With Kanye West claiming the "government administer[s] AIDS," Jadakiss asking "why did Bush knock down the towers" and the omnipresent rumors linking Jay-Z into the illuminati, the hip-hop world has long loved a good conspiracy. So when urban video clearinghouse, World Star Hip Hop went down on Monday morning, the Internet hive burst into a conflagration of rumors, hearsay and jokes about quasi-video vixen Kat Stacks.

The most heavily advanced theory was that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security had shut down the popular website due to its heavy reliance on copyrighted material.  Within minutes and with no concrete evidence, various blogs, websites and Twitter feeds began reporting the rumor as fact. The line of logic followed that it was another sweep from the United States government, which had seized the URL and domains belonging to popular rap sites Rap Godfathers, Onsmash and Dajaz1 late last year. Since the closure, Onsmash has regrouped under the banner FreeOnSmash.

And then 50 Cent got involved. Taking to his Twitter to announce, "I don’t know why people underestimate me. I just shut down WorldStar. For future advertising contact thisis50.com suckers...I put WorldStar to bed, you don’t believe try me and I will shut your [site] down. Lol. I predict two more web sites will shut down this week. Take a guess who they are. I’m sick of the hate. I’m too strong." 

Katy Perry’s much-hyped Facebook announcement is what was expected: She's gearing up to hit the road this summer.

The multiple Grammy nominee took to “Facebook Live,” the official streaming channel for the social network site, at their Palo Alto headquarters to announce her upcoming “California Dreams 2011” world tour Wednesday afternoon.

For openers, Perry said she will be joined by Robyn as well as Marina and the Diamonds on select dates in the U.S., and Yelle and Calvin Harris will support her on the U.K. leg of the trek, which will draw on material from her hit-filled sophomore disc, "Teenage Dream."

“It’s going to be super girl power. If you come to the tour, you’ll probably start menstruating,” she joked on the webcast. “It’s going to be amazing. I really believe in this tour.”

The 41-city North American leg of the tour launches Jun. 7 in Atlanta and wraps in August with a pair of dates in Perry’s hometown, Santa Barbara.

She said she plans on interacting with fans through social media networks throughout the tour. Using Facebook Places/Deals, fans will be able to check into the venues each night in a bid to score meet-and-greet access to the singer.  They will also be able to submit their own photos of the show via Twitter, which will be incorporated into the live show and also live on her website. 

Her tour will make a stop in Los Angeles on Aug. 5 when she will play the Nokia Theatre in L.A. Live. Presale tickets for the show go on sale on Friday with information on her website.

Check out the dates after the jump.

Broadcast, the British band that specializes in lovely and textured electronic pop, has lost their singer, Trish Keenan, who died Friday due to complications from pneumonia at age 42. Warp Records, the band's label, announced that Keenan, a native of Birmingham, England, died in a hospital after battling the illness for two weeks. Other news outlets have reported that Keenan was suffering from a strain of the H1N1 flu.

When Broadcast debuted in the mid-'90s with a handful of singles (that Warp eventually gathered together for their 1997 release, "Work and Non Work"), the buzz was that they were something like a moodier Stereolab. Indeed, Keenan's voice was a sultry anchor for transcendent atmospheric burbles that were inspired by '60s psychedelic music, film scores and dissonant experimental music.

The art-pop group never had too much success in the mainstream -- despite "The Book Lovers" making an unlikely appearance on the "Austin Powers" soundtrack -- and Broadcast saw significant changes in personnel over the course of their four LPs, but they had a devoted following that kept the packed house rapt at their last appearance in Los Angeles, at the Troubadour in November 2009. At the end of Broadcast's set, Keenan performed a song with a fellow cultivator of the dark and mysterious, Vincent Gallo.

Warp's statement said that "this is an untimely tragic loss and we will miss Trish dearly -- a unique voice, an extraordinary talent and a beautiful human being. Rest in Peace."

Above is a video for "Winter Now," a track from Broadcast's 2003 album, "Ha Ha Sound." The band's most recent album was 2009's "Broadcast and the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age."

-- Margaret Wappler

For those tethered to their Twitters like umbilical cords, it was impossible to avoid this week's trending topic from Shady Records, announcing the signing of blog darlings Yelawolf and the  bludgeon-rap supergroup Slaughterhouse.

The union of Royce Da 5'9", Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden and Crooked I with Eminem’s long dormant label had been heavily rumored for months. But the news about Yelawolf sent the Internet echo chamber into a frenzy of self-congratulatory back slaps and high fives. (And these are very difficult gestures to do via the digital medium.)

But the sentiment seemed well-deserved concerning Yelawolf, who is one of the rare rappers capable of eliciting largely unanimous praise amid that famously fractious world. Those looking for a more substantial background on the Gadsden, Ala., rapper can turn to his Times interview from last year. But in brief, think a flock of seagull-haired and heavily tattoed redneck with a double-timed tornado flow, and an experimental streak reminiscent of early Def Jux (his collaboration with El-P is forthcoming).

Themes include: Mossberg rifles, Monte Carlos  and the backwoods battles endemic to the rural south. Or as his Twitter bio describes him: rapper, skater, drinker.

