Shyne Back In Belize, Happy To Be A Free Man

After being detained for almost four weeks by immigration officials following his incarceration for close to nine years for his involvement in a 1999 club shooting in New York, rapper Jamal "Shyne" Barrow is now a free man.

Barrow landed at about 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday (Oct. 28) afternoon, and was greeted at the Phillip Goldson International Airport's VIP section by his father, Hon. Dean Barrow; uncle Hon. Michael Finnegan; brother Anwar Barrow; his grandmother; other family members and a slew of media and paparazzi, according to Belize newspaper The Guardian. Also there to welcome him were friends from New York City, who had taken the trip solely for the occasion.

"Shyne did not speak to the media based on the advice of his attorney, Prof. Ogletree, who believes that public statement may prejudice his ongoing case with the United States' immigration officials," said his uncle, Hon. Michael Finnegan, on his behalf, during a short press conference, reports the paper. "Prof. Ogletree is scheduled to arrive in Belize on Saturday, October, 31, and at that time he will be accompanied by Shyne as he speaks to the media."

The paper also reports that Barrow, who is fighting to return to the United States and plans on continuing his entertainment career, stopped at the Princess Royal Youth Hostel, where he spoke to troubled youths, right after exiting the airport.

On December 27, 1999, three people were shot inside Club New York, a midtown Manhattan nightclub. After authorities chased a sport utility vehicle that raced through red traffic lights, they found Bad Boy labelhead Sean "Diddy" Combs -- the label Shyne was signed to -- Combs' then girlfriend, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez, bodyguard Anthony "Wolf" Jones and chauffeur Wardell Fenderson.

A 9mm pistol was discovered in the car which resulted in all the passengers in the car being arrested.

Shyne was charged for attempted murder, assault, criminal use and possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment. All accused were acquitted of their charges except Shyne. He was acquitted of attempted murder and one count of assault but was found guilty of all other charges. On March 16, 2001, he was sentenced to ten years in prison, while Combs, who stood trial, was acquitted of all charges.

Barrow was most recently signed to Def Jam records, after splitting from Bad Boy in the aftermath of the incident.

Rihanna Recruits The-Dream, Young Jeezy For 'Hard'

'You know Young killed it,' Dream says of rapper's verse on Rated R track.
By Shaheem Reid

Rihanna


Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — Rihanna's Rated R will come out November 23 and feature new collaborations with the man behind her biggest hit so far. The-Dream, who wrote 'Umbrella,' penned a couple of tracks for the new LP.

'Me and Rihanna, she just cut the last of the two records we did. It's a record called 'Rock Star,' ' the singer-song writer divulged earlier this week, backstage at the Izod Center in New Jersey. 'The first record is a record called 'Hard,' which features [Young] Jeezy. Both of those records are pretty insane.'

Dream declined to go into much detail about the tracks, but said the Rihanna/ Jeezy collaboration is one for the record books.

" 'Hard,' I want that song to explain itself," he said. "Most of the stuff I wrote — still to this day what I write — I try to find out through people — what they're going through or what they gotta say. Then we put that in."

Dream also said that nobody has to worry about Jeezy's verse. The Snowman delivered as always.

'Oh, c'mon, he killed it! You know Young killed it,' Dream smiled. 'That's ATL right there. That's all we do.'

Last week, Rihanna released the single 'Russian Roulette,' which was written by Ne-Yo.

'I trust Rihanna to be Rihanna, and she trusts me to be me,' Ne-Yo recently told MTV News. 'That's the coolest thing about our relationship. I don't expect anything more from her. I must say this song is a step in somewhat of a different direction for both of us. We kind of both took a chance.'

Sean Garrett has also written for the album, with Polow Da Don lending production.

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Kid Cudi Wants Green Day, Kings Of Leon On Cudder Collabo Album

Rapper already has Snoop Dogg, Travis Barker and Clipse lined up for the LP.
By James Montgomery

Kid Cudi


Photo: MTV News

Kid Cudi went from mixtape phenom to the upper echelons of the Billboard albums chart in little over a year, so it's no surprise he wants to keep the ball rolling. What is a surprise is who he wants to keep it rolling with.

