Proving there’s no such thing as bad press and that face and neck tattoos make for a killer mug shot, rapper Lil’ Wayne (born Dwayne Michael Carter) was arrested by border patrol at a US Border checkpoint on Interstate 8 in Dateland, AZ, on Tuesday night around 11:30 PM. Drug-sniffing dogs alerted officers that something might be afoot and Wayne’s bus, which was transporting 11 other people, was pulled aside for a consensual search.

Officers found:

Carter faces local possession charges (the feds passed on this one), and two other passengers are looking at narcotics charges. Wayne was released on bail, but has a court date set for Friday morning. In other news, his new album, The Carter III is due out in February.

In case you’re a fool, Shala from Qualo is one of the hottest rappers out of Chicago. Here’s the “The Great Chicago Winter” remixed by Zebo.

And here’s the original with acapellas and instrumentals. Enjoy, ears!

Much like the death of a comic book character, the retirement of a rapper is rarely permanent. It wasn’t long after Jay-Z called it quits that a new song popped up on a Budweiser commercial, leading to his first “comeback” album, Kingdom Come, which was pretty much a dud. Now, the New York Times is reporting the 37-year-old rapper/mogul is readying his second post-retirement release. The forthcoming album, American Gangster, is inspired by the yet-to-be released Denzel Washington film of the same name. Though Jay-Z had nothing to do with the film, nor do these songs appear in American Gangster, the album will be released in conjunction with the movie in early November.

In an hourlong telephone interview, Jay-Z, 37, who has spoken of spending his early years in Brooklyn both rapping and drug dealing, said that the movie had tremendous resonance for him and had sparked a burst of creative activity that even he found surprising. He has already recorded nine tracks, almost every one prompted by a specific scene.

“It was like I was watching the film, and putting it on pause, and giving a back story to the story,” he said.

Our homie, the venerable MC Oroville, has recently stepped his game up to blog level, with Oroville’s Merles & Rap. Bookmark this shit because there WILL be some real talk goin down.

From ESPN.com

The ESPN documentary “Ali Rap” (airing Saturday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN) is built loosely on the premise that Muhammad Ali unknowingly invented rap music, simply by being himself in public. If true, this would mean that rap did not originate (as commonly believed) in the South Bronx during the ’70s; it would mean rap was invented in Kentucky during the ’60s.