Britney Spears, 'NSYNC, Pink and Smash Mouth scored two nominations each for Nickelodeon's 15th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, scheduled for April 20 at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Aaron Carter, Lil' Bow Wow, Lil' Romeo, Usher, Backstreet Boys, Destiny's Child, Dream, Baha Men, Creed and Sugar Ray are also nominated (MTV's parent company, Viacom, also owns Nickelodeon). ... Rapper, No Limit CEO and pro hoopster Master P will serve as the Commissioner of Basketball for the third annual T.J. Martell B-Ball Classic, taking place April 25 at New York's Basketball City courts. Ten teams composed of celebrities, former pro players, music industry execs and artists will compete in a tournament to benefit leukemia, cancer and AIDS research. ... P, his son Lil' Romeo and his brother Silkk the Shocker joined Mya and members of the New York Fire Department in a Los Angeles studio last week to record "United We Sing," a charity single written by Nile Rodgers (Madonna, Elton John) and produced by Full Force ('NSYNC, Britney Spears) for the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund created to benefit the children and spouses of September 11 victims. India.Arie, Hootie & the Blowfish's Darius Rucker and others will work on the single, which is due in May, at a second session in New York City this month. ...

Grammy-winning rapper Will Smith is now an award-winning author. "Just the Two of Us," the picture book based on his song lyrics and illustrated by Kadir Nelson, won the NAACP Image Award last week for Outstanding Children's Literary Work. ... Solange, lil' sis of Beyoncé Knowles and sometime fill-in member of Destiny's Child, headlines the Young Pop Power Tour, which kicks off March 10 at the North Riverside Mall in North Riverside, Illinois. Swedish youngsters Play and 18-year-old singer Devin ("Big Momma's House" soundtrack) are also aboard the free traveling fun show, which aims to hit shopping centers all across these United States. ... Sugar Ray covers Steve Miller Band's "Abracadabra" and Uncle Kracker takes a shot at Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" on the soundtrack for "Clockstoppers," which also features album cuts from Blink-182, Third Eye Blind, Nickelback, Lit, A Simple Plan and others. The record comes out March 26 on Hollywood Records. ...

Jill Scott, Bilal and Black Thought are among the dozens of guests on the debut solo album from the Roots' beatboxer Scratch. Due June 4, The Embodiment of Instrumentation features a who's-who of Philadelphia's underground hip-hop and soul scenes performing along to Scratch's self-described "vocal turntablism." ... Sinead O'Connor will appear on two tracks on British trip-hop act Massive Attack's follow-up to 1998's Mezzanine. The as-yet-untitled album is due in the fall. ... Gorillaz producer Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, DJ Swamp (Beck) and producer Damon Elliott (Destiny's Child, Pink) appear on Electric Lotus, a compilation released March 5 of goa trance, a spiritual form of dance music. The style's founder, Baba G, also appears. ...

The Ice Man boxeth — Vanilla Ice will get into the ring with "Diff'rent Strokes" star Todd Bridges ("Willis") for Fox's "Celebrity Boxing." The show will air March 13 at 9 p.m. ET. ... The Offspring and Social Distortion will perform at Tony Hawk's Boom Boom HuckJam April 27 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Hawk will skate at the event, which also feature other top boarders, bikers and motocross riders. ... Warped Tour staples Mighty Mighty Bosstones will release their seventh album, A Jackknife to a Swan, on SideOneDummy Records on July 9. "Having spent as many years as we have inside the corporate stem and fighting it from all directions, it's nice to be in a house where the owners of that house understand who we are and let us call it home," singer Dicky Barrett wrote on the label's Web site. ...

Busta Rhymes said he plans to spend spring promoting Rulership Movement, the latest Flip Mode Squad album due in June, along with his latest film, the eighth installment of the "Halloween" series. Rhymes is also scheduled to being shooting "Narc," a "corrupt-cop film" co-starring Ray Liotta. ... Poison will have "Nothin' But a Good Time" on the road for another summer, this time with Cinderella, Winger and Faster Pussycat. The first leg begins May 16 in Tupelo, Mississippi, and wraps in late July, and dates for the second leg have yet to be announced. ... The Cranberries announced the first few weeks of dates for their spring tour in support of last year's Wake Up and Smell the Coffee. The trek begins May 11 in Toronto and is so far scheduled through May 30 in Atlanta, hitting Philadelphia, Boston, New York and other East Coast cities along the way. ...

