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Congressmen are already lining up to label the Boston Marathon bombing as yet another failure of the U.S. intelligence community. The head of America’s 16 spy agencies has a response for the Capitol Hill critics: back off.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper urged Americans today “not to hyperventilate for a while before we get all the facts.” In his most substantial public comments on the Boston attacks to date, provided at a suburban Washington intelligence conference, Clapper warned that finding the bombers in advance would require an invasion of Americans’ privacy by the government that citizens would likely find intolerable.

“The rules were abided by, as best as I can tell at this point,” he said at the confab, called the 12th Annual C4ISR Journal Conference. “The dots were connected.”

Clapper and the spy community are facing questions about whether it was possible to detect suspected bombers and U.S. citizens Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev before the attack on April 15 that killed three people and wounded 180. While it appears the bombing was unconnected to any group or foreign actor — and hence hard to detect in advance — the FBI acknowledged it interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011 at the behest of a foreign intelligence agency, believed to be Russia, but “did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign.” At the CIA’s request, his name went into a government database, known as the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, the Washington Post reported today, months after the FBI closed its inquiry. When Tamerlan Tsarnaev took a trip to Russia in January 2012, the Department of Homeland Security was “pinged” from a different database, the Treasury Enforcement and Communication System, but not upon his return to the U.S. six months later.

“The ball was dropped,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said on CNN earlier this week. “We’re at war with radical Islamists and we need to up our game.”

Clapper cautioned that “just being in a database is not necessarily indicative of current nefarious behavior.” The databases can include information on people who merely meet others whom the government considers suspicious; the criteria for inclusion on them is not public.

Members of Congress are starting to ask if the spy agencies couldn’t have gone further to monitor the suspects. “Was that [travel] information shared in with the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force?” asked Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.), the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, after Clapper spoke. “His departure from the U.S. would warrant a second look, I would think.”

Clapper contended that detecting the bombers required giving the spy agencies even broader powers to monitor Americans’ online activity. To what extent do Americans “want the government monitoring U.S. citizens’ behavior, monitoring their social media,” he asked, referencing to jihadist imagery posted on Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s YouTube channel. “How intrusive do you want Big Brother to be?” It’s worth mentioning, however, that the spy community has long monitored social media and online behavior.

Clapper also mused that it was “amusing and ironic” that some who tend to doubt Russia suddenly give credence to Russian warnings about the elder Tsarnaev. “You know, whenever the Russians say anything about arms control issues, we’re very suspicious, you know, we’re supposed to trust but verify, not accept what the Russians say,” Clapper said. “But in this case we accept it, whatever they say, without question.”

McCaul, in his later talk, pushed back against drawing the conclusion that the attacks weren’t foreign sponsored, calling it “astounding” that “intelligence officials” are embracing it. “I reserve judgment until the evidence comes in,” McCaul said. “They’re scrubbing his computer right now.”

Clapper is sure to face further questions from McCaul’s colleagues in the coming weeks about Boston. “The bigger issue here,” he contended, “is what is the government’s responsibility to mind-read, and determine the point at which an individual might self-radicalize? In every testimony, virtually all the [intelligence] leadership has spoken to the difficulty of detecting the lone wolf, and it is a very tough problem.”

Oakland, California artist V-Nasty has officially severed ties with the Kreayshawn-led White Girl Mob and in its place the rapper has reportedly inked an impressive deal with Pinnacle Records. V-Nasty spoke further on her independent deal with the Las Vegas-based label as part of a recent interview with LA Weekly.

While speaking on her nearly $1 million deal, V-Nasty doted on the ability to have “more freedom” as an artist signed to Pinnacle Records and revealed that her contract is currently set for three years.

“It’s an independent deal. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s independent as far as working with each other. It’s for three years of music and shit, but I’m ready to just keep going with them,” V-Nasty revealed. “Of course, we’re gonna get more artists and shit. It’s big. It’s not no regular Warner Bros., but I feel I’m in a better position. More freedom.”

As far as her departure from the White Girl Mob is concerned, V-Nasty shared that the move was a result of various members growing apart. Although V-Nasty has no hard feelings towards former White Girl Mob member Lil Debbie, she says her relationship with Kreayshawn is irreparable.

