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The B.E.T. Hip Hop awards return to "Black Hollywood" on October 18th. Yeah that's right the "ATL" will serve as the host city while comedian Katt Williams returns for the third time as the host of the show next month. The show will be taped at the Atlanta Civic Center & will air on BET at 8pm on October 23rd. The ATL status crew covered the red carpet & show last year so we'll be back at it again to cover all the happenings. There doesn't appear to be a year without some sort of controversy or something to talk about as it was just last year that T.I. was arrested for trying to purchase some military style gats right before the awards. Alot can happen in a year...ask T.I., new album "Paper Trail" on the way.

Katt Williams did a good job as host even though he's faced a few issues with gun charges himself. Making his own "Paper Trail", Katt recently concluded his "Pimpin Pimpin' tour which raked in over $17 Million in ticket sales. He plans to release a DVD on November 11th.

The September rush is on with artists pushing their upcoming albums. Young Jeezy puts another promotional piece in the mix with his new video "Vacation" from his album dropping on Tuesday September 2nd. Right after most of y'all get back from (In a Jeezy voice) "Vacaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaation"!"

According to the AJC, an Atlanta woman has taken out a restraining order on Shaquille Oneal.  Alexis Miller, 23, alleges that O'neal 36, threatened to ruin her rap career when she ended an intimate relationship with him just last month.  Miller is an independent artist going by the name "Maryjane" & has a 19 month-old son.  The terms of the restraining order instruct Shaq to not contact or come within 200 yards of the singer who lives in Fulton County. 

ATL residents Young Jeezy & Nas both dropped a new joint that's to appear on Jeezy's upcoming album "The Recession". Check out this joint below called "My President Is Black". Fitting we'd put this joint up now considering that in a few hours Barack Obama is scheduled to announce his VP choice.

Download "My President Is Black"

Did you sleep on Estelle's album that was released earlier this year? Damn you're lame. Despite the argument that there are not alot of good female artists out there we seem to find many of them that the general public keeps overlooking. Make sure you don't overlook Estelle when she comes to Atlanta on Aug 20th with the Heineken Red Star Soul Tour up at Club Opera.

Arguably the most popular solo rappers to come of Atlanta in recent memory, T.I. & Ludacris have joined forces & recorded a new song for Ludacris's upcoming album "Theatre Of The Mind". Check it out below! My oh my how things have changed....

Download "Wish You Would" by Ludacris and T.I.

T.I. gonna have every female working fast food looking for a new job....

CW Channel 69 will debut the "Frank & Wanda" show at 11pm every evening beginning on August 18th. The new program is setup like a "Best Of Wanda & Frank" type of show & will be condensed down into a 30 minute television show. With the increasing popularity of satellite radio, ipods, & quality competition from the likes of Steve Harvey (102.5 FM), Tom Joyner (104.1), 95.5 The Beat, & 107.9 FM, it's becoming clearer that commercial radio shows are forced to take greater steps to stay relevant even as more people these days are tuning in less. As more & more people become turned on by other mediums besides traditional radio it usually translates into less advertising dollars being spent at radio stations which in turn translates into less paid jobs & more interns slaving to pick up the slack. The partnership with CW Channel 69 & V-103 is already reportedly attracting advertisers to better increase the both media outlets' bottom line.

The show is to be reportedly recorded with 9 HD television cameras which in tests can pick up even the slightest of details. "I'm always camera ready" says Frank Ski. He also added that the HD cameras could even pick up bits of "dust" on his mustache. Needless to say he's going to have to make sure he cleans off the "Booger dust" & keep himself immaculate throughout the show.

Most of us here don't listen to radio much at all, but we want to know from the rest of you about your radio listening habits. Will y'all be watching? Does anyone listen to their show? If not who do you listen to in the mornings? Do you listen to satellite radio? Do you even listen to regular radio anymore? Do you even care?

Our homie Jayforce first played this on his Nextfactor mixtape last
year. We're surprised the label waited so late to drop this strip
club anthem

Over the weekend Young Jeezy put on for his city by giving back to children in need up at Metro Lanes on Metropolitan Parkway in Atlanta, GA. Jeezy provided the kids with school supplies, free bowling, backpacks, clothing and sneakers. All the clothing that Jeezy donated was high end name brand apparel such as Jordan Brand, 8732 clothing, Nike, Akademiks and Pastry. The children were excited to not only meet and greet with Jeezy but they were also excited to receive the donations from Jeezy. We have gained a newfound respect for Jeezy because we are in a recession so check out the trailer for Jeezy's new album entitled "The Recession".

