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CHICAGO - Bernie Mac, the actor and comedian who teamed up in the casino heist caper "Ocean's Eleven" and gained a prestigious Peabody Award for his sitcom "The Bernie Mac Show," died Saturday at age 50. "Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles. She said no other details were available and asked that his family's privacy be respected.

The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis,an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in thebody's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005.He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which hispublicist said was not related to the disease. Recently, Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. The performance earned him a rebuke from Obama's campaign.

Former Labelmate claims foul play by Kells

R&B singer Joe has accused R. Kelly of trying to derail his career by pressuring radio DJs not to play his records. The singer released six albums with Jive Records over an 11 year period, but left the label earlier this year after the company pushed back the release of his 2007 LP, Ain’t Nothin Like Me, several times. The Grammy winner believes fellow Jive artist R. Kelly was to blame, claiming the singer would call Jive bosses and radio stations and urge them not to promote the singer too heavily, according to reports. "R. Kelly was very instrumental in making a lot of decisions when it came to my records being played on the radio," Joe said. "He would make a call to the radio station or to the label and say, ‘Hey, this Joe record is too hot right now. Y’all (sic) need to pull that back.’ And they would oblige. It’s incredible that now I get the opportunity to, I don’t know, maybe pay (R. Kelly) back in some sort of side bar kind of thing." And Joe, who left Jive to release his forthcoming LP New Man through Kedar Entertainment Group, insists that despite R. Kelly’s alleged intervention, he's still got plenty of stake in the industry. He says, "I’m still very relevant in the game. But yeah, he did try to make some decisions when it came down to my records being on fire, and climbing up the charts and on the radio stations."

A woman, who went missing after attending a birthday celebration for rapper Lil Kim, was found dead yesterday. According to a report by New York's CW11 television station, 24-year-old Ingrid Rivera's body was found in a utility closet on the roof of Times Square night club Spotlight. Rivera was last seen Sunday night having an altercation with club personnel over her alcohol intake. She was secretly separated from her friends by bouncers and never heard from again, according to AllHipHop. The Queens resident's body was identified by her parents, who had reported the young woman missing after she failed to return home after the party. Although complete autopsy results have not yet been revealed, early forensic examination shows evidence of blunt force trauma. The event was attended by numerous celebrities, including Busta Rhymes, Lisa Raye, Missy Elliot, and Wyclef Jean.

R&B star Usher and his mother are working together once again. "Usher has dissolved his management arrangement with Benny Medina and has re-engaged Jonnetta Patton as his manager," the mother and son said in a statement Wednesday. According to a source, "He wanted her to come back on board and she decided to. He had really poor management and wanted her back." The source cited lackluster album sales as one of the reasons Usher decided to reconsider his management. In his own statement, Medina told PEOPLE Wednesday, "With an artist like Usher, the bar is set really high. Whether it was management, marketing or the music, we achieved a number one single and a number one album. It is a completely new day and time in music now. In four years, his audience, demographic, and musical direction has changed. Records like Lil Wayne's 'Lollipop' are the type of phenomena that 'Yeah' was in 2004. I had a great time and we parted ways amicably."Usher's publicist, Patti Webster, also resigned on Aug. 1. Usher and his mother, who previously managed her son's career, parted ways professionally in May 2007, around the time the R&B singer got engaged to Tameka Foster. The couple postponed their wedding, partly due to family matters, including Foster's tense relationship with Patton, sources said at the time. Usher and Foster later wed in a quiet civil ceremony on Aug 3, 2007, then had their dream wedding later that month, which his mother did not attend. In an interview with Vibe earlier this year, Usher would not characterize the split from his mom as a firing. Instead, he said he paid her "the ultimate compliment" by having her retire. [source]

WENN News - Imprisoned former R&B singer WAYMOND 'SUAVE' ANDERSON has accused rap mogul MARION 'SUGE' KNIGHT of forcing him to give false evidence in a 2007 civil lawsuit filed by NOTORIOUS B.I.G.'s family. B.I.G. - real name Christopher Wallace - was shot dead in 1997 in Los Angeles and his murder has never been solved. Anderson, who once implicated a Los Angeles police officer in B.I.G.'s death, took to the stand in an L.A. court on Thursday, when he retracted his previous testimony, alleging Knight had threatened him to lie to the court over the cop's involvement in the case. Anderson claims former Los Angeles Times reporter Chuck Philips passed him written messages from Knight, that had been wrapped in plastic, while he was behind bars at California's Corcoran State Prison, where Anderson is serving a life sentence for murder. Anderson was in court on Thursday for a hearing examining evidence that he claims will prove his innocence in the 1993 murder for which he was convicted. The accusations have been dismissed by Philips, who was fired from the L.A. Times last month. Philips has previously written numerous articles on Anderson's case, suggesting he might be innocent. Of the allegations, Philips says, "That never happened. I'm flabbergasted by this whole thing. This is the ultimate betrayal." Earlier this year, Phillips' story about the 1994 shooting of Wallace's rap rival Tupac Shakur left editors and publishers with red faces after his sources proved to be inaccurate. His January article suggested Sean `Diddy' Combs and rap music heavyweight Jimmy `Henchman' Rosemond were involved in a plan to ambush Shakur at a New York Recording studio in 1994. But an investigation revealed the report had been based on faked documents and Philips was subsequently 'let go'. [source]

