(AllHipHop News) There has been a rather quiet debate taking place across the country on whether a rapper’s lyrics and videos should be used as evidence against them during a criminal trial. The outcomes have varied from state-to-state and district-to-district, and now one New York judge has ruled on the side of the prosecution.
According to the New York Daily News, federal judge Kiyo Matsumoto decided to allow YouTube music videos to be presented against the supposed leaders of the Brooklyn drug gang Together Forever Mafia. Michael “Rab” Garrett and Paul Rivera are facing racketeering charges, and prosecutors will be allowed to show videos for songs like “Smell Murder” and “Hustler Anthem” as evidence of guilt.
“The court finds that excerpts of videos depicting the defendants with firearms, cash and drugs are highly probative to the weapons-related charges, narcotics trafficking and money-laundering charges,” wrote Matsumoto. “The defendants may offer evidence at trial… that the weapons, cash and drugs depicted are ‘props,’ but it is up to the jury to weigh this evidence and decide what is depicted.”
Judge Matsumoto’s decision follows other cases that support the government’s right to use a rapper’s own artistic work against him in court. In August 2013, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the murder conviction of Deyundrea “Khali” Holmes after his lawyers appealed on the grounds that lyrics are just artistic expression.
Other judges have agreed with the defendant’s point of view. Last month gang conspiracy charges against San Diego’s Brandon “Tiny Doo” Duncan were dropped when a judge ruled his lyrics could not be used as evidence.
In August 2014, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled Vonte Skinner’s attempted murder conviction be overturned. The court concluded a performer’s lyrics can only be used as evidence when the words connect to the particular crime being tried.
KOTD’s “Back To Basics” event in L.A. on Saturday was a near perfect event, with the only real bumps being the sounds the crowd heard when Dizaster slammed Billy Boondocks to the ground on the upstairs patio, and perhaps the bumps on Billy Boondocks’ head.
(AllHipHop News) Even with the huge roll-out and focus on hi-fi sound, Jay Z’s new Tidal streaming service has taken some hits. Almost immediately after its launch, music listeners complained that the $20 cost for the premium service was too expensive and some artists even denounced the brand altogether.
There are now reports Tidal’s staff is facing major upheaval as well. Andy Chen has been replaced as CEO and other positions are being reduced. Peter Tonstad, former chief executive of Tidal’s parent company Aspiro, has returned as the interim head of Tidal.
Business Insider published a statement from Tidal about Chen’s departure:
TIDAL’s new [interim] CEO is Peter Tonstad – a former CEO of parent company Aspiro Group. He has a better understanding of the industry and a clear vision for how the company is looking to change the status quo. He’s streamlining resources to ensure talent is maximized to enhance the customer experience. We’ve eliminated a handful of positions and refocused our company-wide talent to address departments that need support and cut redundancies. TIDAL’s offices globally will remain and grow: we are already hiring for several new positions now. We’re excited about our future and what’s in-store for fans who want the best listening experience.
Peter Tonstad also gave a statement to the Swedish news site Breakit:
I believe in TIDAL and what the team is doing to affect the change the music industry needs. We’re streamlining the company and refocusing our resources to ensure the platform continues to grow, and listeners can make a connection to their favorite artists. No one else is doing this.
While stars like Beyoncé, Madonna, Kanye West, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, and J. Cole have signed on as part owners of Tidal, there are also musicians that are not supportive of the “artist-owned” platform. Rock band Mumford & Sons criticized the streaming payout for independent acts.
“I think smaller bands should get paid more for it, too. Bigger bands have other ways of making money, so I don’t think you can complain,” said frontman Marcus Mumford in an interview with The Daily Beast . “A band of our size shouldn’t be complaining. And when they say it’s artist-owned, it’s owned by those rich, wealthy artists.”
British singer-songwriter Lily Allen also blasted Tidal’s potential unfair treatment of rising artists. In a series of tweets, she wrote, “People are going to swarm back to pirate sites in droves, sending traffic to torrent sites. Up-and-coming (not yet millionaires) artists are going to suffer as a result… my concern is that Tidal may set emerging artists back.”
(AllHipHop News) Last year A$AP Rocky was sued for allegedly slapping a woman during his performance at the 2013 Made In America Festival. Lisa Wade was seeking $75,000 for physical injuries and emotional distress, and according to TMZ she may have received some payment from Rocky.
The site is reporting the two sides have settled the suit and a judge has dismissed the case. The details of the settlement were not released, but Wade is not able to file another lawsuit associated with the incident.
That situation may be over, but Rocky was recently caught on camera confronting a man in London. Someone apparently threw something at the A$AP Mob member’s vehicle, and Rocky threatened to attack the person. However, the situation did not turn violent.
(AllHipHop News) Dame Dash recently claimed Sean “Diddy” Combs was the reason Jay Z and The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Brooklyn’s Finest” was never made into a video, and he accused the Bad Boy head of stealing his ideas. Apparently, those public allegations has not prevented the two moguls from coming together to discuss business.
