RZA
Photo: MTV

While other record labels may have some hot artists, those signed to the industry's newest imprint are smokin' ... literally.

High Times, the 28-year-old counterculture magazine, has launched its first record label, High Times Records, a marijuana-friendly venture with plans to release a series of compilation albums, as well as sign new artists, according to the label's publicist. The imprint's maiden release, due April 16, will be THC (The Hip-Hop Collection) Vol. 1, featuring 14 new tracks from Cypress Hill's B-Real, Wu-Tang Clan's RZA and the Pharcyde, among others.

"RZA's signing on really got things going," said Devin Horwitz, a High Times graphic designer who handles A&R duties for the label. "Everyone was really happy to have a reason to do a weed song."

It's currently not known which of three upcoming projects will be next for the label, Horwitz said. A reggae compilation seems appropriate, as does a stoner rock collection for which Clutch, Nebula and Unida have each expressed interest. The third prospect is an electronic dub album by Mad Professor and Scientist that stemmed from the pair's performance at November's Cannabis Cup and is currently being retouched in a studio.

High Times Records isn't the magazine's first foray into music. In conjunction with the now-defunct Capricorn Records, High Times released two compilations featuring covers of classic stoner anthems, such as Paul McCartney's "Let Me Roll It," Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" and Black Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf," to benefit the pro-pot NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws): Hempilation: Freedom Is NORML (1995) and Hempilation II: Free the Weed (1998). The magazine's latest musical joint venture was last year's High Times Presents Rip This Joint, a jam band compilation with King Biscuit Records.

THC (The Hip-Hop Collection) Vol. 1 track list, according to High Times Records (sequence not final):

• The Pharcyde - "Sticky Green"
• RZA - "So High (G-13)"
• Defari - "Bomb Tree"
• The Beatnuts - "Sweet Dreams"
• Black Moon (featuring Ruck, Strang and Top Dog) - "High Times"
• The High & Mighty - "Bart Burnt"
• J-Ro of Tha Liks, Phil Da Agony, Chocolate Tye - "Big Green Buds"
• Serial Rhyme Killas (B-Real, Son Doobie, Mellow Man Ace) - "Mary"
• Ripshop - "Escape"
• MF Doom - "My Favorite Ladies"
• Shabaam Sadeeq (featuring Steele of Cocoa Brovas) - "Roll Up"
• Afu-Ra - "Get Your Head Right"
• HOM - "Put Your L's Up"

• RZA
• Cypress Hill
• The Pharcyde

Joe
Photo: Jive

Producer J-Swift is suing Jive Records, its parent company and Touchstone Pictures for more than $11 million for using a Pharcyde sample in the remix of R&B singer Joe's hit "Stutter" without crediting him by name, according to a spokesperson for the producer. "People were coming up to me, congratulating me, asking how much I was getting paid," J-Swift said in a statement. "I went into the store to see if I had been credited, and saw everyone's name listed but mine." "Stutter" originally appeared on Joe's My Name Is Joe, released last year. The song's remix, which features rapping by Mystikal and a sample from the Pharcyde's "Passing Me By," was one of the standout songs on the "Double Take" soundtrack, issued earlier this year. Jive Records also released the track as a commercial single, which reached #1 on the Billboard singles chart in January and has sold more than a half million copies, according to SoundScan.

J-Swift (born John Manuel Martinez) wrote, produced and arranged "Passing Me By" in 1992 for the Pharcyde's debut album, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, and though Jive did credit the group on the single, J-Swift's name was absent from the acknowledgements.

"They used my actual music," his statement continued. "They even stole the lyrics and melody that I wrote. 'My dear, my dear, my dear, you do not know me.' I own more of that song than anybody." The suit was filed on March 30 in federal court in Los Angeles, according to J-Swift's spokesperson, but after the defendants failed to respond, he decided to take the matter public.

A spokesperson for Jive's parent company, Zomba Recording Corp., said Zomba and Jive have not been served with a lawsuit and therefore could not comment on the case. A Touchstone spokesperson couldn't be reached at press time.

