Sunday February 17th, 2002
Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and R&B Album Chart February 23
New CD's this week:
Surprise, surprise this week a new album by
the man that gave us "Fake" and "Criticize"
Yes, Alexander O'Neal decided it was time for some new work..
Alsonew this week an excellent new album by Oleta Adams
Short news stories this week:
Michael Jackson Songwriters Slated To Make June Debut
Floetry, comprising London's Marsha
Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart who penned
Michael Jackson's Number Two R&B hit "Butterflies," is scheduled
to release its
debut album, Floetics, June 4 on A Touch Of Jazz/DreamWorks.
In addition to writing "Butterflies" for Jackson, the duo--who met
playing basketball-
has also composed songs for Jill Scott, Glenn Lewis, and Bilal.
Floetry's first single, also titled "Floetics," is expected to hit
radio on March 12.
"Floetics" is a term the artists coined to describe their combination
of singing and
spoken word. "It's spoken word, but I rhyme too," Stewart told us.
"Marsha sings,
and we're not caught up with egocentric creativity. We're not trying to be
Natalie
Stewart and Marsha Ambrosius. We're more into mood of music and creating
moments. It's exciting because each song is like a little play, miniseries,
itself."
The group is produced by the Misfits, whose members have made songs for
Will Smith, Scott, Lil' Kim, Darius Rucker, Musiq Soulchild, Kenny Lattimore,
and Cherokee, among others.
Prince Announces First Set Of Tour Dates
Prince has announced a first series of
dates for his upcoming concert tour in support
of his recently released album, The Rainbow Children. More tour dates are
expected to
be announced in the coming weeks.
This will be the first time Prince will hit the road since canceling a North
American
outing last summer just two performances into the tour. It will also be the
first time
the singer will perform on stage since he married girlfriend Manuela Testolini
at a
hush-hush December 31 ceremony in Hawaii.
Members of Prince's Internet fan website NPGMC will be issued a password giving
them an opportunity to purchase tickets via Ticketmaster in advance of the
general public.
Raphael Saadiq And D'Angelo Team Up For 'Be Here' Video
Former Tony Toni Tone and Lucy Pearl member
Raphael Saadiq hooked up with
D'Angelo on Sunday (February 10) to shoot the video for their collaboration,
"Be
Here," the first release from Saadiq's long-anticipated solo album, Instant
Vintage,
scheduled to be released May 7 on Pookie/Universal Records.
Saadiq, who produced D'Angelo's Grammy-Award winning song "Untitled (How
Does
It Feel)," from D'Angelo's 1999 album Voodoo, spoke about featuring the
singer on the
song: "You know that's my boy. That's like my brother. We're like family.
We are
family. So, it's not a stretch for us to be doing this. This is probably
different for
everybody else to see, but like I tell everybody, we got a few DAT tapes at home
with
us doing songs together but we just never...Not whole songs, but just jam
sessions,
you know. It was just kinda normal for me to kinda grab him. He's about to start
his
project, so it was kinda a cool thing to get him on this record."
Saadiq directed the two-day shoot, which was shot on Saturday (February 9) on
location in Los Angeles, and on Sunday (February 10) at Saadiq's own recording
complex, Blakeslee Recording Company in North Hollywood.
Saadiq also discussed directing the video. "This is the first one I'm
taking a position
in and directing," Saadiq said. "For the other videos, I sorta helped
direct. As far as
concept-wise, I've helped with every video I've done since [Tony Toni Tone's]
'Little
Walter.' I think I co-directed one with Jessie Vaugh, 'Ask Of You.'"