September 28, 2001

Bono, Dupri, Durst All Have Own Ideas About 'What's Going On'

The release date for the Bono-organized, Jermaine Dupri-produced project has been bumped from December 1 to October 23, and there will now be an R&B version by Dupri, a slower version produced by Bono and a rock version manned by Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, according to the project's publicist.

Durst's version will include rock singers Jonathan Davis, Scott Weiland and Perry Farrell. Monica, Usher, Maxwell, Jagged Edge and TLC's Chilli and T-Boz will be included in Dupri's R&B version. The collaborators on Bono's version will be announced later this week.

Originally recorded to benefit AIDS research, the single will now have its profits split between AIDS research and the United Way's September 11th Fund.

Bono and other organizers of the project are talking to video directors and will choose one by the end of the week, the publicist said. The video will feature the same audio as the version currently airing on MTV, but the video footage will be different from the special clip put together by the channel.

That version includes such top-tier talent as Destiny's Child, 'NSYNC, Britney Spears, P. Diddy, Nelly, the Backstreet Boys, Eve, R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, Nelly Furtado, Christina Aguilera and No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani .

Most of the first remake was recorded the week of MTV's Video Music Awards, prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, though Durst's rap, which includes lyrics about the tragedy, and Jennifer Lopez's chorus were recorded a few days after.

- By Corey Moss

Jay-Z Is Golden

Jay-Z has struck gold.

The Blueprint, the rapper's fourth consecutive album to debut at number one, continued its hold on the top spot for a second week. For the period ended Sunday, the disc sold 271,000 copies, according to Soundscan figures, pushing its two-week tally just south of 700,000 copies and into gold territory. An album must sell 500,000 copies for the Recording Industry Association of America to certify it gold.

Jay-Z, who launched his Blueprint Lounge tour last week, has announced that $1 from each ticket sold on tour will be donated to the American Red Cross, Hip-Hop Has Heart and the New York Fire Department.

Alicia Keys' Songs in A Minor is proving to have more juice than the Energizer Bunny. Boosted by her stirring performance during Friday's America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon, the disc jumped up to the number two slot.

That knocked Nickleback's Silver Side Up down one to number three in its second week.

The week's highest debut belonged to Strange Little Girls, Tori Amos' collection of covers. The disc, which features Amos' sometimes offbeat takes on tunes such as Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence," Slayer's "Raining Blood" and Eminem's controversial "97' Bonnie and Clyde," opened at number four.

Country sensation Martina McBride followed at number five with her Greatest Hits collection. The Kansas native got her first break in the early '90s when her husband became Garth Brooks' production manager, and she became Brooks' opening act. She's since delivered an incredible string of hits, including "Independence Day," "My Baby Loves Me," "Life #9," and her first country chart-topper, "Wild Angels"--all of which appear on this collection.

Contemporary soul singer Gerald LeVert bowed at number six with his latest, Gerald's World. The son of Eddie LeVert of the O'Jays fame, Gerald is also known for the R&B group LSG with Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill.

Re-entering the top 10 in her 44th week was New Ager Enya, whose A Day Without Rain jumped 12 spots to number seven as the single "Only Time" tears up the radio charts in the wake of the terror attacks.

Rounding out the top 10 debuts was singer-pianist Diana Krall, whose The Look of Love entered at number nine, just behind P.O.D.'s Satellite and ahead of Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory.

Just missing the top 10 was Macy Gray's The Id, which landed at 11 in its first week.

Other notable debuts included Live's V at 22, rapper Coo Coo Cal's Disturbed at 45, the soundtrack to Tough Enough at 46 and Collective Soul's 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits at 50.

Proving that all that glitters is not gold, Mariah Carey's Glitter dropped to number 17 after a soft number seven bow last week. Also taking a plunge was Bob Dylan's Love and Theft, which tumbled 15 spots to number 20.

Following Pearl Jam's lead, Phish released a school of live albums, becoming only the second group in history to have more than one live album in the top 200 at the same time. Phish tied Pearl Jam's record of five simultaneous albums on the charts, although Phish actually outperformed the grungesters' highest opening. Phish's Vol. 2 and Vol. 1 opened at 93 and 97, respectively, besting Pearl Jam's high at 98.

Meanwhile, on Billboard's catalog charts, Lee Greenwood's Gulf War-era flag-waving collection American Patriot, featuring "God Bless the USA," has seen a huge boost in sales. It sold 22,000 copies last week, three times what it sold the previous week.

Before the attacs, the 1992 album was moving around 300 copies a week.

- by David Jenison

September 27, 2001

P. Diddy Cuts 'Asian Women' Line From Single After Complaints

- By Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Elon D. Johnson

Universal Announces Plan To Copy-Protect CDs

Technology will prevent users from copying music onto computer hard drives. If the world's largest record company gets its way, it will be a lot harder to rip MP3 copies of some CDs by the end of the year.

Universal Music Group - whose roster of artists includes Eminem, U2, Garbage and Sheryl Crow - on Tuesday (September 25) became the first record company to announce plans to copy-protect its music.

By the end of the year, all Universal CDs will have technology in place that will prevent users from copying music onto their computer hard drives, Vivendi Universal vice chairman Edgar Bronfman said Tuesday, according to Reuters. The company will begin using the technology on some releases in October, he said.

Bronfman reportedly said that the company's new CDs will still be playable in computers' CD drives but gave no other details about the technology Universal plans to use.

A Universal press release issued Tuesday said the company is working on copy-protection schemes but provided no other information. A spokesperson for the company could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

With current technology, users can rip a CD into MP3 files with the click of a mouse and then trade the files freely over the Internet. Thanks to Napster and its successors, music fans have circulated untold numbers of such files in recent years.

Several other record companies have suggested that they are looking into copyright-protection schemes, but none has announced details.

- By Brian Hiatt

September 26, 2001

Macy Gray Slips Into Freud, Eurodisco, Hip-Hop On The Id

The funk/soul singer doesn't really think she's lost her marbles - she's just trying to prepare her fans for the succession of Freudian slips that follow on the next 12 songs.

"[The album] is about what you do before you think and before you edit your impulses," Gray said recently. "What you're really feeling and what happens when you act on that. Like, if you feel like jumping off a cliff and you actually do it, that's the most primal, purest form of you."

The Id - titled after Freud's term for the most impulsive part of the unconscious mind - hit stores September 18, as advertised on the dress Gray wore at the MTV Video Music Awards. The follow-up to her smash debut features guest appearances by Erykah Badu, Red Hot Chili Pepper John Frusciante, Angie Stone, Billy Preston, Sunshine Anderson, Mos Def, the Roots' ?uestlove and Slick Rick.

To frame her libretto of instinct, Gray dishes up a mix of classic soul, funk, rock, hip-hop and techno. Some styles on the album, especially the nods to Eurodisco and hip-hop, were inspired by her travels supporting 1999's On How Life Is. Those influences are most pronounced on "Relating to a Psychopath" and the c'mon-let-loose "Sexual Revolution."

On the latter track, Gray sings, "Your mama lied to you all this time/ She knows as well as I/ You've got to express what is taboo in you/ And share your freak with the rest of us." But Gray said she did not intend the song as an advisory for the sexually repressed.

"The key phrase is 'my very own sexual revolution.' ... You grow up and you have all these limits on sex," Gray said.

Gray co-produced the album with collaborator Darryl Swann and signed on Rick Rubin (Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers) as an executive producer.

"It's just a much truer expression of me and where I'm coming from and whatever I wanted to say. I got to do whatever I wanted to do," she said.

- By Teri vanHorn

Jay-Z, Roc-A-Fella Clique Show Mixed Feelings At NY Date

Battle raps tempered by acknowledgements of the recent tragedies. Before Jay-Z took the stage Saturday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom, the second date on his Blueprint Lounge Tour, yet another Jay nickname was disclosed: Rocky.

"Because he beat the odds," said Hot 97 DJ Fat Man Scoop, who introduced the show's main attraction.

Jay, who has the #1 LP on the Billboard 200 albums chart, was able to reach the top spot despite rampant bootlegging of The Blueprint weeks before its release and the country being sent into a tailspin from terrorist attacks the day the album came out. Jay's biggest battle, however, may be coming from within.

"We're not too excited; there's a tragedy going but we're going to do what we do," Memphis Bleek, who's accompanying his mentor on the tour, said Wednesday before the tour's opening show in Baltimore.

A funky soul track with a looped sample of a man's voice singing, "Hovvvva, Hovvvva"- which was prepared for the tour by Jay's record spinner, DJ Scratch - served as entrance music.

Wearing a white tank top, matching black Roc-A-Wear jeans and a shirt with an American flag stitched on the left sleeve, Jay took to the stage with an a cappella freestyle.

"I dropped the same day as the twin towers," he said stoically, referencing the September 11 strike on New York's World Trade Center.

Then came the name change game.

After the set's first official song, "Izzo (H.O.V.A)," where the audience sang in unison, "H to the izzo," Damon Dash joined Jay at the front of the stage to dance to The Blueprint's "Hola' Hovito," an ode to another nickname.

"I'mma change my name," Jay told Dash as he segued into "Jigga My N---a." Meanwhile, about 30 of his friends and some family members, including Beanie Sigel and Bleek, filled the lounge-themed stage set (where, among other things, the DJ's turntables were located behind a fake bar).

