Jermaine Dupri
Photo: Arnold Turner/ WireImage

As the country edges toward near-historic unemployment numbers, you can add one more name to the list of those looking for a new job: Jermaine Dupri. According to Variety, the producer/rapper has reportedly ended his brief tenure as the president of the Island Records Urban Music department.

Rumored for months, the split is said to have taken place on Thursday and follows the departure of Dupri's longtime girlfriend, Janet Jackson, from the label. Jackson broke ties with Island Def Jam in late 2008, after her latest album, Discipline, posted disappointing sales of less than 500,000. Dupri's personal publicist and a label representative did not return e-mails seeking comment.

Dupri had also split with Virgin Urban Music shortly after Jackson left her previous longtime label home, Virgin Records, following similarly disappointing sales of her 2006 effort, 20 Y.O.

Dupri took over the Urban department at IDJ in February of 2007; the division was created shortly before he came onboard. Among the major initiatives under his watch was the creation in April of Tag Records, a joint venture with Procter & Gamble's Tag body spray that helped cross-promote acts like Q Da Kid in Tag advertisements. It was not known at press time how Dupri's exodus would effect his So So Def roster, which has been distributed through Island Urban since 2007.

In addition to Jackson's underperforming album, several other records Dupri oversaw during his time at IDJ failed to catch fire, including Jagged Edge's Baby Makin' Project.

• Jermaine Dupri
• Janet Jackson
• Q Da Kid
• Jagged Edge

Keyshia Cole's <i>Just Like You</i>
Photo: Geffen Records

For a second-straight week, it's country — not Kanye — that leads the latest Billboard top 200, following what was an unusually heavy day for new releases, with 40 chart newcomers in all.

Last week, Reba McEntire's Reba Duets trounced the two biggest hip-hop releases of the year, earning the former sitcom star the first #1 debut of her 30-year career. On next week's chart, Reba's latest slips five spots to #6, leaving the peak position open for country croonin' trio Rascal Flatts and their latest, Still Feels Good, which sold more than 546,500 copies, according to the latest SoundScan totals. The album becomes the band's third-straight chart-crowning offering, following the successes of 2004's Feels Like Today (which generated week-one scans of 201,000) and 2006's Me and My Gang (with sales reported at 721,700).

As for Kanye West and his archenemy of three weeks back, 50 Cent, both artists remain in the chart's top 10, but for one, that might change soon. West's Graduation slips three places to #5 on next week's chart with 133,300 sold, while Fif's Curtis dropped from #3 to #9, with 70,900 scans. Curtis has yet to pass the 1 million-sold mark, while West's latest has sold more than 1.3 million copies.

In between the Flatts and West are three of the five new releases to crack the top 10, but none came close to touching this week's #1. Bowing at #2 with 281,400 sold is R&B songstress Keyshia Cole's new one, Just Like You, the follow-up to 2005's The Way It Is, which debuted at #6 with 88,500 scans. Behind her is the latest from the Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, selling more than 168,200 copies. The band's mission for a #1 opening will continue, following failed attempts by 2002's One by One (which opened at #3 with 121,500 sold) and 2005's In Your Honor (#2 with 310,600). R&B, soul and jazz singer Jill Scott's The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 claims the chart's #4 position, having sold 148,500 units.

Right behind the soundtrack to Disney's "High School Musical 2," which sits at the #7 position with 84,900 sold, is the latest from R&B act Jagged Edge, Baby Makin' Project, which scanned more than 78,000 copies during its first week. Rounding out the top 10 is Kenny Chesney's Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates, which plummeted five spots with 68,200 sold.

Debuting at #11 with 51,000 copies snatched up is Queen Latifah's newest studio offering, Trav'lin' Light, while Melissa Etheridge's The Awakening follows at #13 with 47,700 sold. Joni Mitchell's Shine claims the #14 position, selling 40,150 copies, and right behind Joni at #15 is Chaka Khan's Funk This, with sales reported at 38,500. Tony Bennett Sings the Ultimate American Songbook, Vol. 1 opens at #16 with 36,200 scans, while Atlanta rapper Gorilla Zoe's Welcome to the Zoo sits in the #18 position with 35,200 sold.

One of the week's biggest surprises occupies the chart's #21 slot: Dethklok, the animated band from the Adult Swim cartoon "Metalocalypse," and their debut disc, Dethalbum. The set sold more than 33,700 copies, which was just enough to keep the David Crowder Band's Remedy at #22 with 32,300 sold. Folk rocker Iron and Wine's The Shepherd's Dog opens at #24 with sales coming in at around 31,600, while Southern metallers Down's first album in nearly five years, Down III: Over the Under, finishes at #26 with 29,200 scans. Trumpeter Chris Botti's Italia takes the #27 position with 28,800-plus sold.

