Real Music People

Rap diva Lil’ Kim allegedly bailed on a series of London gigs after pocketing her GBP 12,000 fee – all because she had a nosebleed.

The hip-hop star travelled to London for a string of appearances at nightclubs across the capital between November 7-14.

Abstrakt Visions Entertainment (AVE), which organised the gigs, had handed over the $20,000 fee upfront and promised a further $20,000 later on.

But they say the 34-year-old New Yorker pulled out of the first gig – at Den & Centro club – at the last minute, claiming to have suffered a nosebleed in her room at the plush Millennium London Mayfair hotel.

Lil’ Kim and her entourage then reportedly jetted back to the US the next day.

AVE says it is now considering suing the star.

“After this, no promoter in London will book her again,” said a spokesman for the promoters.

“We had hundreds of Lil’ Kim’s fans packed in the club and waiting to see her. They weren’t happy after paying up to GBP 20 per ticket.

“We got her the make-up people that she’d requested and everyone was waiting for her.”

However, Lil’ Kim’s rep has defended her client’s actions, alleging the real reason she pulled out of the appearances was because of the promoters’ poor planning – insisting they failed to give her a proper schedule.

Despite his upcoming tour not being able to sell as many tickets as any of his camp would like, Chris Brown’s album ‘Graffiti’ is actually getting pushed for an earlier released. The R&B singer’s album is now going out on December 8th, a week before its original release date. The release is coming on the heels of his upcoming ‘Fan Appreciation Tour’ which kicks off on November 14 in Houston, Texas. Yeah, he should appreciate his fans that do go to see him in concert because it’s likely that there’s only just a few of them left. They should just leak his album altogether.

Leona Lewis looked absolutely stunning when she attended the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin last week. The 24-year old singer, who also performed her new single ‘Happy’, also recently returned to the show that made her famous and also to be the said cause for the random unprovoked attack she suffered a couple of weeks back. Leona recently made an appearance on the X Factor’s results show this past weekend. Given the things she’s recently gone through, you can’t even tell that something went wrong in Leona’s life. She’s still as spectacular as ever. She shared the stage with the Black Eyed Peas.

Here is the FULL list of 2009 CMA Winners.

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
George Strait
Taylor Swift
Keith Urban

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Reba McEntire
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley
Darius Rucker
George Strait
Keith Urban

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Randy Houser
Jamey Johnson
Jake Owen
Darius Rucker
Zac Brown Band

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Eagles
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town
Rascal Flatts
Zac Brown Band

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
Big & Rich
Brooks & Dunn
Joey + Rory
Montgomery Gentry
Sugarland

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
(Award goes to Artist and Producer)
“Chicken Fried”
Zac Brown Band
Produced by Keith Stegall
Atlantic Records

“I Run To You”
Lady Antebellum
Produced by Victoria Shaw and Paul Worley
Capitol Records Nashville

“In Color”
Jamey Johnson
Produced by The Kent Hardly Playboys
Mercury Nashville

“People Are Crazy”
Billy Currington
Produced by Carson Chamberlain and Billy Currington
Mercury Nashville

“Then”
Brad Paisley
Produced by Frank Rogers and Chris DuBois
Arista Nashville

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
(Award goes to Artist and Producer)
American Saturday Night
Brad Paisley
Produced by Frank Rogers and Chris DuBois
Arista Nashville

Defying Gravity
Keith Urban
Produced by Dann Huff and Keith Urban
Capitol Records Nashville

Fearless
Taylor Swift
Produced by Nathan Chapman and Taylor Swift
Big Machine Records

Love On The Inside
Sugarland
Produced by Byron Gallimore, Kristian Bush, and Jennifer Nettles
Mercury Nashville

That Lonesome Song
Jamey Johnson
Produced by The Kent Hardly Playboys
Mercury Records

SONG OF THE YEAR
(Award goes to Songwriter(s))
“Chicken Fried”
Zac Brown/Wyatt Durrette

“I Told You So”
Randy Travis

“In Color”
Jamey Johnson/Lee Thomas Miller/James Otto

“People Are Crazy”
Bobby Braddock/Troy Jones

“Then”
Brad Paisley/Chris DuBois/Ashley Gorley

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
(Award goes to each Artist)
“Cowgirls Don’t Cry”
Brooks & Dunn featuring Reba McEntire
Arista Nashville

“Down The Road”
Kenny Chesney (with Mac McAnally)
Blue Chair Records, LLC & BNA Records

“Everything But Quits”
Lee Ann Womack (duet with George Strait)
MCA Nashville

“I Told You So”
Carrie Underwood featuring Randy Travis
19 Recordings/Arista Nashville