Most of the fans cheered when Jay asked how many of them owned a copy of his latest album, signifying that it was OK for him to perform some of his newest hood-flavored ditties.

The thumping bass of "Takeover," which features Jigga spewing venom toward Nas and Mobb Deep, kept the crowd amped as Jay recited the lines he first made famous this summer during his performance at the Hot 97 Summer Jam in New York.

"R.O.C., we runnin' this rap sh--," he triumphantly chanted with the crowd now chiming in.

"The takeover/ The breaks over, n---a," he said. "The God MC, me Jay Hova." As the verse neared its end, Jay held the mic to the crowd for it to fill in his line, "Ask Nas/ He don't want it with Hov," which they roared back at Jay, garnering an approving nod from the Brooklyn-born MC.

Jay will never be seen shaking a leg with 10 background dancers like P. Diddy. He doesn't run around the stage growling like DMX or Busta Rhymes. And as for the stage dives that artists such as Method Man and Redman do, you'll see Jay hugging Nas on "TRL" before he ever mimics that move. As was the case with his previous outings, it was the energy of the music that won over the crowd. The obvious fun his entourage had behind him - Beanie Sigel actually crip-walked during "Change the Game" - also resonated with the spectators.

After his man Beanie ripped a solo spot a few songs before, Bleek had his turn to step up to the mic for one of his tracks, "Is That Your Chick." M-Easy (one of Bleek's other go-by names) did a good job of playing it off, though he started the cut by going into the song's second verse and Jay had to remind him what was what after a few bars. Memph then went into rhymes from the first verse without missing a beat.

Meanwhile, Jay warned the audience his memory might not be too sharp before he launched into "Brooklyn's Finest," the duet he recorded with the Notorious B.I.G. "Let me see if I remember this one," he said.

He did make it through the shortened first verse without a hitch while the crowd filled in for his deceased co-star. He wasn't as fortunate performing his 1997 classic "Where I'm From," which saw him stumbling through the opening lines, "I'm from where the hammers rung/ News cameras never come/ You and your mans hung on every verse in your rhyme." Again, he forewarned the crowd that that might happen.

Luckily, he had another nickname to fall back on, simply addressing his misstep by saying "f--- it," before performing The Blueprint's most commercial tune, the clubland rotator "Jigga That N---a."

The pace slowed for the punch line-filled "Girls, Girls, Girls," where Jay talked about his many women, from a "hoodrat chick" to a young girl who throws tantrums if she doesn't get a new pair of Reebok sneakers.

As the soulful beat faded, Jay took a break to get serious, noting that the country was facing a trying time, but that "We movin' through it."

Around the 60-minute mark, Jay, who encouraged his fans to meet him soon after, went into R. Kelly's "Fiesta" remix.

"After the show it's the after party," he rhymed, signaling streams of confetti to fall from the top of the venue.

R. Kelly didn't appear for a special show cameo, nor did anyone outside of the Roc clique, for that matter. Just the self-proclaimed king of rap, his court and his followers took the stage. After all, it was the plan to make the tour intimate - Jay said this summer the reason he was playing clubs and theaters rather than arenas was so he could look in the balcony and see people's faces.

- By Shaheem Reid

September 25, 2001

Timbaland Says He And Dr. Dre Might Do Album Together

- By Shaheem Reid

Mariah Carey Doesn't Glitter In Debut Film Role

All that glitters is not gold in Mariah Carey's Glitter, which suffers from a cliché story line and a serious lack of emotional depth from its star.

The film, originally set to open last month but pushed back due to Carey's ill health, opened in 1,202 theaters on Friday (Sept. 21). It took in a disappointing $2.5 million and came in at No. 11 in the weekend's box office tallies.

As singing sensation Billie Frank, Carey (whose only other film role was a brief appearance in the 1999's The Bachelor) turns in what's pretty much a one-note performance, even though the character goes through a number of twists and turns in her rise from poverty to stardom. Granted, the plot couldn't be more unoriginal -- you can see each "new" development coming from a mile away -- but Carey's unresponsive delivery doesn't help. What Glitter needs is a good, solid boost of energy.

Frank starts out as a dancer in a New York City club, circa 1983. She and her pals Louise (Da Brat) and Roxanne (Tia Texada) are tapped to provide backup for another singer, and she's on her way. No sooner is she surreptitiously providing the lead vocal on the other singer's single than she's discovered by a hip DJ, signed to a major label, and topping the charts.

Conflicts arise to try and inject some drama into the story with lackluster results. Much is made of the fact that the record company wants to rework Billie's image -- for about two or three scenes, then it's quietly dropped. There are romantic problems with that hip DJ (Max Beesley) of course, but since the two have next-to-no chemistry anyway, it’s hard to drum up any interest in their ultimate fate.

Glitter is also the feature film debut of Da Brat, who turns in a sassy, spirited performance in a role that's too small. Singer/performance artist/actress Ann Magnuson hams it up, as well, as a hyper publicist. Carey also serves as the film's executive music producer; the soundtrack, which also features contributions from Mystikal and Busta Rhymes, debuted at No. 7 on The Billboard 200 last week.

Though the music isn't an overwhelming success either, the film's performance sequences do provide the few times Carey actually looks comfortable -- and engaged in the proceedings.

So far, Glitter has generated lukewarm reviews. Daily Variety wrote, "As phony a vehicle as one could possibly concoct for a wannabe movie star." "[Carey] looks truly comfortable only when Billie is cradling the one character in the movie more passive than she is -- her cat," says Entertainment Weekly.

"With not a lot of illuminating dialogue and a smiley approach to acting, Carey does not fare well in her movie debut," chimes in The Hollywood Reporter. The Los Angeles Times, however, was more favorable: "Glitter, which marks a dynamic feature debut for pop star Mariah Carey, is far from pure gold, but it is not all dross either."

- By Gillian G. Gaar

September 24, 2001

Snoop Dogg Shares Stage, Proceeds On Puff, Puff Pass Tour

The laid-back rapper is donating $2 from each concert ticket sold at most of the stops on the outing to the American Red Cross, his spokesperson said Friday (September 21).

Snoop will share the stage with Tha Liks, Kurupt, Doggy's Angels, the Eastsidaz, Bad Azz and, on a few dates, Warren G.

Tha Liks and Kurupt were out with Snoop on a summer tour that came to an end August 26 in Detroit. The Dogg has been promoting last year's Tha Last Meal. He has since been featured on the Eastsidaz' Duces 'N Trayz: The Old Fashioned Way and Tha Dogg Pound 2002.

"Bones," which marks the rapper's first starring role in a movie, opens October 24.

Tha Liks are supporting their recently released fourth LP, X.O. Experience, which includes the singles "Best U Can" and "Run Wild," produced by the Neptunes and Rockwilder, respectively. Xzibit and Busta Rhymes guest on the album.

Puff, Puff Pass tour dates, according to Snoop Dogg's spokesperson:

• 9/21 - Valley Center, KS @ Kansas Coliseum
• 9/22 - Houston, TX @ Aerial Theatre at Bayou Palace
• 9/23 - Corpus Christi, TX @ Concrete Street Amphitheatre
• 9/24 - McAllen, TX @ Villa Real Convention Center
• 9/25 - Dallas, TX @ Smirnoff Music Centre
• 9/26 - Tulsa, OK @ Tulsa Convention Center
• 9/27 - Atlanta, GA @ HiFi Buys Amphitheatre
• 9/28 - Orlando, FL @ UCF Arena
• 9/29 - Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
• 9/30 - Tampa, FL @ USF Sun Dome
• 10/2 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
• 10/3 - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
• 10/4 - Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa
• 10/5 - Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Arena
• 10/6 - New Haven, CT @ New Haven Coliseum
• 10/7 - Albany, NY @ Pepsi Arena
• 10/8 - New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom
• 10/10 - Toronto, ON @ Sears Theatre
• 10/11 - Montreal, QC @ Molson Centre
• 10/12 - Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Coliseum
• 10/13 - Rochester, NY @ Blue Cross Arena
• 10/14 - Cleveland, OH @ CSU Convocation Center
• 10/17 - Detroit, MI @ Cobo Arena
• 10/18 - Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom
• 10/19 - St. Paul, MN @ Roy Wilkins Auditorium
• 10/20 - Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom

- By Corey Moss

Latin Grammy Winners Will Get Trophies But No Ceremony

Organizers say it would be 'simply impossible' to stage show. Winners of the second annual Latin Grammy Awards will receive their trophies, but the ceremony - originally scheduled for last Tuesday - will not be restaged, the Recording Academy announced Friday.

Academy officials, who had said shortly after the terrorist attacks that the show was canceled and would not be rescheduled, spent this week reconsidering the idea with their partners. They determined it would be "simply impossible" for the show to go on, Michael Greene, CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement.

The academy is still determining how to announce and award the winners.

"We all are emotionally devastated by recent events, as is everyone, and we're disappointed that we will not be able to give this year's deserving nominees their chance to show the world what we already know about them - that they are world-class musical artists," Greene said.

Artists who had been scheduled to appear at the Los Angeles ceremony included co-host Christina Aguilera, Santana, Nelly Furtado, Jennifer Lopez, Luis Miguel, Juanes, Jon Secada, Thalía, Marc Anthony, Alejandro Sanz and Destiny's Child.