• The Pharcyde
• Joe

Korn's Fieldy
Photo: MTV News

Korn are still writing songs for their as-yet-untitled fifth album, drummer David Silveria said, and the LP is targeted for release later this summer than fans had hoped.

"The new music is, well ... everybody says, 'It's better than the last,' but it's better than the last," Silveria said at Saturday's "MTVIcon" taping.

Korn have been holed up in Phoenix writing material for the follow-up to 1999's Issues and expect to hit an L.A. studio with producer Michael Beinhorn in April, Silveria said. Previous reports cited a tentative release date of July 3 for the LP (see "Fieldy Readies Solo LP As Korn Work On Issues Follow-Up"), but with the group still in the writing stage, that date is unrealistic, according to the band's publicist.

"It's going to be crazy," bassist Fieldy, also attending the "MTVIcon" event, said of the album. "Don't even doubt the Korn dogs. Don't even doubt it. ... It's going to be the heaviest record to be put out ever."

Never ones to rest on their laurels, the bandmembers have put their time between albums to good use. Fieldy's much-talked-about solo effort, Fieldy's Dreams, is nearing completion, with hip-hop songbird Kelis joining Tre from the Pharcyde and Snoop Dogg's cousin/Dr. Dre associate RBX on the guest list, Fieldy said. Eminem still tops his wish list of others to work with.

"I don't know if it's gonna happen," Fieldy said of working with Eminem. "He's a busy guy." Fieldy, who rhymes and plays drums, bass, guitar and keyboards on the album, described Fieldy's Dreams as "straight-up hip-hop and real musical." He expects the record to surface before the Korn album drops, though Epic Records couldn't confirm a release date.

Singer Jonathan Davis has written and recorded a few songs with former Oingo Boingo keyboardist Richard Gibbs for the film adaptation of Anne Rice's vampire novel "Queen of the Damned," and he is also working on the film's score (see "Korn's Davis To Score Vampire Pic"), according to Korn's publicist. In the film, Davis' songs will be sung by the vampire Lestat, a character first introduced in Rice's "Interview With the Vampire" who becomes an '80s rock star.

Silveria used the time off to heal the wrist he injured last March (see "Korn Sidelined By David's Injury"). "I had a procedure done and I'm good," the drummer said. "I'm back to normal. So after some hassling and some nervousness, we're back in, making music. And I can't wait to get back on tour."

The percussionist is also adopting a second career: restaurateur. He's in the process of opening a sushi bar in Huntington Beach, California, called Tuna Town. Launching a Japanese eatery while working on Korn's fifth opus would appear to be a trying endeavor, but Silveria seems to have it under control.

"I've been trying to juggle from Phoenix to back here — back and forth," he said. "It's been a crazy three months of trying to do things, but it's coming together good."

• Korn
• Kelis
• The Pharcyde

Korn's<BR>Fieldy
Photo: MTV News

ANAHEIM, California — As Korn continue writing "the heaviest record possible," bassist Fieldy is finding time to assemble a hip-hop solo record, which he said will boast guest vocals by Eminem, RBX and the Pharcyde's Tre Hardson.

"I'm playing bass, guitar, keyboards and doing vocals," Fieldy said Saturday. "It's a hip-hop record, but really musical — all live instruments." The bassist said Fieldy's Dreams should come out on Sony before Korn's as-yet-untitled fifth album, which is tentatively slated for a July 3 release.

Korn's publicist said while Fieldy is in talks with Eminem about his solo project, the rapper is not yet confirmed to appear on the album.

The other members of Korn will not appear on Fieldy's solo debut but they are all supportive of the project, he said. "It's a hip-hop record; it's not in any competition with Korn. And Korn's my priority — I'll always do that first. Fieldy's Dreams is a hobby. I'm just doing it for fun, and if it blows up, sells, great." Fieldy has been working on the album in a variety of environments for about four months. "I've got a studio everywhere I go," he said. "I'm always working." Fieldy and Korn guitarists Munky and Head attended the National Association of Music Merchants trade show in Anaheim, California, on Saturday to sign autographs at various merchant booths. Fieldy and several people accompanying him wore T-shirts that read "Fieldy's Dreams" and passed out stickers promoting the project.

