Boston's most notorious rap scoundrel slash actor Slaine - best known theatrically from roles in "The Town" and "Gone Baby Gone" - is set to appear on NBC's "The Cape" tonight at 9pm EST. Unfortunately, the show is getting canceled, and the first season was scaled back from 13 to 10 episodes, so hip-hop fans won't get to check all of the La Coka Nostra and Special Teamz member's performances.

I have a strong feeling that Sergei Kharitonov will get knocked out during tomorrow (Saturday) night's Strikeforce throwdown in New Jersey (airs on Showtime at 10pm). Where did that inkling come from? Well it turns out that his opponent, former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski (above), has a new anthem from Jaysaun and Freddy Madball.

In case you haven't noticed, Ricky Shabazz and the Boom Bap Boys (a/k/a Director Nicolas Heller - think The Streets) have been responsible for a serious chunk of the most creative and downright dope hip-hop videos of 2010. Though I don't know Heller and his team personally, we seem to have comparable taste; this year they cut clips for the likes of Homeboy Sandman, Time Crisis, and C-Rayz Walz - just to name a few.

The hard-partying, harder-working Slaine has never been more exhausted than he was this Monday. It's no wonder; he'd been draining booze and hibernating in his Brockton lab for 17 straight days and nights recording his new The Devil Never Dies mixtape.

Slaine's looked weathered in the past. But in the wake of this most recent marathon session, his eyes were glassier than than they were on the tail end of his two-month tour with Tech N9ne, and after he completed months of filming for his roles in “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Town.

Blak Madeen's Sacred Defense was without-a-doubt one of the best discs to drop anywhere last year - not just in Boston (here's the feature that I wrote about them). The album featured the likes of Reks and Lord Jamar - and sick beats through and through - but ultimately prevailed on the strength of Al-J and Yusuf playing off of one another.

It’s amazing how much hate mail I receive accusing me of ignoring local artists. Most hilarious is this ass on Facebook who recently bitched that I “write about the same people over and over.” He might have a solid point, if in the past year alone I didn’t pay significant attention to: Esoteric, Black Madeen, Bad Rabbits, Singapore Kane, Slaine, Boycott Blues, DJ Slim, JDO, M-Dot, Masspike Miles, D-Tension, The Berklee J Dilla Ensemble, Jaysaun, Will C, Amadeus, Rite Hook, WMS the Sultan, GWOP Gang, Wasted Talent, The Dunnas, Dawaun Parker, RADIx, Mr.

Unless you're the type who actually likes running 10K charity races, then it's rare that you get to enjoy yourself while doing the right thing. That said; here's an opportunity to party philanthropically, as Reef the Lost Cauze, Outerspace, 7L&Esoteric, Slaine, Jaysaun, Freddy Madball, and DJ Stress are rocking Church next Monday (10/19) to raise money for a friend in poor health.

The Mass Industry Committee (MIC) doesn’t mind that throwing Boston music award shows is more thankless than drumming. Nor do they anguish over criticism that their first two MIC Awards played favorites. Last week, committee organizers voted to ignore naysayer player haters and announced plans for a third gala in four years.

If I tried to write about every one of the 30-or-so rappers set to collectively slap Unity Fest at The Paradise next Thursday, I wouldn’t have time to fuck around on Facebook and Twitter all day. It would also be a waste of time considering how much I’ve already written about so many of the marquee artists.

It’s a good thing my grandmother stayed home from Necro’s show at the Middle East this past Saturday. She hates when musicians dump buckets of ice water on groupies’ heads, spit in their faces, and talk nasty to them in front of throngs of degenerate suburbanites.

We all expected what we got. Before the show began, Lateb and Slant of Heddshotts – who were opening the fandango – told me that they planned to drop the nastiest joint in their arsenal.

The Subaru limousine – which I assume belongs to Ernie Boch, Jr. (nominee: Outstanding Blues Act of the Year) – idling outside the Roxy last night was an appropriate metaphor for the 2008 Boston Music Awards. Despite it being a quasi-posh invite-only event (albeit one that any super fan could have easily penetrated), the gala didn’t reek of superficiality.