- By Teri van Horn

September 21, 2001

All-Star Lineup Says 'We Are Family'; Dr. Dre Donates $1M

A wide range of artists has been lined up by famed producer, Chic member and disco icon Nile Rodgers to remake Sister Sledge's 1979 hit "We Are Family," which he co-wrote and co-produced.

The New York native said on Tuesday that Britney Spears, Busta Rhymes, 'NSYNC, Run-D.M.C., Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Vanessa Williams, Joan Rivers, Macaulay Culkin, Kevin Bacon and Sister Sledge themselves have all joined the project. The cover tune will be recorded in two sessions - one on Saturday in New York and the other on Sunday in L.A. Rodgers said he's still trying to decide which charities should benefit, though he made it clear he wants the money to help the survivors and families of those killed in the WTC disaster.

"I let my heart reach out, and it pointed me in the right direction," Rodgers said. "Everybody I reached out to really just came through."

Rodgers, who said he's working on a different beat for the song and that the all-stars will be singing "a new interpretation," said he has no worries about making harmony between established singers and celebrities who aren't exactly known for carrying a tune.

"There's something I've noticed all my life," he said. "When you walk in a room full of people, and people start singing 'Happy Birthday,' something is really beautiful about that because of the spirit. The vibe is right. We can fix pitch [with studio equipment], but there is no button in the studio to add vibe."

To help do his part, Dr. Dre anted up $1 million to L.A. radio station KPWR-FM (Power 106)'s Power of a Dollar Relief Fund, which benefits the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Tyrese, Fat Joe and Russell Simmons are among those who have pledged funds to New York radio powerhouse WQHT (Hot 97)'s Hip Hop Has Heart Foundation. Both those efforts are part of a joint venture with the stations' parent company, Emmis Communications.

Mariah Carey will emerge from seclusion to join the cause on the televised event "America: A Tribute to Heroes" (see "Mariah Carey To Resurface For 'America' TV Tribute"). Hollywood A-listers such as Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro will be on hand to help solicit charitable donations for victims of the attacks, as will musicians such as Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias, Limp Bizkit, Sting, U2 and Wyclef Jean. The telethon will be broadcast simultaneously on ABC, CBS, NBC and dozens of other network, public television, cable, radio and Internet outlets on Friday at 9 p.m. ET.

Toronto TV station MuchMusic announced Thursday (September 20) that it is organizing a similar, smaller-scale effort. Acts such as Sum 41, Shaggy, Sarah McLachlan and Barenaked Ladies will take the stage for "Music Without Borders." That benefit concert will be broadcast live and commercial-free on MuchMusic and its affiliate outlets as well as on Toronto radio stations CHUM-FM, Edge 102 and Kiss 92 on Sunday from 4-8 p.m. ET. A spokesperson for MuchMusic said they are still trying to finalize the details of which organizations they will be helping.

Jermaine Dupri and Bono have already gathered performers such as Destiny's Child, P. Diddy, Ja Rule, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera and Nelly to record a Dupri-produced remake of Marvin Gaye's classic "What's Going On" (see "Fred Durst, P. Diddy, Aaron Lewis, More Join In On Gaye Remake"). Proceeds from that single were originally destined to help AIDS research in Africa; on Wednesday, a spokesperson for Dupri said that 50 percent of the money from the song will go to the United Way's September 11th Fund, with the other half to be used as originally intended.

Whitney Houston and Arista have already put forth plans to re-release her decade-old rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Houston originally performed it at Super Bowl XXV, in 1991; the single's profits will go to the New York Firefighters Disaster Relief Fund and the New York Fraternal Order of Police Fund.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson is making progress on his all-star benefit single, "What More Can I Do." Usher, Aaron Carter and country star Reba McEntire have joined the likes of Destiny's Child and Backstreet Boy Nick Carter on Jackson's list of guest artists. A Jackson representative said Britney Spears and 'NSYNC's Justin Timberlake have committed verbally to the song (see "Jackson Taps Britney, More For Song To Help Terrorism Victims"), though a spokesperson for the star couple said their participation is not confirmed.

The Black Crowes, who will kick off the first of three New York performances at the Beacon Theatre on Thursday (September 20), announced they will donate all profits from ticket sales as well as all of the merchandising revenue from the shows. Those funds will be distributed to the New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund and the New York City Public/Private Initiative Inc. The latter helps families of the lost rescuers at the WTC.

On Tuesday, Britney Spears pledged to donate $1 from each ticket she sells during her fall tour of the U.S., as well as profits from merchandising and other tour endeavors, to help the children of police and firefighters lost in the incident at the World Trade Center.

Madonna, Janet Jackson, Maxwell, Incubus and Backstreet Boys are among the entertainers who have already donated proceeds from concert performances to various relief charities.

- By Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Joe D'Angelo and Corey Moss

Nate Dogg Flying Solo, With Dre, Snoop, Ludacris In Tow

O.G. crooner to drop Music & Me December 4. Nate Dogg is ready to drop his long-awaited solo album, and - unsurprisingly - the King of Cameos isn't going it alone.

Some of Nate's past collaborators - including Pharoahe Monch, Kurupt, Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg - will rap along with the crooning O.G. on Music & Me, which drops December 4, according to his label, Elektra Records.

Supplying the tracks to Nate's gangstafied soul offerings will be a roster of producers, including Bink, the Megahertz, Mike City, Battlecat, Fredwreck and Dre's sometime beatmaking accomplice Mel Man, the Elektra spokesperson said.

Nate's first single, the bluesy "I Got Love," is already getting airplay on a few radio stations and sounds almost like a church testimonial. On the track, Nate reaffirms that "ain't nobody tighter" than him when it comes to singing, and he asserts that he has no love for hoes, but does have an undying affinity for his homies and the ghetto.

Although Nate has built his career not from his own songs but by singing hooks for everyone from Warren G - on the 1994 smash "Regulate" - to his most current appearances with Fabolous, Mariah Carey and Brian McKnight, Music & Me is actually not his first album.

He released the double CD G-Funk Classics, Vol. 1 & 2 in 1998 on his independent label, Breakaway Records. That LP spawned the underground hits "Never Leave Me Alone," which featured Snoop Dogg, and "Me and My Homies," which featured Tupac Shakur.

- By Shaheem Reid

September 20, 2001

Mariah Carey To Resurface For 'America' TV Tribute

The appearance will mark Carey's first public showing in months. The singer received psychiatric treatment in July after a physical and emotional breakdown (see "Mariah Carey Reportedly Under Psychiatric Care Again") and canceled a scheduled Barbara Walters TV interview (see "Mariah Carey Puts Off Talk With Barbara Walters"). Nevertheless, her movie "Glitter" premieres Friday and its accompanying soundtrack album was released September 11 and will debut on next week's Billboard 200 albums chart at #7.

Actors Jimmy Smits and Jane Kaczmarek ("Malcolm in the Middle") round out the packed lineup's new additions, according to an event publicist.

They join previously announced participants including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Jim Carrey, Sheryl Crow, Faith Hill and Tom Hanks, among many others (see "Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi And Others Unite For Star-Studded Fund-Raiser"). Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will play the anthemic "I Won't Back Down," according to the group's publicist.

"America: A Tribute to Heroes" was hatched by CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox, all of which will broadcast the star-studded event live at 9 p.m. EST and 8 p.m. CST, and on taped delay for the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

While the networks will cover the program's cost, other television, radio and Internet outlets are invited to share the broadcast. MTV and VH1 announced their commitment to carry the show Tuesday, and BET, Comedy Central, Court TV, Discovery, E!, Fox Family, FX, HBO, Lifetime, PAX, PBS, Showtime, the Sundance Channel, Telemundo, TLC, TNN, TNT, the WB, Univision, UPN and a number of Westwood One and Clear Channel Communications radio affiliates, as well as Web site Yahoo.com, signed on Wednesday (September 19).

- By Joe D'Angelo

Ludacris Fed Up With People Nosing Into His Business

Rapper prepares to shoot first video from Word of Mouf, entitled 'My Business.' Ludacris is banking on a large portion of sales of his next album, Word of Mouf, to come from the strong buzz he creates in the streets. However, when his new single drops in a few weeks, the message will be clear - when you're running your lips about him, make sure everything you say is true.

"Timbaland produced the [album's] first single - it's called 'My Business,' " Ludacris said last month. "It's just talking about how people want to know about me as an artist. People want to know about a lot of artists and that's OK to know certain things. But sometimes people go so far as to exaggerate or just start making up lies and you hear rumors about people that are just not true. I hate when that happens to me.

"I'mma let you know about my lifestyle," he continued, a little more intensely. "I'm real as can be, but there are certain things that I'm gonna keep on a personal tip that I don't want the world to know. So that's my way of saying 'Get the f--- out my business.' "

Cris said the song's sentiments will resonate loudly in the video.

"It's kinda like the real life concept that I might go to the mall with my sister and somebody might spot us and automatically be like, 'That's Ludacris' girlfriend,' " the always energized MC said. "The video will be set upon a story where it's a lot of stuff going on and people getting the total wrong impression and telling lies."

The Atlanta rhyme marksman said he's choosing between a couple of directors to helm the clip, and added that no matter who he picks, he'll more than likely make eleventh hour changes in their script treatments while shooting the video.

"I'm a real last minute person," said Cris, who cited the models shaking their moneymakers while sitting on the wings of an airplane in the "Area Codes" video as an example of a late improvisation. "I have creative control when it comes to videos. I'll see the way the scene is set up and change it a bit at the last minute."

