NEW YORK (AP) -- Battle-scarred rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight and volatile hip-hop star Kanye West faced off Friday over a beef involving a bullet — with a conference table between them.

The two rap titans were there for West to answer questions about a celebrity-packed Miami Beach party where an unknown gunman shot Knight in the leg. West hosted the 2005 fete at the posh Shore Club before the MTV

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MIAMI (AP) -- A rap music smackdown looms in a federal courtroom between Marion "Suge" Knight and Kanye West over a shooting at a star-studded Miami Beach party.

Knight was shot in the right leg in August 2005 by a still-unknown assailant at the Shore Club. West was hosting the party in advance of the MTV Video Music Awards. No arrests were ever made.

More than four years later, Knight is claiming

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Courtesy of NME -- Rapper looks to Gill Scott-Heron and Nina Simone for inspiration

Kanye West has revealed he is currently in the studio recording new material.

Speaking on his Kanyeuniversecity.com blog, West hinted that he'll be taking a further step away from rap on the album, and likened himself to a "true poet".

"I'm so happy to be back in the studio making new music. I will bring you the best

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Kanye West has had battery charges relating to a 2008 bust-up with photographers dropped after completing his court-ordered community service.

The Stronger hit-maker and his manager, Don Crowley, were charged with vandalism, battery and grand theft after smashing camera equipment belonging to two snappers at Los Angeles International Airport on September 11th, 2008.

In October, a Los Angeles judge agreed to have the case dismissed on the condition that West and Crowley more...

John Mayer has called on the media and public to move on past Kanye West's MTV Video Music Awards stage invasion - because the rapper has been punished enough.

The rocker has teamed up with Taylor Swift, the victim of West's onstage protest, on a new track, but he's not about to join those publicly hating the rap star.

He says, "Here's how we work in America: We raise them and then we drop them... It went like this: 'That was messed up Kanye! You deserve a punishment.' more...

NEW YORK – Broadway's Tony in the revival of "West Side Story" will say goodbye to the hit musical in December.

Matt Cavenaugh says he will leave the show Dec. 13 when his contract with the production ends. Cavenaugh will have played the role in the musical since it began its tryout late last year in Washington.

The actor plans to star in a television pilot and develop a concert series celebrating the music of Leonard

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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A court commissioner has dismissed criminal charges against Kanye West and his road manager stemming from their scuffle with photographers last year.

The case was filed after West and his manager were arrested on Sept. 11, 2008, after an altercation with two photographers at Los Angeles International Airport.

The photographers and the rapper have reached civil settlements over the

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