It’s been two-and-a-half years since Alicia Keys released her last album The Element of Freedom. But the Grammy-winning songbird is only a couple months away from her return.

Still coming off the high of performing with Stevie Wonder at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards, an excited Alicia teased her fifth album. “Right now I’m actually finishing baking up the most incredible musical cake that you’ve ever eaten in your life,” she told Downtown Julie Brown.

“The music is coming within the next couple of months, so we’re really putting all the final touches on it and I am in a whole other zone. I’m really excited about this music.”

She has been in the studio with Pop & Oak, Kerry “Krucial” Brothers, and Swizz Beatz, among others. “The topics that she’s speaking about are super deep and from the heart, and to me what music has been missing,” her husband Swizz told Angie Martinez. “It’s the thing that makes us special as an artist. I tell her, ‘Yo, I’m proud of you because you’re making timeless pieces.’”

She has other projects in the works as well. “I’ve really fallen in love with producing, film, television, and Broadway,” added Alicia.

D Block’s R&B artist, Emanny steps up to the plate with a full length project to keep his supporters entertained for the immediate future. He’s known primarily for his work with Joe Budden over a plethora of records featured throughout the Slaughterhouse MC’s catalog. His other features on the project include Jadakiss, G.O.V. and Emilio Rojas. Download HERE

Emanny – Songs About HER  [DOWNLOAD]

She was hoping for a brood of mini-Snooki's running around  under-heel in her home with fiance' Jionni LaValle, but "Jersey Shore" star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi is overjoyed that her bouncing bundle will wear blue. "Everyone said I was going to have a boy, and they were right!" Snooki told In Touch magazine in the new issue. The baby is due in September and the couple are narrowing down name choices. 

Lupe Fiasco again addressed the controversy over his single “Around My Way (Freedom Ain’t Free)” and its sampling of the Pete Rock & CL Smooth classic “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” Pete Rock blasted Lupe and the song via Twitter, and Lupe said he had no idea that Rock would react so harshly.

“That was a little unexpected, seeing as we already reached out to him to get his blessing and all that. We went and did it,” he said. “Especially because of what it means to him and what it represents to him and how deep, how personal the record is for him. At the same time, too, with Heavy D passing and all that stuff, we tried to be as sensitive as possible with it and make sure that we represent it correctly. But there are so many remakes of "T.R.O.Y."€™ out there. That’s what was surprising.”

“Nah. The friends and family is dealing with that. They'€™re the ones who put that together, so I'm kind of like a third party in it,” he added. “But the people who initially reached out to him from my camp to his camp, I guess they was on the phone last night trying to figure out what was going on. It was a shock to me and it’s best for me to fall back.”

T.I. is ready to return to the big screen. After starring in such box office hits as Takers and American Gangster, the rapper-turned-actor is tackling comedy.

Tip has joined the cast of Universal Pictures’ Identity Thief, reports Deadline.com. He will play a bounty hunter in the film, which stars Jason Bateman (Juno) and Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids).

That’s not the only role T.I. has lined up. He will co-star in Kelsey Grammer’s drama series Boss for Starz and is shooting the second season of his VH1 docu-series “T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle,” which premieres September 3.

The Atlanta MC’s eighth album Trouble Man is due September 4.

Drake had an unexpected reunion in Atlanta after he performed at Aaron’s Ampitheatre at Lakewood this weekend. Drizzy hit up the after party with Meek Mill, Kenny Burns and 2 Chainz; and he wound up sharing a moment with his ex-girlfriend, Jade Lee.

Drake has referenced Lee a few times in song; discussing her difficulty in dealing with his lifestyle and her moving to Atlanta to be a wedding planner.

Jade posted a photo of the former lovebirds on Instagram.

“10 Years ago we use to dream about being a rapper and an event planner,” the caption read.