Ashanti
Photo: MTV News

Ashanti and Ja Rule were among the many who took to the stage during VH1's "Hip Hop Honors" celebration that paid tribute to Def Jam Records.

The former standout stars on the label performed their hit, "Down A-- Chick." Together they ruled the charts during their Def Jam run, scoring hits from both of their albums separately and in collaboration. So reuniting for the festivities wasn't a hard thing to do, according to Ashanti.

"It's been great," she told MTV News before the show. "I haven't performed with Ja since — I can't even remember it's been so long. We talked to each other on the phone and we said, 'Yo, we gonna make it hot! It's gonna be like old times.' It feels good. When we did the rehearsal, the chemistry was there."

Next up the songstress is readying a new album, her first since parting ways with Irv Gotti and Murder Inc. Records earlier this year. The untitled project is slated for release next year on her own Written Entertainment imprint, she said.

For her forthcoming album, her fifth overall, Ashanti said she's working with a mix of new and familiar faces, including the writer behind her last album's biggest hit, "The Way That I Love You."

"I've been working with a lot of people," she said. "These new producers, The American Dream, Warren Campbell, L.T. [Hutton] again, who did my last single. So it's been good."

In May Irv Gotti confirmed to MTV News that Ashanti would be parting ways with the Inc. The move was expected after her last album, The Declaration, was put together with little input from her former label head. Gotti said it's no longer possible for the pair to create music.

"The relationship has run its course," Gotti explained at the time.

"The chemistry of what's needed — we're in two totally different places. You're talking to somebody that took her and shaped and molded her and put her out there for the world, and it blew up. We [hold the record] for the [fastest] selling debut by a female R&B artist — 503 [thousand]. We did it! My views and philosophies and her views and philosophies are not meeting up."

• 'VH1 Hip Hop Honors' 2009
• Luda, Fab, Eve And More Show Up For VH1's 'Hip Hop Honors'

• Ashanti
• Ja Rule

Ja Rule's <i>The Mirror</i>
Photo: Phantom Sound & Vision

Ja Rule's long-delayed The Mirror LP is finally coming out. According to a source close the project, Rule is releasing the LP, which was recorded in 2007, via free download Friday on DoctorExclusive.com.

Rule was unable to be reached for comment at press time, and producer Irv Gotti declined comment.

Back in 2007, Ja explained that the LP would provide a better perspective of who he is.

"I think the public has their own perceptions of Ja Rule," the Queens MC said two years ago. The Mirror was slated to arrive in stores November 13 of that year. "It's a lot of different [things]. They see me from the music that I make, but it's weird. It depends on what you know about me. But when you think about the public and the artist, really all what they see and know is what you portray on that screen. Perception is reality, so I think that people think that I'm a guy that just ... it's hard to tell what they perceive me as, but I know it's not what I am. ... And that's why I wanted to make this album. I wanted to give them insight into who I am.

"I have conversations with myself," he explained. "I talk to the guy in the mirror. He never answers back; it's always the same guy that asks the questions and answers the questions. [Laughs.] But the funny thing about that is, it's your moment of truth. You can't lie to yourself. And I'm sitting there and I'm looking in the mirror, and I'm saying to myself ... 'This person you see in the mirror ... you know who this person is, you know him very well. But is this the same person that your public sees when you walk outside? No. They don't have a clue who the f--- that person is in that mirror.' "

Ja is working on a brand-new LP as well as on projects for his new label, the Empire Music Group.

"I'm working. I'm not in a rush," Ja told Mixtape Daily recently about his upcoming album. "I'm doing good work in the community with my Life Foundation. That's always a plus. But as far as the music side, I'm in the studio working every day. I'm about to go in the studio and work right now and finish up on the album. The album's coming out incredible. It's very different. I wanted to make it special. I wanted the album to be out of this world, and it's definitely shaping up to that."

Before Ja puts another album out, however, he's releasing a mixtape called Welcome to Rule York.

Track list for Ja Rule's The Mirror, according to the rapper's camp:

» "Mirror Intro"
» "Message to Mankind"
» "Uh-Oh"
» "Body"
» "Sunset"
» "300"
» "Enemy of the State"
» "Ladies"
» "Father Forgive Me"
» "Judas"
» "Damn"
» "The Mirror"
» "Somethin New"
» "Rules of Engagement"
» "It's All Hood Now"
» "Hear Say"
» "Sing a Prayer for Me"

• Ja Rule

LOX
Photo: D-Block

We have a lot of the hip-hop superstars circulating in the underground current this week. You already saw what we did with 50 on Friday — and the G-Unit general has a lot more to say. Check for that soon. Today though, we're giving the ball to one of the best rap groups of all-time, the LOX. Obviously we all know they have their crew of artists, D-Block, and we went up to Yonkers to their new studio to check the fellas out. (Sheek, we missed you — catch you on the rebound!) Also, in Streets Is Talking, we have a cat that hasn't been heard from in a while.

Anyway, we had so much content for our Miami Week last week that we decided to drop some gems on you.

This Week's Main Pick

Street Kings: D-Block

"Whoever doesn't put in, doesn't play," Styles joked, looking directly at one of the new D-Block recruits, Bully. The LOX are excited to see how the streets handle a full dose of the guys they are tapping as the next dangerous MCs.

"We got a massive team," Styles said as he and 'Kiss ran through the names on the roster.

"New money, new studio, new artists, new projects — new," Jada smiled.

The roster includes Straw, A.P. (About Paper), Chary Ary, Bully, Snyp Life, Large Amount, Tommy Star, Don D, Ty and S.I.

	MIXTAPE DAILY Who's next and who dominates — right here, all week long!.
	»The LOX Present D-Block
	»Other Notables: 50 Cent and Young Buck

"We always been comfortable with the lineup, because that's our little brothers — it's being comfortable with their work ethic and where their mind was. As far as artists, we felt they was cut from the cloth we was cut. They spit hard, they live what they talk. They know about this game, working hard nights, 24/7, 365. They know that. It's official.

"It most importantly starts in the studio," Jada added. "If ain't a life-or-death situation, you should be in the lab. If you can't be in the booth, be somewhere else with a beat CD playing. Everything else will fall in line."

The gully crew said their compilation album title is self-explanatory. Who would D-Block ever fear?

"We are the genuine article," Styles added. "We are each other's security. It's hard to understand when somebody say they was gangsta, they was on the block — then you got retired cops and other types of people protecting you."

'Kiss says they get so much love, who needs protection?

"When you hands on with the fans, it's better," he advised to fellow artists. "They spending 15 dollars on your project, they love you. They wanna touch you."

After this album gets a chance to breathe, Styles and 'Kiss say they have it all planned out. Jada is talking about dropping another album called Top Five, Dead or Alive at the end of the year and hopefully a LOX album will come before or around the same time.

"Now that this is wrapped up, it's full focus on that," he said about diverting the attention from No Security to the new LOX LP. "After we get this No Security out, you'll hear more talks on the LOX album. It's gonna be ridiculously nuts."

Joints To Check For

» "Like That Y'all." "It's real hip-hop," Jadakiss said. "Big shout-out to Pete Rock on the track. That's just bringing hip-hop back. Not saying it went anywhere, but you don't really get those types of songs on the radio or the video. [We're] just spittin' back-to-back. Sheek, Styles, myself, Snyp on the hook. We got another version with all the new cats on it. Just hip-hop at its origin. Not radio friendly, not club friendly. 'It's like that y'all.' If you know about that phrase right there, you know about hip-hop. That's how they used to warm the mics back in the day. 'Check one, two. It's like that y'all!' "

» "Trouble." "That too — it's real hip-hop," Styles explained.

"Big shout out to Chuck D!" Jada added.

"It's definitely a Chuck D rendition," Styles said. "We did it over ... trouble on our mind ... things be on our mind. Sometimes as an MC, you gotta go in the booth and go nuts. That's what we did. 'Trouble' really reflects an MC getting off his frustrations in a real nice way."

"No matter what, we refuse to lose," Jada said.

» "Let's Get Doe." "We wanted to do something classic and reflect the big homies," Snyp said. "Big shout out to G-Spin. The music spoke for itself. The hook was already done. All we had to do was come in and add our little part. There you have it."

