, Grind Time Official. His roster also boasts Nario, Zach Nichols, Big Slim and Sharp Shooter.

"We want to build up a grass-roots following so that a major deal will come to us," he said of GTO.

Along with having Ghetto Extraordinary ready for release and a video in the works — for which director Hype Williams is in talks — Killer hinted he might follow in Andre 3000's Hollywood footsteps. He recently shot "Twenty Funerals," a Swirl Productions independent movie, with Big Boi and Lil Jon.

"I play this guy named Fat Tony and I get shot and killed," Mike said. "I got interested in acting when Dre was first taking acting lessons out in California. I just kind of hung out in his trailer and saw the study they had to go into. And I'm just like, 'Yeah, I can do this.' So I'm actually gonna go out and stay in L.A. for a month or two and do some reading. I wanna try it. They pay a little better than music, I heard."

• Killer Mike
• OutKast
• Juvenile
• Jagged Edge

Lil Jon
Photo: Zach Cordner

"Oh, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why, Bone Crusher is coming to town!"

Don't be surprised if you hear kids and adults singing those lines or something similar as we approach the Christmas season. The King of Crunk himself, Lil Jon, is producing a Christmas album, for which he's calling on some of his fellow rowdy Southerners, like Bone, to give their own crunk interpretations of some beloved Yuletide songs.

Jon's rep said he's locking himself in the studio so he can have the LP, titled Crunk Christmas, in stores on December 9. David Banner, 8Ball and MJG, the Ying Yang Twins, Killer Mike, T.I. and Three 6 Mafia are all contributing to the album.

On November 25, Jon will put out a DVD/CD called "Part II." The CD features a merengue remix of Jon and the East Side Boyz's "Get Low" and another version of the cut where Busta Rhymes and Elephant Man co-star (see "Lil Jon Gets Help From Nelly, Busta For 'Get Low' Remixes"). Jon is currently in talks with Justin Timberlake and Nelly for yet another revamping of "Get Low." The yelling party-starter did get Roy Jones Jr., Chyna Whyte, Jadakiss and Petey Pablo for a remix of "Put Yo Hood Up" for the CD, and he's working on two new cuts for inclusion as well.

The DVD portion of "Part II" takes a look into Jon and his Boyz's always-crunk life, from the stage to the studio to behind closed doors.

• Lil Jon
• David Banner
• Ying Yang Twins
• Killer Mike
• Three 6 Mafia

Taildaters - Celebrity Week

• Simple Plan
• OutKast
• Killer Mike
• 702

Lil' Kim, Ludacris, Monica, Snoop, More On BET Awards Red Carpet

• Lil' Kim
• St. Lunatics
• Roscoe
• Clipse
• Floetry

American Music Awards Red Carpet

• B2K
• Beyoncé
• Destiny's Child
• *NSYNC
• Justin Timberlake