Almost a year after he revealed he was making "sexier" songs, we'll get to see how much of a love daddy Wyclef Jean really is when he releases his third solo album, Masquerade, on June 18. ... Q-Tip and Spike Lee have been hard at work shooting what will be a 12- to 15-minute short film/video for Tip's second solo album, Kamaal the Abstract, due April 23. Filming began in December and will resume shortly. ... Beck will perform two shows in the Los Angeles area this week to warm up for his February 26 Recording Artists Coalition benefit with Eddie Vedder and Mike Ness. Beck's official Web site, www.beck.com, is giving away five pairs of tickets to each of the gigs in San Juan Capistrano (February 21) and Hollywood (February 24). ...

Ginuwine joined P. Diddy as the mogul shot the sequel to his "I Need a Girl" remix video this weekend in Miami with director Benny Boom. It will be the second release from Diddy's P. Diddy and the Family Present: This Is the Remix, which is now set to drop May 7. ... No Doubt's Adrian Young and his wife welcomed a son, Mason James Young, into their lives on February 16. The Mohawked drummer, dressed in hospital attire at Thursday's Love Rocks concert, said he had been in the hospital with his newborn son all week and was going to bring him home after their show. ...

He can plant a house, he can build a tree: A cover of Nirvana's "Breed" is among the nuggets featured on roots rocker Steve Earle's rarities collection, Side Tracks, due April 9. The LP also features Earle's new single, "Some Dreams," which will be featured in the Dennis Quaid movie "The Rookie." ... Rancid's Tim Armstrong and New Found Glory's Jordan Pundik provide guest vocals on a track tentatively titled "Don't Leave Her" on the debut album from Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge's side project, Boxcar Racer. Blink bassist Mark Hoppus also sings on the record. ... Chaos Comics will launch a Static-X comic book series in July. In other Static-X news, the band announced they will hold meet-and-greets with their fans on the remaining dates of their current tour. ...

"Scratch," a turntablism documentary from director Doug Pray ("Hype!"), will be screened to hip-hop audiences before Dilated Peoples take the stage each night on their upcoming tour, which kicks off March 5 in San Francisco and is running through the Winter Music Conference in Miami later in the month. Turntablists GrandWizzard Theodore, Z-Trip and Jazzy Jay are scheduled for all of the dates, while Mix Master Mike, DJ Swamp, DJ Craze and Q-Bert will perform in various cities. ... Back and Forth, the first full-length studio album from English DJ Tall Paul, will feature the hit club single "Precious Heart," which samples INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart." The album is due April 23. ...

02.19.02

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, Vita 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.