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AHH Stray News: Lloyd Banks, Missy Elliott, Diamond

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: News
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G-Unit rapper Lloyd Banks has announced an exclusive one-off show in London this July. Banks will make his first appearance in the UK since 2007 this July, when he performs at the indigO2. UK rappers Sway, Bashy and Wretch 32 will also take the stage during the evening. The event takes place Friday, July 17.

 

Missy Elliott has revealed that her bio-pic is in the process of being produced. Elliott, who hails from Norfolk, Virginia, had a traumatic childhood. Her mother was repeatedly abused by her father, while she was raped multiple times by an older cousin when she was a child. Despite these serious obstacles, Elliott preserved to become one of the biggest names in Hip-Hop, as well as one of the genre’s top producers. “It’s happening; I’ve just got to find a great writer because I wouldn’t want my story watered down,” Elliott told Elle Magazine. “I went through a lot, and I accomplished a lot, and I want people to know how it all went down.” 

 

Diamond, formerly of Crime Mob, has dropped a new mixtape with DJ D##### titled Can’t Tell Me Nuthin. The mixtape is Diamond’s fourth underground release since leaving Crime Mob in 2007. She released three installments of her B**ch Music mixtape series. The 21-year-old’s latest offering features Cee-Lo, Lil Scrappy, Webbie, Lil Boosie, E-40, Shawty Lo, Nicole Wray and others. “The mixtape with DJ D##### and Block Starz Music titled Can’t Tell Me Nuthin is really a reflection of me – good and bad emotions,” Diamond told AllHipHop.com. “My music now reflects the mature/adult side of Diamond. I just want to show my true fans and soon to be fans that there is more to me than Crunk.” The 17-track mixtape can be downloaded here.

Alfamega Speaks: The Exclusive Interview

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: Features
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“Alfamega ain’t never snitched on nobody.”-Alfamega

Part 1: Looking Back

Alfamega may be one of the most misunderstood artists in the South. Originally introduced to the world as the “Grand Hustle Muscle,” the man born Cedric Zellers made an impressive debut holding his own alongside T.I. and Busta Rhymes on the 2007 single “Hurt.” But following the release of the single, T.I.’s arrest on weapon charges and the Atlanta-based Grand Hustle camp’s beef with fellow WestSide representer Shawty Lo, fans saw more of the towering 6’4 rapper than they heard. He released the buzzing single, “Uh Huh” on a Nitti beat, with a T.I. feature and even filmed and released a video for the song. But his debut album I Am AlfaMega was pushed back twice before being buried in the land of “to be determined.” Still, Alfa remained loyal to the brand that T.I. built.

In April and May 2009, however, both his life and career were forever altered. First, in an incident that remains clouded in secrecy, Alfamega wound up not only under arrest, but in a hospital bed with two broken legs and multiple other injuries. Shortly thereafter, the release of court documents from over a decade ago sparked a nearly insurmountable scandal for the rapper. In a culture that vilifies anyone thought to violate the code of the streets, Alfamega was labeled a snitch by the court of public opinion. He was subsequently dropped from the Grand Hustle roster… or was he.

In part one of an exclusive interview, Alfamega and his manager Reek Walker, share with AllHipHop.com the details that lead to his current position in the game.

AllHipHop.com: So, I guess we can’t call you the Grand Hustle Muscle no more?

Alfamega: I’m Alfamega, you ain’t gotta call me the muscle.

AllHipHop.com: We know that something happened between you and the police. And we got one accounting of it, but of course, we didn’t get it from anyone that was actually there. Are you able to talk about it?

Alfamega: I caught a case. Really, it ain’t nothing to talk about right now ‘cause it’s an open case, so I’ll let my legal team handle it.

AllHipHop.com: What kind of charges are you looking at? Are you able to say that?

Alfamega: They gave me three charges: convicted Felon in possession of a firearm, and two felony obstructions of a police officer. They didn’t wanna give me no bond at first, then my lawyer kept going.

AllHipHop.com: If you don’t beat the charge, what kind of time are you looking at? How does this affect your future?

Alfamega: If I don’t beat the charges, it is what it is, I’m going to jail.

Reek Walker: [The sentence] is based upon his legal team.

AllHipHop.com: Can you give us any details about how this happened?

Alfamega: Man, I don’t even know. Believe me. I was told it was a routine traffic stop. Then I was told it was an altercation at a bar and somebody pointed my truck out. I was like, “Oh, ok. Whatever.”

AllHipHop.com: Is your truck a common car that could have been anybody?

Alfamega: Yea, a common SUV, common color: black. I gave them the license. Georgia got this thing where you can run the tag and tell if the car got insurance or not. So I gave the man my license, I was on the phone the whole time. I got a, not an eye witness, but a witness that was on the phone the whole time. But, I’ll let the legal team handle it. I don’t wanna speak upon it too hard, ‘cause it’s an open case.

AllHipHop.com: So let’s dispel some of the rumors that have been floating around. Let’s start with the rumored altercation at a bar, true or false?

Alfamega: That’s false. One thing about bars, especially in the Downtown [Atlanta] area, all the bars and clubs got cameras in ‘em. If I was involved in something, the cameras woulda let ‘em know who the guy was that was involved in the altercation and when he was leaving out. And I know I ain’t on camera.

AllHipHop.com: The other rumor that was out there is the idea that you were on some kind of undercover assignment, planted into Grand Hustle’s operations and that this whole arrest was staged to get you out.

