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| AP Photo/John Carucci |
The
U.S. Justice Department is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit by
Insane Clown Posse, which objects to a report that describes its fans as
a dangerous gang.
The government says the rap-metal duo from the Detroit area and its
fans have no standing to sue. It also says it's not liable for any
problems caused by law enforcement groups that might use information in
the 2011 FBI report.
A Detroit federal judge holds a hearing Monday.
The lawsuit says the gang designation violates rights of free speech
and due process. Joseph Bruce, known as Violent J, and Joseph Utsler,
known as Shaggy 2 Dope, say they're losing fans because of the report.
They say their fans, known as Juggalos, are like a family, not a gang.
by Cyrus Langhorne
Former Bad Boy Records protégé Ma$e is acknowledging the buzz he has put together as of late after hooking up with fellow New York native Troy Ave and longtime pal Diddy for their "My Style" remix. #NYBack
Mason Betha posted a photo of himself and Puff Daddy onto Instagram this past weekend.
"#NY sounds good again... Thanks to @troyave @mase @iamdiddy #NWE #Harlem of course," Ma$e captioned to the photo. (Ma$e's Instagram)
The crew's unexpected revamped track premiered online Friday (June 20).
Troy Ave rounds up a couple New York icons and the King of
the South for his Chase N. Cashe-produced remix to "Your Style" off his
latest mixtape BSB Vol. 4. The Brooklyn spitter, who was named
one of XXL's Freshmen, takes it back to New York in the '90s on his
nostalgic remix featuring Puff Daddy, Ma$e, and T.I.
"Now all you hear is New York this, New York that / Let's keep it real
mothaf*ckas, I brought New York back," boasts Troy, who credits himself
for the return of G-Unit and Dipset. (Rap-Up)
Days away from New Year's Eve, Betha unleashed his "Why Can't We" song.
After a lengthy hiatus from the music, Ma$e has released a new song called "Why Can't We." He shouts out Drake and Kanye West
in the beginning the song, acknowledging the fact that both artists are
huge fans of his style. He then proceeds to spit two verses with
references ranging from 2Pac to Toni Kukoc.
"Why Can't We" is a smooth, signature Ma$e song with female vocals that
are currently credited to "Her." The song will appear on the
Harlemite's upcoming project, Now We Even. (Complex)
In October, he resorted to his Instagram page to break the news of a follow-up project to 2004's Welcome Back LP.
"No abbreviations use #NOWWEEVEN that's the only
conversation I'm having. y€$ #NOWWEEVEN is the album title... Lets make
it happen!!! Right now I'm listening to all my early freestyles &
songs... This got to be something special. A couple free shows &
visits #NOWWEEVEN. I'm listening also to Life after Death, All Eyes On
Me and Reasonable Doubt... Just so u know what I'm thinking. #NOWWEEVEN.
@iamdiddy should be on MY album unless he gets saved and leave music...
LM_ _ O #NOWWEEVEN. TO ME @Mr_Camron IS HOMETEAM. SO "NO" we don't have
any beefs. I can only comment on what is factually correct! #NOWWEEVEN.
@iamdiddy I forgot I was the first SeanJohn super model... we should
definitely be even!!! #NOWWEEVEN." (Mase's Instagram)
Google
has once again tweaked its search results for music-related queries,
adding links that open third-party music apps directly to play an
artist’s songs. The new feature only works for U.S.-based Android users
using the Google Search app on mobile devices and tablets, although
Google product manager Jason Douglas writes in a blog post that the company is aiming for a worldwide rollout soon.
For now, U.S. Android users will see links to up to six apps, if a
user has them installed: Rdio, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Google Play,
TuneIn, and YouTube. Douglas wrote that Deezer will likely be part of
upcoming international versions. Interestingly, Google has chosen not to
prioritize its own services -- Google Play and YouTube -- over the
others, and in fact spotlights the other four in its own demo screenshot
in the blog post. Google has done similar things with other searches,
such as recipe queries that redirect users to food apps.
A Google spokesperson said the company did strike partnerships to
develop the function with the four third-party services, but they were
all technical rather than financial deals, and none is prioritized above
the others in a paid-placement situation. He added that the company is
interested in adding similar functionality to other mobile search
platforms, such as using the Chrome address bar or within the Google
Search app for iOS, but some potential versions may be dependent on what
other operating systems allow Google to do.
The new search function is reminiscent of Google’s 2009 attempt to add music to Web search results via third-party partners. The company’s Onebox feature included music streams
from extant services Rhapsody and Pandora, alongside now-defunct
Lala.com, Imeem and MySpace Music; it later faded from view in 2011
after some of the partners disappeared. Notably, both Rhapsody and Pandora are absent from the new mobile feature.
by Cyrus Langhorne
R&B singer Robin Thicke is not slowing down his campaign to win back estranged wife Paula Patton and has released a teaser to the tribute-based track "Get Her Back." #TheMessage
Thicke teased fans with his new Paula music video preview via Instagram.
