MUSIC NEWS: T.I. Could Be Released Early + Nelly Furtado To Release Pop Album + Amazon Leaks Lil Wayne's Rebirth Album

T.I.'s fiancée, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, said she expected her man home at the top of the year, and it appears she wasn't far off.

T.I. (aka Clifford Harris Jr.) is on a 366-day prison term following a guilty plea for illegal firearms possession and possessing a gun as a convicted felon. According to a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson, the rapper could be eligible for release to a halfway house, where he could serve out the rest of his term, as early as January.

Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Edmond Ross told MTV News. "There are a number of factors that need to be considered: if the person is not a danger to the community, the current offense, the individual's prior criminal history, the availability of programs and space availability."

Ross said it is not unusual for inmates to serve out the last part of their sentence in community corrections to help ease their transition back into society.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that T.I., who began his sentence in May, could be released as early as March 23, after serving 85 percent of his sentence. The paper also noted that T.I. could spend the final month of his sentence on home confinement.





Nelly Furtado is set to release her fourth English album on May 25th, 2010.

Furtado says:

“I think just generally it’s still going to be pop but I want it to have a more light energy. Sort of like my first album, but not sonically, more in a spiritual sense… more like my first album.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be the same sound [as Loose] but I have worked a little bit with Timbaland who produced that album so it might have some of the same fun and energy, but not like exactly the same.”

Furtado is also said to be working with Ryan Tedder and Salaam Remi on the new album.





About 500 Lil Wayne fans got a surprise this week when the rapper's frequently delayed new album, Rebirth, showed up in their mailboxes.

According to Billboard magazine, Amazon.com shipped out several hundred copies of the album this week to fans who had preordered it.

Due to the slow digital sales of some of those songs, Cash Money and Universal reportedly believed the album hadn't gotten the proper set-up and decided to delay the release once again, falling into a similar pattern to Wayne's previous album, Tha Carter III.

Not surprisingly, anonymous sources told Billboard that Wayne may tinker with the track listing for the album given the latest leak, meaning the Amazon customers who received their copies could have a collector's item on their hands.

- i.B.

FULL STORY after the break