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground

Ashanti got dropped, Lloyd wants off — Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. roster may be decreasing by two, but I.G. has one guy that's hanging loyal: Ja Rule. Yes, Rule is still down and insists he's coming back — but at his own pace.

"I'm working. I'm not in a rush," Ja said about his upcoming album. "I'm doing good work in the community with my Life Foundation. That's always a plus. But as far as the music side, I'm in the studio working every day. I'm about to go in the studio and work right now and finish up on the album. The album's coming out incredible. It's very different. I wanted to make it special. I wanted the album to be out of this world, and it's definitely shaping up to that. I'm not in a rush. I got a new situation — my Empire Music Group. Gotti's got Murder Inc. We're both still together — there's no separation. We're both together doing what we do, but I got my own situation and I got new artists. We're putting it together."

For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines.

• Mixtape Daily Video: Drake, Kanye West, 50 Cent, D-Block & More

• The Lox
• D-Block
• Ja Rule

Tim Kash and Rick Ross
Photo: MTV News

Rick Ross lined up almost all of 50 Cent's musical foes for a remix of "Mafia Music." Ja Rule, the Game and Fat Joe all send ill will toward the G-Unit on the song, which hit the Net over the weekend.

"I f---ed you up once, f---ed you twice, and you still talking sh--," Rule raps on the record. "Curly, get off my di--."

Fat Joe threatens the Unit and references the infamous 50 Cent chain-snatching incident in Africa, when a fan jumped onstage and grabbed Fif's bling.

"Still went to Africa, still wore the big chain," Joe raps. "Where you got robbed at, n---a, on the same stage."

Ross gets really personal on the song, name-checking 50's son in the song and claiming to have the boy's mother in a hotel suite.

"I put a million on it, this pu--- don't want it," Ross declares. "Show up in his 'hood with the wolves by the morning."

There is one glaring omission on the "Mafia Music" remix: estranged Unit member Young Buck.

"Young Buck is my homie," Ross told MTV News recently in New York. "I ain't even ask Young Buck to get on the remix, because I'm a business man. I understand the position Young Buck is in. ... I wouldn't even ask him to be a part of that for his business' sake. Handle your business, Buck. Whatever you need from me, I got you. Other than that, we'll ride later."

Ross' Deeper Than Rap drops April 21.

• Rick Ross (Hip-Hop)
• Game
• Fat Joe
• Ja Rule
• 50 Cent

Busta Rhymes (file)
Photo: Getty Images/ Bryan Bedder

The entrance to Manhattan Criminal Court in New York looked more like a red carpet at a hip-hop awards show Wednesday morning (November 7) when Busta Rhymes, Ja Rule, Lil Wayne and Remy Ma all made court appearances within hours of one another.

The rappers were all appearing before judges on a variety of charges, from misdemeanor assault to drug possession and attempted murder, and, for the most part, they made brief appearances before their respective judges that lasted just a few minutes. Still, the drama surrounding their arrivals turned some heads.

"It's a coincidence," Remy Ma told New York's Daily News. Wearing a skintight Moschino outfit to her hearing, the rapper and her hip-hop cohorts set camera phones clicking as they arrived to court in a variety of luxury SUVs, the paper reported.

Busta Rhymes (born Trevor Smith) was first up, standing in front of a judge for just a few minutes for what was to be the beginning of his trial on a number of charges, including two misdemeanor assaults, drunk driving and driving with a suspended license. According to Rhymes' lawyer, Scott Leemon, the appearance was adjourned until January 23 when the judge said he needed more time to review a request made by the defense. Leemon said he could not discuss the contents of the sealed letter he submitted to Judge Larry Stephen. The paper said he arrived for court in a Cadillac Escalade and smiled broadly to fans as he made his way into the building with a Bluetooth phone device in one ear. On his way out, Rhymes autographed a court reporter's portrait of him.

Next up was Remy Ma (born Remy Smith), who was appearing in front of a judge following her arrest and arraignment in July on attempted-murder charges in relation to a shooting outside a New York club. Remy is accused of shooting her close friend, Makeda Barnes-Joseph, twice in the stomach following a violent altercation that was reportedly about money missing from the rapper's purse.

Remy's lawyer, Ivan Fisher, said the three-minute appearance was brief because the judge in the case had not yet received a prosecutor's filings and was unable to rule on several motions. "The prosecutor was hoping to get back DNA evidence from some blood found in Remy Smith's car, but it hasn't come back yet," Fisher said. A follow-up court date has been set for December 5, at which point the judge is expected to announce a decision on the prosecutor's motions and perhaps set a trial date. Fisher said the coincidental hip-hop legal summit occurred because Wednesdays are typically the days the criminal court judges schedule these types of appearances.

Depending on what kind of evidence comes back from the DNA test, Fisher said he might have to ask for more time to conduct his own DNA screens, especially if the tests come back positive for Remy's blood.

The Daily News described Remy's outfit as red-carpet-worthy, consisting of a "microscopic" gray wool skirt, blue tights and matching suede stilettos, as well as 3-inch heart-shaped gold earrings and a Dolce & Gabbana patent leather purse that read "PINUPS."

Also in court Wednesday afternoon with their mutual attorney, Stacey Richman, were Lil Wayne (born Dwayne Carter) and Ja Rule (Jeffrey Atkins). Both men were arrested in separate incidents on the same night in July following a headlining performance by Wayne in New York. Both were arrested on felony gun-possession charges (see "Lil Wayne Arrested On Gun-Possession Charge In New York" and "Ja Rule Arrested, Charged With Weapons Possession"), which Richman cast doubt on at the time of their arrests.

"[Wayne] was in the bus in his boxer shorts with a number of other people," she told MTV News at the time of his arrest. "Unless his boxer shorts had a pocket for this gun, I don't understand how he had it on him." Richman said the legally registered gun did not belong to the rapper. She also said at the time that the .40-caliber Taurus pistol recovered from inside a car Rule was riding in belonged to someone else.

The men arrived separately to court and both waved at fans as they walked up the steps, with Ja wearing all black leather and blowing kisses to admirers, Richman said. A judge set a February 25 court date for both men, though Richman said it was likely that grand jury presentations in each case would take place in mid-December, which would not require an appearance from each rapper.

"All of us [lawyers] know each other, and I ran into one of my colleagues [Leemon] while parking my car, and I was like, 'You have your guy in court today? I have my guys in court today!' " Richman said of the scheduling serendipity. "We all picked the date independently, but it was a funny alignment of the stars."

Richman said the mob scene outside the court was "ridiculous," with more than two dozen photographers, camera crews and reporters blocking the entrance to the courthouse, along with dozens of shouting fans waving their cameras and trying to get pictures with the MCs. "There were guys tripping and falling over the pavement to take pictures, and I couldn't even get through them to get Ja and Wayne in," she said.

[This story was originally published on 11.07.07 at 3:54 p.m. ET.]

• Lil Wayne
• Busta Rhymes
• Ja Rule
• Remy Ma

Ja Rule
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — When Ja Rule was putting together the pieces of his new album, he did something he'd never done before when prepping a project, something that, incidentally, inspired its title.

He looked at himself in The Mirror ... and began talking to himself.

"I have conversations with myself," he told MTV News late last week about The Mirror, which is set to arrive in stores November 13. "I talk to the guy in the mirror. He never answers back; it's always the same guy that asks the questions and answers the questions. [He laughs.] But the funny thing about that is, it's your moment of truth. You can't lie to yourself. And I'm sitting there and I'm looking in the mirror and I'm saying to myself ... 'This person you see in the mirror ... you know who this person is, you know him very well. But is this the same person that your public sees when you walk outside? No. They don't have a clue who the f--- that person is in that mirror.' "

So Ja took to making songs that addressed what was actually going on in his life. Tracks like the brooding "Hearsay" tackle the uncertainty that loomed over Murder Inc. the past few years, given the Gotti federal investigation and the waning hits coming from the label. Then there's "Love Is Pain," which was originally slated to be the album's title track, and "Father Forgive Me"; both touch on the trial and are as far away from Ja's past hits like "Between Me and U" as possible.

