MICHAEL JACKSON’s longtime producer pal QUINCY JONES will go to his grave failing to understand the King of Pop’s need to be as white as possible.

Jones, who worked with the late pop superstar on epic albums like Thriller and BAD, calls his friend’s obsession with changing his appearance "ridiculous" and admits he often spoke to him about his cosmetic surgery.

Jackson only confessed to having gone under the knife twice, but experts insist he had multiple cosmetic surgeries and a host of other procedures.

And Jones reveals to Details magazine, "It’s ridiculous, man! Chemical peels and all of it. And I don’t understand it.

"He obviously didn’t want to be black."

MICHAEL JACKSON has made chart history in America by claiming the top nine spots on Billboard’s Top Pop Catalog Albums countdown.

For the first time in Billboard history, the Catalog Albums chart-topper sold more than the number one album on the Billboard 200 countdown. In fact the new chart’s top three albums – Jackson’s Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller – have all outsold the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D.

The only non Jackson album in the Catalog chart top 10 this week is a reissue of the Woodstock movie soundtrack, which debuts at 10.

Eight of the nine albums in the top 10 are Jackson solo albums and one is a Jackson 5 hits compilation.

The King of Pop’s Number Ones claims the top spot 108,000 sales – an increase of 2,340 per cent. The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller also topped 100,000 sales.

Completing the new Top Pop Catalog album top five is Jackson’s Off the Wall and the Jackson 5’s The Ultimate Collection.

Jackson’s solo albums sold a collective 415,000 this past week – more than 400,000 more than the week leading up to his death last Thursday (25Jun09).

Jackson also claims six of the top 10 spots in the new Top Digital Albums chart, which is led by The Essential Michael Jackson.

On the main Billboard album chart, the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. returns to number one with 88,000 sales.

Catalog albums are ineligible to appear on the Billboard 200 albums chart

QUINCY JONES has vowed to buy back his urban music magazine VIBE, a day after bosses declared the publication is to close.

The monthly mag, which Jones founded in 1993, suffered a dramatic fall in sales in recent months and its editor Danyel Smith declared it was set to fold on Tuesday (30Jun09), with the final issue dedicated to the late Michael Jackson.

But Jones isn’t going to let the publication go without a fight, and the music mogul is planning to relaunch it as an online venture.

The producer says, "I’m trying to buy my magazine back now. They just messed my magazine all up, but I’m gonna get it back. You better believe it, I’m'a (sic) take it online because print and all that stuff is over. We gotta get into the 21st century."

MARIAH CAREY’s husband NICK CANNON denies the superstar has taken a swipe at EMINEM in her latest music video by dressing as the rapper – insisting she wouldn’t waste her time.

Carey trades in her usual glamorous look to dress as a thuggish man in the promo for new single Obsessed – in which her male persona has a striking resemblance to the Stan hitmaker.

Internet gossips presumed the Hero singer used the video to hit back at Eminem after he boasted of bedding the star in his track Bagpipes from Baghdad.

But Carey’s partner, actor/rapper Cannon, is adamant she wasn’t planning to take aim at the controversial hip-hop star with her cross-dressing video.

He tells MTV.com, "Honestly, I don’t think so. I don’t think that she would take her time. My wife doesn’t beef. She’s Mariah Carey. She’s not beefin’, she’s a vegetarian.

"I always say I thought the record was about me, ’cause I’m obsessed with my wife. But if somebody’s out there and you feel like you might have been obsessed, then the record’s about you

– A representative of recording artist R. Kelly released the following statement in response to an inaccurate Internet report about a supposed police search of his house in the Chicago suburb of Olympia Fields.



"A wildly exaggerated and inaccurate report has been circulating on the Internet that Olympia Fields police showed up at R. Kelly’s house with a search warrant just before the singer left for his three-week concert tour in Africa last month and then searched the place looking for a missing 17-year-old girl.



