Jay-Z trial slated for June
Jay Z's assault case has been pushed back to June 14 after a court date set for Wednesday was rescheduled because his lawyer, Murray Richman, is involved in a murder trail in the Bronx. Jay has been accused of stabbing record executive Lance "Un" Rivera on Dec. 1, 1999. In the meantime, Jay-Z has been working on his sixth album, tentatively titled The Blueprint. Jigga recently told MTV that he has 15 tracks done and might double that number by the time the album is released in November. "I usually make an album a year. Since Reasonable Doubt in '96, if you listen to any one of my albums it's just the emotion and what I felt at the time. I had a lot going on at the time, so I had a lot to write about. Anything that went on in the past year is definitely gonna be included on this album. I went in the studio one day, I made seven songs. From there it just was spilling. Now we up to 15. I don't know, I might make 30." Jay-Z also addressed the recent disses directed at him by Jayo Felony and Mobb Deep's Prodigy. "When you're on top of your game, everyone is frustrated, everyone wants to be in your position," Jay said. "It's ambition. That's what rap is built on. What it does to me, it makes the competitive sprit come out. Like, 'Yeah, lets do it.' It just gives me fire."
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Aaliyah and eight others died Saturday when their small plane crashed after taking off in the Bahamas. The 22-year-old singer and actress had just filmed a video for her next single, "Rock the Boat," on Abaco Island. The twin-engine Cessna 402B was bound for Opa-locka, Fla., when it went down about 6:50 p.m. Saturday in clear skies, roughly 200 feet from the end of the runway at Marsh Harbour airport -- 100 miles north of Nassau. According to investigators, six people, including Aaliyah, died instantly. The three others later died from their injuries. It is believed that the Cessna's engines failed, but U.S. and Bahamian aviation officials are still searching for clues. They are investigating whether excess weight from baggage and equipment contributed to the crash. Two local newspapers, The Tribune and The Freeport News, on Monday quoted a baggage handler who refused to be identified but said he warned the pilot that the plane was too heavy for a safe takeoff. Aaliyah's body was put onto a private jet and flown to Newark, N.J., on Tuesday. Funeral details are being kept private. Aaliyah was just 15 when her debut album dropped in 1994. Age Ain't Nothing But A Number went gold on the strength of the hit single "Back & Forth." Her second album, One In A Million, was released in 1996, and the single "If Your Girl Only Knew" went double platinum. She did not release another album until this year's self-titled offering dropped on July 17, but she stayed in the public eye with hit singles from soundtracks, guest appearances on other artists' albums, and her critically acclaimed acting debut in last year's "Romeo Must Die." Her song "Try Again" from that movie's soundtrack earned her a Grammy nomination for best female R&B vocalist, duplicating the feat she accomplished in 1998 with "Are You That Somebody?" from the "Dr. Dolittle" soundtrack. Aaliyah also had signed on to appear in two sequels to "The Matrix," and has a starring role in the upcoming movie, "Queen of the Damned." 
Lil' Cease and two others have been charged in connection with a shooting outside a New York deli, according to the Associated Press. A bodyguard for Cease's group, Junior M.A.F.I.A., was arrested Friday shortly after the 12:15 a.m. shooting. Bodyguard Suif Jackson was picked up by police after exiting a car that witnesses had placed at the crime scene. Police said Cease and Banger, another member of Junior M.A.F.I.A., were arrested later at La Guardia Airport. All three were charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon. Two 9 mm handguns found in a hidden compartment in the car were registered to 
According to the Associated Press, 
Sean "P. Diddy" Combs recently told the Associated Press that his new album, The Saga Continues, was his most creative to date because it used no samples. "I think this is a show of a progression, being that I didn't use any samples, even though it wasn't planned out," Combs said at the time. "But I didn't really use any samples, and it progressed in a way that it went back to the basics." Press releases also stated that the album "is comprised of entirely original beats and music." But when the album dropped Tuesday, a quick look at the liner notes reveals that 12 of the 17 tracks sample from other songs. Puffy tried to explain it away by saying that there were no samples of major hits. "There is no Diana Ross sample there," Combs told the AP on Wednesday, referring to the sample he used on Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money, Mo Problems" in 1997. "When anybody is talking about a sample, usually it's talking about a known sample. People always try to criticize me for using pop hits. We did not do that this time." 