"I think the public has their own perceptions of Ja Rule," the Queens, New York, rapper said. "It's a lot of different [things]. They see me from the music that I make, but it's weird. It depends on what you know about me, but when you think about the public and the artist, really all what they see and know is what you portray on that screen. Perception is reality, so I think that people think that I'm a guy that just ... it's hard to tell what they perceive me as, but I know it's not what I am. ... And that's why I wanted to make this album. I wanted to give them insight into who I am.

While it sounds like Rule is tapping into his more sensitive side, make no mistake about it, his words still pack plenty of punch. And definitely toward 50 Cent — even if he doesn't address the G-Unit leader directly on any tracks.

Ja said he thinks Fif wanted to be him and that was the basis of the pair's rift. But, according to Rule, 50 didn't know how to carry out his plans correctly.

"I'm a very competitive person myself," Ja explained. "When I was on the Hard Knock Life Tour, believe me, every night I wanted to take Jay-Z, DMX, Redman, Method Man, I wanted to take their heads off. Every night. I want to be where they at. Of course I do. I wanted their fanbase. I wanted that 30, 40,000 screaming my name! But at the same time, I still respected Jay and X and Meth and Red. Because as bad as I wanted to be in their position, it was just that, I wanted to be where they were at.

"[50] was no different," he continued. "He wanted to be where I was at. He wanted to be me. He just didn't know how to go about it. He didn't know how to go about and say, 'Yo, Ja, I want to do a record with you.' So his thing to get in the game was to insult everyone in the business.

"I think he really, really admires me," Ja added later. "He admires my work, he admires my music, my talent level. He admires all of that. But I don't see him as a talent. Because for me he's more of a spectacle. And that's why he's not meeting the bar [right now]. When you come in this business as a spectacle, you're gonna have a short-lived career. Because now every time you drop, you have to meet that spectacle. People aren't looking for the music anymore [from him]. It's [a matter of,] can you match the intensity of the spectacle you created on your last project? His projects aren't even about the music. Every record he puts out is about the other artist he's [been] aligned with [to battle]."

• Irv Gotti Banking On Ja Rule's Success

• Ja Rule
• 50 Cent

Ja Rule
Photo: Scott Wintrow/ Getty Images

There are probably bigger challenges in life than trying to clear a Beatles sample. We just can't think of any right now.

Just ask the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA, or maybe Ja Rule, both of whom recently attempted the musical equivalent of scaling Mount Everest with one hand tied behind your back: clearing original master Beatles samples for use in their songs.

Of course, both did a whole lot of shouting from base camp, which seemed rather ill-advised, considering the treacherous climb ahead. And when neither was successful in their attempts — the Wu's "The Heart Gently Weeps" and Ja's "Father Forgive Me" feature not original Beatles samples, but rather reworked (or "interpolated") versions of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Eleanor Rigby" (see "Wu-Tang Clan's 'First-Ever Cleared Beatles Sample' Claim Is Incorrect") — it was hardly news. After all, these are the songs of the Beatles (and the myriad of corporations, limited partnerships and publishing companies associated with them) we're talking about here. They can't be had without a fight.

"If a recording artist wanted to build a song around a Beatles sample, they have to go through three different license holders," said Janice Brock, a spokeswoman for Sony/ATV, the music-publishing company that owns the famed Lennon/McCartney Northern Songs catalog (and as such, also owns roughly 90 percent of the entire Beatles song output). "They have to go to the original master-license holder, which is EMI Records. They have to go to the Beatles themselves, who are represented by Apple Corps Ltd., and they have to go to Sony/ATV, which represents the song itself.

"It's a fairly difficult, lengthy process, which is why most people probably don't bother," Brock continued. "And as you know, the Beatles have never granted a master-license sample."

And it's that challenge, that finality, which makes an original Beatles sample the Holy Grail of song-building. Which is probably why both the RZA and Ja made big noise about clearing Beatles samples — even if, you know, they actually hadn't. There's a certain amount of swagger that comes with even securing permission to rework a Beatles song into one of your own. After all, even that doesn't come for free.

"With a sample, it's not an issue of difficulty of clearing it. If somebody doesn't want to let you have it, you can't use it," said Todd Brabec, a vice president at ASCAP, the international society of composers, songwriters and music publishers. "A lot of songwriter/publisher deals give the writer the ability to approve usage. And in the case of a sample — using someone else's song to make a new one — it's a negotiation of what your share of all this new song's earnings is going to be. In the case of most high-profile compositions, the new songwriter forfeits all their songwriting royalties."

"If you're going to put someone else's song in your song and build a song around it, you'd have to give away 100 percent of the copyright," Brock added. "So you don't actually earn songwriter royalties for doing that. It generally goes to the original writers. In the case of Ja Rule's ['Father Forgive Me,'] the song sample is an interpolation, it's not an original master use, so in turn for doing that, his songwriter royalties go to the Beatles."

So just for reworking a pair of Beatles compositions in their new songs, both the Wu-Tang Clan and Ja Rule agreed to turn over all songwriting royalties to the original songwriters — in this case, the estate of George Harrison and Lennon/McCartney, respectfully. Also, for each copy of the Wu's The 8 Diagrams or Ja's The Mirror that is sold or downloaded, the rappers will pay both the original writers and their publishing companies (Harrisongs and Sony/ATV) 9.1 cents, an amount mandated by federal law.

Is it all worth it? Well, we guess that's up to the artists themselves. But just getting to this point has been a battle. Then again, nothing in the realm of music publishing — and all its marvelous facets, including sample clearances and statutory fees — is simple.

Publishing is probably the least understood, most complicated (and most unsexy) aspect of the music industry, yet it's also one of the most lucrative: a near billion-dollar-a-year business that's as much about corporations and copyright law as it is creativity and compositions. It's the bizarre point where artists looking to make a statement crash directly into songwriters looking to make a living. And as record sales continue to bottom out, artists trying to have their music heard (and get paid) are exploring every facet of publishing ... which means it's only gonna get more, uh, complicated from here.

"Most people think of the music business only as records, but the big money — the continuing money — is in writing and publishing songs. Because now a song can be used in several TV series, a lot of films, video games, ringtones — all these different uses, not just in the U.S. but throughout the entire world," Brabec said. "And you're getting royalties every time you get one of these new uses. And it's only going to get more interesting. Record sales are going down the tubes, but I'm optimistic about all the other areas in which songwriters can exploit — in the best possible way — their songs.

"Radio and TV performances are the biggest areas, but you can make a lot of money on just having a song in a singing fish doll," he continued. "You'd rather have a singing fish doll than a million-seller, believe me."

And with more and more money up for grabs, does that mean we can expect to see less of these high-profile sample battles? It's doubtful.

"I think there's a certain quality to some of these songs, that no matter how daunting it might seem, there's always going to be an artist who wants to use a sample of them," Brabec said. "There's always going to be a desire for that timeless quality."

• Wu-Tang Clan
• Ja Rule
• The Beatles
• RZA
• John Lennon

Mariah Carey on the cover of <i>Interview</i>
Photo: Bruce Weber

Mariah Carey is "thankful" to ex-husband Tommy Mottola but also felt like she was being controlled by the music executive while they were married, she divulged to Interview for the magazine's September issue, which hits newsstands Tuesday. In the magazine — the cover of which features a Bruce Weber photo of a barely clothed Carey — she says, "I am thankful to [Mottola] in a lot of ways. I try not to vilify him. I have to forgive him for being so restrictive. I understand him not wanting me to go out and hang out all night, but going to a spa with friends every now and then, or doing things on my own would have made a world of difference. And I'd probably still be with him if I had. Maybe it's for my own good that I wasn't 'allowed' to do those things, but that's not how it felt. It felt like suddenly I had a strict father. ... With Tommy it felt like I had this controlling situation where I wasn't allowed to be myself. This conversation that we're having now would never have taken place." Carey also opened up about the catastrophic Glitter collapse that preceded her surprise rebound. "I consider 'the breakdown' a breakthrough — I needed to hit rock bottom, however it happened. I needed to understand the cost of pushing so hard, fighting so hard against the system." ...

Diddy's Labor Day party is going to be a little less explosive than anticipated. Officials in the Hamptons, New York, have nixed the hip-hop mogul's planned $100,000 fireworks show over the Northwest Harbor on September 2 both for safety reasons and because it might have conflicted with another nearby fireworks bash set for the same night. Diddy intended to go with all-white fireworks so they would match the "white party" theme. ...

