Beyonce, Pitbull, Steven Tyler get animated for Fox film

Beyonce, Pitbull and Steven Tyler are set to get animated for a new Fox film, according to a Deadline report.

The music superstars will lend their voices to the 3-D computer animated film “Epic,” which is being produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios.

“Epic” is helmed by “Ice Age” director Chris Wedge and is described as a battle between good and evil after a teenage girl finds herself transported into a magical secret universe. There she is tasked with saving the world, alongside a team of whimsical characters.

Kanye West, Jay-Z's 'Throne' dominates BET Award nominations

Kanye West leads the list of nominations for the 2012 BET Awards, which the network announced on Tuesday.

West scored a leading seven, six of them the result of his heralded collaboration with Jay-Z.

When the two rap heavyweights announced they would join forces on “Watch the Throne,” under the equally royal moniker the Throne, it became one of last year’s most anticipated releases. Fans were eager to hear what the frequent collaborators would offer.

The pair bypassed traditional album promotion: They didn’t issue a handful of visuals for the singles outside of “Otis” and “ … In Paris” -- both of which compete for video of the year -- and if you wanted to see them perform together, the best chance was their massive fall tour, which became one of 2011’s highest grossing.

Beyonce to make post-Blue Ivy return in Atlantic City

The question of when Beyonce would return to the stage after giving birth to daughter Blue Ivy has been answered as the pop diva announced plans to anchor three concerts in Atlantic City in May.

The 16-time Grammy winner will perform the concerts as part of the unveiling of the $2.4-billion Revel Resorts. All three shows will be held over Memorial Day weekend in the resort’s Ovation Hall, which has 5,050 seats, according to Revel.

Beyonce’s last full concerts were in August during her four-night run at New York’s Roseland Ballroom. A few weeks later she announced her pregnancy at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. It's always safe to assume Bey will offer up selections from her hits-filled back catalog as both a solo star and  Destiny's Child star, but will she also use the stage to debut music inspired by new motherhood?

Singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder recently revealed she was plotting two projects for this year, one of which could very well serve as some sort of soundtrack to her upcoming Clint Eastwood-directed update of “A Star Is Born,” which was postponed to make room for little Blue Ivy.

"The conversations about her next album literally just started and there [are] two projects happening," the OneRepublic frontman said. "All I can say is you kind of feed her the best that you have and she's this phenomenal filter and she takes it all in."

Beyonce's three night engagement could also warm up the singer for a possible tour. She's yet to go on the road for her last album, "4." The CD wasn't the blockbuster people expected from the singer, but it was heralded by critics for its genre-bending sounds that pushed her outside the boundaries of radio-friendly pop.

Tickets for the May 25-27 concerts go on sale April 6 with more information to come on her website.

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photo: Beyoncé performs at the Glastonbury Festival in England on June 26. Credit: Matt Cardy /Getty Images

Cee Lo Green demo for Whitney Houston leaks

Cee Lo Green is best known for his Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley days, dishing out advice on “The Voice” or that ubiquitously profane hit that burned up charts and made the Lady Killer a household name.

But Green has also spent a great deal of his career quietly penning tracks for other artists, including Jennifer Hudson, Brandy, Amerie and the Pussycat Dolls.

Green even came close to working with the late pop diva Whitney Houston. The fine folks at Bling47 have unearthed a vintage (circa '07) demo that Green did for the singer. “All Alone Now,” which the record label posted Thursday, is a collaboration between Green and B47 co-founder Waajeed specifically for Houston.

Watch it now: Jay-Z and Beyoncé's baby on 'Saturday Night Live'

"Saturday Night Live" has been on target lately with its music-world sketches. Latest case in point: This weekend's hilarious bit involving hip-hop power couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé's new addition to the world, their baby girl Blue Ivy.

The comedy institution hasn't always been tapped into the beat. Don't hold us to historical record here, but it seems as if there was a long and lonely time, where cold winds blew across the empty plains of "SNL," in terms of pop stars and their endless foibles. Talk about missed opportunities! (And no, just for the record, a smarmy Justin Timberlake pretending to wrap his private parts in a box doesn't count, as awesome as it was.)

A few weeks ago, Kristin Wiig took to Seth Meyers' "Weekend Update" as Lana Del Rey, to defuse the backlash that exploded on the torchy singer after singing a couple of songs that either flopped, confused or mesmerized, depending on your position. "Based on the public's response," Wiig-as-Lana tells Meyers, "I must have clubbed a baby seal while singing the Taliban national anthem."

This weekend's sketch doesn't handle something nearly as contentious. At the center of it all is a well-coiffed Blue Ivy, in her crib, feted by a variety of famous visitors -- a parade, it turns out, of top-notch imitations from the "SNL" cast, including a suitably awkward Bon Iver, played by Timberlake sporting a fake bald pate.

We won't ruin the best moments for you, but we wish we had Jay Pharoah hanging around the Pop & Hiss office, ready at a second's command to launch into his spot-on Jay-Z "ha-ha-ha-ha, YEP!" call.

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Jay-Z celebrates his 'greatest creation' in new song 'Glory'

-- Margaret Wappler

 

 

 

Beyoncé plotting two albums for 2012?

Maternity leave may not be for everyone -- especially not for one of music’s hardest working pop divas, Beyoncé.

Singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder, who landed a Grammy for his work on Adele's mega-seller, "21," told the BoomBox during Sunday’s Grammy ceremony that the singer was readying two projects for 2012.

"The conversations about her next album literally just started and there [are] two projects happening," the OneRepublic frontman said. "All I can say is you kind of feed her the best that you have and she's this phenomenal filter and she takes it all in."

