SOHH has learned that producer Disco D (born Dave Shayman) committed suicide January 23.

Sources close to the Ann Arbor, MI producer told SOHH that the beatmaker, who has previously produced for 50 Cent ("Ski Mak Way"), Trick Daddy ("I Pop") and Kevin Federline ("Popozao"), has committed suicide. While reports say D was battling manic depression, details regarding his death are still sketchy.

The 27 year old Grammy-nominated producer had also worked with Nina Sky and Pharrell Williams, crafted the original theme song for "VH1's Hip-Hop Honors" and commercials for Sprite, Best Buy and Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Awards.

He had been working with Lil' Scrappy and Crime Mob among others, as of late. Benny Blanco, who worked with D, confirmed the suicide, but declined to comment.

"We have no comment. We send our deepest condolences," Benny told SOHH.com. "He was loved and will be truly missed."

DJ Vlad, a good friend of D, was shocked upon hearing the news.

"Disco D was a good friend of mine. I lived with him in Brazil for a couple weeks. He was a real artist," Vlad revealed. "I just talked to him a few days ago, and he told me things were hard. I tried to cheer him up. I didn't realize how hard it really was. I'm devastated right now."

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Word is spreading that Papoose may be working with Dr. Dre on his long anticipated debut, The Nacerima Dream.

Though his freshman LP is reportedly completed, Pap is still stacking up material. While the Brooklyn emcee has already worked with DJ Premier, Kanye West, DR Period and Pharrell Williams for the album, Dre may just make it into the final track listing.

"It ain't final till it's final," Pap told SOHH regarding Dre's production. "I got some joints though."
Though a release date has yet to be set, Pap vows not to sit on the shelf this year. He promises that his record will sit amongst hip-hop classics once it finally hits stores.

"At the end of the day, my material, my music speaks for itself," Pap explained. "I never came into this with no gimmick. I never had to diss nobody to get no attention. I always came with pure talent, pure material. I ain't gon let ya'll down with this album, straight up and down. My album gon' make history."

Papoose's The Nacirema Dream is scheduled to hit stores later this year.

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It looks like another R&B singer is headed for the unemployment line. MediaTakeOut.com spoke with an insider at J Records who claims that Monica Arnold's career with them is just about over.

Monica, who hit the scene in 1995, started off her career like a rocket - with each of her first two albums going triple platinum. But since then, her career seems to have petered out. Her third album struggled to make gold, and her latest album has sold barely 200,000 copies.

And MediaTakeOut.com has learned that it's the poor performance of Monica's last album that may have sealed her fate. The insider tells, "For the last album, we gave Monica everything she needed but it still didn't work. She had top producers and top promotion - but she couldn't get any traction. I think it's about time to call it quits with her."

Monica's unlikely to be surprised by J Records' decision. Last month, in a last ditch effort to salvage her career, the Atlanta singer implored her fans to sign a petition supporting her latest album. Unfortunately for Monica, the petition garnered fewer than 1,000 signatures.

But getting dropped by J Records may prove to be a blessing in disguise for the lovely young Monica. The insider believes that Monica is likely to be successful doing something other than singing. She explains, "Monica is a very intelligent woman, she can do 1000 different things ... I'm sure in a few years we'll all be like - 'wow look at where she is now.'"