Beyoncé turned out Tuesday night at her sister Solange's "R&B Live" showcase at Times Square's Spotlight Live club in New York. Tina Knowles, Bow Wow and the Simmons sisters — Angela and Vanessa — also took in the show, which featured other acts on Mathew Knowles' Music World Entertainment, including #1 Crush, Katy Shotter and more. ...

Britney Spears chatted with Life & Style on Sunday night at a club in Los Angeles, revealing her concerns that ex-husband Kevin Federline could gain primary custody of their two children, sons Sean Preston and Jayden James. "My babies are my life. I love them more than anything," said an "emotional" Spears, according to the magazine. But the boys are doing "so good," she added. ...

Ja Rule and Game have joined forces for "Sunset," a track to be featured on Ja's Mirror LP, due November 13. "I don't think people were expecting that," he told RollingStone.com in regards to teaming up with his former rival. Ja also disclosed that another track, "Father Forgive Me," updates the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." "Hopefully I make the Beatles proud," he said. "Big shout-out to Paul McCartney and the whole gang, Ringo and everybody!" The rock icons are getting lots of love from the rap set these days, with Wu-Tang Clan covering George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" — with Harrison's son Dhani and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante in tow — for their upcoming 8 Diagrams LP, also due November 13. ...

Juelz Santana is hammering away at his third LP, Born to Lose; Built to Win, which is due in stores in the winter. "This time around, I'm talking about survival — maintaining my lifestyle and overcoming the obstacles and challenges life brings," he said in a statement. Santana was also set to debut his new RoyElz clothing line but has had to postpone the unveiling until February due to the terminal illness of a family member. ...

Swizz Beatz was a busy man on Tuesday. The multiplatinum producer and rapper celebrated the release of his solo album, One Man Band Man, with a live performance at the Apple store in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan in New York during the afternoon. After that he hosted a party at Xchange Loft that drew the likes of Remy Ma, Birdman, Brooke Hogan, G-Unit's Young Hot Rod, Steve Stoute, Kid Capri, Free and singer Mashonda, Swizz's wife. He then capped his long day at Manhattan night spot Sol for another album-release party. ...

Keyshia Cole and Fort Wayne, Indiana's Voices of Unity Youth Choir will get the NFL season under way by performing the national anthem at the New Orleans Saints/ Indianapolis Colts game September 6. The half-hour pre-game show — featuring performances by Kelly Clarkson and others — will air at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. ... Cobra Starship will land again, on October 23, with a new LP called If the World Is Ending, We Are Throwing the Party. The disc will be issued by Fueled by Ramen and follow the band's 2006 disc, When the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets. ...

Paris Hilton and Zeta Graff settled Graff's lawsuit Wednesday (August 22), the same day jury selection was due to begin in the trial, TMZ.com reports. Graff, an actress/model, filed a $10 million defamation suit against Hilton in 2005 for allegedly planting gossip about her in the tabloids. ... Amy Winehouse fans can get ticket refunds for her postponed U.S. tour at their point of purchase, her publicist said Wednesday. ... A judge halted a lawsuit against Michael Jackson on Tuesday, ruling that it can't continue as filed, AP reports. The singer is being sued — along with the Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria, California — by the family of a woman who died at the hospital after she was moved to make room for Jackson. In the suit, the family claims the woman was kept from critical care after suffering a heart attack on the same day Jackson went to the hospital with flu-like symptoms during his child-molestation trial. Attorneys for Jackson and the hospital have claimed the facts of the case didn't merit the suit. Judge Rodney Melville — who was also the judge in the aforementioned trial — gave the plaintiffs' attorney, James McKiernan, 30 days to redraft the suit. ...

A neuropathologist rejected on Wednesday a previous claim made by Phil Spector's defense that Lana Clarkson might have lived for up to a few minutes after being fatally shot in the music producer's mansion, the Los Angeles Times reports. Dr. John Andrews, who participated in the deceased actress' autopsy, is expected to be the last prosecution rebuttal witness. The defense is expected to present its rebuttal case in the next few days, with closing arguments expected soon after Labor Day. ...

The Chemical Brothers have firmed up their first, albeit brief, U.S. tour in more than five years. The group will bring its visually intensive show to New York's Hammerstein Ballroom (September 21); Brooklyn, New York's McCarren Park Pool (September 22); Chicago's Riviera Theatre (September 24); Denver's Fillmore Auditorium (September 26); San Francisco's Concourse (September 28); and Los Angeles' Nocturnal Bar (September 29). ... In other tour news, Bad Religion will trek through the States from September 29 in Queen Creek, Arizona — where they'll play at Edgefest &38212; through October 20 in Sayreville, New Jersey. Gallows and the Briggs will open most dates. And Cold War Kids will tour from November 17 in San Francisco through December 11 in Boulder, Colorado, after gigging in September and October with the White Stripes. ...

In hard-rock tour news, Down's upcoming U.S. headlining run is finally taking shape, with dates confirmed from September 27 in Reno, Nevada, through November 13 in Houston. The band — which features former Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo — will release its latest, Down III: Over the Under, September 25. The Melvins will tour from September 16 in Sacramento, California, through October 18 in Dallas with Big Business. Prog-rockers Porcupine Tree will be on the road for a headlining run that begins October 3 in Orlando, Florida, and visits 18 other cities through October 29 in Atlanta. And Queens of the Stone Age have tacked seven additional shows onto their current tour. ...

Bill Murray refused to take a breathalyzer test after getting caught speeding in a golf cart in downtown Stockholm, Sweden, early Monday — and he might face a drunk-driving charge as a result, The Associated Press reports. "He refused to blow in the [breath-test] instrument, citing American legislation," Detective-Inspector Christer Holmlund told the wire service Wednesday. "So we applied the old method — a blood test. It will take 14 days before the results are in." Murray signed documentation admitting that he had been driving under the influence and agreed to allow a police officer enter a guilty plea for him if the case goes to court. A very high blood-alcohol level could result in a potential prison sentence, but fines are more likely for the actor. ...

Darren Hayes, former lead singer of Australian pop duo Savage Garden, turned himself in to London police on Friday and was arrested for an alleged racist attack against a waiter in a Thai restaurant in Soho. According to The New Zealand Herald, Hayes is alleged to have verbally abused a staffer at the Busaba Eathai Thai restaurant on July 22. Hayes was released on bail and his lawyer said he is denying the allegations. ... DNA testing carried out after James Brown's death has confirmed a third person is a child of the late rock and roll icon, his adviser Buddy Dallas told Georgia's The Augusta Chronicle on Monday. Roughly a dozen DNA tests have been carried out, and some are still pending. ...

Actress Bridget Moynahan gave birth to her child — a boy — with New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The couple split up late last year. ... Wal-Mart is the latest retail giant to unveil an online music store aimed at challenging Apple's iTunes by offering DRM-free music. The Wall Street Journal reported that Wal-Mart is selling the unfettered tracks from two major labels, Universal Music Group and EMI, for 94 cents a piece and $9.22 an album. The songs can play on almost any portable music device, including iPods and iPhones.

08.21.07

First Amy Winehouse pulled out of shows in Norway and Denmark two weeks ago, then she pulled the plug on her V Festival appearances last week — now the U.K. starlet is shelving her remaining 2007 North American tour dates until next year. "Due to the rigors involved in touring, Amy Winehouse has been advised to postpone her upcoming September U.S. and Canadian tour dates," Winehouse's publicist said in a statement Tuesday (August 21), according to The Associated Press. "Amy's European and U.K. tour dates in October and November remain in place. Plans are being made to reschedule her U.S. tour for early 2008. Until then, Amy has been ordered to rest and is working with medical professionals to address her health." It is unclear whether the change in her North American tour plans will affect Winehouse's previously announced performance at the VMAs on September 9. ...

Forget 50 Cent — Kanye West considers Justin Timberlake his biggest rival. In an interview with XXL magazine for its October issue — which hits stands September 11 — Kanye called Justin his "biggest inspiration and biggest competition," adding that "he's the only other person that gets an across-the-board response and respect level — black radio, white radio. If Justin hadn't come out and killed the game, I can't say that my album, singles and videos would be on the same level that they're on. We push each other. I look at me and Justin like Prince and Michael Jackson in their day." ...

