Rapper Common is
presently working on the follow-up to his critically acclaimed album, BE, and
the rapper says it’s coming soon. "Finding Forever is out at the end of
September. We’re workin’ on it daily. Production [comes from] from Kanye West,
obviously [he’s] producing’ a lot of it. Kareem Riggins and J Dilla. It’s special.
We just tryin’ to grow with the music," Common told AllHipHop.com. The
Chicago rapper also stated that he’s starring in a new film called Smoking
Acres
, which will be out January, 2007.Russell Simmons
spoke to a group of youth yesterday to celebrate idealism on the campus of Columbia
University. The discourse occurred at City Year’s annual convention of idealism,
called "cyzygy ’06," which is a weeklong convention devoted to youth
aged 17 – 24. The purpose of the yearly convention is to emphasize the
"power of citizen service" and inspire its youth "to change our
world – one child, one neighborhood, one country at a time." Simmons was
joined by David Eisner of Corporation for National and Community Service and
Sue Nokes, a senior vice-president at T-Mobile. The overall convention pulled
together approximately 1,500 City Year corps members and hundreds of corporate,
civic, and community leaders. Tonight (June 15), former President Bill Clinton
will address the convention attendees.
DJ Vlad has sold
the rights to his popular Hot In Here DVD to Just Fabulous TV (JFTV),
a 24-hour urban entertainment channel in the United Kingdom. The current installment
in the series features the likes of DMX, Dipset, Bernard Hopkins, Lil’ Flip,
Karrine ‘Superhead’ Steffans and Busta Rhymes, among others. Hot in Here
3
, which was co-hosted with Ed Lover, will be re-purposed in the UK underthe moniker DJ Vlad Presents. Under the Sky Network, DJ Vlad Presents
expects to reach nearly 10 million homes in the UK. "I’ve always had a
big fan base in Europe. So its an honor to get my tv show into millions of homes
in Europe," Vlad told AllHipHop.com. "As time goes on, the world is
accepting the role of the DJ as much more than someone who just plays records."
The show is already being broadcasted on Russell Simmons’ Def On Demand channel.
Kanye West, 50
Cent Rick Ross and Bubba Sparxxx were honored by the RIAA (Recording Industry
Association of America) on June 14 for their achievements in ringtone sales.
Sparxxx told the Associated Press that he only recently was made aware of ringtones
affect on his bottom-line as an artist. "I had no idea about the importance
of ringtones, but I do after coming here. I sold 800,000 ringtones. Now I know
it’s an exciting innovation," Bubba Sparxxx told the AP.
