The Hip Hop Week In Review: 1/8/2012 – 1/14/2012

This week, Jay-Z became father to baby Blue Ivy Carter after his wife Beyonce checked into a New York City, New York hospital. The song “Glory,” released only two days after Blue’s birth and featuring her very own voice on the track, commemorated the experience and made B.I.C. the youngest person to place on the Billboard charts. Meanwhile, Common steered his career into beef country, releasing a remix to Rick Ross’ “Stay Schemin” that ruffled the Hip Hop community’s feathers. And to cap it off, French Montana spoke with HipHopDX about almost signing with Kanye West and the type of creative control he’ll have working with Diddy’s Bad Boy Records.

Jay-Z Becomes A Father, Releases “Glory” Featuring Blue Ivy Carter

Jay-Z and Beyonce became proud parents this week. Bey checked into New York City, New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital last Saturday and brought their baby Blue Ivy Carter into the world. Hov celebrated the event by recording his daughter’s cries and tacking it onto the end of his song “Glory,” produced by The Neptunes and mixed by Mike Dean. The move made her the youngest person to ever place on the Billboard charts. The power couple later released a statement thanking fans for their support during this time. But Jigga man’s work life continued on, with the announcement of a partnership with Duracell to serve as spokesman for the brand and a nomination for the 2012 BRIT Awards alongside Kanye West.

Common Openly Disses Drake, Dismisses Notion It’s Related To Serena Williams

Common brought his beef with Drake to the next level this week. After Rick Ross released his new mixtape Rich Forever , Com remixed the Drake-featuring cut “Stay Schemin” and made his own scathing version of the track, throwing Drizzy the wolves and calling him “Canada Dry.” While the Young Money rapper is yet to respond, his boss Birdman said that his stable of artists aren’t in the rap game to make a buck off of diss records, but that however Drake decided to handle the situation, they had his back. Com later said that the origin of the spar had nothing to do with the fact that the Canadian rapper was spotted with his ex-girlfriend Serena Williams, but that the beef would strictly remain on wax.

French Montana Reveals He Almost Signed With Kanye West

This week, French Montana chopped it up with HipHopDX about his signing to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records and what could have been. During the interview, the Bronx, New York native spoke on his evolution in his Cocaine City DVD releases and that New York has been successful because of gansta rap. But the most revealing moment of the discussion was when French said that Kanye West tried to sign him to G.O.O.D. Music, but that Diddy’s label ended up being the right fit for his situation. He said that he has control over his releases, and that he’s talking with Uncle Murda about signing him to Coke Boys. Read the full interview here.

Other items of note:

– Snoop Dogg Responds To Waka Flocka Flame’s Wiz Khalifa Diss

– 50 Cent Clarifies His Suicidal Tweet

– DJ Premier Names His Favorite Gang Starr Album

– Kendrick Lamar Says He Finished Recording His Debut Album