01.Ludacris - And Starring...
02.Ludacris - Still Spittin
03.Ludacris - DTP Magic feat. Willy Northpole
04.Ludacris - Get Up Get Out feat. Block Xchange
05.Ludacris - So Thoro
06.Ludacris - The Vocalizer
07.Ludacris - Bigg Ass House
08.Ludacris - 2 Kings feat. I-20
09.Ludacris - Politics As Usual
10.Ludacris - Look What I Got feat. Playaz Circle
11.Ludacris - Pinky Shinin' feat. Small World
12.Ludacris - Sho'Nuff Revisited feat. Lil Fate
13.Ludacris - Ordinary Negroes
14.Ludacris - Throw It Up feat. Lil' Wayne & Busta
15.La The Darkman - Coogi Down feat. Willie The Kid
16.Ludacris - I'm A Dog feat. Playaz Circle
17.Ludacris - Smokin' Big Kill feat. Shawnna
18.Ludacris - Stay Together
19.Ludacris - We Ain't Worried Bout You
20.Ludacris - Roll The Credits
21.Ludacris - Been Puttin On


Download "The Preview" here

Monica celebrated the pending launch of her new reality show called
"THE SINGLE: MONICA" last night at the Luckie Lounge. The exclusive
invite only event featured many of her celebrity well wishers such as
Kiesha Cole, Yung Joc, Trey Songz, Bryan Michael Cox, Keith Sweat,
Jazze Pha, Sisqo & Nokio of Dru Hill, Mike & Daron of 112, & of
course her "baby daddy" Rocco.

It was hot as hell upstairs in the Luckie Lounge with about 150 other
well wishers in the place last night & everyone appeared to be having
a genuinely good time. Bryan Michael Cox gave a toast to Monica in
front of everyone in support & we also got a chance to sit down
& talk with her about the new show which is set to air this on
Peachtree TV this coming Tuesday August 5 at 10pm EST. One of the
questions we asked Monica was what did she learn about herself
upon reviewing the completed footage. Check out what she
said in the video below.

Surprisingly Monica was very down to earth considering all of the
black "hollywood" vibe that was going on & we also spoke briefing
with Keisha Cole who was equally as cool. We didn't do any
interviews with Keisha, respectfully, as it was Monica's night, but
check us out at ATLStatus.com another time. Make sure you check
out Monica's new show on Peachtree TV & get a behind the scenes
peak as she pours everything she has into delivering a smash
single for her upcoming album with J Records called
"Lessons Learned".

Check out our exclusive photos below!

Check out this footage of Nelly, Polo Da Don, & Chaka Zulu having a friendly bowling competition here in the "A". The stakes are high as these cats have a $10,000 bet on the bowling match. Things are all "laffy laffy" & "jokey jokey" in the beginning, but near the end of the video you can tell by their tense facial expressions that no one wants to lose 10 stacks. These guys maybe rich, but shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiied......none of us like to lose $10 dollars let alone $10,000 dollars.

Billboard magazine has placed Ciara on the August 2nd cover of the magazine. According to the upcoming article, Ciara has more projects in the works including a new movie, album, & modeling contract.

Download "Click" by Ciara

ATL's lovely Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas is set to appear in an upcoming
issue of Maxim Magazine. Check out the behind the scenes footage of
her photoshoot. Most of the fellas here in our office generally prefer
our ladies to be a little thicker, but Chilli is still fine ass hell.
She's our pick this week for "MILF & Cookies"

Young Jeezy seems to be making that transition from being just
another "trap rapper" to being a true artist. Some rap artists
may not be the most lyrical, but they have the ability to touch
the people & tap into what the people are feeling. Here's
Young Jeezy echoing the same sentiment as Nas about the
biased reporting Fox News has been doing. Maybe we'll see
Young Jeezy show up to Nas's show here in Atlanta on
Thursday July 31st. Wishful thinking, but not impossible.