Korn will head to Phoenix later this week to continue writing for the follow-up to 1999's Issues, but will record the album in Los Angeles with producer Michael Beinhorn (Hole, Red Hot Chili Peppers).

"We're just trying to get as heavy as we can, 'cause that's what people want," Fieldy said. "Definitely heavier than [Issues.]" The band is taking a new approach to songwriting this time around, pairing up in teams and then rotating partners. Though the new writing arrangement has brought interesting results, the whole process of making the album is taking longer than Korn are used to, Fieldy said. "It's taking forever."

• Korn
• Eminem
• The Pharcyde

Five years is a long time, but it¹s a very long time in the world of hip-hop.

That truth is certainly not lost on the members of the Pharcyde — its remaining members at least. After making an unforgettable impression with their 1992 debut, Bizarre Ride II: The Pharcyde, and, three years later, an experimental album that some fans found scattered and difficult, it seemed like the Pharcyde — if not already history — would soon be counted among the "damn, they were dope" set.

However, late last year, a mysterious white-label platter began making its way through hip-hop circles. Theoretically a bootleg, Testing The Waters turned out to be the self-released return of the Pharcyde. Though it evoked neither Bizarre Ride nor '95's Labcabincalifornia, the six-song EP indicated that the Pharcyde were still out there, hovering just below the radar.

"Over the past five years, we¹ve been working on stuff, but we really didn¹t know what the situation was," said Romye "Booty Brown" Robinson, one of the group's founding members. "There was stuff going on with the label, there was stuff going on with the group. But yeah, we haven¹t really been out there in the spotlight much."

Now, with the national release of their third album, Plain Rap, it's clear that the Pharcyde are back in business.

In 1990, it started with three: Robinson, Imani Wilcox and Tre "Slimkid" Hardison hooked up as part of a Los Angeles B-boy dance crew called Two For Two, which gained some notoriety with appearances on "In Living Color." After adding after-school pals Derrick "Fatlip" Stewart and DJ/producer J-Swift to the mix and recording a demo in 1991, Two For Two became the Pharcyde, and choreography practice was replaced with studio sessions.

The 1992 release of the perfectly out-of-step Bizarre Ride II, preceded by a track, "Soul Flower," on the Brand New Heavies classic Heavy Rhyme Experience: Vol. 1, were clarion calls. The group¹s witty and decidedly un-gangster take on West Coast hip-hop — "I¹m That Type of Nigga" and "Pack The Pipe" were album standouts — were as much a response to the East Coast Native Tongues (De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest) as it was an accurate representation of the other side of Cali¹s madly diverse rap scene.

Inspired by their newfound success, the Pharcyde decided to take some stylistic chances, and in 1995 they released Labcabincalifornia. Its sparse psychedelia (a young Jay Dee, now of Slum Village, produced its hit, "Runnin'") was enough of a shift away from Bizarre Ride to confuse many of the folks who thought they were going to get "Oh Sh-- ¹95" but instead got a densely woven sonic patchwork topped off by killer — if abstract — rhymes. As if the sophomore slump wasn¹t bad enough, things were starting to get a little tricky in Camp Pharcyde.

"Well, Fatlip left," Robinson said. "Actually, he was still in the group, but he didn¹t want to do shows anymore. Basically, he just wanted to chill. Then Delicious [Vinyl] started having some problems. So when that happened, we were still doing shows and folks were asking us what was up with the new record and you can¹t just come right out and be like, ŒYo, my label¹s fucking me up,¹ 'cause it sounds like you¹re just being a grouch."

But the Pharcyde had reason to be grouchy. In addition to having their label-based tour support pulled, they soon discovered that they were contractually bound to a label that couldn¹t release their records. This didn¹t do much to maintain stability within the group. After Delicious Vinyl couldn¹t distribute their next EP, Karma, Tre left the band.

