MUSIC NEWS: JIVE DROPS KELIS? / NEW N*E*R*D ALBUM? / CLIPSE SIGNS WITH COLUMBIA

Monday, October 29, 2007

Reports have been made that Kelis has been dropped from Jive, the label that houses such artists as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and R. Kelly. Formally signed to Pharrell William’s Star Trak Music, with distribution through Virgin Records, rumors are that Kelis has been dropped due to disappointing numbers on her 2006 release, Kelis Was Here, despite plenty of guest spots, including a collaboration with her husband, Nas.

This doesn’t come as a surprise though. Kelis has been complaining about Jive for a while in recent interviews. Even though Star Trak’s distribution was through Virgin, it was later moved to Arista and, through the SonyBMG merger, she ended up with Jive.

“It was a case of being in the ever-shrinking world of the record industry and finding herself on a label she wasn’t signed to and without a champion,” says Kelis’ manager, Jeff Rabhan. “She’s a different kind of artist — very image and style-driven. It’s either something you get or you don’t.”

We’ll see though. Kelis hasn’t been able to do good numbers for quite some time. 2003’s “Milkshake” was a huge single, but the album Tasty only managed to be certified gold. Meanwhile, Kelis has been working on an indie dance record with Cee-Lo, which should be interesting (they collaborated on her last single, “Lil’ Star”), as well as a pop record with Guy Chambers that will be shopped around soon.

Producer Pharrell Williams had some words with MTV News last week regarding N.E.R.D.’s new album, N*R*3*D, tentatively due out Spring ‘08.

“It’s a Red Bull with growth hormones in it,” he told MTV News a couple of weeks ago of the album, “You know how artists do interviews, and they’ll be like [he impersonates an indie-rocker], ‘It’s, like, weird, really crazy.’ I wish I could really go there and do that, but I can’t.”

According to Pharrell, N.E.R.D.’s last effort, Fly Or Die was way too consistent and lacked the spontaneous unpredictability of their debut record, In Search Of…, which was critically acclaimed mixture of hip hop, rock, pop, alternative and R&B.

Pharrell stated that the album is complete, but wasn’t really keen on giving too many details about the new project.

While their former labelmate Kelis lost a deal, Clipse has inked a new one with Columbia. They struggled with Jive in a long battle to be released from their contract, and were basically caught up in the same cycle as Kelis, when Star Trak’s distribution left Virgin, went to Arista, and then was split up between J. Records and Jive, and the Clipse were bound to their contract. The duo wished to follow Star Trak to its new home, but Jive refused, resulting in a lawsuit that sought to break the Clipse’s four-album deal.

I hope Pusha-T and Malice got a good deal this time around, because I’m a huge fan of Clipse. I’m sure that this means they’re working on a third album. Both Lord Willin’ and Hell Hath No Fury were great albums in my opinion. I think they can make it work and get out some good new material.