Queen Of Soul Interview In LA Times

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LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Aretha Franklin’s storied career is the focus of two new retrospectives, “Rare & Unreleased Recordings From the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul” and “Oh Me Oh My: Aretha Franklin Live in Philly, 1972.”

Partnered with young gun Fantasia, Franklin is also back on the R&B charts with “Put You Up On Game,” one of 16 tracks featured on the compilation “Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen,” due in stores November 13. The J Records release includes guest turns by Annie Lennox, George Michael, Mary J. Blige and John Legend.

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Kanye’s Mother Dr. Donda West Passes

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Donda West, the mother of Kanye West and former chairwoman of Chicago State University’s English department, passed away Saturday from undisclosed causes, according to a spokesman for the family. She was 58.

According to multiple sources, West was in Los Angeles and her death may have been the result of complications from a surgical procedure; more specific information was unavailable at press time.

Although widely known as the mother of Kanye, Dr. West was a noted scholar and an active college professor for 31 years; she left the profession in 2004 to assist with Kanye’s career, according to her biography on the Web site of the Kanye West Foundation, an educational nonprofit of which she was chair. She was also chief executive of West Brands, the parent company of her son’s businesses.
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Janette Beckman’s Golden Era Hip-Hop Photos

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Check out Ms. Beckman’s chronicling of the Golden Era’s stars.


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Prince Releases Diss Song At Fans

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As you may have read, as part of their copyright crusade, Prince’s legal staff recently demanded that all images of the Purple One be removed from specific fan Web pages. Several sites banded together to form Prince Fans United, there was a brief pause in the action and now … a diss track.

In response, Prince registered the Web domain name “Princefamsunited.com” and posted a seven-minute funk jam called “PFUnk,” alerting fans to its presence on fan site message boards. The song makes no secret of its target: “The only reason you say my name is to get your fifteen seconds of fame, nobody’s even sure what you do,” Prince sings. “I don’t care what people may say, I ain’t gonna let it ruin my day.” Toward the end, Prince tells his fans, in his famed helium-like “Camille” voice, “I love all y’all, don’t you ever mess with me no more,” before taking out all his anger on his guitar. Prince goes as far as calling one person, likely a member of the PFU, “a big fat punk,” and threatens someone called “Weemolicious” by singing “Look here Weemolicious, you and your boyfriend, lemme tell you somethin’ right now, you run up on me again with words or otherwise, I’mma knock both you punks out.” He also sings that he wants digital music to “disappear.”

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