Young Jeezy publicly registered to vote this week. Good for him — hopefully some fans in Georgia follow his lead — but his registration was conveniently timed to coincide with his album's first week in stores. It debuted at No. 1 and 260,000 copies, that's about 170,000 more than the second runner ups, The New Kids on the Block sold.

Sir Terrence Howard also debuted on the charts this week, hitting the No. 31 spot and selling 14,000. Hey, it's his first try.

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Much has been said of Michael Phelps' pre-swim song selections. He likes a little Weezy, a little Jeezy, etc. The latter has now gotten word of the Olympic champion's penchant for his song with R. Kelly, "Go Getta." Jeezy totally understands how that song could inspire an elite athlete.

He told Rolling Stone, [R]eally all my music is inspirational, motivational music. You just gotta listen to the words and get what you can get out of it."

Let's test that theory. "I'll be the first to admit I'm such an alcoholic/ Only blow that good shit, yea, the whatchamacallit/ Catch me posted on the block in somethin' exotic/ '07, yeah, the same color Hypnotiq" I know I'm inspired! How about you?

Bonus: Jeezy says that Michael Phelps is like the "Young Jeezy of the swim world." Even Jeezy fan Michael Phelps would have to disagree with that one. [RS]

Nas spoke to MTV about the Jesse Jackson gonads controversy, and, in typical Nas fashion, made a few good points and then completely lost me. He claims that the reason we don't need Jesse Jackson anymore is because we have Nas, Barack Obama, David Banner, and Young Jeezy. Someone please explain.

"I think Jesse Jackson, he's the biggest player hater," Nas fumed during a conference call. "His time is up. All you old n—as, time is up. We heard your voice, we saw your marching, we heard your sermons. We don't wanna hear that sh– no more. It's a new day. It's a new voice. I'm here now. We don't need Jesse; I'm here. I got this. We got Barack, we got David Banners and Young Jeezys. We're the voice now. It's no more Jesse. Sorry. Goodbye. You ain't helping nobody in the 'hood. That's the bottom line. Goodbye, Jesse. Bye!"

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John McCain's a fan of Usher? Someone needs to ask him to sing one of his songs as a measure of verification. Until he tells a reporter he wants to make love in this club, I'm not believing a word of it. He claims he got into Usher, an active Barack Obama supporter, when they were on Saturday Night Live together.

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• Michelle Williams isn't getting any play on BET because her album isn't urban enough. [SR]

• Meanwhile, Kelly Rowland encouraging kids to have an open dialog about safe sex and HIV/AIDS. [CL]

• Black men unite against R. Kelly and his ilk. [WAOD]

• Young Jeezy was arrested yesterday, but not for selling coke. [AHH]

• That rumor about Diddy and Tracey Edmonds is supposedly true. Whatever — I can't keep up with either of them. [Bossip]

Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy's name came up recently where no one wants their name to come up — in federal court in connection with a cocaine distribution ring.

Simms testified that he worked for the Black Mafia Family and that he was charged with unloading the gang's cocaine from limousines with secret compartments. He told the court that he'd pile hundreds of bricks of coke in various stash houses and that, back in fall 2004, high-ranking BMF members Chad "J-Bo" Brown and Martez "Tito" Byrth ordered him to set aside multi-kilo cocaine "shipments" for two customers.

One of them, he said, was "Jeezy."

"The rapper?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney asked.

"Yes," Simms replied.

As of this time, it doesn't look like Jeezy (who refers to himself, ingeniously, as the Snowman) will be charged with any crimes. [MTV]

• The top 25 most important films on race. Watch 'em and weep. [Time]

• This video is like the story of my high school life. [Racialicious]

• In the Dumb Purchases Dept… [MCH]

• Anybody interested in the current relationship status of Jeezy and Keyshia Cole? [SR]

T.I., who pleaded not guilty (ha) in court today, might be free to walk out of jail next week. Well, that's only if "free" equals house arrest and millions in (cash) bail money. The gun-happy rapper had his star-studded bond hearing today, and pending a judge's approval of the bond conditions at a second hearing next week, he might be able to spend his time waiting for the trial at his Atlanta home. After authorities sweep it for contraband, of course.

The rapper - who was dressed in all black and bound in ankle shackles - had a team of high-powered attorneys backing him in court. Legal bigwigs Ed Garland along with long-time partner Don Samuel joined Steve Sadow and Dwight Thomas in defending the self-proclaimed King of the South.

And today, artists, industry heads, family and friends packed the courtroom in support of the king, including Young Jeezy

T.I.'s legal team offered $2.2 million in cash, plus $1.5 million in equity in property that he owns. In addition, Kevin Lyles, president of Warner Bros. Music Group and Lyor Cohen, president of Atlantic Records each offered up $100,000 of their own money.

