Billboard Music Awards 2011 Performers

Sunday will mark the 2011 Billboard Music Awards. There should be a good variety of performers on hand from hip hop music to celebrate this latest show in Vegas. There will be a Lil Wayne Billboard appearance. He'll team up with singer Mary J Blige to perform a duet together on stage. This will be their song from the Diddy-Dirty Money album, also scheduled to appear on Blige's upcoming solo album. Nicki Minaj, Cee Lo Green and Snoop Dogg are among the other performers scheduled for the show. Among the presenters will be everyone's favorite young couple of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. The 2011 Billboard Music Awards will also award Jay-Z's wife, Beyonce Knowles, with a special Millenium award. The show airs Sunday night starting at 8PM EST on ABC. Check local listings for appropriate channel in your area. See the official website for more details on Sunday's awards show. Also check out the "Fan Favorite" award voting here.

Jay-Z keeping Blueprint 3 Safe

Jay-Z on the 7/25/09 Billboard mag According to a source close to Jay-Z, the rapper is taking no chances with his new material for Blueprint 3. Jigga will be hand delivering his material to his label over in London, because he's worried about potential leaks of tracks to the internet. Jay doesn't want all his songs out online prior to Blueprint 3's release on September 11th, 2009. Jay will arrive in London sometime next week. According to Yahoo News UK-Ireland: The source says, "Every time a big artist has new music ready these days someone somewhere is always keen to pinch it and whack it on the internet. Jay is very protective and smart and doesn't want fans to hear tracks which aren't quite right. He wants to give the record to the label in the UK and see which songs go down best to give him ideas about single releases." So far, just two tracks have really been released from the upcoming third part in the Blueprint trilogy. "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)" came out just a few months ago, and just days ago "Run this Town" featuring Rihanna and Kanye West debuted on the radio, and went viral online. Previous cuts by Jay-Z, "Brooklyn Go Hard" and "Jockin' Jay-Z" are reportedly not part of the new Blueprint 3 album. Jay-Z appears on the cover of the July 25th, 2009 Billboard magazine (pictured above). Read the article "He's a Business Man" at Billboard.com for the complete story on Jay-Z's busy life and thoughts on his new album process. Lyrics for Run this Town by Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye West Lyrics for D.O.A. (Death of Autotune) by Jay-Z

Top 10 Ringtones Chart 7.18.09

Right now Canadian-rapper Drake holds the top spot in terms of ringtones, followed by Jeremih with his Birthday Sex tribute. Black Eyed Peas check in at third with Boom Boom Pow, and MJ even holds a spot on the top 10, RIP. As of 7/18/09, here's the hottest ringtones in the land according to Funtonia: 01) Best I Ever Had by Drake 02) Birthday Sex by Jeremih 03) Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas 04) Don`t Trust Me by 3OH!3 05) Halo by Beyonce 06) I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas 07) Blame It (On The Alcohol) by Jamie Foxx 08) Dead and Gone by T.I. 09) Knock You Down by Keri Hilson 10) Thriller by Michael Jackson Over on Billboard, the late Michael Jackson holds the #3, 5, and 8 spots with Beat It, The Way You Make Me Feel and Man in the Mirror, respectively. See more MJ ringtones here.

Vibe's 80 Best Songs of 08' So Far

Online music and entertainment site, Vibe.com is releasing a list of what they believe are the "80 Best Songs of 08", 16 tracks at a time. So far they've released just the first 48 tracks (80-32) of their listing, but it's a mix full of variety; everyone from Joe Budden to Red Spyda, Duffy, Leona Lewis, Danity Kane, Young Jeezy, Wayne, G-Unit, Kanye and many of the hottest singers & rappers in the game are represented. The tracks come from the Billboard charts as well as unreleased singles, remixes and mix tapes. Here's a look at #60-50 as determined by Vibe: 60 “SINGLE LADIES (PUT A RING ON IT)” Beyoncé 59 “I DECIDED, PT. 1” Solange 58 “GET LIKE ME” David Banner feat. Chris Brown and Yung Joc 57 “GIRLS AROUND THE WORLD” Lloyd feat. Lil Wayne 56 “STAY WITH ME (BY THE SEA)” Al Green feat. John Legend 55 “UMMA DO ME (REMIX)” Rocko feat. Young Jeezy, T.I., Boo, and Big Kuntry King 54 “THREADS” Portishead 53 "THE CRAZY" Wale 52 "DON'T STOP THE MUSIC" Rihanna 51 "CHEVY MONSTA" Rich Boy 50 "HERE I AM" Rick Ross feat. Nelly and Avery Storm Based on the above list, Beyonce's little sister has sure grown up into a singer in her own right. Solange's song just barely beats out "Single Ladies" which TIME magazine refers to as one of its top 10 songs of the year, period. Solange's Neptunes-produced track definitely has some oomph to it, but if she will ever have the star power of Beyonce really remains to be seen. Check out Vibe's first hot 16 songs and Vibe's second hot 16 songs and Vibe's third hot 16 songs complete with imeem-powered audio clips of each selection.

