You already know that some people will do anything, no matter how ridiculous, in the name of religion. Apparently, the following pastor was told by God that his congregation should eat grass to be closer to the lord. Someone even said that the grass tasted like “macaroni pasta.” Mmkay.
Washington D.C.police have launched an internal affairs investigation into statements made by a police officer who responded to reports that Chris Brown had punched a man outside a hotel.
The investigation centers on a disputed conversation between the officer and an unidentified acquaintance of Brown.
The acquaintance reported being told by the officer that the alleged victim said Brown never hit him, according to the police records. The officer was then interviewed by detectives and denied having even spoken with the acquaintance. However, a uniformed Secret Service officer at the scene told detectives that he overheard the conversation with the officer and confirmed the acquaintance’s story. The accuser also denied having told anyone that Brown never struck him, the documents state.
An Associated Press reporter who had previously asked the police department about that conversation was contacted this week by an internal affairs investigator assigned to the probe. The investigator confirmed a review was underway.
“We are aware of the discrepancy among witness statements in the Chris Brown case. This is not uncommon in cases with multiple witnesses involved. We have received no complaint of misconduct on the part of any officer in this matter,” Police Chief Cathy Lanier said in a written statement.
In an interview Thursday, Lanier added, “Nobody has accused anybody of lying. One person says one thing, one person says something else. Nobody has made an allegation that an officer is lying or covering anything up.”
Brown was charged with assault after a man said Brown and his bodyguard punched him after he tried to get into a picture while the singer was taking with two other individuals.
I just got some tidbits of messy information that picks up from the last rumor we heard about Amina Buddafly of Love and Hip-Hop. This source says that Amina Buddafly really is pregnant by hubby Peter Gunz. There’s speculation floating around about the alleged pregnancy that she has neither confirmed nor denied. However, said source says it’s official.
Amina Buddafly and Peter Gunz are still married and living together but Peter Gunz is not doing right by wifey. He allegedly still cheats on her, like we’re surprised, and Amina is still holding on to the hope that she and Gunz can be a happy family.
The rest of us call that turning a blind eye, but were we really shocked? No.
You know what the old folks say, how you get ’em is how you keep ’em, a leopard won’t change it’s spot and all that jazz.
(AllHipHop News) T-Pain’s unorthodox ways led him to reimagining autotune, but also to keeping his marriage fun. During his recent interview on The Arsenio Hall Show T-Pain shed the autotune and demonstrated his natural singing voice as well as shed a little light on the private relationship of him and his wife.
T-Pain did not invent or introduce autotune to the world and he even reveals he used the software “incorrectly” but claims that mistake became “a new era of music.” Pain points out that musicians such as legendary Roger Troutman used a vocoder which requires one to have a connected tube in their mouth while playing their instrument. Later he put to rest all doubts of his singing ability and sang a bit of “Buy You A Drink” live.
The always loquacious singer/producer revealed an interesting way him and his wife of 11 years, Amber Najm keep their relationship “fun”. According to Pain, him and his wife travel the world and occasionally “involve other people in our marriage”:
Sometimes we have extraordinary partners. We like to travel around the world and go to different strip clubs and see what those are about. Sometimes the employees, we like to see what those are about too. It keeps it fun. It keeps it real nice and fun.
Check out T-Pain’s interview on The Arsenio Hall Show below:
Not sure how it’s possible to forget about a child but it happened.
A school bus driver in Houston faces felony child endangerment charges after she accidentally left a child alone on a bus while she went to Zumba class.
Via Khou:
Administrators at Fonwood Early Childhood Center placed a call to the child’s parents to confirm the absence for the day, which is standard procedure. The child was supposed to be in school, however, arriving by Garcia Bus Co.
Authorities immediately began searching for the child, who was found unharmed inside the parked bus at a facility where Contreras was attending a workout session.
Contreras did not see the child on the bus when she dropped the other kids off at school and did not check the bus thoroughly before ending her route, according to investigators.
Her bail was set at $2,000.
(AllHipHop News) Percy “Master P” Miller wants the world to know that his career is far from over and reflected on it on this past Tuesday’s(January 14th) episode of The Queen Latifah Show.
Master P also spoke on his non-profit organization Let The Kids Grow. Master P gave AllHipHop an exclusive statement on his appearance on The Queen Latifah Show and praised the female Hip Hop mogul for her diversification:
I think it was refreshing to see someone from Hip-Hop be at the head of TV show. To be able to diversify in Hip-Hop and to be on the top of other business. And to have a cross over fan base to accept and know more about who we are.
Check out Master P performing the first single off his album The Gift Album, “Lonely Road” on The Queen Latifah Show below:
(AllHipHop News) Today marks the 22 year anniversary of the classic Hip Hop drama Juice. In celebration of the flick that starred Tupac Shakur and Omar Epps, Myspace has provided first hand accounts about the film from those who helped make the picture come together in their article “Oral History: Tupac, Fist Fights and the Making of Juice.”