The solo debut from the Black Eyes Peas' Will.I.Am, Songs About Girls, opens at #38 on next week's chart, thanks to sales of more than 20,800. The Cheetah Girls' TGC follows at #44 with 18,900 sold, while rapper Hell Rell's For the Hell of It comes in at #55 with 15,600 scans. All Time Low's So Wrong, It's Right bows at #62 with 13,800 copies sold, and at #69, with 12,300 sold, it's Gucci Mane's Trap-A-Thon.

Steve Earle's Washington Square Serenade opens at #79, having sold close to 9,600 units, while Swedish metallers Arch Enemy's Rise of the Tyrant follows at #84 with 8,900 scans. Hurt's Vol. II just misses the top 100, coming in at #101 with 7,200 sold, while Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino, a two-disc compilation featuring John Lennon, Elton John, Joss Stone, Corinne Bailey Rae, Neil Young, Norah Jones and Ben Harper, finishes out the week at #104, selling 6,800 copies. Folk rocker Devendra Banhart's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon bows at #115 with 6,300 sold, and at #12 with 6,000 scans is The Best of Donell Jones.

The Very Best of the Doors, a career-spanning collection commemorating the band's 40th anniversary, finishes at #129, selling 5,700 units, while Swedish singer/songwriter José González's In Our Nature claims the #132 position with 5,600 scans. Wolfgang's Big Night Out, the seventh studio album from American swing revivalists the Brian Setzer Orchestra, opens at #141 with sales of 5,300 and change, while indie rockers the Weakerthans' Reunion Tour debuts at #181 with 4,100 sold. Lastly, opening at #186 with 4,000 scans, is the latest from Meshell Ndegeocello, The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams.

• 2007 VMA: Foo Fighters And Guests Live From The Fantasy Suites

• Keyshia Cole
• Foo Fighters
• Rascal Flatts
• Kanye West
• 50 Cent

Red Hot Chili Peppers' <i>Stadium Arcadium</i>
Photo: Warner Bros.

Shame on those who'd written off rock as a dead genre. Rock, it seems, was just taking a little nap. But thanks to Godsmack, Tool, Pearl Jam and Taking Back Sunday, who've dominated the Billboard albums chart in recent weeks, it's safe to say the genre's sales have reawakened. The trend continues this week with Stadium Arcadium, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' first fresh offering in four years.

What's hard to imagine, though, is that it took the Peppers — one of the most popular rock bands to emerge over the past two decades — more than 20 years and nine studio records to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200. But according to the latest SoundScan totals, they've finally managed it with Stadium Arcadium, their 28-track double LP. With more than 442,000 copies sold its first week in stores, Stadium has shattered the Red Hot Chili Peppers' previous sales successes — 2002's By the Way racked up 282,000 in sales to finish at #2, while 1999's Californication generated 189,000 week-one scans for a #3 opening.

The sole threat this week to the Peppers' chart-topping opening wasn't much of a threat at all. The second solo outing from Jessica Simpson's ex Nick Lachey, What's Left of Me, didn't get within 250,000 copies of Stadium Arcadium. Lachey's latest opens at #2 with first-week sales nearing 172,000. Tool's 10,000 Days, which bowed at #1 on the previous chart, slides to third place, selling 157,000 copies.

The self-titled album from R&B outfit Jagged Edge — the group's first fresh release in three years — follows at #4, debuting with sales close to 115,000. Occupying the #5 spot is Baby Makin' Music, the new album from soul stalwarts the Isley Brothers; nearly 111,000 copies of that LP left record stores during the disc's first week out.

The remainder of the top 10 is rife with repeat offenders. Rascal Flatts' Me & My Gang claims the #6 slot with close to 106,000 scans, while the soundtrack to the Disney Channel original movie "High School Musical" — one of the year's biggest chart surprises — hangs tough at #7 with 89,000 sales.

			Chili Peppers RAW Anthony Kiedis and Flea revisit their 1991 space from a whole new place in these video clips.

Pearl Jam's latest, self-titled LP slips from #2 to #8 with week-two sales of 86,000 and change, while the 21st installment in the Now That's What I Call Music! compilation series — featuring Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyes Peas and Nickelback — claims #9 with 76,000 copies sold. James Blunt's Back to Bedlam rounds out (and returns to) the top 10, selling close to 71,000 units, a 22 percent boost in retail interest.

The new chart is peppered with a number of noteworthy debut showings. In at #14 is the newest release from Paul Simon, Surprise, which sold close to 61,000 copies, followed by Neil Young's Living With War at #15 with 60,000 scans. St. Elsewhere, the debut from Gnarls Barkley — a collaboration between Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo — opens at #20 with 50,000 units flying off shelves. Motown legend and current Cash Money heavyweight Teena Marie's Sapphire bows at #24 with 44,000 copies sold.

Snow Patrol return to the chart with their latest, Eyes Open, which debuts at #34 with 36,000 in sales, and Korn's Live & Rare finishes at #51 with close to 22,000 scans. Chris Isaak's Best of Chris Isaak claims the #54 opening with 21,000 units sold, while MC Magic's Magic City pops up at #155 with 6,600 in sales.

