HRS News

Bow Wow and Omarion recently released a new collaboration single called “Girlfriend.” Fans will love this as it comes off their highly anticipated album “Faceoff“, which is due to drop Dec. 11th.

AUDIO: Bow Wow and Omarion – “Girlfriend” Windows|Quicktime

Female fans know Mario as a young, handsome platinum selling crooner. But few people knew about the Grammy-nominated R&B singer’s lifelong battle with his mother’s drug addiction. That is until think.mtv.com decided to present the documentary “I Won’t Love You To Death: The Story of Mario and His Mom.” Below is an excerpt of the show description:

“In this hour long special, MTV’s cameras captured Mario’s personal battle with his mother’s addiction through his point-of-view. Coming close to death from multiple drug overdoses, Shawn was incapable of raising Mario for most of his young life. Growing up, Mario has struggled with trying to find a way to cope with and change his mother’s troubled life. At the age of 20, Mario found himself acting as a parent to his own mother by providing a home for her and paying her expenses. Constantly questioning where the money is going, Mario is at a crossroads to determine whether he’s really the doing the best thing for her. With the help of an interventionist, Shawn’s boyfriend and a close family friend; Mario prepares for one of the toughest days of his life as he finally confronts his mom on camera and offers her the gift of rehab.”

The show, described as an “an intimate portrait of a tortured son trying to save his mother while still continuing to pursue the dreams he’s longed for since childhood” is set to air on MTV on Sunday, October 21st at 10pm (ET/PT). Take a peek below:

“Trapped In The Closet” auteur, R. Kelly is gearing up for his U.S. concert tour that will also include Keyshia Cole, Ne-Yo and J.Holiday. Starting on Nov. 14, the trek will hit major venues in Atlanta; Dallas; Washington; Houston; Las Vegas; New Orleans; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Chicago; St. Louis; Newark, N.J.; and Oakland, Calif.

Kelly was charged with child pornography in 2002 and is accused of engaging in videotaped sex acts with a minor. He will be supporting his latest album, Double Up, as he awaits a new date for his trial in Chicago which was postponed last month.

Cole is currently enjoying the success of her sophomore release, Just Like You, featuring the single, “Shoulda Let You Go” featuring Amina.

J. Holiday currently has the No. 1 R&B album in the U.S. with his debut Back Of My Lac featuring the smash hit “Bed.”

R. Kelly/Keyshia Cole Tour Dates:
Wed Nov 14 Columbus, GA Columbus Civic Center
Thurs Nov 15 Atlanta Phillips Arena
Fri Nov 16 Greensboro Greensboro Coliseum
Sat Nov 17 Birmingham BJCC
Sun Nov 18 Charlotte Bobcat Arena
Wed Nov 21 Philadelphia Wachovia Center
Thurs Nov 22 Newark Prudential Center
Fri Nov 23 New York Nassau Coliseum
Sat Nov 24 Baltimore 1st Mariner
Sun Nov 25 Washington DC Verizon Center
Thurs Nov 29 Little Rock Alltel Arena
Fri Nov 30 New Orleans New Orleans Arena
Sat Dec 1 Dallas American AirlinesArena
Sun Dec 2 Houston Toyota Center
Thurs Dec 6 Minneapolis Target Center
Fri Dec 7 Kansas City Sprint Center
Sat Dec 8 Indianapolis Conseco Fieldhouse
Sun Dec 9 Memphis Fed Ex Forum
Thurs Dec 13 Las Vegas Mandalay Bay
Fri Dec 14 Los Angeles Staples Center
Sat Dec 15 Oakland Oakland Arena(Oracle)
Sun Dec 16 Sacramento ARCO Arena
Thurs Dec 20 Chicago United Center
Fri Dec 21 Chicago United Center
Sat Dec 22 Detroit Joe Louis Arena
Sun Dec 23 Detroit Joe Louis Arena
Thurs Dec 27 Charleston North Charleston Coliseum
Fri Dec 28 Orlando Amway
Sat Dec 29 Columbia Colonial Center
Sun Dec 30 Jacksonville Veteran Memorial
Mon Dec 31 Miami American AirlinesArena
Fri Jan 4 Cleveland Wolstein Center
Sat Jan 5 Louisvile Kentucky Expo Center
Sun Jan 6 St Louis Scottrade
Wed Jan 9 Savannah Savannah Civic Center
Thurs Jan 10 Greenville Bi-Lo Center
Fri Jan 11 Richmond Richmond Coliseum
Sun Jan 13 Hampton Coliseum Hampton Coliseum

Word is Will Smith is busy developing a television show sitcom based on his hit 2005 flick Hitch.

The dramedy that starred Smith as a professional “date doctor” who falls in love, took in over 50 million in its opening weekend.

