Photo: MTV News

• Polow Da Don
• Jay-Z
• Busta Rhymes
• Soulja Boy Tell'em
• DJ Khaled

Polow Da Don
Photo: MTV News

Behind The Beats: Polow Da Don

Two down, nine more to go. Polow Da Don is about to start an incredible run. Look for the producer to start flooding the airwaves. He already has 50 Cent's "Baby by Me" and the Gucci Mane/ Usher deluxe combo "Spotlight" hitting. Now, PDD reveals that he has a wide array of hitmakers who are unleashing their collaborative tunes.

"Man, I got nine singles coming out in the next month," Polow told us earlier this week in New Jersey. "50, Gucci [Mane] and Usher, Robin Thicke, Game, Young Jeezy, Chris Brown, Weezer featuring Lil Wayne, Juelz Santana featuring Chris Brown. ... Oh, by the way, I got an Akon single coming out and a Monica single coming out. So that's 11."

Well, we only count 10, so we'll have to catch up with Polow to find out what we're missing. 'Low said he and Usher are going to be rampaging through the A celebrating "Spotlight," as well as being ambassadors for music unity.

"Usher's in that same vibe he was in when he was 23, 24 years old, with more knowledge," Polow said of the singing superstar. "We're out kicking it, having fun. We're doing something this weekend. Me, him and Gucci gonna hit all the clubs, probably spend like 15,000 in each club making it rain. We gonna break the ['Spotlight'] record. Bringing that energy back to the game, where you just see stars messing with other stars, making it exciting for the people. That's really where he's at. He's like, 'C'mon, Polow.' He'll hit me up like, 'What are you doing? Let's go out and kick it.'

"Just really trying to get that energy back in the game, because people don't really mess with each other no more," Polow continued. "Everybody looks at each other as competition when the game overall is losing. So he'll call Chris Brown, ask him how he's doing. He'll stay in touch with Gucci after they do the record. Or call me or Nelly or whoever. We're trying to bring this thing back together as far as the vibe."

Next Wave Of Flav

Polow already told you about all those potential hits he's dropping. He's especially excited about his song with Game.

"The Game record is a hip-hop classic," Polow promised. "It's called 'Would I Be Wrong?' featuring Akon. It's talking about coming from the 'hood. [The song's perspective is] I work all my life trying to get out the 'hood, then when I get to a point where I could get out of the 'hood, the 'hood keeps calling me number one. Then the 'hood is hating on me for trying to get out of the 'hood. So what am I supposed to be doing at this point? Did I risk my life every day to stay in the 'hood, or am I supposed to make a better life for my family? That's kinda what the song is about.

"His verse is crazy," the producer added about Game. "It's going through the whole 50 Cent beef, when he first went to the studio with [Dr.] Dre, he's a painting a picture with his verses. With his new album, he's already considered one of the best rappers, and he's rapping like he's angry [that] people don't consider him one of the best rappers. He's spitting. He's painting the pictures every song."

Streets Is Talking: News And Notes From The Underground

Shawty Lo told us earlier this month that he and Gucci Mane were putting a mixtape together called Fright Night. "I'm Jason, he's Michael Myers," Lo said at the time.

Plans have changed, however. "He's gonna be on a couple of records," Shawty said via cell from Atlanta. "We was gonna do this one together, but we're gonna do one in December."

This mixtape is stilled called Fright Night and has all original production.

"I got a couple nice records," he said. "I got one called 'Birds.' It's talking about the work. It's real crazy. I got one called 'What Comes and Goes.' I got one called 'What the Baby Gonna Do?' Dudes out here crying so much. All that crying, 'What the baby gonna do?' I got one for the clubs, for the ladies. It's something different I ain't never did before. I did it with my man Nate. It's a whole different rap style. It sounds nice."

Lo's LP I Am Carlos drops sometime in the first quarter of 2010. ...

Earlier this week, Glasses Malone got the Halloween frenzy started with his mixtape Nightmare on Seven Street. But the actual holiday is looking like the mixtape game's Super Saturday. In addition to Shawty Lo's Fright Night, Soulja Boy Tell'em is dropping three tapes: Cortez (that tape has leaked already), Dat Piff and the spooky Paranormal Activity. The big gun is going to be one people are already talking about: Lil' Wayne's No Ceilings. Some tracks have leaked, but Wayne has everything covered. He has more songs in the can and the complete, proper version lands Halloween. Check back here later Friday (October 30) for a full preview of the tape.

