Hiphopdx reports VIBE Magazine, which was recently bought by InterMedia Partners after initially folding in July, has named Jermaine Hall as the new editor-in-chief, according to the New York Times.
Hall’s work resume includes positions as The Source’s music editor and King’s editor-in-chief. Along with EIC duties for Vibe, he will also handle the re-launch of Vibe.com.
VIBE, which will now be released on a quarterly basis, will make its return on newsstands come late fall with a November/December issue.
Brett Wright, chief creative officer for Uptown Media Group and now co-chief executive of the VIBE Lifestyle Network, stated that although VIBE will continue to focus on the “Hip Hop generation” through its music coverage, he expects the magazine to put more effort into the areas of fashion and sports. Wright also described Vibe.com as providing “regular, daily, hourly, by-minute basis” content of urban entertainment for its subscribers.
Despite early reports of Quincy Jones’ intentions to buy back VIBE last month, it is still unknown whether he will contribute to the magazine’s future endeavors as Wright explained, “We haven’t spoken to Quincy. I’m sure at some point we’ll speak and figure it out from there.”
The Dream announced via his twitter page The Dream, born Terius Nash, made the announcement today (August 27) via his official Twitter page.
"I wanna thank everyone at Island Records/DefJam for their faith in me and making me Executive Vice President of Island Records," The Dream said in a statement on his Twitter page. "Thank you to my team..my manager Mark Stewart & my attorney Aaron Rosenberg for getting this 1st step of a goal accomplished."
Juelz Santana was arrested on domestic violence charges. He reportedly got into an argument with the mother of his child and threatened to kill her. He was immediately arrested and released after an investigation. He is now home in Teaneck NJ.
Wendy Williams and Lil Wayne seem to be going back and forth lately. Wayne saying that she looks like a dude and Wendy talking about him in this video.
Allhiphop reports Jay-Z will play a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden on September 11, to help raise money for the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund.
Fans who don’t make the actual show can watch the special live, as cable channel Fuse will air the concert “Fuse Presents: Jay-Z Live from Madison Square Garden: Answer The Call.”
The special will air on the same day as the release of Jay-Z’s highly anticipated album The Blueprint 3.
"This charity and concert encompass the true spirit of New York City," Jay-Z told AllHipHop.com in a statement. "We are asking everyone to 'answer the call' and support and honor the families of those that lost their lives in the line of duty. There was true camaraderie and resiliency that this city showed the world in 2001, and we continue that today by taking care of our own."
The New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund has distributed over $114 million to the families of police and firefighters who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
"On behalf of New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund’s Board of Directors and the families of our fallen heroes, we are truly grateful for Jay-Z’s choice to support our charity and ‘answering the call’," added Stephen J. Dannhauser, president and CEO of the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund.
The concert is underwritten by Absolut, Live Nation and Jay-Z himself.
“Fuse Presents Jay-Z Live from Madison Square Garden: Answer the Call” will air live on September 11 at 9:00 PM.
What really happened to Omarion? I guess only those over at Young Money will know the truth. I'm gonna give them a call to see if I can get the real scoop because this whole thing is kinda shady to me. Lil Wayne seemed all excited about Omarion joining Young Money and now I hear he gets dropped. Omarion even addressed it on his Saynow.com page. He says the split was amicable and he has no hard feelings. Well, I don't know about that. I hope he can manage to sell some records on the next album.
Nelly and Ashanti reportedly call its quits after 4 years. Man it seemed like they were together longer than that. Maybe it was Nelly making it rain the the clubs,,,,lol Sorry to hear that man
Kelis is asking for more money. Kelis is currently receiving 40,000 per month. Now she is asking for as much as 400,000 in total expenses. If she is awarded this money it would be on top of the 40,000 a month she is already getting. Nas reportedly makes 240,000 per month.
XXL Reports Despite a huge, loyal fanbase and intense presence on the Internet, lyrical supergroup Slaughterhouse failed to live up to their HitsDailyDouble projections on their Billboard 200 debut.
Last week, the industry website estimated that the group, consisting of Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I and Royce Da 5’9”, would sell between 23 and 25K CDs in its first week on the shelves. On the contrary, the crew’s self-titled disc ended up selling 18, 000 units, securing a no. 26 debut according to the Nielsen SoundScan.
At the top of the charts for the 10th week in a row is the Black Eyed Peas’s The E.N.D. Notching up one spot to no. 3 this go-round the Peas bagged up another 45,300 discs this week, making their overall sales figure stand at 917,400.
