Twin Rappers Kane & Abel Sentenced To Three Years
NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Vance gave identical twin rappers Kane & Abel (David and Daniel Garcia) the maximum sentence of three years in jail as part of plea agreement last Wednesday (September 12). The twins pleaded guilty to the charge of misprision of a felony and ...
| Publicist: Whitney's Not Dead
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Whitney Houston is not--we repeat, not--dead. That's the official word from her publicist's office in the wake of a fast-spreading, radio-fed rumor claiming the R&B diva had died from a drug overdose. "I've just spoken to Whitney," rep Nancy Seltzer said in a statement Thursday morning. ...
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Veteran Rapper Dana Dane Still Missing In Wake Of Tragedy
NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - The family and friends of Dana Dane are concerned about the veteran rapper, who worked at the World Trade Center and is still missing. Dane is one of several thousand missing New Yorkers that family and friends hope will turn up alive and well as rescue efforts continue in ...
| The Coup Scraps Album Cover Showing World Trade Center Explosion
NEW YORK (AP) - The news of the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon has prompted Bay Area rap group the Coup to change the cover of its album Party Music, slated to be released November 6 on 75 Ark Records. The original artwork pictures members Boots and DJ Pam posing in front an enflamed ...
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Ja Rule Spins Verses For Metallica In Studio
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Metallica are keeping busy while they wait for guitarist James Hetfield to rejoin the fray following treatment for substance-abuse problems. When Hetfield entered rehab on July 19, the band announced it had "postponed all current activities, including recording sessions for our ...
| Timbaland To Release Aaliyah/Beck Duet
NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - 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 ...
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Whitney in turmoil?
NEW YORK (AP) - Whitney Houston pulled-out of Michael Jackson's second tribute concert last night, again sparking fears about her health. Promoters were left with just two hours to find a replacement after Houston failed to turn up, reports the New York Post. Concerns for Whitney's health were raised ...
| Juvenile Mired In Legal Troubles
NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - Rapper Juvenile is doing well on the Billboard chart, but not on his mortgage payments. The Bank of New York foreclosed on its loan on the rapper's Mandeville, La., home on Aug. 29 after Juvenile failed to make any of the monthly $2,329 payments due since April, court records ...
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Cypress Hill's Smoke Out Tour Changes Dates, Adds Acts
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cypress Hill has hit a little snag in its upcoming Smoke Out Festival, which features Deftones, Busta Rhymes, Redman, and others. The scheduled kick-off date on Sept. 29 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., has been postponed until another location in the New York area ...
| Ex-Prince Protege Recalls Abuse
OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) - Denise Matthews, formerly part of Prince's posse, recalled an abusive childhood and years of cocaine abuse during an hour-long church sermon. Matthews, 42, was known as Vanity while in Prince's band in the 1980s. She cut four solo albums and appeared in 17 movies, but said she ...
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Confirmed: Aaliyah plane too heavy
NEW YORK (AP) - A preliminary report into the plane crash that killed singer Aaliyah and eight others has confirmed that the aircraft was too heavy. The total weight of the plane at take-off "substantially exceeded" its limit, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said. The Cessna ...
| Braxton Offers Holiday Cheer
LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts) - Toni Braxton will release her first-ever Christmas album, Snowflakes, on October 23rd on Arista Records. The album is being produced by Braxton along with husband Keri Lewis (formerly of Mint Condition), with a cover of Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song" produced by Kenneth ...
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Timbaland Launches Label
NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - "I'm a great producer, so people need me more than I need them," boasts Timbaland, who is building a roster for his new Beat Club label, an imprint of Interscope Records. The Norfolk, Virginia, producer behind bouncy hit albums by Missy Elliott, Aaliyah, Ginuwine, and his own ...
| P. Diddy Court Update: Scooter, Child Support, & Blueberry Bushes
NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' legal team is certainly earning its keep these days. This week, three issues have been resolved with the oft-troubled rapper. On Wednesday (Sept. 5), the scooter traffic charges against Combs were dismissed by a Miami court. Combs was charged for allegedly ...
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Jay-Z Dogged By Bootleggers Again, The Blueprint To Come Early
LOS ANGELES (AP) - It seems that if Jay-Z wants to keep his future albums from hitting the streets before their proper release dates, he'll have to hire a security detail that rivals the size of the secret service team in his video for "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)." Bootleggers in New York started selling two versions ...
| Alicia Keys, Jamie Foxx Strut Their Stuff At VMA Rehearsals
NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - It's two days until ground zero, when artists, a few lucky fans and music biz bigwigs will descend on the Metropolitan Opera House in New York for the 18th annual MTV Video Music Awards. While the night of the show is traditionally characterized by glitz and glamour, the feeling ...
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Aaliyah Climbs To No. 1 After Tragic Death
NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - In the wake of her death in a tragic plane crash a little over a week ago (top40-charts.com news, Aug. 27), Aaliyah's self-titled third album has climbed to No. 1 behind 305,000 in posthumous sales and a tidal wave of publicity. Aaliyah had already jumped a considerable amount ...
| Wyclef's Father Killed
Spouth Orange, NJ (Reuters) - Wyclef Jean's father, the Reverend Gesner Jean, was killed on September 3rd after he was pinned between his garage door and a car in South Orange, New Jersey. The sixty-year-old Jean, a minister in Newark, N.J., suffered severe chest injuries and was pronounced dead on ...
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Isley Brothers to Tour
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Isley Brothers will hit the road on September 30th in Dallas, the first performance of a twenty-seven-date trek that will keep them travelling through November. The band, led by singer Ronald and guitarist Ernie Isley, will be plugging its unexpected summer hit, Eternal, which ...
| Destiny's Child's 'Bootylicious' Friendship With Stevie Nicks
DETROIT (Reuters) - Thanks to its recent hit "Bootylicious," the members of the pop/R&B trio Destiny's Child have struck up an unexpected friendship with classic rocker and sometime Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks. "Bootylicious" samples the guitar riff from Nicks's 1981 solo hit "Edge Of Seventeen," ...
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