Ludacris' new LP drops November 6, and you'll be hearing a lot from him both before and after the record hits stores. He's already laid down rhymes for upcoming albums by Timbaland, Jermaine Durpri, Nate Dogg, Mystikal, Eightball and Twista, and he has a duet with Project Pat on a soon-to-be-released Three 6 Mafia compilation.

- By Shaheem Reid

September 19, 2001

Alicia Keys, Bon Jovi And Others Unite For Star-Studded Fund-Raiser

- By Joe D'Angelo

"Imagine" All the Inappropriate Songs

Yes, it's probably about time radio stations finally stopped playing "Stairway to Heaven." But this might not be the best way to do it.

Clear Channel Communications, the country's largest radio network, is raising eyebrows after one of its station's program directors created a list of potentially inappropriate songs in the wake of last week's devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Led Zeppelin, John Lennon's "Imagine," Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner," AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" were among more than 150 songs deemed "lyrically inappropriate" following last Tuesday's tragedy. The list also includes everything from the classics (Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World") to recent releases (System of a Down's "Chop Suey!").

Then there's the downright goofy, as the list suggests such un-American songs like the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" and Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife."

While rumors initially floated that the list was a corporate mandate, or a cruel hoax, the radio conglomerate insists that a program director created and distributed the list to its 1,100 stations, including KIIS-FM in Los Angeles and Z100-FM in New York.

"Given the environment, a Clear Channel program director took it upon himself to identify a number of songs that certain markets or individuals may find insensitive today," the company said in a statement. "This was not a mandate, nor was the list generated out of the corporate radio offices. It was a grassroots effort that was apparently circulated among program directors."

Not all Clear Channel stations are paying attention to the list. For instance, New York's Z100 has been playing many of the tunes, while Q104 has noted that "inappropriate" songs like "New York, New York" and "Imagine" were some of the most requested of the week.

Some songs, however, do evoke difficult images from last week's tragedy. It's not hard to see a connection to songs like Peter, Paul and Mary's "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" or AC/DC's "Safe in New York City."

As expected, free-speech activists are expressing concern that the list was even passed around. While Clear Channel insists it did not "endorse or squash" the list's distribution, First Amendment watchdogs say it's problematic--especially if you consider that Clear Channel owns one out of every 10 stations in the U.S.

"It's very dangerous," says Nina Crowley, director of MassMic, a music free-speech organization. "I understand they're pulling certain violent songs. But you put out a list of songs like this, and the next thing you know someone's pulling the albums off the shelves in Wal-Mart.

"There are some very absurd connections," she adds. "'Walk Like an Egyptian'? You really gotta stretch it to get that."

Most upsetting, Crowley says, is the inclusion of "all songs by Rage Against the Machine " on the list. "That's political stand against what Rage Against the Machine has to say," she warns.

Meanwhile, at least one record label has responded to the "objectionable" list. Wind-up Records is disputing that its single "Bodies," by the band Drowning Pool, was deemed potentially objectionable. (The song made the list presumably for its chanting chorus, "Let the bodies hit the floor.")

"From the very beginning, 'Bodies' was never about anything more than the kids moshing," says Wind-up spokesman Steve Karas in a statement. "We can obviously understand people's concerns, and we're very sympathetic, but the meaning of the song still is as it was in the beginning, which is really a cry for togetherness."

List of Banned Songs

- By Mark Armstrong

September 18, 2001

Whitney Houston's 'Star-Spangled Banner' To Wave Again

Michael Jackson, Madonna, Backstreet Boys, & More To Help Disaster Relief Funds

The list of entertainers who are doing their part in the relief efforts of Tuesday's (Sept. 11) terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. is growing.

Along the same vein as 1985's "We Are the World," Michael Jackson is organizing an all-star benefit jam of a song titled "What More Can I Give" with the hopes of raising $50 million for relief efforts (a Spanish version is also planned). Jackson has already secured 'NSync's Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, and Destiny's Child for the project. The King of Pop will also produce the project.

"I believe in my heart that the music community will come together as one and rally to the aid of thousands of innocent victims," said Jackson in a statement released Sunday (Sept. 16). "There is a tremendous need for relief dollars right now and through this effort each one of us can play an immediate role in helping comfort so many people."

After canceling her scheduled show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on the evening of the tragedy, Madonna performed as scheduled Thursday (Sept. 13) and Friday (Sept. 14) at that venue with all proceeds going to a fund in honor of children and families affected by the attacks. Proceeds from Saturday's (Sept. 15) show, rescheduled from Tuesday, will also be donated. Madonna also altered her show in response to the week's events, spoke to the crowd about the tragedies, and called for a moment of silence during the shows.

Meanwhile, the Backstreet Boys will donate $1 from each ticket sold from Wednesday's (Sept. 12) show at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto to the Clear Channel relief fund, which will then cipher out funds to the American Red Cross and various other organizations. The Backstreet Boys lost a member of their crew, Danny Lee, who was aboard American Airlines flight 11 when it crashed into the World Trade Center's north tower. Additional artists who have agreed to donate $10,000 to the same fund include Sade, Earth, Wind, & Fire, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Incubus will donate all proceeds from its sold-out shows in at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York on Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the band, promoters Metropolitan Entertainment Group, and local radio station K-Rock will also donate their proceeds from the two-night stand.

Godsmack is offering up all proceeds from merchandise sales at its shows in Darien, N.Y., on Friday and Scranton, Pa., on Sunday to the New York City Public and Private Initiative, a fund that helps families of slain police offices and firefighters.

Alanis Morissette also is planning a benefit concert, the details of which were not solidified by press time.

Naturally, many more artists are doing their part to help out as well and allstar will bring you the details as they become available.

- By Kevin Raub

September 17, 2001

Moby Turns To Music, Mack 10 Vows Never To Fly Again

Superstars like Madonna and Janet Jackson have had to switch their concert schedules, but more importantly, many performers' whole way of seeing life has changed.

"To be honest, I've been scared to come through the Lincoln Tunnel," Ja Rule, who was raised in New York and now lives in New Jersey, told Carson Daly today on MTV's "TRL." "When I came through the tunnel [today], I saw a whole thing of Army [trucks]. It shook me up."

And while some now have to muster courage to take a simple 20-minute trip, other artists are rethinking their ways of long-distance travel.

Mack 10, who was scheduled to come to New York but was stranded in California on Tuesday, has vowed never to fly again and is buying a tour bus. Carl Thomas, who has been stranded in Chicago all week, agrees with Mack 10's sentiments and has canceled an upcoming concert in South Africa, saying he'll be traveling by tour bus a lot more now.

Although Jay-Z hasn't given up on flying, he too has been stranded in California since the incident and has thus postponed the start of his tour from Friday (September 14) to Wednesday. Jay was in Los Angeles on Tuesday shooting a video for "Girls, Girls, Girls" as well as promoting his album, The Blueprint, which came out that day.

"It's weird 'cause as a artist you look forward to your release date, then something tragic like that happens - that's the last thing on your mind," Jay told Carson via phone Friday on "TRL." "With every tragedy I believe it makes [you] stronger. If your faith is in the right place you will get stronger."

Moby, who lives two miles from the disaster area, said he drew on his talent for strength while confined to his home the past few days.

"Since that incident happened, my neighborhood was curtained off by the police," said Moby, who watched from his roof in disbelief as the Twin Towers crumbled. "I haven't been able to go outside anyway 'cause the air was just so thick with smoke. Everyone that lives down here, we have really sore throats and sore eyes from the smoke and from crying from being upset.

"Music and friends are the only things that have gotten me through this," he continued. "Wednesday when I was stuck in my home, I spent my day in the studio working on music because it was healing. Very melodic and tranquil music to provide a counterpoint to the events on Tuesday."

- By Shaheem Reid

Kane & Abel Sentenced To Three Years In Cocaine Case

Twin rappers admit lying to federal agents about drug kingpin. Identical twin rappers Kane & Abel were sentenced to three years in jail in a federal cocaine case on Wednesday.

A U.S. District Court judge in New Orleans accepted a plea agreement reached by the rappers' attorney and prosecutors last spring in which the brothers (born David and Daniel Garcia) admitted to lying to federal agents about the activities of jailed drug kingpin and convicted murderer Richard Pena.

Judge Sarah Vance gave the former No Limit MCs the maximum sentence for the charge, formerly termed "misprison of a felony."

"We feel that [the sentence] was unfair, and we plan to appeal," Abel said Thursday (September 13), adding that he and his brother had been hoping for the minimum sentence of 21 months.

"Our view is that the sentence was harsher than it needed to be under both the law and the facts of the case," Kane & Abel's attorney, Richard Westling said.

The rappers are scheduled to begin their sentences on October 10 at a facility to be determined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Westling said.

Prosecutors claimed that the Garcias met Pena while they were studying at Xavier University, and that Pena subsequently financed the rappers' music career, but when the relationship deteriorated, he put them to work in his drug ring. Pena was arrested in 1997 and pleaded guilty to eight murders.

Vance rejected an earlier plea agreement that came with a predetermined sentence of two years in jail, saying it was too lenient. In that rejected deal, the rappers pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges by admitting to receiving 10 kilograms of cocaine from Pena in 1996 and 1997.

Abel said he and his brother will spend their last month of freedom doing business as usual. They'll promote their upcoming album, Most Wanted Boys (October 9), featuring collaborations with Juvenile ("Say That Then") and Snoop Dogg ("Down South"), and they'll finish recording an LP for early next year titled The Last Ones Left. Both albums will be released on their own label, Most Wanted Records.

