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*Nick Cannon has left Jive Records and signed with Motown, where he will operate his own imprint, Can I Ball. The first project under the deal will be his sophomore album, “Stages,” due this spring. The set features production from Kanye West and guest appearances from Talib Kweli, Anthony Hamilton and 112. “Stages” also features contributions from his first Can I Ball artist, Izzy. Cannon wrote and produced all of the songs on the new album. The first single is titled "Dimepiece."
*About 800 mourners gathered at Canaan Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky Saturday for the funeral of Wilson Pickett, the R&B great who died Jan. 19 after a heart attack in a Virginia hospital. He was 64. "He didn't just belong to us — he belonged to the world," said Pickett's brother, Maxwell, among the numerous family and friends on hand to remember the singer of such classics as "In the Midnight Hour" and "Mustang Sally." Attendee Little Richard said Pickett paved the way for such artists as Diddy, Will Smith and Eminem. Pickett’s survivors include a brother and five sisters who live in Louisville. He was to be buried next to his mother.
*Oakland-based funk/rap collective the Coup will drop their new album “Pick a Bigger Weapon” on the indie label Epitaph on April 22. Their fifth studio album features 17-tracks and includes appearances from Talib Kweli, the Roots' Black Thought and punk icon Jello Biafra, among others.
*Nelly is on the hunt for America’s “hottest twins” during Super Bowl weekend in Detroit. Body Doubles International Twin Search will take place at the Detroit Yacht Club on Feb. 2, with the contestants taped to appear onstage during a special performance by the St Louis rap star. Twin ladies who want to try out for the event must be female, between the ages of 18 and 34, and “hot.” The Twin Search will travel to New York in March, then continue on to Rio, Paris, Vancouver, Sydney and Hong Kong.
*Michael Jackson reportedly flew to Hamburg, Germany on Thursday with his children, nannies and bodyguards to stay at the home of Wolfgang Schleiter, an executive of Sony BMG Music. According to Fox 411’s Roger Friedman, the singer has long been obsessed with Schleiter’s kids, and even wrote a song about them on his "Invincible" album called "Speechless." Meanwhile, employees at Neverland are still looking for a paycheck, Friedman reports. The 60 or so workers who have stayed on have not been paid since Dec. 23, 2005, he says.