Real Music People

The divas of hip hop are reuniting as reports say that Jay-Z is set to work with both Kanye West and Timbaland on sessions for his new album. And here you thought he was retiring already. Early reports say that Jay-Z’s new stuff was going to be produced solely by Timbo but the hip hop star has revealed that the sessions are more of a musical competition between his peers. Jay says “I’m a person that works off music. If Timbaland makes 10 great tracks then he produces the album, if Kanye West makes 10 great tracks then he produces the album; if he makes three, I’ll take three. I let the music dictate the direction. You know I love Timbaland, he is like a brother to me, but until the music is done it’s premature.”

Timbaland got married on a private island in Aruba last weekend but don’t think that the rapper and mega producer went all out with the fancy stuff. Spies at the wedding site says that the music mogul’s wedding, which the hotel called the code name of ‘Heaven on Earth’, actually featured open mic karaoke and $50,000 worth of flowers. If you compare that to Mariah’s weddings, it’s practically peanuts. Oprah, Madonna, Missy Elliott, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Prince were said to be invited but there’s no official word on just who actually showed. What, Justin Timberlake wasn’t invited? I was kind of imagining him as the wedding singer.

Missy Elliot is coming out with her long-awaited new album ‘Block Party’ later this summer. You don’t have to wait that long to see what her album’s like though as her first single has recently dropped. ‘Best, Best’ is and R&B tune with Missy trading her trademark rapping skills for singing. The song was produced by Timbaland’s protégé, Danja. I like it but I don’t love it. Here’s the thing, it’s Missy’s first single in a good while and she’s singing, which isn’t what she’s known for nor is it her forte. If you ask me, she should have come out with a party-sounding rap song and then just came out with this single as her second release just to shock people.

Timbaland got married on Tuesday. The record producer and long-term partner Monique Idlett, who works as a music publicist, opted for a low key ceremony and wore sweat pants as they secretly tied the knot in front of a family pastor in a church in Virginia.

The newlywed couple are also planning to hold a formal ceremony in front of friends and family in the Caribbean island of Aruba on June 22.

Timbaland, whose real name is Timothy Z. Mosley, and Monique welcomed their first daughter Reign in November.

The 37-year-old music mogul - who has collaborated with Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and Madonna - proposed to Monique at Reign’s baby shower last October.

Timbaland isn’t the only celebrity to wed in secret recently. Former Destiny’s Child singer Beyonce Knowles and hip-hop star Jay-Z married in the musician’s New York apartment in April, while Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon held an impromptu beachside ceremony in the Bahamas following their whirlwind romance.

Ne-Yo has slammed RnB performers saying the genre has become “boring”. The Closer singer, real name Shaffer Chimere Smith claims today’s artists are too alike.

He told MTV: “RnB today is nowhere near where it used to be back in the day. Everyone’s on this copycat thing right now where all the music is beginning to sound alike and I don’t dig it.”

Ne-Yo also blames the use of the same producers making everyone sound the same.

He adds: “If you go to Timbaland for a song, then he is going to give you a Timbaland beat… No disrespect to Timbaland but if everyone eats at the same place then in a minute it’s going to get boring.”

It’s not just athletes getting in a steroid scandal these days as it is being reported that 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and Tyler Perry have all been named in a steroid trafficking scandal that may involve thousands of people.

The Times Union of Albany says that “Blige and other stars were shipped prescribed human growth hormone or steroids — sometimes under fictitious names — at hotels, productions studios, private residences, an upscale Manhattan fitness club and through the Long Island office of Michael Diamond, a chiropractor affiliated with the celebrities” citing information from “several cooperating witnesses” in the investigation.

After the success of her album, a lot of people have predicted that Amy Winehouse would be the queen of the Grammy’s. And when the nominations were announced on Thursday morning, that’s what the rest of the world thought too. Wino scored the most nominations for a female with 6 nods. It’s good to know that despite all the trouble in her life, something good can still happen to Wino.Kanye West actually came out with the most nods, with 8. Five acts received 5 nods each – the Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and T-Pain. In a bit of an upset, favorites like Fergie and Mika only scored a nomination each.

Buff beat master and Justin Timberlake best friend Timbaland performed at PURE Nightclub in Las Vegas over the weekend. The man who’s usually behind the turntables became his own ‘hype man’ by grabbing a mic and bringing the house down and a few panties to go with it.

Partygoers spotted the magnanimous and magnetic music producer getting up close and personal with one girl that he pulled onstage. And when I say personal, I do mean personal. Timbaland was seen chatting it up with the girl throughout the rest of the night and even looked like he was necking her at one point.

Check out these promotional shots of Rihanna and Kanye West for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. World famous photographer David LaChapelle did the elaborate photo shoots of not only Rihanna and Kanye but also Fall Out Boy, Foo Fighters and Chris Brown.

All of the above mentioned artists are featured as performers for this year’s VMAs along with Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen. And FYI, Justin Timberlake will be hosting a Fantasy Suite party with good pal and partner Timbaland.

The 2007 MTV Video Music Awards will air on September 9. And if the photos are any measure of the hotness of the show, then prepare to take on the heat!

50 Cent’s new album, “Curtis,” has been pushed back another week, from September 4 to September 11, according to Interscope, which declined to give a reason for the move.

“Curtis” originally was slated for a June 26 release but was pushed back in late May.

Two singles from the project have met with little success on radio. “Amusement Park” peaked at No. 36 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and is No. 57 in its ninth week there, while “Straight to the Bank” peaked at No. 30 and has since fallen off the chart.

Another new song, “I Get Money,” debuted in early July at No. 75.

“Curtis,” which is the follow-up to 2005’s “The Massacre,” features production from Dr. Dre, Eminem and Timbaland, plus guest turns by Eminem, Akon, Justin Timberlake, Mary J. Blige, Robin Thicke and Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls.

Nelly Furtado and Timbaland hit pay - and platinum - dirt with the dance tracks on the Canadian singer’s latest album, “Loose.” Now they’re looking to rock things up a bit.
Furtado tells Billboard.com she and Timbaland are planning to put together a rock band, although she adds that “I don’t think it’d be, like, a real rock band. It’d be more like our version of alternative, so it wouldn’t necessarily be like heavy and guitar-driven. It would be left field, and not necessarily pop.”
Furtado, who launches her 17-date North American Get Loose Tour on May 30, says there’s no timetable yet for the rock project but notes, “Tim’s been really enthusiastic about us working together again real soon.”
The purported band’s name is also up in the air, she says: “We keep arguing over names. I want these really weird, subversive names, and he wants these mysterious, like, ‘Lord of the Rings’ kind of names. We can’t decide.”
Noting that “time off is when I get ideas,” Furtado says her next recording project - rock band with Timbaland notwithstanding - will likely take a different direction.
“I don’t see myself recording in English again any time soon,” she explains. “I really want to do a Spanish and Portuguese project - and I have no plan on when I’m gonna do that. There was talk of rushing something out early in the year, and it just didn’t feel right. So I said, ‘I don’t want to rush this. Let’s wait and do something in the future.’”