Freestyle Battles and Rap Battles at Hiphopmadness.com

John Forté plans to make the most of his second chance. Following the announcement earlier this week that the former Fugees collaborator and solo hip-hop artist was one of 16 people to be pardoned or have their sentences commuted by outgoing President Bush, Forté is preparing to re-enter society after serving seven years of a 14-year sentence for possession of 31 pounds of liquid cocaine with intent to distribute.

The son of an Arab monarch took the King of Pop to court Monday, charging that Michael Jackson took $7 million as an advance on an album and an autobiography that he never produced.

Lawyers for Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa say their client paid Jackson expenses as an advance on the book and joint recording project with the sheikh, who is an amateur songwriter. Jackson claims the money was a gift.

Al Khalifa, 33, was due to testify at London's Royal Courts of Justice on Wednesday. Jackson's lawyer Robert Englehart said he was seeking permission to have Jackson testify by video link from Los Angeles.

Beyonce reveals how she spent an election night that moved her to tears -- and offers her singing services to Barack Obama on Inauguration Day! Beyonce tells the Associated Press she was supposed to be in Japan on election night, promoting her new album, I Am … Sasha Fierce. But at the last minute she opted to watch history unfold at home with her family: "I said, 'What am I doing? I'm completely making a bad decision. I have to go home, I'm gonna kill myself if I'm not home in America,"' she says. "I knew I needed to be here."

A jury needs less than an hour to reject a photographer's demand for $700,000-plus in damages. Alison Silva had contended that Reeves struck him with a car and caused him to break his wrist.

It took a year and a half for a tabloid photographer's lawsuit against actor Keanu Reeves to make it to trial and just over an hour for a jury to decide the man didn't have a case.

Britney Spears has "closed a chapter" in her troubled life after her driving without a license charges were dropped earlier this week.

The Toxic hitmaker's trial for a driving misdemeanour was scrapped on Tuesday after a Van Nuys, California jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

An informal gathering of stars in Atlanta was marred by a brief moment of violence this afternoon (October 19), when an altercation erupted involving members of rapper Jim Jones' entourage.

According to an eye witness, a melee broke out shortly after We The
Best/Def Jam artist Ace Hood wrapped the  video shoot for his second single, "Ride," featuring Trey Songz, Juelz Santana and Rick Ross.

Lil Wayne's assistant says he occasionally saw a handgun and people smoking marijuana on the award-winning rapper's tour bus.

But Terry Bourgeois also testified Monday he never saw Lil Wayne with a gun and didn't know whether one was on the bus in July 2007 when the 26-year-old rapper was arrested in Manhattan on gun charges.

Britney Spears has a license to go free. Jurors remained deadlocked 10-2 on whether she was guilty of driving without a valid California license Tuesday. A mistrial was declared, prosecutors said they wouldn't pursue the matter further — and Spears was spared a criminal record when the judge ultimately dismissed the case.