R’n'B star Ne-Yo has broken his silence over a Christmas (08) brawl with rapper Jim Jones, insisting neither party intended to do harm during the New York incident.

Jones has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanour assault charge, stemmingfrom the Christmas Eve (24Dec08) fight at a Manhattan Louis Vuitton store, where members of his entourage clashed with Ne-Yo’s manager, JaVogn Smith.

The Miss Independent singer claims he was shopping with Smith when Jones and two pals walked into the shop and confronted them for reasons unknown to Ne-Yo.

And the Grammy winner insists that what began as a heated exchange simply got out of hand.

He says, “I guess Jim Jones and Vogn have had drama in the past, or whatever, so Vogn taps me on the shoulder, like , “Look who just walked in here.’ “So I turn and I see Jim, (and he) beelines straight for us. And they get to exchanging words back and forth, back and forth”.

“So I turn and I see Jim, and he beelines straight for us”

Ne-Yo adds, “Jim Jones wasn’t necessarily trying to hurt nobodyhe was more trying to embarrass, trying to humiliate Vogn. And Vogn, being who he is, wasn’t going for that.

“So, at one point, it escalated to where Jim Jones pulled out his cell phone and started recording, put the phone right in Vogn’s face, talking ’bout, “You a punk, you a this, you a that…’ Vogn, at that point, couldn’t take anymore, smacked the phone outta Jim’s hand.

(And) they got to wrestling on the floor in the Louis store”.

Footage Hard @ work via NYC

Monday, January 14, 2009 |

Singer Grace Jones performs on stage as part of the Sydney Festival 2009 at The Enmore Theatre on Sunday in Sydney, Australia.

John Legend performed at The Pearl in The Palms Resort and Casino on Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada.

CONCERT PICS: KEYSHIA COLE PERFORMS IN

HOUSTON

Keyshia Cole performs at the “I Am Music” World Tour at the Toyota Center on Friday, December 18th in Houston, Texas. Her latest album, A Different Me is currently in stores now.

Fresh from making a special appearance during Chris Brown’s Jingle Ball performance in Cali on Saturday, Rihanna performed at KRBE 104.1 2008 Jingle Jam at Toyota Center on Sunday in Houston. Peep the pics.

RANDOM PICS: SOLANGE AT Cosmopolitan

Magazine’s Starlaunch Finale

Solange Knowles performs at the Starlaunch Finale concert hosted by Cosmopolitan magazine at Terminal 5 on Friday in New York City. Make sure you check out Solange’s blog over at okayplayer for exclusive pics and video from her travels and shows..

CONCERT PICS: ALICIA KEYS IN NEW ZEALAND +

VIDEO FROM THE TYRA SHOW

Alicia Keys got down on stage during her concert at the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on on Saturday, December 6th.

The popular singer also appeared on the Tyra Banks Show on Friday and spoke about the charity she co-founded “Keep A Child Alive” and more. Peep the video when you keep reading….

CONCERT PICS: ESTELLE PERFORMS IN AMSTERDAM

Estelle showed off her new hairdo as she performed live at Melkweg on Tuesday in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The singer is currently on tour in various cities in the U.S. I still haven’t seen her perform live yet, but heard it was dope.

CONCERT PICS: KANYE WEST PERFORMS IN NEW

ZEALAND

Superstar Kanye West performs on stage at the TSB Bank Arena on Tuesday in Wellington, New Zealand. The rapper/”singer” is currently has 3 more tour dates in Australia this week.

In related news, sources says Kanye West’s “808s & Heartbreak” will sell in the range of 425,000 – 450,000 copies, significantly lower than the expected 700,000 – 975,000 units projected in November. Oh well, I dig the album..

On Monday January 5, 2009 Dipset Capo Jim Jones appeared at the 18th Precinct in New York City to speak to the police about an alleged physical altercation that took place on Christmas Eve. Jones has since been slapped with a misdemeanor assault charge and a court appearance has been scheduled for February 4th.

As SOHH.com’s Gyant Scoop blog previously reported early rumors said Jim Jones got into an altercation with the brother of Ty-Ty Smith, a long-time Jay-Z associate. Jones has had a very public beef with Jay-Z.

“There’s been word of a ‘beef’ that went too far between Ne-Yo, Jim Jones and Jay-Z’s right hand man Ty-Ty’s brother Vaughn. According to various gossip sources, Go-Go and Jimmy got into a tussle at the Louis Vuitton store on 5th Ave in NYC.

“While the details are sketchy, my people tell me that a lot of the stories being posted are ‘grossly exaggerated.’ Apparently Ne-Yo and Ty-Ty’s brother were shopping in the store when J. Jones approached the guys and started going off on Vaughn, who just so happens to bare a striking resemblance to his brother Ty-Ty.”

Last week Jones declined MTV’s request for a comment about rumors.

“I don’t wanna talk about that,” Jones told MTV News refusing to comment on the incident. “Nah, we not doing that, let’s stop that right there. Let’s not do that. We above that.”

According to AllHipHop Jim did agree to answer the questions of NYPD investigators:

“Jones surrendered to the NYPD in accordance with arrangements made by attorney Scott Leemon last week, Leemon told AllHipHop.”

“While details of the incident remain unclear, the information provided by Jones was enough to warrant a charge and a summons for a desk appearance. He is scheduled to appear in court on February 4. Jones was released without bail immediately after making his statement, Leemon told AllHipHop.”