Kanye & Beyonce square off

Artists find all sorts of ways to spend their downtime on the road. For Kanye West, it's apparently with loads and loads of Connect 4. In his first post on his blog since his mother Donda passed away nearly two months ago, West wrote about his Connect 4 obsession, under the headline, "Thanks for all your support."

"When I was in Europe I would play this game for hours and hours...it helped me zone out," West wrote. "Everybody would get involved...but every now and then, people would speak of this legendary Connect 4 champion...BEYONCE!!! I had 2 play her!"

The two apparently had a chance to square off in a 10-game battle at the opening of Jay-Z's new 40/40 Club in Las Vegas, with Beyonce taking nine games in a row. "And I didn't even spaz, lol," West wrote.

Nate Dogg has stroke

Longtime G-Funk fans waiting for the next Nate Dogg release might have to keep waiting. The crooner, whose has turned many a rap song into a smash hit with his soulful singing, suffered a stroke on December 19, a coordinator for the hip-hop crooner's recently formed gospel choir, Innate Praise, told MTV News.

Erica Beckwith told MTV News that Nate Dogg was released on December 26 after being treated for a stroke and is currently in a medical rehab facility to assist him in his recovery.

Fergie gets engaged to Duhamel

Fergie capped off a year that saw her sell more than 7.5 million digital tracks--making her the top-selling digital artist of 2007--by getting engaged to boyfriend and actor Josh Duhamel. Duhamel's publicist Ruth Bernstein told the Associated Press this week that her client recently popped the question to the pop star, whose debut solo album is titled The Dutchess. She did not release any other details.

Duhamel, 35, told Best Life magazine in a recent interview that he's been dating 32-year-old Fergie for about three years and that they have bought a house together. Duhamel is the star of NBC's Las Vegas and appeared in the action movie Transformers. Fergie's song "Big Girls Don't Cry" was nominated for a Grammy award in the best female pop vocal category.

Winehouse has court date in Norway

With her husband in a heap of legal trouble, Amy Winehouse has a court date of her own next month in Norway, where she will face charges for marijuana possession. The charges stem from an incident last October when Winehouse and her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, were arrested in Bergen and held overnight for alleged illegal drug possession. The couple was released the next day after paying fines of $715 each on charges of possessing about one-quarter ounce of marijuana and continued on a European tour.

Winehouse has been summoned to appear February 29 in court in Bergen, Norway, after appealing her fine for marijuana possession. Winehouse claimed she had been tricked into signing the charges and didn't know what she had signed. Police say they are sure she knew and that fluent English speakers helped her. The singer's lawyer has said that a conviction and a fine could damage her career by making it more difficult for her to enter the US.

Winehouse is also reportedly set to renew her wedding vows with Fielder-Civil in Pentonville Prison, where he has been awaiting trial for obstruction of justice stemming from his alleged attempt to bribe a man he assaulted.

Yung Joc hopes to clear his name

Rapper Yung Joc, accused of taking a loaded gun to an airport last week, has called the incident a misunderstanding and said that he respects the law. Joc--real name Jasiel Robinson--was arrested Sunday at a Cleveland Hopkins International Airport security checkpoint. Police said they found a semiautomatic handgun and ammunition in his carry-on bag.

Robinson, 27, told police he didn't know the gun was there. He said in the statement that the incident is unfortunate. "I have the utmost respect for the laws of this country and would never deliberately commit an act that would jeopardize my freedom, my family, or my career," he said.

Robinson, who faces a felony charge of carrying a concealed weapon, didn't enter a plea at a Wednesday arraignment. He was freed on $50,000 bond and was due back in court January 25. The charge carries a possible sentence of up to 18 months.

Yung Joc was one of the biggest hip-hop stars in 2006, selling a million copies of his debut album New Joc City, behind the Grammy-nominated song "It's Goin' Down." His follow-up album Hustlenomic$ was released in August.

DMX inks label deal with Bodog

Probed but never charged in 2007 for alleged ties to dogfighting, DMX is now aligning himself with a subsidiary of gaming and entertainment company Bodog. The rapper has inked a deal with Bodog Music, the imprint of Bodog Entertainment International Group, which landed international distribution for Wu-Tang Clan's 8 Diagrams in 2007. DMX was dropped by Sony last year on the heels of a litany of run-ins with the law.

DMX's first album on Bodog will be called Walk With Me Now And You'll Fly With Me Later and will hit stores sometime in 2008. In an interview with MTV, DMX said it will be a rap-gospel album.

His lone album for Sony after leaving Def Jam, Year of the Dog...Again was released in 2006 and has sold 329,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.