Alfamega: Huh? By who? I got two broken legs, I done had three surgeries. So how in the hell was that staged?

AllHipHop.com: The other thing was that you jumped out of a building versus being pushed…

Alfamega: Lie. That’s a blatant lie.

AllHipHop.com: So what happened?

Alfamega: It’s an open case. I’m trying to put a lawsuit in too.

“Anybody that know me, if I had did something on somebody in this city, and people knew that I was accused of doing what they accusing me of right now? Somebody woulda been stepped to me about that. Like I said, Alfamega ain’t never snitched on nobody.”

AllHipHop.com: Now the biggest one of them all. Fourteen years ago, you caught a case…

Alfamega: I caught a case, pleaded guilty. Received my time. I was doing my time. All the extra stuff dudes’ talking about… Anybody that know me, if I had did something on somebody in this city, and people knew that I was accused of doing what they accusing me of right now? Somebody woulda been stepped to me about that. Like I said, Alfamega ain’t never snitched on nobody. He done lied on somebody, but he ain’t never snitched. And we ain’t even gotta say Alfamega, ‘cause y’all got my name out there now: Cedric Zellers.

AllHipHop.com: So, you caught this case, you pleaded guilty. You were sentenced to how long?

Alfamega: I pleaded guilty from the time I was arrested, I was given 92 months.

AllHipHop.com: That was the original sentence, 92 months?

Alfamega: Seven years, eight months. I did seven years, four days, five hours, 32 minutes, 16 seconds. That’s how much time I did off seven years, eight months.

AllHipHop.com: So of your original sentence, you did all but 7 months? And that was because of…

Alfamega: You do 85% of your time in the Feds. I really wasn’t supposed to do the whole sentence, but I got into an altercation in the last prison I was in. So they took some good time away. They gave me 60 extra days.

AllHipHop.com: But whatever time you didn’t serve out of that original sentence was because of good behavior?

Alfamega: Yeah, because of my behavior.

AllHipHop.com: Now, prior to all of this, did you know or have any kind of relationship with T.I.?

Alfamega: Before I caught my case? Naw. That’s what I’m saying. I’m older than Tip. I’m from the Westside, he from the Westside. Where I come from, if you have a label of being a snitch, you gon’ get dealt with. So how am I able to still walk around the city by myself? So, it is what it is, you know. I’m gonna make a statement too: I don’t hate Tip. I’m disappointed, ‘cause that’s supposed to be my partner. And I ain’t talking about on no business tip. That’s my partner. I rode for dude, like 24/7. I put my family to the side sometimes to ride for dude.

“We never received any documentation. Technically, Alfa is still a member of Grand Hustle. Tip can denounce him all he wants, but as long as that contract is in [place], he’s still there.”

AllHipHop.com: The reason why I asked, is because a lot of people didn’t get the opportunity to know your story before the craziness happened. So that’s why I’m asking about your story, so we can better understand how you went from dealing with your what you dealt with, to being signed to Grand Hustle.

Alfamega: I signed a deal with Grand Hustle after I did the song “Hurt.” I never was signed to Grand Hustle until then, when I got ready to do the deal with Capitol.

AllHipHop.com: Once you came out of prison, how did you end up in music?

Alfamega: I came to the streets, I was in Philly. I got children up there, I got family up there, my management is up there. So I got into the music business through my man O. They put something in Hip-Hop Weekly about my man Omar and his case, and tried to tie me to it. I didn’t even know that man was doing the stuff he did. You know bloggers are gonna say what they’re gonna say, and everybody else is gonna add they two sense in. But if they check his case, I had nothing to do with this man case. That man was huge. And if you go talk to him, he’ll tell you [I] didn’t know nothing about his case. ‘Cause we ain’t even f**k around like that. Me and him was straight up on music. So they tried to hook that up in Hip-Hop Weekly and don’t know nothing. Just trying to do anything to add fuel to the fire. And I don’t hate them for that: you know they gotta sell magazines. You struggling, you going through things, you gon’ print up whatever somebody bring to you, if it sound good.

T.I. & Alfamega: A Different Era  (Story continues after image.)

AllHipHop.com: That’s who got you into music?

Alfamega: Yeah. But when I started doing my thing, I came back to Atlanta. I was doing my thing on the underground. When I first started doing my thing, Tip knew my name. I was in these streets for real. My reputation in the streets spoke for itself. So when I got with dude, I was basically hanging around. Not everywhere he go. And that’s another thing: I never hung with this dude everywhere he went, I was on standby for when he had a problem. As a friend, not like a henchman. But if somebody got a problem with you, they got a problem with me ‘cause you’re my friend. I don’t have to be around you everyday to be your friend.

AllHipHop.com: When you started being around, was the intent for you to get involved with the music?

Alfamega: It was based on the music with me. I wanted to get this music thing poppin right. That’s what my thing was. But my reputation was in the streets. You got a lot of dudes who in the industry that did time with me, from state prison on up. They know me. I done had a lot of wins, I done lost a lot too. But I’m still a man, I still stand on two feet, by myself.

AllHipHop.com: When you did “Hurt” on the T.I. vs. Tip album, was your deal with Capitol already on the table?

Alfamega: We were already were searching for a deal. When we did the song “Hurt,” it just made it more solid to get the deal with Capitol. ‘cause I didn’t wanna go under Atlantic. I’m not gonna go under where Tip at, ‘cause they not gonna treat you like how they treat him. So we did a deal with Capitol. Before then, it was just handshakes with us.

