May 24, 2005

FOXY BROWN VS. JACKI-O: Miami studio scrap ends in Foxy being escorted off the premises

*Cue the Brooke Valentine song. “It’s about to be a what? … Girlfight!” Sadly, a new hip hop beef has begun. We take you down to “The Bottom,” a.k.a. Miami, Florida, where a scheduled recording session between Foxy Brown, fellow Brooklyn rapper Krazy and the city’s own Jacki-O resulted in a girlfight and Foxy being thrown off the premises. “I was all for the idea of having her join us in the studio," said Jacki-O in a statement released by her publicist. "That shows how much respect I had for her.” According to the rep, Foxy entered Circle House Studios “ Hollywood style, and became upset that she wasn’t greeted the way she would normally be greeted.” Foxy reportedly stepped out of the studio in a huff and began talking smack about Jacki – in full earshot of Ms. O. Upon Foxy’s return, the two rappers tried to have a sit down and work things out, but according to Jacki’s rep, “Foxy started it off with a ‘Do you know who I am?’” A fight reportedly ensued and Foxy was forced to leave the premises. “This was not the way I wanted it to go down," said Jacki-O. "I was looking forward to working with her on a song.  We are two women in hip-hop and should be able to come to the table together. She forced me to show her who is the Madam of Miami.” No word yet from Trina “The Baddest B****” regarding that last comment.

KOBE & ‘NESSA RENEW VOWS: ‘Recommitment Ceremony’ is what the kids are calling it

*After committing adultery just over a year and a half ago, Kobe Bryant surprised his wife Vanessa with a lavish $50,000 party to renew their vows, according to the TV show “Extra.” “Star” magazine has the photos from their so-called “recommitment ceremony,” which took place Thursday night on an overlook in Laguna Beach , California . "Planning actually started two weeks ago," said Karen Zuker, the producer for "Extra" who broke the story. "We do understand that she did have a miscarriage earlier in the week. Maybe this was done to help her get over this. She was brought into this event blindfolded. She had no idea what was going on." Zuker says Kobe had the tent designed to look like one of the couple's favorite restaurants, Dolce, owned by Ashton Kutcher. Kobe also included "everything from Vera Wang place settings to the flowers, pink flowers which we understand are Vanessa's favorite flowers," Zuker revealed.  Kobe also got a cake from Vanessa's favorite bakery, Sweet Lady Jane.

FANTASIA JOINS KEM FOR JUNE JAUNT: Tour behind “Free Yourself” begins under the Arch

Fantasia kicks off her first m aj or U.S. tour on June 8 in St. Louis as a special guest with Motown artist, Kem.  The “American Idol” champ, whose debut album “Free Yourself” has already spawned the hits “Truth Is” and “Baby Mama,” has just released the title track as her third single, which was produced and co-written by Missy Elliott. ‘Tasia will perform on “Good Morning America’s” live summer concert series on July 22.

‘CHAPPELLE’S’ BACK, BEEYAHTCH!: Third season to debut next month - God willing

*Comedy Central has announced that the third season of its top rated program “Chappelle’s Show" will premiere at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 31 – more than a year after the last original episode aired. The new season will be the first under host Dave Chappelle’s reported $50 million deal extension with the network last August, which includes two seasons of the sketch series and a development agreement. Season three was supposed to roll out early this year, but several situations got in the way, including a period of “writers block,” according to the network last December; then a flu-bug hit Chappelle shortly afterward, which combined with an already-scheduled hiatus during the holiday season.

MARIAH WANTS TO WRITE CHILDREN’S BOOKS: Singer to pen stories based on her childhood experience

 Now that “Mimi” has bellowed from the top of Billboard, “Give us our free,” Mariah Carey will soon turn her attention to authoring books for small children. The 35-year-old songbird, whose new album “The Emancipation of Mimi" debuted at No. 1, has announced plans to publish a series of illustrated kiddie tomes entitled “Automatic Princess,” reports MTV. "The way I do things, I need to be involved," she said. "I wouldn't just be like, 'Here's a concept, go run with it.' It's still something I really want to do, and I'm going to do, and I'm going to start getting that into production soon." The books, which will follow a bi-racial orphan girl, are to be based on stories of her own childhood experience as the daughter of a white mom and half black/half Venezuelan dad.

OMARION, BOW WOW & MARQUES: Trio will hit the road this summer with Ciara; Houston …we have an album

*Omarion, Bow Wow, Ciara and Marques Houston will team for a summer tour, which kicks off in July and will run through September. "It's gonna be a lot of chaos. It's gonna be a lot of pandemonium. It's gonna be outrageous," said Bow Wow. "The way we're doing it is not like your normal concert. When you go to your normal concert, it's four people on the bill. Everybody has their own set. We're doing it like how you come to wrestling and the ring is in the middle. It's gonna be more like a live movie than a show." One of the songs sure to be on the roster is “Wanted,” an Omarion/Bow Wow duet that will appear on the latter’s upcoming album “Wanted.” Meanwhile, Houston’s sophomore solo CD "Naked," led by the single "All Because of You," will drop on May 24 via T.U.G Entertainment/Universal Other tracks on the set include "Do It" featuring the Ying Yang Twins, "Everything" and the title cut, which will be the second single scheduled to hit radio in mid-May. Houston is also developing a film he co-wrote titled "The House," which will also star – who else – Omarion. As previously reported, shooting will begin this fall on a sequel to “You Got Served,” which starred Houston, Omarion and the rest of  O’s former B2K crew.

