MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Rapper and music producer Lil Jon says completing his long-awaited new album has taken him longer than he thought, but sticking to his ambitious idea of mixing crunk music with rock has always been his driving force.

“We’re pretty much like 80 percent done,” Lil Jon said of “Crunk Rock,” his first solo album, slated to be released by early next year. “It’s probably one of my best albums to date in the sense that it’s got a little bit of everything that I know everybody’s going to groove to.”

The Atlanta-based entertainer, best known for hits like “Get Low” with the Eastside Boyz, has been working on the upcoming album for about five years. His new single, a disco tune, is called “Give It All U Got.”

Remember that song with the dancehall riddum, “Uh Oh, Uh ohhhhh”. It was called “Never Leave You”, performed by Lumidee. Well Lumidee hasn’t really come out with any other major singles since then , but she has been staying busy. Lumidee has been working with Iranian-born signer Arash Labaf, who’s project she’s contributed rap verses to. Well, recently, Lumidee got the opportunity to shoot a music video for Arash’s project on the infamous island of Cuba. Due to tainted U.S. relations, there were a couple preconceived notions of how she would be treated on the island and also how she’d be treated by the U.S. authorities when she comes back. The Miami Herald via the AP caught up with Lumidee to talk about a multitude of things. Read the story below…

Photo By Miami Herald
Pick up today’s edition of the Miami Herald and check out local Miami clothing company, Voler La Rue, featured in today’s edition of the Business section. Run to your nearest Publix and/or gas station and check the story out!

UPDATE: Here’s a link to the online version of the story if you didn’t get a chance to pick up the physical copy of the Herald – click here to read

(Miami Herald) - Britney Spears brought her Circus to the Miami Children’s Hospital this past Saturday afternoon, visiting with about 20 sick children who had just been told a special celebrity guest was coming to see them.

The pop star arrived at the hospital at 3:30 p.m., under the careful orchestration of her father, Jamie, who was there to oversee the entire visit. The community outreach program brings the joys of the big top to hospitalized children.

”Because of the clown theme of her tour, I assumed her visit would be a natural tie-in for a hospital with clowns,” Schrager says. “From there it all happened quick, and the next thing we know, we got the call saying Britney Spears was coming to the hospital and donating $100,000 to the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Program.”

Some kids seemed more excited than others — the older ones especially. Spears spoke very little — saving her voice for her evening concert at the AmericanAirlines Arena perhaps, cueing the kids to ”Say cheese,” for the only authorized camera in the room.

After about 10 minutes of smiles, poses and tight security, Spears was out the door and en route to the AAA, where the real circus would begin in just a few hours.

View photos of the actual event by clicking below…