Dupri’s “Future” Postponed
The future is temporarily on hold for Jermaine Dupri.
The star rapper-producer had been planning to record the charity single “We Are the Future,” a 20th-anniversary sequel to the 1980s hit “We Are the World,” on Feb. 14 at a star-studded after-party/recording session following the Grammy Awards.
The track was slated to benefit children in war-torn countries worldwide, but Dupri nixed the idea this week in the wake of the tsunami tragedy in Asia.
“The timing is not right for us to record a song about the future when so many people have lost their lives,” the Atlanta-based artist said in a statement Tuesday.
Dupri, who had been working on “We Are the Future” with Quincy Jones, the man behind the original “We Are the World,” said he hoped to reschedule the recording session sometime this year, with a new recording date to be announced in a few months.
The song was to have featured some big names from the world of hip-hop and R&B. Dupri told Rolling Stone magazine last month that he hoped to recruit Jay-Z, Usher and Kanye West for the track, which was to be a completely new song, not a remake.
Dupri and Jones have their work cut out for them if they want to match the success of their inspiration.
The original “We Are the World,” written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and released in 1985, raised more than $64 million for famine-ravaged Africa. Aside from Jackson and Richie, the cut featured vocal turns from megastars like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan to Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder.
“We Are the World” sold more than 7.3 million copies, spawned an album that sold more than 4.4 million copies, and won four Grammys, including Song and Record of the Year.
Other music acts have been trying to draw attention to the plight of some Africans, including a group of British rockers who just recorded a new version of “Do They Know Its Christmas?”
Meanwhile, other musicians continue to throw their support behind victims of the tsunami.
Elton John, Nelly and Annie Lennox are the latest top acts to join NBC’s George Clooney-produced Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope. The two-hour event, airing on Saturday, will also include Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Gloria Estefan, Norah Jones, Lenny Kravitz and Eric Clapton, who’ll also lend his guitar to a Jan. 22 charity concert in Wales.
Also on Tuesday, organizers announced that Will Ferrell will host a Los Angeles benefit concert.
Dave Grohl, Beck, Tenacious D and Eddie Vedder are among the acts confirmed for the Jan. 17 event at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theater.
The night is billed as a “special night of music and comedy to benefit Music for Relief.”
SoCal rockers Linkin Park got the ball rolling for charity-minded U.S. music acts last month when they offered up $100,000 to the Red Cross and helped launch Music for Relief.
For more information on Music for Relief, go to musicforrelief.org.
Categories