“Old Enough”
The Raconteurs featuring Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe
Third Man Records/Warner Bros. Records

“Start A Band”
Brad Paisley (duet with Keith Urban)
Arista Nashville

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
(Award goes to Artist and Director)
“Boots On”
Randy Houser
Directed by Eric Welch

“Love Story”
Taylor Swift
Directed by Trey Fanjoy

“People Are Crazy”
Billy Currington
Directed by The Brads

“Start A Band”
Brad Paisley (duet with Keith Urban)
Directed by Jim Shea

“Troubadour”
George Strait
Directed by Trey Fanjoy

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Eddie Bayers– Drums
Paul Franklin – Steel Guitar
Dann Huff – Guitar
Brent Mason – Guitar
Mac McAnally – Guitar

The rapper has apparently posted some worrying messages on his twitter account lately, saying that he wants to die and asking if suicide is easy… really original there, Chipmunk! An official spokesperson of his stated the following about the artist: “Chipmunk has been working incredibly hard, which has taken its toll. Management have agreed to cancel all upcoming appearances to give him some much needed time off.” Well, if it’s work-stress, it’s a synch, but if he takes a vacation now, Chipmunk is never going to succeed in his plan and it will all just repeat itself over and over again. Perhaps management is to blame?

Rapper 50 Cent wants to star in a romantic comedy.

The hip-hop artist says he is considering trading his tough-guy image for a softer persona – by appearing in a feature film as a Hugh Grant-style role.

He said: “It would be interesting for people to see that side of me,” he says. “It would be a challenge, but I’ve seen artists like Ice Cube [who went from rap to acting] make the transition and challenge themselves.”

The In Da Club musician, real name Curtis Jackson, said: “It’s easier if a woman accepts you as a manly man.

“But a softer moment works, too, because then she’ll suddenly see you as a romantic.”

It seems that the rapper has had a taste for some celebrity death match lately. DMX was supposed to fight the CEO of Power Moves Entertainment, Eric Martinez, and he wanted to fix the fight but the event’s promoter refused. This is how DMX’s contract for the fight was written: “Event Promoter and Management agree that (DMX) is scheduled to win Boxing Challenge… All parties agree this event has been scheduled to occur only in fun and that the artist involved is not a professional boxer.” After all that vacation time in the slammer DMX has not become a professional boxer? Or at least a semi-pro? Tisk, tisk, tisk, what an embarrassing way to let everybody find that out.

To counteract Rihanna’s interview with Diane Sawyer, Chris Brown also took the time to tell his own side of the story with MTV’s Sway. During the interview, the R&B singer talks about the struggle to adapt to the public’s new perception of him and how fans might react towards him at his concerts. Chris goes on to talk about his on-going anger management therapy, court-mandated weekly group sessions and his community labor sentence. He says that all of those things helped him evaluate his past behavior and express his feelings in his new songs. It’s not like anyone’s going to watch and buy whatever he has to say.

The singer was at the MTV European Music Awards where she really scored big time in prizes. It seems Beyonce got the Best Song Award, the Best Video Award and the Best Female Singer Award. Well, nobody can doubt Beyonce’s artistic value now… it seems Robbie Williams missed out on a prize or two. You have to wonder though if the way Beyonce was dressed had anything to do with her wins. Apparently, she was wearing a red corset and suspenders. It should also be noted that the corset had a very generous cleavage… actually, it looked more like it was cut in two with a very sharp knife. Could that have influenced anything?

Kelis better find some way to make money fast and hire herself a good lawyer because the singer is in trouble! Nas filed a bid earlier this week requesting that he not have to pay spousal support to his estranged wife, who also happens to be the mother of their newborn child. Back in July, a New York judge ordered the rapper to pay Kelis $55,000 a month in both spousal and child support. Now, Nas wants to cut the number down to only include funds for his son. Now that is cold. He knows she doesn’t have a career anymore. Why does he have to stoop so low to hurt her like that?

It seems that the rapper’s recently planned “small shows for the fans”, with up to 2500 seats available, mind you, aren’t really attracting many of those fans Chris Brown claims to have. It seems that all of his upcoming shows for which tickets have been selling since last week are not filling up at all, not even those that have only 1000 seats. Things aren’t looking too good for Chris Brown right now… maybe he should try some new stunt with somebody else, get his publicity up and running a bit, see if he can in any way boost his popularity. It’s a pity for all those wonderful tickets to go to waste…

The music video for Jay-Z’s ‘Empire State of Mind’ featuring Alicia Keys recently premiered. The video was shot in New York City’s Harlem, Times Square and around Ground Zero on October 1. The song, which is an ode to the rapper’s and singer’s native New York City, features a sampling of ‘Love on a Two-Way Street’ by The Moments. The video was directed by Hype Williams. Just the names of the two entertainers and the directors are enough proof to say that the video is hot but watching the video itself is an even greater experience. I absolutely love it!