AllHipHop.com: Around what time did your deal become official?

Reek: Right around the same time the [2007] BET Awards was, right around when [T.I.] got arrested.

AllHipHop.com: How was your experience with the label?

Alfamega: I was basically doing me, recording when I wanted to record. You get support when you build it up yourself. [Laughs] You was in a session with me before, you heard my music. What was the problem with me not never coming out?

AllHipHop.com: That’s what I’m asking you! And make this as politically correct or real as you want.

Alfamega: [Laughs] You already know, basically it was somethin’ put in the game. Somebody said on a song, “If I feel you better than me, I put you next to me/Two steps up under me, where you supposed to be.”

AllHipHop.com: So you think that’s what it was?

Alfamega: That’s what a lot of people told me, but I never bit into that. I’ve always been a loyal dude. I don’t go by rumors, I don’t go by what other people say. Can’t nobody put nothing in my head. That’s what females do who don’t have time in they life to get a job or do something constructive with theyself. Females do gossip and stuff like that. I don’t sit around and do gossip. If I’m friends with you, somebody tells me something about you, I’m like, “Aight, that’s how you feel? When you see them, tell them to they face. Or when I see you around, Imma tell them what you said while you right there, so y’all can get that straight. That’s just me. That’s how I am.”

AllHipHop.com: Was there a difference between your relationship with T.I. and your relationship with the label? Obviously, he was dealing with his legal troubles throughout that time…

Alfamega: I never really had a big relationship with [Jason] Geter [CEO for Grand Hustle], he was cool, I guess. But the relationship I had with Tip was like my partner in the street.

AllHipHop.com: So you guys had a genuine friendship?

Alfamega: I thought it was a friendship. From what just happened, it wasn’t. It is what it is.

AllHipHop.com: How about the label team itself? Was there ever any static with you? Did you ever discuss wanting to leave?

Alfamega: It was always static with me, because, you know, I’m my own person. When you do something I feel ain’t cool, Imma say something. Somebody say something out they mouth I feel ain’t right, Imma say something. And I feel like people thought I was a ticking time bomb. Because I’m from the streets for real. I’m not here as make-believe. You can’t put me together. You can’t take me to no shoe store and put Timbalands on me, and a t-shirt and some baggy jeans, and then take me to the tattoo shop and say this is what it is. I been like this. I been an aggressive talker. A lot of people are threatened by [that]. Not saying that people at Grand Hustle was threatened by me. But you never know.

AllHipHop.com: Let’s fast forward it to now. When you got into your situation and you got hurt after an encounter with the police.

Alfamega: He was talking to me. Tip was talking to me when I was in the hospital. I was in the hospital a couple weeks. He talked to me on the phone. He told me straight up that he was gonna pay for the lawyer to get me a bond, all that. Then he was supposed to get with the lawyer, it never happened. Then everything else started happening. Then he was on the radio and all that. I didn’t even hate him then. I was mad. I was HOT. But then I was like, I can’t hate him, I gotta blame myself.

AllHipHop.com: Why do you feel like you have to blame yourself?

Alfamega: Because I allowed myself to even spread my wings, put myself out in a situation for somebody that wouldn’t even ride for me when I rode for them. I feel like he owed me, he don’t owe me nothing now, but he owed me at least to come to me. Somebody say something to me, you my partner, you supposed to come to me and say something to me. Ask me ‘bout it, you feel me. We cool: I ain’t just gon’ run off what somebody said.

AllHipHop.com: You were in the hospital for two weeks. Before TheSmokingGun.com posted that document and before T.I. called Hot 107.9, which was a couple of days later, how long had you been in the hospital?

Alfamega: When that document went on the thing, I was in the hospital like a week.

AllHipHop.com: Throughout that whole week, y’all were talking. Did he come visit you?

Alfamega: Nah. He was doing his thing. He was telling me what he was gonna do. But the day he was supposed to do it, that’s when he called the radio station. I was like, “Huh?” Basically, some of my other people told me. And I ain’t believe them. I told them, “Y’all hating on that man. That man ain’t gonna do no s**t like that. That’s my n***a.” When my attorney told me, I knew it wasn’t no lie.

AllHipHop.com: Has anybody called you or served you with any kind of an official release?

Alfamega: Nah. That’s the thing. I never got a phone call from nobody. Ain’t nobody told me nothing. Only think I got was, my n***as from the hood told me he was on the radio.

Reek: We never received any documentation. Technically, Alfa is still a member of Grand Hustle. Tip can denounce him all he wants, but as long as that contract is in [place], he’s still there.

Foxy Brown Blasts NY Post; Claims Paper Is Attacking Hip-Hop

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: News
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Foxy Brown is defending herself over reports that she received preferential treatment while serving a nine month prison sentence at Riker’s Island.

 

According to the NY Post, Foxy (Inga Marchand) had prison officials acting like “fawning valets,” allowing her unlimited TV/phone use, makeup accessories, luxury clothing, and outside meals.

 

Brown was released last April, after completing a parole violation conviction for assaulting two nail salon employees in 2006.

 

In a statement released by her publicist, the Brooklyn emcee refuted every allegation made in the Post article.

 

“In response to the sensationalized front cover article and erroneous allegations made by the NY Post, NO special privileges were afforded Foxy Brown at Riker’s Island,” said Brown’s publicist. “In fact, due to her celebrity status, many basic privileges were denied by the Warden and rules over-enforced. Her meals were served off the tray, she wore prison garb, and had the same phone time allotted her as any other inmate.”

