The world’s best-selling multi-artist album series, NOW That’s What I Call Music!, will ring in the holiday season with the November 13 release of two scorching collections of today’s hottest tunes. NOW That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 26 features 20 chart-topping Pop, Modern Rock, Rap and R&B smash hits, and NOW That’s What I Call Party Hits! celebrates with 20 of the hottest roof-raising tracks from a who’s-who of today’s top artists.

Check out the trailer, guest starring Khalid, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Dre, and of course Lil Wayne.

North Philly's native son Freeway has seen a lot since the 2003 release of his certified Gold Roc-A-Fella debut Philadelphia Freeway. Greeted with equally heavy doses of critical acclaim and hood love, Free found himself touring the world and sharing the spoils with the hottest crew in hip-hop, a meteoric rise that would prove to be not without struggle, sacrifice and consequence. Indeed, a lot has changed since then, and through it all, Freeway has remained, quite literally, on his grind.

It’s finally here, the long awaited debut album from one of the most revolutionary artist from S.A.  Coming from the warm hands of the Free State, this is Mawe-2's first offering… Hip Hop is one of the most influential music genre in the world today, with the confrontational and sometimes controversial nature of the lyrics common in this genre, hip hop has evolved into a culture that represents the views of young people across the globe. Mawe-2 is one artist that exploits this to speak of issues affecting young people in S.A and the globe.

In an age of orange alerts, crumbling economic systems, and marshal law under the guise of homeland security the people are spoon fed entertainment deemed "safe" by major corporations and the government. Citizens are bombarded with biased media coverage of an unpopular war by big business news stations posing as fair and balanced, as well as mindless "reality" television which is far more scripted than the prime-time dramas they have replaced. Indeed, we the people have become conditioned to accept what is given to us. Everyone seems to be aware of this, except the public.

Slip N' Slide/Def Jam recording artist Rick Ross, who rose from ruling the underground rap scene in Miami, to becoming 2006's buzz-worthiest hip-hop artist with the RIAA platinum #1 single "Hustlin'" – and his #1 Pop/#1 R&B/#1 Rap major label debut album Port Of Miami – returns with TRILLA, the long-awaited follow-up and one of 2007's most hotly anticipated new releases, set to arrive in stores December 18th. Busting open the path for TRILLA is its first single release, "Speedin'," featuring R. Kelly.

Community Video Education Trust (CVET) launched its online digital archive hosting video footage spanning 20 years of anti-apartheid struggles of the people of the Western Cape. Historical archival footage of the Trojan Horse Massacre Press Conference of October 1985 is typically the kind of material that is available on CVET’s website, www.cvet.org.za

Cool Nutz returns with his first solo album in over 3 years. "King Cool Nutz" is the progression and evolution of one of the Northwest's most prominent musicians.

Out of the spotlight for nearly 2 years, Cassidy, described by Grammy winning, multi-platinum selling artist Kanye West during a recent appearance on BET's Rap City, as "one of the elite rappers in the game right now", returns with the release of B.A.R.S – The Barry Adrian Reese Story on November 6 on Full Surface/J Records. The album's lead single, the celebratory, club motivating "My Drink N' My 2 Step" is currently Top 10 on the R&B Mainstream Chart and #12 on the Rap Chart. The accompanying video has been on BET's 106 & Park countdown for the past 3 weeks with a peak position of #2. Cassidy is scheduled to perform his hit "My Drink N' My 2 Step" on both BET's 106 & Park and MTV's TRL on 11/8.

Here is the second single from their critically acclaimed sophomore album "Don't Talk, Just Listen".

Belly (aka Rebellyus), the Palestinian-born rapper who spent his first seven years living in war-torn areas of the Middle East, goes deep for his and all people in his new track and video for "History of Violence." The song is a powerful and vivid look at the hypocrisy and devastation of the war in Iraq and other Middle Eastern territories. Shot in the 'hoods of Ottawa's southside and West Montreal, "History of Violence" drew hip-hop heads from cultures around the world to participate, including Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Ghanaians, Haitians, Jamaicans, Somalis, Canadians, French Canadians and Americans, some bringing flags from their mother countries.

Raheem DeVaughn has a new album called "Love Behind The Melody" coming in 2008 and the first single is titled "Woman." 

Born and raised in the notorious Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Papoose took his first jabs at being a rapper at the young age of 11.  Given the name by his grandmother meaning "Indian baby", whom he resembled as a child, Papoose is the true definition of a real mc.  Inspired by rap legends Rakim, Kool-G-Rap and Big Daddy Kane, he has been well respected in the underground street circuit for a long period of time now. Papoose has survived the trappings and politics of the rap industry, which uses gimmicks as well as fake street and jail images to sell records and destroy the essence of what a true mc really is.

To say that SoulStice spits knowledge would be an understatement; after all, he does have a Masters Degree in Electrical Computer Engineering and holds down a position with the Department of Defense!  Yet, SoulStice iterates that the challenge of balancing his high-powered "day job" and his passion for music is the creative fuel behind his unique brand of hip hop.   Years of grind and immersion in hip hop culture culminated in the fall of 2005 for SoulStice with the release of his debut album North by Northwest: Solid Ground.  Released independently through Wandering Soul Records, the album was quickly hailed by critics and fans as one of the best hip hop albums of 2005.   The success of the debut was followed up in 2006 with the release of the collaborative album Dark Water, which SoulStice crafted as part of the hip hop duo, Wade Waters. 

Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle portrays the one and only Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene Jr.; Petey’s story is funny, dramatic, inspiring – and real. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself – sometimes to outrageous effect – and “tell it like it is.”