Wednesday Roundup

The 17th Annual Essence Music Festival will kick off this Friday with an all star line up slated to perform at the annual event. Headliners for this years event will be Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, Jill Scott and Trey Songz. Joining those acts at the three day event will be Charlie Wilson, Boys 2 Men, Fantasia, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Macy Gray, Dwele, Mint Condition, Mc Lyte and more. Last year, Janet Jackson played a sold out concert at the Louisiana Superdome. Tickets for the Essence Music Festival are on sale at the official website. Capitalizing on the buzz generated from her performance at the 2011  BET Awards, Kelly Rowland decided to reveal the cover art work for her upcoming album "Here I AM", according to Rap Up. Since the lead single from the album "Motivation" has been climbing the charts, the singer has been racing to keep up the pace of her project, bumping up her release date and juggling her promotion schedule with her role as a judge on the UK's "X Factor".  The singer collaborated with producers/songwriters Rico Love, Tricky Stewart, Dr Luke, Stargate, Salaam Remi, RedOne, Ester Dean and others to complete the project. "Here I AM" hits store shelves on July 26. It looks like rapper Young Jeezy has an aversion to the tropics. He was hit with a lawsuit on Friday for failing to show up for a concert in the Virgin Islands. According to the suit, Paid 4 Entertainment arranged to have the rapper perform at Summer Splash 2001 back in March, but less than two weeks before the event was to take place on June 18, Jeezy and his people backed out due to a conflict. Paid 4 Entertainment says they renegotiated to have Jeezy perform the following day, even supplying a private  jet in order to make the trip, but he never showed up for the flight, according to TMZ. The company is seeking $75,000 in damages for fraud and other charges. Rapper/producer Kanye West has signed his G.O.O.D. Music imprint to a "long-term world wide label agreement" with Def Jam Records, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Def Jam and G.O.O.D. Music partnership will include Big Sean, Pusha T., and any  new G.O.O.D. Music signing. Big Sean's debut album 'Finally Famous" will be the two company's first joint release. The final four will square off on NBC's "The Voice" tonight, and it's anyones guest who will walk away with the grand prize. "So You Think You Can Dance" will air tonight also. On the tube: "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox, "Undercover Boss' on CBS, "The Middle" on ABC and "The Voice" on NBC. Happy hump day!