The WakeUpShow,which is heard in 5 countries and reaches over 13 million listeners worldwide, launches today. The site allows users to access audio and video featuring Sway and Tech with some of the guests that have appeared on the show. You can catch streaming video from Slum Village, Cali Agents, Masta Ace, Dilated Peoples, Talib Kweli and more. You will also be able to catch the weekly show in streaming audio and video from your desktop. The duo celebrated their 9th year on the radio with a live performance concert from The Wu-Tang Clan, and the show will air on the site at the spotlight section. The site will be promoted by Atomic Pop, which also helps promote Chuck D.’s Bringthenoise.com.

88hiphop.com is no more. Pseudo, which owned a 50 percent stake in the site, closed the site down due to the site not being profitable. Randy Nkoniki-Ward and Mark Kotlinski, the other 50 Percent stake in the business, have been accused by various online websites as not having enough management experience to guide the site. Sources site that the website was burning through an average of $1 Million dollars per year, and generating under $100,000. The 88hiphop.com url takes you to a Pseudo page, where you can receive streaming news every 15 minutes, as well as engage in chats with other users.

Snoop Dogg and Tha Eastsidaz will be among a number of groups that will come pre-loaded on the Rio portable devices. An announcement with TVT was issued today, in which they will put four tracks on the digital music player. The RIO 600 is being developed by s-3 and Nike. “Consumers are driving a drastic change in how music is distributed,” said Steve Gottlieb, president of TVT Records. “With the Rio players, we are giving consumers top quality content from our artists everywhere and every way they listen to music, whether it is at home or at a concert, working out or on the go.” “Music is all about an experience,” said Mike Reed, vice president of marketing for S3’s Rio Division. “By providing customers with preloaded content and demonstrating how to use the player, we are giving them a great out of the box experience with digital audio.” Preloaded Content As part of the agreement will be Got beef by The Eastsidaz, Waffle by Sevendust, I Preach To Barty by Pills and I’m The Man Who Murdered Love by XTC. All of the songs will be encoded in the Windows Media format.  

Kobe Bryant held a launch party for his new label venture, Heads High Entertainment at the House Of Blues. There was a packed house, with each patron paying $15 to see Bryant and his label roster to their thing. The first act, featuring two 13 year olds and an 8 year old, named Da Babies took to the stage and tried to rile the crowd and like the rest of the acts to follow, capitalized on wearing Kobe’s Laker Jersey. Kobe took to the stage later in the evening with artist Uneek for about a minute, before disappearing backstage. Around 11pm, Kobe finally took to the stage and performed a few of his own songs. Kobe, who’s lyrics strangely deal with the pitfalls of Urban life, (isn’t he from the Burbs, and wasn’t he raised in the country side of Italy?) seemed comfortable on stage.

Shyne, the M.C. that sounds like a reincarnation of Biggie Smalls, is fighting for his freedom. The young artist’s defense is fighting to get key pieces of evidence against him thrown out of court. Shyne was charged with attempted murder in the night club shootout on Dec. 27th, 1999, where three people were wounded in a Times Square nightclub. Barrow was apprehended outside of the club, and his boss Puff Diddy was also charged with 2 counts of felony gun possession and trying to bribe a witness, with a diamond ring that Jennifer Lopez gave to him. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. The issues in getting key pieces of evidence dismissed from the case stem from police misconduct. Murray Richman, who is Shyne’s lawyer, produced evidence that another Lawyer, Ian Niles called police and the D.A. around 2:00pm. He said that he called three times, and requested that nothing be done with his client, until he arrived. Sometime after 2:40pm, the police put Shyne in a lineup, where two witnesses identified him as the man who shot three people in the club. Richman claims that police ignored his calls, and therefore the lineup identification is inadmissible because it violated Shyne’s right to legal counsel. Another point his lawyers worked to get dismissed was the gun issue. He showed pictures of the car combs was driving, a Lincoln Navigator. Officer William Myer testified that they vehicle was black, when in reality it was silver. The defense also produced pictures of the area where the guns were found, filled with debris and trash. The attorney was trying to show that the gun couldn’t be seen by an officer standing outside of the empty car, and that the search that produced the guns was illegal.

According to infamous radio personality Wendy Williams of Philly’s Power 99, Suge Knight has been secretly terrorizing Dr. Dre, Snoop and the some of the staff of the “Up In Smoke” tour. According to Williams, Suge has been buying approximately 30 front row tickets to every Up In Smoke concert as a show of intimidation to the former Death Row members. Also, Williams says her sources report that Suge have prevented Snoop from signing an unidentified rap group to Interscope Records because Suge has placed threatening calls to executives at the label. In an interview, with The Source magazine Suge had said that after being released from prison, he will maintain all of his enemies, including Dr. Dre and Snoop. William’s sources claim that through Michel’le, his fiancé and Dre’s former finance, Suge has been threatening Dre. According to allhiphop.com sources, Dre has visited Suge in prison in order to ease any conflict that may exist between them. Snoop however, had taken the more aggressive path and recorded a song called “Death Row Is B######.” Suge Knight is scheduled to be released from prison in early 2001.

Puff and Jennifer Lopez were the recipients of a star studded dinner party in Lopez’s honor, thrown by Donatella Versace this past weekend in Paris. The duo followed the festivities by co-hosting a party at Les Bain Douches, where they announced the launching of Sean John’s womens clothing line. Unfortunately, Puff didn’t have a long time to celebrate. Puff, Lil Kim and Lil Cease were named in a $200 Million dollar lawsuit, filed by 18 year old Danyella "Sunshine" Rogers. She claims that a private conversation she had with Lil Cease ended up on his song, "Play Around". She claims that the conversation has caused her mental strain, damaged her reputation and invaded her privacy.