Grandaddy's Just Like the Fambly Cat debuts at #171 with sales coming in at just under 6,000, while Pure '80s: #1s, a compilation album featuring tracks by the Police, Tears for Fears, Survivor, Mr. Mister, Culture Club and others, claims the #182 slot, with nearly 6,000 scans. Punk Goes '90s, a collection of classics from the grunge era as performed by Eighteen Visions, Bleeding Through, Emery, Plain White T's and others, opens at #190 with 5,200 copies sold, and Suga Free's Just Add Water takes #194 with 5,000 sales.

Check out in Overdrive for an inside look at the creation of Stadium Arcadium.

• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Nick Lachey
• Jagged Edge
• Tool
• Pearl Jam

Jagged Edge
Photo: Columbia Records

The ATL/ Bay Area hyphy connection is being carried on by, of all people, R&B crooners Jagged Edge.

The foursome is ready to release its next single, "Stunnas," which features Jermaine Dupri. E-40 trumpeted "stunna shades" in the Lil Jon-produced hyphy anthem "Tell Me When to Go," and the flashy glasses are a staple of the hyphy culture.

"Jagged kinda has a set fanbase," group member Richard Wingo said from Atlanta. "They know our sound. Whenever they hear a Jagged record, they know it. We try not to get too far from what we've done in the past, but we always try to add a little more spices to the pot. It's just something we haven't done in the past."

Besides "Stunnas," Jagged veer a little on their fifth album with the reggaetón song "So Amazing" with Voltio and on "Season's Change" with John Legend, which marks the first time the group has worked with an outside male singer.

For most of the LP, of course, Jagged Edge sing the ballads their fans have come to expect.

"I think the overall message from day one to now is that it's OK to feel these things, it's OK to say certain things," co-lead singer Brian Casey said. "It's OK to express yourself in a way that might not feel comfortable, and you can still be cool. 'Cause we're cool brothas. And if I have something to say to a young lady, I'mma say it. We know our formula, and we're not going to stray too far from what we've done before, but we sprinkle in our little nuances, and we'll be [in the game for a long time]."

"It's going to always be that time when it's you and a young lady, or just you in a more mellow setting, and you don't want to hear hip-hop or rock and roll," Brian's twin, Brandon, added. "I think there will always be a lane for [those] who make [slow jams]."

Jagged Edge were in Atlanta to perform and sign autographs at a Best Buy. "Stunnas" isn't actually on Jagged's new CD; but if you buy the album, you can download the song off the group's Web site, JaggedEdge.net.

Jagged and Dupri are shooting a video for "Stunnas" in a couple of weeks, and there's a chance E-40 could appear on the remix.

• Jagged Edge
• John Legend
• Jermaine Dupri
• E-40
• Voltio

Red Hot Chili Peppers' <I>Stadium Arcadium</I>
Photo: Warner Bros/ Wea

Hungry?: The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been piquing fans' appetites with their "Dani California" single, but that song has 27 brethren on the two-disc Stadium Arcadium. The guys wrote 38 songs, but the number they whittled the list down to still exceeds the number of tracks on their Greatest Hits and Best Of records combined. The two CDs — nicknamed "Jupiter" and "Mars" — are boosted by a DVD in the limited-edition black-box version of the set, which has a chunky booklet, artwork by the band, an hour-long interview, the "Dani" video and more. Tracks on both versions include "Especially in Michigan," featuring a guitar solo by Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez; "Warlocks," with legend Billy Preston on clavinet; and "She's Only 18."

Lonely: Nick Lachey makes his second solo splash as the aftershocks of his break with Jessica Simpson are still rippling through the tabloids. The writing's on the, er, CD, as they say, on tracks like "I Can't Hate You Anymore," "On Your Own," "You're Not Alone" and — well, on just about all 12 songs. Lachey shares writing credits on most tracks, finding company in British singer/pianist Jamie Cullum on "Ghosts" and Backstreet Boys' Brian Littrell collaborator Dan Muckala on three tunes, including "Outside Looking In." Hang in there, bub.

Korny: There's a reason you haven't heard about Korn's Live & Rare: It's being dished out by the band's former label, Epic, undoubtedly trying to piggyback on Korn's current album and tour promotions. Dubbed a companion piece to 2004's Greatest Hits, Vol.1, the single disc culls seven tracks from the group's gig at New York's CBGB in 2003, two from its 1999 Woodstock performance, plus covers of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Parts 1-3)," Metallica's "One" and Cheech & Chong's "Earache My Eye."

Gnarly: Wherever St. Elsewhere is, expect to find astronauts, purple panthers, pink palm trees, gas masks and other scattered military equipment — if the cover of Gnarls Barkley's debut is at all accurate. All songs were written primarily by Brian Burton, a.k.a. Danger Mouse — save a surprising cover of Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone" — while Thomas DeCarlo Callaway, a.k.a. Cee-Lo, mans the mic. Both partners are Grammy nominees, so expect this one to have some extra bounce with the critics.

