TOP CD SALES OF 03
 

(I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE HILARY DUFF IN THE TOP 10!)



50 Cent outsells competition in '03

Associated Press

Published January 5 2004


Rapper 50 Cent's "Get Rich or Die Tryin"' was the top-selling album in 2003, followed by Norah Jones' Grammy-winning debut, "Come Away With Me."

"Get Rich or Die Tryin"' sold 6.5 million units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The jazzy "Come Away With Me," which won the Grammy for album of the year, sold more than 5 million.

CD album sales declined 2 percent from the previous year and overall album sales fell 3.6 percent. Music unit sales were off .8 percent.

Here were the year's Top 10 selling albums:

1. "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," 50 Cent

2. "Come Away With Me," Norah Jones

3. "Meteora," Linkin Park

4. "Fallen," Evanescence

5. "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," OutKast

6. "Dangerously in Love," Beyonce

7. "Chocolate Factory," R. Kelly

8. "Metamorphosis," Hilary Duff

9. "Shock'n Y'All," Toby Keith

10. "A Rush of Blood to the Head," Coldplay

Toke Puuuuuuuuuuuufffffffffffffffffffffffff........This some good Isht. You ever think about messin'roun wiff a lotto winna?

Toke Inhaaaaaaallllllleeeee.....Whatchu mean Velvetta?

Toke, Toke, juss what I said......I'mo call Po-Po and tell'm I lost the ticket and see what them fools say.

COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH........Woman quit talkin crazy. But dand fo'rill you gone do that?

Heel Yeah, shoot! What I gotta lose but some badazz kids, hell they don't even like me........

Dang Valveline youz a wile girl.....yo you wile...............

Puuuuuuuffffffffffffffffffff.............Fo'rill this some good Hsit....Fo'rizzle!

News Tidbits from mtv.com
 

With "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" such a hit, it's no surprise that the Fab 5 are branching out — with Jai Rodriguez, otherwise known as the group's culture expert, leading them in the music department. Rodriguez, who performed the role of Angel in "Rent" on Broadway, has started work on his debut album. Rodriguez previously released the dance single "Love Is Good" before signing on to the Bravo/NBC show. ...

Russell Simmons has sold Phat Fashions, the parent company of his Phat Farm and Baby Phat clothing lines, to Kellwood Company for a reported $140 million. Simmons launched Phat Farm in 1992 and, according to a release announcing the deal on Thursday, he's seen his company's profits go up every year. Phat Fashions will operate as a subsidiary of Kellwood, which already makes such brands as Calvin Klein, Izod and Liz Claiborne. Simmons will stay on as CEO of Phat Farm while his wife, Kimora, will continue as the principal creative force behind the ladies' Baby Phat line. ...

Michael Jackson to Appear in a Movie
 

Michael Jackson to Appear in a Movie
(AP, 01/09/2004 10:04:00AM)

You may soon be seeing Michael Jackson on the big screen. The entertainer is in a movie titled "Miss Cast Away," about a group of beauty pageant contestants who crash-land on a deserted island, where they find Noah's Ark.

Jackson plays a force sent by the pope in a beam of light to dispense wisdom to the stranded women. No word on when or how the movie will be released.

In other news, Jackson is making good on his promise to put the "Never" in Neverland. In his "60 Minutes" interview, Jackson said he wouldn't go back to live at his estate after police combed through it in a criminal raid.

Now, the television show "Extra" reports the singer has rented a multi-million dollar home in Beverly Hills, Calif. The report says the mansion doesn't have anywhere near the square footage of his Neverland Ranch, but it does have a tennis court and swimming pool.

Jackson Leasing $20 Million Beverly Hills Mansion
Says Neverland No Longer Home

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (Jan. 9) - Michael Jackson, who says he'll never live at his Neverland Ranch again, has found a $20 million substitute.
The pop star is leasing a cliffside estate described as the ''crown jewel of Beverly Hills'' with panoramic city views, according to veteran broker Elaine Young.
Jackson, who is facing child molestation charges, signed a one-year lease with a one-year option to buy the mammoth three-story mansion, Young said. The listed lease price was $100,000 a month, but it wasn't known what Jackson was paying.
Calls to his attorney Mark Geragos weren't immediately returned Friday.
The self-described King of Pop said during a CBS-TV ''60 Minutes'' interview last month that Santa Barbara County sheriff's investigators searching Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley so violated his privacy that it will never be the same for him.
''I won't live there ever again,'' he said. ''It's a house now. It's not a home anymore. I'll only visit.''
The 37,000-square-foot Beverly Hills estate, about 90 miles southeast of Neverland, was built in 1991 on 2.25 acres. It is owned by a Japanese artist and has been on the market for $20 million.
It has nine bedroom suites, 16 bathrooms, a north/south tennis court, a 3,600 square-foot ballroom/theater, an indoor swimming pool, an exercise room with sauna and steam room, a spa and a gourmet kitchen.
Jackson, 45, is charged with seven counts of performing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14 and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent. He's free on $3 million bail pending arraignment Jan. 16 in Santa Maria.
01/09/04 22:56 EST

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/arti...09225809990001

Arista President 'L.A.' Reid Exits
Tue Jan 13, 7:42 PM ET

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer

NEW YORK - Antonio "L.A." Reid, who took the helm at Arista Records nearly four years ago and oversaw platinum successes from acts including OutKast, Pink and Avril Lavigne (news), has left the label, it was announced Tuesday.