 

The NY Post also claims the rapper’s special treatment was due to the work of prison Imam Umar Adul-Jalil, who networked with the prison’s warden to make sure Brown had the resources to continue interviews and photo-ops.

 

Regarding this allegation, Foxy’s management team counters that the NY Post is simply launching another attack against Hip-Hop culture.

 

“Once again Hip-Hop is on blast, denouncing our brand and depicting our culture as having an irreproachable ‘sense of entitlement,’” they stated. “There was no valet service, meals from Mr. Chows, makeup, or C.O. gatherings in her cell. It was incarceration, not a vacation. These invidious allegations, obviously made by an envious corrections employee are clearly fabricated.”

 

Foxy Brown’s last album, Brooklyn’s Don Diva, was released in May 2008.

 

She plans to release her fourth studio album, Black Roses, by the end of 2009.

 

The project is slated to be under Foxy’s Black Rose Entertainment label.

Wyclef Replaces Troubled Singer Lauryn Hill At Jazz Fest

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: News
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Former Fugee member Wyclef Jean will fill in for his ex-band mate Lauryn Hill during the Montreux Jazz Festival organizers have announced.

 

Montreux Jazz Festival organizers were left without one of their major acts, when Hill abruptly canceled all of her European bookings.

 

Hill’s cancellation also affected performances at the Stockholm Jazz Festival this July in Sweden, as well as dates in Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Italy and other countries.

 

Jean will take to the stage as Hill’s replacement on July 11 at the Stravinski Auditorium in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

Jean’s appearance at the concert will be his only European appearance this summer, organizers told AllHipHop.com in a statement.

 

“Wyclef has broken down the barriers of hip-hop and infused his music with the sounds of reggae, rock and folk,” organizers said in a statement. “His new album, which features Akon and TI, is set for release this autumn and we can expect many of the songs to be debuted on July 11th. He and his group are traveling specially from the United States for what will be his only European date this summer, after having refused several other offers from various festivals.”

 

Over 1,000 musicians will take part in 43rd Annual Montreux Jazz Festival this year, including The Black Eyed Peas, George Duke, Chaka Khan, BB King, Herbie Hancock, Hubert Laws, Steely Dan, Solomon Burke, Stanley Clarke and numerous others.

 

The event takes place from July 3-18 along Lake Geneva.

Hip-Hop Rumors: Drake & the Roc? Three Six Mafia Rumors! Transformers 2 Racist?

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: Rumors
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THE DAILY TWO SENSE

All my people on twitter listened to me rant and rave about the suckerish racist characters in Transformers 2. Thanks for letting me vent. I’m about to vent again so if you JUST want the rumors, skip this important service announcement.

OK, maybe I am sensitive. I admit that’s possibly the case. Transformers 2 is getting some bad press in the Black community for a pair of Autobot characters named Skids and Mudflap. From what I understand, the pair speak in stereotypical “jive talk” and they have many characteristics many have deemed racists. For example, one of them has extremely bucked teeth and a gold grill/front on one of the teeth. Why would a robot have crooked teeth? Also, one of them cannot read. Hhmmmmm…They are charging that Director Michael Bay is putting subliminally racist things in the movie. And, Paramount has refused to give it that blockbuster push due to the racial overtones, I hear.

Who can remember the first Transformers movie? Jazz the break dancing Autobot was the only Autobot to die. How did he die? Megatron tore him in half as he screamed, “You want a piece of me…you want a piece of me?” I’m not going to tell anybody want to do, but I’m going to tell you, I’m going to pass on the technological minstrel show.

Oh, and the dude that does the Amos and Andy get up with Skids and Mudflap is the same dude that does the voice of Spongebob Squarepants. Ain’ou t that about a b***h?

MORE ON CHARLES HAMILTON

Here is some information I got on Charles Hamilton from a person very close to the situation and they apparently they know the real deal. First of all, Charles’ album has been pushed back to August 25, the same day as Kid Cudi, Sean Kingston and Mariah Carey. Not a good day for anybody save Mimi. Also, I still haven’t gotten any more of a formal word surrounding the AWOL status or anything, but I guess we will just have to wait until the hedgehog pops back up.

TRU LIFE?

I am not sure what I going on. Who am I kidding…I think I know what’s going on. But somebody has told me that the Tru Life situation may very well turn into a “Max B.” What in the hell does that mean? It means that Tru Life is to Jay-Z what Max be was to Jim Jones. How is Jigga going to handle this, if indeed he and Tru Life have any relationship at all. My sources tell me, Tru could be a real thorn in Jigga’s side, as Max B was to Jim Jones. We’ll see, eh?

BOW WOW’S NEW HOME?

Well…you know by now, Bow Wow has been dumped by Sony. There is no love lost there my friends. But what I am hearing is that Bow Wow is looking at either Def Jam or Interscope to record again. But, didn’t he retire? You know? I guess he retired from Sony and wants to be in the limelight a bit longer. Now, I heard he prefers Interscope, because his frenemy Soulja Boy is over there and they have successfully kept his career alive for two albums. That’s something we didn’t think we would see did we?

SWIZZ BEATS AND BONE THUGS SPLIT!?!?!

What is going on? It looked really good for Swizzie and the Bone Thugs, but now it seems that that relationship has come to an end. For whatever reason, I am hearing the Bizzy and the boys are no longer signed to Full Surface. I hear they are now in business over at Warner Brother Records, which is probably a better look. Most labels run by artists are fails waiting to happen…most, not all.