Sliding down six more spots this week to no. 16 is Brooklyn MC Fabolous. Fans of the Def Jam rapper picked up 23,700 copies of his latest album, Loso’s Way, this week— bringing his three week total to 159,600.
Four spots down is rap heavyweight Eminem at no. 20. In its 13th week on the charts Relapse was been scanned 20,600 times— making the Detroit lyricist’s overall tally 1,361,700.
Failing to make it onto The Billboard 200 was New Jersey rep Joe Budden. With little promotion, the self-proclaimed “best rapper on the world wide web”’s new solo set, The Escape Route, sold 1,700 units this week.
On the R&B side, Maxwell sits tight this week at no. 7. The Brooklyn soulster’s latest, Blacksummer’snight, moved 38,000 units, making its total stats 631,100 after six weeks. In his second week on the charts Universal Republic artist K-Jon slid down to the no. 36 spot— selling 13,400 copies of I Get Around. The disc now has a total tally of 47,000.
Next week look for the Black Eyed Peas to continue their dominance on the charts.
The Underground Music awards is absolutely the biggest awards show for up and coming artists. Freeway will be forming as well as hip hop veteran DMC. The UMA Awards has honored some of the hottest up and coming artists including Sha Stimuli, Joell Ortiz, Maino, DJ Kid Capri and many more. Tickets are on sale now and the show date is August 23 at BB Kings in New York.
Bow Wow just announced that he signed with Cash Money. He says that Lil Wayne him and Drake will be the triple threat. He is finishing a movie with Ice cube but when he's done he will dedicate 40 hours a week working on new material.
I just wanted to give a little round up of what all the hot blogs are talking about.
1- www.allhiphop.com Says that Brisco plans to retaliate with a mixtape in revenge of him being robbed. Wow, really gangsta. They also say that T-Pain and Pitbull are remaking the Miami Dolphins fight song. In the rumors section there is talk about 50 cent leaving interscope. 2- www.mediatakeout.com Says that NBA retired player Reggie Miller is cheating on his wife. They also talk about 2 live crew and Kelis.
XXL Reports: Up-and-coming Toronto rapper Drake has spoken candidly about his upcoming debut, his association with Lil Wayne and newly signed record deal in the upcoming issue of Fader magazine.
During the interview Drizzy confirms that he received over a million dollars for his highly publicized deal. As XXLMag.com previously reported in June he signed directly to his manager Cortez Bryant’s company Aspire and inked a unique distribution deal with Universal Republic after months of being courted by every major label.“I went through Universal Republic because I don’t fuck with Motown, “ he explained to the magazine. “At All.”
Drake has spoken out about his personal beef with Sylvia Rhone the president of Motown Records and the executive vice president of Universal Records – the parent label to mentor Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint - on record before. On “Say What’s Real,” a track from his critically-acclaimed mixtape So Far Gone he spit: “I’ve always been something that these labels can’t buy/especially if they trying to take a piece of my soul/and Sylvia be telling Tez/Damn, Drake fly/and he just be like, ’silly motherfucka I know‘”
Now some light has been shed on their relationship. According to the article, during Drake’s bidding war, Rhone threatened the rapper with legal action if he went elsewhere.
At the end Drizzy says the Young Money logo will appear on his CD but he explains he is doing so out of respect not because of contractual obligations. ”I respect the fact that Wayne put me in this position,” he said. “But as an artist I have to do my own thing at this point. I’m not sure if that’s gonna be a struggle in the next couple of month, to set myself apart. I don’t want it to feel like a disrespectful thing, but I know it’s a bridge that I’m going to cross as far as becoming my own person.”
As far as the album is concerned, Drake’s camp says that Kanye West, who has already directed the clip for “Best I Ever Had,” is toying with the idea of executive producing the project. Drake has already went into the studio with Rihanna, Pharrell and Ye for the album, entitled Thank Me Later.
Drake is currently recovering from a knee injury during a stop on the Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival with Weezy, Soulja Boy and Young Jeezy.
From allhiphop Young Joc is providing a fool-proof way of getting his new album, Grind Flu, to fans.
The Swagg Team Entertainment release will be available Tuesday (Aug. 11) for free download on the Atlanta rap star’s website, www.swaggteament.com.
The chance to offer fans an affordable way to get Grind Flu provided Yung Joc a chance to reestablish himself in music circles on his own terms.
