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The self-proclaimed King of the South will rise again. In about 366 days' time. As expected, T.I. was sentenced today to one year and one day in Georgia prison as part of his plea deal with prosecutors over a 2007 felony weapons charge. "Today I would like to say thank-you to some, and apologize to all," the rapper said. "Everything I learned was through trial and error. I've learned lessons in my life to put in my music so people won't make the same mistakes as I." The 28-year-old rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., is required to voluntarily turn himself into prison within the next 30 to 60 days, but is not expected do so before May 19.

He's got no money, but he sure does have mo' problems. Roc-A-Fella Records and Rocawear co-founder Damon Dash has been slapped with divorce papers by wife Rachel Roy, the Daily News has learned. The stunning fashion designer piled onto Dash's already sizable stack of lawsuits when she filed for divorce from her husband of four years this month in Manhattan Supreme Court. Ed Hayes, a lawyer for Roy, declined comment, and a Dash spokeswoman did not return calls or e-mails. An electronic record of the case says the divorce is for "nonmonetary relief" and should be resolved by February.

A representative for 50 Cent issued a statement Tuesday (March 24) explaining why the MC will not be appearing in Sylvester Stallone's film "The Expendables," just days after the director announced 50 would be replacing Forest Whitaker in the role of Hale Caesar. While online reports said that 50 had been dropped from the film, the statement says he had to pass on the project due to time constraints. "50 Cent was offered the role of Hale Caesar in 'The Expendables,' however as he is currently in the process of completing his forthcoming album Before I Self Destruct with Dr. Dre and Eminem," a rep for the MC told MTV News in a statement. "He was unfortunately not able to commit to the project." Stallone reportedly told Ain't It Cool News that former San Diego Charger Terry Crews, who debuted with Arnold Schwarzeneggar in "The 6th Day" and appears in this summer's "Terminator Salvation," will take on the role vacated by 50.

Lil Wayne's star-studded turn from rapper to rocker is going well: Not only is his first rock single, "Prom Queen," picking up steam, the Cash Money star will get the royal rock treatment with his very own VH1 "Behind the Music" episode. The network announced on Thursday (March 19) that the seminal documentary program will be relaunched, and Lil Wayne and Scott Weiland have already signed on. Plans call for the new incarnation of "Behind the Music" to focus more on contemporary artists than the veteran talent of previous incarnations — after all, with 200 previous episodes, the show has covered a majority of iconic talent. And according to Rick Krim, executive vice president of talent and music programming at VH1, a number of superstars have emerged since 2004 that deserve the "BTM" treatment.

Tupac Shakur's mother is firing back at independent production company Morgan Creek over the right to make a biopic about the late rapper. In a $10 million cross-complaint set to be filed Monday morning, Afeni Shakur's Amaru Entertainment claims that Morgan Creek, CEO James Robinson and others tried to strong-arm a deal for Tupac movie rights, then sabotaged the project when Amaru attempted to set it up elsewhere. "Instead of negotiating in good faith with (Amaru), they sought to obtain the rights by concocting a nonexistent 'agreement' and engaging in heavy-handed threats, coercion and intimidation to interfere with and ultimately destroy the film project," Amaru claims.

Here's an excerpt from the interview with Offcier Ricky.

Rick Ross, who has been embroiled in a highly-publicized rap beef with G-Unit frontman 50 Cent for the past couple of weeks, landed the cover of XXL Magazine's May issue. This marks the second time Ross has graced the cover, the first time being in July 2008 alongside Miami's DJ Khaled, Flo Rida and Trina.

In the XXL article, Ross addresses the pictures that surfaced of him at nineteen years of age in a correctional officer's uniform and of his alleged criminal history.

For nearly two weeks after the alleged Feb. 8 assault involving R&B singer Chris Brown and his girlfriend, the singer Rihanna, teen fans of the couple searched for ways to minimize the episode or justify what sounded like a caffeinated lovers' quarrel between two very young, very beautiful people. "A lot of kids were saying, 'I thought maybe he just slapped her. I thought he just pushed her,' " says Patti Giggans, executive director of Peace Over Violence, a sexual and domestic violence prevention center in Los Angeles. Blogs and discussion boards lit up with fans' speculation that Rihanna actually attacked Brown or provoked him somehow. Then, on Feb. 19, a police crime scene photo emerged — unauthorized, as it turns out, and there still is no confirmation that it actually was Rihanna — of a battered woman, eyes closed, face bruised, bottom lip swollen.

Grammy-winning rapper Coolio was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday on suspicion of possessing drugs, police said. The 45-year-old rapper, whose real name is Artis Levon Ivey Jr, was taken into custody at an LAX terminal at mid-morning after he was found with the narcotics, a Los Angeles police spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said she had no further details on the arrest but celebrity website TMZ reported that he was found with crack cocaine while going through security before boarding a Southwest Airlines flight. Coolio first gained fame in 1995 with the hit single "Gangsta's Paradise" and multi-million selling album of the same name. His follow-up albums have failed to match that success.

SANTA MONICA, CA - March 5, 2009 – Eminem, the biggest selling music artist of the decade, officially announced the street date of his eagerly awaited new album; his first original studio album in over four years. Relapse (Interscope/ Aftermath/Shady) will be released on May 19, 2009. The first single from the album and its accompanying video will see a simultaneous release on April 7th. Anticipation for Relapse has been building since the fall, when Eminem first announced the album title and debuted the freestyle, “I’m Having A Relapse,” during an interview on his Shade 45 satellite radio station. Last month, the release of “Crack A Bottle” from Eminem, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent brought that anticipation to a head. The track soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Eminem’s second #1 after 2002’s “Lose Yourself”) and set a Nielsen SoundScan record for opening week download sales (418,000). The recording ranked third in the history of all weekly download sales. “Crack A Bottle” will be included as an album track on Relapse.

Usher doesn't approve of Chris Brown's jet-skiing. In a video posted by producer Jermaine Dupri, the "Yeah!" singer slams his fellow R&B star for being photographed last weekend joyriding around Diddy's Miami Beach mansion in what was his first public outing since the incident with Rihanna. "I'm a little disappointed in this photo," Usher said Monday on Dupri's online Living the Life series. "After the other photo [of Rihanna's brutalized face]? C'mon, Chris. Have a little bit of remorse, man. The man's on Jet Skis? Like, just relaxing in Miami?" Brown and Rihanna spent the weekend in Florida apparently working toward a reconciliation. They returned to Los Angeles on Monday in anticipation of the "Gimme That" performer's tentatively scheduled arraignment on Thursday. Prosecutors are awaiting evidence from the LAPD before deciding to file charges.