When the Up In Smoke Tour came to the Nassau Coliseum in New York last week, there was a surprise guest lurking backstage. He wasn’t really noticed until the Eminem set came up. The man lingering far outside of Em’s limelight was none other than Joey Anthony Fatone, Jr. and he was enjoying himself to the abrasive sounds of America’s Favorite, Slim Shady. Joey is a founding member of the boy group, N’Sync. (For those that don’t know, Joey is the “hardcore” member of N’Synch with the goatee.) Joey wasn’t alone as he had two massive security guards flanking both sides of him. Maybe the guards were there to make sure that Slim Shady didn’t attempt to attack because his hatred for boy/girl groups is well documented via his music. Nevertheless, the show went on without hitch and Joey nodded his head throughout the set.  

Snoop Dogg is the target of a Pasadena California based organization who call themselves "Day One." The group, which is a non-profit organization is calling for the end of Snoops’s weekly radio show on Power 106. Over 70 people protested his show outside of the radio stations offices. The show, titled "The Weekly Smoke Out Session" is being targeted by the group for glorifying drug use. The coalition, which consists of members of the church, have launched a cease-fire campaign, to stop the use of weed, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The group is offended at the way Snoop starts the show, by encouraging listeners to get their Blunts, lighters and bongs. The group called Power management irresponsible for allowing blatant promotion of drugs over their airwaves. In one promotion, Snoop played weed related songs, the listeners wrote them down, and called in. The winning person received a box of blunts. Vicki Phillips, the director of publicity for the organization told allhiphop.com: We aren’t trying to attack the music, or Hip-Hop, we are just out to clean it up."

DMX has signed on to star in Dimension Films’ latest installment of “The Crow” franchise for the Edward R. Pressman Film Corp. The project will begin shooting at the end of this year. The Crow: Lazarus will be the fourth in the series of movies. DMX has signed a multi-picture deal for the series. “We are thrilled that DMX will be taking on the role of Lazarus,” Pressman said. “His presence on screen is truly magnetic, and he is sure to broaden and deepen the audience for the franchise.” The movie is about a Rap artist who leaves the music scene for a woman. He is shot and killed in a drive-by, and comes back from beyond to avenge his murder. DMX is currently wrapping up Exit Wounds, in which he stars opposite of Steven Seagal.  

Q-Tip, who once seemed like one of the more peaceful and positive rappers, was recently fined for punching a man in the face during a fight in March outside of a Virgin Megastore in Manhattan. The man who he punched, Kenrick Miranda, is a member of a rap duo, Slandid, and they have recorded a retaliation warning song for Tip, threatening his life. Miranda warns in his verse on "Matter Of Time": " that it’s a “matter of time before [Q-Tip] gets popped/matter of time before his breathin’ stop/matter of time before he chillin’ in hell. I’m gonna win by blow out, blow your brains out/ how quick you’ll fade out.” On the cover of the CD, Miranda is on the cover holding Q-Tip’s head, which has been cut off. Miranda also has a Civil Suit pending against the former Tribe Called Quest front man.

In anticipation of Big L’s posthumous release, The Big Picture, Rawkus Records will be holding a Celebrity basketball game, as well as the video shoot for his latest single, "Holding It Down", which features a cameo appearance by R&B singer, and New York’s Hot 97 radio personality Miss Jones. The game will feature The Flamboyant Allstars Vs. The Entertainers Sunday July 30th, at the famed Rucker Park in Harlem. The game kicks off at 2pm on 155th St. and 8th Ave. Show support for Big L by attending the video shoot!

Eminem was officially charged with assault, carrying a dangerous weapon and carrying a concealed weapon. Eminems management claimed that fans seeking autographs caused the disturbance, but county prosecutor Carl Marlinga claimed otherwise in court on Monday. Eminem had supposedly showed up at the club to check up on his wife, Kim Mathers. Eminem suspected her of seeing another man, bar patron John Guerra. Eminem supposedly drew an unloaded 9mm handgun and a scuffle ensued. Marlinga also claims that Eminem told Guerra "I’m going to kill you", and then hit Guerra over the head with the gun twice. Friends then grabbed the 9mm, and it fell to the ground. He is now facing Felony charges that could get him 5 years in prison. Kim Mathers was also arrested in the incident, and her bail was set at $300 dollars a day. Eminems latest album sold a whopping 1.7 Million units the first week, besting the record set by Britney Spears.  

ommy Boy Records Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Tom Silverman is trying to negotiate with investors to buy back half of his label from Warner Music. His contract is set expire in 18 months. Silverman sold 50 percent of his label in 1985, sold the remaining 50 percent to Warner in 1989 and then re-negotiated his deal in 1996 to buy back half of the label. Warner is currently doing the executive shuffle, and trying to nab Interscope President Tom Whalley to run the division. Silverman was in Washington DC along with Chuck D. to testify in front of congress about the benefits of the Internet, and online music distribution. He also addressed to problem of music piracy, describing the Internet’s current culture as a "culture of infringement." Tommy Boy has De La Soul, Screwball, DITC, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Tony Touch, Capone and Noreage, Everlast, and also Distributes The Black Label, which focuses on underground Hip-Hop.