RCA Music Group is downsizing in an effort to restore luster to its brand name.

Today the company announced that it will be shutting down three subsidiaries, Jive, Arista and J Records.

Artists under those labels such as Alicia Keys, Britney Spears, R. Kelly, Miguel, Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Pink, T-Pain, Dido, Jennifer Hudson, Whitney Houston, Pitbull and others, will be moved over to RCA.

"In an effort to refresh RCA Records, all label imprints -- J Records, Arista Records and Jive -- will now be under the the iconic RCA Records label," read a statement from RCA issued Friday (October 7).

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Peep the cover art for Catfish Billy's Shady Records debut, Radioactive.

The album is now due out November 21.

“I needed to add some important finishing touches to the album which resulted in the new release date (November 21st). I have some surprises in store for the fans that have to be seen before the album comes out. It’s definitely worth the wait.”

– Yelawolf

The brother of accused cocaine trafficker James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond received a 12-year prison sentence for running his own cocaine trafficking operation Wednesday (October 5).

Kesner Rosemond, 50, had already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Prosecutors say that in addition to helping his brother deal drugs in a separate operation, Kesner had set up a "side business" that competed with Jimmy's. Kesner cut side deals with suppliers and came up with a plan to distribute his cocaine nationwide using fake Fed Ex accounts according to the New York Post.

He obtained the identities of people and their personal financial and biographical information from loan applications they had submitted to a New York car dealership.

Then Kesner Rosemond opened Federal Express accounts in their names, and later shipped drugs from Los Angeles to New York City using FedEx packages sent "in the names of these innocent individuals," Kaminsky told the judge at a Brooklyn federal hearing last month.

The "seriousness" of this tactic is particularly disturbing, given that it "not only resulted in their being victims of identity theft, but also had the horrifying potential of exposing them to interrogation or arrest if a package shipped under an account bearing their personal information had been intercepted by law enforcement," the prosecutor wrote in court documents.

During an August 2010 search of Kesner Rosemond's home in Georgia, Drug Enforcement Administration agents found loan applications from the unnamed auto dealership in New York, prosecutors say.

His younger brother, hip-hop music promoter James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, faces charges in New York that he used his music business as cover for his bi-coastal cocaine trafficking ring.

 

Federal prosecutors have indicted him on money laundering and obstruction of charges - as well as an additional charge that he ran a criminal enterprise while smuggling kilos of cocaine in music industry equipment packing cases from Los Angeles to New York.

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Fox News reporter Erin Hawksworth let an f-bomb slip out during her pre-game segment for a Seattle Seahawks NFL game. The live on air screw up didn't seem to faze Hawksworth, who simply laughed her way through it.

Hawksworth was reading a comment from a fan about "haters" in the Fox Q13 chat room when the slip of the tongue occured.

"Someone just asked me f*cking kick all the haters off of our chat" she said, or at least that what it sounded like.

There have been suggestions she actually said "if I can" instead of "f*cking."

Regardless, it's pretty funny and Erin is not bad to look at.

Pics from BlackSportsOnline

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Styles P turned his album release party for Master of Ceremonies into an all-star concert at BB Kings in NYC Wednesday (October 5).


Artists who turned out to support the D-Block veteran include Lloyd Banks, Busta Rhymes, Kid Capri, DJ Mike Sessions and Funkmaster Flex. Of course the party would not have been complete without fellow members of the Lox, Jadakiss and Sheek Louch.


Styles and Banks performed "We Don't Play" off Master of Ceremonies.


Check out the video below, plus pics of the event shot by Samuel Wilson.

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Diggy Simmons just made the parents of a lot of his young fans very happy. The 16-year old son of Run DMC's Rev. Run has vowed to never curse in his records.

“When people hear me say certain types of things, they say, I wonder what Rev would think,” Diggy told 93.9 WKYS. “I wouldn’t say anything in the first place that would be shameful to my family anyway, but I am me at the end of the day. That’s not even me trying to be clean. I don’t need it, I don’t need to curse in my rhymes or in any of my songs,”

Diggy goes on to talk about his favorite Run DMC song and answered fan questions about his first kiss, his first girlfriend, his upcoming debut album, if he’s dating now, growing up in the spotlight and more.

Diggy talks about not needing to curse at the 18 minute mark

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Check out Beyonce's new video for "Countdown." The song is the third single off B's platinum selling album, 4.

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Complex compiled their list of the top 50 best radio freestyles ever. Like any other list of this kind there's lots of room for debate. G-Unit finished just outside the top 10. Placing at (No. 12) with their 2003 takeover of Funkmaster Flex's show.


