Mary J. Blige Sued For $2 MillionThe Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul Mary J. Blige has been hit with whopping $2 Million fine over the ‘illegal’ placement of a track from her most recent LP ‘Growing Pains’:

Producer Theron (NEEF-U) Feemster wrote the music for the song “Work That,” but the tune is owned by Dream Family Entertainment Inc., according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court.

The court filing claims the New York-based firm never gave Blige, Feemster or Geffen Records, the distributor, rights to use the song.

“Mr. Feemster created the music while he was under contract with Dream Family. Dream Family then owned the music, yet the music was used without permission in a Mary J. Blige release recording,” said Dream lawyer Brian Caplan.

“It was released as an album, a single and in a commercial,” Caplan said.

Rights to the lyrics of the song – which was featured with Blige in an iPod commercial – are not in question.

Geffen Records, Feemster and representatives for Blige didn’t return calls.

Caplan said it was unclear if Blige knew the music belonged to someone other than Feemster, and said the producer “had no rights to the music he used.” {Source}

It’s always somewhat baffling to see issues like this arise with such renown and high-caliber artists. You’d think all the ‘formal stuff’ was tended to prior to the album dropping. Randomess: ‘Work That’ wasn’t even all that great IMO anyway lol…


Any thoughts?
New Kelly Rowland Promo Pic Peep Kelly Rowland’s new promotional shot with French singer Nadiya. The pair teamed up for a duet called ‘No Future, No Past’, which is being released in France. Awesome pic.

What do you think of the pic?
Word has it Jay-Z’s final Def Jam LP, ‘The Blueprint 3’, is set to drop sooner than we many had anticipated. Peep Jay performing the Kanye West produced ‘Jockin’ Jay-Z’, from the new album, at his recent Madison Squared Garden show in New York city:

Good stuff.

What do you think of the performance?
Joe: 'R. Kelly Tried To Sabotage My Career'R&B crooner Joe, seemingly, out of nowhere has taken aim at R. Kelly, blaming the singer for trying to ruin his career. Check out the report via Contact Music below:

R&B singer JOE has accused R. KELLY of pressuring radio DJs not to play his records – in a bid to scupper his growing stardom.

The Stutter singer released six albums with Jive Records over an 11 year period, but left the label earlier this year (08) after the company pushed back the release of his 2007 LP, Ain’t Nothin Like Me, several times.

And the Grammy-winning star believes his rival labelmate Kelly was to blame, insisting he would call Jive bosses and radio stations and urge them not to promote the singer too strongly.

Joe says, “R. Kelly was very instrumental in making a lot of decisions when it came to my records being played on the radio.

“He would make a call to the radio station or to the label and say, ‘Hey, this Joe record is too hot right now. Y’all (sic) need to pull that back.’ And they would oblige. It’s incredible that now I get the opportunity to, I don’t know, maybe pay (R. Kelly) back in some sort of side bar kind of thing.”

And Joe, who left Jive to release his forthcoming LP New Man through Kedar Entertainment Group, insists he is still a prevalent musician despite R. Kelly’s alleged intervention.

He says, “I’m still very relevant in the game. But yeah, he did try to make some decisions when it came down to my records being on fire, and climbing up the charts and on the radio stations. He felt like they should pull back because he felt he was more important. And with their loyalty to him, they obliged.”

Though I do support Joe, it does kinda seem like he’s a little bitter about being…well…not all that relevant in the contemporary music scene and is taking aim at R. Kelly because of it. I mean, I find it a little odd that he’s only coming out of the woodwork now. Anyway…

Your thoughts?

Check out this behind the scenes footage of Nelly’s new Sean Jean Underwear shoot:

Your thoughts?

Confirmed: Usher Re-Hires Mother In a statement to the press, Usher’s record label have confirmed that the Grammy winner has re-hired his mother Jonetta Patton as his manager. Check out the report via Billboard:

In a short statement issued by LaFace/Zomba, it was announced that the artist “has dissolved his management arrangement with Benny Medina and has re-engaged Jonnetta Patton as his manager.”

Usher split his mother as his manager in May 2007. He then hired Medina, who was integral in the launch of the artist’s recent album, “Here I Stand.” In 10 weeks, it has sold 948,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s the No. 8 best-selling album of 2008 so far.

However, it hasn’t come close to matching the gaudy numbers of its predecessor, 2004’s “Confessions,” which sold 3.77 million copies in its first 10 weeks and is at 9.6 million to date.

Let the ‘I told you so’s’ ensue lol. For real, this is definitely a good look for Usher IMO; maybe not for the ‘Here I Stand’ LP (which IMO was dead on arrival), but for his long-term prospects.

Your thoughts?

Review up shortly…

In the meanwhile…

What do you think of the video?

A lengthy snippet of Monica’s new single ‘Still Standing’ (also the titled of her forthcoming album)surfaced today. The Ludacris assisted sound sounds pretty good IMO. check it out below:

Hit or Miss?

This past week, R&B star Ashanti performed at Six Flags new Jersey. Check out her performance of current single ‘Good Good’, which featured a medley mix of Lil Wayne’s ‘A Milli’ and ‘Grillz’. Check out the performance below:

Good performance.

What do you think of ther performance?

Watch: ‘The Single: Monica’ SpecialFor those who were unable to catch Monica’s Peachtree TV reality show special last night, you can watch the entire thing online via DimeWars.

Click here to watch

What did you think of the show?

Fantasia Covers Sister 2 Sister R&B star Fantasia appears on the cover of the September 2008 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine.

The season 3 American Idol winner opens up about her relationship with Young Dro, her stint in The Colour Purple, her new album and more.

What do you think of the cover?
Peep Beyonce’s latest promo shot for L’Oreal. Now, while I take on the ‘more power to her’ stance with Ms. Knowles and her never-ending endorsement deals, I can’t say I’m all too thrilled with this one. I don’t even know where to begin, so I’ll address the most obvious; she looks a completely different colour.

No, just no…

Your thoughts?
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