Earlier this summer, the duo re-released their 2000 album, Most Wanted, with five new songs, including the single "Show Dat Work (Shake It Like a Dog Pt. 2)," which features guest vocals from Mystikal and 5th Ward Weebie.

Kane & Abel are also planning to put out their second novel, "The Speed of Darkness," late this year. The follow-up to 1999's "Eyes of a Killer/Behind Enemy Lines" traces the life of a Houston heroin dealer who becomes the first person publicly executed in modern times, with CNN broadcasting the event.

Abel said that he and Kane have worked hard to build a roster of underground acts on Most Wanted Records to ensure the label thrives during their incarceration.

"We're happy to get this thing behind us, and we know that our company won't miss a beat and we'll be back in no time," he said.

- By Teri van Horn

September 14, 2001

Destiny's Child, Janet Jackson, Pantera, Others Cancel, Postpone Concerts

- By Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, with additional reporting by Teri vanHorn and Corey Moss

Debate Continues On Backstreet Boys T.O. Shows

On Wednesday night, as images of heartbroken people and destroyed buildings appeared on almost every TV station, the Backstreet Boys took to the stage in Toronto to perform a high-energy, up-beat show.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks that demolished the World Trade towers in New York, burned a section of the Pentagon, and killed thousands of innocent people, the Boys chose to carry on with their planned tour stop instead of cancelling their shows, unlike many other performers who have opted to avoid the spotlight after the attacks. (They'll play two more shows at the same venue, on Thursday and Friday nights.)

That's not to say they were callously ignoring the tragedy. One of their crew members, Daniel Lee, was killed in one of the hijacked planes that hit the World Trade Center. He had been taking time off from the tour to be with his pregnant wife.

The Boys chose to publicly remember their friend before last night's show kicked off. They came onstage with the rest of their crew and dancers and had a 10-second moment of silence. Each of the group members seemed legitimately upset by the tragedy and the death of Lee. But, approximately 30 minutes after their brief memorial, the Boys were onstage, dancing up a storm and harmonizing their hearts out.

It's possible that they felt that their up-beat show would be a positive event, helping people to forget Tuesday's horrible events. But to some, carrying on with a light-hearted pop concert seemed inappropriate.

Usually, Backstreet concert venues are flooded with anxious fans without tickets who squeal from outside and hang out beside radio-station booths to request their favourite BSB song. On Wednesday night, the mood outside of the Air Canada Centre was less than festive. The crowds of excited girls were less than half their usual size. Parents accompanying their children to the show looked sombre.

In the foyer of the media entrance, photographers, security guards, and concert promoters watched CNN's coverage of the terrorist attacks.

Compared to the graphic images on TV, the sight of glow sticks and the sound of infectious pop that filled the venue was jarring and uncomfortable. Seeing the distraught faces of Nick, A.J., Howie, Kevin, and Brian only moments before they popped up onstage in full costume, ready to get the crowd screaming, spectators must have known the group's hearts just weren't in it.

- By Stephaine McGrath

September 13, 2001

Concerts Across U.S., CMJ Marathon, Latin Grammys On Hold Following Attacks

The Grammy ceremony, which was to air live on Tuesday from the Forum in Inglewood, California, will not be rescheduled, an Academy spokesperson said. Artists scheduled to appear included co-host Christina Aguilera, Santana, Nelly Furtado, Jennifer Lopez, Luis Miguel, Juanes, Jon Secada, Thalia, Marc Anthony, Alejandro Sanz and Destiny's Child.

Major concert promoter Clear Channel Entertainment called off all its shows across the country for Tuesday, including concerts by Madonna, Weezer, Janet Jackson, Tool, Jimmy Eat World, Maxwell, Ozomatli and Dave Navarro.

It was not decided at press time whether Madonna's show at Los Angeles' Staples Center would be rescheduled. The two remaining dates of her Drowned World tour, at the same venue on Thursday and Friday, are scheduled to take place as planned.

Many Wednesday shows have been canceled, too, including concerts by Tool, Stevie Nicks, 98 Degrees, Stevie Nicks, Powerman 5000 and Crosby, Stills & Nash, according to the Clear Channel and Ticketmaster Web sites. Ticketmaster is posting a list of canceled and postponed shows at www.ticketmaster.com.

Slipknot and System of a Down's seven-week Pledge of Allegiance tour, scheduled to begin Friday in Rosemont, Ill., has been postponed until further notice, a publicist for Slipknot's label, Roadrunner, said on Wednesday. Rammstein, Mudvayne, No One and American Head Charge were also to be on the tour.

CMJ announced that its annual Music Marathon - which was to bring more than 1,000 bands to New York over four days starting Thursday - has been rescheduled for October 10-13. The festival lineup includes Coldplay, Ben Folds, the Strokes and many others.

Metropolitan Entertainment nixed concerts for Tuesday and Wednesday, including shows by O-Town and Lil' Romeo in New York.

Matchbox Twenty and Train's Tuesday show in Bossier City, Louisiana, was also postponed. Sting abbreviated his live concert webcast from Tuscany, Italy, because of the attacks, playing just one song, "Fragile," a Latin-tinged ballad that includes the lyrics, "nothing comes from violence/ And nothing ever could." The show was to have been recorded for a live album.

The House of Blues chain canceled all of its Tuesday shows and many scheduled for Wednesday, including appearances by Blink-182 and Crystal Method. The company is posting updates at hob.com.

The ticket on-sale dates for several U2 shows, scheduled for this weekend, have been postponed.

Television's Emmy Awards, scheduled for Sunday, were postponed indefinitely, while movie studios closed and Major League Baseball canceled all games scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

- Teri vanHorn, with additional reporting by Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen

Mariah Carey's Glitter Kicks It '80s Style

Singer's latest LP revisits songs from Cherelle, Tom Browne. Mariah Carey fans will get the chance to focus on something other than the singer's mental well-being - her music - when the long-delayed soundtrack to her film "Glitter" drops Tuesday.

As she said in June, the album captures the musical feel of the movie's 1982 setting.

"There are songs that are definitely going to take people back and make them go, 'Oh, man, this song from the '80s - I loved it growing up,' " she said. "Or people who never heard the songs before might be like, 'This is cool.'

"When you see the movie, you're gonna see the uptempo songs and the songs that are remakes in there as they would have sounded in the '80s," she continued. "But the album is the way that I would make the record now, and the ballads can stand on their own as songs from a Mariah Carey album."

Make no mistake, while Carey's smiling grill is plastered on the album's cover, and it's being marketed more as a solo LP than a soundtrack, the singer called on quite a few of her friends to combine new and old-school vibes.

Besides the bevy of microphone bandits that perform on Glitter's first single, the remix to "Loverboy," and Ja Rule, who performs with Nate Dogg on "If We," Carey called on Busta Rhymes, Fabolous and Mystikal.

Busta and Fab join in on the DJ Clue and Duro-produced cover of "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life." Clue, who refers to Carey as "Wilma M. Holla" (Clue goes by the alias William M. Holla), provides a grittier bassline than the original; Fab rhymes, and Busta, who ad libs throughout, tells Mariah to lay the "smackdown" on listeners.

"Didn't Mean to Turn You On" is a remake of a 1984 Cherelle hit penned and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and later covered by Robert Palmer.

"Oh I told you twice," Carey sings, "I was only trying to be nice/ Only trying to be nice/ Sooooooo, I didn't mean to turn you on." Meanwhile, Jam and Lewis, who co-produced Carey's version of the song along with the singer, use keyboards and synthesizers instead of just sampling.

"Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica)" is an uptempo reworking of Tom Browne's 1980 track. Guest star Mystikal dominates the song by rhyming three verses. "Ain't nothin' you could do with the man/ Except for shake your ass and clap your hands," he declares. Mariah spryly sings, "Don't stop bay-beee, its ex-ta-see/ Turn me up a little," on the hook.

Eric Benét sings with Carey about "exploring fantasies" on "Want You." For the ballad "Twister," apparently a chronology of her movie character Billie Frank's life, Carey takes the solo route.

"She was kind of fragile/ She had a lot to grapple with/ But basically kept it all inside," she sings lightly.

Glitter track list, according to Virgin Records:

• "Loverboy" (Remix)
• "Lead the Way"
• "If We"
• "Didn't Mean to Turn You On"
• "Don't Stop (Funkin' 4 Jamaica)" (featuring Mystikal)
• "All My Life"
• "Reflections (Care Enough)"
• "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" (featuring Fabolous and Busta Rhymes)
• "Want You" (featuring Eric Benet)
• "Never Too Far"
• "Twister"
• "Loverboy"

- Shaheem Reid

September 12, 2001

Michael Jackson Smooth At Tribute, But Wait Was Criminal

Standing in a spotlight just shy of center stage at Madison Square Garden, Jackson slowly, teasingly revealed one of the 20th century's most recognizable pop-culture artifacts from an old briefcase. He had already retrieved a familiar black jacket and fedora from it. Now he reached in for his silver-sequined glove, and the crowd went wild.

Adorned just as he was some 18 years ago, with the five-fingered prop now in place, Jackson assumed the stance that began his legendary performance of "Billie Jean" at the Motown 25 celebration. The next five minutes were - pun intended - thrilling, the crowd overcome by spine-tingling nostalgia as it watched a genuine superstar re-create a magical moment.