Agelessly: Gotta love it when soul heroes the Isley Brothers advertise a fresh number as a "new vintage classic." That would be "Gotta Be With You," one of 11 new cuts by the bros that also include "Blast Off," which features and was written, produced and arranged by R. Kelly; the Jermaine Dupri-produced "Gotta Be With You," co-written by Bryan Michael Cox (Mariah Carey, Usher); "Heaven Hooked Us Up," with guitars by Ernest Isley; and the laudably titled "Forever Mackin'," which has the priceless lyric "I rock the grooves and make moves on all the mommies."

She's not as old as the Isleys, but veteran Motown and current Cash Money heavyweight Teena Marie follows up 2004's La Doña with Sapphire. The death of her close companion Rick James is at the root of her 13th record, for which her 14-year-old daughter, Alia Rose, pays more than a couple of visits. Also chiming in are Kurupt and his wife, Gail Gotti; Teena Marie's sister, Queen; plus Smokey Robinson, Gerald Albright and the late James (on "You Blow Me Away").

Fiery: For their fourth studio venture, Eyes Open, Snow Patrol sought some help from singer Martha Wainwright for the scorching duet "Set the Fire to the Third Bar." Oh, and if you've got an all-regions DVD player and some extra motivation, try to hunt down the limited-edition import copy of the record. The accompanying video disc has making-of material plus the video for "You're All I Have."

All in the Family: This week would make Jack and Meg White proud. The Chicago husband-and-wife duo the Like Young step up with their third record, Last Secrets; Mercury Prize-nominated brothers the Electric Soft Parade deliver The Human Body EP — with a bonus track that didn't appear on the U.K. edition; and John Carter Cash contributes liner notes to a re-release of his father's The Johnny Cash Children's Album, which has four previously unissued tracks.

Pony Up is a project that pairs drummer Linsay Wills with her younger sister/ ad-hoc keyboardist Laura Elizabeth. The Montreal group cowboy up with their debut, Make Love to the Judges With Your Eyes, which the band tracked with Arcade Fire collaborator Howard Ian Bilerman and engineer Brian Paulson of Beck and Wilco note.

Grandaddy's Just Like the Fambly Cat is in the thick of the incestuous pack, even if the record is more of a signature on their set of divorce papers, while New York bluesman Popa Chubby reveals the art behind Stealing the Devil's Guitar. Accident Experiment is another family matter, so to speak, as the band's United We Fear opus adopts members of P.O.D., Sprung Monkey and Grammatrain.

And the third release by Danielson Famile spinoff Danielson brings together siblings Chris, Greg, John and Satomi and also features Sufjan Stevens and Serena Maneesh. As luck would have it, Pitchfork darlings Serena Maneesh drop their own self-titled record this week, a record the Norwegian group calls an exercise in serenity. Let's hope they don't have any in-laws!

Song Title of the Week:

"Tire Bracelets for Coffin Life" from Zach Hill and Mick Barr's Shred Earthship

Other Notables:

Matmos' The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast: The San Francisco duo's seventh record is really an event in and of itself. With help from Björk, the Kronos Quartet and Antony, Matmos pay homage to 10 notorious deviants, including Germs singer Darby Crash, Valerie Solanas — the woman who shot Andy Warhol — and William S. Burroughs. And it gets even more far-out when they acknowledge Bavarian ruler King Ludwig II and a '60s gay-porn director. Capping the milestone, Matmos enlisted an array of artists — including Ghost World and Art School Confidential mastermind Daniel Clowes — to craft a visual accompaniment for each piece.

Plain White T's' Hey There Delilah: Chicago's latest great "white" hope have already won big with this EP's title track, which has been downloaded more than 40,000 times on iTunes. A live version of the song plus four new numbers recorded with Sean O'Keefe (Fall Out Boy, Hawthorne Heights) and four additional videos give this EP even more bang for the buck.

Kimya Dawson's Remember That I ♥ You: The Moldy Peach just got married and is expecting a baby this summer, but apparently that's not enough — she found time to birth her fifth solo LP as well. She fumes about the response to the 2004 tsunami in "12/26," declaring, "We'd have 12/26 tattooed across our foreheads if something this atrocious happened on our coast instead." But she saves some vitriol for the White House on "Loose Lips" — after all, what would a new-releases week be these days without some Bush bashing?

New Releases:

• Accident Experiment - United We Fear (Rock Ridge)
• The Aggrolites - The Aggrolites (digipak; Hellcat)
• Astral Doors - Astralism (Locomotive)
• ATB - The DJ in the Mix 3 (digipak; Water)
• Backyard Babies - People Like People Like People Like Us (Abacus)
• Susana Baca - Travesías (Luaka Bop)
• The Black Heart Procession - The Spell (digipak; Touch & Go)
  Buy Now: The Spell (Touch & Go)
  
