EURweb |
MUSIC BITS: New Valentino album; prison release for Big Hutch; Jay-Z and Timbaland collabo.
*"Slow Down" crooner, Bobby Valentino, is back with his sophomore project, 'Special Occassion.' The album is set for a Sept. 19 release. Valentino co-wrote three quarters of the 14-track album and received help from producers such as Rodney Jerkins, Sean Garrett, Bryan Michael Cox, Tim & Bob and Dre & Vidal. The first official single from the album will be the Jerkins-produced, "Turn the Page," which is an emotional ballad that has Valentino crooning about trust and taking risks in a relationship.
*The Black Eyed Peas have postponed an Aug 2 and 3 concert that was to be held in Mumbai, the economic center of India and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, according to their tour management. The reason for the cancellation was "unspecified," but if we were into betting, we'd bet it had something to do with the train bombing that ripped through the city's first-class railway system last week. The blast killed 200 people and injured 600. According to reports, the group plans to reschedule the dates in the near future.
*Big Hutch aka Cold 187um will be released from prison this Friday (July 21). The Above the Law frontman is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Forrest City, Arkansas, where he has served 105 weeks for conspiracy to traffic hundreds of pounds of marijuana. The rapper still denies the charges he was convicted of, claiming that acquantainces of his framed him. "I knew them through mutual friends," Cold 187um told AllHipHop.com in July 2004. "It was a situation where guys who were working with my company and doing their thing. I had knowledge of what was going down, but that's it. They decided to put me in it and I was hit with a conspiracy charge." Above The Law released several critically acclaimed releases, including their debut, Living Like Hustlers and the follow up Black Mafia Life for Eazy E's Ruthless Records. The rapper is said to have penned over 50 songs while incarcerated.
*Super-producer Timbaland and retired rapper Jay-Z are rumored to be collaborating on an upcoming album. In an interview with BBC's 1xtra, the VA producer indicated that he is currently working on tracks for the Def Jam president (The Neptunes also are rumored to be producing tracks on the album). Timbaland wouldn't reveal much information about the project, but noted it was the only hip hop project he plans to produce in the near future, as to focus on pop (he gave Nelly Furtado a chart-topper and is currently in the studio with Justin Timberlake). He just launched Mosley Music Group, a joint venture label with the Interscope/Geffen/A&M, to "bring Top 40 into the hood." Jay-Z recently commemorated the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, by performing the album in its entirety at New York's Radio City Music Hall and hinted to a possible come back album in a recent interview with the Associated Press. "I believe the industry as a whole needs certain events to happen to sustain it and keep it alive," he said.
