Lil’ Wayne was quick to think he was going to get his gun charges dropped, but he was politely told to sit that ass down by a Manhattan Court:

A Manhattan judge shot down rapper Lil’ Wayne’s bid to toss a gun case lodged against him – and instead set a trial date.

Defense lawyer Stacey Richman tried to quash the July 2007 arrest, claiming a cop lied about smelling marijuana wafting out of the Grammy winner’s tour bus and used it as an excuse to board.

“The motion is denied,” Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon told the 26-year-old star, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, in court on Tuesday.

The hugely popular “Lollipop” singer sat in the courtroom in a black leather jacket, blue jeans and black-rimmed glasses as giddy fans whispered about asking for his autograph.

The cop testified at a hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court last fall that after she smelled pot coming from the bus on the upper West Side, she boarded and found a loaded, 9-mm. handgun in the singer’s Louis Vuitton bag.

Richman argued the cop was several blocks away, helping another officer arrest rapper Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, also on gun charges.

The hip-hop artists were busted after a Lil’ Wayne & Friends concert at Broadway’s Beacon Theater.

Authorities have said the two busts were an hour apart.

The judge set a trial date of April 20, but not before all sides skirmished over conflicts with the star’s upcoming tour schedule.

“I’m not psychic, nor is Mr. Carter,” Richman said of Carter’s professional commitments beyond April 12, when his tour ends. Richman asked for time “to consult with the booker.”

The judge refused. “I’m not going to take a backseat here,” Solomon said before setting a trial date.

Carter faces felony weapons charges and up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

This isn’t anything a little apology and community service can’t take care of.  Who wants to bet their income tax return that this one will be dropped within 6 months??

Debuting at No. 1 on the ‘Top Rap Albums Chart’ this week is the comedic trio The Lonely Island with their first album titled Incredibad.

The trio, who ware well known for their Saturday Night Live skits which include “Dick In A Box”, “Jizz In My Pants” and “I’m On A Boat”, scan 47,500 discs in their opening week. Incredibad features appearances from E-40, T-Pain and Justin Timberlake.

T.I. slides down to No. 2. Paper Trail shifted 33,300 units this week, pushing the album’s total sales to 1,694,500.

Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III hits the triple platinum target this week. Tha Carter III, which sits at No. 3, passed the 3,000,000 sales mark by pushing 26,900 discs this week. The album’s tally stands at 3,012,100.

Posted at No. 4 is Florida rapper Plies. Da Realist scanned 14,300 copies in its ninth week on the charts. So far, the album has sold a total of 269,600 discs.

Ludacris slips down to No. 5. Theater Of The Mind reeled in 12,200 units this week, bringing the album’s total sales to 554,700.

Right behind him is Young Jeezy at No. 6. The Recession scanned 9,900 units this week. To date, the album has sold 775,400 copies.

Seated at No. 7 is The Notorious Soundtrack, The set shelved off 9,300 CDs in its 5th week on the charts. So far, the soundtrack has sold 107,500 copies.

Holding fort at No. 8 is Soulja Boy. ISouljaBoyTellEm ropes in 8,900 units this week, pushing the album’s total to 134,800.

M.I.A. sneaks back into The Top 10 by grabbing the No. 9 spot. Kala rakes in 5,800 discs this week. The album’s tally stands at 450,000.

Wrapping up The Top 10 is The Game. LAX moves 5,400 units this week. So far, the album has sold 675,900 copies.

To find out how Kanye West and Ryan Leslie are fairing on the charts, check out ‘R&B Chart Watch’.

There are now 1.3 million reasons why Lil Wayne shouldn’t have ducked out of his scheduled concerts in Rochester, NY.

The promoter who was left holding the bag 3 times over the last 4 months filed suit against the rapper Friday in NYC. Edward Strickland, GM of RMF Productions, is suing Wayne, his manager and others for $1.3 mil. Strickland says he advanced Lil’ $100K back in October and got nothin’.

Strickland claims the last he heard from Wayne was via email canceling the third concert… which Lil’ said was due to “logistics of his band.” Translation: Lil’ blew him off. Calls to Wayne have not been returned.

