According to reports, the parents of the students killed during the Virginia Tech university massacre are requesting the promoters of an upcoming benefit concert remove Nas’ from the lineup because they feel that his lyrics are inappropriate for the event. (more…)

Reportedly hip-hop rapper Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter aka “Joe Camel” has appealed to a federal judge to drop a lawsuit accusing him of illegal wage practices. The music mogul was sued by a former 40/40 nightclub waitress named Celeste Williams in May. The waitress stated that Carter and his business partner Juan Perez paid their staff below minimum wage.

Jay-Z’s attorneys argued that the him and his partner, Juan Perez, are shareholders and are not employers of the club. So how did the rapper reportedly state that he leaves daily operations of the nightspot in the hands of management? (more…)

According to TMZ, an Elizabeth Arden spokesperson has informed them that the photo of Mariah Carey and her fragrance bottle photoshopped in the corner is not the actually fragrance advertisement. The real ad for M by Mariah Carey is expected to debut on the site during the second week of August.

An Arden spokesperson released this statement: “An image of Mariah Carey with her fragrance bottle photoshopped in the corner is being featured on several blogs today, and is categorically not the advertisement for her new fragrance, nor is it even remotely close.”

So who cooked this up?

On Monday (July 16), Patrick Monfiston of P Entertainment Promotions filed a suit in an Alabama Circuit Court against Slip-N-Slide/Atlantic Records artist Plies and his management due to a no-show, breach of contract and slander.

Reports state that the rapper never showed up to perform as scheduled on July 8, and that the next day Plies did a radio interview on WZHT Hot-105 in which he stated that he never received payment to perform. The rapper also allegedly stated in his radio interview that Monfiston should give all money back to the people who attended the show. Patrick Monifiston denied all claims and even presented a copy of the wire transfer to the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper for $5,500 that he sent to Plies ISA Bomb Entertainment management team. He also produced a receipt for $1,500 that he claims was also deposited in a bank account for the rapper and his management.
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According to sources, The Game was on Power 106 in Los Angeles recently and was asked by Big Boy “if you could pour hot sauce into any rapper’s eye, who would it be?”
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Claims have been made that rapper Nas and his crew has reportedly been caught stealing around Europe during his “Hip Hop is Dead” tour. The rapper and his crew allegedly has been taking money from local promoters and refusing to play scheduled gigs according to Pestiside. The rapper was expected to perform in Budapest on last week, but from the report, this will be his third time on tour and never performing. Similar incidents are stated to have happened also in Spain and Croatia.
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You’ve possibly heard about Usher, 28, leaving his mother’s management company. Right? Well anyways his mother owns J-Pat Management (Jonnetta Patton) and according to Media Takeout she’s going after ex-girlfriend Rozanda “Chilli” Thomas (TLC) to manage her career. Chilli who’s been managing her own career for the past few years probably should consider it since nothing has been happening thus far.
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Should rappers feel emasculated due to more and more prosecutors are using the lyrics rappers write against them? Recently a 23 year-old young man named Ronell Wilson “Rated R” in New York was arrested on suspected murder of two undercover police officers. During the initial arrest police found his pockets stuffed with lyrics with rhymes telling his counterparts to wear bullet-proof vests if they dare wanted to challenge him as well a line that said that he would leave .45-caliber slugs in their heads.

Prosecutors feel they have struck gold with his lyrics and if the jury convicts Ronell Wilson on Wednesday he would face a possible death sentence.

According to CNN prosecutors have used rap lyrics to help establish motives and shed light on defendants’ characters. Some have brought up the lyrics only during sentencing. Does being a rapper and writer suspense raps reflect who you are as a person? Are rappers the characters that they portray when they rap or is it just as if he was an author of a thriller book or a movie director? Will prosecutors begin to prosecute movie directors. Movies, television, dvd’s and cable promote and profit off of drug, sex and violence daily, yet if an actor was to be arrested he’s not judge over the movie role that he plays. What is it such a trend to judge a music entertainer this way? Some consider this as a prejudice and discrimination.

Reports go on to state that a Philadelphia defense attorney Michael Coard, who also teaches a class on hip hop at Temple University, stated that attempting to use rap as a window into a defendant’s mind is especially problematic, given rap’s tradition of overtly ridiculous braggadocio.

“It’s about boasting. It’s about exaggerating. … It’s about acting,” he said. “If Robert De Niro, or Al Pacino or Marlon Brando are charged with shooting somebody, are they going to be playing clips from `The Godfather’ in court?”

When rapper Project Pat was convicted on carrying a concealed weapon in his car, his lyrics where thrown at him. Rapper Beanie Sigel was also sentenced on gun charges in Philadelphia when a federal prosecutor used his lyrics against him.

Some defense attorneys fear that prosecutors will begin to use lyrics against rappers making a trend that could grow in order to make a defendant look bad in front of a middle-class jury and prosecutors could introduce role-playing violent, curse-filled verses against any entertainer. This could lead to unfairness against any who play a role in the music/entertainment business thereby affecting the Industry.

Sources say that Rapper LL Cool J (James Todd Smith III) lashed out at his record label’s boss. Def Jam, LL Cool J’s record label who he has been with since 1985 is currently not supporting him as he would like. The label is currently ran by rap artist Jay-Z who just recently unretired from his own recording career and released an album entitled “Kingdom Come”.

Claims are that LL Cool J’s recent album “Todd Smith” was not promoted adequately due to Jay-Z concentrating on writing and recording on his own projects.

LL Cool J stated, “How am I gonna re-sign with competition? I’m not an idiot. I can’t depend on that man to promote my record while he’s somewhere writing rhymes. I’m LL Cool J. I ain’t doing that.”

Although LL Cool J, has already recorded and released eleven albums under the Def Jam label sources are saying that his forthcoming album may be his last with the label.