Holiday Weekend News Roundup! Nicki for Romney; Pippa’s Gentleman Callers

NICKI WILL TEACH YOU ALL ABOUT TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS.

Happy Tuesday! Here’s our compendium of pop-culture news you may have missed while you were doing more important things over the long holiday weekend.

• Lil Wayne’s Dedication 4 mixtape dropped over the weekend, and one lyric has been getting all the attention: a guest spot by Nicki Minaj, in which she raps that she’s “a Republican, voting for Mitt Romney / you lazy bitches are fucking up the economy.” “Beez in the TARP,” riiight? [THR]

• Russell Crowe got lost while kayaking off Long Island on Saturday night and was picked up by the Coast Guard; the officer said, “It wasn’t really a rescue. Really, more of just giving someone a lift,” and we won’t be surprised if Crowe rewards his discretion with a couple of tickets to the Noah premiere. [People]

• Pippa Middleton has certainly been busy while in New York taking meetings about her upcoming book: on Sunday, she spent the day with André Balazs and partied at the Electric Room with Sean Avery in the evening. [NYDN]

• The Possession and Lawless opened at the top of the box office , with $21.3M and $15.1M, respectively, over the long weekend. The Expendables 2 held on with $11.2M, and The Bourne Legacy and ParaNorman pulled in $9.4M and $8.9M. Ho hum. Bring on the Oscar movies! [BOM]

• Actor Michael Clarke Duncan died of a heart attack at age 54 yesterday, according to his fiancée, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth. [NYT]

• Chris Lighty, the founder of hip-hop management firm Violator Management, also passed away over the weekend; he shot himself in the head. So sad. [Pitchfork]

• NPR’s new First Listen streams this week include The Avett Brothers’ The Carpenter, David Byrne and St. Vincent’s Love This Giant, and The xx’s long-awaited sophomore album Coexist. Go check them out! [NPR]