EXCLUSIVE: Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Johnson Inspired By Pac, B.I.G.

The 2012 Olympic Games commenced on Friday (July 28) in London, with an epic opening ceremony featuring a number of famous musicians, including rapper Dizzee Rascal.

During the first weekend of the Games, AllHipHop.com caught up with U.S. Olympic champion, Michael Johnson, who competed in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and won four gold medals.

During the Atlanta Games in 1996, Johnson created a new world record in the 300 meters and 400 meters which he still holds. Johnson famously broke the world record by wearing a pair of golden shoes and sprinting with an upright stance.

After the Atlanta Games, he went on to partner with Nike to release his golden shoes. In 2004, Johnson was elected to the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame for his 200 m performance at the 1996 Olympics.

According to Johnson, when he is training, he listens to a variety of music.

“My musical influences are pretty much anything R&B,” Michael Johnson told AllHipHop.com. “Sixties and 70′s R&B, a little bit of Hip-Hop, probably some Jazz. [It's] a very eclectic mix of music.”

When he was actually competing in the Olympics for his gold medals, Michael Johnson revealed that it was the music of Tupac Shakur and Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace that inspired him the most.

“The Hip-Hop I listen to is mostly 1990′s, 2000, Tupac. I’ve gotten too old for new music,” Johnson laughed. “But it was mostly Tupac and Biggie,” who revealed that his favorite song by Tupac is the rapper’s 1993 classic “Me Against the World.”

Michael Johnson is currently in the UK covering the London 2012 Games for the BBC.

Check out the exclusive clip below:

Pusha T Performs in Miami

G.O.O.D. Music’s Pusha T took his talents to Miami’s South Beach this weekend with a performance at Club Arkadia.

Cash Money’s newest member DJ Stevie J (not to be confused with “Love & Hip Hop’s Stevie J) manned the turntables through the night, as well as DJ Ideal, who spun a slew of hit records from the G.O.O.D. Music camp.

The guests DJs ushered in Pusha T to a number of his older and recent hits from both the mainstream and mixtape circuit. Pusha T is currently preparing for the release of his label family’s anticipated Cruel Summer compilation in August.

Watch AlHipHop.com’s exclusive Pusha T performance footage here:

50 Cent Founds Boxing Promotion Company, Is Expected To Sign Two Fighters

50 Cent is on to the next business venture, as he enters the world of boxing promotion.

50 Cent's longstanding friendship with championship boxer Floyd Mayweather is no secret. Fif has regularly attended Mayweather's fights, and has participated in the fighter's entrance to the ring several times.

Now, 50 looks to begin his own boxing promoting business, founding TMT Promotion, with the TMT standing for The Money Team.

The Vitamin Water mogul and purveyor of video games, energy drinks, and various books has TMT licensed in New York, and is in the process of applying for a license in Nevada.

Sports Illustrated reports that 50 will be working with Mayweather, and that he is expected to sign former featherweight title holder Yuri Gamboa and super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell.

Ghostface Killah, Just Blaze & Masta Ace Respond To Colorado Massacre

Three of Hip Hop's finest took to Twitter to respond to the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado.

The world was shocked and saddened when news broke that former PhD student James Eagan Holmes opened fire on a crowded movie theater during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12  people and injuring dozens more. Now, members of the Hip Hop community respond to the tragedy.

In the wake of yesterday's events, rappers Ghostface Killah and Masta Ace reached out to the victims of the shooting and their families via Twitter to send their prayers and condolences. Producer Just Blaze took a harder line on the issue, hoping that the killer Holmes spend the rest of his life locked "under the jail."

@GhostfaceKillah
Ghostface KillahNot happy about the babies being lost. Toronto, Chicago, & Colorado!
Jul 20 via Twitter for iPad  Favorite Retweet Reply

@mastaace
Masta AceIncident in Colorado movie theater is crazy! And very sad. Pray for the victims and their families.
Jul 20 via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Reply

@JustBlaze
Just BlazeDon't believe in the death penalty. But put that dude in Colorado under the jail forever with nothing of the pics of those he killed.
Jul 20 via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Reply

In related news, HipHopWired recently ran a report giving insight into the shooter Holmes's unstable mindset. According to the story, one of Holmes's neighbors recalls him responding to Lil Wayne song that she had been playing with a racist pejorative.

"[A]nother neighbor, Rachel Reed, 25, recalled seeing Holmes a number of times on the stoop, with his backpack," reads the report. "A couple of months ago she ran into him at the Zephyr, where she had put a Lil Wayne rap song on the jukebox. Holmes disapproved, she said, preferring rock 'n' roll music. He came over and 'made some racially charged comments about rap,' she said."

DX sends its prayers to the victims of the tragedy.

EXCLUSIVE: Estate Of Notorious B.I.G. Denies Connection To Men Arrested In Book Theft

(AllHipHop News) Representatives for the estate of the Notorious B.I.G. have denied reports that they are connected with a musical about the rapper’s life, after two men were arrested in connection with a bizarre theft from a bookstore on Tuesday (July 17).

Writers Alfred Green and Raheim Pope had claimed they were producing a musical titled “Ready 2 Die,” which would focus on Notorious B.I.G.

Green and Pope were arrested for stealing $888 books from a Barnes & Noble in Westport, Connecticut.

The two men initially denied the stolen booty found in a Jaguar with Georgia plates was theirs.

At the station, a tip from Green lead to a cavity search of Pope, who had hidden the key to the getaway Jaguar in his rectum.

“Please note that this is an unauthorized play. Our firm has previously sent a cease and desist notice and any association with the Estate of Christopher Wallace or Notorious B.I.G. are unauthorized,” a rep for Notorious B.I.G.’s estate told AllHipHop.com.

Green and Pope issued a casting call for the unauthorized play back in March, but the estate warned B.I.G.’s fans that they are not supporting the musical.

“There is no connection or association between the Estate of Notorious B.I.G. and Alfred Green and Raheim Pope,” the rep told AllHipHop.com.