Announced yesterday at the launch party at the House of Blues in LA, were this year’s lineup for the Rock The Bells. The festival will begin at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, CA on August 18 & 19, Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA August 25 & 26 before ending at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ on September 1 & 2.

R. Kelly’s 11th album is almost ready to come out and tonight we get the cover art for Write Me Back which hits the stores on June 26. After the jump, check out the alternate cover for the deluxe version.

The clip above feature Pharrell’s recent signees such as Leah Labelle to introduce the world to “I Am Other.” Pharrell Williams expand his business portfolio with social media project. The Neptunes member has partnered with entertainment producer United Entertainment Group for the launch of I Am Other, a “content-driven property that spotlights new musicians, filmmakers, designers, artists and innovators through online, mobile and retail channels, TV shows and films.”

 The singer-songwriter-producer-rapper  will recommend products and experiences for his fans to purchase through social mediums. “I Am Other” is intended to target 16-25-year-old consumers, a quite difficult market to reach.
 “It’s for people who think other,” he said. “The first installment (of I Am Other) is about delivering those experiences through products, excursions, anything that is tangible to a human that can make their life easier. […] A lot companies claim they can make the world better. We want to make lives easier and unlock what normally would seem impossible possible.”

 “I Am Other” will make its debut this fall through sites like Gilt, Groupon, Facebook and Twitter. In addition to linking with UEG, Pharrell most recently signed on as Creative Director for Karmaloop TV.

El Debarge is famous for 80s hits such as “I Like It” and “All This Love.” Unfortunately, what’s equally famous is the singer’s drug addiction and numerous arrests for drug-related charges. The music veteran made a comeback in 2010 with the album ‘Second Chance,’ and was nominated for two Grammy’s, but shortly after, news surfaced that Debarge entered rehab again days before kicking off his tour. Fans did not know that rapper 50 Cent and R&B veteran Babyface lend a helping hand to the troubled star. In a recent radio interview with Atlanta’s V103 radio station, Debarge candidly tells of their intervention.

He explains, “I started getting these thoughts, and I called 50 cent up, and I said, ‘You gotta help me…I’m already on my way to doing something wrong.’ So 50 came like five cars deep, picked me up right from where I was, got me outta there, they met up with Babyface, they took me into Interscope, we all had a meeting, and they said, ‘Man why don’t you just go to rehab.’”

He reassures he never went back to drugs but that the relapse was in his mind, saying, “You have to get your mind right, and you have to have the tools to that you need to stay in recovery.” DeBarge also spoke about how he saw Whitney Houston a few days before her untimely passing, and briefly planned on working together. “She said ‘I need you, I wanna finish my album, I want you to sing with me…’ I was just happy that she embraced me like that, and I wanted to do something, but the next thing I know, she was gone,” he adds.

Hopefully that meeting with Whitney Houston shortly before her passing will help him as a reminder to stay on the right track.

A few weeks ago, I was asked to be a tester for the above app, and after playing around with it, I really like it. The fresh MyFaceWhen application — which launches in the app store tomorrow on May 16th —  allows you to record video and save as an GIF file that you can text to your friends. You can also use any music videos on your iPhone and create GIFs as well. After the jump, check out the press release for MyFaceWhen.

 Space Age Nerds Announce MyFaceWhenâ„¢ Release

Washington, D.C. (May 2012) — Space Age Nerds, an app company from the Nation’s capital, would like to announce the release of their brand new app, MyFaceWhen, for the iPhone in the App StoreSM. Their application enables users to create textable gifs, either from the user’s pre-recorded videos,
the app’s built in camera feature, or uploaded movies and television shows from the user’s computer. Users will enjoy one of the richest, most unique app experiences through new, innovative ways
to text messages to family and friends.

Notable features include:

• The ability to record new video footage once a user opens the app and instantly create unique,
one of a kind gifs to share.

• The ability to conveniently create gifs using pre-recorded videos that already exist in the user’s
camera roll on their mobile device.

• The ability to create gifs using videos and movies transferred directly from the user’s computer
to their mobile device.

