Ne Yo

All eyes were on R&B singer Ne-Yo and actress/singer Adrienne Bailon at the Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club, where the pair handed out presents provided by Toys for Tots, as well as books and clothing. (Boston was one of four stops on a "giving tour" organized by Ne-Yo's Compound Foundation.) Bailon may be best known as a former member of the Cheetah Girls and the ex of Kim Kardashian 's brother, Rob . G-l-o-r-i-a "It's a tie between Brigitte Bardot and Gloria Steinem, but if I had to choose one, I'd say Gloriabecause, well, she's the full package.

Just before Flo Rida released his third album, almost two million fans purchased the first single "Club Can't Handle Me," helping the rapper snag yet another Top 10 hit. But in its first week out, only 11,000 people bought the 8-song EP — "Only One Flo Part 1" — making its debut measly at No. 107 on the Billboard charts. And in nearly two years, the album has only sold 62,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Flo Rida's experience in 2010 is being repeated again and again in today's pop scene.

NEW YORK - Ne-Yo is on a mission to bring a certain kind of classy back with his third album. Inside Legacy Recording Studios - an oasis from the tourist bustle of Times Square - the R&B star is queuing up cuts from "Year of the Gentleman," his new album out today, and laying out his master plan to revive elegance in urban music. "With this one I'm trying to show cats what it is to be a gentleman again," he says, reclining in the room where he recorded his Grammy-winning 2007 album, "Because of You. " "That there's something about understanding what it is to dress for the occasion, something about...

LOS ANGELES - Will.i.am said he hoped to raise $1 million for his charity that benefits needy students at a concert Thursday night. Instead, he raised $5 million. He hosted an event that featured performances from Stevie Wonder and Ne-Yo at the Hollywood Palladium for his i.am angel foundation, established in 2009. The Black Eyed Peas leader said he was inspired by the 2010 documentary "Waiting for Superman," about US public education. He said that "Superman is not coming to save no neighborhood or no education system.

Ne-Yo may have crooned that he was ‘‘So Sick’’ of love songs on his hit 2006 debut, ‘‘In My Own Words,’’ but don’t believe him. The 24-year-old R&B wunderkind found time in his busy schedule as a songwriter for hire — Beyoncé’s ‘‘Irreplaceable,’’ Rihanna’s ‘‘Unfaithful’’ — to craft a sexy and sweet sophomore release that’s got more love flowing from it than an ‘‘Oprah’’ audience on ‘‘My Favorite...

LOS ANGELES - Will.i.am said he hoped to raise $1 million for his charity that benefits needy students at a concert Thursday night. Instead, he raised $5 million. He hosted an event that featured performances from Stevie Wonder and Ne-Yo at the Hollywood Palladium for his i.am angel foundation, established in 2009. The Black Eyed Peas leader said he was inspired by the 2010 documentary "Waiting for Superman," about US public education. He said that "Superman is not coming to save no neighborhood or no education system.

MANSFIELD -- If only there had been a little sign of summer at Jam'n 94.5's annual Summer Jam on Saturday, things might've been a little different. Instead, the sold-out crowd at the Tweeter Center was treated to a deflating diet of drizzle and outright downpours and bone-chilling temperatures as they tried to enjoy a five-hour, multi-act hip-hop and soul concert that, given the anemic line up, would've taken a whole lot of sunshine to get truly excited about. What the audience needed -- especially the troupers sticking it out on the uncovered lawn --was a group of artists ready...

Just before Flo Rida released his third album, almost two million fans purchased the first single "Club Can't Handle Me," helping the rapper snag yet another Top 10 hit. But in its first week out, only 11,000 people bought the 8-song EP — "Only One Flo Part 1" — making its debut measly at No. 107 on the Billboard charts. And in nearly two years, the album has only sold 62,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Flo Rida's experience in 2010 is being repeated again and again in today's pop scene.

Hip-Hop Fabolous Loso's Way Def Jam ESSENTIAL “Imma Do It’’ “Loso’s Way,’’ Fabolous’s fifth album, apparently is an autobiographical look at his past few years, but the thing you learn most is that the MC feels he’s been disrespected by the industry and his peers. The truth is he hasn’t gotten the kind of respect he deserves for his wit and sly flow. This set isn’t very revealing, though, as Fabolous alternates typical gun-toting swagger (who knew he called his gun Nadia?

Hip-Hop 50 Cent Before I Self Destruct Shady/Aftermath/Interscope ESSENTIAL “Crime Wave’’ It’s tough for an insanely rich MC to try to go back to the streets - it’s easier going back to insane, like Eminem - but that’s what 50 Cent does here with mixed success. Many of these tracks leave burn marks as Fiddy moves away from the sing-song, surefire singles approach. So here you get more songs about clips, cash, and revenge. He’s feisty, and while his renewed beef with The Game (“So Disrespectful’’)

All eyes were on R&B singer Ne-Yo and actress/singer Adrienne Bailon at the Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club, where the pair handed out presents provided by Toys for Tots, as well as books and clothing. (Boston was one of four stops on a "giving tour" organized by Ne-Yo's Compound Foundation.) Bailon may be best known as a former member of the Cheetah Girls and the ex of Kim Kardashian 's brother, Rob . G-l-o-r-i-a "It's a tie between Brigitte Bardot and Gloria Steinem, but if I had to choose one, I'd say Gloriabecause, well, she's the full package.