Rihanna’s second single ‘Wait Your Turn’ has recently hit the internet and it is even worse than her first single ‘Russian Roulette’. I love the Barbadian singer to death but I am hating her new music. The two songs that I’ve heard thus far just give me the indication that her upcoming album may end up being a dud. Seriously, what was she thinking? The second single sounds like it was poorly produced, annoying and lackluster. I didn’t think that she can do any wrong considering her monster of an album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ but I guess I was wrong if this is what she has to offer off of ‘Rated R’.

It seems the singer and football player Darren Byfield are no longer in the “happy couple” zone as Jamelia has decided to move out of the home they’ve lived together in. A friend said the following about Jamelia’s decision: “Their relationship has been through lots of ups and downs. Jamelia took him back after he was accused of straying but the last year has been tough. Jamelia decided to leave this week and there is no going back this time. They are both devastated, but have vowed to remain on civil terms for Tiani.” That’s right, do it for the kids! Whatever happened to that “till death do us part” stuff… or doesn’t anybody even say that anymore?

US rapper Nas has asked the judge in his divorce case to block his estranged wife Kelis from getting spousal support.

In papers, filed by his lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan, Nas also requests joint custody of their two-month-old son Knight.

Kelis has asked for $72,728 a month in spousal support.

The singer, 30, married Nas, 36, in 2005. But she filed for divorce five months ago, citing irreconcilable differences.

Their son Knight was born in July and the hip-hop star proudly announced the birth in an online video.

Source: Splash News

No rest for the weary lawyers of Lil Wayne, it seems they just keep getting a new assignment every once in a while… just to keep the spice in their lives. This time, a man by the name of Thomas Marasciullo is suing Lil Wayne and Birdman because he claims they have used some recordings of his voice dating back to 2006 on their albums. What’s more interesting is that Thomas Marasciullo recently lost his job as a recording engineer with Cash Money Records whom he is also suing for the infringement. Well, when the well runs dry, suck the marrow from the rappers… Lil Wayne is probably going to get it all back eventually and as for Birdman… they probably have each other’s backs.

Industry projections have come in recently and they are saying that Michael Jackson’s ‘This is It’ album is expected to sell around 300,000 copies in its first week, which is sure to be more than enough to clinch the number 1 spot on the charts. And depending on how the pieces fall together, the King of Pop may end up moving higher on the Forbes list next year. If that were to be the case, the late singer’s posthumous career might end up catching up to the success of his earlier years in the music industry. We all know that it’s going to top the last couple of years.

This Is It director Kenny Ortega said Michael Jackson was “excited” to share his 50 London shows with his children.

The 50-year-old was just weeks away from starting a residency at the O2 Arena in London when he died suddenly at his LA home.

Ortega, who was working with Jackson on the shows, said that he was in great health and was excited for the shows.

Ortega revealed when Jackson first asked him to do the shows, he said to Ryan Seacrest on KIIS FM: “In March, just before he made the announcement in London at the O2 [Arena] that he was, in fact, going to be doing the shows. He called me at home.”

Ortega, who directed the new This Is It movie showing Jackson preparing for the shows, also said that Jackson was “building himself” up physically for the residency.

Asked if he was in good health, he said: “Oh yeah, he was building himself up. You know, he’d come from being in less than great shape, you know. The world hadn’t been the kindest to him.

“But, you know, I think that he was excited about sharing this… sharing the concerts with his children who were now grown up and curious and old enough to appreciate what their dad did.

“He had so many reasons, you know, behind wanting to go out at this time of his life.”

The extremely successful rapper recently brought to light that he would in the past utterly crush his nephews at video games. Sadly, Jay-Z has lost this wonderful talent, as the singer himself admits: “My nephews didn’t beat me their entire lives, until now. They can destroy me now. I would never let them win because that meant they controlled the household, so I would just beat them mercilessly.” Right, control the house, beat them mercilessly? Is Jay-Z trying to transmit something more here… is he trying to get rid of some excess guilt because a few interesting ideas certainly come to mind.

While performing a concert in Melbourne, Australia earlier this week, Akon decided to leap into the crowd to stop a brawl that had broken out between rival gangs. The singer’s promoter talked about his heroic act, saying “One of the things people should take note on is an artist didn’t have too much concern for his own safety to go down and try and make things better. The thing that I saw, and I was standing right next to him … He walked to a girl (involved in a fight) and walked to her and held her face and said, ‘You’re better than that’.” 9 people were taken to the hospital following the fight and 6 have reported being assaulted.