Award-show nominations and #1 records don't seem to be enough for Nelly Furtado this year, so the Canadian beauty decided to add directing to her lengthy list of 2007 accomplishments. Furtado recently made her debut behind the camera shooting a clip for the Loose song "Do It" with co-director Aaron A., her tour documentarian. The video was filmed on location in Detroit during a tour stop and included her dance team, among others. Furtado also announced that she will re-release Loose with bonus material — including her cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" — this fall. ...

Spike Jonze has launched a series of diary-style video interviews through online-broadcast network VBS.TV. The series will capture Jonze interviewing and traveling the world with various artists and entertainers, including the premiere guest, M.I.A. The set kicks off this week with a six-part episode that follows Jonze and M.I.A. around London and at the singer's various enclaves. An interview with Kanye West is scheduled to go live next week. ...

R. Kelly appeared Tuesday in a Chicago court where prosecutors and defense attorneys ironed out a few more details in the R&B singer's child-pornography trial before jury selection starts September 17. After the prosecution tried for a reversal, Judge Vincent Gaughan upheld his ruling that the media and public could view the sex tape that allegedly depicts Kelly having sex with an underage girl and is at the heart of the charges. Gaughan said he wouldn't reconsider his original ruling because the girl who prosecutors say is in the video isn't cooperating with investigators and denies that she's the person on the tape. Had she said she was, the judge would give her victim status and protect her from a public viewing. Instead, he ruled Tuesday that the state can't call her a "victim" but must instead call her an "alleged victim" or the "state's witness." To attempt to prove that she is in fact the girl on the tape, the prosecution wants to call an expert witness to testify that denial is a common issue with victims of child pornography, but the defense argued that the theory is not backed up by science. Judge Gaughan delayed ruling on this, as well as whether an expert could testify that the veins in Kelly's hand are consistent with those in the hand of the man in the video. He is expected to rule on those matters at the next hearing, on September 10. ...

Another day, another problem for Foxy Brown. The troubled rapper is being accused of lying to police during a traffic stop on Wednesday in suburban Mahwah, New Jersey. According to Bergen County's The Record, Brown (born Inga Marchand) was pulled over for talking on a cell phone and failing to stop at a stop sign while driving her SUV. After a check found that the car's registration had been suspended, Brown, 27, reportedly gave officers a different version of her real name and a birth date that was a year off. When the information didn't come up, Brown then gave her correct information, at which point the officers found out that her license was suspended. She was taken to police headquarters and given seven traffic tickets and released. The traffic tussle came one day after Brown was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a New York neighbor with a BlackBerry. But still, Brown has some good news to help take her mind off things — according to the New York Post, she said outside a store in New York earlier this week, "I'm getting married in September. I'm pregnant." ...

With Jane's Addiction on ice and his latest project, the Panic Channel, without a label deal, Dave Navarro has taken up a new side gig: porn-movie director. The guitarist has shot a feature-length adult film titled "Dave Navarro: Broken," the first in a series of flicks to be directed by celebrities. The film for Teravision — owned by adult star Tera Patrick and rocker husband and former Biohazard member Evan Seinfeld — is due September 27 and features an all-star cast of porn actors and actresses (Victoria Sin, Spyder Jonez, etc.). ...

Ben Lee really likes the new Against Me! album, New Wave. In fact, the Australian pop singer likes it so that he has posted a song-for-song cover album on his MySpace page and blog that are available for download or streaming. He's even cooked up his own cover for the effort, Ben Lee Sings Against Me! New Wave — it replaces the fearsome panther on the Florida punk band's original with a less ferocious kitty cat. ...

Devra Robitaille, one of Phil Spector's ex-employees, testified Tuesday that he once threatened her at gunpoint when she attempted to leave his house. The scenario is similar to the ones outlined by four additional women during the music producer's murder trial. After the defense announced it was conditionally resting its case — and that Spector would not be taking the stand during the trial — the prosecution called Robitaille as a rebuttal witness, contrary to the wishes of the defense. She recalled being in Spector's house during a party in which he became heavily intoxicated, after which she said she was going to go home. "He said no and locked the door," testified Robitaille, who added that she had a romantic relationship with Spector. "I remember standing in the lobby with a door in front of me, and when I turned, there was a gun pointed at my temple. ... It was like a long-barreled shotgun." She added that Spector repeated three times, " 'If you leave, I'll blow your f---ing head off.' " Robitaille said he eventually put down the gun and let her leave. ...

Some Lollapalooza footage — of performances by LCD Soundsystem and the Black Keys — finally went up on AT&T's Blue Room site last week, following the revelation that its webcast of the festival featured several edits of anti-President Bush comments made by Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder. Clearances are still being sought for Pearl Jam and other artists, while Lupe Fiasco's comments against Bush — which were also reportedly edited — have not been posted. ...

Five people were arrested early Sunday morning at a campground near the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, following the Warped Tour performance at the venue Saturday night. The Associated Press reported that sheriff's deputies were called out to the campground following reports of a person being injured at another nearby campground. When officials arrived, they reportedly saw a number of campers involved in fights and a comfort station with portable toilets and sinks that had been set on fire. Some of the 400 campers in the area allegedly set additional fires and pelted deputies with beer bottles, cans and rocks, shattering the windshield of a fire truck with debris. Those incidents led to five arrests for obstructing a law-enforcement officer, disorderly conduct and intimidating a public servant. ...

Additional shows for Van Halen's first tour in more than 22 years — with original frontman David Lee Roth — have been added in Philadelphia (October 3); Detroit (October 20); and Washington, D.C. (November 1). Tickets for the previously announced gigs went on sale over the weekend, and fans snatched them up fast — sellouts were reported in at least five markets so far. ...

Pete Doherty — who was arrested on suspicion of drug possession in London early Monday morning — was released Tuesday because authorities didn't get him to court on time. The charge of breaching bail conditions that he was facing has been dropped as a result of the technicality. ...

The Jacksonville, Florida, chapter of the NAACP is protesting an editorial cartoon that criticized the "no snitchin' " street mantra and ran in the Friday edition of The Florida Times-Union. The image shows a black man wearing a "Don't Snitch" T-shirt, holding a smoking gun and standing over a gunshot victim. Behind him are two children, one a girl with dreadlocks who also wears a "Don't Snitch" shirt and says, "I didn't see nuttin'." In the cartoon, the man responds, "Now that's a good little ho." The comic, which is captioned "The new rule of law!," also has a billboard in the background with an image of a rapper holding a gun below the words "rap your life away," with BET and Warner Music Group called out at the bottom of the billboard. According to local TV affiliate NBC12, on Sunday, a Times-Union editorial-page editor apologized for the "bad judgment" in using the word "ho" in the cartoon. "The object of the cartoon was to comment on the rise of a no-snitching culture, something that is widely in the news today," Mike Clark explained.

• Mariah Carey
• Britney Spears
• Ja Rule
• Game
• Keyshia Cole

Kanye West's <i>Graduation</i>
Photo: Roc-A-Fella

Opening the fall album-release season with discs by 50 Cent and Kanye West is kind of like kicking off your show with the encore. You could stick around for the rest of the gig, but what's the point?

Luckily, after the dust clears from the September 11 showdown between the rap heavyweights, the next few months will bring plenty more fresh tunes worth checking out from fellow rappers (Eve, Chamillionaire, Ja Rule, Rick Ross, Nelly and Lupe Fiasco); R&B divas (Mariah Carey, Nicole Scherzinger, Mya and Jennifer Hudson); rock bands (Foo Fighters, Coheed and Cambria, Hot Hot Heat and Avenged Sevenfold); and smooth singers (Chris Brown, Mario, KT Tunstall and James Blunt).

Who will raise their "Umbrella" this fall and have the back-to-school jam that rivals Rihanna's unstoppable summer hit? We're not sure (though we suspect we know what Kanye's answer would be), so we've laid out the contenders for you. (These release dates and album details are based on MTV News reporting — information supplied by labels is subject to change, of course.)