In a new video posted to the Hip Hop Motivation YouTube channel, Dame and Diddy are seen meeting. It is not clear what the two men spoke about or if a definite joint venture is on the way.
The description for the video reads:
After not getting a return phone call from [Diddy,] Dame Dash goes to his Bad Boy headquarters to talk face to face, and get a personal tour of his office.
Dame has connected with other high-profile Hip Hop stars in the last several weeks. He teamed with Kanye West to co-produce the movie Loisaidasand to reportedly purchase KarmaLoop. The co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records also reunited with former Roc members Beanie Sigel and Noreaga to film State Property 3.
(AllHipHop News) One half of Run The Jewels is headed to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology later this week. Killer Mike is set to give a lecture on race relations in America at the prestigious Cambridge university.
Pitchfork reports M.I.T. chose Mike to participate in its “Hip Hop Speaker” series. The Atlanta-based emcee is scheduled to address the student body on Friday, April 24. Previous lecturers include Young Guru and Lil B.
Killer Mike has been very outspoken about American race relations in recent months. After Mike Brown’s killing in Ferguson, Missouri, Mike appeared on CNN to talk about the aftermath of the shooting. He later also addressed Darren Wilson, the officer that shot Brown, not being indicted during a concert.
Most recently Mike has taken up the fight against the criminalization of rap lyrics. He submitted an op-ed to the Huffington Post voicing his concerns on the issue.
“Unfortunately, in many instances law enforcement really does treat rap like crime,” wrote Mike. “We’ve seen a troubling increase in the number of cases in which prosecutors introduce rap lyrics as evidence of a crime, (mis)representing the lyrics as autobiography or confession in order to secure convictions when other, more traditional forms of evidence are lacking.”
Lee Mazin teams up with Mr Bi Polar in this heart felt track. With Wiz Gamb on the hook, this Philly trio brings not only bars & pain but delivery & ambition! Inferno Productions brings the vision to life!
Man! The stuff bloggers blog about! By the standards of this new-jack hip-hop phraseology I should preface this blog with a big fat “Pause” and “No H###”—‘cause a man writing about another man’s “c###” certainly deserves that, but ah! If you pay attention you’ll see that you’re either too young to know what I’m talking about or old enough to remember what I’m talking about.
I’ve lived through the eras of the 33, 45 & 78 vinyl records on record players/turntables, the 8-track tape player, the reel to reel, the cassette, the CD and now the MP3, but I ain’t effin’ with that!
So the other day I was cruisin’ in the whip bumpin’ some Snoop Doggy Dogg—his first album to be exact entitled, “Doggystyle” (circa 1993). I pride myself on knowing all the lyrics to that album, which I consider one of the Top 5 greatest hip-hop albums ever made (“The Chronic” is the greatest hip-hop album evaaar!). There is not a whack track nowhere to be found on “Doggystyle” and it’s seamlessly woven together to stand the test of time and surely devoid of a thousand features like these rappers today who don’t have enough material to complete a whole album, so they invite every semi-hot rapper “From Here to Timbuktu” to jump on a track!
Anywhoo…
I get to the track “Gin & Juice” and I’m rapping along like only a 55-year old hip-hop head can as Snoop Dogg raps, “Dre gots the b###### from the city of Compton/To serve me/not with a cherry on top/’Cause when I bust my nut/I’m raisin’ up out the c###/Don’t get upset girl/That’s just how it goes/I don’t love you hoes…”
Now stop the presses! Did Snoop Dogg just say, “I’m raisin’ up out the c###?” I’m pretty sure he did. In fact, I know he did! But can you imagine a rapper today talking about “raisin’ up out (or off) the c###?” You’d swear he just rapped the most suspect lyric ever! LOL. Yes! You would!
Straightway, I went and did some fast-food research by way of Google to confirm Snoop’s use of the word “c###” in his song and to my surprise, these new-jack Internet folk who are supposed to give us correct information had Snoop Dogg rapping everything but “c###!” One website had Snoop Dogg rapping,“’Cause when I bust my nut/I’m raisin’ up out the cot.”The cot? A cot is a fold-up bed or a bunch of blankets & spreads on a floor that I use when all my grandchildren come over for a sleepover. Have I been rapping the wrong lyric for over 20-years? It’s plausible because I f### up lyrics on the regular, but I was so sure Snoop said “c###.” Another website had Snoop Dogg rapping,“’Cause when I bust my nut/I’m raisin’ up out/to pop a cop.”Now wait a f###### minute! I know this lyric ain’t right!“To pop a cop?”Nah! Ice T & N.W.A. were the cop killer rappers of the era. Something is fishy up in Internet Land and I’m gonna get to the bottom of it! Have a listen and you decide whether it’s “cot,” “pop a cop” or “c###.” (3:38 mark onward)
Can I take you back in time, for a moment, to the year 1974? This is the first time a 14-year old Khalil heard the word “c###” from an older male cousin, but it was in reference to some coochie—stank-box—va-jay-jay—poonanny—p####—v#####! Indeed, black men in the South (Miami) called a woman’s v##### “c###.” There were no “Pause” or “No H###” moments when a dude said he just got off some “c###.” We understood quite well that he had just f##### a chick. “C###” was p#### and that’s all there was to it! But now, I still had to dig deeper and see if Snoop Dogg actually rapped “c###” or did I just insert the word “c###” hearkening back to my teenage years. Thinking back, never in the history of “Cockdom” has a black chick ever called my hang-low penis a “c###” and I’ve been with 100’s of black women!