The Post reports that Jacob the Jeweler can no longer pump up Cartier or other brand-name watches with his trademark decorative diamonds. Lois Weiss reports that to settle a lawsuit Jacob had to take out ads proclaiming it's "illegal" to "alter" the watches with "non-authorized parts, such as diamond bezels," because it "cheats consumers" by voiding the warranties. On Mar. 21st, he placed an ad in the Times, declaring, "Jacob the Jeweler is joining Cartier in spreading the word that it is illegal for third-party jewelers to alter brand-name watches with non-authorized parts, such as diamond bezels, and sell such altered watches to consumers. This illegal conduct cheats consumers who spend money to purchase watches with void warranties and inferior performance specifications due to the unauthorized alterations."

Mobb Deep got dropped from Jive Records and they couldn’t be happier. MTV News recently spoke with Mobb and this is what they had to say. "We wasn't surprised — we was more thrilled," Prodigy said. "Jive is a good label but they're R&B'ed out. They sell millions of records with Britney Spears, R. Kelly and all the big ones. Mobb Deep is a street-rap group. We from off the streets. We gotta move with a label that knows how to handle that street sh--. We gonna move on to bigger and better things now." "Jive definitely seems like one of those places that, when you good at something, they're good at it; when they're not, they're not," Havoc, who was standing next to P, added. "We came out with a hot album — I definitely think it was one of our best albums. They just couldn't handle it, so they had to drop it. Now we're moving on to something else."

Will Smith and Ludacris will headline MTV Base 100th Live!, celebrating the launch of MTV’s first pan-African music channel and MTV's 100th channel worldwide. The all-star concert will take place in Johannesburg , on Apr. 20th. • Russell Simmons is releasing a series of yoga videos called "Yoga Live." The four videos covering the basics are taught by three different professional yogis, not Simmons. Hustle Simmons strikes again! • Trina is launching a perfume. The perfume is called Diamond Princess and will be released this summer. The Ventures: Pharrell Williams has started a street skate team led by pro Terry Kennedy and including Williams’ younger brother, Kato. The "Ice Cream" Skate Team, will tour for seven months in Northern California before releasing a DVD this fall.

Upcoming Projects/TV Shows/Movies Etc...

Shows: ABC will air "The Muppets' Wonderful Wizard of Oz" featuring Ashanti and Queen Latifah on May 20th at 8 p.m. • Venus and Serena Williams have inked a deal with ABC Family to star in a six-episode reality series about their lives on and off the court. • Sandi “Pepa” Denton , Janice Dickinson, Jose Canseco, Bronson Pinchot, and Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth are the new cast of “The Surreal Life.” The show is currently in production and debuts on Sept. 4th on VH1. This is gonna be fire! •MTV announced that that the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards will return to Miami . The VMAs will air live from American Airlines Arena on Aug. 28th. • Joey Lawrence has joined the cast of Bow. Lawrence plays an agent and Kim Fields stars as Bow Wow’s mom. • BET is producing an Apprentice-like spin-off, starring Dame Dash in Donald Trump's role. • BET has pulled the plug on BET Nightly News. Flicks:Antoine Fuqua will direct Paramount 's upcoming sequel The Untouchables: Capone Rising. The prequel to the 1987 gangster pic centers on the early years of Al Capone and corrupt Irish copper Jimmy Malone. • Denzel Washington has inked a deal to star as a tough cop out to stop a clever bank robber (Clive Owen) trying to commit the perfect crime in Inside Man. Spike Lee will direct the flick. • Nick Cannon will star, write and executive produce Extra Protection. Universal is in talks with James Lassiter and Will Smith to produce the flick. The action-comedy follows two FBI trainees escorting a critical witness to court. Etc: Nivea will drop 'Complicated' on May 3rd. • Jermaine Dupri announced the lineup for Atlanta's Midtown Music Festival Urban Stage. Ciara, Black Eyed Peas and Slim Thug will headline the stage on Jun. 11th; the day after will be dedicated to hip-hop's old school, with Biz Markie, MC Lyte, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick and Whodini scheduled to perform.

Three 6 Mafia set to release movie sequel DVD and Soundtrack on April 19th

Memphis, Tennessee's rappers, Three 6 Mafia, rhyme about life on the streets of the 
Southern ghetto. Following in the tradition of rappers who have turned their creative visions into filmmaking, including Master P and Dr. Dre, the hip-hop group has produced and released Choices I DVD and Choices I Soundtrack album in 2001 which sold more than 100,000 units (which is platinum status for home DVDs/videos). Filmed in their hometown of Memphis, is the story of a former convict trying to live a good life without crime and the difficulties he faces. 

Now, Three 6 Mafia's releases Choices II: The Set Up on DVD. This fast-paced sequel further explores the conflict between good and evil. Choices II: The Set Up picks up the tale of two trigger-happy stick-up men, DJ and Juice--portrayed by Three 6 Mafia super-producers, DJ Paul and Juicy J, respectively--as they attempt to wrestle their way to the top of the Memphis drug scene.

Choices II: The Set Up will be available in a combination package with the accompanying CD soundtrack, to be released by Hypnotize Minds and Sony Urban Music on Tuesday April 19. "Who I Is," the lead single from the Choices II: The Set Up soundtrack, features Trillville and Lil Wyte. Other guest artists on the soundtrack include Mr. Bigg on "Yeah I Rob" and Youngbloodz & D-Rock of theYing Yang Twins on "It's Whateva Wit Us."