A cursory hearing of Ne-Yo’s fourth album might have listeners believing this was yet another of his smooth urban pop fantasy rides. It is, after all, brimming with feathery bedroom enticements and excited-but-urbane dance-floor exhortations powered by champagne, handclaps, and Michael Jackson-influenced cadences. So far, so much pleasant contemporary R&B. And yet, according to the press notes, “Libra Scale’’ is in fact a full-on concept album about superheroes who pose as sanitation workers by day, and must forswear love in...

Hip-Hop 50 Cent Before I Self Destruct Shady/Aftermath/Interscope ESSENTIAL “Crime Wave’’ It’s tough for an insanely rich MC to try to go back to the streets - it’s easier going back to insane, like Eminem - but that’s what 50 Cent does here with mixed success. Many of these tracks leave burn marks as Fiddy moves away from the sing-song, surefire singles approach. So here you get more songs about clips, cash, and revenge. He’s feisty, and while his renewed beef with The Game (“So Disrespectful’’)

“Rated R’’ is not just an album title - it’s a warning. On her fourth release, out today, pop star Rihanna unleashes a storm, and an umbrella is not going to cut it. There are instances of strong language and depictions of adult situations and violence. And what that “R’’ stands for mutates repeatedly over the course of the album’s 13 dark, tempestuous, and ultimately uneven, tracks. Rage, regret, revenge, resignation, and resilience - the 21-year-old singer displays them all and more in her first release since 2007’s multiplatinum “Good Girl Gone Bad’’ and, more pointedly, her...

Hip-Hop Fabolous Loso's Way Def Jam ESSENTIAL “Imma Do It’’ “Loso’s Way,’’ Fabolous’s fifth album, apparently is an autobiographical look at his past few years, but the thing you learn most is that the MC feels he’s been disrespected by the industry and his peers. The truth is he hasn’t gotten the kind of respect he deserves for his wit and sly flow. This set isn’t very revealing, though, as Fabolous alternates typical gun-toting swagger (who knew he called his gun Nadia?

R&B Jamie Foxx Intuition J ESSENTIAL "I Don't Need It" Jamie Foxx is as savvy about choosing his collaborators on wax as he is on celluloid. Numerous urban hitmakers line up to lend a hand to the Oscar winner's beat-heavy third album. And if they aren't all bringing their A-game, they're at least aiming for B-plus territory. The jittery "Just Like Me" is already scaling the charts thanks to an insistent hook courtesy of The-Dream (Rihanna's "Umbrella")

Talk about the ultimate tease. All weekend leading up to last night's Monster Jam concert, Lil Wayne basically set up camp on sponsoring radio station JAM'N 94.5. For the morning commute, there was Wayne's "Lollipop. " At lunchtime, you had his other big hit, "A Milli," and on the drive to the show, the station played the Game's "My Life" featuring - who else? - Lil Wayne. The rapper was everywhere - except on stage at the TD Banknorth Garden last night. Lil Wayne was second-to-last on the bill, but he didn't show up. No one gave the audience an explanation, but...

For a second, all the pre-album mini-dramas might have made you forget about the real Fabolous . There was the name change. F-A . . . B-O . . . L-O . . . U-S wasn't doing it anymore, so he started stamping his verses with "Loso. " There was the whole Sebastian Telfair chain-snatching incident outside of Diddy's restaurant, which left Fab with a bullet in his leg. All that brought back memories of this Brooklyn rapper with a vicious freestyle and dope mixtapes who hit the streets and the radio hard with his debut album, "Ghetto Fabolous.

Talk about the ultimate tease. All weekend leading up to last night's Monster Jam concert, Lil Wayne basically set up camp on sponsoring radio station JAM'N 94.5. For the morning commute, there was Wayne's "Lollipop. " At lunchtime, you had his other big hit, "A Milli," and on the drive to the show, the station played the Game's "My Life" featuring - who else? - Lil Wayne. The rapper was everywhere - except on stage at the TD Banknorth Garden last night. Lil Wayne was second-to-last on the bill, but he didn't show up. No one gave the audience an explanation, but...

NEW YORK - Ne-Yo is on a mission to bring a certain kind of classy back with his third album. Inside Legacy Recording Studios - an oasis from the tourist bustle of Times Square - the R&B star is queuing up cuts from "Year of the Gentleman," his new album out today, and laying out his master plan to revive elegance in urban music. "With this one I'm trying to show cats what it is to be a gentleman again," he says, reclining in the room where he recorded his Grammy-winning 2007 album, "Because of You. " "That there's something about understanding what it is to dress for the occasion,...