We already know he's hard at work on projects with rapper Chip Tha Ripper and Brooklyn electro duo Ratatat, but backstage at this past weekend's Ulalume Music Festival in Columbia, Maryland, he revealed details of another album, a compilation disc he's dubbed Cudder. And he's aiming extra high on this one.

'Cudder is basically an album of me working with artists that have inspired me or artists that have helped me grow and people who I've always admired," Cudi said. "So far, we've got Snoop, Travis Barker — trying to get Green Day onboard, hopefully, Kings of Leon, hopefully. I'm really trying to do all the collabs that I couldn't do for the [Man on the Moon] album, and then some, because the album was so themed that I had to strip a lot of features. We're going to have the Clipse on this compilation, Robin Thicke, hopefully we're going to get in the studio, I just did a record for his upcoming album; it's amazing.'

Cudi said he's aiming to have Cudder out by 'summertime at the latest,' and while the idea of him working with, say, Billie Joe Armstrong might seem a bit odd, he points to Moon tracks like 'Pursuit of Happiness' (his collaboration with Ratatat and MGMT) as proof that he can pull it off and as a possible preview of how the song might turn out.

'On the Ratatat song, you can hear Ratatat and you can hear me; we don't compromise each other. That's the same thing I want to do with anybody I work with. ... I don't want it to be, like, a Green Day song with me rapping over it,' he said. 'What I want to do is, have the triangle effect. Have Green Day involved and have them co-produce with someone like a Ratatat or my producers, do like a joint thing, and then we all create from the ground up. That way, it's like a fusion of each sound and each inspiration.'

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T.I. Talks To Ludacris From Prison About Lil Wayne Legal Trouble

Tip also sends a message to Chicago after 16-year-old Derrion Albert's murder, Luda tweets.
By Shaheem Reid

T.I.


Photo: Moses Robinson/ Getty Images

T.I. is still keeping an eye on things while serving his year-and-a-day prison sentence for felony weapons charges. On Wednesday, Ludacris tweeted that he spoke to his fellow Atlanta heavyweight.

Luda's messages reveal that Tip is keeping up on current events and feels for his peers Lil Wayne and Lil Boosie, who both have to go to prison at the top of their careers, much like Tip has had to do.

'Talking to TIP,' Luda tweeted. 'He says to tell Wayne and Boosie he Hates the situations y'all are in, but he's ridin' with the both of you.'

'Cris added that Tip had a message for the kids in the Windy City in the wake of the Derrion Albert murder: 'TIP also says to all my Chicago peoples, cut out all that damn nonsense!!! Sh-- has got to STOP!!!!!! I 2nd that!!!'

The 16-year-old Albert was killed in the streets of Chicago several weeks ago while trying to break up a fight. The tragedy was captured on cell phone video and posted on the Internet, horrifying viewers. The Reverend Jesse Jackson and Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan both attended Albert's funeral earlier this month.

Tip had a chance to speak out publicly through fiancée Tameka "Tiny" Cottle during the recent BET Hip-Hop Awards. The King of the South reassured fans he would be home soon. Tip also won Best Hip-Hop Collabo and Best Hip-Hop Video for 'Live Your Life' with Rihanna and CD of the Year for Paper Trail.

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Accomplice In T.I. Friend's Death Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter

Padron Thomas testified against his brother in exchange for lesser charges.
By Jayson Rodriguez

Philant Johnson and T.I. in 2004


Photo: Ray Tamarra/ Getty Images

An Ohio man pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other charges as an accomplice in the 2006 slaying of a T.I. associate, according to The Associated Press.

Padron Thomas, 41, struck a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to testify against his younger brother, Hosea Thomas, the shooter, in exchange for lesser charges. The elder Thomas was originally facing a murder rap, but after pleading guilty, he will now be sentenced for manslaughter instead.

Thomas drove the car that was involved in the May 2006 shooting that killed Philant Johnson and injured three others. Thomas and his brother were in a skirmish with T.I. and his entourage after the rapper performed in Cincinnati and partied afterward at a local nightclub. The Atlanta superstar directed his crew to leave the venue in the wake of the scuffle, but a group of men followed them and began firing shots at the vehicles carrying the rapper and his camp.