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

• Mixtape Daily: Polow Da Don, Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, More

• Polow Da Don
• Shawty Lo
• Maino

Omarion, Keri Hilson and Chris Brown
Photo: Greg Tidwell/Pacific Coast News

Just one week before he's officially sentenced following the plea deal he struck in the Rihanna case, Chris Brown appeared at ease as he joined Keri Hilson in Los Angeles on the set of what is apparently Hilson's next video, "Slow Down."

The pair were joined by plenty of musical company: Omarion, Monica, Polow Da Don and Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton were all also on set.

	Chris Brown's Hollywood Video Shoot

At press time, it was unclear what will the premise of the video will be. Chris Robinson is apparently helming the clip — the director spoke with Rap-Up.com earlier this week and confirmed he was in town to collaborate with Hilson. The director previously worked on Hilson's most recent video, for "Knock You Down."

Representatives for Brown and Hilson were not available at press time to confirm details about the video.

Brown was clad in Billionaire's Boys Club garb on set and once again sported his "Ooops" chain. The singer drew the attention of bloggers and fans alike when he wore the same pendant during Diddy and Ashton Kutcher's white party in Los Angeles over the 4th of July weekend. After Brown agreed to a plea deal following his February altercation with then-girlfriend Rihanna, he apologized to the public in a YouTube broadcast.

Images from the set have popped up online, but they appear to have been taken during breaks or after production of the shoot.

Brown is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom on August 27 to be formerly sentenced to community labor service, therapy sessions, and probation.

• Chris Brown's Hollywood Video Shoot

• Chris Brown
• Keri Hilson
• Omarion
• Monica
• Polow Da Don

Nas performs at New York's Blender Theater at Gramercy
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — Yes, it did feel as hot as a 19th-century Louisiana cotton field, as some people inside New York's Blender Theater at Gramercy noted Tuesday night at Nas' standing-room-only show. The hip-hop legend was celebrating the release of his latest LP, Untitled, a record that raised ire and interest when he announced the original title, Nigger, last year. But for celebs like Swizz Beatz and Polow Da Don, attending the show wasn't about controversy or even about going out because it's the cool event to attend in the city. Nas' fans and peers alike still have an uncanny fascination with the kid from Queensbridge who took lyricism to the upper echelon in the 1990s (that's in any genre, not just rap).

Everyone in the audience could tell you exactly when they fell in love with God's Son and his boldly brilliant wordplay laced with ghetto gusto and b-boy bluster. In the past decade and a half, he's been labeled everything from the "second coming" to the "King of Rap" to "Lyrical Messiah" to the "Greatest MC of All Time." (Kanye West recently trumpeted him with that honor via his blog. Nas also made MTV News' Greatest MCs of All Time list.) Untitled has already been heralded as one of Nas' best as well as easily one of 2008's top hip-hop LPs. For Esco though, he's just excited to get it out and still be a factor in music after all these years.

"I'm ready to get in and do another one," he said Saturday night at Manhattan's Pace University, attending a charity event for Sichuan earthquake relief. Leading up to the release of Untitled, there had been talk about the album being the last in his contract with Def Jam, giving the MC his first taste of free agency since he was signed to Columbia Records in the early '90s. Other artists may have wanted to make a commercial monster, appealing to both radio and clubs with a vengeance. Nas went the exact opposite route, concocting a masterpiece with abstract 'hood references ("Girls dye their hair with Kool-Aid"), blatant political barks and the sort of signature "did-you-hear-what-he's-saying?" statements that he admits go over some people's heads.

"What will be, will be," he smiled Tuesday morning in the "TRL" greenroom. "There's no one who could dangle a check in front of my face and make me go a certain way. There's no one that could. I see or hear so many times about artists that cry for the CEOs, or whatever their process is [to get] their point across. That's painful. This industry can be that painful. I don't allow it to be, man. It doesn't run me. It doesn't dictate to me which way it's going. I'm fully aware. Tomorrow's a mystery sometimes. But I'm fully aware of where I'm going.

"Like, I know this record, I could have got dropped [off the label]," he added. "On this record, people could have really took it the wrong way and really wanted to physically harm me. I knew that. But that's my pay. If people sit and talk, if people look at it like, 'This guy's got something to say no matter what's going on in the industry.' Why should we play it safe all the time? Why should we?"

Originally Nas didn't even want to release a single or video for the album, but he changed his mind when he saw how high the interest level was from the fans. His favorite cut on the album is "Testify."

"I just burnt my American flag/ And sent a cracker Nazi to hell, and I'm sad," he raps to start the record off.