September 11

Heavyweights: When the first two singles from 50 Cent's twice-delayed Curtis album didn't catch fire, he went back to the lab and cooked up eight new tracks. With collabos featuring Justin Timberlake, Akon, Mary J. Blige, Robin Thicke, Will.I.Am, Pharrell, Swizz Beatz and Kanye West, 50 says the new album will be a break from his usual G-Unit posse tracks. As for Kanye, he's not worried about taking on 50 with Graduation, which boasts guest spots from T-Pain and Coldplay's Chris Martin. How sure is he? "I'm ready to take over the world once again," he humbly told MTV News.

Middleweights: Twitchy rockers Hot Hot Heat will return with their third album, Happiness Ltd. The album features production by Butch Walker (Avril Lavigne) and Rob Cavallo (Green Day), and a sound singer Steve Bays has described in a statement as "big" and "aggressive."

September 18

Heavyweights: It's been five years since we last got an album from Eve, but the former Ruff Ryder has come back hard with the booty-shaking "Tambourine," from Here I Am. Her first effort for Dr. Dre's Aftermath label features assists from Sean Paul, T.I. and the man who's turning into the R&B Weezy, Robin Thicke. James Blunt gave up on trying to match the success of his debut, Back to Bedlam, on his follow-up, All the Lost Souls. Instead, he recorded a " '70s rock album," he told MTV News. Mixtape messiah Chamillionaire isn't worried about a slump with his new album Ultimate Victory. The hot Houston MC gets topical on "Hip Hop Police," a metaphor for attacks on rap, and he recruited Kelis, Snoop and Busta Rhymes for the two-part single "Not a Criminal." Nelly is prepping his first album in three years, Brass Knuckles, though at press time information on it was scarce.

Middleweights: We were talking about Mya's album, Liberation, last fall. Now, the highly personal disc with contributions from Lil Wayne, Game and Scott Storch is finally set for release. And Scottish singer/songwriter KT Tunstall has something Drastic Fantastic for everyone who loved her moody pop 2004 debut, Eye to the Telescope, which sold more than 4 million copies worldwide.

Contenders: Keyshia Cole's Just Like You, New Found Glory's From the Screen to Your Stereo Part 2, hot R&B singer Kevin Michael's self-titled debut, Eddie Vedder's "Into the Wild" soundtrack and Twista's Adrenaline Rush 2007.

September 25

Heavyweights: Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl would seem to be poking fun at emo rockers on "Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)," from the band's sixth album, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. But that's not the case, he told MTV News — the title is really there to break up an otherwise heavy couple of tunes that precede it on an album that Grohl said mixes a lighter touch with more serious lyrics. And though it sounds like a party disc, Black Eyed Peas rapper/producer Will.I.Am's Songs About Girls is actually a kind of concept album about a harsh breakup and includes songs like "I Got It From My Mamma" and "I'm a Heart Breaker."

Middleweights: MIA hero Rick Ross — who earned an honorable mention on our Hottest MCs in the Game list — has packed even more hip-hop heavyweights onto his second LP, Trilla, including Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, Lil Jon and more.

Contenders: The second, yet-untitled album from San Diego rockers Louis XIV and PJ Harvey's White Chalk.

October 2

Heavyweights: A lot has happened to Cassidy since we last heard from the Philly MC, who spent a year in jail and suffered serious injuries in a 2006 car accident. But he's back with his third album, The Barry Adrien Reese Story (B.A.R.S.), which has production from Scott Storch, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz and Cool & Dre. Guests include Angie Stone, Eve and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

Contenders: Latin rapper Baby Bash's Cyclone and Boyz N Da Hood's Back Up N Da Chevy.

October 9

Heavyweights: It's been four years since we last heard from Kid Rock, who has practically abandoned his hip-hop swagger on Rock & Roll Jesus. The album leans on hard-rockers like the first single, "So Hot," and includes a country tune with a dis aimed at ex-wife Pam Anderson. Speaking of long layoffs, Mario has been ready to Go! for a while now. So, after numerous delays, the singer's new album, with production and songwriting from Timbaland, the Neptunes, Akon, Sean Garrett and Dre & Vidal, is ready to drop, although it's not known yet whether it will feature the tune "Do Right," a personal account of the singer's childhood in Baltimore.

Middleweights: How can you count out a man like rapper David Banner when he calls his new album The Greatest Story Ever Told? 'Nuff said.

October 16

Heavyweights: It's not like Avenged Sevenfold are not gonna say their new album is their heaviest effort yet. Singer M. Shadows described the self-produced follow-up to City of Evil as "the most down-to-the-bone" album they could make, with "no glitz or glamour."

Middleweights: Lead Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger busts a solo move with Her Name Is Nicole, which features guests T.I., Timbaland and Will.I.Am.

Contenders: Hurricane Chris' 51/50, the rapper's major-label debut; the yet-untitled debut from the Naked Brothers Band; and R.E.M. Live.

October 23

Heavyweights: One of the biggest stars to emerge from "American Idol," country singer Carrie Underwood, will release her second album even though her 2005 debut, Some Hearts, continues to spin off hits. The yet-untitled sophomore effort was produced by Mark Bright, who handled seven tracks on Hearts, and will feature songs co-written by Underwood.

Middleweights: System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian drops his debut solo album, Elect the Dead, which he promises will be full of the hard rock you'd expect, but also ... something different. "There are a lot of instruments — there are layers of pianos and strings and weird synth stuff. There's a lot of guitars and lots of different affected guitars, heavy guitars — way too many guitar tracks. It's just a different vibe," he told MTV News. Prog-tastic rockers Coheed and Cambria will unleash their fourth album, No World for Tomorrow — which features drumming from Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters, who stepped in for departed drummer Joshua Eppard. As promised, the album wraps up the story of the Armory Wars, for those of you keeping score.

Contenders: Yet-untitled albums from Erykah Badu and Ashanti.

October 30

Heavyweights: R&B singer Chris Brown serves up album number two with Exclusive, a more mature effort that will feature songs produced by Pharrell, Will.I.Am and Bryan-Michael Cox. Also returning for his sophomore year is skateboarding rapper Lupe Fiasco with The Cool. He's hoping to avoid the pre-release leak that dogged his debut by keeping information about the album tightly secured until just weeks before its release.

Middleweights: Birdman is tentatively slated to drop Five Star Stunna, which will contain the recently leaked track "Pop Bottles," as well as other spots from his son, Lil Wayne.

Contenders: Lil Mama's Voice of the Young People and the first, yet-untitled album from the now-four-member Backstreet Boys.

November 6

Heavyweights: Though she's talked about jonesing to work with the White Stripes, Alicia Keys has to be content with John Mayer and Linda Perry collabos on her more rock- and funk-oriented third album, As I Am.

Middleweights: Wyclef Jean comes in from the cold with The Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, with cameos from T.I., Chamillionaire, Paul Simon, Akon and Mary J. Blige. A yet-untitled greatest-hits album from Nas is also on the schedule.

November 13

Heavyweights: It's been a tough couple of years for Ja Rule, but on his first album in three years, The Mirror, Ja took his time and came up with tracks like the Lil Wayne duet "Uh Oh," which has already heated things up. And for their first album since the death of Ol' Dirty Bastard and first since 2001, the Wu-Tang Clan are drawing up 8 Diagrams. The album features an ODB tribute, "Life Changes," along with cameos from System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and Q-Tip.

November 20

Heavyweights: They don't get any bigger than Mariah Carey, and while details on her yet-untitled follow-up to the career-reviving The Emancipation of Mimi album are scarce, she recently told fans via a voicemail on her Web site that she's got 10 songs in the bag and is planning to work with old pal Jermaine Dupri.

November to-be-announced: Yet-untitled albums by Jennifer Hudson, Spice Girls (greatest hits), Daft Punk (live), Mary J. Blige, Slim Thug, Gnarls Barkley and Sean Paul.

While we don't have any confirmed dates or titles yet — except for the Hives' Black and White Album — the end of the year could also bring long-awaited albums from the likes of Courtney Love, Radiohead, Duran Duran and JC Chasez, as well as new ones from Angels & Airwaves, the Mars Volta, Murphy Lee, Kem and Beanie Sigel. There might also be a Cash Money compilation, a Q-Tip live album, the latest LL Cool J joint and a fresh Missy Elliott effort. And, don't hold your breath, but the long-gestating efforts from Britney Spears and Michael Jackson might even leave dry dock, though we wouldn't put any cash on it.

