Big Sean poses on the red carpet at The Forum on Feb. 28, 2016 in Inglewood, Calif.
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Big Sean: Ixnay On Jay
Jay Z’s involvement in Big Sean’s upcoming album will remain a mystery, for now. On Aug. 27, the rapper Instagrammed a photo of himself with Hova (the two worked on Kanye West’s 2012 song “Clique”) that read: “Going thru my 4th album with one of the masters.” But Big Sean declined to discuss the photo or his album when Overheard talked to him at the State Bags backpack donation rally in Los Angeles on Aug. 29. “It’s all positive,” he said. “I just don’t want to spill too many beans before I’m ready.”
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Eric Benet’s Boomerang Moment
R&B singer-songwriter Eric Benet and his current wife Manuela Testolini had an awkward encounter of the cinematic kind with his ex Halle Berry at the Black Movie Soundtrack II concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Aug. 31. The event paired scenes from classic movies that featured black casts with songs from their soundtracks. Benet — whom Berry divorced in 2005 following his admission that he had cheated on her — and Testolini sat through a clip from the 1992 picture Boomerang in which Berry accuses her co-star, Eddie Murphy, of infidelity. The real action was taking place onstage, though, as a roster of artists including Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Lalah Hathaway (daughter of late soul legend Donny Hathaway) and Charlie Wilson performed songs from Shaft, Super Fly and Come Back, Charleston Blue. Highlights included a tribute to Prince; Gladys Knight’s performance of “Make Yours a Happy Home” and two other songs from the soundtrack to the 1974 movie Claudine; and Common’s emotional performance of “Glory,” the Oscar-winning song from 2014’s Selma.
Blues Man In The Hamptons
Austin blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr. attracted a very Hamptons crowd to Montauk’s Surf Lodge on Sept. 3 for the close of hotelier Jayma Cardoso’s summer concert series. Performing for a crowd that included rocker (and Hamptonite) Roger Waters; tabloid fixture Peter Brant Jr.; Diana Vreeland’s great-granddaughter, Caroline Vreeland; and billionaire George Soros’ son, Alex, Clark’s set included “Bright Lights,” “Don’t Owe You a Thang” and “Church.” Along for the ride was his wife, Australian model Nicole Trunfio.
Silentó Remixes After Romeo For Boy Band’s Next Album
After Romeo member Drew Ryan Scott says the boy band is in the process of deciding when it will put out its next album. Scott, who appeared with his fellow band members at the iPain Music Moves Awareness Event at the Charleston Haus in downtown L.A. on Sept. 1, told Overheard that the group recorded material for the LP at the same time it was laying down tracks for its Good Things EP, which was released earlier this year. (The title single is currently on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart.) “We’re super-excited because no one has heard the Silentó version of ‘Pull Over,'” Scott says. A different version of the song appears on the EP, he explained, while the remix by the artist behind “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)” will be featured on After Romeo’s upcoming album.
A version of this article originally appeared in the Sept. 17 issue of Billboard.