• The ability to zoom in and trim videos to select specific frames in long videos, giving users full
control of the length of their gif creation.

• The ability to easily send a gif message directly from the app.

The app will be available for purchased at the price of $0.99 from the App Store and will be compatible with iPhone and iPod touch. MyFaceWhen requires iOS5 for iPhone.

 Yesterday G”town Wayne met with the winner of last week’s contest and gave her the prize she won for answering the Q/A correctly.

Rumors have been going around for a while that Teyana Taylor was going to sign to G.O.O.D Music. I heard over the weekend that she did finally sign with Kanye but today Def Jam sends out a press release making it official. You can read the press release right here.

Tomorrow, Jay-Z is expected to make an announcement that he will headline the first Budweiser “Made in America” music festival for Labor Day Weekend which will be a two-day event with over 28 musical acts performing at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on Sept. 1 and Sept. 2.

 Tickets will go on sale May 23 at Ticketmaster and LiveNation.com with proceeds going to local non-profitable charities including the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey .

NyTimes

Update. Jay-z Confirms the Show In Philly Today.

 Detroit’s Lincoln High School  attendance has  increase 8.56%, So reward the kids  Big Sean will be their Principal on Monday as part of the “Get Schooled” campaign. Sean says:


 â€œShowing up to school, all day, every day, is one of the most important things students can do to reach their educational goals and to go on to success later in life. I am so proud of my hometown of Detroit for tackling attendance issues head on and I am so excited to celebrate the achievements of the students who worked so hard throughout the attendance challenge.” Just last year, his frequent collaborator Nicki Minaj also served as a principal for the day at Collins Academy High School in Chicago. 

  Ahh

Using the Beastie Boys’ track ”Gratitude“, the Entree Lifestyle painted a Mural at Maywood Brooklyn in honor of MCA, who passed a week ago. After the jump, photos of making the mural.

  May 7th 2012, the rain let up in Brooklyn for just enough time to let us pay homage to an inspirational artist and person from our hometown. MCA, who sadly passed away on May 4th, 2012, was a founding member of the prodigious Beastie Boys. On a personal note, the Beastie Boys were like older brothers to us. Inspiring us as rappers,stereo type crushers, instrumentalists, culture kings, videographers, editors, business men, show men and as exceptional and special human beings. Thank you for the inspiration, for this and many many more good reasons, in the heart of Midwood Brooklyn, where it all began, we payed tribute to the energy he gave us in the best way we knew how. Thank you for your contributions to music, art, and humanity. Shout outs to Mike-D, King Ad Rock, and all of the family and friends of Adam Yauch. Our condolences during these difficult times. MCA’s essence lives on. -Team Entree

Yesterday Slaughterhouse begin shooting the visual for their latest single,Welcome to: Our House hits stores on June 12.

Last night, Jay-z helped Barcadi introduce their new drink D’usse (“dew-say”) at a private event in New York City. A bottle will cost you about $44.99.

One day before Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys died, he and other members of The Beastie Boys were sued for illegally sampling music.

 The claims are made in a federal lawsuit filed in New York federal court by TufAmerica. They say it is the exclusive administrator of the recordings “Say What” and “Drop the Bomb,” performed by the group Trouble Funk. Some of you might know them as the 80’s go go band Trouble Funk. Last Thursday, TufAmerica dropped the bomb on the three Beasties along with Universal Music, Brooklyn Dust Music and Capitol Records with allegations that copyrighted recordings were illicitly used on the Beasties’ 1986 album “License to Ill” and the 1989 album “Paul’s Boutique.”

 It’s unlikely that Yauch, aka MCA, was ever served papers in this case before he died. The sound recordings were created more than 20 years ago, which figures to represent a battle whether the statute of limitations had passed on the plaintiff’s claims.TufAmerica says it was never disclosed to them that the sample had been used by Beastie Boys and that the “defendants purposely concealed the integration” of the samples.

