September 12, 2002
Nothing 'Average' On New Craig David Album

R&B sensation Craig David's sophomore album Slicker Than Your Average will be released Nov. 11 in the U.K. by the BMG-distributed Wildstar imprint and on Nov. 19 in North America via Atlantic. The single "What's Your Flava?" arrives Oct. 28 in the U.K.; a North American radio date has not yet been announced.

The news comes as David continues to enjoy success with his debut set, Born To Do It, which is No. 138 in its 60th week on The Billboard 200 and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. shipments of 1 million units. The album launched the hits "7 Days" (No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "Fill Me In" (No. 15). To date, it has sold 7 million units worldwide, according to David's manager Colin Lester.

"Fill Me In" earned David two trophies at last year's Billboard Music Video Awards: best dance new artist clip and best R&B new artist clip.

"I'm influenced vocally by R&B music," David told Billboard in July 2001 of his eclectic sound. "As for rap and hip-hop, it comes from the U.K.'s garage scene, while my production leans into different genres. Being brought up in the U.K. and coming from a mixed-race family, it's hard to put my style into a category. It's left-field music that incorporates all my flavors."

- Paul Sexton, London

September 11, 2002
Public Enemy Taps Blackalicious, Dilated For Tour

Veteran rap outfit Public Enemy is planning a fall tour in support of Revolverlution (SlamJamz/In The Paint), the Chuck D-led group's first album in three years. Underground favorites Blackalicious and Dilated Peoples have been named as opening acts for the jaunt, which kicks off Wednesday (Sept. 18) in Pittsburgh and wraps Oct. 10 in San Francisco.

Revolverlution, a mixture of live recordings, fan remixes, and new material, debuted at No. 4 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart early last month.

Blackalicious is still supporting its sophomore effort, Blazing Arrow (MCA), which debuted at No. 49 on The Billboard 200 in May. Dilated Peoples' last album was Expansion Team (ABB/Capitol), which debuted at No. 36 on The Billboard 200 last fall.

Here are Public Enemy's tour dates:

Sept. 18: Pittsburgh (Metropol)
Sept. 19: Washington, D.C. (Nation)
Sept. 20: Philadelphia (Electric Factory)
Sept. 21: Worcester, Mass. (Palladium)
Sept. 22: Providence, R.I. (Lupos)
Sept. 24: New York (the World)
Sept. 26: Cleveland (Agora)
Sept. 27: Detroit (Royal Oak Theatre)
Sept. 28: Milwaukee (Rave)
Sept. 29: Cincinnati (Bogart's)
Sept. 30: Chicago (House of Blues)
Oct. 2: Denver (Fillmore Auditorium)
Oct. 3: Albuquerque (Sunshine Theater)
Oct. 4: Phoenix (Cajun House)
Oct. 6: San Diego (Belly Up)
Oct. 7: Los Angeles (House of Blues)
Oct. 9: Anaheim, Calif. (House of Blues)
Oct. 10: San Francisco (Fillmore)

- Troy Carpenter, N.Y.

September 10, 2002
Whitney All Wet In Water Dispute

Whitney Houston was issued a summons for violating New Jersey's water-use restrictions after police found sprinklers running at her Mendham Township estate. "Nobody gets special treatment here," police Lt. Jim Hughes told The Star-Ledger of Newark today (Sept. 10).

Hughes said an officer went to the home yesterday after police received a complaint that the sprinkler system was on at night. The sprinklers were running and puddles had formed in the curbs at the property the pop star shares with her husband, singer Bobby Brown, police said.

State officials imposed water-use restrictions last month because of ongoing drought conditions. Residents are banned from watering lawns or washing cars. Hughes said the officer told a security guard the sprinklers had to be shut off, but the guard didn't know how to do it and had to call the landscaper.

A spokesperson said Houston and Brown weren't home when the sprinklers were on, and that the couple hasn't been at the 10-acre estate for some time because Houston has been working on her next album, Just Whitney. The set's first single, "Whatchulookinat," is languishing at No. 90 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.