“People just have their differences in life. A lot of people grow and feel a lot of different ways about certain situations,” the rapper explained. “Sometimes you just got to separate yourself from the negative and put yourself into a better position. I’m from the hood, but at the same time, if you’re sitting in the streets for 20 years, do you ignore that there’s a whole ‘nother life you could be living? Let that shit go. Fuck White Girl Mob. What is that? It’s just a name at the end of the day. It was a friendship. Motherfuckers just grow apart…I’m the type of person who’s very loyal. I got Debbie’s back, I don’t speak bad on nobody. I just don’t fuck with Kreayshawn like that. We ain’t cool. I don’t see myself kicking it with her and being real.”

The 2013 Billboard Music Award nominations are in!

Rihanna scored an impressive 10 nominations this year, according to Billboard’s official site. She’s nominated in the following categories: Top Artist, Top Female Artist, Top 100 Artist, Top Radio Song Artist, Top Social Artist, Top Streaming Artist, Top R&B Artist, Top R&B Album (Unapologetic), Top R&B Song (“Diamonds”), Top Dance Song (“Where Have You Been”).

She’s not the only artist who gained major recognition—Maroon 5, Taylor Swift and fun. scored 11 nominations each. Drake scored two nominations in the Top Male Artist and Top Rap Artist categories while Nicki Minaj was recognized in the Top Female Artist, Top Streaming Artist, Top Rap Artist, Top Dance Song, Top Rap Album categories. Alicia Keys scored nominations in the Top R&B Artist, Top R&B Album and Top R&B Song categories.

Nominations are determined based on the Billboard charts from February 27, 2012 to February 24, 2013 and also take into account download sales, radio airplay and social media hype on Twitter, Facebook and more, according to Entertainmenntwise.

Tracy Morgan will host this year’s ceremony set for May 19 in Las Vegas.

From his alleged beef with former affiliate Waka Flocka Flame to his current incarceration, Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane has found himself engulfed in controversy over the past few weeks. The damaging events surrounding Gucci have even led some to question whether or not the rapper is in need of an intervention. Among those to voice their thoughts on the Brick Squad artist receiving a possible intervention was Young Money rapstress Nicki Minaj.

While speaking with Atlanta’s Hot 107.9, Nicki revealed that she hadn’t spoken to the rapper in quite some time and later went on to breakdown the difference between Gucci Mane the artist and Gucci Mane the person before speaking on the possibility of an intervention.

“So, it’s like I separate Gucci the artist from Gucci the person. Gucci the person is a sweet, loving, carefree, funny, hardworking dude. And so I never really paid attention to anything he said,” Nicki explained. “In terms of intervention, I think about how talented he is and I kind of wish there was somebody that could step in and say ‘Gucci, if you only knew how special you were. You would take a moment to really just get centered.’ I just think he really needs to center himself and not to point fingers because I’ve had moments when I needed to center myself. Sometimes you just need to be alone in a meditating type of place and to just kinda block out all the other noise.”

Nicki also went on to give props to Gucci for revolutionizing the underground mixtape world and shared that he’s an artist she’ll always have respect for.

“I think that if he can get to that place he’ll be great because nobody can ever deny the fact that he kind of revolutionized a lot of things in the underground mixtape world,” said Nicki. “He also spawned a lot of careers…He motivated me a lot. I loved being around him, he’s a hustler. And so, no matter what I will always respect Gucci.”

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In a new TMZ report, unnamed sources said to be close to the deal tell the celebrity news and gossip site that Ross stands to lose between $3 and $5 million dollars through the botched deal. Neither Reebok nor Ross have spoken about the financial terms of their now-forfeited agreement, however, TMZ alleges that Ross was receiving pay each time he wore Reebok sneakers.

“I never got a check from Young Money/Cash Money,” Tyga said in the interview. “But by me saying that, I’ve always treated my career like independent and everything that I got is because of myself, my own endorsements, me touring, myself. I think I got a signing bonus when I first signed but that was it.”

He continued, “At a certain time, you get your money but at the same time, they pay for your videos and all that other stuff. But I never really was dependent on the label like that. I felt if I wanted to be independent, I could do that because it would be no difference. I would still tour, put out albums and still sell out shows.”

According to the California Highway Patrol, officers spotted the comedian driving in a black Mercedes on the 101 Freeway at around 4:30 AM PT. The CHP says he was “driving erratic,” “going 90 MPH” and “almost collided with a gas tanker truck.”

The CHP says when they pulled Hart over, he showed “objective signs of intoxication” and was “unable to perform field sobriety tests.”

He was booked into a local jail for misdemeanor DUI just before 6:00 AM PT and posted a $5,000 bond.