50 Cent has revealed he split up with actress Vivica A. Fox after the actress hogged the limelight at the 2003 World Music Awards. The rapper has steered away from talking about the break-up of his most high-profile romance - until now. He tells Sister 2 Sister magazine that many of the rumors surrounding the split are incorrect - and he dumped the "Kill Bill" actress when she took advantage of his generosity at the awards event in Monaco. 50 claims he invited Fox to the awards show as his date and made huge demands to make sure she could
be a part of the show - but then she took over and became the event's host. He says, "She asked me would I mind if she did something on the show, and I said no. I got on the phone and I told people that was around me to make her able to present awards or do something. They made her the host." The event made the rapper realize Fox was all about business: "It turned into a business opportunity and it wasn't beneficial for me, so I moved away from it." And he insists his brief romance with the actress wasn't quite as torrid as the media reported - because he was too busy focusing on his own film career: "There was not a lot of action between me and Vivica at that point."

50 Cent has revealed he split up with actress Vivica A. Fox after the actress hogged the limelight at the 2003 World Music Awards. The rapper has steered away from talking about the break-up of his most high-profile romance - until now. He tells Sister 2 Sister magazine that many of the rumors surrounding the split are incorrect - and he dumped the "Kill Bill" actress when she took advantage of his generosity at the awards event in Monaco. 50 claims he invited Fox to the awards show as his date and made huge demands to make sure she could
be a part of the show - but then she took over and became the event's host. He says, "She asked me would I mind if she did something on the show, and I said no. I got on the phone and I told people that was around me to make her able to present awards or do something. They made her the host." The event made the rapper realize Fox was all about business: "It turned into a business opportunity and it wasn't beneficial for me, so I moved away from it." And he insists his brief romance with the actress wasn't quite as torrid as the media reported - because he was too busy focusing on his own film career: "There was not a lot of action between me and Vivica at that point."

R&B star Akon will reportedly oversee music legend Michael Jackson's comeback album. The "Smack That" singer has hinted that he has signed the King of Pop to his own label, Konvict Music. "When (Jackson's) record comes out, read the label." Akon told MTV.com.Meanwhile, Jackson has repaid the favor by lending his vocals to Akon's new track, "Hold My Hand," which will be featured on the star's forthcoming album Acquitted. The Senegal-born singer was reportedly so happy to have worked with Jackson that he could almost retire now, and insists that working with his childhood idol was the greatest moment of his career. "That was a dream come true. I had a wish list of all the collaborations I ever wanted to do. Mike was at the top," Akon said. "I was saying, 'Well, if ever I get to Mike, then that'll be the sign I can retire.' But I got to Mike 10 years earlier than I expected. So I decided not to make retirement goals anymore." Akon has also scored collaborations with vocal legend Whitney Houston, on what might also be called a comeback album for the singer. One song, called "Like I Never Left" is garnering a lot of attention, with speculation that Whitney is singing to her singer ex-husband Bobby Brown. She sings, "Do you think we can pick up where we left off before the day / That I told you it was over, packed my things and moved away?" But Akon is adamant that the track was not written about anyone in particular. He tells MTV.com, "She's not singing about nobody. She really ain't (sic). Actually we switched some words around so people don't think she was singing about Bobby. "This record is more of a record that anyone going through that situation would be able to relate to. It's just the fact that she got out of a situation is what made it more relevant."

BallerStatus.com is reporting a new development in the Dipset hierarchy saga. In a recent online video, the rapper exclaimed "I'm back" before revealing several new projects in the works -- including a new mixtape from his new crew, the Skull Gang; a solo mixtape titled The Reagan Era; and his a forthcoming Def Jam project titled Born To Lose, Built To Win, the report says . Apparently, Hot 97's Miss Info recently spotted an M.I.A. Cam'ron at a show in New Jersey,where she discovered the shocking news that the young Dipset member has been sold. "Oh, by the way, I gotta talk to you about something else too. I sold Juelz' contract to Def Jam for $2 million dollars," Cam told Miss Info. The news has been confirmed by a statement from Juelz saying that he's "finally free." "Yeah, I'm free, and ready to do me," Juelz said. "But it's still Dipset for life. It's just going to be a new chapter." The rapper says there's no hard personal hard feelings, but admitted that the he was at times disappointed with the business side of things. "I have no hard feeling for Cam, after all, he did give me a chance," he said. "But I will say this, I was loyal to him and he took advantage." "I would like to say sorry to all my fans, and the DJs, and most of all, my city, New York. Play time is over. I'm back. Y'all n****s know what time it is," Juelz exclaimed. [source]

Comedian Bernie Mac has been hospitalized for pneumonia in Chicago but is expected to be released soon, his publicist said on Friday.

Mac, 50, suffered from sarcoidosis, a tissue inflammation, but his publicist, Danica Smith, said his illness has been in remission since 2005 and the bout of pneumonia is unrelated.

"Mr. Mac is responding well to treatment and will be released soon," Smith said in a statement.

"He asked that his privacy and that of his family is respected while he gets well," she said.

Mac, a comedian who has always stayed close to his native Chicago, starred last year in the films "Ocean's Thirteen" and "Transformers," and in "The Bernie Mac Show" on the U.S. television network Fox from 2001 to 2006.