Reid became president and CEO of Arista in May 2000 after the company's founder and CEO, Clive Davis, left because of parent company BMG's mandatory retirement policy.


Reid was not available to comment, according to an Arista spokeswoman.


Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, chairman and CEO of BMG, called Reid "one of the music industry's top record men."


"His passion for working with and developing some of the world's best artists is unparalleled," Schmidt-Holtz said in a statement Tuesday. "I sincerely wish him the best of luck in all future endeavors."


Reid's departure comes at a surprising time; OutKast has the top two songs on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and "Milkshake" from Kelis, another Arista artist, is No. 3. It also has the top-selling album in the country with OutKast's "Speakerboxxx-The Love Below," which earned six Grammy nominations last month, including album of the year.


The company has also had successes this year with albums from Sarah McLachlan (news) and Dido. But the follow-up album from Pink, "Try This," has sold poorly since its release in the fall; her last album, "M!ssundaztood," sold more than 5 million copies.


Reid also re-signed Whitney Houston (news) to a $100 million contract in 2001, despite rumors of drug use and erratic behavior about the singer, who's the label's best-selling artist. Houston's subsequent album, "Just Whitney," was the poorest-selling disc of her career.


Michael Smellie, BMG's chief operating officer, will be in charge of Arista for now.


A spokesman for BMG, Nathaniel Brown, said the company's recent announcement of a planned merger with Sony's music division had nothing to do with Reid's departure.


Reid first gained prominence in the early '80s as a founding member of the R&B group The Deele, which featured then unknown Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. Edmonds and Reid went on to build a successful production and songwriting partnership with hits for artists such as Houston, and later for the group's own label, LaFace Records, whose artists included Toni Braxton (news), TLC and Usher.


Davis, whom Reid replaced, later founded J Records with backing from BMG and is now head of RCA Music Group.


___

HIP-HOP MOGUL DASH RAPED ME
Wed Jan 14, 1:42 PM ET Add Op/Ed - New York Post to My Yahoo!


By STEVE DUNLEAVY


A LEGGY former model says she was horribly raped by powerhouse rap mogul Damon Dash in a 15-second, forced-sex encounter on New Year's Day, 2003, a blockbuster $15 million new suit charges.


Kirstie Thompson's suit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan yesterday, claims that the hip-hop superstar sexually attacked her while she was in a booze-and- pill-induced stupor in a hotel room on an island off Brazil over a year ago.


Thompson, now a concierge for a top fashion house in Manhattan, said her nightmare began when she was on location in Brazil working for uber-model Naomi Campbell, and she and her best friend decided to island-hop to a posh New Year's Eve gig.


At the party, thrown by New York millionaire Mario Ganero and drawing such guests as the president of Brazil, Thompson said she was verbally sexually harassed by Dash.


"Damon came up to me and asked me - and literally, these were his words - 'Will you have sex with me?' " Thompson told The Post yesterday.


"He asked me that three times, and I said absolutely no.


"And he said, 'Everyone has sex with me.' "


"I'm 32 years of age," Thompson said, "and I'm not a virgin, but I'd never heard such a vulgar line in my life. What woman would be romanced by someone saying, 'Will you have sex with me?' and being denied three times and telling you he's had sex with everyone?"


Thompson claims that the attack occurred after she went back to the hotel room she and her friend shared on another island. She admits to having "eight glasses of champagne and a half tablet of 'ecstasy' " and falling asleep there.


She said the next thing she knew, her friend had brought Dash - a 32-year-old Harlem native who owns Rocawear clothing line and is partners in Roc-a-Fella Records - back to the room and told him, "She [Thompson] hasn't had much sex."


"The next second he's on top of me," Thompson told The Post.


"For 10-15 seconds at 8:30 in the morning, he was on top of me. I screamed out to my best friend, and nothing happened, and I certainly passed out."


After waking up again "at 1:30 p.m., examining myself, I knew something terrible had happened, I had been raped," she said. Thompson said she immediately filed a report with local authorities and went to the hospital.


But Dash's representative, Amanda Silverman, yesterday ripped the allegations as "baseless and untrue."


"These are ludicrous allegations," she said. "Damon hasn't been charged with anything."