Smith is attached to executive produce the sitcom, but will not star in it. The project is expected to be pitched to networks shortly and is spearheaded by Smith’s production company, Overbrook Entertainment.

Other shows in development include “Uncle Rudy,” which is described as a family comedy starring Big Boi.

The biggest news from the weekend’s activities during the taping of the BET Hip-Hop Awards had nothing to do with music (shocker). ATL rapper T.I. was arrested on Saturday, mere hours before his scheduled performance for the show.

According to the Associated Press, federal officials said T.I. (real name Clifford Harris) paid his bodyguard to buy weapons such as machine guns and silencers for him.

Must have been one hell of a performance he had planned.

Taped at the Atlanta Civic Center, the show shut down several major streets. Performances were offered by the likes of Common, Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Nelly, Wyclef Jean, Kanye West and more.

Common performed his hit “Driving Me Wild” and along with West, who performed “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and the now incarcerated T.I., copped the most awards for the night.

Common won Lyricist of the Year, while his latest disc, Finding Forever, tied with T.I. for CD of the Year. He gave a shout out to T.I. in his acceptance speech, saying, “I salute my guy T.I., who also won, wherever he is.”

West won Best Live Performance and Best Hip-Hop Video for “Stronger,” and in an uncharacteristically gracious tone said of Outkast: “I didn’t deserve this award above them. They do instead of me.”

The 2nd Annual BET Hip-Hop Awards will air Oct. 17.

The always controversial Bobby Brown denied Wednesday that he had a mild heart attack, despite his attorney’s earlier claim that he had suffered one this week.

“None of it’s true,” Brown told Associated Press Radio. “I went in for a checkup. The doc gave me a clean bill of health.”

According to the Boston Herald, the 38-year-old singer’s Atlanta attorney, Phaedra Parks told The Associated Press that Brown had severe chest pains Tuesday night and was taken to two hospitals before being released Wednesday morning.

“This morning they did diagnose him as suffering from a mild heart attack … they attributed to stress and diet,” Parks said.

“I did go to the hospital,” Brown explained. “… to just get a checkup, get everything tested out so that I could go on this tour, and everything is fine. I don’t know where the heart attack thing came from. I got my heart and everything checked out earlier this morning, and I’m just fine.”

Check out the latest video from Keyshia Cole’s current Geffen Records album Just Like You. The song features Amina and follows up Cole’s hit “Let It Go.”

Official Site: http://www.keyshiacole.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/keyshiacole

DJ Axel dropped a mashup album that lives up to its title Breakin’ The Law. The illegal bootleg, released on his own label Holden Records, was rejected by major distributors and features mashups that combine hip-hop, rock, disco, funk and ballroom while combining artist match ups as crazy as Van Halen vs T.I., Lena Horne vs 50 Cent and Stevie Wonder vs Snoop Dogg.

The first single is “Push It Fergasonic” and pits Fergie vs Salt N’ Pepa vs JJ Fad. Check it out below.

AUDIO: “Push It Fergasonic”

http://www.djaxel.com

http://www.myspace.com/djaxel

If you haven’t already, check out Mary J. Blige’s newest track “Just Fine” from her upcoming eighth studio album. Growing Pains is due Nov. 27.

AUDIO: Mary J. Blige – “Just Fine” Real|Windows

Official Mary J. Blige Site: http://www.mjblige.com

http://www.myspace.com/maryjblige

After The Brooklyn Papers reported (on Friday, September 28th) that the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival wasn’t returning to Empire Fulton Ferry State Park music fans wanted to know what was going on.

Due to a schedule conflict with a Polish language production of Macbeth, the festival was feared to be cancelled, but the good fest folks let us know it was all still a go.

“We will be moving the Festival date to early July, tentatively July 12th,” said Festival Chair Wes Jackson. “We sat down with the Conservancy and figured a way around the scheduling conflict. It actually may be a blessing in disguise as we are working on launching a BHF Tour in ’08. Moving the festival date to mid July allows us to use the Brooklyn date as the tour launch.”

And for those who thought that it was some weird racist anti-hip-hop thing, think again.

“Because of reasons fair and unfair when you say ‘Hip-Hop’ people get concerned, Jackson added. “In addition, we produce a large event that brought over 10,000 people over a three day period to a residential neighborhood. These are homeowners who may not want to hear Tony Starks [aka Ghostface Killah] outside their front window. This is why other large music festivals and concerts like Coachella and Rock The Bells are done in out of the way places. Our Festival is in Brooklyn, in the community. And that brings along with it a new set of issues. Thankfully we have not had a single incident in three years. Anyone who has been to the Festival can attest to the positivity and diversity. The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation have worked with us to navigate these issues for the past two years and we will continue to do so.”

For more info, check www.brooklyn bodega.com.