Plain and Simple

Ironically, the loss of two members and the impending collapse of their record label was one of the best things to happen to the Pharcyde.

"Since Delicious still didn¹t have enough money to put something out, we put out Testing The Waters by ourselves," Robinson explained. "That really gave us a little boost, Œcause people realized we were still around."

With that upturn, the Pharcyde (back with Tre) headed back into the studio to work on the album that would become Plain Rap, the group¹s third record in eight years. Living up to its title, the album presents a streamlined and simplified group: the Pharcyde are now all about straight-up hip-hop. Obviously re-inspired by the pop-lockin¹ beats that brought them together as dancers more than a decade ago, the album's top-shelf rhyming and un-self-conscious production are successful both because of and in spite of the hardships endured by the group.

"I¹m not dissing my own record or anything," Robinson said, "I¹m just saying that the fact that it¹s out — given the way that everything was going — is surprising. I could be arguing about how it¹s all fucked up or whatever, but I just wanna use this little bit of light to launch my own in a major way. I gotta say though, this album is not full on. It¹s not everything it was meant to be.

"We want to have an album that¹s what we want," he continued. "To explain it would be hard, but I¹ve got a concept. After we get done with this record, I wanna drop the real stuff."

• The Pharcyde

Mos Def and The Pharcyde are among the acts scheduled to participate in the Boarding for Breast Cancer (BBC) benefit concert later this month in Lake Tahoe, California.

• Mos Def
• The Pharcyde

The heavy-lidded rap ensemble Cypress Hill will be hosting an all-day concert this Sunday to celebrate the release of their new album, "Cypress Hill IV," which has actually already hit stores.

The event, aptly titled "The Smoke Out," will feature opening performances by the reunited rap group Pharcyde, the Long Beach Dub All Stars (the artists formerly known as Sublime), and up and comers Jurassic 5 and Dilated Peoples.

Cypress will then close the show with a special midnight set.

The show, set for the San Bernadino Event Center, is being produced by "Industry Insider," a magazine devoted to "club culture and urban lifestyle" that Cypress' B-Real has a hand in.

Cypress Hill plans to take their show on the road sometime next month.

• Cypress Hill
• The Pharcyde

JOHN: Hi, I'm John Norris...

SERENA: And I'm Serena Altschul, and this is "The Week In Rock."

JOHN: Late Thursday, risque rapper Foxy Brown announced, after missing several dates on the 10-day-old "Smokin' Grooves" tour, that she had decided to pull out of the tour altogether, citing a recent illness and her heavy work schedule. Instead, she'll spend the summer finishing her second album, and working with Nas, AZ and Cormega on an album by "The Firm." The House Of Blues Smokin' Grooves tour went on as scheduled, however, entering its second summer of bringing urban music to pastoral settings. Last year's tour featured the Fugees, Busta Rhymes and Cypress Hill, and proved a hip-hop tour could come off without incident. We checked out this year's edition in Washington, D.C., for this week's "Summer Tour Report."

MTV: No BMX bikers or body piercers here -- Smokin' Grooves, unlike many of its package-tour counterparts, is music and nothing but.

HUB, The Roots: The main thing is we want people to come out early so you can catch all the acts. Everybody on the show is a headliner in their own right. [Live performance, 924k QuickTime]

IMANI, Pharcyde: You get to hear some new music from the Pharcyde, you get to see Badu, and exchange with the energies and the rhythms with her.

ERYKAH BADU: I think it's just a really flav thing to be a part of, to be here and to meet these people and to perform on the same stage as they do.

FAN 1: Anytime you put P-Funk, the best of the old school, with Cypress Hill, the best of the new school, I don't care where it is, people will go.

MTV: Or will they? Lacking the star-power of last year's line-up, which featured both the Fugees and A Tribe Called Quest, ticket sales for the second incarnation of Smokin' Grooves have been sluggish.

FAN 2: A lot more people should have been here.

FAN 3: Last year, they had the Fugees and all, but now we have a lot more room to party. (Laughs)

FAN 4: There are less goofy twelve-year-olds here because this is not like a major pop act, this is a steady stream of good acts, which is kind of cool.