Hosea Thomas was later found guilty of murder and several counts of assault and sentenced to 66 years in prison.

His fate was sealed via damaging testimony from Padron. It was the second time Hosea was sent to jail for publicly firing a gun. The first time occurred nearly 15 years ago in 1992, when Thomas shot wildly into a crowd during a bar fight and wounded a pregnant woman. The woman testified against Thomas after giving birth prematurely as a result of her injuries. He spent eight years in prison for the incident.

Padron Thomas is scheduled for sentencing in his case November 17. He is already serving 17 years in federal prison on separate drug charges. Thomas is expected to be sentenced to 10 years as part of his plea deal.

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Alicia Keys 'Grateful' To Jay-Z For 'Empire State Of Mind'

'I fell in love from the jump,' Keys says of the track, which she and Jay will perform before game two of the World Series.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Tim Kash

Alicia Keys


Photo: MTV News

Alicia Keys and Jay-Z are set to heat up the World Series on Thursday night (October 29) when they perform the New York ode 'Empire State of Mind' at the new Yankees Stadium before game two against the Phillies. It's a song Keys knew she had to be a part of as soon as she got the call from Jay himself.

'There was a first phone call, and Jay hit me up like, 'I feel like I have this record that's going to be the anthem of New York,' ' she told MTV News, adding that she was onboard immediately. 'He's like, 'The piano, the way the style [is], the whole flow, and it couldn't be the anthem of New York without you.' '

That was more than enough coaxing to get Keys on the track, which the duo also performed at the Video Music Awards back in September. 'Obviously, I'm very grateful to him for reaching out to me and for that type of ability to represent my hometown, like, that was crazy,' she said. 'So we went to the studio. I went to the studio, and ... I fell in love from the jump.'

Keys wanted to make sure she got the hook right. 'I did try it a couple of times, but it was more about capturing the kind of grand feeling of it,' she explained. 'With the way I sang it the first time, I was actually kind of sick, and I knew that he needed the record, so I was like, 'Let me get to it.' '

And she finally got it right. 'I came back and revisited it so that it could be what it is now,' she said. 'So it actually took a couple of times, but every time, the energy was just so high.'

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Fergie's Busy Working, But Not On A Solo Record

Black Eyed Peas singer says she's 'not even thinking about another solo album right now.'
By Jocelyn Vena, with additional reporting by Akshay Bhansali

Fergie


Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage for Avon

Fergie performed songs from her 2006 solo album, The Duchess, at the Avon Foundation for Women Awards Gala in New York City on Tuesday night, but she doesn't have plans to work on new solo music anytime soon. She's still riding high on the success of the Black Eyed Peas latest release, The E.N.D., and the group's touring schedule is keeping her busy these days.

She wasn't too busy, however, to attend the gala to show her support for women who are fighting breast cancer and to help end domestic violence. 'I'm performing my own songs, not Peas songs, 'cause I don't have the boys with me today,' she told MTV News on the red carpet about performing at the event sans bandmates Will.I.Am., Taboo and apl.de.ap. 'This is more about women.'

She also explained that her performance was in no way a tease for an upcoming solo record. 'Oh my gosh! I am so up to [the] top of my head in Peas land right now that I am not even thinking about another solo album right now. I'm knee deep in that and we're about to tour the world.'

In addition to recently being approved as part-owner of the Miami Dolphins football team, Fergie will be appearing on the big screen in the Rob Marshall-directed musical Nine. She'll star alongside a who's who of Hollywood that includes Sophia Loren, Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicole Kidman. 'It's a musical. It's wonderful,' she said. 'It's an art piece.'

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Rihanna Gets Serious On Rated R Album Cover

Black-and-white image features pensive close-up of singer's face
By Gil Kaufman

Rihanna's <i>Rated R</i>


Photo: Def Jam

After the deadly-game song title, razor's-edge logo and barbed-wire wrap she wore on the cover of her 'Russian Roulette' single, it wasn't unreasonable to expect that Rihanna's upcoming Rated R album would feature a similarly dangerous image.