Unfortunately for Michael, and for the crowd, this nearly religious high point arrived almost three hours into a bloated show that largely offered the audience everything but Michael Jackson performing. When he did finally take the stage as a performer, Jackson provided a rousing and substantial reminder of why he's a legend in the first place. But first, the fans who paid as much as $2,500 a ticket had to wait, as the show started an hour late, and no one named Jackson hit the stage for another two hours after that.

The mildly surreal festivities began in typically eccentric fashion. Escorted by Elizabeth Taylor and joined by Macaulay Culkin, the honoree took a seat beside the stage. He proceeded to spend much of the night as a mere spectator, blowing kisses at a stellar, if curious, array of performers.

Kicking things off was the makeshift R&B trio of Usher, Mya and Whitney Houston. The three traded "Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sas" on the apropos "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," the overture to Thriller. Further turning back the clock, country kid Billy Gilman and Latin crooner Marc Anthony belted out the ballads "Ben" and "She's Out of My Life," respectively.

Liza Minnelli warbled "You Are Not Alone" before serenading Michael with a few lines from "Over the Rainbow" (a signature song for her mother, Judy Garland). The standing ovation that followed this exchange was a far cry from the reception given a collection of songs from the 1978 Hollywood production of "The Wiz," which found Monica playing Dorothy to Jill Scott's Scarecrow, Al Jarreau's Tin Man and Deborah Cox's Cowardly Lion (all in costume). Unfortunately, the medley seemed like little more than background music for an exodus to the concession stands.

Shaggy and Destiny's Child paid little attention to the event's namesake or his music, save for quick dance interludes, opting instead to perform their own chart-topping hits.

Perhaps the evening's most bizarre moment came when reclusive icon Marlon Brando asked the audience to think about the hundreds, if not thousands, of kids "hacked to death by a machete" in an awkward minute during which he sat silently on a couch. Then he began a long diatribe on the ills befalling children worldwide. He scolded a clearly uninterested and bewildered crowd, exclaiming, "don't chat" before leaving to jeers. Brando's point - soliciting donations for Michael's Web site in order to help him build a children's hospital in Florida - was lost.

There were long bouts of downtime between numbers, presumably because the show was being taped for a two-hour television special to air in early November. An hour and a half into the spectacle, the crowd, still waiting to see a Jackson onstage, voiced its frustrations with a collective and emphatic round of boos.

Finally, after 17 numbers, and well beyond the two-hour mark, the audience got what it paid to see: Michael Jackson, and then some. Following Taylor's introduction, all six Jackson brothers took the stage together for the first time since their 1984 Victory tour.

With his brothers housed behind him on a set bearing five open doorways, Michael popped up, literally, emerging from beneath the stage in a space-age white suit and motorcycle helmet. For 23 minutes, the brothers worked the now-ecstatic crowd into a frenzy as they ran through vintage hits, including "ABC" and "I Want You Back," their performance of the latter mimicking the group's 1970 appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." 'NSYNC crashed the family reunion during "Dancing Machine," though it seemed hardly necessary - even they couldn't upstage the brothers, who were so relaxed showing off their old-school Motown moves that they made the new-school boy band's ultra-choreographed routines seem, well, routine.

It wasn't until Michael bid his brothers adieu that he really shook his body down to the ground, turning his attention, and his footwork, to the solo career that the night was really all about. Dressed in black pants and blue shirt, M.J. began by dueting with current pop queen Spears on "The Way You Make Me Feel." Strutting back and forth across the stage in stilettos and a flimsy green dress, Britney posed and pranced more than she danced or sang.

On the flip side of the special-guest spectrum was ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who riffed it up on "Black or White" (as he did on record in 1991), and a pyrotechnics-heavy rendition of "Beat It," a number that also boasted troupe choreography reminiscent of the classic video's dance-gang warfare.

The only new number of the night - a night that was intended not only to remember Michael's past, but also to herald his future - was a sparsely arranged rendition of "You Rock My World." The song is the lead single from the upcoming Invincible, Jackson's first all-new studio album in 10 years. It got a lukewarm response from an audience whose average age was slightly older than Madonna's fanbase and slightly younger than Barbra Streisand's.

The stop-and-start event concluded with most of the night's cast, plus a few celeb extras - Kenny Rogers, Yoko Ono and Dionne Warwick among them - gathered onstage for a new-millennial reprise of "We Are the World," conducted by Quincy Jones. The potpourri of celebrities danced a bit and hugged Michael farewell as the band replayed a rambling, milder version of "You Rock My World," which seemed designed more for the closing credits of the TV special than for the audience in attendance.

Jackson has been in career purgatory at least since 1995's poorly received HIStory: Past, Present and Future, and Friday night's extravaganza is widely regarded as a crucial step on his comeback trail, a prelude to Invincible.

- Jim Fraenkel and Jennifer Vineyard

Timbaland To Release Aaliyah/Beck Duet

Producer predicts song, which appears on upcoming Timbaland and Magoo LP, will 'shock the world.' Fans will hear Aaliyah's voice one more time on "I'm Music," a previously unreleased duet with genre-hopping singer/songwriter Beck that will grace Timbaland and Magoo's upcoming album.

Timbaland said he plans to release the track as a single from Indecent Proposal, his second album with Magoo, which is due in stores November 20.

"I'm gonna put it out as a tribute song - it's a beautiful song," the trend-setting producer said on the red carpet Thursday before the MTV Video Music Awards.

Timbaland predicted that the song will "shock the world," adding, "It's probably the biggest song I ever did."

"It's a revolutionary song," chimed in the producer's latest protégé, rapper Bubba Sparxxx.

A video will accompany the single, Timbaland said, but he declined to provide details or a release date. Beck and Timbaland previously collaborated on a cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" for the "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack.

A spokesperson for Timbaland and Aaliyah's label, Blackground Records, confirmed on Monday (September 10) that "I'm Music" will appear on Indecent Proposal, but said that they had no knowledge of plans to release the track as a single. A spokesperson for Beck at Interscope Records did not return a call for comment on the singer/songwriter's participation.

September 11, 2001

Fred Durst, P. Diddy, Aaron Lewis, More Join In On Gaye Remake

Staind singer Aaron Lewis, P. Diddy and Nelly Furtado are among the musicians who have joined 'NSYNC, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Alicia Keys and others in recording the benefit single, which will be released on World AIDS Day December 1, Dupri's spokesperson said Monday (September 10).

Lewis was in New York's Battery Studios on Wednesday, along with rapper Nelly, Gaye's daughter Nona Gaye and previously reported performers Wyclef Jean, Christina Aguilera and No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani.

The Roots' ?uestlove laid down drum tracks on Wednesday, and Bono recorded the first of two days' worth of vocals. Dupri is producing the "We Are the World"-like song, which will raise money for AIDS research.

On Friday, after a day off for the MTV Video Music Awards, Furtado, Backstreet Boys, Lil' Kim, Mary J. Blige, Eve, Nas, U2 bassist Adam Clayton, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe and Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes joined Dupri in the studio.

P. Diddy put his Bad Boy touch on the song on Saturday, Dupri's publicist said.

Marc Anthony and Maxwell will contribute by recording vocals elsewhere and sending them to Dupri, who will also host last-minute recording sessions for the single this week with Fred Durst, Jennifer Lopez and Jagged Edge.

Bono is organizing the project, which he is calling Artists Against AIDS Worldwide.

The Global AIDS Alliance originally asked Bono and Wyclef Jean to record the song; however, Bono had other ideas.

"I just thought, you know, we're the usual suspects. Don't come to us. We're too right on," Bono said backstage at the VMAs. "Go raid the pop charts. Go ask Britney Spears. Go ask Jennifer Lopez. Go ask 'NSYNC. Go ask the rappers, the hip-hop guys like Ja Rule or Nelly or DMX. In fact, [they] made me go ask them and I did. They all agreed and we've got like 25, 30 of the most extraordinary people on this record now.

"I'm very proud of it," he added. "I think the record is going to work out great. I think it's going to be a big hit single this Christmas."

- Corey Moss, with additional reporting by Will Maclachlan

Faith Evans Flips Biggie, Studies Ella Fitzgerald For Faithfully

Singer to release third album November 6. Faith Evans will attest to the power of the album guest appearance. The singer, who'll appear on the new DMX LP, said her spots alongside such performers as Eric Benét, Jon B. and, most notably, Carl Thomas on P. Diddy's album, allowed her star to shine despite not having a project to call her own since 1998's Keep the Faith.

"It kept me in people's minds," the New Jersey native, who's now comfortably settled in Atlanta, said last week. "I moved to another state, had two kids. It bought me time without losing an audience."

With her third album, Faithfully, scheduled for a November 6 release, Evans has reinvented herself a bit for her new video.

"It's a refreshing take on Faith Evans," she said about the Chris Robinson-directed clip for her single "You Gets No Love." "It's bright, colorful and fun. We shot the video in the Crenshaw area of [South Central] L.A., in my husband's neighborhood. It was a lot of low riders and we're in the arcade playing the pinball game. I kind of catch my boyfriend in a funny situation."

Although the singer won't disclose the whole plot of the video, with lines such as "Whatever you do, it comes back to you, bitch," in the song, you can infer that she'll exact some measure of revenge on a cheating boyfriend.

