While the rest of the world was stunned by her death, according to Ray J, dealing with the loss of Houston is doubly painful. "What my heart feels cannot be expressed in words.  The world lost an icon, but I lost my close friend.

"Nippy, I miss you so much!" he added, referencing the singer's nickname which was given to her by her father. "You were so happy and full of love. Your smile will live in my heart forever."

Both Ray J and his sister, Brandy, will attend Houston's invitation-only funeral, which will be held at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J., Saturday at noon. Several stars are expected to show up, including longtime family friend and mentor Aretha Franklin, as well as Stevie Wonder, both of whom will sing at the ceremony. Clive Davis, the man credited with starting Houston's career, is also slated to speak at the funeral. Contrary to previous reports that he was banned from attending, Houston's ex-husband, Bobby Brown, will also be at the service.

According to a copy of the invitation posted on TMZ.com, Houston's funeral has been called a "home going." The ceremony will be broadcast both on the Internet and on select networks including E! and BET.

CEO Peter Edge and COO Tom Corson told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that they were shutting down Jive and Arista immediately, and focusing on the RCA brand. Well as they cleverly put it, "the artists are the brand."

Which is a good way of saying they're going to downsize and they have no clue how to continue to thrive in the business so they'd much rather keep the heavy hitters and get rid of the excess.

“The concept is that there is value in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other labels,” Corson said.

Jive, which was the home to Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and A Tribe Called Quest was run by Barry Weiss for years, who is now over at Def Jam. Arista gave birth to Usher, Whitney Houston and the Bad Boy label at one point. Even the J Records roster is falling under RCA.

There was no full list of who is staying and who's going, but they were a bunch of employee cuts and of course some acts were let go. American Idol season 9 winner Lee DeWyze was one of those artists that got the axe.
Edge said,  "The big initiative here is to spend more money on artist development, making more records and making better records and less on all of the other stuff."

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Tinie Tempah Is Giving Away An iTunes Gift Card & More... Register Now!!!

CEO Peter Edge and COO Tom Corson told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that they were shutting down Jive and Arista immediately, and focusing on the RCA brand. Well as they cleverly put it, "the artists are the brand."

Which is a good way of saying they're going to downsize and they have no clue how to continue to thrive in the business so they'd much rather keep the heavy hitters and get rid of the excess.

“The concept is that there is value in branding RCA and not having it confused or diluted by other labels,” Corson said.

Jive, which was the home to Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and A Tribe Called Quest was run by Barry Weiss for years, who is now over at Def Jam. Arista gave birth to Usher, Whitney Houston and the Bad Boy label at one point. Even the J Records roster is falling under RCA.

There was no full list of who is staying and who's going, but they were a bunch of employee cuts and of course some acts were let go. American Idol season 9 winner Lee DeWyze was one of those artists that got the axe.
Edge said,  "The big initiative here is to spend more money on artist development, making more records and making better records and less on all of the other stuff."

Do you believe?

Tinie Tempah Is Giving Away An iTunes Gift Card & More... Register Now!!!

Last night, Swizz Beatz and Reebok Classics came together to hold an event introducing their "Reethym of Lite" Campaign.

The celebration was in honor of the new Reebok Lite footwear and Swizz broke down his involvement and what the campaign means to him.

“For me, the Reethym of Lite is an “International Party” – it connects the sneakers being light, the rhythm of dance, music, art and style and the rhythm of the people, the fact that everyone should have light in their life. Reebok and Swizz are taking Reebok Lite and the Reethym of Lite global,” said the super producer.

How obscure is Death? This year Drag City released ...For The Whole World To See by Death. Only 500 copies were released of this album in 1974 on Tryangle Records and was distributed at garage shows for free after a record deal with Clive Davis fell through when the legendary record executive asked that the band change its name.

In 2002 an obscure punk band compilation included one of those songs and got the ball rolling to get to this release in 2009 and the documentary.

This marks the second project Mos Def will be doing with Roc-A-Fella Records founder Damon Dash. In case you didn't know the first is a new album called BlacRoc, which will feature a vast amount of artists, including Mos Def, collaborating with rock/blues group, The Black Keys.

Mos Def told Filter:

"It's going to be great. These dudes were pre-Sex Pistols, pre-Bad Brains, pre-all that sh%t, and nobody knows them. I don't understand how the whole world could forget them."

Music video directors Coodie and Chike have signed on to direct the documentary that is already being filmed. You may remember Coodie and Chike for the music videos "Through The Wire" for Kanye West and "Ghetto Rock" for Mos Def.

All these years later the newly reunited Death is on their first U.S. tour ever. Interested in hearing Death? Click on their myspace page link Death's official myspace