"This is completely false. No police ever showed up at Kelly’s house with a search warrant nor was his house ever searched. It is also not true, as the unsubstantiated report claimed, that any such girl ever stayed overnight in Kelly’s house or that she had been there but left shortly before some mythical police search.



"Kelly’s attorneys have informed the police that they will cooperate fully with any investigation."



Source: R. Kelly

R&B superstar Ginuwine has entered Billboard’s Top 200 at #9 with his 6th studio album, A Man’s Thoughts. The album, out June 23 on Notifi/Asylum/Warner Bros. boasts a Bryan Michael-Cox produced hit single "Last Chance," which has implanted itself in the Top 10 at urban ac and urban mainstream radio helping to make this the #1 R&B album in the country.



"I hope that the concentration Ginuwine and I put into the music makes it enjoyable for his fans for years to come," says Notifi Records President, Ira Dewitt. "It makes me incredibly proud that my small independent label has earned a #1 R&B album on our very first try."



"The Ginuwine project has been a labor of love for those involved and now we are all very much looking forward to enjoying the fruits of those labors," says President of Asylum Records, Todd Moscowitz. "Ginuwine had something to prove on this album and he showed these younger artists why he is one of the greatest of all time."



A Man’s Thoughts also reunites Ginuwine with multi-platinum stars Timbaland and Missy on the up-tempo "Get Involved". The Virginia Beach-based trio worked together on Ginuwine’s debut album The Bachelor, which included the sinuous, hit single "Pony". This time around, Ginuwine has shown prodigious growth, which was noted in USA Today’s review: "Back in his Bachelor days, Ginuwine’s thoughts ran mainly to giving ‘Pony’ rides to as many hotties as he could. On new album A Man’s Thoughts, he’s more subtle, and relationships now tend to last beyond last call at the club. Ginuwine has always been a smooth purveyor of steamy slow jams, but here the sex involves more emotional entanglement, and that can lead to complications."



Ginuwine has always known that he wasn’t just another pretty boy R&B crooner, but he proved it to skeptics repeatedly with a prolific career, pumping out albums like the critically acclaimed 100% Ginuwine. In between releases, he’s appeared in films, managed a challenging personal life, learned about commitment and the art of raising children.



He’s also toured the world, regrouped with old friends and made new ones, like linking up with manager Kedar Massenburg, who understood the neo-soul vision before anyone else. Together they brought A Man’s Thoughts to life, tapping Brandy, Bun B, Timbaland and Missy for creative collaborations. As a result, his sixth CD is the best yet, combining The Bachelor’s raw sensuality with a healthy shot of introspective wisdom.



www.myspace.com/ginuwine

West Coast gangster rap icon and Hoo-Bangin’ Entertainment label owner Mack 10 is preparing to set the summer ablaze with the release of his ninth CD, Soft White (Hoo-Bangin’/Fontana/Universal) on August 25, 2009. The first single "So Sharp" features two of hip-hop’s biggest names, Lil’ Wayne and Rick Ross. In addition to the heavyweight single, Mack Dime’s entire album boasts an all-star list of cameos, including Anthony Hamilton, J. Holiday, Akon, Birdman, Jim Jones, Jazze Pha, Red Cafe and Glasses Malone among others.



Mack 10 has had an amazing career as a member of Westside Connection with Ice Cube and WC, as a solo artist and as a label owner. He has sold nearly 3 million albums, his first three reaching gold and Bow Down (with Westside Connection) scoring platinum.



Powered by the hits "Foe Life" and "On Them Thangs," the Inglewood native staked his claim in the rap game with his self-titled debut in 1995, which charted No. 2 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 1996, Mack 10 joined Ice Cube and WC as Westside Connection to release the hip-hop classic Bow Down, one of the most respected and critically acclaimed albums of the 1990’s.