"The first single is unexpected, because I think I've been portrayed as a soft-spoken, turn-the-other-cheek [type]," Evans said. "But I'm human, I go through drama, I break."

The party song may just cause people to start breakdancing or pop-locking when they hear it. Evans said producer Michaelangelo Saulsberry, a former member of the R&B group Portrait (look for his handiwork on Busta Rhymes' upcoming Genesis as well), took it back to the old school with his beat.

"You could roller-skate to it," Evans said. "Everybody says I make roller-skating songs. It's like a funky club-sounding joint, a funky midtempo groove. It's heavily influenced by West Coast basslines."

On the song, Evans actually busts a rhyme, flipping the lyrics from the "Get Money" remix, a track by her late husband, the Notorious B.I.G: "I'm the rapper with clout everybody rap about/ Check it out/ Guns I bust 'em/ Problems with my wife, don't discuss 'em," Biggie rhymed.

"I'm the diva with clout everybody raps about," Faith spouts. "Check it out/ Rhymes I bust 'em/ Problems with my life, don't discuss 'em."

"The [song] is what some people would call a 'flip out record,' " she said. "I'm barking, I'm biting back. The concept of the song came from another story where my girlfriend told me the situation about her and a guy and I wrote about it."

Besides being inspired by her friend and Biggie, Evans said she did homework in preparation for her album.

"[Faithfully] reflects the things I've been studying over the past five years," she said. "I been studying a lot of music, a lot of singers, a lot of writers. I study every single aspect of songs now. For two months I might have studied Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan. Just rotated their albums. I might've recorded two songs at the end of that time that sounded like a song they could've done.

"That's the whole feeling," said the singer, who pointed out she has a kaleidoscope of cuts ranging from ballads to "techno-ish." "It took almost two years to do the album. It took months and months of studying the songs, going back, putting in the elements. The feel is 'Faith has grown.' That's what I hope people get from it. I just been trying to get my history together."

She also said that it sounds like her team of album trackmasters made beats together. Besides Saulsberry, Evans herself laid tracks, as did P. Diddy, his partner Mario Wynans, and Battlecat.

"It sounds like we worked in the same room at the same time," Evans said. "It's real consistent."

- Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Brian Hiatt

September 10, 2001

Capone Arrested After Being Fired Upon By Police

Two officers responding to a dispute involving a firearm at Club Juan Pachanga arrived at 3:45 a.m. and encountered Capone (born Kiam Holley), Marion Jefferson and Mesiah Watson, who were leaving the club, according to a police spokesperson. One of the officers, believing one of the men was carrying a gun, fired two shots, which missed the suspects, the spokesperson said.

The three men fled in a black Mercedes-Benz. The car was involved in a minor accident with a truck shortly after its departure, according to the police report. Authorities caught up with the vehicle a few blocks later and found Jefferson with a superficial neck wound that "could have been the result of bullet fragmentation," the spokesperson said.

The rapper tells a different story. Capone said he and his friends were invited to the club, where they were attacked by a group of patrons, according to his publicist. They attempted to escape by driving away and their vehicle was fired upon by police arriving at the scene.

Witnesses at the club told police that Capone, half of rap duo Capone-N-Noreaga, and his friends were carrying guns, though no weapons were recovered from their vehicle.

Capone and Watson were immediately taken into custody, while Jefferson was treated at Long Island College Hospital before also being arrested. Capone and Jefferson were charged with assault in the second degree, an offense defined as the intent to cause physical injury with a deadly weapon, according to the Queens County District Attorney's office, a charge that carries a minimum sentence of two to four years. Watson was charged with possession of marijuana.

Police said they recovered a loaded .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun at the club. Neither Capone nor his associates were charged with possessing it.

While police didn't disclose further details of the case, the New York Daily News, citing a law-enforcement source, reported that the incident began when a club bouncer attempted to remove the .380-caliber gun from Capone. The ensuing fight left the club employee with a broken arm, according to the paper.

Capone and Jefferson were released Friday afternoon on $15,000 and $7,500 bail, respectively. The two are scheduled to face the charges in court October 11.

Gunplay isn't new to Capone. The rapper spent 27 months at the Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica, New York, for weapons possession before his February 1999 release.

- Joe D'Angelo

Juvenile Assault Trial Postponed

Rapper charged with knocking man out with champagne bottle to stand trial in January. Juvenile won't stand trial on charges he knocked a man out with a champagne bottle until early next year, a Miami judge said Friday (September 7).

Miami-Dade County Circuit Court Judge Leon Firtel granted a request by the rapper's attorney to postpone his trial from September 17 to January 7.

Juvenile (born Terius Gray), 26, has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, battery on a police officer, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly conduct. A second count of disorderly conduct was dropped.

"We're continuing to develop Mr. Gray's defense through discovery and look forward to his trial and ultimate acquittal," his lawyer, Jon Rosenthal, said.

The plaintiff, 28-year-old Jackson Saintagne, has filed a civil suit against the rapper for more than $4 million, claiming he has been hospitalized multiple times since the alleged incident and developed post-traumatic epilepsy.

Rosenthal had no comment on the suit.

- Teri vanHorn

September 7, 2001

Britney, 'NSYNC, All-Star Lineup To Record Marvin Gaye Classic

Bono, Jermaine Dupri plan remake of 'What's Going On' to benefit AIDS research.

'NSYNC, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Alicia Keys and Ja Rule are among the artists who are lending their voices this week to an all-star remake of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" to benefit AIDS research.

U2 frontman Bono and hip-hop/R&B producer Jermaine Dupri are organizing what Dupri has called a "We Are the World"-like project. Backstreet Boys, Wyclef Jean, Christina Aguilera, No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani and the Roots' ?uestlove are also participating in the recording, according to organizers.

Jennifer Lopez, Radiohead, Jagged Edge and Usher may also contribute, Dupri told MTV News last week.

Hundreds of artists are in New York this week for the MTV Video Music Awards on Thursday (September 6) and the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration, The Solo Years tribute shows on Friday and Monday.

Dupri said that Bono asked him to lead the project, dubbed Artists Against AIDS Worldwide. Proceeds from sales of the single, which will be released as soon as possible, will go toward AIDS research in Africa.

"He basically reached out to me to be the producer for the project," Dupri said. "He'd been calling me from London. I guess he's really lived with it. He's been [making] some suggestions of what we could do at the end of the record to make it bigger."

Unlike "We Are the World," the recording of the song will not be handled in one huge session. Dupri is running several sessions at Battery Studios in New York with performers stopping in beginning Wednesday (September 5) and going through the end of the weekend.

A video will also be filmed for the song, organizers said, though the details are still being finalized.

Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Quincy Jones organized USA for Africa's "We Are the World," which was recorded the night of the Grammy Awards in 1985 and featured Bruce Springsteen, Sting and others. It won the Song of the Year Grammy the following year.

- Corey Moss, with additional reporting by David Basham and Erika Clarke

Mariah Carey Puts Off Talk With Barbara Walters

Singer 'needs more time to rest,' her spokesperson said.

Mariah Carey won't be sitting down with Barbara Walters next week after all.

The singer has postponed her September 12 "20/20" interview because she's still recovering from the physical and emotional breakdown she suffered in July, according to her publicist, Cindi Berger.

"Mariah needs more time to rest," Berger said Wednesday (September 5). No new date has been set.

Mariah has raised her public profile ever so slightly in the past two weeks, paying a visit to a summer camp she helps fund, and posting a cheery voice message on her official Web site.

She has not yet resumed promoting her upcoming album and movie, both called "Glitter." The album is due September 11, with the film to follow September 21.

The projects were pushed back three weeks after the singer was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic. Berger said Carey's continuing recovery will not affect the new release dates.

- Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen with additional reporting by Teri vanHorn

September 6, 2001

Aguilera To Co-Host Latin Grammys; Destiny's Child To Perform

Aguilera is nominated in the Record of the Year category for the song "Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti" and is in the running for Best Female Pop Vocal Album with Mi Reflejo. Her co-host for the evening will be actor Jimmy Smits, who also co-hosted last year's event.

"Bootylicious" trio Destiny's Child will join previously announced performer Alejandro Sanz on one of the Spanish singer's tunes.

Just three weeks before show time, the Recording Academy moved the ceremony from Miami to Los Angeles, citing concerns that anti-Castro protesters would disrupt the show. More than 100 Cuban-exile groups planned to protest the ceremony's inclusion of artists from the communist country. The show will be held at the Forum in Inglewood, California, on September 11 and will be broadcast on CBS from 9-11 p.m. (ET/PT).

Gloria Estefan, last year's co-host and big winner, has said she is upset by the move and will not attend the event. Other previously announced stars scheduled to appear include Nelly Furtado, Jennifer Lopez, Luis Miguel, Juanes, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jon Secada, Thalía, and Alejandro and Vicente Fernandez. Additional performers and presenters will be announced.

- Teri vanHorn

Eminem Cartoons Jump From Web To Home Video

Home video versions of the online series will hit stores in November, compiling 70 minutes of previously webcasted episodes, new scenes, behind-the-scenes footage and an interview with Eminem.

The Flash animated cartoon, shown on SlimShadyWorld.com, centers around Slim and his crew of unruly friends. Slim is "the flyest, most self-promoting homeboy in town" who has a "nasty habit of getting everyone else in trouble with his antics," according to a character synopsis. The crew also includes high-school outcast Marshall Mathers III (Eminem's real name), who lives with his aunt in a trailer park.