B-REAL, Cypress Hill: You know, we're just making the best of it and trying to get the people out, to come out.

MTV: Why did you decide to do Smokin' Grooves this summer?

GEORGE CLINTON: Because it was a gig and we could bring our spaceship.

ERYKAH BADU: It just has a different flavor this summer. You know, you gotta change the flavors, try something new.

JOHN: Gotta love George's spaceship. As noted, ticket sales for Smokin' Grooves, which plays Cincinnati on Tuesday, have not exactly been smokin', and the extremely crowded summer tour calendar, no doubt, has something to do with that. Our checks with venues around the country show that the all-woman Lilith Fair has had the highest percentage of sell-outs, with the WARPed tour close behind, while we're told Lollapalooza and H.O.R.D.E. are doing "solid" to "well."

• Erykah Badu
• George Clinton
• Cypress Hill
• Foxy Brown
• The Pharcyde

June 25 [10:00 EDT] -- George Clinton, The Pharcyde, Redd Kross, Warren G, and the Presidents of the U.S.A. will all turn up on the soundtrack to the upcoming Nickelodeon flick "Good Burger" which arrives in stores next month.

Spearhead, Mint Condition, Less Than Jake, De La Soul, and Digital Underground also lend a hand to the eclectic album, which will be released on July 15.

Some of the artists featured on the soundtrack run over some familiar ground as Spearhead covers the Police nugget "Roxanne," Trulio Disgracias (with the help of De La) takes on George Clinton's funk gem "Do Fries Go With That Shake?," and Clinton himself revisits his 1979 classic "Knee Deep."

The album arrives 10 days before the film, which features Nickelodeon staples Keenan and Kel in their big screen debut. The two reprise their small screen roles as Ed and Dexter, two fast food workers who help their fledgling Good Burger franchise battle its chief competitor, Mondo Burger.

Here's how the full track listing of the "Good Burger" soundtrack looks:

• 702, "All I Want"
• Mint Condition, "(That's the Way) It's Goin' Down"
• Tracie Spencer, "I'll Be There For You"
• The Pharcyde, "Keep On"
• Warren G., "Friends"
• Less Than Jake featuring Kel Mitchell, "We're All Dudes"
• Presidents Of The United States Of America, "Man"
• Redd Kross, "So Cal V-8"
• Trulio Disgracias featuring De La Soul, "Do Fries Go With That Shake"
• 1,000 Clowns, "(Not The) Greatest Rapper"
• Spearhead, "Roxanne"
• George Clinton featuring Digital Underground, "Knee Deep"

• The Pharcyde
• Presidents of the United States of America
• Warren G

Jan. 15 [18:00 EST] -- On Friday, February 14, the second annual Airwalk Sno-Core Tour kicks off at Lupo's in Providence, Rhode Island with face to face, Pharcyde, the Bloodhound Gang, and Voodoo Glow Skulls topping the bill.

The tour is a month-long collision of punk, ska, hip-hop and snowboarding, that features evening concerts as well as daytime mountain events with amateur snowboarding contests and Airwalk pro-riders.

The evening concerts are each scheduled for clubs within a two-hour drive of the daily mountain venues, and will feature a mini-documentary film in honor of Sublime between bands. Sublime headlined last year's Sno-Core tour, and disbanded after last May's drug-overdose death of singer Bradley Nowell. (For a full list of Sno-Core dates, click here.)

The Sublime mini-movie will also be shown at the H-2-O Winter Classic, a southern California surf and snowboard competition for both amateurs and professionals, that runs from February 14 through the 16.

Unwritten Law, Blink 182, and Sack Lunch will play a concert at The San Bernadino arena, while the surfing events will take place in Huntington Beach, and snowboarding at Big Bear. Prizes total $30,000.

Users can learn more about the Winter Classic by checking out the H2O website at www.h2o.net.

Here's the full list of dates and venues for the Airwalk Sno-Core tour:

• The Long Beach Dub Allstars
• The Pharcyde
• Sublime