ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Rap Rivalries: Rivalry between female rappers Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown apparently sparked a shootout outside a New York hip-hop radio station Sunday in which 21 bullets were fired and one man was wounded, police said Tuesday. Investigators said the shooting erupted when Kim, the diminutive rapper known for her revealing outfits and raunchy lyrics, was leaving the WQHT-FM studio as another rapper associated with Kim’s rival, Foxy Brown, arrived. Efrain Ocasio, a friend of the second rapper--Capone of the duo Capone-N-Noreaga--was wounded but was released from the hospital Monday, police said. Rapper Brown, who records for the Island/Def Jam group and is also known for sexually explicit lyrics, recorded a song on a Capone-N-Noreaga album last year that verbally attacked Kim. The track was an apparent response to Kim’s insulting Brown two years ago on a different song. No arrests were made in the shooting, and police--who suspect the fracas was related to the rappers’ rivalry even though Brown was not present--said five different guns were fired. Kim’s manager, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that the rapper, who records for the Atlantic Group, had nothing to do with the shooting and “had no knowledge of . . . what instigated the gunfire.”

‘Apocalypse’ Revisited: Director Francis Ford Coppola plans to re-release his landmark 1979 anti-Vietnam War film “Apocalypse Now,” and will premiere his new version, with nearly an hour of added footage, in May at the Cannes Film Festival. Coppola said that the new 3-hour, 17-minute version does not merely add scenes left out of the original, but has been completely reedited. “It is a more disturbing, sometimes funnier and more romantic film, whose historical perspective has become more forceful,” Coppola said. Joining Coppola in re-cutting the film was Walter Murch, an original editor who shared an Oscar for best sound on the movie. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who won an Oscar for his photography, oversaw reprinting of the film. Coppola’s production company, American Zoetrope, is said to be in “serious discussions” with several American distributors about the re-release.

Kennedy Center Expansion?: Michael M. Kaiser, the new head of the Kennedy Center, is advocating an expansion of the complex that would include a museum of the performing arts. Kaiser--who said the museum “would include all the performing arts--popular music, ballet, theater, jazz, all of them,” endorsed the idea of two new buildings forming a U-shaped complex, with the present building at the bottom and the two arms stretching east toward the White House. One of the new buildings would provide more space for the Washington Opera, which now performs in the original Kennedy Center building and has given up plans to rebuild a downtown department store as a home of its own. “The [expansion] idea has been in the ether for some time; I’ve just added my little bit--the museum,” Kaiser said. He added that the Department of Transportation is studying the proposed project, which would require some rebuilding of the expressways that now separate the Kennedy Center from downtown Washington. The Kennedy Center board and Congress would have to also approve the plans, and funding would have to be privately raised.

Tour Plans: Madonna has said that she expects to start rehearsals in April for her first official concert tour in eight years. She told Interview magazine that the tour--her first since 1993’s “Girlie Show”--is tentatively set to launch in June and continue through September. “I never want to repeat myself,” Madonna says in the magazine’s March issue. “I don’t see the point of doing a show unless you offer something that is going to mind-boggle the senses. It’s not enough to get on the stage and sing a song. It’s all about theater and drama and surprise and suspense.” Dates and tour venues have not been announced.

DMX Jailed: Rapper DMX has begun serving a 15-day jail sentence in New York state for driving without a license. The rapper--who appears in the Steven Seagal movie “Exit Wounds,” opening March 16--surrendered Monday to authorities at Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden. His attorney said that with an automatic sentence reduction plus credit for the day of his arrest, the rapper likely would be freed in about a week.

Quick Takes: Lee Ann Womack and Toby Keith topped the Academy of Country Music Awards nominations Tuesday with six nods each. But while both are up for best album, single and song (for “I Hope You Dance” and “How Do You Like Me Now,” respectively), only Keith made the prestigious Entertainer of the Year category, where he will vie with George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks. The awards air May 9 on CBS. . . . ABC’s “NYPD Blue,” which transformed former child star Rick Schroeder into a respected adult actor, has cast Mark-Paul Gosselaar, former star of the teen show “Saved by the Bell,” in a leading role for next season. Gosselaar recently starred in NBC’s TV movie “The Princess and the Marine.” . . . Bill Cosby plans to turn his animated character “Fat Albert” into a live-action feature film for 20th Century Fox. . . . CBS has renewed its top-rated comedy, “Everybody Loves Raymond,” for two more seasons. . . . Oscar nominee “Traffic” is due May 29 on home video and DVD.