With Amazon’s largest pre-sale recorded to date, Not Too Late (released 1/30) may become Norah Jones’ best selling album yet, already accumulating #1 downloads in Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Switzerland’s iTunes stores. All of this news bodes well for her troubled label EMI , who wisely offered "Thinking About You" as a downloadable MP3 on Yahoo Music . In other Norah news, she...

After long time rumors, Durham, North Carolina hip hop group Little Brother officially announced the departure of their producer 9th Wonder . The remaining members Big Pooh and Phonte stated the break up was due to artistic differences but were quick to emphasize the duo’s future releases and impending deal breakup with Atlantic . Little Brother’s yet-to-be released album, Get Back , may or may not see the light of day with their current...

Self-proclaimed Balearic beach boys, The Avalanches have officially announced their follow-up to 2000's Since I Left You . The Australian collage crafters left the message on their newly-redesigned website's forum, saying: "It's a really thrilling time for us right now as this record comes together. It's so f*ckin party you will die – much more hip hop than you might expect. And while there is still no accurate estimated time of arrival, we’re sure you're...

In a rather unconventional sales ploy , Blacksmith Music pre-empted the hard copy CD-release of Talib Kweli and Madlib’s new collaborative album, LiBERATION , with a free mp3 download package, complete with detailed artwork. The MySpace buzz surrounding Talib’s blog and forum frenzy preceding the album’s internet release resulted in over 100,000 downloads in 1 week – a huge victory and bold statement by...

Amy Winehouse entered heavy rotation on New York City's most influential hip hop station, HOT 97 . "You Know I'm No Good," the first single on her new album Back To Black (out March 13th) grabbed Ghostface Killah's attention and he lent his talent to the track. It's getting billed as his song featuring Amy, but don't get it twisted: it's 100% hers and this is how new artists break in America. With over 5 plays a day to the five boroughs and parts of...

Due to less than exemplary record sales, the world’s third largest label EMI merged its subsidiary labels Capitol and Virgin , creating a not-entirely new entity called the Capitol Music Group (CMG) . Internally, the shift resulted in the promotion of Virgin CEO Jason Flom to CEO of CMG, the release of Capitol Chairman Andrew Slater , and the overall reduction and rearrangement of both labels’ executive staff. CEO of EMI, Eric Nicoli spoke...

All of the original Wu-Tang Clan members (except Ol’ Dirty Bastard R.I.P.), RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspektah Deck, Masta Killa and U-God , announced 8 Diagrams (out this summer on SRC records), the group’s first album in 6 years. In classic Wu-Tang style, the title of the LP comes straight from an oldschool kung-fu movie directed by Lau Kar Leung . Spokesman RZA promises the content will also be as...

Broadcasting live from the Kodak Theatre in LA February 25th, the Grammy Awards have just listed their nominees for this year in 24 categories. Up for Best Motion Picture Of The Year are fate-inspired Babel , gangster epic The Departed , perspective-reversed war film Letters From Iwo Jima , the hilarious Little Miss Sunshine , and critic-exalted The Queen . Actors Leonardo DiCaprio ( Blood Diamond ) ,...

Coachella announced this year's headliners including a reunion of Rage Against The Machine , Bjork , and the Red Hot Chili Peppers – all of whom are repeats from previous years. Nevertheless, it will be another groundbreaking event. The three day festival , held in Indio, California, managed to gather Rage members Zack de la Rocha , Tomo Morello , Brad Wilk and Tim Comerford for the first...

Today, Lily Allen and MTV announced her first 7 city tour across America, entitled “Discover And Download.” Immediately following the US release (Jan. 30 on Capitol Records ) of her debut, Alright, Still, Lily will finally give her American fans what they’ve been craving: a sassy live show at a local venue. Tickets for all shows go on sale Saturday, January 20th, though anyone signed up to MTV.com’s Insider newsletter will...