MOS DEF, along with special guests SMIF N WESSUN and BLACK MOON, will perform at the eighth annual Black August Hip-Hop benefit concert on August 7th at New York's B.B. King's to raise HIV/AIDS awareness. The rappers will also travel to Tanzania to perform on August 18th and 20th . . . A day after being sentenced to a year and a day in prison, LIL' KIM released "Shut Up Bitch," the first single from The Naked Truth. The album is due September 13th, six days before the rapper begins serving her term . . . BIG HEAD TODD AND THE MONSTERS' new song "Blue Sky" will serve as NASA's theme for the space shuttle Discovery. The rock trio will be present when the spacecraft lifts off for a thirteen-day mission on July 13th. The track will be available on iTunes on July 12th . . . The City of Los Angeles and the LAPD were ordered to pay the family of the NOTORIOUS B.I.G. "fees and costs incurred as a result of the defendants' misconduct" in their wrongful death lawsuit after a federal judge declared a mistrial on July 6th . . .

MY MORNING JACKET have pushed back the release of their fourth studio album, Z, to October 5th . . . Def Jam Inc.: Russell Simmons, Rick Rubin, and the Extraordinary Story of the World's Most Influential Hip-Hop Label by STACY GUERASEVA will be released on July 26th. The book chronicles the label's development from its 1984 beginning to the signing of hip-hop greats such as LL COOL J, the BEASTIE BOYS and DMX . . . Atlanta-based rockers SEVENDUST will release their fifth album, Next, on October 11th . . . Jazz composer TOM TALBERT died on July 2nd in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke. Talbert arranged music for BUDDY RICH, CLAUDE THORNHILL and STAN KENTON. He was eighty years old . . . Singer-songwriter MARJORIE FAIR will release her new album, Self Help Serenade, on July 19th . . . New York rapper CAM'RON was arrested on July 7th in Harlem, New York, for driving with a suspended license . . . Indie rockers MAGNOLIA ELECTRIC CO. will kick off their North American tour on July 16th in Chicago, finishing up in Athens, Georgia on October 1st . . . Teen favorites BOW WOW and NICK CANNON can be seen in the new rollerskating comedy, Roll Bounce, on September 23rd. Cannon's second album, Stages, is due in the fall . . .

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE have selected "Soul Meets Body" as the first single off their fifth release, Plans, due August 30th . . . BILLY IDOL, will perform at 103.3 The Edge's tenth Edgefest in Buffalo, New York, on July 31st. Also on the bill are OUR LADY OF PEACE, FLOGGING MOLLY and STATIC-X . . . ROB ZOMBIE, RANCID's LARS FREDERICKSEN, MICKEY LEIGH and MARKY RAMONE will be present at the charity fundraiser in honor of the RAMONES on July 8th at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where JOHNNY and DEE DEE RAMONE are buried. Johnny's widow Linda and Los Angeles station Indie 103.1 will host the event . . . LENNY KRAVITZ's Miami-based design firm Kravitz Design is embarking on larger projects, moving from private homes to hotel and product design. The company's future projects include a luxury recording studio in Miami, set for later this year . . . PATTI LABELLE, ROBERTA FLACK and TEDDY PENDERGRASS paid their respects to LUTHER VANDROSS at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in New York on July 6th. Hundreds of fans were also in attendance at the public service . . . THIEVERY CORPORATION, LOUIE VEGA and RON TRENT have contributed tracks to the NextAid charity CD, reBoot: Notes for the Next Generation, due July 26th. The album will benefit African children orphaned by AIDS . . . Indie rockers Q AND NOT U are disbanding. The band is planning farewell performances in its hometown of Washington, D.C., for September . . . Founding PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC member RAY DAVIS died July 5th in New Brunswick, New Jersey, of respiratory complications. He was sixty-five years old . . .

STEVIE NICKS appears on DEEP DISH's remake of her classic FLEETWOOD MAC song "Dreams." The track appears on the dance duo's George Is On, due July 12th . . . HALL AND OATES have cancelled their July dates due to DARYL HALL being diagnosed with lyme disease. He is expected to make a full recovery, and the tour will resume on July 9th in Cleveland . . . KAKI KING, the BENEVENTO/RUSSO DUO, TORTURED SOUL and MOFRO will perform at Chicago's Wicker Park Festival on July 30th and 31st . . . RUN-DMC's REVEREND RUN will release his solo debut, Distortion, on September 13th. The first single, "Mind on the Road," will appear on the video game Madden 2006, due August 9th. Run's reality show, Run's House, will debut on MTV in the fall . . . The O'JAYS, the RONETTES, the DELLS and the STYLISTICS were inducted into the Vocal Hall of Fame on July 6th in Wildwood, New Jersey . . . The KNITTERS will release their first album in twenty years, The Modern Sounds of the Knitters, on July 12th . . . Rockabilly Hall of Famer AL DOWNING died at the age of sixty-five on July 4th in Leicester, Massachusetts, after battling leukemia. One of the few successful black country artists, the singer-songwriter's tunes were performed by WANDA JACKSON, FATS DOMINO and TOM JONES . . . Blue Note will issue the previously unreleased Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane on September 27th . . .