Cast members Epps, Khalil Kain, Jermaine “Huggy” Hopkins, Treach, and Fab 5 Freddy all shared their memories of Juice. The movie’s director and co-writer Ernest Dickerson, co-writer Gerard Brown, and co-producer Peter Frankfurt participated as well. Some of the people behind the Juice soundtrack like Big Daddy Kane, Hank Shocklee, and DJ Muggs also gave insight.
[ALSO READ: 10 Essential Hip-Hop Soundtracks You Need In Your Music Collection]
Some excerpts from the article:
Treach: So Pac went and read. I’m sitting outside, but I’m about to run up into the office because I think he’s fighting in the room. All I hear is, “Yo motherf**ker…you gotta die for this s**t!” So as I’m coming to the door Pac is walking out and I’m like, “Yo, what’s good?” And Pac goes, “Nah, I was just reading for them.” I just looked at him and said, “Yo, I know you got that role.”
Omar Epps: I remember the first day of shooting somebody got shot right outside the location…there was a dead body with a blanket over it. I knew the experience of filming Juice was incredible, but I also knew there were real life things happening around me every day.
Jermaine “Huggy” Hopkins: I never would have eaten those eggs, but at that time that’s what those characters would have been doing. Steel would have done something like that. What’s crazy though is that scene actually started a craze, man. People started putting beer in their eggs!
Ernest Dickerson: We were fortunate to get Queen Latifah because in the original script her character was actually Afrika Bambaataa. But he didn’t want to do the movie. And I had just met Latifah because I had just worked with her on Jungle Fever. She was a homegirl from my hometown of Newark, New Jersey. It was one of her first jobs in a movie.
Gerard Brown: I was not happy with the way Juice ended. It was our first film, so we had to acquiesce to a lot of crap. Originally, the way the script was written, at the end of the fight scene between Bishop and Q, I had Bishop and Q falling through the roof, but the producers said that’s too much money. So I had Bishop hanging over the ledge with Q pulling him up. But Bishop hears the police sirens and says to Q, “I’m not going to jail, man!” So in the script he breaks Q’s grip and he falls to his death.
Hank Shocklee: It had to be authentic. Otherwise, it wasn’t going to believable to the audience. So every aspect of the DJing in Juice had to be on point. The big battle scene in Juice was huge. There was a friend of mine, at the time, I knew named Cam-Ron. He was a good DJ that could also instruct. I put Omar in a room for a week with Cam. I said, “Yo, man…just give him the basics.”
Head over to Myspace to read the full article.
(AllHipHop News) Worldstarhiphop.com is one of the most visited entertainment websites in the world. The site features music videos from both well-established artists and up-and-coming performers. It also highlights videos that depict violent acts often committed by young, black individuals. In response to those depictions of violence, activist and writer Rahiel Tesfamariam penned an op-ed for the Washington Post titled “Death of World Star Hip Hop (D.O.WSHH).”
In the article, Tesfamariam calls for World Star to experience “brand damaging from hip-hop artists and community activists” similar to Jay Z’s take down of auto-tune on his 2009 track “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-tune).” While acknowledging WSHH’s right to freedom of speech, she also brands the website as “one of the most culturally damaging media platforms in existence today.”
Tesfamariam is just the latest public figure to offer criticism of World Star. Last year members of the Zulu Nation started a petition to persuade the site to remove “Hip Hop” from its name. The Minister of Information for the Zulu Nation, Quadeer “MC Spice” Shakur, argued that World Star was misrepresenting the foundations and true principles of Hip Hop.
[ALSO READ: Grandmaster Melle Mel & Quadeer “MC Spice” Shakur Address WorldStarHipHop.com Petition]
“WorldStarHipHop has no respect, as far as I’m concerned, for our people and our music,” Shakur told AllHipHop.com last March. “If it was in fact just a site for what we call ‘entertainment’ then let it be known at the bottom of your page. Put some kind of disclaimer that you are not in fact involved in or a part of real Hip Hop culture.”
In the same article, one of the forefathers of Hip Hop, Grandmaster Melle Mel, also expressed his opinion that WSHH was not a true representation of the culture.
“WorldStarHipHop has no more to do with Hip Hop than FedEx has to do with the federal government,” said Melle Mel.
While World Star has its critics, the site also has its defenders. Huff Post Live hosted the Google+ discussion “Do ‘Hood Sites’ Normalize Black Stereotypes?” moderated by Marc Lamont Hill. Panelist Mandon Lovett offered his take that WSHH is only shining a light on the violence that’s happening in urban America. The independent filmmaker reinforced World Star’s tag that the site is the “CNN of the Ghetto.”
