Story by Kurtis Lee

Kimora Lee, ex-wife of rap mogul Russell Simmons is about to get a rather large divorce settlement from the Def Jam founder. The Los Angeles Superior Court has ordered Simmons to cough up $40,000 a month in child support for the two daughters the pair had together. XXL Magazine reports that the grand total comes out to $480,000 annually, with payments set to terminate in 2022.

Although they've had a heated divorce, each seems to have moved on and is now donning a new significant other. Simmons has been dating supermodel Porscha Coleman and Lee is now paired with actor Djimon Hounsou best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance in the 2006 hit "Blood Diamond."

Story by Andrew Barker

Now that Lil Wayne has sold well over a million copies of his long, long, delayed album "Tha Carter III" in a single week making him the hottest MC since 50 Cent and the hottest Dadaist since Tristan Tzara, he seems to have decided that it's time to give back.

Guest starring on Sean Combs' "Diddy Blog" yesterday, the rapper sought to share some advice for his young fans. (Host Combs, meanwhile, appears to exhaust every reservoir of strength to refrain from interrupting.) Wayne mostly stays on point, discussing the virtues of hard work, the importance of the "three Ss" and the dangers of "underage obesity." But before long, things drift off into koan territory.

Among Weezy's words of wisdom: "Don't try to be different. Because when you try to be different, you end up being the same. Because everybody's trying to be different." "What you've got to do is to just be you. But if that doesn't work, then that isn't what you should be doing."

Story by Andrew Barker

With racial sensitivities at a high thanks to l’affaire Imus, Jena 6 and the candidacy of Barack Obama, this summer would seem a particularly inhospitable climate to release an album titled "Nigger."

That’s what veteran rapper Nas discovered when he announced the incendiary title for his upcoming LP (slated for July 15), prompting censorship concerns and fierce criticism from Jesse Jackson and the NAACP. Ceding to pressure earlier this month, Nas agreed to release the record untitled.

I spoke to Nas on Sunday at the BMI & BET Black Music Month Brunch, and he expressed hope that the old title will be conspicuous in its absence.

"People know what the album is supposed to be called," he says. "And I feel like I call more attention to the word by leaving it out."

Even without the highly-charged slur, the album’s cover should still give record-buyers pause, boasting the image of Nas’ bare back, branded with the letter "N" by whip welts.

While he admits that controversy has increased the album’s visibility ("it’s better than any endorsement"), he stresses that the title was not a mere grab for attention. In conversation, Nas uses such terms as "universal apartheid" to describe race relations in the country, and says he intends the album to be a coherent statement.

Judging from tracks that have surfaced via leaks and mixtapes, the new material certainly doesn’t lack for provocation. The chorus of single "Be a Nigger Too" nods to Lenny Bruce, compiling a litany of racial slurs and diminishing them by repetition, while "Black President" is a somewhat cynical celebration of Obama’s candidacy.

The album will be Nas’ ninth overall and second for label Def Jam, following 2006 conversation-starter "Hip Hop Is Dead." With seven platinum records already under his belt, the rapper seems to be increasingly veering from the radio-ready route in favor of a more explicitly political track.

"It can’t be only about calling up Timbaland for a beat," Nas says, speaking to the difficulty of addressing substantive issues in a hit-single-minded genre. "I want to stay provocative. I want to keep doing this until I’m dead."