One of the most popular events that was birthed in Atlanta returned
home Friday night at the The Foundry at Puritan Mills. Jack Daniel's
Art, Beats, & Lyrics was originally founded by Jabari Graham a few
years ago prior to Jack Daniel's Whiskey becoming it's large corporate
sponsor. This year Jack Daniels has taken ART, BEATS, & Lyrics on
tour to various cities beginning with the Charlotte event that took
place in April. The purpose of ABL is to adequately merge all the
elements of hip hop culture that often times get overlooked such as
graf art, deejaying, emceeing, & breakdancing. With the huge
turnout, great performances, & visual displays we can see that
the ABL stop back home in Atlanta was another success.

ABL is hosted by Jayforce who is a popular mixtape deejay &
radio show host on the Beatz & Lyrics Show in Atlanta (WRFG)
& as a co-host of the "Classic Example" Show on XM Satellite radio
with DJ Rastaroot. The night got started with the fine ass
DJ Princess Cut who spun a diverse musical mix going from current
hits to urban rock to ATL classics & true school themed hip hop.
Public Enemy's DJ Lord got on the 1s & 2s & showcased his turntable
skills & tricks while various breakdancing crews such as the
HBO Crew, ATL FunkLords, & the Burn Unit got down. DJ Rastaroot f
inished the night strong with a collaborative set with "Alien" who
definitely had the hottest performance of the night. Alien is a
drummer who dazzled the crowd with him playing the drums to
various instrumentals Rastaroot played from Lil Wayne's "A Milli",
Jay-Z's "Jigga My Nigga", 50 Cent's"What Up Gangsta", &
Jay-Z's "U Don't Know".



In addition to large amount of beautiful women in the place, there
were quite a few notable artists spotted at the event just hanging out
such as Killer Mike. Killer Mike's new album "I Plege Allegiance To
The Grind Pt 2" was just released three weeks ago. There was also a
special surprise performance from atlanta bass music legends Raheem
The Dream, DJ Tazz, & Kizzy Rock. Overall the night was very
successful & the artists whether musical or visual didn't disappoint.
ABL is scheduled to return to Atlanta again later in the year after
making stops in St. Louis, Baltimore, & Jackson, Missippi, among
others.

Check out the pics below!

Dwele was in the ATL performing at Sugar Hill last night (Thursday) & didn't disappoint the packed house. The Detroit native's new album "Sketches Of A Man" was released several weeks go & features his hit song "Cheatin" which proved to be very popular to the crowd as he performed it live.

Before Dwele took the stage, DJ Kemit warmed them up with his great variety of music. Despite the dense throng of bodies in the venue there were quite a few other notables in the place taking in the vibe. Beautiful & soulful R&B homegirl "Joi" was in the place to be as well as the equally as talented "Truth Hurts" was looking fine as ever. Truth Hurts is most noted for her hit record with Dr. Dre a few years back & is poised to drop something new on the masses. Joi also hosts Tuesday nights down at Sugar Hill so if you've never been through on a Tuesday night you need to check it out. Other notable ATL celebs spotted include DJ Rastaroot, DJ Blak Magic, & promoter J. Carter of Sol-Fusion.

One of the most interesting people in the house was Frankie Beverly of Maze who was just there taking in the show. Dwele wouldn't let him off that easier as he & the band eased into the musical melody of the classic "Joy & Pain" by Frankie Beverly & Maze. At the urging of Dwele & the crowd, Frankie took to the stage with Dwele & his band & performed the classic joint! The night was definitely fiyah as there were plenty of ladies in the place & Dwele delivered a tight show in about a hour set! If you missed it, you definitely missed a great show with a good vibe of people. Make sure y'all support Dwele's new album & check out some of our exclusive pictures below so you can at least front like you were there. ATLSTATUS!!

Atlanta has alot of fans that support it's local WNBA franchise, but
there are also plenty of people around the country that just aren't
feeling women's basketball. Some people say that the level play is
not as good & that the ladies may not be passionate enough.
It may sound "foul" to say, but the best thing to happen to the WNBA
was the recent fight that broke out in Detroit. We don't care what
anyone says because with all the hype & publicity surrounding
this we can guarantee you that you'll see ticket sales increase.
Trust! Go Ladies! Go Ladies! Go Ladies!