“Fans all over the world have been eagerly waiting for me to release a new album and I felt the time was right at this very moment to release Grind Flu for free, gift it to my fans and do things my way,” the rap star stated about the follow-up to his 2007 opus, Hustlenomics.
The first single from the new album is the Montana Da Mac Da Mac-assisted title track. The arrival of Grind Flu comes amid a year marked with highs for Yung Joc, who achieved chart success with an appearance on the Bobby Valentino song “Beep.”
Collaborations also proved fruitful in 2008 as Yung Joc worked with David Banner and Chris Brown (“Get Like Me”), HotStylz (“Lookin’ Boy”) and 112 member Slim “So Fly.”
Behind the scenes, Yung Joc’s presence was felt with the successful signing of HotStylz and the GS Boyz to Swagg Team. HotStylz’ “Lookin Boy,” obtained more than1 million digital downloads, while GS Boyz captured regional and web-savvy fans with the popular single “Stanky Legg.”
The “Stanky Legg” video generated more than 3.5 million plays on YouTube. The song itself has sold more than 200,000 downloads, according to Nielsen Sound Scan.
Debut albums from HotStylz and GS Boyz are slated to be released this year. The following is a track listing for Yung Joc’s Grind Flu:
The album comes months after Yung Joc went public with allegations that he had not been paid royalties on his hit albums released via Block Ent/Bad Boy, in over a year.
1. Grind Flu feat. Montana Da Mack produced by Darryl “Cheeze” McCorkell for Cheeze Music (BMI).
2. Might As Well Produced by K.Rock for Lil Arsenal Publishing, BMI. Engineered by Alexander “Big A” Prado.
3. Universal Language feat. Shawty Lo & Young Vett Produced by Unknown. Co-Produced by Malcolm Tariq Smith for Urban Rock Stars.
4. Drinks Up feat. Bobby V, Gucci & Nitti Produced by Chadron “Nitti” Moore for Play Maker Music (ASCAP).
5. Don’t Be Scared feat. Ebony Love, Ricky G & Donte’ produced by James “Nesia” Lightfoot for Nesia Beatz (ASCAP).
6. 500 Horses feat. Yung Ralph & Big A produced by Young Sears for N Da Trunk (EMI).
7. My Niggas produced by: James “Nesia” Lightfoot for Nesia Beatz (ASCAP).
8. Posted At the Store feat. Gucci & Yung Ralph produced by for Trackslayerz Vakseen, LLC
9. Wham feat. Slim produced by Nitti for Play Maker Music (ASCAP) and Blaze Burna.
10. Grind Flu Skit feat. Roc
11. Over feat. Cupid, Polo, Game & Carlito produced by Jay-T for Valley of Kings.
12. Birds feat. Gucci, Nikki Minaj & OJ Da Juiceman produced by Drumma Boy for Drum Squad Productions.
13. Make A Movie feat. DJ Khaled produced by Drumma Boy for Drum Squad Productions (ASCAP).
14. So feat. Mia X produced by James “Nesia” Lightfoot” for Nesia Beatz (ASCAP).
15. Counterfeit feat. Tuck produced by K- Rock for Lil Arsenal/Publishing, BMI.
16. Check feat. Montana Da Mac & SS produced by James “Nesia” Lightfoot for Nesia Beatz (ASCAP).
17. Choose Me feat. Chris Brown & Pleasure P produced by Infinity
It looks like a familiar face will be missing from the panel of judges on "American Idol" next season. Paula Abdul says her days of arguing with Simon are finito! Abdul broke the news on her Twitter page writing: "With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to #IDOL. I'll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all ...being a part of a show that I helped from day 1 become an international phenomenon ... What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me ... It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month ... I do without any doubt have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all."
Abdul had been involved in contract negotiations with Fox this summer hoping for a raise, but it looks like she and executives couldn't see eye-to-eye. Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest are all scheduled to return to next season. Seacrest says he is "shocked and saddened" by Paula's announcement.
The news comes on the heels of Fox's announcement that new judge Kara DioGuardi would be returning to the series for her second year. Fox quickly issued a statement regarding Paula's departure, writing:
"Paula Abdul has been an important part of the American Idol family over the last eight seasons and we are saddened that she has decided not to return to the show. While Paula will not be continuing with us, she's a tremendous talent and we wish her the best."
The upcoming season of "Idol" should prove to be an interesting one. Will the show still maintain its popularity without Abdul on the judges panel? We'll see.
