Chrisette Michele debuts at #1 on Soundscan

Building on the success of "Epiphany," her current Top 10 single on Billboard's Hot Adult R&B Airplay chart (and Top 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart), Grammy Award-winning Def Jam recording artist Chrisette Michele debuts at #1 on Soundscan with first week sales of over 83,000 copies of EPIPHANY, her long-awaited second album.

"Blessed with a curvy, Billie Holiday-like vocal timbre and an exquisite sense of melody, Michele consistently rejects melodrama (take some notes, Amy Winehouse!), instead going further into the nuances of meaningful expression." - LOS ANGELES TIMES

Chrisette will celebrate EPIPHANY's breakthrough with a round of television appearances over the next two weeks: NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (May 22nd), and the CBS Early Show (May 23rd).

On April 28th, she appeared on a critically acclaimed VH1 Soulstages: Chrisette Michele presented by Infiniti. The initimate concert, the first of its kind to air on both VH-1 and VH-1 Soul, will re-air on Monday, May 18th and Thursday, May 21st.

Coming up, Chrisette will share the stage on one of this spring and summer's highest-profile tours, with fellow Grammy winner Anthony Hamilton and soulman Musiq Soulchild. Dates begin May 28th at Reliant Arena in Houston, and wrap up exactly one month later at Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte.

Also prior to the upcoming tour, Sephora, the leading beauty retailer in the US, and Chrisette invite fans to join the singer for two special evenings of "beauty-full music." Chrisette will appear­ at the Sephora store in the King Of Prussia Mall (outside Philadelphia) on May 19th.

CHRISETTE MICHELE ON TOUR WITH ANTHONY HAMILTON AND MUSIQ SOULCHILD:

Date City Venue

May 28 Houston, TX Reliant Arena
29 Dallas, TX Nokia Live Grand Prairie
30 Southaven, MS DeSoto Center
31 St. Louis, MO Fox Theatre

June 4 Los Angeles, CA Nokia Live Theatre
6 Oakland, CA Paramount Theatre
11 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
12 Detroit, MI Opera House
13 Chicago, IL Arie Crown Theatre
16 Newark, NJ New Jersey Performing Arts
18 New York, NY WaMu Theatre at MSG
19 Washington, DC DAR Constitution Hall
21 Baltimore, MD Pier Six Pavilion
25 Atlanta, GA Fox Theatre
26 Augusta, GA Bell Auditorium
27 Birmingham, AL BJCC Concert Hall
28 Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium

The Wiz,Ashanti First Theater Role

R&B star Ashanti will ease on down the road to her first theater role this summer in a New York-staged revival of "The Wiz."

The Grammy winner will star as Dorothy in the African American version of L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz," which begins in June as part of the "Encores! Summer Stars" series at New York City Center.

According to Playbill News, Ashanti got her first taste of a theatrical Oz when she led a performance of Stephen Schwartz's "Defying Gravity" from Wicked as part of the The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken concert on Broadway last fall. She previously appeared as Dorothy in ABC's "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz," a television special in 2005.

Tony-nominated In the Heights director Thomas Kail and his Tony-winning collaborators, Andy Blankenbuehler (choreographer) and Alex Lacamoire (musical director), will stage the Encores! Summer Stars production of The Wiz June 12-July 5. The production officially opens June 18.

Method Man Is struggling too!

Method Man is blaming his love of weed for the recent repossession of his 2008 Lincoln Navigator due to unpaid back taxes.

The rapper owes $52,503 on his New York income taxes. The state Department of Taxation showed up at his Staten Island home at 6 a.m. March 19 with “four NYPD cops and the repo team,” Meth told the New York Daily News.

“I knew why they were there. It wasn't like ‘Oh my God! Noo!! Don't take it!' like it is on that TV show [“Operation Repo”]," he said. "I was half-dressed, and it was so early that I just said, ‘Okay, you're taking the truck. ... Aight.'”