SYSTEM OF A DOWN have announced the second leg of their North American tour, which kicks off September 17th in Vancouver and wraps up October 6th in Portland, Oregon. The band will hit the road for the first leg of the tour on August 4th in Long Beach, California . . . CIARA, COLDPLAY, BACKSTREET BOYS, DESTINY'S CHILD, GWEN STEFANI, WILL SMITH, LUDACRIS, the KILLERS, JOHN LEGEND, EMINEM and SHAKIRA are all featured on Now That's What I Call Music! Vol. 19, due July 19th . . . AVRIL LAVIGNE, MAROON 5, PAUL McCARTNEY, ELVIS COSTELLO, LYNYRD SKYNYRD and CELINE DION have donated concert tickets for an online auction on charityfolks.com as part of the United Nations Adopt-a-Minefield campaign. Bidding begins July 6th . . . USHER will host a fundraiser for his New Look Foundation at New York's Capitale on July 8th. The event will raise money for Camp New Look, which will take place July 11th to 23rd at Clark Atlanta University . . . The ARCADE FIRE, MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK, BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE and JOHN VANDERSLICE will perform at the CMJ Marathon, taking place September 14th to 17th in New York . . . Arizona native STEVIE NICKS and DON HENLEY will play a benefit for the Arizona Heart Foundation on August 4th at Phoenix's Dodge Theatre . . . FAITH EVANS will sing the national anthem at the WNBA All-Star Game at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun. The game will air July 9th on ABC . . .

JASON MRAZ, SOMETHING CORPORATE, STEEL TRAIN and former CATATONIA frontwoman CERYS MATTHEWS contributed tracks to Listen to BOB DYLAN. The double-disc tribute album hits stores August 16th . . . JAMIROQUAI will release their sixth studio album, Dynamite, on September 20th . . . PINK FLOYD are donating profits from July 2nd's Live 8 performance to charity. The band plans on donating the extra royalties made from a surge in album sales. A charity has not been named . . . BILLY BRAGG and Yep Roc Records will reissue four of the folk rockers early records: Life's a Riot With Spy vs Spy (1983); Brewing Up With Billy Bragg (1984); Talking With the Taxman About Poetry (1986); and one release that combines 1988's Live & Dubious and 1990's The Internationale on September 20th . . . Former CATHERINE WHEEL frontman ROB DICKINSON will release his first solo album, Fresh Wine for the Horses, on September 13th . . . P. DIDDY is being considered by McDonald's as a designer capable of giving the fast food chain's uniforms a fresher look . . . MORCHEEBA will release their fifth album, The Antidote, on September 27th . . .

TREY ANASTASIO, WIDESPREAD PANIC, the BLACK CROWES, LES CLAYPOOL, G. LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE and PARTICLE will perform at the 10,000 Lakes Festival, taking place July 22nd to 24th in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota . . . U2 have won their lawsuit against former stylist Lola Cashman on July 5th. A Dublin civil circuit court ordered Cashman to return items stolen while working for the band, including a pair of frontman BONO's pants and a black Stetson, within the week . . . NELLY, RADIOHEAD, OUTKAST, BJORK, KANYE WEST, TRENT REZNOR, BEASTIE BOYS, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, SUM 41, CIARA, FOO FIGHTERS and JOHN LEGEND have all donated autographed items for the second Waxploitation Sudan Charity Auction to benefit victims of forced emigration and genocide in Sudan. The items will be available for bidding at ebay.com/the_wax_trust on July 12th . . . BROOKS AND DUNN will hit the road on July 7th in Orillia, Ontario, finishing up their tour on October 30th in West Palm Beach, Florida. COWBOY TROY will join the country act, beginning August 6th in Dallas, Texas . . . The NEW YORK DOLLS will be the subject of a documentary by filmmaker Greg Whiteley, a friend of late New York Dolls bassist ARTHUR "KILLER" KANE. The film, New York Doll, is due in October . . .

TIM McGRAW, KEITH URBAN, BIG AND RICH, ZZ TOP, HANK WILLIAMS JR. and LYNYRD SKYNYRD will perform at the Country Thunder USA festival, taking place July 20th to 24th in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin . . . British veteran rockers the FIXX -- who recently appeared in NBC's contest Hit Me Baby One More Time -- will kick off the North American leg of their tour on July 7th in Sarasota, Florida. The tour wraps in Edmonds, Washington on August 13th . . . Singer-songwriter JULIANA HATFIELD will release Made in China on August 9th . . . Hardcore punk rockers HOT SNAKES are disbanding, according to a posting on Swami Records' Web site. The hardcore punk rockers plan to finish up their current world tour before going their separate ways . . . Metalmen DISTURBED will kick off their tour on August 3rd in Ventura, California, and finish up on September 18th in Boston . . . SIMPLE MINDS will release Black and White 050505 on September 13th . . . BRENDAN BENSON will kick off a tour on July 22nd in Seattle. ROBBERS ON HIGH STREET will open for the indie rocker beginning July 26th in Los Angeles . . .