• Black Hollies - Crimson Reflections (Ernest Jenning Record Co.)
• Ane Brun - A Temporary Dive (V2)
• Burden of a Day - Pilots & Paper Planes (Blood & Ink)
• Clear Static - Clear Static (Maverick)
• Harry Connick Jr. - Harry on Broadway, Act 1 (two CDs; Columbia)
• Cx Kidtronik - Krak Attack (Sound-Ink)
• Danielson - Ships (Secretly Canadian)
• Kimya Dawson - Remember That I ♥ You (K)
• Casey Driessen - 3D (Sugar Hill)
• The Electric Soft Parade - The Human Body (EP; Better Looking)
• The Everyothers - Pink Sticky Lies (EP; Kill Rock Stars)
• Flying - Just-One-Second-Ago-Broken Eggshell (Millpond)
• Forgive Durden - Wonderland (Fueled by Ramen)
• The Isley Brothers - Baby Makin' Music (Island)
• Girl Talk - Night Ripper (Illegal Art)
• Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (Downtown)
  Buy Now: St. Elsewhere (Downtown)
  
• Grandaddy - Just Like the Fambly Cat (V2)
  Read: "Grandaddy Can't Wait To Leave Home — But They Have To Finish Telling It Off First"
  Buy Now: Just Like the Fambly Cat (V2)
  
• Grave Digger - 25 to Live (two CDs; Locomotive)
• Zach Hill and Mick Barr - Shred Earthship (5 Rue Christine)
• Jolie Holland - Springtime Can Kill You (digipak; Anti)
  Buy Now: Springtime Can Kill You (Anti)
  
• I See Hawks in L.A. - California Country (Western Seeds)
• Jagged Edge - Jagged Edge (Columbia)
  Buy Now: Jagged Edge (Columbia)
  
• Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch & Fats Kaplin - Lost John Dean (Compass)
• KMFDM - Ruck Zuck (EP; Metropolis)
• Korn - Live & Rare (Epic)
  Buy Now: Live & Rare (Epic)
  
• Darren Kozelsky - Let Your Mind Fly (Boo Hatch)
• Nick Lachey - What's Left of Me (Jive)
  Buy Now: What's Left of Me (Jive)
  
• Lansing-Dreiden - The Dividing Island (digipak; Kemado)
• The Like Young - Last Secrets (Polyvinyl)
• Little Annie - Songs From the Coal Mine Canary (Durtro/ Jnana)
• Teena Marie - Sapphire (Cash Money)
  Buy Now: Sapphire (Cash Money)
  
• Matmos - The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast (Matador)
• MC Magic - Magic City (Thump)
• McFly - Just My Luck (Universal)
• Julia Murney - I'm Not Waiting (Sh-K Boom)
• New Mexican Disaster Squad - Don't Believe (Jade Tree)
• Nomo - New Tones (Ubiquity)
• The Old Haunts - Fuel on Fire (Kill Rock Stars)
• Panzer AG - Your World Is Burning (Metropolis)
• Stephen Pearcy - Stripped (Sidewinder)
• Plain White T's - Hey There Delilah (enhanced EP; Fearless)
  Read: "Plain White T's Find Getting Personal Pays Off, Literally"
• Pony Up - Make Love to the Judges With Your Eyes (Dim Mak)
• Popa Chubby - Stealing the Devil's Guitar (Blind Pig)
• Rasheeda - Georgia Peach (Big Cat)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium (two CDs; limited edition with DVD also available; Warner Bros.)
  Read: "Chili Peppers Stoked About New Album, Possible Kanye Tour"
  Buy Now: Stadium Arcadium (Warner Bros.)
  
• Retisonic - Levittown (EP; Ascetic)
• Serena Maneesh - Serena-Maneesh (Play Louder)
• Shearwater - Palo Santo (Misra)
• Paul Simon - Surprise (Warner Bros.)
  Buy Now: Surprise (Warner Bros.)
  
• Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King - My Heart's in Texas (Blind Pig)
• Snog - Snog Vs. the Faecal Juggernaut of Mass Culture (Metropolis)
• Snow Patrol - Eyes Open (A&M)
  Read: "Snow Patrol Turn 'Candy-Assed' Music Into Beastly Arena Rock"
  Buy Now: Eyes Open (A&M)
  
• Sodom - Sodom (Steamhammer/ SPV)
• The Stills - Without Feathers (Vice)
  Read: "The Stills Look To Britney Spears In Picking New Single"
  Buy Now: Without Feathers (Vice)
  
• Suga Free - Just Add Water (with bonus DVD; Bungalo)
• Sugarplum Fairies - Country International Records (Starfish)
• Thee More Shadows - Monkey Vs. Shark (Turn)
• Toots Thielemans - One More for the Road (Verve)
• Transition - Get There (Floodgate)
• Jim Van Cleve - No Apologies (Rural Rhythm)
• Wooden Wand - Harem of the Sundrum & the Witness Figg (5 Rue Christine)
• Yonder Mountain String Band - Yonder Mountain String Band (Vanguard)
• Hans Zimmer - "The Da Vinci Code" soundtrack (Decca)
• Various artists - Punk Goes 90's (Fearless)
• Various artists - Re-Bop: The Savoy Remixes (Savoy Jazz)
• Various artists - Rewind! 5 (Ubiquity)
• Various artists - Sail Away: The Songs of Randy Newman (Sugar Hill)
• Various artists - The Sound the Hare Heard (Kill Rock Stars)
• Various artists - "Charmed: The Final Chapter" soundtrack (Adrenaline)
• Various artists - "Mission: Impossible III" soundtrack (Varèse Sarabande)
• Various artists - "Poseidon" soundtrack (Interscope)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