So how could he allow himself to fall so far behind?

“Myself, I'm a pothead,” he explains on the set of a video shoot for his new album, “Blackout 2,” with Redman. “It's no secret. Everyone knows that. I go on the road and forget everything else. Sure, [the tax department] sent letters to my house saying, ‘We need this money.' They started sending them in 2002. Here it is, 2009, and I never paid this s*** because I don't think like that!”

“I could have easily just written them a check for whatever amount, but no — I waited until they knocked on this door and were like, ‘We got your truck and we outta here,'” he laughed. “Now I'm thinking we've gotta get our truck back, which means I have to get all my paperwork together. That means days of going through mail, 'cause I got mail like woah. I've found checks from 2005 that have never been opened yet. And we're talking a significant amount of money! But I never opened [the tax department's] letters ... so this is how the tax man came to Meth's house and took his truck. Not because I was broke! I got plenty of money!”

Damaon Dash is Hurting

Damon Dash said he was so caught up in making sure the people around him were succeeding that he took his eye off the ball regarding his own financial well-being.

The one-time rap mogul has been making headlines with his money struggles in recent months; he is facing foreclosure on his two properties in the trendy TriBeCa area of New York and reportedly owes $2 million in state taxes, among other debts.

His designer wife of four years, Rachel Roy, filed for divorce earlier this month after Dash helped her launch her own women's fashion line. Dash now says part of his financial predicament is related to helping the likes of Roy and rapper pal Jim Jones - and not spending enough time on his own projects.

He tells Billboard.com, "My mistake was watching everyone else's careers and not watching mine."

He adds, "After being able to settle my wife's company, I was able to start doing other things. My first approach was the music business and getting with Jim Jones... I spent the last six months doing research, trying to figure out how to use all my resources to blow this out."

Lil Kim speaks Out!

With the theatrical premiere of the Notorious B.I.G.'s biopic, simply titled "Notorious," coming out this month, Lil Kim is speaking out about her disapproval of the movie's portrayal of her relationship with the late rapper.
In Hip Hop Weekly's two-year anniversary issue, the pint-sized female rapper reportedly sounds off about B.I.G.'s mother Voletta, and his wife Faith, saying she's "been quiet for too long."
"I've had enough and I'm about to expose them both ... I've been quiet for a long time," Lil Kim told the magazine.
It was rumored that Kim was unhappy with the casting of her role -- producers picked Naturi Naughton of 3LW fame to play her. And, about her lack of involvement in the project, due to her professional and personal relationship with Biggie.
In return, Kim is determined to "expose" both women in Biggie's life. Although it is unclear what kind of dirt she revealed.
"I'm very disappointed in Faith," she said. "There's nothing Faith or Ms. Wallace could do to stop me from reppin' B.I.G. all day. I'm gonna always do that ... It's time for Ms. Wallace to be exposed."
Despite Lil Kim's anger, Faith says that the female rapper has the wrong impression about her involvement.
"As far as the film goes, I was neither a writer nor producer of the film. I really had nothing to do with it at all ... Maybe she thinks that, but that's incorrect. It's Ms. Wallace's project," Faith told Hip Hop Weekly.
In addition to Kim, the issue also features stories on the stars of the VH1 reality series "Real Chance At Love," and former Brydgang member Max B, among others.
Words by Miles Bennett/Ballerstatus

HAPPY NEW YEARS! 2009 Lets Get it!

Rakim's long Delayed Album

In related news, Rakim's long delayed return to store shelves will finally be met with his upcoming release The Seventh Seal . Rakim is keeping details to a minimum but promises fans should expect to receive the same content he's known for rhyming about throughout his career.
"What they see Rakim as, I want to continue to be," Rakim told amNewYork . "I gotta remember what the people remember me for and stick to my guns... If you stay true to what you're doing, the fans will respect that."
No set release date has been announced for The Seventh Seal.