Memphis musician Jimmy Jay Lindsey Jr., better known as Jay Reatard, was found dead in his home in Midtown’s Cooper-Young neighborhood this morning, according to family and friends. He was 29.
On Tuesday afternoon, Conan O’Brien released a statement saying he will not follow an 11:35 pm Jay Leno show with a 12:05 ‘Tonight Show’ out of respect for the ‘Tonight Show’ brand and for Jimmy Fallon.
Lenny Santiago has a rich history in the rap game. His hands have been in almost all Roc-A-Fella Records releases (sans Kanye West’s), and now he is running things over at Def Jam as vice president of A&R. He signed DJ Khaled and also spearheaded the A&R work on Jadakiss’ The Last Kiss and Fabolous’ upcoming Loso’s Way (due July 28th), and his big fall project is the new one from Ghostface Killah. But hold up: There’s been some controversy over whether Ghostface will really live up to early descriptions that the record that will be an R&B album. Tony… Read more »
Somewhere out there, “American Idol” producers, and judge Simon Cowell, are hoisting frosty ones and heaving huge sighs of relief. After an inexplicably long run that was full of flash, goofy haircuts, gleaming smiles and more showmanship than all of the other finalists combined, phenom “Idol” underdog Sanjaya Malakar finally ran out of gas Wednesday night. Following a painfully flat rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” on Tuesday night’s country-themed show , Malakar was sent home to the grinning satisfaction of Cowell, who hinted before the elimination that he suspected the jig was up. The night began with… Read more »
Denver – Carmelo Anthony finally has some good news about his personal life: He’s engaged to MTV veejay La La Vasquez. The Denver Nuggets star said Thursday he made his proposal, accompanied by a nine-carat ring, on Christmas Day. They haven’t set a wedding date. The engagement follows a series of unflattering off-the-court news about Anthony. He was charged with misdemeanor drug possession in October after airport inspectors found marijuana in his backpack. The charge was dropped after a friend said the marijuana was his. In November, three men were arrested on suspicion of trying to extort $3 million from… Read more »
To record what is shaping up to be their heaviest album yet, P.O.D. have spent the past three months living and brainstorming in the former Palm Springs, California, home of sunny ’60s folk-rock quartet the Mamas and the Papas. The area, which now mostly houses retired couples, would probably rather have had the “California Dreamin’ ” singers as neighbors than the dreadlock-waving, guitar-thrashing writers of “Boom” and “Youth of the Nation,” but the San Diego rockers were gracious residents. “We had to go to all the neighbors’ houses and tell them that we were a rock and roll band and… Read more »
Multiplatinum acts Jay-Z and Linkin Park are the latest to merge musical forces in a legally sanctioned mash-up. With the help of MTV, the two acts have taken the concept – which intertwines two songs, often placing the vocals of one track atop an instrumental section of another track – one step further. Instead of simply doing a mash-up remix of one track, as other artists have done, Jay-Z and Linkin Park have created an entire CD/DVD project based on the mash-up concept. The result, “MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups Presents Jay-Z/Linkin Park: Collision Course,” arrived Nov. 30 from Warner Bros. The… Read more »
Nashville – Billed as the Best of Both Worlds, the ill-fated co-headlining tour by Jay-Z and R. Kelly ended up with two worlds colliding. The tour’s implosion – at least as a co-headlining attraction – puts a damper on what could have been one of the year’s top-grossing R&B music outings, with a gross potential of about $30 million. Jay-Z is continuing without Kelly under the banner of Jay-Z & Friends. With such marquee artists as Mary J. Blige and P. Diddy in tow, the tour could still be a big winner. But few would argue that Best of Both… Read more »
New York – Attorneys for R&B star R. Kelly filed a $75 million lawsuit today charging rapper Jay-Z and his Marcy Projects production company with deliberately sabotaging the two artists’ “Best of Both Worlds Tour.” The suit accuses Jay-Z and Marcy Projects of intentionally causing a series of production snafus and then physically assaulting R. Kelly and some members of his entourage with pepper spray. It also levels breach-of-contract charges against Jay-Z, Marcy Projects, and Atlanta Worldwide Touring Company, the tour promoter. The lawsuit was filed in New York Supreme Court two days after the promoter, acting on instructions from… Read more »
Saturday marks the second anniversary of the death of Jam Master Jay. As his family members have pressed on, they continue to keep their loved one’s name alive. A small gathering is planned in the Hollis neighborhood of Queens, New York, on Saturday (October 30), and in January they want to put on a benefit concert to celebrate what would have been the Run-DMC DJ’s 40th birthday. “Basically, we are doing fine,” Jay’s mother, Connie Mizell, said on Monday in New York. “We thank God we are doing as well as we are. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say… Read more »