DRAKE AND ROC NATION?

Suddenly, there was a new player in the Drake signing tug of war! YEAH…I am hearing the Drake is being courted to sign with Jay-Z over at Roc NAtion. You know, I have to say that I don’t feel like Drake, who has established quite a brand in a short frame, would do that. If he’s not signing to Wayne, why sign to Jay? Neverless, I am getting word that Drake is considering a joint venture with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Atlantic records. Somebody told ne there is a big reason why Drizzie is on Jay-Z’s first single and chillin’ with Kanye so hard.

SOULJA BOY DISSES CHARLES HAMILTON

LOL – kicking…or punching the dude when he’s down…or awol…whatever!

After reading that again, it looks like old comments.

ILLSEED’S QUICKIES

I am hearing that Terror Squad and Cool & Dre might not be too cool anymore. I have a lot of street info on this one and its better left unsaid.

Brandy is in the studio with Pharrell and those dudes.

I think I like Keri Hilson again. Think she’ll take me back? If not, Nicki Minaj or Gangsta Boo will…I hope.

I heard the Obamas went to see Beyonce in concert? I want them to stop that and go to a Barry Manilow show RIGHT NOW.

Angelina Jolie hopes to one day to run for president of the US. Better her than Palin.

Haystak dissed Eminem for some reason. Wonder why? Its silly to me.

BUSTA RHYMES GETS BOOED!

Well, maybe they were just booing the artists that he loved…lol

PEREZ HILTON FILES A SUIT!

Perez Hilton wasted no time in filing a suit against the manger of the Black Eyed Peas. Here is the statement:

“Perez Hilton was assaulted by the Band’s road manager because he would not agree to stop writing about the Black Eyed Peas on Perezhiton.com.” (SMH at the lawyer’s typo)

“Perez Hilton files this lawsuit to protect his freedom of speech against those who physically assaulted him because they do not like his review of their album.”

“Whether you love Perez or hate him, he is entitled to his freedom of speech without fear of violence. This lawsuit makes a statement that violence is never the answer.”

SHADY RECORDS LOSES ANOTHER ONE

UH-OH! It looks like another “it was all good just a week ago” scenario. Looks like Shady Records has just lost Cashi$, the super gangsta dude. Remember him? Last time I checked Cashis had 11 kids to take care of. Sounds like a real reality show to me. Anyway, the point is I heard he now has his own imprint and distribution by way of Amalgam Digital called Bogish Brand Ent. He is rumored to be releasing two new street albums. The first will hit in August. He’s also got a new rap group that he’s down with called the “Go Gettaz” that he’s working very close with.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5xdmwu

There is the link to the mixtape.

THREE SIX MAFIA CLEARS THE RUMORS!!!

Love to all the people that hit me with the clarity on these rumors! First, I am happy to say that the rumors about Three Six Mafia breaking up are not true. In fact, I heard they are very together and are actually working on a new CD. Shout out to M-Town.

On the other side of town, is V-Slash. Now I had heard that she was a he, but she is a she. Simply put, she is a lesbian rapper and Juicy J is working with her. She dresses and acts like a man. I’m not mad at that. Lets get some diversity in Hip to the Hop.

A NEW CONTEST!

This contest is a winner and boy do I mean WINNER!!

Reggae Gold Contest

Enter Now to win one of 8 Reggae Gold Prize Packages! E-mail co******@*******op.com with the subject line “Reggae Gold Contest” and make sure you include your name, address and mobile phone number. One entry per person, do it now!

Oh yeah, here is the original tourist poster from back in the day that inspired the CD cover.

EPIC WIN OF THE DAY

This is FTW in the criminal world! Canadian police are looking for a thief who snatches drive-in meals from fast food restaurants. When the people are about to get their food, suddenly out pops a naked dude… he snatches the grub and keeps on moving! Reuters reports:

An employee of a Langley, British Columbia, Wendy’s restaurant was handing food to a customer waiting in her car when a naked man ran between them, taking off with her fries, and leaving little evidence behind, according to police.

That’s too funny.

Transformers or Trans-Coon-ers?

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: Uncategorized
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That Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which just opened this week, is a narrative and conceptual mess is neither surprising nor the greatest of its blames. That it is, at critical moments, visually incomprehensible—and this from someone who considered the faceted clatter of the first film’s shifting multiplanes, at moments, symphonic—is the least of its faults.

That it endorses crude racism, however, serving up, not one, but two near-buckdancing, shiftless Black stereotypes—the sambots, as one reviewer adeptly punned, Skids, top and above right, and his twin (get this), Mudflap—reveals not only how clearly insulated the white people who work at Paramount and for director Michael Bay appear to be in their racial supremacy, but how out of touch they must be with developing, changing American and world tastes in entertainment. (That’s without even getting into what will surely be Afrocentric outrage at key scenes of desecration.)

Here’s my prediction: Transformers: ROTF will do huge first-week numbers, based on awe-inspiring trailer footage, then rapidly descend in flames from orbit, as people share with friends that the film is a stinking, heaving pile of constipated rhinoceros feces.

Let me put it this way: I saw it on a massive, five-story high Imax screen with a crowd of expectant, excited, average New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s. The biggest response that night was for the Imax trailer which precedes the showing of each film. Throughout the entire movie, no one cheered, no one gasped, no one did much of anything. There were a few laughs, but even the small number of guffaws we heard for ROTF’s desperately unfunny, jive-talking duo seemed concentrated to a few hillbillies strafed over and behind my right shoulder.

