Sunday October 28th 2001
Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and R&B Album Chart November 3
New CD's this week:
This weeks sees the release of the second
album by New Yorker Dennis Taylor,
a new Regina Belle album, her sixt and first for new label Peak Records and
the selftitled album by newcomer Kelli Mack. Also, as we are getting closer to
the holidays, a Christmas album by Toni Braxton.
Short news stories this week:
Sisters are doing it for someone else
Some of urban music's top female acts are to tour for charity.
The 'Sisters For Hip-Hop & Soul' tour, featuring India Arie, Mystic, and DJ
Jazzy
Joyce, aims to raise proceeds for victims of the September 11 terror attacks.
More names are expected to be added to the line up, with organisers hoping to
secure a top local name at each of the tour's eleven dates in November.
Blaque are back
Blaque are ready to come back.
The girls are soon to release their new single 'Can't Get It Back' and have
recorded
the song's video in Los Angeles.
The cut comes from the group's new second album 'Blaque Out', which features
production work from Dallas Austin, Full Force, the Trackmasters, Salaam 'The
Chameleon' Remi and Dru Hill's Nokio
Tyrese Signs Deal With Clive Davis's J Records
Singer, model, actor Tyrese recently signed a recording deal with Clive
Davis's J
Records. Tyrese's former label RCA Records shut down its black music division
last month, leaving artists Cherokee, Dante, and Coko in search for new label
homes.
Tyrese told us that he was happy to join Davis's music family: "I'm
excited, man,
because like never before, I'm going to be looked at as a recording artist, like
I've
always wanted to be looked at 'cause everything else I do is kinda...you know,
you're
just winging it. I give my all, but it's just extra curricular activities, you
know, and
music is my first love. So I just look forward to being looked at as a recording
star."
Tyrese's feelings about the closure of RCA's black music department, however,
are
bittersweet. "It's unfortunate, but, you know, I guess it's a taste issue.
When you
decide to sign somebody or when you decide to hire an executive, it's based on
your
taste, and your perception of what someone is going to do for you. If they're
not able
to live up to people's expectations, then you'll have a lot of unrecouped money,
and
unrecouped balances, and things like that happen. Hopefully, if they decide to
put
the black music division back off the ground, they'll hire a better team of
people to
run such a major company, and this won't happen again."
Tyrese's sophomore release, 2000 Watts, is Number 43 on Billboard's Top
R&B/Hip-
Hop Albums chart, and the record's second single, "What Am I Gonna
Do," is Number
25 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
Erick Sermon To Speak To Press Next Week
Rapper and producer Erick Sermon is
scheduled next week to begin his first round
of press interviews since September 25, when he was hospitalized for injuries
suffered
after falling out of a window in a three story building.
Initially, an AP story reported that the rapper, according to a spokesperson,
had been
involved in a car accident. However, Trenton, New Jersey police later revealed
that
Sermon had fallen from the window of a New Jersey apartment.
On Tuesday (October 30), Wednesday (October 31), and Thursday (November 1),
Sermon is expected to conduct press interviews. His album, Music, will be
released
on Tuesday as well. The album's single "I'm Hot," which features a
sample of Marvin
Gays's "Sexual Healing," is Number 49 on Billboard's Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Singles &
Tracks chart.
Maxwell cancelling show
Maxwell had to recently cancel a show in
Albany, New York, because of a severe
dental infection. Refunds were made the following day, No word on a date for
a
makeup performance.
Beyonce Found Writing Christmas Originals To Be Easy
Arriving in stores Tuesday is 8 Days of Christmas, a new holiday album from
the
trio Destiny's Child. Besides a selection of holiday standards, the 12-track
album
also includes five originals-- the title track; "Winter Paradise";
"Spread a Little Love
on Christmas Day" and "Opera of the Bells" by the group's Beyonce
Knowles; and
"O Holy Night" co-written by Michelle Williams.
Knowles tells us that she found writing the holiday songs easier than the other
material she writes for Destiny's Child. "It's super easy, 'cause the
hardest part... I
write songs based on the concept. The first think of is, is like a title, like
'Bootylicious,'
and then it's, it's real easy after that. But you have to find something to
write about so
people aren't bored. And when the concept is given to you, it's very easy to
write a
song. So you already know it's a Christmas song, so it's easy."
In addition to the group-penned originals, 8 Days of Christmas also includes
"A 'DC'
Christmas Medley" as well as Destiny's Child arrangements of "Silent
Night," "Little
Drummer Boy" (featuring Knowles' younger sister Solange), "Do You Hear
What I
Hear," "White Christmas," "Platinum Bells" and
"This Christmas."