"The Slim Shady Show" will hit stores November 6 in edited and uncensored versions, with the latter featuring three minutes of footage deleted from the original episodes.

- Teri vanHorn

September 5, 2001

Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx Strut Their Stuff At VMA Rehearsals

The sweeping stage flaunted its massive video screen and raised circular podium, though all its other accoutrements remained under construction. Producers paced to and fro, pointing and shouting instructions while occasionally scratching their heads waiting for inspiration to strike.

The red velvet interior of the mostly empty opera house was swarming with MTV executives, stagehands and a dozen TV crews hoping to give their viewers a sneak peek at Thursday's illustrious event. While E!, "Extra," CNN and "Access Hollywood" - to name just a few - did their best to make their curt interviews unique, the most exciting Q&A exchange came courtesy of this year's host, comedian Jamie Foxx, and his willing subject, Alicia Keys. The clown prince of the media circus on Tuesday (September 4), Foxx hijacked an "Entertainment Tonight" microphone and chatted up Keys - who's up for Best New Artist and MTV2 Award honors for her "Fallin' " clip - while the two strolled the aisles of the famed high-brow hall.

"Alicia Keys is at the forefront of it right now," Foxx said after the interview. "To me, she's the most original. Strip away all of the hype, and to see Alicia do her thing is something else."

Keys and Foxx occupied the first two scheduled slots of the VMA rehearsals: Foxx by giving his opening monologue a final run-through, and Keys by taking the stage to practice the song she'll perform Thursday night.

The past year has been one of firsts for the soulful young pianist. Her debut album, Songs in A Minor, entered the Billboard 200 albums chart at #1 when it was released in June, and the LP's first single, "Fallin'," is currently the most played song in the country. What Keys lacks in experience, she makes up for in moxie, as the prospect of performing in front of a worldwide audience of millions is anything but daunting to her.

"I can't say that I'm nervous," Keys said. "I'm excited, so I know there is going to be a lot of adrenaline pumping through the veins. And that may cause a couple of little butterflies, but once I'm onstage, it's a wrap. It's on from there."

Missy Elliott, 'NSYNC and Britney Spears were also scheduled to practice their performances Tuesday, however, their rehearsals were closed to all press outlets.

- Joe D'Angelo, with additional reporting by Curtis Waller

DMX's The Great Depression Delayed Until October

The delay was for timing reasons, a spokesperson at Def Jam Records said Tuesday (September 4). The LP was originally slated for release September 25. The label noted that the release of Jay-Z's sixth album, The Blueprint, has been moved up a week to September 11.

"[Def Jam] gonna do what they gonna do, and I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do," DMX told MTV News on Thursday. "I don't even give a f--- no more, because I know when my sh-- drops, it's gonna be hot sh--, you know what I mean? It doesn't even matter no more, dog."

DMX has already filmed videos for the first two singles from The Great Depression, "Who We Be" and "You Must Be Blind".

The rapper's fourth album also includes "I Miss You," a collaboration with Faith Evans about his grandmother.

DMX talks about his new album, and a lot more, in an interview with MTV News during the Video Music Awards' "Opening Act," which airs live Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.

- Corey Moss, with additional reporting by Sway Calloway

September 4, 2001

Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am Gives Online Movie A Funky, Jazzy Sound

Black Eyed Peas' Will.I.Am has recorded his first solo project - a soulful album that is also the soundtrack to an Internet film and part of a popular hip-hop record series.

Lost Change, due September 25, is the third installment in London label Barely Breaking Even's The Beat Generation series, which features hip-hop figures producing an album outside of major-label constraints.

Will.I.Am's contribution is a funky, jazzy record showcasing some of underground hip-hop's most skilled artists, including Planet Asia, Terry Dexter, Huck Fynn, Medusa and Burning Star.

The rapper recorded the album for Levi's Silver Tab's online movie "Lost Change," which can be viewed at www.lostchange.com and also airs in segments as television commercials. Onyx's Fredro Starr and the Black Eyed Peas are featured in the film.

"They wanted me to play the lead, but I couldn't because I was on tour," Will said Wednesday from Los Angeles. "So I asked if I could do the score for it. It took about a month to do it. I was so amped by the music I didn't want it to go to waste on an Internet film. So I hooked up with the cats at BBE and they were cool enough to want to put it out."

Will.I.Am raps on only a handful of the album's 15 tracks, though his vision is clearly followed by the guest rappers and musicians. With the exception of Madd Dogg, who was recruited after Will overheard him freestyle, everyone on Lost Change is close friends.

One of the tracks, "Lay Me Down," which features Dexter, gives listeners an idea of what his collaborations sound like in their early stages.

"We went to a studio to vibe on some sh--," Will said. "The way I write, I just tell whoever to mumble a melody or rap and don't say nothing and we'll change the mumbling to words later." Dexter did just that, and "then we started talking and the next thing you know it was six in the morning and she had to catch a plane. So that's what we ended up with."

Lost Change follows Jay Dee's Welcome to Detroit and Pete Rock's PeteStrumentals in The Beat Generation series. Albums from Marley Marl, Jazzy Jeff and others will follow.

Meanwhile, Will.I.Am, who guests on the Long Beach Dub Allstars' current hit, "Sunny Hours", has moved on to his full-time job with the Black Eyed Peas.

The trio will hit the road next month with Mystic, and they've already begun writing music for their third album, the follow-up to last year's Bridging the Gap, which featured guests Macy Gray, Wyclef Jean, Mos Def and De La Soul.

"This one is going to be more about our growth as people," Will said. "This album is to showcase us as musicians and artists, while the last one was more about showcasing our placement in the industry and the connections we made through the first album."

Will.I.Am and bandmates Apl.De.Ap and Taboo are writing the album in a house in Bodega Bay, California.

"It's beautiful," Will said. "Our house is right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We can hear the seals."

Will said he also plans to record a proper solo album and produce some of the artists he has worked with in the past. "I want to showcase musicians like Miles Davis and those guys used to do," he explained. "It's time for the musicians to step to the forefront of hip-hop."

Black Eyed Peas tour dates, according to Interscope:

• 9/13 - San Francisco, CA @ Justice League
• 9/14 - San Francisco, CA @ Justice League
• 9/15 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
• 9/16 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox
• 9/19 - Omaha, NE @ Ranch Bowl
• 9/20 - Urbana, IL @ Foellinger Auditorium
• 9/21 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
• 9/22 - Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
• 9/23 - Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre
• 9/24 - Ithaca, NY @ Odyssey Night Club
• 9/25 - Boston, MA @ Axis
• 9/27 - New York, NY @ SOB's
• 9/28 - Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
• 9/29 - Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
• 9/30 - Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall
• 10/1 - Atlanta, GA @ Roxy
• 10/2 - New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues
• 10/3 - Dallas, TX @ Trees
• 10/4 - Austin, TX @ Stubb's BBQ
• 10/6 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
• 10/7 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theatre
• 10/8 - Scottsdale, AZ @ Cajun House
• 10/9 - Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
• 10/11 - Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre

- Corey Moss

Beastie Boys Close Grand Royal Record Label

The Beastie Boys' Grand Royal record label shut down Friday, citing "mounting debts, decreasing assets and exceedingly harsh industry conditions."

Home to highly praised rockers At the Drive-In and Luscious Jackson - both of whom have broken up - Grand Royal was one of the most popular artist-owned labels of the last decade.

"This is one of the most difficult decisions we've ever had to make," Beastie Boy Mike D, who took over operations as his bandmates got involved in other projects, said in a statement. "Over the years the Grand Royal family had grown to include some of the most talented musicians and staff in the business. It's tragic that the same growth has also produced an overhead and infrastructure that is no longer viable.

"Our intentions were always simply to create a home for exciting music and the people who were passionate about it," Diamond added. "It really sucks that we can't continue to do that."

The Beastie Boys founded the label in 1993; its first album, Luscious Jackson's In Search of Manny, was issued shortly after.

Grand Royal also released albums from Atari Teenage Riot, Ben Lee, Sean Lennon, Buffalo Daughter, Money Mark and BS 2000, Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz's side project.

This year, the label has released albums by Scapegoat Wax and Nullset, and it was preparing for the U.S. release of Bran Van 3000's Discosis. A vinyl version of Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American was issued this summer.

At the Drive-In's 2000 release, Relationship of Command, has sold nearly a million copies worldwide.

- Corey Moss

September 3, 2001

Fans, Artists Pay Last Respects To Aaliyah

Snoop Dogg, Ja Rule, Beenie Man Busted For Swearing

Rappers Snoop Dogg and Ja Rule and reggae star Beenie Man learned that lesson Thursday when they were charged with using indecent language at a music festival in August, according to the Associated Press.

Summonses will be served to the performers' agents in Jamaica asking the stars to appear in magistrate's court on September 27 to face the charges, Montego Bay police said in a statement. The probable sentence is a fine, according to The Jamaica Observer.

Snoop, Ja and Beenie were performing at the eighth annual Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest, which attracted more than 50,000 people from July 31 to August 5 and also featured shows by Alicia Keys, Shaggy and Blu Cantrell.

This year's festival was plagued with problems, including riots on opening night that left several people injured. Before the event, organizers banned one performer, Lady Saw, because they feared her lewdness. Although they changed their minds and lifted the ban, Lady Saw decided not to perform, according to The Jamaica Observer.