Even when his musical backing wasn't the best, you could always count on the GZA to bring intelligence and heat on the mic. With "Pro Tools," the Wu-Tang Clan's best lyricist employs production from the RZA, a few Wu juniors and Black Milk  to create his best solo disc since "Liquid Swords."

Classic Ice Cube records mined the sounds of P-Funk and Roger & Zapp, and his work with Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad was a fascinating, frenetic look at disillusioned urban angst. Raw Footage just kind of sounds like throwaway G-Unit beats and a grown man trying to recapture his former gangsta glory between movie shoots (and without a gun).

Mixtrap.com and DJ Semi release a mixtape purported to be the Notorious B.I.G.'s "true" vision for his landmark 1994 classic, "Ready to D.I.E." But even with a few different verses, uncleared samples and alternate beats, it's not as good as the original.

Personally, I’m on the fence with Miley Cyrus. I don’t really love or hate her, I just don’t know what to think about her yet.

Eating burgers could make glaciers melt faster. The statement is a bit of a shortcut in logic, but author Gene Baur says it makes the point about issues faced globally.

As the protegés of the Clipse, the Re-Up Gang has detailed street-game rhyming down. But the spare, spooky synths and bouncy beats that worked so well on their previous mixtapes are few and far between on their official debut album.

It's not wise to mess with a hip-hop classic, which Madvillain's Madvillainy definitely is... but if you're half of the duo that made the album in the first place - and really, it's just a mixtape you made for yourself to listen to on a flight to Tokyo - you can make an exception. And even when he's just goofing around in the studio, Madlib is on point, recasting his collaboration with MF Doom using snatches of soul and rough beats.

As a former professional wrestler, I watch the sport with a different eye than the casual observer/fan. Having eaten a chair-shot or three, been power-bombed, choke-slammed, splashed off the top-rope and choked out, I can see things in the ring that I am more than happy to pass along to you.

Swing Vote – A Touchstone Pictures release. Directed by Joshua Michael Stern. Starring Kevin Costner, Paula Patton, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, Stanley Tucci, George Lopez, and Madeline Carroll. Rated PG-13.

It’s been three years since those girls and a pair of jeans were a hit in theaters. Based on Ann Brashares’ hugely successful novels, "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" (2005) film struck a nerve with young, mostly female filmgoers. The bond that the four friends had, and how their friendship not only survived, but how each grew, were the things that the viewer related to. This new film moves the story up a few years, but those same elements are strongly present.

Mamma Mia! Here they go again. My, my, how can we resist them? The truth is, we can’t resist them. The music of ABBA will live forever.

It's hard to hear R. Kelly's music without thinking of late-night talk-show host punchlines, not to mention a particularly-hilarious episode of Cartoon Network's "The Boondocks." And while the man can still craft a decent R&B record, some of his extra-sexy lyrics can cause a bit of a cringe given his recent legal tribulations, and he relies a little too heavily on syrupy-sweet ballads this time around.

Plots - thickening or not - of feature films newly arrived at a theater near you.

Forget “The Sopranos.” Forget “Rome.” When it comes to grand, operatic storytelling, rich, deep characters and true exploration of modern urban America’s institutions (and their long, slow slide into dysfunction), you can’t beat “The Wire,” whose fifth and final season will be released Aug. 12 on DVD.

Upcoming TV and movie releases on DVD.