Mary J Blige Readies The Release Of Her First Ever Christmas Album -- Tha Wire [VIDEO]

In case you haven’t heard, Mary J. Blige is ushering in the holiday season a little early this year. The Queen of Hip Hop Soul just-released her new single, ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.’

Mary J. Blige attends the premiere of Betty and Coretta. photo by Craig Barritt-Getty Images

The cover song will appear on her holiday album, ‘A Mary Christmas.’ Though Mary has recorded several Christmas songs, believe it or not this will actually be her very first Christmas album.

In all Mary’s new holiday LP will include 12 tracks, with several being covers of classics like ‘This Christmas’. The album also has an interesting list of features like Barbara Streisand, Marc Anthony and even the Clark Sisters. Here's a listen to Mary's new single and for more info on her album, listen to Tha Wire below.

There are plenty of rappers on Instagram, but fans were pleasantly surprised to see that hip-hop icon Q-Tip has now joined the popular photo-sharing website.

Q-Tip attends Tribeca Talks: Music And Film during the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival on April 23, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

Unlike most people Q, qtiptheabstract (his Instagram username) didn’t post a pic of himself, instead he posted Hip Hop history….the original lyric sheet to A Tribe Called Quest classic ‘Check the Rhime’.

The instagram pic is handwritten lyrics written on a yellow notepad and is pretty cool to see. Especially given the fact that it includes lyrics he crossed that didn’t make the cut and mis-spelling n stuff.

So far, there are only two photos on his page. But hopefully, Q-Tip will continue to give his 4,000 followers a hip-hop history lesson through photos. And maybe share a selfie or two.

In the meantime, I’m happy to say Q-Tip is working on his fourth solo album, and I've got more details on that below with Tha Wire.

TI during GREY GOOSE Vodka hosts Tip Harris' birthday celebration on September 28, 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images for GREY GOOSE)

Finally, it’s congrats to T.I. Tip landed a big TV role on the hit series “House of Lies,” which stars Don Cheadle. According to Television industries Deadline, the Grand Hustle rapper will appear in multiple episodes on the 3^rd season of the show. T.I. will play a character named Lukas. Listen to Tha Wire now to get a breakdown on how his character interacts on the show.