 Capitol Records re-released Paul’s Boutique in “remixed and remastered” form in 2009. In addition to “Shadrach,” the plaintiffs say that the album also featured an unauthorized “Drop the Bomb” sample on the track “Car Thief” and that the “Drop the Bomb” sample was also used on the Licensed to Ill songs “Hold It Now Hit It” and “The New Style.” TufAmerica is suing for copyright infringement, unjust enrichment and misappropriation. The plaintiff wants a permanent injunction enjoining the defendants from continuing to infringe the samples, plus punitive damages.

After dropping his debut album, Pluto, Future head on the road this summer for  a summer tour with Pusha T. The tour will begin on May 23rd in San Antonio.  After the jump check the dates.

Complex

5/23 – San Antonio, TX – Backstage Live
5/24 – Austin, TX – Beauty Ball Room
5/25 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
5/26 – Houston, TX – Arena Theatre
5/27 – Shreveport, LA – Thunder Road Raceway
5/29 – Miami, FL – Revolution (w/ Pusha T)
5/31 – Raleigh, NC – The Long Branch (w/Pusha T)
6/1 – Myrtle Beach, SC – House of Blues (w/Pusha T)
6/2 – Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore (w/Pusha T)
6/4 – New York City – Irving Plaza (w/Pusha T)
6/5 – Washington, DC – The Fillmore (w/Pusha T)
6/6 – Baltimore, MD – Soundstage (w/Pusha T)
6/7 – Norfolk, VA – The Norva (w/Pusha T)
6/8 – Philadelphia, PA – TLA – (w/Pusha T)
6/9 – Richmond, VA – The National (w/Pusha T)
6/10 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues (w/Pusha T)
6/12 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room (w/Pusha T)
6/13 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts (w/Pusha T)
6/14 – Detroit, MI – Chene Park (w/Pusha T)
6/15 – Louisville, KY – Plaza Convention Center (w/Pusha T)
6/17 – Memphis, TN – Cannon Center (w/Pusha T)
6/19 – Chicago, IL – The Metro (w/Pusha T)
6/20 – Grand Rapids, MI – The Intersection (w/Pusha T)
6/21 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave (w/Pusha T)
6/22 – St. Louis, MO – The Ambassador (w/Pusha T)
6/23 – Dallas, TX – Southside Music Hall
6/25 – Little Rock, AR – Juanitas (w/Pusha T)
6/26 – Tulsa, OK – Cains Ballroom (w/Pusha T)
6/27 – Wichita, KS – Cotillion (w/Pusha T)
6/28 – Oklahoma City, OK – Farmers Market (w/Pusha T)
6/29 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre (w/Pusha T)
7/3 – Los Angeles, CA – House of Blues (w/Pusha T)
7/6 – San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom (w/Pusha T)
7/7 – Reno, NV – Knitting Factory (w/Pusha T)
7/11 – Denver, CO – Bluebird (w/Pusha T)
7/14 – Phoenix, AZ – Phoenix Convention Center

The former Bad Boy star , G-Dep was sentenced today for murdering John Henkel 19 years ago. During preceding, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus said the following:
  “The circumstance of your being before the court now suggests to me a maturity and decency that wouldn’t have been evident at the time. It was the right thing to do, even though it landed you in the position you find yourself in now.” 

GQ‘s Editor In Chief was actually the foreman on the jury that convicted Dep. You can read what he had to say right here.

 NYpost

DMX has announced the release of a free EP titled The Weigh which hit the net on May 15th. The project will serve warm up to his official album Undisputed which is currently scheduled for release on June 26th.

Big shows going down this summer and one of them will be Power 106 LA’s Powerhouse 2012.This morning they announced the lineup for the show which includes, Snoop Dogg, T.I., Tyga, Kendrick Lamar, Young Jeezy, J.Cole, Kid Ink, Wale & YG. The show will go down on June 23rd and tickets go on sale May 10th at 10 AM.

Beastie Boys’ Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz log onto the group’s blog to thank their fans for the love and support regarding their group member. R.I.P. MCA. as you can imagine, shit is just fkd up right now. but i wanna say thank you to all our friends and family (which are kinda one in the same) for all the love and support. i’m glad to know that all the love that Yauch has put out into the world is coming right back at him. thank you