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In case you missed it, Monica claimied her first ever No. 1 debut on Billboard`s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart last week. Her release, The Makings of Me landed at No. 8 that week on The Billboard 200, selling 93,000 copies.

(Although her previous album After the Storm did debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 with 186,000 copies sold in 2003)

I guess everytime tha beat dropped ya' girl cashed in real lovely. And in true Monica fashion, her first single off the album, "Everytime Tha Beat Dropped" is still on the Top 20 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Charts after blazing the airwaves all summer.

A couple songs to pay attention to on The Makings of Me are, "Sideline Ho" and "Get Away" which is a real deep track produced by JD. So, if you thought she was about to fall off or put out a dud, come again.

First off, next week is shaping up to be a big week in the city with releases coming from Shareefa, Lil' Boosie and Gucci Mane's long-anticipated "Hard to Kill" album. I'm looking forward to each one of these albums. Even Boosie says that his album is real strong top to bottom (18 of 'em) with no reason to skip through any tracks.

Check in with me next week for my interviews with Shareefa and Lil Boosie.

BEEF!! Did anybody catch the "Queen of the South" battle between Trina, Jacki-O, and Khia. It went down on BET's "Beef: The Series" and it's developing into a nice little catfight. In case you missed it you know BET will run it some ALOT more though. It's like everybody wants a piece of Khia these days? I know she's from Florida but now in Atlanta so she's gotta hold it down. But you know what they say, "If you have people talking about then you must be doing something right."

This weekend, Tom Joyner and "The Skyshow" will be in town doing it up real big at The Atlanta Civic Center on Saturday, Oct. 21st at 8 p.m. Those performing include Cameo, JoJo (Mary Jane Girls), Switch and Kindred. Real heads might recognize some serious sampling that has been done in the game from all of these cats (except Kindred).

I really do try to be as objective as possible, despite what some might think. Yes sir, I love the south but I do try to look at things with a certain amount of obectivity when it comes to this thing called hip hop.

With that said, I have to admit that a great deal of the music coming out of all the regions is bordering on monotony. Real talk, I don't know if it's the beats, the lyrics or what? But the game needs a serious shot in the arm right now.

Are we stuck on punchlines too much? What happened to hip hop commentary on not just one song, but how about the whole album. It means NOTHING if you talk about Hurricane Katrinavictims on one song and the next 15 you're talking about moving bricks for guap. That's just real. The public is a smart public, believe it or not.

We pay a bunch of attention to the male artists in the game out here, but who really is hip hop's boss female in the city right now? Is it....

1) Rasheeda - Former Big Cat Records veteran pimpstress; Strictly independent with MAJOR looks though

2) Diamond and Princess - They have skills, but where ya' been? "Rock Yo Hips" is the first real noise I've heard in a while. But damnit Diamond, you get sexier by the day, I saw you at The Dirty's.

3) Ms. B'Havin - "I Know You See It" was one of the hottest tracks this year.

4) Da Brat - Does she still hold the crown off of previous merits?