The teaser gives glimpses at a woman who resembles the
singer's estranged wife Paula Patton. She sends him text messages,
including one that reads, "I kept trying to warn you you were pushing me
too far." A bloodied Thicke then appears on the screen, looking
desperate as he tells her that he just wants to "make it right." The
full music video will be released on Monday, June 23. (Ace Showbiz)
Barring any last-minute changes, Thicke's next studio release will come packed wth 14 songs.
1. "You're My Fantasy"
2. "Get Her Back"
3. "Still Madly Crazy"
4. "Lock the Door"
5. "Whatever I Want"
6. "Living in New York City"
7. "Love Can Grow Back"
8. "Black Tar Cloud"
9. "Too Little Too Late"
10. "Tippy Toes"
11. "Something Bad"
12. "The Opposite of Me"
13. "Time of Your Life"
14. "Forever Love" (Paula)
Buzz about Thicke's follow-up to 2013's Blurred Lines album being titled Paula surfaced earlier this month.
His five-months-and-counting separation from wife Paula
Patton has prompted him to write and produce an entire album dedicated
to winning her back. And just so there's no confusion about whom his
seventh solo LP is devoted to, he's naming it Paula. That's right. After
debuting the album's heartfelt single, "Get Her Back," Thicke is
stepping things up a notch for that elusive second chance. (MTV)
Paula recently admitted always having a special place in her heart for Thicke.
Patton grew up in Los Angeles, where she met Thicke, her
life partner of two decades, at an 18-and-under nightclub when she was
15 and he was 14. Before their first kiss, he sang Jodeci's "Forever My
Lady" to her in his dad Alan's living room. "He wasn't my first kiss,"
says Patton, "but he was my first lots of other things." ... Will the
couple remain apart? Patton says only, "We've known each other since we
were teenagers. All I can tell you is there's a deep love there--always
was, and always will be." (Vanity Fair)
Kevin
Liles calls himself an entrepreneur, and it's hard to imagine a more
accurate catch-all term for the items in his overstuffed portfolio.
The former Def Jam president and Warner Music executive VP runs KWL
Enterprises, which includes a management company that oversees the
careers of musicians, athletes and models including D'Angelo, Trey
Songz, Estelle, Nelly, model Selita Ebanks, co-management of Ty Dolla
$ign, and others.
Late last year he was announced as a partner
with his former Warner colleagues Lyor Cohen and Todd Moscowitz in 300,
an Atlantic-distributed label that's seeking to work a new model in the
music business (more on that below). KWL also includes brand
consulting, a philanthropic wing and more.
And along with Walgreens, Mariah Carey and Jay-Z's 40/40, he's
launching Go 'N Syde, a new beverage line that, via augmented reality
technology, provides exclusive content — a "network," as he calls it —
to fans who download the Go 'N Syde app and then scan the labels of
Carey's Butterfly (pink lemonade) or 40/40 (Arnold Palmer tea) with
their phones.
Billboard caught up with Liles after a hectic day announcing Butterfly with Mariah Carey.
Billboard: How did the Butterfly and 40/40 deals come about?
Kevin Liles:
We constantly have conversations around Fortune 500 companies because
of my marketing expertise, whether it's how to bring more
15-to-34-year-old traffic into stores or to harness the purchasing power
of young America. I've done it so many different ways that I do a lot
of advising. My partner and I were having discussion with Walgreens
about their "Happy and Healthy" [campaign] and where they wanted to go.
They wanted to skew a little bit younger, and they wanted to come up
with some ideas about how they could bring more product lines inside
Walgreens. So we said what would be best would be to find a product, and
then find brands, that we could attach to the product that would bring a
certain core demographic, while never getting away from your main
objective around the campaign.
We decided the beverage business
would be a good place to enter: it sounds like with 40/40 we could
[reach young males] and with Mariah, we could cater to the female
34-to-60-year-olds who are the core consumers at Walgreens. I called my
friends and said, "Hey, I know this might sound crazy, but I want you
guys to start beverage businesses — one around Butterfly and one around
40/40. Let's give them a two-for-one: a great-tasting drink, but also, I
have technology that I want to put on every bottle [to provide
exclusive content] and disrupt the consumer package goods market. To
make a long story short, we launched the beverages and there will be
many other line extensions, whether you add another flavor, like a
Butterfly Light, coming out in 2014.
What content can fans expect from this?