Most people have gotten to know Fabolous from his recent contribution to Lil' Mo's single and video, "Superwoman Pt. II." But true heads know that this 21-year-old Brooklyn native is no newcomer to the rap game. Back in 1998, mixtape king DJ Clue invited Fabolous to audition for one of his tapes. After hearing his barbed rhymes and smooth flow, Clue signed him to Desert Storm Records, the new label he and his production partner, Duro, had formed. Since then, Fabolous has been making his name on Clue's mixtapes and albums while finding time to bless R&B tracks such as 702's remix of "Where My Girls At" and Mariah Carey's remake of "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life." But all that's just a warmup for the main event -- the Sept. 18 release of his debut album, Ghetto Fabolous. The first single, "Can't Deny It" featuring Nate Dogg, already is starting to surface on the radio, and the rest of the album boasts tracks produced by Clue, Duro, Rockwilder, The Neptunes, Timbaland and Rick Rock. 
The St. Lunatics will join their hometown newspaper for an online chat on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. 
The battle between two of the NBA's most publicized MCs is over. Shaquille O'Neal and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers four games to one in the NBA Finals. The Lakers celebrated their title repeat with a parade through downtown L.A., and Shaq, who not long ago announced that he was done with his music career, used the opportunity to introduce the world to his latest single -- a reworking of Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock's "It Takes Two" that hits stores Tuesday. And now the debate begins on where this year's Laker team ranks among the all-time greats, despite the fact that they didn't even win 60 games and Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls still own four more titles than this version of "Showtime." Kool Mo Dee, a frequent contributor to the weekend edition Jim Rome's "The Last Word" on Fox Sports Net, discussed the topic on this week's show. Mo Dee said that the Lakers are benefiting from an era of "mediocrity" while the younger stars get ready to take over the league. "Athletically, they're there," Mo said, "but emotionally, mentally and spiritually they haven't reached that level." 
Erick Sermon has signed a distribution deal with J Records that will bring the Def Squad, EPMD and the green-eyed bandit himself to Clive Davis' fledgling label. Sermon follows in the footsteps of Busta Rhymes, who moved his Flipmode Squad from Elektra to J earlier this year. The first release to be promoted under the new deal will be Sermon's latest solo effort, simply titled The Sermon, which is due in stores Aug. 7. His current single off the "What's The Worst That Could Happen" soundtrack, "Music," is getting heavy airplay thanks to creative editing that allows the late Marvin Gaye to be a part of both the song and the video. EPMD's first album since 1999's Out of Business is expected to be the next project on the schedule. 
2Pac's latest album, Until the End of Time, has been certified triple-platinum by the RIAA. The sales milestone moves 2Pac's career sales past the 33.5 million mark, more than double the number sold by the next closest MC (and that doesn't even include all of the illegal "Makaveli" bootlegs that have been sold). M.C. Hammer and the late Notorious B.I.G. sit at 16 million records sold with no likely prospects for new albums, with Biggie's limited recorded material and Hammer well past his platinum prime. 2Pac, on the other hand, has another double album scheduled to be released in Septmeber to coincide with the fifth anniversary of his death. 2Pac's previous posthumous collections include 1996's quadruple-platinum Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Theory, which was the only non-bootleg released under the alias Makaveli, and 1997's R U Still Down? (Remember Me). The rapper's Greatest Hits came in 1998 and has sold more than 9 million copies to date. Until the End of Time debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart after selling more than 426,800 copies in its first week. 
New 
For the second time this year, a radio station is being fined by the FCC for airing 
Shyne was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday for shooting and wounding two people during a dispute between Sean "Puffy" Combs and another man in a Times Square nightclub. Shyne, whose real name is Jamaal Barrow, admitted during the trial that he pulled out a gun and fired during the disturbance at Club New York on Dec. 27, 1999. Before the sentence was handed down, Shyne recited the Lord's Prayer, apologized to the victims, and asked the court for leniency. State Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon said that although Shyne was smart and talented, he couldn't look past the fact that he had fired a gun in a nightclub "as crowded as a subway in rush hour." Shyne was charged with first-degree assault, gun possession and reckless endangerment. Puffy and his bodyguard, Anthony "Wolf" Jones, were acquitted of bribery and gun possession. Although Shyne did not receive the maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, Puffy released a statement calling Shyne's sentence "unfair and extreme." "I know he had no intention of hurting anyone," Puff said in the statement. "My prayers are with him and his family. I'm shocked by today's outcome. I will continue to support Shyne throughout his appeal." 
Two of hip-hop's most animated characters delivered albums on Tuesday. 
Suge Knight has issued a public inviatation to Jayo Felony to join Death Row Records. A message posted on the Death Row's web site reads: "Wanted: Jayo Felony to become a Death Row inmate! For showing Snoop that it takes more than a couple of rent-a-Crips to be a gangsta!" Jayo has been rumored to be in discussions with the label for quite some time, and he will be featured on Death Row's latest compilation of old tracks by artists that are no longer with the record company. This time Daz and Kurupt's vintage recordings are unearthed for Tha Dogg Pound 2002, which is due in stores July 31. New tracks by the duo can be found on Dillinger & Young Gotti, an album released May 1 under the abbreviated name D.P.G.