First and foremost, this week marked the 12th anniversary of the passing of the late, great Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls. Take a second, people: if only because he's still proving to be influential. The biopic Notorious has already led to a Run-DMC-based flick negotiating the early stages of development, and while a silver screen treatment of Tupac's life story was already struggling to life, Notorious has given it added impetus. We're hoping the knock-on effect helps Vapors make its way to the silver screen - this Marley Marl-produced story of the Juice Crew is a movie we can't wait to see, but can't imagine getting Hollywood investment. And it don't stop: N.W.A. are the latest group to start the process of taking their story to a cinema near you. And it really is N.W.A. - Cube, Dre and Eazy E's widow, Tomica Wright, are all signed on as producers. No word from DJ Yella or MC Ren as of yet, but we'll see. You know it's gonna be called Straight Outta Compton.

These films represent an important development for hip hop and its continual growth as a culture. Importantly, it's being documented for us by us and not some stupid-ass, punk-ass, bitch-ass bitches that don't understand or respect the culture (ie, the vast majority of commentators in the mainstream media). That's a non-gender specific "bitches", btw.

If it had been DMX, no-one would have batted an eyelid. But Coolio? His arrest for crack possession at LAX was obviously a massive surprise, though British readers might at last start to grasp why he was wilding out so much in the Big Brother house. That he has to face one count of misdemeanour possession of a smoking device - a crack pipe to you and me - to go with his charge of felony drug possession hints heavily that the crack was for personal use. The 45-year-old (Gangsta's Paradise dropped a somewhat jaw-dropping 14 years ago) will appear in court early next month. On the plus side, should he receive the three years inside that he faces he will have the perfect chance to kick the habit. Don't do it kids.

It's true that some rappers - OK, a lot of rappers - just don't give an 'uff. Do Joe Budden's recent minor dramas in Boston qualify him as one of those brothers? Maybe. It's never a good idea to boast about how nice you are with your hands in front of a packed house of hip hop fans (even if you really are nice with your hands) after telling the local ghetto celebs to get the fuck off the stage. Especially in Boston. You never know who's in the crowd. (I mean, Benzino comes from Boston. Whatever you may think of the former owner of The Source, no-one can deny that he gets down for his.) But that's what Joe did at a recent Boston show to promote his new album, Padded Room. In this case a different Beantown veteran, Ed OG, who was the compere on the club night in question, spoke to the media on behalf of the offended parties (ie, everyone on the stage). As usual, reports differ, but it seems there was some sort of skirmish and a lot of hurt feelings. Ed has said that if he wasn't running the show Budden would have caught a bad one like Del tha Funkee Homosapien; Budden, naturally begs to differ.

New jacks, don't sleep on Ed OG. As well as classics like I Got to Have It and Be a Father to Your Child, Ed should always deserve props for spitting the prophetic line "I keep it movin' like Osama Bin Laden" around six months BEFORE 9/11 on Too Much to Live For. Overall, this seems like one of those times when people just wanted to stand close to the man to show they're important like that. It's the artist's equivalent of standing by the DJ box to show any potential mistresses that they know the DJ. Joey don't play that, obviously. He even joked that, following their recent war of words, there might be some of Saigon's peeps amongst them milling backstage.

With that in mind, Saigon has signed a very interesting deal with Amalgam Digital, who released Padded Room. We're not just interested in this 'cos of his 'disagreement' with jump-off Joey. This deal appears to be as important as all those solo deals that RZA signed just after 36 Chambers dropped. Why? The pushed-back release date is one of the most annoying aspects of hip hop, but this release will bypass all the usual rubbish that comes with marketing and traditional retail outlets and drop while its still hot. Furthermore, the new release, Warning Shots, seems to bridge the gap between mixtapes and studio albums. This will help an untold amount of rappers who have skills and fan bases, but struggle for large amounts of mainstream exposure. Did he really record that album in 24 hours? Hmmmmm. Does it really matter? Some new Saigon material is definitely worth the occasional promo fibs. Warning Shots 2 is meant to follow, but what about The Greatest Story Never Told? Just Blaze may have briefly twittered about how Sai Giddy isn't signed to Amalgam Digital, though gave no clues on the whereabouts of the masterpiece he largely produced. But who am I kidding? I'll still buy the album if I have to wait until 2024.

Hip hop's heavyweights continue to weigh in on the Chris Brown/Rihanna drama. After pretty much confirming the rumours that placed Chris and Rihanna in his Miami mansion, Diddy got a lickle bit vex on Ellen Degeneres' chat show when she questioned him on the subject. "I don't think it's right for anybody to hit anybody," said the man famous for hitting Steve Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. But he did have a point when he said, "we don't know exactly what's going on." Word to Marvin Gaye. Have the modern version of Marvin and Tammi really been in a studio together with Polow da Don? If true, that's some different kind of crazy you know.

To round off, the great Q-Tip is touring Europe as I type: keep an eye out for the review of his London show early next week. Also look out for an interview with current global chart-topper Flo Rida, who'll be talking to yours truly about his new album and all that good stuff. If we're lucky, the Miami resident may have some juicy inside info on Rick Ross.

Last but not least, if you love this hip hop shit like I do make sure you check out Raekwon's Letter to B.I.G., which he unveiled on Twitter this week. It's very literally that real talk of New York. Ah, yeah - Cuban Linx 2... but that's another story. Come back next week and we'll tell you what we know.