The
reason we were at the [green-screen studios the previous day] was
because we wanted to provide Mariah with an opportunity to record things
she's never done before. It's her own network and we just started
programming, so now she's the owner of her own beverage company, and
she's now programmer of her own network. So what would Mariah fans want
to see? They want behind-the-scenes access, they want special
shout-outs, they want contesting, they want things that normally you
would do on your traditional social media platforms. This is her own
network, and because it's virtual, anything could pop up — like last
night we shot her singing with butterflies; she sang something you've
never heard Mariah sing live before.
Again, it's another medium
for her to engage her fans, and Mariah's one of the young ladies who's
always engaged her fans in that manner, so this is just another
extension to help her communicate and engage with them. Eventually we'll
have a head of programming. The great thing about the device and
application is, when you download the Go 'N Syde app, you can go inside
the worlds of 40/40 and Butterfly. I would also say that if we don't
continue to innovate around what true behind-the-scenes content is, then
we lose the opportunity to do something special. We've got
green-screens in New York and L.A. where we can constantly [create new
content], but we also can take partners' video footage and upload it.
We've hired camera crews to follow them and get exclusive footage that
they might have shot before and put it on the site.
This is not
behind the scenes backstage: this is behind the scenes of my life, of my
world. So it'll be all kinds of things. When you have the opportunity
to curate your own channel and it's only based off of what you put up —
not stuff that somebody caught you doing or saying — this is stuff that
you're proud about — family moments, friend moments, events. Right now
we've got a lot of placeholders, but we just launched this week.
And what content will 40/40 have?
If
you think about 40/40, you think about sports, you think about great
events, you think about having fun, you think about, "Hey, when Jay's
going on tour with Beyonce, how do I get VIP access?" We have video,
galleries, contesting, all sorts of things. Some of the content up there
now is just stuff that happened at the club, and we're in the process
of uploading video from Jay. They're committed to releasing exclusive
things: sometimes you might have a world premiere, go to a 40/40 bottle
and check out this new song from Jay-Z. Mariah, too. I'm working with
all the partners to come up with experiences that are unparalleled on
any other network.
What are some other branding moves that have impressed you lately?
I
think Samsung continues to push the marketplace with their advertising
about being the "next big thing." I love the holograms that people have
used lately, Michael Jackson and Tupac, and Mariah did one a long time
ago around a Christmas album. I think what Vice has done to create their
own point of view, similar to the transformation of CNN under Jeff
Zucker, I think they've been doing exciting things. With CNN, their
curated content is more than news but it's still news, what they did
with "Blackfish" — you wouldn't expect to see that on CNN. A lot of
people are critical based off of it being different and it takes time to
go from being different to being innovative.
What's going on with 300?
When
we started 300 this year, we said that we wanted to be an organization
that was nimble and available to have a [variety] of deals — every deal
should fit one particular artist. We should be able to be partners with
them and not have them just look at us as the record company — we're
your partner, we're willing to do deals that work for everybody, and on
top of that, this is the first time, at least for me, that we have a
direct connection to our fans. Normally radio or video or promoters
would have the relationship and we would just be the entertainment. Now
with technology we have become chief consumer officers and learn more
and more through our partnerships with Twitter around analytics and with
YouTube and Google being one of our main investors, we want data-miners
next to A&R and do what we do best find talent, nurture it and
bring it to market. I think we're up to eight artists, and we've got a
couple of deals out that I can't speak about.
Trey Songz's album is coming soon.
July
1st. He's bigger than he's ever been around the world, so we'll be
touring starting in October here in the U.S., then Europe with holiday
dates in December, and then we kick off 2015. Every Valentine's Day he
does a big show, and next year we're doing [London's] Wembley Arena. We
did four nights at Hammersmith [Apollo], 20,000 tickets, but we wanted
to do something special at Wembley for Valentine's Day 2015.
So what's going on with D'Angelo?
Here's
the thing: with D'Angelo was a process. He didn't perform for 10 years
and he's been working on an album for the past 12 years. I actually got
him to go out and do 30 shows [in 2011-2012], and then we did some
"Brothers in Arms" shows [with ?uestlove last year]. I said, "We have to
get motivated around what people want to hear from you, and what does
it mean to come back to that space?" He very bluntly put it, "Kev, the
studio and the stage: that's my lifeblood. Now that I've touched it
again, now that I see it again, I wanna be sure that the baby I'm about
to have — the album — that I take it to the point where it's all it can
be."
There'll be an album this year: there's 14 records so far,
we might have a couple of bonus records, but all the recording is
basically done we're mixing and mastering now. Definitely, he'll be
back. We'll probably start an international tour in October, we'll come
back [to the States]. We're doing a James Brown tribute in August [at
the Hollywood Bowl] and some one-off things. But the touring will
probably start in October and 2015.