Apparently, the courthouse was looking more like the TRL studio than a government building today. Oh, to be a rich and famous criminal!

[SOHH]

The American Music Award nominations are out, and Beyonce and Justin lead the group with 3 nominations each (so do Daughtry and Linkin Park, but that's beside the point). Not as entertaining as the VMAs (minus this awful year, of course) and the BET Awards, but not as stuffy and out of touch as the Grammys, the AMAs will probably get DVR'd, at least. Check out the full list of nominations after the jump.

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• Thanks for making sure we know who you are from the back when you're shirtless, Vince Young. [Jossip]

• A University of Memphis football player was fatally shot on campus yesterday, and, even though police believe the shooter left campus after the incident, classes were canceled today. Happy first semester. [AP]

• Who doesn't love a celebrity plastic surgery quiz? [BV]

• It took a white kid getting tasered to shed some light on a pretty messed up police practice. [NAM]

• Another one that should always wear a hat. [C&D]

So I've been on a subtle anti-R.Kelly rampage over the last few weeks, although I have admitted in the past, and in this morning's Rewound, a grudging respect for his hit-making acumen. How else can I dislike him so strongly as a person yet know all the words to his songs??? Anyway, it doesn't matter what I (although I'm definitely not alone) think, 386,000 of you bought his record Double Up, helping him to easily slide into the number one spot on the Billboard 200…for the sixth time. Also representing (and/or appropriating) black music is Jeezy at #7 and Amy Winehouse at #6. Poor Ne-Yo had to say bye-bye to the Top 10. The full list is after the jump.

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Quincy Jones feeds Michael Jackson the "I'm busy" line to avoid having to see him face to face. No judgment, Quincy. I would, too. [Starpulse]

PETA's offering free animal cruelty seminars to NFL players. Seriously. [DP]

Young Jeezy was arrested, and his bail was a paltry $284. Snowman, indeed. [SR]

Jay-Z fled his lawsuit drama stateside to visit Cannes and lay out with Beyonce in Monaco. [PR]

Lil' Wayne and Trina reenact the last scene of Love Jones on stage in Miami. [C&D]

The vast majority of the pictures from the Tao Beach Grand Opening festivities in Vegas over the weekend are pretty ridiculous, and the one above says it all. It screams we're-rich-and-powerful-and-drunk-and-our-girlfriends-aren't-here, doesn't it? I couldn't justify giving the photo of the two of them holding stacks of cash (I'm serious) the place of prominence in the post, but check it and others from the weekend out after the jump.

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Keyshia Cole and rumored lover Young Jeezy appearing for the first time in music video form. I would say they were cute together. But I'd be lying. [SOHH]

R.Kelly's wife comes out of hiding but says nothing to make us understand why she's still married to that man. [C&D]

Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown is planning on confronting Eddie Murphy at the premiere of Shrek 3 in two weeks. It's likely all of his legitimate kids and may some nieces and nephews will be in attendance. Great plan, Mel. [Bossip]

Having failed at an entertainment career, Solange Knowles' next job is to fail at being her older sister's manager. [CM]

It's time to snatch that Pretty Ricky CD away from your little sister. [C&I]

Two cardinal rules of black churches — don't go dressed in the same outfit you wore to the club the night before, and please, know your gospel spirituals.

Unfortunately for Keyshia Cole, who has had a hard enough time getting through life as it is (this you would know if you saw her BET show), she broke these two rules and showed an entire Easter congregation her ass…literally. Oh, and her breasts. Eurweb has a detailed account of Cole's impromptu church performance.

Cole was the last of the plentiful talent asked to perform impromptu at the 11:00 a.m. service (including gospel group The Singletons and Olie Woodson of the Temptations) at the Gardena, CA sanctuary.

Both the congregation’s reception of the singer and her delivery were unexpected. The situation was awkward before she sang a note.

In addition to the Bishop mistakenly introducing her with the wrong first name, she had a “wardrobe malfunction” that she was not aware of. Wearing a short dress with thin straps, apparently Cole bore more skin than was deemed appropriate for the church. When a female member of the church attempted to cover her with a shawl, the back of her dress was accidentally lifted. According to witnesses in the choir stand, Cole’s backside was exposed. The woman assisting Cole managed to cover her rear just before she stepped out to sing.

She reintroduced herself as a recording artist and asked everyone to pray that she keeps the faith to sing the right messages to the yourg women she reaches with her music. Without pause she broke into an undigestable version of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow" which got progressively worse each time she tried to make adjustments.

I wonder if her new boyfriend Young Jeezy was in the audience to offer moral support. Actually, Jeezy being in church at all would be more of a faux pas than performing "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" while you're basically nude.

[Source]