Billboard's Top 10 Ringtones 10.06.08

Here's a look at Billboard.com's top mobile ringtones right now. Dominating the chart is TI's smash hit Whatever You Like. TI is also dominating iTunes downloads right now with the top album and song download ("Paper Trail" and "Live Your Life" featuring Rihanna). You'll notice one artist who appears quite often amongst the ringtone selections here, Lil' Wayne. The rap star is puttin in work, and getting his name on just about every album, remix and genre of music these days. Looks like Wayne wants that top spot on the MTV Top Hip Hop Artists debate next year! 1. Whatever You Like by T.I. 2. Can't Believe It by T-Pain feat. Lil' Wayne 3. Paper Planes by M.I.A. 4. My Life by The Game feat. Lil' Wayne 5. So What by Pink 6. Miss Independent by Ne-Yo 7. Mrs. Officer by Lil' Wayne feat. Bobby Valentino 8 I'm Yours by Jason Mraz 9 Addicted by Saving Abel 10 Bartender Song by Rehab You can find all of the above ringtone artists and many more at Funtonia.com, a great spot for mobile downloads!

Lil' Wayne Sports Blogger?

According to a recent Billboard.com article rap artist Lil' Wayne has re-signed with Cash Money, his original recording label since he was a teenager. The contract is for an undisclosed number of albums. Wayne also is Cash Money's current president, and runs an independant label on the side called "Young Money". The most recognizable name from that label is Mack Maine who has appeared on Cash Money mixtapes and the single "Get Money" by Wayne & T-Pain. Check out the official Cash-Money website here, where you can preview tracks from various artists, learn about the artists on the label, order music and much more. There's more to be written about and by Lil' Wayne though. Sports fans can now get inside sports commentary from the rapstar, as Wayne is being given his own blog on ESPN. Wayne claims he watches "nothing but sports" so his blog will be "fun". Here's an excerpt from his first entry: I grew up playing football. Believe it or not, I was a fullback. When I was nine, ten, eleven, I was a great blocker. I knew how to block real good and the other kids didn't. So there I was. One game when I was ten years old we were on the goal line about to score, and coach called the play for me. I was supposed to go one way, but I ended up sneaking around the other side on a sweep. Everybody thought I was already tackled. The ref was already blowin' his whistle. But I was still up and I stutter stepped one way and beat the last guy trying to get me and scored that touchdown. That's my favorite sports memory for myself. Besides the Packers, my favorite teams are the Red Sox, the Lakers and the Boston Bruins. I also love tennis. Interesting how Wayne doesn't mention New Orleans sports, but tennis. Maybe we'll see a Roger Federer or Nadal cameo in an upcoming rap video... Read Lil' Wayne's full ESPN blog here. If that's not enough, Lil' Wayne's ex-wife is writing too..all about Wayne. Antonia "Toya" Carter divorced Lil' Wayne back in 04' and announced news of her upcoming book via Myspace...You know you're famous when the ex-wife gets a "tell-all details book deal" about you!

Hottest 10 Ringtones 04.25

Which musical ringtone are you currently using on your cell phone? Here's a look at the hottest 10 MP3 ringtones today, courtesy of Billboard.com. Use the links below the listings to pick up your favorite! Billboard's Hot 10 Ringtones: 1 Adios Amor Te Vas by Grupo Montez De Durango 2 Super Mario Brothers Theme by Koji Kondo 3 Beacuse I Got High by Afroman Get Ringtone here 4 Candy Shop by 50 Cent Featuring Olivia Get Ringtone here! 5 Pink Panter by Henry Mancini Get ringtone here 6 Crank That (Soulja Boy) by Soulja Boy Tell'em Get ringtone here! 7 Rockstar by Nickelback Get ringtone here! 8 Don't Stop the Music by Rihanna Get ringtone here! 9 Best Friend by 50 Cent & Olivia Get ringtone here! 10 Bed by J. Holiday Get ringtone here! (Top 10 ringtone list from Billboard.com)