But the grainy black-and-white cover shot that leaked Tuesday (October 27) finds the singer in a moody, contemplative pose reminiscent of outrageous 1980s avant-garde singer Grace Jones. Wearing what looks like a leather top, Rihanna is depicted with her hand covering her right eye, with each finger wrapped in an intricate set of rings that hug two knuckles.

The image for the album, due November 23, was shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth, who said Rihanna is "so beautiful, sweet and tough at the same time — and a pleasure to shoot," according to PopEater.com. Von Unwerth went on to say that Rihanna is "fantastic to work with — very giving, very creative, very involved in every aspect of the shoot and ready to push the boundaries." The photographer is known for her iconic album covers, including Britney Spears' Blackout, Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics and Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope.

The picture, in which Rihanna wears thick, dark lipstick and dramatic eye makeup that gives her a feline look, is just the latest tidbit of information to leak out about the album, her first since 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad. The reveal of the cover also continues what promises to be a see-saw publicity battle between the singer and her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, who both have albums coming out in the fourth quarter.

Both singers are releasing their first efforts since Brown pleaded guilty in June to a felony-assault count stemming from a violent clash in February. And while Brown is barred from being within 100 yards of Rihanna for the next five years, the proximity of their album release dates (his disc, Graffiti, comes out December 15) has led to almost daily attention grabs by both sides for headlines over the past few weeks.

On the same day the Rated R cover emerged, Brown dropped the video for his song 'I Can Transform Ya' and was gearing up for his first major live performance since the assault, a headlining spot at Power 105.1's Powerhouse concert in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Tuesday night.

Just one week ago, Rihanna dropped the 'Roulette' single on the same day Brown announced the dates for his 'Fan Appreciation' tour, followed by the debut of Brown's second single, 'Crawl.'

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Rick Ross' Triple C's Get Young Jeezy, Gucci Mane, More On Album

'It was just love,' Miami MC says of the collabos on Custom Cars & Cycles.
By Shaheem Reid

Triple C's


Photo: Maybach Music/Def Jam

According to Rick Ross, October 27 is a tough day for all those who have wished him ill. "I have to thank all the haters who prayed this day never come — I rebuke you."

The Miami Bawse has released his second album this year, this time with his group Triple C's. Much like Eminem, Nelly and Notorious B.I.G. before him, Ross is an official member of the group, although the LP, Custom Cars & Cycles, serves to introduce his artists Gunplay, Torch and Breed. With Ross as executive producer and DJ Khaled working A&R on the project, you know the beats are going to be buoyant and the content catering to the streets.

On 'Erryday,' Ross reaches out to his labelmate and fellow street staple Young Jeezy for a cameo. 'Get my money on the back end/ All I do is front,' The Snowman raps. 'Erryday it's plenty bottles, errynight another club ...'

'Foreign cars, that's erryday/ Audemars, that's erryday,' Rick Ross chimes in. 'Erryday a n---a wanna kill me, beefin' erryday/ So we creep, that's erryday/ 40 deep, that's erryday.'

'I watched Jeezy establish a brand,' Ross explained to Mixtape Daily earlier this month. 'When you speak of successful executives coming out of the South that's still in the streets making moves, that's one of the dudes I look at. It was a huge record. I reached out to my family, he made it pop. Not only that, he let [Jeezy's Corporate Thugz Entertainment artist] JW shine on the record. That's from the crib, the bottom. It was just love. The streets feeling it, and that's what it's about.'

The video for 'Erryday' is out now, as is the clip for 'Trickn Off' with Gucci Mane.

"Gucci Mane called me all the time while he was incarcerated," Ross told MTV News. "We spoke on collabo — here it is! 'Trickn Off.' I'm proud of him."

Triple C's also recently filmed a video with Game for 'Gangsta Sh--.' 'Hustla' features Maybach Music Group singer Masspike Miles, and other guests on the album include Yo Gotti on 'Yams Pt. 2' and Birdman on 'Go.'

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