Check out the top 12 below.


12. G-Unit (50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck) - 2003 Funkmaster Flex show "Shyne & Lil Kim Diss"

11. Nas  - 2001 Hot 97 Funkmaster Flex show "H to the Omo" (Jay-Z Diss)

10. Notorious B.I.G. and Lil Cease - Sway & Tech Power "Last Freestyle" 

9. LL Cool J - 1985 Power 99 "It's Yours"

8. Big L - 1988 Stretch & Bobbito WKCR 89.9 "1988 Freestyle"

7. Roc-A-Fella (Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Beanie Sigel, State Property) - 2001 Funkmaster Flex Hot 97 "Takeover"

6. Nas & Bravehearts - 1993 Stretch & Bobbito WKCR 89.9 "Prematic Freestyle"

5. Wu Tang Clan - 1993 Stretch & Bobbito WKCR 89.9 "Freestyle"

4. Jay-Z - 2006 Hot 97 Funkmaster Flex "Grammy Family Freestyle"

3. Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack and Puffy - 1991 Tim Westwood Radio 1 "Freestyle"

2. Eminem & Royce Da 5'9 - 1988 Stretch & Bobbito WKCR 89.9 "12 Minute Freestyle"

Part 1 of 2

Part 2 of 2

1. Jay-Z and Big L - 1995 Stretch & Bobbito "7 Minute Freestyle"

For the full list go to Complex to check it out.

The tracklist for Pusha T's upcoming album, Fear Of God II: Let Us Pray was just released.

The G.O.O.D Music MC was able to snag some nice features for the 12-song disc including 50 Cent, Kanye West, Pharrell, Tyler, The Creator, Juicy J. Kevin Cossom and Meek Mill.

Release date is set for November 8.

Tracklist:

1. Changing Of The Guards ft. Diddy

2. Amen ft. Kanye West and Young Jeezy

3. Trouble On My Mind ft. Tyler, The Creator

4. What Dreams Are Made Of

5. Body Work ft. Juicy J, Meek Mill, and French Montana

6. Everything That Glitters ft. French Montana

7. So Obvious

8. Feeling Myself ft. Kevin Cossom

9. Raid ft. 50 Cent and Pharrell

10. My God

11. I Still Wanna ft. Rick Ross and Ab Liva

12. Alone In Vegas

Snoop Dogg will be visiting your living rooms once a week in the near future courtesy of a new NBC sitcom.

According to Deadline, Snoop will be playing the father in a family comedy being written by Don Reo.

Snoop Dogg and Ted Chung are serving as the show's producers, while Reo will executive produce.

Snoop is quite comfortable in front of a camera with 53 acting credits to his name including Soul Plane, Training Day and The Wash. He was recently cast as the lead in the upcoming biopic, The Legend Of Fillmore Slim.

No word on when production starts on the new NBC series.

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Last week Papoose declared himself the "King Of New York." The statement became a trending topic on twitter that read "#PapooseSaid.”

Of course not everyone agreed with the statement. Fellow Brooklyn rapper Red Cafe visited the Jenny Boom Boom show and weighed in with his opinion. He declared Jay-Z the "King Of New York," citing Hov's accomplishments and record sales.

Now Papoose is answering Red Cafe back. Saying among other things record sales shouldn't necessarily equate to being the best rapper.

"It's a known fact these n*ggas is buying their own records, so them numbers is not accurate. Let's stop taking this numbers sh*t and posting it up against n*ggas thats nice man," Papoose said in an interview with Forbez DVD. "How much money you got or how much alleged numbers you did does not determine you nice. This is the mecca, this is the home of hip hop man. I'm waiting for a savage to disrespect the king. I got something for you. All my real lyricists stand up! If you tired of these savage n*ggas talking this alleged numbers and this alleged money n*ggas is getting up against your talent. Salute man, honor before money man."

J. Cole made his network television debut yesterday (October 5) on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

The Roc Nation MC performed "Work Out" and "Cole World" off of his number one selling debut album, Cole World: The Sideline Story.

"Work Out"

"Cole World"

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Emporio Armani's new spokesmodel, Rihanna makes things hot in a new short film for the company.

In the clip, the newly blonde singer slips into the backseat of a car for a quick change. She strips down to her underwear before slipping into a skintight pair of jeans and a black leather jacket.

The singer emerges from the car ready to flirt.

Check it out below.

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Prodigy of Mobb Deep recently met a 13-year old boy who has sickle cell anemia. Having the disease himself, P was able to drop some knowledge on how to stay healthy and not suffer from so much pain while dealing with it.

"I used to look at sickle cell like that sh*t was a curse, like God cursed me. I used to be mad as hell at God. But it aint even about that," P told the teen. "I learned that sickle cell is like a burglary an alarm. You know like a burglary alarm when someone breaks into your house? That's what sickle cell is for your body," P explained. "Basically what it means is you're putting something bad into your body and it's triggering your alarm system. That's how you gotta look at it."

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The Snowman drops off new visuals for this Lil Lody produced track off of his new mixtape, The Real Is Back 2.

Several pictures from a sex tape made by late rapper Tupac Shakur were released yesterday. That might be as close as the public will get to ever seeing any parts of the footage. That's because 'Pac's mom, Afeni Shakur, is prepared to sue anyone who tries to release the video.

A spokesperson for Tupac's estate told TMZ "we will sue anyone who tries to sell a Tupac tape."

The estate is trying to figure out the identities of all the people in the video, including the female performing a sexual act on 'Pac.

Afeni is said to be prepared to fight the release of the tape tooth and nail.

"Get the legal team ready because [we] will not allow someone to put it out." Afeni reportedly said.

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There's a celebration going on over at Roc Nation. The label is enjoying the success of another number one album with J. Cole's debut disc, Cole World: The Sideline Story.

Jay-Z released an official statement on the album's success via MTV News.

"J. Cole's success is testament to amazing artist development and Cole's hard work," Jay said. "I want to congratulate him on a #1 album and more importantly a great body of work."

Cole released a video (below) reiterating what he said on twitter yesterday. The 26-year old St John's University graduate thanked everyone from his fans to radio stations for helping him move 217,000 copies of his album.

Cole is said to already be working on his sophomore disc.

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ESPN is rolling out its 3rd annual 'Body Issue' Friday (October 7). The issue features top athletes posing in the nude with carefully placed hands, legs and arms covering their private parts.

Athletes in the issue include Olympic gymnast Alicia Sacramone; Sylvia Fowles of the WNBA's Chicago Sky; LPGA rookie Belen Mozo; track and field star Natasha Hastings; hockey player Julie Chu; tennis player Vera Zvonareva; surfer Steph Gilmore; roller derby skater Suzy Hotrod and bowler Kelly Kulick.

The other male athletes are: Steven Jackson of the NFL's St. Louis Rams; speedskater Apolo Ohno; hockey player Ryan Kesler of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks; UFC fighter Jon Jones; IndyCar racer Helio Castroneves; snowboarder Louie Vito; boxer Sergio Martinez; marathoner Ryan Hall and Paralympian Jeremy Campbell.

Check out a few of the pictures below and make sure you pick up a copy of the 'Body Issue' Friday.

Alicia Sacramone [Olympic Gymnast]

Alicia Sacramone

Belen Mozo [LPGA Golfer]

Belen Mozo

Gretchen Bleiler [Pro Snowboarder]

Hope Solo [Soccer]

Hope Solo

Julie Chu [Hockey]

Kelly Kulick [Bowler]

Natasha Hastings [Track and Field]

Stephanie Gilmore [Surfer]

Suzy Hotrod [Roller Derby]

Sylvia Fowles [WNBA's Chicago Sky]

Vera Zvonareva [Pro Tennis]

By now we've all heard that Dr. Dre's 'Detox' album is "almost done" enough times we're not quite sure what to believe. The disc will be Dre's last as an artist and is one of the most highly anticipated albums ever. The producer has a reputation for being a perfectionist, so maybe it shouldn't be surprising it's taken so long. The wait however, might finally be over.

In a new interview with NME Magazine, Snoop Dogg says the album is near completion.

"I ain't never said it was almost finished. He might, but that's my first time I ever said it. I was always saying it was taking too long to get done. It feels good now," Snoop told the publication via Contact Music. "We've been working on it. It's almost finished. So that's coming out soon. We got Slim [Eminem] on it."

Before you say 'here we go again,' remember it was Snoop who criticized Dre back in May on the Tim Westwood Show for not having the right people around him to finish the project.

“I’mma say this and I don’t know if it’s gonna ruffle any feathers. I just think the wrong people is in the environment. When he made records that were hit records in the past: D.O.C., Snoop Dogg, RBX, Kurupt,” Snoop said at the time. “It’s like it’s pieces that’s not there that need to be there. And I’ll say D.O.C. and Snoop Dogg is the backbone. When you take those two equations and you take them out of the equation it’s not gonna work. You need to put them two back into the situation and let us mastermind and head the project like we did The Chronic in 2001. That’s what’s missing.”

Now that The Doggfather is back on the same page with his mentor, 'Detox' looks like it's finally on the way.