As previously reported, female music heavy-weights, including Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna and Mariah Carey, came together to record ‘Just Stand Up’, in aid of the ‘Stand Up To Cancer’ campaign. The track itself, which I must say is pretty good, made its debut today on various US radio stations. You can listen to it below, as well as peep the full list of featured artists:

Jennifer Hudson was one of the many guests that stopped by BET’s anchor show 106 & Park to celebrate its 2000th episode, which aired today. Hudson performed current single ‘Spotlight’, which you can check out below {apologies for the so-so quality}:

Our friends over at SOHH are reporting that Jermaine Dupri’s tenure as Head Of Def Jam Urban Division may be over already. Peep their report below:

After several failed projects, which includes Janet Jackson’s Discipline, Mariah Carey’s E=MC2 and Johnta Austin’s permanently shelved project it looks like the powers that be have had enough and JD’s time as head of Island Records’ urban division has come to an end.

I am being told that JD’s termination papers were being drafted this afternoon.

Ouch.

Your thoughts?

‘It Chick’ of the moment Rihanna has been confirmed as the latest performer at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. The Bajan star will take to the stage at the September 7th show to perform current smash ‘Disturbia’. {Source}

I’m really looking forward to Ms. Fenty working the stage as we know she can. LOL LOL LOL. Exciting stuff.

Cassie stopped by the Angie Martinez Show on New York’s Hot 97 radio station recently. The ‘Me & U’ singer spoke on everything from the rumored relationship with Diddy, Bad Boy label-mates, Rihanna and her feelings going into her new project. Peep the interview below:

For all the criticism levelled against her (95% of which is justified IMO), she does seem to have a really cool personality.

Randomness: I am gonna need someone to ask her flat out whether she ever has been with Diddy, as opposed to whether she is currently dating him. There’s a difference lol…

Any thoughts?

I’d been trying to steer clear of this one for a few days, as no official source could be cited; however when reputable news agencies such as MTV and NME are picking it up, there may just be something to it. A very interesting article regarding ‘it’ girl of the moment Rihanna being ‘broke’ surfaced at the start of the week and has been gathering momentum since. Long, yet real insightful, I must say. Check it out:

Rihanna’s now ex-business manager Patricia Willliams has been recently fired as she recalls “for no good reason, all in ignorance” and is “livid” with Rihanna & her management company Rebel One’s decision to axe her.

Rihanna recently met with Willliams to check on her accounting affairs and was shocked to see that almost all her money was missing. She instantly accused Willliams of “stealing her money.”

“I’m a professional Business Manager, I have a staff of more than a dozen, I have worked for many high profile actors, musicians and multi-million dollar corporations. Why would I steal from Rihanna?” She continues, “I showed her all the paperwork and tried to explain to her the circumstances but she wouldn’t listen. She called me all sorts of horrible names and stormed off. I now feel compelled to share with the world the background story as I will not allow my name to be slandered”

The Barbados born singer has had four back-to-back albums, including a re-release since her debut of “Pon De Replay” in 2005.

According to Willliams, Marc Jordan, manager and owner of Rebel One Management has been taking care of Rihanna’s financial situation with her. “Def Jam doesn’t fund Rihanna properly, so Marc uses the money Rihanna makes from third-party endorsements and from tours to fund her album and music videos.” Since 2005, Rihanna has been sponsored by the likes of JC Penny, Samsung, Covergirl, Secret, Venus Breeze etc,. and has gone on two major tours, most recently label-mate Kanye West’s “Glow in the Dark” Tour and with PussyCat Dolls across Europe.

“I don’t want to disrespect Marc’s name. He is a fantastic manager and genuinely believes in Rihanna. But he uses her money to fund her future projects because he believes he can break her in the world-market. Her album sales are not nearly as close to her single sales and he knows that if she is only known as a ‘singles artist’ she will only be as good as her last hit. Unfortunately, he didn’t inform his client and I’m receiving the brunt of it.”

Why is Def Jam lacking in funding support for there act? Why was so much money spent? How much exactly? Williams continues,

“Her record label Def Jam has put out 3 albums in a time span of 2 years. Alot of that was orchestrated through her management Rebel One. It was never Def Jam’s intention to release so many albums back-to-back but Marc Jordan found loop holes and ways to make it happen.
A lot of the money Rihanna made through her endorsements between CoverGirl Cosmetics, Samsung.. Notice that majority of Rihanna’s videos have a cell phone in it?”

“After the release of Rihanna and Teairra Mari, Def Jam had intention to drop both acts because their album sales were not successful. Her manager fought to get [S.O.S (Rescue Me)] and quickly tried to negotiate with as many companies as possible. Nike picked up the song and funded a video. This brought the hype back for Rihanna in the company’s New York office. Majority of the official ‘S.O.S’ video was funded by Samsung because the record label was only willing to put up a small amount. Once ‘S.O.S’ picked up digitally and at radio, Def Jam agreed to fund the rest of her album. Jordan instantly got a video shot to ‘Unfaithful’ (he negotiated with video director Anthony Mandler to drop his price and would be given more videos from Rihanna in return). Then they shot ‘We Ride’ which was an extremely cheap video to create. ‘Break It Off’ was released as a third album, but again, Def Jam was unhappy with the sales of her album “A Girl Like Me” and refused to shoot a video. At this point Rihanna was opening up for the PussyCat Doll’s in Europe. She was making 30,000 a show but she didn’t see any of that money because it was needed to fund her next album.” Which is now known to the greater public as a ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’.