• Chris Isaak - Best of Chris Isaak (two-disc version with DVD also available; Reprise)
• Barry Manilow - Barry Manilow II, Even Now and Tryin' to Get the Feeling (expanded with unreleased tracks; Arista/ Legacy)
• Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King - "My Heart's in Texas" (Blind Pig)
• Trivium - Ascendancy (special-edition slipcase with DVD; Roadrunner)
• Gino Vanelli - These Are the Days (Universal)
• Various artists - Pure '80s: #1s (UTV)

Music DVDs:

• Rory Gallagher - "Live at Montreux" (Eagle Vision)
• Grave Digger - "25 to Live" (Locomotive)
• New Order - "New Order Story" (Rhino)
• Whitesnake - "Live in the Still of the Night" (Hip-O)

Coming Attractions:

May 16:

• Ashley Parker Angel - Soundtrack to Your Life (Universal)
  Buy Now: Soundtrack to Your Life (Universal)
  
• Cam'ron - Killa Season (limited-edition version with DVD and two bonus tracks also available; Rap-a-Lot)
  Read: "Mixtape Monday: LL Cool J Stays Hungry, Cam'ron Delivers A Preview"
• Hoobastank - Every Man for Himself (Island)
  Read: "Hoobastank Find Inspiration For New LP In Scott Weiland's Cold Shoulder"
• Christina Milian - So Amazin' (enhanced; Def Jam)
• The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers (V2/ Third Man)
  Read: "Jack White: Don't Call The Raconteurs A Side Project"
• Rock Kills Kid - Are You Nervous? (Reprise)
  Read: "Rock Kills Kid Bring Music From Windowless Room To Radio"

May 23:

• Angels & Airwaves - We Don't Need to Whisper (Geffen)
  Read: "Tom DeLonge Spills More About Angels & Airwaves' Plans For World Domination "
• Don Omar - King of Kings (Universal)
  Read: "Reggaeton Star Don Omar Out To Spread Latino Unity"
• The Walkmen - Hundred Miles Off (Record Collection)

May 30:

• The Charlatans UK - "Live at Last" (Standing Room Only)
• Les Claypool - Of Whales & Woe (digipak; Prawn Song)
• Peeping Tom - Peeping Tom (Ipecac)

• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Nick Lachey
• Korn
• Snow Patrol
• Gnarls Barkley

Killer Mike (file)
Photo: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

Killer Mike wants rappers to take it up a notch. No, not by getting more blinged-out and buying bigger rims, but by focusing less on ego and more on social issues.

The Southern rapper — who has been featured on multiple Outkast albums and lodged his 2003 debut, Monster, in the top 10 — rails against police brutality and conservative black churches on his forthcoming Ghetto Extraordinary.

"In the late '80s/ early '90s, if you didn't have some type of consciousness, no matter who you were, you were considered a sellout," Mike said. "I think that what's happening now is everybody's kind of bought in. Now rap is about one's self and glorification of self."

Instead of inflating his ego, Mike tackles a number of social concerns on his second LP. He said he has "some very deep ideas" on topical tracks like "Shot Down," "Speak Lord" and "Mama Said."

"I actually wrote ['Shot Down'] around the time a young teenage girl was killed in Dallas by the police nine months to a year ago," he said. " 'Shot Down' is about more than police brutality; it's about gun violence also. A young man here in Atlanta was killed at a MARTA station [Atlanta's commuter train]. He got a hold of a firearm, flashed it at another teenager and the other young man shot and killed him."

Mike, who grew up in Adamsville, Georgia, but has since relocated to nearby Atlanta, said, "It's easier to buy a gun here than it is to get a [drivers'] license. This song ['Shot Down'] was just on my heart when I did it, and I couldn't let go of the hook: 'APD will get you shot down/ LAPD will see you shot down/ NYPD will get you shot down/ Come f--- with me, you'll get shot down.' Then I let a few people hear it [and] it was relevant to them. Stories started coming out like, 'Yeah man, the police just did this to me.' "

It's not just gun violence that Mike thinks is ailing contemporary society. He also has choice words for black churches.

"Essentially, the black church has become Republican," he explained. "We've abandoned what is really our salvation-based ministry and we've bought into blessing-based ministry. It's saying that if you act this way, in accordance with God, morally and spiritually, you can get this stuff while you are here."

While Mike has packed Ghetto Extraordinary with social commentary, he said he didn't have to sacrifice beats in order to do it. He did, however, modify his style this time around. While his rhymes have been gruff on past tracks like "AKshon (Yeah!)" and Outkast's "The Whole World," he said he smoothed the flow this time around (see "Outkast Protege Killer Mike Deals With Fame, Calls For 'AKshon' ").

