SLICK RICK PREPARES TO RETURN TO ENGLAND:

Despite all the support from fans and label execs, the outlook of Slick Rick returning home to the Bronx is grim. Rick's last appeal has been denied and at any moment he could be deported back to his place of birth, London, England. On late Friday evening, the received a bit of good news as his deportation has been stayed, but that doesn't mean that he will be staying here either.

"Looks like a 95 percent chance that I'm being deported," Rick told the Associated Press. "So I have to be a realist. I have to prepare myself for the worst right now. My whole life has been uprooted. One minute you're in America, you got your ties ... the next minute you're being deported. It's ripping [my] whole family apart. It's nerve-racking."

Rick's wife, Mandy Aragones, is currently packing up and preparing for a new life in London. His children from a previous relationship will stay in the U.S. with their mother.

Slick Rick has spent six months behind bars in a Manatee County Jail in Florida after being arrested on immigration charges. Under new immigration laws, foreigners convicted of aggravated felonies are to be deported.

"It's like being re-punished," Rick said. "I was in the process of working on another album. I'd been on the street for seven years, no problems."

JAM MASTER JAY SUSPECT ARRESTED:

Ronald "Tinard" Washington, who was wanted for questioning regarding the murder of Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell), was arrested Monday (December 9) after he and Ernest Williams allegedly robbed a clerk at a Floral Park, New York, motel. Police apprehended the pair after a 20-minute car chase, when Washington's 2001 Hyundai crashed into another vehicle. Upon his arrest, Washington attempted to use the name Mark White but his fingerprints alerted authorities to his real identity.

Washington was seen outside the studio where Jam Master Jay was shot and killed on October 30. According to sources, Washington might have been the lookout while another man shot Jam Master Jay. Police had been looking for Washington - who disappeared days after the murder - for questioning.

One of the current theories being investigated is that Washington and another man might have been hired by Curtis Scoon, who held a grudge against Jam Master Jay after the two were ripped off of $30,000 during an attempted drug buy several years ago. Scoon phoned Jam Master Jay several times demanding payment in early October. This theory has been strongly dismissed by family and friends and Jay.

ICE CUBE PUTS 'CHILL' ON DRE'S SUPPOSED FINAL ALBUM:

Ice Cube has put a chill on Dr. Dre's supposed final album.

Dre has pushed back the release of his highly anticipated Detox from next summer to the end of 2003 in order to produce his former N.W.A partner's next release.

Cube and the good doctor entered the studio two weeks ago and have already laid down a couple of beats.

"I haven't heard him on the mic just yet,"  Dre said. "He's got a couple of tracks that I think are banging, so I'm just waiting to see what he is going to come with."

Cube's as-yet-untitled album is due next summer and will be released on Dre's Aftermath label.

QUIK VISION:

DJ Quik has been one of the busiest artists in recent times. His latest solo album, 'Under The Influence' dropped a few months ago and his Greatest Hit's also recently came out. But the release all fans are waiting for is his new DVD, 'Visualism' which is set to drop on March 11th!

The DVD will cover everything the hard core fans want to know about Quik, from the time he spent working with Death Row to how he puts down one of his hit tracks. You can see a preview of the DVD at www.raw-impact.com which includes photos from the film as well as Chapter Selection information that contains commentry from Fortress Entertainments Devin DeHaven.

In other Quik news, the man behind songs like "Sweet Black Pussy" and "Born and Raised in Compton" is conducting an orchestra for the score of the upcoming Chris Rock comedy Head of State. "It's another avenue for me and I love it" Quik said. "It's strings and brass and orchestration mixed with Hip-hop. And the main vignette in the movie I did with Nate Dogg doing the singing." Aside from scoring the movie, due in theaters March 28, DJ Quik will contribute at least one song to the soundtrack.

X's LATEST SYMPHONY:

The next single from Xzibit's 'Man Vs Machine' will be 'Symphony In X Major' and Columbia Records has just released the video on X's official website. The video features a 'Matrix' type scenario and is available to be viewed in our multimedia section.

Despite the single featuring the albums executive producer, Dr Dre does not make an appearance in the video. Instead, the videos storyline continues whilst Dre's vocals are playing. Some nice fight scenes in the video too!

Despite rumours of 'Hearts of Man' being the new single, the label switched the second single from 'The Gambler' to 'Symphony in X Major' at the last minute. Although 'Symphony' was not originally decided on as a single, the plan was always to shoot a video for it.

Xzibit will be making his way down to Australia in early January to perform several shows on the East Coast and in New Zealand. His Gold certified DVD, 'Restless XPosed' is still one of the hot sellers in the US and has just been released by Sony/ Columbia in Australia.

NELLY MILKS IT:

Forget about it being hot - have you got milk in herre? Rap star Nelly is the latest celebrity - and first Hip-hop artist - to sport a milk mustache, in a new photo for the successful "Got Milk?" ad campaign.

In addition to the usual Band-Aid on his face, he sports the milky 'stache in a photo shot by the California Milk Processor Board. As an extra touch, Nelly also has the ad copy "tattooed" on his bare chest, reading "Nine essential nutrients. What active bodies need. Got milk?"

The ad launched this month in weekly and monthly magazines. "Hip hop continues to be one of the most popular music styles among teens, who look to people like Nelly as role models" Kurt Graetzer, CEO of the "Got milk?" campaign, said in a statement.

"Through this new ad, we hope that the millions of Nelly fans will see that even rap stars need the nine essential nutrients in milk to help keep their bodies and bones healthy, which will hopefully inspire them to drink enough milk everyday," he said. Source: Launch.Com

 KURUPT ON ACTING BANDWAGON:

Yet another rapper has decided to try his hand at acting.  Kurupt is set to star alongside Gladys Knight in the movie 'Holywood Homocide'.  Kurupt is set to play Gladys' son, which should be an interesting combination.  

In the movie that stars Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett, Kurupt portrays K-Ro, the manager of a fictional rap group killed during a performance. In the film, Ford (Joe Gavilian) and Hartnett (K.C. Calden) are the homicide detectives investigating the murder.

"They're looking for me to really find out what's going on with this murder,"

 Kurupt said. 

"I go to my momma's house, that's Gladys. It's a big chase scene. It's exciting. I can't give it all to you."

Director Ron Shelton picked Kurupt for the role after working with him on the Kurt Russell film Dark Blue. "I didn't have to read for this one,"

 Kurupt said. 

"He liked my performance so much that he said, 'I already started writing my next movie. And you're one of the main characters. And I already got you wrote in.'"

Kurupt also appears in the Steven Seagal film Half Past Dead, released in November 2002. 

RUN DMC BREAK DOWN AT VH1 AWARDS:

When accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award at Wednesday's VH1 Big in 2002 Awards, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels said the most important purpose of Run-DMC was to make people smile. "So the best way to honor Jam Master Jay," the visibly moved rapper told the capacity crowd at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, "is to just keep smiling, man."

And the smiles came easy at the inaugural awards ceremony. Ice Cube said it best when accepting the evening's first honor, an award called Shakespeare in Da Hiz-zouse: "Who needs an Oscar when you have this motherfucker!" The "Barbershop" star, who beat out Eminem, Ja Rule, Eve and LL Cool J for the award, which honored best rapper in a movie, proceeded to stare at the trophy in bewilderment. "What the hell is this thing?" Cube later said backstage he believed it to be a rocket, but Vanessa Carlton later called the obnoxious gold block a submarine. Does it really matter?

Before Ice Cube honored Run-DMC with the Lifetime Achievement award, Kid Rock, Chuck D and Grandmaster Flash paid homage to the group and the late Jam Master Jay with an ambitious medley that included "Sucker M.C.s," "My Adidas," "You Be Illin'," "It's Like That" and more.

"I look at [Jay] as one of my disciples," Flash said before the performance, explaining why he got involved in the tribute. "I'm saddened, but then at the same time, I have to keep a happy frame of mind, because I'm going to do the same thing I would do with Jay in front of an audience, and that's rock."

Run-DMC were perfectly emulated in the tribute, with Rock tackling Run's intense lyrics, Chuck D bellowing DMC's deep rhymes and Flash spinning vinyl with reckless abandon. "It was the most awesome thing," DMC said backstage just after the show. "Me and Run were like, 'Yo, is that what Run-DMC does?' 'Cause we never got to see Run-DMC in our lifetime. It was tight. I like the song selection, too, 'Beats to the Rhyme' and 'Hear We Go.' Oh man, it was ridiculous. Me and Run was like, 'We're gonna cry now,' " he continued. "All night we sittin' here, 'This is cool.' Then they started runnin' the film with Jay and we were over."

After the tribute, as Ice Cube was presenting the award, producers stopped the show and said they wanted to re-shoot the performance. When the curtain re-opened minutes later, Kid Rock told the crowd, "They wanted us to do it with a DAT tape to match the music with the explosions, but fuck that. We did it how Run-DMC did every show and that's live with turntables." The performance was not re-shot.

SLICK RICK TO BE DEPORTED:

An appeals board has upheld an order to deport Slick Rick back to England, where he was born and lived until age 11. Officials wouldn't say when the matter was ruled on, but the Board of Immigration Appeals recently upheld the Immigration and Naturalization Service's order to deport the pioneering patch-wearing lyricist.

According to U.S. immigration law, any non-citizen who serves more than five years in prison for a felony conviction is automatically deported, and Slick Rick (born Ricky Walters) served five years and 12 days in prison in 1996 for an attempted-murder.

In June, Walters was seized after performing on a Caribbean cruise ship, and he's been detained in a Florida jail ever since without bond. Slick Rick's family and friends have been joined by Russell Simmons, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Will Smith and many others in speaking out on his behalf. And recently, John Conyers, a black Democratic congressman from Michigan, called INS officials to plead for Rick's release.

Despite the swell of support, a spokesperson for the INS said a move overseas is imminent for the rapper, but a spokesperson on Slick Rick's side told MTV News that they've filed a new appeal, this time for an emergency stay of deportation, and that "they have a few more tricks up their sleeve'