Thompson has hired celebrity lawyer Raoul Felder, who has Jimmy Curran, an ex-cop-turned-lawyer with 37 NYPD commendations, handling the case.


The suit claims that Damon's actions were "outrageous and intentional and done with malice," noting that he "was aware [Thompson] would not consent to sexual intercourse."





Yesterday, Thompson added, "There's no possibility in a million years I'd ever go to bed with Damon Dash, I don't care what his success rate is."

Thompson said the idea that Dash may have been dating Campbell at the time of her alleged attack is even more repulsive.

"We had heard that Damon was going with Naomi. I don't know whether that is a fact or not," she said.

"But Damon came on pretty gross with me, particularly if he was with another woman."

I'm not being insensitive, but..
 

Ummmm, 15 seconds? :eek: 1...2...3...4....Nah, maybe she meant 15 minutes. WTH?

Re: I'm not being insensitive, but..
 

LMAO at 1sd....

Now how about this....girly remembers a whole lot of details for someone who drank 8 glasses of champagne and an ecstacy tab..and admittedly passed out. Gee, she remembers exact words, exact time length (was she counting...did she have a watch)!!!! Then she says she woke up at exactly 1:30pm and EXAMINED HERSELF? WTF is really going on.

Ya'll caught that too? :rolleyes:
Flo Anthony said that Naomi said that chickie poo is lying... hmmm,
stay tuned..

Re: Re: I'm not being insensitive, but..
 

Yeah, she knows way too much for someone who was quite inebriated.

@Nikki - I say chickie poo too. :)

Re: I'm not being insensitive, but..
 

15 seconds??? I don't know about this one. See this is why I watch how much I drink if I go out to a party because thing can happen and also why I DO NOT do drugs.

Mystikal Convicted
 

New Orleans Rapper Mystikal Gets 6 Years In Jail
Rape Of Hairdresser By Tyler, Others Videotaped

POSTED: 9:24 AM CST January 15, 2004
UPDATED: 2:56 PM CST January 15, 2004

BATON ROUGE, La. -- New Orleans rapper Mystikal was sentenced Thursday to six years in jail after pleading guilty to a sexual battery charge.

Mystikal, whose real name is Michael Tyler, appeared for sentencing in state court in Baton Rouge. An earlier hearing was delayed after his attorney discovered the judge had watched Tyler's videotape of the attack.

Defense attorney David Bourland said Tyler pleaded guilty after he was promised that the videotape would not be shown to anyone, including District Judge Tony Marabella. Now Tyler wants to change his plea.

Tyler and two bodyguards videotaped themselves in forced sex acts with Tyler's hairstylist after an argument with her.

Tyler accused the woman of stealing $80,000 worth of his checks. The woman denies the accusation.

Bourland said his client would not have entered a plea if he knew the tape was going to be shown. He said the tape is inflammatory and doesn't "reflect the entirety of the events."

Superfly' Actor Ron O'Neal Dies at 66
33 minutes ago


LOS ANGELES - Actor Ron O'Neal, best known for starring in two "Superfly" blaxploitation movies in the 1970s, has died. O'Neal, who was 66, died Wednesday night at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer, his wife said.


http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com..._oneal_la2.jpg



O'Neal played a cocaine dealer named Youngblood Priest in "Superfly" and the sequel, "Superfly TNT," which he also directed. Though known for his work as a street tough character in the films, O'Neal also was a stage actor. In fact, it was his performance in Joseph Papp's Public Theater production of "No Place To Be Somebody" that brought O'Neal to the attention of the producers of "Superfly."


Following the "Superfly" films, O'Neal had a long career as a character actor on television and in movies, appearing in low-budget films like "Mercenary Fighters" in 1987 and "Up Against the Wall" in 1991, which he also directed. In 1996, he joined Jim Brown (news), Fred Williamson, Richard Roundtree (news) and Pam Grier (news) in a reunion of blaxploitation superstars in the film "Original Gangstas."


O'Neal capped his career two years ago with a performance in "On The Edge," teaming again with Fred Williamson and Ice-T.

By WENN

January 16 2004

R&B divas Beyonce Knowles and Janet Jackson are battling it out -- over who stands where at a magazine photo shoot.

According to reports, Beyonce only agreed to appear on the front cover of Essence magazine with chart rivals Mary J. Blige and Jackson, if she could stand in the middle.

But bosses at the magazine are apparently steeling themselves to tell the Destiny's Child babe they have already promised the best spot to 37-year-old Jackson.

A source explains, "Beyonce may have got her way in Destiny's Child but this is different. It's going to be hard to keep everyone and their entourages happy.

"Beyonce is the hottest thing in music right now -- she has four Grammy nominations, number ones all over the globe and wants to take center stage.

"But as far as Janet is concerned, it's a case of 'been there, done that'."

The pair are also due to meet at next month's Superbowl, when Beyonce will sing the national anthem and Janet will headline the half-time entertainment.