Flipmode Squad rapper Rah Digga and pop acts Daniel Cage and Hootie & the Blowfish will perform at a Rock the Vote concert and rally on Wednesday (Oct. 11) at North Carolina's Wake Forest University, prior to the debate
between presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush at the school's Wait Chapel. Rah Digga also is set to serve as the MC for "Loud Lounge," an interactive political talk show about youth-oriented issues and activism, and she's getting ready to start work on her first big-screen film — she'll play a nanny named Maggie in the remake of the 1960 horror movie "13 Ghosts," a project that began shooting last week in Vancouver, British Columbia, and which is due in mid-2001. ...
The Source magazine launched a weekly hip-hop show, "The Source Sound Lab," Saturday (Oct. 7) on UPN. Rapper Busta Rhymes is the guest host for the first few episodes, until Ray J., the younger brother of R&B singer/actress Brandy, steps in to fill the role permanently, a UPN spokesperson said. The hour-long show features guest DJs, dancing, fashion, MC battles and star performances. Nelly and Mos Def are among the artists scheduled to perform this season. (Sonicnet.com's parent company, Viacom, also own UPN). ...
The Pharcyde, the Los Angeles rap group who released their influential debut Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde in 1992, plan to release their third album, Plain Rap, on Nov. 7, Melissa Dishell, a spokeswoman for the group, said. Black Thought from the Roots appears on the album, the first single of which is "Trust," Dishell said. ...
Rapper MC Serch of 3rd Bass appears in the current Spike Lee movie, "Bamboozled," according to a spokesperson for the artist. In the film, which also features rappers the Roots and Canibus, MC Serch (born Michael Berrin) plays 1/16 Black, a white member of a radical black hip-hop crew called the Mau Maus. ...
Brooklyn, N.Y., rapper Queen Pen and 31-year-old Yolanda Roberts of Atlanta were arrested early Sept. 25 morning outside a New York nightclub after police broke up a fight where shots were reportedly fired, New York police Detective Carolyn Chew said. Queen Pen complained of internal injuries as a result of the scuffle and was taken to the hospital, but no one else was hurt and no gun was found, Chew said. The 28-year-old rapper, born Lynise Walters, who was arraigned on charges of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, will return to court Oct. 30, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office. ...
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, who has charged that the entertainment industry intentionally markets violent and sexual material to kids, agreed during an MTV appearance on Sept. 26 to listen to politically conscious rapper Mos Def's album Black on Both Sides. The vice president promised he would e-mail his comments to a University of Michigan student who gave him the CD. "What do you think a woman feels if an artist says, 'Beat up your woman?' " Gore asked the student. The Mos Def fan answered that hip-hop lyrics reflect urban reality. Gore also discussed his views on Napster, the death penalty and abortion rights during "MTV Town Hall Forum," taped in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Sonicnet.com's parent company, Viacom, also owns MTV). ... Kurupt plans to release a third, still-untitled solo album in February that will be studded with guests, such as Dr. Dre, Everlast, B-Real of Cypress Hill, De la Soul, Fred Durst, Daz Dillinger and Nate Dogg, Artemis Records spokesperson Sage Robinson said. Kurupt, best known for rhyming with Daz in Tha Doggpound, also will have a supporting role in a film about chess and basketball, tentatively titled "Crashin' the Boards," which will be released next year, Robinson said. ...
Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight will use some of the proceeds from the Oct. 3 compilation album Too Gangsta for Radio — which includes songs by 2Pac, the Ruff Ryders, Treach of Naughty by Nature, Crooked I, Above the Law and Scarface — for a legal fund to help prisoners, according to label spokesperson Jonathan Wolfson. Each year, a committee for the Death Row Prisoner Appeal Fund will choose one applicant from the state prison system and one in the federal prison system and help finance legal expenses for their appeal, Wolfson said. ...
Spooks, a rap group secretive about its origin and members' real names, will release "Swindley's Maracas," the second single from their debut LP, S.I.O.S.O.S., Volume One, on Monday (Oct. 16), an Artemis Records label spokesperson said. The band performed Oct. 1 in New York's Bowery Ballroom before heading to Germany for a European promotional tour to support the album's overseas release, the spokesperson said. ...
Poor Righteous Teachers have pushed back the release of their fifth album, Losin' My Religion, until January, label spokesperson Harry D'Janite said. The new album will be released on the band's label, Exit 7A Recordings, and it includes the single "I Swear ta God," he said. ...
The Universal Music Group, which includes such artists as rapper DMX, rockers U2 and country singer Shania Twain, has signed a deal with digital media firm Loudeye Technologies to digitize its entire catalog of music and videos. The deal, announced Sept. 22, is intended to allow Universal and companies who license its content to offer digital downloads and streaming versions of its music. ...
Mary J. Blige, Macy Gray, Erykah Badu, Kelly Price and Rev. Run from Run-D.M.C. are among the R&B and hip-hop artists set to perform in Washington, D.C., on Monday (Oct. 16) during the planned Million Family March, which will focus on the quality of life in the United States and push for voter registration, according to organizers. Co-chairing the entertainment committee for the march will be performers Will Smith, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Queen Latifah, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown and rap mogul Russell Simmons, who has asked Eve, DMX, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, D'Angelo, Common, Ice Cube, the Wu-Tang Clan and Dead Prez to cut public service announcements to promote the march. ...
— sonicnet.com and MTV News Online staff report
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