"I decided to just take what's stereotypically Atlanta — Chevys, beautiful girls, big rims, purple haze — and tone my style down and do a new Killer Mike," he said. "Do something that's jamming and not abrasive that people could move to."

Mike said he lifted the beat to the first single, "My Chrome," from rapper/minister Mase.

" 'My Chrome' sounds pretty slick. In fact, I was scared to do the song, and then Mase walked in and he wanted it," he laughed. "I couldn't let Mase have it! Mr. DJ laced the track and Big Boi told me it was crazy, but I wasn't sure. But once I saw how Big Boi and Mase reacted, I was like, 'These guys have sold a lot of records. If they like this, maybe you should put this on your album, Michael.' "

Big Boi is just one of many guest artists featured on the album. Ghetto Extraordinary — which has "more of the player aesthetic that I feel like the South has lost," according to Mike — also hosts Outkast, Juvenile, Jagged Edge, Bun B, Chamillionaire and Scar, a new artist signed to Outkast's Purple Ribbon label (formerly Aquemini).

"Choose Me" features another guest: SL Jones, who is on Mike's independent label, Grind Time Official. His roster also boasts Nario, Zach Nichols, Big Slim and Sharp Shooter.

"We want to build up a grass-roots following so that a major deal will come to us," he said of GTO.

Along with having Ghetto Extraordinary ready for release and a video in the works — for which director Hype Williams is in talks — Killer hinted he might follow in Andre 3000's Hollywood footsteps. He recently shot "Twenty Funerals," a Swirl Productions independent movie, with Big Boi and Lil Jon.

"I play this guy named Fat Tony and I get shot and killed," Mike said. "I got interested in acting when Dre was first taking acting lessons out in California. I just kind of hung out in his trailer and saw the study they had to go into. And I'm just like, 'Yeah, I can do this.' So I'm actually gonna go out and stay in L.A. for a month or two and do some reading. I wanna try it. They pay a little better than music, I heard."

• Killer Mike
• OutKast
• Juvenile
• Jagged Edge

While R. Kelly awaits a judge's decision on the fate of his future tour plans, those looking for a little bedroom bump and grind in their city won't have to wait long — two of R&B's biggest, most seductive artists are joining forces for a nationwide tour.

Ginuwine and Jagged Edge are shacking up, so to speak, to bring their love crooning to fans across the country on a 17-city tour that starts February 13 in Cleveland and ends, after a six-week break, in Baltimore on May 2.

"I'm anxious to be back out on the road," headliner Ginuwine said when announcing the tour on Tuesday (January 13). "It's especially exciting to see all the top R&B acts together on the same bill. Let's just say I'm very happy."

Ginuwine released his fourth album, The Senior, last year, and this will be his first big tour supporting that album. Jagged Edge, meanwhile, will be shooting a video for a remix of their song "What's It Like" with Jermaine Dupri in Atlanta. The song is from their latest album, Hard.

Ginuwine tour dates, according to his spokesperson:

• 2/13 - Cleveland, OH @ State Theater
• 2/14 - Merrillville, IN @ Star Plaza Theatre
• 2/15 - Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
• 2/19 - Sacramento, CA @ Memorial Auditorium
• 2/21 - Oakland, CA @ Paramount Theatre
• 2/22 - Universal City, CA @ Universal Amphitheatre
• 2/26 - TBA
• 2/27 - Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre
• 2/28 - New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
• 2/29 - Westbury, NY @ Music Fair
• 3/4 - Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
• 3/6 - Houston, TX @ Houston Arena Theatre
• 3/7 - New Orleans, LA @ Saenger Theatre
• 4/29 - TBA
• 4/30 - Miami, FL @ Knight Center
• 5/1 - Atlanta, GA @ Chastain Park Amphitheatre
• 5/2 - Baltimore, MD @ Pier 6 Concert Pavilion

• Ginuwine
• Jagged Edge

Clay Aiken
Photo: Getty Images

He may have been a runner-up on "American Idol," but Clay Aiken is second to none on the Billboard albums chart.

The squeaky-clean singer's debut album, Measure of a Man, sold more than 612,000 copies in its first week, according to SoundScan. Aiken's five-day total (Tuesday-Sunday) falls just under the two-week total by the #2 album, Ludacris' Chicken -N- Beer, which has topped out at 624,000 total copies sold.

The rapper's follow-up to his 2001 release, Word of Mouf, sold more than 193,000 copies last week, hence forfeiting the pole position to Aiken.

Aiken and his fellow "Idol" contestant Ruben Studdard, who eventually won the competition, will have the chance to square off again when Ruben's debut LP, Soulful, drops November 11.

R&B quartet Jagged Edge's fourth album, Hard, will lay claim to the #3 position, selling more than 177,000 copies with aid from the single "Walked Outta Heaven."  The group's last LP, Jagged Little Thrill, debuted in the same spot in June 2001, though it sold 37,000 more copies then.