German trance DJ Paul van Dyk, who recently recorded music for the upcoming Mexican film "La Mano del Zurdo," will spin at six North American dates later this month. The trek includes two shows at the Winter Music Conference in Miami (March 23 and 24) and his first show in New York City in nine months (March 29). ... Ben Harper will perform "Strawberry Fields Forever" on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on March 8, marking the third song from the "I Am Sam" soundtrack to be performed on the show. Previously, Michael Penn and Aimee Mann sang "Two of Us" and Rufus Wainwright played "Across the Universe." ...

03.05.02

Brandy and her mister, Robert Smith, commanded the crowd at a party Monday night to celebrate the release of her new album, Full Moon, at Blue Fin in the W New York Times Square hotel. Funkmaster Flex, Kid Capri, Al Sharpton, and Jay-Z were among those who stopped by ([article id="1452760"]click for photos[/article] from the party). ... It was a full night for Jay Hova, as he and his Roc-A-Fella business partner Damon Dash were spotted at the Nelly Furtado show at nearby Hammerstein Ballroom the same night. ...

Untouchable is right — fans now won't be able to lay a hand on Korn's new album until June 11. The quintet's fifth album was pushed from its previous release date of May 14, while the Hughes Brothers-directed video for its first single, "Here to Stay," is expected to surface in mid-April. ... Jimmy Eat World have pegged "Sweetness" as the third single from their self-titled, latest album, and recently shot a video for the track in Los Angeles with director Tim Hope (Coldplay). Before the surging, call-and-response barnburner surfaces at radio in June, the group will perform on "Saturday Night Live" on April 6. ... The battery trial for Juvenile, who allegedly knocked a man out with a bottle of Moët champagne in Miami, Florida, last year, has been pushed back to May or June, the prosecuting attorney said. ...

Jennifer Love Hewitt, Shaggy and Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath will be in Monte Carlo this week hosting the 2002 World Music Awards, featuring performances by Alicia Keys, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, Ja Rule, Kylie Minogue, Destiny's Child and O-Town. Disco queen Gloria Gaynor will receive the Legend Award for lifetime achievement at the show, which will air later this year on ABC. ... A Minor songstress Keys will also join a bill featuring Mary J. Blige and India.Arie on the main stage at the Essence Festival in New Orleans July 4-6, along with Luther Vandross, Gerald Levert, the Isley Brothers, Faith Evans, Angie Stone, Al Green and Maze. Performing on the "Superlounge" stages inside the Superdome will be Me'shell Ndegèocello, the Roots, De La Soul, Etta James, Glenn Lewis and others. ...

London electronic collective Lo-Fidelity Allstars, whose "Battle Flag" was a breakout hit in 1998, will support their second studio album with four American dates this month, beginning March 14 at the South By Southwest conference in Austin Texas, with shows in Chicago (March 16), New York (18) and Los Angeles (20) to follow. Don't Be Afraid of Love is due Tuesday (March 5). ... A bonus track and a Timbaland remix of Aaliyah's "I Am Music" will be featured on a re-released version of Timbaland and Magoo's second album, Indecent Proposal, which was originally released last November. The new version is due April 23. ... Last week's benefit concerts for the Recording Artists Coalition raised about $2.5 million for the Don Henley-founded organization, which is currently lobbying for better artist contracts. Highlights of the four shows included Radiohead's Thom Yorke appearing with Beck at the Wiltern Theater and Tom Petty joining Stevie Nicks at the Great Western Forum. ...

Former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, Ronnie Spector, Graham Parker, Steve Earle and Ivan Neville will perform with the Nicholas Tremulis Band at the Waltz IV benefit March 23 in Chicago. Wilco's John Stirratt, Alejandro Escovedo, Jon Langford (Mekons), Sonia Dada and others will also participate in the event, which featured Billy Corgan and Marianne Faithfull last year. ... Boston alternative act Throwing Muses — featuring Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly — are getting ready to release their first record since breaking up in 1996. The disc is recorded but not yet mixed and is due out in January of next year. ... Custom, the New York City singer/songwriter behind the single "Hey Mister," is kicking off a month-long tour on March 12 in New Haven, Connecticut, in support of his debut, Fast, due March 19. The trek wraps April 23 in Pelham, Alabama.