Wooohah!

50 Cent to sign $300 million News Corp deal

Rumor is that 50 Cent has signed a deal with Rupert Murdoch's News. Corp (MySpace, 20th Century Fox, etc) for over $300 million dollars. Deal is said to be similar in nature to Jay-Z's Live Nation deal which calls for partnerships across various platforms. The 50 Cent deal supposedly includes moving G-Unit Records to the new MySpace Records label, a movie production deal and book publishing as well. Nothing will be finalized until next year though when 50's contract with Interscope expires. And no, I don't know where this "50 Cent with accordion" photo came from.

Update: An anonymous person with close ties to 50 and G-Unit tells VIBE this deal is not true. Either way we will all find out in due time. Thanks Eskay for the heads up.

Alicia Keys signs Vitamin Water deal

Alicia Keys has signed a multi-million dollar endorsement deal with Vitamin Water that will have her joining the Vitamin Water family with the likes of 50 Cent and Kelly Clarkson. 50 has already openly stated his dislike for Alicia so we will see how the new co-workers behave. While the deal has not been officially announced yet, it is rumored that Alicia's deal will call for numerous commercials, attendance at events and possible concert tie-ins. Via: Highbrid Nation

Kanye West x G-Shock Anniversary Party

Kanye West will be performing and saying a few endorsement words at the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Casio G-Shock watch later today in New York. Spike Lee will also be on hand as he unveils a project with G-Shock. That's one of the draw backs of living in L.A. Most of the good hip-hop parties are in New York...

50 Cent signs memorabilia deal

50 Cent has signed a deal with sports memorabilia company Steiner Sports, the same memorabilia company that represents athletes like Derek Jeter in the sale of authenticated autographed memorabilia. Deal calls for Steiner to sell 50 Cent autographed photos, movie-related products and concert-worn apparel and to expand the 50 Cent "brand" to outlets such as Sky Mall magazine, Neiman Marcus and more. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but my educated guess is that 50 will receive "a large amount of money." Via:  NahRight

The Flavor Flav x Dr. Pepper commercial

This is the Dr. Pepper ad featuring Flavor Flav (his voice) that we mentioned a couple weeks back. Ad is now running on national TV. Nuff said.

Chamillionaire x Castrol Motor Oil partnership

It seems like it wasn't that long ago when Chammilionaire was one of the hottest rappers in the game and his single "Ridin" was everywhere. Now...he is a spokesperson for Castrol Syntec Motor Oil and their Power Players/Power Trax marketing campaign. Every company these days is trying to get a piece of that urban market so why can't motor oil? Click on the ad to enlarge so you can read all the fine things Chamillionaire has to say about Syntec.

SanDisk tries to be the urban USB Flash Drive

Homies gotta save computer files somewhere too right? Well SanDisk, makers of fine USB flash drives everywhere, is now targeting the hip-hop fan. And what do we have saved on these drives? Either porn or ripped music. Or porn set to ripped music. Anways, SanDisk has been announced as the official partner of the upcoming Rock The Bells festival which headlines Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def and De La Soul. Partnership includes integrated online and onsite promotions, giveaways at the festival and much more. I hear Nas loves the SanDisk 4GB Cruzer Titanium thanks to its U3 smart technology. Yea I know...I totally just made that up. Everyone knows he loves the 8GB.

Snoop Dogg partners with Landy Cognac

Snoop Dogg now joins the ranks of other hip-hop elite who have liquor deals as he has recently signed an endorsement deal with Landy Cognac. Landy calls itself the "new generation of Cognac" and in an effort to reach the younger "hipper" demo have enlisted Snoop for promotional efforts. This month has already seen a huge wave of hip-hop and consumer product partnerships including Dr. Pepper and Flavor Flav, Pepsi and their relaunched DJ Division and of course TAG body spray and Jermaine Dupri. We can only expect more to come in the future as Corporate America realizes the branding potential behind hip-hop and its artists. Via: Luxist & Prohiphop

Dr. Dre's new "Beats" headphone website

As many of you remember, Dr. Dre announced at CES his partnership with Monster Cable in the development of a hi-end headphone line called Beats. Monster has now gone live with the Dr. Dre/Beats website that give us a little more info, photos and specs about the headphones including what you really get for that $399.95 price tag. Still no word when the headphones will ship, just says Spring 2008. That's all really. If only a "Detox" album website came with this news. Sorry.   

50 Cent & Carrie Underwood in Vitamin Water ad

In a recent interview with MTV News, 50 Cent said he is losing weight and shedding bulk to to have "a more regular physique" for his upcoming movie Microwave Park. He's also growing out an afro for the role. That explains his slimmed down look and hair-do in this new "behind the scenes" of 50 Cent and Carrie Underwood filming a Vitamin Water ad. It's basically 2 minutes of watching 50 Cent cry as he tries to get into Carrie Underwood's under..wood? Via: Nahright