Remember Jazz, right, the windmilling, beatbox-blaring Autobot from Transformers? You may, or may not, because, though a groan-inducing aspect of the first film, he wasn’t continuously on screen.

As escorts of Shia LaBeouf’s and Megan Fox’s lead characters, Skids and Mudflap seem to be everywhere, bantering, fighting each other…sheesh. The only thing they don’t do is shoot craps and eat chicken with watermelon. At one moment, even, LaBeouf’s character asks the two if they can read a robotic script that will reveal crucial information. “Uh, we don’t do too much readin’,” one drawls. Nail. Coffin. I’m guessing somewhere at Industrial Light & Magic, the almost utterly white special effects firm for ROTF which typically does such mind-boggling work, there’s a gag reel of the gold-toothed Skids pulling a 40-ounce from his Chevrolet Beat cooler as Mudflap nervously fingers a switchblade. Like, to which part of the car, into which Skids transforms, does a gold tooth conform?

Of course, ILM is also the company that, a decade ago, gave the world Jar Jar Binks, in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Ironically, however, in comparison, Skids and Mudflap make Jar Jar Binks look like Gandhi. Which means that we’re going backwards, not forwards, in the depiction of ethnicity in films.

But it bears ongoing repetition: ROTF’s sloppy boilerplate is not the key way race is conveyed in movies, anymore. The predominant way people in Hollywood both reinforce and refine white supremacy is by the manner least commented upon, but most obvious, once you notice it: Their relentless focus on white people, right, emphasizing them, accentuating them, centering them in everything that is meaningful and important, and mostly including Black people so they can serve as on-ramps for white people’s planetary self-absorption; their 20-20 navel-gazing. (Of course, this is supported by an entire infrastructure of white movie executives, financiers, critics, and others.)

By filling movies with white people, telling stories through white characters, making them diverse in mode, occupation, and outlook, especially when compared to non-white characters—by projecting them as dominant when they are, in fact, recessive; most humans are brown females—an understanding is rendered: White people are the smartest, most beautiful, most important beings of which we know. This understanding, in entertainment, serves an understanding of white people in all areas of activity by people: economics, education, labor, law, politics, religion, sex, and war, as that understanding, in those other areas, serves each other area.

Indeed, this aspect of race is so foundational that, like water to a fish, it typically doesn’t seem worth noting, because it’s omnipresent. Transformers: ROTF irritates, then, because, as well as maintaining film history’s pallid hue, and serving race that way, it goes an extra, unnecessary step to nastily reinforce what white media say, wordlessly, already all the time: White people are the smartest…. Or, as Salt from Salt ‘n’ Pepa once said to me of an increasingly trifling boyfriend, “‘You’re already being mean, but now you’re just being cruel.’”

You know those really offensive Warner Bros. cartoons, like 1953’s Southern Fried Rabbit, right, with scenes so vile that, when they show them today on TV, they edit the repulsive parts out?

If there’s any justice in the world, and that’s doubtful, a future, more enlightened generation will one day digitally erase Skids and Mudflaps from every RAW file of footage, deeming them too retrograde for an ethnically sophisticated and interconnected world. The movie, of course, already a noisy jumble, wouldn’t miss a thing.That imagery so out of date can be built into a piece of entertainment

so technologically advanced should tell us that there is something

about racism that has nothing to do with how educated white people are,

or even sophisitcated they become. I don’t want to get all corny and

say that, like Optimus Prime, humans need moral heart transplants, so

to speak, but, actually, I think the leader of the Autobots might be on

to something.

“We don’t read.”

Originally published on HarryAllen.info.

Man Gets 17 Years For Role In T.I. Shooting

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: News
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A second man involved in the death of rapper T.I.’s assistant Philant Johnson in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been sentenced to 17-years in prison for his role in the deadly shooting.

 

He admitted to driving the vehicle that chased and exchanged gunfire with members of T.I.’s entourage on May 3, 2006, after a dispute in the club earlier in the evening.

 

His brother, Hosea, was convicted of being the trigger man in the deadly shooting.

 

In December, Hosea was convicted of Johnson’s murder based on his brother’s testimony.

 

He is serving 66 years in prison.

 

“I was a knucklehead,” Thomas said after being sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sandra Beckwith. “I wish I could take it back.”

 

Thomas was released from prison in 2002, after he served 14 years for rape and robbery.

 

Thomas, 41, was also involved in a massive drug conspiracy, which sent hundreds of pounds of marijuana from California to Cincinnati.

Hip-Hop Rumors: Drake: “Soulja Boy is the smartest artist…”

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: Rumors
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DISCLAIMER:

All

content within this section is pure rumor and generally have no factual

info outside of what the streets have whispered in our ear. Read on. RANDOM QUOTES

I

am not sure what source this quote came from, but clearly Drake has

lost it – or not. Soulja Boy, president of the new generation.

“Soulja

Boy is the smartest artist of our generation, I think period and I

think out of anybody. Whoever it is, whether it’s him or his team or

the people around him, whoever has the thoughts to do the things he

does, is genius and I’m so happy for him.”

On a more realistic note, I heard Soulja Boy ripped it at Six Flags in Largo, MD and the kids and adults enjoyed the fun.NORTH KOREA – BE EASY!!!!!

