Posted July 14, 2008- Missy Elliott is sizing up Jennifer Hudson as the lead in her biopic, a film about the top-selling female emcee of all time that originally had Elliott cast as herself. “Being as she’s a heavier-sized artist, she is in the same lane as I was when I first came out. She’d be closest to me,” Elliott said about the Oscar-winning star. Ironically this news arrives around the same time as fans claim Hudson’s debut album cover art makes the “Dreamgirl” appear significantly thinner than expected. Hudson’s Spotlight is slated to be in stores Sep. 30. Elliott’s untitled film project, being produced by actor Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Films company, has no announced production schedule as of yet.

Apparently a clean act is high-priority to Usher who recently submitted an open letter to People.com to clear up rumors about his family life and is featured with pictures of his baby son on the cover of the new Essence magazine. According to Ursh he’s been preparing for a life of “substance” even before the family arrived. “I started making Here I Stand [his most recent album] before I had my son and before I was married. It was a deliberate choice to make music with substance, not just about the things that we’re accustomed to – music about being the celebrity, the player, or having the car, the girl and the bling.” In fact, the R&B star is so conventional these days he’s slated to perform at the Democratic National Convention in Denver next month in support of Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency.

Also in clean-up mode are rappers Coolio and Ludacris. Coolio has been selected as a spokesperson for the Environmental Justice and Climate Change program launched last Friday (Jul. 11) to educate students at HBCU’s about how to green their campus. Meanwhile, Ludacris’s sustainable efforts begin airing Aug. 3 for the show “Battleground Earth” and reportedly include filling his gas tank with grease from a fast food joint and the world’s “largest group shower.” Since filming the show wrapped, Luda announced he’s making lifestyle changes. “I’m working on getting solar panels on my house in Georgia, and I just bought a Tahoe hybrid,” he told ContactMusic.com.