Even with his friend Jay-Z speaking on his behalf in federal court, a judge denied Beanie Sigel bail at a detention hearing in Philadelphia on Monday. The captain of the State Property rhyme collective now remains in custody for allegedly violating federal gun laws.

"Obviously we're disappointed by the court's ruling but we will continue to fight," Sigel's lawyer Fortunato Perri said Monday afternoon (July 14). Perri also said that he and his client were considering appealing the decision and that they did anticipate the outcome because of Beans' other open cases.

While the next date for Beanie to appear in federal court has not yet been set, prosecutors in the case now have 30 days to indict him. Sigel, whose real name is Dwight Grant, was also in court Monday morning for a separate attempted murder case. That preliminary hearing was continued until August 21.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrested Beanie on Wednesday in Philadelphia. He was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm stemming from an April 20 arrest on gun charges. That came on the heels of his July 3 arrest in Philadelphia for allegedly shooting a man in the stomach and foot.

As he must remain in jail, obviously Beans cannot continue to perform with the Roc-A-Fella family on the Rock the Mic Tour. Beanie's music career will not stall completely, however. He has at least 10 songs recorded for his next solo LP, The Becoming, and State Property will be putting out their second album on August 12.
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Almost three years after signing with Aftermath Records, Rakim is finally near finishing his first album under Dr. Dre. The legendary MC has been competing with Eminem, 50 Cent and others for the producer's time, but he's now a priority.

"Me and Dre, we about to do full-steam on it, and hopefully we should have a single out towards the end of the summer and the album will follow shortly after that," Rakim said. "We finally got everything on track like we wanted."

Rakim has logged 16 songs with the producer and hopes to finish seven more. The first single will be selected after all are in the can. "He can bring the best out of me, and I want to make sure that I bring the best out of him," Rakim said of Dre. "He goes in the studio from 3 p.m. goes home 6, 7, 8 in the morning, so to me, that's all right. My man wants to work, so let's get it poppin'."

Rakim refused to reveal whether other Aftermath artists, which now include Ice Cube and Eve, will be on the album, but he said to expect a few surprises. "There's a lot of anticipation on this album right here, so at this point we really want to keep it bottled up. Bottle it up and let it blow." Source: MTV
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She said it herself: Beyoncé Knowles is simply too bootylicious.

At least that's what a history preservation group thinks after watching her shake her groove thang on the steps of the tomb of President Ulysses S. Grant during Macy's Fourth of July celebration concert in New York.

Frank Scaturro, president of the Grant Monument Association, fired off angry letters to NBC, the Secretary of the Interior and the National Park Service over the performer and her "lascivious choreography."

It seems Scaturro and his group were deeply offended by the show and feel a band of scantily clad dancers and their booty-shaking leader were inappropriate Independence Day additions to the granite memorial found near Harlem on the city's west side.

"At that location, a certain decorum should have been observed from which popular entertainers are not exempt," Scaturro sniffed in his letter sent over the weekend, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press.

Even the family of the country's 18th President and Civil War notable is feeling a bit put out by the Independent Woman and her entourage. Great-great-grandson Ulysses Grant Dietz, who says he normally has no problem with live, appropriate performances at the tomb, told the AP he was disappointed with the show's content.

"If they're doing a Fourth of July celebration and they're doing it at a grave of a president, maybe they should look a little more closely at what the performances are," Dietz said.

(Apparently, the rest of the rockers, which included American Idol Kelly Clarkson, Sheryl Crow and John Mellencamp, were less "patently inappropriate" than the Destiny's Child frontwoman and did not raise the ire of Grant tomb officials.)

Beyoncé, the National Parks Service and NBC have not offered comment on the scathing show review.

But it's not likely this little PR blip is going to affect the booming popularity of the 21-year-old megastar.

Knowles' first solo album, Dangerously in Love, recently debuted at number one on the Billboard charts two weeks ago, and her first single, "Crazy in Love" (featuring is-he-or-isn't-he boyfriend Jay-Z) is still scoring major MTV and radio time.

Her first commercials as the post-Britney pitchwoman for Pepsi are also on the air, and she will soon be returning to the big-screen opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. in The Fighting Temptations.

The crooner also recently regrouped with Destiny's Child to record "I Know," a cut from The Fighting Temptations soundtrack, with a new album set for possible release as soon as summer 2004.

Source: E!