"A judge will understand that someone taking care of the property obviously made a mistake," the spokesperson said. "Whitney is very conscious about the environment and she will care if in fact this [law] was breached."

Police departments in most of the state have issued warnings to people who violate the water-use ban, but Mendham Township officers have given tickets to 15 residents. Violators can face fines of up to $1,000.

September 6, 2002
Lance Bass Officially Kicked Off Space Flight

Pop star Lance Bass' dreams of going into space have officially gone "pop!" The Russian Space Agency notified the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) today (Sept. 9) that the 'N Sync singer won't fly to the international space station next month.

Bass had hoped to rocket away from Kazakhstan on Oct. 28, boosted by corporate sponsors and a seven-part television documentary. But TV producers failed to raise the estimated $20 million fare, and Russian space officials last week kicked Bass off the upcoming crew.

Bass' supporters contended the decision was not final and that negotiations were continuing, but today's letter to NASA formalized the matter. "The letter speaks for itself," said NASA spokesperson Debra Rahn. "They've officially withdrawn Mr. Bass from the flight."

The letter from Russia's director of human space flight was dated Friday and faxed today to Frederick Gregory, NASA's deputy administrator and chairman of the board that was reviewing Bass' bid to fly to space. NASA promptly forwarded copies of the letter to the other space agencies involved in the station program, namely Canada, Europe, and Japan.

Rahn said Russia's M.V. Sinelshchikov thanked Gregory and other space station officials for reviewing Bass' proposal to fly to the orbiting outpost. But he noted that the Russian Space Agency could wait no longer for the contractual obligations to be met, she said.

The singer's publicist was not immediately available for comment. At 23, Bass would have been the youngest person ever in space. He also would have been the third paying space tourist.

Just two weeks ago, Bass and the two men with whom he was to be launched spent a full week training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The celebrity posed for pictures with astronauts and other space program workers and took part in an Internet chat with school children.

"We appreciated his education outreach activities while he was there," Rahn said. She added that NASA had no comment on Bass' removal from Russia's Soyuz crew. "It was a business decision in which NASA had no part."

With the launch of the Soyuz rocket just seven weeks away, there's not enough time to put anyone else on board. Russian space officials previously indicated that a cargo container weighing the same as Bass would replace the singer once the deal was off.

While at Houston, Bass said he was confident everything eventually would work out. But if he couldn't travel this fall, he told reporters, "I would work my butt off trying to go for another mission."

September 6, 2002
Paper Links Notorious B.I.G. To Tupac's Death

A Los Angeles Times investigation into the long-unsolved murder of Tupac Shakur concluded that his killer likely was a gang member who used a pistol provided by rival rapper the Notorious B.I.G. No arrests have been made in Shakur's death following the Sept. 7, 1996, shooting near the Las Vegas Strip.

The Times, which said it interviewed members of the Southside Crips who had never before spoken out about the killing, reported that the fatal shots were fired by a Crip named Orlando Anderson, whom Shakur and his bodyguards had beaten in a Las Vegas hotel hours before the shooting. The newspaper said B.I.G. had agreed to pay the gang $1 million to kill Shakur, his rival in a feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers.

The 24-year-old B.I.G, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was shot to death six months later in Los Angeles, a killing that also remains unsolved. Anderson, 21, of Compton, was killed in 1998 in an unrelated gang shooting. Both Anderson (who was named as a possible suspect in Randall Sullivan's recent book on the case, LAbryinth) and Wallace had both denied involvement in Shakur's murder.

Las Vegas police interviewed Anderson once but said they could not build a case against him because witnesses in Shakur's entourage weren't cooperating. A police spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment.

Shakur was riding in a car with Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight after attending a Mike Tyson fight when another car pulled alongside and someone inside opened fire.

According to the Times' reconstruction of the killing, based on police affidavits, court records, and interviews with witnesses and investigators, the Crips approached Wallace in hopes of making money from the killing after they had already decided to carry it out to avenge the beating.

Wallace and Shakur, once close friends, had been feuding for more than a year and had exchanged insults in recordings, at concerts, and awards shows. According to the Times, Shakur and his entourage had jumped Anderson to avenge an earlier beating of one of Shakur's bodyguards at a shopping mall. The assault was captured on a hotel security camera. Anderson declined to file a complaint. Instead, the Times said, he telephoned other Crips and set up a meeting at a hotel room where they decided to kill Shakur that night.

The gang then set up a meeting with B.I.G., who was in town, and asked for $1 million, according to people who said they were present. The newspaper said B.I.G. agreed on the condition a .40-caliber pistol he was carrying be used in the killing. He wanted the satisfaction of knowing his own gun fired the fatal bullets, the Times said.

Since the shooting, rumors about Shakur's killing have continued to spread among hip-hop fans. Some even contend that he faked his own death to escape the pressures of fame and troubles with the law.

Three days before his own murder on March 9, 1997, Wallace discussed his feud with Shakur in an interview with a San Francisco radio station. Asked whether he had a role in Shakur's death, Wallace said he "wasn't that powerful yet."

In response, Wallace's family today issued a statement branding the article "and related stories from other media outlets patently false," and describing such investigative exposes as "the most extreme examples of irresponsible journalism we've ever seen."

The family said "the L.A. Times article takes facts on record and juxtaposes them with hazy, un-attributed remarks which are not the result of any legitimate investigation, but rather are simply an effort to generate further confusion and publicity."

Sticking up for the late rapper, the statement specifically refuted several of the article's claims, saying, "Christopher Wallace had nothing to do with the death of Tupac Shakur. He wasn't in Las Vegas at the time of the crime, he did not arrange the murder, he didn't pay ... bounty money to anyone and he did not hand a gun to Orlando Anderson to be used in the hit on Tupac. It is all lies ... This false story is a disrespect to not only our family but the family of Tupac Shakur. Both men will have no peace as long as stories such as these continue to be written."

- AP & Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y

September 6, 2002
Shaggy's Feeling 'Lucky' On New Album

After the international multi-platinum success of his 2000 MCA album Hotshot, one couldn't blame Shaggy for feeling lucky. Fittingly, the artist has titled the follow-up Lucky Day, and is planning an Oct. 29 release for the set. First single "Hey Sexy Lady" arrived at U.S. radio outlets this week for airplay consideration; Shaggy will perform the track tonight (Sept. 6) on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.

A video for "Hey Sexy Lady," directed by Annti J. (Will Smith, Brian McKnight), was shot in Los Angeles. "This is a very uplifting, pro-woman album," Shaggy said in a statement. "When I look back at the people who shaped me, that made a difference in my life, most of them were women. So why not pay homage?" The set was produced by Shaggy, Robert Livingston, Sting Intl., and Dave Kelly.

Guests include dancehall veteran Barrington Levy and Shaggy protege Ricardo "Rik Rok" Ducent, who was prominently featured on Shaggy's long-running No. 1 hit "It Wasn't Me." The 14-track set also features such songs as "These Are The Lips," "Another Day," "Strength of a Woman," Shake Shake," "Walking in My Shoes," "Lost," and the title cut.

Hotshot spent 84 weeks on The Billboard 200, peaking at No. 1. The set has been certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for U.S. shipments of six million copies.

Shaggy has a handful of U.S. dates lined up through late October, as well as five shows in Australia in New Zealand. On Sunday (Sept. 8), he will join Rayvon, Bounty Killer, Elephant Man, Beenie Man, and Sean Paul at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom for the On Da Reggae Tip concert.

Here are Shaggy's tour dates:

Sep 7: Columbus, Ohio (Convention Center)
Sep 8: New York (Hammerstein Ballroom)
Sep 13: Mashantucket, Conn. (Foxwoods Casino)
Oct 22: Sunrise, Fla. (NCR Center)
Oct 23: Miami (American Airlines Arena)
Nov 30: Auckland (Western Springs Stadium)
Dec 3: Perth, Australia (Subiaco Oval)
Dec 6: Adelaide, Australia (Adelaide Oval)
Dec 8: Melbourne (Telestra Dome)
Dec 11: Brisbane, Australia (ANZ Stadium)

- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.