NEW YORK (AP) -- Rihanna is defending her latest music video, which opens with a man being shot in the head.

MIAMI (AP) -- A publicist for Sean Kingston is offering the latest on the hip-hop singer who's been hospitalized since crashing his watercraft into a Miami Beach bridge over the weekend.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A coalition of musicians is demanding the Recording Academy restore more than 30 categories cut from the Grammy Awards, alleging the reductions unfairly target ethnic music and were done without the input of its thousands of members.
A protest was planned Thursday in Beverly Hills, California, at an academy board meeting. It is part of a campaign by those upset by last month's decision to reduce the Grammy fields, which this year totaled 109, to 78.

With the Lady Gaga-market reaching oversaturation, it's easy to get a sense of fatigue when listening to her latest effort, "Born This Way."
Delivering her third studio album in just a 3-year span after a nonstop juggernaut that included a seemingly endless tour, hit after hit, countless magazine covers and even social activism, another Gaga offering is a little bit tiring to those who aren't part of her army of "little monsters."

Rihanna and Taylor Swift were two of the key winners at the Billboard Music Awards, which returned after a five-year hiatus with a major dose of star power, featuring Beyonce, U2, the Black Eyed Peas -- even First Lady Michelle Obama.

Portland State University's KPSU college radio will be holding the "Electro Burlesque" fund-raising event on Tuesday, May 31 at Mt. Tabor Theatre. Doors open at 9 p.m.

Black Stax brings the latest in West Coast hip hop to Portland June 3, with their "I Love My Life" Northwest tour.

It's been 25 years since the Beastie Boys released "Licensed to Ill" and proved three bratty Jewish guys from New York could deliver hip-hop as deliciously as Run-D.M.C. Despite gray hair for Horowitz, fatherhood for Diamond and cancer for Adam "MCA" Yauch, the group is as goofy as ever, as evidenced by the old-school flavor on their new album, "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two."

BaseRoots Theatre Company will be performing the next in the Africans in the Americas series with "My Soul Grown Deep: Spoken Word in Harmony." The performances run from May 26 to 29 at Waterbrook Studio, 2109 N. Albina #108, and from June 2 to 4 at Celebration Tabernacle Church, 8131 N. Denver Ave. All shows start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 for general admiision and $12 for students and seniors.

Linda Hornbuckle, Portland Police Chief Michael Reese and Deputy Director of Human Services, Margaret Carter: What do these very different people have in common?  All three will be performing this Saturday evening at Irvington Covenant Church.
The event is Jazzy Evening, a benefit for Better People, the nonprofit that helps ex-felons become productive members of society.