Thus far, the critical accolades have yet to turn into commercial returns. Late last year, the rapper born Michael Wayne Atha dropped the stellar “Trunk Muzik 0-60,” which debuted to a modest 5,000 in first week sales -- a far cry from Eminem’s multiplatinum reign. Yet the label appears to be taking an atypical tack in today’s singles-driven rap world: nurturing him as a career artist.

“Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse, it’s kinda phase two of Shady. It’s the new generation of Shady Records and as we’re trying to rebuild our label, it’s exciting for Hip Hop and with all of these forces coming together and with what everybody’s capable of on the mic, it’s gonna be fun,” Eminem said in a prepared statement.

There's good news, more good news and some nebulous news for anyone interested in the nation's musical heritage in Monday's announcement that Universal Music Group is donating a cache of some 200,000 vintage master recordings to the Library of Congress for preservation and digitizing.

They include Bing Crosby's original recording of "White Christmas" and thousands more by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, the Andrews Sisters and other lesser-known musicians who recorded from the late 1920s to the late 1940s for labels now under the UMG umbrella.

The good news: The public will eventually have some degree of access to everything in the collection, the vast majority of it long-mothballed and out of print commercially, once library staffers get going with organizing the metal and lacquer discs and tapes and transferring them into digital audio files.

More good news: the head of the library's recorded sound division says its funding is secure and he and his staff at the library's Packard Campus for Audio Visual Preservation in Culpeper, Va., have already begun the gargantuan task ahead of them, one that's expected will take years to complete.

Janet Jackson fans have been clamoring for her return to the stage after her brief 2008 "Rock Witchu Tour" was marred with cancellations.

Despite releasing only a couple of singles over the past two years in favor of turning her attention to films, the pop icon wasn’t a stranger to the stage during that time; she performed on the finale of “American Idol,” paid tribute to her late brother, Michael, on the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009 and headlined the 2010 Essence Music Festival — breaking attendance records.

Jackson is finally ready to reward patient fans waiting for her return with the "Number Ones, Up Close and Personal Tour," the U.S. leg of which will kick off in March, she announced Monday.

For the trek, Jackson called on her fans to vote for the 35 cities (one for each of her 35 No. 1 hits) that would constitute the itinerary, with dates in Singapore, Hong Kong and Manila  being the first to be announced.

The stateside trek kicks off March 7 at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and wraps April 22-23 in Las Vegas. With a setlist culled exclusively from Jackson's 2009 greatest hits package, "Number Ones," and a focus on intimate venues, she promises fans a more revealed and personal experience.

"These concerts will be different from anything I have ever done. I will be as up close and personal as possible," Jackson said in a statement. "These concerts are not about special effects. This is a love affair between me and those of you who have supported me and my work for all these years. I'll be singing and dancing from my heart. The music will all be songs that you've made number ones for me. Let's go!”

She also plans to pay tribute to 20 young leaders, as nominated by their peers.  At each concert the 20 chosen and the person who nominated them will be VIP guests of the show. She is also selecting the fan who is the first to submit an online vote for each of the selected cities. The winner will be announced on her website and will receive an autographed copy of “Number Ones” as well as an autographed copy of her upcoming book “True You.”

Her tour will roll through in Los Angeles on April 14 when she plays the Gibson Amphitheatre. Tickets for her L.A. date go on sale Friday through Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Check out the dates after the jump:

In a surprise move that has wide-reaching implications for the local live music scene, Brian Murphy, former chairman of Southern California music for Live Nation, the country’s top concert promoter, has jumped ship to become West Coast president for AEG Live — Live Nation’s strongest competitor.

“It was the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make in business,” Murphy said in an exclusive interview with The Times. “There are employees I’m leaving who have been with me for 20 years. But it was too good an opportunity to pass up. I’m an L.A. guy, and AEG Live is an L.A.-centric company.”

One of the most respected promoters in the American concert industry — and a pillar of the SoCal scene, the country’s most competitive live music market — Murphy has worked closely with a Who’s Who of pop music’s biggest touring acts: U2, Bruce Springsteen, AC/DC, Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica among them.

Rick Mueller will remain in place as president of Live Nation’s California division.

New Year’s Eve offers a few guarantees: drunk, raucous crowds with tacky countdown goggles, a boom in sales for streamers, confetti and whistles and, for those who decide to celebrate from the couch, "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve."

For its 39^th consecutive year, the show, now hosted by Ryan Seacrest after Clark suffered a stroke in 2004, will once again ring in the new year with an impressive lineup.

The more than three-hour bicoastal celebration will feature performances from Drake, Willow Smith, Jennifer Hudson, La Roux, Far East Movement, Jason Derülo, Mike Posner, Natasha Bedingfield, Ne-Yo, Avril Lavigne and Train from both Los Angeles and Times Square in New York.

Black Eyed Peas frontwoman Fergie is returning for a fifth year to host the Hollywood portion, while Seacrest will be joined by funny girl-cum-bestselling author Jenny McCarthy from Times Square.  

As usual, Clark will be doing the countdown to midnight from the comfort and warmth of ABC studios.

