Eric McCandless/CBSRihanna Goes Nude…All Year Long — It seemed Rihanna was determined to wear as less and less as the year progressed. In January, she showed off her goods in a topless spread in Vogue Brasil, and then again in March, when she graced the cover of French magazine Lui, in which she exposed her breasts while wearing pink bikini bottoms, a gold body chain and a bucket hat. In May, she earned the #11 position for Maxim’s annual Hot 100 list and a month later, she became the talk of this year’s Council of Fashion Designers Awards with her barely-there gown. After having her Rogue by Rihanna ad banned in England for being too sexy, she engaged in a Twitter spat with TLC‘s T-Boz, who reportedly called Ri Ri out for not being classy. In fact, Rihanna’s not-so-work-friendly images later prompted Instagram to threaten to shut down her account if she continued to post such racy photos. But that didn’t stop a hyper-sexual Rihanna from continuing to show off her body — she posed provocatively in the November issue of Esquire UK., in photos shot by famed photographer Ellen Von Unwerth.
J. Cole Earns Huge Sales Start — The rapper’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive has landed at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 375,000 “equivalent copies” — the magazine’s combined way of measuring actual album sales and accounting for on-demand streaming and digital track sales. This is Cole’s third number-one album and the highest -elling of his his career — his last effort, 2013’s Born Sinner, debuted at number two and sold 297,000 copies its first week, but that was before Billboard started accounting for streaming. That means Cole has achieved the highest sales start for a hip-hop album this year, surpassing Rick Ross’ Mastermind, which sold 179,000 units, and Eminem’s Shady XV, which sold 130,000, both in their first weeks. The sum is also the fifth-largest sales week for an album in 2014.
Dr Dre’s Business Moves — The already-very-rich Dr Dre became even wealthier in May when Beats by Dre headphones, a company he co-founded with Jimmy Iovine, was bought by Apple for $3.2 billion dollars. As a result, the hitmaker and business mogul raked in $620 million before taxes, according to Forbes, putting Dre atop its annual list of the world’s highest-paid musicians of 2014.
Kanye West, Kim Kardashian Land Vogue Cover — After venting his frustrations with Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour earlier this year, Kanye and his wife Kim scored the cover of the April 2014 issue, in which they were referred to as #WorldsMostTalkedAboutCouple. Their daughter North also made her magazine debut in an intimate family portrait.
OutKast’s Reunion Tour — The rap duo kicked off their reunion tour with a headlining show at New York City’s Governors Ball Music Festival his spring, marking their first New York appearance in more than a decade. The pair later announced plans to play more than 40 festivals throughout the spring and summer to celebrate their 20th anniversary.
Bobby Schmurder Moves Hip-Hop — The man who had everybody from Chris Brown to Rihanna doing the Shmoney Dance released his debut project, Shmurda She Wrote EP, a five-track project that included the club anthem “Hot Ni**a” and the new single “Bobby Bitch,” as well as contributions from Rowdy Rebel and Ty Real.
Wu-Tang Clan Announces Million-Dollar Album — The Wu found an innovative way to sell their album, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, when RZA announced the group wanted to release only one copy. “We’re about to put out a piece of art like nobody else has done in the history of [modern] music,” RZA said. “We’re making a single-sale collector’s item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian king.” The idea lead to Bone Thugs announcing their reunion album would be available at auction, starting at $1 million.
Tyga Invests in Rolling Papers — The rapper announced that he’d invested $5 million in Shine Papers, a company that makes papers out of 24-karat gold. “Why burn regular paper when you can burn 24-karat gold?” Tyga said in a statement.
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