Mack 10’s second solo album, Based on a True Story (1997), featured the Top 40 hit, "Backyard Boogie." The next year Mack 10 continued his reign of hits with "Money’s Just a Touch Away," featuring Gerald LeVert, from The Recipe, then delivered The Paper Route in 2000, but it was 2003 when Mack 10 double-teamed fans with a solo album on Cash Money Records, Ghetto, Gutter & Gangster, with the hit "Lights Out" and a Westside Connection reunion, Terrorist Threats (Capitol), which went gold powered by the single "Gangsta Nation."



Now with Soft White, Mack 10 is ready to release his latest masterpiece. "I went with that title because this album right here is just raw and uncut, it’s just me" he says, "We had fun on this one and I had to bring them all out, I’ve been smiling all year."

The organisers of the BET Awards have come under fire for letting LIL WAYNE perform his controversial EVERY GIRL tune at Sunday’s (28Jun09) ceremony – backed by a troupe of teenage dancers.

Celebrated Columbia University scholar Dr. Janet Taylor has taken aim at BET CEO Debra Lee for allowing the hip-hop star’s performance at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium to go uncensored.

The mother of four watched the awards show with her daughters and was left horrified when Lil Wayne launched into his "degrading" sex hit during an onstage collaboration with Drake.

The track begins with, "I like a long haired thick red bone/Open up her legs then filet Mignon that p**sy/Ima get in and on that p**sy/If she let me in Ima own that p**sy."

Dr. Taylor tells MomLogic.com, "I enjoy rap with the exception of rappers who use lyrics to degrade, defame or threaten others… I don’t have a problem with Lil Wayne; he is creative and his writing is brilliant at times. However, his song Every Girl is offensive and disturbing.

"Perhaps they are what our kids are used to. I have teenagers, girls no less, who have heard the song and like it. My problem was the teens who were proudly on stage, shaking their groove thang to this misogynistic, disrespectful song. It was ridiculous.

"Debra Lee, who is also the mother of two children, should be asking herself who approved this and how these young girls were allowed to be a part of this act."

Dr. Taylor adds, "It is time for perspective here. In the minutes that were wasted on stage during this song, almost four women were forcibly raped in the United States. The age group 13-17, that these young dancers belong, include the highest victims of forcible rape, at 32 per cent.

"Why are we, as women and mothers, passively allowing our young girls to be utilised as sexual entertainment? We need to wake up and understand the importance of what we expose our children and teens to."

A rapper formerly signed to JAY-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge, in connection to a fatal stabbing in New York.

Tru Life – real name Roberto Rosado, Jr. – was arrested on Tuesday (23Jun09) after 18 year old Christopher Guerrero was killed and another man left seriously injured following an attack in a Manhattan apartment building earlier this month (15Jun09).

Tru Life was charged with gang assault and second degree murder.

He has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and is being held by authorities without bail.

Police were initially investigating the rapper’s brother Marcus in relation to a recent shooting outside Pacha nightclub, and authorities believe the stabbing was in retaliation for the club incident.

Marcus Rosado turned himself into police on Wednesday (24Jun09) and is currently awaiting arraignment.

Tru Life, who landed a record deal with Jay-Z in 2005, is now facing life behind bars if he’s found guilty on a charge of second degree murder.

The urban music magazine launched by superproducer QUINCY JONES has shut down after a dramatic fall in sales.

Vibe magazine, founded by Jones in 1993, has ceased production following a tough few months for print publications.

The magazine focused on hip-hop stars, their music and personal lives.

Editor Danyel Smith announced the news on Tuesday (30Jun09), but insists there will be a Michael Jackson tribute edition before the publication closes for good.

Smith says in a statement, "On behalf of the Vibe Content staff (the best in this business), it is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today.

"We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It’s a tragic week in overall (sic), but as the doors of VIBE Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine’s sixteenth anniversary, it’s a sad day for music, for hip-hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand. We thank you, we have served you with joy, pride and excellence, and we will miss you."