Tedder says he is submitting songs about motherhood. And although he didn’t reveal any details about the singer's second project, it may be a safe guess to say that it will be some sort of soundtrack to her upcoming Clint Eastwood-directed update of “A Star Is Born,” which was postponed after the star announced she was pregnant at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

Jay-Z celebrates his 'greatest creation' in new song 'Glory'

"You're my child of a child from Destiny's Child."

With the Internet still abuzz over the delivery of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s firstborn, Blue Ivy Carter, the rapper did what any excited new papa would do: He released a song.

The tribute track, "Glory," made its debut on Jay’s website, Life and Times, on Monday -- only two days after his little girl made her debut (reportedly in style at a private wing in New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital). In the post, there's a photo of the Empire State Building and the words "Life just got REALLY good."

Jay-Z has been notoriously mum on his relationship with Beyoncé, and his emotional verse on his “greatest creation” dug deep into the couple’s struggles to conceive a child, revealing that Bey previously suffered a miscarriage.

“False alarms and false starts, all made better by the sound of your heart. All of the pain of the last time, I prayed so hard it was the last time,” he rapped. “You don’t yet know what swag is, but you was made in Paris and Mama woke up the next day and shot an album package.”

Just when the song couldn’t get cuter (there’s plenty of one-liners to pull at your heartstrings), Jay even gives “Daddy’s little girl” her first feature as he recorded her cries for the end of the track. He even shouts out his long fallen friend Biggie by crediting her, B.I.C.

Take a listen to the track here, and we dare you not to get misty eyed. 

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Best of 2011 in local hip-hop and R&B: Gerrick D. Kennedy

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

Twitter.com/GerrickKennedy

Photo: Jay-Z and Beyoncé in a file photo. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Beyoncé to release 'Live At Roseland' DVD, video anthology

Beyoncé seldom seems to miss an opportunity for promotion. Even while expecting her first child, the diva isn’t slowing down for anyone.

Just in time for frenzied holiday shopping, she is issuing a live DVD compilation from her “4 Intimate Nights With Beyoncé” limited engagement shows at Roseland Ballroom, the singer announced on Wednesday.

The string of concerts back in August reportedly sold out in a record 22 seconds, and are the only times she has performed her new album, “4,” in its entirety. It’s also the last set of full shows the singer did before she shocked the MTV Video Music Awards audience by not-so-subtly showing she’d be taking a little maternity leave.

“Live At Roseland” will first see an exclusive Wal-Mart roll out on Nov. 21. Then on Nov. 29 Beyonce will issue a deluxe edition, “Live At Roseland: The Elements Of 4.”

The deluxe package includes a two-disc DVD, with the concert, behind-the-scenes footage, a 20-page booklet and a video anthology that includes the seven videos she filmed in support of “4." Which proves there was a method behind that madness of back-to-back, seemingly rushed release of clips -- the latest, “Party,” premieres Wednesday night.

But we're wondering if fans need to dip into their pockets so quickly? Though there are no plans as of yet, history has shown that each of her past concert DVD releases has ultimately been broadcast as TV specials.

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photo: Beyoncé performs during her “4 Intimate Nights" limited engagement. Credit: Parkwood Entertainment / Columbia Records

Beyoncé sees bump in album, single sales following baby reveal

Beyoncé's revelation -- both on the red carpet and during her performance -- that she and her husband, Jay-Z, are expecting their first child undoubtedly stole the show at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday.

The big warm-and-fuzzy moment also has provided the diva with a major bump, pun intended, on record sales.

After telling the audience that she wanted them "to feel the love that's growing inside," she dived into "Love on Top,” a cut from her album “4.”

The performance boosted the nonsingle into the iTunes top 5, while her actual single, “Best Thing I Never Had,” is currently languishing at No. 23. The album has also made its way back into the top 10 on iTunes, coincidentally landing at the No. 4 spot.

Despite being herald by critics, the disc has struggled a bit commercially.

The album's first two singles, “Best Thing I Never Had” and “Run the World (Girls),” have failed to take off like “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” “Irreplaceable,” “Crazy in Love” and other huge hits.

The album has so far logged fewer than 700,000 units, according to Nielsen Soundscan, since its June release -- a sluggish number when compared to the record-breaking tallies that Adele and Lady Gaga have enjoyed with their recent releases.

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-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photo: Beyoncé shows her baby bump after performing "Love on Top" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. Credit: Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Beyoncé fired father Mathew Knowles after Live Nation accused him of theft, he alleges in lawsuit

Beyoncé's father/former manager, Mathew Knowles, has filed legal papers rejecting Live Nation's claim that he stole money from the singer, resulting in his termination.



Earlier this year, Beyoncé announced that she had severed professional ties with her father/manager,  Mathew Knowles, a decision said to have been amicable. She would take the reins over her mutliplatinum, Grammy-filled career and he would focus on his roster of gospel artists.

But in a lawsuit filed Monday in a Harris County, Texas, district court, Knowles claimed he in fact had been terminated by his daughter, and alleged he had been fired after Live Nation Entertainment made claims that he had stolen money from her.

Beyoncé announced her seperation from Knowles, who had guided her career since her teenage debut as lead singer of Destiny’s Child,  in March.

"I've only parted ways with my father on a business level. He is my father for life, and I love my dad dearly. I am grateful for everything he has taught me. I grew up watching both he and my mother [Tina Knowles] manage and own their own businesses," she wrote in a statement. "They were hard-working entrepreneurs and I will continue to follow in their footsteps." She soon launched her own management company, Parkwood Entertainment.

In the filing, the elder Knowles claimed that the concert conglomerate, which promoted the singer's past tours, had made false allegations about him to his daughter in hopes of gaining rights to promoting her 2011 world tour.