What's the album like?
To
limit it to soul is not the case, because there is a rock influence.
But at the same time, it's very melodic and there's an influence of all
the things he loves: there's James Brown, there's Prince, and everything
people grew up loving D'Angelo for, from "Brown Sugar" to "Voodoo."
It's a mixture and an evolution of where he is right now. And you have
to think that when you have the opportunity to work 10 years on an
album, that album's truly gonna be what you want it to be. Is it limited
to the kind of sound that he did with the earlier records? No, it's
not.
Does it have a name yet?
There is a potential name, but I don't wanna give you a potential name and then change it.
And it's definitely coming in 2014?
Yep. Sooner than later!
Anything else you'd like to talk about?
I
just wanted to share my condolences to my mentor, [former radio
personality and label exec] Wes "Party" Johnson, who passed [on May 11].
Not only was he involved with my life prior to Def Jam, but he was the
senior VP of marketing and promotion that I was working for at Def Jam.
Life is just too short, so I always tell people, make sure that people
not only see you and hear you, but that they feel you. Sometimes this
industry is so harsh that we don't take time to enjoy the moment.
by Cyrus Langhorne
Real estate mogul Donald Trump has worked up a
storm across social media after publicly blasting the state of New York
for awarding millions in a publicized "Central Park Five" case. #Trumped
Trump went on a mini-tirade over social media to spread his thoughts.
"N.Y. City is paying FORTY MILLION DOLLARS to five men that
many think are guilty as hell. So many facts - should have been trial.
Politics!," Trump tweeted June 22.
"How much money are the lawyers for the Central Park Five
getting out of the 40 million dollars, or are they paid by the City (or
both)?"
"I'd bet the lawyers for the Central Park 5 are laughing at
the stupidity of N.Y.C. when there was such a strong case against their
"clients"" (Donald Trump's Twitter)
The media personality also penned an open article on the case.
My opinion on the settlement of the Central Park Jogger case
is that it's a disgrace. A detective close to the case, and who has
followed it since 1989, calls it "the heist of the century." Settling
doesn't mean innocence, but it indicates incompetence on several levels.
This case has not been dormant, and many people have asked why it took
so long to settle? It is politics at its lowest and worst form. What
about the other people who were brutalized that night, in addition to
the jogger? (NY Daily News)
Trump also suggested the case is bigger than the wrongly convicted men.
Speak to the detectives on the case and try listening to the
facts. These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels. What
about all the people who were so desperately hurt and affected? I hope
it's not too late to continue to fight and that this unfortunate event
will not have a repeat episode any time soon -- or ever. As citizens and
taxpayers, we deserve better than this. (NY Daily News)
The case dates back to an April 1989 rape in New York's Central Park.
The five teenagers were convicted one year later in 1990
after police coerced them into making false statements that ended up
incriminating them. The teens, now men, served between seven and 13
years in prison so the settlement amounted to approximately $1 million
for each year they were locked up behind bars. Korey Wise served 13
years while Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Raymond
Santana Jr. served about seven years each. (All Voices)
Urban radio needs a change and Chuck D is ready to spearhead the movement, the Public Enemy co-founder told Billboard in an interview last Sunday (June 8).
"My goal by year's end is to change the face and sound of urban
radio," he explained. "I've been in this s--- 30 years, too long to just
sit and let it be. I'm not going to be the grim reaper. I don't want to
be the grim reaper. But people have to stand up and we need some
change, and it's time."
Hot 97's Summer Jam concert earlier in the month was "the last straw" Chuck D said, in reference to artists like Nicki Minaj, Wiz Khalifa, 50 Cent and others using the n-word during their performances. After the show, he accused the radio station of making a "sloppy fiasco" of hip hop.
"That s--- is over," he noted of using the racial slur. "If there was
a festival and it was filled with anti-Semitic slurs ... or racial
slurs at anyone but Black people, what do you think would happen? Why
does there have to be such a double standard?"
He also said that the New York radio station should've had a more
diverse roster of local artists on the Summer Jam bill, and that there
needs to be a "greater representation of the culture and community" on
Hot 97.
However, he doesn't blame the station's on-air personalities like
Ebro Darden. He and Darden went back and forth on Twitter after Summer
Jam, but Chuck D's issue is not with the faces of the station, it's with
their bosses. "That's where the discussion needs to go," he said,
adding that he would never have an actual sit-down with radio bigwigs.
"I don't have time for that. I don't have to show 'em s---; they're
grown people. I ain't wasting my time."
What he will do is observe the situation "from afar" and continue to
speak out to evoke some form of change. If he doesn't see an
improvement, he is fully prepared to "destroy the platform of urban
radio."