Seen a great show? MTV News wants your photos, videos and reports from all the latest concerts for our new You R Here community. Check out the site to read, rate and comment on reviews from around the globe. We'll put the best stuff on our You R Here blog, and even in on-air news!

• Kanye West
• 50 Cent
• Mariah Carey
• Kid Rock
• Ja Rule

Kanye West
Photo: Vince Bucci/Getty Images

Don't believe Kanye West has a sense of humor? He's posted a hilarious new "Can't Tell Me Nothing" clip, starring underground comedian Zach Galifianakis and indie-folkie Will Oldham, on his site. According to Billboard.com, the hilarious low-budget clip — which features Galifianakis and Oldham mouthing the words to the song while they hang with cows and gyrate against tractors — was filmed at Galifianakis' farm in North Carolina. Galifianakis also made a memorable appearance in Fiona Apple's "Not About Love" video, but he recently told Impose Magazine that it was his clip for Anita Baker's "You Bring Me Joy" that won over West. ...

Beyoncé took a big spill at her concert in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday night, tumbling headfirst down 12 steps at Amway Arena. Video capturing the gaffe is making the rounds on the Web — even though the singer told the crowd not to post the clip on YouTube. "Beyoncé's fall onstage last night ... was a case of her coat's hem getting caught in her shoes," her publicist Yvette Noel-Schure said in a statement issued Wednesday (July 25), "but Miss Knowles picked herself right up, without missing a beat, showing to all that she is the best." ... The Backstreet Boys have pegged October 30 as the release date for their new, yet-untitled album, which will be led by first single "Inconsolable," Billboard.com reports. Don't expect to hear Kevin Richardson on there, though — he left in June 2006 (and wasn't replaced). ...

Wyclef Jean has snatched up Akon, Lil Wayne and newcomer Niia for "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)," the first single from his forthcoming album Carnival II (Memoirs of an Immigrant). The Columbia release will hit stores in November. ...

Has "Deathly Hallows" left you with a question or two? You might be able to get an answer from the author herself — on Monday, "Harry Potter" publisher Bloomsbury will hold a live chat with J.K. Rowling on Bloomsbury.com. In other Potter news, publisher Scholastic says a few hundred of the 12 million copies of "Deathly Hallows" are missing pages, The Associated Press reports. The company said defective books can be replaced by bringing them back to point of purchase, but some fans are stowing them away as keepsakes. ...

Lindsay Lohan might have even more problems on her hands — according to TMZ.com, she pulled an illegal U-turn in April in Los Angeles that wound up causing an accident between vehicles driven by her bodyguard Jaz Bennett and another woman, Signe Dupuy. Dupuy says Bennett gave her a fake name and number after the accident and that she's considering filing suit against him and Lohan. A representative for Lohan told TMZ that a letter sent by Dupuy was filed away because it was assumed that it would also be sent to Lohan's lawyers. In yet another legal case involving Lohan, TMZ.com reports that she filed documents in Los Angeles County Superior Court last week pertaining to the October 2005 car crash in which she hit a parked van in Beverly Hills, California. Last month, Raymundo Ortega, the owner of the van, filed a lawsuit claiming Lohan was drunk at the time of the accident. In the documents she filed, Lohan claims the suit is "nothing more than an attempt to extort money from a celebrity by setting forth false and scurrilous allegations in a complaint." She said the police report claims, "Ms. Lohan had not been drinking. I did not observe any objective signs of either alcohol or drug intoxication and determined that no further investigation regarding intoxication was warranted." ...

It might not be showtime for Swizz Beatz if police in Camden, New Jersey, get their way. According to AP, authorities are threatening to drop their sponsorship of a peace rally due to the producer's scheduled appearance and his perceived anti-snitching stance on his single "It's Me Snitches." But Swizz released a statement to AP explaining the track, which has no anti-snitching content, was renamed for radio from its original title "It's Me Bitches." "If I supported violence or the 'Stop Snitching' campaign, I wouldn't have agreed to be a part of the event [in the first place]," he said in the statement. ...

Devo can't get any satisfaction these days — thanks to Korn. The New Wavers are lashing out at Jonathan Davis and the gang for allegedly biting the group's "devolution" concept in a fake movie trailer posted on EvolutionDevolution.com. "We denounce this as imposters playing with fire," Gerald Casale wrote in a post on Devo.com. He told RollingStone.com that Korn fans have been sending him hate mail since he posted the note on the site. "We went, 'Wow, this is insane. This is a perfect example of devolution. ... Gee, I'm sorry we thought all this up 30 years ago and have been putting it out there and preaching it ever since.' " ... A medical examiner was "hasty" in calling actress Lana Clarkson's death a homicide, forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz testified for Phil Spector's defense on Wednesday (July 25), AP reports. "In my opinion, it was most likely a suicide," said Spitz, who added that he has seen autopsy reports. Spitz testified that Clarkson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the mouth. ...

Mya and Claudette Ortiz, formerly of City High, headlined the weekly R&B Live showcase at Spotlight Live in Manhattan, New York, on Tuesday night. Music industry bigwigs Steve Stoute, Sylvia Rhone and Jacob "The Jeweler" Arabo were in attendance as D-Nice manned the DJ booth. ... Don't worry about calling Bartman — the Simpsons have the United Nations on their side. The World Intellectual Property Organization, a UN agency, ruled Wednesday that the ownership of the domain name TheSimpsonsMovie.com must be turned over to 20th Century Fox after the company complained about the address registered to Keith Malley of Brooklyn, New York. Malley had demanded a $50,000 fee to cede the domain name, but the WIPO found that he "has no rights or legitimate interests" to it. ...

Pearl Jam will perform an intimate concert at Chicago's Vic Theatre on August 2 — which will warm the guys up for their headlining set at Lollapalooza three days later. Tickets will go on sale Thursday, but only for members of the band's Ten Club fan organization; tickets won't be made available to the general public. ... Chevelle have rolled out a new set of tour dates for the late summer and early fall. The first show is set for August 25 in Grayslake, Illinois, and the tour is scheduled to run through September 16 in Dayton, Ohio. ...

In a recent interview, Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan discussed the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's next album. "Musically, [the next LP will be] a lot ballsier," he said. Donegan added that there will be "those signature things that are us, just 'cause stylistically that's the way we perform, and [frontman] David [Draiman], vocally, is always going to sound like him, so ... he's got some big melodic moments, but there's some still aggressive stuff. [We're] trying to get a good blend of the elements of the past three CDs to try to evolve into something fresh and new for us as well." The band will hit the studio in the fall and is planning an early 2008 release for the yet-untitled offering. ...

Indie "death-rapper" Necro has bailed from the Sounds of the Underground Tour because "the tour's demographic was not receiving hip-hop well," he said in a statement. "I was facing hostile, disrespectful crowds and was returning the same energy back tenfold by being more aggressive than them. It was making a lot of people in the tour crew nervous and there was concern someone might get hurt (not me)." ... The Eagles of Death Metal are starting to write material for the follow-up to 2006's Death by Sexy. According to frontman Jesse "The Devil" Hughes, the guys "hear your cries for boot-skootin', guitar-rock-tootin', sex-rock music, honeybabies," and promise a 2008 release for their next set. "EODM will quench your musical thirsts with a burst of mantastic-fantastic!!! Album #3 will be the greatest EODM release to date." ...

Don't expect to see the cast of "High School Musical" lighting up anytime soon — Disney has become the first major Hollywood studio to ban depictions of smoking in its family-oriented films, Reuters reports. In a letter to Representative Edward Markey — whose House committee recently held a hearing on how movie images affect children — Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said Disney would "discourage" smoking in films distributed by its labels Touchstone and Miramax. He added that anti-smoking public-service announcements would appear on DVDs of films that do depict smoking and would encourage theaters to show similar PSAs along with such films. Markey called the move "groundbreaking."

