Maino Scores Hit Single With Debut Album!

Hello all! Maino has a lot to be happy about besides reportedly being the first to leak out the Foxy Brown sex tape. Find out what! Meanwhile Flo Rida talks rappers and sales. T-Boz reveals a hidden sickness that she has battled for years. It's pretty juicy! Read below for more of these stories!

Maino Goes Platinum!

All The Above (ft. T-Pain), the breakthrough hit single from Hustle Hard Entertainment/Atlantic recording artist Maino has just received RIAA platinum certification, marking digital sales in excess of 1 million.

Produced by Just Blaze and Nard & B (T.I., Plies, Ludacris), the track was an out-of-the-box sensation upon its June release, scoring the highest first week single sales for a new rap artist since Flo Rida's Low. The single went on to become one of the summer's biggest hip-hop radio hits, riding high on the Rhythmic Top 20 and Urban Top 40 (having impacted as the #1 most added single at the format).

All The Above is just one of the many highlights on Maino's debut album, If Tomorrow Comes... Stacked with a broad spectrum of bangers, the album makes an indelible first impression of a serious new hip-hop star. The first major label debut to be released by a new Brooklyn-based rapper since Fabolous' 2001 classic Ghetto Fabolous, If Tomorrow Comes... Sees Maino showing off his unadulterated candor and staccato flow on such recent singles as Hi Hater and Million Bucks (ft. Swizz Beatz). In total, the tracks on If Tomorrow Comes... Have logged combined digital sales in excess of 1,000,000 - an astounding tally for a new hip-hop artist.

Flo-Rida talks album sales!

"People are definitely focusing too much on [sales], but sometimes artist don't have enough knowledge that you can make money in other area,' say Flo, adding that his international sales make up for the paucity. "I could've done a lot better but, at the same time, I had exposure, my records were big, I did television shows, [and] I sold so many downloads off just the one single.

In order to optimize profits, Flo Rida recommends knowing exactly how your contract is spelled out, and seeking career longevity. "Most artist sign 360 deals. I didn't have to do that," he says. You wanna know how to make your money. If you're trying to sell shirts or something, the record company get's a certain percentage, because they might have control of your merchandise...me putting out my second album and having success just shows that I'll definitely be around a long time."

T-Boz Reveals Her Hidden Sickness!

Looking at her now, you’d never know that Tionne Watkins, better known as T-Boz of the 90’s girl group TLC, has secretly battled a brain tumor for nearly three years. She hid her struggle (which took away her ability to speak for months) on The Celebrity Apprentice in March. “I didn’t want pity – I was there to help sick children,” says Watkins, who also has sickle-cell disease, an often-fatal blood disorder marked by chronic fatigue and organ failure. “I was told I wouldn’t live past 30 or have children.” Watkins, who lives with daughter Chase, 8, in Atlanta, shares her store for the first time with People’s “Jessica Herndon.

Because of my sickle-cell disease, I have a high tolerance for pain. By 2006, I’d have headaches for six years. I thought it was stress. But when my vision went blurry, I got an MRI.

Turns out, she had a grapefruit-size acoustic neuroma (which are noncancerous) on her vestibular nerve, which affected her balance, hearing, sight and facial movement.

I thought, “Got, why now?” I told the doctor my goal was not to die – I had to be there for Chase.

Watkins consulted many doctors who refused to remove the tumor, citing sickle-cell-related complications, like lung or heart failure. The alternatives (like burning her brain stem) were grim. Keith L. Black, M.D., and Rick A. Friedman, M.D., of Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, thought surgery was possible if they worked with a blood specialist.

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