Let's start with a big fat 'my bad'. It turns out that those restaurant segments in Jay-Z's D.O.A vid are about something. According to the press release from the label, it's his take on the apparently well known film Zabriskie Point. Guess I wasn't up on game. Too much time spent getting deaf listening to music. If possible, Jay has also increased the already high anticipation for The Blueprint 3 by dropping that freestyle that's meant to be the intro. The Game has certainly taken the baton and done a Usain Bolt. If you've been to a Game show over the last few years you'll know he uses the intro to How We Do to diss whoever is getting on his nerves at the moment. At the moment it seems like it’s Jay-Z. Now he's added to that by dropping I’m So Wavy. As you might expect from Game, it’s kinda reckless and might hurt feelings. Who knows? They're both very big artists so this is just lyrical. It’s also very far from over.

If you are genuinely a fan of hip hop then you can't not be excited by the new Rakim joint. After failing to properly gel with Dr.Dre, he's been quiet for a few years but the new single Holy Are You is a beautiful mid-tempo piece of hip hop that announces he's still very serious about this here rap game.  The opening bars are vintage Rakim. "For those who find it hard to believe and it is/ why they call me the god emcee, the lyricist/ trace this style to the roots in Genesis/ the world wonder I'm still standing like pyramids." Rakim seems like the kind of artist who likes to take his time and if that is indeed the case then The Seventh Seal should be worth the wait. Even though the project is shrouded in secrecy and the label ain't giving nothing away, Rakim's legendary status will always guarantee a high level of interest. As long as the beats are on point, there's no need to worry. We certainly don't have to worry about the lyrics or the spitting.

I'm old enough to remember his last comeback. It's Been A Long Time dropped as a white label in summer '97. Joints like Remember That and From New York To Cali had already surfaced here and there but this was the first single proper. When it subsequently arrived the album The 18th Letter ( also the letter of my first name but we ain't gonna get too carried away) didn't disappoint. The intro is so ill it nearly hurts. Guess Who's Back was a club killer. The Primo joint New York repped the city that mothered hip hop. I'm even gonna get really nostalgiac and start reminiscing about my young self getting the Follow The Leader album for Christmas in the late eighties. Never looked back.

Just when it seemed it had gone all quiet, the comments made by Joe Budden about Meth have flared up again. The forever legendary Inspectah Deck was on the net a few weeks ago saying what he had to say about it all but now it’s all gone a lot further. House Ni**a knocks kinda nicely but all that stuff at Rock The Bells made the stakes that little bit higher. Let’s leave it at that.

With all this beef flying around, some things have been going on that I ain't touching with a barge pole, it's good to see some of it being squashed for once. Cam'ron and Mase have buried the hatchet and done a joint together. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Hopefully, one day Dip Set will follow suit. While we wait for that, hold tight for the new Juelz stuff. What The Game's Been Missing was one of the best albums out while the Dips were still movin' movin'. So high hopes for the new joint. After the Reagan Era mixtape his third full length Born To Win, Built To Lose should arrive at some point in 2009. I Can't Feel My Face might drop one day too, you never know.

Hip hop is getting it's writing on. First up Q-Tip is preppin' to drop Industry Rule, named - as you all know - after his infamous hot line on Check The Rhime about those shady industry types. Then Ghostface, always one of hip hop's most vivid writers - all those stories of the trife life have always been a prominent feature of his work - has penned a graphic novel called Cell Block Z. It tells the tale of a boxer named Cole Dennis. See what he did? Like Hurricane Carter, he is fined for a crime he didn't commit. Once in prison things get really dangerous and down and dirty. It drops at the end of the month. Fans of hot stuff like Persepolis should check it on out. Ghost is also going on tour with Red and Meth so catch them at a city near you when you can.

BTW you know there's gonna be an MJ tribute on Ghostface's forthcoming The Wizard Of Poetry right? Those little skits from Ironman I was talking about a couple of weeks ago, the ones where some brudda changes up the lyrics to among others, The Lady In My Life, have gained even more resonance following Michael Jackson's untimely passing.  The stellar guest list includes John Legend, Estelle, Lloyd and, of course, the Queen Mary. What's gonna happen now his contract at Def Jam is up? That relationship maybe hasn't been the happiest at times. It's produced a lot of good albums, from Pretty Toney to the massive Big Doe Rehab. But can an artist of Ghost's talent and originality ever just fit into a machine like that?  When he dropped two albums in '06, More Fish was as good as its predecessor, was he trying to run down his contract asap? If he does leave Def Jam for a lucrative independent deal, he'll be able to count on one of the strongest fan bases in hip hop. Few artists are as widely loved as Tony Starks.

Not to be outdone, Jay has got some deals cracking, but like his record and distribution deals there's a bit of confusion. While the memoir written by ya boy Elliot Wilson - one of the dons of hip hop journalism - has been rumoured for a long time, a few more books are meant to appear, including a tome dealing with his more cryptic lyrics called Decoded. I'm interested to see if he breaks down Meet The Parents, one of many underrated tracks on the inexplicably underrated The Blueprint 2.

Don’t believe the hype. There were rumours that 50 was gonna go there and drop his new album Before I Self Destruct on the same day as The Blueprint 3? It's difficult to decide whether it would have been a good move for him to do so. Of course it would have increased anticipation around both albums given both artists some good publicity. But both albums are highly anticipated anyway. After the whole Rick Ross thing, people are excited to see what 50 can come up with, especially since he's been dropping all of those free albums. The rumours of him going back in the studio with Timbaland and then Em and Dre haven't hurt either. Jay's joint has been highly anticipated ever since he dropped Jockin Jay-Z last year. When he bought out his Def Jam contract for 5 milli's it went through the roof. With that in mind it might be better for them to drop on separate dates and maximise their sales that way. 'Cos with the recession some fans would have had to choose.

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