The rest of next week's top 10 albums find Outkast's Speakerboxx/ The Love Below moving down two spots to #4 (167,000) and cracking the 1 million mark in total sales after four weeks; Barbra Streisand's album of cinema soundtracks, Movie Album, bowing in at #5 (162,000); Dido's Life for Rent falling two places to #6 (101,000); Elvis Presley's hits collection 2nd to None slipping four spots to #7 (81,000); Sting's Sacred Love slipping a couple of places to #8 (77,000); Hilary Duff's Metamorphosis holding at #9 (74,000); and Dave Matthews' solo effort, Some Devil, losing half of its ground and falling to #10 (73,000).

Blues guitarist Jonny Lang's fourth album, Long Time Coming, will place at #17 after its first week in stores, while Mariah Carey's Remixes, featuring alternate versions of the hits "Heartbreaker," "Honey" and "Dreamlover," will come in at #26. XIII by masked metal ensemble Mushroomhead will round out the notable top 40 debuts.

Travis' fourth album, 12 Memories, the follow-up to 2001's The Invisible Band, will place at #41, just two slots below the debut spot of its predecessor, 2000's The Man Who, selling 11,000 copies.

Having a #1 film at the box office to accompany it sure helped the soundtrack to "Kill Bill" sell bloody murder at retail. The RZA-flecked LP will jump from #115 to #45 on next week's chart.

Other notable debuts on next week's chart include The Great Holiday Classics with contributions from Aiken, Studdard, Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and others from the "American Idol" series; the Distillers' Coral Fang at #97; Red Star Sounds Presents: Def Jamaica  featuring Def Jam artists such as Redman, Method Man, N.O.R.E. and DMX, paired with reggae artists Wayne Wonder, Sean Paul, Beenie Man, Elephant Man and others, at #160; and Raphael Saadiq's live album, All Hits at the House of Blues, at #182.

• Clay Aiken
• Ludacris
• Jagged Edge
• OutKast
• Travis

Jagged Edge's Kyle Norman
Photo: So So Def/Columbia

Jagged Edge's Kyle Norman turned himself in to the DeKalb County sheriff's office on Wednesday morning (September 3), surrendering almost a week after officers turned up an assortment of drugs, weapons and cash during a sweep of his Decatur, Georgia, home.

The R&B singer, accompanied by his attorney, reported to the county jail around 10 a.m., according to a sheriff's office spokesperson. Norman was booked and sent to wait in jail until his arraignment Wednesday evening.

Norman was not in Decatur when DeKalb authorities arrived at his home Thursday to serve him with an arrest warrant for his part in a local theft ring. Instead, police discovered a 13-pound bag of marijuana, two guns and $6,000 in cash (see "Jagged Edge Member A Wanted Man").

Seven people on the premises were arrested and were arraigned on Monday. All will face another hearing on October 24. It is not known what their specific relationship to Norman is.

Norman is expected to face an array of felony charges related to the marijuana as well as the original charge that he was the recipient of stolen property.

• Jagged Edge

Jagged Edge's Kyle Norman
Photo: So So Def/Columbia

The DeKalb County Sheriff's office in Georgia has no known recording studio on the premises, but it might want to consider expanding its list of public services, considering the number of musicians that have passed through its halls recently.

On August 22, the county sheriff's office welcomed Bobby Brown into its facilities when the singer was arrested and jailed for violating a probation sentence ("Bobby Brown Arrested While Eating Out With Whitney"). And now it's Kyle Norman, singer with the hit R&B group Jagged Edge, who is in trouble with authorities.

Norman is expected to turn himself in to the DeKalb County Sheriff's office Wednesday morning because of the bonanza of contraband discovered at his home on Thursday, including 13 pounds of marijuana, two firearms and $6,000 in cash, a sheriff's department spokesperson said.

Deputies had gone to Norman's home in the Stone Mountain neighborhood of Decatur to serve him with an arrest warrant related to his involvement in a theft ring, specifically for being on the receiving end of stolen property. While they didn't find Norman, a sweep of the premises yielded a large plastic bag of marijuana, 9 mm and .45 caliber handguns, and the cash. In addition, six men and one woman who were on the premises, ranging from 18 to 26 years in age, were arrested.

Norman was not in Decatur at the time, but according to the sheriff's office spokesperson, his lawyer contacted DeKalb County deputies to say Norman would turn himself in. In addition to the original theft charges, Norman faces felony charges related to the possession, sale and manufacturing of marijuana.

Neither representatives for Norman nor Jagged Edge would comment at press time.

• Jagged Edge

Jagged Edge, Beverly Mitchell, Zach Randolph

• Jagged Edge

Ginuwine, Jagged Edge, and Avant live

• Ginuwine
• Jagged Edge
• Avant

Lil' Kim Album Release Photos

• Lil' Kim
• Wayne Wonder
• Jagged Edge
• Mobb Deep

• Jagged Edge

• Jagged Edge