23 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - The Game is back in play.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s records show that the rapper was released from jail just before midnight Sunday after serving eight days of a 60-day sentence.

The 28-year-old entertainer (real name: Jayceon Taylor) turned himself in March 2.

He was convicted last month of possession of a firearm in a school zone after being accused of pulling a gun on a player from an opposing team during a pickup game at a South Los Angeles school nearly a year ago.

The Game’s lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, didn’t return a phone message left seeking details about her client’s early release.

courtesy of NME.com Sun Mar 9, 5:00 PM ET

Janet Jackson is planning to write a book about weight loss, having experienced yo-yo weight throughout her life.

The singer, who is planning to tour her latest album Discipline this year, is co- writing the book with her nutritionist, David Allen.

Jackson says that it was her fans asking how she managed to lose weight that inspired her to write it.

"Everybody asks me–men, women–how did I do it?" she tells Billboard. "Even young people will come up to me and they have an issue with their weight and they're very concerned. So it's basically my journey; it's not just this sterile, weight-loss-and-how-to-do-it book, but my journey even from when I was a kid…being an emotional eater. It takes you through those moments in my life up 'til now and what worked for me."

The as-yet-untitled book is expected to be released towards the end of the year.

For more on Janet Jackson, check out her NME.com page.

courtesy of NME.com Sun Mar 9, 5:00 PM ET

Madonna has given details about her highly-anticipated collaboration with Justin Timberlake.

The singer, who on Monday will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, says she and Timberlake would discuss issues and problems with people in order to write their songs, which will appear on her forthcoming album Hard Candy.

"I really enjoy writing with Justin," she tells Interview magazine "We had psychoanalytic sessions whenever we wrote songs first. We'd sit down and we'd start talking about situations. And then we'd start talking about issues or problems or relationships with people. That was the only way, because you know, writing together with somebody is very intimate….that was fun, because he's open and he's got talent. He's a songwriter. I haven't worked with a lot of songwriters where I'm instantly connected and start riffing and playing with the rhythm of the words. He's as interested in the rhythm of the words as the meaning of the words."

The superstar also reveals that her son David "wouldn’t have lived" if she hadn’t adopted him and that her daughter Lourdes spent several weeks working in orphanages in Malawi with newborn babies.

"She so came into her own and was so responsible and stayed for eight hours every day and worked tirelessly. I thought, 'Why am I babying her so much? She's capable of so much more.' We don't let kids do anything. We think, 'Oh, they're kids–they can't take care of other kids; they can't do this; they can't do that.' And after you go to Africa, you drop all that silliness."

Madonna will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on Monday, March 10. Justin Timberlake will present her with the honor during the ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

For more on Madonna, check out her NME.com page.

2 minutes ago

COLUMBIA, S.C. - When Hootie and the Blowfish play at a fundraiser to benefit the Animal Mission this week, the bandmates likely will compare notes on their recent solo efforts.

Guitarist Mark Bryan and lead singer Darius Rucker are working on their second solo efforts, while drummer Jim “Soni” Sonefeld is making his solo debut. Bassist Dean Felber doesn’t have any solo plans yet.

Bryan’s effort includes a punkish track “Glad to be Alive” that didn’t make the cut for the most recent Hootie effort — 2005’s “Looking for Lucky.”

“I can totally respect it’s not a Hootie song,” Bryan said. His “End of the Front” has a diverse lineup from punk to pop, rock to bluegrass.

“Stylistically it’s all over the place,” Bryan told The (Columbia) State. “But it’s because the songs were written over a 10-year period.”

Rucker, who released his first solo effort “Back to Then” in 2002, is going a little bit country for his second effort.

“I know that a lot of country fans have ‘Cracked Rear View,’ ” Rucker said of the band’s breakthrough album, which has sold more than 16 million copies and put the Columbia-based group on the map. “We’ve never really been that far from country. It came out so organically.”

For his debut, drummer Sonefeld went more progressive with his “Snowman Melting” being released by independent label Aquarian Nation.

“It just feels so alive,” Sonefeld said. “It’s killing me not to have it ready yet.”