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
twitter.com/gerrickkennedy

Photo: Willow Smith performs live at the holiday tree lighting and opening of the L.A. Kings' holiday ice rink at L.A. Live on Saturday. Credit: Katy Winn / Associated Press

Backstreet's back, all right. The four remaining members of the '90s boy band will join also-reunited male vocal group New Kids on the Block in a summer 2011 concert tour, according to Ryan Seacrest's Twitter.

"All nine boys will get together for the first time this Monday, November 8 for an exclusive in studio interview with Ryan to talk about making preparations for the upcoming tour ... ," according to RyanSeacrest.com.

(In case you're worried why former Backstreeter Kevin Richardson, who left the group in 2006, isn't involved: We suspect he's too busy with his new career, which includes playing a substance-abuse and human blood-addicted vampire in the film "The Bloody Indulgent, A Sexy Vampire Musical.")

The tour will officially be announced at the American Music Awards on Nov. 21, when the two groups will perform together. But they're both on Twitter, if you want it that way: @NKOTB and @BackstreetBoys.

-- Whitney Friedlander

Left photo: New Kids on the Block's Danny Wood, left, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight perform in 2008. Credit: Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times

Right photo: Backstreet Boys Brian Littrell, left, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough. Credit: Ray Kay

In a notoriously transient city like Los Angeles, 13 years of throwing a weekly party qualifies for a Lou Gehrig-level of longevity. And in terms of any discussion pertaining to Hall of Fame club nights, The Root Down deserves a prominent place in the conversation.

So after "Music Man" Miles Tackett and his partner Loslito decided to take a hiatus last year from the weekly ritual, it was tempting to wonder whether it was the end of an era. Thankfully, after a period to regroup and for Tackett to tour the globe with his Breakestra, the seminal funk and hip-hop night has returned to the former Gabah at 4916 Hollywood Blvd.

Boasting a powerhouse slate of DJ's in Music Man Miles, Loslito, Sloe Poke, DJ Expo, Ervin Arana, DJ Jedi and Burt Blackarach, the night's history includes performances from nearly every legendary underground hip-hop group, including Latyrx, the early Black Eyed Peas, Jurassic 5, Company Flow, Dilated Peoples and Freestyle Fellowship.

In honor of the weekly's return to the realm of the living, Pop & Hiss spoke to Tackett about his plans for the night and why he decided to continue to kick it root down.

Why did you guys decide to take the Root Down hiatus?

After doing it for 13 years, my partner and I needed a break. We were always very hands-on about doing the night, and between dealing with booking agents and all the details, it grew tiresome. Plus, the location we were at [El Cid] wasn’t the best place -- it felt awkward there. So we decided we deserved a break. Plus, I was just about to start the new Breakestra record and touring and wasn’t going to be able to put much time into it.

Did you ever think you wouldn't come back to doing Root Down?

We didn’t have any real plans for the future. We never said never, but we knew that there was no guarantee that we'd do it again. Although we actually did three nights over at the original spot before it was demolished. We were tempted to just do monthly and random one-offs, but the owner of the new spot approached us and we said, why not. We still get hit up by a lot of people who ask, 'When are you bringing Root Down back?' We felt like it was an obligation. There are other things out there, but there's really nothing like Root Down that's filled the void.

The name Rodger Clayton might ring unfamiliar to the 35-and-under set, but his death from a heart attack Sunday marks the untimely loss of one of the pioneers of Los Angeles hip-hop. A founder of the legendary mobile disco crew Uncle Jamm's Army, Clayton was a West Coast cognate to such seminal New York figures as Grandmaster Flash and  Afrika Bambaataa.

Uncle Jamm's Army fused George Clinton, Prince, Kraftwerk and the early electro-rap booming out of the South Bronx,  and its popularity was practically peerless among the urban youth during its early to mid-1980s zenith. Founded in 1978, the crew hit its stride after changing its name in 1983 and graduated from throwing parties in small concert halls to the Los Angeles Sports Arena, the Los Angeles Convention Center and the Hollywood Palladium.

A 1983 Times article, archived on the thorough West Coast Pioneers site, catalogs Clayton & Co.'s  ascent and captures West Coast hip-hop at its most incipient stage. In addition to their massive disco-rap blowouts, Clayton and his crew recorded some of the era's most famed local hits, including "The Roach Is on the Wall," "What's Your Sign" and the classic Egyptian Lover collaboration, "Dial-A-Freak."

Those looking for both a charitable and affordable night out would be well served to stop by Cinespace on Friday night for the "Stop the Traffick" Jam! benefit that seeks to help end human slavery.

For a nominal $10 donation, the concert features performances from Them Jeans and Low End Theory staples Daedelus, Busdriver, Gaslamp Killer, DJ Nobody and the band Blank Blue. With sound by audio experts Pure Filth, the night will boast both blistering beats and benevolence. The proceeds will go to the A21 Campaign, Stop Child Trafficking Now and Not For Sale.

For those who can't make it and would like to help, donations are warmly welcomed at Traffick Jam co-organizer Alaina M. Pena's page.

-- Jeff Weiss