“The song “Umbrella” was found & Jordan fought again for Rihanna to have it. They shot the video, which CoverGirl funded half of, and the song became a success. When the record label had there meeting with Music Stores across the U.S to order her album for shipment, the number’s weren’t coming in the way that they expected. When the album’s first week numbers came in at less than 150,000, the label was shocked. Def Jam’s President LA Reid was livid! Umbrella was #1 for 11 weeks! Any other artist would have sold way more first week. T-Pain even did better in sales than her that week. Def Jam told Jordan they were no longer funding the album, so Jordan needed money again to pay for music videos ‘Shut Up & Drive’ and ‘Dont Stop The Music’. Almost 250,000 was spent to have those videos created. Plus, an additional 120,000 to shoot ‘Hate That I Love You’. Jordan was noticing that ‘Dont Stop The Music’ was picking up, so her persuaded the label to support it at radio in the U.S and the remaining singles, and they did.”

“Then came for the repackaging of her album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’, which is called ‘Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded’, that entire project was funded through Rihanna’s money. ‘Take A Bow’ was bought through her money, the video was created with her money and so is her most recent video and single ‘Disturbia’. The label didn’t even want to pay a dime for anything! Close to 750,000 was spent on those two songs alone. And now she expects to see money in her account?”

Williams states that Jordan, her publicist from well-respected public relations firm 42-West, Alicia Silverman has built alot of hype around Rihanna’s name but the singer has only made “a little bit above a million” and “all of it was spent on making her as big as she is now. It’s not my fault that she only has 20,000 to her name.”

Source or no source, much of this seems legit to me. I mean, what else can explain Rihanna seemingly having so much funds pumped into her as a ‘brand’ when she is far from a guaranteed album seller (which is where most label revenue comes from). Many an artist will tell you that the fantasy and reality of being in the music industry are very different; reading this back really reinforces that to me.

Your thoughts?

As reported, Brandy filmed the video for comeback single ‘Right Here (Departed)’ in Los Angeles this past weekend. Peep pics snapped on set above and below.

What’s more the 28 year old songstress spoke with MTV about the video, reuniting with hitmaker Darkchild, launching her ‘Human’ LP on Oprah and more:

She has enlisted some hip-hop heavyweights, including director Little X (Usher’s “Yeah”), for the video and is reuniting with producer Rodney Jerkins for the first time in six years. Brandy insists she and Rodney have moved far beyond any past conflicts, saying, “The chemistry brought Rodney and I back together. It’s undeniable, it’s magical. … We are back, and I’m never leaving Rodney again.”

And if that weren’t enough, Human’s official launch will take place on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on November 10, the day before it drops. For Brandy, that day can’t come soon enough.

“It feels so great to be back on the scene,” she said. ” … I went through a struggle, and I really needed to get myself together and connect with my purpose, which is music. Music is all I know how to do, so to be on this set today, I feel really blessed for the second chance and for the opportunity … and for everybody here just showing me so much love and support. … It just feels good to be back, and I never want to leave again for that long!”

On the set, Ms. Norwood’s genuine excitement to be back must have been contagious, as both Jerkins and her brother Ray J showed up to make cameos in the video. “I canceled all my plans to be here in this video, because I know how important it is to her,” Ray J said.

Brandy said that her dedicated fans are the main priority: “I just really hope the world embraces me back, because I’m embracing them with my music. I made it for them.”

Brandy’s people really are not playing this go round. Everyone and their mother knows Oprah usually equals sales…well most of the time lol. After less than a week since being unveiled, ‘Right Here (Departed)’ has debuted on the Billboard Hot R&B Chart at #70. November 11th couldn’t come sooner…

Your thoughts?

It appears Janet Jackson is a very busy lady these days. In between releasing an album, preparing for a tour and recording a reality show, the superstar is set to launch a ladies lingerie line before the years end. Check out the report via Women’s Wear Daily:

The legendary hip-hop and R&B diva teamed with Bruno Schiavi, the Australian lingerie designer behind Dr. Rey’s Shapewear line (named for “Dr. 90210” fixture Dr. Robert Rey), for her debut fashion duet. The 18-piece line is named after the hit single from Jackson’s 1986 multiplatinum album “Control,” is designed to be comfortable for a range of sizes – 32A to 44G, and is crafted of mostly satin and lace.

Items will be manufactured in China and will be in department stores by late this year or early 2009. Jackson and Schiavi are currently in negotiations with major chains to carry the line; U.S. stores will be revealed in coming months, with releases in Australia, Japan and Europe to follow.

Jackson said the combination of beauty and comfort was the primary driver for the designs, though affordability was also paramount. Price points for the bra and underwear pieces are all under $40.

“I hate when you’ve had on a bra all day long and you just can’t wait to take it off – every woman has experienced that,” she said. “A lot of lingerie tends to leave those marks and be uncomfortable. This line is about detail, fit and comfort as well as beauty and making women feel sexy.”

It’s good to see Janet expanding her profile in other fields. More power to her…

Your thoughts?

Peep the trailer for Jennifer Hudson’s new movie, the film adaptations of the book ‘The Secret Life Of Bees’. Alicia Keys, Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning and UK actress Sophie Okonedo also star: