Both Chris Brown and Rihanna are hitting the interview circuits to give their side of the story regarding the violent beating that took place before the Grammy Awards last February. Of course, they both have albums to promote as well. Chris’s “Graffiti” comes out 12/8, while Rihanna’s “Rated R” arrives a week later. The clips from the Rihanna interview appear to be on the subdued side, as she probably should be, while Chris seems to be taking the whole situation a bit more lightly. Not a good look for Chris from a publicity statement. Regardless of whether you are actually contrite about the situation, you should at least ACT like you are for the sake of maintaining your public. While I don’t feel that Chris should be ostracized for his mistakes (let he without sin…right?), I definitely think he comes across as arrogant and not totally aware of the severity of his crime, so it’s gonna be really hard (and probably impossible) for me to support the guy again.
Rapper Beanie Sigel is going after his boss, Jay-Z. Apparently, the Philly rapper is salty about Jay-Z leaving all of his Roc-a-Fella acts behind in the transition over to his Live Nation deal. Sigel has fired several verbal volleys towards Jay, who has yet to respond with a song of his own.Sigel has also now allegedly aligned himself with 50 Cent, the king of hip-hop beef, and may be signing to 50’s G-Unit Records. Seriously, hip-hop has become so much like pro wrestling these days that I don’t even care anymore. Jay is doing the right thing by ignoring Sigel. Ultimately, Beanie is a has-been (and considering his lifetime sales, can probably be considered a never-was), while Jay is on a completely different plane in terms of popularity. Why stoop down to someone else’s level? Twenty years from now Jay will be in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame and Beanie Sigel will probably be in jail.
Finally, a judge has ruled that Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson can not legally use the name Sublime to perform (with a replacement lead singer). You might remember that I wrote a piece on this very same subject last week (which may mean I’ve just been caught embarrassingly short on material). This was probably the right rendering by the judge. After all, let’s face it. If you were the member of a band and fans of your band can’t remember who you are, you probably don’t have any right to use said band’s name after the only original member passes away.