Odds & Ends: Alicia Keys, Lil’ Wayne and Buju Banton

Alicia Keys’ World AIDS Day benefit concert airs tonight, Lil’ Wayne awaits February sentencing and Buju Banton denies drug charges. It’s a little of this, a little of that – all wrapped up nice and pretty after the jump.

Keys Gets A Replay

Alicia Keys fans get a replay of the artist’s Dec. 1 World Aids Day benefit concert tonight on music cable channel Fuse at 10 p.m. Eastern time.

In addition to the concert footage, the program, called “American Express Presents: Alicia Keys,” also highlights the artist’s brand new album – The Element of Freedom – which landed in stores today.

Photo: AP Photo

World AIDS Day charity, Nokia Theatre, Times Square, New York City

American Express donated all ticket proceeds from the concert, held at New York City’s Nokia Theatre Times Square, to Keep A Child Alive, the organization Keys founded with Leigh Blake to raise money and awareness for children and families in Africa and India affected by HIV and AIDS. For more information, click here for the Fuse Web site.

Lil’ Wayne’s Next Big Gig

Lil’ Wayne didn’t say anything during a brief appearance in a Manhattan state courtroom today, but the judge made his immediate future a little more certain by scheduling a Feb. 9 sentencing date.

As luck would have it, the sentencing date is just over a week after Lil’ Wayne’s next album – Rebirth – drops Feb. 1.

At one time Lil’ Wayne had pleaded not guilty to illegal gun possession resulting from a 2007 incident where NYPD officers found a gun on his tour bus. However, the rapper reversed himself in October by pleading guilty and now faces approximately one year in jail.

Photo: Jason Moore

Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion, Raleigh, N.C.

But despite his NYC problems, Lil’ Wayne isn’t out of the legal woods yet. He still faces a trial in Arizona on felony drug possession and weapons charges resulting from a January 2008 arrest at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint.

Banton Says No To Drug Charges

Buju Banton wants you to know he didn’t try to buy a large amount of cocaine from an undercover cop.

Apparently Banton has lawyered up since Associated Press reported yesterday that federal officials arrested him Thursday and charged him with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.

In a letter sent to AP today, attorney Herbert E. Walker III said his client “vigorously denies” the charges. Banton could end up spending the next 20 years in prison if convicted.

Meanwhile, South Florida Caribbean News reports a bail hearing for Banton will be held in federal court in Miami tomorrow.

Click here to read the complete Associated Press article.

Click here to read the complete South Florida Caribbean News item.