"That one is like a man that's asking you, 'Will you die with me?' " he explained. "That sh-- is like truth. That's the truth. Cut the budgets, cut all this rap sh-- out. I mean, that song is like, 'Hold on.' It represents a lot of frustration and a lot of people. I wanted to have a lot of difference and emotion on it. Different sides of a man or a human being. And that one there was like, 'This one is not rap. This is not music. This one is just — forget everything. This is just from the heart of frustrated man.' It represents that guy."

At the Blender Theater, he started off with an interlude called "N---er Hatred," then got down to it with "N.*.*.*.E.R. (The Slave and the Master)."

"Damn, it's hot in here," he said, lamenting the broken air-conditioning in the building. Later he told the audience about the grave conditions surrounding the LP's release.

"This is a very serious album for me. This is the n---er album."

"Sly Fox," in which he goes off at Fox News, was next. "Turn channel 5 off," he implored the crowd, referencing New York's Fox affiliate. "Tell Jesse Jackson to turn his mic off."

Then came "Breathe." "That one," he had told MTV that morning, "came early up in the album. Jay Electronica came with the Jay Electronica sound. It's just me rhyming about sh-- that a lot of cats wouldn't catch unless they can catch me making references to 'One Love' and making references from the Five Percent Nation and coming back to some fly sh--.

"So what I'm basically saying is 'Can't a n---a just breathe?' " he added. "I know there's a lot, but yo, there's a lot of weight on my shoulders, a lot of weight on your shoulders. Can't a n---a just breathe? I wanted the track to feel like, 'This ain't gonna be heavy about the first black man to die in the Civil War. This is gonna be "can" a n---a just breathe? Y'all police on our back, but can't a n---a just breathe?' We just trying to come outside and have fun. I just made 100 million in Hollywood — can I just do me? I wanna do me, ya know? Make America better."

Throughout the night, Nas' following braved the heat, watching the Queens legend perform more tracks from Untitled as well as a large portion of material from Illmatic and sprinkles of classics from his catalog. "Made You Look" was the finale.

Afterward, the party headed downtown to a loft party where the DJ spun mostly old-school joints. LL Cool J showed up to celebrate with Nas in VIP.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports. And send your own concert pics, videos and reviews to MTV News You R Here!

• Nas
• LL Cool J
• Kanye West
• Swizz Beatz
• Polow Da Don

T.I. and Dark Gable at T.I.'s party on Wednesday
Photo: Gifted Talents/ RMG

ATLANTA — The King of the South collaborated with another King Wednesday night in Atlanta.

King magazine was one of the sponsors of a party hosted by T.I. to celebrate the birthday of his manager and business partner, Jason Geter.

The birthday boy was served a cake in the shape of a safe, complete with gray icing. Showgirls walked the venue, the Luckie Lounge, wearing sparkly blue bras and matching peacock headdresses. The NBA playoff game between the Lakers and the Nuggets played on several flat-screen TVs that hung above the crowd, but who could pay attention to Kobe Bryant with T.I. on the mic and Mannie Fresh on the turntables?

"I wouldn't miss this sh-- for the world," Tip told the audience. "What we got for him, Mannie?"

"We got a surprise, you [hear] me?" the jovial producer responded from the DJ booth across the dance floor. Seconds later, singer Keri Hilson walked through the crowd to serenade Geter with "Happy Birthday." She concluded by giving him a hug.

After the performance, Polow Da Don and Rich Boy arrived. Fergie and her heavyweight-champion-size bodyguard were part of their entourage. Polow wore a jacket that read "Thank God for Kobe" on the back — appropriate, seeing as the Nuggets were getting served by Bryant and company at that moment.

Fresh played to the ladies in the crowd with records like Frankie Beverly and Maze's "Before I Let Go" and Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison." After T.I. left, Young Jeezy arrived. Almost on cue, Fresh spun "Love in This Club." Jeezy, dressed down in a white T-shirt and fitted cap, took pictures with fans while standing in front of his table. Chingy stopped by before the night was over.

In the wake of his arrest on weapons charges, T.I. is continuing to divide his time between community service and recording his new album, Paper Trail. Geter is included in King magazine's "Coming Kings" profile piece, which looks at some of the emerging executives and artists in music, fashion and film.

• Fergie, Polow Da Don, More At Birthday Bash For T.I.'s Manager

• T.I.
• Fergie
• Young Jeezy
• Polow Da Don
• Mannie Fresh

Plies, Rick Ross, Lloyd, More At 2nd Annual Ozone Awards

• Papoose
• Rick Ross (Hip-Hop)
• Trey Songz
• Lloyd
• DJ Drama