Rapper Snoop Dogg was released on bail, without charge, this afternoon after he and five other men were arrested during a disturbance at Heathrow Airport in London. According to police, a fight broke out after the rapper’s entourage was refused entry to the British Airways first class lounge. One police officer suffered a broken hand, while seven others received cuts and bruises. “[Snoop] will now continue his onward travel to South Africa to complete his concert commitments,” Snoop’s lawyer Peter Binning told BBC’s 1Xtra. “He has not been charged with any offence. At this stage, I propose not to make any further comment. Another statement will [be] issued at a later stage.”
Canadian MC Kardinal Offishall has been tapped to headline the 20th anniversary of Toronto’s TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival. The event will be marked by a 350-show lineup that includes international stars like Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner and Dave Brubeck. The festival, which runs June 23-July 2 at venues across the city, will also feature the EuroJazz and Cabaret series, as well as a St.-Jean-Baptiste Day celebration and a New Orleans tribute featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Loco Zydeco and the Happy Pals. Hip-hop veterans De La Soul and Buck 65 are also scheduled to perform. For more information, visit the festival’s official Web site (www.torontojazz.com).
A judge in Memphis has sentenced former Hot Boy rapper Tab “Turk” Virgil to 12 years in prison for the shooting of a sheriff’s deputy. The 25-year-old Turk pleaded guilty yesterday (April 26) to attempted second-degree murder, reduced from attempted first-degree murder. The sentencing stems from a January 2004 raid on an apartment in Memphis. SWAT Team members entered the apartment seeking drugs and weapons and were allegedly greeted with gunfire. Turk was accused of firing shots from a bedroom closet during the raid that struck a SWAT team deputy four times. Last year, Turk was convicted in federal court for being a felon, drug addict and fugitive in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to ten years. The rapper will serve his state and federal sentences consecutively.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. have been ordered by Federal Judge George B. Daniels to appear in a U.S. District Court Thursday, (April 27) to explain why recent amendments to New York City’s anti-graffiti laws should not be deemed unconstitutional. The lawsuit, filed by fashion designer and entrepreneur Marc Ecko, seeks to challenge anti-graffiti legislation that directly impacts the First Amendment rights of young citizens and aspiring artists in New York. The amendments, which went into effect January 1, make it a criminal offense for simple possession of spray paint and broad-tipped markers by all persons under the age of 21, regardless of whether those materials are related to a college art class, a high school project or painting jobs.