In the p### industry, “c###” has been appropriated and hijacked from the hood as an exclusive term for the male genitalia. White chicks love to call a man’s penis a c###. (It’s “dick” b####! LOL!) But I’m sure that Snoop Dogg rapped “c###” and I’m sure that he understood “c###” to mean v#####. I’m not convinced or buying Snoop rapping about getting up off a “cot” or trying to “pop a cop.” And I don’t think these are the radio-friendly versions. In the official TV video Snoop rap’s, “I gotta hit the dope spot” (which rhymes with “c###.”), but that ain’t on the CD. Websites just got it wrong!
Alas! I found a website that must be ran by someone who’s familiar with black aesthetics and sure enough, according this website Snoop rapped, “’Cause when I bust my nut/I’m raisin’ up out the c###.” I knew it! I ain’t crazy after all! Snoop used the word “c###” as the old-school black guys in da hood had—in the proper context—and the proof is in the following lyrics—“Don’t get upset girl/That’s just how it goes/I don’t love you hoes…” Snoop had an orgasm in a girl’s “c###” (v#####) and she got mad when he had to leave and realized it was just sex and not love.
Snoop Dogg is the last generation of players/rappers that used the word “c###” as “v#####,” which tells me that he’s learned well the lessons and phraseology of the old-heads and O.G.s from Tha L.B.C. who walked around with manicured fingernails topped off with a clear coat of polish.(I still wear a clear coat of polish on my fingernails!)
So Snoop Dogg’s “c###” is a v##### and he—and I are not suspect. It is you young Negroes who just ain’t hip to the lingo of yesteryear and it is these white-washed websites who have changed and bastardized Snoop’s lyrics out of sheer ignorance and watching too much modern-day p###. “C###” may be a dick today, but it used to mean p#### and like Snoop, I used to be up in much “c###.” Ya heard?
Khalil Amani, a blogger blogging jus’ ’cause he’s self-entertained. As yes! He’s on Social Media and chicks used love his Jheri Curl! Don’t be hatin’!
Gucci may be in jail, but he keeps dropping new music. Yesterday, Guwop tweeted that he is working with producer Diplo. Gucci said that the album was EDM, but Diplo corrected that. No word on a release date, but stay tuned.
Last night, Bobby Brown announced that his daughter Bobbie Kristina Houston is awake and watching him. The R&B singer told the news to a packed audience at the Verizon Theatre in Texas.
Houston has been in a coma since January 31st this year. According to Complex, her grandmother Cissy Houston told a radio station that she’s been sent to a medical rehab facility in Atlanta last month. Let’s hope that Bobby Brown’s announcement is real.
The second weekend of Coachella is not without its surprises, for example, last night The Weeknd brought out special guest Kanye West during his set in what’s probably the biggest surprise appearance this year. Ye showed the audience some love by crowd surfing for a part of his performance.
To prepare us for their collaborative project Blood Thicker Than Water, Chief Keef and Fredo Santana releases a single off of the album titled “Maybach”. The album will be released as a Best Buy exclusive. Check out “Maybach” below.
Last night, Migos were caught on the campus of Georgia Southern University with a loaded gun and drugs. The TMZ video below shows two members of the Atlanta group, Quavo and Offset, being arrested backstage of the show after their performance was stopped by campus police. Both Quavo and Offset are now charged with multiple drug and weapon felonies.
Last night at a Greek cookout on the campus of Deleware State University, there was a shootout resulting in 3 victims being injured. According the local NBC affiliate, the shooting was the result of a fight that broke out earlier that day. While police made an attempt to move students away from the student center, the campus went on lockdown to find the gunman, who still remain at large. Another shooting happened three hours later close to the campus, no one was injured.
Master P & Money Mafia “HUSTLIN” (Official Trailer) – Available Everywhere April 20th 2015 – The Streets #1 Most Dangerous Independent Record Label is Still Dropping Back to Back Street Records, Visuals, Mixtapes and Albums.
The Tank Never Stops, Getting Money is The Only Option, Loyalty Makes Us
Family, Our Hustle Is What Makes Us Money.
