MUSIC NEWS: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2018
A judge has jailed D-M-X for being a flight risk.
U-S District Judge Jed Rakoff says DMX must stay behind bars while he waits for his sentencing for tax evasion, set for March. Rakoff says he was told D-M-X tested positive last week for cocaine, opiates and Oxycodone. Rakoff also says D-M-X traveled to St. Louis without a drug counselor. Defense lawyer Murray Richman says D-M-X took drugs to cope with his one-year-old daughter being hospitalized with a 104-degree fever for several days. D-M-X pleaded guilty in November to tax fraud. He faces up to five years in prison.
---
GRAMMYS' NEIL PORTNOW CLARIFIES ``STEP UP'' STATEMENT
Recording Academy President Neil Portnow admits ``step up'' was not the right choice of words to use regarding women in the music industry. Portnow says his comments made after Sunday's Grammys were taken out of context and did not convey the point he was trying to make. When asked after the Grammys why so few women were shown accepting awards, Portnow had said, ``It has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level, to step up.'' Now he says the music industry must ``encourage women to live their dreams and express their passion and creativity through music'' through mentoring and empowerment.
---
ALESSIA CARA HITS BACK AT DETRACTORS
To the Alessia Cara haters: no matter how awful you think she is, she thought it first.
Cara writes on Instagram she will not let everything she's worked for be diminished by people telling her she stinks. She says she's been thinking she's not good enough since she was old enough to know what it was like to think she's not good enough. She says there's a backlash to her winning the best new artist Grammy, but she had no control over that. In Cara's words, ``I'm not going to be upset about something I've wanted since I was a kid, not to mention have worked really hard for.''
---
HILARY SCOTT WELCOMES TWINS
Guess it was a good thing Hilary Scott did not attend the Grammys Sunday with the rest of Lady Antebellum. Her twin girls arrived in the early hours of Monday. Scott has posted a photo of baby hats with the letters ``A'' and ``B'' on them. She did not reveal the names. Scott writes, ``Thank you to everyone who prayed and prayed for these little ladies, and thank you Lord for healthy babies.'' Scott and her husband, Chris Tyrell, also have a four-year-old daughter, Eisele (EYES'-lee).
---
CHILDISH GAMBINO LETS GO OF THE NAME
NEW YORK (AP) _ Childish Gambino has changed his Twitter name to Donald Glover and deleted his Tweet history. Glover said after the Grammys on Sunday he stands by his decision to retire the Childish Gambino name, even though he's had success as a musician. He says he's still working on a project but he believes endings are important. He says the world would have fewer problems if ``a lot of things had death clauses.''
---
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE - SUPER BOWL
When it comes to his Super Bowl appearance Sunday, a watchdog group is asking Justin Timberlake not to bring sexy back. Basically, the Parents Television Council is imploring Timberlake not to treat viewers to another ``wardrobe function''
like the last time he performed at the Super Bowl. That was 2004 when he ripped away Janet Jackson's costume to reveal her right breast. Timberlake has promised no repeat of what became known as ``Nipplegate'' but the T-V council says it hopes Timberlake will make sure the halftime show this year is ``safe for the children watching.''
---
(The Associated Press)