You know, I know a rap group and one of the members says, “I’m a problem like North Korea.” That lyric was a few years ago. Now we are looking at a whole different situation. Here is what they said in a statement about the US. “If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will … wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all.” EASY, N.K. I know we all gotta go, but why so hastily. Obama’s not trippin…now point them bombs somewhere else. Pray for peace, yall.

AND U.S. – UH, BE EASY

ILLSEED’S QUICKIES

Usher reportedly wanted a paternity test from Tomeka. All those fatherly pictures and this is what it comes to?

You wont believe this. Phil Spector now lives in the California State Prison in Corcoran and the person in the next-door cell is Charles Manson! FML, he had to say!

I have noticed a lot of people have dissed Ed McMahon for some things he did in the 90’s. Was he some sort of rip-off artist? Dag!

That girl that said she got 50-something star-tats by accident has admitted she lied.

SLIM THUG GETS “A PUBLIC PROFESSIONAL”

Do these rappers have any couth? I think this is a HOAX! I admit it. But, it seems that MTO has revealed that some skeez was going “downtown” on Slim Thug and the ATL police came…pause…rolling through. When they did, the BOSS was frisked. Lucky for him, they just let him and the girl go. That’s why I think it’s a hoax. If you are doing that in PUBLIC like that, I think somebody’s going downtown to the police station…or the cops get done for free.

Anyway….kudos to Slim Thug…he gets a good press look today.

THE DAILY TWO SENSE

OH YES! I decided to just add some rumors in the night as everybody slept! But…if you are awake, you probably will like some of these goodies!

IF YA SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING – email me!

WHERE IS CHARLES HAMILTON!?

Well, like many people, I was looking for Charles Hamilton’s album drop yesterday. It did not, unless you have some nefarious inside connection. Anyway. Where is he? I’ve gotten several email asking this question. Well, I heard he has been hiding in Detroit, where people are least likely to find him! AHA! Terrible joke and no that’s not it. I head CH is – quite simply – laying low. He’s given up on twitter from what I understand and has pushed back his CD indefinitely. So, that’s all I know. I have been told if you can find MC Lyte…you may be able to find Charles Hamilton.

WHY RIHANNA IS SO KIND TO CHRIS?

We all know you should never hit a women – unless she is 6’ 2” and running at you will a 12-inch knife. But, I have been wondering why Chris Brown really didn’t get a harsh penalty. Also, I was thinking about why RiRi still wants to be near him. The idea that she suffers from batter wife syndrome has been the prevailing theory. Something else has come across my digital desk.

I have a source that lives very close to Chris Brown’s town in Virginia – about 10 minutes. They told me that it might be his mother’s house, but Chris definitely lives there a lot. Well, my source has some inroads to the local police there in the town. The police apparently are well about the domestic matters that have transpired between Chris and RiRi. The police locally REPORTEDLY say that Chris Brown has been forced to replace no less than three flatscreen TV’s because Rihanna allegedly threw something through them all. Basically, they suggested strongly, without going all the way in, that Rihanna might have exacerbated other situations that lead up to this one. Maybe Rihannais feeling guilty some how? Who knows.

They also say that it wasn’t any sort of big deal to see them shopping at the local Wal Mart or anything like that. The locals were not really feeling RiRi, because she acted too exotic for them (exotic = stuck up, they say)

SPECTACULAR TALKS MORE

A gay magazine offered him 100k for him to pose nude. LOL!

The ending of this kills.

THREE SIX MAFIA BREAKING UP?

I don’t know if this could be real or fake, but I am getting rumors from the streets of Memphis that the Three Six Mafia maybe be in the midst of a break up. The crew has been pretty quiet since winning that Oscar. Now, Juicy J recently revealed his solo album and he’s still in Memphis as far as I can see. But Paul is in Los Angeles now doing his down thing.

Now, here is a funny lil’ sidebar rumor. I heard that Juicy J is working with a rapper named V Slash, who is a rapper that seems to be a man. Juicy J even refers to him as him. But him is a her, I am hearing! I don’t know, but her/his voice sounds more like a woman.

JD AND JANET ARE OVER AGAIN?

Jermaine Dupri and Janet Jackson are finito AGAIN? That is what they are reporting over there at the National Enquirer. I think we have to get a bit more information about this, but it could be true. JD has commented on everything but this news so we don’t know for sure. Nevertheless, J. Jackson is filming, “Why Did I Get Married Too” with Tyler Perry. I hope this rumor isn’t true, why? This is why:

That tat is real!

THE PIC OF PEREZ GETTING SOCKED!

Dude got molly woopped! He’s issued a new statement, but what is more interesting is the gay community is mad at him. Because Perez used the F-word, they are calling him a hypocrite.

NAS IS CAKED UP!

I am no Nas hater! I don’t know what the comments said yesterday, but they upset one reader to the pot where he wanted yawl haters to know – Nas has money. Here are a few things he has that have been revealed by recent court documents.

– five homes, (Los Angeles, New York and Georgia, New York and Kelis’ family in the Dominican Republic)

– a Rolls Royce Phantom,

– a Maybach

– a Ferrari

– a full-time driver in New York.”

He said it, “You can hate me now…but I won’t stop now.”

Oh and Nas supposedly go $11 mil for signing to Def Jam. Not bad for “broke dude.”

WANT MORE?

Here are a few more sips of rumor.

ILLSEED’S QUICKIES

They are saying that Mr. & Mrs. Knowles maybe having a divorce or separation.