07.24.07

Ja Rule's Sunday arrest in New York on a single felony weapon count was "another instance of hip-hop targeting," according to the rapper's attorney, Stacey Richman. She claims the .40-caliber Taurus pistol police recovered from inside the 2004 Maybach that Ja was riding in when he was arrested belonged to someone else. Ja; his driver, Mohamed Gamal; and his road manager, Dennis Cherry, were charged with criminal possession of a weapon and spent Sunday night in jail. The three were arraigned Monday afternoon, and Ja (born Jeffrey Atkins) was released on $150,000 bond. He's expected back in Manhattan Criminal Court November 7. According to Richman, the car in question was a company vehicle owned by Gamal's Maximum Transportation firm and is used by his clients. "If you get a car, and something's left in the car, is that yours?" Richman wondered. "How you can ascribe that anybody knows what's in a car?" She also contends that the car was stopped about a block away from the Beacon Theatre and that it had been "parked outside for two and a half hours, with the police department, and they ran the plates — they could have just handed out a ticket then, but they didn't. They waited for [Ja Rule] to get into the car." As for the speeding claims, Richman simply doesn't believe them: "Why would he speed for one block? What, he's going to speed to the next light on Broadway? Come on." The prosecutor's office would not comment on Ja Rule's arrest. ...

G-Unit's Tony Yayo was in court Tuesday morning (July 24) in connection with charges of harassment and endangering the welfare of a child, the 14-year-old son of Game manager Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond. According to Yayo's lawyer Scott Leemon, the rapper rejected a plea offer that would have him serve nine months in jail, and the case was adjourned until September 6. Leemon said the judge in the case asked for more time to make a decision on whether he will enforce subpoenas issued by Leemon to the public-relations firm for Rosemond's Czar Entertainment record label. Leemon would not discuss what information he is seeking from the PR firm. ...

R. Kelly is still feeding off his recent Double Up set, but he's already got another treat in store for next month: Ten new episodes in his "Trapped in the Closet" series. In his latest go-'round, R. dresses as a preacher in a wig — and even more amusingly, from the sound of it, an old man with a fake belly and beard, Billboard.com reports. A DVD encompassing the 10 eps will hit stores August 21, but you can catch them prior to that on, oddly enough, the Independent Film Channel. ... Lindsay Lohan's wax statue at Madame Tussauds in New York has a new addition: It's now dressed in black and white prison stripes. The museum pulled the same move with Paris Hilton's statue when the heiress went to jail. ...

Rage Against the Machine, Daft Punk, Iggy and the Stooges and Queens of the Stone Age are among the headliners of this year's Vegoose Festival. The third annual installment of the Las Vegas event, to be held October 27-28 at Sam Boyd Stadium, will also feature sets from Muse, Cypress Hill, the Shins, Public Enemy, Ghostface Killah, Pharoahe Monch, Battles, Gogol Bordello and more artists to be announced soon. The Stooges will perform their classic Fun House album in its entirety for the first time ever in the U.S. ...

Daughtry will hit the road next month for a spate of headlining gigs. Dates are scheduled from August 1 in Columbus, Ohio, through October 20 in Raleigh, North Carolina. ... Mandy Moore will team up with Paula Cole for a co-headlining tour set to kick off August 18 in Portland, Oregon, and expire August 25 in San Diego. Moore's also set to play some of her own headlining gigs, starting August 30 in Fort Worth, Texas. That trek runs through September 9 in Charlotte, North Carolina. ... Tori Amos has mapped out the U.S. leg of her world tour, which will launch October 9 in Albany, New York, and run through December 17 in Los Angeles. ...

Tupac Shakur's estate is trying to stop the late rapper's former label, Death Row Records, from selling his unreleased recordings as part of a bankruptcy settlement. Shakur's mother, Afeni, sought an injunction in federal bankruptcy court Friday, claiming the label was trying to sell Shakur material that belonged to the rapper's estate and should have been turned over to it as part of a 1997 agreement with Death Row. Shakur's lawyer Donald N. David said that during the label's bankruptcy proceedings, "it was revealed that an album's worth of unreleased Tupac material was being advertised to potential buyers as the jewel in the crown of the Death Row assets." ...

A Los Angeles judge has refused to dismiss Phil Spector's murder charge or reduce it to manslaughter on Tuesday, The Associated Press reports. Prosecutors rested their case Monday, and one of the attorneys said they might not even have to show the music producer pulled the trigger to the gun that killed actress Lana Clarkson in order for Spector to be convicted. "He had the gun in his home, loaded with his bullets," said Alan Jackson, who added that prosecutors only need to show that Spector pointed the gun at Clarkson. "Whether he pulled the trigger, whether he sneezed or she slapped his hand away or there was an earthquake — it doesn't matter. It's implied malice." The defense argued that implied malice wasn't shown and that the prosecution didn't support its second-degree-murder theory, so the charge should be dismissed or reduced. "It's very clear to me ... that there's more than enough substantial evidence to support a conviction if there was one," Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler said, refusing the motion. ...

Static-X, Shadows Fall, 3 Inches of Blood and Divine Heresy are planning a U.S. run that will commence in September. Dates and venues have yet to be announced, but we'll keep you posted. ... There's been some turmoil as of late in the world of Hopesfall. According to a statement from the band, it seems the only remaining member is singer Jay Forrest, meaning guitarists Joshua Brigham and Dustin Nadler, drummer Jason Trabue and bassist Mike Tyson have split. No explanation for the departures has been made public. ... Coheed and Cambria's forthcoming album, Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow, will hit stores October 23. ... The Bled's next effort, Silent Treatment, has been set for a September 25 release. The LP will contain 11 tracks, including "You Should Be Ashamed of Myself," "Platonic Sleepover Massacre" and "Breathing Room Barricades." ...

English manager Don Arden, the father of Sharon Osbourne, died Saturday in a Los Angeles nursing home, according to a BBC News report. He was 81. The man born Harry Levy in Manchester, England, but known variously as the "Al Capone of Pop," "The English Godfather" and "Mr. Big" for his uncompromising business practices was at one time the manager of acts ranging from ELO to the Small Faces and Black Sabbath. Sharon was famously estranged from Arden for nearly 20 years after she wrested control of husband Ozzy Osbourne's solo career and was forced to pay her dad a $1 million court settlement. The two reconciled in 2002. ... In an attempt to smooth the pathway to a proposed merger, satellite-radio competitors XM and Sirius have said that if the $4.7 billion merger is approved, they would offer new a la carte pricing plans that would allow users to pay only for the stations they want. The Washington Post reports that the proposed plans would start at $6.99 for 50 stations, which is almost half of the current price of $12.95 for about 150 stations, and include a $14.99 price for 100 stations and the option to add stations one at a time for 25 cents each.

• Harry Potter's Grand Finale: The Experts' Take
• Lindsay Lohan Arrested Again

• Kanye West
• Beyoncé
• Lindsay Lohan
• Pearl Jam
• Disturbed

'VH1 Hip Hop Honors' 2009

• Eminem
• Rick Ross (Hip-Hop)
• DMX
• Public Enemy
• Foxy Brown

Lil Wayne and Friends concert, New York, NY, 07.22.2007

• Lil Wayne
• Ja Rule
• Juelz Santana
• Birdman
• Kanye West

On The Set Of Ja Rule's "Uh Oh" Video

• Ja Rule
• Lil Wayne

The Collectables By Ashanti Album Release Party

• Ashanti
• Ja Rule

Ja Rule And Ashanti Perform At Amber Ridinger's Bat Mitzvah In Miami, 11.12.2005

• Ja Rule
• Ashanti

Lohan, Snoop, Ashanti, Others Get "Iced Out" Backstage At New Year's 2005

• Lindsay Lohan
• Fat Joe
• Snoop Dogg
• Christina Milian
• Ashanti

Spankin' New Music Week: Ja Rule Photos 11.09.2004

• Ja Rule

Making the Video: Ja Rule "Wonderful"

• Ja Rule

Miami After Hours: Kanye, Paris, Juvenile, Lil Jon, Jada, More

• Lil' Kim
• Kanye West
• Diddy
• Lil Jon
• Petey Pablo

VMA '04 Red Carpet Fashion

• Usher
• Jessica Simpson
• Ashlee Simpson
• Ryan Cabrera
• Nick Lachey