Ja Rule and Charli Baltimore are setting out to be the hip-hop version of Mickey and Mallory — the clip for Ja's "Down Ass Chick," featuring Charli B-more, will be a takeoff of Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers," according to a source close to Ja. Over the course of the three-day shoot, which begins February 22 in L.A., he'll also film the remix video with Baltimore, Ashanti and Ashanti, according to Def Jam; Murder Inc. CEO Irv Gotti will direct both. ... If you're dreaming of becoming a professional DJ, it's time to take your skills out of the bedroom and into the classroom. For the next two months in New York City, celebrity DJs including Jam Master Jay, Kuttin' Kandi, Mista Sinista and Evil Dee will lead courses in disciplines such as battle, mixtape and performance (visit www.scratch.com for more information). ...

Indie music festival Noise Pop 2002 takes place next week (February 26-March 3) in San Francisco with performances by the Dismemberment Plan, New Pornographers and Big Star, among others, and to commemorate its decade-long tenure, a double-disc Ten Years of Noise Pop will be available locally and through the festival's Web site (www.noisepop.com). A portion of the proceeds from the album, which features cuts from past performers including Guided by Voices, the Flaming Lips and Creeper Lagoon, benefits the Popular Noise Foundation (www.popularnoise.org), a nonprofit charity that provides aid to the Bay Area music scene. ... Dixie Chick Natalie Maines will appear in the first celebrity edition of the TLC series "Trading Spaces," according to The Associated Press. Maines will race to redecorate a room in her mother's home (and vice versa) in 48 hours for $1,000 or less in an episode airing April 20. ...

P. Diddy, Rah Digga and female R&B quartet LovHer were among the guests who came out to support Jay-Z and the Roc-A-Fella family at a Roc-A-Wear fashion show in New York Thursday night. Jay and company partied up at the Metropolitan Pavilion while the men's and women's fall 2002 lines were introduced. ... "Rush Hour" star Chris Tucker will host the 33rd annual NAACP Image Awards on February 23 at the Universal Amphitheater. The ceremony, scheduled to air March 1 on Fox, will feature music-world appearances by Alicia Keys, India.Arie and the Isley Brothers as well as Steve Harvey, the Rock, Jamie Foxx and Angela Bassett. ...

There's nothing funny about the popular appeal of crossover heavyweight Jennifer Lopez — she'll be crowned Female Star of the Year by the film industry's power elite at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas. She and previously announced Male Star of the Year Will Smith will be honored at a banquet next month in recognition of their drawing power at the box office. ... The soundtrack for Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz" — a filmed concert by the Band which featured a cavalcade of special guests including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and Muddy Waters — will be remixed and released with bonus tracks on April 16. The movie will be released on DVD May 7. ...

Liverpool's arty synth-poppers Clinic will support their second album, Walking With Thee (due February 26), with a three-week Stateside jaunt that begins March 13 in Atlanta. The tour includes a showcase at music-biz conference South by Southwest on March 15. ... El Meswy, Spain's best-selling hip-hop artist, was in the studio recently recording Se Habla Español, his follow-up to 2000's Nadie. M-1 and Stic.man of Dead Prez were on hand to lend lyrical support to the as-yet-untitled project. ...

My Bloody Valentine founder Kevin Shields has recorded "Outro," an instrumental, for the compilation album You Don't Need Darkness to Do What You Think Is Right, which comes out April 1. Other artists who will appear on the LP include the Pastels, Future Pilot AKA and Jesus and Mary Chain partners Jim and William Reid recording as Sister Vanilla. ... Sting, Elton John, James Taylor and Ravi Shankar comprise the first wave of artists announced to perform at the Police-man's annual Rainforest Foundation Benefit Concert, which will take place at New York's Carnegie Hall on April 13. ...

02.15.02

Post-adolescent punks Sum41 are expected to begin working on the follow-up to last year's All Killer No Filler in late April, after their Tour of the Rising Sum sets in Texas on April 21, according to their publicist. The album is expected to surface late this year or early 2003. ... Eve, who's currently in Chicago filming "Barbershop" with Ice Cube, is ready to devote some time to her day job. Murder Inc. CEO Irv Gotti and his beatmaking cohort, 7, said they're gearing to go in the studio with Ruff Ryders' first lady at the end of the month. ... Nickelback, Default and Injected will head out on the spring 2002 incarnation of MTV's Campus Invasion Tour. An itinerary has yet to be announced. ...

Megaproducer Megahertz (P. Diddy, R. Kelly & Jay-Z, Nas) just completed a remix with P.O.D. of the band's "Youth of the Nation," the producer's rep said. ... FenixTX have dropped off the SnoCore Rock Tour due to scheduling conflicts, according to MCA Records. They have been replaced by Apex Theory. ... Face to Face will launch a national tour in April to support their new album How to Ruin Everything, which hits stores April 9 through Vagrant Records. The jaunt starts in Salt Lake City on April 4 and runs through May 3 in Scottsdale, Arizona. ... Industrial icons Ministry will release Sphinctour, a live album recorded during their 1996 tour, on March 19. The 11-track LP, which had been a widely circulated bootleg, includes harrowing cuts such as "Psalm 69," "Filth Pig" and "Thieves" and can be previewed at ministry.advancelisten.com. ...

Innovative prog-rocker Peter Gabriel is apparently "down wit' OPP" — he hooked up with Jersey hip-hoppers Naughty by Nature on a track called "Fight Back" for the group's guest-filled April 23 release, Iicons. ... Speaking of Naughty, the group's Treach was among the celebrities who hit New York hotspot Spa on Tuesday night to support Joi (Lucy Pearl), who performed songs off her next LP, Star Kitty's Revenge. The Goodie Mob's Cee-Lo (bandmate of Joi's husband, Big Gipp) and Kelis were also in attendance (click for photos from the performance). ...

Fuel have issued a cease and desist order to Toyota, corporate sponsors of the Fuel the Music Tour, demanding Toyota stop using that title for the rock outing. The band, who says it has fought to make a name for itself and wants it protected, was alerted after confused fans began emailing its Web site inquiring about the outing because a magazine ran an ad for the event on the same page as a picture of the group, who are not involved. ... A London High Court judge has ruled that Robbie Williams will have to pay 25 percent of the royalties from his "Jesus in a Camper Van" — around $75,000 — to Woody Guthrie's publisher, Ludlow Music. Williams, who admitted to parodying Guthrie's "I Am the Way" on the track, will also have to pick up Ludlow's legal fees, which amount to another $75,000.

• Ja Rule
• Charli Baltimore
• Ashanti
• Jam Master Jay
• The New Pornographers