After a five year stint with Aftermath Records, West Coast rapper Bishop Lamont is now a free agent. Lamont went on air this weekend with The All Out Show with Rude Jude and Lord Sear on Shade 45 radio Saturday January 9th to break the news and seemed rather elated to do so.

Lamont drew parallels to Shawshank Redemption and offered that he was walking the yard every day, shaking gravel out of his pants… crawling through the sewers” and will now finally be able to realize his true star.

The split with Dre was an amicable one, as the LA lyricist walked away with over 700 mastered songs. Most importantly, he confirmed their relationship is intact.

“Dre is my big bro and that’s my family regardless,” he said. “I’ma support Aftermath and whatever he needs over there, it’s there. But after almost five years of just sittin’ there and working with every producer in the world, it’s kind of unfair to the fans and my family and myself.”

Lamont is currently shopping his debut album, The Reformation , and spoke to making rounds with numerous labels during his recent trip to NY.

He admitted that things got a little sketchy with Dre, but never bad enough to ruin their friendship. Bishop instead pointed to Interscope not striking while the iron was hot.

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From the looks of it, 50’s Before I Self Destruct is destined to blow up right in his face. After heavy promotions and a week of Internet sales, the Jamaica Queens rapper’s fourth album is projected to sale something in the neighborhood of 150,000 units in its first week.

A far cry from his expectations for sure, 50 has all but decided the onus of record sales is not on him.

“With the actual outcome of the project, once the record leaks from the international plant, what more can I do,” 50 explained in an interview with Funkmaster Flex last night. “I can’t, I held the record long enough to get it to them, to mix and master it and for them to ship it and then it leaks from the plant internationally, I’m like come on, then that’s it.

“They lost the ball. You know what I mean, if the numbers look funny to me, it’s they fault.”

He continued to defend himself in an interview with BET, offering his success rate isn’t so much dependent on album sales anymore.

“If I was in the space where I absolutely needed finances from the actual sales of the record, it might mean something, but if it offers the material that I can go out and perform and make everyone enjoy themselves as much as I enjoyed myself making it, Ill be happy with it.”

While his former label mate and adversary 50 Cent can’t seem to make his mind up as to when he’s going to drop his fourth opus, The GAME appears confident and ready about his latest release – The R.E.D. Album.

Also his fourth solo release since signing a major label deal with Interscope five years ago, The GAME let his adoring fans know his new masterpiece will be ready for listening consumption on December 1st.

As has become the custom with these big announcements, the Compton bred emcee took to Twitter to deliver the news.

“R.E.D. album soon, wrappin this mothaf#$%@ up in 30 days ! Jimmy Iovine told me to tell ya when this sh!t drop, Merry X-Mas ! BWS/Aftermath,” he tweeted on Monday.

He also added that former Atlantic artist Diddy, who recently joined the Interscope family, may make a guest appearance.

No matter how much help he has, it will be difficult for Chuck Taylor to win the sales battle that day, as Alicia Keys’ Element of Freedom and R. Kelly’s Untitled, are both set to drop concurrently with R.E.D.

The GAME first denounced the beef with 50 Cent in the MJ tribute, “Better On The Other Side,” then made it official during this exclusive interview with MTV. He admits to having bipolar tendencies and allows that tomorrow his mind may change, but to the day, Jayceon Taylor has no issues with 50 Cent or G Unit. In fact, he suggests that had they all remained the powerful force they were when he, 50, Eminem and Dr. Dre were working together regularly, Detox would have dropped long ago and they’d all have fatter pockets. In effect, he apologizes to all parties involved, including Jimmy Iovine.

Mike would be proud GAME. Don’t wig out and dissapoint him… regardless of how Curtis reacts.

One is a ghostwriter extraordinaire and the other was the poster child for the Bay Area phenomenon that was/is “Ghostriding the Whip.” As a pair, the two emcees prove to be a very tangible duo that can “go in” with the best of them.

If you like rap music, this collaboration/song has to make you smile. So if you’re not grinning from ear to ear or nodding your head by the end of this track, play it back until that hate eases its way out of your body.

Mistah FAB and Smitty “Goin’ In”