Ciara has a Lambo, but I heard she doesn’t even know how to drive it. I’ll drive.

Jill Scott and her dude are no longer getting married.

Am I the only person sick of hearing about this Kate and Jon BS?! Yo! There is a WAR going on…no, several wars going on!

Have Jim Jones and Bow Wow parted ways with Sony Records? Sounds like it!

RANDOM QUOTE

50 Cent is not happy with Interscope.

“If you don’t make a record that can actually play to a certain amount of audience, there is no possibly way you’re going to get the marketing dollars necessary from your system to promote the project to the point that you have the huge successful records that I’ve had. Now I’ve made enough street material prior to Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ for you to forget ‘In Da Club’ was ‘In Da Club.’ And then the Curtis album, I didn’t make any of that music prior to that album and while other artists chose to sing their entire record, I chose to collaborate with other singers and they said that was the weakest album for me because the hip-hop community feels it’s up to me to give them the aggressive content. They don’t believe the other guys have experienced any portion of that lifestyle.”For more, go to illseed.com. Or just follow me at http://twitter.com/illseed

NICKI WE LOVE YOU!!!

They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry!

-illseed

WHO: illseed.com

WHAT: Rumors

WHERE: AllHipHop.com, MySpace.com/TheIllseed

HOW: Send your rumors and ill pics to illseed at al*************@***il.com.

 NORTH KOREA – UH, BE EASY

You know, I know a rap group and one of the members says, “I’m a problem like North Korea.” That lyric was a few years ago. Now we are looking at a whole different situation. Here is what they said in a statement about the US. “If the U.S. imperialists start another war, the army and people of Korea will … wipe out the aggressors on the globe once and for all.” EASY, N.K. I know we all gotta go, but why so hastily. Obama’s not trippin…now point them bombs somewhere else. Pray for peace, yall.

AND U.S. – UH, BE EASY

RANDOM QUOTES

I am not sure what source this quote came from, but clearly Drake has lost it – or not. Soulja Boy, president of the new generation.

“Soulja Boy is the smartest artist of our generation, I think period and I think out of anybody. Whoever it is, whether it’s him or his team or the people around him, whoever has the thoughts to do the things he does, is genius and I’m so happy for him.”

On a more realistic note, I heard Soulja Boy ripped it at Six Flags in Largo, MD and the kids and adults enjoyed the fun.

ILLSEED’S QUICKIES

Usher reportedly wanted a paternity test from Tomeka. All those fatherly pictures and this is what it comes to?

You wont believe this. Phil Spector now lives in the California State Prison in Corcoran and the person in the next-door cell is Charles Manson! FML, he had to say!

I have noticed a lot of people have dissed Ed McMahon for some things he did in the 90’s. Was he some sort of rip-off artist? Dag!

That girl that said she got 50-something star-tats by accident has admitted she lied.

Tru Life Turns Booked On Murder Charge

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: News
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Former Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam artist Tru Life was arrested last night (June 23) to face a charge of 1st degree murder, according to reports.

 

The charge is possibly tied to a brutal stabbing incident last week that left one man seriously injured, and an 18-year old teen dead.

 

As reported by AllHipHop.com, police were initially investigating Tru Life’s brother for a retaliation attack in the non-fatal shooting of Michael Slater.

 

The individual, whom police suspect is a drug dealer, was shot in the stomach outside of club Pacha.

 

Several hours after the crime, police claim five gang members ambushed 30 year old Jason Black and the unnamed teen at a Manhattan apartment complex.

 

Both men were stabbed repeatedly in the chest and face. Black survived the assault, while the unidentified teen succumbed to his wounds.

 

At the time, police theorized that the back and forth violence was the result of a feud between Jason Black and Tru Life’s brother.

 

A 1st degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison under New York law.

 

If an official or witness is not the victim, the distinction can also be decreed for murders involving multiple parties or tortuous killings.

 

Tru Life’s last music effort, “Wet ‘em Up,” was heard as a selection on the soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto IV.

 

 At press time, Tru Life could not be reached for comment.

 

AllHipHop.com will continue to update this breaking story as more information emerges.

Jamie Foxx To Debut New MTV Sketch Comedy

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: News
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Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx has partnered with MTV to begin production on a new sketch comedy series.

 

Foxx, who recently starred in the biographical drama The Soloist, will use the MTV vehicle for his first return to television since the conclusion of the Jamie Foxx Show in 2001.

 

While the project is still in early development, the network has verified that it hopes to create a show in the vein of the groundbreaking 90’s series In Living Color, which also served as Foxx’s breakout vehicle.

 

His tenure on that hit series is most remembered for his sketch role as the hideous Wanda Wayne, the self-proclaimed “lost member” of En Vogue who terrorized every man she came in contact with.

 

For the MTV show, Foxx will work with Marcus King, producer Jamie Rucker King (Held Up), writer/producer Fax Bahr( Malibu’s Most Wanted, In the Army Now), and director/producer Adam Small (Another State of Mind, Malibu’s Most Wanted).

 

Foxx’s latest music offering, Intuition, was certified platinum last month off the strength of the Top 10 singles “Just Like Me,” “She Got Her Own,” and “Blame It.”

 

The versatile entertainer will return to theaters in 2010 with the F. Gary Gray directed thriller Law Abiding Citizen, which chronicles a prosecutor’s attempt to stop a calculating killer.

 

At press time, MTV has not confirmed a projected launch date for Foxx’s comedy show.