Lil’ Wayne has once again become the main subject of rap fans, and it’s not because rapper is headed to jail in 2010. Lil’ Wayne’s official mixtape, “No Ceilings,” has become a massive hit online.

The success of “No Ceilings” couldn’t come at a better time for Wayne. The rapper recently pleaded guilty to attempted possession of a weapon in the second degree. While the guilty plea spared him a possible 3 1/2-to-7-year prison sentence, Wayne expects to serve one-year in jail.

Wayne will be sentenced in February.

The “No Ceilings” mixtape, which contains over twenty tracks including skits and interludes, can be downloaded here. Part 1 | Part 2

01 Swag Surfin’
02 Ice Cream Paint Job
03 D.O.A.
04 Interlude
05 Wasted
06 Watch My Shoes
07 Break Up f. Gudda Gudda & Short Dawg
08 Banned From TV
09 Throw It In The Bag (rmx)
10 I Think I Love Her f. Tyga & Shanell
11 Interlude 2
12 Wetter
13 I’m Good f. T-Streets
14 Make Her Say f. Jae Millz
15 Run This Town
16 I Gotta Feeling
17 Outro

Last night we broke the story that Google would be teaming with a number of well known artists to launch a promotion for its Music Onebox search, which was releasedlast week. Turns out, it’s launching a bit sooner than we thought: beginning tonight a number of well known artists will be offering exclusive songs and free downloads through Google’s Music search. To get the freebies and exclusives, simply run a Google query for the artist’s name (the album name works too in some cases).

One clarification: while these songs are being presented and promoted on Google, they’ll also be available on the site that’s actually streaming the songs — be it MySpace or Lala. In MySpace’s case the songs could also be potentially be surfaced on other search engines, though it sounds like artists will be asking their fans to search for them on Google as part of the promotion.

Included among artists giving away free MP3s as part of the promotion are:
Tim McGraw
Phoenix
Major Lazer
Mos Def
Zee Avi

And the following exclusives are being showcased on Google as well:

AFI – “Torch Song (Demo From Crash Love Sessions)”
– Search on Google for “AFI”

Arctic Monkeys – “Catapult”
– Search on Google for “Arctic Monkeys”

Bon Jovi – “We Weren’t Born To Follow [Acoustic Version] (Recorded Live From Inside The Actor’s Studio)”
Dead by Sunrise – “Let Down [Live]”
Green Day – “Know Your Enemy [Live In Tokyo]”
Kings of Leon – “Crawl (Miike Snow Remix)”
Lady Gaga – “Paparazzi (David Aude Remix)”
Linkin Park – “New Divide [Live]”
Luke Bryan – “Better Than My Heart”
Norah Jones – “Young Blood”
One Republic – “All The Right Moves (Live)”
Paramore – “Where The Lines Overlap [Acoustic Version]”
Snoop Dogg – “Upside Down (Featuring Nipsey Hussle)”
The Fray – “Be The One (Demo Version)”
Trey Songz – ” LOL [feat. Gucci Mane & Soulja Boy Tell 'Em] [Logan deGaulle Remix]”
Weezer – “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To (Live In Kansas City)”
Zac Brown Band – “Chicken Fried [Live From Bonnaroo]”

New 50 Cent feat. Neyo Single “Baby By Me” off 50 Cent’s Before I Self Destruct Album.

Watch the Blueprint 3 album cover come to life in this fascinating behind-the-scenes video.

Jay-Z confirmed that the graphic that hit the Internet on Monday (August 3) — a gaggle of white instruments piled together in a corner with three red horizontal lines over them — is the artwork for Blueprint 3. “It’s the album cover,” Jay told us Tuesday in Brooklyn, on the set of his Roc-A-Wear commercial.

Jay said he chose to highlight the instruments on his cover because he felt they have been overlooked.

“These things are like the forgotten pieces in hip-hop,” Hov explained. “It’s still about music. It’s not about radio, making gimmicks — it’s still about making music. Those things are piled in the corner. These are the forgotten things about music. It’s still about music. It’s not about radio, it’s not about making gimmicks, it’s about music. The three stripes that everybody is asking about is made from the original [number] three. The first three they made on the wall was someone carving. If you look at [the number] 3, all they did was connect lines. The whole thing about this album, how I approached it, is that I wanted to make a new classic to start that all over again — to go back to making classic albums like the ones we grew up listening to.”

Jay is up for two VMAs. “I feel fantastic,” he said after hearing the news of the nominations.

Hov’s Blueprint 3 will be released on September 11.