Korn's Elementree label is looking for new talent and is now accepting band demos at each venue during the band's North American tour. Submission boxes will be set up next to merchandising stands for all aspiring musicians with tickets to the show. ... The American Music Awards will present the next Coca-Cola New Music Award to one unsigned artist who will perform live on the 30th Annual American Music Awards telecast in January 2003, on ABC. Eager hopefuls should send submissions digitally at www.newmusicaward.com, or by snail mail on audio cassette or CD to The American Music Awards Presents the Coca-Cola New Music Award Competition, c/o CMJ, 151 West 25th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001. ...

Nineteen tracks of straight-up rawk comprise How We Rock, a compilation that will be released by Epitaph on July 23. Providing evidence that bands such as the Hives (who are featured on the album) didn't materialize out of the ether are contributions from Turbonegro, New Bomb Turks, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, and Rocket From the Crypt appearing alongside tracks from newcomers such as Division of Laura Lee and Sahara Hotnights. ... Moby bassist Greta Brinkman will join Lucid Nation on Tacoma Ballet, due out September 24. Brinkman will perform alongside former Hole drummer Patty Schemel, Larry Schemel (ex-Flesheaters), Tamra Spivey and Ronnie Pontiac. ...

Iron Maiden will release their first DVD, "Rock in Rio," on August 20. The double DVD package features the group's 18-song set from the 2001 Rock in Rio festival along with over an hour of interview footage. ... Lil' Troy will soon introduce the world to a littler Troy. In August the rapper will release an album by his son, Troy, Jr., called T2 on Short Stop Records. ... moe. will open for Robert Plant on eight U.S. tour dates, from the September 2 show in Cleveland to the September 13 gig in Las Vegas. The band is keeping busy gearing up for the third annual moe.down on August 30-September 1 in Turin, New York, preparing for their fall tour, and putting wheels in motion on their next studio LP, due out in early 2003. ...

07.12.02

Brian McKnight and Ashanti are slated to appear at the 2002 WNBA All-Star Game on Monday (July 15) at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. McKnight will sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and Ashanti will perform her new single, "Happy," during halftime. ... Ozzfest 2002: The Live Album will be released on August 27 and feature live performances by acts performing on the current tour. ... A Shelbyville County Circuit Court judge scheduled a conference between prosecution and the attorney for R&B singer Keke Wyatt following a motions hearing Wednesday. The call will determine a trial date on which Wyatt will face charges of second-degree assault for allegedly stabbing her husband last Christmas day. ...

The Offspring, TSOL and the Line will perform a concert on behalf of the non-profit organizations They Will Surf Again and Life Rolls On to help people with spinal cord injuries and fund research into diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. The concert will be held July 31 at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California, and tickets go on sale at noon local time on Saturday (July 13) for $25.00. ... American Head Charge have dropped out of the Dark Days 2002 Tour with Coal Chamber, Lollipop Lust Kill and Medication following Thursday night's performance in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in order to start working on their next record. ... "It would seem that his addiction got the best of him," reads a statement on the Fat Wreck Chords Web site regarding Jim Cherry, bassist/vocalist for Zero Down and a former member of Strung Out and Pulley, who passed away on July 7 from an accidental overdose of the prescription muscle relaxer Soma. "Although Jim had been clean in recent months, he battled addiction with prescription drugs for a couple of years," the statement said.

• Korn
• The Hives
• Moby
• Hole
• Iron Maiden

Lil' Troy
Photo: Shawn Brauch

For Lil' Troy, "Wanna Be a Baller" was more than his most popular song. It was his mandate, one that landed him an 18-month stretch in prison as his single and Sittin' Fat Down South album were flying off record-store racks in 1999.

While the album went on to sell more than 1.5 million copies, Troy was incarcerated during its peak after being charged in a drug case. Now free, the Houston rapper and businessman (he releases his albums on his own Short Stop Records) is gearing up for the release of his second album, Back to Ballin'.

Although he was imprisoned as his album outsold the likes of Puff Daddy's Forever, Lil' Troy looks at his situation matter-of-factly rather than bitterly, as you might expect.

"I walked the walk, talked the talk and got caught up in what I believe in," Troy said. "I had to go pay my debt to society. Now that I've paid my debt, I'm back to ballin' again."

Troy expects his "We Gon Lean" single to reestablish him as one of the Lone Star State's premier acts. Houston rapper Lil' Flip and Short Stop artist R-Dis join Troy on the club-ready cut, which is more hyper than much of Houston's other hip-hop.

Unlike some of the songs from Down South, which were culled from 1980s recording sessions, "We Gon Lean" has a decidedly contemporary feel. "I had to make something happen for the new era," Troy said of the songs from his new collection. "My new song, 'We Gon Lean,' it's nothin' like 'Wanna Be a Baller.' I did a whole different concept to show that there's versatility to this here. There's a concept about it, 'Lean to the left, lean to the right,' about giving us some room. We wanted to let them know that I'm back and that they needed to give us some room. Plus, down South, we drink this stuff called Syrup, so we be leaning to the left and to the right all the time, just leaning."

Other tracks sure to make fans lean are second single "Mo Money," the controversial "Lesbian Night" ("The lesbian thing is real big down here in Houston and a lot of other areas I've been in," Troy said), the cautionary "Keep My Name Out Your Mouth" and the chest-thumping "For Years."

Four years could have been the amount of time Troy was in prison. Troy said he funded his music business with drug money, even though he had a late '80s recording contract with eventual Geto Boy and president of Def Jam South, Scarface.

Without a hit, Troy continued working the streets. In 1998, he caught a massive drug case, which was eventually resolved with Troy serving 18 months for the use of a communication device to commit a felony. Down South arrived in stores in March 1999. In November 1999, he went to prison, much to the surprise of his legions of fans.

"Everybody was saying when I went to jail, 'Man, why you selling drugs and getting in trouble when you're all on TV selling records and stuff?' Man, that happened before I done sold nann record," Troy said. "I had to get the money to put the music out. I couldn't go to a label and say, 'Loan me the money, I'll put a record together and it'll be the bomb.' They wouldn't have did it. I had to get it, put it together myself and show them."

Considering the platinum-plus success of Down South, Lil' Troy proved his point. On Back to Ballin', he raps on 14 of the album's 19 tracks. Although it is his album, he's not concerned with appearing on each song. After all, he only rapped on six of Down South's 14 songs.

"I own the company, so I'm just showcasing the other groups that I have," Troy said. "I'm more like a coach. I like to get the groups together, coach them and come up with songs and let them do it. That's what they do. I like to run the company, and the money's in the company. You can have all the fame you want. I've got bills to pay, so I need the money.

"I was ballin' before I went in the penitentiary, and everybody knows me for that," Troy continued. "I'm back and I'm already doing it again. I'm picking up where I left off at."

• Lil' Troy