Despite critical acclaim for Naturi Haughton for her portrayal of Lil Kim in “Notorious, the Queen Bee is still not having it.

A war of words erupted in the weeks leading up to the release of the Biggie biopic, with Lil Kim vowing to “expose” Faith Evans and Big’s mother, Voletta Wallace.

In a new statement that appeared on Bossip, Kim stated that she was in love with the late Christopher Wallace, and the feeling was mutual.

“I feel like I was not portrayed how I should have been in this movie,” she said. “I was in love with BIG and he was in love with me. I was never a JUMP-OFF, I know this and BIG knew this. I wasn’t even able to choose who I wanted to portray me in this movie. I would have never picked Naturi, she doesn’t have a Lil Kim aura at all! She looks nothing like I looked back then. We have NO similarities.”

Kim went on to call Haughton’s performance “dreadful” and hinted at legal action over the film.

“Another thing is, I have been dealing with legal matters as far as them not wanting to pay me and shit for this movie, got a lawyer involved, so everything is cool with that, but it still doesn’t change my views and feelings. This is truly Faith and Ms. Wallace’s movie. And Ms. Wallace is right, this isn’t a Lil’ Kim movie and it’s not about me. I didn’t want it to be about me, I wanted it to be REAL though. And that it is NOT. I take no part in this movie and have nothing to do with it.”

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..

Tuesday, January 14, 2009

Seems as though Usher has hit the studio again with long-time friend and collaborator, Pharrell Williams as well as Maroon 5’s Adam Levine. It seems as though they’re working on a new album to be put out sometime this year. Interesting, considering how terribly Here I Stand flopped. I guess he’s trying to make people forget the bad taste that it left in their mouth.

We’ve heard a little something from the the Queen Bee herself, Lil’ Kim, but she’s been keeping it fairly quiet about what’s been going on with her new project, and what she’s been working on as far as the music front. She recently sat down with MTV.com to talk about what she has in store for the new album.

She claims the new record will carry something new and unheard of from the Queen, and that she’s “getting ready to come with a whole new flavor, a whole new style.”

Here’s what else Kim had to say:

“And I don’t care what nobody says, I’m not gonna let anyone pigeonhole me. This is what it is. I’m coming with it,” Lil’ Kim explains further. “I got to hang in there with the fellas. The only way to hang in there with the fellas is to be able to do what the fellas do. And with Lil’ Wayne singing and rapping, T-Pain singing and rapping, and everybody singing and rapping, somebody got to represent for my laaaaaaadies.”

When asked whether she will be playing with Auto-Tune like other musicians, such as Kanye West, have done, Lil’ Kim says:

“Maybe, maybe not.” She then adds, “I’m gonna be singing, I’m gonna be flowing. Whatever I feel. It’s not gonna be so strategic or placed. It’s gonna be whatever I feel. I’m gonna have fun on my next album. It’s coming soon. Really soon.”

I’m not sure how this screams “different,” but I definitely am eager to see what Kim comes up with for this new project. It’ll be good to hear something new from her.

Ciara finally sets a release date for her third studio album, Fantasy Ride! The album, which features productions from Polow Da Don, Tricky Stewart and The Dream and many more, will drop in April, after a few delays.

Ciara recently shot a video for her new single, “Never Ever,” featuring Young Jeezy in Atlanta over the past weekend. The clip was directed by Chris Robinson and should debut in a couple of weeks.

Although her sophomore album was supposed to drop last year, former Destiny’s Child bandmate Letoya Luckett has some new information about the tentative release of her new project, Lady Love.

The new album is expected to drop April 7th, despite rumors online of the set hitting stores in the United States on March 24th. The album will be lead by the single “Not Anymore,” which is said to be penned by none other than Ne-Yo.

“Not Anymore” is supposedly dropping online in just a couple of days, on the 15th, and I wouldn’t be surprised, considering the snippets that have leaked from Luckett. She’s also been in the studio with Pharrell, Tricky Stewart and The Dream, as well as a rumored collaboration with Timbaland.

I’m eager to see what she comes up with, considering that her debut album wasn’t too shabby. It garnered her a pretty good response (she debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts and got major radio play with her first single, “Torn”) and gained her a nice fanbase.