Chicago rapper Rhymefest also defended World Star during the Huff Post exchange. He points out that other video streaming sites provide the same type of content as WSHH.
“We’re not here talking about YouTube,” said Rhymefest. “We’re not here talking about Vimeo. We’re not sitting here talking about all of these sites that do the same thing that World Star does.”
In her WashPost piece, Tesfamariam addresses those who stand up for WSHH.
“To defend World Star Hip Hop is to defend the normalization of violent stereotypes and exploitation of pain, anger and brokenness,” she writes.
Watch HuffPost Live’s “Do ‘Hood Sites’ Normalize Black Stereotypes?” discussion below.
(AllHipHop News) As Pusha T finishes up his 20 days in the studio with The Neptunes, the Virginia emcee announces he will be going on a trek across North America and Europe in the coming months. Pusha’s touring schedule will include both headlining dates as well as an opening slot on 2 Chainz’ “2 Good To Be T.R.U. Tour” along with August Alsina.
[ALSO READ: 2 Chainz, Pusha T & August Alsina To Head Out On “2 Good To Be T.R.U. Tour”]
Check out the dates for King Push’s 2014 tour run.
1/28 – Venue – Vancouver, BC
1/29 – Marquee Room – Calgary, AB
1/30 – Union Hall – Edmonton, AB
1/31 – Telus Theatre – Montreal, QC
2/1 – Barrymore’s Music Hall – Ottawa, ON
2/2 – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON
2/3 – Marquee Ballroom – Halifax, NS
2/4 – House of Blues – Boston, MA*
2/5 – Roseland Ballroom – New York, NY*
2/7 – Chicago Theatre – Chicago, IL*
2/8 – Eagles Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI*
2/10 – Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO*
2/11 – The Complex – Grand Room – Salt Lake City, UT
2/12 – Revolution Event Center – Boise, ID*
2/13 – Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WA
2/18 – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA*
2/20 – The Observatory OC – Santa Ana, CA*
2/21 – Hollywood Palladium – Hollywood, CA*
2/22 – The Joint – Las Vegas, NV*
2/23 – Club XS – Tucson, AZ
2/24 – Club Red – Tempe, AZ
2/27 – Midland Theatre – Kansas City, MO*
2/28 – Chaifetz Arena – St. Louis, MO*
3/1 – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre – Indianapolis, IN*
3/2 – Bank of Kentucky Center – Highland Heights, KY*
3/4 – Palace Theatre – Louisville, KY*
3/6 – Altar Bar – Pittsburgh, PA
3/7 – Crofoot Ballroom – Pontiac, MI
3/8 – Brick Street Bar – Oxford, OH
3/9 – Center Stage – Atlanta, GA
3/12 – La Hacienda Event Center – Midland, TX
3/13 – South Side Ballroom – Dallas, TX*
3/14 – Bayou Music Center – Houston, TX*
3/17 – Jannus Live! – St. Petersburg, FL*
3/18 – The Fillmore at Jackie Gleason – Miami Beach, FL*
3/20 – The Fillmore Charlotte – Charlotte, NC*
3/21 – Landmark Theatre – Richmond, VA
3/22 – Tower Theatre – Upper Darby, PA*
5/30 – Paris, France
5/31 – Tilburg, Holland
6/1 – Mojo, Hamburg, Germany
6/2 – Gibson Room, Frankfurt, Germany
6/3 – X-Tra, Zurich, Switzerland
6/4 – Essigfabrik, Cologne, Germany
6/5 – Vooruit, Gent, Belgium
6/6 – Koko, London, UK
* – 2 Chainz’ “2 Good To Be T.R.U. Tour”
(AllHipHop News) Pharrell Williams can now add Academy Award nominee to his resume. The member of The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. picked up a “Best Original Song” Oscar nod for his song “Happy” from Despicable Me 2. The category also includes “Alone Yet Not Alone” (Alone Not Yet Alone), “Let It Go” (Frozen), “The Moon Song” (HER), and “Ordinary Love” (Mandela: A Long Walk To Freedom).
[ALSO READ: Pharrell Signs With Columbia Records For New 2014 Solo Album]
Pharrell has already won Grammy awards for his work with The Neptunes, Justin Timberlake, and Ludacris, but this is the performer/producer’s first Oscar nomination. If P wins the award it would put him in rare company. Eminem and Three 6 Mafia are the only Hip Hop acts that have won an Academy Award. Em won for 8 Mile‘s “Lose Yourself” and Three 6 won for Hustle & Flow‘s “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.”
“Happy” already has one historic distinction. The video for the song is billed as the “world’s first 24-hour music video.” Pharrell tapped numerous celebrities like Tyler The Creator and Jamie Foxx to make cameos in the clip.
[ALSO READ: Pharrell Williams Releases 24-Hour Music Video For “Happy”]
