Nas’ controversial ‘untitled’ LP has ended Lil’ Wayne’s four week rain atop of the Billboard 200 this week, after selling through 187,000 units. The charting becomes the rapper’s fifth album to top the chart, the last being 2006’s ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’ which sold 345, 000 copies upon its release during the Christmas period. {Source}

Will Smith has been named the highest earner in Hollywood by Forbes magazine:

Will Smith’s $80 million (£40 million) salary from the past year has made him Hollywood’s top earner.

In Forbes’s Highest Paid Actors list, the star came in first place with Pirates Of The Caribbean’s Johnny Depp landing in second with $72 million.

This year, Smith also broke a box office record after Hancock became his eighth consecutive film to cross the $100 million mark in the US. {Source}

It’s especially great to see Will achieve such a feat as a black actor. It goes to show the doors opened by the Sidney Poitier’s and Denzel Washington’s before him were not done so in vain.

It seems the promo push for Jennifer Hudson’s debut single is in full swing; the Oscar winner performed the song on Regis & Kelly this morning. Check out the performance below:

As expected, Jennifer nailed it. For a song that, though solid, kinda lacks the “commercial” factor that seems to equal ‘hit’ these days, Jennifer is selling both herself and the song with these live performances. Good stuff.

Rapper LL Cool J recently spoke on the drama between Ice T & Soulja Boy. LL’s stance may suprise some {Credit: World Star Hip-Hop}:

Diva Mariah Carey stopped by MTV’s TRL yesterday to talk about her new single ‘I’ll Be Loving You Long Time’, her marriage to Nick Cannon and her upcoming tour.

She looked great, but I found myself wondering: with her live vocals -her main appeal IMO- being so inconsistent (aka shot), will there be much of a rush to see her live – especially considering her stage presence leaves a lot to be desired?

Your thoughts?

Will you be checking for Mariah’s tour?

It has been announced that Michelle William’s forthcoming LP ‘Unexpected’ has been pushed back to October 7th.

The strategy, as relayed by her label, is to service ‘Hello Heartbreak’ to Dance radio, whilst going all out with ‘The Greatest’, the album’s official second single, on all other formats. More television is being lined up for Michelle throughout August and September also. What’s more, there will be a promotion giving fans the chance to get their hands on a copy in August.

Here’s hoping things pan out as planned; for, the serial delays experienced by many an artist last year didn’t end up working in their favor. Fingers crossed Michelle defies the odds.

Any thoughts?

Check out the official cover for Solange’s sophomore album ‘Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams’ (due August 26th via Geffen/Music World). Real different; I’m liking it a lot.

Believe it or not, there were still financial repercussions lingering for Janet Jackson’s now infamous ‘Nipplegate’ moment at the Superbowl four years ago. However, it has been announced that the last of the barrage if fines leveled against the networked which aired it, CBS, has been dropped:

PHILADELPHIA – A federal appeals court has thrown out a $550,000 fine against CBS Corp. for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson’s breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction.”
The three-judge panel in Philadelphia ruled Monday that the Federal Communications Commission “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing the fine for the fleeting image of nudity.

The 90 million people watching the Super Bowl, many of them children, heard Justin Timberlake sing, “Gonna have you naked by the end of this song,” as he reached for Jackson’s bustier. {Source}

About time already. All parties seemed to have moved on anyway, so the fine really was pointless IMO.

While on the Superbowl topic…

Interestingly, the controversy surrounding BET 106 & Park hosts Terrence and Rocsi had yet to be addressed on the popular countdown show, which consequently left many debating what exactly was the reason as well as what the future held for the pair. Today, however, Terrence – who conveniently is on ‘vacation’ offered an apology of sorts to Rocsi via way of R&B star Mario. Check it out below courtesy of World Star Hip-Hop: