Will record companies in the future try to relaunch a virtual rapper like FN Meka now that Capitol Records dropped the project and apologized to the Black community after the backlash

Should Harry Styles be called the King Of Pop after Michael Jackson claimed the title? 

Will the RAP Act that seeks to stop rappers’ lyrics from being used in court become a law? 

Nick Hakim reveals the first sound of his upcoming Cometa album with the single “Happen.” The video is a slow-motion look at many lives traveling by subway. Director Johan Carlsson explains the pensive song and visual, “The idea for the video is very simple, we see people on a subway, all busy with their different lives, some are in great spirits and some in deep thoughts maybe because of trouble at work or in their personal life. Sometimes when you’re in a public space you’re not interested in your fellow human beings at all and sometimes looking at them is so interesting that you can’t stop. I hope this video can be an example of when people are interesting to look at, in a way that helps you reflect on your own life. I think Nick’s music is fantastic and has a cinematic and visual quality I hope comes through in the video.” 

Cometa’s songs were inspired by Hakim falling in love and wanting to express how it made him feel like he was outside of his body. He says, “I think it’s nice to have love in your life and to have people that are sharing and wanting that. It’s my interpretation of a really romantic way to express love in my own way.” Hakim’s last album was his 2020 release WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD. Cometa is due on October 21st.

Legendary Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier has died at age 81. His son Lamont Dozier Jr. confirmed his father’s passing on an Instagram post. Dozier was one-third of Motown’s Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team with brothers Eddie and Brian. They were responsible for writing some of the most revered songs in pop for The Supremes (“Stop! In The Name Of Love”), The Four Tops (“Baby, I Need Your Love”), Martha And The Vandellas (“Heatwave”), Marvin Gaye (“Can I Get A Witness”) and more.  The trio helped Motown during its defining moments in the ’60s during their time at the company from 1962-67. Legal issues forced them to work under the name Edythe Wayne from 1969-72. When they left Motown they continued to work together as a production team until 1974. They also started the record labels Hot Wax and Invictus and had their biggest success with Freda Payne’s “Band Of Gold.” 

Dozier was a native Detroiter who started his career as a teenager in the group he founded called The Romeos in 1957. They signed with Atco Records and had a charting song with “Fine, Fine Baby.” When the group disbanded he joined the doo-wop group The Voicemasters. They were signed to Anna Records which was founded by Gwen and Anna Gordy before their brother Berry Jr. started Motown. The work he did with Motown got Holland-Dozier-Holland inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1988 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. 

In the ’70s Dozier recorded some solo albums and had hits in 1974 with “Trying To Hold On To My Woman,” “Fish, Ain’t Bitin'” and in  1977 with “Going Back To My Roots.” “Fish, Ain’t Bitin'” became known because Dozier’s lyrics suggested then-president Richard Nixon needed to resign and the White House sent a letter to the record label telling them to stop promoting the song. He wrote the theme song for the second season of the television show That’s My Mama. In the ’80s he worked with Phil Collins and they wrote “Two Hearts” for the movie Buster. Dozier also wrote “Without You” which was sung by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle for the film Leonard Part 6. Mick Hucknall of English R&B band Simply Red collaborated with Dozier on “Suffer” and “Infidelity” from the group’s 1987 sophomore album. 

In the 2000s Dozier was an Artist-In-Residence Professor at the University of Southern California School Of Music. In 2019, his autobiography How Sweet It Is was released. 

John Legend’s eighth studio album is simply titled LEGEND and it will be released very soon in September. The title is a statement about the singer’s longtime presence in popular consciousness. He says, “Until this point, I’ve never used an aspect of my name as the title of an album. I had to earn that, to live up to it by delivering in the performance and the music. And this is me saying, I’m proud of who I am, I’m confident in the work I’ve done, and I’m just going to declare it.”  The third single from Legend is “All She Wanna Do” featuring rapper Saweetie. The double album has guest appearances from Jazmine Sullivan, J.I.D., Muni Long, Rick Ross, Rapsody, Ledisi, Ty Dolla $ign and Jhene Aiko. Legend also started the second leg of his Las Vegas residency which will continue until the end of October. LEGEND, the album, will be available on September 9th.